Chapter 13 Kookaburra

The days were getting colder and colder, there was even a touch of frost one day, before we knew it winter had arrived and we were having to wear our cloaks outside during day as well as at night to keep ourselves warm, one morning, I woke up and looked out of my window to find a dusting of snow on the ground, I was so excited, we never get snow in Australia, I got out of my nest, got dressed, grabbed my cloak and dashed towards the kings quarters, Nightingale was already there.

"Morning." she said smiling.

"Morning."

Making sure that no one was behind me, I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, she smiled and started to go red in the cheeks, looking again, I kissed her again, this time on the lips, we started to get lost in the moment, when I heard someone coming down the corridor, we jumped to attention and stepped away from each other, Gildar then came round the corner.

"Morning." he said cheerfully.

"Morning." Me and Nightingale replied.

"Beautiful day isn't it?"

"Yeah. Cold though."

Even the king was in his warm clothes, and he was inside, we lined up, bowed and were ready for any announcements that the king was going to give us.

"Morning everyone." he said "Obviously you've all seen the snow outside and all wrapped up warm, I just thought that you should all know that it's rather slippery out there, one of the soldiers came up to me this morning from the night shift and told me that there is a vast amount of ice under that snow."

It was a good thing that the king had warned us about the ice, as I can be rather clumsy at times, and don't find it that difficult to slip on anything as any of the other will tell you with that time I accidentally slipped during defending.

After we'd all had breakfast, I went to the top of the lookout tower where Nightingale was waiting for me, I could feel a smile growing on my face as I walked up the stairs, getting closer and closer to where I so wanted to be. The second I got to the top of the stairs, Nightingale ran over to me and threw her arms around my neck.

"I love spending time with you Kook."

"And I you."

We didn't spend the whole time on lookout being soppy and romantic, saying how much we like each other and how much we enjoy being together, we did some actual work, around an hour and a half into the duty, Nightingale turned to me.

"Are you cold? I'm cold." she asked smiling.

"Yeah, I am a bit."

"I could do with warming up."

"Yeah, I could see why." I suddenly realised what she was trying to say. "Come here then."

She smiled again as she walked over and brought her body close to mine, I could feel the heat from her body and her heart beating faster, I kissed her gently on the top of her head.

"I feel so safe when I'm in your arms." she said smiling.

I smiled, no girl has ever been like this with me before, this was all a wonderful way of getting warm, but I could think of a much better and funnier was, when Nightingale was relaxed, I reached down and tickled her on her waist.

She laughed. "Stop it."

But I continued, she started wriggling in my arms as she attempted to get away, her laughs were getting harder and louder.

"Seriously Kook stop it, I'm going to slip."

Before I had a chance to stop, Nightingale slipped on the ice taking me with her, I ended up collapsing on top of her, neither of us were hurt and we both ended up laughing and rolling around in the snow, once we'd calmed down, I looked into Nightingale's eyes, they were their usual light shade of brown, with tears of laughter forming in the corners, she smiled as I placed my right hand on the left side of her face, pulled her towards me and kissed her again. Once out lips unlocked I stood up and helped Nightingale to her feet.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, I always am with you."

I smiled. "I really don't know what I did good to deserve you babe."

"You were just yourself, that's good enough."

I wrapped my arms around Nightingale's waist and lifted her up spinning around in a romantic fashion, she giggled as I swept her off her feet, when I put her down she was still giggling.

"Was I very heavy?" She asked.

"No more than a dried leaf." I replied winking.

She giggled again. We were cuddling and holding hands throughout the day as well as working, when the day was up the sky went subtle shades of orange and red, red sky at night, shepherds delight.

Everyone else had gone to their rooms, so me and Nightingale were able to walk down the corridor without any interruptions, we arrived at my bedroom door.

"Goodnight then." I said taking her hand.

"Goodnight."

She kissed me on the cheek before she turned around to talk to me.

"By the way, there's something that you should know."

"Okay, what is it?"

"It's my mum and dad, when they come to visit for Christmas, be careful with what you say around my dad, as he can be a protective of me."

"Okay, logged."

"I'm serious Kook, be careful."

"Don't worry babe, I'll be fine.

To calm her down I have her a quick kiss on the lips, she blew me another kiss before she disappeared behind the corner. I don't know why Nightingale's so concerned about her dad, but i was concerned about my parents, no doubt that my mum would embarrass me, maybe say something personal or get out a painting of me as a baby...who am I kidding, all mums do that.

As Christmas got closer and closer, our families were starting to arrive, my mum and dad had been here for a couple of days, we hadn't been given any days off since they arrived and I was desperate to introduce them to Nightingale, after 3 days we were finally given a day off, I walked down the corridor and mum and dad were already there.

"There you are Kook love." said mum. "We were wondering where you where."

She walked over to me and kissed me on the cheek.

"Mum, get off, I'm not a chick anymore."

"Where's this sheila of yours that you've told us about?" my dad asked.

"She won't be long."

Nightingale was talking to her mum and dad at the time, but she wasn't that long, after 10 minutes she walked down the corridor, her dress was floating along with her, and her hair bouncing on her head as she walked, it reminded me of the first day that I met her, she smiled as she looked at me.

"Mum, dad, I'd like you to meet Nightingale."

"Nice to meet you Nightingale." said mum shaking Nightingale's hand. "Our little Kooky has told us all about you in his letters back home."

"Mum! Don't call me Kooky, you called me that when I was little and I'm obviously not little anymore."

"True, you should have seen him as a little chick Nightingale, he was gorgeous."

I had a dreading feeling that I knew what was coming up next, mum reached into her left pocket and pulled out a painting of me as a baby.

"Oh mum, no!"

Mum showed Nightingale the painting anyway.

"Aw, Kook you were really cute when you were little."

"Do you think so?"

I went to look at the painting, it was so humiliating, I was about 1 year old, I didn't have as much hair as i do now, it just looked like a little tuft of green hair, I had a little round face and podgy little arms and legs, it's my least favorite picture.

"Mum, did you have to show that one?" I asked going red.

"But you look lovely in this painting."

I knew that my mum was going to go and do something like this, it's so like her, Nightingale didn't seem to mind though, she promised afterwards not to mention what had happened, it was then Nightingale's turn to introduce me to her parents.