Chapter 2: The Road to Recovery

It had been 2 weeks since Max Caulfield had awoken from her trauma induced coma. Doctors had been running tests non-stop to see if there was any major permanent damage to her spinal cord or nervous system from the bullet that had lodged itself in her spin. So far they hadn't found any glaring problems but were taking things slow for the sake of their patient. They had given permission for Max to start attending physical rehabilitation to help her get back on her feet. She was set to start after the weekend. Max wasn't the only one that had made progress. Chloe Price had been talking more to her psychiatrist and opening up about her emotional trauma. She had been going over the loss of her father and had been coming to accept it rather than run from it as she had before. She was starting to realize she wasn't alone in the wold and could trust people for help. One of the biggest things that had helped her realize this was the realization that the person she thought to have abandoned her had came back into her life. That person was Max Caulfield. Her childhood best friend. But not only had she came back into her life, she had almost died for her. Max Caulfield had taken a bullet for her in the Blackwell Academy bathroom 2 months prior.

The events following the shooting had been explained to Max a few days after she had awoke. Nathan Prescott had been arrested for having shot her. He was facing attempted murder charges for the shooting and assault with a deadly weapon charges for having pulled the weapon on Chloe Price. Nathan had offered evidence against one Mark Jefferson and the body of another girl that had been killed in exchange for a plea deal. Nathan would be spending the remainder of his days in a mental institution up state that specialized in cases such as his. Mark Jefferson had been charged with kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, man slaughter charges, as well as several other charges. He would be lucky if he ever saw the light of day again. As part of Nathan Prescott's deal he had revealed the location of Rachel Amber's body that had been buried in a shallow grave outside of town in the junkyard. The Prescotts had suffered massive media backlash for their involvement of the murder and kidnappings and had sold their assets in Arcadia Bay and moved out of country. No one knew where they had gone but everyone was glad that they had left. The city was recovering and moving in the right direction.

Chloe's mother Joyce had been moving to see if she could get Chloe released from the mental health institution. Doctor Davis was willing to let her be released as long as she kept coming to see him and work through her problems. She had agreed and was set to be released on the same day that Max was to start rehabilitation. Joyce's husband and Chloe's stepfather David Madsen was ecstatic to hear of Chloe's soon release and he and Joyce had went to work getting the house perfect for her return. Contrary to what Chloe thought David Madsen cared about her just as much as he cared about Joyce. Both women were his whole world. He had been racked with guilt when Max Caulfield had been shot that day. He didn't really know the girl but he saw what it did to Chloe and he felt helpless not being able to protect her from it. When Rachel Amber's body was found he felt even more guilty for having failed to protect the students of Blackwell like he had wanted to. He had sunk into a depression and had began sleeping less and less as he kept pushing to have surveillance cameras installed at Blackwell to keep something like that from ever happening again. Joyce had finally had to sit him down and force him to talk to her about it. He had opened up to her and was starting to move past it. He had dropped the plans to put surveillance cameras all over campus and was now trying to get them placed in important areas outside and the main hallways inside the school.

Blackwell had begun to move on from the tragedy as well. The students of Mark Jefferson had been shocked to hear about the atrocities their beloved teacher had committed. The one that had taken it the hardest though was Victoria Chase. She had idolized Jefferson and Nathan was like a brother to her so the revelations had hit her harder than anyone. She had felt horrible for the things she had said to Kate Marsh and the way she had mercilessly berated the girl and beaten her down for the video that had been taken at the Vortex Club party. She had went to Kate's room a few days after the evidence had been presented against Mark Jefferson and Nathan Prescott with the intent of talking to Kate about how she had treated her. When she had arrived at her door she was apprehensive and hesitant about going through with it, but knew she had to apologize for how she had treated the poor girl. She reached out and lightly knocked on the door and waited with baited breathe for the door to be answered. When the door finally opened she was face to face with the girl she had tormented for weeks now and wasn't prepared for what happened next. Victoria Chase for the first time in a long time lost control and broke down crying in the face of Kate Marsh. She openly wept as she begged the girl to forgive her for her transgressions against her. She knew that she didn't deserve it after the way she had acted but she couldn't help but hope that the girl at least wouldn't hate her forever. What happened next shocked Victoria like she had never been shocked before. Kate Marsh had stepped out of her room and took Victoria Chase into a comforting embrace and was consoling her. Kate Marsh who she had tormented, and had ever right to despise her, was consoling her like a mother would console a child and had led her into her room and out of the prying eyes in the girls dormitory hallway.

Victoria sat and cried into Kate's shoulder until the tears finally had subsided and was now sitting on the girl's bed. That night Kate and Victoria had talked like they never had before. Kate had forgiven her and had talked with her about her family and church. Victoria hadn't knew much about the girl before that except she was an avid church goer. She found that the girl was much deeper than she had anticipated and enjoyed talking to someone who wasn't out for themselves and fake. The only other person that she had in her life like that was Taylor Christensen. Her other 'friend' Courtney Wagner was only friends with her so that she could be popular and she knew it. The girl didn't even try to hide it for crying out loud! It sickened her. She hadn't had but 2 real friends in the world and one was now heading to life incarceration at a mental institution and the other was currently out and about in the Bay. She had enjoyed the conversation she had had with Kate Marsh that night and had told Kate a bit about her family as well. Victoria had never really been into church or religion, but Kate didn't put her down for her beliefs and she hadn't tried to force her beliefs on her. For the first time in a long time Victoria felt like she might have another real friend in Kate and when she had left the next morning she had asked if they could be friends. Kate had told her she would like that and the two had parted to get their rest.

Warren Graham had taken the news of Max's shooting hard and had retreated into himself for a short time. He wasn't entirely sure about how he had felt about the brunette but had come to realize that it wasn't what he thought he felt. He realized his feelings weren't those of infatuation when Brooke Scott same to him worried about his reclusive state. She and he had had an argument in which she had confessed in anger that she liked him to his astonishment. He had never guessed anyone felt any particular way about him except as the weird science guy. It was then that he realized his feelings for max were of strong friendship instead of ones of love. He had asked Brooke out a few days after that and she had accepted and they had been going strong ever since. He had made visits to see max in the hospital, but they had gotten less frequent to the point where he hadn't been going but once every few weeks. When he had heard news of her awakening he had went to Brooke and asked her if she would like to come with him to see her to which she had accepted. Max and Brooke where never really friends but she new that Warren thought of Max as a good friend and she wasn't going to deny him his friend. Even if she did get jealous at the thought and sight of them talking together so easily.

Dana and Trevor had been by with Justin being dragged along as well. They were happy to see Max recovering and well after such a hectic turn events just a few months prior. Juliet had come by as well and had gotten an interview with the local hero of Blackwell. All in all Blackwell had moved on from the events and was prospering. They had already hired a new teacher for the photography program. This one had come all the way from Germany and was world famous for his work with landscape photography. Blackwell had moved on and so had most of the students. Now everything was back to the same mundane routine.

When Monday had finally rolled around Max was nervous. She knew that she hadn't used her legs to walk in 2 months and she wasn't sure if she was ready. The doctors had reassured her that everything was going to be fine and that all of her tests had come back negative. So with a final sigh she had allowed them to wheel her down to the rehabilitation wing. On the way there her anxiety had started to build until the rounded a corner and there stood the one person that could make it all just disappear in an instant. Chloe Price. The girls smiled at each other before they the doctor rolled Max into the room followed closely by the blue haired punkette.

Her first day wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. They had simply worked on getting her muscles used to having weight on them again. They had had her next to some support bars and had had her stand up and get used to the feeling of being on her feet again. She felt it in every muscle and bone as she would stand. It didn't hurt but felt more like a sore twinge that annoyed her more than anything else. After 2 hours they had decided that they had done enough for the day and had decided that her rehab would be 3 days a week until she was recovered. Her next day would be Wednesday. They had decided to let Chloe wheel her wherever she wanted to go as long as they didn't leave the hospital.

Chloe and Max had decided to go out to a small garden that was in a small courtyard in the center of the hospital. They had took a few turns and had arrived at the doors. Outside the doors sat a few benches, a small fountain, and a few picnic tables. They went over to one of the tables and had sat there and just watched the fountain in peace. They had already discussed the 5 years apart over the previous 2 weeks and had moved past the issue. Now they just enjoyed having the other back in their lives. Best friends and partners in crime once again.

Max couldn't help but steal small glances at the blue haired girl beside her and wonder how she was going to approach her with her feelings. She knew that this Chloe had no knowledge of the events that had transpired in the alternate time lines so she had never fallen in love with her. But Max still had her feelings and after having been able to think had realized that she had loved her even before that. Max had decided that even if it took a lifetime that she would make Chloe fall in love with her all over again. Max couldn't help but feel like she had an up hill battle ahead of her. She still had to recover from the shooting and coma after all. But she knew that this was nothing compared to what she had been through before. She did have to admit though that she still got phantom pains from it. They had her on some low dose painkillers and muscle relaxers for when the pain got particularly annoying, but she could handle it.

Chloe had been watching the fountain and had been noticing the occasional glance from Max at her. She didn't know what to think about the glances but she knew they were of someone that thought of you as more than a friend. She would never call the girl out on them as she didn't want it to turn out to be misread signals by her. She wasn't sure how she felt about the small brown haired girl, but she knew she was happy that she was back in her life. It had been far too long since she had had a good friend in this town. She was getting back to feeling like she had a family again with her mother and step father. Her therapy had been helping her and she was happy she had decided to try it. Her first day back to the house David had walked up to her and she thought he had wanted to start in on her, but she was surprised when he had done something he had never, and she had never let him, do before. He hugged her. It had felt strange to her at first, but then it had felt comforting.

"Welcome home Chloe." These 3 words hit her like a tone of bricks. She hadn't felt like she had a home in a long time, but she had felt like maybe she could make her house a home for her again. Things hadn't been over night but the past few weeks had given her a chance to get to know David and actually see how he treated her mother. She finally could see that David treated her mother like a queen. Anything she wanted him to get or do for her was done without question. She had never taken the time to just see how they had interacted with one another. David did truly make her mother happy and that was enough for her now. She had also reconciled with her mother and had apologized for the way she had been acting for years towards her.

Both girls sat in comfortable silence for a short while before they decided to head back to Max's room for some rest. They had just gotten back to the room when the hospital had made it's stop on her level for lunch. She just loved the hospital food so much that she begged Chloe to sneak her in something from anywhere that wasn't here. Chloe had laughed at her, but refused to bring her anything from the outside. She had reasoned that the food selected by the hospital would help her recover faster, but really should just enjoyed watching her suffer. Chloe had went down to the cafeteria and had gotten herself some food as well and had brought it back to her room to have lunch with her friend. They sat and watched a really bad soap opera that just made them laugh at how cheesy the story and lines were. When they had finished with their food Chloe took their trays and put them on them on the return cart outside in the hallway.

They had chilled until Chloe had decided that it was time for her to make her way home since she had an early appointment in the morning for her therapy session. So with a hug they had parted. Max was left to herself with the occasional nurse visiting. Max hated this the most. Her parents had had to go back to Seattle for work so she was basically left on her own until Chloe decided to visit again. Her friends from Blackwell didn't really make trips out to see her that often, but she didn't hold that against them. She knew that had lives of their own so they couldn't spend every waking minute with her. What she hated most about this was the memories she had to deal with.

When she was by herself she would be haunted by the memories of the past time lines and what she had seen and done in them. She didn't tell anyone but she would have nightmares some nights. They would be about the storm, the gunshot, but the worst of them were of the times Chloe had died. She couldn't stand those nights. She would wake up in a cold sweat and crying. She wasn't sure if she would ever truly move past those times, but with the Chloe that was here and ok she felt like she could at least deal with them. Chloe was here now and that was what truly mattered. She had saved Arcadia Bay and Chloe and that would be all that ever truly mattered. And with that thought in mind Max drifted off to a peaceful slumber.

Author's Note: Thanks everyone for the reviews and I'm glad that you are all enjoying it so far. I'm working on the spacing and repetitive uses of certain things. I'm not the best author so I will do my best to get better at it in the future. Also as to why she had to die it wasn't all of her choices just that particular one. Its along the lines of every choice bears a consequence at the choice she made to attempt to blackmail had lead her to that end result. I appreciate all of your reviews everyone and hope to keep bringing you entertaining chapters and hope you keep leaving me helpful reviews. :)