Max & Kenny:
"Max?" he pressed, not letting go of her hand. "Max?"
She let out another sob, fighting against her conditioned brain and the screams she heard. I'm not her toy. I'm not hers. "Kenny?"
"I'm right here with you. You're safe."
She shook her head. "I can't...she's calling me, she's screaming...I love her...no…"
"Look at me," he demanded. "You're stronger than this. We'll fix whatever she did. You don't love her."
"I love Noelle."
"Max."
"I want to be with Noelle."
"She murdered Littleton. She took away Ava and Kara's dad. That's who you love? She shot me and she shot you."
Max stared at him, her head throbbing. "She wouldn't ever hurt me. She loves me. I belong with her."
"You belong with your kids. They need you. Kara and Ava. You can't leave them alone."
"She's too strong. She's in my head."
"She murdered Littleton," Kenny repeated. "The love of your life Littleton. She made you like this, the real you wasn't good enough. Fight, Max."
"She murdered John," Max said softly. "My daughter's dad. I wanted to marry him."
Kenny held her gaze. "He wanted to marry you. Have a houseful of kids with you."
Max let out a sob at her broken dreams. "Kara and Ava need him. I need him. I miss him."
"He loved you so much. The real you, the complicated and antagonistic you. The smart and funny you. Don't vanish. Come back."
Max!
"Get out of my head!"
"Max?"
She let out a scream of anger and frustration "I fucking hate her!"
Noelle
"I'll always be with her."
Jimmy stared at her. "You're going away for life and she's going home to her kids."
"She doesn't love them anymore. She can't love anyone but me."
Max
I'm okay. My brain isn't broken. I'm safe. My body works. I'm going to go home. Make it okay.
"Mom!"
Max hugged them tightly forcing herself not to cry again in the hospital. My babies...they're okay. Hugging them closer. "I'm right here. Oh, I love you so much."
"Mommy!" Ava cried. "Mommy don't go!"
Max couldn't stop herself as she cried along with them. "I'm never leaving you. I love you so much. I'm so sorry you were scared. I love you."
"She didn't hurt you?"
"I'm better now."
"Mom, you're crying You never cry."
"Just because I'm so happy to see you," Max said, as they curled up on the hospital bed together. My kids, family,what I wanted with John...I could really use him now...his steady and calm...I can do this. "No one will hurt us."
"I love you, Mom."
I'm so sorry, John, she thought, he'd just...Noelle won't touch any of us again. She won't get me. I won't let her. Not again. "You're safe. I'm here."
6 Months Later:
Max
I could spend the rest of my life right here, Max thought, wrapped up in this fuzzy blanket with my girls. Watching these movies I've seen 100 times, eating popcorn. They don't let me out of their sight. We all need therapy. Just this for now. I don't hear her in my head. I'm not her sex doll. I'm home.
"Mom?"
Max gave her a long squeeze. "What's up?"
Kara snuggled closer to her. "Is Kenny coming over tonight?"
Kenny who finds a reason to check on me every day. Usually with food. "Probably."
"Does he like you? Like how a dad likes a mom?"
Yes, she thought, that night seems like so long ago. I see how he looks at me. "Kenny is my very best friend."
"Ma-om."
She stroked her hair and smiled at her. "I can't have friends?"
Kara frowned. "If you and Daddy can't be together I think you should be happy with someone, Mom."
"I'm always happy with you and Ava," Max said. "And you are way too grown up."
"No. Like a boyfriend."
"You think I need a boyfriend?" Max smiled. "You going to set me up, Kiddo?"
She giggled. "No, I want you to be happy. Like you and Daddy were."
Home, she thought, free for six months.. Noelle in prison. I'm fine, physically fine. My kids are...clingy but...Maggie, she's moving to Florida, she wants us to come with her. A fresh start. Jumping at the doorbell. "Who do you think that is?"
"Your boyfriend."
Max squirmed a bit at that. Noelle wanted...I've been hiding since John died. Devoting myself to my kids. Refusing to even consider and I'm lonely. I can't...I almost died. She remade me, I wasn't me. That's not love. I want to love again. Smiling to herself, she opened the door. "Pizza tonight?"
Too thin, Kenny thought, in leggings and sweatshirt, is that a smile. "I was in the neighborhood."
"Again?"
"You know I'm checking up on you."
Don't be all me. "I appreciate it. Come in. Do you want a beer?"
He looked at Kara and Ava on the couch. "Movie night?"
She nodded. "Yeah."
"Did you get Mom's favorite?" Kara asked. "Mom made us have salad for lunch."
"Salad huh?" Kenny said. "Is it because she burned something?"
"No, she said it was good for us."
"Your mom is pretty smart."
"Mom is pretty."
She is, he thought, even all scrubbed down and messy looking. She's gorgeous. "That too."
Kara giggled and hugged Max. "See Mom?"
Max hugged her way too grown up eight year old. "You should wash your hands before dinner. Take your sister."
Kara giggled again. "Come on, Ava. They're going to do grown-up things."
"Everything okay?"
Max looked up. "Yeah...we're just...we're good."
"Are you?"
"You see me every day. I'm not crazy. I don't hear voices."
"Then come back to work."
Max bit her lip and shook her head. "I put in my paperwork. I'm not coming back. I finally broke down and accessed my trust fund. I just want to be Mom, give my girls a stable life."
I can't fault her, can't argue, he thought, they've been through a lot. "So we don't work together?"
"I'm not ready for that either."
He nodded, as they looked at each other. "You're not broken. You don't destroy everything. If all we ever are is friends? Max, I want you to be happy."
She nodded. "I know. Are you staying for pizza?"
Noelle
She leaned back in her cell and smiled. She'll be with me soon.
Max & Kenny
"You make this look easy."
"Being Mom?" she asked. "They're the best things I've ever done."
"Softie."
"Yeah."
"Max?" he asked. "You okay?"
"I'm fine."
"It's okay not to be."
She shook her head at that. "I don't want to be alone. I'm so lonely."
The videos of Noelle, he thought, her paralyzed and brainwashed state, he thought, always very willing… "Max?"
"The night we," she said softly. "I just wanted sex. I wanted to feel something again."
"Glad I could help."
"I'm not sure I have anything else to give, Kenny. I see how you look at me and...I'm...I'm not that girl anymore."
"You're still you. I saw how hard you fought to get back. That's vintage Max."
She smiled at that. "I need time."
"We have it."
She nodded, thinking of her sleeping kids. "We do."
"Max?" he pressed, as she crossed the kitchen and stood in front of him. "What are you doing?"
She looked up at him. "This."
Kenny wrapped his arms around her as she kissed him, melting against him as she did. Gathering her closer, he kissed her back, probing her mouth with his tongue. Max…
She pushed back, her eyes glazed over, as he stumbled away.
"Max?" he asked, seeing her trancelike state. "Max?"
She giggled, her conditioning taking over again. "How may I service you?"
"Damn it," he breathed, watching her twirl her hair and smile at him. "Max, snap out of it. You're home."
"How may I service you?"
"Max?"
"I can pleasure you."
Kenny gulped as stripped down to her bra and panties, looking at him blankly. "You aren't this thing. Come on, Max. Look at me. Don't let her...Max!"
She giggled, as she undid his zipper. "I will pleasure you."
Kenny shoved her away, and she fell back on the floor. "Max, I'm begging you, snap out of it. Look at me, I'm here with you. Your kids are upstairs. Don't let her do this to you."
She scrambled away from him, the panic and shock clear on her face at what she did. "Get away from me."
"Max?"
She shook her head, chilled to her core as she pulled her clothes on. "No...I heard her."
"You're okay."
"No...she's still there. She wants me...to be...no."
"Hey," Kenny said, as Max shrunk away from him. "You're stronger than her."
"Don't touch me!" Max cried as he reached out to her. "Stay away from me!"
He backed away from her. "Okay."
"I'm not her sex toy."
Shaking, scared, he thought, afraid of her own mind. "I know you're not."
"You should go."
"I'm not leaving you tonight. Max," he pushed. "Not for that. I don't want to leave you alone with this. We're friends, we've always been friends. I'll take the couch. You shouldn't be alone."
That's exactly what I need to be, she thought, knowing it deep down in her. It's Noelle or nothing...that was her final gift to me. That's what happened when Kenny kissed me and...no. No. I'll never be free. "Please leave."
"I'll sleep in my car outside. Max, you're scaring me."
I'm scaring myself. It's in me...she changed me. I'll never be able to trust myself again. "What did she do to me?"
"We'll get you to a doctor."
Max
The only person I'd trust with my kids, they do like him, Max thought. He took care of them...hearing the tinkling in her mind, she pushed Kenny out of her thoughts. I won't be that thing. I'm Max. She looked back at her shrink. "I'm insane, brainwashed, I could hear myself but...I couldn't control my body or what I was doing. Fix me, please fix me."
"Did you like the kiss with your friend?"
"What? Before I lost my mind...yes. It was great."
Dr. White nodded. "Have you kissed him before?"
Max flushed, looking away. "Yes. We slept together a few days before...before she took me. He wanted it to be more and me? I told him I was just looking to get laid. Which I was...I ruin everyone who loves me."
"Maxine, that isn't true."
"I drove Noelle insane, she murdered John, shot Kenny and shot and kidnapped me. John would be alive, she wouldn't have...it's me. I'm toxic."
"Do you think you deserve what she did to you?"
No...Maybe? Be honest. "Maybe. I couldn't hurt anyone like that. If I was some brainwashed sex slave."
"And your children?"
She winced. "I sometimes think...that they'd be better off without me. And I love them so much, I want them to have everything...I have the best kids, they were meant to be mine. I'm so screwed up."
"You feel very guilty."
"Yeah. I don't want to hurt anyone."
"I'd like to hypnotize you. I know you're resistant to the idea."
"Yeah...will help? I want to be okay."
Kenny
"Mom was weird. Is she okay?"
Max was so standoffish with me, not quite looking at me. Hugging her kids, saying she'd be back soon. "Your mom is still healing."
"Is she sad?"
"Nah. Not with you two."
"Do you like my Mom?" Kara asked. "I mean, like-like her?"
"YOur mom is my best friend."
"No, like a dad likes a mom."
Yes, he thought, I watched her with Littleton, I was a little jealous, but happy for her. Now I just want to hold onto her and not let go...even if she turned into… "We're just friends."
Kara frowned. "I want Mom to be happy again. She cries at night when she thinks we're sleeping."
"Let her cry...she doesn't like people to see that."
"I know. Can you love my mom?"
I could, he thought, just be there for her. "That's something...I'll always be here for your mom."
Max
Max giggled. "I can pleasure you."
"Maxine," Dr. White said. "Where are you?"
She twirled her hair. "With you. I am yours."
"You can keep your clothes on and close your legs. I want to talk to you."
"Will that pleasure you?"
"Do you want to talk to me, Max?"
"I want what you want. I'm made that way."
"Who made you?"
She smiled. "Noelle. She knows what is best for me and what will make me happy."
"What does?"
"Pleasure."
"What else?"
"Noelle."
"What about your children?"
She twitched before her dreamy smile returned. "They're not mine."
"Who do they belong to?"
She twitched again.
"Max, who do your children belong to?"
She swatted the air. "Her."
"Who?"
She frowned. "I just want pleasure."
"What brings you pleasure, Max?"
She twitched, her mind and body fighting with her. "Noelle. She said only her."
"You, Max. What do you want?"
"My wants don't matter."
"Yes, they do. What does Max want for herself? You're safe. Noelle can't hurt you."
Max stared at her. "Noelle loves me and...Noelle doesn't. I don't love...Ow!"
"Max?" Dr. White said, as she grabbed her head and screamed. "Max, you're safe."
Max screamed again. "I have to...I have to...Make her stop!"
"Noelle isn't here. It's just you and me."
Max screamed over and over, her head throbbing in pain. Stop...I'm Max. I'm not...I'm here, I'm real, not this thing...She won't ever let me go. She's too strong, me making her happy...No.
"Max?"
She sat back, smiling sweetly. "She isn't coming back."
TBC - One More Chapter to Go