Alice sat in the truck with Thomas and Rosie the following week, as they drove to Mara for the co-ownership party. The kids were sat in the back looking far too grown up in Alice's opinion, not to mention totally gorgeous! On that note she felt the need to give them their fifth warning, "Ok you two, we're almost here so behave yourselves."

Thomas sat up straighter and gave her a disgusted look, "Dear God please tell me we're not going to get the talk again!" he twisted his face, "Hearing you and Danny talk about that sort of stuff has made me swear off girls for life!" he rolled his eyes dramatically.

"It was bloody unpleasant." Rosie agreed.

"Yeah well if you hadn't got yourself caught kissing Max then we could have NOT been traumatised!" Thomas told her.

"You're just jealous that you don't have a girlfriend." Rosie retorted and smirked.

"Yeah well I won't settle for the first loser who shows interest in me."

Rosie's face went bright red and she opened her mouth to reply when Alice cut them off, "Kids remember behave!" Alice told them. Could they act any more like siblings?

The teenagers heeded her warning and sat glaring at each other.

"Hey, did I ever tell you that if we'd had any condoms we were going to show you both the correct manner of putting it on."

All semblance of sound ceased at Alice's deceleration, when Alice glanced in her rear view mirror she had to withhold a burst of laughter when she saw their matching looks of horror. This was a perfect way to stop them arguing get them to agree on how unfair, stupid, horrible, she was!

"You wouldn't!" Rosie told her eyes wide.

"Sadly for you." Alice started shaking her head, "Neither one if us thought to buy any and since we have no other use for them….."

"Jesus Alice!" Rosie yelped.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this." Thomas began shaking his just like Alice had earlier. "I'm gonna need therapy, I can see it, I'll be sat on a chair telling this stranger about all this stuff!"

Alice laughed from the front, "I'm just kidding kids."

"Yeah well you aren't funny!" Rosie tutted.

"All I'm saying is don't give me a reason to need to show you."

"Can't you get her to stop?" Rosie asked Thomas seriously.

"ME?"

"Well yeah, she's your mum."

"And she's your sister, you stop her! I've already told her I'll need therapy and it just egged her on!" Thomas retorted.

Alice smiled as the kids carried on a conversation in the back. She snatched quick glances at her son as he chatted animatedly with Rosie, she hadn't missed that Rosie referred to her as his mum and he hadn't reacted badly, just carried on talking. She had been surprised he had even agreed and sat there when the talk happened. He hadn't started with the 'you have no right, not my mum and dad' stuff again. He had grumbled about it for a while but acquiesced and sat there quietly while she had Danny fumbled with how to explain relationships and sex to kids who were no doubt more clued up than their parents, they had the internet at their fingertips after all… not that she would direct them to that for their views on what relationships and sex should be.

Things were going well with Thomas, he had been talking to her, showing interest in what happened to the other person in the car crash who had been killed. He had admitted to her that it played on his mind. He knew it was a woman, but had no idea whether she was young or old, if she had a family. He didn't even know her name. Alice had told him that if this was what he really wanted she would get in touch with the original case holder in the UK and find out of the family were ok with him having a few details on the case. He had also asked if there was a way of getting flowers put on his mums grave, so they had set up a direct debit to a florists that was connected to the graveyard who would put flowers down every week or two. As soon as this court case with Rosie was finished she was going to sort out a flight and hotel so he could go home and put some down in person. He seemed grateful and thanked her and tensions that had once simmered seemed to be thawing between them. She had already made enquiries about getting information from the UK but the person involved in the case was currently away and they had left a message for his return.

Alice had also received letters from her solicitor regarding Rosie, it was looking like they were going to be able to keep the case from going to court…..but chances were her mum and Derek and the very least were going to be granted supervised access.

Now if it it would only rain all her worries would be gone! It had been dry for at least 10 days and it was on the news that this was to continue and it wasn't long before drought conditions were expected. So all in all in some areas life was definitely improving, but others it looked to be getting worse, the price of bottled water was going to sky rocket!

The lights of Mara appeared in the distance and she could hear the thump of music already, pulling the truck to a stop in the car park she looked towards the house and saw lights flashing in the bar area. She popped the keys in her bag, she was driving home later so was going to drinking coke and punch all night. In the mirror she could see Thomas fidgeting with his clothes and smoothing his hair across his head. He had it cut into a trendy new style and was trying to grow it into something she could only describe as a quiff. He was dressed in new jeans and a blue checked shirt. He looked so grown up and handsome and the image of his father. Because he looked so much like Danny she could see the unease in his face.

"You ok Thomas?"

He nodded, but she could tell he wanted to talk. "Rosie..." who had her hair down, long and straight was wearing a pale pink dress hung back. "Why don't you go inside?"

Rosie grinned.

"And behave!" Alice reminded climbing out of the truck.

"Dear God!" Rosie muttered. "What exactly am I going to do with a room full of adults?" as she walked away.

"Son?" she enquired when Rosie was out of earshot.

He didn't even bristle at her use of the name, "You know how you told me that girls don't really care about how your hair looks?"

"Yeah." she replied.

"Are you sure? Are you sure they don't just like you for how you look?"

Alice leaned back against the truck looking at him, "Some girls do, but they aren't the ones you want to be with. You want to be with someone who likes who you are inside as well as how you look out here. You understand?"

He nodded, climbed from the truck and sighed. "How do you know?"

She shrugged in unknown, "I guess you don't, some people are good at hiding things like that until the other person really likes them." she peered at him. "Are you worried about Liv?"

He seemed to deflate a little and shook his head, "Am I really that obvious?"

She rubbed his back and smiled at him, "Adults have loads more practice at noticing stuff like that than teenagers, if you're worried about if she noticed I doubt it. Girls are just as blind as boys."

He threw his head back, "I'm no good at girls. I'll never understand them."

He sounded so dejected Alice had to withhold a smile, she knew this was a big deal for him, but he had no idea how cute he was! She leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "No man does, it's part of being a man."

She pulled back and saw him smiling at her widely. Alice put her hands on his arms and rubbed them, "Just be yourself and you'll be fine." its the best advice she could give. "But I am going to tell you the same as Rosie. Behave! We'll be keeping an eye on you."

Alice earned an eye roll for that.

"C'mon." she told him.

They walked through the resort, greeting any Mara worker they passed. After entering the party, she spotted Vanessa at the bar. Thomas saw Rosie, Max and Liv in the distance and turned towards them. He glanced back at her and she nodded at him smiling warmly, 'You'll be fine.' she mouthed.

Thomas gave her a smile in return then walked over to the group, to Liv, Alice saw him exhale a breath, obviously nervous. She didn't envy him how he felt right now, being a teenager was hard, with not only the hormones but the confusion over how you start to feel about people, not that being an adult was easier right now….. she headed to Vanessa and greeted her.

Vanessa gave her a warm hug, "How are you Alice? Its been a while."

"Sorry I've been busy. The court case, Thomas." she murmured absently, eyes still on her son as he spoke to Liv. Happy to have him here with her now, but the years she missed, all his childhood, on her mind.

Vanessa followed her line of vision, "Can't get over how much he looks like you." Vanessa remarked.

"He looks like his father." Alice replied seeing Danny in his face.

Vanessa motioned the bar tender over, "You after a cocktail? Or a bottle?"

"Sorry but I am designated driver tonight, it'll be coke or orange, what do you think?"

Vanessa arched an eyebrow, "I think you're mad, this is a party! One of my men can drive you home, try this new cocktail, Leon created it."

"I have the kids, it'll be fine, plus I have to keep my wits about me, I'm fairly certain those 4 are dating." she motioned towards the kids. "If Rosie knew the lengths I'd got to when I was her age." Alice shook her head and thanked the bar tender for her drink. "Trust me I'd lock her up!"

"Trust her Alice." Vanessa told her emphasis on her, watching the kids as they interacted, "You're raising good kids. They might just surprise you."

"Yeah and they might kill me too." Alice laughed the looked at her friend, "Grace still at her dads?"

Vanessa nodded sadly, "Yes, she doesn't like that me and Leon are dating. She's not talking to me at the moment."

"Oh." Alice told her with a wide smile. "This from the woman who was single and loving it."

Vanessa shrugged, "I like him." then surveyed Alice, "You look fab by the way."

Alice had thrown on a knee length black dress and straightened her hair.

"I invited Terry." Vanessa wiggled her eyebrows.

"Did you?" To be honest Alice hadn't spared him a thought in a while, since she and Danny were becoming closer… "I think we've broken up, I can't be sure though."

"You think?" Vanessa exclaimed giving her a pointed look, "How can you not know?"

"Well with all this custody stuff I haven't really replied to his messages, and eventually he just stopped sending them."

"And the Danny stuff?" Vanessa enquired with a knowing grin.

Alice sighed and closed her eyes momentarily. When they reopened she saw Vanessa's grin widen, she scanned the crowd and didn't see Danny but her gaze fell on Rosie and the conversation she tried to gave with her older sister last week, she couldnt talk to her sister about this, but Rosie wasn't Vanessa, Vanessa wasn't going to have her heart broken when things went wrong, as they inevitably did! "I don't know how I feel about him." Alice admitted, "Sometimes I'm so sure that we can be friends, I convince myself of that and then I see him and my stomach just plummets and I feel sick. We have caused each other so much pain in the past. I don't know if we can ever get passed that, and if we could what if it doesn't work, it would kill Rosie! And I don't even want to think about how Thomas would react to it, he's only just settling, I don't want him getting used to having Danny around full time only to lose him and….."

"Alice!" Vanessa told her abruptly ending her tangent. "You're over thinking this."

"I have to though, it's not only me getting hurt I have kids to think of." she exhaled. "When did love become so hard."

"Love?" Vanessa asked.

"Shut up." and she took a drink of her coke wishing something stronger was in the glass with it.

"Can I give you some advice?"

"Can I stop you?" Alice asked drolly.

Vanessa shrugged.

"Go on." Alice requested. Knowing she needed this more than she wanted to admit to herself.

"Don't write him off completely, he's a good man. A good father. he's changed my opinion of him, I slapped him when he was here last year. Don't keep yourself from being happy, yeah you have that past stuff but you're both not kids any more, you know what you have to lose now and Thomas will come round given time."

Danny appeared from now here and Alice's breath caught and she felt that sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, at first she had thought she was ill until she realised it was a pattern when he was near. He stopped walking and looked at Leon laughing at something he said. He glanced across and caught her eye. With a big smile he and Leon made their way towards them, Alice found herself copying hers sons action from earlier by inhaling deeply and releasing it quickly.

Leon reached them first and kissed Vanessa.

"Hi." Danny told Alice and looked at her dress, "You look amazing." he hadn't spared a glance at Vanessa, he only had eyes for Alice.

"You too." like his son, Danny wore jeans and shirt, looking so good she could hardly breathe.

Danny finally tore his eyes from Alice and glanced at Leon who was whispering in Vanessa's ear. He made a disgusted face, "God can't these 2 get a room? They own an entire resort! Bloody hormones, they are worse than the kids!"

Speaking of the kids, Alice's eyes looked for hers and she found Rosie and Max dancing, rather wildly, trying to outdo each other. Thomas was leaning against a table, hands in his pockets looking at Liv wryly, she looked just as uncomfortable. She smiled, Danny saw it and looked in that direction.

"Why does our son look like he's in pain?" Danny asked.

"Girl problems, he wants to know why he is clueless when it comes to them."

Danny smiled and leaned in close to her ear and murmured,"You think when he figures them out he'll tell me? I could use a little help in that department."

When he pulled away Alice could swear she saw an intensity in his eyes but she seemed to blink and it was gone.

"I'm sure he will." she replied voice quivering until she cleared her throat. "For a price."

They shared a moment, until Danny shook his head. "Anyway can I get you a drink?"

She raised her glass, "I'm good thanks. I'm drinking soft drinks tonight anyway. Designated driver."

He ordered a bottle of diet coke. Neither noticed as Leon and Vanessa drifted away, both too busy chatting.

"If that's because I'm not drinking don't do it for my benefit." Alice told him. She hadn't planned on drinking anyway, she had to keep her head about her or she might do something stupid!

He shook his head, "I need to keep my eyes open. There has been animals killed recently and I might get called away." and he had to keep his head straight around her, unknowingly echoing her thought.

"Poachers." Alice commiserated. "I could understand if they did it for food but for a lot of them its pure greed. For elephants tusks or fur."

He nodded in agreement.

"The talk went well with the kids." she told him changing the subject from such a bad one on a happy night. "I told them about the banana. They were horrified. Thomas said he was going to need therapy and was swearing off girls for life." by the way he was acting with Liv Alice had to say she didn't believe it. Glancing at Rosie she saw Max sneak a sly kiss. Alice rubbed her face trying to quell the urge to go stomping over there….

"Why is it every time I see him do that I get this urge to go over there and tell him to take his hands off her?" Danny asked frowning.

"Because she is your niece and you want to protect her from amorous boys who will try to defile her?" she said humour laced.

He shrugged, "It makes me a hypocrite I know. Years ago you were Rosie and I was Max. I don't think I've ever told you how hard it was to wait."

"Really? But you made it look so easy."

"Oh trust me it wasn't. And you didn't help either."

"I knew what I wanted." she told him looking at the kids. At her son who was slowly coaxing Liv onto the dance floor, holding her hands.

"It was you, it had always been you and if wasn't for you I wouldn't have our son." looked at him seriously, "I couldn't imagine anyone else as father to him. I have you to thank for him. For all my regrets about us, for everything that was said and for everything that went wrong, the one thing I gave never regretted was him and you as his father."

"Agreed." and he tapped his glass to hers. Lapsed into silence as they watched their son gingerly start to dance.

"Look at him." she murmured as Thomas moved jerkily around the floor. "He got those dance moves from you!"

"Hey I can dance!" he protested.

"You can not!" she laughed.

Danny suddenly tensed up and started doing the robot.

"Oh God Danny." Alice laughed loudly, "You look like you're ill!"

"Hey" he laughed loving to see such a carefree smile on her face, it had been lacking a lot recently, "You couldn't do better!"

Their total focus was on each other they didn't notice someone head for the bar and stand slightly too close to Alice….or the way he went into his pocket and brought out a pouch of powder…..

She leaned in closer looking in his eyes, "I'm smart enough not to try."

He took her hand in his, "Join me then."

Her smile froze, the heat she saw earlier was in his eyes and this time when he blinked it didn't disappear.

The man beside Alice saw that the people were wrapped up in each other and surreptitiously reached over Alice's drink with his powder and slowly begin to pour…..

"What do you say?" he coaxed trying to convince Alice to dance.

"It's um...not really dancing music." she told him, voice soft. The lyrics swirling around them, 'Baby lets pretend we're just kids seventeen again.'

"C'mon." and he tugged her hand.

"Maybe later, with a different song." she finally told him and exhaled a heavy breath when he released her hand.

The man from before had left and blended back into the shadows to wait…..

Alice however had turned, picked up her glass and drained it quickly, shook her head when it left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth. "I think Vanessa needs to change the syrup bag on this. Yuck!"

"I'll hold you to that dance mind." he assured and flagged the bar tender over. He ordered an orange and coke. He handed her the orange.

"How'd you know I fancied orange?"

He shrugged, "I know you like to mix it up." then he motioned her to a table in the corner.

A/N oooo what has that man put in Alices drink? there were parts of this chapter that will be explored later, unwritten as of yet :/ next chapter is half typed, will try to get it up asap. only done because this chapter was at 5000 words and still not done yet. Hope you enjoyed :)