Here, Darling.

Alaska did not have time to reflect on the situation, as soon as Zack left she was walked over to the kitchen to see what exactly Zack had been looking at to accuse her of all the hurt that she had apparently caused.

On the screen was her latest email from Max, stating that he couldn’t wait to see her and that he loved her, she knew how it could look out of context, but it was her brother and as soon as Zack would allow her to talk to him she would be able to explain the situation.

With a sigh, her body feeling completely numb she walked back to her bedroom, pulling the suitcase from under her bed and began to pack all the stuff she needed. Today was the day she was flying home, she finally felt ready to tell Zack and wanted to ask him to be her date but that clearly was now out of the question.

In thirty minutes she had everything that her and Ava would need for the next week or so, after that she had nothing to do, nothing to occupy her and take her mind off of things until Ava had arrived home but then Lucy would be accompanying her and surely by now her brother would have filled her in with his version of events.

Without anything else left she collapsed on the sofa, allowing her mind to wander going through everything that happened, everything that had turned her life upside down and it happened in a total of fifteen minutes.

Angrily she stormed into her bedroom, pulling the clothes off her, not caring if she stretched or ripped it, she hated herself for dressing up for him, for trying to make herself look the best she could to then be pretty much shitted on for not doing anything wrong.

Just because Zack was overacting about something that he didn’t even know about, jumping to conclusions and going off on a tangent making it impossible for him to even hear the facts, boys could be idiotic jerks sometimes.

Leaving the clothes strewn across the floor she stormed over to her wardrobe, throwing the door open, not flinching as the mahogany doors banged angrily against the wall, nearly falling off the inches.

Her hands rifled furiously through the remaining clothes that hang there, the stuff that did not make the cut to the suitcase that sat taunting them from on top of the bed.

Snatching down a sweater and tossing it angrily over the shoulder, a pair of jeans also catching the same flight, before items landing in a head on her bed, looking like lost abandoned toys that had been long forgotten.

Collapsing to her knees her hands angrily threw shoe after shoe out of the closet until she finally landed on a pair she approved of, turning her back on the box of wood, eyes surveying the room, narrowing on the items of clothing covering practically every surface.

After pulling on the clothes she fled the room, hands clutching the handles of the two suitcases dragging them out of the room, dinting every piece of furniture in sight as the hard plastic wheels banged angrily into it before bouncing back into its correct path.

Not even bothering to right Chris a letter she left the house, locking the door behind her and throwing her keys into the car, trying several times to try and fit both cases into the boot, and when she failed she gave in, giving them one last kick and push before one of the neighbours felt pity for her and decided to help.

Without even saying thank you, goodbye or kiss my arse Alaska jumped into her car and gunned it down the road, not even caring that she was driving recklessly, all she wanted was her baby and to get far away from Baltimore as soon as possible.

Pulling up outside of the house, Alaska jumped out of the car, not even thinking to cut the engine, instead she left it running on the side walk as she ran up the drive way, jumping the steps two at a time, before her hands banged harshly on the door, getting louder and louder the longer she had to wait.

As soon as the door opened Alaska barged past, not paying any attention to Alex that was stood there, eyes heavily lidded and mouth hung open, staring after the crazy woman that had burst into the house and was now madly rushing from room to room.

“Where’s Ava?” Alaska hissed, not bothering with any pleasantries turning to look at Alex with wild eyes, turning to glare at Jack who stood behind the boy clad in nothing but his boxers, throwing her arms up in exasperation as they just continued to stare, pushing past them she raced upstairs, throwing the doors open before finally finding Ava.

She was clad in her Dora the Explorer pyjamas, her favourite teddy bear clutched tightly in her arms, face completely peacefully as she laid in deep sleep. Without even thinking she raced forward, throwing the cover off of her daughter and scooped up in her arms, managing to not wake Ava up as she raced out the house.

Alex and Jack was still stood in the same place as they had before, Jack’s mouth still hung open whilst Alex was scratching his face with a confused look adorning his face, Lucy and Zack still weren’t in sight and Alaska did not care one bit.

Hurrying out the house Alaska all but sprinted down the drive, throwing the car door open and buckled Ava in her seat before jumping into the car and gunning it to the airport, ignoring the constant ringing of her mobile.

Once she was on the plane she sighed with relief, she could believe what had happened but she refused to let Zack ruin this mini vacation and Max’s wedding. She was adamant that was definitely not going to happen.

Ava was confused a bit at first, not understanding what was going on but once she found out she was going to be meeting Mama’s brother, her uncle, she was more than excited practically jumping around the airport until crashing out and falling to sleep on her seat in the plane, a soft snore erupting from her lips every now and then.

Once the plane was in the air Alaska was wedged between a sleeping Ava and an elderly gentleman that was busy playing Sudoku in pen on the back of his news paper, sighing Alaska pulled her laptop out of her bag, logging onto her account before pulling open her photo album, flicking through the pictures of her and Ava along with the occasional one of Zack and the rest of the boys thrown in.

Feeling someone’s eyes burning into her Alaska looked around, turning to see the elderly man looking intently at her laptop screen, a look of curiosity adorning his face. Quickly Alaska slammed the screen closed, hurriedly stuffing the piece of electronic equipment into her bag and turning her back at the man, twisting her body more to her sleeping daughter’s whilst she stared idly out of the window.

The flight wasn’t long but thankfully Ava slept through it all, only waking when the plane was making its final descent causing her to jump around her seat in excitement, looking forward to the opportunity and getting to meet new people.

As soon as she had collected her bags her phone started ringing in her pocket, the happy chirpy noise only barely audible over the loud chatter of the commuters surrounding her, whilst gripping Ava’s hand tightly Alaska withdrew the phone, eyes flickering over the screen, a small frown forming on her face whilst she read the words from Max explaining that he was too tired up at work but added his address at the bottom along with the hiding place to the spare key.

Although she was a bit down about not seeing Max, she was excited as this meant she could rent the car that she always wanted, a silver VW Bug, it had been the car she had dreamed about ever since she had got her provisional license, but her parents thought that it would be a better idea for her to share Max’s car, an old beat up station wagon that he had loved as if it was his baby.

She was back home.