TEASER/SUMMARY: What if Johnny had told her the truth that day in the stairwell? Short little one-shot
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I love the movie and I get that it was important for Penelope to learn to stand alone and to accept herself first, but I can't have been the only one groaning at the TV during this part.
BROKEN HEARTS & PROMISES
"What if the curse can never be broken?"
"Then I'll kill myself. I promise. I promise I will," she swore with frightening candor. The quirky wit and strength and innocent curiosity that had so drawn him in were buried beneath hurt and desperation. It broke his heart. He'd have done anything to be able to go back ten minutes and stop it all from spiraling out of control.
"Penelope…" he started, half pleading himself.
"Marry me, Max. Marry me."
He closed his eyes, swaying slightly beneath the weight of just how badly he'd screwed up. God help him, he wanted to agree- would have agreed if he was who she thought he was. But 'Max' was a lie and the only thing worse than her finding out the rest of the truth would be letting her throw away her best chance of escaping the curse that caused her such pain for a falsehood.
"I can't." The words came reluctantly, quiet, not that his hesitation served to soften the blow. He could feel the whole room flinch- and the look on Penelope's face. Guilt churned so fiercely in his stomach he thought he might be sick. "You don't repulse me," he threw out into the pained silence, suddenly desperate to explain before he lost his chance. "You- startled me, but you're not a monster. You're not ugly. There's nothing wrong with you Penelope; it's me. I just- I can't break the curse. I'm not a blue-blood. They just assumed," he waved vaguely towards the front door, "and I… needed the money. So I lied and wore a camera but then you were- you and I- I didn't mean to- I'm so sorry."
He wished he could tell what she was thinking. Her eyes were wide and wet with tears, but anything was better than the devastation that had been there before he started talking.
"What do you mean you're not a blue-blood?" Penelope's mother snapped, recovering more quickly than the rest of them. "We did a background check. Your family's fortune goes back generations; you have all the right bloodlines-"
"They're not my family," he interrupted wearily. "My name isn't Max."
"What?!" Mrs. Wilhern's shriek soon became a loudly indignant tirade, but his blue eyes slid back toward Penelope, trying to gauge her reaction. She was… calmer than he'd expected, and far less furious, though that could have been simple shock delaying the inevitable.
"Who are you really?"
"Johnny Martin. Son of a plumber. Gambler, liar… idiot. But I am glad, truly glad to meet you, Penelope." He pushed every ounce of sincerity he could into his words. He stepped closer and offered his hand, trying not to fidget like an awkward school boy as he waited for her to decide whether or not to reject him completely.
It was the longest ten seconds of his life as she wavered uncertainly. Then her chin came up and her right hand loosened its white-knuckled grip on the banister.
"No more lies," she said, the demand shaking only a little.
"No more lies," he promised. Something like forgiveness flickered through her gaze at last, her fingers closed around his, and he finally felt like he could breathe again. She mirrored his hesitant smile, and all he could think was, 'She's beautiful.'