*The End*

Life is good.

"I start in the fall - that's not that far away-" In fact, it was fast approaching. She still could barely believe it: she was officially a college student and would be attending classes come the fall! She was going back to school! She was getting her degree! "You're sure you don't mind me going?"

"Of course I want you to go," Max insisted. "Because I know this is important to you. I just don't want you to go because of me and what I've done - and certainly not part ways when things were strained between us. But I'm glad that's passed now."

"Me too. I'm really excited, but also so nervous!"

"I'm so proud of you."

"For what?"

"For what? Lina, chasing your dreams, working hard for it. You did this for you, Amor. I'm so proud, and I'm so happy for you."

Max knew that their trust in him had been broken before, and he would do everything he could to see that it was not broken again.

He was speaking Spanish more again, not only at home, but now in his everyday life as well. It was a simple gesture which meant the world to Lina. He had always made a point of speaking it at home with Alastair, wanting his son to connect to his roots, but out in the world when he was playing the 'white businessman' he had never uttered a word in his native language. But now, Maxwell Lord was fading away, and Maxwell Lorenzano was back.

"Max, your hair," Lina cried during her packing towards the end of the summer.

"Yes, I stopped dying it." He ran a hand through his now dark hair, its natural colour, her own fingers following.

"Oh Max - I love it."

"I'm glad. And I hope you will love this too-" He dropped to his knee, holding the ring box in his hands.

"Oh!" she cried as though startled. "Oh, Max-"

"I know this is probably terrible timing as you're so busy-"

"It's perfect timing! Oh Max-"

"Also because I don't want some young and dashing college boy to steal you away."

She snorted with laughter. "They couldn't even if they tried. You're right, I love it. I love you, and I would love to marry you."

"Oh, Lina-" He slipped the ring onto her finger before pulling her to him in a tight and loving embrace.

Summer fell away to fall, and she was off, off to college. The first semester in New York was a whirlwind as she fell into a new routine. She was living her dream.

Then fall fell away to winter and she returned home to D.C. for the break. Soon the city was festively decorated for the holidays.

Lina, Alastair and Max, reunited, were at the mall buying Christmas presents. Alastair dragged them over to the fountain.

"Make a wish, Daddy." He handed over a coin. "But don't tell anyone, not even me or Lina, otherwise it won't come true."

"Okay." Max took the coin his son offered him. "What to wish for?" He stood twirling the coin between his fingers for a moment before tossing it into the fountain along with the other many coins.

"Did you make a wish?" Alastair asked.

"I sure did."

"Do you want to know what I wished for?" Max whispered to Lina later in the dark of their room that night as they lay together in each other's embrace.

"You're not supposed to tell," she reminded him, smiling in the dark. "You heard what Alastair said, you can't tell anyone, not even me."

"I know, but I'll risk it." He smiled too and brushed his nose against her hair. "I wished that nothing would change."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Then we wished for the same." She snuggled closer. "Life is good."

"Life is very, very good," he agreed, entwining their fingers.

Life was good. Perhaps it could be better, but not the way she was feeling now.

No, right here, right now, life was quite perfect.

And there we are, that is the end! I truly hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it, I had so much fun! I love this world and these characters so much!

I'm still working on my other Max story too, as well as other Pedro character stories!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)