I blame this fic on Tarzan being available on netfliks and the cartoon series it inspired being available on youtube. That and several fics I read that were prior to the series but after the movie and started to ask myself... Why did they live in a treehouse instead of with the other apes. Then I asked myself why hasn't anyone else written about this? I wrote it in a day (I find I have a specialty for one shots) and when I was done I realized that a tree house was just very 'them'. You'll understand when you read. Tarzan belongs to Disney. If it belonged to me I'd be rich and there would be a wedding episode and the series would still be ongoing.
Tarzan builds Jane a nest of the best leaves and twigs and only branches that bend well. He makes it big enough to hold them both. He makes it pliant because he knows Jane's skin is so (wonderfully) soft. He doesn't want her to get all scratched and scrapped or her hair to get tangled and rough.
He likes his Jane just as she is. Some part of him knows the jungle will make her tougher, stronger, less soft and more resilient but he doesn't see a point in rushing that change.
And he doesn't want to overwhelm her.
She's been living in her father's camp for the first few weeks since she and the professor had both return but yesterday Tarzan and Jane had what the professor called a wedding - which as far has Tarzan could tell was some ritual display of love the English have before they can mate - and tonight she's suppose to stay with him.
He adds bits of fur and feathers and any other soft things he can find and just as he finishes she enters the band, two packs full of who knows what over her back. The whole family greets her. One after the other. She says hello in gorilla (though not very well) and makes him smile. She's here.
Jane is staying here tonight.
And every night after.
Forever.
Jane makes her way over to Tarzan slowly, her smile shy. She hangs her bags on a tree before turning around and coming face to face with her new husband. He takes her in his arms and carries her to the nest. "Does Jane... like the nest?" In gorilla society the female must approve.
Tarzan watches Jane bite her lip, her eyes scanning the leaves and twigs critically. He senses her apprehension. He knows she usually sleeps on a thing she calls a bed (he can't deny it is comfortable - if not strange the few times he's tried it). Finally, she shrugs, climbs out of his arms and kneels in the nest holding her tiny soft hands out to him and smiles. "Yes. Jane likes the nest very much."
Tarzan releases the breath he didn't know he was holding as he takes her hands kissing each one and then both checks and eyelids and nose and finally her lips. The lay together in the soft nest, Tarzan curled around her small form keeping her warm and safe...
And loved.
They haven't even been married a week and the rainy season starts early this year.
Tarzan pulls branches and leaves over the nest to keep them dry. Jane shivers at night. He pulls her closer - practically under himself, rubs her wet skin, covers them both in one of her dresses. He still hears her teeth chattering though she tries to hide it.
She smiles and says she's fine and not to worry. Her skin grows pale and she coughs more and more. When she faints on a walk one morning he takes her to see her father.
"She has a fever. My guess is she caught a cold. I do hope her asthma isn't acting up again. She hasn't had a problem with it since she was very young." The professor puts her in her old bed and wraps her in blanks with a warm compress on her forehead.
"Asthma... makes Jane sick?" Tarzan touches her soft cheek which is bright red and burning to the touch. "What is asthma?"
"Oh! Well, it's a medical condition that affects one's ability to breath. It can be aggravated by a number of factors."
"Jane's been cold at night." Tarzan feels his chest tighten. What if this is all his fault. What if Jane dies.
"Yes. And wet too I imagine." Archimedes pats Tarzan on the shoulder to reassure him. "Don't worry. You got her here in time. She'll be all right my boy."
"Jane can't sleep on the ground anymore." Tarzan swallows the lump in his throat.
"No. I'm afraid she can't."
Tarzan stays two nights at the camp while Jane gets better. He starts to think about moving the family closer to it. It would be safer and Jane could sleep in a tent on a bed and a bed might be nice to sleep on. Terk proves this to be a bad idea when she and a few other gorilla come by to see Jane and start a small fire by playing with some of the professor's experiments.
He tries setting a tent among the nests but there just isn't enough room and it wet and the ground is soft and in the end the whole thing collapses.
He tries a cave but finds it just as wet and cold (possible colder). If it's too cold for him it's definitely too cold for Jane.
He sits with Kala watching the family one evening, completely out of ideas. "Mother, what should I do about Jane?"
"The jungle requires a lot of strength or a lot of protection to survive. Kerchak told me, when I found you if the jungle wanted you, you would survive."
"Jane isn't strong. Are you saying the jungle doesn't want her?" Tarzan looks at his mother and feeling almost betrayed by her words.
"Tarzan. That's not what I'm saying. When Kerchak told me that I told him that I wanted you. So no matter what anyone thought or said. No matter how small and frail you were I made sure you lived. Because I was your mother. And now you are a mate and husband. So you have to protect Jane until she's strong enough to protect herself." A certain determination settles into his eyes at his mother's words. He knows she's right. If he wants Jane he has to protect her... But how?
As if sensing her son's thoughts she gives him the last hint he should need to know what to do. "I think what you need to find is a home that is both her world and yours."
Tarzan nods slowly, not sure what could possible be both worlds at once. What could possibly be the jungle and England and a nest and a house-... and then it hits him.
The tree house is overgrown with vines and some branches have grown in. Tarzan can tell it needs some repair as well. But it's warm. It's dry (mostly). Plenty of room even a 'bed' in one room. At the base of the tree there is lots of nesting room and he can watch from several spots for danger and he knows...
It's home.
It takes three weeks for Jane to recover enough to the point of getting out of bed and walking. For most of that time Tarzan has been gone but things keep disappearing around the camp... most of them Jane's.
Finally, one morning Tarzan picks Jane up - before she even finishes dressing - and takes her off into the jungle. "I have a surprise for Jane."
He takes her to the treehouse. "It was Tarzan's parent's home. It's the jungle and England. Jane can live here."
And she looks around and she understands what he isn't saying. What he is trying to say. How this place isn't like either of their worlds. It's like both of them.
Not what she expected. Not what he'd known. The only thing his parents had left him. Where those two had died and where they now would live. It was perfect.
It was home.