Thought I'd squeeze in at least one more chapter before I go on my holiday (maybe two but we will see), I'm ashamed to see that many people who started stories after mine have finished them before me! I'm so lazy hee hee.

CHAPTER 16

Night had fallen on the Pridelands, and the lions within Pride Rock all had all lain themselves down for some well earned rest after a busy day of hunting.

By the time Kiara, Pumbaa, Timon, Zazu and Maha had climbed up the great rock and reached the mouth of the cave; all the lions were fast asleep. Pumbaa and Zazu were still quite sore from the attack but were so tired that they agreed to wait until morning before seeing the shaman; the cuts on Pumbaa's back had ceased bleeding quite some time ago.

Not wanting to wake anyone Kiara crept in first and snuggled up to Kovu, she smiled before closing her eyes thinking about how surprised he would be to find her there the next morning. Pumbaa, made his way over to the vacant corner of the cave which he and Timon and slept in during the years they lived there, Pumbaa of course could not sleep fashion as his back was too sore to lie on, so he had to try and get comfortable lying on his belly. This of course, as a result changed Timon's usual arrangement too, but he understood and tried to get comfortable on the ground nearby.

That left Zazu and Maha, who were both quite unsure of what to do. The problem was that Zazu's usual nest was in a smaller cave near the roof of the lions cave and although that day he had proven he could fly in desperate need, he really didn't want to risk damaging his injured wing any further, not to mention suffering more pain. Maha had never spent the night there before and was feeling quite nervous about the whole situation, for although she had met most of these lions before at some stage her meerkat instincts kept saying to her 'Surrounded by lions…not good, why aren't I running away?'. Zazu saw this and put his good wing on her paw to comfort her, in the end they decided it would be best to just go and sleep next to Timon and Pumbaa, that way at least Maha could feel more at ease.

As the sun peeked inside the cave in the morning the lions began to awaken, all except Kiara of course who was still very tired from all the travelling. Kovu was of course overjoyed to see her sleeping next to him when he woke up, but didn't want to wake her, so he just gently rubbed his muzzle against hers and sat up. Kiara however was a light sleeper and woke up at the movement, and smiled at him, giving him another lion like kiss. Kovu looked across the cave floor and saw Timon, Zazu Ma and Pumbaa sleeping and said, "I knew you would bring him back."

"Thanks," replied a still very sleepy Kiara.

"Go back to sleep now you need some rest," whispered Kovu, who then rubbed faces with her again and left to find Simba.

Simba had of course seen his daughter, Timon, Pumbaa, and to his delight Zazu, not to mention to his great surprise Maha. Kovu met Simba just outside the cave gazing over the Pridelands, which seemed to have become Simba's morning ritual.

"Kovu," Simba greeted him happily.

"Good morning," replied Kovu, "What time did they all arrive?"

"I'm not sure, but I'm guessing very late as none of the lionesses were up when they arrived."

"Have you spoken with Zazu yet?" asked Kovu.

"No, I didn't want to wake them so early, but I may have to soon as the fact that he did not fly to his nest concerns me," sighed Simba.

"Do you think he may have lost his ability to fly?" said Nala who approached them from behind.

"It's possible," said Simba.

"Ummmm…if he has does this mean I will have to do the morning report everyday?" asked Kovu with a worried look on his face, although he seemed more worried about himself than Zazu.

"Ha ha," laughed Simba, " No offence Kovu but I think we would have more luck getting news if we found someone else to do it. But lets not speak of replacing Zazu, although I admit I have found him annoying at times he has been with this family my whole life and before that, he is as much a part of this pride as you or I."

"Shall we wake them now?" asked Nala.

"Yes we may as well, we can let Kiara sleep though. Let me wake up Timon, he still complains of nightmares of the big evil Nala beast attacking him in his sleep," joked Simba

"Hey, I only did that once and I barely touched him!" defended Nala, walking beside Simba into the cave.

When Simba was close enough to the sleeping animals he noticed Pumbaa had cuts on his back and that Zazu's wing looked more stiff than usual. Simba first decided to wake up Zazu so he gently tapped the bird lightly on his side.

Zazu slowly opened his eyes and gave a small smile when he saw Simba.

"Goodmorining Simba," said Zazu trying to get up to give the king a bow, which was quite unsuccessful considering that so many of his muscles ached.

"No need to bow Zazu," replied Simba happily bending down so they were more on level, "Hey you finally called me Simba!"

"Oh, so I did!" realised Zazu, "You don't know how many times I have been told not to be so formal these past few days," the bird continued looking over at the sleeping Maha.

"Really," said Simba with a curious look on his face.

"Indeed Sire," replied Zazu.

"Sire?"

"Well, old habits don't die fast, but I am getting better," continued Zazu.

"Well it's great to have you back," chimed in Nala from behind, "You look injured, we must take you to Rafiki but on the way do tell us what happened."

"Thankyou Nala," replied Zazu who walked over to stand next to the lions while they attempted to wake the meerkats. Nala gently tapped Maha awake, and Simba picked up Timon with his paw and gave him a little shake, which of course caused the meerkat to wake up in terror causing Simba to have to cover his screaming mouth up with one of his toes (if you would call them toes).

"Morning buddy!" smiled Simba, watching his friend go from panic to a more relaxed state.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING!" yelled Timon once Simba removed his toe.

"Waking you up," replied Simba with a cheeky smirk, "Good to see you again buddy!"

"Yeah you too, " smiled Timon, "….we'll I'm up now, so can you put me down already?" added Timon who was still being held in the air by his overgrown foster son. Simba did so and then gave Pumbaa a good shake being careful not to touch any of the warthog's injuries. Pumbaa, eventually woke up, and shared his greetings with the two lions.

"Pumbaa what happened to your back?" asked a concerned Nala.

"Oh, it's just a little scratch," replied the humble warthog.

"I'll be the judge of that!" butted in Maha.

"Ma's right," said Simba, who was use to calling Maha Ma (incase anyone was wondering), "we should get these looked at, come on after we have something to eat I'll escort you and Zazu to Rafiki's tree."

"I'll come too" said Nala, then adding after Simba gave her a glance, " the fresh air would do me good, plus I want to know all that happened as I have been worried sick about Zazu. …Literally"

"Very well," agreed Simba.

After a quick breakfast, Simba, Nala Pumbaa and Zazu (who was perched on Simba's shoulder) set off for Rafiki's tree. Timon and Maha were there too, as Maha wanted to know if Zazu would be all right and Timon, although claiming he just didn't want to be left alone, was concerned for Pumbaa. The meerkats decided to wake, as they were sick of riding they kept up quite well to as Nala couldn't walk very fast anyway with her very large belly. Zazu explained to the lions all about his fall, which caused his wing to break, how Maha helped him, and about the eagle incident on the return journey. Zazu didn't make it sound like much but Pumbaa and Maha embellished on the story a little to allow Simba and Nala to see how heroic Zazu actually was. The royal couple were very impressed indeed. The fact that Maha and Zazu were becoming somewhat of an item wasn't mentioned.

Rafiki, jumped down from his tree's branches as soon as he saw them, and was very happy indeed to see his old friend Zazu again.

"Hee hee , I knew dat you would be back," exclaimed Rafiki joyfully, giving his old friend hug and then lifting the bird up so he could get a good look and feel of the injured wing.

"Hmmmm, you have done a bit of damage here, I see but in time the wing should heal itself," said Rafiki after a short examination, "just keep off it for a while."

The mandrill then examined Pumbaa's wounds and rubbed some kind of natural juices into it. This stung a little, causing Pumbaa to flinch. Rafiki then gave the half hollowed out gourd containing the juices to Timon saying, "Rub dis on da wound twice a day and he shall be healed in no time."

Maha asked Rafiki if she should make Zazu a new sling, to help him keep weight off his wing, Rafiki thought that would be a very good idea, and Nala couldn't help but give Simba a little knowing nudge, as by now she had noticed a certain closeness between the meerkat and the hornbill. Simba of course just gave her a 'what are you getting at' look, as he had not pieced it together yet.

Rafiki did of course want a retelling of the story as well, before he allowed them to go on their way. All turned around to head off and Rafiki jumped back into his tree's branches. Just as Timon turned around, Rafiki swang himself upside-down on the low branches to whisper to the meerkat "Your taking dis better den I thought you would."

Timon gave Rafiki a 'What the Hell?' look not knowing how Rafiki had worked it out so fast.

Rafiki just smirked and said "Bye" quickly before disappearing back inside his trees branches.

During the trip back to the rock, Timon was once again sitting on Pumbaa's snout because the half gourd filled with healing juices was getting heavy. They were a fair bit ahead of the others and all were just over halfway back to pride rock. Timon was just telling Pumbaa about how Rafiki seemed to know about his Ma and Zazu, and wanted to know if he thought the others had worked it out yet.

"Hmm, I don't know Timon, I certainly haven't told them," said Pumbaa.

"Well, neither have I but somehow Rafiki knew" replied the meerkat.

"Yeah, but he's very clever, I wouldn't be surprised if he knew everything," commented Pumbaa.

"Pumbaa, please, nobody can know everything, I bet I know more than he does," scoffed Timon.

"I don't know Timon."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"Oh nothing," Pumbaa quickly said to avoid a meaningless argument.

"Did you notice how Nala kept nudging Simba like that I think she might…" Timon never got to finish his sentence though as he was interrupted but a very loud moan of pain from behind.

Pumbaa turned around quickly to see that Queen Nala had collapsed onto the ground and was moaning in pain.

"Simba!" sobbed Nala between tears "My…. my water just broke."

That's all for now! Hope you enjoyed it! Oh dear Nala in labour, that's not suppose to happen for a few days!

Whatever will happen! Find out next chappy, suggestions are welcome (yes I make it up as I go), and reviews are always well received, I got very excited today as I'm on 99 reviews Wahoo! The 100th reviewer can have a cyber hug:)

Oh and BTW Took-Baggins,

I'm studying to be a Primary school teacher; there seem to be a lot of future teachers on this site doesn't there? Hee hee : )