"Max! Hey Max! Maaaaaax. Maxine."
"What!"
"Ha, you finally looked."
"Chloe, I want to finish those freaking questions... Just tell me what you want."
"... Hey."
"Hey what?"
"- can I do, I got a woman, she won't be true." Chloe quoted Led Zeppelin's "Hey Hey what can I do?" The brunette just groaned in return. "Wanna come over on the couch? It's verrrry comfortable. I heard that punk-pillows have a plus ten roll on comfiness!" The punk asked as she patted at the place next to her while smiling a smile of mischief.
"God damn it." The freckled girl rolled her blue eyes as she turned around again, giving the punk the cold shoulder.
"But Maaaax."
Right then the door knocked and the two of them could hear Kate saying, "Hey, everything alright in there? I just heard Chloe scream Max's name over and over again."
"Just come in lady-jesus!" Chloe yelled at the door while still lying stretched out over the whole sofa. The door was opened and Kate Marsh came inside the room, with a worried look.
"Max is doing... homework?" Kate asked because she obviously expected something more urgent to be the case.
"And I would love to finish it but some attention addicted punk can't wait for ten minutes."
The blonde girl let out a sigh of relief. "And here I thought something serious was going on. One can hear Chloe's voice over the whole corridor, you know? The walls are pretty thin."
"Jesus, see what you're doing, Che? Just think about everyone not as innocent as Kate who heard you scream..."
"Maybe that was exactly my plan, little Miss Einfield."
Kate came over to the freckled girl and looked over her shoulder. "You can just take the formula for that one from the book you know?" She explained while pointing at the question the freckled girl was working on. "Miss Grant showed it us... last week."
"See? That's exactly why I need to catch up, Chloe..."
The blue haired girl was making a pouting grimace with her underlips yet again. "You see how strict Maximus is to me?"
"It doesn't look like it concerns you though." Kate retorted after a letting out a small snicker.
The plain truth was that Chloe knew why Max was being so tense like that right now. The brunette, just like Chloe herself, was thinking about what might happen tonight.
Meting David will be intense. I haven't talked to him since this one time Max pretty much forced me to. I know she did it with good intentions but... I still resent him. For being so aggressive all the time. For blowing in my face all the time... For stealing Mom from Dad... And from me... How can anyone expect me to flip a switch and start liking him out of nowhere? But maybe... Maybe I was too hard on him as well. Geez.
"Okay. Thanks Kate, I think now I got everything covered for the next few days." Max pulled Chloe out of her thoughts.
"No problemo. So, anything going on today with you two?" Kate asked.
"Not rea-"
"Me and Max wanted to go on a date today, so don't worry about her if she doesn't come back. She will probably sleep at my house today." The punk quickly interrupted the smaller girl.
For a moment the freckled girl was perplexed but quickly realized that this was a pretty solid cover-up story. The blonde girl on the other hand delightedly clapped in her hands. "A date? That's so cute! May I ask what you two want to do?"
Fuck. Both of them thought simultaneously.
On one side Max was happy that her few friends had taken the whole gay thing pretty well. Even Warren was writing his usual goofy texts to her, and wasn't showing as much hurting as Max expected. And Kate being so happy for the two of them was a great feeling as well, but right now it was backfiring. "I, uhmm..." Max started. "... Chloe wanted to surprise me so I don't know yet." The brunette shrugged in hope that it would make it seem more believable.
"Ohhh, a mysterious date at night. Chloe Price I didn't know you had a romantic slummer inside of you!"
"That all the world will be in love with night And pay no worship to the garish sun!" The punk quoted in a high pitched voice.
Max turned around with a face full of shock. "What the... Chlo, you actually read Romeo and Julia?!"
"Of course the bookworm immediately knows where the quote is from..." The bigger girl retorted with a smile on her face.
"Wait, wait, wait. You just quoted Shakespeare and then called me a bookworm?" Max countered while a small grin ran over her lips as well.
Kate couldn't contain her giggling any longer.
"That's not funny Kati! Max is getting sassier by the minute!"
But Kate just respond with, "Love hath made thee a tame snake."
"C'mon Chlo, tell us where this is from." Max teased.
"Welp. Don't say I didn't warn you." Chloe said and right afterwards jumped on her feet and quickly rushed over to Max. "Let the punishment begin!"
Max didn't have a lot of room to defend herself, she was still sitting in the chair and tried to hold her girlfriend away with her feet, but that tactic didn't stop a punk like Chloe. While the two of them were fighting a tickle-battle Kate stood next to the sofa and was holding her hands on her tummy because she was laughing so much. A few tickles and pinches later the two of them stopped and Chloe slowly went on her legs again.
"What are you laughing at, Marsh?" She asked with a serious undertone in her voice.
The blonde who was rather surprised didn't know what to say at that moment. "I, ehm, well you two were having so much fun that I just started laughing by myself."
"You think this is funny? Do I look like a motherfucking clown to you?"
"I, uhm, ehh?" As she was looking for an answer Max and Chloe tackled her on the sofa and what with their combined strength they started torturing Kate with a barrage of even more tickling. For the crying and screaming Kate it was just funny goofing around between friends, and that what it was essentially.
But for the partners in time it was a good change to kill some time before they would eventually meet up with David. The rest of the day would not be as lighthearted as it was right now, of that Chloe and Max were certain.
The docks were silent. If one payed attention to it one could hear the summing of a few insects flying towards the light shining out of the street light. Aside from that there was just the rushing sound the water under the planks made.
Next, to the lamp was an old wooden bench a middle aged man was sitting on. Waiting.
His arms were resting on his knees and his head hang between his shoulders. The shadows were lingering playfully around his hard face, creating a mask of darkness which didn't let anyone know what kind of expression he had. It was fitting, because even David himself didn't know what he should be expecting in this situation.
Chloe called me... Even if I put aside the fact that she can't stand my guts, for somewhat understandable reasons that's not really what is unsettling me. The grown up man went through the short conversation for what felt like the thousandth time, but even now he couldn't grasp an idea of what he should expect.
Her voice though... Even if we don't get along, I know Chloe. She wouldn't fake a voice so full of concerns and show it to me. It could be considered a weakness after all, and she wouldn't want me of all people to see her being weak. The only two people Chloe would show such a fragile side of herself would be either her mother or her... girlfriend.
He scratched his mustache. Maxine Caulfield... What am I supposed to think of you after all? Hero? Lucky survivalist? Victim? Obviously I am thankful that she stopped Jefferson before he could hurt anyone else, before he could hurt Joyce little girl.
A smile, hidden from the shadows, appeared on his face. Joyce knew. Of course she did. She was always good at seeing through people's heads.
At first he didn't really believe it when he first heard about the passionate kiss between his stepdaughter and the hero of Blackwell. He shrugged it off as "Just rumors." But then Joyce divulged the secret, or well not-secret, to him. They were an item. Chloe was a lesbian. At first it took him off-guard.
Didn't she have some punk boyfriends? But well, Joyce also said she was having feelings for Rachel once... Poor girl. He would still need time to adjust to the fact that his stepdaughter was homosexual, but he also knew that he of all people should just stay quiet about it.
Everything I would say would just sound like I'm some homophobic. But still, I'm scared that both of them carry so much pain in them already that there won't be enough space for each other anymore.
The man feared that the two of them would only hurt each other in the end. While Maxine seems like a nice girl she... She probably has some deep wounds as well. Being abused like that by a person you trust... It must've broken something inside of her.
He was pulled out of thoughts when he noticed that slowly two shadowy figures were approaching him. It was already so dark that at first he only heard the cracking of the rotten wood under their feet. Most of the docks was not taken care of. The lamps were broken mostly and everywhere were holes inside the floor. David always expected someone to get hurt as they crash through the planks.
He straightened himself, still sitting in the wooden bench, and waited for the pair to come into the light.
A bluenette with a black leather jacket, beanie on her head, black combat boots and a blue jeans. A brunette with a green pullover, a camera-bag and brown pants. There they were. Just a quarter of an hour to late. First they call him and then they let him wait? What were those two up to...
"Hey Dave-o, already here I see." Chloe awkwardly greeted him.
A few seconds later Max followed the other girl's example "He-Hello Mr Madsen."
"Hey." He didn't really know what to say so he came straight to the point. "So? What's this all about?" His eyes jumped between the two distinct girls waiting for an explanation.
"Well... That's harder to answer than you might think..."
A sigh escape his lips. "Chloe, I'm not up to one of your hide and seek games. It's late. It's cold." And after a few moments he added with a low voice, "... And I'm worried."
Hearing that the two girls reacted very differently. While the freckled girl had a somewhat sad smile appear on her lips, Chloe just looked as if she were... disbelieving what the grown man just said. But it wasn't a lie. He was not the best step dad. Far from it. But he still took a liking to his stepdaughter.
It took a few seconds before something like an answer was given by either of the girls. This time it was Max who spoke up. "First of all, Chloe wants to give you something back." But the blue haired girl didn't move an inch from her position. At least not until the smaller girl shoved her elbow in her sides.
"O-Ouch! Yeah, I know." Her hand moved behind her back and as she brought it back it was holding a gun. His gun. "So, you were the one who took it, soldier?" The sole reason why he called her soldier right now was because David knew that the punk hated this nickname.
"Y-Yeah... Well, you see-"
"You're goddamn thief?"
"No! Well, technically yes, but I had a good reason for it!" She raised both of her hands in a defensive manner.
"A good reason to steal?"
He could see a shift in her facial expression. She was getting more and more annoyed by his attitude, wasn't she? "Hey, can't you listen for just one fucking minute? Would a thief give stolen stuff back?" In between her explanation David heard a "Chlo, calm down." Being whispered by the Blackwell student.
He gave both girls a testing stare for a good while before admitting, "... I guess not."
"See?"
"So, why did you take it without my permission then? This ain't a toy, Chloe."
"Why? That's an easy question to answer, I already had that discussion with someone else after all." She gave her partner a quick look. "I armed myself to protect those that I love." Those words, said in such a bragging manner, took the veteran by surprise. While letting out yet another sigh, his back crashed against the wood as he let himself fall into the bench. In every generation there are some idiots who repeat the mistake of their elders... It must be some cruel joke fate cracked on my behalf that our lives collided like that.
"You wanted to do something righteous with my gun? Something good?"
"Exactly!" And to the blue haired girl's confusion a smile appeared on right under David's beard. But for some reason it felt like it wasn't because of what she said. The punk narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Was he having feelings of nostalgia right now? But before she could act in any way, her other half, Max, asked him on her behalf, "You okay, Mr Madsen?"
"... Just call me David, will ya?"
"Uhm, okay?" The freckled girl agreed without getting a real answer from him. Maybe it reminded him of his time in the army or something? She tried to deduct.
"Chloe, I won't judge you for it, but you need to tell me. Did you hurt anyone with it?"
"I..." Yet again there was this weird thing she could feel coming from her step dad. Concern? Why would he be worried about me? We're not even family. "Is that really important?"
"Yes." He responded with a firm voice. "It would be the biggest mistake of your life."
Chloe let out a huff while rolling with her eyes. "Please, even if I did shoot some asshole, I'm hella too smart to get caught."
"I know."
He knows? So, why would it be a mistake then?
"Chloe Elizabeth Price, I'm not asking because I'm afraid you'll go to jail... I just... know how it feels to hurt people." His hands clenched to fists as he spoke. "And it's something I wish you'll never experience yourself." His head sank back down and his eyes were starring at the floor between his feet. He was ashamed.
Instead, of giving some kind of response she just looked kind of baffled at him. She didn't understand it. Why was he trying to protect her? To make himself feel like a good man? To give her mother some delusion of him being a good man? It didn't matter though, because she didn't want... didn't need his protection at all. If she knew one thing then how it felt to be alone in this fucked up world. The only thing the universe had taught her so far was how to take care of herself. Before Rachel and Max no one else would be there for her after all. But what he said next was the straw that broke the camel's back.
"... After all, I know how you feel right now."
"You don't have a damn clue about my feelings!" She said with a loud voice that Max next to her winced. "You're just some veteran who stepped into my life to fuck it up even further as it had been already! You... You are not my Dad!" Once the dam was broken things started blurting out of her mouth. Things she knew could cost her and Max a chance to get into Wells's office. But as impulsive as she was sometimes, she didn't even think about that before speaking her mind.
"Chloe, let's not go there." Max gently put one of her hands on her upper arm while trying to soothe her. The punk's head jerked in Max's direction, and her wrath immediately turned into grief of what she said. Not because she was feeling apologetic or something like that, but because she was endangering their plan once more.
"I-I..." Chloe stuttered as the shorter girl embraced her. David swore he saw water in her blue eyes, but before he could verify it her face buried into her girlfriend's shoulder. She was torn between her own emotions and the fact that they needed his help supposedly.
"Mr Mads-... David, could you give us a moment?" Max asked the grown man.
"Uhm, sure? I won't go until I know why you two called me over anyways. It was obviously not just for my revolver."
"Ye-yea. Thanks."
The freckled girl took Chloe's hands and pulled her away until it was enough space between them and the bench to think that David maybe wouldn't hear them anymore. "You okay, Che?"
"I'm sorry I, ehm, I lost it for a moment there."
"Don't act though now. I asked if you're okay, not if you can manage to stay quiet. I know that this would be an impossible request for someone like you." Max's sassiness brought a small smirk on Chloe's face, but it vanished as quick as it appeared just to let her face turn more serious again.
"... No, I'm not." The punk narrowed her eyelids. "How can he think that he knows a damn about my feelings?"
"Sometimes people just say stuff like that so that they seem sympathetic."
"Why would he try to be sympathetic?"
"I told you already why."
"Because he likes me? Thinks of me as family?" The blue haired girl wanted those questions to sound cynical, but there was an insecure undertone in them for which she damned herself for.
A male voice answered Chloe's question for the brunette. "That's not it."
The couple was startled at first but before either could answer David explained, "I meant it when I said that I know how you feel Chloe."
"W-We said we needed a moment, man!" The blue haired girl said, still somewhat flustered.
"Well, I could pretty much hear everything you two were saying. It's pretty quiet at night since the Prescotts ruined the fishing in Arcadia after all."
While Chloe was still pulling herself back together, the freckled girl was getting more and more interested in what David meant by his statement. He knows what Che is going through? Why would he? And if he does, why did he never try to help her in the first place?
David leaned against the not so save looking railing while turning his back towards the two girls. "Never told you about my time in the army, did I?"
"We barely ever really talked, so of course you didn't." The blue haired girl said after she recollected herself.
"Yeah. Right. I, uhm... Jesus Christ, it sounds so stupid to say it out loud now." He put one of his hands into his face, unseen for the two girls still standing behind him.
"What does, David?" Max asked. Chloe gave her girlfriend a short amused look. Despite everything she was still her nosy self.
"There was a time when I was younger when I... When we wanted to do good as well." He raised his hand in the air and clenched it into a fist. "Protect the country everyone we love lives in, and repel the evil that threatens it." Neither of them asked why he suddenly changed the personal pronoun he used. They just listened to his story.
"First we thought that it would be a good idea to join the police, but A-Adam and I both failed the acceptance test." The couple could hear a muffled chuckle. "Fuck it we said. So, we went to the army. At first it was pretty hard with all the training but we were determent to find and fight the evil that we were seeking. Both of us idiots actually somehow managed.
The officer that was training us had a stick so far up his ass Adam used to say... Never mind, I'm getting distracted.
We were ready. Trained and full of resolve to put it to good use against evil."
"So, you two got deployed? Iraq wasn't it?" Chloe asked.
"Yes. We went there and started our search. But... But there was nothing." His voice was slowly faltering. "Just sand and people. No evil." Upon hearing that the freckled girl was reminded of how Chloe nearly killed Frank Bowers. He was a major asshole sometimes, but not evil in of itself. He didn't deserve to die in any timeline... even if she killed him for me.
"We expected to find terrorist trying to destroy everything we held dear, but in the end... in the end... there were mostly women and c-children." They saw how he started shacking his head heavily. "This couldn't be it. We wasted all that time. Adam and me we both had been so sure before, but now we were lost. We needed to get out. Only a few more months and we could return home."
The punk and the hippie both knew what would come next. While the blue haired girl let out a sigh through her nose, the freckled one put one of her hands over her mouth.
"And then he-he vanished in an operation. M-I-A." They heard a sob coming from deep inside of him. "Just a bit more and we could've fled this horror... For what I know he could still be out there. Waiting for me so save him... Yes Chloe, I know how you feel.
Then, I came back to Arcadia and closed my eyes from the evil me and Adam had always searched for. Me being blind and scared killed Rachel. I could've saved her if I just tried a bit more. Her death is on me."
"... Stop that. That's not true... D-David." The punk carefully called him by his first name and not by some offending nickname.
"Course it is!... But we both should count ourselves lucky, Chloe. After I came back to Arcadia, I was broken man. Until I found your mother."
"... Until I found Max."
The security guard nodded approvingly. She means so much to him, and I always tried to get mom to dump him. I'm the worst... Chloe was having a mixture of two feelings right now. She was feeling sorry for David on the one hand, and on the other she was surprised that she was feeling exactly that.
The brunette on the other side was still pretty stunned by the story. He lost a friend, just like Chlo did... I'm really sorry for him. But something still bugs me. "Sorry if what I'm gonna ask now offends you but if you have been through something similar why did you act like an ass so much around Chloe?"
He finally turned around after wishing with his sleeve over his face one last time. He wore a stern yet at the same time apologetic facial expression. "You're right. I should've done better. But... deep down I kinda hated you for being like me." His eyes met his stepdaughter's "I mean, every time I saw you like that it reminded me of my own mistakes. Of my own naivete that killed my best friend in the end. If I could just turn back time once... I would drill two things into the younger me. Never go to war and marry the waitress of Two Whales." The freckled girl needed to contain a comment on that.
But what came next surprised both David and Max a lot. The blue haired girl whispered with teary eyes, "I forgive you."
For a moment the middle aged man just stood there, with his mouth open. "Y-you do?... Thank you so much..." David's eyes were watering once more. "I probably should've told you all this way sooner, but I... I just..."
"I get it. I really do. Some things are just hard to say out loud." The punk said while being reminded of all the times she did those mistakes herself already. "Also, I was never the dream like stepdaughter either.
"Y-yes, well, you have at least good reasons to dislike me..."
Max had not expected such an outcome from their conversation. The two of them finally being at peace, real peace not some kind of truce in behalf of Joyce feelings, was fantastic in her opinion. Despite what would happen next she was happy that at least one of Chloe's wounds could now finally heal, even if it still might leave a scar. But still with tears in her eyes as well, she still needed to break the touching conversation, even if she hated to that. But they still needed to explain why they called him here today.
She hesitated a few more moments, not wanting to break the magic in this moment, but then she still spoke up. "The thing is David... We really need your help."
For a moment both David and Chloe looked rather confused, but at least Chloe gathered herself quickly, as she reminded herself what all this really was about. "Yea, r-right."
"Okay. I'll listen to what you have to say. But I can't promise you two anything without knowing what all of this is about."
"That's fair." The bigger girl said while her shoulders went up and down again. "To cut it short, we need to get into Principal Wells's office."
"You what?" And there was the old strict David again. "You want to break into the office of my superior and ask me to help you?"
"Well that's pretty much it, yep."
his fingers started massaging his nose bridge. "... I need details."
The two of them then started explaining what had happened since Sean Prescott had shown up at their doorstep while obviously not saying a word about things like Max break down or the whole time travel stuff. They stuck to a version close enough to the truth though. Mr Prescott had threatened them and they wanted to dig for dirt on him, so that he wouldn't be able to implement any of them.
"Why Ray's office though? The man may has some problems but do you two really think he would have something to do with the Prescott family?"
"Please, D... David." It was still weird to call him that but Chloe was trying. "There's a whole dorm named after him. Do you really think they ain't buddies? And even if we're wrong, only thing that would happen is that we would find nothing in his office. We would get out again and that's it."
"Hmm..." He scratched his beard while thinking about what his step daughter just said. "So, I just need to give you the keys so that the alarm won't go off, right?"
"That's all we ask of you, David. You don't need to come with us or anything. And just think about what we found last time when I told you to trust me, right?" Maxine tried to convince him.
He let out one more sigh which signaled his submission. "Okay. I'll trust you two on this. But don't do anything reckless." He pulled a bunch of key out of one of his pockets. "This is for the main door and this-" He showed them a separate key, "-is for the office." Of course neither of the girls said that they were already familiar with the main door at least.
Thanks to all those emotions who boiled up during their talk, convincing him had been a lot easier than the couple had expected. Both of them were glad that this steppingstone was out of the way at least. But now came the real challenge.
Only a thousand more to come before we can finally be left alone. First we need to turn every stone once we're inside. Normally Blackwell isn't heavily secured unless you make too much noise, so that shouldn't be a problem. The freckled girl was already thinking ahead of herself.
The punk on the other hand was looking at the bunch of keys in her hand and a small smile appeared on her lips. "Thanks, man. For actually trusting us."
"You wouldn't call me if you're not serious. After all you can't stand me for good reasons." David shrugged.
"I... Maybe I've misjudged you."
"Oho! David you should mark today's date! Chloe Price just admitted that she did something wrong!" Max teased her girlfriend while pricking the bigger girl with one of her fingers.
"Ah! Hey, you little..." But then she stopped whatever she wanted to say or do. Her gaze went back to her stepfather as she asked, "What do you think of me and Max?"
"You ask if about my opinion on homosexuals?"
"... Well, opinions are like assholes, everyone has one, right?"
David chuckled on that. "Okay, that may be true."
"Yea, I don't really want to offend you, but you seem somewhat patriotic and... well there are a lot of patriotic Nazis out there."
"Like I said, I love my country, and everyone in it. And as far as I know the 4% of the LGBT community counts as part of the population."
That answer let both girls calm down some more, and with a smile playing over her face Chloe retorted, "Nice save."
That's it for now ^^
I don't claim to know how it is in a war zone, never have been in one and am thankful for that, so everything said here should be taken with that in mind :p
That aside, this chapter was a bit longer, because I wanted the David-talk in one chapter.
Next up: The inside job!