Ticket To Devon

[enzo_the_rhino]

Chapter Nine

Title: Ticket to Devon
Fandom: Green Wing
Characters/Pairings: Mac, Juliet, an assortment of stuffed animals
Rating/Warnings: PG
Length: 555 words
Spoilers: Up to the special
Summary: Mac tells Juliet a story; it's his bedtime not hers.
Disclaimer: None of the characters etc are mine. They belong to Victoria Pile and Channel Four.

Chapter Ten - Insomnia

Mac jerked awake at the feeling of small fingers tugging at his leg. “Come and play daddy,” Juliet implored plaintively. Mac closed his eyes again in anguish.

“I’m so sorry sweetheart, but Daddy’s really tired at the moment.” Juliet sat down with a bump, pouting. “How about I tell you a story?” Mac offered, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“But I want to play” she whined.

“Come and sit on my knee instead and I’ll tell you a story.” He offered Juliet a hand and helped her scramble her way onto his lap. “Maybe mummy will play with you later.”

 

Once Juliet was settled, Mac began to talk, “Once upon a time there was a handsome fraise blond knight,” He reached down to pick up a cuddly lion off the floor, and sat it on the arm of his chair, “And he lived in his three-bedroomed castle with the beautiful princess and her eyebrows.” He found a straggly teddy bear and sat it next to the lion. “They were very happy together and spent all day doting on their lovely daughter.” A pale pink duck joined the other two toys, who, thanks to Juliet, started squashing the duck affectionately; at least Mac hoped it was affectionately. “There was just one problem, the knight had a terrible curse put on him that meant he was very poorly. At night he had trouble breathing and had to sleep on a funny tilted bed which wasn’t very comfortable, even worse than peas under the mattress.” Mac paused for a yawn of lion-like proportion. “And if he did manage to get to sleep he only had to get up again to go to the toilet. This made the knight very sleepy and he didn’t have the energy to do any of the things he liked doing, like slaying dragons and teaching his daughter to ride her invisible pink horse.” Juliet grabbed the duck and bounced it across his chest exuberantly. “This made the knight very upset but there was nothing he, or anyone else, could do about it. Not even the beautiful princess or the court donkey, even though they all tried their best to make him feel better.” Mac looked around for the donkey Guy had bought, but it had been flung onto a high shelf and he decided to leave it where it was, it seemed to be happy enough with the doll keeping it company. “Now every day the knight felt worse and worse, until he couldn’t even move at all.” He gently removed the lion from Juliet’s grip and laid it back on the arm of the chair. “Then one day, the knight closed his eyes and this time he fell into a really deep sleep and his breathing didn’t trouble him and he wasn’t upset any more, ‘cos he knew it was all over.” Mac’s voice was soft and he didn’t seem to notice the teddy bear attacking his ear. “He knew the princess would miss him but she would be happy that he had finally got some peace.” Mac jerked out of his reverie, “Which was something he never got when he was at home, ‘cos the tickle monster was always near by.” And at this he gave up ignoring his daughter and started attacking her, until she was shrieking with laughter.

Chapter Eleven