XII - Discussions
Most of the medical team had left the room. So did Kate and Victoria, although Max never really noticed their presence in the commotion. Vanessa and Ryan Caulfield were standing at the foot of the bed, watching over their daughter as the doctor examined her. Chloe had stayed too, although after her emotional break down during Max' Near Death, she had retreated in a corner by the hospital room door, out of sight as she tried to regain her composure.
Doctor Ryan had moved his stethoscope along Max' chest a few times, listening to her heart and her breathing. Apparently satisfied, he put the device around his shoulder as he looked at the girl.
"Hello Ms. Caulfield. I'm Doctor Ryan." His voice was soothing, and Max tore her eyes from the corner she had sawn Chloe disappeared into, and looked at him
"He..Hello." Her voice was still weak and raw, her throat dry and sore.
"I'm going to ask you a few questions and examine you, so we can see how far along you are. Is that ok?"
Max nodded.
"Good. Can you tell me your name?"
Max nodded softly and said "Max Caulfield."
Her mother gave a slight frown although her father smirked. "She never liked her full name." he explained at the doctor's puzzlement.
"Okay. Do you know where you are?"
Max looked around thinking. "It looks like a hospital."
The Doctor nodded "Yes. Arcadia Bay Hospital indeed."
He moved to the foot and the bed and pressed his hand on her leg. "Do you feel this?"
Max nodded "Yes."
Ryan and Vanessa sighed in relief.
"Very good. Can you try to move your legs please?"
Max nodded. He legs twitched weakly.
"Can you try to lift them off the bed?"
Max frowned, strain and concentration on her face showing that something wasn't as it was supposed to. Her legs shifted slightly, trembling, before they weakly left the mattress. Panting and groaning Max relaxed and her legs fell back on the bed.
"I... What..." her voice showed fear and pain as she stuttered with the shock or realizing her legs didn't move as she wanted them to.
Vanessa Caulfield took a step forward feeling her daughter's distress. "Honey ? What's wrong ?"
Max looked at her legs in disbelief. "I can't move them."
A loud thud reverberated in the room from the corner Chloe had retreated to. Ryan turned his head and saw the punk girl had sat down along the wall, her face buried in her knees.
"What... What is happening? Why can't I move my legs?"
Doctor Ryan looked at Max, feeling she was about to panic, and smiled. "Calm down Ms. Caulfield. No need to worry yet." His voice tried to be comforting and Max leaned back in her pillow tears in her eyes.
"I'll try to explain but first I need to do a few more tests, okay?"
Max nodded looking at her parents with an edge of fear then at the corner where Chloe disappeared.
I need you know Chloe, I need my friend.
Doctor Ryan moved a finger along the sole of her feet and she jerked in the bed at the surprise. Her leg moving on its own, further than when she had tried to move it on purpose.
"Okay. This is good news. You see, if your spine was damaged, your leg would not move, and you would not feel when I put pressure on it." He smiled as he placed the cover back on her legs.
He moved back beside the bed and moved to inspect her flank. "I'll take a look at your wounds." He stated. "Do you remember what happened?"
Max hesitated a moment as if searching her words. "I got ... shot, I think." She looked at her parents and then at the window. "There was a boy... I think it was Nathan... He had a gun... He was about to shoot ... Chloe?" she turned her head as she heard a muffled sobbing. "I... I tried to protect her I think."
The doctor nodded as he examined the bandage on her right side. "Good, your memory is fine. Can you roll on your left a moment?"
Max nodded and winced as she rolled slowly on her side. She felt the hand moving on her back and held her breath as the feeling felt uncomfortable.
"Okay you can lay down again." Doctor Ryan took the notepad by the bed and wrote a few notes. He then turned to Max and her parents.
"So. As you remember you got shot. Your injuries are severe but not as bad as we could have feared." He smiled encouragingly. "The scars are healing properly, your vitals seem strong and regular, your memory seems unimpaired, so I'd say you are recovering far better than we expected." He looked at the clipboard as he continued. "Better doesn't mean you without consequences though. We had to remove your spleen, so you will have to be on medication for the rest of your life."
They heard the door opening and closing. Ryan Caulfield looked up and toward the entrance biting his lip as he saw the bluenette had left.
At the same time Max had started to turn pale at the news and the physician moved a hand on her shoulder reassuringly "Do not worry, it is pretty current in many accidents and totally manageable. The change in your routine will soon become automatic and you won't notice it."
He took a step back. "Now, for your legs. The good news is you still feel them, and their reflexes are good. So that means the spinal damages are ranging from none to very light."
Vanessa looked at the doctor. "But why can't she move them?"
The physician looked at his pad "We'd need to run a few exams, scanners and such, to confirm. Best guess would be that something is putting pressure on the spinal cord, limiting the signals between the brain and limb." He looked up again. "It might be permanent, but the fact she still got full reflex mobility makes me think it might only be temporary. Scans will tell us more and I should have a more detailed idea with the results."
He looked at Max his face more serious. "Now, even if temporary, it won't be an easy recovery. You will have to relearn to walk. You will feel like your legs are weak at first, and it may be painful. However, if all goes well, you might make a full or at least close to full recovery on this part."
Ryan Caulfield looked at the doctor and asked. "How long?"
The physician winced at the familiar question, having hoped they would overlook that part. "Difficult to say for now. At best weeks. Months maybe. Until then, you will have to use a wheelchair and slowly move up to clutches and maybe a cane."
Vanessa Caulfield looked at the doctor. "When can she come home with us?" Her voice was strained, reflecting the fears accumulated in the previous week.
Before the physician could answer, Max voice rose. "Mom! I'm not going!"
Vanessa looked at her daughter. "Of course, you are coming back with us to Seattle!"
Max shook her head. "Stop it mom! I'm not leaving!"
Vanessa looked like all the tension of the previous week was about to blow. "Why Maxine? Why would you want to stay here? Haven't you been hurt enough?"
Ryan Caulfield reached out to hold his wife, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Vanessa..."
But the woman kept on going. "I knew we shouldn't have let you go to that school. You should have stayed in Seattle with us! All this wouldn't have happened if you had!"
Max felt anger rising. "Stop it mom! You know it could have happened anywhere!"
Ryan pulled on his wife shoulder "Vanessa... Wait." The woman looked back at her husband, tears in her eyes.
Max clenched her fist on the bed cover. "You can't coddle me mom! You can't keep me wrapped in cotton and protect me all the time!" She felt tears in her eyes as she fought with her mother for the first time.
Vanessa looked surprised at her daughter's response. Her mouth kept opening and closing, as if she hesitated.
Ryan moved to stand beside his wife, his arm wrapped across her shoulder to hold her. "Max. I won't say I don't agree with you. Just please understand. We are worried, it's normal - our daughter's been hurt. And we nearly lost you." He paused waiting a moment before he continued. "So please before this goes too far. Can you tell us why? I'd like to understand why you insist on staying here."
Max looked at her dad and thought.
I can't tell them I want to stay for Chloe. Even if dad may understand, mom probably won't.
She swallowed a few times before she said. "Because if I leave, they win, and I lose."
Ryan frowned a moment. "What do you mean?"
"I mean... If I leave... If I let this send me back home... I... I feel like I won't be able to live on my own again... I feel that, if I let this change my life, then I will let fear control me, and those who hurt me will have had what they wanted! Me, gone!" She looked at her mother. "I can't do that mom! I can't let them win! I can't let them decide for me! How would I be able to... move on if I did! If I keep being scared!"
Ryan seemed thoughtful. Vanessa tried to take a step forward. "But Maxine! You are ..."
Max shook her head. "You don't understand mom. I have to try! I have to try living on my own! What happens if I..." Fear caught in her throat as she approached the possibility. "If I can't walk on my own again? You can't be with me forever mom!"
Vanessa was about to interject but Ryan interrupted her. "Vanessa, she's right." He smiled warmly. "It seems you've matured a lot in the past weeks."
Vanessa looked at her husband. "We can't leave her here!"
Ryan pulled his wife tightly against him. "We don't really have a choice honey. She's all grown up."
"Grown up? She's my baby!"
Max rolled her eyes. "I'm eighteen, mom! I'm an adult! Not a baby!"
Before things went further, Doctor Ryan interrupted. "She'll need a few weeks before she can be discharged anyway. No need to rush a decision."
Max looked at the doctor then at her parents. "The decision has been made." she said with resolve in her voice as she looked at her mother, preparing for the fight her mother's face seemed to promise.
I'm not leaving Chloe.
Chloe leaned on the wall by the door of the hospital main entrance, smoking a cigarette slowly as she tried to regain her composure, to digest the news of how bad her childhood friend had been hurt because of her, of how much she had sacrificed for her.
Shit Max! Why did you have to play goddamn hero!
She took a last drag of her cigarette and crushed it in the ashtray before she headed back in. The walk back to Max' room was slower than the rush earlier that night. Much slower. Chloe dragged her feet in fact. It was going to be her first real talk with Max in five years, and she was scared. She was scared of all the changes in her friend. Scared her friend would hate the changes in her. Scared her friend would be angry after she had been hurt so bad because of her. Scared of her own anger, lurking in the back of her mind. And maybe most of all, scared of bringing more arm to Max.
As she walked she passed by Nathan's room. Two officers were in front of the door talking to a man who had his back toward her.
"I do not care what Sean Prescott wants! His son killed my daughter and he will face justice for that! And it won't stop there! I'm already seeing to have investigations conducted into Sean Prescott involvement. No way his son and an art teacher could afford such a bunker and brand new hi-tech professional photography equipment without someone to push the cash for it! So, I don't care. Even if he was the goddamn president! Sean Prescott can't see his son! I won't have them prepare and decide on their story before we had a chance of finding evidences!"
Chloe stopped as she caught the man's ranting. She hesitated a moment.
Fuck! Rachel's dad... Doubt he'd like to see me around.
She was about to walk away - more like make her escape - when the man turned and spotted her. "Chloe Price?"
Chloe winced, closing her eyes as she grimaced. Her shoulder sagged as she sighed and turned back.
"Hi Mr. Amber. I... am so sorry for Rachel."
There try to be nice.
She looked down expecting a tongue lashing.
"I..." The man paused apparently unsure about what to say. "What are you doing here? Your wound okay?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay, thanks... Just, visiting an old friend."
She felt him staring at her.
Dude! If you have something to say, fucking say it!
"You got another of your friends in trouble?"
And there it goes! Fuck!
"What do you mean, another?" Chloe looked up frowning. "You think I got Rachel in trouble?"
Chloe winced and regretted the last part right away. Me and my fucking loose mouth!
"Rachel wouldn't have strayed with this crowd if you hadn't turned her against me!"
What the fuck!
"What? It's not me who lied to her! Not me who tried to hide her real mother! Not me who tried to have said mother killed by one of the city's most notorious psycho, so my little secret would not fall apart!"
"I was only trying to do what I thought best for my daughter! It's you who by pushing the matter and broke my family! Without you she would not have tried to escape by any means she could find! She would not have had to deal with people like Prescott and Jefferson!"
Chloe felt like she had been punched. "What? Rachel fucking talked about running away since the day I met her! She only stayed because I held her back!" Chloe felt tears in her eyes.
Shit and after I had managed to calm down a bit!
"She died because she was still in Arcadia Bay! Because I held her back! Because for some fucking reason I pushed her to wait after she finished high school!" Chloe took deep breath.
"If she had not known me She would have ran away long ago! And maybe she would have been alive! Yeah, I feel responsible! No fucking need to lay it on me! My best friend died because of me!"
Mr. Amber looked at the punk girl his jaw dropped as the girl vented her own insecurities. He ran a hand in his hair in frustration.
"God! I... I'm sorry Chloe. That's... not what I meant..." He looked down at his feet. "It's just..."
"She's dead Mr. Amber. I wish I could change this. I wish I could take her place. But I can't! Now all I have left is a friend who fucking tried to protect me and who will probably spend the rest of her life in a fucking chair! So yeah! I'm a fuck up! Happy?"
The man reached out with a hand, paused and finally let his hand fall back at his side.
"That's not what I meant... Sorry Chloe, I guess the pain still raw and ... I keep blaming everyone for my mistakes..." He sighed. "You... take care of yourself and your friend Chloe. That's what you can do for Rachel... Me all I have left is making sure the Prescotts don't get away with this!"
Chloe looked up and nodded. "I hope they fucking suffer!"
Mr. Amber turned away as he answered, "On this we agree."
Chloe stood a minute her fist clenched as she tried to calm down. She took a deep breath and headed for Max' Room.
She noticed Ryan and Vanessa stepping out, obviously shaken by something, and arguing. She bit her lip and kept walking trying not to be seen as they crossed each other's path.
"... Ryan, I do NOT care! She's coming home with us!"
A/N : Okay originally this chapter was supposed to end after Max and Chloe had their first talk in 5 years. But when I finished writing that last part I ended up with a bigger fight than I originally imagined. Rereading it I found that the fight part would be better for later in the story, so I'll keep it and you will still enjoy it.
But as a result, I got to rewrite the first contact scene. Luckily this part of the chapter was long enough to qualify. I wrote more than I thought in the first part so it all works out.
So, as you see Max is awake, and we found out more about her injuries. I think the reeducation will be interesting to process.
The interaction with her mom should be interesting too. I saw many stories saying that Max family was ok with her to stay (even in those where she got hurt.) But as I remember the game, Max had to push for her mom to let her go to Blackwell. So, in my mind Vanessa would totally want her daughter to come back home. Besides, I think any mother would feel that way if their daughter been hurt (okay maybe not Kate's).
I would also think Max would not want to say she is staying for one person, especially another girl, at this point. I thought about a reason. And I remembered how Max behaved in the game. She saw Chloe get hurt a lot, she even got hurt herself by Jeffershit... Yet, she never gave up. One reason, and I think the main reason, is that Max would not want them to win. She would want to tell the bad guys, even fate, to fuck off. True at the beginning she is shy, but by the end, well she is ready to say it and actually decide to kill sacrifice hundreds for what she wants. Can't really call her a push over anymore. So yeah, I want her to want to try and fight her PTSD.
The meeting between Rachel's father and Chloe, I'm not totally sure of it. I think this would be a very difficult situation. Considering that the Ambers gave up on searching Rachel in LIS, but not in the alternative timeline (where Chloe and Rachel never met), I'd think the "tell the truth" ending would be the canon in BtS. Hence my choice here. Of course, if that happened, the Amber would have resentment against Chloe. But Chloe would probably feel guilty too. She and Rachel were planning to escape 3 years before LiS and in the end they hadn't. I think Chloe might feel like it's her fault.
So here it is... Hope it's as good as the rest. Chapter 13 will deal with the first talk between Max and Chloe... Just have to tone the tension down a bit so it doesn't blow in a full-scale war right away... but keep enough of it to avoid a "lovey Dovey" situation right of the bat. Honestly, I think it's the hardest part of the path I chose
Also the title doesn't really suit me. So if anyone got a good suggestion let me know :)
