A feeling of worry swept over Leafpool as she entered the school.

Hollyleaf called me 'Mom'. Did she figure it out?

Finding her way to the office was easy. She entered it to see Hollyleaf, Jayfeather, and Lionblaze sitting near a boy she didn't recognize. There was something familiar about him, though—something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"Mom!" Hollyleaf called. She ran over to hug her before whispering, "Ashfur would only let us call a parent. Dad's busy and Mom's not supposed to be leaving the house too much, so you were our only option. Play along."

"Okay," Leafpool agreed, a slight sense of relief washing over her. "What happened?"

"Lionblaze got in a fight with Breezepelt over there," the girl replied, gesturing to the black-haired boy she didn't recognize.

"Yes, but why?"

"He was picking on Jayfeather!" the golden-haired boy burst out. "Aren't I supposed to look out for my brother?"

"Yes, but try to solve problems with your words, rather than your fists."

"I swear, Breezepelt!" a familiar voice grumbled behind her. "Another fight?" She turned to see someone she hadn't seen for fifteen years.

"Crowfeather?" she whispered. He looked up from his son (who had run over to assure his father it wasn't his fault) and stared in shock.

"Leafpool? What are you doing here?"

"Bailing out the kids." She glanced down at Hollyleaf, who gazed at Crowfeather with interest.

"Who's this?" she asked.

"Hollyleaf, this is Crowfeather. He's an old friend of mine. Crowfeather, this is Hollyleaf."

"And who are you to Leafpool?" Crowfeather inquired.

"She's my aunt, but she's pretending to be my mom because my real mom isn't supposed to leave the house. She's too pregnant. And my dad's the chief of police, so he's too busy to come here."

"Ah." Crowfeather nodded. "It's nice to meet you."

"Crowfeather? Leafpool?" The two turned to see Principal Mistystar waiting for them. "Please, step into my office."

"I'm so sorry for what happened!" Leafpool blurted. "Lionblaze isn't usually like this. He's just very protective of Jayfeather and—"

"I understand perfectly. I have a number of witnesses who told me that Breezepelt instigated the fight by picking on a blind student who couldn't really fight back. However, I can't show favoritism. Both Breezepelt and Lionblaze are suspended for a week."

Leafpool let out a sigh of relief.

At least he wasn't expelled.

"You may take them home. Jayfeather and Hollyleaf can go back to class." The two adults nodded and headed back out.

"What's happening?" Jayfeather asked.

"Lionblaze and Breezepelt are suspended for a week," Leafpool replied. "I'm taking Lionblaze home; the two of you go back to class."

Lionblaze lowered his head in shame as he trudged to Leafpool's side. His siblings wished him goodbye and headed back to class.

"It's nice to see you again," Crowfeather commented as his son headed out the door. Lionblaze had taken Leafpool's keys to start her car.

"It's nice to see you, too. How's Nightcloud?"

"She's fine, but she'll be pissed to hear what happened. In her eyes, our son can do no wrong."

"Brambleclaw won't be too happy, either. Especially given that Squirrelflight is supposed to have as little stress as possible at the moment."

"Hollyleaf mentioned she's pregnant."

"She is, but we're worried that she might miscarry. It's happened twice before and it might happen again."

"Well, tell her I said hello and good luck."

"I will. Goodbye, Crowfeather."

"Bye, Leafpool." They parted and she slid into the driver's seat of her car.

"How do you know him?" Lionblaze inquired.

"I… if you must know, he's my ex-boyfriend."

"Your ex-boyfriend?! You had a boyfriend?!"

"It was a long time ago, back when I was in medical school. He was friends with your mother and father, and we met that way. Our relationship didn't last longer than six months."

"Wow… and he's Breezepelt's father?"

"He had him around the time you three were born, from what I've heard." Lionblaze's face fell. "What's wrong, Blaze?"

"Dad's going to be mad at me… I got into a fight with the son of his old friend."

"He'll go easy on you since you were protecting Jayfeather. And he doesn't want to stress out your mother."

"What's up with the whole stress thing anyway?"

"It's… complicated, but stress is bad for pregnant women. Stress, as a whole, is bad for people, but if your mother gets too stressed while she's pregnant, there's a chance she could lose the baby. Meaning the baby will never be born."

"Oh. I'm such an idiot!" He banged his head into the dashboard and Leafpool patted his shoulder comfortingly.

"Just try not to get in fights, please."

"And you only started fighting him to protect your brother?"

"Yes, sir." Lion swallowed. "He was saying that Jayfeather should know better than to cross him. Principal Mistystar said that she had to punish us equally."

"Well, then, I'm not that mad." Brambleclaw smiled at his son. "However, while you're home for the week, you're grounded. You still have to get up at the same time every day and you'll have to keep up with your assignments, and you'll also have to help out your mother around the house."

"That sounds fair." Lionblaze nodded. "I'll do my best."

"Why didn't you call me?" asked Squirrelflight.

"Well, Dad's been so insistent that you stay home and keep from being stressed that Hollyleaf thought it'd be better to call Leafpool and pretend she was our mother."

"Oh. Well, that makes sense."

However, there was a note in Squirrelflight's voice that worried him—as if she knew something.

"Mom, is something wrong?"

"No, it's just the baby. It's kicking extra hard right now. Makes me feel weird."

"Did we kick a lot?"

"I think you three had a fistfight in my belly when I was pregnant with you." She smiled. "I'm going to take a nap. Let me know if you need something." As she headed upstairs, Jayfeather and Hollyleaf came into the house. They'd been brought home by Sandstorm, who'd picked them up so Brambleclaw could deal with Lionblaze.

"We brought your homework," Hollyleaf told her brother, handing him a stack of papers.

"Thanks. You guys want to work on it in my room?"

"Sure." The trio headed upstairs and sat down in Lionblaze's room.

"Do you guys ever wonder if we're actually related to Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw?" the blonde asked.

"No, why?" Jayfeather inquired.

"We're not like either of them. We don't even really look like them. How is it possible that we're their children?" Hollyleaf narrowed her eyes.

"Are you saying we're adopted? Mom and Dad would've told us if we were."

"Maybe not."

"Well, what about the story of how we were born? Up at the cabin, in the middle of a blizzard, and Mom couldn't get to the hospital, so Aunt Leafpool delivered us. Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa were all there."

"Wait, hold on," Jayfeather protested. "Mom's had two miscarriages that we can remember. Why was she able to give birth to all three of us just fine?"

"Miracles happen!" Hollyleaf glared. "We're not adopted, and that's final!"

And so the seeds of doubt are planted.

This isn't going to be a long story, but there will be some drama that I want to get to. That includes the triplets finding out the truth and the fallout from that.

So long and thanks for all the fish!