AN: Please keep in mind that I know Max wouldn't instantly be forgiven by Chloe, in this instance it makes sense for her to react the way she does. I also want to explain my reasoning for the name of the story. True Sacrifice comes not in the form of what others can do for you or for others, but what you can do for them. By being selfless like she should have been the moment she heard Nathan in the women's restroom in school, she righted things in my mind. She also saved Chloe, which is a major catalyst for the whole thing. I think this will prove a better ending because it gives a meaning to it all by showing Max that something in fact did need to happen in that bathroom, but no one really had to die, and in the end justice would still be served.
Taking a deep breath Max nodded as Chloe stepped away from her, urging her to continue with her decision, before she chickened out and had Max change the outcome. Max looked down at the photograph in her hands, the one she had taken the first day in the bathroom of the Blue butterfly, the one that marked the beginning of this crazy week. Now not all of the week was bad, she got to be with Chloe again and sometimes it was like they were kids again being pirates and going on adventures, only these ones were a lot scarier than when they were kids...and more dangerous as well. Max shook her head and focused again on the photo, after a brief moment she felt that familiar tug in her brain as the photo blurred and then focused crystal clear, in the moment after she was no longer on the cliff by the lighthouse with Chloe facing a massive E6 tornado, she was now back in the bathroom where it all started.
Max sighed and looked down at the photo in her hands before she decided to tear it in half and toss it into the bucket by the Janitors cart. Max stood and leaned her back against the stall wall and closed her eyes. "There's no going back now, Max." She murmured, as she prepared to have to listen to everything play out all over again, and this time she wouldn't save Chloe, is she did then everyone in Arcadia Bay would be wiped out by that massive Twister. As she stood there she heard Nathan come in and starts having his mental breakdown in front of a mirror. To be honest Max actually felt bad for him, he was just as much a victim in all of this as the rest of them. Jefferson had manipulated him by giving him the type of interactions and bonding he so badly craved from his own father, but never received. Nathan isn't a bad guy, he just needs help.
Next, you could hear the door to the bathroom open yet again and this time it was a females voice, this voice belonged to none other than her best friend Chloe Price, the same woman who she had risked everything for time, after time, after time in the past realities. Max began to think back on their interactions, one series of events in particular came to the forefront of her mind. (This all was happening within seconds as she listened to Chloe speak.) She remembered their little swimming trip at the school and the conversation they had. She also remembered how Chloe had dared her to kiss her, and how she had accepted, as well as Chloe's reaction to Max's bold decision. Max blushed as she remembered that moment.
In the background you can here Chloe talking to Nathan about him having 'Hella cash' as she likes to say. Max save an inaudible sigh as she thought back on how much they had been through and what sacrifices had to be made to get through. She pondered on how she never had to sacrifice anything it seemed, while everyone else lost something, this caused her to freeze. If the universe needed a sacrifice, what if it didn't need to be Chloe, what if she was the sacrifice. Technically she should have spoken up in the first place because Nathan had no business being in the girls bathroom anyway. Max resolved herself as she took Chloe's necklace from her pocket and put it on, still having some of Chloe's blood dried on it from when Jefferson shot her. This time, she would save Chloe personally, no matter what happened Chloe was worth any price she had to pay, she always was.
"You don't know who the fuck I am or who you're messing around with!" Nathan exclaimed as he shoved Chloe into the bathroom wall.
"Where'd you get that? What are you doing? Come on, put that thing down!" Chloe exclaimed, panic starting to enter her voice.
"Don't EVER tell me what to do! I'm so SICK of people trying to control me!" Nathan raged.
"You are going to get in hella more trouble for this than drugs!" Chloe stated her voice now one of terror at the realization that she might not make it out of this alive.
"No one would ever even miss your punk-ass would they?" Nathan continued.
In one final bout of courage Chloe shouted. "Get that gun away from me Psycho!" As Max stepped out from behind the stall wall and shouted "No!" Which caused Nathan to drop his hold on Chloe and turn around quickly, which with his hand twitching the way it was had him accidently pulling the trigger as he did so, shooting Max in the process. Max looked down as blood blossomed from the wound and seeped into her clothes, she then looked up as she heard a clatter as Nathan dropped the gun from shock as what he had just done registered fully in his
mind. Max crumpled to the ground in pain and blacked out.
"No...no, no, no. I never meant to shoot anyone, this wasn't supposed to happen." Nathan broke down panicking, while Chloe shook herself out of her daze and rushed over to Max's side while pulling her phone from her pocket and calling 911 to tell them what happened. When she reached Max's side she didn't know who it was, at least until she got a closer look. Max chuckled internally this wasn't the Chloe who would remember her right away, this Chloe hadn't seen her in too many years. As Chloe looked down at the person who had literally taken a bully for her, her mind finally pieced together just who she was seeing. It was her pirate/hipster best friend that she hadn't seen or heard from in five years.
"M...Max? Oh...oh gods no. Please no, not you too. This can't be happening. I haven't seen you in forever and then you turn back up only to hella save my ass like some superhero." Chloe shakes her head as she holds Max while her hands focus on putting pressure on the wound until the paramedics arrive. As she is doing this David busts into the bathroom and quickly surveys the scene. His eyes narrow in confusion as he notices Chloe, but then widen in shock as he sees her cradling one of his students in her arms as she puts pressure to what is obviously a gunshot wound. He then takes in Mr. Prescott's demeanor and the gun on the ground and proceeds to cuff him. The sirens of the ambulance can be heard pulling up outside.
"Hold on Max, I lost you once, I won't lose you again dammit." Chloe says as the Police and Paramedics come in. The cops take Nathan from David and proceed to take him out to the cop car, while the Paramedics come in with a back board and proceed to take Max from Chloe and wheel her out of there and into the Ambulance, Chloe is hot on their tail, she refuses to be left behind, even if it's to the hospital. One of the Medics notices this and tells her she'll need to follow in her own vehicle. They were going to be busy trying to stop the flow of blood and save Max.
Chloe nodded, and while David was obviously confused as to why Chloe was on school grounds in the first place since she was expelled from Blackwell, he noticed that she cared for Max and decided he would ask at another time and instead watched as she rushed to her truck and proceeded to drive like a bat out of hell to the Hospital.
Chloe pulled into the parking lot of the hospital and parked in the first open spot she saw, disregarding if it was a handicapped parking spot or not, which luckily it wasn't. She then practically dived out of her truck once it was parked and shut off, and ran into the Hospital as fast as she could. When she got to the reception area she raced over to the receptionist and inquired about any recent people brought in, one of which would have been a girl with short brown hair, blue jeans, a grey hoodie, and a pink deer t-shirt on. The receptionist looked into recent arrivals and told her that the girl in question was just moved into the Emergency Room in order to deal with the wound. She informed Chloe that if she wanted to wait for her to be released she could wait upstairs on the third floor in the waiting room. She said she'd page the receptionist upstairs and let them know she was coming up and had arrived with the patient. Chloe thanked her before running over to the stairs and dashing up them to the third floor, she wanted to be there for Max as soon as possible so she didn't dare wait for the elevator.
When she got to the third floor waiting room she walked up to that receptionist and began speaking. "Hi..." Panting she took a moment to catch her breath. " I uh, the receptionist downstairs said she'd page up here and let you know I was coming up. ...I came here with Max Caulfield, full name Maxine Caulfield, but she prefers Max. She was brought in for a bullet wound?" Chloe finally managed to get out.
The receptionist nodded. "Yes, Jess from downstairs informed me you would be arriving about Ms. Caulfield. If you would please find a seat, I'll make sure to let you know as soon as she's out of the ER and in a recovery room. " Chloe nodded and went to go sit down. The receptionist noted how sad she seemed so decided to give her some hope. "They said it didn't look to bad, she should make it just fine. It looks like she got lucky with where she was hit as well as the caliber the gun had to have been."
Chloe looked up and gave a relieved smile to the receptionist. "Thanks, I uh...I hella needed to know that actually. So thanks." She then turned around and went to find a chair that was relatively comfortable while she waited.
A while later, who knows for sure how long, she was being shaken awake, she shook her head and jumped up, realizing she must have dozed off while waiting. Though she did feel a bit better after the nap. The stress had to have been what caused her to crash, however looking up she noted the receptionist from earlier was waiting for her to get her bearings. Noticing that she now had Chloe's attention the receptionist motioned for her to follow after her. Chloe followed and was lead out of the room and through different hallways until they came to a stop just outside of Max's room.
"Ms. Caulfield is in here resting. The bullet went through her hipbone and broke off a bit of it so it will take some time to heal, however she will live. Turns out she blacked out from the pain of her hip breaking from the bullet passing through. You can go inside if you wish, she's still out of it a bit from getting stitched up and everything, but I'm sure she'll be relieved to see a familiar face when this is all over." The receptionist smiled and went to walk away when she turned back around looking sheepish. "I almost forgot. She had these on her when she was brought in. I figure you might want to give these to her when she wakes up." With that she turned and finally left after handing the items to Chloe.
Chloe walked into the room holding the items to her as she maneuvered over to where Max was set and proceeded to sit down in a chair beside her bed. Chloe looked down at the items in her hand. One of which was her camera bag, which had her old camera still in it, unbroken. Next was the bullet necklace she had been wearing when she was shot. Chloe noticed how it matched her necklace and became confused, she chalked it up to something she'd have to ask Max about when she came around. For now however she was content with putting everything down in a chair beside her and reaching up who grab Max's hand.
"I'm not letting you go this time, Caulfield. Not ever again, this time, you're stuck with me." Chloe said as she stretched out and laid her head down on Max's bed and passed out, her hand in twined with Max's their fingers laced together.
The next day...
Max opened her eyes and stared up at the blurry white ceiling and blinked. When everything refocused she looked around and noticed she was in the hospital and that Chloe was resting with her head on the bed holding Max's hand while sitting in a chair in a position which had to have been uncomfortable. Max winced slightly, there was no doubt that Chloe would have some back pain from that position, Max allowed her head to lay back against the pillow with a soft 'thump' and wondered how long she had been out, it sure didn't feel all that long.
"I hope I at least managed to stop the storm this time..." Max whispered as she listened to the rhythmic breathing that was Chloe sleeping. Max let herself smile a small smile as she listened, hearing Chloe alive and intact made her feel so much better, regardless of the injuries she herself had gotten. Max pondered on everything she and Chloe had been through in the many different versions of realities she had been through and come to realize something, that should have been very obvious from the start.
Max chuckled quietly to herself. "I'm such an idiot..." It was obvious to her to tell when Warren liked her, but she didn't even realize she herself had been falling for her best friend until she'd almost lost her for a final time. Max shook her head, she supposed this had been coming for a while now, it's not like her feelings were something that just happened. She had always felt like she gravitated toward Chloe, like she would do anything for her if she was given the chance, she was just too young to realize what that had meant at the time. Thinking on it now though, it was obvious that she had been falling hard for Chloe even before she had saved her from being shot in the bathroom by Nathan that first time. This just gave her the catalyst to realize her affections for the blue haired punk.
Max sighed in mild dismay though, while she had been too afraid to talk to Chloe over the years for fear of her reaction, Chloe had gone and made friends with Rachel Amber, and then fallen in love with her. Now Rachel was dead and Chloe would eventually find out about Rachel and Frank. Man this was going to crush the punk when she found out, hopefully she would let Max be there for her like she should have been all along though. As Max was thinking this Chloe began to stir and eventually opened her eyes and took a moment to recall where she was. Upon doing so however Chloe's head shot up and she looked at Max and noticed that she was awake, this made Chloe smile slightly as she let go of Max's hand which she realized she had been holding all nite, causing her to blush very slightly. Chloe reached up with her newly freed hand and placed it on Max's cheek, garnering Max's attention. As Max looked over at Chloe, Chloe gave a very slight smile.
"Hey...you're awake, Super Max." Chloe said softly, almost like she was afraid that by saying her name Max would disappear again and this would all have been some weird and fucked up dream. However when Max smiled back at her and reached up to hold Chloe's hand to her face, she realized this wasn't a dream, and that for once, this reality was a lot better than a dream.
"Chloe...how are you?" Max asked.
"Of course you'd worry about me when you're the one in a hospital bed, Caulfield." Chloe shook her head. Sure she was still pretty pissed at Max for leaving her when her dad died, even if it wasn't her choice, but what made her angrier isn't that she left, but the fact that she never talked to her again for five years. It made it seem like she never missed Chloe at all and had forgotten about her, and then now she shows up and literally saves her life. It was totally insane, and yet somehow it made perfect sense all the same.
Max frowned as if she sensed what Chloe was thinking about, and with how much she had gotten to know Chloe through the different realities, she very well might have been able to. "I'm sorry Che." Max uttered softly.
Chloe blinked in surprise, and then narrowed her eyes at Max. "Oh no, you don't get to do that. You left me, for five years Max!" Chloe exclaimed.
"Chloe that wasn't my fault, I had to go with my parents, I had no choice." Max said.
"I understand that Max! However that's not an excuse for why for five years you never once thought to pick up a phone and call me to see how I was doing or to send me a letter to check up on me. It's like you forgot all about me and moved on. Then all of a sudden you show back up like something out of a movie and save my ass when I need it the most from being shot by Nathan, only to be shot yourself! I mean, what the hell Max! I thought we were best friends." Chloe stated, her voice changing from outraged, to sad, and just plain confused.
Max sighed as Chloe pulled away her hand during her tirade. "I get what I did was really, really shitty Chloe. But, I never once forgot about you. You were always on my mind from the day we left until the day I saw you again and ended up saving you from Nathan. To be honest I wanted to call you, so many times."
Chloe looked at Max as she was talking and listened. "So why didn't you?" She asked.
"Because I was scared, Chloe." Max replied.
Chloe looked confused now. "Scared of what Max?" Max looked up and locked gazes with Chloe.
"I was scared of how you'd react. When we first left I knew you'd feel angry and like I abandoned you when you needed me most, even though it wasn't my fault. After a while when time had passed I wanted to call you again, but I was afraid that maybe you'd be pissed that I hadn't called you in so long and that I didn't care when you needed me the most. I didn't want to be rejected Che. You meant, you mean, too much to me." Max explained as a few tears had slipped from her eyes as she spoke. Chloe frowned slightly at how emotional Max was getting, despite the fact that she understood where she was coming from. And to be honest that's exactly how she would have reacted had Max called her, so after a moment Chloe chuckled and shook her head. Max looked at her confused. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing, it's just that... Well that is EXACTLY like how I would have reacted had you called me. Huh seemed like you do still know me Caulfield, what do ya know." Chloe looked at Max and smirked, reaching up to wipe away the tears that had fallen down Max's face. "There, no more tears for you. I never did like seeing you cry Max." Chloe spoke softly as her face smoothed out.
Max leaned into Chloe's touch and a bit before Chloe pulled away to grab the stuff the receptionist had given her. She handed Max back her bag after Max sat up very carefully, wincing as she did so, to which Chloe noticed and helped her sit up. Max thanked Chloe for her bag as Chloe sat back down. Chloe nodded and then held up the necklace Max had been wearing. "Max...where did you get this? It's identical to mine, minus the blood."
Max paled slightly as she stared at the necklace and wondered if if would be wise to attempt to explain to Chloe about the other realities and everything that happened, as she pondered for a moment Chloe waited for her response. Max decided just to tell her a summary of what would be discovered that week instead of directly answering Chloe's original statement. " Chloe...Rachel is dead, Jefferson, Mark Jefferson killed her is behind other deaths among other things. He covered up Nathan's accidental killing of Rachel. Everything will right itself by the end of the week, I can assure you of that."
Chloe just stared at Max shocked by what she just told her. She wanted to say something, to call bullshit on what she said, "Max, that's..." But as she opened her mouth to say something the door to the room opened and in stepped Joyce and David. Joyce rushed over upon seeing that Max was awake and gave her a hug.
"Oh, Max. I'm so glad to see you're alright. When David told me it was you they found in the bathroom shot, I got so worried. I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of calling your folks, they said they would be down as soon as possible." David stood awkwardly off to the side and when Joyce stepped back he stepped forward and cleared his throat before speaking.
"I uh, I wanted to say thank you. You were very brave standing up to Mr. Prescott the way you did and you also saved Chloe. You're a good kid Max." Turning to Chloe, David addressed her with his next statement. "Chloe, can I speak with you in the hallway for a minute. I'll be brief." He said before he turned and walked back outside to wait in the hallway for Chloe. Chloe looked at Joyce and Max quickly before giving a resigned sigh and deciding to do as he says and follows him outside in the hall.
Joyce and smiles at make and runs her hand through Max's hair a bit. She goes to say something, but all of a sudden you can hear what David and Chloe are talking about very clearly.
"What?! No! This can't be...she can't be dead!" Chloe denied.
"Chloe, Nathan admitted it this morning. We the police went to the junkyard and found the body. It's being sent over to Forensics now to see the cause of death before they release the body back to the family for a proper burial. He also implicated Mark Jefferson as the one behind the deaths and other things that have happened recently. I never did trust that goatee wearing son of a bitch." David explained, grumbling a bit at the end.
Chloe came running back into the room and all but threw herself into the chair beside Max and scooted forward so she could cling to Max. It something that had she been thinking rationally she might not have done until they patched things up between them properly, but at the moment she didn't care. Joyce looked back towards David as he poked his head into the room looking resigned. Turning back towards Chloe and Max, Joyce sighed. "I guess we'll leave you alone for a bit. We'll come back soon with some real food for you." Joyce then turned and left the room, closing the door behind her as she left with David.
Chloe took a moment to catch her breath and try and even out her ragged breathing before she looked up at Max with tear filled eyes, and soaked cheeks. "How, Max? How could you possibly have known?"
Max reached up and wiped away the tears on Chloe's face and gave her a look that held so much pain behind it that it scared Chloe. "That is a really long story. You see it all began when I got out of class one day and went to use the restroom in school to splash some water on my face and clear my head. I then noticed a blue butterfly out of the corner of my eye..." Max began to explain to Chloe everything that had happened in the alternate realities. At first, it would be hard for Chloe to believe Max, but by the end of it, and with the necklace as proof, Chloe found herself believing Max and holding her as she realized just what Max had gone through to save her, and not just her, but everyone.
"I'm so sorry Max. I..I can't promise I won't have bad days, but I will try and work on getting better. I'm so sorry for how I treated you in those other realities and for the choices I had you make just to save me. I need you Max, now more than ever. I won't let you go again, I refuse to." Chloe said as she has crawled up on the bed beside Max and was holding her.
"That's okay, because I'm never leaving you again. I don't think I could." Max was silent for a moment before she said something that had Chloe smiling. "I'm glad you're my partner in crime."
"As long as you're my partner in time." Chloe said, not even realizing that she had said the exact same thing in another reality. This made Max smile.
"Don't ever change, Chloe. I love you just the way you are."
Chloe blushed slightly but replied "I don't plan to Mad Max, I don't plan too."