Episode 16

Deja Vu

"So who want's some nosh," Warrens' voice came through the hallway the front door could be heard closing as he walked into the dining room carrying a stack of pizza boxes. Max had her chin resting on the table as she caught the smell of fresh bread and cheese as Warren placed the boxes on the table next to her, "So hungry..can't move," She muttered playfully as she feebly pretended to try and reach over. "I wasn't that long," Warren replied as he rolled his eye. Chloe sighed, "Anyone would think I don't feed you,". She reached into one of the boxes pulling out a slice and taking a big bite. Max held her mouth open making a mock whimpering noise as she watched Chloe eat. Chloe looked down at her as a small smile crept on her face, "Here," she said as she shoved the last of her pizza slice in Max's open mouth and went to grab another slice. "Fnk juo," Max said with a goofy smile chewing as she sat up. "hungry," Warren called over to Kate who had once again taken up the corner of the sofa. "Starved actually," Kate replied as she scooched herself up and made her way to the table placing her phone down and helping herself.

"Is that ya sister," Warren asked glancing at Kate's phone as he too helped himself to the pizza box's, "that's Lynn, she sent me that pic earlier today," she replied as she started taking small bites of her pizza. Max could feel a wheel turning inside her head upon hearing this, Like two pieces of a puzzle that fitted together but wasn't sure how. Warren was back at his laptop looking over the poster that he had spent all afternoon creating, "I think that's the best you're gonna get," He said as a matter of fact. "I dunno how many were gonna get," Chloe replied as she was licking her fingers, "I think I used most of the ink on Rachels poster's," she finished going a little quite at the end. Max looked over to her recalling the amount of posters she had seen all over the campus and town.

The short silence in the room was broken when Chloe's phone went off, grabbing it Chloe checked the message and gave a little snort, "It's mom, She says to be careful and to look after you, I swear she worries about you more than me," She said grinning looking at Max, Max just grinned back and then her face fell as the obvious struck her, "It's been staring us in the face the whole time," She replied in a disbelieving voice. "huh, What ya mean," Chloe replied feeling like someone cracked a joke and she'd missed it. Kate and Warren both looked over as well. Max could feel her grin getting bigger as the Idea took form in her head. Without saying a word she grabbed her phone and walked over to where Warren was sitting and took a quick picture of the laptop screen. "Max?" Kate said looking at her puzzled.

A few seconds later Kate's, Chloe's and Warren's phone all went off at the same time. Warren grabbed his phone and looked at it then at Max who was grinning like a Cheshire cat as he suddenly realized what she was hinting at. Chloe and Kate had also checked their phones as the puzzle pieces made their connection. "Certainly quicker than putting up hundreds of posters," Chloe said as she looked at Max with a smile. "Only one small problem," Kate's voice came a little petit. Chloe raised her brow looking at Kate, "Oh," trying to see a flaw in the plan. Kate blushed a little as she sank into her shoulders, "We kinda need everyone's phone number,". A grin spread across Chloe's face, "you forget, we got a time burglar on our side," She said as she glanced over at Max. Max looked at her feeling a little worried, "What are you plotting," She asked worriedly. Chloe rolled her eye and grinned, "It's obvious isn't it, The school records are going to have pretty much everyone's number that attends, That's gotta make up a major amount of people in the bay, The rest would be word of mouth," she finished as she reached over and grabbed the last slice of pizza from the open box.

Max let out a sigh, "Ok then, how about this, Me and Chloe go retrieve the numbers, And Warren," she looked over at him as she spoke, "You and Kate go get a throw away phone, I do not want any of this getting back to us," She finished looking up at Chloe who was now sat perched on the table, "Does she ever sit on a damn chair," she thought to herself. "Sounds like a plan," Chloe replied leaning back on the table grinning, "Have to wait till this evening though when the schools closed," "Why do I get the feeling your looking forward to this a little too much," Max shot at her with a smile. "I dunno what you mean," Chloe replied as she shoved the last of the Pizza in her mouth trying to look innocent.

A few hours later Chloe and Max were sat in her truck parked up outside Blackwell, Warren and Kate had already got a spare phone and had put all the numbers they had on their phones in it and were waiting back at Chloe's. "So," Chloe piped up, "How we getting in, We don't got a key this time seeing step-d..David gave his keys to another security officer," Max shrugged, "Just break in, rewind and let you in I suppose," She said as the pair got out the truck and made their way to the main entrance, "Er Max maybe the window might be easier," Chloe said in a hushed tone pointing at the window to the principles office. Max stopped and looked up at the window, It was a good eight feet up, "I'm gonna need a bunk then," She shot a smile at Chloe as they walked across the small grass verge to the paneled window, Even without the lamps it was still light as the moonlight bounced off the glass. "I've always wanted to do this," Chloe said enthusiastically as she rummaged around in the flower bed retrieving a good sized rock. Max giggled, "Too bad you won't actually get to do it, Just remember when I disappear hold fire," She said shaking her head at the eager punk. Chloe sighed, "Yeah I know," And with that, she wound up and let the rock fly.

The rock smashed through the window with ease and almost instantly the alarms went off, Chloe quickly took off her jacket, "Here use this to get over the glass," She said handing her the Jacket as she stood near the wall with her hands together ready to lift her, Max simply nodded and wasting no time placed her foot in the punk's hands and hoisted herself up onto her shoulders as she reached up for the ledge to pull herself in. As she tumbled over the broken window frame losing her balance slightly she instinctively put her hand out to grab hold of something and felt a sharp pain in her hand, "Fuck," She muttered loud enough for Chloe to hear over the alarms, "Max what happened," Chloe's voice came from the window. Finding her feet in the principles office Max examined her hand, A deep gash in the lower part of her palm, It didn't look too bad but stung like crazy, "Just a cut," Max shouted back, Using the broken glass in the window frame she shredded part of her shirt and bound her hand just in time to hear a security officer running across the grounds shouting, Without waiting Max reversed the last few minutes and made her way out of the principles office and then remembered that the other door was locked. She could hear Chloe outside suggesting the window and suddenly realizing that was gone. "Fuck you, Caulfield," She heard Chloe's voice bellow with an air of humor on it. Max quickly took out her phone and sent her a message.

Max - Im inside gimmi 5 min

Chloe - I thought we were going in together

Max - The other door is locked

Chloe - crap

Max - I'm gonna need to rewind it all anyhow

Chloe - Why what happened

Max- explain in a bit

"No need to tell her about a little scratch," She thought to herself as she went to the office computer and booted it up, While she waited she glanced around the room chuckling to herself as she thought about the last time she was here, "Deja Vu,". After the computer finished booting Max looked at the screen and huffed, "Well isn't that just annoying," she thought smiling to herself, As expected the computer was passworded, After what felt like hours of trying and rewinds and turning the office upside down she finally got in, "Next time, Try the obvious," She said to herself after realizing the password was simply Blackwell. A few minutes later she had the list and was waiting for the printouts to finish when her phone vibrated.

Chloe - Common it's freezing out here

Max - Almost done

Max - besides, you won't even have left the truck

Chloe - Doesn't stop me from being cold right now and BOARD

Max - All done, gimmi a min

"she is so bossy," she thought grinning to herself as she grabbed the print out's and tucked them into her pocket and headed back to the principles office. Passing the principles desk she stopped for a second and glanced at the drawer on the far side, "I wonder," she thought as she went over and opened the drawer, Sure enough the envelope with the money for the handicapped fund, "I really shouldn't," She thought to herself and sighs, "I suppose I can give it back after with a little extra, If I still have these powers, Besides there's one more thing I gotta do first," Residing herself to feeling a bit guilty she picks up the envelope and stuff's it in the waistband of her jeans and opens the window setting off the alarm again, "Fuck it," she mutters as she climbs through and jumps down into Chloe's waiting arms knocking them both to the ground. "ooof" Chloe lets out a grumble as they collapse on the grass, "You took your time," Chloe said cheerily as she helped Max up noticing her hand bound in a bloody rag. "What happened," she said as she tried to peek under the bandage, Max pulls her hand away and grabs Chloe's hand with the other, "Tell you in a few, But right now we have to go, besides you'll just forget anyhow," And with that they both run back to the truck and Max proceeded to rewind the evening back to when they arrived.

"So, How we getting in," Chloe says cheerily, Max chuckles lightly as she dabs the blood off her lip. "Let's go home," She replies still chuckling. Chloe looked at her for a moment before realizing, "Holy shit we've already done it," she says in a slightly disappointed tone. "Don't sound so glum, You didn't miss much well accept breaking a window," Max replied as she pulled out the papers with all the numbers on grinning, Chloe looked at her trying to hide an impressed expression before noticing Max's hand wrapped up in part of her shirt, And then noticing the part of the shirt missing showing off part of her belly. "How'd that happen," She says as she turned the ignition bringing the truck to life. Max took a look at the blood soaked cloth and shrugged, "Cut myself getting in the window," "Shouldn't your rewind fix that," Chloe replied sounding puzzled. "Guess not, Note to self, Don't get stabbed or shot," she let a chuckle carry her response. Chloe looked at her with a worried glance, "You're not invincible Max, Seem's that anything that happens to you is permanent, Last thing you need is becoming Anemic," She lets out a worried sigh, "I'll be ok Chloe, But it's nice of you to worry," She replies giving the punk a gentle shove with her shoulder. Chloe passes a quick glance towards Max and smiles, "Yeah mother hen right here," both girls let out a giggle.

As Max fidgets in her seat, she feels the envelope rubbing against her, "Oh Chloe, er were taking a detour," Chloe raises an eyebrow looking at her suspiciously. "Oh?". Max felt herself going a little red, "We're going to see Frank," She winces waiting for Chloe's reaction. Chloe's lips go taught as grips the steering wheel, "Why," she asks flatly. Max breaths out slowly, "Just tieing up loose ends," she shrugs. "What were gonna kill him," Chloe replies maintaining her flat tone. "Max spins her head around gawking at her, "No, Chloe, were gonna give him what he wants," she shot back flatly. Chloe gritted her teeth as she floored the gas taking a sharp left towards the coast, "Why bother, Hopefully the storm will deal with him anyways," Chloe shoots over, "Chloe," Max practically shouts at her, "Look I know you're still angry about Rachel, But he hasn't actually done anything to you, He doesn't deserve that," She looks at punk who's stare is still dead ahead on the road. "Besides, It's one less thing to worry about creeping up on us, Pay him and give him a heads up to get out of town until the weekend," Max finished sitting back in her seat leaning against the window.

After a few minutes of silent driving, Chloe looked over at Max, "Sorry," she mutters, "It's not even Frank I'm pissed at,... Why didn't she tell me Max," Max could hear the anger and sadness in her voice as she asked, "Probably because she knew how you would react, I mean it was fairly evident you had a pretty hard crush on her," she said trying to her best to hide a jealous twang she felt as she spoke. Chloe let out a sigh, "suppose," glancing at Max, "Dunno about you though but I don't have three grand on me," She said returning her gaze to the road. Max grinned and sat up reaching into her waistband and pulled out the envelope, "I think I got it covered," she said casually flicking through the bills in the envelope. Chloe glanced over and instantly hit the breaks bringing the truck to screeching halt, "When did you..," Chloe stammered and shot a quick glance behind them. "Good things no one was behind us, Max when," Max just giggled, "She's so cute when she stammers, Note to self, no surprises while driving," She thought to herself, "I've borrowed it, with every intention of giving it back," She shrugged, "When I give it back depends on if I keep my power or not," she finished with a grin. Chloe just stared at her with her mouth open completely stunned. Max looked at her and tilted her head slightly, "If you don't close your mouth I'll find something to put in it," she teased poking her in the ribs. Chloe let out a sharp giggle as she snapped out of it, "Seriously thought Max, You'd do that for me?" she asked her voice carried an undertone of disbelief. Max thought for a moment, "Hmm not sure, I mean I'll travel time and space, bounce between realities and fight off phyco weirdo's, But helping a friend out financially, Hmm tough call," She replied sarcastically rolling her eyes. Chloe let out a sigh of defeat, "ok ok I get it," she said turning back to the road as they started moving again glancing back at Max, "I'm going to find a way to repay you, Ya know that right," she said, "I know," Max replied with a smile.

The meeting with Frank was brief, they paid him back, And Max bought a little weed for Chloe without her knowledge and suggested to Frank to have a few days out of town to help him clear his head after Rachel, And they had gone back to Chloe's. "What up fuckers," Chloe bellowed as she open the front door. "oh hey guys, your back quick," Warrens' voice came from the dining room as he swung into view leaning back on his chair before the legs slid out from beneath him causing him to hit the ground with a thud, Kate could be heard bursting into hysterics as well as Chloe and Max also both doubling over with laughter, Warren just groaned as he got up turning red and rubbing his now sore ass, "Oh my god I wish I had my camera filming that shit," Chloe panted in between gasps for air and laughter, "ok then," Max replied still giggling, And before Warren could protest Max rewound the scene so they were both outside again, paused it and got out her phone with a grin, "You are evil," she thought to herself as she hit the record button and let time flow.

After an hour of laugh's at Warrens expense and coffee, they sat around the table each taking a print out of the number list and began circling all the mobile numbers, After around another hour they were done and had given them all to Warren so he could put then into the spare phone. "This is going to take fucking forever," Warren moaned, Max just sat there as she had another idea, "How far can I push this," She thought to herself. Hey, Warren, I bet it's done in less time that you think. Warren rolled his eyes, "I still gotta do the work beforehand," he replied in a depressed tone.

Max could feel the resistance almost see it, Like she was on a side street trying to get onto the highway but kept hitting, What was it, a blockade, no it was flexible, Almost as if a safety net was thrown in front of her stopping her from going further, She applied pressure and had equal pressure pressed back, It felt, familiar, a gentle throb. The harder she pushed the more she felt the throb, But pain wise it wasn't painful, Just uncomfortable, A warning, more like a caution. should she push it, Of course, she was curious just how far she could actually go. She could go back years in a photo but only go back a few minutes on a rewind, Who made these rules and what were the limits. "I've already decided I'd do whatever it took, And I'd rather find the limits in a safe situation rather than push it in desperate times," She thought to herself, She prodded the barrier again, this time with a little more force, as expected she felt a throb equal to the force she applied but the barrier allowed itself to be pushed back a little further. "Ok, it's more like what, a muscle I guess, more it's used more it works or something to that effect," She thought as she gave the barrier another solid push, And again an equal force to the throb. She winces slightly, "Ok starting to get uncomfortable now, Ok one more big push should be enough," she thought and gives the barrier another forceful shove and waited for the recoil.

The barrier faded and now she's falling, no floating over what looks like a highway, Thinking to look closer she moves towards it without even moving, "Ok this is a weird sensation, Moving without actually moving, Odd," looking closer at the highway type system, millions and millions of smaller roads running in parallel, randomly intersecting each other and then breaking away again, All in unison moving in the same direction, Every one of them a distinctly different color, bit like strobe lights in a nightclub. Just this on its own was beautiful, Looking back against the flow, she could see hundreds of thousands of dead ends, "possible futures that never were," She thought to herself. she inspected a few of the closer ones, "Hmm never started smoking, Getting a piercing, finishing a degree, Looks like Warren was sort of right, this would give him such a big head," she thought to herself. She also found that it was much easier to walk up and down this highway, No barriers accept for going forwards, "Why is that, spoilers I guess, Or unwritten events," She thought shrugging to herself. As she walked back and forth the line she noticed one sticking out more than the others, a Vibrant pink one, reaching out she touched it, It felt smooth yet weightless and a rush as a million images surged through her head and she recognized all of them, They were all her memories, even some she had forgotten, As she flicked through what could be described as a picture book of her life, She saw all the choices that could have led to different possibilities, Rescuing Kate, Moving back to Arcadia Bay, And that terrible choice she felt she had to make, That path was a little longer than the others but then doubled back in a loop rejoining the highway. releasing the thread she noticed how so many other threads intersected her own and then branched off and rejoined later. She touched another thread expecting to get the same picture book effect but nothing happened. "Guess it's just my own I can see," She thought to herself. Looking back along the strands she noticed what looked like knots, Tieing a bunch of threads together, Following her own thread back she could see several of these knots, Touching the closest one she got an image of her tackling Nathan in the bathroom, Looking closer she saw hundreds of threads intersecting at this point, It wasn't like the rest of the threads where they simply folded over each other as they crossed paths, These felt fused, unbreakable, unchangeable. Looking further back she could see many of these, each one a moment in time set fast, A storm that had been and will be again, Chloe getting shot, Willian dying, Chloe on her bed asking to die, "But those events never happened I changed them all," she thought to herself and then it hit her, They did happen in HER timeline, fixed points that had led her to where she was now, Things that no matter what she changed would always have happened. After a little more pondering She realized she didn't know how long she had spent here, Might have been a few minutes maybe a day. "Ok time for this train to pull into a station," she thought as she touched her thread again and searched for the point she wanted.

Warren rolled his eyes, "I still gotta do the work befor.. Hey where'd it go," Warren looked around in a slight panic. "Max," Chloe's voice came with an air of concern as she grabbed the tissues off the table and rushed to Max's side. Max could taste the iron on her lips, way more than normal as her head spun slightly, She brought a hand up to her head to steady herself as though one would getting off a roller coaster and held up her other hand with a thumbs up towards everyone else. "Max, what did you do," Chloe's voice came still with concern but a hint of relief at her sign. "Looks like she just been in a boxing match," Warren said not even trying to hide his own concerns. "I'm ok guys, honest," Max assured them as Chloe went about cleaning her up, She pulled the mobile out of her pocket and slid it across the table to warren who picked it up suspiciously and checked it, His mouth fell open, "I hadn't even started," he spluttered. As he looked at the phone filled with every number they had. "Max," Chloe scorned her, "You used a rewind just for that, It wouldn't have taken him that long," She said scowling at her. Max just shrugged and grinned, "It took him till one in the morning Chloe," Chloe just looked at her as her brain tried to process what she just said, "about five hours," Kate piped up from the other side of the table. "Huh," Warren muttered still looking at the phone. "Max just jumped five hours," Kate reiterated, "I thought your limit was a few minutes unless photo jumping," Chloe ask quizzically. Max looked up at her and smiled, "I think I'm finally starting to understand how this thing works, I'll explain, but first, Coffee, fuud, I'm hella hungry,"

After an hour of explanation and another ordered in pizza, Max had finished trying to explain what she had seen and as she had thought Warren was all over it. "So only one timeline, which just basically readjusts itself," Warren said slowly trying to make sure he understood it correctly. "Pretty much, Only the big stuff seems to matter, Not what you have for lunch but where you decide to go that day or who you help," She sat there for a moment thinking, "There was something else, I didn't investigate it too much but it looks like there are fixed points, Things that happen regardless of what we..I do," she said correcting the end of her statement as she picked a mushroom off her pizza and ate it. "You mean like the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, or a natural disaster," Kate asked while giving her shoulder an experimental stretch, wincing slightly and abandoning the idea. Max let out a small sigh, "Yeah those too, But I'm talking more personal things...I can only go from my timeline as that's the only one I can really see clearly, But things like," She glanced over at Chloe who stood by the sliding glass door having a smoke, "Like Chloe getting shot, me not being able to stop you," She turned to Kate and nodded slightly, "William dying and that reality slash path," Taking a breath she continued, "It's like there my own set in stone events, unchangeable because I've already changed them and they make me who I am," She looked up at Warren with a furrowed brow, "Does that make any sense," Warren sat there for a moment in thought but it was Kate that spoke up, "It makes perfect sense actually," Everyone turned to look at her, Max looked at her relaxing her brow a little, "oh,". Kate smiled, "Think about it, It's your history, It makes you who you are right now, Put simply if you had never come back to Arcadia we wouldn't be having this conversation, The only difference between you and everyone else is you get to choose your path, Set your own fixed points through what you experience," She looked over at Chloe who was still silent, "For instance when you discovered you could rewind, You went and saved Chloe, That's a fixed point for you as it affected everything you did, Then letting her...ya know," She trailed not wanting to actually say it but everyone else knew what she was referring too, "Hey it's ok, already accepted I got a target on my back, But I also have a guardian too," Chloe said cheerily giving Max a smile. Kate nodded, "ok then, Letting her die was also a fixed point as it affected what you did after that, All those choices, They gave you what you needed to get here," She finished giving Max a reassuring smile.

"See I told you so," Chloe shot over as she tossed her cigarette butt out the door and closed it before walking over to Max and putting a hand on her shoulder, "It was all meant to happen," She smiled looking down at Max. Max sighed, "Doesn't make it any less painful," she mumbled before looking up at her and sighing, "But it does give me a little more hope that there's a reason for all of this," she finished with a smile.

A bunch of exposition with some humor thrown in. next ones a little more of the same. Sorry it took a few days but had a lot on my plate, (And sorta writer's block i guess)

As always comments and critique welcome, And thank you to those that left feedback, Really made me smile.