| Alex |

I woke up in bed, not even recalling having fallen asleep. I panic a little when I feel arms wrapped around my waist, thinking for a minute that it's Cody, until the events of last night came pouring back to my memory.

The talk with Mr Atkins, being comforted by Tobin, her amazing idea on how to solve my biggest issue - the custody battle. Most importantly, finally kissing her. I can only hope she doesn't wake up and regret everything that happened. I can only hope this wasn't all because I was vulnerable and upset.

I sigh, thinking the worst at my weakest moment, and I carefully get out of Tobin's grasp and out of bed completely, making sure not to wake her and I grab some clothes, getting a shower, brushing my teeth and getting ready for the day.

_______

"Well, Miss Morgan this could certainly work. Are you sure she would agree to being Cody's second guardian?"

"I'm sure. I've already spoken to her, she's excited about it." I keep my answers as short as possible, not wanting to come across as nervous, but also trying to not get my hopes up.

"In that case, all we'll need is her signature, and this entire issue can be put to rest. But you should know, as her father, he still has rights. Rights that he wants to exercise."

"Like what?"

"He wants to meet his daughter. He wants visitation and in his words, 'weekends with my child, at the very least', I'm not sure what happened between you two but I can sense that it wasn't good." I feel my body tense as he brings up my past, and despite my fuzzy memory on the subject, it still makes me extremely uncomfortable. "Miss Morgan, I will say, nobody can force Cody to spend her weekends with him. If she chooses not to engage in a relationship with her father, these proceedings will be very straight forward. Now, I would like to see Cody when we get your friend here to sign on as a guardian for her, is that okay?" I nod, not trusting my voice. Mostly because I'm confused by his sudden understanding of the situation between Cody, myself and her father, feeling extremely thankful that he's clearly offering my daughter an out.

| Cody |

I groan as I wake up, stretching dramatically as I roll out of bed, but my legs are still asleep and I fall to the ground with a loud thud.

My head snaps up when I hear giggling coming from my bed, looking up to see Kristie sitting at the foot of the bed, smiling at me. Part of me is embarrassed and annoyed that this just happened infront of her, but it's overpowered by the joy I feel when I see the genuine smile on her face, coming to the conclusion that she should smile more often because it's beautiful.

"Are you just gonna sit there and laugh at me or help me up?" I ask her, raising an eyebrow.

"Ummm. I'm just gonna sit here and laugh at you."

"Asshole." I mumble sleepily as I pull myself up off the ground, hitting her with a pillow as I walk past her on my way to the bathroom to start my morning routine.

I stumble downstairs trying to dry my hair with a towel, the shower only waking me up so much, now I need coffee. I walk into the kitchen to see a cup of steaming hot coffee waiting for me, smiling as I walk up to my best friend, kissing her on the head as a thank you.

"What's that for?" Jack asks me, looking confused.

"Um...for the coffee?"

"That wasn't me." I feel myself grow confused as she smirks at me, "It was Kristie." I look up to see said girl avoiding eye contact with me. I shrug it off, and thank her the same way I did Jack, except I kiss her on the cheek, being too short to reach her forehead while she stands.

"You're welcome-"

"Aww, am I interrupting? Good. Let's go children!", Kelley enters the room, and leaves at the same pace. Kristie, Jack and I share a look that says 'the fuck?' but we follow the so-called adult out of the house and to the car.

"Are you sure you don't want to come to the mall with us Kristie?" Kelley asks from the drivers seat, next to Jack who called shotgun. I feel Kristie tense next to me, and I put a hand on her knee, letting her know that we're all here for her, she turns and offers me a small smile before answering Kelley.

"I'm sure. I have things I need to do." She says with a determined glint in her eyes.

When we get to her hotel, we all get out of the car to say goodbye to Kristie, it feels like my hug with her lasts longer than the others, a thought that obviously goes through Kelley's mind as I see her smirk, and wiggle her eyebrows. I roll my eyes, seeing Kristie do the same which makes me laugh, and we climb back into the car, watching as she enters the hotel lobby before we leave.

_____________

"Aha! Take that sucker!" I hear Kelley scream as she shoots me in the chest.

"Of course you'd be good at paintball, You're so close to the ground it's easier for you to hide!" I hear jack chuckle at my comment, only for Kelley to shoot her in the leg, then in the chest before she returns fire on me again as I try to run away.

"Ah, fuck! You're like the terminator, shit!" I yelp as she shoots me on the ass while I keep running.

We hear a buzzer that signals the end of our time here, thank God. We exit to see that Jack and I are covered in paint, while Kelley only shows she's been shot twice, neither of them were from Jack or myself.

"Let's get lunch!"

"I gotta say Kels, you're definitely the most fun in the team." I hear Jack say, and I watch with curiosity as Kelley aims a level stare at my best friend.

"What do you want?" I chuckle as she comes to the same conclusion as I do about my best friend, who glares at me.

"Sheesh. Pay a girl a compliment and this is what happens." Jack grumbles while looking at her fries.

"Are you hitting on me?" I hear Kelley asking, with the same look of disgust I'm currently wearing on my face.

"Fuck no! I was just saying you're fun!" I can't suppress the laugh as I see the look of disgust is now mirrored on Jack's face.

"Anyway, Cody. How do you feel about your mom and Tobin finally...you know?" Kelley asks, wiggling her eyebrows. It made me want to laugh, but the subject matter made me feel uneasy.

"I honestly don't know. I used to think that it'd be great. It's obvious that they have feelings for each other, but after that stuff with Press...I dunno, Kel. I just don't want my mom to get hurt, I'm not sure about Tobin's intentions." I answer honestly, and Jack looks at my confused, not knowing what happened, but I see a look of understanding in Kelley's face.

"Do you know where you're going to finish school?"

"Yup." I answer the 'adult', popping the 'p'.

"So?!" Jack asks, growing impatient.

"So, I'm not saying a word until I talk with my mom about it. She deserves to know first." I answer, and I see O'Hara smiling from the corner of my eye.

I see Kelley open her mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by her phone going off.

"Hey Mewie." Kelley starts, and I can't help but smile at her nickname for Krissy.

"What?...Are you fucking kidding me?!" Jack and I glance at one another before turning to Kelley to see she's fuming. "Okay, stay right there we're on our way...no, it's no problem at all....yeah, she's still here....okay, see you soon." Kelley hangs up the phone, shoving it back in her pocket, pulling a few bills out to pay for lunch and leaving a tip before getting up to leave. She doesn't have to say anything, we follow her out of the diner.

We eventually pull up to the hotel, Kelley rushing in, heading towards the elevators, setting the pace that Jack and I follow her in. We make it to the floor that Kristie is staying on, knocking on her door once we finally find it.

My heart drops when Kristie opens the door with bloodshot eyes, tearstained cheeks and a visible handprint on her face, which pisses me off to new heights.

I let Kelley lead her back into the room, sitting her on the bed and Jack and I sit beside her.

"What happened, Mew?" Kelley asks her teammate, who take a deep breath, sighing shakily before she speaks.

"I uh, told him that there's nothing to 'work out', he wouldn't stop begging for another chance, and no matter how many times I said no he wouldn't listen. When I got tired of it, I told him to leave, and he..he hit me." She finishes, her voice cracking at the end as she begins to cry again. I pull her in for a long hug, letting her cry into my chest as I watch Kelley silently pack up all of Kristie's clothes.

"Come on. You're coming home with us."

______

When we get home, Kelley, Jack, Krissy and I are all cuddled up on one couch watching whatever Kelley decides is "appropriate" - cue the confused looks, am I right?

We're enjoying watching the TV, meaning we're watching Kelley scroll through everything that is on as she continues to say 'nope, not that', when the front door opens and in walks Tobin, obviously back from a run.

"Sup, Tobs."

"Hey everyone. Um...Cody, can we talk?" She asks, which I admit, catches me completely off guard. I nod and hold my hand out, and she takes it, helping me up off the couch I was stuck on. I let her lead me to the kitchen, where she grabs a bottled water. I watch and wait as she takes a drink, before she starts talking.

"I want to talk about Alex."

"I thought so."

"Look, I get that you don't trust me with your mom's feelings, her heart, her everything. But Codes...before I even kissed her, she was my best friend. She was, is and always will be someone I'd give anything for, do anything for. I know I messed it up slightly, but that won't happen again, I love her Cody, I'm not going to hurt her."

I just stare at her until she realizes what she just said, and when she does her eyes go wide, and she looks like she's just seen a ghost.

"You love my mom?"

"I do," she sighs. "I have for a long time."

That's all I needed to hear, I get up and I hug Tobin. Giving her my silent blessing and forgiveness.

"Does this mean we're good again?"

"It does." I smile at my idol, who is surprising easy to talk to, despite how highly I regard her and she smiles back at me.

"WOOHOOO!!!"

I break away from Tobin as I hear a yell, which sounds like it comes from a giddy five year old, so it only makes sense when Kelley barges into the room, hugging both Tobin and I.

"I'm so glad you're friends again! Now, Tobin, are you joining us for Netflix?"

"Does that mean you've found something to watch?" I tease the Pro, who glares at me.

"Not quite..."

"Yeah I'd love to, I'll just shower first."

When Tobin comes back from her shower, I cuddle up with her, since Jack was snuggling with Kelley and Kristie was asleep and I didn't want to wake her. I smile when I feel Tobin's arms wrap around me, securing me in my place and I can't help but think that, right now, I'm cuddling with family.

| Alex |

I walk towards the house we're still renting here while on the phone with my mom, talking to her about my daughter.

"Yeah mom, it's really her, she's doing good. I can't take her out the state yet, I want this entire custody mess sorted out, but I think it's almost finished now."

I fish my keys out of my pocket, preparing to unlock the door.

"I know mom, you'll meet her, I promise. How's Blue doing?...that's great. I'll be home soon, thanks for house-sitting for me, mom. I'll see you both soon. Love you too mom"

I open the door, walking in to see Jack and Kristie asleep, Kelley glued to the TV and my daughter, cuddling into Tobin who is holding her tight, and it makes me smile because if they're cuddling it means they're on good terms again, and if I'm being honest, they look like a little family.

"Hey Lex, everything go okay?" Tobin asks me after she notices I've been watching them for a few minutes.

"Yeah, it went great actually." I walk up to Tobin, suddenly not caring if she regrets last night or not, and I kiss her, only pulling away when I hear two different people making 'kissy' noises. Tobin and I laugh when we see it's Cody and Kelley.

"Cody, baby we need to talk." I take her hand, pulling her off the couch, and leading her upstairs towards my bedroom, where I sit her on my bed, and I sit next to her.

"Aw, c'mon, it was just a joke." Cody jokes, before a peaceful silence falls on us for a moment.

"I know where I want to finish school, mom. I want to finish it here, in Idaho. I just don't want you to be mad or upset about it or-"

"Sweetie, relax." I chuckle at her nervousness, as she reminds me of myself at her age. "It was always your choice, I wouldn't feel right forcing you to come back to Orlando with me, plus I had a feeling you would say that. It's why I was with Mr. Atkins today. We came up with a plan. I can have a friend live here with you, Jack and Hope while you finish school, since you need a legal guardian here at all times."

"Do you know who you would ask." My daughter questions.

"Yes, I do. I asked her, and she's already agreed. All she needs to do now is sign the papers."

"Who is it?" She asks me, not seeing the person standing by the door, until said person opens her mouth to speak, causing Cody to turn around.

"That would be me."