After: a Maxerica Story

Part 2

Hi everyone! I haven't really decided when I would like to end this story, but I feel like we're coming up on the last few chapters :( It makes my heart so full when you guys still comment on this story (that I started when I was TWELVE.... I'm nineteen now), it just blows me away at how awesome you all are!!! Thank you for everything!!! I promise I will do my best to do Maxerica's story justice.

Also, is the selection movie actually happening?? I am DYING to know. If any of you have any information please tell me hahaha!!

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* TEN YEARS LATER *

Deep in thought, I wander aimlessly around the hospital wing to pass the time. Every second feels like an hour. Every hour feels like an eternity. Just waiting for news, for anything. I think about everything that could be going wrong while I wait, and how many bad things have happened in this very place. Everyone that has died, everyone that has suffered, every loved one that has been lost. I shudder, trying to remove those thoughts from my mind.

"Hey," a calm voice says from behind me. A voice that instantly warms my heart and melts my troubles away.

"Have you heard anything?" I murmur, spinning around to face him. "Please tell me you've heard something."

"Not much." Maxon exhales slowly. "I think she needs you in there. Logan is trying, but.... she needs a mother. She needs her mother."

I furrow my eyebrows, nodding. "I'll be right there. Give me a minute?"

"Of course." He kisses me on the forehead, his thumb stroking my cheek slowly before he leaves to go back to the room.

I take a deep breath, closing my eyes. I have been Ashlyn's mother-in-law for years now... The closest thing she has to her real mother, who died before Gerad and Gwen had married. She has come to me for advice as she would her mother, but when she got pregnant 8 and a half months ago, I could tell she wished her own mother was here to help her through it. I was there for her as much as I could be, as was the rest of our growing family.

Until the complications began to happen. I vividly remember Logan coming to me after a doctor's appointment, his eyes red from crying. He tried to explain everything the doctor told them, about how Ashlyn might lose the baby, or how she could lose her own life, or both. On that day, I believe I lost the happy, care-free baby boy I had previously known.

Since that day, there's been an eerie silence around the palace. It's as if everyone was holding their breath to see the outcome of Ashlyn's pregnancy. Her and Logan spent a lot of time alone, in their quarters and in the garden, no doubt trying to prepare themselves for this very day.

I roll back my shoulders and put a brave face on. If Ashlyn needs me right now, then I will not let her down.

Straightening my posture, I walk towards Ashlyn's room and hear her screams almost immediately. I stop in my tracks, one step away from the door, and let the fear show on my face - just for a moment. A breath. And then, I walk in.

I scan the room before heading to Ashlyn's side. Maxon is standing in the corner, talking quietly with who I assume is a nurse. Other nurses and doctors are moving around the room, making preparations for the delivery. One doctor is sitting at the end of the bed, giving Ashlyn instructions. Logan is at Ashlyn's side, whispering something to her, squeezing her hand. Everyone is exhausted - Ashlyn has been in labor for almost a day now. And Ashlyn herself looks so, so pale, and so hopeless. Tears stain her cheeks and sweat drips down her face. It's clear she thinks she will be losing this battle.