title: second chances

summary: "you only get one shot to better your life. don't fuck it up." — aka, the hospital ending we deserved. (pricefield)

notes: wassup mf's? anyways this is my pricefield shitfic and i'm kinda skeptic about posting it but *shrug* yolo amirite?

Rain and wind pours not the small hamlet, a huge super tornado making its way towards land with the intention to cause death and destruction. The harbor is already destroyed to smithereens and the tornado comes closer and closer until it reaches land and destroys what's left of a Pacific Oregon town.

A skinny brunette stares at a photo she took at the beginning of the week, the ultimate precursor to the fucking strange shit that has been going on around the city. Before the snowstorm, the total eclipse, the double moons, and the dead beached whales and birds...and certainly before this tornado.

She focuses hard on the photo, knowing that everything can end if she allows her best friend to eventually die in the hands of a teen sociopath. She didn't want this, but the bluenette is right - in order to save the other people in town, she needs to die.

Or does she?

Before anything drastic happens, she is suddenly transported to the beginning of the week, when she takes the photo of the blue butterfly, the precursor to the time warping abilities she received.

Max takes a quick photo and drops it on the floor. She checks the door momentarily and puts her back on the wall. She can't relive this again. She can't watch her best friend die again. There has to be another way that makes everyone live. Chloe Price deserved another chance at life, no matter what the universe says.

She pulls out her phone and calls 911 at the same time Nathan Prescott walks in and starts mumbling. Max blocks it out, hoping the police will listen to the entire conversation inside the Blackwell bathroom. Maybe they will get information where all of this is happening. If not, Chloe will die again and Max has to let it happen so that she won't cause another time paradox.

The door opens. "So what do you want?"

"I hope you checked the perimeters, as my step-ass would say. Now let's talk bidness."

"I got nothing for you."

"Wrong. You got hella cash."

"That's my family, not me."

"Oh boo boo, poor little rich kid. I know you've been pumpin' drugs n' shit to kids 'round here. I bet your respectable family would help me out if I went to them. Man, I can see the headlines now—"

"Leave, them out of this, bitch."

"I can tell everybody that Nathan Prescott is a punk ass who begs like a little girl and talks to himself—"Max tries not to cry but she suddenly feels tears on her cheeks, and she grips her fists, hoping her plan actually worked. She has half a mind to skip the entire conversation with her power if she still has them, but no...she cannot do this.

Not now, not ever.

Max hears a gunshot, and she jumps. It happens. She ignores Nathan's pathetic cries of help during his post-murderous panic attack, crying silently, up until she hears the door practically break off the hinges. "Hands where I can see 'em!"

Finally. When Nathan is taken away and Chloe is applied on a stretcher, an officer takes the time to survey the bathroom carefully. Max shuts off her phone and pockets it the same time the officer finds her. "Hey, kid, you ok? Were you in here the whole time?"

Max stares at the officer, nodding. "Ok, follow me. We're gonna take you in for some questioning." She gets up from the floor and follows the officer out of the bathroom, where a large puddle of blood lays, for someone to clean up. She rides away from the school, ignoring the stares of other students and gets inside the cop car. She wants to know if Chloe's alive, if she survived the gunshot. She needs to know so that this timeline, the semi-true timeline, won't change the course of history.

If the universe really wants Chloe dead she should've probably received a vision, or a headache, or a nosebleed. However as she endures several hours of questioning until Nathan cracks under pressure and admits to everything concerning the bathroom incident, the mystery of Rachel Amber, and Jefferson's motives and picture chamber, there's nothing but a state of calm. Rachel is still dead in this timeline, Jefferson is still a sociopath in this timeline, and Nathan is still a sick person in this timeline...but is Chloe dead?

"Can you take me to the hospital?" She asks Officer Berry, who questioned her this entire time. "I wanna see the girl, Chloe Price."

Max finds herself at Arcadia Bay Hospital the next half hour, waiting outside the emergency room, hoping to get any news about Chloe. Her mother Joyce is already here, and after a brief reunion, they both pace the floor for a couple hours until Joyce sits down from her feet hurting and Max grows exhausted. There's a man sitting there. Max recognizes him as David Madsen. Max never initially liked David, and still doesn't like him much just because he proved himself to 'care' about Chloe in the other timeline. Being protective and being a paranoid abusive ass are two different things. She just truly felt bad for him, but she still doesn't like him.

Chloe doesn't, either. In this timeline Chloe may change her mind about him, but Max knows that is probably not gonna happen if he continues to physically and emotionally abuse his stepdaughter.

It's midnight, literally midnight, when the doctor appears and all three of them are giving him expectant looks. "Family of Chloe Price?"

"I'm her mother, he's her stepfather, and she's her cousin," Joyce swiftly lies, about the last part. Max is just as important as everyone here.

The doctor explains the best way he can, but basically, Chloe's in a coma and she might or might not wake up, and Max questions if saving her again was all worth it.

Max spends the entire night in the hospital, not really caring about school in the next morning. Her first class was gonna be photography with Jefferson, and he's already in custody for his crimes. However Joyce and David go home, after Max convinces them to not take her back to campus. She wants to be there for Chloe, now that she made a new timeline where Chloe can continue to exist and get a second chance at life.

The doctors say otherwise. They aren't very hopeful. People who fall into comas apparently don't always wake up. Just like Max though, neither Joyce nor David give up. They intend to at least try to get Chloe back, that some miracle happens for Chloe to finally wake up and recover, and she can be best friends with Max again.

Max gets the newspaper from a nurse, and it's sensational. The exposé on Jefferson's dark room, Nathan's involvement in every sick photograph being taken to impress Jefferson, his murder of Rachel and his attempted murder on Chloe are covered. There's also a small article on the next page about the District Attorney James Amber resigning after the death of his daughter. There's so much to take in.

Max holds Chloe's hand all day, only letting go to get some fresh air and because Joyce brings her food. Her phone goes off the hook but she doesn't give a fuck.

The first visitor other than Joyce or David is a girl named Stephanie Gingrich.

Max has her eyes closed hoping to get some shut-eye when the door opens and it reveals a pretty girl with a couple balloons, and a bouquet of yellow roses in a vase. "Oh, uh hi there. You know Chloe?"

"Know her? I was her best friend when we were kids," Max replies.

"You must be Max Caulfield." The girl smiles a little. "I'm Steph."

"Nice to meet you."

Steph puts the vase down and goes to the other side of the bed. "Shit. I always knew she was in some type of trouble, but I didn't know she was that deep in it...to confront Nathan Fuckscott."

"Did she often get into trouble all the time?"

"Definitely," Steph chuckles. "The first time I kinda met her was when I told her Wells was gunning out for her. She got expelled the next day. She was always with Rachel and they got into petty crimes almost all the time. Most of it was drugs. I stayed out of it because I don't really wanna impose on other people's lives, but sometimes...I wish she didn't do it. Maybe she wouldn't get herself involved with Nathan."

"I think it went deeper than Nathan," Max hypothesizes.

"Did they say she's gonna wake up?"

"They said that she might or might not wake up. They basically want her to die but her parents don't want her to. Neither do I. I just got her back, I can't lose her again."

"Yeah. She's one of the nicest people I ever met from Blackwell...when I used to go."

"You don't go anymore?"

Steph shakes her head. "I opted not to do the extended senior program. I hated Blackwell. Not as much as Chloe, but I hated it. There's just...too much shit. Teachers gave Nathan way too much leeway for his destructive and abusive ass behavior. The Vortex club too changed in the past three years. It used to be about revolution, standing out from the crowd...a place to make friends...and now it's overrun by drug abusers. And like...it's demonic as hell. They hired a perverse sociopath for hell's sake."

"Yeah, you're right."

Things stay quiet for a little while. "When one of my cousins was in a coma, they used to say that they may not be awake but they can still hear us. Wanna test it out?"

Max smiles. She turns to Chloe. "Hey Chloe, if you can hear me, squeeze my hand once."

It's barely there, but Max feels a slight movement.

"Come on, Chloe, we're almost there!" Rachel yells.

Chloe growls under her breath. Why did she agree to go in a hiking trip with Rachel at the Rocky Mountains? And why didn't she think about wearing comfortable shoes? "You said that miles ago, Amber. I'm starting to think you're lying."

"Chloe, would I lie to you?" Rachel chides.

"To be honest, Rach? Maybe," Chloe replies.

"Trust me, Che. We'll be there shortly." Rachel continues her trek until there's a small cabin. Chloe is actually surprised that Rachel didn't lie, but she is so excited to get inside and rest her feet after walking up a fucking steep hill. "Welcome to my cabin. Dad took me here many years ago and yeah, it's a small place but it's cozy."

Chloe enters the cabin, realizing that it's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Rachel makes her way towards the fireplace to turn it on while Chloe scans the entire place. "Hey, Chloe, come on." Rachel pulls Chloe on the large sofa covered in throw blankets and pillows. Rachel quickly sets it up to create a fort, or what looks like a fort, pulls out her flashlight/star night light thing that Chloe made for her, and enters the fort. Chloe follows suit, for Rachel to turn on the night light, and there's stars everywhere. Rachel sits down cross legged, while Chloe crawls up to her lap and places her head there.

"I used to love making forts. My dad and I would do this as soon as we finish our hike up here...but now, I can't even look at him. I trusted him and he almost killed my mom...and for my mom to tell you to not reveal the truth about my dad...my idea of him was shattered long ago."

"I used to think my dad was perfect, that maybe he wouldn't lie to me...but after the fiasco with Damon and your mom, I have a belief that he lied too. I just...I still can't really fully accept he's gone yet. Maybe that's just me."

"Will we really ever fully accept that a loved one is gone?" Rachel asks. "Think about it, Chloe. If one of us were to die tomorrow, will people really forget that we existed?"

"I don't know."

Rachel smiles a little, and runs a hair through Chloe's blue locks. "Maybe one day they'll find out."

Max goes back to her dorm, knowing that she can't afford to miss anymore days. Despite photography class being cancelled until a replacement can be found, Max has other classes to worry about. Wells isn't cancelling class for the rest of the week, despite many students being in distress to find out that Rachel Amber is dead and a teacher was arrested for being an accessory to that crime, and other things. Oh, and Nathan was arrested too. No one wanted to think about science homework; they wanted to hear about Jefferson and Nathan going to prison for their crimes.

Kate isn't faring well, but she isn't completely depressed. Plus, Victoria hasn't posted about the video. Maybe she deleted it or something. Victoria may be a bitch, but Max never thought of her as completely heartless.

Max hopes she deleted the video.

When Max checks her phone, she sees missed calls from her parents, and Kate. She receives messages from practically every person inside the dormitory, including Taylor and Victoria about potentially saving Chloe's life. She quickly reads them and then sets her phone aside, covering her face with a pillow.

Class is solemn, but Max takes a couple notes and leaves campus the next day. She goes straight to the hospital, walking in to see Steph and two boys — brothers. Max recognizes the youngest one as Mikey North, who usually hangs out with Warren and is probably just as smart and nerdy as him. The other one? Not so much. He looks like Mikey though...although Mikey is cuter in comparison.

"Max, how are you?" Steph smiles. "It's the same news but my friends wanted to visit her."

"Hi, I'm Max," she introduces herself.

"I'm Mikey, and this is my brother Drew," Mikey announces. "I've seen you before. You usually hang out with Warren, right?"

"That reminds me, I gotta give him back his flash drive later," Max says, remembering that text message she skimmed through amongst the string of pep words from him regarding Chloe. "She kinda squeezed my hand yesterday."

"She did?" Drew asks, with a hopeful voice.

Steph nods. "Max kinda freaked out but it was super cool."

Max playfully glares at Steph. "I did not freak out. I just jumped out of my seat and stumbled a little. The nurse thought I had a concussion. I'm fine now."

"You freaked out," Mikey laughs.

"Ok, yeah, I freaked out."

Drew is the only one not really laughing. He holds Chloe's hand, making Max raise an eyebrow. Did they have something in the past that alternative timeline Chloe didn't tell her? She thought Chloe had a thing for Rachel...and girls in general. "She's a fighter. She kinda saved my life, so i'm hoping she wakes up."

Oh. Max didn't know how much Chloe has had an impact on others' lives. Maybe she should read those messages. "You and me both."

It's around seven when Juliet and Dana make a short visit. Max says hi to them shortly, while they say a silent prayer and hang out with Max a little bit. Turns out Chloe saved them from a minor situation in 2010; there was a forest fire that prevented Juliet from getting there on time so Chloe stole the show as Ariel for a Shakespeare play, the Tempest. They just wished they connected with Chloe a lot more.

"You want a ride back to campus, Max?" Dana asks.

Max looks back at Chloe, back at Dana, and nods. She'll come back tomorrow.

Chloe lays back on the trunk of her pickup truck, Rachel laying right next to her. They're looking at the stars. Rachel tells Chloe all about the stars, which one are constellations, stopping at the very last constellation, Leo.

"Let's play a game," Rachel proposes.

"You and your games, Amber. What you got in mind?"

"Smash, marry, stab."

Chloe bursts out laughing. "Don't you mean fuck marry kill?"

"Yeah, but let's be classy." Rachel says. "You know how this game goes. I name three names, you tell me who you'd totally smash for a day, who you would marry, and who will meet the sharp end of your blade."

"You go first then."

"Ok, uh...Steph, Mikey, Drew."

Chloe smirks. "Easy. Smash Andrew, marry Stephanie, stab Elamon."

"You'd kill Mikey over Drew? How dare you?"

"I wouldn't smash Mikey. He's a kid. So I have to kill him. I'd definitely marry Steph, because...who wouldn't? That leaves me smashing Drew. It's a one time thing too so it's forgettable."

"Ok...that doesn't seem like a bad explanation. Now it's my turn."

Chloe shrugs. "Victoria, Nathan, Dana."

"Stab Nathan, he's a piece of shit," Rachel argues. "I would marry Dana and smash Victoria. Like you said, smashing is definitely forgettable and it might never happen again."

"What if Victoria's good in bed?" Chloe hypothesizes.

"Someone that uptight and bitchy is not good in bed," Rachel replies. "Now...uh, Principal Wells, Samuel, Skip."

"Stab all of them."

Rachel laughs. "You can't Stab all of them."

"Fuck! Smash Skip, marry Samuel, stab Principal Wells several times," Chloe groans. "I can't believe you did that!"

Rachel shrugs. "I never said they were limitations to who we should name."

"In that case...Eliot, my step-dildo, Damon Merrick."

"Damon's already dead but I'd smash him, marry Eliot, stab David."

Chloe raises an eyebrow. "That was too easy for you or something?"

"No limitations, remember?" Rachel says. "Ok...Juliet, Dana, Rachel."

Chloe rolls her eyes. "I'd smash Juliet, and stab Dana. I'd totally marry you."

"You'd marry me?"

Chloe nods. "Maybe one day, maybe not."

Rachel smiles and shrugs. "What if you don't get the chance to marry me? What if something happens to me that causes me to not get married? Like, what if I died or something?"

"Then I don't know what I'd do with myself," Chloe replies, pensive. Why was Rachel asking those questions? "Why you asked that?"

"'Cause, y'know. You've been stalling the inevitable for so long. I've been missing for months, Chloe. This is just a made up memory of yours. You can't marry me, not even if you found me."

Max goes back to the hospital after class on Thursday. She's surprised to see Victoria there instead of Steph. She thought Steph will hang out all week...or maybe she was there because Mikey and Drew came along and they're best friends. But, when the door shuts close, Victoria glances up. "Oh, hey Lamefield."

"What are you doing here, Victoria?" Max inquires.

"The hospital has a great view of the harbor," Victoria replies sarcastically. "What does it look like, hipster trash? I'm visiting Price."

Max furrows her eyebrows. "You knew Chloe?"

"Once upon a time, Chloe went to Blackwell," Victoria shrugs. "We didn't like each other, but you know. Visiting your former rivals does have an appeal to it." Max doesn't reply. She sits on the opposite side of the bed. "And to think, I trusted that bastard. He put her in this condition."

"You couldn't tell that he was seriously messed up?" Max inquires.

"No," Victoria answers, and Max can see that Victoria is telling the truth. "He didn't seem messed up to me. He just seemed stoic but when he was high or drunk, he was fun to be around. We trusted each other...but he killed Rachel...and almost killed Chloe. I hated them both, but I hate Nathan more. I hope he rots."

Max wonders if she still has that video. No. If she brings up Kate's video, Victoria might think Max might've been through her phone or something. She can't have that. But… "What about Kate?"

"What about her?"

"You was at that last Vortex party with her, right? Did she act weird?"

"She kissed a bunch of dudes and then disappeared. I filmed it with the intention of posting it, but I deleted it. I didn't want to cause more scandalous bullshit on top of scandalous bullshit. Besides...that just reminds me more and more of Vortex club, how Nathan and I used to give zero shits about who was doing what — if you acted a fool, we got you on video. I couldn't do it."

Max grins a little. "Good. Maybe you aren't heartless after all."

"Don't get used to it, Lamefield."

Victoria offers to take Max back to the dorms, but she declines. Joyce walks in at the same time Victoria leaves, giving Max a short hug. "How's she doing?"

"She's been twitching every so often," Max reveals.

Joyce tearfully looks at Chloe. "I just hope she wakes up. I can't lose my daughter. Not now."

There's no tornado, but there is a storm. Friday experienced heavy rains which almost flooded the roads, but not too much to flood homes. Max stays from the previous night to this morning, hoping Chloe will wake up today or something. She's been twitching every few hours, which makes the doctors reconsider discussing with Joyce about taking her off life support.

Despite the rain, Warren, Kate, and Alyssa show up to the hospital to see Max for the most part. Max is kind of happy that her friends are here, but she rather spend this time with Chloe.

"Chloe, please, wake up," Max whispers.

"Chloe!" Rachel yells. "Come on! The water's fine!"

Chloe sighs, stepping foot in the cool water towards Rachel, who's splashing around. When she's knee deep, she starts swimming towards Rachel, but she keeps getting further and further away. Confused, Chloe keeps swimming but eventually she loses Rachel, and eventually her way back to shore. "Shit! Rachel! Where are you?"

Chloe hears nothing. The sky turns dark, and the wind picks up suddenly. Chloe grows cold, but the more she tries to swim back, there's more bodies of water. The wind picks up even more, forming a small waterspout. It gets bigger and bigger and bigger. Chloe has never seen something like this. Waterspouts or tornadoes aren't that colossal. What the fuck is going on?

The wind picks up so much that it blows Chloe towards the water spout, pushing her around until she sinks underwater. It changes again. It's the junkyard. She stands in front of the sign, and walks forward. Chloe realizes that she is now fully clothed, wearing her signature leather jacket with jeans and boots. It seems familiar to her, but she can't put her finger on it. No, not now. Chloe keeps walking until she stops in front of a spot where a doe lays her head. Chloe raises an eyebrow, until the doe disappears and a body lays there. She walks up until she stops and—wow.

It's herself. Chloe widens her eyes and backs away, turning around to see her secret hideout. She runs towards there but when she enters it, the scene changes. It's the backyard of her childhood home. Five bottles are lined up, and a gun lays on the ground. Chloe picks it up - it's one of her step-shit's guns that she acquired a little while ago. "What the fuck is going on?"

"Come on, Chloe." Chloe whips her head around, facing a person she never thought she see again. "Show me what you got."

"Maxine?" Chloe hisses.

"Chloe, what did I tell you?" Max frowns deeply. "Max. Never Maxine." Max physically turns Chloe around to face the bottles, and aligns her arms to aim. "You can do it."

"What...is going...on?"

"Aw, is little baby Chloe afraid?" Max teases. "Do it!"

Chloe hesitates, and when she pulls the trigger, there's a click. "There's no bullets." A minute later, the bottle explodes. "What the—?"

"Bullseye!" Max grins wickedly. She brings a cigarette to her lips, and lights it up. "Another one."

"This isn't real," Chloe says, and drops the gun. "You...you haven't contacted me in five years and now...you're here?"

"Oh please bitch," Max sneers. "I've been in Arcadia Bay for a month. I just didn't want to deal with your childish bullshit anymore. You surely haven't changed since we separated anyway. You're still an insecure, afraid, little bitch." Chloe quivers her lip, and backs up a little. She bumps into the makeshift gun range, causing all of the bottles to fall on the ground and break, one by one. "Great! You ruin everything, like always. Why do you even bother with living the way you live? Rachel is gone, and you refuse to accept reality of it. She's gone, Chloe...and so are you."

Chloe sees a bright light for a while until she doesn't. She's at the Prescott Dormitory. A flash of light surprises her again, and she turns around to see the culprit David taking body shots of her. "Stop moving, You punk bitch!" David gives her a roundhouse kick, making Chloe squirm in pain. "You never did anything right in your life, huh? Got yourself expelled from Blackwell, got involved in drugs and alcohol, fight me every damn day? You keep disappointing your mother. Maybe if we had a child of our own, they won't end up like you!"

Chloe shivers, and closes her eyes. She hears another flash, and turns around to see Rachel with a camera in her hand. "Why didn't you accept that I was dead, Chloe? I told you that one day, I'll just disappear. I did disappear. I'm dead, Chloe. Just accept that."

Chloe closes her eyes again, and hears another flash. She opens it, and it's her mother. "I don't love you, Chloe. I never loved you. That's why I picked David over you." She takes a picture, and sighs. "One of these days, you'll realize it. No one loves you."

Chloe hopes that this is the last one as she closes her eyes. She's at the Amber residence. Eliot is standing there, with blood on his hands. "I killed her, Chloe. I killed her for you."

Chloe turns around to see Rachel bleeding out. "No! Rachel!"

"Hey!" Eliot roars. "It's you and me now. It's over. She's been defeated." Eliot steps closer while Chloe backs up, until her back hits the wall. Eliot comes within centimeters of her face, touching it with his still wet bloody hands. "Together forever."

Chloe screams.

Darkness takes over her once again. She stands there, in complete darkness. She looks around to see a bright light, seemingly far away. She turns around, and is on her way to walk there, but she notices her outfit has changed. She's in a hospital garb. She has the IV cart following her. She pushes the cart with her as she walks more and more towards the light, until it blinds her.

A pair of eyes open Saturday morning.