Zoe was stood at the top of the long drive way into her father's property. Matt was stood by her side, he was looking at her curiously as she remained in the same spot just staring over the fields, over the stables and numerous horses that were around the yard and straight at a house. He took her hand and smiled as he felt her squeeze it. This was the first time he was going to meet any of her family, he'd never seen the place she'd been born or spent many of her years.
"Come on." Zoe finally said, walking forward, Matt followed her lead. "It seems weird coming down here."
"Bad memories?" Matt asked softly.
"Yeh," She nodded, "But some good ones too. To be honest Matt, it's just brought back the pain of losing Gordon. I miss him, he was my brother and well we were close."
Matt pulled her into his side in a one armed embrace, Zoe smiled and melted into his chest. He always knew what to do, what she needed (and usually before she knew she needed it). He knew when to speak and he knew when to just keep quiet. He knew exactly which gesture could cheer her up. She sighed with contentment. After a few minutes Matt broke the silence.
"What did Alice say?"
"Alice? My lovely step-sister. Yeh, you probably don't wanna know most of the stuff she said... Alice being Alice. But she said Sam and Beth are being good, Lyndon is in fact being the naughty one! Apparently he gave her the most Danny look ever last night!" Zoe smiled as she thought of her nephew. "Charlotte came in drunk with Evan. God, sixteen now." Zoe said affectionately. "Oh! And I may have more gossip later but I don't at the minute."
Matt chuckled, "You and Alice always have gossip!"
"We are not gossiping! We are simply being cultural and social." Zoe nodded firmly as Matt laughed, "Hey look, we're at the stables already." She stopped for a moment to look at them. She inhaled deeply taking in the familiar scents that she had been so long accustomed too. Suddenly she spotted a tall man walking along.
"You're thinning on top!" Zoe shouted to man. Matt looked at her, half confused and half shocked at how rude she appeared to be being.
"Zoe!" The man laughed rushing towards her. Zoe moved forward and immediately hugged him tightly. "Aww, sis! How are you? Still swanning round Africa?"
"Something like that! I'm good thanks Frank, how are you?" Zoe smiled.
"I'm good thanks." Frank grinned. "You look well."
"I'd say you look well too but... mum always said never to lie!" Zoe winked.
"Not changed one bit." Frank sighed rolling his eyes, he noticed a perplexed Matt stood back. Zoe realised at that moment she'd kind of left him in the lurch a little. "So is this the lucky man?"
"Yeh, Frank, I'd like to meet my fiancée Matt, Matt his is my brother, Frank." Zoe smiled. She watched as the two men shook hands.
"Nice to meet you." Matt grinned.
"You an'all lad." Frank said, he then looked between them both. "I'd love to catch up but I've got some work to do. You know dad's not changed either and word of warning, don't bring up anything to do with his health."
"What?" Zoe frowned.
"He won't accept he's getting on in years. He still thinks he's twenty and can run round like a superhero. He won't accept he can't." Frank sighed, "Even Jack came back to try."
"Jack?" Zoe said in disgust. "He's not here is he?"
"No. He went back to London once he'd got his money. Daddy's special little boy." Frank spat in a sour manner, "Anyway, enough talk of our not so nice half brother, you should go see the old man."
"Yeh, see you later." Zoe and Matt smiled, Frank waved as Zoe took Matt's hand and led him to the main house. Zoe took a deep breath before knocking on the door.
(x)
"You totally sure about this." Liv asked Thabo holding his hands as they stood on the veranda of Leopards Den. He nodded.
"Completely sure." Thabo smiled, before leaning down to kiss her. Liv nodded before grabbing his hand and leading him inside. She knew Danny and Alice always took a lunch break round about now, and she had it on good authority from Nomsa that they were in the lounge. Liv swore their footsteps were louder than usual. Then again, no one was in but Danny and Alice for once.
"Danny... No stop it! AH! Get off you big lummox!"
Thabo and Liv exchanged a concerned glance as they heard the couple's laughter and Alice's exclamations through her laughter. Liv bit her lip and gave Thabo a look. Both were pondering over whether they dared venture inside. Liv sighed, shaking her head before opening the door. Her mouth dropped as she saw Danny and Alice having a cushion fight.
"Nomsa will kick your ass' if she knew you were doing that." Liv told them as they both turned to face her.
"He started it." Alice whined.
"You put your legs up on me!" Danny retorted.
"I'm your wife, I'm allowed to put my legs up on you... anyway..."
"Enough! Please! Listen, me and Thabo need to talk to you." Liv told them, her nerves making her voice sound small.
Danny and Alice sat up in a more reasonable position as Thabo and Liv sat down.
"We've been thinking..." Liv began, "And, we think that maybe it would be for the best if we moved out, Thabo's looked into it."
"I can afford easily to rent us a nice house near the township. It's not far away at all, just a ten minute drive." Thabo smiled, "If that."
"It's just we're growing up and it's not fair for us to drain all your resources." Liv added.
Danny and Alice looked at one another and smiled. They were both growing up!
"If you're sure..." Danny smiled. "Then I wish you both the very best of luck."
"So we have your blessing?" Thabo asked.
"You've always had it." Alice replied with a smile.
"Thank you for everything over the past few years. You guys helped turn my life around." Thabo smiled, he had told them numerous times how grateful he was to them, but to him it never seemed enough. He felt he had to remind them how grateful he was.
Danny and Alice stood up as did Liv and Thabo. Danny and Liv hugged first as Thabo leant down to hug Alice. Before swapping. As Alice squeezed Liv's hands and began chatting away to her, Danny moved closer to Thabo.
"Look after her Thabo..." Danny told him before releasing him, and moving over to wrap one arm around Alice. Thabo nodded at Danny, promising unspoken that he would look after Liv.