Blackbeak Bluff I'll admit I tripped on your waistline

She rose on to her feet. Raptor fell further. He pressed his stomach into the sand and laid his chin between his outstretched paws. His tail was pulled beneath him and his ears remained deferential.

"Yes." He answered meekly.

He avoided her gaze but did not — could not, really — hide how his eyes searched her flank now that she was standing. He thought he could discern a tell-tale swell but it was so subtle he could not be sure. It was the breeze that carried confirmation. Seemingly sucked out to sea as the waves retreated, it skimmed past his nose and he breathed in the change in her scent, and recalled the last time he had been around a gravid female.

Raptor swallowed again, clenching his teeth before he mustered the courage to speak. "I just... I want to do what's right. He winced, knowing how dumb that sounded, aware of all the trespasses he had made against her when she had deserved none of it. "I messed up. Big time. I messed up a lot. I treated you like shit because I am shit and I am stupid and I thought I could fix my problems, and prove myself, by—" He stopped, bit his lip, and got to the point.

"You don't have to like me — you shouldn't like me... but let me help with them. Please. You shouldn't have to raise pups on your own. I can bring food or..."