Alice was in a loud nightclub music thumping around her as she, Vanessa and a group of woman were laughing. She was sipping some sort of fruity cocktail, she forgot what was in it but it certainly was nice! Alice surveyed the area and finding no men to her liking downed the drink. "C'mon lets go to another club, there's no good looking men in here."

"Ah so Alice is finally on the prowl." Elize said knowingly.

"We wondered when this would happen, we were all sure you were a nun in secret." Louisa added.

Alice grinned, "I am most certainly NOT a nun and I am looking for a man!" after deliberating about Danny for a long time while drinking whiskey she found that the best way to forget him was to replace him with another man, a better man! He had went off with that Sarah woman! Probably straight away! Probably didn't even wait until they were divorced! He probably cheated with her! Her thoughts were getting hotter and angrier so she put her empty glass on a table. "C'mon girls, I'm here to have fun!"

Vanessa, who had been watching her closely the whole night knew something was up, Alice was never this unrestrained, even drinking she kept herself in check. "Alice how much did you have to drink before you came out?" Alice was rather merry, and not happy merry drunk merry.

"I had some wine…oh and maybe a glass of whiskey…" Alice made a face, "Ok maybe half a bottle of whiskey…." she shrugged, "I was thirsty!" and Danny was refusing to leave her mind, she had planned to drown the damn thing of there but it seemed it could swim! But one thing she did find was that the more she drank the less he seemed to bother her so she carried on until the car came to pick her up….the lights above her illuminated the room a moment and a man across the room caught her eye. He was tall, well taller than her which wasn't really hard, had dark brown hair and brown eyes. He looked at her and sent her a smile.

"Ohhh someone has caught Alice's eye. Still want to leave?" Louisa asked.

Vanessa looked at him and frowned, "Alice…." she began.

Alice waved her off and looked back at the man, "Maybe we could hang around for ten minutes." this time when he smiled she smiled back at him. She was about to head towards him when he began to weave his way in between the throngs of people. He stopped at the bar collected two glasses and carried them over. "Here you go." he said when he reached her, "I bought you this."

Alice raised an eyebrow, "I don't know if I can accept that, after all I don't know you."

"I'm Terry." and offered his hand for a shake.

"Alice." she replied and took it to shake. Instead of the handshake though he raised her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it, "very nice to meet you Alice."

Alice felt a blush fill her cheeks and a warmth fill her at the heat in his brown eyes.

"Can you take the drink now?"

Alice smiled up into his eyes and played along. "I don't think so, see you're still a stranger. What if you've done something to it, a girl can't be too careful."

Terry lifted her glass to his lips and drank some. "There, if there was something wrong with it would I have done that?"

Alice shrugged, "We'll see if you pass out in ten minutes. Plus I definitely can't have it now, its full of your germs."

He chuckled, "I see your playing hard to get. How about I take you to the bar and buy you a drink while you're there, is that ok?"

Alice pretended to consider and then nodded, "Yeah that I can do!" and motioned to Vanessa who had moved to the dance floor, Vanessa nodded and got back to dancing.

Terry guided Alice to the bar and when they reached it Alice knelt against it as he towered over her, "So Alice enjoying yourself?" he asked after telling the bar tender his order.

She was handed a bright blue cocktail and nodded to him, "Its been alright so far." then she grinned. "The night isn't over yet though."

He nodded slowly. "Do you come here often?"

Alice shook her head, "My job keeps me pretty busy, tonight is the first time in a while."

He knelt closer to her, "This is actually my first time coming here, I live and work at Namibia, I'm a wild dog expert."

Alice smiled widely. "I'm a vet and co own a reserve my close to here, my business partner was interested in introducing a pack of wild dogs on our land."

"Well I'd say its your unbelievable good fortune that we met as I am about the only person in the whole of Africa who can help you with that." he smiled cockily. "They are notoriously hard to track."

Usually by this point his brazen arrogance would have made her walk away but for some reason the look in his eyes made her stay, "Well I'll let you know that MY tracker can track anything! He could find you with nothing but his senses, no tracking equipment at all, and yes he's that good!"

Terry shook his head, "Not wild dogs."

Alice stood up straighter, "Anything!"

"If that is true then I have to meet him." Terry said giving in gracefully.

Alice smiled at him and lowered her voice, "Play your cards right and maybe you will." alcohol making her act completely out of character.

Terry leaned in closer and was about to steal a kiss when Vanessa interrupted. "It's getting rowdy here so the girls were thinking of heading over to Fatani's for a while. He'll be closing soon, then we'll go home. What do you think Alice?"

"Sure." Alice nodded. "You coming Terry?"

"Can't say I've ever been to Fatani's before."

"It's my local." Alice replied, "Nice atmosphere, nice owner, nice everything. Plus you might even get to meet my tracker, Dupe, he frequents that place often."

Terry shrugged and offered her his arm, "Lead the way."

They all jumped in a taxi and arrived at Fatani's in not time. Both Louisa and Elize decided the night was getting on and went home so it was Vanessa Alice and Terry who walked in. There was a fire going in his outside area, there were a group of people there shrouded in darkness, Alice paid them little notice as they headed to the bar. Vanessa and Fatani were soon locked in a conversation as Terry and Alice flirted. He was stood behind her whispering in her ear when she remembered Terry wanted to meet Dupe. "Fatani is Dupe here?" Alice asked.

"Sure is, just over there." Alice looked across and felt like someone had dropped a ton of lead into her stomach. There was Dupe, sat by the fire with Danny who was smiling at something he was saying….he head felt a little light, she had always liked his smile, it was always so real….she stiffened at the thought, summoning the ever present anger when she thought of her ex husband, who did he think he was? This was her local and her family and here he was just invading it!

"Alice?" Terry asked feeling the change in her. "Are you ok?"

"Fine." she said and downed her drink. "We'll have to pass on meeting Dupe tonight." then she noticed Vanessa glancing in that direction and knew this was all down to her. "Excuse me a moment Terry." and took Vanessa by the arm. "Did you know they were here?" she hissed.

"I might have." she murmured. "I was bored, you're all close to him so I you wouldn't mind if I met up with Leon…."

Alice ground her teeth together, when she looked back to Dupe she saw Leon motioning Vanessa over, Danny was engrossed in a conversation with Dupe….until she saw his eyes flick to hers. He wore a white shirt with black jeans and looked really good….

"Alice you have a funny expression on your face." Vanessa remarked with a smile and before Alice could even muster a denial Vanessa cut her off. "Yes you do and you're looking at Danny."

Alice glared at Vanessa hating that she could read her thoughts. "I'm going back to Terry!" then don't ask her how she knew but she felt Danny's eyes on her and involuntary shivers ran down her spine, she felt very hot all of a sudden.

"He's looking at you." Vanessa whispered. "I think he likes the dress you're wearing."

"I don't…." the rest of her statement disappeared when she made the mistake of looking in his direction. He had a funny intense look on his face. "I don't care!" she repeated voice not as firm as she hoped.

"You look pale but your cheeks are red, you like him don't you?"

Alice didn't even answer that one. Instead to prove to Vanessa she had zero interest in Danny she went over to Terry, smiled up at him and pulled his lips down to hers. Her arms slowly snaked around his shoulders and she moved closer to him. It felt like it took her forever to realise that she was kissing someone in the exact way Danny taught her to, to melt into it and go with what her feelings were telling her to…her first kiss with Danny exploded in her mind and she was powerless to stop the memory…..

Danny and Alice were sat on the picnic table in her backyard soaking up some sun. It had been two weeks since he asked her if she wanted to be his girlfriend and their hands were loosely twined as they chatted. Throughout the holiday they had been inseparable, today her dad was out and they were alone.

"You want to come in?" she asked him with a smile.

"Thought you wanted to stay out and work on your tan."

"That was until I realised my dad was out." and she grinned.

"What? So you're sneaking me in?" he laughed. "Naughty naughty."

"Its not like its for any reason like….well you know." she told him blushing, "We haven't even kissed yet!"

Danny was aware of that. He had kissed girls before but he felt nerves at the thought of his first kiss with Alice. He really liked her! What if he messed it up? Or she didn't like it? Since the subject came up thought and he had this chance he decided to take it and hopefully it would all be alright. She was looking at him waiting for a reply so he leaned in and kissed her softly. Alice hadn't bee expecting it and tensed up a little bit.

Danny looked ashen when he felt the change in her, "Sorry…." he told her quickly. "If you didn't…."

"No no." she was quick to say. "It was really nice, I liked it but…" soon she was fidgeting with the hem of her t-shirt.

"What?" he asked.

"Well I've had boyfriends in the past but that was kid stuff and I …." she quieted not really wanting to voice it. "You're my first proper boyfriend and I haven't really…."

"Oh." he said understanding what she was trying to say. Now he really felt the pressure for her to enjoy the kiss if it was her first!

"I understand if you want to break up with me."

Danny silenced her, "No it'll be fine. Really." he assured at her dubious face. "Just relax."

"What if you don't like it?" he smiled at her wide and real knowing that no matter what happened next they would be fine, they both cared about what the other wanted and that is what mattered.

He took her hand in his, "No matter what you do I promise you I'm certain I'll love it. Just don't think too much about what you should be doing, just relax and feel it." he put his hand on her cheek and moved in slowly, his lips found hers and he felt how unsure she was. He softened the hold and rubbed his thumb down her cheek and in that moment she relaxed. He deepened the kiss a little and felt the beginnings of a response. He slowed the kiss not wanting to push her too fast, then broke it. He looked at her and smiled. The look in the others eyes was one both were sure they would never forget…..

The kiss with Terry ended but Alice didn't remember a second of it. He was looking down at her with stars in his eyes. "Wow." he whispered.

Alice didn't look at him, her gaze seemed to seek Danny of their own accord. Their eyes met and she knew he had been remembering their first kiss like she had, and he knew that is what she had been thinking of. You know what? She thought angrily. She had been irritated by him for a week and he acted like he didn't care that she was avoiding him! He had moved on! He just sat there unaffected as she kissed another man right in front of him! He really didn't care about her! Well sod him! She was gonna give him a taste of his own medicine. And before common sense intervened she went over to Fatani and asked him to play a specific song. Had she been sober she would have never done this but she was blind drunk, frustrated and not thinking straight. She looked up at terry. "Would you like to dance?"

He nodded and took her hand.

Danny sat with a bottle of beer in his hand lounging back on his chair. He had been having a great time until Alice walked in with, well whoever HE was! He shouldn't have let Leon convince him to come out but was else he was supposed to do? Hide in his hut for fear of running into her, this was his holiday after all and he wasn't wasting this last week hiding from her. He thought she was out at the clubs tonight anyway!

All he had done since he was here was think about her, nothing helped it. He actually thought drinking might of solved the issue and it had for a little while…..then she sauntered into he bar looking far too beautiful in her red dress….god red, was she trying to kill him? She was a knockout in red….whenever he started to think like that about Alice he forced himself to remember how this wasn't the girl he used to know. She was different here….except when she was around Dupe and her family. Around them he saw flashes of the girl he used to know and at those times he wanted to talk to her, get to know her again. Then she'd look at him and again the girl he'd known would disappear and his angry ex wife was there, that made the need to know her vanish.

He was trying so hard to pretend like he didn't care that she went out of her way not to spend any time around him at all. It was the way it should be but... well call him crazy but this was their chance! Not to reconcile but to get all the hurt out in the open and move on. Something they hadn't had the chance to do in the past. He had resolved himself to go and see her tomorrow, and yet here she was now. Setting his teeth on edge kissing other men in front of him like she wasn't his ex wife!

He wasn't all that bothered though, he might have been if she hadn't looked in his direction to see his reaction. Why would she do that? It wasn't like her to play games she was usually very straight forward. She must have had a lot to drink to act completely our of character like that. Obviously him being here was irritating her so he was just going to go home and leave her to it. She may as well enjoy the rest of her night, him on the other hand? Ex wife or not it wasn't his idea of fun to see her kissing and flirting with someone else. So he drained his bottle, stood up and was about to say his goodbyes when he heard the sound of piano…the song one she had to know he'd recognise. His head snapped up and he looked to the bar, she'd moved though onto the dance floor. Lyrics began to play and his jaw clenched. She wouldn't, she just wouldn't! And although those words repeated in his mind the fact was there she was, dancing with an unknown man, to their song. His fists clenched and all he wanted to do was go over there and punch the man dancing with her. This wasn't his fault though, he was just a pawn Alice used to get to him!

She looked at him while she danced with the man, Danny shook his head, she wasn't worth getting arrested over not any more, so he turned and walked out of the bar….

As Alice led her partner onto the dance floor she had no doubts as to what she was about to do. As he wrapped his arms around her holding her close she felt nothing, even as the lead singer began to sing she didn't feel all that bothered about what she was doing….until the chorus kicked in and in her drunken haze it finally hit her what she was doing. She looked towards Danny and although he pretended to be nonchalant and unaffected she could see pure hurt in his eyes, they had never been that dark before. He shook his head at her, his expression slipping for only a second….that was all it took, in that second she knew she had been totally wrong about him, that expression told her that he was hurting far more than she knew right now….and it was all her fault. Guilt washed over her but he didn't see it, he had already turned and walked from the bar. "Danny…." she whispered and pulled herself free from Terry's hold.

"Alice, don't you like…."

"I'm sorry Terry." she said already waving him off leaving him shell shocked on the dance floor as she made her way to the exit.

Vanessa had watched the scene with interest and when Terry tried to follow Alice she halted him and introduced him to Dupe assuring him that Alice was alright she just had a little too much to drink and needed some fresh air. Dupe and Terry were soon engrossed in tracking techniques.

Alice however was too busy trying to catch up to Danny to worry whether or not Terry was following her, "Danny." she called. He carried on walking so she followed and called his name louder "Danny!"

He was so angry he didn't even want to look at her right now, or ever again if he ever had his way! Why did he always allow her to do this to him? How many times did she have to hurt him before he learned his lesson? Well no more!

Alice kicked off her heels and picked them up. She ran after him barefoot. After finally catching up she grabbed his arm to turn him.

He yanked it away and continued walking having no idea where he was going. He hadn't expected her to follow him, she never had in the past!

"Danny talk to me!" she asked.

He spun, "There is nothing to say!" he hissed pain making his chest hurt.

"I didn't mean….I don't…" she fumbled her heart pounding. "I don't know what I was thinking."

His face hardened. "Yes you did!" he spat. "You were trying to make me jealous! Trying to provoke a reaction from me like you always did in the past!" his face twisted in a grimace. "What happened to you?"

"What happened to me?" she gasped and ran so she was stood in front of him anger flowing hot. "What happened to me was my husband deciding he didn't love me anymore!"

He saw her angry expression and it was one she wore often in the death of their marriage, it made it harder to believe that the pain her voice was about anything other than wounded pride! "You left me Alice remember? By note no less, so don't go spouting off about me not loving you anymore!"

"You quit caring!" she shouted.

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did!" she retorted.

"No….."

"Don't lie Danny! What was I supposed to do? I was twenty years old and you had been my only boyfriend, I was losing you and I didn't know how to stop it! I loved you but you changed into someone I didn't recognise…."

"Well getting arrested does that to you!"

"I apologised for that! Countless times! You never I never meant for things to go that far!" her face ashen.

"Yeah well now I have a record for assault!"

She rubbed her face turning her guilt into anger, "And you still blame me for that?"

"This is you all over!" he shouted. "Always trying to provoke a reaction from me, the and now! Well I'm not a kid anymore and these games you play aren't going to work, you're not getting the chance to manipulate me anymore! That's what you wanted isn't it? You kissed him in front of me to see what I'd do. When that didn't work you play that song, OUR song! What did you want me to do Alice? What reaction did you expect? Did you think I was going to storm over and hit him?"

"No…" Alice breathed, knowing he was right. "I…"

"I don't want to hear your justifications ok! They probably haven't changed from me when you were young huh?" and crossed his arms

"Danny when we were kids we did some stupid stuff but…."

"Well obviously you haven't grew up!" he interrupted.

She felt anger begin to bubble, "Hey! Don't you dare stand there and pretend like you know me! I'm not the same kid you left…."

His jaw dropped, "You have no right being angry at me! I'm the one who was used, I wonder…."

Alice paled and knew what he was about to say, "Don't!" she warned coldly, jaw clenched as she looked at him malevolently.

"You have no idea what I'm about to say."

"I'm warning you now bring that up and don't come back to Leopards den because I swear I'll be there and waiting for you with a gun!" her face slowly growing even colder, her chest heaving.

"I wasn't…"

"I know you!" she shouted, "I can see it in your eyes and it isn't fair especially since it was ALL YOUR FAULT!"

Danny stood there quietly absorbing her words, "I knew you blamed me." he said softly.

Alice stood there chest heaving with anger, the emotion of the moment caught up with her and there were tears in her eyes, her shoulders slumped, "I don't blame you, I never did, I just….I don't know what to do. Then or now."

He saw her battling to hide her tears and he couldn't pretend like he didn't care, he had never been able to see her cry, and unlike earlier he knew this was real. Without thinking he took her in his arms wrapping a hand around her head and the other around her waist. He could feel her shoulders shaking so he rubbed her hair gently. He looked in the direction of then bar and saw Alice's friend Vanessa and Leon stood watching. Vanessa walked inside and a moment later she emerged with Dupe following. Dupe stomped over staring at him darkly and took Alice by the arm. She went with the older man willingly leaving Danny feeing slightly bereft. Dupe had his head close to her ear and was murmuring to her softly. He looked at Danny, "I'm taking her home." Danny didn't even want to think about the mans tone! Instead he walked over to Vanessa and Leon. Vanessa hand moved like lightning and she slapped him hard on the cheek.

He hissed in pain closing his eyes at the sting. "What's that for?"

"Whatever you did to make her cry! And be grateful you only got that!" after that she hurried after Dupe and Alice.

Danny bowed his head and sighed, "Your turn mate! You wanna have a go at me for making her cry, go ahead."

Leon shook his head, "I think Vanessa covered it."

Danny nodded and walked back inside the bar finding a dark corner to hide in. Leon got two bottles of beer and joined him. "I thought you were going back to the huts?"

Danny placed the bottle of the table and stared morosely at the navy sky. "Alice warned me in no uncertain terms that if I went back there she was going to shoot me."

Leons eyes widened, "Whoa!"

Danny didn't reply, all he could think about were her tears and how much it hurt him to see her in so much pain.

Leon was busy pondering things, "You know mate I've been thinking and…well Alice does seem to hate you a lot! Does she know your ex wife or something?" he took a drink from his bottle in contemplation, "Unless…."

"Unless what?" Danny breathed depression covering him like a shroud.

"She IS your ex wife?" Leon left the question hanging.

Danny tried to lie but couldn't find the energy within himself to do it, "I met Alice when she was 13 and I was 15, I asked her out a few weeks later."

"A younger girlfriend?" Leon chuckled.

Danny glared, "It wasn't like that ok, I didn't even know she was younger until a few weeks later and I tried to break it off but….I really liked her it wasn't for any other reason but that! We waited until she was 16 and 18 before we did anything and it wasn't easy!"

"I'll bet, look at her now. If she was even half as good looking then…" and he took a drink from his bottle shaking his head.

When she was 17 and I 19 we decided to get married."

"Why?" Leon asked frowning, "You were both just kids."

"We just did, it doesn't matter why, then when I was 23 we divorced. Beginning and end of mine and Alice's life….until I came here." continued staring at the cloudless sky.

Leon was staring at him, "Do you still love her?"

Danny snorted.

"You blame her for the divorce?"

"She asked for it so I gave her what she wanted." he retorted, his gaze never leaving the sky.

"Did you contest it?"

"And say what exactly? We hadn't seen each other in at least six months, probably longer. I did what she wanted then worked on getting on with my life without her."

"And now we're here and its dragging up a lot of painful memories?" Leon finished.

"Dragging up stuff that is best left alone, all I have to do is look at her and I remember it all, the good and the bad. It was hard enough the first time, I can't deal with it anymore so I give up I'm leaving."

And there it was, his decision was made, Danny was going home tomorrow.

A/N this chapter proves no good can come from drinking yourself into oblivion!
Poor danice tho both of them still have so much pain at the past... The song she danced with another man to, you find out the name of that next chapter, it has far more significance to their relationship then you know yet, especially to Danny so what she did was really cruel :/
As you can see not a typical danicy story, if they are going to fall for each other again they are going to have to work very hard!
Anyway you had few more nuggets of info on their past Danny has a criminal record now, how? hmmm and he is still bitter about how she left him. BUT there is something big in their past neither one wants to talk about that they blame the other for again, what?...hmm...
Despite it all they still have a connection, if they can get past all the hurt this could get better! (oh and stay away from alcohol too lol) x