"Hey." Hawk said as he threw his bag into the backseat, shutting the door and leaning over the kiss Alaska on the lips, "Thanks for picking me up."

"Yeah, of course." Alaska grinned as she noticed Tory walking toward the car, "Is she-"

"She misses you, we all do." Hawk said as Alaska gave him a knowing look, "Just talk to her."

Alaska rolled down her window as Tory leaned through the car and kissed her suddenly on the cheek, "Where have you been, hot stuff?"

"Honestly?" Alaska asked with a faint grin, "I've gotten addicted to online shopping."

"Must be pretty bad if you aren't at school or here." Tory said with a sigh and a pleading look, "When are you coming back? With Aisha gone i'm the only girl in there. You're the only one I ever felt competition with anyways."

"Ouch." Hawk said from the passengers seat, putting a hand on his heart.

"I just don't think karate is for me anymore." Alaska said with a shrug, "If you ever wanna throw down though, you know where to find me."

Tory sighed as she gave Alaska a frown, "Are you at least going back to school? I'm gonna need someone if I get to go back."

"Maybe so." Alaska nodded her head with a faint grin, "We're having this cook out thing this weekend, if you have the time, you should come by."

"You sure you want me there?" Tory asked with a minor laugh, "I'm sure your whole family knows by now."

"They do, my anti-violence cousin sent me hate mail." Alaska joked as Tory grinned, "I want you there, seriously."

Tory glanced to Hawk then back at Alaska with a grin, "All right."

"You missed the turn to the hospital." Eli spoke up he realized Alaska was headed the completely opposite way. When she ignored him, Hawk glanced up from his phone toward her, "Alaska?"

"Just enjoy the ride, you loser." she said, handing him her sunglasses and stopped at the red light, "We'll go to the hospital after, this won't even take long."

"Where are we going? This feels like the beginning of a murder movie." Eli spoke as he pushed the purple sunglasses onto his face and leaned back in the seat.

"Believe me, if I wanted to kill you, I would have done it by now." Alaska teased as she drove with one hand, reaching over and holding his hand with her free one, "Things feel some what normal again. Miguel's awake, Robby isn't on the loose, I talked to Tory... no more ass face Alaska."

"You aren't a ass face." he reassured her, leaning across the car to kiss her on the cheek, "It's going to get dark soon."

"We'll make it, trust me." Alaska spoke, turning the wheel as Hawk sighed and looked out the windows, "You're such a whiny baby."

"I am not." he argued with her, "I just want to know where we're going."

"Can't I just be a stereotypical girlfriend and take you to a surprise place?" Alaska asked with a knowing look his way, "We haven't done anything normal since we got together."

"Not true." Hawk shook his head, not realizing Alaska took the next turn, "You call me babe."

"I called you babe before." Alaska said back as he gave a frown of his eyebrows, "Remember? In the store when we bought alcohol? When Bert was our kid."

"I forgot to tell you." Hawk said with a guilty look on his face, "Our kid got thrown off the team."

"He got thrown off the team?" Alaska asked in disbelief with a crazy look his way, "He's still a baby, how'd he get thrown off the team?"

"Okay well first of all, he's fourteen. And second of all, because he wouldn't feed Clarence to the snake." Eli said back with a shrug, rubbing his thumb across the top of Alaska's hand.

"Oh my god!" she yelled out, car swerving slightly as her eyes went wide his way, "Who is Clarance? A need recruit?"

"No!" Hawk hollered out when he realized she thought he had been a human, "Clarance is a rat!"

"Jesus, maybe lead with that." Alaska said in disbelief as her car slowed down, "Did you feed the rat to the snake?"

"No." he spoke as she stopped the car, "I didn't say anything."

"Was is sad?" Alaska asked as she pulled the key out and looked his way with gentle eyes.

"It was kinda sad." he answered with a shrug, glancing down. Alaska kissed his forehead and got out of the car. Hawk realized they'd been at Coyote Creek, "You're definitely planning on murdering me."

"I'm leaving you!" Alaska called out as she walked into the woods. Hawk hurried after her, coming up by her side to take her hand.

"Alaska! Alaska!" Eli called out as Alaska threw her top at him and took off with a yell into the water, "Get back here!"

"It's cold!" she yelled, getting deeper into the water and fixing her bra strap that fell down her shoulder, "Are you coming?"

"No!" he yelled out to her, seeing her getting deeper and deeper in the water, "Come back!"

"No!" Alaska yelled, going under water before coming up again, "Look at our dock! Look at it, Eli!"

He huffed in disbelief, watching her swim out toward the floating dock. Hawk hesitated, putting a foot in the water before yelling at her again, "My hair!"

"No ones here!" Alaska shouted back to him, using her arms to pull herself up onto the dock and look his way, "Babe, please!"

Hawk groaned in disbelief, following her actions and swimming out toward her. Alaska cheered as she laid on the dock, waiting until he got closer to stand. Hawk paused as she jumped off, splashing him. When she didn't come up he began to swim again, yelling out when a hand wrapped around his ankle and yanked him under.

Alaska came up with a laugh, holding Eli's shoulders as he threw his hair out of his face. The perfect spikes had been ruined and the long locks hung in his face. Alaska had to snort as she pealed them out of his eyes, slicking his hair back while wrapping her legs around his waist, "Did I scare you?"

"No, just nearly killed me." Hawk grinned, pulling her in closer. Alaska hummed as she planted her palm on his right cheek, the other petted his corse hair. While the water had ruined it, the gel had stayed in and didn't mix well with the water, "I hate you."

"I know." Alaska grinned as she hugged him, the water cold for the pair but she kept them warm enough, "I wanted to take you on a date though."

"I'm pretty sure i'm the one that's supposed to take you on a date." Eli spoke with a faint giggle, pulling her back to look at her face.

"Says who?" Alaska questioned with a frown of her eyebrows, "We're not in the eighteen-hundreds, I can ask you on a date if I want to."

"I loved it, you should do it again." he teased her with a cheeky grin, "Or maybe I could take you next time."

"Yeah, like switch off." Alaska hummed in agreement, "On Saturdays. Because Fridays make me tired and we have to go to every sunday cook out."

"Every sunday?" Eli asked her with a look of disbelief.

"The cons of dating me." Alaska spoke with a smile, holding his face, "You still like me, right?"

"Yes!" he explained with a laugh, "How many times are you gonna ask me that?"

"I don't know, I need reassurance!" Alaska defended herself with a smile, leaning down to plant a single kiss to his nose, "I'm coming back to school tomorrow."

"Do you want me to pick you up?" he hummed, bumping her nose with his own.

"No, i'll pick you up." Alaska spoke, sensing he was getting tired of kicking his legs to keep the pair afloat. Alaska let her legs go from his waist, sinking down some to pull his legs around her waist and keep them up now, "I'm still bummed out about not getting to be office assistant though, i've done it since freshman year."

"Aw, I know." Eli said as he mimicked her actions, slicking her hair back with a minor hum, "It'll be okay though, we can get you in on something else."

"Like what? How am I suppose to know everyone's business now if I can't look at their schedules?" Alaska asked in disbelief, having her nose kissed then her forehead, "And do the morning announcements."

"You'd do good in debate." he spoke to her with a knowing look. Alaska gave him a look of disbelief, earning a laugh, "I'm serious. Even though you can literally kick ass, you can do some serious damage with your smack talk."

"They might not even let me on the team." Alaska spoke with a sigh, "I'm surprised they didn't expel me like they did Tory."

"Everyone was fighting, I don't think they care since we didn't start it." Hawk said as he nodded his head, pulling her in closer as his legs wrapped around her waist better, "No one really says anything about it aside from some stupid girls, but they won't say anything if you're there."

"Hell no they won't." Alaska said determined with a roll of her eyes, "I can't believe people are giving you such a hard time, they wouldn't be if the office wasn't watching all of us so closely. You'd kick their asses by now."

Though Eli always liked Alaska, even before he got into karate, he grew closer with her after. While she had her moments just as he did, she always supported him and never shamed him for who he was and how he handled things. She understood in some way, understood where so much anger came from. Hawk couldn't remember a time she ever shamed him for turned to violence in situations, aside from her protective side for Demetri, Alaska never shamed him for changing.

Hawk grinned as he leaned down to hold her face, pressing his lips to hers. Alaska hummed as she reached up to cup his face back, pulling back a moment and rubbing her thumb over the scar above his lip. Eli went red as he tried to tuck his head into her neck in embarrassment, being held back as Alaska pushed her lips onto his scar. Eli shut his eyes as he tried to look away from her, whimpering when she did it again. Alaska pulled back and pulled his face to look at her again, running a finger over his eyes to encourage him to open them. When he did he was met with a gentle, delicate smile, "I think you're beautiful."

"Beautiful?" he asked her with a look of disbelief.

"The most beautiful." Alaska said back back, pressing a hand to his face and pulling him in by the back of the neck to kiss his lips again.

•

kylie speaks

not then raising
my expectations
again 🙄✋🏻

i want whatever
they have smh.

filler chapter but
it was so sweet.