A/N: Sorry, very sorry for my abysmal updating skills. I suck as a person, I know. But here it is...


Chapter 4: Swiss-family Darcy

"Darcy, the Darcy party, please!" A voice called over the crowds at Nairobi international airport.

Their flight had been no less than luxurious: with champagne soon after take-off and a full-reclining chair: a proper bed! Which, both Lizzy and Will had taken full advantage of. The previous night and early rise had left them completely shattered and as Lizzy had dozed off to sleep she reasoned with herself that even though she found the first-class part of her surprise rather unnecessary, its was certainly not unwelcome.

"The Darcy party, please!" The voice repeated over the crowd. The Darcy's heard their call this time and followed it, until they were greeted by a smiling 20 something year old who was from their holiday company.

"Good morning and welcome to Kenya. Did you have a good flight?"

"Yes thanks, it was Ok" Darcy looked at her with a fair amount of shock at her response, and then noticed the glint in her eyes and her mischievous grin. The ways in which she teased him were surely unethical.

"Good, good. The car is just outside-Madame could I take the trolley for you?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

As the party walked towards the car, their chauffeur made pleasant conversation, which would have normally bothered passengers who had just stepped off an 11-hour flight at two in the morning; but with the pair of them fresh and awake they were quite happy to talk away.

"Your hotel is very beautiful, it is up-"

"Yes, I saw some pictures it looks lovely" Will cut in, Lizzy wondered exactly why he'd done so, but contented herself with the warm African air. The moment she had stepped out of the airport it had hit her and brought back multiple memories of her last visit here. She wondered where they would stay, the description that the chauffeur had given-'Very beautiful'-didn't exactly fit the lodge Jane, Charlotte and herself had stayed in, and was eager to see it. As the car started up, it reminded Lizzy of how last time there had been almost a 5 hour drive on bumpy track-she hoped Will had had enough sense to pick somewhere fairly nearby.

"Is this your first time to Kenya?"

"Yes, its mine, but my wife's been here before."

"Oh really, where did you stay before?"

Lizzy, smiling slightly from being called 'wife', was still finding it somewhat surreal that she was actually married; but managed to pull herself away from these thoughts and recount her trip from 6 years previously to their driver.


About half an hour later, the conversation topic was beginning to dry up. However it had brought all the memories back the forefront of Lizzy's mind as she talked animatedly with Francis (their driver) about waking at the crack of dawn and being rewarded with your first sight of a an elephant or just simply watching the sun rise and the whole sky seemingly explode over the plains.

"Ok. I don't take you any further than this" Francis said as they pulled down a road, this piqued Lizzy's curiosity, wondering what he meant she voiced her inquiry.

"You have to take a short plane ride to get to your hotel, it is unfortunate that you cant fly from Nairobi, but that is for big planes only."

"Ah" was all she responded with, wondering, yet again what this honeymoon actually entailed.

The sky's inky blackness was beginning to ebb away, hinting at the approaching dawn as the newlyweds walked across the lone, deserted runway towards a tiny plane, fit for only a pilot and three or four passengers. Francis followed carrying the last bags the couple, despite their best efforts, hadn't been able to carry.

As they approached the plane, a man, at least a head shorter than Will, popped out of the plane grinning, introducing himself as Dwight, their pilot. He continued by helping with their bags and informing them on how the plane was more commonly used by people getting an aerial view of the parks, but he did occasionally zoom passengers away to far off destinations. They bade farewell to Francis and not before long the rickety little plane was hurtling off down the runway.

Lizzy, who wasn't fazed easily, felt a growing unease in her stomach as the plane grew nearer and nearer to take off. She grasped her husbands hand, instinctively, reasoning how this plane was probably used all the time and wa-!

With a massive jolt the plane left the ground, along with Lizzy's previous thoughts. After a few more minutes to adjusting to the aircraft it began to become more bearable, likeable even.

"This will only be a quick journey, 40-50 minutes, but you should get to see the sun start to rise, see the sky is lighter now already." Dwight informed them.

Lizzy was only half listening to the pilot; her eyes glued to the window transfixed on the ever-brightening sky and the scenes, which lay below them.

Being only a small aircraft its preferred altitude was low enough for passengers to get a good look at the gaping landscape below, and the sky around them, if that was a place of interest.

The start of a new day had already coaxed some of the wildlife out of their sleepy revives. Far up above, Lizzy thought she could make out a pack of Jackals setting off on a quest for food, and not soon after a small heard of Zebra. 'Those Jackals won't have to look far' she mused to herself. Minutes later she spied a large dark spot by a thicket of bushes, she entertained the thought of it being a rhino, but waved that thought off. On her previous trip her only rhino sighting had been extremely far-off and rather disappointing, she hoped this time would prove better results.

"Lizzy, look at this, it's just amazing" Wills voice pulled her away from her window to share whatever her husband found so special.

"Wow." With Will apparently sitting on the East side of the plane he was treated to a front-row view of an African sunrise. The scene was unrivalled to anything, well almost anything, the young Mr. Darcy had ever seen. It was as though a gigantic fireball was protruding out of the earth, bathing the landscape in shades of red, orange and yellow and silhouetting everything else into jet-black.

"Your first sunrise here? People say they never forget it. Their first sunset neither." The pilot said, smiling. Dwight had ferried a number of tourists to and from destinations around the country. He recalled their calls of delight and wonder when first setting eyes on anything as small as their first view of wildlife from the air, to some of the most beautiful scenery Kenya had to offer.

"From your hotel I believe there are exemplary views of sunsets. It is a lovely place. We are almost there, miss would you mind sitting back down."

"Oh, not at all, sorry." Lizzy had been perched on Wills lap to gaze at the sunset. She reluctantly retook her own seat, stealing odd looks out of Will's window.


10 minutes later the plane had safely, if a little bumpily, landed, and Dwight was helping transport their baggage to yet another mode of transport-a safari land rover.

"Surly it cant be much further."

"Oh, no its just a short drive from here."

"Magic. We're almost there. This is crazy"

Will, picking up on this conversation questioned Lizzy "What's crazy?"

Letting out a giggle, she replied "Everything. Being here, on my honeymoon no less! Our imminent arrival at mystery location, I guess it's only just hit me this is all real. These last days have all been a bit of a blur. Its quite hard to properly take in. Maybe that sounds a bit odd."

"No, I know, it was a madhouse back home."

"Mad house! You couldn't know the meaning; mum kept on popping in whenever she felt it was necessary, which was at least once every couple of hours. It was enough for Jane to almost give up and go home, and that is definitely saying something."

"Fair point, Charlie did say Jane was almost becoming stressed. He thought there was something deeply wrong, I had to explain to him pregnancy and added, err, stresses are finally showing your sisters dark side."

"I know it's a terrifying thing." Lizzy replied giggling.

"We're just approaching your hotel now. I do hope you have a wonderful time here." Dwight informed the couple, he had also driven the land rover. "You should just be able to see it now, but it is a bit too ark to be able to see it all.

"What. I can't see any buildings. Its just trees." Responded a bewildered Lizzy, continuing to look around as she spoke. Will was smiling broadly and lifted Lizzy's chin lightly to give her a hint. She looked up and gasped. It was as though she had just stepped into an island fantasy tale from one her childhood books. Only this was a much more sophisticated island fantasy tale, and it was in the middle of the African bush. A gigantic tree house was almost directly above them. However, the term 'tree-house' seemed ill fitting to this structure. More like tree-manor. Dwight led them over to a wooden lift Lizzy hadn't noticed until now and they ascended into the canopy. Will turned to her.

"So, what do you think?" their was a hint of uncertainty and nervousness in his voice, a tone she would have felt unable to increase, even if she had wanted to.

"I don't know what to think. It's amazing. Too amazing, I'm quite worried that I'll wake up any second now; I need to keep on pinching myself for reality checks."

They had reached the canopy.

What Lizzy hadn't realised was that, this structure was not the only building up there, small, but sturdy, rope bridges spread themselves about the canopy, leading to separate lodges, all originating from the large building where the party was now standing.

"The reception is just over here" Dwight motioned them to follow as he pushed opened the big glass double-doors. The air conditioning was not at full blast due to the earliness of the hour, but the drop in temperature was more than apparent as they passed through the doors. They were met with a rather large reception room with vaulted ceiling and comfy armchairs and sofas. A reception desk was to their left. Before heading towards it they bade farewell to Dwight, and thanked him for all his help.

Will headed over to the desk, Lizzy in tow.

"Hi, we're booked in as Darcy, for two weeks I believe."

"Ah yes, certainly. You had a nice journey here?"

"Yes thank you, quite tired now, however."

"Of course, I will show you to you lodge, there are signs at all bridges, so it is quite easy to find you way."

"Thank you"

As the 3 travelled across a number of bridges, Lizzy took the chance to steal a glance at the 'lodges', though it proved rather hard; the hotel seemed big on privacy and foliage seemed to mask the all the lodge's entrances.

"We're here." The receptionist exclaimed. "Here are your keys" she handed them out before producing a third and opening the door with it. "Main breakfast will not be for a few hours yet, but those going on special trips today have requested breakfast at special times, you can do this too, just by asking the night before. Feel-free to ask for whatever you want either by the phone in here" she entered the lodge, turning on the lights and motioning for the others to enter "Or by asking at the desk. I hope you stay is pleasing." And with that se left the lodge.

Lizzy stood there virtually dumbstruck at her new surroundings; the lodge was incredible. It was divided into 3 main sections: living, sleeping and washing-with dark wood screens, Lizzy couldn't get over the sheer beauty of it and the furnishings were just perfect: the right balance between authenticity and classed luxury, then there was the views from the windows that covered the majority of the walls, which words could not begin the express and the balcony complete with plunge-pool. Indeed Lizzy was indeed dumbstruck.

"Dare I say it, but I think I have found one of the few things in this world which leaves my wife speechless." Will piped in after a few minutes of himself being rendered free of speech.

Turing to him Lizzy smiled shaking her head slowly "I believe you have" before kissing him softly as the sun concluded it's rising, throwing beams of light around the lodge and bathing it in early morning light.


A/N: Me again, I just wanted to to say a gigantic thanks to everyone who has reveiwed and read this, I really don't deserve it. Thank you so much. I know not an awful lot happendhere, drama wise,but I wanted to get a feel for the place and set everything up. Hope you enjoyed it!