Roxton woke early the next morning to hear loud screaming and wild noises down below the treehouse. It only took him a moment to realize, no, not invaders; just five wild children.
He looked at the sky, then reached for his pocket-watch on the nightstand. The sun wasn't quite up yet; it was barely 5:30 in the morning! He ran a hand over his face, pulling a pillow back over his head...
By the adults were straggling out of bed, it was quiet- disturbingly quiet to parents who were used to the noise. Marguerite looked around over the balcony, calling out to her babes. "Avery! Morgan! Emmeline-Cate!" she yelled out.
She looked at Roxton worriedly when she got no answer, but, Veronica patted her arm reassuringly.
"Relax; Abby and Tommy probably just took them exploring." she said easily.
"You let your children go exploring alone in the jungle?" she demanded of Veronica incredulously.
"We have perimeters set up, and they have been taught where they can and cannot go." Ned said. "They're nine and ten; we can't leash them to our waists all the time. We've been teaching them survival skills their entire lives- we have to, with them living here."
Marguerite fidgeted, looking at Roxton as if "help?". Roxton patted her arms gently. "Darling... they'll be fine, I'm certain?" he soothed. "Though, they've never been here- ah, but, Tommy and Abby would know what to tell them." he said a bit doubtfully, starting to feel edges of concern himself.
"I never would've expected you two to be so hovery as parents." Ned blurted, flopping into a chair.
"Ned..." Veronica reproached quietly.
"I beg your pardon?" Marguerite burst out, and Roxton put the hands back on her arms, even though she hadn't made a move forward, just incase.
"Well, you treat them like they're made of glass or something. Kids are tough. I kind of expected you to hire a nanny to take care of all that stuff." he admitted. "You guys never struck me as the kids type- especially not to coddle them the way you do."
Marguerite's eyes popped open in fury, but Roxton stood in front of her, looking at Ned offended now, too.
"Now, see here, Malone-" he begun angrily.
"Now, now... we all have different styles of everything, let's not fight about it..." Veronica tried to placate.
But, she was ignored.
"We don't even have a nanny, because Marguerite did not want to share that. She wanted to be the only one the children thought of as mother, and I happen to love that. And, my children are hardly 'coddled' as you say- I have two strapping, strong boys! And, the baby... well, she's a girl, you know! And, still a baby. Just because we don't allow our children to be raised by sabertoothed wolves..."
"Now, hold on! We take very good care of our kids!" Veronica burst out. "And, we are in very different places, so I don't think either approach is wrong. So, can we drop this testosterone fest so early in the morning?" she demanded. "Everyone sit down and have some damn breakfast, and the children will be back soon, or we will go look for them, because they know how long they're allowed to be gone."
And, everyone sat down to a silent and awkward meal...
An hour came and went, with no children, no dog. Veronica was starting to look worried herself, as was Ned.
"All right, we go find them." Roxton said, loading up his guns.
"I'm... I'm sorry what I said earlier, Roxton. I didn't mean it." Ned said quietly. "My foot just likes to take up residence in my mouth sometimes."
"Comes from being a New Yorker, I suppose, old man." Roxton teased, gracing him with a small smirk.
In man speak, forgiveness.
The group gathered up everything, and walked out first to the perimeters Ned and Veronica had set up for the children's safety.
"Markers... how clever..." Marguerite said.
Veronica nodded. "Yes, my mother and father used to do the same for me before they... well... the stuff happened." she fidgeted, still unable to bring herself to terms with everything.
Marguerite put an arm around her, patting her on the shoulder. It wasn't that hard for Roxton to pick up their trail. Being children and not really having a proper sense of danger, they did not even attempt to hide it.
"Well, they've broken where they were supposed to go." Ned said, annoyed. "They've obviously gone out further... I'm so, so sorry..."
"Ned, tisn't your fault, really. It's going to be all right, they are going to be fine." Marguerite said, though who she was reassuring, Ned or herself, no one was quite sure.
Suddenly, they walked upon a village none of them recognized, full of people, and saw the children splashing about in the lake with several of tribesmembers...