Survival Of the Fittest (Hawkeye Fanfiction)

Chapter 20: Kits (Black Widow)

Meda leaned over the toilet, vomiting profusely. It was early in the morning and felt like she was seasick although she had never been on the water. She had a headache and her limbs ached whenever she tried to move. However, whenever she tried to vomit nothing came up. She had nothing in her system because she hadn't eaten in a few days. She wasn't hungry for it, despite knowing that she should.

"Meda? Meda, are you in here?"

Meda didn't want to speak to Natasha but she couldn't ignore him. "I'm in here," she choked out as she lifted her head from the bowl.

Natasha came in and her eyes widened. "Meda, are you alright?" Her eyes lit in concern as she rushed to Meda and lowered down and rubbed her back. "What's wrong?"

Meda didn't want to say it but she leaned back. Tears showed in her eyes, probably because of the hormones were surging through her body at an alarming pace.

"Meda, you can tell me whatever is wrong since I know something is. I was going to let you come to me but I know that you won't so I have to push now," murmured Natasha with now stern eyes. "So tell me what's going on."

Meda's throat felt like it would almost close as she spoke. "Natasha, I'm pregnant."

Natasha's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh! When?"

Meda couldn't help the tears from falling from her face and onto the floor. "When I was patrolling I saw Enthrear. I thought it was going to attack me but he didn't. Instead he well um..." She didn't want to actually say it so she trailed off and blinked her eyes in grief.

"I'm so sorry," breathed Natasha as she wrapped Meda in a tight hug. "I had no idea. If I would have I would have said something so you didn't have to train or-"

"Don't," broke in Meda as she pushed Natasha aside. "It happened to me and I didn't want to drag you into it. It's my fault, not yours."

"It's not your fault," snapped Natasha as she narrowed her eyes. "He took advantage of you."

Meda looked at her underbelly and imagined kits pushing and kicking against her underbelly. She didn't know why Enthrear did what he did but she wasn't about to let him do anything to her kits. "Maybe, but they are my kits now and I'll do anything for them."

"What are you going to do once they're born," wondered Natasha.

Meda shook her head once more. "I don't know. I just know that I'm going to try to be the best mother that I can be."

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A few moons later Meda laid in a tangle of roots in the forest, pain searing through her whole body from her claw tips to her tail. She had no idea that giving birth to kits could be this painful. She knew that she had the scent of a mother and milk and she wondered if anyone would find her. However, she didn't really care. Even if Enthrear showed up she wouldn't care.

She cringed as a convulsion rippled through her body. She knew that on the next one she was going to have to push and she hated the idea of it. When another one came she decided to push. She let out a yowl of agony before she reached out her head and sunk her teeth into the stick. She sunk her teeth into it until it splintered.

She felt something fall onto the moss behind her. She turned her head and saw the form of a kit. She couldn't help but purr. She grasped the kit and nipped the sac. It fell out and let out a wail. She began to lick it before another convulsion ran through her stomach. She grasped the stick again and curled her claws into her pads.

"Starbound, help me," she begged as her back arched. She knew that she shouldn't move but she couldn't help the pain that she felt. Finally, after what seemed like hours another kit fell where the first one had.

She gasped in shock before she turned her head and nipped the sac. She began to lick it before she felt her stomach. There was one more lump so she knew that another one was coming. "Not another," she complained as she laid down, her whole body twitching and convulsing.

You can do it, a voice whispered inside Meda's head.

Meda lifted her head and saw the hazy image of her mother. "Mother," she cried out as she tried to touch her.

Naviena shook her head. She then vanished and Meda's eyes went misty. She pushed and cried out as the last kit fell on the moss the had laid. She turned her head and broke the sac. The kit wailed but it wasn't nearly as loud as the other two. Worry immediately set it. The kit was much smaller and felt almost cold.

Meda prodded it to try and make it wail or something. However, it's whimpers began to grow quieter. "No, stay with me," begged Meda as she rasped her tongue over the kit's fur.

The kit gave a few more cries before it went quiet and limp. Tears showed in Meda's eyes as she bowed her head. "No," she cried before she realized that her son would be with her mother now.

She knew that she had to look after her other two. She drew the tom and she-kit to her underbelly to nurse while she thought of a name to name her kit. She knew that she should name the kit after Enthrear. As much as she hated him to the core he was the father and she had to respect that. Without him she would have no kits.

"Ender," breathed Meda as she looked over to the kit who was dead at her paws. "Your name will be Ender, after your father, Enthrear." She knew that not everyone would approve but it was her decision.

Of course, the kit couldn't answer but in Meda's heart she knew that the kit approved. She then turned to her remaining two kits that were still alive. They would grow up not knowing about their father or their fallen brother. She didn't want them to live in anyone's shadow.

Now the hard part was coming up with names. She wasn't the greatest with names and she didn't know their personalities. She gulped as she lapped at the she-kit's ears. She was bright honey colored like her mother while her brother was just a hint darker. They were both beautiful and precious to her.

"I'll name you Mistro," she murmured, looking at her son with bright eyes. "And you Mightra." She wanted their names to be similar since she would raise them as twins but she didn't want them to be names that she wouldn't be able to remember or ones that she would mix up.

She turned her head to the sky. "Thank you Starbound for giving me these two beautiful kits, even if I didn't want them. I will raise them as well as I possibly can."

She felt her collar weight heavy on her neck. She pushed her chin against it, wondering how they would react. She made a decision that she couldn't tell them, not even Natasha, that they were born. It would be a liability and they might be taken away from them. She couldn't bare that. She had grown very attached to these two bundles of fur in such a short period of time.

"I promise to protect you, no matter what," she vowed as she rasped her tongue over both of her kits in turn. "I love you and I would give up my life for you two."