"Tomorrow" by Daughter
Max enjoyed Sundays, though not for the reason Kate wished she did. Unlike her friend, Max looked forward to them because she could wake up late, not venture into her studio space, scoop up her daughter, and just lay in bed with Ellie and Chloe until Chloe finally woke up.
Today was one such day, but when Max woke up she found Eloise sitting between her and a still-sleeping Chloe. Smiling groggily at her daughter, Max opened her arms wide and Eloise fell into the waiting hug.
"Shhh, baby," Max said, stroking her daughter's ever-growing green hair, "Momma's still sleepin'."
"B-But you promised...," Eloise Price-Caulfield said in a petulant tone, huffing and sticking out her bottom lip in a pout that reminded Max of herself at Ellie's age, "Picnic."
"Ellie..."
"Picnic!" Ellie cried out, Max wincing as her daughter's mouth was a little too close to her ear only to snort when Chloe was instantly sitting up with her eyes half-open.
"Whuzzit...?" Chloe asked before flopping back into the bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes until she turned onto her side and saw the other occupants in the bed, "Hey, pipsqueak. Scooch on over so momma can give mommy a good morning kiss."
"Ewww!" Eloise cried out, Max wincing again and releasing her grip on the squirming little girl as she ran out of the bedroom, repeatedly saying "Pic-a-nic" in a sing-song manner.
"I swear," Max said, leaning into Chloe's waiting arms with a kiss, "I carried her but she's more you than me sometimes."
"Oh no, she's both of us," Chloe said with a smirk, "You hardly see her at school. She's so shy and she actually has a little outfit that reminds me of you at Blackwell."
"No fucking way," Max smiled, playfully slapping Chloe's shoulder before leaning in for another kiss.
"Dude, she has a little grey hoodie, Chuck Taylors, and a pink tank-top. She is literally a pint-sized, green-haired version of you at 18."
"Wowser...," Max said, looking over at Chloe with a blushing face when her wife busted up laughing, "Oh, whatever."
"You haven't said that in years. One mention of shy, cliche, and geek is all it takes to bring out the "Wowser". I suppose you'll want cereal for breakfast...?" Chloe teased, shrieking when Max replied by running her cold feet up the back of Chloe's legs, "Agh! Fucker!"
"Momma said a bad thing!" Ellie said from her bedroom.
"Sorry!" Max and Chloe said in unison, looking at each other before leaning their foreheads against each other's.
"Hey," Max said, tilting her head up to kiss Chloe on the forehead, "Good morning."
"Mmm, it is a good morning, innit?" Chloe asked, wrapping her arms around Max's shoulders, "I get you and the pipsqueak all to myself today?"
"You do."
"No photography work?"
"Nope."
"Ellie? Did you finish your schoolwork?" Chloe shouted.
"Picnic!" Ellie shouted back, the delight in her voice causing Max to smile as she nuzzled the crook of Chloe's neck.
"I guess that answers that," Chloe said with a smile, "Wait. What did she say 'picnic' for?"
Max sat in her comfy chair in the living room, sipping at her steaming coffee, while Ellie and Chloe played a game of Hawt Dawg Man on the retro game system Max had found at the local Goodwill. Able to play the cartridge games from both Nintendo and Sega, Max had scooped up nearly every game she remembered her and Chloe playing and luckily only had to pay 40 bucks for what had cost their parents a lot more when the games were new.
Smiling, Max watched as Chloe let Ellie win for the third time and the scowl Ellie gave her momma as she quickly realized Chloe was letting her off easy.
"You should really play her," Max said, both Ellie and Chloe looking back at her. God, she's got your crazy hair and my freckles. It's like you willed your way into my womb, Chloe, Max thought with a smirk as Chloe quirked an eyebrow.
"That right? I don't think-"
"I was talking to Ellie," Max teased, winking at her daughter to the response of Ellie giggling.
"Wait," Chloe said, looking over at her daughter, "You little lime, you've been going easy on me? Dude, I am the video game master!"
"Mommy said she beat you at Battletoads," Ellie countered, sticking out her tongue.
"Mommy...," Chloe looked at Max over her shoulder with a grumble, "Thanks for showboating, Max."
"I learned from the master. I thought you liked it when I get all bossy, and I am the boss at Battletoads."
"Ellie, cover your ears," Chloe said, waiting until Ellie had her hands clamped down tightly, "Max, eat several dicks and top it off with a shit sundae."
Max stuck her tongue out at Chloe and flipped her off, both women laughing. Ellie removed her hands from her head at the sound of laughter and began another game.
"Oh?" Chloe asked, her voice challenging, "Shall we see who the real master is between us, young padawan?"
"Ye!" Ellie cried out, her voice giving away her concentration as she focused intently on the video game.
"...Mommy tells me you want to go on a picnic," Chloe said after a couple more games, a surprised grin on her face at how ferocious her little lime was, "That true? You don't wanna play games with your momma anymore?"
"Picnic!" Ellie cheered, arms raised over her head with a toothy grin. Seeing the space where a tooth had been until recently had Chloe biting her lip over how cute the little girl was and she scooped Ellie up and lifted her into the air, "Ahhh, Momma! Momma, don't drop me!"
Hearing Max laugh from her chair, Chloe stuck her tongue out and began to tickle Eloise while holding her in mid-air, a smile on her face as the girl squirmed and thrashed. This is what I want, Chloe thought to herself as she sat Ellie down and stood up, A chance to just chill with my family. Aside from the occasional day off either Max is hella busy or I am. Sundays are lazy days, Maxaroni, so why the fuck do you want a picnic? Crying out in alarm as the room suddenly went dark, Chloe heard Ellie giggle and realized someone had pulled her beanie down to cover her eyes while she was lost in thought.
"Okay. Wanna play rough, eh? Prepare to get pounced on…," Chloe said, pulling up the beanie to see Max sitting cross-legged right in front of her, a mischievous grin on her face, "My wife betrays me. I am hella disappoint."
"You'll live," Max said, leaning over to kiss her wife. Chloe felt the softness of Max's lips and heard Ellie run into her bedroom, an audible "Gross!" causing both women to giggle between the first couple kisses. Pushed back onto the floor, Chloe felt Max slide onto her waist and looked up to see Max leaning over her. Their faces inches apart, Max smiled and buried her face in the crook of her wife's neck. "Don't be a lazy-ass, Chlo. She wants to have a picnic with her parents."
"Yeah, but-"
"But what?" Max asked, the serious look on her face making Chloe involuntarily shiver, "You'd deny our daughter? Our daughter?"
"Not a chance…," Chloe said, pausing to try and get her words right, "I… I just wanted to spend the day with only us. Order pizza, watch some movies, and chill. You're super-busy and I'm working two jobs; Ellie only sees both of us together in the mornings and on Sundays, Max. I… I just… I miss you, okay?"
"Chloe…," Max's voice softened as she cupped her wife's cheek, leaning down to kiss her, "I miss you, too. I know we don't get as much time as we used to, but when I'm done with this next-"
"You'll just start another project, Max. You always do," Chloe said, sitting up enough that Max had to slide off her and take a spot alongside, "I'm not complaining. I want you to get your dream. It's just that we are part of that dream, too, the three of us together. I miss my best friend, my wife, the woman I used to tease because she couldn't manage to swallow even a sip of wine…"
"Ugh, you bring that up?" Max asked with a snort, running a hand through Chloe's hair to playfully mess it up, "I miss you too, y'know, the woman who got me into all sorts of bullshit trouble when we were kids. I miss the 'Che' to my 'Maxaroni'."
"Dude, we're not even old yet and we act like our relationship is ancient sometimes," Chloe said, nudging Max's shoulder, "I'd like it if Ellie didn't see her parents age years in weeks, if she saw us how we were before all this."
Gesturing at the apartment, Chloe took in everything that had changed over the past ten years. Odd job after odd job, she'd struggled for a bit to find something that paid well enough while Max attended college. Chloe had tried college as well, but with everything that had happened she didn't have the heart and was more interested in expressing herself through art. Body art, namely; learning from store artists and guests in various tattoo parlors around Seattle, Chloe had amassed enough knowledge to get hired shortly after getting her license and safety certifications. The bartending job she had was nice, the cash and environment a near-perfect blend coinciding with her personality. Chloe hardly ever saw Max, though, her wife either about to go to bed or already asleep by time her shift at either job would be over.
"I… I miss us," Chloe admitted reluctantly, repositioning herself so she could lean her head on Max's shoulder, "I miss road trips, your selfies… Remember when we drove to Big Sur after that."
Chloe's use of the word "that" sent a shiver up and down Max's spine; she knew Chloe was trying to think of better times but mentioning the near-total destruction of Arcadia Bay couldn't be avoided. Leaning her head onto Chloe's, Max intertwined her black-nailed fingers with Chloe's blue-nailed ones and stared at the hands. Lost in thought, Max remembered the first time they'd held hands after getting out of the wreckage of their childhood hometown.
"Max, you awake?" Chloe had asked, both girls squeezing onto the bench seat of Chloe's truck. Pulled into a rest-stop along a length of coastal highway, Max had spent hours alone that day on the beach. Sitting in the sand, fully-dressed, Max had her knees to her chest and watched Chloe mess around in the water in nothing but boxers and a bra. She's shutting down, Chloe thought as she would glance over at Max every now and then, She's going to be even more withdrawn if I don't do something. Just what the fuck am I supposed to do? How do you console someone who hella gave Fate the middle finger for her…
That was the question Chloe had been asking herself for the past two days: Where were she and Max? Friends? Something more? Sure, she'd dared Max to kiss her but when the little hipster did Chloe responded with shock and smart-ass jokes. I should've taken it seriously, Chloe thought as she waded around, stopping to look straight at Max.
"Fuck it," Chloe said to herself, sliding in the truck seat so she could sit up, "Hey. Max, wake up."
"Nnh, wha…? Chloe," Max said, the dark circles under her eyes even more pronounced as she wrapped her arms around Chloe tightly, "C-Chloe…"
"The nightmare again?" Chloe asked, Max's only reply being a single nod as she buried her face into Chloe's t-shirt, "Max, what are we doing?"
"…I don't understand," Max yawned the words out, moving so that they were sitting on opposite sides of the truck's bench seat, "My parents are worried, yeah, but they understand we both need time. Even after you heard from Joyce and David, they also-"
"Do you like me?"
"…W-What…?"
Chloe chomped down on her bottom lip and let out a sigh of weary frustration. Just fucking ask her already, Price. God, you're a hella bigger chickenshit than Max, and Max saved you. From everything. Taking off her beanie, Chloe wiped at her face and looked at Max more directly before asking what came next.
"Do you love me, Max?" Chloe asked, her voice nearly breaking toward the end.
"…Yes…," Max's answer was barely a whisper, so Chloe didn't quite hear the other girl's response.
"What?"
"I… I love you, Chloe," Max's voice was suddenly very resolute, taking Chloe by surprise as she continued, "I've gone through so much. We've been through so much. Even when you tried to offer yourself up… Chloe, the idea of you not being in my life, here with me now, is too much. I… I really do love you. Wowser…"
Sliding over to where Max had been sitting, Chloe slid a hand up to Max's and intertwined their fingers.
"I told you. I'll be with you forever," the smile on Chloe's face got a reluctant one onto Max's, the first genuine smile Chloe had seen from her companion in days, "Dude, we need to go to Big Sur and chill. You, me, and just some quality time. We've got the funds, so why the fuck not?"
"…You're right," Max said, squeezing Chloe's hand as tears rolled down her eyes, "I… Why the fuck not?"
"Well then," Max asked, snapping Chloe out of a memory she knew they were likely sharing as they sat in their apartment, "What do you want to do?"
"Hmm," Chloe got up and offered Max a hand up before walking over to the coffee machine. Setting everything up, Chloe listened to the gurgling noise the small appliance made before turning around to lean against the counter, "If Ellie wants a picnic and I want a beach then why not both? Matthews Beach Park on 93rd is pretty chill, and it's not supposed to be nasty out today."
"…And I'll take the whole weekend off next time," Max said, walking over to slide her arms around Chloe's waist. Standing on her tip-toes, she gave her wife several little pecks on the lips, "Just you and me. Kate and Tori have been wanting to spend time with Ellie. I'm sure they'd love to watch her for the weekend."
"I knew there was a reason I married your hipster ass," Chloe said, smiling as she returned Max's kisses with her own, "That, and you're kinda hot in the sack."
"Kinda?"
"Hella."
Author's Note -
This is the first part of a story I felt needed to be done after Polarized. Tumblr artist Gaberoid did a piece for me of Ellie walking hand in hand with Max and Chloe in a park and the idea kinda sprung out of that. I just want those girls to be happy 3
Read and review, please! More coming soon!
Stay Hella, Cinnamon Rolls!
