Next on the list was the boat trip over the river. They got in line and after a short wait were seated in a small boat with a family of four. They were sitting on the first row of the boat, with Katie in the middle. The boat followed a track in the river, so nothing could happen. During the ride a voice from the speakers told them about what they were seeing. There were a lot of beautiful flowers and monkeys and birds had free range in this secluded part of the park. When they left the boat, Katie took both of their hands, Fox on her right and Dana on her left. Both Fox and Dana were surprised by this move and looked and smiled at each other over Katie's head.

There was a pick-nick area overseeing the elephant terrain. Dana decided that it was time for the first snack and they all sat down. Dana gave Katie a juice box and an apple and took out two bananas and two bottles of water for Fox and herself.

After the short break it was time to move over to the next area. Since Katie really wanted to see the penguins, they went to the North-pole next. Katie watched the penguins for fifteen minutes without getting bored, which gave Dana the time and the opportunity to get some great shots of her. She even managed to get Fox in a few of the pictures. It was nice to see him so relaxed and enjoy himself. She thought he should go out more and do more fun stuff, not only spend his time chasing aliens and monsters.

Next up was the 4D show, after standing in line for about 30 minutes they were let in and sat down and buckled in. The show was about a test drive with an airplane that was to explore the north pole. Off course there was some trouble along the way. Rats had managed to get in the plane and chewed some cables. An emergency landing was the result, where the plane slid across the glaciers. Katie enjoyed herself immensely and couldn't stop talking about it after they got out.

They decided to get some lunch and went in search of the restaurant. Again, Katie took both their hands while walking. After finding a nice place to sit, with a few of the polar bears, Fox offered to get in line for lunch.

'So what will you be having for lunch today Miss Katie?' he asked.

'Can I have a burger and some soda, please?'

Fox looked over at Dana to see if this was allowed. Dana nodded and added 'I'll have the same, please.'

Ten minutes later Fox returned with 3 burgers, 3 soda's and a basket of french fries. 'I thought we could share some fries to go with our burgers.'

During lunch they discussed what was next on the itinerary. Katie wanted to go see the black rats that had eaten through the cables of the plane and after that they would go to the Jungle.

'I'm looking forward to seeing the lions,' Dana said. 'I love the way the look, so strong and powerful, but they also because the look like cats.'

'Well, I wouldn't want to pet one of those cats, think of what they could do with those teeth and claws,' Fox replied.

'Will we be close enough to pet them?' Katie asked.

'No sweetie, and I have to agree with Fox, these are not the kind of cats you want to pet.

Again Katie took both of their hands as they made their way over to the last ride of the park. It was a train ride through the savanna, where they could get a good view of the zebra's, giraffes, rhinos and other animals. Because the train stopped at certain points, Dana had time to take some got shots of the various animals. When they got of the train, another passenger asked them if they would like a picture of the three of them together. They stood in front of the Savanna, with some animals in the background, and the man shot a view pictures of them.

It was nearly three when Katie asked if she could go play in the playground for a little while. She was getting excited when they got near and let go of both of their hands to run over to the playground. Somehow Dana found Fox's hand in hers and immediately felt him pull away. In order to stop him, she squeezed his hand lightly and felt him squeeze back. They looked at each other and then looked down at their linked hands.

The play ground was partially indoors, with a lot of water elements. There was a pirate boot and lots of sand to build sand castles with. A small cafe was inside the playground, with good view of the area, so that parents could enjoy a drink and still be able to watch their children play. Dana and Fox took a seat and told Katie that they were going to be sitting there, so that if she needed anything she would know where to find them.

'Would you like some coffee?' Dana asked.

'That would be great, let me get it for us.'

'No, you got us lunch, I'll get us some coffee, I'll be right back.'

While she was waiting in line, she thought about what happened, when they were holding hands. She liked the feel of his hand in hers and would very much like to feel it again. She knew they would have to talk about this, they were good at non verbal communication in the field, but this was different. They needed to talk about this, see where this was leading and they would need words for it, not just actions and looks.

'We've got to talk,' she said as she put the coffees on the table.

'I know,' he answered.

'Well, how about you stay over for dinner tonight and after Katie has gone to bed, we can talk, here and now is not the right place to discuss this. And I believe I have a nice bottle of wine in the fridge we could enjoy.'

Suddenly Katie came bouncing up to them.

'I love it here, Dana, thank you for bringing me!'

'You are very welcome, sweetie. Now how about you go play for another 30 minutes and then we can go back to watching some animals before we have to go home. Fox just agreed to have dinner with us. Is that okay?'

'Yes, can we have pasta please? I love the pasta you make!' and with that she went back to the play area.

The Zoo in this story is based on an actual Zoo in my home country, I've been there once with my nephew and he liked it very much. It does have 'rides' between the animals :)