"There are five steps of grief, right?"

"Weren't they 12? Pass me the ketchup."

"No, that's from your AA meeting."

"Stop there, I never needed rehab, I can hold my liquor. The ketchup, Maxine!"

"Don't call me that. Here."

"What's up with that lemon face?"

"Your dish looks like a crime scene."

"That's what I was going for."

"Poor little bacon, he never thought that wretched fork would betray him."

"He had it coming. Selfish bastard was keeping all the best flavors for himself."

"So what's the first step again?"

"Admitting you have a problem?"

"You're back on the rehab train."

"Fuck. And what's the equivalent of that with death? Admitting your friend's dead?"

"Isn't that like the last step?"

"I don't know why you think this conversation will lead us somewhere. Perhaps you should try talking to Kate about it. She'll give you a hella more spiritual answer."

"Talking to her is surprisingly hard when it comes to this stuff."

"Well, she was dead. Even if she's not anymore, that must have left an important mark on her. Like she doesn't know where she belongs or what's real."

"Really?"

"No, I just made it up. But it sounded all wise and mystic, like something a dead chick would say, right?"

"Right..."

"... "

"Is that how you feel? Like you don't belong?"

"Isn't that how you feel? Don't go all projecting on me."

"But you brought it up!"

"Need I remind you we're in your head? It looks a hell lot like the Two Whales, but it's still your head. And I can carve and dissect all your little secrets and deepest fears."

"You really can?"

"No, I made that up too. But it would be interest- ouch! Hey, no food wars in here. Not since what happened with Collin freaking Stratford."

"Oh God, remember that? You went all Terminator-Chloe on him with the ketchup and the mustard."

"Only because he said your hair was stupid - which kind of was."

"It was. But you had my back anyway."

"Always. Plus, that asshole was the spitting image of Brian Johnson. His face was asking for it."

"Of whom again?"

"Oh come on, you're the movie buff, you can't forget about that one."

"You know I'm no good with names."

"Maybe you should go ask your Warren. He's your go-to guy to fill the blanks, isn't he?"

"He's n-... I don't know."

"That Memento guy's got nothing on you."

"It keeps happening. Is this normal? Am I normal?"

"Said the talking DeLorean to the talking corpse."

"I'm not a DeLorean anymore. At least not one with a flux capacitor. Shouldn't even be allowed a license."

"Shit, Max, you just had some fun. Maybe too much fun, but nobody's judging. I did say you should be more like me. Just go a bit more you next time."

"I wasn't trying to be like you... or was I?"

"Let's find out then."

"Where are you going?"

"To prove I was right. Let's see... Somewhere among these cupboards we have all the answers. Right at the top we can find... Max's fear of heights? Nope, not interested. Hmm... Max's childhood memory of how she peed her pants in the field trip to the zoo?"

"That's no secret, everyone in Arcadia Bay knew about it, thanks to Collin freaking Stratford."

"Ooh, this is juicy! Max's wet dreams of nerdboy!"

"That's literally just a napkin."

"And Max's secret wish of being part of the Vortex Club."

"Now you're really making stuff up."

"So I was right before?"

"Oh look! Here's Chloe's ridiculous stubbornness."

"You'll have to do better than that."

"And... Chloe's abandonment issues."

"Good one. Now here by the menus we can find... Max's abandoning issues."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You tell me, you're the one who's been avoiding me all week."

"I didn't abandon you if that's... "

"Nope, once again you're missing the point."

"Then why don't you just tell me what it is?"

"Because it's so much more fun this way. And because that's also part of the whole point."

"I think I've just found Chloe's inability to make sense."

"And I think you're confusing it with Max's refusal to accept things."

"Wait. That's the first step, right? Refusal? "

"I believe it's called denial."

"So you knew!"

"Of course I did."

"But I'm not in denial, I know you're dead."

"And the irony of that just went right over your head, didn't it? Why did you bring this up anyway?"

"If you're in my head, don't you already know?"

"Oh, but I do enjoy getting it out of you."

"…"

"Come on, spit it out."

"I just don't know what to do about it."

"At least now you're thinking about doing something."

"But what?"

"No need to worry about that."

"Why? Because you saw it inside one of those cupboards?"

"No. Because I'm about to tell you."

A/N: Oh hi there! Just a little something for you to know Ginger Panda's still here, still working on this. Already got a deadline for part 11, so that should work. It's gonna work, or I'm gonna get my ass kicked. Thanks, KameXI, for kicking my ass regularly. And for all the talk about SPOILER-SPOILER-SPOILER. Good times.

To you, sitting there, behind the screen, thank you for taking the time to read this, double thank you if you're following/favouriting this, triple thank you if you took the time to leave some nice words that probably made my day. And some more specific thank you's I feel obligated to leave because THERE CAN NEVER BE ENOUGH:

Marcus, I've said this before, but I love your long ass ramblings. They're part of the reason why I write. Thank you for being awesome.

YumiLeeHaan, si volvés por acá, mi idioma nativo también es el español! xD And heck yes, he needs to man up.

Draegor, your review made me particularly happy. Still does. Quadruple thank you.

Holywoodunderfed, thank you for coming back and for telling me about it and for inspiring me and thank you.