[Night] [Rooftop]
Everyone had settled into the pool after dinner, letting the calm night wash away the exhaustion from the day. Alex and his harem. Except for Chloe. He planned to talk to her tomorrow over the phone since he can't leave NY in the midst of filming.
Scarlett leaned comfortably against the edge with her arms resting behind her, Angelina floated lazily nearby with her hair tied up, and Caroline sat on the shallow ledge with her feet moving gently through the water while she scrolled through nursery ideas on her phone for the fiftieth time that evening.
Max sat beside Alex with a glass of Minute Maid in her hand, looking deeply offended every time someone else took a sip of an actual cocktail.
"This is discrimination," she muttered while staring into the orange liquid. "I'm suffering in a pool full of drunk rich people while I'm over here drinking melted childhood."
Scarlett laughed softly and lifted her mocktail slightly. "You realize most of us are drinking mocktails too, right?"
Max narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, but yours looks expensive. Mine came from a supermarket fridge beside string cheese."
Everyone laughed a little at Max's comment on Minute Maid.
Alex rested his arms along the edge of the pool and glanced toward Max with amusement. "You've been pregnant for a few days and already acting like a war veteran."
Max pointed at him immediately. "I gave up alcohol, caffeine, and questionable sushi. I deserve respect for my sacrifice."
Halle smiled warmly from the opposite side of the pool while gently swirling her drink. "Trust me, after a while you stop missing most of it."
Max gave her a flat look. "Easy for you to say. You already survived the battlefield. But..." She thought for a moment. "I guess, it's fun in its own way." She touched her tummy. "You better respect me when you grow up." She mumbled.
Nearby on the lounge table, the open laptop displayed the live nursery camera feed. Asher slept peacefully inside his crib while Nacho, the orange cat, was curled beside him like a furry security guard assigned to protect the future heir of Titan Studios.
Caroline glanced toward the screen and smiled instantly. "I still can't believe Nacho decided Asher belongs to him now. He never curls up beside me when I sleep. Wait! Am I getting jealous?"
"Yep, you are," Angelina chimed in. "I felt the same way when I first met the furry ball. He'd run from me like I'm some kind of devil."
Rachel sat quietly near the corner of the pool with her drink resting against her knee. Her eyes briefly flicked toward the laptop screen before returning to Alex. She noticed the slight shift in his expression before anyone else did.
Alex exhaled slowly and looked around at all of them. "By the way," he said casually, "my parents are coming over tomorrow night around eight."
The reaction was immediate.
Caroline blinked first. "Wait... your parents?"
Angelina turned slightly in the water, curiosity appearing almost instantly. "You never mentioned they actually visit."
Scarlett tilted her head while studying him carefully. "Hold on. I just realized something. You never really talk about your parents at all."
The atmosphere shifted slightly after that. Nothing uncomfortable yet, just curious. Even Max looked over at him more carefully now, her teasing expression softening a little.
Alex rubbed the back of his neck briefly before leaning his head against the pool edge. "Yeah... we haven't exactly had the best relationship over the years."
Caroline lowered her phone slowly. "You always dodge the topic whenever they come up."
"That obvious?" Alex asked with a faint smile.
"Oh yeah," Evangeline replied gently. "Every single time someone asks, you suddenly become interested in literally anything else."
Max snorted quietly. "One time Scarlett asked about your childhood and you somehow turned the conversation into a twenty-minute rant about bad CGI sharks."
Scarlett laughed immediately. "Oh my God, that's true."
Alex shook his head with a quiet chuckle, though the smile faded a little afterward. "Things were complicated with them for a long time. A lot of misunderstandings, a lot of bad communication, and honestly... a lot of stubbornness on every side."
Rachel stayed silent beside him, listening carefully while keeping her expression neutral.
Halle watched him for a second before speaking softly. "But you're trying to fix things now?"
Alex nodded slowly. "Yeah. I think we all finally got tired of wasting years and me being angry with them." He glanced briefly toward the nursery feed on the laptop where Asher still slept peacefully beside Nacho. "And after Asher was born... things started feeling different. I can understand why they did that. In their eyes, it was for my own good, but back then, in my eyes, it was abandonment. And now that I'm a dad, I can understand the responsibility. I'll do anything to keep my kids safe... anything. Even if they ended up hating me for the rest of their lives..."
He smiled a bit.
"As long as they are okay... I can live with that."
The rooftop quieted slightly after that.
Angelina rested her chin lightly against her hand while floating near the edge. "So tomorrow is the first real family meeting?"
"Pretty much," Alex admitted. "They've talked to me recently, but this'll be the first time they're actually coming here."
Evangeline's expression softened immediately. "You nervous?"
Alex thought about it for a second before answering honestly. "A little."
Max looked at him sideways, surprised enough that it showed. "Wow. You actually said that out loud."
He smirked faintly. "Enjoy the moment. It's rare."
Max leaned her head lightly against his shoulder afterward, her tone quieter this time. "You know we'll survive one awkward family dinner, right? And there will be that topic about all these beautiful and hot girls living with you, and you knocking up one of them right after you had a baby?"
Alex looked at her briefly before nodding once. "Yeah, I know."
Scarlett watched him from across the pool, her expression softer now that the joking had faded. "So what are they actually like?" she asked again, quieter this time. "Your parents, I mean."
Alex stared up at the night sky for a few seconds before answering. The lights from the city reflected faintly across the water while the rooftop breeze moved through the quiet space around them.
"I honestly don't remember much anymore," he admitted with a small shrug. "At least not clearly."
That answer caught everyone off guard.
Caroline lowered her phone completely now, her attention fully on him while Max slowly straightened beside him.
Alex rubbed his thumb against the side of his glass absentmindedly as he continued. "By the time they left, I was barely a teenager. After that, life got messy really fast." He let out a quiet breath through his nose. "Most of my energy went into surviving, figuring out how to get back on my feet, building something from nothing, and hating them for a really long time."
The rooftop stayed quiet except for the soft sound of water moving around them.
"At some point," Alex said, his voice calmer now, "I think my brain just stopped holding onto certain things. Either I erased parts of them from my memory or locked those memories somewhere so deep that even I can't reach them properly anymore."
Angelina frowned slightly. "Even with your photographic memory?"
Alex gave a faint nod. "Yeah. Which honestly says a lot."
Halle's expression softened immediately. "That sounds painful."
Alex gave a small shrug, like he didn't know how else to describe it. "It used to be. Now it mostly feels… distant." He paused for a second, searching for the right words. "I remember fragments. My mother reading sometimes. My father teaching me chess once. Random little things like that. Then after they disappeared, everything else kind of swallowed those memories whole."
Max stayed unusually quiet beside him. Her fingers slowly traced the rim of her glass while she watched him more carefully than before.
Evangeline rested her arms along the pool edge and smiled faintly. "You know, that explains a lot about you."
Alex looked over at her with mild amusement. "Really?"
"Yes," she replied. "You're always taking care of everyone else, solving problems, carrying everything yourself like asking for help never even occurs to you."
Angelina nodded slowly in agreement while floating closer. "Yeah. You act like somebody who learned very early that nobody was coming to save him."
That one landed harder than the others.
Alex looked at the water for a moment. "Maybe," he said quietly. Then he looked at Rachel, who had been sitting quietly for a while. "But someone saved me when I was at a tough point in my life. She helped me choose the right path. Thanks to her, I am who I am today."
Rachel felt a little tug in her heart. It wasn't bad, but the way he was looking at her made her feel loved.
Caroline's face softened a bit. "That's probably why you spoil everyone," she said kindly. "You give people the things you wish you had when you were going through tough times, and you really try to help as many people as you can to get a breakthrough in their lives."
Max glanced sideways at him after hearing that, then leaned lightly against his shoulder again. "Damn," she muttered under her breath. "Why are we all getting emotionally intelligent tonight? I blame the pool."
Scarlett laughed softly, though her eyes stayed on Alex. "She's right, though."
Rachel remained silent near the corner of the pool, listening while keeping her drink balanced loosely against her knee. Her eyes lingered on Alex for a second longer than usual. Unlike the others, she knew exactly how much he wasn't saying.
Alex finally looked around at all of them and smirked faintly, trying to lighten the mood before it got too heavy. "You all realize tomorrow might just end with my parents asking too many things about me and if I'm taking good care of you all, right?"
Caroline immediately straightened with fake confidence. "Good. I've been preparing for this my entire life."
Max snorted loudly beside him. "Please. You thought doggy style prevented pregnancy. You are not surviving interrogation."
Caroline pointed at her instantly. "Excuse you, pregnant people aren't allowed to bully me."
"You literally helped create this bullying environment," Max shot back without hesitation.
Evangeline laughed while Rachel shook her head in amusement.
Alex leaned back against the edge of the pool again, calmer now after finally saying some of it out loud. His eyes drifted toward the nursery camera feed one more time, where Asher turned around a little.
For a brief moment, his expression softened again.
"Still," he said quietly, almost more to himself than anyone else, "I think I want this to work."
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[4 advance chs] [All chs available for all tiers]
+ [Reborn in Castle: 26 chs] + [Modern Family: 6 chs]