Straight and Narrow

32. Danny

Leon is in Alaska's arms, one of my arms is round Alaska's shoulders and my other hand is raised to knock on the door. It's late evening now and the sky is black, it's cold too, not cold enough to snow, not just yet but the temperatures are set to plummet tomorrow. The light in the hallway flicks on and seconds later the door is flung open. My sister Mandy is stood there.

"Danny!" She squeals and flings herself at me.

"Calm down," I laugh, I'm not ready for people throwing themselves at me, I didn't wake up long ago and I'm still feeling groggy.

She lets go of me and greets Alaska in a welcoming hug too.

"Alaska! It's so nice to meet you eventually!"

"You too," Alaska smiles, I'm proud of her for coming to meet my family and pretending everything is ok even though I can clearly see she's ill and feeling rough.

"Can we come in or are we going to stay out here all evening?" I ask hunting for Mandy to let us in the house.

"Sorry," she moves out the way and I let Alaska walk into the brightly lit, warm house.

Leon just looks around, slightly dazed by the whole spectacle.

I lead Alaska through the kitchen into the front room where the rest of my family is crashed out on the sofas or on the floor, leaning back on cushions.

"Hey family!" I wave as I walk in, still holding Alaska's clammy hand.

I hug all my brothers and sisters, I've already seen Dara, after all we did crash at his for most of the day but I'm still glad to see him, I didn't realise how much I missed home when I was away.

Then I see my mum and dad stood in front of me. My mum is smiling at me and Alaska with tears in her eyes. Of course mum and Alaska have spoken but they've never met in real life.

"Aww mum," I laugh quietly as I pull her into a hug and she cries softly onto my shoulder.

"I've missed you angel," she kisses my cheek.

I've missed this woman a whole lot.

Alaska gets an equally welcoming hug from both my parents as Leon gets passed around by my siblings. Immediately everyone is taken by his big blue eyes and the fluffy blonde hair on top of his head. I know that he has them all wrapped round his finger.

It's late and everyone else has either gone home or is in their bedrooms. Everyone has moved out now but I know we all love to kip in our old bedrooms from time to time. Alaska went up to my room early, I gave her some paracetamol and left a glass of water and a bucket next to the bed. I know she's coming down with the flu and I can't feel anything other than sympathy for her. I'm left sat on the sofa with my dad. We're watching some strange crappy Christmas TV that's strangely addictive.

"You look tired son," he tells me as I lean on the sofa arm.

"I am."

"You can go to bed you know."

"I don't want to disturb Alaska," I tell him, "she needs sleep."

I sense him smiling.

"What? Why are you smiling?"

"You've grown up."

I sit up and look at him, the only light in the room comes from the TV and the Christmas Tree that sits blinking in the corner.

"What do you mean?"

"Just, everything about you, last time I saw you was this time last year, you had only just met Alaska and she was pregnant and I remember you were fucking terrified. And you didn't have a clue on how to treat a woman properly and now look at you, you've got your own son and treating Alaska how she's supposed to be treated."