Beating heart of stone

He felt like he had been a fool. The more she apologized for how she was the more that felt like it was true. The final blow came in the news that he hadn't been the only one, that there had been someone else before him. That she hadn't been sure that the pups were his, not till they were born. He didn't know what to think any more. He felt like he had been deceived, but only by himself. He had never stopped to consider the fact that she had given herself to him with just barely knowing him. He had never considered the possibility that he was living in a one sided existence or that he had been so naive to think that he could ever help her or fix her. All he had ever wanted to do since the day they met was help her and now he felt like he could only blame himself for not seeing any of this sooner.

If all of that was true, then why did he still crave to make things right? To give their children the family they deserved and somehow make their mother part of their lives? He almost loathed himself for even considering any of that as a possibility after all of this information had come to light, but those pups in the next room over meant more to him than his own life. He was quiet for a while as he considered all of this, his thoughts racing and impossible to keep up with. He looked down at her with a heavy sigh, still heart broken but begrudgingly accepting of the fact that he had read every interaction they had been through incorrectly. He gave in to the paw that was hooked around his foreleg and lifted it to gently drape across her shoulders, holding her there as he considered her for a moment.

"They need you," he said softly nodding toward the wall across the room that separated them from their children. "If... If you have any desire to be in their lives, please, just... Come back to Abaven with us. I won't breathe a word of any of this to them, we'll agree that it was only the weather that kept you away." He swallowed back his own fractured pride and confidence, fighting with himself as he tried to ignore how nice it was to have her back in his arms again. "I want them to have a family. I can't keep... I don't want to keep doing this on my own. I can if I must, but..." He sighed, his ears flicking back uncertainly. "They deserve better. And... And I'm lonely without you."

Walk | "Talk" | think