Chloe's brooding.

She's trying to hide it, but it's pretty obvious that something's bothering her. Maybe not obvious to everyone, but to me she might as well be wearing a sign around her neck that says, 'I am not okay right now'. It's not like I can blame her; she's had a whole lot of really intense stuff dumped on her all at once. A lot of people would have fallen apart under a lot less. If she needs to be freaked out, then fair enough. She can be just as freaked out as she likes, and I'll be here to support her.

For the moment, though, I try not to let my concern show. Whatever it is, I doubt she wants either David or Victoria to get involved. The two of us will have plenty of time to talk about it tonight.

As if on cue, Chloe gestures at the tree fort. "So if you don't need me for anything, I'm just gonna, y'know..."

"Go ahead." I try to smile reassuringly. "I'll be right up."

"Right. Cool."

David, who's hung back while Victoria makes her way to the car, waits until Chloe's out of sight before asking, "Is she going to be alright?"

I guess past-David is more perceptive than I gave him credit for. "I think so. She probably just needs to process everything. It's a lot for anyone to take in."

"I suppose." He doesn't sound convinced, but he doesn't press the issue either. Looking up, he eyes our old pirate fort suspiciously. "Are you sure you two want to stay here tonight?"

"I'm sure. We should keep out of sight for as long as we can." I have to chuckle at his dubious expression. "Seriously, David, we'll be fine. We've got blankets and everything. Thanks for worrying, though."

"Hm. Well, I'd best be getting Ms. Chase back to the dorms." He snorts. "Or at least near enough to them. I hope she doesn't mind walking a bit, because the last thing any of us need is someone seeing a female student in my car at this time of night."

"You're probably right. There's one last thing, though." I pull a folded sheet of paper from my pocket and hand it to him. Opening it, he eyes the crudely drawn map with confusion; I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't mean a thing to him if I hadn't written the words 'American Rust' at the top.

"What's this?"

"Rachel Amber."

"What about her?"

He doesn't understand, but why would he? There aren't a lot of people whose minds would jump to a conclusion like that. Raising my hand, I softly tap one finger on the paper. X marks the spot. "Rachel Amber."

I watch the wheels in his head turn for a second, then his expression falls. Now he gets it. "This is where...?"

"Yeah."

"Fuck." I guess that's a fair response. I mean, how else do you respond to something like this? "Does Chloe know?"

"No." I glance back. "I'd like to keep it that way. She doesn't need to see that."

"Agreed." He refolds the sheet, looking up at the tree fort again. "You really do care about her, don't you?"

It's a casual enough question, but I'm surprised to hear it from him. Even at his most relaxed, David was never very good at talking about feelings – his or anyone else's. Still, he asked. "I'd ask her to marry me right now if I thought she'd say yes."

"Oh." His eyes widen a little; I don't think he quite expected that. "You...uh...don't think she would?"

"I should probably give her some time," I admit. "After all, from her perspective, our first kiss was twelve hours ago."

To my surprise, he lets out a faint chuff of laughter. "I knew guys in the service who didn't even wait that long."

"And how'd that work out for them?"

"Fair point." He nods, gesturing to the folded map in his hand. "I'll see that this gets to the right people."

"I know you will. Good night, David."

"Night."

I watch his taillights until they're out of sight before making my way up the ladder. A moment later, I'm closing the tree fort's trap door and draping a thick blanket around myself. Chloe glances up from the small cooler she's rooting through.

"So, what were you and step-douche talking about?"

"Tomorrow. And how much he hates light beer. But mostly tomorrow."

She snorts, handing me a can of soda. Sitting down next to me, she pushes the cooler into the corner with one foot. "Y'know, I think that light beer might be one of, like, three things in the entire world he and I actually agree on."

"What're the other ones?"

"The sky is blue and water is wet, and I'm not totally sure about those ones." Whatever changes in the world, some things stay constant. I really hope that the way Chloe's eyes sparkle when she makes me laugh is one of those things. "Hey, do you remember the first time we spent the night up here? I felt so grown up and badass watching Dad drive away."

"Yeah. I also remember the next morning when we found him asleep in the car behind those bushes."

"Hey, he was cool. Not stupid," she shrugs, popping the top of her own soda. "So, big day tomorrow, huh?"

"Pretty big," I agree. "We'll get through it."

"Here's hoping." She pulls her own blanket out of the plastic bag they'd been hidden away in. "Probably gonna be chilly tonight."

"Oh, I think we can find a way to keep warm." I give her a wink. I'm surprised (and a little hurt) when she frowns and moves to lean against the wall. "Chloe?"

"I don't..." She begins, not looking at me. "Look, I'm having some trouble wrapping my head around this."

Damn it. The fact that she actually has cancer must've just hit home. I hate seeing her look so vulnerable and I really want to go give her a hug, but it's pretty clear that's not what she wants right now. "Hey, it's going to be okay. We're going to get you into treatment an-"

"It's not that." She frowns. "I mean, it's not only that. It's also this." She gestures between us. "You and me."

My heart clenches a little. Why does this feel like the start of one of those 'we need to talk' conversations? "What about us?"

"It's...I dunno." She rubs the back of her neck. "Okay, so the whole cancer thing is huge and scary and a little tough to accept, but the more I think about it, the more it lines up. Like, I can look back to before I started smoking and I can see how I got from there to here. Us, though?" She shrugs. "That kinda came out of nowhere."

"Really?" I smile. "Haven't you had a crush on me since you were thirteen?"

She looks up, startled. "What?! No!"

"That's not what you told me," I sing-song playfully, hoping to coax a smile out of her.

"No, I didn-" She stops, her eyes narrowing. "Stop that. It's not fair."

"Pretty sure all's fair in love and war," I tease, expecting her to laugh, or blush, or even just roll her eyes. Instead she gives me a look that borders on furious.

"I'm serious, Max! Cut it the fuck out!"

She's upset. She's actually, really upset with me, and the only thing more distressing is the fact that I didn't notice. "I'm sorry. I was just teasing."

"No, I'm sorry. It's just..." Chloe takes a moment to rub her eyes. "Could you please try to look at this from my side? This time yesterday, I was sneaking into the pool at Blackwell with an old friend I haven't seen in five years. Now I'm sitting in a treehouse with...who, exactly? My best friend? My girlfriend?"

It's a good question. Am I her girlfriend? Is she mine? I want her to be, but she's right. Whether I like it or not, the Chloe sitting across from me hasn't seen me in years. "I don't know."

"Could've fooled me. Because the way you look at me? The way you talk to me? It's like you think we're already..." She looks away. "I care about you, Max. And whatever this thing happening between us is, it feels amazing, but..."

"But?"

"It was something Victoria said earlier, about what future her wrote." She swallows, picking at the threadbare rug that covers most of the floor. "That you'd tear down the sky to save me."

"I would, you know." I meant it to be reassuring, but Chloe's face practically goes white.

"Holy fuck, Max. Do you even hear yourself? Do you have the slightest idea how intense that sounds? Because I haven't seen you in years, we've been back together for two days, and now you're saying you'd break the world to protect me?" She laughs, a little hysterically. "What am I supposed to say to something like that?"

She's right. I know she is, and the last thing I want to do is overwhelm her. But just the idea that Chloe doesn't love me as much as I love her makes me want to cry.

"On top of that," she continues. "Whenever you start saying shit like that I start to wonder who you see when you look at me. Do you see who I actually am, or are you seeing the girl that died? Because I feel like I'm being measured against all these shiny memories you've got of us being together and I don't know how I'm supposed to compete with that."

"They're not..." My discomfort must be all over my face, because Chloe picks up on it in a heartbeat.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

"Stop that. Talk to me."

"It's just...they aren't all happy memories. A lot of them are things I wish I could forget. Like laying in bed and listening to you stifle your coughs at night. I had to pretend to be asleep because you'd get so upset if you thought you'd woken me up. Or how sick your chemotherapy could make you; you kept throwing up and lost so much weight that I could count your ribs."

"I...oh."

"I remember when your hair started falling out and you couldn't stop crying." I reach out to brush my fingertips over Chloe's blue locks. She closes her eyes at the casual intimacy, just for a second. Then she remembers herself and flinches away, leaving me feeling a little cold.

"All I'm trying to say," I continue, slowly. "Is that I'd much rather make new memories than hold on to the old ones."

"See, that might sound reassuring to you, but what I hear is 'hey Chloe, you get to try and make up for two years of memories with better ones! Don't fuck it up!', which is really fucking intimidating!"

"This isn't a competition, Chloe! Or...or a test you can fail!" I feel a flare of annoyance. "Why are you acting like this?"

"I dunno, Max! Maybe I don't feel like being a stand-in for your last girlfriend!"

"Well maybe I never wanted to feel like a stand-in for Rachel Amber!" The words are out before I have a chance to stop them, and I can already feel my hand twitching, ready to take them back. But I refuse to do it. I want Chloe to know she can trust me, and that means having to live with my screw-ups. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

Chloe's staring at me like I slapped her, her mouth working silently as she tries to muster a response.

"Seriously, I'm so sorr-"

"Did I really make you feel that way? Like I was just replacing Rachel with you?"

"No," I admit. "I mean, not on purpose. But she was Rachel Amber. You loved her so much and I guess I sometimes wondered if I really measured up."

"Then you know how I'm feeling right now. Except I'm being held up against myself and I don't know if that makes it better or worse."

"I swear you're not, Chloe. There's only one you." I raise a hand when she starts to interrupt. "I know it doesn't look that way from where you're standing, but that's just because you don't see all the minutes and days between now and then. There're no different versions of you. Just one girl that I'm absolutely crazy about."

She still looks hesitant, but she's not arguing, and I'll take what I can get.

"If you're afraid of somehow doing things wrong, don't be. Don't even think it. There's no wrong way for you to do this." I hesitate, very reluctantly adding, "I mean, if you still want to do anything."

"I do," she says, a little hesitantly. "Cause, y'know..." She gestures at me (mostly below the neck) with a slightly lecherous smile. "...damn."

"Wow." I laugh as the tension in the air fades away. "Way to bust out the romance, Chloe Price."

She rolls her eyes and flips me the bird. "Bite me."

Smiling, I stretch my leg out and kick her foot. "Brat."

The two of us lapse into a surprisingly comfortable silence. I can hear the sounds of crickets chirping outside, and it strikes me just how much I enjoy being with her. Not doing anything or running from one place to another; just sitting and being together, happily listening to her breathe and content just knowing she's nearby.

I missed this.

Lost in my thoughts, I'm not sure how much time passes before I feel her nudge my foot back. "Hey, Max?"

"Yeah?"

"The thing is, I like you. I really do. I have since...well...you know. And I want to give whatever this is a chance to go somewhere." She sighs. "All I'm asking is that we pump the brakes a little. Slow down and let find my balance. Is that cool?"

I can't believe she thinks she needs my permission to take things at her own pace. "Of course it is, Clo. Whatever you need."

"Thanks, Max. Seriously." Shivering a little, she draws her blanket tight around her shoulders. "Okay, look, I meant everything I just said, and I'm not trying to send mixed messages or anything..."

"But?"

"But it is getting kinda cold."

"Uh-huh." Smirking, I hold my blanket open and try not to laugh when she scoots over and presses into my side. "Better?"

"Mhm." She nods. "So...uh...what were we doing tonight? The first time around, I mean. More fun-filled breaking and entering? Or were we just chilling like the old days?"

Damn it. Of all the questions she could have asked, she hits right on one of the things I'd been hoping to avoid until all this was over and we could talk about it properly. I've already had to tell her she has cancer, that Rachel is dead, and the truth about Rachel and Frank.

When I came back to save Chloe's life, I didn't think I'd have to spend so much time breaking her heart.

"Sort of." It's a pretty shit attempt at avoiding the subject.

"What's that mean?"

I sigh. "It means that I have to tell you something else, and I don't know how you're going to take it. But I already screwed up with Rachel and I don't want to keep any more secrets than I have to."

"What do y-"

"It's about your dad," I interrupt, feeling her stiffen against me. "And about just how fast good intentions can come back to bite you."