The Night Before
This was inspired by a song I was listening to and its about
What if Terry never left when he realised Alice had a thing for Danny, what if they stayed and before the storm Alice thought she had no chance with Danny and got back together with Terry? What then if Vanessa and Danny got together?
Will the feelings which exist for our favourite couple bring them together, especially when wedding bells start ringing in the near future?
"I suspected you had a thing for Danny right from the start…."
It was midnight and Alice was sat in her room in Leopards Den staring at the wedding dress that was mocking her from across the room. Caroline had been hounding her to try the thing on to make sure the alterations were all fine, or she'd still be mending it as Alice was walking down the aisle…Walking. Down. The. Aisle. HOLY CRAP! How could this have happened? What had she done? Why was life such a freaking mess? Funny how she thought that if she was ever going to get married at Leopards Den it would have been to someone who wasn't Terry, to be honest she had once harboured a hope that it would be Danny as her husband. But it WAS Terry, and her stomach was filled with a funny sicky feeling, the wedding was hours away, people had been buzzing around trying to get details finalised…..and the only thought on her mind was packing her bags and getting the hell out of here.
It wasn't that she didn't love Terry she did….but she wasn't IN love with him, she hadn't been for so long! What she felt for him was almost brotherly! OH GOD! By rights he should be everything that's he should want, successful, handsome and utterly devoted to her and her child….she dropped her head in her hand. At one time he had been all she wanted, and then she came here…..and everything had gotten way out of hand! Why did she have to come here for the rabies outbreak? Worse still why had Terry had to come for the wild dogs, and then decide to stay? She'd been furious when he'd decided to set up a tracking business with Dupe. After that he always seemed to be there taking pleasure in the fact that she was in love with a man who didn't even know she existed. Then he must have realised his actions were antagonising her as he apologised and promised to be the perfect gentleman, and he was. Even going as far as avoiding her when he was feeling in an antagonistic mood.
She of course began to get sick of having her heart pummelled by Danny every time Vanessa came round, Terry asked if she wanted to talk about it and she hadn't at first but the man was a good listener and everything she had fell for at first was shining through and one night, she couldn't help it she kissed him, it led to something further and he convinced her that Danny had no interest in her beyond platonic friendship and did she want to try again with him, his feelings hadn't changed, would never change. She agreed, if only in some ways to make Danny wake up and see that she wouldn't be around forever. Then the storm hit, and then he was with Vanessa and he had never known how she felt and now probably never would.
There was a gentle knock at her door and the subject of her musings popped his head in the door, he wore a black shirt and jeans, the smile which forever adorned his face brightening her dower mood. "I saw the light on and wondered whether you were still awake or if you'd snuck out to see him oreven snuck him in, its bad luck you know."
She nodded. "He enjoy his stag?"
"I'm not sure, Dupe did enough for all of us I guess. Can I come in?"
She nodded and gestured him inside.
He walked in on soundless feet and closed the door, there was no where to sit so he stood by the door.
Alice rolled her eyes and sat so her back was against the headboard. "Sit."
He smiled at her gratefully which sent butterflies start to spiral through her stomach. He sat down and they were quiet. "You tried that on yet?" nodded to the dress.
She looked away from him and made a face.
"No?" he laughed. "Caroline will kill you! I'm surprised she hasn't hounded the life out of you yet."
"She did but I can run faster than her."
He looked at her an eyebrow raised, "You ran?"
"Wouldn't you?"
He shrugged. "Suppose, you gonna try it on?"
"She sent you in here didn't she?" Alice asked.
"No honest, scouts honour. I guess I just wanted….." he shook his head, "Doesn't matter."
Alice sat up straighter, "What?"
He flopped back on the bed and shook his head. How could he tell her that he wanted to see her in the dress, just her and him and maybe he could pretend for a minute, even ten seconds would do that she was his and marrying him, not Terry. "Just want to make sure tomorrow goes off without a hitch. Would hate for anything to ruin your big day."
"Oh." she said, whole body seeming to deflate. He looked at her, his green eyes troubled.
"Anyway dress?" he asked…..he was aware that this was a bad idea but he didn't care, he wanted to see her in it, he also wanted some time alone before she tied herself to another man, someone who wasn't him.
"Shouldn't you be trying to get Vanessa in a wedding dress?" she asked trying to get him away from the subject. Then again Vanessa in a wedding dress made her feel worse.
He shook his head.
Alice noticed his dejected expression, even lying down he looked like his shoulders were slumped. "Danny?" She knew that look well enough to know something was troubling him.
"Vanessa and I haven't been a couple for a while, she um, we drifted apart." Vanessa didn't like it when he realised her was in love with his work colleague, not that be blamed her, he had been deeply in love with Alice for so long. Her marriage announcement had almost killed him and he had drank himself into a stupor for almost a week straight, until Dupe woke him up and told him to fix himself.
"Oh is that why you were drinking so much recently?"
He smiled wryly. "No, I broke it off, I just….." he shook his head and shrugged. "Does a man need a reason to drink himself into oblivion?"
Alice crossed her legs, "Well yeah, I was worried about the damage to your liver."
She was worried about him? Then again that is what friends did he supposed, "It was just something I had to do."
"What mourn the loss of your relationship?" Alice nodded.
He looked at her and nodded, her words penetrating something inside him, "Yeah." his voice soft and low. "So where you going after the vows?"
Alice felt her shoulders turn into stone, like boulders had been placed on them. "How about I try this dress on huh?" and swung her legs off the bed, she was trying not to think about honeymoons and wedding nights.
He sat up, "I'll go."
"Will you stay, please."
He frowned. "Wouldn't you prefer Caroline, or Liv?"
"You're my friend, my best friend, please stay."
Now Danny knew it was a bad idea, how was he supposed to see her in her wedding dress and not reach for her? Not tell her how he felt? But when she looked at him so unsure, telling him he was her best friend what other choice did he have. "I'll turn around then."
She smiled at him. "Thanks."
He turned his back and there was rustling behind him, his hands were clenched so hard, jaw tight. Seconds ticked into minutes, then he heard the hiss of a zipper
"I'm ready." she called.
He turned and immediately his chest was tight. She stood there, hair hung around her shoulders, completely free of make up in her wedding dress…..and he couldn't hold back the pain. "Wow Alice." he said, thinking things he couldn't ever say to her, unable to breathe. He coughed to try and get his lungs working. "Just…..wow."
They stared at each other neither one able to say what they were thinking.
'Tell me what I want to hear', she thought, 'Just once please,' she didn't care if he was lying, she just wanted to feel him touch her, kiss her, just once…..he was too honourable for that though.
"So you having your hair down?" he asked hands waving around his head, voice scratchy.
"Up, with some hanging down the back a little." she turned to the mirror unable to look at him, this was hurting too much. She went to her jewellery box and pulled out the necklace she was going to wear, opened the chain and tried to put it on, anything to busy her hands. She immediately began to struggle.
He walked over, "Here." and he was behind her fastened the chain. His fingers brushed her nape moving hair aside and she swore sizzles ran right down her spine at the contact. When he was this close she could smell his aftershave, it was woodsy, manly and her brain began to slow down. It was getting hard to breathe as the room was heating up. After fastening it he looked at her reflection in the mirror. "There." and put her hair back in place. "Beautiful."
When he said it, she just knew deep down he meant it and with those words came a struggle to keep tears at bay. She had fell for him against everything, including her better judgement and even on the night before her wedding she couldn't fight what she was feeling. Thankfully though Danny not the most perceptive of men missed her shimmering eyes. Tthey stood for so long, he towering over her smiling down at her in the mirror eyes shining with something.
"You're gonna be a stunning bride Alice." he murmured, "Breathtaking." then he lowered his head and walked towards the door.
Alice wasn't ready for him to leave yet. "So you got your suit pressed all ready?"
He halted his back still to her. "Alice…." he breathed voice tortured. Then he shook his head.
"Danny? I don't…"
"I can't alright! I won't be there tomorrow." he told her without turning.
"But….." she gasped.
He finally turned and looked at her beautiful face, at someone who managed to touch him so deeply, at someone who was so completely unattainable…. "I can't." he repeated.
"If it's about Vanessa we can sort something out, you won't have to see her, Danny you have to come, please!"
He closed his eyes and swallowed began to shake his head slowly. "I…."
She went to him and took his hands in both of hers, "Danny please….." a tear fell. "I need you there, you…..you're breaking my heart right now."
Her heart? Did she even realise what she was asking of him right now? "Alice, you can't as me to do this." he pleaded.
"Why?" she challenged.
"Because I can't get you out of me head!" he blurted then clenched his jaw almost like he had to physically restrain himself from saying something else.
"What?" she asked frowning.
"It's nothing ok."
"IT'S SOMETHING!" she countered, something his head wanted to hear him say for so long.
He tried to pull his hands away but she felt like in a vice grip.
"Tell me what you meant and then you can go." she told him calmly, inside though she was buzzing, this one thing he said could change the course of her life.
He looked at her trying to muster up some anger but all he felt was fear and it looked like she was feeling the same thing.
"Because in the past, before you were with Terry I loved you."
Alice's face fell "What?"
He smiled wryly, "Yeah, I realised how much when you were feeding the ellies in the sunshine and you were stood there, the land in the distance looking all….." his face looked conflicted then it smoothed over nostalgically, "….radiant and …." he shrugged. "I was about to come over and talk to you or do something," he frowned. "Then Terry came across and he kissed you!" he shrugged. "He had you and you've both been so happy and Charlie too. Then to try and blank it out and convince myself I wasn't feeling like that I got with Vanessa….she was happy when you announced your marriage, I wasn't…..I couldn't lie to her and told her about it all….."
"Is that why you finished with her?" she was searching his face hopefully. "What are you trying to say?"
He smiled at her, so sad and wistful, raised his hand like he wanted to touch her face then dropped it. He had to walk away now, or they'd both have issues, some things were better left unsaid. The shock had caused her hands to loosen and he pulled free "Goodnight Alice, sweet dreams." he left and she was stood there mouth agape, mind spinning. She was acutely aware of what he said, he told her he had loved hr, past tense, not that he loved her now, but still this changed everything right? Earlier she had wished he would say something she wanted to hear, but actually hearing it wasn't as easy as she expected.
She began peeling off her wedding dress to hang back up. What did she do now? Why did he say this now? Couldn't he have said this a week ago? Suddenly she was angry, more angry then she had ever felt before, he actually choose to do this now? The night before her wedding? She pulled on her bed shorts and a her pink vest top and stomped to his bedroom door rapping on it, hard. She had no idea why but she was seething. Danny opened it hesitantly. "Yes?" Alice would have noticed he was shirtless had she not been so angry.
"You think you can drop a bombshell on me of that magnitude the night before my wedding and I'm supposed to forget it?"
Danny looked unperturbed. "Yes." and he closed the door.
Alice's face looked like she was going to explode and she thumped on the door.
He opened it again. "I am trying to sleep in here you know."
Alice poked his chest with her index finger. "Don't shut the door on me buster!" she told him. "Why did you say that to me? WHY!"
"Why?" he shrugged. "I don't know."
"Yes you do! You said you couldn't get me out of your head, you told me you loved me then you walk away like it's nothing! You're sending me mixed signals and I don't understand!"
Danny popped his head out of the door, made a face and pulled her inside. "Don't say stuff like that where people can hear!" he told her heatedly.
"Why? Scared Terry won't marry me?" issuing a challenge eyes flaming.
"You think I want to feel like this? These feelings are completely uninvited and I can't…..they won't leave me alone no matter how much I try to hide! And I have tried staying away from you but I bloody missed you! I mean have you ever heard anything so stupid in your life?"
She felt a smile begin to bloom on her face.
"And look at you, stood there in all of your beautiful glory, messing with my head as always and too bloody charming for your own good! When your close to me I can't think trying so hard to hide everything I'm feeling and it gets to point where I feel like I'm losing my mind!" he stomped across the room away from her turned and pointed to the door. "So you know what? Go marry him, I wish you both well, but don't ask me to be there and watch it because when the priest asks does anyone object I'll be raising my damn hand!" he was panting in the aftermath of his rant.
"You finished?" she asked a half smile on her face.
"No," his voice was soft and tortured. "You looked so beautiful in that white dress Alice, so beautiful and every time I close my eyes all I can see if you stood there in front of everyone with him. It was never my intention to tell you all this but I know if I hadn't at least tried I would have wondered if i was making a mistake for the rest of my life." He finished with an exhaled breath.
She asked him silently if he was done and he nodded.
"Did it ever occur to you what would happen if you told me all this earlier? What would happen if I thought well you know Danny isn't all that bad and just maybe I'd like to get to know him better too. I didn't go over board trying to hide my emotions from you did I?" feelings on the table time. "You don't want me to marry him do you."
Alice saw a shadow pass across his face, "You can if you want."
"That's you not telling me the full truth….."
Danny interrupted, "Alice marry him if you want, I don't hate the man, he's alright."
"He is!" she told him eyes glistening walked to him and took his hands. "But he's not you and you are who I want, you're always the one I wanted."
"Me?" he gasped.
She nodded slowly.
Danny's voice was low, "Even though I'm stubborn, pig headed annoying and grumpy?"
She lowered her head smiling, then looked up at him, "Yes."
It seemed they were at an impasse they looked at the other, both waiting for the other to move.
"So?" she asked.
"So?" he repeated.
"Is this where we start….."
"Oh you want me to kiss you?" he asked smiling.
She pulled back a little, "Well if you…"
He swooped down and caught her lips with his own, silencing her words. Alice a little shocked at first soon melted into the kiss, her arms finding their way around his shoulders, he pulled her closer…
Alice lay in bed hearing her new husband giggling in his sleep. She sat up, he was giggling? This was a new one even for him. She lay back down wrapping her arm around his waist and kissed his cheek. "What you finding so funny dear husband?"
Danny opened his eyes. "Why you wake me?" he murmured laying on his back. "We were just getting to the good bit."
"Excuse me?" she laughed resting her head on his bare chest. They weren't at home they were on their honeymoon, actually it was their wedding night.
"So laughing?"
"I had this crazy dream." he told her pressing soft kisses to her hair.
"Can't me much crazier then me agreeing to marry you."
"Actually in the dream you were engaged to marry Terry." he outlined everything that happened in the dream.
Alice listened intently nodding in some parts. "So in short I get with Terry even though I'm in love with you and you get with Vanessa even though your in love with me and when he proposes you finally decide to tell me you love me?"
"Pretty much."
"Can I ask you why you waited until the night before my wedding?"
Danny chuckled heartily. "That's what you said then too."
"And what did you say."
He ran his hand up and down her back, "I said I couldn't shut you up any earlier time…."
"Hey!" and she swatted his chest.
"I actually said that if you did marry him don't ask me to be there coz I'll be the man objecting to the marriage."
"Awwww you'd do that?"
"There's more." he raised his head and lowered his voice and made it full of emotion, each and every word he was about to say true right here right now. "I told you, you looked beautiful in your wedding dress, and every time I closed my eyes that was all I could see and if I didn't say all this stuff right now then I'd always wonder if I'd made the biggest mistake of my life for not telling you how I felt."
"You said all that?" she asked all choked up.
He nodded.
A tear fell. "Dream you is so adorable, I wanna marry him!"
He laughed and put his arms around her shoulders. She snuggled in closer to him, loving the feelings he stirred in her, and knowing that even in his dreams he wouldn't have let her get away. "Terry knew he had no chance with me." reached up and kissed her brand new husband.
"How?" he asked looking down into her beautiful blue eyes.
"On the day he left he worked something out that you had no idea."
He looked at her a smile on his features
She leaned in her mouth close to his ear and whispered
"I suspected you had a thing for Danny right from the start…."
A/N FLUFF! can you peeps believe it? I actually wrote fluff! Its not the best BUT compared to some of the other fluff I was producing its world class lol hope you enjoyed it anyway x