Never Surrender

Kennedy was in the shower when Max banged on the bathroom door and then poked his head in. Kennedy looked out from behind the curtain, her eyebrows furrowing as she took in his appearance.

"What?" she asked, eyeing her phone in his hand.

"Your dad," he murmured, glancing at the cell, "He wants to talk to you."

Kennedy rolled her eyes and reached for the towel that sat on the lid of the toilet. She shut off the water and pulled the towel behind the curtain. She wrapped herself in it and stepped out of the tub, taking the phone from Max. "Hey, Dad," she greeted, "What do you need?"

"Who answered your phone, Kennedy?" he answered, "Is that Oliver?"

Kennedy glanced at Max, who still stood there, waiting to take the phone back from her. "Uh, no," she murmured, moving the phone to her other ear, "Oliver and I broke up. But what do you need?"

"Oh, well that's a shame. I didn't even get to meet him."

"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. But why're you calling? I'm kind of in the middle of a shower," she replied softly, trying to change the subject quickly.

She could hear the hope in her father's voice as he asked, "Are you coming home for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, Ken? You know I'm really hoping that you'll make it back here for the holidays."

Kennedy sighed. "I don't know, Dad," she murmured, "It's really expensive to fly out there this time of year..."

"Kennedy, come on, it's been two years since I've seen you. You have to come home this year, Sweetheart." He coughed and then sighed, knowing already that he was going to lose this fight with his daughter. "Please, Ken, I really want you to come home."

Kennedy bit her bottom lip and lifted her shoulders. "I'll see if I can get some time off."

Sam Santos grinned. "Of course you can, Kennedy," he gushed, "This is fantastic. I'll fix up your room and we'll cook a big meal. I promise it'll be a great holiday."

"Well, Dad," she started, "Don't get your hopes up. From Thanksgiving to Christmas is an entire month, I have no idea if I can even take that much time off of work."

"Well, I'll still get your room ready. Will it be just you since you and Oliver are no longer together?" he questioned, although he wasn't really paying attention to the answer since he was already onto the next question. "What day do you think you can be here? I know this is short notice but I would've asked you sooner if you weren't so peculiar about this kind of thing."

Kennedy pulled the phone away from her ear as her dad rambled on about the holidays and having his only daughter home for them. Kennedy held the phone out and looked at Max, who was looking back at her with raised eyebrows.

"What?" he questioned, biting his lip afterwards as he tried to keep his eyes trained on hers.

She smiled and glanced at the phone. "Do you want to go to Rhode Island for a month?" she asked, tipping her head to the side.

Max was stunned. "You want me to go to your dad's house with you for the holidays?" he repeated, becoming a little nervous at the thought of meeting her dad for the first time in six years.

Kennedy nodded. "I don't like flying alone," she rationalized, "Plus, don't you wanna see where I grew up?"

Max thought about the holidays he used to spend with his grandpa and the last one he spent with Craig and the guys. "Well," he muttered, "Craig does have Leila this year..."

Kennedy grinned and nodded eagerly. "So you'll go with me?" she reiterated, "There'll even be snow, I promise. It'll be like the white Christmas you never had!"

Max couldn't help but smile at her excitement. "Sure." He nodded.

Kennedy grinned and touched the tips of her fingers to Max's cheek. She held the phone back up to her ear and spoke, cutting off her father as he continued to talk about random holiday things. "Dad," she said as Max watched the way her lips moved, "I'll be there, I promise, but I'm bringing a friend along, okay?"

"That's what it takes for me to get you for the holidays?" he asked rhetorically, "Then sure, Sweetheart, bring all your friends."

Kennedy chuckled and shook her head. "No, that's alright. Max is enough."

"Max?" he repeated, "This isn't a new boyfriend, is it?"

"No, Dad," she replied, "I've told you about Max before. He's just my best friend."

Kennedy's dad agreed, "Oh, yeah, okay. I do remember you talking about him a little bit. How come you didn't bring him along last time you came home? If he's still in your life then he must be much better than that Brad - Bailey - guy you brought with you last time."

"Brighton," Kennedy corrected, "And Max is great," she agreed, "You'll love him, I promise." Kennedy stuck her tongue out at Max, a smile still dancing on her lips as chuckled at her dad's reply.

Max had a small smile on his mouth as he watched her interact with her dad. Max knew how bad she felt the year before when she worked through the holidays and left her dad all alone for the anniversary of her brother's death. She spent that night talking on the phone with her father and promised she would never do it again, although she knew being home would be harder than being away on Decemeber 10th.

Kennedy handed him the phone when she and her dad were done. "So much for a quick call," she laughed, "But I should've known better."

Max nodded. "So, we're going to Rhode Island for Thanksgiving?"

"And Christmas," she added, watching his expression, "That's okay, right? I don't want to push you into anything you don't want to do."

Max shook his head. "It'll be fun. Much better than being with my dad, anyways." He caught himself frowning and put a reassuring smile on his lips instead. His eyes glanced to her towel and he licked his lips before returning his mossy eyes to hers. "You should finish your shower," he murmured, "We can talk about this after."

Kennedy glanced down and seemed to remember she was standing in just a towel. She just grinned at his gentlemanly answer and nodded. She pushed the shower curtain over and climbed back in. When she closed it again she handed the towel to Max and asked him to fold it back up for her and set it on the toilet lid.

"What am I, your maid?" he asked jokingly, tossing the towel onto the toilet without folding it.

Kennedy turned on the water again and replied, "If I'm buying your plane ticket you are!"

Max laughed sarcastically. "You're the one who wants me to go!" he replied, halfway out of the bathroom.

Kennedy poked her head out from behind the curtain, her hair piled on top of her head and held up by a large amount of bubbles. "Are you telling me you don't want a free trip to paradise?"

Max dropped his eyes to the floor with a smirk on his pierced lips. "Well, paradise sounds pretty great right about now," he replied softly, his smoldering eyes finding hers, "Just don't go without me."

Kennedy nodded once. "Wouldn't dream of it."

Max smiled and stepped out of the doorway, closing the door behind him. He took a left and walked into his extra bedroom where he kept his bass and other instruments. He looked at the posters that covered the walls and dropped himself down onto the couch in the room with his bass on his lap. He played through one of his old songs, one that he would always remember, and thought about the secrets he was temporarily keeping from Kennedy.

He didn't tell her that his time in Escape the Fate was over or that her invitation made it easier to keep that news from her. He didn't want to see the look on her face when she found out that Escape the Fate was moving forward - just without him. Kennedy loved watching him on stage. More than once she told him how much she loved seeing him open himself up to the world. He wouldn't dare tell her that he lost that again. At least not until their trip was over.

The trip itself inspired nervousness along with excitement in the pit of his stomach. It'd been six years since he'd met Kennedy and he'd never met her father, except for the few times he'd answered Kennedy's phone for her. Sam Santos was the only biological family Kennedy had left and she meant a lot to her father as he did to her. Kennedy's eyes lit up every time her father called, even if she acted like it was a burden to talk to him in the middle of her shower.

Max would go to Japan with Kennedy if that's where her dad was, because he knew she needed someone with her to help her through the holidays without her brother. Her father and her would be mostly happy on the outside, but inside they would be quietly mourning by themselves, each too afraid to mention it to the other in fear of ruining the holidays.

Max would be there to help her through it during the days and nights when she would open the floor gates and let the tears flow, like every year before. Max looked to the doorway as Kennedy leaned against the door hinge, dressed in a pair of capri-sweats and a hoodie she snagged from his closet a long time ago.

"Hey, do you want to go to the store with me?" she questioned, "I've got to go talk to Eloise about taking a month off and leaving her all alone to manage by herself."

Max set the bass back on it's stand and nodded his head. "Just let me find my fucking shoes," he muttered, glancing around the floor for a pair he'd left in here.

Kennedy nodded to the living room. "By the couch," she informed him, giggling as he hiked his pants up and skipped past her to slip into his dirty, old shoes.