Here, Darling.

The day had arrived the one that Alaska had been dreading. Meeting Zack’s parents. Lucy was meant to be going around for dinner as well to help ease the tension that there was bound to be, especially when Ava and herself came waltzing through the door, but she said that she might not be able to make it, mumbling some excuse about having to see Flyzick about her work schedule, not able to fully meet Alaska in the eyes.

Any who, the girl felt as prepared as she could ever be to meet the parents, after all they definitely couldn’t be as bad as hers, she felt like she had seen her parents play ever trick in the book when either Max or herself had brought any guest’s over. Never failing to find some way in embarrassing the pair in front of their friends, faces turned scarlet and having to try and find some way to apologise to the poor souls the next day before school from the torture they had to endure.

She had made sure she had worn her nicest dress, a navy peter pan collared one with a pair of her only heels, trying to look as conservative as possible, and trying to hope that would win her some points.

Ava on the other hand was being difficult this morning, not wanting to wear the clothes that Alaska had picked out, instead adamantly refusing to take off the Tinkerbell dress that Zack had bought her, pouting that this made her feel pretty and she wanted to look pretty for Zack.

After thirty minutes, of useless persuasion, trying to use anything from buying the girl new toys to taking her anywhere she wanted to the following weekend, Alaska gave up realising that it pointless, leaving the girl to continue her colouring whilst still wearing the lime green dress with the fairy wings attached. Alaska hurried to the kitchen trying a last ditch attempt at saving her famous brownies that seemed to be starting to burn in the time Alaska had been arguing with Ava.

It seemed like nothing was going right today and she wasn’t holding out much hope that this afternoon would improve, instead just deciding she was going to give it her best shot and hope that they didn’t hate her enough to try and persuade Zack to end whatever relationship they where currently in.

Alaska had just finished icing the brownies, her hair still in her scraggily bun when the doorbell rang, hastily she whipped her fingers down the front of her apron as she hurried to the door, nearly tripping out of her heels as she skidded to a stop in front of the door, pulling it open to see a bemused Zack stood there.

“You ready?” he asked eyebrow raised, but Alaska could tell by the tone in his voice that he already knew the answer, causing him to chuckle slightly as she shook her head grabbing his hand and pulling him into the house.

“I just need to do my hair and my make up” Alaska explained over her shoulder as she pulled him through the flat, not even bothering to apologise for the mess of Ava’s toys in the living room, over the last few months Zack had become immune to the mess. “And will you please try and convince Ava to change?” Alaska begged, turning to look at him, her eyes wide with hope as he merely nodded, chuckling slightly as he quickly stole a kiss before giving her a light push towards her bedroom door before heading down to Ava’s room to try and deal with the task he had been set.

It didn’t take Alaska long to finish getting ready, a quick brush of her hair attempting to style it nicely but giving up after several attempts instead choosing to quickly plait it, wrapping it around in a tight bun at the back of her head, securing it speedily with a handful of hair pins with one hand, while her other was busy rifling through her makeup bag, sifting through eagerly for her foundation tube.

After quickly slathering on the foundation, along with a light line of eyeliner and a flick of mascara Alaska deemed herself suitable, shoving her items away before leaving the room, pulling her apron off from around neck as her scanned her lace sleeves for traces of stray flour as she finally came to a halt in the living room.

It seemed like Zack had failed his task in trying to persuade the girl to dress in her Sunday best, as her eyes narrowed on the pair, the girl still clad in the shiny lime green dress, her wings, skew-whiff on her back as they huddled over what she could only presume was a colouring book waiting for her to finish getting ready.

“Ready?” she questioned, bustling in the kitchen shoving the brownies into a container, her hands shaking slightly as she tried to get the task done quickly in order for them to not be late, trying to make sure that she would make the best first impressions.

“Calm down, darling” Zack mumbled against her hair, as her wound an arm around her waist, the other skimming down her arm to gently take the spatula from her. Alaska sighed, automatically relaxing into him, her head resting against his should as she pivoted around, wrapping her arms tightly around her torso.

“I’m just nervous” she mumbled into his shirt, closing her eyes tightly as she inhaled his scent, feeling the stress evaporate from her and instantly feeling the calm wash over her. “What if they hate me...” she continued dumbly, hating how immature she sounded after all this wasn’t an end of the world situation.

“Well I’m sure they won’t, but if they did then it doesn’t matter, I will still like you” Zack chuckled, gently pushing Alaska away from his body, his fingers trailing down her cheek as it pushed a stray hair behind her ear, “Okay?” he said, his eyes burning into hers, searching to see if the girl was alright, she merely nodded, pushing the container into Zack’s a hand with a small smile as she scurried off into the living room, ushering Ava out of the house.

The car wide was short and quiet, Ava was busy in the backseat with her new favourite colouring book from Uncle Jack, which Alaska had a suspicion that he had only bought the book for the young girl in order for him to be able to use it as well without getting picked on by the rest of the group.

Meanwhile Alaska sat in the front seat, her eyes staring blankly out of the window as sudden thoughts raced through her mind, pointless things that did not matter but somehow captured her attention, causing her to gnaw at her lip as she zoned out. Zack was rubbing comforting circle on the back of her hand with his thumb, glancing every so often to look at her.

Carefully she climbed out the car, one hand gripping onto the container of brownies while the other clutched onto Ava’s hand, keeping the young girl to her side as they headed down the side of the perfect lawn to the bright red front door, ready to get this judgement day over with.

“Ready?” Zack whispered, getting nothing but a nervous smile and a nod from Alaska as he raised his hand to knock on the door, his arm snaking around Alaska’s waist, pulling her into him trying to comfort the girl someway, trying to get her to loosen up and be herself instead of this nervous mess.

“Oh Zack!” The woman beamed as soon as she opened the door, her sandy blonde hair pinned back as she wrapped her arms tightly around her son, planting kisses over his face causing the boy to blush mumbling for his mother to stop who merely rolled her eyes, turning to now look at Alaska who stood, eyes wide staring at the woman in front of her.

“Ah, you must be Adelaide” she smiled, opening her arms out and pulling Alaska into a warm embrace, starting the girl slightly, not leaving her time to release Ava’s hand, causing the little girl to half get dragged into the awkward embrace. “You’re even more beautiful than what Lucy had described, you’ve got quite a catch here Zachary” she said, giving her son a meaningful look before turning her gaze back to Alaska.

“I’m Deborah but most people Deb or Debbie, I think only my mother has ever called my mother has ever called me by my full name” She laughed, causing all the tension that Alaska had been feeling all day to evaporate. “And this little sweetie must be Ava” she beamed, bending down to Ava’s level, who immediately became shy, hiding herself behind her mother’s legs as she smiled shyly to Deb.

“I’m sorry she’s not usually this shy” Alaska apologised, handing the container to Deborah who simply shrugged off the apology, opening the door widely and allowing the trio in, Zack turning to grin at Alaska who just rolled her eyes back, not allowing him to think that he had won this round.

“Your dad’s just out at the store picking up some last minute item’s, we have yet to hear if Lucy is coming though” Deb explained, leading them into the living room, handing Ava the TV remote with a smile who immediately beamed back, flipping through the channels before coming across Beauty and the Beast on one channel and instantly becoming mesmerised.

“I thought Dad was out of town...” Zack trailed off, eye brows furrowed as he followed his mother into the kitchen, Alaska trailing behind, hands clasped tightly into Zack’s as he led her to the table, pulling a seat out at the table for her before heading to the fridge, eyes scanning the different beverages before pulling out two cans of Diet Coke placing one in front of Alaska before opening one for himself, turning to offer her a small smile.

“He was but he managed to get out earlier and arrived back this morning in time to meet Adelaide” Deb explained, turning away from the pot which she was stirring vigorously stirring, turning to grin at Adelaide and send her a quick wink causing Alaska to do nothing but chuckle.

“It’s nice to finally meet one of Zack’s girlfriends...Steven and I used to think little Zack was gay you know” she said giving Adelaide a knowing nod as she tried to stifle the giggles that were beginning to crawl up her throat.

“We were so sure that he was going to come home one day and tell us that he was now in a serious relationship with Jack, God knows we love that boy but we definitely do not think he was a suitable partner for our Zackary” Deb continued, finishing her explanation with a sigh and a shrug, turning her full attention back to the pot leaving a now red faced Zack to try and get Adelaide to stop laughing.

Zack’s mother was so different from what she expected; from the way Lucy was going on she was expecting some strict po-faced Nun type who thought no was good enough for her baby boy, her pride and joy. But Deb was the opposite, nothing but warm and inviting, making sure the conversation was in full flow to make sure that there wasn’t an awkward silence and to make the girl feel at home.

She felt welcome, but by the way Zack’s eyes kept flashing towards her, looking slightly alarmed she knew she wasn’t out the clear, Alaska did not know what they were expecting to happen but just by the way he was looking at her she was already on edge.

Was it his mother or father she should watch out for? Was the way Deb was acting a complete facade and beneath that wide smile she was secretly plotting way’s to try and persuade Zack out the relationship, looking for flaws in Alaska she could use to her own advantage?

It was another ten minutes filled with conversation which Alaska tried to answer honestly, but without dropping anything that could be used to also disarm her later on in the day, sipping slowly on her can of diet coke when she did not feel comfortable answering a question, making sure that Zack understood so he could tactfully change the topic or distract his mother’s attention, giving Alaska time to slip away to check on Ava.