My Christmas Present
I knew I had to tell him I just didn't know how. I''d broken so many rules, but I didn't want to break his heart. I love Maxon, and surely if our love is strong our relationship would withstand my secret. I walked back into my room in the palace and was greeted by Anne, Mary, and Lucy. "Hello Lady America, we're sorry to hear about your father." Anne said with a sad expression on her face. My dad. I missed him so much, but I didn't want to think of him now. "Lady, the Prince left a letter for you." Anne handed me a letter with my name on it and they left the room to give me some privacy. The letters were amazing, Maxon loved me, I smiled and a single tear fell. I had to do something special for him to.
I told my maids not to tell Maxon I'd returned, I had to plan something first and then surprise him. I went to his room and knocked on the door to his room. The door opened and Maxon quickly pulled me in and hugged me. "Are you okay?" he asked. I nodded and we stood there and I rested my head on his chest. "I have something for you" Maxon said as he pulled away and went to the gift sitting on his bed. "Wait" I said and gently reached for his hand. He gave me his hand and looked confused as to what was happening. "I have something for you, too. And I'd like to give mine first." He nodded and I led him out of his room and to the ballroom, we walked with our arms linked and standing close.
We arrived to an empty ballroom and I let go of his arm as he stood by the entrance, I walked to the middle of the ballroom under the magnificent chandelier. "My gift to you is a dance" I said with a gentle smile. Maxon walked over to me and took my hands. "I'm warning you now, I'm still terrible at this, you may lose a couple toes from my heels." I said as we both laughed. "I'll risk it" he said with confidence. We stood there in the middle of the room and looked at each other he put his hands around my waist and I put my hands on his shoulders. We slowly swayed and after a while I started singing
Heart beats fast
Colors and promises
How to be brave?
How can I love when I'm afraid to fall?
But watching you stand alone,
All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow.
One step closer
I have died every day waiting for you
Darling, don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
Time stands still
Beauty in all he is
I will be brave
I will not let anything take away
What's standing in front of me
Every breath
Every hour has come to this
One step closer
I have died every day waiting for you
Darling, don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
And all along I believed I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me
I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
One step closer
One step closer
I have died every day waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
And all along I believed I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me
I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
I finished and we stood in the room and I looked into those beautiful chocolate eyes. "America, that was amazing. Thank you" Maxon said as he looked at me with love and pride. "Maxon, I have to tell you something, but you have to promise not to interrupt." I said knowing I had to tell him the truth more than anything. "You have my word" I took a deep breath and thought if I should back out or not. No. I thought. You owe him the truth. You said great people come with scars, great relationships have scars too. "The guard that you assigned to my room is Aspen. My ex-boyfriend. At first, we would occasionally kiss, like in the tree house. Everything constantly a secret. I thought it was right, I thought maybe I still loved him, but Maxon I'm not lying when I say, I don't have feelings for him. After the safe room together when I realized how much you really cared for me, nothing else mattered but you. I didn't want him anymore. So I ended it. We haven't kissed since the safe room, and I intend to keep it like that." I finished and I looked at him, his expression was a mix of pain, anger, hurt, and a look like he was lost. He was clenching fists like he was ready to kill Aspen. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?" he said with sadness clear now. "I couldn't get the words out." I said as I blinked back tears. "Maxon, I'm sorry. I do lo-" I was about to say it but he cut me off "Don't even start America. We were working on trust right? Does keeping a secret like this supposed to make me trust you." Maxon said as he took a step back from me and ran his hand through his hair. "Me telling you, should mean something too, I needed to tell you, I will always care about him, deeply, but I don't have feelings like that for him. I only have feelings for you" I said pleading that he would forgive me. He looked at me and shook his head and left the room quickly and slammed the door which made me jump a little. I sat on in the middle of the room crying and wishing I could turn back time. And fix my mistake.
-Maxerica-
I stood on the stage with Max to my left and Kriss to his left. It was clear who he was choosing. I didn't care about the crown, Maxon could be a eight and he'd still be the world to me. "Your family is flying over, the loser tends to get emotional." Maxon said with a biitter voice. Yesterday all the girls came back, they invited me into the party after I left the ballroom after an hour of crying, but I didn't join in. They were all sitting there. I stood on stage fighting back tears and the urge to run away. I looked away and looked at Celeste instead. She looked at me with her eyes asking what's wrong? Do I need to hurt someone? I gave a small smile and sadly shrugged. I turned away and looked at Queen Amberly she looked at me with pity and gave me a small smile. A gun shot fired and I looked to where the sound came from there lay Celeste on the floor, still looking beautiful but now, dead, the guard gave a smile and more shots were fired, I realized he wasn't a guard, but a southern rebel, the pieces were put together and the missing guards made sense. More guards came rushing in, though they could've been rebels, the men pulled out their guns and started firing, more people started dying and I realized some people were evacuating, Kriss had ran. It was just Maxon and I on stage. A guard ran up to us "Your Majesty, my lady, we must go to the nearest room, now." We followed him hoping he was truly an officer and not a rebel. We came to a stop at a room and the guard opened the door and suddenly collapsed. There was a rebel behind him and had his gun pointed at us. He pulled the trigger again, but it was empty, he quickly reached for another pack of bullets but I grabbed the guard's gun and shot him in the leg, he dropped in pain and Maxon stood beside me and bent down to pick up the man's gun but another rebel came rushing in and was about to shoot Maxon but before I could think jumped in front of Maxon bang,and fell to the floor.
I laid on the floor with my eyes slowly closing. There was a sharp pain in near my left shoulder. I looked at the ceiling and heard another gunshot and Maxon dragged me into the room and quickly shut the door. I looked up and faced him, I took in his gorgeousness one last time, and smiled, he smiled back. "America, you're not dying." He said with hope that this was all a nightmare. I gave a small chuckle, maybe I wasn't dying, but I needed to tell him everything in case I was. "Maxon, you are the most amazing person I've ever met. You're generous, thoughtful, caring, intelligent, humble, and brave. You're going to be a great king, that I'm sure of" I said with not a single ounce of doubt in my voice, because it was true. "But, because I'm dying I have one final wish that you have to listen to." He looked at me not listening to the part about me dying and nodded. "My last wish is that you find love. Find someone who doesn't see a single flaw in you and can make you feel happy and special like you do to me. Never let her go, don't screw up, and love her so she feels like the only girl you see." We looked at each other knowing that we were perfect for each other. "There's no one else I want, except for you, so you can't leave me." Maxon said as he looked at me like he was commanding me to. I took in a deep breath and he reached out for my hand. "I want a future with you." Maxon said with tears clearly in his eyes. "I want late night talks, waking up next to you, dealing with your craziness, and a family together." Maxon said with hope it'd happen one day. "I want that with you too" I assured him. "But everyone gets a second chance, you'll get another chance love." I looked at him and he kissed me, as we slowly parted the safe room door opened and my eyelids started growing heavy. I heard Maxon call for help and I reached for his hand, when I felt his hand and mine lock together I looked at him and said my last words. "I love you Maxon Shreave. Never doubt that." he looked me like he was going to fall apart "I love you too" I smiled and let out one last tear, and my vision blacked.
-Maxerica-
I didn't regret taking that bullet for Maxon. It just meant he knew how much I loved him, and he's done so much for me. The money for my family, the lashings, and always making me feel like the most important person in the world. Beep beep beep. The sound of a monitor woke me. My eyes still groggy I looked to my left and saw my balcony window from my room. I turned to my right and saw Maxon smiling like he had just witnessed a miracle, he was smiling and had tears falling down his face, I smiled back. I used all my strength to reach up and cup his face to wipe away the tears but he reached for my hand and held it to his cheek. "I knew you'd live" he said "I should've bet on it" we laughed remembering the bet we'd made. We sat together in silence and were grateful to be in each other's arms. "Maxon, I'll always care for Aspen, but I don't love him. I'll say it until you get sick of me and pull the life support system cord off of me, I love you. And only you." I said hoping with every fibre in my being that he'd believe me. "I'm sorry I ever doubted, darling."
-Maxerica-
Surely our happy ever after was different, so much different, but in my books it's the greatest story of them all. Everything surely had changed. Aspen understood how I felt but was alright because he had found a new relationship with Lucy. The king had died in the attack to save Queen Amberly and she survived she and Maxon had mourned for days, and so did our country. Even though the king and I had a harsh relationship, no one deserved to die that day, and so many had. When I walked down the aisle I kept an empty seat for Celeste in the front row, she would've found happiness, I was sure of it, whether it was on her own or with a man. I still missed her, and my maids. I did end up calling Queen Amberly "mom", she retired and still grieved about King Clarkson, but she spends most of her time with her sister Adele and her children. Everyone grieved, but in the end we all lived our own happily ever after. (For our wedding, as a present I got Maxon a "Do Not Disturb" sign for our room.)
-Maxerica-
The Report
We congratulate the King and Queen on their blessing! The couple was ecstatic to announce they had twins, boy and girl!
AN: Song-A Thousand Years By:Christina Perri. I was so sick that America never really gave Maxon a gift, she never even sang for him. I still love Maxerica though, they're just beautiful.