I couldn't wait til tomorrow to upload it :P Merry Christmas one and all xx
Once upon an African Christmas
"Wow Max, look at the stars!" Rosie gasped
Max lowered his head to admire the night sky
"Yeah, pretty special eh?"
Rosie beamed. It was Christmas Eve, and the couple were rather behind schedule on their trip from Cape Town. The car had broken down earlier in the day, and they had to wait a good few hours before they could get on the road again. Though it seemed like everyone had decided to drive into Jo'Burg at the same time, it had been a long crawl before they were finally able to turn off the motorway and down the quieter road towards Leopards Den.
(x)
The family were sat out on the veranda after dinner, drinking themselves into the festive cheer.
"Did I ever tell you how much I hate Christmas?" Dup grumbled
"Once or twice" Caroline sighed taking a sip of her wine. Dup, as ever had been the Christmas scrooge, he was even grumpier since he found out that his son Kirk and his own family weren't coming down for the festivities. Luckily everyone else was full of spirit and willing to muck in. The decorations and tree had been put up on the 1st December, presents had finally been wrapped and put in their rightful position. And even though there was no need to place a mince pie and a glass of sherry out for Father Christmas, Liv had made sure that they did. Didn't last long mind with Dup downing the drink pretty quickly and the mince pie mysteriously going missing too.
They soon cut into singing out Christmas songs, Charlotte attempting to lead the vocals with her fantastic voice whilst the others chanted along without a care in the world.
"They're here!" Charlotte cut the singing and jumped up from the table as a car drove up to the house. Everyone got out of their seats and went to meet Rosie and Max as they got out of their car.
"Merry Christmas!" Alice cheered
(x)
Danny was stepping heavily through the house on his way to the toilet when he stopped in the kitchen and frowned at Alice. She had a hand on the table keeping her steady whilst the other was wrapped around her stomach. Danny could see her eyes tight shut, she was wincing in pain.
"Alice?" He asked worriedly
Alice looked up, still biting her lip.
"Alice?" Danny rushed over to her "what is it?"
"I think it's the baby" she wheezed, "owwwww" the pain was getting worse.
"Oh my god" Danny gasped he pulled out a chair for her and ushered her to sit down.
"How long's this been going on for?" He handed her a glass of water and began to rub her back
"I dunno, I had some pains earlier today but I didn't want to worry you, I thought it would go away. Owwwww..." she whined clutching her stomach further.
After a short while Danny rushed outside.
"What's wrong Danny?" Liv asked at his exasperated expression
"Alice, she's in labour!" He exclaimed. Everyone's jaws dropped.
"Shit man" Dup said
"but the baby's not due for a month?" Liv highlighted
"Must be early" Caroline commented getting up from her seat, "where is she?"
"She's just having the odd pains, I don't know! She's in the kitchen" Danny said and the two of them rushed back off to her, Rosie quick behind them.
"She needs to get to hospital" Thabo turned to the others
"Well I shouldn't drive" Dup gestured to the empty beer bottles in front of him.
"We've all been drinking!" Liv exclaimed, "how are going to get her there?"
"My car won't start again" Max put in
"Ambulance?" Dup suggested, "I'll go call them"
"Wait Dup, shouldn't we wait, check she is definitely in labour first?"
"What?" he turned to Liv
"Like don't most women have to wait a while before they can go to hospital? Until their contractions are a certain distance apart or something?"
"Do you think I would know something like that?"
Liv shook her head and got up to go in the house "I'll find out" she muttered.
(x)
A short while later Liv and Rosie reappeared on the veranda, Alice had been ushered into bed and was being tendered to by Danny and Caroline, much to her annoyance. Alice was one of the most independent women on the planet and when she wasn't having a contraction she was quite happy to look after herself.
"Ambulance?" Dup asked
"Yeah" Liv sighed collapsing into Thabo's lap.
"Right" Dup said getting up leaving the table.
"Is she ok?" Thabo asked
"When she's not in pain yeah!" Liv smiled.
(x)
The family, all but Danny and Alice, had moved into the living room, and were watching TV. Every now and then one of the women would get up and check up on Alice, their natural concern coming out in full.
This time Rosie returned from their bedroom,
"How long did the ambulance say it would be Liv?"
Liv shrugged "I dunno, Dup?"
Dup frowned, "how am I meant to know?"
"Erm maybe because you phoned them?" Liv said sarcastically, raising her eyebrows at him
"Me? I never rang! You said you did!" He exclaimed
"No! You asked me if we needed one and I said yes!"
"I thought you rang!" Their voices were becoming louder and more high pitched
"I thought you were going to ring, you went straight into the house!"
"No!" Dup shook his head
"So no one's rung?" Rosie tried to confirm
"No!" both Liv and Dup said simultaneously
Rosie sighed angrily and rushed off to the phone
"Not cool guys" Thabo said. Liv turned and glared at him.
"Why didn't you ring?" she continued to argue with Dup
"Because I thought you did! What's your excuse?"
"I came out to tell you to ring! And then you went inside and did what i thought was ringing the ambulance!"
"Wait til Caroline finds out!" Thabo muttered
Liv grabbed a cushion and swiped him across the chest
"Owww" he mocked and flashed a wicked smile at her. Liv grinned back; she couldn't not love him even when he winded her up.
(x)
An hour later, Rosie was locking up the hospital. She'd accepted the responsibility, especially seeing as Alice and her Dad were preoccupied. She was happy to do it though; it was nice to muck in when she could.
She heard the door creak open behind her and spun on her heel
"Alice!" She gasped "what the hell are you doing down here?"
"Oh don't you start" she shunted
"Alice." Rosie raised her eyebrows "you should be in bed"
"I'm fine!" Alice said shortly
Rosie laughed "Alice you're in labour! You're not fine! You shouldn't be out here"
"I haven't had a contraction in about ten minutes, it's all irregular, I need some space." She mumbled fiddling in a cupboard.
"If Dad finds out you're out here" Rosie began
"Shit" Alice said clutching her stomach as pain began to sear through her body once more.
"Ok ok" Rosie switched into efficient mode and pulled a stool over "sit down, erm breathe Alice breathe"
Rosie looked around frantically; she had no idea what to do!
"Owwww" Alice wailed "this is worse than ever before!"
After a few minutes of pain and tight grips on Rosie's hand, Alice had calmed down and the pair of them were walking steadily back to the house.
"And again" Alice gasped
"Christ Alice, can't do this out here!"
"What do you want me to do?" Alice shouted,
"Okay, erm sorry. Look we'll go in here"
Rosie gestured to the barn and led Alice inside, flicking the dodgy light switch on as they went, a warthog ran out from under their feet in surprise.
Rosie soon realised that this baby was coming fast, and Alice wasn't going to move from her position on the straw bales. There was nothing she could do but hope the ambulance would hurry up and go and get Danny.
Unsurprisingly Danny was shocked to hear that Alice had even stepped foot out of the bedroom let alone out of the house and down to the barn. Nonetheless he rushed down to her aid carrying towels and sheets as he went. Caroline decided to follow behind, though couldn't get down there at quite the same speed, by the time she had pulled the heavy door open wider Alice was already being nursed to by Danny.
Caroline smiled softly at the pair and then noticed what also stood in the barn. A couple of Zebra's were standing quietly yet attentively, supposedly trying to make sense of the strange situation. Alice's screams broke her thoughts and she suddenly rushed forward to help.
(x)
Alice looked up at Danny, tears in her eyes.
"He's perfect" she whispered
Danny beamed at her before kissing her forehead and looking down at his son who was cradled in her arms. The paramedic pulled the barn door open and allowed Charlotte, Liv, Thabo, Rosie and Max to creep in.
"Hey" Liv whispered
"He's gorgeous" Rosie smiled pulling the blanket away from his small face
"Picture of his mum" Danny said before kissing Alice softly on the head.
Rosie walked over to the others, Max took her hand and squeezed it tightly, their flash of eye contact was short but meaningful.
Ahead the head and neck of a giraffe attempted to poke its way in, the dark night sky and odd bright stars behind it.
"Merry Christmas" Danny said
"Merry Christmas" they all whispered back.