The night air was cool and crisp, something that Alaska loved. Though she did like Baltimore and it was beginning to feel like home to her, it was always so different from where she came from. Alaska loved cool air, the kind that made it feel like Christmas. Like all you wanted to do was wrap up in a comfy jumper and a hot chocolate, sat by the fire watching a romantic film.

It was times like that when she regretted nothing, like this was where her life was meant to be right now.

Alaska didn’t want to work at O’s all her life, nor did she want to be known as Alaska either. She wanted to be different from that person, like the one she used to be, but after so many years of pretending to be someone else she didn’t know how that could happen.

Heck, she didn’t even know if Texas or Serendipity knew her real name, it had been years since anyone had called her something other than Alaska. The last person to call Alaska her actual name were her parent’s and that was when they were screaming down the phone at her six years ago about how disappointed they were of her for dropping out of University of Baltimore.

But what was she to do? She couldn’t exactly stay after what happened. What was going to happen... Though she wouldn’t change it for anything in the world, not with what she had now. The street was quiet, which was to be expected with the time that she was out. The dim street lights shadowed the street in a warm glow, making it feel less eerie as she headed down to the block of flat’s at the bottom of the street, a church in the distance chiming two am.

“Hey Chris” she called out into the house as she unlocked the door, pulling her shoes off as she closed it behind her, her coat following the process before being placed onto the coat rack. There was no answer in the house which wasn’t unusual.

“Chris?” she called again, Alaska’s sock clad feet padding through the kitchen and into the living room where her roommate sat on the couch, head resting on his shoulder as he fell asleep. Chris was sweet, someone that she had met ever since she first moved to the state. He took her in when she bailed from College and had stuck with her since, helping her out with her new situation.

She smiled softly to herself as she bundled her dark hair into a messy pony tail, bending in front of the boy before giving his shoulder a small shake.

“Chris, honey, I’m home you can go to bed” she mumbled as the boy smiled sleepily at her, allowing her to pull him to climbing to his feet before stretching his arms up high, allowing them to fall onto the girls shoulders and wrapping her into a hug.

“Mhmkay” he mumbled, releasing her before slowly shuffling off to his room, barely closing the door behind him as Alaska smiled softly, following him before entering the next room down.

She sat on the little rocking chair next to the bed, allowing her hand to gently stroke the dark tuft of hair that stuck out from beneath the quilt. A smile graced Alaska’s face as she looked at her daughter sleeping form.

“Good night, baby” she mumbled, leaning down to brush her lips against her daughter’s forehead before leaving the room, entering the one across it. Falling into the bed and falling fast asleep.

“Mama” a small voice called a couple of hours later, climbing onto Alaska’s bed and jumping up and down, calling the name over and over again to try and rise the older woman.

“Mhmm” Alaska mumbled, turning to sit up and rub her eyes, the little girl smiling brightly before collapsing onto her mother’s lap, wrapping her arms around her neck in a tight hug.

“Time to get up” she called, clamouring out of the bed and jumping up and down excitedly waiting for her mother to follow suit grabbing her hand tightly and practically pulling her out of the room and into the kitchen.

Ava was the spitting image of Alaska: black hair, bright green eye's that sparkled with excitement, the pale complection, heart shaped face and rose pink cupid bow lips. The only thing that Ava had got off of her father was the small dimple beneath her chin.

“Did you have a good night last night sweetie?” Alaska asked as she padded around the kitchen, placing a bowl of cereal in front of her daughter before beginning to make herself a cup of tea.

“Yeah, Chris let me watch TV and then we played Monopoly and I won” she beamed, mouth full of mushy cereal and milk causing Alaska to chuckle slightly.

“Well done, Ava” she smiled, leaning over to give her a daughter a kiss on the cheek. Ava was the thing she loved the most in the world. The person who was constantly turning Alaska’s life upside down, the person who has made her who she Alaska the person she is today. She would do anything for that girl.

“Did you have fun at work?” Ava asked, slurping at her orange juice as Alaska sat opposite her taking a sip from her mug of tea.

“I did honey, but I missed you lots” she said smiling at the little girl, brushing a hand against her cheeks. “But Mama has to go and do a little bit of work now” Alaska began, her heart breaking as she saw the small frown beginning to form on her daughters rosy lips.

“But I will be back at noon and then you and me can do anything you want until I have to go to work tonight, okay?” she added, trying to bargain with her daughter, trying to do anything to get the frown off her face.

Alaska didn’t want to go out and leave more than Ava did, she didn’t know why she was even surprised when Serendipity had asked for her to do this job. Alaska always picked up the slack since she was practically a veteran at O’s.

“54...56...58” She mumbled, one hand on the steering wheel, the other holding the tattered piece of paper that held the messy scrawl of an address. Alaska sighed, pulling up to the curb before running a hand over her face. She would give anything to be cuddled up with Ava on the sofa to watch Peter Pan.

Alaska pushed that idea out of her head as she exited the car, pushing her hands further into her pockets as the cool wintery air whipped around her ears, blowing the strands of hair that were falling loose from her bun to flutter around her face.

Matt rolled out of the spare room, he never got wasted always opting to get lightly tipsy on night outs before heading to the spare rooms while the other pioneer’s felt asleep where they were sat. He smiled smugly to himself when he walked past the bathroom, seeing Jack sprawled in the bath tub, proving his point.

He knew Zack, Rian, Jack and Alex weren’t going to open the door, they were too far gone last night and were probably going to be comatose until the early hours of the afternoon, after five minutes of debating with himself he decided to make an executive decision and decided that he would go see who was here at this ungodly time.

“Hello?” He mumbled, pulling the door back and instantly shielding his eyes from the bright sunlight that blinded him.

“Is Da- I mean Lucy here?” Alaksa asked, confusion pulling at her face as she looked the boy up and down, he didn’t seem the kind of guy that Lucy would be seen with, messy brown hair and a lip ring were something that she did not expect.

“Lucy? Oh come in” He began, pulling the door open wide enough to allow the girl to slip in before shutting it behind her, instantly regretting the decision when he saw a shirtless Alex and Zack passed out on the floor, snoring loudly.

“Rough night?” Alaska asked, eyebrow raised as Matt nodded turning away from her to head upstairs and see if Lucy was up. Alaska looked around, not sure of what to do. The man seemed friendly enough but he didn’t seem that bothered that he was leaving a stranger unattended in his house, which made he think that this house did not belong to him at all.

The sound of snores were beginning to form a headache in Alaska’s head, she looked around the room quickly, looking for an escape before tip-toeing to the kitchen, sitting at the table and drumming her fingers on it, eyes scanning around the room to try and keep her distracted.

Alaska sighed after a couple of minutes, her eyes constantly flitting to her watch to show she only had three hours left before she needed to be home in order to not break her promise to Ava. She didn’t know what Serendipity really wanted her to do, all she got last night was an address and a mumble about taking the newbie clothes shopping so she could fit into the job.

Personally Alaska thought Texas was better suited for the job, after all she loved shopping more than anything and always knew what was on trend. Alaksa on the other hand bought things that made her comfortable, making them slightly tighter or shorter in order to keep Dip happy.

“Lask?” Lucy called, her voice laced with confusion as she came running down stairs, the dark haired boy trailing behind her. Alaska stood up from the table making her way into the living room where the snoring seems to have increased.

“Ready to go?” Alaska asked, not bothering with any pleasantries, Lucy nodded not even bothering to ask Alaska why she was here, instead following the dark haired girl down the drive and towards the little red corsa.

Alaska gunned it down the road quickly, turning left out of the neighbourhood and heading towards the local mall, hopping that it wouldn’t be busy so early on a Saturday morning, all the pre-teens would probably still be tucked up in bed.

“Where are we going?” Lucy asked, breaking the silence as she fumbled with the bottom of her shirt, running her fingers gently along the seam at the bottom. Alaska didn’t answer straight away, her eyes scanning around her surroundings before she quickly indicated and turned down a street, waving a hand towards the car honking angrily behind her.

“Shopping, Dip say’s we need to get you dressed for the part if you are going to stay. You are going to stay at O’s right?” Alaska asked turning, eye brow raised, to glance at Lucy who merely nodded smiling brightly.

“Yeah, I like it there! Also it means I can get away from my brother and his stupid friend’s” she added with an eye roll causing Alaska to chuckle, she knew from past experience about overbearing siblings and their annoying friends.

“I know what you mean, I have a brother who is two years older than me and throughout high school he would always have his stupid egotistic jock friends around in the kitchen making the most stupidest remarks” Alaska sympathised, turning into the car park, eyes scanning for a space instantly finding one she sped over, quickly pulling in front of an SUV and into the spot.

“He cannot be as bad as Zack and his friends” Lucy mumbled, climbing out of the car and heading into the shop.