Max

Never in my life had I felt so low. Emma had been pregnant with my child and I had no idea. She had gone through something traumatizing and I wasn't there for her, but that was her fault. She left me and didn't tell me when she found out she was going to have my baby.

I didn't know whether to be angry or sad or both and I didn't know who to direct my emotions toward. Of course, I was upset that Emma had kept something so monumentally life-changing from me, but I was also devastated for her and what she must have went through all alone. I had been sitting on my couch for hours, unable to move or call her. What would I say? How could I get over this?

I had no idea where she went or even if we were still together, but I couldn't gather the strength to get up off of that couch. A knock sounded at my door and my head turned, still not making a move to get up. It was like all of my strength had been sucked out of me.

The lock turned and I watched as Jace walked into my apartment. He waved, holding his keys up to show the spare he had for my apartment and my head turned back to stare at the wall. I listened as Jace moved about in the kitchen, opening the refrigerator, the clink of bottles the only sound breaking the silence in the room. The couch dipped as Jace sat down next to me and held out a bottle of beer to me. I took the bottle gratefully and gulped down half of the amber liquid before letting out a heavy sigh.

"Do you want to talk about it," Jace asked, breaking the silence I had been living in since Emma walked out my door.

"Talk about what," I countered, taking another swig from my beer.

"Well, we can start with why you were keeping your relationship from all of us."

My head fell against the back of the couch and I closed my eyes trying to figure out how the hell I got here.

"I don't know, man." I ran my hand down my face. "She called me the night before the fight and I would have told you, but then everything happened with Clary and Cecily and I just didn't know when the right time to tell you was."

"That's bullshit, Max and you know it." My head snapped up to see Jace facing me, his eyes conveying the hurt I had caused him. "We are your family and we always have time for you. You're my brother, Max and I want to know what's going on in your life. Clary feels the same way. We love you, Max and we just want you to be happy."

"I know." I let out a long sigh before downing the rest of my beer and getting up to get another one. "I'll go talk to Clary tomorrow and make up with her. Everything will be fine."

I set the bottle down on the counter and placed my hands in front of me, leaning against the counter. Twenty-four hours ago, I couldn't have been happier. I had the girl I had loved since I was sixteen, I had the championship belt and I had the best friends and family I could ever ask for. Now, I didn't know what I was even doing with my life.

"So, Emma came by the house a couple of hours ago," Jace said behind me and I turned around to face him. "She and Clary had an interesting conversation."

I couldn't even speak. All I could do was take a long pull from my beer. It was all too much.

"So, she sent you here to talk to me," I asked with an eyebrow raised, suddenly angry. "To convince me to make everything right? Well I'm not ready to do that because I just found out that after my girlfriend broke up with me, she found out she was pregnant and never told me. Then, she had a miscarriage and had to go through that without me. So excuse me if I'm not ready to make things right. Sorry if I'm grieving and can't stand to be around anyone right now."

Jace's hand squeezed my shoulder and I took deep breaths, not wanting him to see the emotions I was fighting to hold in.

"Max, that's not why I'm here." I scrubbed my hand down my face as if that could erase the events of the past day for about the thousandth time, unable to fight the flood of emotions anymore. "I'm here to see if you're okay. I'm worried about you. If you don't want to talk about it with me, that's fine."

"I'm just so confused," I admitted, lowering myself to sit on one of the bar stools that was in the kitchen. "Part of me is so angry with her for keeping it from me and part of me is guilty because I wasn't there for her, but she never even gave me that chance."

"Maybe she never let herself accept that she hurt you. Maybe she needs you to help her accept her mistakes and she can help you forgive her and grieve your loss. Maybe this will be your chance to put your past behind you and move forward together the way you want to."

"When did you get so wise?" Jace smacked the back of my head before ruffling my hair the same way he had been my whole life. "I could have been a father, man. That's insane."

"It is pretty awesome." I watched as Jace's face filled with joy at the thought of his children. "Do you want that with Emma?"

"I think so." I took another swig from my beer. "I mean, of course I've thought about a future with her and marriage and kids, but it was always years in the future. Now, though, I think I'm ready to settle down and start a life and family with Emma."

"Then you need to tell her that."

Jace squeezed my shoulder again before holding up his fist to bump and turning to leave. After I finished my beer, I went into my bedroom where my phone was sitting on the nightstand. Picking up my phone, I pressed the power button, turning it on for the first time in twenty-four hours.

The phone lit up with notifications; seven missed calls from Jace, Clary, Simon and Will, one text from Clary and one text from Emma. I opened Clary's message first, leaving Emma's message for another minute and giving myself a moment to gather some courage.

CLARY: Max, I'm sorry for the way I acted. You know I love you and just want you to be happy. I will support you in whatever you do. Come by the house when you're ready.

I typed out a quick response, telling her I loved her and that I would come by the house tomorrow. Sitting down on the edge of my bed, I held my thumb over the button that would take me to Emma's message. Knowing that she was probably hurting and needed me forced me to hit the button and open the message.

EMMA: Max, I know you probably don't want to talk to me and I completely understand. If you can forgive me, I'll be at my place. Just, please come talk to me. I love you.

I read the message over and over, trying to find the strength to text her or call her, but I couldn't. I needed to see her, to hold her and tell her that I loved her. We just needed each other right now, no matter how hurt I was feeling.

Rushing through changing my clothes and brushing my teeth, I found my car keys on the kitchen counter and hurried out the door. The ten-minute drive was a blur and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Emma's car parked in front of her apartment. I ran up the two flights of stairs until I was standing in front of her door.

Normally, I would use the extra key she had given me a few weeks earlier, but this was different. I raised my hand and knocked on the door, standing there staring at the number twenty for what felt like forever before she answered the door.

"Hi," I barely whispered as I took her in. She was wearing yoga pants and my old high school wrestling sweatshirt with her blonde hair piled on top of her head in a bun. Her eyes were swollen from crying and she let out a gasp as I reached out and pulled her into my arms.

I held her to my chest as she shook with silent tears. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I lifted her feet off the ground and walked her into the apartment. She kept her head tucked into the crook of my neck as I made my way to the couch where I sat down and arranged Emma on my lap and her head on my shoulder.

After a few minutes, Emma lifted her head and I wiped away her tears. I cupped her face in my hands and looked into her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Max," Emma barely got out as she closed her eyes and another trail of tears fell. "I'm sorry I didn't come back sooner and I;m sorry I never told you about the pregnancy."

"I know," I said as I rubbed circles into her back.

"I've wanted to tell you for years and I was going to tell you when we got back together, but I was afraid you would leave me and I couldn't handle losing you again."

"I wouldn't have left you." I forced her to look me in the eye so she could see I was telling the truth. "Not then and not now. If you would have come back and told me about the baby, I would have loved it and you with all my heart. I would have given everything up for you and I still would."

Emma's arms came around my neck and she curled into me as I wrapped my arms around her.

"I was just so scared," she mumbled into my neck. "I was so young and I knew I had made a mistake when I left you. I just didn't know what to do. Then, when I lost the baby, I couldn't face you."

I just held her against me, not knowing what to say. I couldn't imagine what she went through all alone with no one to turn to. I hurt for her and I hurt for me and I hurt for the child we lost.

I watched as years of pain and turmoil passed over her face. Emma's hands were clutching my shirt and I took them in mine, still holding them to my chest.

"I want to show you something," Emma breathed before pressing her lips to my temple and climbing out of my lap.

Sitting on the couch with my hands in my lap, I waited while Emma looked for whatever she wanted to show me. I looked around the room and noticed the little changes she had made since we had been together. There were pictures of us framed on the walls and on the mantle, both new pictures and old pictures. We looked so young in those pictures from high school, hell we were still young, but we also looked so in love.

Emma finally came back into the living room with a small square of paper in her hand. She sat down next to me with her hands in her lap, the folded piece of paper clutched tightly in her grasp.

"I've kept this piece of paper in hopes that I could show it to you one day," Emma said as she passed the folded up square over to me. I stifled a gasp as I unfolded the paper to see a sonogram picture of our baby. "That's our child, Max. That's our daughter."

"She's beautiful," I barely got out as I tried to choke back tears. "Thank you."

I pressed my lips to the top of Emma's head as I wrapped my arms around her. "I love you, Emma. I'm going to marry you and you're going to have my babies and we're going to be so happy together."

"That better not be a proposal." Emma chuckled as I pulled her head from the crook of my neck to kiss her lips.

"No, just a promise."

"It better be." Emma kissed me again before saying, "I love you."

In that moment, I knew we would make it through this. We were going to pick up where we left off and be better people for it.

Thank you so much for reading! I know it's been a while since I've updated this story, but my muse decided to abandon me for a while. Thankfully, I've found my muse again, but I don't really know where I want to take this story. If you have any suggestions or POV requests, please let me know and let me know what you thought of this chapter in a review.

Thanks again! :)