It was in the middle of the cold season. Amber taught the beast men about Christmas decorations. They brought an evergreen tree inside and decorated it.
Amber taught them Christmas songs, but other than Tyler and Tom the rest had no real musical abilities. Tyler and Tom could whistle and do bird calls.
Amber taught them Christmas classics that they could understand like Winter Wonderland and White Christmas. They loved to hear her sing. They thought only birds and mermaids could sing, but Amber's voice was like an entrancing siren song.
She would often hum and sing to herself and the baby. She was almost due.
She started to sing White Christmas since it was currently snowing outside. "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas, just like the ones I used to know. Where the treetops glisten and children listen to hear sleigh bells in the snow, the snow."
She was singing when all of a sudden she felt a pain down below. It was like a cramp. She grunted and Oliver came to her immediately.
He helped her to the rug on the floor.
The others came over except Barry who was hibernating in his room. Nick was the most worried about something going wrong with the baby and Amber's suffering. He tried to calm himself down by patting Amber's hair.
Oliver checked Amber and noticed her water broke. He told Ray to get some warm water. Fred ran off to get some clean furs. Tyler and Tom were standing guard.
Oliver told Amber as calmly as he could, "The baby is coming. I will need you to push when you feel the cramps."
Tyler gave Amber a stick to bite down on. She almost cracked a tooth whit one of the contractions, so Oliver told Nick to give her a fur cloth to bite down instead.
Amber's contractions were getting closer to each other and she was crying in pain. Nick was so angry at the cub for hurting his mate. If he didn't know how much Amber cared about the cub he would just kill it to ease her pain.
Fred tried to distract Amber from the pain by telling her a funny story. Tom whistled a song that she had taught him. Oliver told Ray to boil some tea for Amber. It would help relieve the pain a little.
Hours passed by and finally, the baby was coming out. The problem was the baby was turned around. Oliver knew it was his cub when he could see the bright blue baby butt! He helped to pull the baby monkey from Amber to help ease her pain as soon as possible.
The baby finally came out and started to cry. Oliver was helping to clean up Amber with warm water and fur towels.
Tyler went to clean the baby monkey. When he lay the baby down he was still crying. When Amber looked over towards the baby monkey, his human-looking brown eyes met hers and they both connected. It was as if they were speaking telepathically.
Amber was saying, "Hi, I'm your momma." The baby was saying, "Momma!" They looked at each other and it was suddenly silent. The males were quiet and did not want to disturb the silence.
Tyler finished cleaning the baby and handed him to Amber. She hugged him close to her chest and he instinctively started to suckle. The others looked away after Nick gave them a warning glare.
Nick asked her, "Are you ok, do you need anything?" Amber replied, "I'm hungry and thirsty."
Nick went to make some soup for Amber. Oliver continued to wipe Amber clean. He helped her change into a new dress and moved her onto a clean fur rug.
Amber noticed the baby stopped sucking and was sleeping. She didn't know what to do. Oliver took the baby and looked at him with pride. This was his baby boy!
Even though they only mated once and Amber confused him with Nick, he was overjoyed that she had a cub for him!
The others looked at the baby with envy. They wanted Amber to have their cubs! They knew they would have to wait for her to recover. They also didn't want to cause her that much pain again.
Nick brought the soup to Amber and helped her eat it. She sat in his lap with her back to his chest. He helped to feed her.
She was so exhausted that she fell asleep immediately after eating. Nick gently lowered her to the rug bed and hugged her to sleep.
He quietly asked Oliver, "Is she ok?" Oliver nodded and replied, "Both of them are healthy, just tired."
They all stayed quiet to let Amber and the cub sleep. The snow was falling outside, but it was a warm silent night inside the Cheetah castle.
The next morning Amber woke up with the baby crying. She instinctively reached out to him and Oliver brought the baby to her.
She fed him and the baby went back to sleep. Amber woke up and Nick helped her go to the bathroom. She soaked in the warm water to help her sore muscles.
Nick fed her a clear crystal to help heal her and instantly Amber felt better and more energetic! She wished they had these gems in her world. It would help so many women give birth!
She felt happier that her mate was strong enough to get the crystals for her. She thanked him and kissed him on the lips.
Amber asked, "Are you upset that the cub is not yours?"
Nick replied, "I was hoping it would be my cheetah cub, but I still love any child of yours as my own."
Amber was touched! She told him, "We can always try again later." Nick was excited and kissed her more deeply. He pulled away when he felt Amber losing her breath.
He told her, "Breathe, Amber." Amber sucked in a deep breath. She was a little lightheaded from the deep kiss. Oliver had told her to wait to mate for at least a month. She calmed her heart down. And looked at Nick with a shy smile.
Nick laughed and looked at Amber. He was so happy that Amber wanted to give birth to his cub. He had thought after going through the pain yesterday Amber wouldn't want to have another cub.
He asked her, "How are you feeling?" Amber replied, "I'm a little sore, but the crystal helped a lot! Thank you!"
Nick smiled and felt proud that he could give his mate a crystal. Not every beast man could kill a Behemoth.
He helped her dry off and get dressed when she was done with the bath. He carried her to the bedroom and Oliver brought her a bowl of soup.
He had boiled some bone broth for Amber to help with her milk production. Amber drank the broth happily. She was thirsty from yesterday!
Tyler brought her some freshly squeezed juice and asked, "Have you thought of a name? Usually, if there is more than one cub they are named based on their birth order."
Amber replied, "I like the name, Eli." She looked at Oliver and asked him with her eyes. He responded, "That is a great name. He will feel so loved that his mother gave him such a unique name."
Most males would pick their names when they matured enough to transform into their walking form.
Eli was so loved already! Oliver was happy that Amber loved his son so much.
Amber remembered it was Christmas time and she thought this was the best Christmas gift. She held her cub in her arms and smiled at him. He smiled back at her and cooed.
Amber whispered, "Merry Christmas Eli!" They all smiled at the mother and child on Christmas morning.
…
A month passed and the cold season was coming to an end. Eli was crawling and climbing. Oliver taught him how to swing on vines and climb tall trees.
The greenhouse helped a lot and no one in the Cheetah castle went hungry throughout the cold season. When it started to warm up Amber wanted to go outdoors. She had been cooped up inside for too long.
They planned to go on a family trip to the sea. Amber wanted to go on the previous trip, but it was too close to the cold season.
Now that spring was here, Barry woke up and finally met the newest member of the family. Eli was adorable and funny. The entire family loved him.
Amber and Nick decided to wait another month before trying to have another cub. Nick was just happy that Amber was willing.
Once it was warm enough to go outdoors, Amber went out for a walk with her mates and guards. She brought Eli to meet Clara and the Lion King.
Larry saw Amber and her new cub and he was extremely jealous. He started to think of ways to get back at Amber. How dare she be so happy while he was miserable?