Danny ran through the party pushing chairs and tables aside panicked, where the hell were the kids? He felt the feeling begin to crest when the implications of the situation began to sink in, someone had obviously done something to Alice poison her, did they do it to distract them so they could grab one or maybe even both of the kids? He headed for the toilets just in case and felt relief fill him when he heard Thomas's raised voice, as quickly as the relief had rose it began to sink when he heard Derek reply to him. Danny sprinted down the hallway, hearing a chorus of thuds gradually getting louder, he rounded the corner and saw Rosie on the floor holding her face and Thomas being held against the wall by a man he despised.

A red mist descended and before he knew what he was doing he was behind the man grasping him by the collar of his jacket dragging him off his son, he was about to start hitting Derek when he looked at Thomas and saw the fear in his eyes. "Are you ok?" he asked when he saw Thomas' scared expression.

"Danny!" Thomas shouted in warning.

Danny began to turn his head and took a hard punch to the temple, he stumbled back seeing stars then shook his head to clear it and ran at Derek impacting his midsection. They clattered against a wall and Danny swung hard hitting some part of Derek's head, he grasped his shoulders and threw him forcefully towards the wall, then pushed his arm against Derek's windpipe intending to make him pay for hurting Alice, for hurting Rosie and for scaring his son. Derek scratched at his face and eyes but Danny didn't feel it, he didn't see his eyes bulging or his croaking pleading, his was so focussed with single minded ferocity.

"DANNY!" he heard Rosie shout and immediately his mind cleared. He took a step back breathing deeply, Derek fell to the floor gasping. Danny saw both kids looking at him. He got on his mobile and called the main reception to send a few men to collect Derek and lock him in a pen until the police arrived. When that was sorted, he looked to the teenagers, "Kids, we need to go to Alice." His voice stony, as much as he wanted to deal with Derek personally there were other more important things to think about.

"What's wrong with Alice?" Rosie asked instantly worried by Danny's tone.

"She's ill…" was all he could commit to. The men came running around the corner, once they spoke to Danny and were sure about the situation they both took Derek by an arm each. "Take him to the vet's surgery and lock him in a pen until the police get here." He reminded.

As he saw them taking Derek away he half wished he had hit him a bit more, but he had kids to think of, he did last time too but maturity brought wisdom, or so he thought.

He looked to the kids and put a hand on each of their backs, "C'mon kids, Alice needs us." And they all headed back to the once joyous party.

Danny, Thomas and Rosie all sat in a waiting room waiting on news on Alice. They had been told they were going to pump Alice's stomach since they had no idea what she ingested. Some of it would no doubt still be in her system but the best they could do was let her sleep it off. Although the police couldn't prove otherwise Danny was under no assumption on who did this. He was currently alternating between rage so intense it made his blood boil and intense fear that he was going to lose her. How could one person stir such powerful feelings?

"Why'd you take your belt off?" he heard Thomas ask. When he looked at the boy he saw his eyes were red from the tears he wouldn't allow himself to shed. He had his hands clasped tightly on his lap, his shoulders looking laden for someone so young.

"So she didn't choke on her tongue when she had the fit." Danny told him, surprised his voice sounded so calm. "It's not exactly standard procedure." He shrugged.

Thomas nodded, "It's good though, that you knew to do that…." His voice trailing off.

Silence fell once again and the ever-present anger reared its ugly head, he focussed on the kids to help it dissipate, "You two are going to have to talk to the police." He told them gently.

Thomas and Rosie shared a look and nodded.

"What a creep!" Thomas admonished. "Trying to abduct a kid, what sort of weirdo does that!"

This time it was Rosie and Danny who shared the look.

Thomas saw it and sat up looking between them, "Ok, what am I missing?"

Rosie sighed and looked at the floor, "Thomas he's my…"

"Not now Rosie." Danny told her gently shaking his head.

"When is a good time then?" Rosie asked frowning. "Next time when he gets a second chance to grab me?"

"Do you think I'm going to give him a second chance to get near you? The police have him now anyway." Danny told her.

"And what if he gets off? What if they bail him or something, what if next time he doesn't just drug Alice he kills her? What then? Do you think I can live with that on my conscience?" Rosie was shaking her head

"Rosie…." Danny started.

Thomas who was frowning cocked his head as he saw Danny trying to soothe Rosie, "Ok what am I not being told?"

"The man in the hallway, he's called Derek. He's my father. He's the reason you were taken away from Danny and Alice all those years ago," Rosie told Thomas quickly before Danny could stop her.

Thomas clenched his fists, "The way he treated you! How can someone…." His voice raising.

Danny out his hand on his son's arm, "Calm down." He said gently. "This is all being sorted, you two don't need to worry about this anymore ok?"

Thomas looked in Danny's eyes and felt a weird calmness descend, he was obviously still seething, his normally green eyes black but it felt easier to control. "So how'd that scumbag convince the police that you had drugs? Bet he planted them on you, or he did the same back then drugged you!"

Danny looked at him confused, "Drugs?"

"I was told that the reason you lost me was because the social believed that you were on drugs."

Danny shook his head, "The reason why we lost you was just bad circumstances. No drugs involved at all."

"What happened?" Thomas asked remembering his conversation with Alice a few weeks ago.

"Well it all started with me messing up big style!" Danny scratched his head the memory of Alice covered in bruises still vivid in his mind. He turned over his hand and looked at the scar that resided there, a present from Derek, a constant reminded of his mistake, also a lesson that violence didn't work, it only made things worse. "The quick version is one night when Alice went to pick Rosie up Derek saw her and assaulted her."

Thomas face was horror filled.

"Not like that!" Danny was quick to clarify. "He hit her."

"Doesn't make it better." Thomas replied icily.

"Anyway she got out with Rosie and brought her home. You were tucked up in your cot asleep." He smiled nostalgically remembering the simpler times of putting his son to bed then sitting on the sofa watching a film with Alice. "Alice came home Rosie was covered in bruises, I almost went over there and then but Alice managed to make me see sense, that we'd be keeping her, we wouldn't let her go back into a situation like that…later on was when I saw the bruises on Alice." He swallowed and shook his head, these aren't your normal run of the mill bruises, these were serious, I couldn't stand it, Alice tried to reason with me again tried to stop me but regardless of her pleading I went away…." He sighed and thought back to that night.

Danny could barely breathe he was so angry! His knuckles white from the pressure of his grip on the steering wheel. He couldn't allow Derek to get away with this! As a husband he had a duty to protect his wife from any and all things that would cause her harm and this bastard has harmed her! He still remembered how his mum had suffered at the hands of his father, how she had left because of the way he treated her, how his dad had allowed his friends to disrespect her over and over again!

The one good and constant thing in his life had only ever been Alice and if for nothing else but that reason alone then he was going to kill this poor excuse of a man for thinking that it was acceptable to treat her like that! He was going to make sure that Alice's bastard of a step father never went near her or Rosie ever again! He knew why Derek targeted her, he knew exactly what he wanted from her and that thought made the rage burn hotter! How dare he! HOW DARE HE! He'd kill him if he even thought of going near Alice again!

The car pulled to a stop, he'd been driving much too fast, in a hurry to get here. Without hesitation, he climbed out and jogged towards the house, the door wasn't even locked so he walked inside. He could hear Derek raging in the living room, his voice slurred, obviously drunk, 'How did that little bitch get away?' he fumed, 'I'll never get near her again!' he heard the sloshing of liquid, 'But I'd like to! You have no idea what I'd do to her…..' Danny couldn't just stand there and listen to the ways in which this vile creature describe what he'd like to do to Alice, his fists clenched his burst into the living room. Derek smirked at him then seemed to pale slightly when he saw how enraged Danny looked to be

'So the little bitch told you? Shouldn't be leading a man on then should she? She got what she deserved!'

Danny hadn't said a word, just stalked towards him.

Thomas had listened in complete silence, Rosie who had heard some of the story from Alice sat there in silence too, looking slightly ill.

"You mean he was actually talking to her mum about….well that?" Thomas asked aghast,

"These aren't nice people Thomas, somehow between the two of them came Rosie, she is the one and only decent thing to come out of them. This is the exact reason why we are determined to keep both of you away from them! They are no good!"

Thomas nodded.

"All in all, even though Derek did what he did I think Alice got off lightly considering the other option." He hadn't told them what he heard, he hadn't even told Alice. The words Derek had said still haunted him, it had nothing to do with caring or intimacy and everything to do with domination and power and it sickened him that someone thought of someone he loved like that. "After that I just started hitting him, to be honest at one point I think I blacked out, no excuse I know, but yeah all I remember is being so focussed on hurting him, he came at me with a knife and cut my hand open." He raised it and ran a finger down the scar, "Right there. I didn't feel it like I said, blacked out, I managed to wrestle him back to the floor and again just carried on hitting him, so many time I lost count. Linda, that's Rosie and Alice's mum." He told Thomas for clarification, "eventually dragged me off him and I draw the line at ever raising my hands to a woman! She stood in front of me, began pushing me out of the house." Danny frowned then, "He's lucky I didn't kill him that night. If she hadn't pulled me off him when she did." His voice distant. "I think she expected him to give me a beating, its why she didn't do it straight away." He shrugged "I went home covered in blood. When Alice saw me she looked so….I dunno, she just had never seen that side of me before, the side of me that reminded her of what my father was capable of."

He saw Rosie and Thomas frown at that and realised his slip of the tongue, then again why would they know the upbringing he had?

"Anyway, I walked in and I could see that she had been crying, there were still tear tracks on her cheeks, she was sat in the living room giving you a bottle." He nodded to Thomas. "As soon as you were back to sleep she came back down and helped me bandage up my hand. She couldn't even look at them, they were all discoloured from bruises. A few hours later the social services turned up saying we'd kidnapped Rosie and that I beat both of you and Alice regularly." He shrugged, "What were they going to think? Alice and Rosie were covered in bruises as well as my hands." He shook his head, "They couldn't have planned it better! Well Linda anyway, she had called them after Derek walked out on her. She was too much trouble apparently. They took you both away, Rosie was given back to her mother, even with our protests and we were being assessed. While all this was happening someone put the wrong name in the database for you Thomas and they adopted you out." He'd never forget the acid in his stomach when he found out that his son was settling into a new family. That feeling like he had lost his little boy and would likely never get him back.

Thomas nodded, "Alice told me, she said my name is Thomas Travanion."

"Did Alice tell you why you stayed where you were and didn't come home?"

Thomas shook his head.

Danny sat forward frowning looking at the floor, he rubbed his forehead, "It was me, Alice she was so excited that we were getting you back, I was too…. until I saw where you lived." He looked up at Thomas. "I saw what you had, the advantages they could give you. I saw the way you looked to Lisa for everything, because to you Lisa was your mother not Alice and as much as it killed me I knew how it happened. I understood why. Alice would have too had she not been so blinded by her need to get you home. It wasn't your fault but here you were stuck in the middle of two warring families and someone had to be the bad guy, someone had to say enough was enough and think of you! I mean we all wanted you so badly but were we thinking of you at that moment? At that minute I knew the best thing I could do for you as a father was to tell Alice that we should leave you there, that Lisa was your mum and Alan was your dad, that we'd always love you but we were strangers. It was the worst decision I've ever had to make." He hadn't meant to start talking about all of this but once he started he couldn't seem to stop, he hadn't spoke about this to anyone. It was like a dam had been opened. "Alice knew she'd never get you back without me, she'd be reassessed on her suitability as a single parent, more time away, you'd be further away then you already were, so she did, she left you. We split up not long after."

Thomas sat there looking at Danny, at his hunched shoulders and dejected expression and saw the toll of that had to have taken on him. That to be a real father he had to willingly give his kid up! He was finally seeing everything that they had went through to give him a better life and it had destroyed theirs in the process. He knew this was all real, he knew he wasn't lying. He thought back to the times he heard his mum and dad talking about how scared they were that they were going to lose him again. Again. If Alice and Danny had truly been involved with drugs then they wouldn't have gotten near him! As his mind whirled with all this new information a doctor knocked gently then entered the room.

Danny stood up, "Hi." He said quickly, expectation thick in his tone.

"Mr Trevanion?"

"Is Alice ok?" he asked quickly

"Unfortunately I can't tell you anything as you aren't named as her next of kin….."

"I'm her son." Thomas told him standing up.

"And I'm her younger sister." Rosie added just in case.

The doctor looked between the two teenagers, "You see the thing is….."

"C'mon!" Rosie pleaded. "Is she ok? You can tell us, he's here to make sure we are calm! If anything not telling us is making us worse!"

The doctor sighed and looked to Danny, "Yes, you friend, sister, mum is ok, or she seems to be." The doctor told them looking at them each individually. "There was the presense of a drug called, GBH in her system. Unfortunately, she seemed to have a particularly bad reaction to it."

"WHAT!" Rosie gasped.

"Am I right in assuming that you were all at a party?" he asked Danny.

Danny nodded, knowing his initial suspicions were right.

"Was her drink left unattended at all?"

Danny thought rapidly back to the party, he remembered all the times Alice had her drink in her hand but to be honest he was so distracted by how beautiful she was he couldn't be sure, "Maybe, I don't know."

"Well it seems her drink may very well have been spiked, the drug used is a popular decision for that kind of thing. We've given her an enzyme to counter act the drug and pumped her stomach, she is sleeping now in her room and you can all go and sit with her."

"Thank you doctor." Danny told him shaking his hand.

"Yeah thanks." The kids chorused.

"You're all welcome, I'll leave you to get to her."

And he left followed quickly by Danny, Rosie and Thomas. Danny lead as they walked through quiet hallways, Rosie and Thomas walking slowly behind.

To Rosie it seemed like Danny was in a hurry. She felt sick at the thought of everything that happened to her sister, and everything that could have happened to not only Alice but her and Thomas too, her dad would have a lot of fun if he ever managed to get Thomas alone somewhere. She sighed head hung low as she followed Danny, she saw Thomas glance at her and frown. Her dad was obviously going to stop at nothing to get at Alice, because that's all this was, they were interested in getting her back, it was all about hurting Alice and what better way to do that then use her son?

"Are you ok?" Thomas asked softly making sure Danny didn't hear, he out his hand on her shoulder and she looked into his eyes and she had seen Alice look at her with the same expression and the guilt intensified.

She walked slightly slower to give them a bit more space from Danny as she knew she couldn't go to him with that she was thinking, but Thomas, he'd understand, "Alice shouldn't have to go through stuff like this because of me."

"It's not…"

"If I had never been born she would have washed her hands of mum years ago, she would never have lost you, she and Danny probably would have stayed together and you'd have siblings and love her like you love a mum, she wouldn't be lain in hospital now after being drugged and having her stomach pumped or whatever else they did to her and the prick who made me would never have tried to….." she couldn't finish the sentence, she shook her head, "This is all because Alice wants me to have a decent upbringing, have someone in my life who cares about my wellbeing."

Thomas quieted not really knowing what to see, he could see her point but that didn't make it true.

"I've started to think that maybe Max was right." She murmured.

"Yeah? Well that'd be new." He joked trying to prompt a smile out of her, when it failed he asked, "What did he….?"

The question halted on his lips when he saw Danny stop at a door and put his hand on the door knob. An image burst into his mind of his mum lain in A&E after the crash, the machines all around her, the way the doctor was trying to crush her chest it seemed, the blood that was everywhere, dripping on the floor, the pipe that had been forced down her throat…..

"Danny!" Rosie said sharply when she saw the change in Thomas.

Danny turned thinking she needed him and saw how pale his son looked, "Thomas?"

"I'm…I…I'm not going in there!"

"What's wrong?" Danny asked.

He shook his head not wanting to discuss this with Danny, he wasn't sure he would ever fully trust him.

Danny looked at him a moment then turned to Rosie, "Rosie, give me a minute will you, but stay where I can see you yeah?"

Rosie nodded knowing that Thomas had private stuff to say so she walked down the hallway, within seeing distance and picked up some magazines flicking through them. Glancing back at them periodically.

"Thomas?"

"I'm not going in there! You can't make me!" Thomas said, his voice higher than normal, pointing to Alice's room.

"No I can't, I admit that. I'd just like to know what this is about."

Thomas clenched his jaw as his mum's blood soaked face filled his mind, he wasn't telling him about this.

"Thomas how can I help you if you don't let me? Trust me. Talk to me."

The issue was he didn't trust him! He trusted Alice and if Alice was here she would know what to say, how to help, this man was a stranger he happened so share DNA with. "I don't like hospitals ok!" he snapped crossing his arms.

"They aren't the nicest of places to be, I know but all we need to do is go in there and …."

"I said NO ok!" he shouted, chest heaving.

Rosie heard him and was looking in their direction.

Danny rubbed his face at a loss at what to do, "Look if you want to go home that's fine, I'll take you to Mara and come back."

Thomas crossed his arms.

"But if this is because you think Alice isn't your mum or whatever….."

Thomas didn't just hear the words, he felt them and felt pure rage flow through him, "Excuse me?" Thomas said halting him. "You think I'm doing this to be petty or something? You think I actually don't care about Alice? I really can't believe you!" he took a step forward and was almost face to face with Danny, "Do you ever know the last time I was in a hospital? WITH WHO! Is there any wonder I don't trust you when you say stuff like that to me!"

Danny sighed as realisation seemed to hit him like a tonne of bricks, "Thomas I didn't mean…"

"Mean what? That I'm not bothered about whether my…..about whether Alice gets hurt?" he quickly corrected. "The last time I was stood in a hospital it was with my mum, you don't know what I seen…" his voice broke and his eyes filled, "And she…." He inhaled shakily. "And now Alice, her eyes were rolling and she had this fit thing, how do I know we aren't going to walk in there and see her in a bad way just like my mum was!"

Danny, without thinking wrapped his arms round Thomas, and held him tight. Thomas instead of pushing him away stood there, not sure how to respond.

"Alice is strong right?" Danny murmured to him. "I've seen time and time again how strong and so have you."

Thomas nodded, still not rejecting the hold.

"She might be asleep when we go in there but that's all it is, sleep. I promise you. She'll be fine but if you can't go in there that's fine too, I'll take you home and come back and we'll ring you as soon as she wakes."

Thomas pulled free, "What about Rosie though?"

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind waiting."

Thomas looked down the hallway to Rosie who was looking at them quizzically. He stood and considered for longer than he liked, and knew deep down he couldn't make her wait, and if he was ever going to trust Danny he had to start somewhere, "No." shaking his head, "I'll come in. I mean you promised right?"

Danny patted his back and motioned Rosie towards them, "I did, and I meant it."

"Ok." Thomas murmured and nodded slowly.

Rosie, who had dropped the magazines was already beside the, she too put her hand on Thomas back, having heard some of what he said when he was shouting. "Are you ok?"

Usually, if someone did that to him in the past, even his mum, he would have shrugged the hand off saying yes and acting like he didn't care but right now, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He did care. He gave Rosie a small smile and nodded, she lowered her voice when Danny headed for Alice's room, "I'm here, we'll talk later."

Thomas' face seemed to crumple a little then recovered. "Thanks Rosie." He said voice croaky. A feeling of homecoming washing over him.

Danny opened the door to Alice's room and gestured them inside, Rosie went in and Thomas followed, he looked up at Danny who smiled reassuringly and nodded.

They entered and saw Alice lain in bed looking relatively normal, she was paler than normal and connected to a drip but her heart monitor was beeping steadily. Thomas released the breath he didn't know he had been holding. There were 4 available seats, 2 on either side of the bed. Danny took one on the left Thomas and Rosie took the two opposite.

Silence reigned in the room when the 3 people were seated.

"When do you think she'll wake up?" Rosie asked.

"Shouldn't be too long." Danny replied.

A/N I seemed to have wrote a lot about how Alice felt about what happened back then but never really gave an insight into Danny's thoughts, I mean it was him who made that decision that started all that.

This didn't flow much, felt fragmented and not enough detail in parts but i wanted to get it up. Rushing towards the end now, still abit ,ore to go.