*Ten*
"I renounce my wish!"
The images she had shown him, that had flashed before his eyes, memories.
The bad:
Baring witness to his father abusing his mother, his father yelling at him, getting picked on at school for being different...
The good:
Starting Black Gold, Alastair - everything and all that was Alastair, meeting Lina and the start of their relationship...
"Alastair! ALASTAIR!"
Max couldn't make it back quickly enough - and the panic he was already feeling only rose when he couldn't find his son anywhere on the grounds of Black Gold - in fact, he couldn't find anyone.
"LINA?!"
Where had they gone? Where had all his staff gone? The security guards? The unruly crowd? Those were just mere flashes of thought across his mind as he frantically searched out what he truly sought: the whereabouts of his son and girlfriend.
"Alastair! Paulina!"
But then he heard it - or at least he thought he did. He hoped and prayed that it wasn't his panicked mind playing a cruel trick on him.
But then he heard it again - still distant but nearer this time. "Daddy!"
The sound was music to his ears. "Alastair!"
"Daddy!" And there he was, emerging from the bushes around the edge of the Black Gold lot, running towards Max with his arms outstretched.
"Alastair!" Max matched his son's outstretched arms and scooped him up into a near crushing hug as soon as he could. "Oh, Alastair-"
"Lina's hurt!"
Max drew back. "Where is she?"
"Over here!" Alastair took his dad's hand and pulled him the way he had come from, out onto the main road, in the middle of which Lina lay.
She was just stirring awake, her body stiff, her head fuzzy. What had happened? The last thing she remembered was running to hopefully find some safety with Alastair, the warning alarm blaring around them-
"Alastair! Alastair!" She began looking around frantically. Where had he gone? How long had she been unconscious for?
"Lina!"
"Oh Dios mio!" She squeezed him in a crushing hug. "I was so nervous when I didn't see you!"
"Daddy's here now, Lina. It's all going to be okay."
She jumped a little, moving to back away when she saw Max standing there. His suit jacket, tie and suspenders were gone, leaving him in his dress pants and dress shirt.
"Yes, I'm here," he said. "Are you okay? Alastair said you were hurt."
"I'm fine."
"I'm so sorry, baby." He stroked Alastair's hair.
"I'm so glad I wished you'd come. I knew it would work," Alastair stated proudly.
Hurt flashed across Max's face and he knelt down so that he could be level with Alastair. "No, that is not why I'm back, no." Max cupped his son's face in his hands. "I've been lying to you. I'm not a great guy. In fact I'm a pretty messed up loser guy. And I made terrible mistakes. But you - you don't ever have to make a wish for me to love you. I'm here because I love you. I just wish and I pray that one day I'll be able to make you proud enough that you'll be able to forgive me. And love me. Because I'm nothing to be proud of, Alastair."
Now it was Alastair's turn to reach out and cup his dad's face. "I don't need you to make me proud. I already love you, Daddy. You're my Dad."
This time Max didn't stop his tears, and let them fall, pouring down his cheeks and pulling his son and girlfriend into a tight, nearly crushing hug.
"See Lina? It's all okay now," Alastair murmured.
She had no idea what to say, and so she untangled her arms from Max's embrace in order to hug Alastair tighter. "Yes," she managed to choke out. "We're back together now. It's all going to be okay."
It's all going to be okay...
But it wasn't all okay.
Not even close.
The next few days were a blur - the city cleaning up after the mess all the wishes had created, Max, Alastair, and Lina recovering from the up close and personal nature of it all.
Black Gold could no longer hang on, and Max was forced to accept the truth that had been looming over him for months now. He would rather shut the company down in hopes of restarting it later on than sell it for someone else to run.
And so the employees began packing up their things in order to vacate the building that would be put up for sale as soon as possible, its offices used by someone else.
Because of this, Max had been very busy and she hadn't seen much of him, not that this was anything new. But she was glad for it. Very glad. It gave her a lot of needed time alone to think.
And think.
And think.
She had no idea what to say to him, and any moment they did share was awkward and uncomfortable now. She didn't like this route their relationship had taken, and so it just seemed best, and easiest, to avoid it.
She did stop at the Black Gold - well, soon to no longer be Black Gold - building after work, suitcase in tow. She didn't go up and meet him, instead she stayed in the lobby with Raquel.
"Oh, Lina, hello. Sorry, I didn't realize you were here," he said, entering the lobby from the office side.
"It's okay, I just stopped by quickly. I know you're busy."
"Are you going somewhere?" he nodded to the suitcase sitting at her feet, having noticed it right away.
Raquel took this as her cue to leave the two, and Lina smiled her thanks to her.
"Yes - I'm going to stay with my sister."
"Oh-" He was clearly surprised by this.
"Yes, I've started moving my stuff out of the apartment. I think we both need some space for the time being."
"Lina, you didn't tell me this-"
"Well I'm telling you now."
"Okay..." He appeared defeated.
"So I just wanted to let you know that that's where I'll be if you need to contact me."
"Okay, thank you for letting me know..."
"Yeah."
"D-does that mean you're moving out?"
A beat before she said, "Yes."
Alastair's words from before - had that really only been a few days ago? - rang in her ears:
"Are you and Daddy going to break up?"
She hadn't known then, and she really didn't know now.
I think they did some reshoots for the movie when it came out closer to Christmas, and I'm really curious what the original ending was! Maybe it'll be part of the behind the scenes when the movie is available to buy - I hope so!
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)