Max

Leaning back against the headboard of my bed with my hands behind my head and my legs crossed at the ankles, I watched Emma fuss with her long blonde hair for the millionth time and I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face.

When Clary was rushed to the hospital, it further cemented the fact that life was short and I needed to take my chance with Emma while I could. All I could think about while I was sitting in the hospital was that I wanted Emma sitting next to me so she could hold my hand and tell me that everything was going to be alright. When Jace took me back to meet little Cecily a few days after she was born and I held her in my arms, I was overwhelmed with the desire to have a family, but more importantly, have a family with the girl I had loved since I was seventeen.

As soon as Emma moved back home, I called her and invited her over for dinner. We ended up spending the next three days together, talking, laughing and making up for lost time. If I had thought I loved her before, I loved her even more now. She was exactly the same the girl I had fallen in love with years ago, but she was different somehow. She had grown into a woman that had her own success and goals and dammit she was letting me back into her life, which I didn't think I could ever deserve.

For the past month, Emma and I had been inseparable. Aside from her going to work at the high school and me going back to training at the gym, we spent every free moment we had together, but today was the first time I was bringing Emma back around my family and I could tell she was nervous because she knew that I hadn't told anyone that we were back together. With everything that had been going on lately, I just couldn't find the right time to tell them. Jace and Simon had seen what Emma leaving had done to me and I had closed myself off for a while, but Clary was probably going to be the most critical of Emma because she was the only person I had confided in in my dark moments following Emma leaving.

As I watched Emma take her hair down, again, I got up from my bed and walked into the bathroom to stand behind her as I wrapped my arms around her waist from behind and rested my chin on her shoulder to look in the mirror. Emma was the perfect height for me, just a head shorter than me, so when I held her in my arms, she could rest her cheek against my chest and my chin landed right on top of her head. She always said that she loved that she could hear my heart beat when I held her.

Dropping a kiss on her shoulder, I tightened my arms around her waist as Emma covered my hands with hers.

"Relax, Em," I whispered in her ear, placing a kiss on her temple as she closed her eyes and let out a sigh. "Your hair looks fine."

"Are you sure it's a good idea for me to meet your family today," she asked, biting her lower lip nervously as I turned her around in my arms so she could face me. I took her face in my hands, forcing her to look me in the eyes.

"Emma, they are going to love you. Plus, they already know you, so it's not like you're meeting them for the first time."

"Yeah, but that was before I left you and who knows what they think of me now? I mean, you even said that I broke your heart. How are they supposed to forgive me for breaking your heart? Are you sure we should be doing this the day Jace and Clary bring Cecily home?"

I pressed my lips to her forehead and held her against my chest before walking her out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom to sit on the bed. Emma turned to me as I took her hands in mine, running my thumbs along her knuckles.

"When my arm was raised and the belt was wrapped around my waist," I began, "I realized that I wanted you next to me. I want you next to me for all of the big moments and this is one of them. Jace, Simon and their families are my family, especially since my dad died a few years ago, and they just want me to be happy. You make me happy, Emma, and they'll love you for it."

"You make me happy, too, Max," Emma said with a small smile before she grasped the back of my neck, pulling my lips to meet hers in a sweet kiss. When we pulled apart, I rested my forehead on hers and couldn't help the smile on my face.

"I love you," I whispered as I closed my eyes and Emma's head snapped up so she could see my face.

"You do?" I had to fight off laughing at the expression on her face. She looked shocked and confused, but I was more confused by her reaction.

"Of course, I do." I said, taking her face in my hands again and swiping under her eyes at the tears that were falling. "I never stopped loving you, Emma, and it killed me every day that you were gone knowing that if I had just showed you what you meant to me and put you first sometimes, you never would have left and we might even be married right now, starting a family."

"I was so stupid for leaving you, Max." Emma shook her head, averting her gaze from me before I took her chin in my hand and forced her to look into my eyes so she could see how much I loved her.

"None of that matters now." I kissed her forehead and ran my hand through her hair. "All that matters is that we're together. Nothing that happened in the past six years matters anymore because spending the past month with you has made my life whole again."

"I told you once that I couldn't live with being second to your dreams, but I didn't realize that you are my dream, Max. I love you."

I slammed my lips against hers, holding the back of her head in my hand as I eased her down onto the bed. Emma wasted no time deepening the kiss as her fingers found my hair, her nails lightly scraping my scalp. I rolled onto my back and pulled Emma on top of me before I pulled my lips from hers, only to trail kisses along her jaw and down her neck. She pulled on my hair lightly before pushing up off of my chest.

"We're going to be late," Emma said, gasping for air. I raised my eyebrow, ignoring her and pulled her lips back to mine, before rolling us so I was resting on top of her. Emma pulled away from me again, but I just kept trying to distract her, pressing my lips against the sensitive spot just below her ear. "Max, I'm serious. I don't want to make a bad impression on your family and I know you want to be there when Jace and Clary get home."

"Ugh, fine," I grunted before Emma pushed me off of her and she ran back to the bathroom to fix her hair. I couldn't help chuckling as she ran her fingers through her hair in frustration before she tamed her waves and pinned half of her hair up and away from her face.

When she was finally ready, Emma skipped out of the bathroom and over to me where I laced our fingers together and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head as I led her out of the bedroom and through my apartment. I opened the passenger door to my truck and helped her hop up into her seat before jogging over to the driver's side and starting the car. As we drove, Emma kept contact with me at all times, running her fingers through my hair, placing her hand on my knee, lacing our fingers together over the center console.

We pulled up in front of Jace and Clary's house and I looked over to Emma, who was staring straight ahead, not moving to get out of the truck. I turned my body to face her and took her chin in my hand, forcing her to look at me.

"Hey," I whispered, running my thumb along her skin. "Just breathe. It's going to be okay. They're going to love you because I love you."

Emma gave me a small smile and a nod before I leaned across the console to press my lips against hers briefly. Unbuckling my seatbelt, I hopped out of the truck and ran around to help Emma out of her seat. As we walked up to the front door, I held her hand tight in mine, giving it a small squeeze before we walked through the door.

Walking in the house, my eyes darted around, looking at the chaos that was unfolding. I couldn't help laughing at Will and James as they ran around frantically trying to finish cleaning and get everything ready for Jace and Clary. They didn't even notice us walking past them as we went into the kitchen to find Simon, Isabelle, Tessa and Barbara. Izzy was setting out food and putting about a thousand casserole dishes in the freezer. Simon was probably the only calm person in the house, sitting at the breakfast counter on his phone. Running between the living room and kitchen, Tessa and Barbara tried to help as much as they could.

I smiled down at Emma, chuckling because no one had noticed that we were even there. Before I could announce our presence, all attention was turned toward the front door as Jace shouted, letting everyone know they were home. Walking toward the front door, I saw Will and James rush out to the car, following Jace, as Clary opened the passenger door. The boys raced to their mom's side to help her out of the car, to which she waved them off because it had been six weeks since she had given birth. Instead, she directed them to the back seat where Jace was taking Cecily out of the car and the boys grabbed all of the bags that accompanied her from the car.

Jace motioned for us to all be quiet because Cecily was sleeping, so we all filed into the living room and sat down on the various couches and chairs set up in the room. No one had noticed that I had Emma with me at this point and she clung to my side, not saying a word. As we sat next to each other on the loveseat, I placed my hand on her knee, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Clary followed Jace up the stairs to the nursery so they could put Cecily down in her crib and hopefully get some sleep. Everyone in the room was too transfixed with their own conversations and the excitement of Cecily finally coming home to be too interested in me.

When Clary and Jace came back downstairs, Clary stopped dead in her tracks, making Jace run into her from behind, bracing himself by grabbing her shoulders, when she saw me sitting on the couch with Emma. I guess that answered the question of if Clary would remember Emma or not. When everyone else noticed that Clary was staring at something, every other set of eyes in the room fell on Emma and me.

Clary and I stared at each other for a few long seconds before I stood from my seat, reaching down for Emma's hand to pull her up with me. Emma stood slightly behind me, half hiding from the death glare Clary was shooting in her direction.

I opened my mouth to say something, but Clary cut me off. "No."

"Clary, just let me explain," I said, holding up a hand to silence her.

"Oh, you don't have to explain anything." I let out a momentary sigh of relief before she said, "You can just get her out of my house."

"What happened between Emma and me was years ago, Clary." I looked around the room, asking for some support, but no one was brave enough to stand up to Clary at that moment. "We've forgiven each other for the mistakes we made and I would hope that you would be happy for me to finally find happiness."

"I'm not going to talk about this with you today, Max." Emma was almost completely behind me at this point and I could tell she was barely holding it together.

"Maybe, I should just go," Emma whispered as she moved from behind me to try and diffuse the situation, but I grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks and pulled her to my side with my arm wrapped around her.

"No, wait, Emma," I said, giving her a reassuring smile before facing Clary once again. I knew she was going to be upset because she was the only one who really knew how the breakup had affected me, but I didn't think she would be so cruel. "If she goes, then I go, Clary, so make your choice and make it wisely." When Clary crossed her arms over her chest and stood her ground, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. "Fine."

With that, I tightened my arm around Emma's shoulder and walked away from the only family I knew.

Thank you so much for reading! That was not how I planned for the chapter to end, but apparently my muse had some other ideas, but now I have an idea of what I want the next chapter to be, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Let me know what you think and leave a review because I love hearing what you have to say! :)