A/N: Over 1200 views already. This story is growing at a much faster rate than I'd ever dared to hope for. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. And know that, as long as you'll keep reading, I'll keep writing.
"I..." Angela stuttered. She wanted to say something, wanted to comfort her friend, who was revealing somehing very personal to her. But she couldn't. All she could do was sit and feel bad.
Max let out a low sigh. He put his glasses back on, and Angela could once again hear a small click. He looked up at her, but to Angela's surprise he had a smile.
"Don't worry." He whispered.
"It's actually not as bad as it seems." He said, and Angela clearly became confused over that statement.
"How come?" She simply asked, but to her surprise, Max didn't answer. Instead, he went over, and sat next to her. He turned his head to the side, and showed her something.
His sunglasses were connected to a small black device, behind his ear, which explained the click she'd heard when he took his glasses on and off.
"This..." Max said, as he put a finger on the device. "... is the closest thing I can come to seeing again."
"What is it?" Angela asked, now more curious than confused.
"I'm not really sure what it's called, I'm not even sure if there exists more of these. But I do know how it works. Every second it sends out an infrasonic sound, which gets reflected on the surroundings, and then sent back. My glasses then pick up the sound, and sends a signal to the device, which then makes an image out of the information, and sends it directly to my brain. It's basically echolocation."
There was a small silence, until Max added "I can get by in my day-to-day life just fine."
Once again, there was a silence, where they simply sat and looked at each other. Until Angela unexpecdetly turned away, while whispering "I'm sorry."
"Whatever for?" Max asked, since he could hear some sort of guilt in her voice.
"I'm sorry, that I didn't do anything." She slowly explained.
"You couldn't..." Max started, but he was cut off by Angela. "I'm supposed to be a good doctor, a guardian angel some say, but I didn't notice when it was so obvious there was something wrong with you! No one ever just starts needing glasses out of nowhere, and yet I didn't do anything! Who knows, if I'd actually done something you could be living a more normal life, an easier life, but because of me..."
"ANGELA!" Max almost shouted to make her stop kicking herself.
He put a hand on her shoulder, and tried calming her down.
"Remember when I said that it was a gradual decay?"
Angela simply nodded, as her face was starting to get red.
"Good. And that means that, even if you'd noticed, and tried to do something, it wouldn't have mattered."
Angela looked up at him, and Max realized he needed to elaborate to make her fully understand.
"Listen, even if you'd fixed my eyes back then, or even now, it wouldn't have mattered in the long run, since it would just start to decay again. And I don't want you to waste your time."
"But..." Angela tried. "... we could keep trying to do something, and if it returned we..."
"No." Max simply cut her off. "Angela, I appreciate that you want to help me, but... I'd rather live a life where I see through a device, rather than a life where, everytime I go to bed, I fear I might wake up without my vision."
Angela finally didn't say anything, and simply hung her head in defeat.
Max moved a little bit closer, and put an arm around her shoulders.
"Angela..." He slowly said. "... your greatest gift is also your greatest curse: How much you care about other people, and take responsibility for their welfare. That's what makes you such an amazing doctor. You never give up, and you always try your hardest."
Angela looked up at him, while he continued.
"But, like I said, it's also your curse. You blame yourself, when you really couldn't have done anything. Whenever there isn't any good solution, you instead think you just didn't find it."
Max turned his head towards Angela, and gave her an encouraging smile.
"So stop it with the curse. Stop blaming yourself. Please?"
Angela let out a sigh, as she turned her head towards the floor. "I... suppose you're right."
"I know you Angela. And not just as a psychologist." Max responded, and Angela couldn't help but let out a low chuckle.
"Oh god..." Angela said, as she rubbed her eyes. "... I still don't know what to think though." She admitted.
Max was quiet for a few seconds, while he looked out the window, where the sun was starting to set.
"I'm going to go help Lena with dinner." He suddenly said. "Meanwhile you go somewhere quiet, and think this through. Then, when you feel ready, you can call the rest of Overwatch, and give them an update. How does that sound?"
Angela didn't say anything, but simply nodded.
"Good." Max said, and as he was getting up, and started heading towards the kitchen, Angela stopped him.
"Should I tell them of your... condition?"
Max stopped, and thought about it for a second, until he turned around. "Not yet. I want to say it to them myself. Them all. At once."
Angela nodded, and was also about to leave, when Max stopped her. "Also, just call me blind. I prefer that over 'condition'. It makes it sound more weird than it actually is."
"Okay." Angela agreed, with a small chuckle. And with that, Max walked towards the kitchen, and Angela towards the bedroom.
Angela made sure to make as little noise as possible, when she opened and closed the door to the bedroom.
Once she was inside, she looked around. The bedroom was, like the rest of the apartment, rather small. Next to a window was a closet, and next to that was a small desk, with papers and other stuff. On the opposite side of the room was his bed, and a bedside table, with a lamp and something else lying on it.
Out of curiousity, Angela walked over to the bedside table and picked up the thing. It was a small music case with a peculiar, painting-like picture, with the text "Liebe ist für alle da" over it.
Once she realized what it was, Angela let out a small chuckle. "You really havn't changed." She mumbled to herself, as she put the case down.
Now in a better mood, she sat down on the bed, and thought about what Max had said.
She knew he was right, which was a thing he usually was. And normally she liked that about him, but right now, she wanted him to be wrong. Just this once. That there was something she could do for him, other than giving him her sympathies.
But, he was right. And at least he was okay with his blindness.
Angela let out yet another sigh, before she grapped her wristwatch. She quickly got contact with the rest of the team, and was answered by a familiar voice.
"Angela, is that you?" Genji asked, from the other end.
"It's me." Angela confirmed, and she could hear Genji letting out a sigh a relief.
"Thank goodness." He said. "You've been away for much longer than expected. We were starting to worry that something had happend to the two of you." Genji explained.
"I will admit, he was harder to find, than expected." Angela responded.
"Are you okay?" Genji suddenly asked.
"Er, yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Angela asked, confused over why Genji had asked such a question.
"It's just that your voice sounds a bit... shaken. You sure you're okay?" Genji persisted.
Angela hadn't realized that, and was briefly stunned over it.
"Genji, I'm fine. Really." She finally managed to say, after getting her voice under control.
"If you say so." Genji answered, not hiding his disbelief very well.
"I take it that you've found him then. Well, could and wanted he to help?" Genji moved on, which Angela was thankful for.
"He said yes, he'll do it. As for whether he can, both me and Lena think so."
"Well, great. But, where is Lena?"
"She's making dinner with Max." Angela casually explained.
"What?!" Genji loudly asked, and apparently it attracted some attention, since she could suddenly hear Lucio behind him.
"What's up?" The brazilian DJ asked.
For a few seconds, Angela couldn't hear anything but muffled voices. Then Genji spoke again.
"Okay, now that that's taken care of, I'd like to ask again. Dinner?!"
"Yeah. We're staying at Max's place for the night, since he needs to pack, and none of us have gotten dinner yet. You can come pick us up in the morning." Angela explained.
"... I'll go tell Winston. Anyhting else?" Genji said, after a short silence.
Angela was quiet for a second, where Max voice quietly rang in her head. "I want to say it to them myself."
"No." Angela finally answered. "No, that's all."
"Very well then." Genji said. "I suppose I'll see you tomorrow morning."
And with that, Genji ended the call.
Angela sat in silence, for a while, pondering what Genji had said. That her voice had sounded shaken. Did she really hide it so poorly? Was she really shaken, or was it just a few remnants of the shock that's hit her earlier? She didn't really know, but...
"Hey, doc! Dinner's ready, and we're just waiting for you!" Lena's voice sudddenly broke her out of her thoughts.
"Coming!" Angela answered, happy to have something else to think about.
She exited out into the hallway, where the smell of a well-cooked meal, only got better, as she approached.
"What did they say?" Lena asked, while the 3 of them were sitting and eating dinner.
"They'll come in the morning, though I will admit, Genji didn't sound too happy about it." Angela explained.
"Can't say I blame them." Lena responded. "We were only supposed to find you, and then return. Not have a sleepover." She elaborated.
"Sometimes life just throws curveballs at you." Max said. "And when it does, all we can do is try to adapt."
"True." Angela simply agreed, but Lena had a different response.
"That was... surprisingly poetic, for a psychologist." She said.
"Hm?" Was all Max said at first, like he haven't noticed. "Oh, that's just how I like to speak. Didn't know it was considered 'poetic' though." He exlpained.
Lena looked towards Angela, out of the corner of her eye. The Swiss doctor simply nodded, confirming that Max did somethimes speak like that.
"Well, if you don't mind me asking, what do you like to do in your spare time?" Lena asked Max.
"To be honest, I don't have a lot of spare time. I spend most of my time trying to figure out how to help my patients." Max answered.
"Oh come on, that can't be all you do." Lena kept going.
"Well, I do sometimes go for a walk, or look around in the local market. However, travelling to other countries is a bit difficult, due to the slightly unpredictable nature of my job." Max said, and Lena responded with "I can imagine."
"When I'm home, I do like to read a fair bit." Max then said.
"What do you like to read?" Lena asked, almost completely forgetting to eat her food.
"This'll likely make you roll your eyes, but I mostly read different books about psychology." Max said, with a small chuckle. "Though, I do also sometimes read science-fiction novels, even though they're more science than fiction nowadays."
"Indeed." Angela said, and everyone around the table briefly chuckled.
"I think that's about it." Max said. "Like I said, I mostly do things that are related to my work, in one way or another."
"I can see that." Lena said. "You're really dedicated." She added.
"Thanks." Max simply responded.
The rest of the dinner went by rather well. Most of the conversations were about Max and Angela's past, but they didn't mind. Once they were done eating, Lena suddenly realized something.
"Hey, Max?" She asked, as they were cleaning the dishes.
"Hm?" He said, as he turned his head towards her.
"Where are we going to sleep?" She asked.
Max thought about it for a second, until he turned towards Angela.
"Did the bed look big enough for the two of you?" He asked.
"I think so." Angela responded, and Max nodded.
"How about you two sleep in there, while I sleep on the couch? I need to pack, so I'll likely be up longer than you, anyway." He reasoned.
"Sounds good." Lena said, and Angela simply nodded.
The ceiling of Max's bedroom was the only thing Angela had looked at for a while.
Even though she'd tried for almost 2 hours, the comforting embrace of sleep just wouldn't take her. Instead, all she did was rolling around, and thinking about the days events. It had been a rollercoaster of emotions, to say the least.
First she'd felt nervous over meeting Max again after so long, but nervousness was quickly replaced by a small amount of irritation over not being able to find him. Then, once she'd reunited with him, she'd felt the happiest she'd felt in a long time. But that too was quickly gone, and replaced, this time with guilt and sadness over Max's blindness.
Needless to say, it'd been a long day. A long day that still wouldn't end, no matter how hard Angela tried to.
She brielfy looked over at Lena, with a bit of jealousy, as the young brit was sleeping comfortably, right next to her.
Eventually, Angela realized she wasn't going to sleep anytime soon.
With an irritated sigh, she went out of bed, and found a morning gown in Max's closet, which luckily fit her perfectly.
As Angela walked towards the bedroom door, she hoped, almost wished, that Max was still up, so they could talk. Not about anything special, just to pass the time.
Angela quietly opened the bedroom door, but as she did, Lena's breath suddenly began to get faster, and she began to slightly thrash around.
Angela immediately turned her head, but when she did, Lena was sleeping just as quietly as before. Angela decided not to wake her up, and she simply left the bedroom.
She quietly walked the through the hallway, towards the living room. However, when she got there, she couldn't see Max anywhere.
Her first thought was that he had gone to bed, but when she looked at the coutch, she saw it was empty.
She looked around, but thankfully found him quickly.
He stood out on the balcony, looking up towards the night sky.
Angela simply walked out to him, and simply stood next to him. They stood like that for a few seconds, until Max, without turning his head towards her, asked Angela a question.
"They are beautiful though, aren't they? The stars."
"You can see them?" Angela asked, briefly believing it.
"No." Max admitted. "To me, it's all just a black veil over the world. But I remember what they look like. And I'll assume nothing's changed?"
"Yeah, nothing's changed." Angela confirmed with a small chuckle.
"Good, then they're still beautiful." Max said, in a weirdly sentimental way.
"Do you mind doing me a favor?" He asked, still with his head towards the sky.
"What is it?" Angela asked.
"Do you mind pointing out where the North Star is?" He asked. Even though it was a weird favor for Max to ask, Angela happily obliged, and quickly found it to their left.
"There." She said, as she pointed towards it.
"I see." Max said, as he followed the way Angela was pointing, thus making him look at the North Star.
"Since when did you have an interest in astronomy?" Angela curiosly asked.
"Never." Max simply answered, before elaborating. "But unlike most stars, the North Star has a purpose, a benefit, to knowing. Whenever you look at it, you immediately know where North, East, South and West is. And who knows how many lives that saved, before the invetion of things like GPS' or the compass."
"I see what you mean." Angela said, as she now understood Max interest in the star.
The two friends stood in a comfortable silnce, for a while, simply admiring the night sky together. But after a while, Max turned his head towards the streets below, and asked "Lena's sound asleep?"
"Yeah." Angela comfirmed, before asking "Did you tell her? About your blindness?"
"No." Max simply answered. "Like I said, I want to tell them all, at once."
"Mind if I ask why?" Angela carefully asked.
"Not in the slightest." Max answered. "If I tell them all at the same time, then they'll see I trust, or distrust, them all equally. If I went around and told everyone seperately, they'd think I played favorites."
"I see." Angela said, before adding "But... you told me before anyone else."
"That's because I trust more than anyone else." Max responded, before turning his head towards Angela.
"You were my only friend, growing up. I trust with my life, and I... wanted to make that clear to you. To let there be no doubt that what I think of you hasn't changed in the slightest." He said in a low voice, almost whispered.
"... Thanks." Was all Angela could really say. Once again, Max had left her speechless, but this time, it was because of completely different reasons.
Again, they stood in a silence, but this time, instead of looking at the sky, they looked at each other. And once again, Max was the one to speak first.
"Can't sleep?" He suddenly asked.
"Huh? Oh, yeah." Angela admitted.
"Can't say I blame you." Max said. "You've had an... interesting pair of days."
"Tiring days." Angela corrected.
"If you say so." Max said, before suddenly shifting his gaze, so he looked Angela straight in the eyes, and asked "Anything specific?"
Angela was quiet for a few seconds, unsure of what to answer. Eventually, she turned towards the streets, and admitted "Yes." with a sigh.
"Even though I know you're right, that it was out of my power, I still can't stop blaming myself for your blindness. I still feel like I should've done something." She explained, with a heavy voice.
Max was initially silent, until he suddenly went over and stood right next to Angela.
"Don't." He simply answered.
"How?" Angela asked, with a bit of desperation.
"Because I don't want you to." Max answered, but that didn't really answer Angela's question, so she asked "What?"
"Though you might be it to others, I don't want you to be my guardian angel, who takes the blame for all my problems." Max elaborated. "I want you to be my friend. A friend, who don't torture herself over things she has no control over. A friend, who can sleep comfortably at night."
Max turned his head towards Angela, and added "See? You're not my guardian angel, you're my friend. So, from one friend to another, just don't."
Angela was silent for a little while, until she let out a sigh. Not a sigh of frustration, but one of relief.
"I see." She simply said.
Neither of them said anything for a while. Until Angela unexpectedly turned towards Max, and hugged him. However, unlike the tight hug they did in the doorway, this was softer. Gentler.
"What would I ever do without you?" Angela sighed, as she rested her head on Max's shoulder.
"What you always do: Save whoever you can, no matter the cost." Max responded.
Angela leaned back, and looked Max in the eyes, with a small smile on her face.
"Why do you always know what to say?" She playfully, yet slowly, asked him.
"It's my job." Max responded, in an equally soft, yet playful, way.
What followed, was another silence, but this one was different. It was the most comfortable, pleasant, one they'd experienced today. The two childhood friends simply stood and looked into each others eyes. Until Angela suddenly yawned.
"Feeling tired?" Max asked.
"Yeah." Angela admitted, and they both let go at the same time.
"I think I should go to bed." Angela said, before adding "As should you."
"I know." Max admitted, as Angela began to walk towards the door to the living room.
She opened the door, and as she was entering, she stopped in the doorway, and turned towards Max.
"Thanks." She simply said.
"What for?" Max asked, even though he was almost certain he knew the answer.
"For keeping the promise." She answered, before entering, and closing the door behind her, leaving Max alone, under the thousand stars, with a smile on his face.
A/N: As you might've noticed, these past few chapters have been coming out with very short breaks in between. And there are 2 reasons for that.
1: My vacation has finally started, A.K.A. lots of spare time to write in.
2: It's a kind of... compensation. Compensation for what? Well, during the next 3 weeks, I'll be in a foreign country, and because of that, I can't write while I'm there. So, if you're wondering why there's such a long period of inactivity, this is why. But be sure, once I get back, I'll get back to writing immediately. Thanks for understanding, and see you again in 3 weeks!