A gasping, wheezing Jupiter threw himself at the feet of the tractor. "Valen," he wheezed as he reached out to bang on the rusty metal beast. He'd run flat out for miles; easily the furthest and fastest he'd run in years. The last few hours had been a whirlwind. Ballad was dead, he was a father again, and he had a whole new set of urgent problems to contend with. What was he going to do with three motherless newborns? There was no way Alfrun could take care of eleven in her current state. Both he and Alfrun were already stretched thin with what they had. How could they take on more? He was such a fool. This was bad, really bad. What was he going to do?

Jupiter felt sick to his stomach. He was exhausted, his nerves frayed, and yes, he was still struggling to process the situation. This morning he had been a father of eight with an ill wife. Now he was a father of eleven with an ill wife, a dead lover and more problems then he knew he could handle. And that was why he was turning to the smartest man he knew. Valentine would know what to do.

"Pop, wake up!" He kicked at the tractor again. "There's been..." He struggled to find a word that summed it up. "There's just been some shit, Pop. Come on, get up!"

Valentine woke with a bewildered snort that quickly turned into a grumpy growl. He sat upright and blinked bleary eyes at the den's entrance. "I'm coming, I'm coming," he groused at his grandson while stiffly getting to his paws. This had better be good. If he'd been woken up this late over something stupid he was going to skin the boy. Since the birth of Valentine's great grand kids Jupiter had been all up in his shit with questions. Of course Valentine offered what advice he could, but a lot of what it boiled down to was that Jupiter was going to have to sink or swim here.

Another round of thumping echoed down the entrance causing Valentine to lurch forward in a rage."Get your damn feet off my tractor!" he roared. If Jupiter knocked anything other than rust off the tractor Valentine was going to bury him behind it.

He wormed his way out of the den and stood scowling down at his grandson who was leaning heavily on the dramatics by laying in the dirt in an "exhausted" heap. "Somebody," he huffed, while pointing accusingly at Jupiter, "better be dead or dying otherwise it's going to be you." Had it been one of the others Valentine might have taken them seriously from the start, but this was Jupiter. He had proven long ago not to be trustworthy and as much as Valentine had hoped Alfrun would change him, it seemed that wasn't to be.

Valentine was out of the den and looming over him before Jupiter could pull his feet away from the tractor's side. Angry as the old man was Jupiter was relieved to see him. He breathed a sigh of relief and launched into an explanation. "Okay so I've been seeing this lady on the side, okay? Well with Alfrun and the pups I haven't been to see her in forever so I went earlier to, you know, catch...up. Anyway she was pregnant, and I didn't know it, and she gave birth, and they gotta be mine because they're," he gestured to himself while sucking in a deep breath, "you know, blue and shit, and she's red so...so, yeah."

He froze and fixed Valentine with a serious look. His voice quiet for once, he said, "Pop, she died. Like...right there." There was a pause as he replayed what had happened. It felt wrong to not be upset but this was urgent and other things had to come before his feelings.

Jupiter shook his head, his heart laid bare by the events of the evening and the exhaustion that had plagued him for months. "I don't know what to do. Alfrun can't take care of three more. She just can't. And they're so small, Pop. What do we do?"

When it became clear that for once Jupiter did have a problem that needed to be addressed, Valentine ditched the scowl. He sank to the ground slowly as his grandson spoke. That Jupiter had a women on the side barely registered with him. That part didn't matter in the slightest. His family was free to take as many or a few partners as they liked. What stuck in his craw was the fact that his grandson had accidentally and unknowingly knocked someone up, and only found out about it because he'd dropped in for a visit. That information brought a frown to Valentine's lips, but he said nothing as Jupiter continued his mile-a-minute rundown of the situation.

When he was done Valentine shook his head and groused, "I thought I taught you better than that. None of this would have happened if you had been careful." It was a fair accusation in Valentine's mind, and the worst he was going to say at this stage. When things were settled he would give the boy a proper dressing down, but for now caring for the hungry newborns took precedent. They were at a crucial stage and their care came first. Though Valentine had been unaware of them until this moment they were still his family and their care was top priority.

"No matter." Valentine glanced around Jupiter expectantly, then asked, "Where are they?" If they were going to do this they needed to jump to it. Already he had an idea forming. One of his granddaughters was recovering in Fireside after suffering a miscarriage at the hands of some kind of predator - Valentine was ignorant of the details - and if he had his way, she could be pressed into service here. Family was family. She would see reason, he was sure of it.

Jupiter's face went blank at Valentine's assertion. He hadn't considered that until now. Ballad was dead because of him. That new information rendered him speechless. He swallowed hard, his heart racing, as his thoughts latched onto his grandfather's words and ran wild. This was all his fault. He had known better; he was always so careful. With her he hadn't been thinking, he'd just wanted to be with someone whose only expectations he knew he could satisfy.

Valentine asked him a question and Jupiter stared blankly at him for a second. "Huh? Oh," he swallowed before answering slowly, "they're still with her." It was only then that he realized what he'd done and his gaze, which had drifted away, flashed back to Valentine in alarm. "I left them...there."

Now it was time for Valentine's face to go blank. He stared at Jupiter in disbelief for several seconds as he tried to wrap his head around what his grandson had just told him. Then, slowly and carefully, he reiterated what Jupiter had just said. "You were there when they were born. You watched their mother die. And then you left your newborn puppies unattended so you could come here and ask me what to do. Am I hearing you correctly? That's what you did?"

He shook his head, his anger building, and then bit out the words, "You left your children alone in fuck knows what condition." Valentine leaped to his feet and roared, "For fuck's sake, Jupiter! What kind of father leaves his newborns alone?" Valentine began to pace. "I have tried and tried with you! When will you learn to think?" He loomed over Jupiter and sought to jab the side of his head with a paw. "I know you have a fucking brain in there because you use it to whore around. Is finding ways to empty your sack all it's good for? FOR FUCK'S SAKE JUPITER!"

Huffing like a bull Valentine recoiled from him and took up pacing again. He didn't even know where to start. Blankets. Yes, blankets were a good place to start. The pups were probably cold by now. Cold and hungry was a lethal combination in newborns. Any idiot would know that. Hopefully they weren't too far away. "Fucking useless!" he snarled at Jupiter before reaching into his den and pulling out all of his bedding. "You, get Tyrian and Motif, and tell them what's happening. I'm going to get your children because fuck knows what you'll do with them along the way if I send you." He gathered up his bedding, threw it over his back, and then began to follow Jupiter's trail.

-exit Valentine-