The next two weeks were quiet and things began to settle down for myself and Anna as we spent the time really getting to know our children, though for the most part Shawn spent most of his time sleeping since his body was going through the initial stages of the Turn. Anna and I did manage to get some work done, though not a lot, because of the fact neither of us had access to the office.
The one thing that I was glad to hear was that Olaf took care of Mikel's burial and he gave him a proper one, though it was still a burial. In a few hundred years Mikel, would be able to come back and try to redeem himself in the eyes of the creator. Maybe the next time he tried he'd get a proper father who'd love and cherish him instead of teaching him to hate and despise the rest of the world.
I'd had to apply an IV to my new son to keep him properly fed and hydrated while he slept through the worst part of the Turn. I knew that Anna had a partial bond with him, since she was my mate, but for me it was stronger since I was the one who had turned him.
The other issue I had to deal with were the phone calls to my friends in Alberta, though they'd have to wait till I had a chance to visit West Caledonia since they had a secure phone system that meant that nobody could monitor the calls. That was one thing that I intended to get fixed when the new Pride House was under construction, but until then I had to go to West Caledonia to make secure calls to other Pride and Pack leaders.
I was overjoyed when Shawn finally opened his blue eyes two weeks after the fight and started crying reaching for me. "Daddy!" He exclaimed and I could do nothing other than to gather him into my arms and give him a gentle loving hug.
"Hi baby," I said softly as Anna slowly woke herself up with a soft smile on her face.
"A lot of cats are kind of intimidated by you Mark, but I can see the real you sitting there with a baby in your arms." She said, though I could hear the love behind her words as she joined me in looking down at Shawn.
"Daddy..." Shawn said again in his own baby talk as he hugged tightly and cried his eyes out.
"I'm here baby." I said, though I did know that he would forget most of what had happened that awful night two weeks ago, I never would, and when the time was right and he could understand and process the information I would tell him.
He snuggled against my chest as Anna handed me a bottle that had been sitting on the beside table, it was something that Sergey had done when he heard Shawn waking up.
I nodded silently and gently offered the bottle to my baby and I couldn't help but smile as he grabbed it with his little hands and started nursing hungrily. "Looks like he's hungry Anna." I stated softly.
"Looks that way doesn't it Mark?" She answered, "You do know that for the next few weeks you will have to drastically cut back the amount of work you do for the Pride." She reminded me.
"Anna, I would cut back to nothing if I could right now." I told her softly. "This little guy and," I reached over to gather the waking little Katy into my arms beside her brother, "My little girl are what really matter to me."
In the past two weeks Katy, had made big strides in learning what I wanted to teach her, and now, for the most part, I only had to worry about one little cub's diapers. The only exception was during morning because she'd not yet mastered staying dry overnight.
"Papa Kitty," Katy said and hugged tightly before looking down at Shawn, who was nursing on his bottle, "Baby Brother kitty," She said then looking over at Anna she smiled, "Momma Kitty." And to finish things off she smiled and pronounced "Me Puppy."
I hugged her and smiled. "That's right baby, you are my little puppy-girl." She hugged back and looked at her brother's bottle. "Baba papa?"
I glanced over at Anna and shrugged my shoulders since Katy still occasionally had a bottle or her pacifier, though she was slowly weaning from them.
Anna nodded getting out of the bed and heading to the apartment kitchen where I knew that Sergey was making some morning coffee for me and Anna, he also drank the stuff, though I had made him agree that he should only have one cup a day, since he was still a young teen.
A short time later Anna came back with my large travel mug of coffee and a warm bottle of milk for Katy who grabbed it and laid back against me and began nursing softly on it. While she was nursing I sent to my parents, *Mom, Dad you can come and see us now.* I couldn't help but smile at the sight of my cubs as Anna had gotten Sergey to join us and I was surrounded by family when my parents came in the door.
Mom paused at the tableau before her before she smiled, "Mark, you look happy."
I laughed and hugged Katy, Shawn, and Sergey to me before I replied with a slightly rhetorical question, "Mom, why on earth would I be happy? I'm surrounded by my three adopted cubs and my mate in a house that is full of my own kind of Were."
Dad laughed and stepped forwards before Katy wiggled from my grasp, with her nearly empty bottle hanging from her mouth she jumped into her grandfather's arms and quickly settled down to finish her pre-breakfast snack.
"Mark," My dad said, "This is probably among the times I've seen you at your most content. You have a home, a family, and a place you belong."
I smiled at his answer as I looked at my family and enjoyed the simple pleasures of being what I felt most comfortable being. When I checked on my cat, I found, for the first time since I'd been turned that he also felt fully at ease. *This is where we belong.* was his comment and I couldn't agree more.
