The Fighters Girl

2.

Hazel pulled her dad into a hug, followed by her little sister and she picked up her baby brother. She continued to hold him as they walked to baggage claim, her dad's arm around her shoulder.

"How was your flight?" he asked. She forced herself not to look over at Hawkins, instead she flashed her dad a smile and shrugged.

"It was a flight," was her vague response.

Jason made some unidentifiable sound in her arms so she bounced him a little and made a silly face, causing him to grin a toothless grin at her.

A hand took her free one and she glanced down at Jenny, who was smiling brightly at her.

"I've missed you," she said simply. Hazel squeezed Jenny's hand and wrinkled up her nose playfully.

"I've missed you, too, kid. How are you? Any new boys?"

Jenny flushed red and Hazel gasped in an exaggerated manner.

"Jenny Sterling, you better tell me right this instant!"

At twelve, her step-sister had never really been too interested in boys, deciding instead to focus her attention on animals and books, so the blush came as a shock.

"You both know the rules. No dating till you're thirty," her father, Richard, stated with an air of finality.

"Alright, daddy," Hazel said in a placating tone, kissing him on the cheek. She bit back a smile thinking of what her father would do if she told him how her flight had really gone. After she collected her bags, she knew that she had to see him one more time. She moved her gaze over the people around baggage claim and immediately spotted him, looking straight at her. He had his arm thrown casually over the head of a mini-Hawk, who couldn't have been more than Jenny's age.

Hawk's gaze went from Hazel, to the baby in her arms, to the little girl holding her hand, to her dad. He nodded and winked, as if giving his approval and she shook her head with a chuckle. In response, her eyes went to the two people standing next to him. They were obviously his parents, and they kept glancing at him anxiously as if they expected him to explode at any moment. Unconsciously, her glare went icy and her jaw clenched up. She dragged her gaze back to Hawk and he was watching her with an amused look in his eye. She looked meaningfully at his brother then nodded, then she gave the same glance to his parents and her eyebrow quirked as she shrugged, saying the jury was still out on the people who essentially kicked him out of the house at age seven.

His eyes grew soft and his lips kicked up, and she knew that was him giving gratitude for the support, however useless it may be. Hazel's dad pulled the handle up on her suitcase and they started to turn away. Hazel mouthed a goodbye to Hawk and he did the same, watching her all the way out the airport.

When they got home, Hazel wasn't surprised to walk into the smell of cooking. Her stepmom, Amber, was an amazing chef and always made a great meal the first day that Hazel was there.

"Hey sweetie, welcome home!" Amber called when they walked through the door. Hazel went into the kitchen and gaze her stepmom a warm hug, inhaling the aromas of Lobster Alfredo, sweet and sour salad, and freshly baked bread. Hazel's eyes widened at the amount of food that was being made.

"Um, are we serving a small army?" she asked, rolling up her sleeves and washing her hands, preparing to help out with dinner.

"No, Jenny invited her new boyfriend and his family over for dinner."

Hazel's surprised gaze went to Jenny, who was flushed a bright cherry red.

"He's not my boyfriend, he's just a boy, who's a friend, who happens to be coming over for dinner later. His parents and brother are coming, too. I mean, it's not a huge deal. We were going to have to study for this thing anyway, so he was coming over anyway, and you were going to make a big deal out of it anyway, so I went ahead and invited his family over, too. So, so, get off my back okay!"