A/N I do not own Life is Strange. But you hella know that.
XXXXX
Max leaned against the wall, trying to prepare herself for what she knew was about to happen. She could not believe she had agreed to do this. She did not want to. But she knew she had to. Chloe had known it too.
'Damn her.' Max thought, wanting to lash out in anger at something. Anything. But she could not. She had to be still. Quiet. Everything had to be the same. Max could not interfere.
Max silently cursed herself. She cursed Chloe. She cursed the totem pole out by the dorms. Anything and everything that could have possibly placed her in this position. Whatever gave her the power over time. She had not asked for it. Had not wanted it, and using it was going to kill everyone in Arcadia Bay. Everyone but her. Her and Chloe. The only way to save everyone was to never use the power in the first place.
Not using the power would kill Chloe. Chloe dying would tear the heart and soul right out of Max.
Her fingers drifted briefly to her lips. Max could still feel the tingle; the searing warmth of Chloe's lips pressed to her own. It had been impulsive, the kiss. Now or Never. And to save Arcadia Bay, it would be never again.
Max felt her chest convulse and bit down on her lip to keep from sobbing. 'Keep it together Max.' She chided herself. 'It's just like before. You just have to wait for Nathan and Chloe to fight, and for Nathan to...' she squeezed her eyes tightly closed, hot tears threatening to leak out.
It was worse this time. The first time she had not been waiting. Everything had been a surprise. It had been a stranger taking the bullet. Now it was Chloe. Nathan was going to kill Chloe. Nathan was going to kill Max's oldest friend. Her best friend.
But it was more now. Chloe was not just her old friend, or even her best friend. Chloe was... Chloe. The girl who pushed Max to new heights, who dragged her to new lows. The girl who taught Max who she had the potential to be, without realizing her own potential was equal. The girl that Max had spent the last week re-meeting, re-learning, understanding, and falling for.
'Hella stupid Max, realizing you love your best friend two minutes before you have to let her die!' The thought echoed in Max's head, driving a nail or grief and loathing deeper and deeper into her heart.
The bathroom door creaked open. She heard a male voice, muttering softly to himself. Nathan. Max flattened herself closer to the wall. She took slow, deep breaths. Hyperventilating would not help anyone.
The door opened again. Chloe. Max heard her friends voice and froze, allowing every word to wash over her. She had to savor it. These were the last words Chloe would ever say. She heard the argument grow more intense, and doubts began to assault her resolve. Could she really let Chloe die? Was this town, full of people Max did not know, really worth the life of her best friend?
Max crushed the doubts. She had to. It was not just the town. It was Kate, and Warren, and Victoria. She was doing this for Alyssa, Brooke, Dana, Evan, and Juliet. Stella would die. Ms. Grant would die. Samuel would die. Joyce, David, even Frank. Everyone would die if Max stopped Nathan. Besides, Chloe told her to let it happen. It was her last wish. Max could not deny Chloe that.
She heard the argument turn to the gun Nathan was now brandishing. It would not be long now. Max knew she had done it. The fatal shot was too close for her to stop. She let her floodgates open, the tears she had been holding back began streaming down her face and dripping off her chin.
Max tried to let everything flow out with them. Her guilt, her shame, her anger, everything she felt about the impossible situation she found herself in, she imagined it all rushing out and falling to the floor.
The shot rang out.
Chloe fell to the floor.
Max slid down the wall, curled in the fetal position, wanting everything to just be over. She just had to wait. She know how this ended.
'No I don't.' The thought struck her like a bolt of lightning. She had made her first jump immediately. All she remembered was the gun, and Chloe hitting the floor.
'I don't know what happens next. I never saw it!' Max let her revelation sink in. Any action she took now would not be a result of her powers. She had never been farther down this timeline. Whatever she did next, the town, her friends, were already saved.
She was free. She could act.
Max surged around the corner. Briefly noting Nathan panicking by the sinks, she made a bee line straight for Chloe. She saw the gun on the floor. Nathan had seen her now. He was reaching for it.
Max got there first. She kicked the gun to the side, sliding it along the floor into the stall farthest from Nathan. Ignoring his startled cry, Max fell to her knees beside Chloe, fumbling for her wrist. She checked Chloe's pulse.
There.
Max tried to summon every bit of first aid she had ever been taught. She jammed her hand against Chloe's wound trying to staunch the blood flow. She felt Chloe's back. No exit wound. Good.
Chloe stopped breathing. So did Max. She thought furiously, trying to think of some way to keep pressure on the wound while she did rescue breathing. Her eyes fell on Chloe's baggy outer shirt. Good idea, but she could not get it off Chloe fast enough. Think, think, think. At least Chloe still had a pulse.
Max let go of Chloe and pulled her own shirt off. She rolled it up and awkwardly worked it under Chloe before tying and synching it tightly against the wound. Huh. That worked better than her hands. She hoped that her makeshift patch would be good enough. She tilted Chloe's head back, pinched her nose, took a deep breath, and blew.
She saw Chloe's chest rise and fall. She blew again. Rise and fall. Breath. Rise. Fall.
Breath. Rise. Fall.
She kept her fingers on Chloe's wrist, desperately confirming that her pulse was still there. It was. Max was momentarily embarrassed about the amount of Chloe's blood that had been smeared all over Chloe's face, neck, and arm, but she then decided that if Chloe got mad at her later, at least she was alive later.
Chloe's pulse stopped. Max let out a roar of anguish and frustration. She had come this far. Failure was no longer an option. She transitioned from rescue breathing to full CPR. Chest compressions. Breath. Chest. Mouth.
"God Damn it Chloe! You are NOT dying this time! You're gonna live or I'll be hella pissed!" Max shouted at her friend's prone form. Chest. Mouth. Chest. Mouth. She heard a soft crack. Panic threatened to overwhelm her, but then she remembered: CPR often breaks the recipient's sternum. She continued on.
Max felt Chloe's pulse return. She began to cry again, this time in relief. She stopped the chest compressions, but Chloe still was not breathing. She heard the door to the bathroom open again. She ignored it.
"Holy shit!" That was David. She heard him fumble for his cell and call 911. She continued her breathing pattern.
Max heard scuffling behind her, and suddenly Nathan's gun slid across the floor and settled under the sink beside her. She took a moment to glance to her other side, and saw that David had wrestled Nathan to the ground. Nathan's hand was outstretched, with David's hand wrapped around his wrist.
Ice shot through Max's veins as she realized that Nathan had been going to shoot her too.
"Thanks David." She said, nodding towards the gun. David grunted in acknowledgment.
"It's my job to protect the students. I can't fail twice in one day." He said, hauling the no longer resisting Nathan to his feet.
Nathan seemed to have emerged from the trance the shock and anger had put him in, and he was now staring at Chloe in horror. He looked like he was going to be sick. Max continued her breathing. She could not make herself care about Nathan at the moment. All that mattered was Chloe.
Max did not know how long she knelt on that bathroom floor. It did not matter. Every breath he forced into Chloe's lungs kept her alive for ten more seconds. She would do it for as long as it took. Time lost meaning. All that mattered was the pattern. Breath. Rise. Fall. She was vaguely aware of the bathroom door opening, but she ignored it. She felt a pair of hands on her shoulders. She ignored it. The hands pulled her away from Chloe. She did not ignore that.
"NO! No, stop! I have to save her! I HAVE to!" She shouted as the hands pulled her farther away from her friend. She spun to see who would dare to stop her. Who would allow Chloe to die.
Max found herself face to face with an EMT. She whipped her head around, only to see another EMT kneeling beside Chloe, placing a breath mask over her nose and mouth, and examining the gunshot wound. She again looked at the EMT who had pulled her away, not quite accepting that it was all real.
"We'll take over saving her from here." The EMT had a soft, kind voice. "That's our job. You did good kid." She patted Max on the back.
Max watched the EMT's work to maintain Chloe's breathing, treat her wound, keep her alive. She was desperate to keep helping, to do anything, but she knew that she would only get in the EMT's way.
She watched as David hauled Nathan out of the bathroom; she assumed that the police had arrived with the EMT's, and she took a moment of satisfaction that Nathan would finally be punished for everything he had done.
As she turned back to look at Chloe again, she caught a glimpse of herself in the bathroom mirror. She took a few steps toward it so she could have a better look at herself. She was a mess. Blood covered her hands and crept past her wrists up her arms, and in her hasty CPR, she had splattered blood on her face and chest as well. She frowned a bit, wondering how hard it would be to get the blood stain out of her bra. Her shirt was ruined. She wondered why she even cared about her clothes, but it seemed so important all of a sudden. She felt dizzy.
Max staggered back, but the EMT caught her before she could fall. The EMT frowned, then quickly shined a light in her eyes and felt her pulse. The EMT exhaled quickly and tried to usher Max out of the bathroom.
"Come on sweetie. Let's get you out of here." She said as she turned Max around.
"No. No. NO!" Max fought the EMT, "I can't leave her! She has to be ok!"
"Honey, you're going into shock. I need to get you some place else so I can help YOU. My team will take care of your friend." She said, and began to pull Max towards the door again. Max let her. She had done everything she could think of for Chloe, and more importantly, she had done everything she could have done before she got her powers. That had to satisfy whatever gave her the powers. Max would have done what she just did anyway. She was pretty sure. It would be enough. It had to be.
When Max stepped through the door, she had expected to see police, maybe the principal. She had not expected to be faced with virtually everyone she knew in the school. They stared at her. Max stared back, stunned that everyone was watching her. She felt the blush spread across her face, belatedly realizing that she was still shirtless and covered in blood.
Embarrassment temporarily overriding the numbing sensation of the shock, Max attempted to hide behind the EMT. The EMT realized the problem, but her solution was to walk off the find a blanket or jacket, inadvertently leaving Max totally exposed. She decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and was about to retreat back into the bathroom, but the EMT crew chose that moment to arrive with the gurney for Chloe, blocking her escape route.
It was an interesting experience, being too deep in shock for the panic attack to fully emerge. Max's mind was in such conflict, she almost did not register Kate approaching her.
"Max? Are... are you ok?" Kate began hesitantly, clearly upset by the sight before her.
"Probably. I mean... I will be. Soon. I think. I just... EMT said... shock... is it cold?" Max stammered out, aware she was edging on incoherence, but completely unable to control her mouth. The dizziness was getting worse. She could barely think.
She really was going into shock, she realized. Worry for Chloe and surging adrenaline had been masking it, but now she was crashing. She started to shiver. Her knees were getting wobbly again. Her vision began to swim.
"Kate, I..." Max fell forward. With a strength belying her slight frame, Kate caught her. Max wrapped her in a hug.
"Thank... thank you." She murmured. Kate's hair was wet. That was odd. Oh. No, Max realized, she was crying again. She could not control it anymore. Kate helped her stagger to the nearest hallway bench. The student body cleared a path. The pair sat, and Kate surprised Max again by offering her sweater for Max to wear.
"But... but I'll ruin it. With the blood and all..." Max tried to protest, but Kate simply draped the sweater over Max's shoulders.
"I don't care about that." Kate said, a little smile piercing the depressed haze she had been in ever since her make-out tape had been posted online. "Besides, you already got blood on it. More isn't really an issue."
Max nodded quickly in agreement and pulled the sweater tightly around herself. It was warm. Really warm. Max suspected that the warmth was not entirely to do with the sweater itself.
"T...thanks Kate. Tired of everyone staring at my boobs." She joked. Kate briefly smiled again.
"What happened to your shirt?" Kate asked.
"Used it as a bandage. Only thing I could thing of. Had to save her." Max found she could only steadily speak in short sentences. She leaned against Kate. She was also warm.
"You're the best Kate. Good friend. Gonna get Vortex." She muttered.
"Get Vortex? For what?" Kate seemed genuinely confused.
"Drugged you. Filmed it. Posted it. Assholes." Max bit out. The dizziness was getting unbearable. She just wanted to close her eyes and rest for a moment.
"Oh Max. Don't go getting in trouble for me. I'm not worth it." Kate said, her depression overtaking her once again.
Max jolted upright in her seat and stared Kate directly in the eyes. "You're worth it to me. You're the best person I know. Don't let anyone tell you different. I'm cereal." The intensity in Max's voice caused Kate to blush. She looked away.
"Cereal?" Kate looked back, the question clearly in her eyes.
"Definitely the shock." Max said.
Out of the corner of her eye, Max saw the EMT's push the gurney out of the bathroom and rush towards the main school doors. Max stood. Kate grabbed her arm
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Gotta go with them. Have to be sure." Max said, moving to give Kate her sweater back. Kate waved her off.
"Keep it. I think you need it right now."
Max hugged her again. "When I come back. Girl's night. My room. You, me. Ok?"
Kate looked distant for a moment, then nodded. "Ok."
"Good." Max ran after the EMT's. She saw Warren coming over to check on her, but she ignored him. Plenty of time to explain later. The first EMT finally reappeared with a blanket.
"Where are you going?" She asked, standing in Max's way.
"Gotta go with them. Have to make sure she's ok." Max pleaded with the EMT, trying to make her understand with the little words that her brain was letting her mouth process at the moment. Uncontrollable brain functions were massively inconvenient.
"You can't go with her, sweetie." the EMT sounded very sorry about it too.
"Why?" Max knew she was probably coming across as severely hostile, but she needed to be with Chloe. She needed to know if the universe actually wanted Chloe dead. She needed to know that everything she had gone through in the last week had meant something.
"The ambulance is already full. Her dad is going with her." The EMT explained kindly.
"David? But she... hates..." Max trailed off, a fresh wave of dizziness rushing through her.
"Hey honey, are you alright?" The EMT's voice seemed to fade in and out. Max's vision swam once more. She felt like something was pulling away from her, and that her parting gift would be her skull exploding from the inside. She lost sensation in her legs. She felt herself falling. She heard the EMT saying something, but it was all just a dull murmur beneath the rushing in her ears.
The lights went out.
Max blinked. Consciousness was returning slowly. She was finally able to focus her eyes, only to find that she was staring at an unfamiliar white ceiling. She wondered where she was for a moment, but the smell gave it away. Antiseptic, soap. The hospital. She bolted upright. Or rather, she attempted to, but the wave of dizziness that exploded through her forced her to lay back down. She groaned and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the head rush to pass.
"Oh my god! Max! Are you ok?" It took Max a second to recognize the voice as Kate.
Max opened her eyes and looked around, without moving this time. Kate had been sitting beside her bed, but her sudden movement had caused her friend to leap to her side. Warren was on the other side of the bed, still seated, but looking concerned.
"Hey guys." Max said as soon as she found her voice. "Why am I in the hospital?"
"You passed out while you were arguing with that EMT." Kate said. She took Max's hand and squeezed. "I didn't really understand her explanation. Something about shock and crashing. It was really scary."
"For real Mad Max. I've never seen you freak like that." Warren said from his seat. "What happened in that bathroom?"
Max hesitated before speaking. She wasn't sure she could talk about it without freaking again.
"What happened to Chloe?" She asked instead, deciding that changing the subject was safer.
Warren and Kate looked at each other, frowning. Fear clenched in Max's guts. Had it been in vain?
"Who's Chloe?" Kate asked at last. "Is that the girl Nathan shot?"
Max nodded. She did not trust her mouth at the moment. She felt sick.
"I think she's in the ICU. I know David's up there, anyway." Warren said. "I figure if she died we'd have heard. This whole thing has been all over school."
Relief flooded Max. Chloe was still alive. She gave Warren an odd look. "All over school? How long have I been in the hospital?" She asked.
"It's been three days Max." Kate said, unable to conceal how upset she was. "You were in a coma. None of the doctors knew why. They didn't even know if you would wake up!"
"Well," Max said wryly, "I guess that mystery is solved."
Kate laughed despite herself. "I suppose. Thank the Lord for that."
Max nodded. "Lucky you guys were here when I woke up. I probably would have freaked without some familiar faces."
"We've been on rotation. Me, Kate, Dana, Alyssa, even Victoria and Juliet have been making sure someone was here all the time. Even Ms. Grant stops by after school." Warren said.
Max beamed at the actions of her friends. She had always considered herself a loner, but it was nice to find out that people cared about her. Even if the week-that-never-happened had shone her that already.
"How can you guys have time for that? What about class? I can buy Warren ditching, but not you Kate." Max asked, curious.
"Well, Mr. Jefferson got arrested, so there's lots of free periods for everybody." Warren said.
"Arrested? Why?" Max feigned ignorance about that monster's actions.
"Nathan turned him in. He was... he was drugging girls and... and, he was..." Kate tried to tell her, but it was too much. She began quietly weeping. Max squeezed her hand. She felt the revulsion and hatred she felt for Mr. Jefferson roll through her, remembering her own time in his chair.
"The pictures..." Max said. Kate's head whipped up and she stared at Max.
"How could you know? You've been here." She asked, her eyes wide.
Max found her own eyes beginning to grow wet as well. "I thought it was a bad dream. I didn't... it was real?" She did not have to fake the quiver in her voice. "He was going to kill me. I don't know why he didn't. I assumed I imagined it."
Kate was crying even harder now. "Me too. He took me, after the Vortex club party. The police found the pictures."
"Oh Kate. I bet that's why Nathan drugged you at the party! So Mr. Jefferson could..." Max sat up again. No dizziness this time. She wrapped Kate in the tightest hug she could manage. Kate melted into her, tears pouring down her face and causing a rapidly expanding spot on Max's hospital gown.
"He ruined my life! My mother disowned me Max! She called me and said that an impure whore like me wasn't welcome in her home anymore!" Kate's sadness and self-loathing spilled out with her tears, and she was verging on the edge of hysteria.
Max was worried about Chloe, but Kate was her friend too. She had done all she could to for Chloe at the moment. Kate needed her now. Max squeezed her again and rubbed her back. Warren, who looked distinctly uncomfortable, stood and walked to the door.
"I'm gonna go see if I can find out how your friend Chloe's doing." He said, and left.
Max very gently pushed Kate slightly away from her, so she could look her in the eye. Through the tears, Max could see the turmoil in Kate's eyes. She gave her warmest smile.
"Kate, you listen to me. You're the sweetest, kindest person I've ever met. Meeting you, and being your friend had been the best thing that has happened to me since I came to Blackwell. If you mom thinks badly of you because you were tricked and drugged and assaulted, then her opinion doesn't matter."
Kate gave her a wobbly smile, but the guilt in her eyes did not fade.
"But I did it. I kissed all those people. I did what Mr. Jefferson wanted. I debased myself before God and everyone!' She almost yelled. The misery in Kate's voice broke Max's heart.
"You didn't choose it, Kate! Nathan drugged you just like Mr. Jefferson told him to, then he decided to use the fact that you were so high you couldn't think to humiliate you! That's not debasement, it's sexual assault! I don't think God will hold your victimization against you! He is supposed to be a loving being right?" Max paused. The intensity in her eyes was almost hypnotic. Kate nodded, transfixed.
"Who needs more love than those who have been taken advantage of? Especially a beautiful soul like yours. I think God understands. And as far as the rest of us go, I'm on your side all the way. You didn't deserve what Nathan did, you absolutely didn't deserve what Mr. Jefferson did, and if I ever find out who posted that damn video, I'll beat the apology out of them myself! You're the best person at Blackwell, Kate, and everybody knows it. The only people who don't like you are jealous that they will never be half as kind, and good, and wonderful as you are! If your mom thinks you are somehow less than that because you were the victim of a crime, then FUCK HER!" Max shouted.
She had lost control of herself, but she could not bring herself to care. Her feelings about what happened to Kate had been suppressed by the happenings of the last subjective week, but now that Kate and Chloe were the only actual concerns she had, Max found herself rather indignant about how awfully Kate's family had treated her. Your family should never make you want to kill yourself.
Kate, for her part, had stopped crying. She was staring at Max, mouth open, gobsmacked.
"I mean it Kate. You're the best." Max said. A thought occurred to her. "Have you spoken to your dad about this? You only said your mom before."
Kate shook her head. "No. But he didn't call me. I assumed..." She trailed off.
"Well don't. Why don't you give him a call? Maybe not everyone's against you." Max smiled kindly at Kate. Kate smiled back and nodded.
The door to Max's room swung open, revealing a pair of nurses. Or a nurse and a doctor. Max really could not tell them apart when everyone wore scrubs.
"Ms. Caulfield! You're awake!" The older of the two, Max assumed he was the doctor, exclaimed.
"Yes?" Max answered. She slowly disentangled herself from Kate, who seemed to be thinking very hard about what Max said. The doctors hurried over and started to check Max's vitals and the readouts on the machines hooked to her. Kate straightened and made to leave.
"I should probably get out of the doctor's way." She said to Max, who shrugged. "I think I'll go call my Dad."
Max grinned at her. "No matter what he says, I'm always gonna be here for you Kate. And I bet if we asked some of the others, they would say the same."
"Bless you, Max Caulfield." Kate said as she left, quietly closing the door behind her.
Max hoped that her pep talk had taken the edge off Kate's suicidal mood. True, in the week-that-wasn't, Kate had attempted suicide on Tuesday, and here it was Thursday, but she chalked that up to worry for herself. Her coma had probably distracted Kate from her own problems for a few days. As soon as she was out, and knew what had happened to Chloe, she would do everything she could for Kate. Kate deserved that.
Max turned her attention to the doctors. "What's the verdict doc? Am I gonna make it?" She asked lightly.
The doctor smiled at her. "I think that's a pretty safe assumption. All your vitals check out. We've been monitoring you since you got here, and I'm prepared to chalk the whole thing up to a trauma reaction. Now that you're awake, I want to keep you under observation for twenty-four hours, but it nothing unusual shows up in that time, I think you'll be free to go." he said, shining a light in her eyes to check her pupil reaction.
"Do I have to stay in my room?" Max asked, trying to blink the spots out of her vision after he completed his inspection.
"Why would you need to leave?" The doctor asked.
"My friend, Chloe Price? She got brought in the same day I did. I need to find out if she's ok!" Max blurted out, feeling the panic that soothing Kate had suppressed begin to well up again. She saw her heart rate spike on the monitor.
"Woah, woah! Calm down Ms. Caulfield! Tell you what, I don't know about your friend, but if you stay here and stay calm, I'll go ask for you." the doctor said.
"My friend Warren already went looking. He said she might be in the ICU." Max said as she settled down. As if summoned, Warren opened the door.
"Hey Max, guess what? Th..." Warren trailed off when he saw the doctor. The doctor absently waved him in.
"You're not interrupting anything. I'm almost done."he said.
"Alright. Max! That Chloe girl is still here! Which I guess is bad, but she's not dead!" Warren was speaking so fast Max could barely understand him, but she caught enough. She let out a breath that she had not realized she was holding. Chloe was alive. A warm feeling filled her, radiating outwards until she could feel it from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. Max felt such intense happiness that she thought she might burst.
Max turned to the doctor. "Can I go see my friend? Please?" Max had never been particularly skilled with the puppy dog pout, but she gave it her best shot anyway. The doctor laughed.
"I don't see why not. Let me go find out where she is and bring you a wheelchair." He held up a hand as Max started to protest. "Those are the rules. Even if you don't need it, you have to use it."
The doctor finished his examination and left, with the nurse following closely behind. Max had not stopped smiling.
"Hey Warren, where's my phone?" she asked.
Warren shrugged, but moved over to the table where all of Max's belongings were stacked. He rummaged through the pile, eventually withdrawing her cell phone and handing it to her. Max checked her texts; seeing many concerned texts from her classmates, she sent out a group blast text letting everyone who cared know that she was ok. She sent personal texts to her parents, letting them know that she understood why they were not with her (No one had alerted them until 48 hours had passed, and their jobs kept them from dropping everything like they wanted to),that she did not blame them, and that she was excited to see them when they arrived.
Max sent Kate a big heart emoji and asked if she wanted to have their tea date after Max got released. She owed Kate a girls night for ruining her sweater anyway. She decided to take a risk and sent a text to Victoria asking how Nathan was doing. She knew she would have trouble forgiving Nathan; trying to kill your best friend has that effect. However, deep down, Max knew that Nathan had a lot of problems, bad role models, and that he had not actually intended to shoot Chloe. He was a coward, not a murderer.
Max put down her phone and idly looked at Warren. "Sorry to ignore you like that. I just wanted to make sure everyone knows I'm ok."
"No big deal, Mad Max. I can spare Blackwell's superhero two minutes on her phone." He said, grinning at her. "Even if Super Max still owes me a flash drive."
Max rolled her eyes and pointed to the pile. "Go ahead and get in my pants then. I'm sure it's in there."
Warren's eyes grew almost comically wide at the innuendo. Max cocked an eyebrow and gave him her best evil smirk. Being around Chloe again had really stoked her mischievous side.
Chloe.
There it was again. The happiness. Chloe was alive. But the quiver of worry still held fast in her mind. Alive did not mean OK. She needed to see Chloe for herself.
Max and Warren chatted about nothing in particular for a while, but after about half and hour Warren needed to excuse himself. School was not cancelled, after all, and he had to get back before his free period was over. Max waved as he left, and was preparing to get a good brood going when her doctor returned with a wheelchair.
"Hey Ms. Caulfield! Good news! Your friend Chloe Price is gonna make it. They've got her in the ICU recovery ward, but she's not allowed visitors aside from immediately family." the doctor said.
"What? But I, I mean... I HAVE to..." Max sputtered, anger, relief, fear, and happiness swirling inside her so violently she thought she might faint.
The doctor, Dr. Smith she finally read off his badge, held up a hand. "Woah woah woah. Calm down. As your attending physician, I am making the call that you need to be allowed special visitation rights for your mental health. Let me un-hook you from all that gear, and we'll go pay Ms. Price a visit. Fair?"
Max nodded, not trusting her voice, her eyes blurring with tears. Chloe was ok. Chloe would be ok. She was tempted to try to rewind just to hear the news again, but she knew that she could never use her power again. She did not want to either. The cost was too high.
Max also felt that she did not have the powers anymore. Now that she was no longer in shock, she suspected that all of the atypical symptoms she had expressed had been the powers leaving her. The coma was probably her mind re-adjusting to being normal again. She hoped that was that. She had to live with her choices now. But that was ok too. The week-that-never-happened had given her one thing besides the inevitable nightmares. She had the confidence to live with herself. Hopefully that would be worth everything she went through to get it.
Dr. Smith quickly pulled Max's IV and unhooked the various monitors connected to her. Max swung her legs off the bed and made to stand, but fell right back onto the bed. Dr. Smith wordlessly pushed the wheelchair to her bedside. Embarrassed, Max let him help her into the chair, and the pair took off to see Chloe.
Max stared at the prone form of her best friend. Chloe lay in the bed, her face pale and partially hidden under the nasal cannula she wore. She was still, the only hints of her continuing life the slow rise and fall of her chest and the steady beep of the heart monitor.
Max clung to that sound. That movement. Every time she heard it, every time she saw it, it showed that she had succeeded. Her eyes filled with tears. Max let the tears fall, finally releasing the guilt and dread that had filled her since her final jump.
Neither Joyce or David were present. Max glanced at the clock on the wall and realized why. 1pm. They were both at work. Like her own parents, neither of them could afford to miss too much work, even for their daughter. Getting evicted would not be the best welcome home present.
Max reached over to Chloe and took her hand. She was not a very religious person, but she closed her eyes and prayed. Maybe Kate was rubbing off on her. She prayed for Chloe, for Arcadia Bay, for everyone she hoped she had not betrayed by saving Chloe again. As she finished, she squeezed Chloe's hand.
It squeezed back.
Max's eyes flew open. She stared at Chloe's face. Slowly, Chloe opened her eyes.
Chloe stared unseeing into the wall for a moment, but her eyes finally slid into focus. She turned her head slightly and looked straight at Max.
"Chloe..." Max whispered. She could barely breath.
Chloe stared for a moment. "Who are you?" she asked, her voice weak and wavering.
It was like a knife ripped through Max. 'Of course,' she thought. Chloe had not seen her for five years. Last week never happened. Max released Chloe's hand and rubbed her eyes, fresh tears gathering at the corners. She knew it was ridiculous to be upset that Chloe did not recognize her, but she could not help it. It hurt.
"I know I'm the last person you expected to see, but... wowsers, this is hard..." Max stuttered out.
Chloe's eyes widened slightly in recognition. "Max?" She whispered. Max gave a weak grin and nodded slightly.
"Uh huh. Surprise!" Max tried to sound bright, but her voice was wavering, unshed tears causing a lump in her throat that was difficult to talk around.
"Holy Shit." Chloe lay with her jaw dropped. Disbelief was painted across her features.
Max could not take it. She began weeping. She grabbed Chloe's hand and clutched it tightly in her own.
"Oh god Chloe I'm so sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She managed to splutter out between gasps for air.
Chloe, for her part, still seemed stunned. "Max, what..." she began.
"I should have called, texted, written, something! I'm the worst best friend ever!" Max would have been wailing, but her crying was preventing her from raising her voice too much. Her apology came out in choppy, ragged bursts, barely coherent through her tears. "I abandoned you! I'm sorry!"
Max knew Chloe thought she was apologizing for moving away, which she was. But she was also apologizing to her Chloe, the one she abandoned at the lighthouse. Max had saved this Chloe, but by doing so, made sure the Chloe she left behind would never exist. She was dead. Max had killed her.
Max tried to continue her apology, but she was now crying too hard to speak coherently. She slumped forward onto Chloe's bed, resting her forehead against Chloe's leg. She tried to hug the leg to herself, but the blanket was too tight, so Max settled for letting her tears soak Chloe's sheets. She stayed that way for a while, before she felt a hand gently rubbing the back of her head. Max quickly twisted her head so she was looking Chloe in the face. Chloe looked down at her, tears building in her eyes, smiling softly.
"David told me what you did." Chloe said, her voice a bit labored. "I'm not gonna lie and say shit's all good, but you came up with a hella good apology." She closed her eyes and smiled at Max.
Silence reigned as Max processed what Chloe had said. She sniffed rapidly, trying to regain enough control over herself to answer.
"I'm never leaving you again." Max managed. Chloe opened her eyes and locked them to Max's. Max felt the blush rising in her face, but she could not look away. Avoiding everything was the old Max.
Chloe cocked her head, noticing Max's reaction but too unsure with their re-acquaintance to say anything. Max could tell that being shot had cost Chloe something of herself. She understood. After the Dark Room and the Storm, she and Chloe could at least have PTSD together.
The silence was starting to get deafening. The stare down continued, and Max was certain she would begin to steam any second. Chloe finally smirked a bit and spoke up.
"See something you like, Caulfield?" She had meant it as a joke, but Max decided that this time around, she would give as good as she got in the teasing department.
"Maybe." She started, a wicked gleam forming in her eye. "I can't help that you're cute. It's very distracting." Chloe's eyes widened and she began to laugh. It was infectious. Max laughed too. All of the tension, guilt, pain, sorrow; it all seemed to flow out with the laughter. Max and Chloe were near hysterical.
As the pair's laughing finally died down, Chloe gently took Max's hand.
"Saving my life aside. I AM really glad you're back Max." Chloe said softly, almost as if she did not want Max to hear. "I know you didn't come back here because of me, but I missed you."
"Chloe, I came to Blackwell because you were here. If I just wanted a good photography school, I'd have gone to California or New York. I'm a coward and couldn't get over myself enough to talk to you, but the only reason I'm here is because you are." Max said adamantly. She could tell Chloe did not quite believe her, but it was a start.
Max squeezed Chloe's hand. This was not the Chloe she had been through so much with, but it was where that Chloe had started. She had all the same thoughts and feelings. This was still Chloe. Still her best friend. Still the woman Max thought she might be in love with. This time there would be no trauma, no Jefferson, no time limit. Just Max and Chloe, together. Forever. They smiled at each other.
"Well Mad Max, since you kept me from dying and stuff, I guess there's only one thing left to say." Chloe flashed a big toothy grin. "welcome back!"
Max slowly stood and moved farther up Chloe's bed. Gently, tentatively, and mindful of Chloe's wound, She leaned over and gave her friend a hug. "Glad to be back." She whispered.
As she pulled away from Chloe, Max looked out the window. What she saw made her smile. There was not a single cloud in the sky.