Beep, beep, beep!

The sound was loud, obnoxious, and worst of all: incessant. Mumbling curses at it didn't reveal any hidden witch doctor prowess, much to Naomi Campbell's dismay. It only proved that some things could not be solved with a not-so-nice little chat, but rather by violence. Her hand stretched out from underneath the covers, searching around blindly on the nightstand and knocking over a few miscellaneous items (cellphone, notepad, and a thermometer) in the process, before she finally had the ticking demonic spawn within her grasp.

"Aha!" came the muffled cries of glory from underneath the duvet, before a head of blonde hair emerged, accompanied by a smug smirk. With a quick toss of it across the room, Naomi watched it bounce back a bit during the whiplash, since it was still connected to the wall.

Oh well, bugger luck, she supposed.

Her bright blue eyes were narrowed a bit, as they had yet to adjust to the fragments of sunlight peering in through the swaying shades of her flat. They moved along to a gentle rhythm that the blonde could not hear. Amused by something as simple as that for a moment or two, she chuckled to herself as her other hand joined the offending 'alarm tosser' one to rub the sleep out of her eyes.

As they started to regain some sort of focus, another head poked up from underneath the covers, creating a small tent around it on the other side of the bed. It always took Naomi a second to realize who it was, for those long nights of sleeping around or getting fucking mental were long gone now; well, at least for the most part…

And in its place was the most important man in her life.

She reached underneath the covers to tickle his sides without warning, grinning when she heard just the response that she was looking for: an incoherent gurgle of giggles and hushed surrenders. Grabbing the duvet and pulling it off of him in one swift motion, Naomi came face to face with another, but much younger blonde head of hair with dark brown eyes. There he was, proudly mirroring her cheeky grin.

"Morning, mum!"

(Okay, okay, the little man in her life.)

Truth be told, he was the only man she needed. Ever since he came into her life, the former party animal realized that she had to be responsible. She wasn't going to be one of those mums that let her kids run the show, or gave them so much to handle that they couldn't enjoy their childhood. Even if sometimes that meant being the bad guy.

"Why didn't you wake me up sooner, Dylan? We're going to be late for your first day!" Naomi inquired with a bit of an exasperated huff, though she already knew his answer.

Excuses, the kid was full of them. He was a mere five years young and he'd already made a whole encyclopedia of excuses for every occasion. If he was this crafty now, she wondered how bad he would be when he was in his teens. Then again, it was something she'd rather not think about, to be honest. Gave her a bleeding migraine when she did. Her eyebrow quirked to show that she meant business, though the little boy didn't wipe that little impish grin off of his face.

"Dunno," Dylan replied with a faux yawn, reaching up to wipe at his eyes with that innocent doe look in his eyes. It wasn't long before he added that irresistable little pout; you know the one, kids use it all the time to sucker their parents about…

But not Naomi Campbell, no sir.

"What if they don't like me?"

And there it was, the one question that everyone asks themselves before they step foot into a room full of strangers and new lessons to be learned. Acceptance. Naomi knew the struggles behind those words, because she had lived, breathed, and pondered them every single day of her life.

Way back when she was around his age, playing in the sandbox with a little boy named Wesley. He was nice, and everyone called him Wes, but Naomi didn't. In fact, she refused to do so after she spotted him kicking sand at another little girl, making her cry just because she didn't give him a lolli. So Naomi unapologetically pushed him headfirst into the box, before giving the other girl back her sweets, even if they were unedible now because of the sand and all.

It really didn't matter though; it was the principle of the matter and the bright smile that she received as praise from the other girl afterwards.

And ever since then, she had no tolerance for injustice. Naomi also hoped to raise her son to respect others, or at least as much as possible without being a doormat. His little hand waved infront of her face, before staring back at her expectantly for a response. He wanted some sort of reassurance, or a promise that she simply couldn't make, because you can never please everyone.

"The ones who matter will. Now go get dressed," the older blonde replied with a smile, reaching over to ruffle his short hair as he slipped on her shoes—which were far too large for him, unless he was planning to go to clown school—and shuffled across the floor reluctantly. "Dyyylaaan!" she dragged out his name in protest, before letting her head fall back into the pillow with a groan. The shuffling grew faster, until it stopped altogether.

She reached up to brush her hair away from her face, peeking out from over the pillow to see no one standing by the open door and no traces of the oversized shoe stealer anywhere. "Good. I've still got it," Naomi muttered triumphantly, just short of a fist pump for her fine mother hen workings…

That is, until she felt the weight shift on the other side of the bed.

Her back was to it, but she had a rising suspicion that she knew exactly who was jumping on the mattress, causing the springs to squeak loudly. "If I catch you, I'm going to make you wear the jumper grandmum made for you," she warned, smirking broadly when the movement came to a complete stop and suddenly a pair of feet hit the floor with a thud, before a flash of blonde disappeared from the room. Oh yeah, she still had it.

Now don't get Naomi wrong, Gina's gift for her grandson had been thoughtful and all, but knitting wasn't exactly her forte. Cramming eleven people into a single house? Now that was. Oh, communal living, how she so did not miss those days. Not that her life didn't have the same amount of unpredictability, because it did. And this morning it was…

"Coco Puffs or Lucky Charms?"

Naomi looked to see Dylan sitting on the kitchen counter, his legs hanging off the edge as he held up both cereal boxes. For quite some time before today, she'd wondered how he managed to get himself up there, until she noticed the little stepping stool that he'd snagged from their hallway closet.

The blonde wasn't necessarily short herself, but she never knew when it would come in handy… what? Maybe she'd date a short girl someday. Not that dating was really a priority in her agenda, not when she had her hands full with a different kind of short and ten kinds of adorable.

"Neither," Naomi answered as she moved to grab a cup of coffee, much to Dylan's mock dismay, before she watched him scrunch up his face and dig deeply into the box. She set the coffee maker and leaned back on her hands, watching his look of intense concentration with a quirked brow. "Baby, what are you doing exactly?"

But Dylan didn't seem to hear her, making all sorts of expressions as he travelled through the nutritious pieces of sugary goodness, before curling his hand around something. "I got it, I got it!" he yelled, not noticing that his mother was still standing there much like a deer caught in headlights. Then he pulled out a prize, some sort of boat with a pirate driving it.

"Looks a bit like Uncle Cookie, don't it?" Naomi observed as she took the toy into her hands with a laugh. "Come on then, grab a poptart and we'll get going."

"Is he coming back soon?" Dylan asked, before shoving a handful of cereal into his mouth and grabbing a package of poptarts, one for him and one for his mum—yeah, the one who never remembered to feed herself properly, but always nagged him about it.

"Should be. We can call him tonight, if you want. I bet he's got a good bedtime story or two lined up for you."

There was a bright smile from both parties as they each grabbed their bags, wondering what the world had in store for them today. Dylan kept thinking about pirate ships and sea monsters, while Naomi wondered what monsters of her own she would have to face today.

Funny how this felt like the first day of school for her, when really, it was all about them.

Emily Fitch gazed out of the window of the room that was meant to be her classroom for the rest of the year. It was one of the nicest, overlooking the schoolyard that had some new equipment this year. She was proud of the successful funding events that she helped organize and it was no mistake that she was situated here. Knowing the principal had its perks.

"Enjoying the view?"

The redhead turned her head just enough to acknowledge the new presence standing beside her, though she wasn't really new at all. They had been attached at the hip for the better part of her life. "It's lovely what they did out there," Emily mused, noticing how the hedges had been clipped into little woodland creatures and dancing figures like a scene right out of Edward Scissorhands.

"Yeah, you should be proud."

A light blush colored Emily's cheeks as she looked to the brunette beside her, reaching over to squeeze her hand gently. "I just helped, Katie. You're the one that keeps everything together," she said modestly with a little shake of her head, not wanting to take all the credit.

Her sister squeezed back, before sighing gently as she smoothed down her leopard print skirt. Some things never change. The emptyness in her heart the day she found out that she couldn't have kids still lingered, but it got better after taking this position. Katie was around them all the time, giving them advice and telling them what to do, but she still had a life on the weekends without one of them tugging on her arm. It was the perfect fix, she believed.

"Better get back to work then. I hope you get a good group of brown nosers this year, Ems," Katie teased with a smirk on her curved lips. She knew that her sister would make a teacher's pet out of all her students, save for one or two that were just bad apples in dire need of one of her Fitch speeches.

"Same to you, Katie," Emily jeered back with a playful wink, knowing that her twin absolutely adored having people at her beck and call… especially the fit male vice principal, Frederick McClair. She almost swore that he was picked solely on looks, for he was rather broody and didn't seem interested in much besides the school counselor.

Ems wasn't quite sure what to make of her either; but she thoroughly enjoyed the fact that she had been there longer, so even when Katie did want to toss her straight out on her arse, Effy Stonem had seniority. It was a not-so-secret power struggle that often played itself out during their lunch break, when Emily would sit with a few of her collegues a couple tables away and just watch them go at it.

Sometimes it was a staring contest, though she wondered if they were secretly just eye fucking each other. Might as well get it over with already… I mean, Jesus!

Want to know the sad part though? The best comeback that her sister could come up with after one of these intense sessions was: "What the fuck kind of name is Effy anyway?"

Yeah, I know, and Katie calls her students brown nosers…

With a gentle sigh, Emily shook her head to herself as she crossed her arms over her chest, looking out the window again. It was about half an hour before school started, so she still had plenty of time to fantasize about her perfect school year. She wondered what young, eager minds would humble her this year.

It wasn't long into her class when she noticed a little boy that would prove to be challenging. He had this charming, yet mischievous way about him, and Emily couldn't help but look up his name. He was smart and opinionated, all good qualities in a leader, but he seemed like he was more interested in leading a group of rebels. Her brow curved as she visually followed her finger down the role call, before tapping on a particular one:

"Dylan Campbell."

A/N: I had to spend the day in a waiting room yesterday and this idea came to me. The show never happened, so they're all given new roles in this AU setting. Although Naomily is central, I do plan to explore the other characters (because Cook the Pirate is far too much fun to pass up), but I'm not entirely sure if I'll continue. Thoughts?