A/N: Sooooo sorry it took me so long to write and upload this, I really was on such a mind block. Anyway here it is, it's a filler, really nothing exciting and for that I also apologise! The next chapter will be the last. Thanks for sticking with me! PS see if you recognise the story Max tells…

The Fourteenth Year

The jeep rumbled along the uneven terrain. Potholes, tree branches, streams of water covered the track, emphasising the landscape and uniqueness of this place.

Shouts of laughter were heard as the two young boys revelled in the excitement of being away from home, now in a place that despite still being familiar to them, was never short of hidden stories and good memories.

"Don't you think you should slow down a bit?" Rosie shouted over to her husband whilst gripping on to their daughter, nestled in her lap.

"No! Faster Dad, faster!" The boys chorused in delight

A grin was plastered across Max's face as he gloated on his son's good sense of adventure.

"Max!" Rosie gave him a pointed look, reinforcing her seriousness.

"It's fine" Max told her, "We're here now anyway."

He manoeuvred the jeep off the main track and through the vast bush to a clearing where he pulled to a halt.

The family looked around the site, mixed feelings of anticipation, bewilderment and enthusiasm. "Is this it?" Jake said.

"Yep" Rosie let out a small sigh.

"Oi!" Max nudged her from his seat, "It's going to be fab, you know it will be!"

She smiled, placing all her trust back in Max's hands all the while knowing that he probably was right. At first Rosie had jumped on the idea of a family camp out in the bush close to Leopards Den as soon as Max had suggested it, however her anxieties had slowly begun to trickle in despite Max's greatest efforts.

Max quickly rustled everyone out of the jeep and sent them off on various jobs to get their camp all set up, it wasn't the easiest of tasks – especially having to keep a closer eye on Sophia who wasn't yet two years old.

"How romantic!" Rosie commented in sarcasm as piece of tent canvas collapsed around her.

She heard Max laugh too through the rustling of the canvas as he tried to make an exit.

The canvas moved in front of her and Max appeared by her side, "I thought so" he grinned placing a hand around her waist and leaning in to kiss her gently.

Rosie raised her eyebrows to him as they pulled away. "Okay mister, if this is what you think after all these years is what I define as romantic you've got another thing coming!"

"Hasn't seem to be a problem before" Max laughed taking her hand and pulling her out of the dismantled tent, "Come on, we'll start again."

As dusk began to fall, the 5 of them were huddled around their makeshift campfire. The orange glow illuminated their faces as they smiled and laughed with each other.

Rosie watched on as her children giggled amongst themselves, toasting marshmallows on the fire and deciding who's was the best. Max had tried to teach them the best technique but it hadn't been very successful, Sophia yanking the marshmallow of his stick to eat herself.

"If Grandad was here, he could tell us one of the bush stories" Jake sighed

"Yeah good stories!" Louis agreed.

"Hey, mummy and me can both tell good stories!" Max put in, making Rosie laugh.

"They're not the same" Jake shook his head

"Well, I'll tell you one and then you can judge who's is the best" Max explained

"Okay"

"Ready?" Max asked and both the boys nodded in response.

Max adjusted Sophia in his lap as she nestled into his chest and he begun to tell his favourite story of the bush.

"One day, there was a girl who lived in a house in the bush. Her Dad and his friend owned the land where they lived and it was soon becoming one of the best parks in South Africa. They used to have nothing but a few cows who lived on the land but now they'd brought in lions and elephants, buffalo and zebra, and giraffes, because they were the girl's favourite ones."

"Did they have gazelles?" Louis frowned

"Yes they did have gazelles, in fact they had so many beautiful animals that sometimes they caused problems."

"Like what?" Jake asked

"Well, there was a big problem with the fences that kept all the animals in the park. But the person who was in charge of the fences was the girl, she had to make sure that they were all still standing and if they were broken, she'd have to fix it! But it just so happened that one day when she was meant to be checking the fences, her boyfriend had just come back from a long trip"

"Ew boyfriend that's disgusting! This is a rubbish story!" Jake squirmed

"Just listen!" Rosie reassured him, her ears burning to hear what else Max had to say.

"So yes, on this day instead of checking the fences, the girl and her boyfriend decided to have a picnic. And whilst they were having their picnic, an elephant nearby managed to find itself a hole in the fence that hadn't been fixed and managed to squeeze itself through without anyone noticing! So the elephant decided it didn't want to live in the park any more, it wanted to live nearer the town like all of the people. So it left through the hole in the fence and wondered through the grass until it came to the town where everyone was shopping. The elephant was so excited that it ran all over town knocking over all the stalls and kicking down fences and signposts!"

The boys began to giggle

"But then the elephant got angry because everyone was getting in its way, the elephant was so big but all the people were just surrounding him, shouting at him to move. It took the girl's dad all afternoon to get the elephant back into the park and he wasn't very happy with her for not checking the fences!"

"Did she get in trouble?" Louis asked

Max nodded, a small grin appearing

"Yeah she did. She didn't mind though because she knew that she loved her boyfriend lots more than her job of checking the fences. So when they brought the elephant back into the park, and the elephant was reunited with its other friends down by the watering hole, the elephant decided it was much nicer to live in the park where it was calm and happy and everyone was the same size as him. And then the elephant and his friends lived happily ever after and so did the girl because she got married to her boyfriend and they lived happily ever after too!"

Max finished the story, sneaking a wink at Rosie.

Not long after, they had put the children to sleep in the tent and now it was just the two of them sat by the fire.

"You were right, this is a good trip" Rosie admitted as her head rested on his shoulder.

"Thank you" Max smiled smugly.

The flames of the fire danced before Rosie's eyes, their heat kept her warm, as did Max's arm that wrapped around her waist.

"We are lucky aren't we?" She murmured, "Despite all the things that have happened."

"Definitely," Max kissed the top of her head, "everything they throw at us we can deal with, in fact it probably always makes us stronger."

A breeze rustled the trees, in the distance grunts, howls and roars could be heard from the animals that surrounded them. Despite their lives away from this place, it always seemed to remind them of the life they shared and the gratitude they had for everything that had been given to them in their 14 years.