Redhawk Caldera hold onto your heart.

I am.. completely freaked out by what I'm writing FYI *shudders*

Fin wasn't sure how long she waited for Eljay before he arrived for the waves of pain kept her attention riveted. Every twinge, every ache, she analyzed with almost feverish anxiety. The pain that twitched down her back legs - did she feel that with Eljay? The nausea that raised her gorge precariously close to the surface - was that still just the biting hunger or was it something worse? What of the things happening to her were normal and okay to be feeling and what meant that she was losing her pups? What meant that she was losing her life too quickly? Finley whimpered desparately as she dug at her bedding for what seemed like hours, tormented and scared.

Eljay's arrival was a welcome, albeit brief, distraction. She smiled faintly at the nip to her nose and licked her parched lips before resuming the heavy panting that would accompany every step of this process. She felt compelled to say something reassuring to him. She knew somewhere in her mind how difficult the past few days had been for him after losing Peter. On some level, she was even aware that he might not be entirely mentally well considering he oftentimes seemed to be unaware that Peter really was gone. But she found herself unable to say a word - not to comfort him, not to inform him of what was happening to her, not even to welcome him. She had nothing in her mind but the present, which stepped up to the next level only a short ten minutes after her son's arrival.

Fin had just attempted for the 348th time to lay down for a moment when she was suddenly up again. Her legs trembled violently as a contraction took her again, this one stronger and more painful than any she'd yet had. She whined sharply when she felt the warm liquid of her water breaking and trickling down her leg. She swung then to sit and clean herself, still shaking. After a moment, she stopped and cast a look over at Eljay.

"They'll be here soon," Fin said to him between shaking breaths. She watched him, looking for the emotions that were always written so plainly on his face. She felt compelled then to say something finally. It felt suddenly so terribly wrong that she had not warned him that she might not survive this. There he was, watching, wanting to help, waiting to take care of her. Completely unaware that by the end of this, he may indeed have little siblings to look after, but he may be without a mother.

Fin swallowed hard and dropped her gaze, remaining perfectly silent as she waited for the first pup to come.