a second chance - Hotchniss

Sergio [Aaron]

"Hey Dad", Alaska said as she entered my office.

"Hey you", I smiled and looked up to her. "Give me 15 minutes, then we are going to leave."

"Sure, don't worry", she answered and dropped her bag on the sofa. "I'm gonna head over to Penelope, okay? I love stalking people with her."

I chuckled and nodded as she left. Alaska had always had a thing for discovering people's secrets. It was one of the hardest tasks to find presents for her birthday or on christmas, since she mostly figured what she was going to get before you even knew it yourself.

After signing the last file, I got up and took Alaska's bag as well as mine. I left the office and walked over to Emily's desk.

"We're leaving now", I said. "See you tonight?"

"Yea, see you", she smiled. It was an honest smile, which made me really happy. I did not know why, but it gave me a good feeling. Her smile was the only thing that could bright up every day, no matter what had happened. She herself was the definition of beauty.

"Is everything alright?", she then asked.

"Oh, yes", I jumped out of my thoughts. "Why?"

"Because you kept staring at me", she chuckled. "Do I have something in my face?"

"No, don't worry. Sorry", I smiled before heading over to Garcia and Alaska.

"Oh, I knew it!", I heard Alaska's voice. "I knew these boobs were not real! Got'cha, bitch!"

"I'm not gonna ask", I sighed as I entered the room and both of them had turned around. "And I don't wanna know."

My daughter grinned: "I wouldn't have told you anyways."

"My lips are sealed", Garcia said in a serious tone. Alaska gave her a high-five before getting up. "Thank you, Penelope", she smiled. "See you soon!"

"It's always a pleasure, Mini-Hotchner", Garcia smiled as we left.

-

"How was your day?", I asked Alaska as we drove home.

"It was okay", she yawned. "I might have gotten into some trouble with my arts teacher."

"Why?", I gave her a concerned look.

"My work was art. Just because she did not like it, it does not give her right to denote it as 'rubbish'. I don't care about my grade, it was just what she said. Everything is art. And people like her ruin that. I told her what I thought and she took me to the principal.", she explained and waited for my reaction.

"What did he say?", I asked.

"Well, my arts teacher wanted him to give me detention, but he said that I just defended my opinion. They agreed on calling home tonight, nothing else.", she shrugged.

"Okay", I sighed.

"Could you tell Mum?", she then begged. "She hates calls from the principal. Please!"

"Trust me, your mother and I already know the principal very well", I smiled. "Don't worry."

"But she will be mad", Alaska sighed.

"She is just worried, she won't be mad", I explained. "You know that your mother wasn't the perfect teenager herself."

"I do", she suddenly laughed.

Alaska only knew about her mum being the 'rebellious teenager', nothing more. Emily did not want her to find out about more, especially not about her abortion when she was 15 years old. I didn't know if Alaska may had found out by herself already, but at least she never asked us about it.

We entered my place, I walked to my room to get changed and Alaska headed to the living room. As I went to join her, I found her sitting on the floor, looking through old photos. I sat down in front of her.

"What are you doing?", I smiled.

"Just looking through old stuff", she mumbled. I noticed how sad she sounded.

I looked through some photos as well, bringing old memories back. After some time, I noticed that Alaska had kept starring at the same photo for a while already.

"Are you alright?", I asked.

"I miss him so much", she whispered as I discovered which photo she held in her hand.

It showed her as a 4-years-old toddler and our cat, Sergio. I still remembered how much she and Emily had cried when he died two years ago. I had cried as well, but for them a world had collapsed. Emily had gotten Sergio already before we met, he had been there for a huge part of her life. And Alaska grew up with him, she did not even know how it was without him until then.

"Me too", I said, putting one arm around her as she laid her head on my shoulder. Sergio had not liked me in the beginning, I guess he thought I was some kind of competition for him. But after some time we had got used to each other and he had been a part of our family.

He had been 21 years old when he had died. I still remember this awful day, it had been a Sunday morning. 14-years-old Alaska had woken Emily and me up, crying so much that she hadn't been able to speak properly.

"He's dead", she had sobbed. Emily had jumped out of the bed immediately and had found Sergio curled up on the couch. It had looked like he was just peacefully sleeping.

"Do you think he's fine, where he is now?", Alaska whispered.

"I'm sure he is", I answered softly.

"I always wish that he would come back. I know it sounds weird, but I really do", she sighed. "Sometimes I even dream of finding him on the couch again and every time I expect him to wake up, but he doesn't, just like the time I found him."

Tears started to run down her cheeks and my eyes got wet as well.

"Why is life so unfair? Why do some creatures get to die so young whereas others get so old?", she asked me.

"I don't know", I answered. "That's life. Things happen and nobody knows why."

Like the divorce. It just happened and now nobody knows why we even wanted to do it, yet enough is ruined.

"I just wish we could turn back time. Let's just go back three years", Alaska sobbed. "Sergio was still there, so were you. You and Mum were happy, we were a family, the four of us."

"I'm wishing for the same", I whispered. "I really do."

And then, tears started to fall from my eyes as well.