A/N: Z changed several times over the course of the story to what you see here but this just seemed the most appropriate of all my wild ideas so I hope you like it. This is the end of the day in the meadow.

This piece is rated K for a last little bit of alphabet fluff.

Zebra's in the Nursery

Emily came to a slow stop outside the closed nursery door and tipped her head to the side. One of the things that had changed for the better during the pregnancy (or perhaps for the worst depending on what it was) had been how strong her sense of smell was. Initially it had been a bad thing to have improve because it just gave her stomach more reasons to throw up but after the nausea had ended it had been an interesting journey.

Despite her exhaustion, when she sniffed she got a faint whiff of paint and she wondered why it was coming from the closed nursery door. Perhaps the better question Em my love, is why the nursery door is closed in the first place when it has been open every other day.

She smiled slightly. Her dad had always known exactly what question to ask to get to the heart of the matter and cut through any bull in his way. Deciding she had just enough energy left and that there was only one way to know what was going on that would satisfy her in that moment with Aaron and Carrie both busily putting two tired little boys to bed, she stepped forward, turned the handle and stepped into a wonderland.

New Section-

Aaron smiled at Carrie as they left the boys room and rolled his head on his neck.

"I think Jack's getting a little big to be carried around for much longer."

"Oh I think you'll continue carrying him until you physically can't anymore. He loves it and you love it and for both of you it's a reminder of what you survived and today in particular it's a reminder that he is very much alive and that his near-drowning didn't actually kill him. This is also why I continue to carry Toby even when he is far too heavy for me to lift safely."

Their smiles filled with understanding and then Aaron took a large step back and suddenly looked nervous. "Shall we go see if Emily likes our surprise?"

Carrie turned to look at what he could see and smiled. "I'm sure she loves it Aaron. After all, the idea was hers when you think about it."

They walked down the hall and she stopped in the doorway as Aaron rushed forward.

"Emily, are you alright?"

She sat on the floor as if all her strings had been cut and though she didn't appear injured, Carrie itched to go and call 9-1-1.

"I think I'm alright. I stepped in here cause I thought I smelt paint and the smell just overwhelmed me for a moment and I felt incredibly dizzy for a few seconds and then I was just sitting here and looking at the walls and marvelling at the fact that I was here just last night and I didn't see anything different to blank white walls and now there is this here surrounding me. But I'm alright, I swear. How did this get here?"

"I heard what you thought would make a perfect and long-lasting nursery in case we had other children who weren't little girls and decided it was the perfect finish. So I asked around over the last two weeks to find someone who could do it and then it was just a matter of getting you out of the house long enough. I'd thought to have it done on the next case but after meeting the man I decided it needed to be done without Carrie being present too."

Carrie frowned slightly. "Why? What was wrong with him?"

"Nothing that a completely confidant young woman could have dealt with easily. You still have just a little trouble with strange men and I doubted Tony would have given you the time you needed to feel comfortable around him before he attempted to make his moves on you so I figured out a way to keep you from him while you continue getting stronger."

She grinned suddenly. "This is absolutely awesome. I grew up as an only child and in one crazy decision to get ice cream on a cold winter evening I ended up with a job and a big sister and a big brother. Incredibly cool. I love it!"

Aaron and Emily exchanged amused looks before Aaron started feeling nervous again.

"So when Will suggested the picnic today and the fact that we'd need to leave early and come back late to fully comprehend the fullness of the place, I leapt at the chance to get this done today. So what do you think of it. I know we said we'd do it together but I wanted one last surprise before the baby is born and I thought I had it right from what you said."

Emily looked around slowly again at what she could see. The ceiling had been left alone but the walls all the way around the room and right up to the top had been detailed as if Africa had leapt alive onto the walls and gotten stuck there.

She was surrounded by the Serengeti. Parts of lush, marshy greenness filled with birds, hippo's and crocs. Long plains of dirt dotted with scraggly trees and covered with herds of elephants, zebras and giraffe's. Hyena's fed at a dead animal in a small out of the way corner and lions hunted across an entire wall after a foolish buffalo got separated from its herd. It was a glorious glimpse into a country she'd loved almost more than any other she'd ever travelled too and it was a landscape that would appeal not just to little girls but to little boys too.

She looked back into her husbands' anxious eyes and lifted a hand to cup his strong jaw.

"It's absolutely perfectly what I pictured it to be. I love it! I absolutely love it!"

End-

A/N: Done and Dusted! I never thought I'd get to the end of the alphabet and now here we are. I really hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing most of it and that you'll stay with me as I drop back into normalcy. Thanks particularly go out to those who wrote lots of lovely reviews to keep me going and had patience with me when work got in the way and made my postings few and far between. Hopefully this last rush has made up for those lapses.

As you can see, Emily hasn't had the baby yet but I am in the process of getting to that so just bear with me and you hopefully won't be disappointed.

As always I love reviews, so please feel free to let me know what you think, particularly now that I am at the end of this story. One review of the whole thing would be great if you don't feel the desire to review each chapter you read.