I'm wide awake
She's upfront upshot
Upstart up in every case
The kind of girl that whispers
Thank god for you

Once again, Max woke up, her mind fuzzy and groggy but this time there wasn't a blue haired girl to greet her. The events of the night before crowding into her mind, giving her an instant headache. Great, I acted like a complete mental patient last night. Oh man, I'm so embarrassed. What the hell was that? I literally thought Jefferson was right outside my door waiting for me. I need to get a grip.

"Hey, honey, how are you feeling?" Next to her bed Vanessa sat reading a magazine. Seeing that Max was awake she set it on the table and picked up a cup of water sitting on Max's tray.

"Mom, I can drink myself." Max quickly reached out for the cup before Vanessa could drown her again. Vanessa handed the cup to Max with a self depreciating smile, knowing full well she was being overbearing but not able to help herself.

"I know, I know, let me baby you while I can, alright?" Vanessa brushed Max's brown bangs off her forehead, her hand lightly tweaking Max's earlobe like she use to do when Max was a little kid.

"Ok, but I can really get my own drink." Max took a sip to emphasize her point. "Where's dad?"

"Oh, he's around, he had to make a few phone calls." Vanessa didn't exactly avoid the question so much as answered as vaguely as possible. If she hadn't forced her casual tone or the lack of eye contact, Max might have not given it a second thought but Vanessa was acting avoidy and that caught Max's attention.

"Oh, to who? Work?"

"Ah, no, I wanted to talk to you about this when your father was here and could tell us more but he's talking to an attorney. We don't want you to talk to the police without one due to who it was that, that shot you." It wasn't that Max's parents thought she has done anything wrong, no one did but Ryan and Vanessa knew how the Prescott's were. They were part of the reason the Caulfields had left, indirectly.

Ryan had been hired to design some new subdivisions for the Prescott's development company but when he was going through the zoning laws, he had discovered that the majority of the project was on land that was protected from the Endangered Species Act. It was the home for a small group of Northern Spotted Owl's, so no development could be done on the land. While Sean Prescott had never told him personally, he had a lackey deliver the message that he wanted an environmental impact report to be done in his favor. Ryan refused and had found it hard to get any more Architectural jobs in Arcadia Bay after that. When he was offered a position at a large firm in Seattle he was more than happy to take it.

"I don't need an attorney, I had every right to be there. He's the one who was in the girls bathroom with a gun." Max was confused, why would she need an attorney, she hadn't done anything wrong, well at least nothing illegal.

"We know that, Max, but the Prescotts have a lot of money for very expensive lawyers. We would feel a lot better if you had one to protect you when talking to the police, to ensure that you don't say anything that could be twisted in any way that could help getting that, that… sorry excuse for a human off the hook for what he did to you." Vanessa was agitated. While the police hadn't told her officially, the Caulfields still had friends in Arcadia Bay, one of them being a current police sergeant there.

He had unofficially, as in if you say anything I will deny it, told Ryan that the current angle the Prescotts were trying to work was that Nathan had shot Max in self defense. That Chloe was trying to blackmail him and had made some threats against him. His argument was that he had brought the gun to school because he was afraid and when Max came out of nowhere he thought that she was going to hurt him, that she was part of some plan to do harm to him, so he shot her. The fact that Chloe and Max had a history didn't help at all.

As it was, they were still looking into pressing charges against Chloe for blackmailing Nathan. The entire thing was not only ludicrous but obscene as well. Taking victim blaming to a whole new level that only expensive lawyers who had sold their souls to the devil long ago had no qualms on arguing.

"Wait, how could he get away with shooting me? He was in the girl's bathroom at school with a gun and shot me! How could anyone talk their way out of that regardless of who they are or how much money they have?" Max was beyond confused as she attempted to grasp how it was possible that Nathan could get away with shooting her. That he could get away with Rachel, with everything he had done, everything he and Jefferson had done. That wasn't suppose to happen.

Max knew what they had done, she knew it but she couldn't come right out and tell the police, they would never believe her and worse, some cop on the Prescott payroll would give them a heads up which would give them time to clean up any evidence if they hadn't already. Her mind was a whirlwind, working out how to make sure that everyone found out what Nathan and Jefferson had done, they couldn't get away with it, there was no way that Max could allow them to get away with it. She was starting to feel sweaty as it felt like she was falling into a dark tunnel, everything around her getting hazy as her breathing and heart rate picked up.

Keep it together, breath, relax, keep it together, don't lose it in front of your mom, there is no way they will let you stay if you lose it in front of her. Deep breaths, Max, come on, deep breaths, you're ok, they haven't gotten away with anything, yet. Relax, get a grip, Mad Max, you're alright. Nothing has happened yet, you're alright, you're safe. Max didn't know if she was talking herself down or what because the voice she heard, the voice telling her to calm down was Chloe, or at least Chloe's voice. And not the Chloe from yesterday but the Chloe she'd left on the cliff top, the one that admitted she loved Max.

"Honey, are you alright?" Vanessa jumped up and had been calling to Max, rubbing her forehead as soon as Max started breathing heavy and shaking.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry, just, ah, got really dizzy for a minute, my chest was shooting pains into my shoulder." Max lied easily, not wanting her mom to know that she had almost had another panic attack, or that Max was having panic attacks at all. At least she had been able to calm herself down before it was able to take hold, unlike last night.

Vanessa was almost sure Max was lying to her, it had looked as if Max was more afraid than in pain. "Are you sure? Do you need some more pain meds?"

"No, no, I'm ok now. I'm sure it was the initial shock of thinking Nathan could get away with this, it was just a scary thought, that's all, the thought of talking to the police and needing a lawyer, it's all a bit scary. I got a little dizzy and then yeah there was the pain but it's gone now." Better to show that she was a little afraid to throw her mom off how terrified the entire situation made her. They would never believe her that she could rewind time, ar at least could until her arm was paralyzed. That would only make her parents believe that Max had gone crazy from being shot, that it was weird some coping mechanism to help her deal or some other psycho mumbo jumbo. No, she couldn't tell her parents the entire truth about Nathan or Jefferson, not if she wanted to stay in Arcadia Bay with Chloe and to make sure they didn't get away with what they had done.

Vanessa eyed her daughter, but dropped the subject of what had happened but was determined to keep a much closer eye on Max.

"We can talk about this more later, after your father has found an attorney then we can talk to the police on our terms, not the Prescott's. We won't let them get away with this, Max, I promise you." Judging by the determination and fire in Vanessa's eyes, Max had no doubt her parents would do whatever it took to make sure Nathan was brought to justice. The Caulfields weren't as well off as the Prescotts but they weren't poor by any means. They had some powerful friends of their own that had been cultivated since the move to Seattle.

Max was more than happy to drop the subject for now as well. Besides, she had another pressing matter on her mind.

"Sure. Um, has Chloe been by today?" Max didn't want to look too eager but she couldn't completely cover the disappointment she felt at not seeing the other girl there. It wasn't as if Max expected her to be there every minute of the day but she was willing to admit the selfish side of her wanted the other girl there, where she could see her. It was still hard to believe that she had somehow been able to save Chloe and Arcadia Bay but she also was slowly starting to realize that things weren't just going to be tied up with a cute little bow on top. There was still a lot that Max had to figure out, the most pressing being Nathan and Jefferson.

"Joyce called a bit ago to check on you and to let us know she'd be by a little later with Chloe." Vanessa wanted to hear herself that Joyce was fine with Max staying there, plus she'd missed her old friend, they were long overdue for a bit of catching up.

Max nodded, picking up the remote for the TV in her room. Daytime TV was horrible, nothing but talk shows, court shows and kids shows but not even cool ones like she grew up on, now all the kids shows had to have some type of teaching moment or moral. What happened to cartoons about little girls with superpowers beating the crap out of an evil monkey or a clearly gay Satan? No moral or teachable moment beyond girls kick ass. Vanessa went back to reading her magazine. Max would have rathered had her phone to look online but wasn't sure it was a good idea to do research with her mother there, especially after the conversation they just had about Nathan.

Max was ready to give up on most of the human race after all the Baby Momma Drama on Maury because really, it was your fifth time on the show and that guy wasn't the father either, how was that even possible? The guy was strutting around the stage, pleased as could be, the douchebag. Meanwhile they showed a picture of this cute little toddler in the background. The girl was crying, why did people put themselves through this? Was the trip to New York worth the national humiliation? Maury was comforting the girl, telling her that he would help her find out who the father was. Of course he would, this was the stuff that drove ratings. If the remote wasn't attached to her bed, Max was sure she would have throw it at the TV when the guy started doing a dance like he'd just made a touchdown over a series of bleeps while he called the girl names.

She pressed the off button with a less satisfying click, it was hard to show outrage when the button was one of those soft touch type buttons.

"Hey, Maximo!" a cheerful voice called out as her door opened. For a split second her heart almost skipped a beat until it caught up with the sound of the voice, then it dropped slightly in disappointment, which Max felt kinda bad about. Warren, her friend from school, walked in. His floppy light brown hair hanging in his right eye as he carried in a few balloons and flowers, his backpack hung low off his back. "Special Delivery!"

Warren wasn't a bad guy, he was one of Max's friends but he was constantly trying to get out of the friend zone, regardless of how many times Max had politely rebuffed his advances. She didn't want to be harsh with him because he was a great guy, she just wasn't into him. It would be a shame to stop being friends with him because he couldn't take a hint.

"Hey, Warren, how's it going?" Max asked, at least talking to Warren was better than daytime TV.

"Good! Hello, Mrs. Caulfield." Warren greeted Max's mother when he saw her in the chair next to Max's bed.

Vanessa stood up, taking the flowers and balloons from Warren's hands, setting them on the small table on the other side of Max's bed, next to the other flower arrangements there from other friends and family. "Hello, Warren, it's nice to see you again."

"Thank you, it's nice to see you again. Especially now that Max is awake." Warren smiled warmly at Max. "I bought some of your homework, so you're not to far behind when you come back. I thought I could help you catch up."

"That's so thoughtful of you, isn't it, Max?" Vanessa beamed at Warren and then to Max's absolute horror, she winked at Max when Warren looked down to unzip his backpack. "And it was so nice of you to bring Max more flowers, they're gorgeous."

Max wanted a hole to open up and swallow her right than and there. Her mother could not seriously be thinking Warren was the reason she wanted to stay at Blackwell. It didn't help her case at all that Max was blushing, not because of Warren but because her mom had winked at her, like she was in on Max's secret when she couldn't have been further from the truth, it was all so embarrassing.

"Yeah, thanks, Warren." Max wasn't sure why she should be thanking Warren for bringing her homework, that wasn't the type of thing most people got excited about. Now chocolate was a different matter, if he had brought her some chocolate cake she'd be much more enthusiastic in her gratitude. Besides, it wasn't like she could write or anything, her couldn't even feel her right arm, let alone pick up a pencil and write.

"Well, I'll leave you two kids to talk, I need to find where my husband has wandered off to." Max prayed she wouldn't get another wink from her mom to go along with the knowing look she was sending Max's way. Thankfully, her mom left it at just the knowing look and slight smirk on her way out.

"So, how are you feeling, Maximilian?" Warren looked at her, his brown eyes shining with concern. Again, Warren was a nice guy and he would probably be a great boyfriend but there just wasn't a spark there for Max. Max didn't want to label herself but the truth was she'd never felt a spark, an overwhelming feeling of need for any boy. She had a boyfriend, Nick, back in Seattle for a few months but they mostly hung out and played video games. They'd gone to a couple school dances but they never went beyond some serious kissing. And it was nothing compared to the kiss Chloe and her had shared on the cliff.

"It could have been so much worse, you know?" Max replied evenly, only awake for a day and already so over being asked how she was feeling all the time. It wasn't Warren's fault he wasn't who Max had been waiting for.

Stop being a crab ass, you're lucky you have people who care. Max silently reprimanded herself and gave Warren a genuine smile.

"I'm alright, all things considered, there's a bit of pain but the drugs help." Even though she'd freaked out last night, the drugs really did help. It was more like an uncomfortable sensation more than a pulsing pain she had been feeling the night before.

"I bet!" Warren wiggled his eyebrows at Max. He sat in the chair Vanessa had occupied moments before stacking books on the table next to him. "Can I get some?"

"Please, Warren, you don't even drink, this stuff is too hardcore for you." Max laughed. Though remembering how he acted when he was drunk in the other timeline made her smile, he was a sappy drunk it seemed.

"Hardcore? I'll have you know I once almost made acid in the science lab." Puffing out his chest with pride, Warren gave Max his best badass look, which unfortunately, wasn't very badass, Max had seen more dangerous looks on kittens.

"How do you know it was acid?" Max asked, curious as to why her school's science lab had the chemicals needed to make strong psychedelics. Though it was Blackwell so it wasn't completely out of the realm of possibilities. Drugs were all over campus, Justin was a great example, Max couldn't think of one time where she'd seen Justin not high as a kite.

"Well, I mean, I don't know for sure but still I got high just off the fumes and I was seeing some weird patterns for a couple minutes." Warren pushed his hair out of his eyes as he laughed. It had been a very weird couple minutes there when it looked like the desk was melting.

"Oh, you're so hardcore!" Max teased.

"You know it! Speaking of hardcore, I don't have anything on you, Super Max!"

Max squirmed a bit with embarrassment, all she did was stand there and get shot, nothing truly heroic about that, especially if it hadn't worked and the storm would have still destroyed Arcadia Bay. Actually, it was pretty careless now that she thought about it.

"Seriously, I didn't do anything, literally, all I did was get shot."

"Bullshit, Max, the way I hear it you stopped Nathan from shooting that other girl. You're a hero, enjoy it!"

"Really, I don't feel like a hero, what was I supposed to do? Sit there and do nothing?" Like I did the first time? Yeah, I'm so heroic, it only took half a dozen times and a storm about to flatten the town to finally get it right.

"He's lucky he's in jail, that's all I can say otherwise I would seriously hurt him." Warrens usually friendly eyes got dark for a moment as he scowled, punching his fist into his palm at the thought of what he'd love to do to Nathan Prescott. Max flashbacked to Warren beating Nathan up in the boy dorms, while he looked harmless, she knew for a fact Warren could hold his own against Nathan.

"Hopefully, that's where he stays." The thought of him somehow getting out was something Max didn't even want to contemplate. Seriously, he was literally caught with the smoking gun. How could anyone argue that?

"Daddy's money won't be able to get him out of this, Max, no way." Warren was confident that Nathan wasn't leaving jail anytime soon. From the very first day of school, Warren hadn't like Nathan. The guy had walked right into Warren's dorm room and grabbed the unopened Red Bull Warren had on his desk. When Warren tried to politely tell him that was his, Nathan laughed, called Warren a geek and walked out of the room, with his Red Bull, that was the entire exchange. Plus, Warren had heard some creepy stories from other people about Nathan, along with some of the noises coming out of his room it all added up to Nathan was a creep in Warren's opinion.

"Yeah, so what have I missed at school? Anything interesting happen while I've been gone?" Max wanted to change the subject, anything Nathan related was still touchy for her.

"You mean besides you? Not a lot can compare to that." Warren thought back on the last week, things had been a bit chaotic the first couple days but by Thursday things had settled down as much as they could with a few exceptions. There had been girls crying the halls, most of them he was pretty sure didn't even know Max so he wasn't sure what that was about. "Victoria is running around acting like she was somehow personally injured by everything because heaven forbid not everything is about Victoria Chase. Oh, they've suspended the Vortex Club, something about needing to look into the activities of the club due to Nathan being the president of it and, you know, because it's generally evil if you ask anyone not in it or who wants to be in it."

That brought a bit of relief to Max, it would be harder for Jefferson to find victims, at least she hoped so until she could figure out how to tip the police off about him. "How's Kate doing? She was really upset when I saw her before all of this happened."

"She's been really upset but more so about you than all that video crap that was going around. It's weird, like within hours of what happened to you, the website was taken down with the video along with the copies on youtube. No one has said another word about it as far I've heard. I guess you knocked her off the top of the Blackwell rumor mill."

Max was beyond relieved, Kate didn't deserve the bullying and torment she was getting, especially considering she'd been drugged. Kate was the sweetest person she knew and if it took her being shot a hundred more times, she would if it meant saving Kate's life. Max pushed the image of Kate on the rooftop from her mind. It didn't happen, Kate didn't try to kill herself, at least not in this timeline.

"I'm glad they're leaving it alone, Kate is too good of a person to go through that bullshit." Max wanted to tell Warren that Kate had been drugged but she wasn't sure how she could explain how she knew that. Not without bringing up dozens of more questions from the boy next to her. Warren was smart, crazy smart and not one to let go of something until his curiosity was satisfied.

"Yeah me, too. So, um your parents had mentioned that your right shoulder and arm were pretty messed up, how is it doing?" Warren rubbed the back of his neck, not sure if it was a touchy subject or not.

"I can't even feel it now, the doctors think the feeling will come back slowly, as the swelling goes down. Hopefully, in a week or so I'll be able to feel my hand. So sorry, Warren, but no epic Mortal Kombat sessions in the foreseeable future. Not until at least a few weeks of physical therapy they're saying."

"Oh, that's fine, I don't think my ego could handle another beatdown from you. You're deadly with with Katana." Warren wished he was joking but as it stood, he'd only beaten Max once and that was because she sneezed and needed to blow her nose. "But as luck would have it, I have a surprise that could come in very handy."

Max gave him a quizzical look, not sure what he was talking about or why he had such a self satisfied look on his face. "How so? Do tell, Mr. Graham."

"I got a new car, well new to me but I can take you to and from physical therapy, if you need me to."

"She's already got a ride to physical therapy and anywhere else she needs to go."

Max couldn't help the way her breath caught at the sound of Chloe's voice as the taller girl walked into the room, catching the tail end of the conversation. Chloe was wearing her ever present beanie over her bright blue hair, a buttoned up white shirt with short sleeves showing off her full arm tattoo. She was the poster child for a rebellious teenager, right down to her scuffed up combat boots. It had been less than a day but seeing the older girl helped ground Max, that Chloe was still really there, that she hadn't dreamed saving her.

"Hey, Chloe, I was wondering when you'd show up." Max couldn't wipe the smile off her face, though she made a mighty effort as she was positive she looked like an insane person.

"Yeah, my mom and I were just talking to your parents about you staying with us while you recuperate." Chloe said the last part pointedly looking at Warren. She'd seen him once before when Max was still unconscious. The way he was sucking up to the Caulfields got under her skin almost immediately and seeing him sitting there, leaning as close as he could to Max irritated her in a way she couldn't quite understand.

"Oh, Warren this is Chloe Price, a long time friend of mine." Max was sure if she should say best friend, not sure if that would set the other girl off. Chloe was her best friend but Max was pretty sure she wasn't Chloe's best friend at the moment, or even really a friend as far as Chloe was concerned.

"Yeah, we met a few days ago, how's it going, Chloe?" Warren asked keeping his voice friendly even though he was a bit annoyed to be interrupted and even more so after learning he most probably, definitely wouldn't be giving Max any rides, any time soon.

"Hey, Wally."

"Warren" he corrected though Chloe ignored him and kept talking as if he hadn't said a word.

"So, Mad Max, the 'rents have it all worked out. You'll be at our house at least for the next six weeks and then depending on how PT goes you can go back to your dorm, though no rush. And I promised Vanessa and Ryan I'd personally accompany you when you go to visit them next month." Chloe acted as if Warren wasn't there even though her words were for his benefit as much as Max's.

"Thanks, I really appreciate you helping me out like this." Max had been more than a little surprised when Chloe had offered to let her stay with her, pleasantly surprised but surprised nonetheless. She had almost convinced herself Chloe had changed her mind already. The fact that Joyce was there and talking to her parents about it, that they had a plan already made Max release the tension she wasn't even aware she'd been holding.

"Don't worry about it, it's the least I can do." Chloe was biting back any smart remarks she might have, well aware that despite ignoring him, Warren was listening to every word. "Oh, yeah I brought you this, I'm sure you're needing your fix."

Chloe set a box down on the tray in front of Max, opening it up to reveal a huge slice of double chocolate cake. "How'd you know I was just wishing for a slice of your mom's cake?" Max wanted to grab a fork and start eating it than and there but then thought better of it. She might have to share and she was not sharing a crumb of Joyce's famous double chocolate cake.

"Some things never change, Caulfield." Max saw something akin to fondness in Chloe's face but it was quickly replaced with the smirk that seemed to be Chloe's default facial expression these days.

Feeling awkward after being basically ignored by Max since Chloe had walked into the room, Warren decided he'd come back when Chloe wasn't there. The older girl made him uneasy. He knew who she was by reputation and none of it was good. He'd been surprised to learn that Max and her were friends when he came to visit Max the first time. He'd found Chloe sitting at Max's side, holding her hand looking at her like she could wake Max up by sheer will alone. She had refused to move when he'd walked in, not even acknowledging him that time either until Max's mom had introduced them. Then he had only gotten a grunt out of her before she dismissed him. He had stood around awkwardly that time as well, not sure how to ask if he could have a moment alone with Max. He didn't want to cry in front of a stranger. He never got the request out because when he took a few steps closer to Max, the blue haired girl had given him such a glare, he took three steps back and sat in the corner chair, talking to Max's parents.

"I should get back to school, I have a ton of homework but I could come back tomorrow to help you with yours, Max." Hope springs eternal and Warren was nothing if not hopeful.

Max looked like she was shocked to notice him still there, not the best thing for his ego. "Thanks for coming by, Warren and for bringing my homework, I'll text you tomorrow to see if I'm up for doing any homework."

"Ah, yeah, sure, sure, text me." Warren rubbed the back of his neck again, sure he was going to rub the skin right off if he stayed there any longer.

"You think you handle doing homework with the meds they have you on? You already looked completely stoned. Though, I guess it's good practice for when you're staying with me." Chloe said, only slightly teasing.

"Shut up, I'm not stoned, maybe pleasantly buzzed." Max laughed, already forgetting about homework. Maybe finding out that she would be staying with Chloe for the next 6 weeks might have had something to do with her giddiness, six weeks to rebuild their friendship, Max knew it was more than possible, Chloe had fallen in love with her in one the last time.

"Speaking of, I couldn't help but notice the size of that slice my mom sent you, care to share?"

"Yeah, right, you still have the rest of it at your house." To be fair, Chloe's mom did make ridiculously great cake, Max couldn't be faulted for not wanting to share it, even with Chloe.

"Yeah, right as if a double chocolate cake was going to last longer than an hour at my house with me and the step-shit around."

"So, you've already had some, probably a lot of some and now you want mine?" Max quirked an eyebrow at the blue haired girl, smirking. "Kinda greedy, doncha think?"

"Never claimed not to be." Chloe smirked right at Max and threw in a wink for good measure.

Wait, wait, wait, are we… Is she flirting with me? Or just messing with me? Max wasn't sure what Chloe was doing but she really cursed how the little machine next to her showed her heart rate increased with that wink Chloe had sent her way. Way better than the one her mom had sent her earlier.

"Yeah, well I haven't had your mom's cake in five years, there is no way you're getting me to share any of this, Price." Immediately, Max knew she had said the wrong thing as the cocky smile disappeared from Chloe's face, replaced by a scowl.

"Not my fault you fell off the face of the Earth for five years, you could have had a ton of cake in that time." Silently, Chloe wanted to kick herself, things had been going well but of course she couldn't let it be ok, she had to make sure Max knew she was still hurt and upset.

"Look, Chloe, about that, I'm sorry, I suck, I know." Max knew they were going to have to have this conversation and even though she'd already had this conversation with Chloe in another timeline, it wasn't any easier. "I was going to call you when I came back but I felt so lame, like I didn't deserve to call you. I know that doesn't make sense but I wanted to call you as soon as I wasn't so, I don't know, lame?"

"OK, all of that was incredibly lame, Max. Five years, five years, Max and nothing, no calls, no letters, not even a christmas card! It was like you left and completely forgot about me, your so called best friend. You must have been living it up in Seattle, no time for your depressed best friend who had just lost her dad."

"It wasn't like that, Chloe, not even close." Max knew she was wrong, that she hadn't acted in the most mature way but it still pissed her off some that Chloe was so ready to believe that Max hadn't cared at all, that Chloe was so easily forgotten. "I was so depressed when we moved, like the thought of talking to you just made me hurt even more because it was like a part of me was ripped away. And I know the timing sucked but phones and email do work both ways."

"Ok, ok, you're right, I could have called you, too. I guess because it was such a bad time for me I kind of always assumed you'd be the more responsible one to make contact first and then when you never did…" Chloe trailed off not entirely sure where she was going with that thought.

"I get it, it was like, after too much time had passed, I felt embarrassed to call you, like what could I say? Sorry, I suck? Because, Chloe, I really do. I was so happy to see you, again. You have no idea."

"Well nothing makes you suck less than sharing chocolate cake." Chloe could only handle so much openness and honest at a time and she had already hit her limit for the day, the Max situation, as she like to call it, was too complicated. It brought up too many conflicting feelings, each fighting to be acknowledged which created a really bad passive aggressive response when it came to all things Max Caulfield.

"I'm not that sorry."

"Oh, still a smart ass, I see. Some things never really do change."

"I guess not."

"Though you do look like one of those Seattle Art Scene hipster kids."

"Say's the girl who could be on the cover of Hipsters Monthly."

"As if, maybe Rebel Punks Monthly but I don't drink PBR or shop at Whole Foods."

"Hey, they have great sushi there."

"Seriously, and I'm the hipster? Raw fish, no way, you couldn't pay me to eat sushi."

"For cereal, don't knock it til you tried it."

"Wow, there's a blast from 2008."

"Hipsters, we love to appropriate the classics."

"Speaking of classics, feel like sharing your cake now?"

"No, but I'll give you points for persistence."

"Boo, you're no fun. You do realize I could just grab it and there's nothing you could do right?"

"You do that and I'll yell for Joyce so fast, she'll never give you cake again."

"Yep, some things never change. Welcome Home, Max."


"How is that even possible?" Joyce Madsen asked, her face a mask of disbelief as she looked to Vanessa and Ryan again for confirmation that she had heard correctly.

"I don't have all the details but from what I've been told by my contact at the police station, they're looking to argue this as a self defense case at the hearing to get Nathan granted bail and possibly the charges dropped." Ryan explained to Joyce, he'd already explained this to his wife who was as upset as Joyce.

"Self defense? Have they seen Max? She couldn't hurt a fly let alone a boy as fit as Nathan Prescott, this is complete crap." The entire situation stunk worse than five day old fish in the middle of summer. There were certain truths about living in Arcadia Bay Joyce had come to terms with a long time ago. Fisherman would come into the diner telling tall tales only slightly worse than the way they smelled. Mrs. Linderman always won for best pie at the County Fair. The movie theater never showed new movies. And the Prescott used Arcadia Bay like their own personal fiefdom. But this, getting Nathan off after he almost killed Max, went beyond anything she had seen them do before.

"Listen, Joyce, if this goes the way my guy is saying, you need to get Chloe an attorney." The situation had gone beyond what Ryan had thought was possible. His friend at the police department had informed him that the Prescotts were pushing hard to get Chloe arrested for blackmail, extortion and harassment. They had also found out that Max and Chloe had been good friends growing up. Their private investigators had been working overtime since Nathan had been arrested. They hadn't even finished booking Nathan before three attorneys were at the station waiting to talk to their client that had prevented the police from getting anything out of the boy.

"We can't afford an attorney!" How had things gotten so out of control so fast? What the hell had Chloe gotten them all involved in? Joyce was struggling to keep up with everything coming at her all at once.

"We hired one for Max a little bit ago, we can see if he can represent both girls. We'll help you, Joyce, we are not letting Prescott scum hurt our girls when their son is obviously unhinged." Vanessa was in full momma bear mode, no one was going to hurt her daughter or Chloe who she had always thought of as a second daughter.

A struggle raged in Joyce, her pride at not wanting to take what amounted to charity but not to take it would mean Chloe would be at the mercy of a public defender who wouldn't stand a chance against the Prescotts power. Being a resident of Arcadia Bay most of her adult life, Joyce knew that the girls needed any help they could get, the Prescotts owned most the police and the judges in the town.

"I appreciate that, Vanessa, Ryan, I really do. David and I will help out as much as we can."

"Don't worry about it, the only thing we need to worry about is making sure the Prescott's don't use our daughters to get their son out of this." There was steel in Ryan's voice, he would move heaven and earth to protect his daughter and by extension Chloe as well. "They're claiming they have text messages from Chloe threatening Nathan to get him to meet with her in the bathroom at Blackwell. I spoke with an attorney already from Portland who is going to come down and talk to us tomorrow. We'll learn more about what options we have and where we go from here."

"I'd like to say I was shocked that they would go to such extremes but I really can't, not after everything I've seen the Prescott's get away with over the years." Joyce shook her head, rubbing her temples, a migraine was coming on, she could feel it building up behind her eyes already. Never did she imagine that Chloe could actually do something that could get her in serious trouble beyond a bit of mischief. Was she really that out of touch with what was going on in her daughter's life?

"The main thing the attorney stressed was that neither girl is to talk to anyone about what happened in the bathroom or why they were there or anything without speaking to him first. Not even to us, he doesn't want them telling us anything, plausible deniability. If we don't know we can't testify about it or answer questions about it." Ryan placed a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder. He was seriously reconsidering letting Max stay in light of the new information but the attorney had advised him that it would look a lot worse if Max was to leave right now anyway.

"Testify? Why would we have to testify? Neither of those girls did anything wrong!" Joyce's southern accent was thick as her normally calm exterior started to crack.

"Hopefully, it won't come to that but to be on the safe side we need to let the girls talk to the attorney first and he'll be able to tell us what to do, how to proceed." Ryan was out of his depth trying to calm down two upset women, especially when it came to their respective children. But he was a patient guy if anything though he could have used a drink right about then.

"They can not think that Max and Chloe are some, some criminal masterminds!" Vanessa finally spoke up, waving her hands in frustration, "I mean, they hadn't even spoken in years until after Max woke up."

"Right now we have to remain calm, if the girls see us upset or worried, it's going to make them worried. We have to act as if everything is ok and let the attorney do his job. This guy is good and he's from Portland, so he doesn't have to answer to the Prescotts. He has no reason not to go after them full tilt." It wasn't going to be cheap but Ryan and Vanessa had already discussed it, they had enough saved up and Ryan was making good money at his job. They weren't going to allow the Prescotts to buy their way out of this, not without a fight.

"When will he be here?" Joyce was already shuffling her schedule around in her head.

"He's leaving first thing in the morning, so some time late morning. He said he'd give me a call when he gets in and can come here to the hospital to talk to the girls."

"OK, I'll make sure Chloe and I are here around 10am, that should be early enough." Joyce was already anticipating how she was going to explain this to David. He was a good man but he and Chloe had never gotten along. David had been warning her for the last couple years that Chloe was going to get herself into something she couldn't handle. That day had finally come.

"Sounds good, now let's all take a deep breath and act as if everything is fine." Ryan said as he turned towards Max's door.

Vanessa and Joyce each took a deep breath. Vanessa smoothed her hair down and tugged at the bottom of her shirt to ensure it was wrinkle free. To her being tidy was the same as being calm even though all she wanted to do was scream and take Max out of this awful town regardless of how many times Ryan had explained to her why they couldn't.

Joyce plastered on her waitress smile, an act she didn't even have to think about. Long ago she learned that diners didn't like sad waitress, she'd learned to smile regardless of what was going on in her life. On the inside she wanted to grab Chloe and shake her, ask her what the hell she had been doing, what the hell had she gotten into but outwardly she was the picture of a cheerful, southern belle.