Regrets

Names

It had been almost a day since Leona got her baby and as soon as she got her daughter back the doctors told her to feed her right away.

Leo groaned at the painful memory.

The poor thing was so hungry that Leo was certain that if it weren't for her plastron her breasts would be bruised. She was honestly considering switching to a formula but the doctors said she now had to wait until the baby was around six months old at the least.

She sighed as she stared at her little one's sleeping face. The baby had opened it's eyes an hour ago.

There were blue like her mother's, but unlike Leo's icy sapphire ones, these reminded the teen of a warm lake in the middle of summer; she gave a small chuckle as she stared into those small, bright eyes, thinking it must have been Raph's fire that warmed her eyes.

But her smile faulted slightly at the thought of her baby's father.

She glanced into the glass cot and looked at the teddy Raph had bought sitting in to corner.

Just then her parents came inside and walked over to her cubical, nervous smiles pasted on their faces.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Um, well my dear, you know Mrs. Faris?" Alopex asked and Leona nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry love, but an officer has just told us that she died yesterday, apparently she ran out onto the tracks and was run over by a passing train, she was dead in seconds. They don't know if it was an accident or suicide and they may never know." She explained sadly.

Leo didn't say anything and just looked at her baby.

"Was it my fault?" She finally asked.

"Your fault?"

"Well I let her take my baby but I just wanted to get some sleep."

"You didn't know how ill she was and who stays awake for twenty-four hours? Especially since they've just had a baby?" Tigerclaw replied.

"I still should of looked after her myself." Leo insisted, glaring at the floor. "Will Mr. Faris blame me for what happened to his wife?" She whimpered slightly.

"No sweetie, it was no ones fault, there was nothing anyone could of done for Brenda Faris, she was just too ill." Alopex smiled and the two hugged their daughter and granddaughter...

******

That afternoon April and Kitsune arrived for a visit.

Alopex and Tigerclaw stood by the window while Kitsune sat in the chair next to the bed, holding the baby, as April and Leo sat on the baby. April then turned to her friend with a serious face.

"So what are you going to call her?" She asked and Leo froze.

"What do you mean?" She asked, looking away.

"You know what I mean, have you picked a name for her yet? Or are we going to be calling her 'The Baby' for the rest of her life?" She joked.

"Oh yes my dear, what are you going to call this little angle?" Kitsune smiled, taking her eyes off the baby for a moment.

"Um, well, I was thinking about calling her Miley." Leo finally said as April snickered and Kitsune looked very confused.

"What?"

"You mean as in Miley Cyrus?" April laughed as Leo nodded.

"Who?"

"It's a pop singer, Kitsune." Tigerclaw chuckled.

"Leona, you shouldn't name your daughter after a pop star that no one will remember in five years." Kitsune explained and April reached over to her bed side and opened a small book of baby names.

"You could call her Rebecca." April said but Kitsune made a face of disgust.

"How about Sarah?" Leo asked but her grandmother still didn't look happy.#

"Maria?"

"Elizabeth?"

"Anne?

"Lucy?"

"No, no, no and no! You want something that really rolls of the tongue when you look at her face." Kitsune exclaimed.

"Don't worry too much, sweetie." Alopex smiled. "There's still plenty of time before you have to make a final decision and when you've heard the right name you'll know."

Leo smiled thankfully at her mother...

******

The next morning Leona and her daughter were finally discharged.

As Tigerclaw carried the baby, Alopex carried all the bags as Leo walked in between them. Despite telling them she would happily carry something they insisted she rested her arms for a bit while the baby was quiet.

The only thing she was carrying was the teddy Raph had bought for their child.

As the stepped outside Leo saw that the snow had eased up greatly. Now, instead of a deadly blizzard, there were only a few small specks of white fluff slowly falling from the sky. As they walked to the car a snowflake landed on the baby's beak and her face scrunched up with unhappiness as she began to move around under the thick blanket.

"Do you want me to take her?" Leo asked.

"Well I've handled more babies then you, so I'm alright." He smiled, still looking at his new granddaughter.

"Leave him be Leona, he's enjoying himself." Alopex chuckled as they made it to the car.

"Oh! Have you put the baby seat in?" Leo exclaimed happily when she saw the car seat through the window.

"Yep, put in as soon as they told me I could bring you all home." He smiled as his daughter opened the door and the trunk for her parents. Just then her cell phone beeped, she looked and saw that it was a message from April.

"What is it?" Alopex asked as she put all the bags into the trunk.

"Just a message from April, telling us that she'll meet up with us at my house."

"April's been hanging around a lot." Tigerclaw stated as he placed the baby in the car seat.

"Yeah, well, she is my best friend who is also going to be this little one's auntie." She cooed to her baby as they got into the car and she sat in the back next to the baby. Alopex and Tigerclaw shared a look before setting off.

"Dad!" Leo suddenly cried and Tigerclaw slammed on the brakes.

"What is it?! What's wrong?!" He panicked.

"Don't forget what you promised!" She glared as Alopex chuckled and he rolled his eyes.

"I know, I know, under 20 mph."...