Words You Wouldn't Say

Max glanced up when the doorbell rang, setting down the spoon he was feeding Otis with and leaving him to his bowl of cheerios as he went to get the door. Talinda smiled at him as he opened it, the guard checking her purse as the boys rushed inside and to the playground in the back.

"You don't have to do that -" he started, but Talinda waved her hand at him, cutting him off.

"He's just doing his job," she said, thanking him when he handed her purse back and stepping inside. She smiled at the guard there. "Hey Johnny."

"Hey Talinda." They hugged briefly as Max closed the door.

"Thank you again for doing this," Talinda said as she pulled away, patting the guard's cheek.

"Anything for my favorite cousin," he said. Max smiled awkwardly and moved into the kitchen to finish feeding Otis, who'd gotten milk all over his face. Max cleaned him up gently.

"How ya feelin', Max?" Talinda asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"Crowded," Max said with a pained smile. Talinda hummed. "I don't understand why he had to get two..."

"Three, if you count the night guard," Talinda reminded him. Max sighed. "He wanted to make sure you're safe, Max. We all want you to be safe." He finished cleaning up Otis and fed him another spoonful of cheerios.

"I'm alright," he said. "I got too used to Mike's little touches. It feels kind of lonely without it." She hip-checked him.

"He'll be back soon." Max smiled at the reassurance and glanced at her to see her pulling several wedding magazines from her bag. "Okay, let's talk wedding plans." He eyed the magazines distastefully.

"Do we have to?" Her face soured and she dropped the magazines against her lap, giving him a disgusted look.

"Of course we have to. All of this is going to be planned out before the boys get back, so we can just do it!" Max chuckled and Talinda flipped through one of the magazines. "I can do most of it. I'll get Elisa and Linsey involved, they'll like that. But it's still your wedding and you have to be involved!" He eyed her for a few seconds.

"How many people did you invite already?" She made an offended sound and he laughed softly. "You know I don't like flashy things."

"It's your wedding," she whined. "This is only gonna happen once."

Max chuckled again. "This is Mike's second wedding." He paused briefly. "And Chester's been married twice, now, too." She pouted in frustration.

"They don't count." Max laughed. "It's not like he's going to divorce you. He wasn't in love with Anna, but he's in love with you." Max blushed a little and Talinda smiled. "We've got to make this good. Something you'll both remember. Something that will mean infinitely more to him than the first one." Max looked down at Otis, biting his lip.

"Okay," he mumbled. Talinda smiled winningly.

"Don't you worry, Max, I'll give you the best wedding you've ever seen."

"Well I've only seen one, so it won't be hard to top that," he said as Talinda sat at the kitchen table, flipping through the magazines.

"Whose wedding did you see?" Chester's, he thought, but he refrained from saying anything.

"I can't remember, to be honest," he lied, feeding Otis another spoonful. "It wasn't anything special, though." She glanced up at him, eyes sharp, but let it go.

Once Otis was done eating, Max took him outside, telling Tyler and Draven to keep an eye on him. They gave him a mock-salute, and Max went back inside to continue talking to Talinda, who'd left several magazines open on certain pages while she looked at the other ones.

"Check these," she said, splaying her fingers over the open magazines. "What colors should we go with? I was thinking a honey gold, to go with your eyes. Mike would love that." Max couldn't help his soft smile, and he looked up at Talinda. She met his gaze and paused. "What?"

"Thank you," he said. She smiled slowly, eventually grinning at him.

"Of course, Max." He smiled softly and looked down at the things she was trying to show him, listening to her explain each of them.

An hour passed before the kids came back in, herding Otis inside before telling their mother they were hungry. Max gave her control of the kitchen as he stood, picking a yawning Otis up and carrying him to his room. Johnny trailed behind him.

"Da," Otis called sadly. Max hummed softly.

"Let's see if we can get him on the phone, yeah?" he said, sitting on the chair in Otis' room, the baby in his lap. He pulled out his cell phone and found Mike's Skype contact name. As the dial tone began, Otis took the phone from him, staring at it and waiting.

A minute passed before Mike picked up, a look of exhaustion on his face before he was all smiles. "Hey Otis!" he called.

"Da!" Otis said happily. Max smiled softly, listening to Otis babble at Mike for a few moments before he took the phone to talk to him. Otis snuggled into his side, staring at the screen.

"How's the tour?" Max asked.

"It's a lot of work," Mike said, rubbing his eyes. "But the crowds are getting more and more pumped, and everyone likes the music." Max smiled.

"Would they go to your concert if they didn't?" Mike laughed.

"No, probably not." Mike yawned. "How's everything there?"

"Uneventful," Max said softly. "Talinda brings the boys every day after school. They're eating right now." Mike nodded. "Anna's going to pop any day now. My mom's already started moving into the guest room." Mike chuckled, eyes closing tiredly, and Max smiled fondly. "I miss you," he said in a quiet voice. Mike peeped his eyes open at Max and smiled.

"I miss you too," he said. He stifled a yawn and said, "I better go to bed. I'll call you back when I wake up." Max nodded and Mike hummed softly. "I love you."

"Love you too," Max responded. The call ended and Max set his phone aside, looking down to see Otis fast asleep. He smiled softly and picked him up gently, laying him in his crib. He fussed slightly, but remained asleep. Max glanced at the time and smiled - Otis was right on schedule.

He checked his phone to see that Mike had sent him a long paragraph describing what he did and how much he missed Max the entire time and Max smiled, glancing up when he heard Talinda calling to him. Johnny stood alert at the door.

"What happened?" His expression was grim.

"Nothing too bad," he said quickly when he noticed Max beginning to panic. "Someone threw a pretty big rock. It broke the window, and there was a note tied to it." Max stood slowly. "We didn't see who it was, they took off in a car. I'm sorry, Max." Max waved off his apology.

"It's just a window." He followed Johnny through the house and took the note from Wesley, the guard stationed to check the perimeter and visitors. He handed Max the note and Max read it quickly, making a face at its contents.

This will never end.
You took everything from me.
Be prepared to have everything taken from you.

Max shoved it back into Wesley's hands, turning away from it. He didn't want to think about the words or the ever-growing list of people that they might be from. That thought itself made him feel sick. He didn't recognize the writing, but there were many people that had cause to be angry at him - from his father to any one of the victims of the murder spree or even the families of Jace and Melody. He shuddered at the thought and felt Talinda's hand on his arm as his phone vibrated in his pocket. He expected it to be another sleep-addled text from Mike, but instead it was a call from Anna. He answered it and held it to his ear.

"Hey, everything okay?"

"No," she said through gritted teeth. His eyebrows piqued and he held it closer, turning to stare at Talinda. "You're the closest thing I have to the bastard who did this to me so I need you here right now."

"What's wrong?" he asked, alarmed.

"I'm giving birth, that's what's wrong!" she almost screamed through the phone. Max nearly dropped it. "Hurry up and get to the hospital. I don't know how long this is going to take -" she groaned. "And if that asshole's awake, tell him I hate him."

Max fought a laugh and said, "I'll be there as soon as I can." Anna cursed at him and he smiled, hanging up and looking up at Talinda and Johnny. "Anna's going into labor." He ran his fingers through his hair. "Talinda, can you watch Otis?" She nodded firmly. "Johnny can go with me, and Wesley will stay here and watch the house." Johnny nodded then and opened the door to inform the guard outside as Max started rushing to gather his things. "The guys are asleep right now," he told Talinda, "if you hear anything from any of them, let them know immediately, so they can tell Mike when he wakes up. I don't wanna bother him, he sounded exhausted." She nodded again and Max turned to Johnny. "Let's go."

They stepped out and toward the car, Johnny slipping into the drivers seat as Max got into the passenger side, dialing his mom. She picked up on the third ring, and he could hear Amalia talking in the background.

"Hey baby," she said. "What's up?"

"Anna's going into labor," he said quickly, trying to temper his excitement and failing. "Meet me at the hospital?"

"I'll be right there," his mother said quickly, hanging up before he could say anything else. He smiled and hung up, staring down at his phone, fingers hovering over his keyboard as he debated texting Mike. Johnny glanced over and hummed.

"He doesn't need to know right away," he said. "It's just labor. It could take a day." Max bit his lip. "Wait until the baby's there. Then you can show him what his son looks like." He looked up and smiled.

"Thanks Johnny." Johnny smiled at him and he glanced out of the window. "This is not really the direction I expected my life to take." He stared down at the scar on his hand, swallowing. "I'm gonna be a dad to this baby."

"It's not so bad," Johnny said as he took a turn toward the hospital. "You're already ace at taking care of Otis." Max rubbed his hand, taking a deep breath, and Johnny glanced at it. "And all of us, we're not gonna let anything else happen to you. So you and Otis and the new baby, you're all gonna be fine." Max looked up at him and smiled softly.

"I still think it's really cool that Talinda's related to a bodyguard." He chuckled.

"Not just a bodyguard, but the leader of my own company." He winked. "I'll give you the best rates."

They pulled up to the hospital and Max stared up at it, not even noticing that Johnny had gotten out of the car until he opened Max's door. Max thanked him quietly and stepped out, leading the way inside and up to the delivery rooms, where Johnny was told to wait outside. Max nodded at him and stepped into the delivery room, where Anna was laying on the bed, legs propped up, sweating slightly and holding her stomach.

She glared at him. "What took you so long?" He fought a smile.

"I'm sorry, I had to make sure someone would be able to watch Otis." She groaned lowly as another contraction hit and he stepped over quickly. "Talinda's watching him, my mom's on the way." She nodded and reached for his hand and he let her take it, wincing slightly when she squeezed hard.

His mother walked in as another contraction hit and Anna screamed out in frustration. "I hate you," she mumbled to Max. "This is your fault." He stifled laughter and winced when she squeezed his hand again.

"It's really Mike's fault," he said carefully.

"He's not here!" she screamed. "So it's your fault!" Max's mom chuckled softly and wiped her forehead.

"Relax, Anna, it'll be over soon."

Several hours later, Max held the baby in his arms, very very carefully. He fussed in the blanket and made a low whining sound and Max hushed him gently, bouncing him carefully. His mother was holding his phone, calling Mike on Skype. After a while, he picked up.

"Max? Oh, hey Pam..." She smiled at him and brushed her hair from her forehead, saying a brief hello before flipping the camera and showing him Max and the new baby. Mike made a sound of surprise and Max smiled at the camera, eyes tired but happiness filling every inch of him.

"I'd like to present Theodore Muto Shinoda."