Just Over Two Weeks Later

"Who does he think he is?" Dupe declared for the fifth time slamming the fridge door.

Alice sighed looking at the sunshine shining outside when there was a perpetual black cloud hanging over her head. She didn't need Dupe going off on one on top of everything else. Thomas was sat across from her at the breakfast table and opened his mouth to comment, she halted him with a look and gestured to Dupe to follow her down the hallway into the study. When the door closed behind her she answered him,

"The man has rights Dupe, he is Thomas' father. Maybe if I had picked better…."trailed off knowing that neither she nor Danny hadn't chosen to have Thomas. He had come along all on his own it seemed.

"And maybe if I shot him like I wanted to when he was here last year this wouldn't be happening!" he told her heatedly walking across the room and dropping into the leather seat next to the desk.

Alice sighed and rubbed her face.

"So what's the plan? You're not going to let him have the boy are you? He's a big pain but he's starting to grow on me…like a boil." He added prompting a small smile from Alice. Truth be told Dupe couldn't care less if the boy was here or in Timbuktu but Alice wanted him here so he was ready to support her 110%.

Alice squared her shoulders and the fight Dupe knew was within her was shining in her eyes. "There is no way I'm letting him take Thomas, he has a big fight on his hands!" the fight seemed to dull a little as her eyes found the letter from the solicitor stating that Danny was petitioning the court for full custody. She had to get in touch with her solicitor, the social were going to be involved wanting to do checks and everything else that went along with getting custody of a child. The court case for Rosie was looming so that could be affected. She didn't really need this right now! The only redeeming feature was that Thomas was here with her right now, and because Danny was being awkward in regards to Thomas then so was she. She was going to tell her solicitor he wasn't to step foot on her land and there was no way Thomas was going to seek him out to see him so yeah she could be as vindictive as him!

"So what are we going to do?" Dupe repeated stretching out his legs and crossing them at the ankles.

"You are not going to do anything ok? I am going to handle this legally. As long as we all play by the rules then they can't take him away. It's when people take the law into their own hands that things start to get out of control…." She murmured remembering how she lost him initially.

"Ach!" Dupe groused with a shake of his head.

"Please Dupe." She asked gently then left him alone with his thoughts as she joined Thomas in the kitchen. He was sat with a magazine open biting into a piece of toast smothered with marmalade. Alice could barely watch she hated the stuff, Danny on the other hand….she seemed to be constantly finding similarities between father and son, she barely saw herself in him. Breaking off the train of train of thought to distract from the guilt she felt by deliberately making it harder for Danny to see his son she sat at the table again, "So Thomas how's school going then?" he had started two days ago and he had yet to complain, that was good right? Rosie had moaned via text after 2 hours!

He shrugged not even looking up from his magazine.

Alice sighed inwardly; Thomas had barely spoke to her in this last week. She didn't know what was worse, the silences or the anger. At least when he was yelling he was communicating with her, this was he was completely closed off and she didn't know how to reach him. She shook her head and checked her watch having a feeling that it was passed time to get Rosie out of bed or she'd be running around….well Alice would be trying to get her to hurry up while she moved at a snail's pace stumbling around like a zombie. Like she thought time had ticked on and there was no movement from Rosie's room, "Rosie is still in bed! This bloody kid!" she muttered standing up.

Dupe appeared behind her dressed with his gun slung across his shoulder, his earlier mood gone….which worried Alice slightly. She'd have to talk to him about that later after she got her little sister out of her pit.

"You need me to get the hose again?" he asked.

Alice noticed Thomas' head twitch a little, he pretended to be engrossed in an article about football but she could tell he was intrigued.

"Not right now, we'll see." She replied walking down the hallway to rouse Rosie. "No doubt I'll need it." She tossed down the hallway. "Child abuse!" she mimicked.

As soon as Alice entered Rosie room Thomas lifted his head and spoke to Dupe, "What she do with the hose?"

Dupe took a sip of coffee, "Maybe you should ask your mother." Dupe relied pointedly emphasis on the final word.

Thomas narrowed his eyes, "Don't call her that! She is not my mother!"

Dupe shook his head, "The woman gave birth to you, she loves you even though you are a bloody swine and don't deserve it. She'd move heaven and earth for you. The woman would bloody die for you! That's a mother!"

"A real mother doesn't give her kid away! She was nothing but an incubator!"

"Have you ever thought to ask why and get her reasons on that?" Dupe asked.

"I don't have to, I know why!" anger building within him.

"And who told you? Your adoptive parents? The social? The very people who took you from Alice in the first place. Use your head kid!" Dupe snapped.

Thomas fists pounded off the table as he stood up, "All she does is lie! Why should I believe anything she says, or even you for that matter? You're not going to see my side are you? No only hers!" and he kicked a chair so it skidded across the room.

"Dupe I need you again in the study please." Alice requested her head popping out of Rosie's room. A moment later a half asleep Rosie exited and shuffled into the bathroom and Alice stood at the doorway of the study waiting for him.

Dupe scrubbed his face and stood up looking at the rage filled features of the child in front of him. "Just think about it, no one is asking you to forget about your adoptive parents but one day you will learn that there is always more to situations than you will ever know." And with those finals words he left Thomas alone and went to Alice who was waiting for him. "Alice…." He started.

"Dupe I appreciate you talking to Thomas for me but it's fine. Really." Her voice low in the hallway.

"The kid just winds me up, he's so sure he is right about everything. And his attitude, dear God! I thought Rosie was bad. Here I thought your kids would be quiet!"

Alice thought back to Danny's dad's attitude and sighed softly.

"You need to tell him you know. Explain." He said putting his hand on her arm softly.

Alice closed her eyes and shook her head, "It'll do no good."

"At least then he'll know. Make him understand…."

"Understand what Dupe?" she asked voice raised slightly, although not enough for it to carry down to where Thomas was sitting, "That me and his dad had no money so we gave him up? Because that's what it boiled down to. How we couldn't give him the material things they could!"

"At least he would have all the facts. God knows what these people have been saying about you to him. They could have fed him a load of lies, made sure he hated you incase one day you decided you wanted him back."

Alice shook her head again, "I met his mum, she was nice she wouldn't do that…."

"What do you mean you met my mum?" Thomas asked standing directly behind Dupe.

Alice hadn't seen him approach. Dupe stepped aside and looked at Thomas.

"What do you mean!" he asked louder than before.

"We met your mum on the day we went to get you back." She told him softly.

The colour seemed to drain out of his face, "When?"

"You were two…" Alice saw all sorts of emotions flying through Thomas' eyes, the concern, the fear that maybe his mum and dad didn't want him after all. She couldn't destroy that for him, if he knew that he almost went home with her he might think that his parents didn't fight hard enough for him and that would hurt him. She might not have done many things right in respect to Thomas but she knew she could do this for him. "It's all history now anyway. It doesn't change anything." And she entered the study closing the door behind her escaping from any further questions on the matter.

Dupe looked at Thomas, "Maybe not so clever kid. You don't know it all. Just give her a chance."

Thomas glared, "To get rid of me Again? No way!" and with that Thomas too departed leaving Dupe alone with his thoughts.

Danny was heading for his surgery tearing into a letter from his solicitor and reading it quickly. It indicated that they were in contact with Alice and the wheels were being set in motion for him getting his son back. It was passed time! After talking to his solicitor he had been told that Alice had informed her solicitor that he wasn't to step foot on her land for any reason and if he did she would call the police and have him arrested for trespassing. He had been advised not to go there to even talk to her unless there was a mediator present. It had been harder than he thought. He was missing out on time with his son! He knew it was necessary but now that Thomas was within his grasp he was struggling to hold back on the instincts that were telling him to go over there and bond, to get to know his son.

Leon chose that moment to walk into the surgery with his phone held to his ear. "You're deciding to send him now?" he fumed. "I'm not settled yet!"

There was silence while Danny collected some soapy water and cloths trying to give Leon some privacy. This place opened in a week god willing, if the medicines he ordered arrived and he could manage to get this grime off the walls.

"I offered to take him, you refused. Isn't it just like you to just change your mind!" he was silent again looking at the floor. "No you can't…I don't think so! I'm warning you Elaine don't just send him…." looked at the phone screen then to Danny, "She put the phone down on me!"

"Elaine again?" Danny asked.

"Max has been expelled from another school, she's sending him to me, she's had enough of his attitude."

Secretly Danny had never agreed with Leon's less than close relationship with his son. Max seemed to be constantly in trouble then expelled from multiple boarding schools. It seemed to Danny he was screaming out for attention from parents who didn't really have time for him. "Maybe a change will do him good." Danny suggested.

"What do I know of raising a kid?"

Danny shrugged, "I'm not exactly an expert either."

"Think I'll look into a few good board…."

Danny interrupted him, "Leon come on he needs his dad. Bring him here, Thomas is here they could be friends, help the other settle."

"We'll see." Leon drawled leaving the surgery and Danny's teeth on edge.

Rosie and Thomas walked through the township, both in school uniforms with bags slung over their shoulders. Thomas was looking in store windows trying to decipher what was chocolate and what wasn't. Everything here just looked alien to him. He missed his home. He missed normal food. He missed his friends, he even missed the weather. The only temperature here seemed to hot and even hotter. Don't get him wrong he loved hot days, but it was a different kind of heat here and he wasn't enjoying it. Everything was so different here; he had no one he knew well, no one to relate to. He was alone. If his mum was here she would make him feel better, he wished he could go back just for a day. To sit on the sofa and watch a film or even to make her breakfast in bed with his dad seeing her smile at him so full of love even though he burnt the toast and the tea was cold. For her to hug him and tell him everything was going to be ok. So he could tell her how much he loved her….

"You ok?" Rosie asked noting how his expression had slowly changed.

He cleared his throat. "Yeah." his throat tight and voice gruff from emotion. He kicked the dusty ground trying to erase the sadness he was sure she was reading on his face.

"You sure?" she asked gently and put her hand on his arm. "You looked upset."

"I'm not upset I'm angry that I'm stuck in this hell hole with all you lowlifes!" he snapped and stomped on ahead.

"Why are you such a douche bag!" she called after him as he walked through the gates.

He turned his head and gave her the finger.

Rosie narrowed her eyes, she'd show him!

Thomas shoved his hands back in his pockets after showing Rosie what he thought of her assessment of him. If she thought he even remotely bothered about what she thought of him she was sorely mistaken. He stomped up the stairs to the main building seeing dust rise under his feet and grimaced. God he hated this place! He hated this school, the house he lived in and he hated the people especially Danny and Alice! In that order! If he had to choose who he wanted to live with then he'd pick her, although she wasn't that much better. Those stupid rules she came up with were irritating him and he was waiting for her to bend them for her advantage or even break them, it was only a matter of time.

Who did they think they were he fumed walking down a hallway towards his classroom. Thinking they could just walk back into his life because they felt like it. Why didn't he have a say in any of this? It was all adults talking about what was best for him. Had they ever thought that maybe HE knew what was best for him? He tossed his bag under a desk after entering the room; he sat down and rested his head upon his folded arms. They just up and took him from everything he knew! Now he had a new Aunt he hadn't even known existed, granted she was so much better than that bitch Adele. She was just angry because his mum and dad left the house, business and everything to him! Adele was sly, no wonder her son Jackson was such a prick! It was all his fault anyway! Jackson had overheard their mums talking about him. How he was adopted. Jackson took great delight in telling him everything about his birth parents about how his mum and dad were going to get in touch with them and give him back! Get rid of him like he was nothing to them. It didn't take long for him to realise he had been lied to his whole life. They had even lied when he asked them where all the baby pictures of him were! How could he trust them after that? At that moment Jackson had destroyed his whole life and set in motion a tragic sequence of events…..the bell rang indicating that school was about to start and thankfully breaking his chain of thought.

He sat up and scrubbed his face as people began piling into the room. He watched as groups of friends walked in feeling more alone than ever when a short young girl with blond hair and blue eyes walked in catching his attention. She too looked alone, her arms wrapped around her school books. Her eyes scanned the rows of tables and seats and saw only 3 free, all around him. She approached slowly and he looked away not wanting her to know he had been watching her but also unsure of how to act. She put her books down and took one of the seats beside him trying not to invade too much of his space.

"You want any more room?" he asked. "I can shift along a bit."

"It's fine." She murmured sitting down.

He nodded and searched his mind for a topic of conversation. "I'm Thomas by the way, my friends call me Tom." Gave her his best smile and offered his hand to shake.

She glanced at him. "Olivia." She didn't shake his hand, too busy sorting her pens and books.

He exhaled, he was rubbish with girls! Why wasn't he better at this? "Are you new here then?" he asked desperate to start some sort of conversation.

She nodded.

"Me too, I just started last…."

"Hey Liv." Rosie interrupted, "I see you met my baby nephew."

Thomas face flushed crimson not having seen her approaching. "Rosie!" he bristled at the baby remark.

"You ran off and left me this morning Tom, I can call you that can't I?" smirked at him.

"No!" he hissed. "Now bugger off I am talking to Olivia!"

"You're in my seat." She told him gesturing.

"Sit there." He pointed the other way. "I was talking to Olivia!"

"No Thomas you weren't, you were trying and failing to get her attention" smiled knowingly. "Boys are so obvious!"

Thomas narrowed his eyes, they were almost slits he was so angry.

"I would like to sit next to Rosie." Liv told Thomas, wanting to avoid confrontation.

"Well…." Rosie told him gesturing along.

Thomas looked between both girls and gritted his teeth, slid cross to the next empty seat. Rosie sat to the left of him and the other seat was empty. Pretty soon Liv and Rosie were locked in a discussion about all sorts of girl stuff that had zero meaning for him. He was already sick after two weeks, how was he going to survive the next few years?

A/N a little bit backstory around Thomas, much more to come there. Alice is feeling the stress Dupe wanting to help her but will he listen? Again we'll have to see. the story starts to kick up a notch in the coming chapters but sadly im back to work tomorrow :( will defo try to update more often though!