*three moons later*

Dawnheart padded into the clearing cautiously. She waited patiently for her best friend to come, just as they had planned. Dawnheart watched as the silver moonlight bounced off the small piles of melting snow. It had gotten warmer a bit late, and SilverClan had sadly lost Blossomfur to greencough.

As she stared at her paws she saw a few tuxedo paws walking up to her. She caught her breath, she was here!

"What took you so long!" Dawnheart whispered, trying to hide her blushing cheeks.

"Sorry, I had to sneak by Needleflight, she was sitting vigil," Crowfoot replied.

"I've been thinking," Dawnheart mewed carefully and slowly.

"Yeah?" Crowfoot encouraged, nodding her head in support.

Dawnheart took a deep breath and said what was on her mind."I think....I think that we are more than friends."

Crowfoot took a deep breath as she met Dawnheart's gaze.

"Yeah, I think so too," she replied in the same slow voice.

"But we are both she-cats!" Dawnheart blurted out, shuffling her paws.

"So?" Crowfoot pleaded, pain in her eyes.  "They don't need to know! We can still be mates!" The tuxedo cat wreathed around Dawnheart, and the calico had never felt so safe.

Dawnheart purred softly as she pressed against her mate, and they stood there for a while, silently. Their moment was interrupted when suddenly the two heard a rustle in the bush, and Needleflight slipped out. Her amber eyes were glittering viciously and her tail was swishing slowly.

"Needleflight!" Crowfoot gasped in surprise, backing up. "What are you doing here? What do you want?"

Needleflight purred. It was a disgusting sound to Dawnheart's ears. 

"I heard everything. I'm going to make your life miserable, just like you did to me!" Needleflight crowed

Dawnheart padded forward. "Wait! Don't tell them!"

"Too late," Needleflight purred and she took off running.

"No!" Crowfoot shouted in distress.

"It's ok! We can stop her!" Dawnheart meowed as she raced after the black-and-white she-cat.

Needleflight burst into the camp and ran straight towards Ashstar's den. Dawnheart skidded to a halt and watched, horrified, and moments later Ashstar walked out of the den with rage written all over her face.

The leader ran to the Rock and shouted out to the camp.

"All cats old enough to climb a tree gather to hear my words!" she growled.

Their eyes bleary with sleep, cats slipped out of their dens to hear what she had to say.

"I have found out that two cats have decided to go against the rituals and history of all Clans!"

There was a collective gasp and Crowfoot and Dawnheart stared at their paws in shame. They couldn't help liking each other!

"Who was it?" Brambletail shouted.

"Yeah, and what did they do?" another warrior shouted out.

"Dawnheart and Crowfoot have decided to break the tradition of one tom and one she-cat being mates. They have decided to be each other's mate! Unacceptable!" Ashstar yeowled out.

Leafshadow and Amberleaf stared, horrified, at their daughters.

"What? That's gross!" a cat spat out from the crowd.

"Who told you this?" Riverstorm asked calmly. As soon as SilverClan heard his deep, reasuring voice, they fell silent.

"Needleflight did," Ashstar said, clearly furious.

"But we can't exactly trust her, can we?" Riverstorm pointed out slowly.

Ashstar spun around. "Crowfoot, Dawnheart, tell me, is this true?"

Dawnheart was ready to respond with a full-out 'no!', but Crowfoot opened her mouth first.

"Well, yes! And we aren't ashamed!"Crowfoot shouted.

Dawnheart looked at her with fear in her eyes. "Why would you say that?!" she whispered to Crowfoot.

"Because, I'm tired of living a lie!" the tuxedo she-cat responded.

They turned back to the SilverClan cats, who were leering and snarling at them.

"We have to leave before we are attacked," Dawnheart concluded, backing away slowly.

Ashstar growled for everyone's attention."Due to this behavior, Dawnheart and Crowfoot will no longer be a part of SilverClan! Exile! You have until sun-up to leave the camp, and if you stay after that, my cats have the right to kill you!"

Leafshadow gave a whimper.

The two she-cats walked up to Leafspring, Oakspot and Gingerleaf. Their siblings had pity in their eyes.

Leafspring dipped his head, "I guess that's why you didn't like me."

"Yeah," Dawnheart replied sadly.

"Good-bye, and thanks for everything," Crowfoot meowed to the three of them.

Side-by-side the pair walked out of camp.

By morning they had found an abandoned fox burrow on neutral territory and settled there. The two cuddled up to one another and went to sleep.

They woke up at sun-high and sat together to talk.

"I'm sorry I didn't say no," Crowfoot meowed, full of remorse.

"It's okay, we would have ended up with toms as our mates and hating them," Dawnheart replied, completely forgiving her mate.

She laughed. "So, what should we do now?"

Dawnheart shrugged. "I'm not sure, I guess we could hunt."

"Also, should we keep our names? Maybe we should simplify them , I don't want to commemorate the Clan." Crowfoot suggested.

Dawnheart agreed. "Fine. I'll be Dawn, and you'll be Crow."

The tuxedo she-cat gave a sly smile. "Or maybe, we can be Crowdawn and Dawncrow?"

Dawn shook her head. Crow laughed. "Fine, fine."

They padded off to hunt.

Dawn had caught a sparrow and mouse before she bumped into a silver tabby she-cat, her ribs showing but her belly fat.

"What are you doing here?" The she-cat asked, lips pulled back in a snarl. "You smell like that wretched SilverClan,"

"Oh no, we have nothing to do with them, they kicked us out!" Dawn told her.

"Oh, okay then," the silver tabby meowed and her attitude completely changed. "My name is Ivy! Who are you?"

"My name is Dawn, my mate's name is Crow, she should be back soon," Dawn replied.

"Oh, is that why you were kicked out?" Ivy asked.
"Mh-hm!" Dawn replied. "Her sister spied on us and told the whole Clan! They told us that if we didn't leave by sun-up they would kill us."

"I'm very sorry for that," Ivy meowed. "In my Clan, there are a lot of cats like you, and they usually adopt kits!"

"Really, could we join?" Dawn asked excitedly.

"No, my clan was attacked a few days ago, and everyone either joined the rogues who attacked or died. I'm the only one."

Dawn gasped. "That's terrible!"

Crow walked in, with a juicy rabbit in her mouth.

"Who is this?" she asked, dropping the prey and glaring at the silver she-cat

Dawn hurried forward to intercept her mate before she attacked. "Her name is Ivy, and she is the only one that survived an attack on her Clan." Dawn told her.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Crow meowed and bowed her head.

"Oh, it looks like you have babies on the way!" Crow observed, gently touching her nose to Ivy's flank.

"Yes! They will be here in a moon or two!"

"You poor thing! That means that your mate also died, I'm so sorry for your loss!" Dawn mewed, touching noses with her.

"I miss him so much! His name was Birch and he was the best!" Ivy mewed, tears welling up in her eyes. "And I'll name one of my kits after him, for his bravery."

"I'm sorry," Crow mewed. "If you want, you can stay with us until your kits are weaned."

Ivy's eyes filled with even more tears, but this time of gratitude. "Oh, really? Thank you so much! It's been so hard on my own!"

Dawn purred. "It's not a big deal."

Crow nodded. "You're one of us now." Then, she pushed the rabbit forward. "Let's share?"

Ivy blinked at them happily. "I cannot thank you enough!"

They dug into the fresh-kill.

Ivy had been living with them for a moon and a half, and they had been slowly moving away from the Clans every other day, but finally they reached a forest that suited them, and they stayed there. It was a nice spring morning when Ivy's pains began.

She screeched as a ripple flew past.

Dawn fretted around her, unsure of what to do. Crow had gone out to hunt, and she was panicking. Finally, she thought, Dawn, be quiet and think. What does she need - oh, of course! A stick! Dawn rushed out of the den, which was a spacious place under the roots of a tree, and grabbed a fallen stick that was laying on the floor. She shoved it into Ivy's mouth and the silver cat immediately bit down on it. Dawn paused. Was that it? Would she do it by herself? Fortunately, Crow barged in at that moment. Seeing Ivy lying in the nest, she dropped the squirrel and raced to their herb store, which they had gathered over the moons. She grabbed some sort of leaf and made Ivy swallow it. She became slightly calmer.

"What do I do?" she asked.

"It won't be very long. Just push when I say so," Crow answered.

Suddenly, ripple after ripple flooded Ivy's belly.

"Push!" Crow cried, and pushed her paws on her belly.

A kit was born, and Dawn quickly nipped the sack and started licking the kit's fur the wrong way to get it warm. It was a white and ginger kit that reminded Dawn sickeningly of Gingerleaf.

Crow ran off to gather some more herbs for Ivy. Finally all four kittens were born, and they were beautiful kits. But Dawn backed away from Ivy in horror, the she-cat was no longer breathing. Dawn licked, nudged, pressed, and did everything she could to help the mother, but she didn't respond. When Crow came back, she immediately sensed something was wrong and cried out when she saw Ivy's body.

"No!" Crow exclaimed, rushing towards Ivy. She spun around and with pain asked Dawn what happened.

"She died after this one was born," Dawn said, pushing her nose to a white kit that was meowing and coughing.

"I think he's sick!" Crow commented.

"Yeah, but they need to nurse right now," Dawn replied, and she licked up some borage and settled down beside the four newborns.