The Promise: A Maxerica Fanfiction

The Kiss

I never thought I would address a living person with that name again.

"That's me." She said with a slight smile.

I sat on the edge of the hospital cot, but kept a tight hold of her. I stared into those beautiful blue-grey eyes that I'd never thought I'd see again. I reverently touched a lock of fiery hair. I drank in the sight of her. Her face blurred and I felt a tear slip down my cheek.

The girl in my arms reached out and gently wiped them away. "Hey I'm just about as good with crying men as you are with crying women. What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" I practically yelled with the absurdity of the question. "You died America. That's what's wrong. I watched you get shot and I couldn't stop it. I was too late."

I took a moment to wrestle down the emotion clogging my throat.

"America I had to watch as the love of my life took her last breath. Your blood was pooling beneath me. I watched you die, and I felt myself die too. It was the worst, most awful thing ever."

Her eyes glistened. "But I'm alive."

"But you're alive. I can hardly believe it." We were both silent for a moment before I continued my confession.

"I think I threw the biggest pity party Illéa has ever seen; I mourned your death for a week before I decided I should probably do some kingly stuff. And that mainly happened because I knew you would probably repeat the whole groin-kick incident if you knew about my neglect." I cracked a smile.

"Yeah I probably would have if I could actually get out of bed." We chuckled at the memories we shared.

After a nostalgic moment I again broke the silence. "So... what have you been up to?"

America laughed. "Oh, you know. The usual. Nearly dying, sitting around bored out of my mind, and, of course, feeling pretty insecure about my standing with the prin—king of Illéa."

Unfortunately her "usual" was, in fact, not too uncommon for her. "You seem to have a lot of near-death experiences."

"Only when I'm around you." She shot back. She was just playing, but it still hurt to know that I was the reason she was frequently in danger.

"America, I'm so, so sorry about everything that has happened to you. It is truly all my fault. I can't—"

"Maxon." She cut me off and rolled her eyes at me.

Here I was, trying to have a tender, apologetic moment and she actually rolled her eyes at me.

"I get it. I really do, but most of the situations I've gotten into were because of my stupidity or Celeste or something. I don't regret my decisions." She paused, "Okay except that awful red dress. I regret that heartily." She smiled and it was so contagious that I couldn't help doing the same.

I quickly concealed the grin and put on a straight face. "What I'm trying to—"

"Shhh." She placed a soft finger on my lips, which effectively shut me up. "I don't want to relive all our old mistakes. I almost died Maxon. I thought I would never see you again. I felt awful about all the things that happened between us, but I accepted them all. I made peace with myself and you need to as well. I'm tired of living in the past."

I kissed the finger she still held to my lips and took her hand. I decided to say something profound and meaningful and came up with, "Uh huh."

I cleared my throat, flustered, and continued. "I don't want to either. I want to live here and now. With you. Forever.

"America I really, really don't want to live without you. I experienced it for the past week and I was the biggest wreck Illéa's ever seen, I'm sure." This earns a smile from America.

"And I love you so, so much. More than life itself." I paused, then sighed. "Originally I had this whole elaborate engagement plan that involved getting on one knee, but that would require setting you down and I don't intend to ever let go of you again."

I held her tighter and looked into her beautiful eyes.

"America Singer, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife? I promise I'll love you and cherish you and be good forever and ever if you do!" America laughed but I could see the tears in her eyes.

"I thought you'd never ask." She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me down into a passionate kiss.

After a generous amount of time I reluctantly pulled away, pressing my forehead to hers. "Not that I'm not enjoying myself immensely, but you didn't really answer my question."

"Oh," She said, rather breathlessly. "I just wanted to check on your kissing skills before I committed to anything."

I laughed. "And?"

"Adequate, I suppose."

I quirked an eyebrow and tried to convince her otherwise.

"Okay," She laughed, breaking the kiss, "You got me. Of course I'm marry you!"

"I love you America." I beamed.

"And I love you Maxon."