The penthouse felt alive the second Alex and Rachel stepped inside.
Trixie sprinted across the living room at full speed while Nacho bolted ahead of her like his tiny orange life depended on it. The cat launched himself over the carpet, slid slightly near the kitchen island, then disappeared behind one of the chairs with Trixie chasing after him in determined pursuit.
"Trixie, no running near the stairs," Chloe called from the couch, though there wasn't much seriousness behind it anymore. At this point, she sounded like a mother who already knew the warning would be ignored within five seconds.
Asher rested quietly in her arms, wrapped in a soft blue blanket while she gently rocked him against her chest. Max lounged nearby with her legs stretched across the couch, flipping through baby name suggestions on her phone with growing regret, while Angelina sat beside her with a glass of wine in hand, looking far too relaxed for someone listening to Max complain for the last twenty minutes.
The moment the front door clicked shut, Trixie spotted Alex and immediately abandoned the cat mission entirely.
"Alex!"
She ran straight toward him and wrapped both arms around his legs without slowing down properly, nearly tackling herself into the floor in the process. Alex laughed quietly and rested a hand on her head, ruffling her hair gently while looking down at her bright smile.
"Hey, kiddo," he said warmly. "How're you doing?"
Trixie squeezed him tighter for another second before finally looking up at him. "I'm fine, but Nacho cheated," she informed him very seriously. "He used the chair shortcut again."
Alex glanced toward the guilty orange cat hiding nearby. "That sounds exactly like something he'd do."
Nacho blinked slowly from behind the chair like he had absolutely no regrets about his crimes. "Meoow!"
Alex finally looked up toward Chloe across the room. The second their eyes met, something in his expression softened automatically. Chloe noticed it too and smiled faintly while adjusting Asher carefully in her arms.
"You look exhausted," she said quietly.
"I feel exhausted," Alex admitted with a small chuckle as he loosened the collar of his shirt slightly. "We spent half the day emotionally traumatizing Supergirl and the other half trying to make a high school hallway look cinematic."
Rachel walked past them toward the kitchen island while removing her blazer. "One extra almost destroyed an emotional scene with a bookshelf," she added calmly.
Trixie gasped dramatically. "Did Supergirl fight them?"
Alex looked down at her with complete seriousness. "No. She showed mercy this time."
Trixie nodded like that made perfect sense.
Max glanced up from the couch. "See, this is why kids trust you. You say ridiculous things with full confidence."
Alex shook his head with a quiet laugh before finally stepping further into the living room. His attention drifted toward Asher for a second, watching the baby sleeping peacefully in Chloe's arms while the chaos of the penthouse carried on around him.
The sight visibly relaxed him. He wanted to go over and kiss his forehead, but since Alex had just come from outside, it wasn't a good idea.
"Well," he said as he started shrugging out of his coat, "let me take a quick shower first. I kinda stink right now."
Trixie let him go. "Okay." She shifted her attention back to Nacho.
"Meoww!" Nacho was ready for another round of chase.
...
About twenty minutes later...
Alex and Rachel came back downstairs after showering and changing. The heavy exhaustion from the studio still lingered around them a little, though clean clothes and hot water had taken the edge off the day.
Alex wore a loose black shirt with gray sweatpants, while Rachel had switched into a simple t-shirt and dark shorts. Her hair was still slightly damp, falling loosely over one shoulder as she followed him into the living room.
The first thing Alex looked for was Asher.
Chloe noticed immediately and smiled softly before adjusting the baby in her arms. "Freshly sanitized father privileges restored?" she teased quietly while standing up from the couch.
Alex walked over with a small grin. "I'd like to file an official request to hold my son now."
"Request approved," Chloe replied as she carefully handed Asher over.
Alex took him gently, one arm supporting the baby instinctively while the other adjusted the blanket slightly. The moment Asher settled against his chest, Alex's entire posture relaxed. He leaned down and kissed his forehead softly before brushing his thumb lightly along the baby's cheek.
"There's my little guy," he murmured warmly. "Did you terrorize everyone while I was gone?"
Asher blinked sleepily at him before making a tiny sound that barely qualified as communication.
Max looked up from the couch immediately. "That sounded like a confession."
Alex sat down carefully on the couch with Asher resting comfortably against him while Chloe shifted closer beside him automatically, one hand lightly fixing the edge of the blanket around the baby.
Trixie has finally caught Nacho and dragged him to play house.
The orange cat sat inside a toy basket, looking deeply unimpressed by his role in the game.
"You can't leave the house without permission," Trixie informed him seriously while placing a tiny plastic cup beside him. "Because you're the baby."
"Meow."
"That's what babies say."
From the kitchen, the sound of sizzling butter filled the air while Halle stood near the stove stirring vegetables in a pan. Evangeline worked beside her, chopping meat into cubes.
"Smells good," Halle said while tossing another ingredient into the pan.
Evangeline finished chopping and placed the meat cubes into a big bowl. "Alright, I'm done with the meat. Time to marinate it for a bit."
Angelina walked over to them to lend a hand. "Leave the dessert to me."
A few feet away, near the wine cabinet, Caroline held up two bottles with deep concentration while Scarlett stood beside her like they were conducting a high-level business negotiation.
"I'm telling you the Pinot Noir works better with tonight's dinner," Caroline argued while squinting at the label. "It feels elegant."
Scarlett folded her arms loosely. "You pick wine entirely based on whether the label looks expensive."
Caroline gasped softly. "That is incredibly rude and also partially true."
Scarlett reached past her and grabbed another bottle from the rack. "This one."
Caroline narrowed her eyes immediately. "That bottle looks emotionally unavailable."
Scarlett stared at her for a second. "What does that even mean?"
"It means the wine tastes like somebody's ex-boyfriend who says things like 'I need space' before ruining your mental health."
Max looked up from the couch instantly. "Open that one. I want to see if she's right."
"You're not even drinking," Scarlett reminded her.
Max pointed toward the bottle anyway. "Pregnant women can still participate spiritually."
Rachel walked into the kitchen quietly and opened the fridge while listening to the chaos around her with visible resignation. She grabbed a bottle of water and leaned lightly against the counter for a second.
"This house somehow becomes louder every week," she muttered. "I like it."
"That's because we keep adding emotionally unstable people," Max replied casually from the couch.
Caroline pointed toward herself. "I'm emotionally expressive, not unstable."
"You panic-bought thirty pregnancy tests because you misunderstood biology."
"That happened one time, Max. One time."
Scarlett smirked while uncorking the bottle she chose anyway. "One historically important time."
Alex shook his head quietly while adjusting Asher slightly higher against his chest. The baby made a little sound before settling again almost instantly. Chloe watched the movement with a soft expression before resting her head lightly against Alex's shoulder.
"You really do relax every time you hold him," she murmured quietly.
Alex glanced down at Asher for a second before nodding. "Yeah," he admitted softly. "Everything slows down a little."
Chloe smiled faintly at that while brushing one finger gently along the baby's blanket. "You looked exhausted when you walked in."
"I was," he admitted. "Then Trixie accused Nacho of cheating and somehow that fixed half of it."
Across the room, Trixie immediately looked up after hearing her name. "Because he did cheat," she defended loudly while hugging the cat. "He escaped jail twice."
Nacho blinked at Alex like he expected legal representation.
Alex nodded solemnly. "That sounds serious. We may need a trial after dinner."
Trixie gasped excitedly. "Can I be the judge?"
"Absolutely not," Max answered instantly. "I'll be the judge."
"I'm the mom," Trixie argued.
"Meow!" Nacho said.
"That cat has suffered enough already," Rachel muttered under her breath before taking another sip of water.
The smell of dinner slowly filled the penthouse after that, warm and rich enough to pull everyone's attention toward the kitchen. Halle finally turned off the stove and glanced toward the living room.
"Alright," she announced while grabbing a towel. "Food's almost ready, and they are about to arrive soon."
...
The doorbell rang...
For half a second, the entire penthouse seemed to pause. Even Trixie stopped mid-conversation with Nacho, who still sat trapped inside the toy basket looking emotionally exhausted by his fake imprisonment.
Max immediately jumped off the couch and stretched once. "I'll get it," she announced before anyone else could move.
Alex shifted slightly. Chloe felt the subtle tension that passed through him instantly. His shoulders tightened just enough to notice before he slowly stood up from the couch.
Max reached the front door and pulled it open.
Michael and Gina stood there.
For a second, nobody said anything.
Michael looked older than Alex remembered. The sharpness in his features remained, but time had added weight to his eyes, the kind that came from years carrying things nobody else saw. Gina stood beside him in a dark coat with her hands loosely clasped together, though the moment her eyes landed on Alex, that composure cracked almost instantly.
Then both of them saw the baby in his arms.
Everything else disappeared from their attention after that.
Alex stood still near the center of the living room while Asher slept peacefully against his chest, completely unaware of the tension around him.
Michael's expression shifted first. The controlled mask slipped just enough for something real to show through: Pride, relief and too many regrets. It all hit at once.
Gina looked like she forgot how to speak for a second. Her eyes stayed locked on Asher while one hand slowly lifted toward her chest.
"Oh…" she whispered softly, almost breathless. "He's beautiful."
Alex swallowed once before finally speaking. "Hey."
It sounded strangely small compared to everything sitting underneath that one word.
Michael looked at his son properly then, studying his face like he was trying to bridge years of distance in a single moment. "Hey, AL. You look..." He nodded with a painful smile. "...great. All grown up and... you're a father now."
The old nickname landed harder than Alex expected.
The silence might have turned emotional if Caroline hadn't suddenly rushed into the middle of it, holding a bottle of sanitizer like an emergency response worker.
"Okay," she announced while holding the bottle up seriously. "I know both of you are dying to hold the little guy and hug your son, but sanitizer first because babies are tiny germ magnets."
The tension cracked instantly.
Max snorted loudly from behind the couch while Scarlett covered her mouth to hide a laugh.
Michael blinked once before looking at the sanitizer bottle now aggressively pointed toward him. "I see the household has rules." He glanced toward Alex. "Good for you."
"Oh, we have charts," Caroline replied proudly. "And schedules. And approximately nine hundred baby wipes hidden throughout the penthouse."
Gina laughed softly for the first time since entering, some of the emotion easing from her face. She held out her hands obediently while Caroline squirted sanitizer into them with terrifying efficiency.
"Rub thoroughly," Caroline instructed. "Thumbs too."
Max folded her arms nearby and grinned. "She's been waiting all day to say that."
"Because hygiene matters, Max."
"You threatened a delivery guy with disinfectant yesterday."
"Someone has to be responsible around her."
Michael quietly sanitized his hands too, though his attention kept drifting back toward Alex and the baby in his arms.
Trixie wandered closer while holding Nacho under one arm like an orange football. She looked up at the newcomers curiously before whispering loudly to Chloe, "Are those Alex's parents?"
Chloe smiled faintly and nodded. "Yep."
Trixie studied them seriously for another second. "They look fancy."
Nacho meowed in agreement.
Alex finally stepped forward after Caroline deemed everyone medically acceptable. He stopped in front of his parents, suddenly unsure what the right thing to do was after all these years.
Gina solved that problem herself.
She moved first and wrapped her arms around him before he could react. The hug hit him with enough force to break through every prepared thought in his head. Alex froze for half a second before slowly hugging her back, careful with Asher still resting between them.
"I missed you so much," she whispered shakily against his shoulder.
Alex closed his eyes briefly. "Yeah," he murmured quietly. "I missed you too."
Michael stood there watching them, his jaw tightening slightly before Alex looked at him again.
There was still distance there... Years of it.
But there was also something else now... Effort.
Michael stepped forward and rested one hand firmly against Alex's shoulder before pulling him into a brief hug that carried more emotion than words ever would.
"You did good, son," he said quietly while glancing toward Asher. "Really good."
Alex let out a small breath that almost sounded like a laugh. "Still figuring that part out."
Michael's eyes softened slightly. "That never stops."
Gina finally looked around properly after the initial emotion had settled. Her attention moved across the crowded penthouse: the women, the noise, Trixie holding a cat hostage, the smell of dinner filling the air, and the strange warmth holding everything together.
"Here you go," Alex said, handing Asher to his mom.
"Aww!" She took her grandson, and tears welled up in her eyes. She carefully hugged him.
Then her eyes returned to Alex again.
For the first time in years, she felt at peace.
===[AN: That's it for now. Time to stock up again. See you soon... Probably on 1st June. And I'll be releasing Reborn in Castle at the same time.]
Support link: www.patr eon.com/UnknownMaster
[4 advance chs] [All chs available for all tiers]
+ [Reborn in Castle: 27 chs] + [Modern Family: 7 chs]