Danny called Alice numerous times that same day and received no reply. He then called at her house on the premise of dropping off the tools they used and found it empty. It was going to be dark soon and he had no idea where she was! He had alternated between pacing in his house, biting his nails and calling her. He'd never forgive himself if something had happened to her because he had pushed her too far to talk. He paced again in his apartment, why did he have to push her? He didn't know her well enough to know how she would have reacted! He had been wracking his brains for the last half hour trying to figure out where she might go. Not the cemetery, she may have visited there earlier to clear her mind but she wouldn't spend the whole day there. Alice was too full of life to spending her days among the dead. He'd had a feeling for the last ten minutes where she may have went but he couldn't decide whether she would go there, would she? If she was all out of sorts? Possibly. Probably. He grabbed his car keys and coat deciding to go anyway, if she wasn't there then he'd just have to come home, and if she was then he'd know she was fine, and have the chance to apologise.

(X)

Alice had driven to a quiet place to pull herself together after her little outburst to Danny, thing was she had fully intended to return and apologise she had just chickened out. She didn't know how to handle intense emotion like that, especially if it flooded her unexpectedly. She generally flipped out, that reaction had actually been calm and restrained. She couldn't say the same if it had actually been Tom there, she might have actually impaled him on the rake, see how he liked it, no joke! See that was how mad she used to go! She hadn't though, after that old bit….woman had left she had went abit scatty at Danny then left and drove around. After clearing her mind in the quiet area she had went to Peter and imagined him congratulating her for telling Henderson what happened, not as graphic as she would have liked but she got something which was enough. After leaving Peter, again she had drove around randomly, her mind spinning, the one direction it spun was towards Danny's old house, him the main feature. All she needed was to find a way to switch it off! She knew where she could go, somewhere she had visited in the past, it hadn't helped then, but maybe things were different now. She wasn't holding her breath, but she had to try. She needed to sleep tonight.

(X)

Danny stopped his car and saw Alice's parked in front of it, it disappeared into the darkness as he turned his headlights off. He climbed out slowly and looked at his mums old house, the garden looking tidier than the previous night. So she'd came here, as a child she'd used to come to the tree, it had been a lifeline for her when things got stormy. He pocketed his car keys and walked through the gate. The darkness was thick, he could see Jack and Kelly's house lights burning. This was the only house without lights on actually. It stood here sadly, sort of slumped. All life drained from the area, it was literally just bricks and mortar now. He walked past the house quickly, through the side gate and into the back yard. He and Alice hadn't got here today and it was overgrown. He didn't have to look to see if she was here, he could feel her presence. He didn't say a word just headed to the tree and climbed it. He saw her figure hunched as she sat on a branch, far larger and thicker than the one they used to share in the past. He settled beside her letting his legs swing in the slight wind.

"If this snaps and we fall I'll kick your ass." she said softly eyes looking down at the ground.

"I'll keep that in mind."

They lapsed into silence, nothing made a sound, no animals, no traffic, it was pure silence. Even the wind was soundless.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. He knew he'd rather not spend any more time here than he had to.

"I was looking for you, worried I suppose."

"So again you think…." immediately on the defensive.

"No I didn't think you'd do anything stupid!" he interrupted. "You drove away, you were upset and I couldn't get in touch with you, for all I knew there had been an accident or….I dunno but I knew you'd never take pills or anything else. You're too strong for that, that would be the easy way out and you're anything but a quitter!"

Silence fell again.

Alice was pondering why she always thought the worst of him, always trying to pick fights. He never rose to it, he always seemed to keep his cool, she was the emotional one. Maybe this was how he planned it, acting all restrained expecting her to respond to it, yeah right! "If you want to talk about anything cave related or Peter related your wasting your time!" she warned.

"I'm not here to argue."

"Then why are you here?" and why was he trying to help her? She added silently. Everyone had an ulterior motive for everything, she had one for getting close to him so it was plausible to think he had one too.

"I'm just here for you. Tell me what you need. No Peter? Fine. No cave? Fine just talk to me. You need someone right now."

She exhaled shaking her head. He was so full of crap! The least he could do was tell her why he wanted to help her so badly, she opened her mouth an accusation on her tongue…. "This is so hard." came out. She frowned, she had expected something much different to come out.

"What?"

"Just stuff." she said crossing her arms.

"What stuff?"

"Allowing myself to get close to you again. I don't know if you understand how I felt, I was alone Danny the only friend, the one person I had in the world left me." spewed from her, she coulnd't even stop it.

"My parents…."

"Don't use that excuse Danny, you didn't even come to say goodbye. You could have came over, I did! I walked over here swallowing my pride missing you so much and found it empty! And you know what else that coincides with the first time I got beat up by Tom. He saw me walking out of here alone." she said coldly lost in memories. "When I realised you were gone I climbed this tree and broke my heart over you. I've never cried like that since." she rubbed her head. "And now your back and I'm crying and confused, your messing me up Danny. My life was…."

"What was it Alice?" he challenged. "Great? Fabulous? Fun and exciting?"

"Stable, predictable!" she retorted.

"BORING!" he countered.

"NO! Safe! I never know where I stand with you, be it physically or emotionally. One minute I hate you then I don't then we're flirting then holding each other at arms length. This tension is driving me crazy!"

"We both know what that tension is don't we?" he whispered.

She nodded. "Unresolved frustration from being kids."

He didn't believe that but didn't correct her, she only argue and they were coming to a fragile peace.

"What do we do now Danny? I'm so confused."

"Well we don't worry about it right now, come to mine."

She frowned. "Why?"

"Coz we had a sleepover at yours last night."

"I have a perfectly good home and bed." she told him stubbornly, allowing no room for argument.

"That's not fair!" he protested.

"I don't care, I'm staying at mine."

He exhaled. "Ok, but I think we should meet after work tomorrow."

"No." again in the tone which left zero room for negotiation.

Danny refused to be deterred this time. "Fine I'll camp in your garden and see you on the way to work."

She raised her eyebrows that said try it!

"The only way to resolve this tension is to talk about it. It's been a heavy emotional day today, tomorrow after work we'll sort it yeah?"

"Ok yeah." she agreed needing some time alone right now, stuff was getting on top of her. Mostly how Danny was refusing to give up on her even though she was blocking him from all directions.

A/N danice taking steps back or alice is trying to bt danny wont let her, this is a filler really...

i know i promised opp att bt that was before everything in newcastle went to hell! i go through stages with the way i write and couldn't b bothered to do the final stage with opp att so darkness falls it is, plus today is like the crapest day ever for me so... :/