Max didn't sleep well that night. Every time she tried, it felt like she had another nightmare. They weren't like the weird lucid nightmare she'd had on the beach, at least, but they were still plenty bad. She dreamed that she woke up in the Dark Room. She dreamed that she died in the storm. She dreamed that Nathan was alive, and that he found her. She dreamed Chloe died. After the first couple of times she woke with a start, she stopped checking the clock and just tried to get back to sleep.

"Are you okay?" Chloe asked as Max snapped her eyes open the last time, "You were, uh, muttering and fidgeting." The room was lit with sunlight, muted by the blinds on the window. Leaning over to check the clock, Max saw that it was a little after nine thirty in the morning. She didn't feel like she'd gotten twelve hours of sleep, but that was probably because of the nightmares.

"Yeah, I'm alright," Max mumbled, rolling onto her back again, "Just bad dreams."

"I know that life," Chloe replied, "Wanna get out onto the road?" Max sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Where are we going?" she asked groggily. Going home to Seattle seemed like the most sensible thing, but "sensible" seemed like a pretty laughable concept at this point. She was pretty sure "my time powers might have destroyed my hometown because I saved my best friend" was unexplored territory.

"Nowhere," Chloe said, "Anywhere. I don't know. I just want to keep moving. Disappear, you know?" Max understood the feeling. Any responsibilities Chloe may have had were probably moot at this point, but wandering around backroads and "going off the grid" seemed like the way she'd respond to something big like this.

"I guess," Max sighed, rolling out of bed, "I'm alright with disappearing for a while." She still felt pretty numb. Being out in nature had always been a good way for Max to clear her head, and she definitely needed it cleared now.

Walking around in just T-shirts and underwear made Max think of the morning a few days before, after they'd broken into Blackwell. She had felt pretty giddy that morning, still high from the thrill of breaking into her school. Then they'd kissed, just for a second, and it had been electric. Chloe loved to tease, so Max wasn't sure how sincere the "dare" to kiss her had been, but at the time it had felt fun and exciting. Chloe's lips were soft and moist, and Max's mind had gone totally blank for that instant. She'd only come to her senses again once Chloe had stepped back, blushing and looking cute and flustered.

That was about where the similarities between that morning and this one ended, though. Neither one of them was giddy at this point. Mostly, Max still just felt empty and tired, not yet completely grasping what she'd done, and not yet entirely ready to admit why she'd done it. They got dressed and ready for the day without much more conversation, and were checked out of the motel within an hour.

It felt so weird to be driving around with Chloe, just sitting there together in silence. On the first day they'd been reunited, after Chloe had saved Max from Nathan, they hadn't said much until Blackwell was well behind them. Then, Max had felt awkward, not sure what to say to the best friend she'd lost contact with, just saved, and just been saved by.

This was a lot like that. Max wasn't sure if she should be trying to comfort Chloe, or asking her for comfort. She felt like a huge weight was resting on her shoulders, but ultimately Arcadia Bay was mainly just where she went to school, at this point. To Chloe, it was still home. How could Max ask Chloe to comfort her about leaving people to die when those people included Chloe's mother?

"Want to stop for some food?" Chloe asked eventually, a little after noon. Max considered for a moment. She was hungry, which was at least a small improvement from yesterday.

"Sure," she replied, "Doesn't matter where." They kept on driving until they started to pass through a little town, at which point Chloe turned the truck into the parking lot for another fast food place. Max had never really been snooty about food, and with the way she was feeling, she was more than willing to settle for a Coke and some greasy chicken strips.

Once they'd both gotten their food, Max and Chloe found a table near the back of the restaurant and sat down. Just like the drive, they were mostly silent, just eating their junk food despondently. As Max mechanically brought fries to her mouth with one hand, she felt Chloe take hold of the other. A little surprised, she looked up at the blue haired girl, blushing some at the unexpected contact.

"What are you doing?" she asked. Chloe hadn't been looking at her, and immediately pulled her hand back when she looked up.

"S-sorry," Chloe muttered, looking away as her cheeks turned pink, "I wasn't really thinking… With all that's happening, I just like knowing you're still here. Does that make any sense?" Max smiled a little, and reached out to put her hand in Chloe's once more.

"Yeah, that makes sense," she replied, lightly running her thumb along the back of Chloe's hand, "I don't mind. I just wasn't expecting that." Chloe smiled back sheepishly, and turned her attention back to her food. Max tried to just focus on being there for Chloe, and not how warm the taller girl's hand was, or how nice it felt in hers. This was not the time, she told herself. Not the time.

Max felt her phone buzz in her pocket, and she wiped her hand off on a paper napkin before reaching down for it, keeping her other hand in Chloe's. She hadn't been getting much reception since the hurricane. In Arcadia Bay, she figured it was probably because the storm had messed with the cell towers or network or something like that. After that, she hadn't really been checking her phone, anyway, but reception was never too great in rural areas like that. Maybe being in this town had put her back in range of her network.

Her mouth almost dropped when she opened up her email app, though. There, at the top of her inbox, was an email from Principal Wells, sent out to all Blackwell Academy students, faculty, and staff, with the subject line "Let us know you're alright!" She held her breath as she read it, but with each line she could feel relief washing over her. "Dear Blackwell Family, In light of yesterday's severe storm…" "…Service has been restored…" "… Want to make sure everyone is present and accounted for…" "… Classes are cancelled until further notice…" "… Campus will be open to students and their families for the next week, to retrieve possessions…" "… Please respond with your name and current status…" "… With sincerest hopes, Raymond Wells." At some point while reading the message, Max had let go of Chloe and brought her free hand up to her mouth in astonishment.

A moment after Max reached the end of the message, her phone buzzed again, with a reply from Kate Marsh. "Katherine Marsh, safe and sound at Arcadia Bay General Hospital." Then another. Then another. After she had processed that at least some Blackwell people had survived, Max hurriedly typed her own response. "Maxine Caulfield, safe, outside Arcadia Bay with friend from town, fled for safety in storm." Hitting, "send," Max looked up at Chloe, who was staring at her own phone.

"Max," Chloe whispered, a smile spreading across her face as she turned the screen towards the brunette, "She's safe! Mom's safe!" Seeing Chloe smile like that, and hearing that Joyce was safe, was enough to break Max. For like the millionth time that week, Max began to cry, but this time it was from relief. Relief and joy.

"Oh my god!" she said through her tears, "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" Again, she reached out to take Chloe's hand, squeezing it as their eyes met. It wasn't like everything was magically fine now, of course. The town had still been hit pretty hard, and there were definitely some people who died in the storm. Blackwell might not reopen. They were still in the middle of nowhere, with one change of damp clothes each. But just then, holding Chloe's hand and looking into her sparkling eyes, Max felt as if all was right in the world.