RECAP - ok long time since update so quick recap, Danny and Alice were married when they were kids when Alice unexpectedly got pregnant they seemed to make it work until (due to circumstances out of their control) their son was taken away and adopted to another family. although a very hard decision they decided to leave him their which culminated in their divorce and going their seperate ways.
they met up 12 years later as Danny visited LD for a holiday and found that the old attraction still simmered under the surface but ignored it he went home. a year later Alice got a call from a social worker in England telling her that Thomas' birth parents were dead and she had the chance to adopt him if she so wished...
Danny sat in the living room of his house feeling desolate. It was gone. It was over. There was no coming back from this; to be honest he wasn't even sure he wanted to. He had been trying to hide from the truth for the last four months but he couldn't anymore, she was dead. It had been so sudden. She had only gone out for milk! How can someone die buying milk? They hadn't even really needed the damn thing but she had been so adamant that he liked milk in his coffee and it was no problem and then bam, she was gone. If it hadn't been for the idiots in the other car than his fiancé would still be here! They were driving dangerously apparently and ploughed into her head on. She'd had no chance, killed instantly….he swallowed the grief that rose up and choked him. She had been trapped inside the car too; they hadn't been able to cut her out before it exploded.
He had been tasked with the job of telling Sarah's children, 16 year old Evan and 13 year old Liv. He'd been as gentle as he could leaving out the more graphic details. Not even telling them about the fire. Evan found out the rest at school and was angrier at Danny for not trusting that he would be able to deal with. What Evan didn't understand that Danny was barely handling it himself, never mind a sixteen year old kid. Plus what could he say? How do you explain such needless violence to a child? It was best letting them leave the memory of their mother intact without having it marred by other images that were best left unknown.
Livvie was grieving deeply, full of guilt her mother had supposed to leave so much earlier than she did but Liv had wanted to go with her but her friend hadn't came over yet. After waiting an hour Sarah had left without her and Liv couldn't escape from the thoughts that told her had she let her mother leave earlier than she would still be here with them.
He closed his eyes allowing his head to loll back against the sofa, yanking at the collar of his shirt trying to give himself some room to breathe. Once the button popped open he loosened his tie and inhaled deeply. He'd been at court today; he and Simon were battling for custody of the kids. Sarah had a stipulation in her will that if anything happened to her she wanted Danny to have the children. Of course Simon's solicitor had got his hands on the Thomas information and it had turned into a slanging match and once again Danny's parenting skills or more aptly lack of them had been called into question. It didn't matter to them that Danny had been more of a father to these kids since he and Sarah had been together than Simon had been their whole lives. All that mattered to them was that Simon was their biological father, whether or not he cared obviously didn't matter!
Simon loved his kids, that wasn't in question it was in the nine months since he and Sarah had reconciled Simon had seen them three times. He didn't live miles away, he didn't work away, he didn't even particularly work lots of hours either he was just content to leave raising the kids to him and Sarah.
He had been told by his solicitor that the only reason they had been allowed to remain in his home was that this had been their family home for a long time an uprooting them soon after losing their mother wouldn't be helpful when it came to the grieving process. He knew he was fighting a losing battle, unless Simon decided that the children could stay with him then he had pretty much zero chance of getting custody but he had to try, for their mother at least. Evan was sixteen and had more of a choice of where he wanted to be, the big issue was Livvie. Legally he had no rights, he wasn't their father as much as he felt like he was and he and Sarah weren't even married! Had it not been for the break up they would have been and even though the break up had been her idea it still hurt like hell that they hadn't been able to take that final step before she died.
He glanced across to the dining room table and saw the piles of mail almost demanding his attention, not to mention voicemails, he had turned his phone off after he found out, people constantly calling him offering condolences when all he wanted was to crawl into a black hole and die with her. There was still so much that needed to be done, cancelling credit cards, sorting out their joint bank account, doing all this felt like he was almost wiping every trace of her out of his life, like one day when the kids were back with their dad and he was alone it would be like she never existed. He could no longer ignore all the external attempts to get in contact with him though; he had to get back into the world again. There comes a time in life when you have to at least try and pick yourself up and move on and hopefully if the kids saw him gaining strength then maybe they would find some too.
He had no idea how time had passed so quickly somehow 3 months had elapsed without him noticing, at times it had felt slow and arduous but now it felt like the blink of an eye, 3 months he'd been without her, 3 months he hadn't been able to breathe. It was hard gaining strength when the mere thought of her made him want to fall to his knees and wail to the heavens, why him, why did he always lose the ones he loved? Grief tore through him once again and he bowed his head exhaling to release the pressure upon his overburdened throat. All he wanted was to retreat into his shell and disappear for a while but unfortunately he had so much to sort out. He had to cancel her credit cards, get all the utilities in his name so picking himself up he collected al the mail that accumulated over the past few months.
Turning the radio down low he began the task of sorting the letters into piles, his, hers, circulars and miscellaneous. He was about halfway through pain throbbing with the beat of his heart at the mere sight of her name when his front door rang. Danny exhaled and shook his head ignoring the ringing .It grew more incessant though and he gritted his teeth and looked towards the sound. "Go away." He growled at the sound. He'd had enough of the people calling to the house sending condolences asking if he needed anything. He was grateful for it but didn't they know that he needed time just to learn how to get through the day knowing he was never going to see her beautiful smile again. Couldn't they just leave a man to grieve? She had been buried four weeks ago hadn't enough time passed yet? They still couldn't be curious! He waited what felt an age but the doorbell just rang and rang and he resented that he had put the radio on, whoever was out there had to have heard it and now refused to be deterred! For a moment he wondered whether it was some creditor calling to asking for payment of some bill he'd forgot. As far as he could think all the important things were on direct debit and he was on paid leave from work so there were funds in the account. The ringing seemed to intensify and he knew he was going to have to get rid of the vermin the old fashioned way! He slowly approached the door and yanked it open. Before him stood a small woman, he studied her with a frown feeling a sense of de ja vu. He knew her, he just didn't know how….
Sandra studied the man before her. He had a gaunt almost haunted expression upon his face. The whites of his eyes were bloodshot and his suit was open at the collar his tie hanging limply. He had yanked the door open abruptly startling her into taking an instinctive step backwards.
"Hello?" he asked voice gruff and tinged with annoyance.
"Are you Daniel Trevanion?" she asked raising her clipboard a little higher.
"Who wants to know?" he asked rudely.
Almost immediately Sandra began wondering whether or not she had made a mistake coming here, Thomas didn't need someone like this around him. Maybe all those years ago she had been wrong about this man, still though….. "My name is Sandra Bullock; you may remember me from….."
Danny's eyes widened, that name was one he'd never forget! He stepped aside suddenly finding his manners, "Would you like to come in?"
Sandra nodded briskly and entered as she entered the living room she saw pictures of a family scattered around then the piles of mail lain on the table. "If you don't mind me asking have you been away?" she enquired as soon as he entered the room behind her.
"No." he replied softly. "I recently suffered a bereavement and ignored everything for a while, it was passed time that I woke up."
"Oh." She nodded. "Sorry for your loss."
Danny too nodded stoically and gestured her to sit. "Anyway what brings you here?" trying to ask as neutrally as possible….it had to be about Thomas though!
Sandra took a seat, "It was just to give you an update about Thomas Spoors new circumstances. His adoptive parents sadly passed away and he became a ward of the state when the Spoors living relatives refused custody of him. He is now a ward of the state…."
Danny sat up straighter, "Where is he now?"
"We managed to get in contact with your ex-wife Alice Collins. We tried to reach you too, when we were unsuccessful she was granted custody and his case files were transferred over to South Africa."
Danny's jaw went slack. Alice had Thomas? The initial thought was to get a ticket and get over there as soon as possible, then another thought occurred to him…. "If Thomas is no longer on your case load then why are you here? You know his records were transferred."
Sandra was silent a moment gathering her thoughts, then she began, "Because I saw what it was like for you back then. I knew you were both good parents my reports reflected as much and what you both did for that little boy was selfless; it no doubt ended your marriage. It was all about circumstances beyond your control. I wasn't the best help to you back then, I could tell you I was newly qualified and unsure but it's no excuse it was real life and I blew it. This is the very least I could do after all you have lost."
Danny nodded slowly absorbing her words, "Thank you, for all you did back then and now. You did all you could for us. Over all I know we did the right thing at that time even though it hurt."
"Thomas needs you." Sandra confided. "There's a lot of things that he has went through in his life, things you aren't aware of yet. I get the sense that he is a good kid he just needs some consistency and love."
Sandra then stood. Danny clasped her hand in both of his. "Thank you for getting in contact with me, it means a lot."
Sandra smiled and nodded quickly.
Danny saw Sandra out and returned to his pile of mail rifling through until he found one with a South African mail stamp. None were forthcoming so he looked for letters that may have come from Social Services over here. When he found one he tore it open and read quickly. He sighed and ran his hands through his hair when the letter before him outlined that his son was again in the foster system and he was being given the chance to regain custody and if possible could he contact them at his earliest convenience…..bet that one had went down well with Alice. What would have happened with him living in the UK and Alice currently over in South Africa? Would they have ended up in a war over a courtroom? His instincts told him most likely, neither one of them would willingly walk away from Thomas again. In a way he was thankful that this was going to be done without solicitors and arguing. She had no doubt been in touch already requesting him to get in touch so they could sort out some sort of arrangement.
He dug out his mobile and plugged it in to charge it a little bit so he could check his voicemails which it powered up he accessed his emails on his ipad. He had a few from Rosie telling him that Alice was in the UK but she didn't know why and that Dupe was being really secretive. She confided that she believed that Alice was seeing him and she was excited to know whether he could be over soon as she had missed him. He smiled thinking he'd be seeing him sooner than she thought and carried on...but found not one email from Alice. His suspicions aroused he turned his phone one and accessed his voicemail… after listening to them through he was seething. She hadn't rang him once! Not one time! Not to tell him she had seen Thomas and not to tell him she had him back either! Did she honestly think she could keep this from him? Thomas was his son too and if she thought she could keep his boy away from him then she had another thing coming! What really pained him was that Rosie had taken the time to send him an email and Alice couldn't be bothered! Would it have killed her?
He shook his head his anger getting the better of him and picked up the phone to ring her and give her a piece of his mind…. Until he noticed the time, a quick glance at the clock proved that it would be 3am over in South Africa. Plus this wasn't a conversation he wanted to have in front of Evan and Liv, not initially anyway he thought clenching his teeth.
If she thought this was over she was wrong and if she thought she was keeping his son from him she was sorely mistaken! An idea came to him, one Leon had proposed over a year ago. It hadn't been a prospect then but now? It was under serious consideration. This way he might also get his son back too.
By trying to keep his son from him Alice had declared war! And if that is what she wanted then that is exactly what she was going to get! Let the battle begin!
A/N hi all been off the radar since may not alot to say. I will try to get more up soon, i have about 2/3 chapters prewritten after that dont know what i'll do as i completely vibeless as in i pick up a pen and there is nothing :( anyway hope u are all well