It was 8:30pm that evening, Lucy had just put Alex down to sleep, it had been difficult, he was over-tired and refusing to give in and close his eyes, in total it had taken two hours for the small boy to give in and sleep. She was now sat at the kitchen table, the others (minus Bobby who was also in bed) were sat outside talking, Lucy didn't feel alone though, she was thankful for the time to be on her own and to just think.
Lucy had a lot to think about, a lot had happened in her and her son's lives over the past few months and it felt like her world had been tipped upside down, but it wasn't necessarily the recent events that Lucy was now thinking about. It was her sister's earlier offer; she was in two minds, she loved it at Leopard's den, and Alex seemed to be enjoying it too. For the few weeks prior to them flying to Africa, it had just been them, and now there was an entire group of people around them, helping them and caring for them. Lucy sighed.
"You ok?" Asked a voice.
The simple question startled Lucy, she spun around to face the source of the voice.
"Careful, don't give yourself whiplash kid" Dupe responded "It's just me"
Lucy let out a sigh of relief. "You want to be careful sneaking up on people like that Dupe"
"Sorry" he apologised as he sat down on a neighbouring chair. "You ok, over than the increase in heart rate?"
Lucy looked at him and shrugged. "Just tired, it took me a while to get Alex down"
Dupe nodded, "I heard, I was tempted to come in and offer him a beer, works for me, in fact, you want one?"
"Go on then" Lucy said with a laugh.
Dupe stood up and grabbed two beers out the fridge, after opening them he passed one to Lucy and re-joined her at the table. Lucy took a drink.
"Wow, that's stronger than the British beers" Lucy coughed.
"So, you look like somethings on your mind kid?"
"I'm an over-thinker" Lucy explained "Plus, life has been a bit hectic recently"
"The overthinking, is that a Collin's thing or a woman thing?" He joked.
Lucy smiled and shrugged "Both?"
"Probably" Dupe agreed. "So, I heard about your super-hero moment"
"It was nothing, I just did what was necessary"
He nodded. "Don't downplay yourself, I also heard through the grapevine that Alice has offered for you to stay here"
"Does this grapevine have a name by any chance?" Lucy asked, half joking.
"There's no such thing as secrets in Africa" Dupe told her "They seem to have a way of getting out"
"Either that or you're a massive gossip" Lucy pointed out sarcastically.
Dupe shrugged with a guilty smile "What can I say? I'm under strict instructions to take it easy, and it gives me something to do"
Lucy laughed "Nah, you're just a big gossip, old man"
"Less of the old man you, I like to think I'm still young in here" Dupe stated with a joking tone, pointing to his forehead.
"I don't know, maybe I've found you a nickname, old man" Lucy replied, testing out the nickname "Yeah, I think I like it"
"Right, I better go re-join the wife" Dupe stood, "Come on, come join us" Lucy was about to object when he insisted "Nah, you're coming with me, I'm not gonna let you sit here on your own" he jokingly offered his arm to her "my lady"
Lucy rolled her eyes, stood and linked her arm around his "I've got no choice in this have I?" she asked
"No kid, you haven't" He said with a smile, and with that the two joined the others, where they talked and watched the sun set.
"Mummy" Alex cried.
Alex's cries woke his mum up, she yawned and looked at the clock, "Alex, really, it's 3am" she whispered in frustration. Since she had struggled to get him to bed, Alex had woken up every couple of hours. Lucy laid in bed for a few minutes, hoping that he may doze back off if she didn't acknowledge him.
Alex continued to cry.
Worried that his cries may wake up the rest of the house, Lucy went over to the travel cot and lifted him out, she picked him up and tried to cradle him, the toddler resisted this and continued to cry.
"Do you want Harry?" She asked, "Let's get Harry". Harry was Alex's beloved giraffe teddy, it had been his comfort item since he was a baby. Lucy picked it up off the bed and handed to him, Alex pushed her hand away.
"No!" he cried, throwing the stuffed giraffe onto the floor. Lucy picked it up and put it on the bed.
"Alex please" Lucy pleaded, she was exhausted, her body ached, and she just wanted him to settle down. She ran through a mental checklist in her mind, checking off each thing as she investigated the cause of her son's tears. 10 minutes had passed, but to Lucy it felt like forever, she was getting more and more desperate, Lucy had tried everything she could think of to calm him down. She touched his forehead with the back of her hand, trying to see if Alex was hot or was running a fever. Which he wasn't.
Exhausted, Lucy sat on the bed, still holding Alex, who was still crying, she kissed his head, "Come on baby, you're just tired" she whispered, tears in her own eyes.
There was a quiet knock on the door. The door slowly opened. It was Alice.
"Sorry" Lucy apologised with an exhausted tone.
Alice shut the door and joined her sister on the bed. "It's ok, I thought it was Bobby at first", she noticed that Lucy was crying "Hey, what's going on?" she asked concerned.
"I've tried everything, I just can't get him to settle" Lucy said emotionally. Alice placed her hand to the boy's forehead, checking his temperature.
"Right, you go make a cup of tea" Alice told her "I'll settle him down, and come and join you"
"No, I need to be here" the younger woman objected.
"No, you need some help" Alice told her sternly "It's not a bad thing, go on, if I need you, I come and get you"
Lucy was too tired to argue, she passed Alex to Alice and left the room. As she shut the door she began to cry, her sons cries of 'Mummy' as she left the room was what broke her, she leant against the closed door and took a deep, shaky breath. Danny was stood at the doorway to his and Alice's room. Noticing she was upset, he didn't even ask her if she was ok.
"Tea?" He asked, directing her to the living room.
"I might need something stronger than that" Lucy joked through her tears, sitting on the sofa and pulling her knees to her chest.
"Beer it is then" Danny disappeared to the kitchen and returned with a beer.
The young woman took a drink and sighed sadly.
"I'm sorry" she apologised, wiping her eyes.
"Hey, Lucy, parenting is exhausting, everyone has these moments, there's no need to apologise" Danny sat next to her.
"I should be able to console my own baby though" Lucy cried.
Danny shook his head "We all need help sometimes"
She sighed "I'm an awful mother"
"No, you're not" He placed a hand on her shoulder, Lucy flinched and he quickly withdrew his hand. "We all get overwhelmed sometimes"
"Not like this though" Lucy objected
"No, exactly like this, it's part of being a good parent, it's normal to want to help our kids, and so frustrating when we can't"
"I should be the one with him though, it's always been me looking after him, he's not going to know what's going on"
"He'll be fine, Alice will get you if she needs you" He told her "I take it your ex never helped with Alex?"
She shook her head.
"Then no wonder you're exhausted" Danny pointed out "Lucy, you've had a lot on, anyone would be tired right now"
"I guess" Lucy accepted, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "Thanks Danny"
"There's no need, and if you need help, ask us, ok?"
Lucy nodded as Alice walked into the room. "He's asleep, nothing like a bit or bribery" she told them.
"Thanks Al" Lucy said with a sigh.
"It's nothing to me, Danny just has to take him to see a Giraffe tomorrow" Alice said with a smile looking at Danny. "Come on, let's all get some sleep in when we can"
"I'm just going to sit here for a bit" Lucy told her, "Wait till he's deep asleep before I risk making any noise in that room"
Alice nodded, "Just knock if you need us"
And with that they Danny and Alice went to their room, leaving Lucy alone to finish her drink.
A/N: So to my surprise some lovely person left a review, so thank you. I'm actually really enjoying this at the minute, so I'm going to continue. I'm uploading a few chapters tonight but unlike my usual writing style I'm going to try and stick to longer chapters instead of shorter ones (with the exception of the next one), this fiction is a new thing for me, it feels strange writing an OC but I'm hoping eventually I can get to a point where I can have more of a focus on the WAH characters, but in order to introduce this character properly a good number of chapters will be on Lucy, so bear with me.
Anyway, thanks to the person that reviewed, I really wasn't expecting it given that the WAH site hasn't had much activity for a while. x
