Here, Darling.

After the awkwardness of the first night, Max and Alaska had turned back to normal. At first Max was shocked to discover that he had a niece, and the fact that his dead former best friend had fathered it, but after a lengthy conversation with his fiancé as he headed to bed, she had managed to put everything into perspective for him, showing him what it was possibly like for Alaska, having to tell Max what was happening.

This in turn made Max more sympathetic and understanding, waking up early the next morning to cook them all breakfast he gave Hannah a call, asking her to join them thinking it was time that she was finally introduced to his sister, hoping that the pair would become friends.

When Alaska woke she had a banging head ache, making it worse when she shot up from bed wondering where exactly she was before the events from the past couple of days ran through her head, the party, being with Zack, Zack walking out on her, the plane back home, telling Max about Ava.

Rubbing her eyes, she pulled herself out of bed, pulling her favourite most worn baseball top over her head along with the first pair of jeans she could find, slipping her black boots on as she headed downstairs, hands fussing with her hair trying to tie it back as quickly as possible.

“Hey baby” she called into the living room, receiving a toothy smile in return from Ava before she resumed watching her television show, giving Alaska no choice but to go into the kitchen and face Max.

She wasn’t, however, expecting to see a tall slim blonde sat at the table, chatting away to Max as she held a cup of coffee tightly into her hands. The pair stopped talking instantly; turning to stare at the brunette girl who was stood stock still, mouth ajar slightly.

“Adelaide this is Hannah” Max said moving to stand beside gaining the woman’s attention. “My fiancé” he beamed, before turning and heading back to the stove, cooking whatever was in the Pan as Alaska collapsed into one of the remaining seats.

Hannah smiled shyly, she had heard a lot about Alaska and the little about Ava of what he knew, and she was very intimidated. She knew to Max that approval from his sister meant a lot to him, not enough to cancel the wedding, but if Alaska didn’t like Hannah then this could make the upcoming years very difficult, especially since Max was hell bent in being in Ava’s life a lot more.

“Hi I’m Adelaide” Alaska said sheepishly, offering her hand out to the girl with a small smile, Hannah smiled back taking the dainty hand in her equally as small one and giving it a quick shake, feeling a hand at her shoulder and knowing that Max was probably grinning like the Cheshire Cat behind her.

“I’m Hannah, I have heard so much about you from Max and I have been dying to meet you, we are both so glad that you are here for the wedding!” Hannah gushed, before cutting herself off, giving the pair a weak smile before taking a sip of coffee “I’m sorry I tend to ramble when I’m nervous” she added meekly.

“Don’t worry about it, I hope all that Max has said is good” Alaska responded, glaring at her brother, she hated when she talked to other people about her, it was like the pair was back in school and people were constantly staring at her in the corridor because she was Max Darling’s sister.

“Chill Adelaide, like you have ever done anything bad in your life” Max stated with an eye roll causing Alaska’s cheeks to heat up, if he knew what she had been doing for the last few years he would definitely be thinking that.

“Thank you for having me and for inviting me to your wedding, and I’m sorry for springing you know what on you last minute” Alaska finished, with a half smile and a shrug, trying to tactfully talk about the situation without trying to bring it fully to light.

“Please Ade, as if we could have the wedding without you, and the more the merrier, I just wish you would of told me earlier so I could have had more time with my niece, I have five birthday and Christmases to make up for” Max said with a shrug, collapsing onto the remaining seat,

“Well I didn’t know how to bring it up, anyway it’s all out in the open now” Alaska mumbled, running her hand over her face, not liking the turn of events and her mind was racing was trying to think of how to tactfully change the subject.
 

“So how did the two of you meet?” Alaska asked her curiosity getting the better of her; Hannah and Max looked at each other a small grin playing on their face, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink before Hannah answered.

“I was working waiting table at this diner; Max was constantly in the same booth, studying for college, I was very spontaneous dying to get out of that town anyway possible, ready to jump at any chance.”

“I was that eager to leave that I even had a bag packed in the back of my car ready to leave at the last second. Max was a mystery to me, whilst most guys his age was spending all the time hitting on girls, trying to get people to fall in love with him he was busy studying, he was different to all the others.”

“Once the curiosity got the better of me I began talking to him, we ended up heading to a bar, I got him wasted and he spilt everything out about his childhood and how his parents had shattered all his illusions of love so why bother in the first place.”

“After seeing a messy divorce with my own parents I could understand what he had meant but your brother had a way to make people feel comfortable around him, making them want to open up.”

“I had a fear of love from this, I never had a boyfriend and I never wanted one, to me they were more heartache than what it was worth. Eventually after months after chatting he asked me out on a date, I have to admit it was understated and perfect. A nice picnic by the lake.”

“But even though when it was good it was great there were fights, some really nasty ones where it made me think why the hell was I doing this in the first place? After probably the worse I left the house, ready to jump into my car and skip town and go to the next one that took my fancy.” Hannah paused, she seemed to have a hit a hard point in her story, but Alaska was hooked, she needed to know what had happened next.

“She hadn’t even managed to get the keys into the ignition before I had chased after her and reached the car, I pulled her car door open and knelt on the gravel in front of her, swearing that I would never let her go, that I loved her and wanted to marry her” Max finished, reaching across the table to take Hannah’s hand in his, placing the plate of bacon and sausages in the middle, Alaska helping herself to a strip.

Alaska curled her feet under her, she knew that her parent’s relationship had affected her but she hadn’t expected it to affect Max in such a way, he was so much stronger than her so to here this story, it had actually shocked.

“You don’t know how much that sounded like a Taylor Swift song” Alaska fake gagged, causing the pair to laugh, the awkward tension breaking from Hannah, and instantly it felt like the pair had already began to become friends.

“Anyway, about the wedding there was something important that I wanted to ask you” Max beamed causing Alaska to groan, whatever this was it could not be good, Alaska’s mind was already beginning to race with whatever horrible job it could possibly be.

“Oh god!” she groaned, rubbing a hand over her face, earning herself a sharp dig in the ribs from Max, causing her to look up and glare at it.

“Will you please be my best man?”

This was definitely not what Alaska had been expecting, firstly she was the wrong gender for this job and secondly did he not have any male friends that were more suitable to this role, the key element being that they were the correct gender for it.

“Max, I’m not a guy” Alaska stated, giving her brother a funny look, had all this time apart sent him funny? Max merely laughed rolling his eyes at his sister as though she had said something ridiculous instead of stating the obvious.

“I know that you idiot but I think that you are more suited than the rest of my friends, besides you are my sister and you’re the one that I want stood next to me when I’m panicking that Hannah has stood me up” he explained with a small shrug earning shove from Hannah.