Four months later

Four months he had gone without her.

Had only that short amount of time really gone by? It had seemed like four years to Anders.

For four months he had emptied every bottle of alcohol he could find, just to try and live a few precious moments with her, in his drunken and dazed state. For four months he had been confined completely to his room, only coming out to give Danny a hand with the animals, and spending occasionally some time with Evan in the bush.

For four months he had tried to get over her without any success.

Her name had become a taboo word, and no one ever dared to mention her in front of him.

The family had noticed how much thinner he had become. He had been refusing a lot of his meals, and had lost at least two stone in weight. They were terrified that he would become really ill, but none more so than Evan.

He was very scared for his best friend, and basically third father.

He didn't like to see him in this state, and he had tried hard to make him forget about his troubles, just for a moment, so that he could have his best friend back, even if it was only for a second.

Danny had tried talking to Anders, but it never changed anything. Anders was a broken man, one who seemed near impossible to mend.

Danny had even tried to be rough with him, and had shouted at him, just to try and snap Anders out of it. It didn't work.

However, Danny tried a different angle today. He needed to go up to Johannesburg to get some animal vaccine supplies, and he wanted to try and persuade Dup to come with him. He had conveniently lost the number he needed to order them with.

"Dup?" called Danny from outside of Anders' room, knocking lightly on the door.

"What!?" came Anders' gruff and irritated answer.

"I need to talk to you, about something important,"

"Well can't it wait?"

"No it can't Dup, it's really important." persuaded Danny, leaning on the door to try and listen out for any sign of movement.

Anders let out a great big groan of annoyance; pulled himself off the bed he had been lying on for the past few months, and made to open the door.

Danny was very taken aback with the scene that presented itself before him.

Anders looked, for the first time ever, very pale and practically lifeless. It was so strange and unnerving to see him like this.

Anders had always been the life and soul of Leopard's Den. The one who always had a youthful, and mischievous glint, shimmering in his striking coral blue eyes.

He had such a wild and fun personality, and a wicked sense of humour. There was no one in the world like him. To see him so…so…empty and emotionless was a huge shock. It wasn't Anders, it just couldn't be. Anders had gone and this shadow of a man had replaced him.

Danny got over this shock, however, and placed a convincing smile on his face.

"I need you to come with me to Jo-burg, help me bring back some vaccine supplies. I've completely lost their number so we're just gonna have to go up there and get them ourselves. We'll spend a couple of days there until they get the vaccines in stock and afterwards we can head back home."

Danny had spent at least half an hour reciting this before he actually came to Anders. He had wanted to sound persuasive. He was concerned so much for his friend, and he wanted him to do this for his own good.

Anders was leaning with his hands on either side of the door frame, trying to support himself. He considered Danny's proposal for a minute and said,

"Why can't Rosie go with you?" he queried, trying to sneak his way out of this. He had barely ever left his room, let alone travel long hours to Jo-burg. He was physically and mentally very, very weak.

Danny had suspected that he'd try to get out of it, so he laid out his full proof argument, "Rosie can't come because I need her to look after the animals while I'm gone, and besides it'll be good for us to get out of this house for a while, have a bit of an adventure. We're worried about you Dup…All of us. You need to start taking some action otherwise you are gonna make yourself really ill, and you know it."

Anders sighed deeply. He knew Danny was right; he shouldn't keep doing this to himself. It wasn't going to change anything anyway; she wouldn't come back to him. He looked at Danny, seeing that he wasn't going to back down, and finally he gave in.

"Alright, alright I'll go. But, only if we can have some fun by taking the piss out of some of those, rich, pretty and pampered city kids." He said cheekily, pointing his finger at Danny.

"I promise," said Danny as he placed his hand over his heart, as if it was some solemn vow he was making. He hadn't seen Anders smile for a long time, and to see his friend have that familiar glint in his eye, caused a wave of relief to wash over him.

Danny left Anders packing in his room, and strolled out to the veranda where Sarah stood, anticipating Danny's results. Sarah looked at him in a way that said, "Well?"

Danny smiled broadly, raised his hands and said, "There's life in the old boy yet," Sarah let out a puff of laughter, relieved that Anders was finally, however slowly, starting to move on.

The moment Danny had said the latter; Anders suddenly called out from inside the house, yelling, "Hey! Less of the bloody 'old' ok?!"

Danny and Sarah burst out laughing, and Danny stated proudly, "He's back."

Anders was going to be, eventually, alright. He hadn't gotten over Caroline at all, but this was at least a start.

Both Danny and Anders left for Jo-burg the next day…