Chloe's slender, blue-nailed hand artfully swirled across the page in front of her. 'Chloe P.' She was now officially a partner in the tattoo shop. She looked up from the pile of papers and surveyed the domain which she now owned a share of, smiling and glad to finally be finished reading the legalese. "You'll be needing these...pardner," Hoss smiled, handing her keys to the shop. "Just promise not to hit the meth too hard, alright?" he joked.

"Well you could have said so before I signed all those papers," Chloe quipped, "But I promise I'll try. Just for you," she said grinning at her new business partner. She spent the rest of the day buzzing around the shop, only standing still when she had to tattoo or pierce.

~oOo~

When Max saw her friend bound through the door to the camera store today, she knew in an instant that the deal had been done. "Madam Chloe Price," the younger girl greeted her friend with a warm smile.

"The very same," Chloe replied, bowing courteously.

"Oh, Chloe!" Max said, running around the counter to hug her, "Congratulations, babe."

"Thanks, Max," she held her friend close.

"Yes, congratulations dear. Maddie told us all about it." Walter called out.

"Thank you, Walter," Chloe laughed, noticing her friend flinch.

"It's Max," the younger girl grimaced, smiling at the same time.

~oOo~

The two girls, once again finding a need to celebrate, decided to go to 'Mama's' for dinner. It was a cold night and they sat at a table by the large brick fireplace that was blazing away on one side of the room. Max once again pulled out her camera and took a shot of her partner. This time the candle's soft light was replaced by the warm glow of the nearby hearth. Chloe held up her left hand, pointing at the small Gothic 'MC' tattooed on her wrist and smiled seductively. Max's lips smiled from beneath the viewfinder and she had her shot. "Gorgeous," Max breathed as the photo came into view.

"Not so bad yourself," Chloe winked flirtatiously.

~oOo~

They got home later that evening and Max ran straight over to turn on the heating. Chloe grabbed some papers and a small plastic bag from a drawer and assumed her position on the couch. "You're on pouring duty, Mad Max," she grinned.

"We're going to have to stop finding reasons to celebrate," the smaller girl grinned back. Max thought about how different things were for her now, or how different she herself was. Just a few months prior, she was an awkward young girl. Never been kissed, so to speak. Never really drunk or smoked. And now here she was. Living with her girlfriend and grabbing for a whiskey bottle. Looking forward to being kissed again. Even though she liked to chide her girlfriend for their seemingly rather frequent need to 'celebrate', Max loved those times perhaps more than any other. The feeling of unabated openness between Chloe and her. The sense of getting lost in each other.

"Ugh, it's cold tonight," Max said as she placed the whiskey and cola bottles on the coffee table and went back to the kitchen for the glasses.

"I'll find a way to warm you up," Chloe grinned.

"The queen of the double entendre," Max chuckled.

"Or maybe it's only single entendre," the older girl flirted as Max sat down beside her. She looked up at younger friend her and batted her blue eyes before poking her tongue out, turning her head and sealing the joint. The two girls shared a few 'shotguns', for no other reason than enjoying the close proximity of the other.

"You good for a Blacktooth, my sweet?" Chloe asked, making sure not to push Max too far. The smaller girl's head was again feeling comfortably cloudy and she wore her grin like a badge. "Of course, darling," she smirked. The blue-haired girl stubbed out the roach and then poured two drinks. Max grabbed her glass from the table, "To you, Chloe Price. You are a force of fucking nature, and I love you...utterly!"

Chloe was touched by Max's little tribute, "To us, Max Caulfield. And how we rock this shit together. I love you, babe." Their glasses knocked together and they drank. Max coughed a couple of times before pouring out a 'chaser' and imbibing. "My monster!" Chloe laughed at her friend's new found proficiency.

"Just remember, you did this to me," the younger girl said with an impish grin. She pounced suddenly forward at her surprised girlfriend, throwing her arms around her shoulders and kissing her voraciously. As her partner's hands grabbed and gently scratched her back, she felt waves of warm expectation surge through her. Seeing Chloe today, so beautiful and full of life, she found her utterly irresistible. With great reluctance she prised herself from the blue-haired, grabbing her glass and gulping down some whiskey.

Max curled up close to her friend, indulging in her presence, and the two talked and drank for a while. The taller girl sat there smiling contentedly, her friend's head resting on her chest, gently rising and falling with each breath she made. She'd run her fingers through the smaller girl's brown locks or slowly trace her finger up and down her arm. Max lay there, head buzzing, feeling far more excitement than her languorous, comfortable body portrayed. She felt tingles every time her partner touched her. She thought about how her head rested easily on the older girl's chest and how natural it all felt. Even a mere week or two earlier, if Max had inadvertently done something like that she would've ended up running from the room, apologising profusely and blushing bright red. Max thought about how cool and calm Chloe was with her, no matter what occurred between them. She wanted Chloe.

The brown-haired girl extended a finger and slowly, lazily drew a line up her friend's denim-clad thigh and back to her knee. Again, Chloe didn't flinch, gently squeezing Max's forearm instead in response. Max knew her girlfriend had never pushed her into doing anything she wasn't ready for, but at the same time she seemed perfectly willing to share in anything that Max had wanted. The younger girl could feel her pulse slowly rising as she traced the line on her friend's leg again, moving her head gently against her chest. As her hand reached the top of her partners leg, she paused, before drawing a few small circles on the girl's inner thigh.

Chloe's calm demeanour also contradicted her own feelings. It had been an amazing day. She owned a business now, earning good money and doing something she loved. She had the only person she'd ever wanted in her life, the girlfriend who'd enjoyed a beautiful meal with her, now comfortably stoned and draped across her body. Her gorgeous young girlfriend who tonight more than ever before, seemed to...want her. When she felt a slender finger drag across her thigh, it took all of Chloe's resolve not to flinch with excitement. But no matter what happened, she was never going to ask anything of her divine young angel that she might not be ready for. She squeezed her partner's arm reassuringly. Almost as if on cue, she felt her young friend move closer as her small hand re-traced the line up her thigh. Shit! Is this...Chloe thought, her mind racing.

Max lifted herself begrudgingly from where she rested, as comfortable and happy as she'd ever felt before. "Let's get ready for bed," she smiled amorously at her blue-haired beauty. With more energy than it seemed like she possessed in her current state, Max sprang up from the couch and ran to the bathroom. As she bounded off, she laughed to herself at how unusually quiet Chloe had become, for a change. The older girl heard what her partner had said, and subsequently watched her skip from the room. It was a few moments after that when she composed herself.

"Ok," she offered feebly to the empty room, before joining her friend in the bathroom.

~oOo~

Max smiled a toothpaste-smeared smile at her friend in the bathroom mirror as she entered the room. She finished cleaning her teeth and rinsed her mouth a couple of times, drying herself and smiling at Chloe again. "See you in bed," she winked flirtatiously as she darted from the room. What the absolute fuck...Chloe still fought the sea of confusion and anticipation. She hurriedly finished up, turning off the heater in the lounge room before joining her girlfriend again. Max's big brown eyes stared at her as she entered the room, the young girl already wrapped tight under the blankets. Chloe felt as though she was moving on autopilot, smiling as she started changing out of her clothes. Had it occurred to her at any other time that she was undressing in front of Max, she would have hastily stopped herself, knowing the awkwardness it would have caused the young girl. Tonight she was completely oblivious. Max watched her friend, fully aware that Chloe was too caught in the moment to notice what she was doing. She grinned cheekily, remaining silent the whole time.

Chloe, dressed in her pyjamas, grinning back at her friend still without realising completely why, pulled the covers back and climbed into bed beside Max. As she reached her arm in that familiar manner across her young friend's waist, she felt soft skin where a T-shirt usually lay. "Max!" she said exasperated. Her hand lifted the blanket and she saw her girlfriend's petite body, completely unclad. "Well shit, Max!" Chloe exclaimed, snapping the covers down again. "I thought you said you were cold," she smirked.

"Thought you said you'd warm me up," the younger girl answered, not missing a beat.

"I...um...I think I'm a little...over-dressed," the blue-haired girl said, faltering a little.

"Probably," Max winked.

"What the shit's going on?" Chloe muttered as she took her shirt off.

Max was loving the little game she was playing with her bemused girlfriend. She was so madly in love with her, attracted to her. She had been for so long now. It was months ago when she last wrote in her old diary, but she remembered the final entry she made. Musing about her best friend's feelings towards her. Wondering if what they had between them was...love? 'I believe you're about to find out, Max Caulfield' she read the last sentence over in her mind. Today...tonight, seeing her gorgeous blue angel, so brilliant and amazing, she knew that she wanted to take the next step. Her inhibitions mostly stripped aside by weed and whiskey, Max felt as though she could no longer stand the awkward little game her mind always forced her to play around Chloe. At some point, lying on the couch in Chloe's arms, Max had decided without doubts or reservations that tonight was the night. She loved her partner completely, but until now had never let herself know her completely. It was all she really wanted. All of Chloe. And with that, she decided to throw all her remaining inhibitions to the wind. Max climbed on top of Chloe's naked, slender frame, hands on either side of the older girl's face and kissed her fervently. She let her left hand glide delicately and slowly down her partner's neck, across her shoulder, down her chest. Chloe purred.