Grams’ Empty Nest Grams Bear was sad and the main cause was loneliness. Once the Care Bear family had been settled in she had taken up the job of raising the two cubs Hugs and Tugs, something which she had enjoyed immensely. It took her back to the days when she had been raising her own daughter, True Heart. But now Hugs and Tugs were getting older and had even moved into their own houses, so her house felt especially empty. Today was a particularly busy day for the Care Bear Family and everyone other than herself and the family doctor Take Care Bear were out on missions. Sighing she heaved herself out of her chair and decided to go for a walk, not for any reason other than to clear her head. As she left her house and walked around she quietly said to herself, “I wish I could raise cubs again.” Grams was unaware that at that moment, she was being watched by the Great Wishing Star. The Star was the guardian of the entire Care Bear Family and it did it’s best to make sure they were doing their jobs, but it so rarely interfered with their lives, however it could see that Grams was a special case. The Elderly Care Bear had been helping to look after the Family since most of them were cubs, but now that her last charges were on their own she had nothing to do. The Star decided to do something that would help her, but only if she was sincere, smiling to itself it conjured up a special clover in the forest of feelings right where Grams was heading. Grams’ walk had taken her into the Forest of Feelings and now that she was in the shade, she sat down on a rock for a rest. The fresh air was nice and the trees in the area added a sweet smell to the air, she almost forgot her own woes, almost. She looked down and noticed something. It was an eight leaf clover. Smiling she bent over and picked it up. “An eight leaf clover,” she said, “what was is that Good Luck and Wish Bear said? Oh right, finding one gives you three wishes,” Grams had heard of how Grumpy had been able to use such wishes to hold off No-Heart once so she knew it was real, but she wasn’t sure if it could help her. Not really having anything else to do, she held it in her hands and made a wish, “I wish I could have cubs again, so I could raise and take care of them,” she said. The Clover glowed briefly then stopped and Grams felt a slight tingle in her tummy but nothing else. She sighed as she got up, “I guess not even this clover can help me with that, oh well,” she did her best to perk up, “I should go back home shouldn’t I.” She smiled as she headed home. As she walked she felt suddenly fuller of energy, but not by much, even so she did feel better than when she had left, maybe the walk had done her good, or the clover had done something. When she got back home, Grams didn’t find anything to indicate her wish had worked, like a newborn cub or something, but oh well, she could still see the cubs if she wanted, so she decided to make something to eat. Before she did she went to her bedroom and took out a small wooden box she kept keepsakes in, small things that reminded her of the cubs, and placed the clover inside. Once she had made her supper she found herself feeling hungrier than she had in a long time, eating quite a bit. Probably a side effect of being alone and going for that long walk earlier, but she had friends, friends who would be home soon enough, but still she was hungrier today so she ate until she felt full, including some leftovers she had in the fridge. Once that was done she decided she should sit down and knit for a while, she mostly did it to pass the time, making various clothes for presents she could give away on birthdays or for Christmas but sometimes she just knit until something formed and then she worked to finish it, it was a fun little game she did on her own that helped her amuse herself. Grams was just letting her instincts guide her and a short time later, without realizing it, she had knitted two pairs of baby booties and was working on a third set. The elderly bear set her knitting needles aside and sighed, “I guess I can’t get my mind off of the cubs,” she said, a bit sadly. She yawned, feeling oddly tired, but she just chalked it up to the walk, not to mention all her eating earlier, so she decided she’d better head off to bed for the night. As she stood up, she noticed that she felt heavier and looked down to notice she has a slightly swollen belly. “I guess I ate more than I thought,” she said, smiling a bit. He raised her hands and placed them on her breasts recalling when she had nursed her daughter True Heart on them so many years ago. She shook her head and went to bed, hoping she’d feel better in the morning. … As she slept, Grams Bear had a strange dream. In it, she was floating in space with only the stars to see, at least at first. After a while she began to see some cubs she had never seem before floating around her, she reached out to each of them in turn, only for them to vanish as she touched them; each time she did she felt a warmth spread through her, a kind of warmth she had not felt for many years. Once all five of the cubs that had appeared were gone, Grams began to feel very strange, as though she were going to be sick but strangely good despite that. At that moment she woke up. Grams blinked and yawned as she lay in bed and thought about her dream. Normally she didn’t bother thinking on her dreams much as most of them were too vague for her to remember, but last night’s dream felt important for some reason. She shrugged it off and decided to get out of bed, however as she got out of bed, her nightgown felt tighter than it had last night, even with the slight swell to her belly from the previous night. She looked down and saw that her tummy has actually swollen quite a bit while she had been asleep. Astonished she pulled off her nightgown, carefully to avoid ripping it, and ran her hands over her swollen belly, surprised to find that the skin under the fur was smooth and taught without any give when she pressed on it lightly. “Oh my stars,” she said, “I’ll have to see Take Care about this,” at that moment her stomach growled, “After I eat something.” Grams grabbed her shawl and tied it around her neck as she headed for her kitchen. Just like the previous night, she found herself incredibly hungry this morning, and instead of just having some toast and cereal, she found herself mixing up the batter for and making pancakes, in amounts that she normally only did when she had company. Even more surprising to her was that once the pancakes were done, she ended up eating every last one she made, which was about two dozen large ones, and on top of that she drank three large glasses of Milk. She got up to wash the dishes and spoke aloud to herself, “I should ask Take Care about this hunger I’ve been having as well,” she said. She finished washing the dishes and headed out, but on the way out she found herself grabbing and devouring an apple, before tossing the core in the garbage. As she headed to Take Care’s office, Grams found that she was attracting a couple stares from those Care Bears who were outdoors, wondering how and why she seemed to have gained so much weight so suddenly. Grams would have stopped to talk to them, but she didn’t know any more than they did so she just kept walking. Upon arriving at Take Care’s office, which was also his house, she entered, sounding the bell hanging above the door, and took a seat in the waiting room. A few moments later, Take Care emerged and looked up at Grams. “Good Morning, Grams, why are you here today,” he stopped and looked down at her swollen tummy as she stood up, but stayed silent. “Well, it’s strange. I went out for a walk yesterday and I guess it made me hungry because when I got home I made a huge supper and managed to eat it all, and this morning I woke up and I guess I gained quite a bit of weight, so I decided to come here,” Grams said. “I see, and you want me to see what’s caused this sudden weight gain?” Take Care asked, and Grams nodded. “All right, follow me,” Take Care said, leading the elderly bear into an exam room. The doctor directed Take Care to hop up on the table and he began a series of tests, while asking her various things such as her exercise routine and what she had actually been eating. “So, you haven’t really changed your routine since the cubs moved out, and it wasn’t until last night and this morning that you started to eat more?” he asked. “Yes,” Grams replied. “Well, it could be just a side effect of empty nest syndrome,” the doctor said, “but the sudden increase in weight is odd so I’m going to need a blood sample, do you mind?” he asked and Grams shook her head. She’d gotten blood tests before and had no fear of needles, unlike some other members of the family, and she barely flinched when Take Care isolated a blood vessel and carefully withdrew a sample of blood from her. The doctor then left to run some tests on the blood sample, telling Grams to wait for a few minutes. Grams sat on the exam table and found herself staring down at her belly, a strange maternal feeling spreading through her as she did. Take Care’s testing machine was quite advanced and he was able to get the results from Grams’ blood sample rather quickly. He looked at the test results and blinked, rubbed his eyes, and blinked again, and when he was certain her wasn’t hallucinating, he printed the results and returned to the exam room. He found Grams sitting with her hands on her swollen tummy and he cleared his throat to get her attention. “Grams, did you tell me everything you’ve done recently?” he asked. “Well,” Grams thought and recalled the clover she had found the previous day, “on my walk yesterday, I found an eight-leaf clover. I remember Good Luck and Wish saying that finding one could grant you three wishes, and, I was feeling so lonely I wished that I could have cubs again so I could raise them.” “Well, that explains it,” Take Care said. He stepped forwards and handed the test results to Grams Bear, “the wish had an effect on you Grams, congratulations, you’re pregnant.” … Grams was astonished as she heard what Take Care had said and read the test results. “Pregnant? Are you sure?” she asked. “Yes, I’m positive, and from my tests you appear to be about 3 or 4 months along, with five cubs it looks like too,” Take Care waited to see how Grams would respond. He was taken aback when she suddenly jumped up and hugged him tightly. “Oh yes!” she said, smiling broadly, “I’m pregnant, I’m going to have cubs again!” she said. Take Care waited until she let him go before speaking up again. “Well it’s good that you’re happy about this, but we need to set some appointments to make sure things go well. I’m not sure how fast your pregnancy will progress at this point, it could be over in just a few days or it could last the remaining 5 to 6 months, but I’d like you to return to me tomorrow and each day thereafter so I can monitor you. Moreover I’ll have to give you an ultrasound once I can figure these things out. Until then just feel free to eat as much as you can, and keep yourself safe,” Take Care advised. “Of course,” Grams said, “Now I’m going to go, bye!” she waved as she left the office, a new spring in her step as she did. Take Care rolled his eyes and sighed. “I’m sure by the end of the day, everyone will have heard the good news,” he said, as he went to sit down, in case anyone else needed his help today. Grams had taken her time on the way back to her house, spreading the good news to those who were still in Care-A-Lot and not on missions. By the time she was back home she felt giddy, a sensation she had not felt in years. She couldn’t resist doing a little twirl in place. “What a wonderful day,” she said, “but it’s no wonder I’m so hungry, I’m not just eating for two, I’m eating for six,” she moved to the kitchen to fix herself some food. She didn’t even try to hold back but made sure she was getting food that was good for her and her new cubs. Once she was done she moved to the living room with a rather large platter of food and sat down, grabbing her knitting needles. She was going to have enough clothing for all five cubs by the time they were born, even if that was in only a few days according to Take Care Bear. Every hour or so, Grams took a break from knitting to replace the food she had eaten; her pregnant belly had swollen only slightly over the course of the day, but she suspected that would change over night, as it had the previous night. Eventually Grams received a couple visitors, first were Hugs and Tugs who wanted to see Grams’ pregnant belly for themselves, when they entered her living room, Grams set her project down and smiled at them. “Hello my big darlings, how are you today?” she asked. “We’re just fine Grams, and how are you?” Hugs asked. “Oh I’m just fine, extremely hungry though,” Grams replied. Tugs came up to her and placed his hands on her pregnant tummy, “So you’re saying that you wished for this, and it came true?” he asked. “Yes, I think the Wishing Star wanted me to be happy so it gave me a way to let my wish come true.” “Promise you won’t forget us?” Hugs asked, sounding a bit pleading. Grams put her hands on both of their shoulders, “I could never forget about you two, but remember I’ll have a lot on my hands taking care of five cubs so I might not have much free time after they’re born.” “We can help can’t we?” Hugs asked. “Well, you two still have your training to take care of so you might want to focus on that, the others can help me when they have free time,” Grams said, “but I appreciate the offer. Now maybe you two should run along, you have training to do.” Both teenage Care Bears nodded and took off after saying goodbye. Grams’ next visitor was True Heart, her own daughter. True Heart wasn’t sure what to believe, but sure enough, there was her mother, pregnant and positively beaming. “So I see what I heard was true, Grams,” True Heart said, sounding a bit worried but also happy. Grams got up carefully, “True Heart, you don’t need to be so formal, I know we don’t talk much but you can always call me mom,” she said, approaching her daughter. “Alright, mom,” True Heart couldn’t help but smile, “So are you all right with this?” she asked. “Well, I should be, I wished for it,” Grams rubbed her hand over her pregnant tummy, “After all, why should all you younger bears be the only ones who can feel the joy of being parents anymore. Soon you’re going to have five new brothers and/or sisters, even if they’ll be much much younger than you.” “Well that is something to look forwards too,” True Heart hugged her mother and whispered, “and soon you’ll be a real grandmother.” Grams blinked and held True Heart at arm’s length. “Are you saying that you and Noble Heart?” True Heart nodded, “After trying for so long, we’re going to actually be parents and not just adopted ones. I’m pregnant, but I doubt you’ll get to see your new grandson or granddaughter for quite a while.” “Oh that’s wonderful True Heart,” Grams hugged her daughter again, “about how long?” she asked. “Well, I’m about four months along, but only Noble Heart and Take Care know so far, well and you now mother,” True Heart said. “Well then, maybe we might end up in the maternity ward at the same time,” Grams said, “at least if my pregnancy isn’t accelerated after today.” “That would be a strange treat, but I guess I should get back home now,” True Heart turned and left, waving goodbye to her mother. Grams smiled, then went back to the kitchen, True Heart would likely have an easier time if she was only having one child, Grams on the other hand knew she’d likely be hungry non-stop for quite a while. … A few days later it became apparent that Grams’ pregnancy was now progressing at a normal rate, which was a slight relief to her so she wouldn’t be rushed into motherhood as quickly. On the other hand, it meant that the pregnancy food cravings would go on for much longer than she originally had thought. However despite this and all the complications that came with it, Grams was enjoying herself. Whenever someone in the Care Bear Family had some free time they would come around to see Grams, both to see if what they had heard about her being pregnant was true, and to see how she was doing and feel her tummy. Grams for her part didn’t mind this, but she did encourage them to see True Heart as well, both to give herself more free time and because she felt her daughter should get some attention for her pregnancy too. Because of her hunger cravings, Grams was spending even more time than normal cooking of all kinds, and rather than just making things to preserve she more often than not ended up eating at least half of the things she made, if not more. Grams did feel relieved that she didn’t have to hold back and could just eat as much as she wanted, after all she was eating for six and since she never went on caring missions anymore anyways it was nice to just let herself go in this case. Whenever she wasn’t cooking, she was making baby clothes, both for herself and for True Heart. Two months had gone by since Grams first discovered that she was pregnant because of her wish, and she was going in for her first sonogram. Getting around was becoming a bit laborious for her as her huge pregnant belly weighed her down, but she was able to manage on her own quite well despite this. As she made her way towards Take Care’s office, slowly but surely, not needing to slow down as a few members of the family came up to her to feel her tummy. Grams didn’t mind and thankfully, they were kind enough to leave her alone by the time she got too the office. Upon entering Take Care’s waiting room, Grams sat down relieved to be able to relax herself while she waited for Take Care to come and get her. While she waited she ran her hands over her taught tummy and began to think up names she could choose for her new cubs, of course she’d have to account for the genders of the cubs, but that’s why she was here today, to find that out. The sound of an inside door opening caused the grey bear to look up to see Noble Heart and True Heart entering the waiting room, having come from her own sonogram by the looks of it. True Heart’s own tummy was swollen at this point as well, but not nearly as much as Grams’ was. “True Heart, how did it go?” Grams said, catching her daughter’s attention. “Oh mom,” True Heart was a bit surprised to see Grams there on the same day as her, but quickly smiled, “it went fine. I’m actually having twins, one female horse and one male bear.” “That’s wonderful,” Grams said, as Take Care entered the room. Grams carefully stood up and allowed the doctor bear to lead her to the room with the sonogram machine in it. Rather than leave right away, True Heart and Noble Heart took seats in the waiting, room, deciding to wait for Grams to return. “She sure looks happy,” Noble Heart said. “Yes, she does,” True Heart rubbed her tummy, “and I’m happy for her and for us as well.” Noble Heart kissed his wife, “Well, do you have any name ideas now?” he asked. “Well,” True Heart said, “I do have a couple suggestions…” In the sonogram room, Grams got up on the exam table as Take Care carefully applied the conductive gel to her belly. “Good thing we’re doing this now,” he said, “if we waited any longer, at the rate you’re growing, I not may have been able to manage this.” Grams couldn’t help but laugh at that statement as Take Care took the sonogram scanner and pressed it to her belly. After a short time, the doctor was able to get an image on the screen of the main machine. “Well well, it’s quite a crowded womb in there,” he mused as he used the scanner to do his best to take a look at the five cubs inside Grams. Grams leaned her head over to look, and sighed contentedly when she saw them in there. They were her children, given to her by a wish, and she would raise them and look after them, and show them the world, and be able to do it from the day they were born, something she hadn’t been able to do in her entire life, as True Heart had been born an ordinary bear such a long time ago. “They all look very healthy,” Take Care said, “and as for the genders, three are girls and two are boys.” “Thanks, Take Care,” Grams said, as the doctor bear wiped the gel from her fur then scrubbed the remaining residue so it wouldn’t harden. Take Care then helped Grams to her feet. “So, keep looking after yourself and come back in a couple months for a check up, also, you’re about six months along now, the same as True Heart. Maybe you two will end up here on the same due dates,” he joked. Grams laughed and headed for the waiting room. Upon returning to the waiting room, True Heart got up to meet her mother, she would have hugged her but their pregnant bellies made that impossible. “So?” True Heart asked, “Three girls, and two boys, and all very healthy,” Grams said. “That’s great to hear mom,” True Heart said. “Do you have any ideas for names for them yet?” Noble Heart asked. Grams smiled, rubbing her hands over her tummy, “I do have a few, but I’d rather just keep them to myself for now, I need time to think them over.” “That’s just fine, now remember you two, you need to stay safe and healthy, remember that,” Take Care said. “They know, Take Care, but we should head home now,” Noble Heart said, taking his wife’s hand, “would you like us to walk you home?” he asked Grams. “I would love that, in fact why don’t you two come over to my house for dinner, I might as well make it now, I’m hungry, as I’m sure you are True Heart.” “Well, yes, I am,” True Heart said. As if to put the period on that statement, both of their stomachs gurgled loudly, causing a small laughing fit to break out. Once they were at Grams’ house, the grey bear set about making supper for the three of them. Despite her insistence that she could do fine, Noble Heart decided to help her, especially as he was trying to hone his cooking skills and wanted to learn a few things from her. About an hour later, Grams and Noble Heart had finished making a large plate of sausages, a large dish of brussel sprouts, and a huge bowl of perogees, which they set down on the table. Noble Heart only managed to get a small serving of each, which he ate slowly as he watched mother and daughter eating incredible amounts of food, the full effects of pregnancy hunger upon them. He managed to finish his serving first however, and was still satisfied as the other two were still eating. Once they were done, Noble Heart volunteered to do the dishes, and let the two mothers-to-be sit down in the living room to socialize. One of the first things True Heart brought up was that she would like to learn to sew, something she had wanted to learn for a while but hadn’t had a chance to ask for an opportunity owing to caring missions and Grams’ prior dedication to Hugs and Tugs. Grams cheerfully agreed to teach her daughter how to knit and sew and showed her the knitting needles she used, along with the three sets of baby clothing she had already completed. By the time Noble Heart had finished with the dishes he found that his wife was doing her best to keep up with Grams, who by now had become an expert at the art of knitting, however the horse pointed out that it was getting late and that they should head home. Before they left, Grams told them to wait and headed to another room, only to return with a small pile of books. “Here, these are the books I used to learn to sew, I know you can borrow a sewing machine from someone and you can use these to learn how to do it yourself,” she said, doing her best to pass the books to her daughter. Instead, Noble Heart took the books from Grams, “thanks, Grams, I’m sure we can make use of them.” “Oh we can,” True Heart said as they headed out the door, “Good night mom.” “Good night, my dear daughter,” she added as True Heart left. There wasn’t much else for Grams to do, so she carefully headed to her room. She had gotten too big to wear her nightgown and all of her sewing time was spent on the clothing for her soon to be born children, so she just removed her shawl and carefully climbed into bed. She closed her eyes and smiled, thinking over names for her cubs as she drifted off to sleep. --- Now that she was in her third trimester, Grams could swear that she felt herself getting bigger and heavier by the day. It wasn’t entirely her imagination as the cubs inside her had apparently had a growth spurt and she was finding her tummy to be more and more of an obstruction when she was moving around. But still she persevered and kept up her daily routine, eating, sewing, eating, seeing visitors, and eating, as she was still quite hungry. As the weeks went by it became apparent that the cubs weren’t the only part of her that were having a growth spurt. Her body knew just how many cubs she would have to take care of and as such her breasts had begun their expected production of milk for the cubs, but in rather large amounts meaning that Grams’ chest had grown a couple cup sizes since this had begun. Not that she minded, in fact she was elated and she actually felt younger than she had in years, and it wasn’t just a mind set, she actually felt younger. Whenever she was just relaxing, Grams was content to feel her cubs kicking her from within, reminding her that she wasn’t alone, not that she ever thought so anyways, but it was nice to feel the reminder ever so often. One day Grams decided that she’d had enough of her routine and decided to go for a walk, which in itself was a bit of a challenge for her. She carefully heaved herself out of her seat and put on her shawl before heading for the door and exiting her house. The sun and cool wind felt good to her and she made her way to the small playground where Hugs and Tugs had often played when they were younger. As it was the middle of the day there was no one around, as everyone was busy on Caring Missions or doing some other task that was important to them, though True Heart would certainly be home, Grams didn’t feel like going to see her at the moment, she just wanted to spend some time with her unborn cubs. She approached the playground smiling, and rubbed her hands over her belly, speaking in a motherly voice, “Here’s where you’ll be playing outside,” she said softly, imagining the years to come where she would be raising her new cubs. She felt the cubs kicking as if in acknowledgement of what she had said and sighed contentedly. “Hi mom, I wasn’t expecting to see you here. Then again, both of us are expecting other things right now,” the voice giggled slightly and Grams turned to see True Heart standing there. She too looked ripe with motherhood, though as always not nearly to the extent that Grams did. “True Heart, where’s Noble Heart?” Grams asked. “He’s back at home doing some cleaning up, he insisted that I get some fresh air while he did, concern for our children,” True Heart shrugged, “I see that your coming along nicely though,” she observed, moving over to her mother and placing a hand on her tummy, smiling when she felt a kick from within. “You are too, True Heart. So have you thought of any names for my grandchildren?” Grams asked. True Heart giggled, “Well, we finally did decide on names, Honesty Heart Horse and Chivalry Heart Bear, what do you think mom?” “I think they’re perfect names for your children,” Grams then turned and pressed her pregnant tummy against her daughters, True Heart was a bit taken aback. “Mom, what are you doing?” she asked. “Helping our children get to know each other,” Grams said, smiling, “I’m sure they’ll be good friends when they’re born. “Yes, but it will be weird for my children to have aunts and uncles the same age as them,” True Heart said, laughing a bit. “Of course, but that won’t makes things any different for them, they’ll be good friends all the same,” Grams said. By this point Grams was getting a bit tired of standing and moved to sit over on a bench, True Heart, on the other hand, felt just fine on her feet. She stared at the playground. “I remember when we first came to the Kingdom of Caring and all of the Care Bears were just babies. I watched them playing here and I had to keep them safe, mind you there were about 30 of them, this time there will only be two so it won’t be such an exhaustion, or seven if my new siblings are here too,” she actually laughed when she thought about it, “Imagine, I’ll have siblings who are over 30 years younger than I am.” “Yes, that will be something won’t it,” Grams said, laughing along with True Heart. True Heart wiped a few tears from her eyes that had gathered from the laughing then sighed happily. “Well, I’d better head home, Noble Heart should be done with the cleaning by now and he gets worried when I’m away from him for too long, I’ll see you later mom,” True Heart said, as she turned to leave, Grams waved good bye and then carefully heaved herself up, taking a deep breath as she did so. Even getting up was a challenge for her at this point but she still wouldn’t trade it for the world as she made her way home. As usual she was hungry. --- It was fairly late at night when Grams Bear was awakened by the sound of her phone ringing. She was unable to rush as this last month of pregnancy had seen her growth, both in her tummy and her breasts, continue at the same rate, so it took her quite some time to reach the nearest telephone in her house. Fortunately whoever was on the line was patient enough to wait for Grams to answer and when she did, she heard Noble Heart’s voice on the other side of the line. “Grams, it’s Noble Heart, I’m at Take Care’s clinic. True Heart’s having the baby,” the horse’s voice was both excited and worried at the same time. “She is?” Grams asked, not needing an answer, “I’ll be right there.” “I knew you’d want to be here, so I arranged for Loyal Heart to pick you up, he should be there right away.” “Thanks, Noble Heart. You’re a good Son-in-law.” “You’re welcome,” Noble Heart then hung up. Grams did the same and made her way to the front door, hearing a Cloud Car pull up just as she was about to open the door. Outside she saw Loyal Heart sitting there in the driver’s seat of a Cloud Car. “You’re carriage awaits,” the blue dog said. “Thank you, Loyal Heart,” Grams replied as she carefully eased into the back seat, sitting sideways as that was the only way to accommodate her huge belly. Once Grams had sat down, Loyal drove to the Clinic, not going too fast, but fast enough that they would get there in time. Because of the late hour, Grams was not surprised to find that there weren’t that many of the family present, in fact other than herself and Loyal Heart, only Bedtime Bear, Tenderheart Bear, Brave Heart Lion, and Love-a-Lot Bear were there. Grams moved to the door leading to the actual clinic part of the building and heard a cry of pain from the other side. She recognized it as belonging to True Heart and figured that it was her giving birth. No one moved to stop her as she moved into the clinic and she followed the sounds of her daughter. She approached the correct door just in time to hear Take Care speak. “Just one more good push True Heart,” and as Grams opened the door, a final cry of pain and exertion followed by panting signified that True Heart’s pregnancy was over. “Congratulations dear,” Noble Heart said, patting his wife on the shoulder, “we’re parents.” “Yes, congratulations,” Take Care said, “I hope you’re ready for this.” “Oh I’m sure she will be,” Grams said, taking them by surprise as the grey bear stepped into the room fully, “How are they Take Care?” “Both True Heart and the babies are fine,” the doctor said. True Heart smiled weakly, tired from what she had just gone through, “Don’t worry mom, we’re all fine, just very tired.” “You don’t need to describe it, dear,” Noble Heart said, “Grams will know what it’s like soon enough.” Grams was about to reply with a witty remark when she felt a sudden rush of fluid being dumped out of her, and instead said, “Sooner than you think, my water just broke,” she said, blushing slightly, embarrassed. “Oh, well it’s a good thing you came here,” Take Care said, “Hurry, I have a second table in this room you can use,” the doctor turned to Noble Heart, “could you please get some more resting cribs for the cubs. “Right away,” Noble Heart kissed his wife quickly, saying, “be back in a minute,” before leaving to fulfill Take Care’s request while the doctor helped Grams onto a maternity exam table. Grams flinched as a contraction hit and True Heart, who was watching, did her best to give some advice. “Don’t worry Grams, the pain won’t last forever.” Grams nodded, and then gritted her teeth again as another contraction hit. Take Care checked Grams and nodded, “You’re coming along nicely, you can start pushing shortly.” Noble Heart didn’t have much trouble finding the baby resting cribs, as he was familiar with the layout of the clinic, and he managed to grab two big ones and pull them back to the maternity ward. He arrived in time to hear Take Care tell Grams that she could start pushing. As Grams felt her next contraction hit she began to push, the start of what would be a long night for her. “Keep it up Grams, I can see the first head,” Take Care said, “Noble Heart, I’ll need your help again.” “Right,” the horse said, moving to help Take Care as he had done earlier with True Heart. Grams pushed again, helping get the head all the way out, she panted, but took another deep breath and pushed hard, finally giving birth to the first cub. “Good going, Grams,” Take Care said as he and Noble Heart cleaned the baby and set it in one of the resting cribs, “only four more to go, you can do it.” Despite how quickly and easily the first cub had been born, the remainder of Grams’ labor lasted 3 and a half hours, and by the end, Take Care, Noble Heart, and Grams were exhausted. Take Care yawned, “Sorry to leave you like this, but I need my rest. Wake me up if anything really serious happens,” the doctor said as he headed for his bedroom. Noble Heart sat down and looked over at his wife, who had fallen asleep while Grams was in labor, too tired from her own labor session to stay awake. “Well how do you feel, Grams,” the horse asked. “Extremely tired, but happy,” she said, she placed her hands on her breasts, which she realized were swollen and sore from the milk production they had to help her feed her new children, “and a bit engorged as well,” she added, unable to resist a small laugh. AS if in response to this, two of the newborn cubs, a light blue girl and a mustard yellow boy, began to cry. “I guess they’re hungry,” Noble Heart said, moving over to pick them up and hand them to Grams, who carefully placed them against her breasts where they immediately dug in, nursing from Grams Bear. Grams smiled, “Well I guess I’ll call you Eager Heart,” she said to the female cub, “and Ambitious Bear,” she said to the boy. “Well that solves your engorgement problem, for now,” Noble Heart chuckled. Grams smiled and nodded. Her wish had come true and she was a mother again, a mother to five new cubs. Her real journey with them was about to begin as she would be raising them, but she was happy, because this was what she always wanted.