I Will Never Let You Go (A Maxcer Fanfic)

Daddy Is Gone.

After three nights, Max was discharged from the hospital and brought home, and Spencer took some time off to care for her and the girls. Like with any abdominal surgery, it was painful to bend over for Max; therefore she couldn't pick up either of the girls and had to have Spencer bring them to her. Anytime she dropped something she had to wait for Spencer to retrieve it for her, which seemed to bother her more than what the surgery meant for them.
Since they'd gotten home two weeks ago, they hadn't talked much about losing the baby, which perplexed Spencer and worried him. He had talked with Max before about how she worried about miscarrying and that she didn't know what she'd do if it happened; but now that she was home, it wasn't affecting her the way he thought it would. He had his theories: that she was bottling up her feelings and didn't want to upset him or the girls, or the fact that she might still be in shock from the experience and was feeling too many things, thus making it difficult for her to express herself. Regardless, Spencer didn't want to harm her by bringing it up, so he did what he had to to ensure that she was getting rest and that the girls were well and happy.
"That's the last of it. Now Daddy's gonna pour in some detergent and then you can click the button okay?" Spencer said to Willow, handing her the last pieces of clothing in the hamper. She chucked them into the washing machine and shut the door, then waited a few seconds for him to pick her up so she could press start.
"You are such a good helper, you know that?" Spencer asked.
"You say that all the time."
"Because it's true." Spencer remarked, tickling her neck. A noise came from the baby monitor that sat on the dryer, and Spencer could see Ayla pulling herself up in the bars of her crib.
"Sister's awake. Wanna go get her with me?"
"Yeah!"
Spencer carried Willow up the basement stairs to the first floor, shutting off the light and closing the door behind him before heading up to the second floor. Max was also napping, so he made sure to keep his steps light as he walked down the hallway. After opening Ayla's door, Spencer placed Willow on the ground and allowed her to walk over to her sister's crib herself.
"Hi Aylaroo, did you have a nice nap?" Spencer asked, smoothing her hair over that had been disheveled by her tossing and turning. Unlike Willow, Ayla was an intense sleeper; when she was deep in a dream, she kicked and rolled like she was convulsing sometimes. It frightened them at first, but after showing a video to her pediatrician, they concluded that she was fine.
Ayla smiled around her binky and bounced on her feet, causing her binky to fall from her mouth and hit her mattress.
"Uh oh." She said.
"Uh oh." Spencer mimicked.
Ayla fell down on her butt as she tried to bend down and grab it, then stuck it back in her mouth and stood herself back up.
"You're getting good at that. Soon enough you'll be running up and down the halls with Willa." Spencer told her as he hoisted her out of the crib and positioned her on his hip.
"Can I play with Ayla now?" Willow asked.
"Of course, but first I gotta change her diaper and get some lunch into your bellies."
"Okay."
Spencer brought them both downstairs and had them sit at the table while he made Willow a simple cream cheese and jelly sandwich and laid out pieces of fruit and puff snacks on Ayla's tray. He made a sandwich for himself, having been turned onto it by Max. He typically went for original PB&J, but having cream cheese instead at times hit the spot.
Somehow just by him thinking of his wife, Spencer heard slow creaks in the stairs as someone descended them. When Max came into view, her eyes were cracked open but she still had a clear smile on her face. Spencer smiled back at her.
"Hey babe, I was just making them some lunch. Do you want anything? Need anything?" He questioned as she came closer. She leaned into him and wrapped an arm around his waist, the other resting on his chest. He reciprocated the side hug and held the other half of his sandwich in front of her. Max took a bite from it and licked the excess cream cheese and jelly from her lips.
"Mm, make me one." She said before pulling away and moving over to Ayla's high chair. Ayla smiled up at her mother as she smoothed over her hair, which just in the past month had become straighter like Willow's but still had a slight curl at the ends. A feeling that Max couldn't quite place settled in her heart, and she stopped smiling down at her second daughter. Without a word, she ruffled Willow's hair before exiting the kitchen and taking a seat on the couch.
It wasn't the first time Spencer had witnessed Max do that, so he didn't probe to see if anything was wrong. He knew something was plaguing his wife's mind, but no matter how many times he'd ask, she'd always avoid giving him an answer he could work with. He didn't blame her; couldn't blame her. What they'd both just went through and were still going through was heavy, and they had to deal with it in their own way; together and separately.
Max was given her sandwich just as the girls were finished with their lunch, so they came and played on the living room floor in front of her. Now that Ayla could crawl, sit up, and even stand with assistance, her and Willow had become the cutest playmates. Willow was very imaginative, so when she talked about her own made up worlds while showing Ayla her dolls, both of their faces lit up.
After several minutes, Willow's expression turned from enjoyment to concern as she looked around one of her Little People playsets.
"Where is Daddy?" She asked to no one in particular.
Spencer peeked his head out from their office, where he'd been doing some paperwork while Max had an eye on the girls.
"I'm right here peanut. What's wrong?"
"No, Daddy is gone." She said. Spencer came into the living room and looked down at Willow, who seemed convinced that something was amiss.
"Willow, I'm standing in front of you. I was just in the office, remember?"
"Yeah, but Daddy is gone." She said, pointing at her playset. Spencer averted his eyes to it and knelt down to peer inside. There were three Little People dolls sitting in the small room: one was a blonde boy holding a yellow crayon and an orange number five, another was a red haired girl with pigtails and pink glasses, and the last was Rapunzel; one of her proclaimed favorites.
"Did you name one of your Little People 'Daddy' or something?" He asked.
"Oh I remember now. He's the policeman. I think she left him in the bathtub last night." Max announced from  the couch. Spencer went upstairs to check and sure enough, the policeman was sitting with all the rest of their bath toys in the corner of the tub. He inspected it closer in his hand before going back downstairs.
"Is this who you're looking for?" He asked, holding it out to Willow.who
"Yeah! Thank you."
Spencer smiled and turned back to look at Max,  was smiling at her girls playing together once again.
"Since when does she name them?" Spencer asked, sitting down next to her.
"What do you mean? She names all of her toys. She even named her slippers." Max chuckled. Spencer did too, remembering her fluffy bunny slippers that she named Jenny and Penny. They had a feeling a pair of his coworkers had something to do with it after having a sleepover once.
"I know, but Daddy? That's a little interesting."
"Yeah, I guess it's my fault."
"What makes you say that?"
Max shifted so she was facing him more.
"I don't remember exactly when, but one day Willow asked why you went away so often. We'd agreed we wouldn't go into detail until they were older but I also didn't want to just use the excuse 'because'. So I said you worked for something called the FBI, which was similar to the police; and she held up her policeman and asked 'Is this Daddy?' so I told her it was pretty close. So I think since then she'd always referred to it as you."
Max's explanation slowly made a smile creep onto Spencer's face, warm and amused at how Max handled the situation and how Willow responded to it.
"I will say this, it kinda worried me when she started saying that stuff before; for a second I thought she was having a delusion." Spencer said uncomfortably.
"Babe you can't think like that. Besides isn't she too young?"
"It's widely undiagnosable until 8 years old, but some people are born with it and live through their childhood without proper care."
"You don't think that's the case for them right?"
"No, not unless I find a reason to believe so." Spencer admitted, placing a hand on Max's knee.