Chapter 17

The Calm before

Next morning Max was up early making breakfast, Technically she wasn't the first up, She was the last, but a quick rewind and everyone was back asleep so she could make pancakes all round. Kate was asleep on the sofa, Warren was in his sleeping bag on the floor, And Chloe was upstairs still snoring. It had taken Max four attempts to not burn the pancakes but a few small rewinds took care of that. Placing the food and plates on the table Max thought about how best to wake everyone up as a grin crept on her face. She quickly sprang upstairs and powered Chloe's stereo on, Found a mix CD and put it in and turned the volume up full, Then grabbing a sticky note she stuck it to the volume control with a message about breakfast and hit play letting the first few bars blast though as Chloe shot bolt upright staring right at her with her hands over her ears, Max paused time and made her way downstairs seeing Kate sat upright looking all sorts of confused and Warren had his pillow over his head. Max sat at the table and covered her ears and let time flow.

The heavy punk music blasted through the house, Someone was clearly shouting but it just came over a gibberish against the music, Max heard Chloe's unmistakable stomping across her bedroom floor as the music was shut off, "MAX I'M GOING TO KILL YOU," Chloe's voice came down the stairs followed by Chloe skipping stairs and clearing the banister as she screeched into the Kitchen stopping dead. In front of her was the short brunette holding a plate of fresh pancakes out to her with big blue puppy eyes, "How the hell can I be angry at that," she thought.

"So lemme get this right, You were actually the last one up," Kate said as she tucked into her plate of pancakes, Max nodded, "It was only an hour or so rewind, It seems so much easier now after I broke that barrier last night, And as an added bonus no more nose bleeds," She replied as she finished her mouthful pointing to her nose grinning. Chloe rolled her eyes, "Until you over do it again," she snapped a bit too harshly but her voice had a worried tone to it and Max picked up on it. "Look I'm fine, watch," And before anyone could say a thing Max disappeared and reappeared in the kitchen, "Tada, and no nosebleed, No headache either now I think about it," She said with a Cheesy grin. Chloe let out a sigh as Kate choked on her pancake a little still getting surprised by Max teleporting herself around the place. "I just don't want you to over do it and then hit your new barrier when the crap hits the fan, Your kinda my...Our ace in the hole right now," Chloe replied looking at Max worryingly.

"look I'm fine, I'm just taking your advice," Max said suddenly appearing next to Kate and placing her hand on Kates' arm. It took Kate a moment to realize but both Warren and Chloe had stopped moving. Max looked down at Kate who was looking up at her shocked, "It's ok Kate, I've done this before," As she gently tugged Kates arm to hint to her to get up, Kate nodded still a little surprised, "This is weird," Kate said slowly, "Cool but very weird," Max let out a small giggle, "Ok this next bit I'm not too sure about, When I did this last time it REALLY hurt," Max emphasised, "When you saved me you mean," Kate replied quietly, Max nodded at her, surprised she figured that out, "I saw it in your face, when you held onto me on that roof," Kate said noticing Max's surprised look. Max shrugged, "Somin to do with having a passenger during a freeze, But that's what I want to test," As Max said this she took an experimental step forward as she felt the familiar throb in the back of her skull. Kate followed slowly as Max led her to the kitchen, "What happens if you let go," she asked, Max shrugged ,"I guess you just freeze seeing as your not connected to me anymore, Ok this should do," she finished turning to Kate, "Brace ya self this might spin you out a little," and with a smile she let time resume.

Chloe blinked several times as she registered Max had once again vanished right in front of her, quickly glancing around she also noticed that Kate was gone, She let out a grin as she noticed Warren, He was sat there with his fork up to his mouth and his mouth open, frozen in place. "Over here guys," Kate called as both Warren and Chloe spun around to see Kate grinning. "Shit," Max muttered as she grabbed a tissue from her pocket and dabbed the small trickle coming from her nose. "You ok Max," Chloe asked getting up and walking over. "Yeah, It seems that one still gonna cause a nosebleed, But it's much easier than before," She smiled back. Chloe stopped a few feet in front of her and crossed her arms, "I'm guessing Kate didn't carry you," she replied with a little snicker. Kate let out a hysterical laugh at the thought, "Wh...why, How would I carry her, I'm tiny," she got out between breaths. "Kate, remember what I told you, about last time it really hurt," Max said looking at with a grin, Kate nodded still giggling at the thought. Max gave a little shrug, "Well it hurt so much I couldn't concentrate on holding things and walking at the same time, So Chloe had to carry me," She finished a little flatly, "understatement of the year Max, she almost passed out," Chloe said grinning at Kate. Kate stopped laughing, "I didn't realize it hurt that much," she said in a serious tone, "Hey it was worth it ok, You were worth it," Max said as she grabbed Kates hand and lead her over to Warren who was still trying to wrap his head around it and promptly grabbed his hand too. "Ma.." Chloe froze mid-sentence and mid stride.

Warren looked up at Max and Kate and then over at Chloe who was frozen to the spot. "Is..this real," Warren finally managed to get out. Max nodded towards the fork in his hand, "Let it go," she said with a smile. Warren blinked at her then looked at his fork and let it go expecting it to fall to the table, But instead, it just hung there, In mid-air. "That's some crazy star trek stuff right there," he mumbled as Max gave his arm a gentle tug. Taking the hint Warren got to his feet slowly as though trying to stand on a surfboard. "Whats the rules here," Warren asked slowly. Max let off a shrug, "Don't let go, Past that, no clue," And with that she slowly lead the two to the sofa across the room, Each step Max could feel a harder tug in the back of her head, Not painful like before with Just Chloe but comparable in its intensity. At the sofa Max released them as she let time flow again, A sharp thud emanated from the back of her skull knocking her slightly off balance, Kate was first to react guiding Max onto the couch. "Max, what are you..." Chloe stopped moving for a second, The first thing she noticed was the fork clanging on the table, Then noticing all three of them were no longer at the table, Hearing Kate help Max she turned to the sofa and bounded over grabbing a tissue out of her pocket in anticipation.

"Whoa, Headrush," Max muttered as she sat down and waited for the room to stop spinning. She felt Chloe's hand in front of her face as she started to clean up Max's fresh blood. "I told you not to overdo it," Chloe remarked slightly scornful but in a caring way. "Yes mother hen," Max replied playfully grinning up at her. "That was, surreal," Warren gasped as he just planted himself on the floor where he stood. "So you're not limited to one passenger," Chloe remarked as she finished cleaning Max up and went to get a bottle of water. Max rubbed her temple as the room stopped spinning, "Seems that way, But each extra person adds a strain, I think I could manage maybe 100 feet before I hit my limit, Maybe a little more if I really push it, But that's heading to blackout territory," She finished as she twisted round to Chloe who was now on her way back with the water bottle. "Well let's hope you never need to, But I guess it would be nice to know what it is that's limiting you, Might come in handy," Chloe offered as she handed Max the water bottle. Max nodded taking the water bottle and having a drink, "On my own it's...well easy now, But time walking with another person, It's like I can't seem to process it, Or rather I can but it's difficult, Like when I first started using my rewind, And with two it's much more noticeable," she finished taking another mouthful of water.

Kate tilted her head as she looked at Warren, "You ok Warren," She piped up. Chloe and Max looked at Warren who looked like the shock hadn't quite set in. Chloe let out a snicker, "Even Kates handling it better than him," Warren just shook his head slightly, "Surreal," he muttered. "Give him a break Chloe, I'm sure he just saw me break pretty much every rule of time and science he knows," Max replied giggling a little, Warren looked up at her with a grin, "Pretty much," he muttered.

The rest of the day had gone by without much in the way of events, Kate and Warren had gone back to Blackwell to grab a few things before heading home for the weekend, And Chloe and Max were just walking around town, It was a warm clear evening but unusually quite. "This feels weird," Chloe muttered as the walked down the street past the closed two whales, "I know right, Feel's like a ghost town, everyone's scared," Max replied looking around. The few people that they had seen seemed to be in a hurry. "Well better scared and alive than ignorant and dead," Chloe muttered as they past two middle aged men discussing the last few days events, "Dude I'm telling you if that turns out to be real I am fucking out of here," One of the guys said to the other, "You honestly believe that bullshit, It's just someone dicking around," she heard the other guy reply, Chloe let out a small chuckle, "I'd love to see their faces later tonight," speaking quietly so the two men couldn't hear her. Max let out an amused humph.

They made their way down the beach walking along the sand until they found a suitable spot to rest, "Difficult to believe this time tomorrow all hell's gonna break loose, It look's so peaceful out there," Chloe said as she sat down. "Calm before the storm," Max added as she herself sat down next to the punk and stared out to sea, The sun was just starting to sink into the wave's casting a brilliant orange and yellow glow across the ocean as soft waves gently stretched up the beach. "So," Chloe piped up laying down putting her hands behind her head, "What ya gonna do after this hell's over," she looked over at Max as she spoke. Max shrugged leaning back on her hands, "I suppose it really depends on a few things," sighing as she spoke. "Oh, Like what," Chloe replied intrigued. Max laid back resting her head on one hand, resting the other on her chest as she spoke, "Well the biggest one would be what's left of the bay, Second to that is if Blackwell survives,". "Oh right, I keep forgetting you haven't actually seen the aftermath yet," Chloe spoke thoughtfully as she turned to look up at the sky. "Then there's my power's, and you, I'm not gonna lie, keeping my power would be a game changer," Max chuckled, Chloe smirked, "If you keep them you could so own the world," Max let out a small chuckle, "I'm not going to abuse them, Chloe, I mean sure, I'll help out where I can, Payback that money I borrowed, and have a little fun occasionally like I did this morning, But I won't be doing any major jumps, It gets...confusing," She said sounding a little unsure. Chloe rolled her eyes and grinned back, "Such a waste, Buut saying that the stuff I'd do would be so off the handle that it would need undoing anyways," Chloe let out a long sigh, "And as for me, well sorry but your kinda stuck with me, Well unless ya get board," She finished shrugging. Max let out a laugh, "Me get board with you, Pretty sure I have yet to find that reality, and I seen a few," she shot back giving the punk a gently shove. Chloe let out a giggle, "Chloe Price, Universal entertainment system, I kinda like that," Chloe replied.

The next few hours passed while the two girls talked like they hadn't in years, Which from Chloe's perspective was true, But most of the conversations Max had already had, But she didn't mind repeating them, It was nice just listening to her voice again and with the gentle crashing of waves she could feel herself gently nodding off.

"Whoa," Chloe exclaimed loudly gently nudging Max who was drifting in and out of sleep, Max grumbled,"wda wnt," while she feebly batted Chloe's pokes away. "Max," Chloe said in a firmer voice, begrudgingly Max forced herself upright rubbing the sand off her face. "If you hadn't told me about this I swear I'd think I was tripping," Chloe said staring up at the night sky. Max looked at her a little confused for a moment as she followed her gaze, "oh," she let out almost inaudible. Out above the calm ocean, high in the sky were two perfect full white moons, each casting their own light upon the sea, The light's path crossing midway before scattering into the shoreline. "That's perfect," Max mumbled as she reached around for her camera not taking her eyes off the spectacle across the bay. Raising the viewfinder up to her eye she framed the shot, A click and whirr Max took the photo from the camera and gave it a flick waiting for it to develop. "Beautiful and deadly," Chloe murmured as she scooted closer to Max to get a look at the picture, "That's a good shot," she said looking at the picture. "Turn around," Max said as she herself spun around on her backside bringing the sea to her back and putting the picture to one side, "Huh," Chloe was a little-taken aback but followed the instruction. Max wrapped her arm around the punk pulling her closer and holding the camera up, "Say cheese," as she clicked the button.

And that's 17, next up, purge of fear, The storms gonna hit, But does it spell the end for Max's power and will she be able to show Chloe what actually happened last time. And will this week finally be over for her.

Yeah this one's a short one, Figured there had been enough tears for the moment (Pretty much every chapter) So Max had a little fun. more of a filler episode.

Comments & critique welcome