"Danny, we've searched everywhere." Alice cried as they drove back towards the house, "She's gone." She exhaled sadly afterwards - poor Cassidy.
"Why would they want her Alice?" Danny said pained, "Why can't anything go smoothly for us."
"Nope." Alice shook her head, "Not for us."
"I suppose we better inform the passport agency, border control, police." Danny stated, his tone emotionless as he drove. Alice knew how devastated he was, she was too and it was inevitable that all the family would be devastated.
"I'll call other game reserves." Alice agreed.
Danny's eyes darkened as he remembered Martin.
"Not Mara."
"Danny..."
"No." Danny demanded, "I don't want you talking to him."
"So you don't trust me..." Alice spat.
"No, I don't trust him." Danny corrected, "Look, I don't want to argue. Please... I'll ring him."
"Fine." Alice exhaled as he pulled up outside the animal hospital, "But I want us to talk later."
Danny nodded before both jumped out and into the animal hospital. Alice frowned as Danny unlocked it. She swore she'd left the top bolt unlocked and locked the bottom two. Now all three were locked.
"Danny... I think someone's been in here."
"Probably Rosie, look they're back now."
"Think they've realised?"
"Nope." Danny sighed, "Probably think she's with us."
Alice nodded before walking into the hospital with him. Danny immediately made his way to the cabinet, filing through each animals papers. He growled in frustration as he struggled to find her papers.
"Alice? Where'd you put her papers?" He asked, causing her to turn away from their address book.
"Third drawer down, two from the back. They are green and stamped red in the top left hand corner." She responded.
"Can't see them." Danny said.
Alice stood up and made her way over, placing her hand on his back gently pushing him aside. She quickly whipped through all the files and frowned.
"Danny. They're gone. Her papers are gone. This was organised!" Alice exclaimed.
"No! They must be somewhere? Who could get in here?" Danny shrugged, "I saw you lock it."
"Well..." Alice began, "I did notice that when we came back all the bolts were locked, I left the top one open."
"Which is why you suspected someone had been in..." Danny sighed, he sat down, placing his head in his hands. "We've no chance Alice. She's gone. Probably to Zimbabwe - there's a huge call for them over there. That's it."
Alice gazed down at him softly before placing her hand on his back, "No it's not come on. We'll inform all the appropriate agencies."
"What good is that gonna do? If we hadn't been at lover boys place!"
"Will you stop calling him that?!" Alice growled through gritted teeth,
"Well, you shouldn't have been there." Danny spat, his hurt making him seek someone to blame.
"Oh so this is my fault is it?" Alice challenged, "Well, if I'm so terrible, you can sort it out for yourself."
As she went to walk out the door, Danny stood up, "Alice!" He called. She reluctantly turned, looking at him with pure anger, "I'm sorry. I'm just upset."
"And I'm not?" Alice questioned, "Look, you ring people, I'll ring border control and explain. Won't help because it's probably a private plane mind..." Alice suddenly had a thought. Dylan was a pilot! He'd know about where they might take her! "Maybe Dylan could help."
"Or maybe he could make things worse. No. He doesn't get involved." Danny said, "He's caused enough trouble."
Alice rolled her eyes, she couldn't be bothered to argue with him!
(x)
Rosie giggled as Robert grabbed hold of her top, pulling it before putting it in his mouth.
"Robbie, you can't eat Rosie's top." She said in a sing song voice, gently removing it and giving him his dummy instead, "You're getting such a big boy." She grinned as she carried him through to the kitchen.
She glanced up at the clock, it was after five and Dylan still wasn't back. She wondered where on Earth he could be. Usually he arrived home at around five and usually before unless he was working on nights. Maybe he was stuck in traffic she thought - even if they did live in the bush. She sighed, he'd probably gone to the shop or something... yeh that was it, he'd gone to the shop.
"Hey, hey good looking!"
She spun and grinned as she saw Dylan standing in front of her with a huge bunch of flowers, she gasped as he walked over to her and kissed her, carefully adjusting Robert before handing her the flowers in her free hand.
"For a beautiful woman..." He grinned,
"Aww Dylan, thanks." She beamed, "I love you."
"I love you too." He replied, "Now, how's Robbie today hmm?" He smiled, offering his finger to the little boy who with some reluctance took it, squeezing it before letting go and turning sharply into Rosie's chest. "Great, even if he hates me."
"He's just shy." Rosie laughed, hugging her brother closer.
"Hmm..." Dylan joked with a smile, "Hey up, evil stepmother is here."
"Don't call Alice that." Rosie snapped as she turned to see her walking up the stairs, "She's done a lot for this family."
"It was a joke." Dylan shrugged raising his hands.
"Well I don't find it funny." Rosie grumbled. "So pack it in."
He nodded, hands in the air as Alice walked forward. Rosie noticed she looked grave and sad and couldn't help but wonder what was up. Alice smiled sadly as she saw Robbie, taking him off Rosie, and holding him close. Rosie observed how tired and stressed Alice looked these days and wondered if her sadness was down to her father.
"Alice, are you ok?" Rosie asked,
"Rosie, can you do me a favour and get everyone in here please?" Alice asked her quietly, "Your Dad and I need to speak to you all." She looked up and saw Rosie's panicked expression, "It's nothing to do with me or him, or the kids. It's about Cassidy."
"Yeh where is she?" Rosie enquired, "She's not been lingering around... God she's not..."
"Rosie, please." Alice said firmly, indicating that she was to go and do as she asked, Rosie nodded leaving Dylan alone with Alice. "Don't suppose you came back at all today did you?"
"No. Been working on an airfield just south of Jo'burg." Dylan responded, "It's a private one."
"Ok." Alice replied as she began to prepare Robert a bottle, "Do you know any runways that people in private planes might use without any questions?"
"Depends where to..." Dylan responded shiftily.
"Zimbabwe." Alice asked. "If you knew anywhere where planes can get away with just flying through, no questions asked, no checks, you need to tell us."
"I-" He began,
"Of course you do Dyl!" Rosie said, "Tell her. By the way Alice, everyone's coming in five minutes."
"Write them down Dylan, we'll discuss it later." Alice told him, "Right now..." She said testing Robbie's bottle before giving it to him, "Danny and I need to talk to you all."
At that moment, Danny walked in. He smiled sadly at Alice who gave him a small smile back. At the same time, the whole family filed into the kitchen sitting down at the table. Dylan and Rosie leant on the side, everyone waiting and watching as Danny and Alice quickly formed into a united front.
"Right everyone..." Danny began, "We have some bad news for you all. This afternoon when everyone was out, either at work or in town or wherever, Cassidy has been stolen, pretty obviously by poachers."
"It seems as though it was organised as her papers were also stolen." Alice replied, finishing Danny's story.
"Any idea where?" Caroline asked, rubbing Charlie's back who had taken to looking at her basket.
"Probably Zimbabwe." Danny responded sadly, "It's where they all go. There's a huge market for them."
"Even one's like Cassidy?" Liv asked, obviously referring to her disability.
"Even one's like Cassidy." Alice nodded, "I'm sorry."
"This is devastating..." Dup said, "Why's everything going wrong?"
Everyone shook their heads, no one quite knowing what to say as grief overcame them. Charlotte looked up, her green eyes glassy.
"Can't you get her back?" She asked timidly.
"We have no idea where she is." Danny responded, "The only way we could possibly know is if we could work out which airfield she left from or if there's been any other hits in the area. We're going to ring round and visit some of the other game reserves. Alice we should see Rik."
"I'll go see him." She nodded, "Here." She replied, handing Robert over to Danny who without even thinking about it took hold of him, "I'll go now. Dup would you come with me?"
"Sure." Dup replied as he followed Alice out of the house. As soon as they began driving he quickly asked, "Why?"
"I'm going Rik's then I'm going Mara. Danny can't go, he nearly killed him earlier. I can't go alone, Danny will kill me so you are my chaperone." Alice sighed, "Because Danny has to be Danny."
"Isn't him being Danny what you love about him woman?" Dup responded.
"Unfortunately." Alice laughed.
"Alice. Will you do me a favour?" He asked quietly, she nodded, "Will you sort things out with Trevanion. You two need each other and you're going to need one another. Danny's have to be tough soon." He said, "I know you think he's leaving you to do it all and there's tension but it's not worth it. Don't lose what you have over something so foolish."
"Dup... we're not going down the road to divorce." Alice responded.
"Don't ever get near it." He replied with passion, "Please Alice. You two love each other so much but you're also so similar. Please. Fix it."
"Ok... sure, yeh." Alice replied patting his arm. "I'll sort it. Why are you so... keen? Usually you just tell us to stop being idiots or make some other smart comment."
"Because I love you both. I want you to be happy Alice. I want you two to spend the rest of your lives together, making each other happy. You deserve it and the kids deserve it. They deserve your guidance." Dup responded, "I need you two to do this for me."
"Ok." Alice whispered, her tone full of emotion. "Why do you sound as though you're going somewhere?"
"Alice... I'll always be with you." Dup responded simply.
Alice frowned at his final tone. She swallowed, what did he mean by all this? It was then a horrific thought filled her mind, was Dup going somewhere else... somewhere not on this Earth? She swallowed, tears filling her eyes. No. He wouldn't do that. He'd say something. Then again, the family were so full of problems. She turned to look at him. He looked fine. He looked pretty healthy. She shook her head, she was being stupid. Dup was just looking out for her. He always did this when they were close to forgetting what they had - she knew he loved her like a daughter, this was just another one of those moments - only this one was special. It was heartfelt. Alice shook her head as she arrived at Riks.
"Let's go." Dup responded jumping out of the Jeep.
(x)
Danny flopped down onto the sofa exhausted. Robert had just gone down five minutes ago and he'd decided to quit the animal hospital whilst he was ahead. He glanced at the clock, Alice had been gone for well over two and a half hours. Then again, she and Rik's wife did like a good natter and she had Dup with her which probably meant he was having a drink. Danny closed his eyes for a moment before opening them to see Charlotte stood in the doorway. He nodded for her to come over which she did sitting beside him and hugging him tightly as she used to do when she was younger.
"You ok?' Danny asked, pressing a kiss into her hair.
"Just upset about Cassidy. You ok?" She asked,
"I am now." He replied, pulling her closer. "These things happen Charlie."
"It's not fair."
"No, it's not." He replied.
"I hope we find her - one day." Charlotte said, closing her eyes.
"One day." He repeated.
Both fell into a comfortable silence. Danny felt an overwhelming sense of love and pride fill him. Charlotte was turning out to be such a great young girl. She had so much of her mother in her and that thought made Danny smile even wider than before.
"I love you Danny." Charlotte whispered into his chest, "I'm glad you're my Dad."
"I love you too Charlie. I'm glad you're my daughter." He whispered back, closing his eyes as he held her tightly. And he was - very glad in fact.
A/N - The family knows and are devastated about Cassidy. Danice are on/off. Alice has worked Dup out but written it off and Charlie and Danny are being cute!