April 2032
"I do apologize Chloe...you know I'd love to spare you all this shit right now, and I'm playing interference as much as I can, but the situation between Robert and Vik is getting heated; you know men, when they feel like they have to assert their dominance."
Chloe sighed ponderously, as she listened to Maggie's voice through the tiny Bluetooth earpiece. Her cab felt like an island of tranquility, and for the third time, she muttered a grateful prayer for having spent the extra few dollars to hire an autonomous cab to take her from Sea-Tac to the University of Washington Medical Center.
"Jesus fuck," she grumbled. "So this is still about the zoning and tax abatement issues? I thought we settled that last quarter?"
"Yeah, funny thing. Everyone else on the Council assumed the same. I don't know who antagonized whom, but all of the sudden, neither of them are happy."
Chloe leaned forward, elbows on her knees, face in her hands as she went over the events in her mind. A few years back, Steven Exeter's son Robert managed to gain a position for himself on the Council; sadly, he demonstrated all of his father's faults, and none of what few charms the elder possessed. Around the same time, Glenda O'Meara stepped down from the day to day grind of running AkashaDyne, promoting her hand-picked successor Vikram Patel in her place; the kid was good, clearly had a head for the business side, but he also possessed chip on his shoulder the size of Oregon itself; he never passed up an opportunity to take offense at petty shit.
Hissing out softly, Chloe sighed, "You know, I can't believe we've gone this long without addressing the issue of Arcadia Bay not having a deputy mayor position."
"We've never really needed it before; we've only recently hit the population requirement to bring us up from being designated a city instead of a town."
"Great, Mags. Then I hereby deputize you. So fix this shit for me, because I really can't go dealing with it right now." Chloe spat out, harsher than she intended.
Fortunately, Maggie knew her boss' temperament all too well, speaking in quiet and calm tones, "You know it doesn't work that way. I realize this is a very rough time for you right now, but the sad truth of the matter is that you're the most moderating influence in this situation. Vik respects you because Glenda respected you, and Robert knows you won't put up with his shit any more than you did for his daddy."
Fuck. Fuckfuckfuck. This isn't fair. This isn't right, that I've been kept away from being with Max for so long. Right when she needs me the most.
Slumping back in her seat, Chloe pulled out the vape pen she'd smuggled with her on the flight, and took a long draw; it wasn't a habit she indulged in as frequently as her days of youth, but for the moment, she definitely need a little something to take the edge off.
"Moderating influence. Yeah. I suppose so. Can't help but imagine Chris, retired out in Colorado, laughing his ass off at the idea. But times change, don't they?" She blew the milky vapor out through her nose, and took another long drag, considering. "Okay, set up a video conference for tomorrow morning, 7:00 AM. That'll be easy enough."
"Wow. That early in the morning, huh? They're not going to like that."
"I damn well hope they don't. That's the price for pissing off the Mayor and dragging her into this shit when she should be supporting her wife twenty-four-seven for the last month. They got off easy. They can take it, or they can wait until I get back from Seattle." Chloe said.
"All right. I'll make sure they understand how important it is to accept the meeting time. Assume that it'll go as planned unless you get a text from me." Maggie replied.
"Yeah. Great. Thanks, Mags."
"...hang in there, okay? Please give Max my love and support. Believe me, I understand exactly what she's going through right now."
Chloe caught herself nodding, alone in the cab, and then said, "Appreciate it. I know she does too. Talk to you tomorrow."
Pressing a button on her smartwatch to end the call, she pulled out a small compact and started to freshen up her lipstick. As forty drew ever closer, she'd fallen prey to perhaps a small touch of vanity; already, she caught a few errant grey hairs peeking through, whenever she was overlong in re-dying her roots, having never returned to her original blonde hair color. But she was in pretty good shape; better than that, she was still as buff as she'd become in her late teens and early twenties thanks to all the manual labor. On top of that, she ate much better than she used to, exercised a lot more. A couple of wrinkles here and there only seemed to add character. At least, that's what she liked to tell herself.
"God, I sure don't remember growing older."
Eventually, the cab brought her to the UWMC. She stepped out, taped her watchface against the payment scanner, and walked away; she'd already sent her bags ahead to the hotel, straight from the airport.
It was a cold, miserable day; steel grey, the cloud cover like a dense, obdurate thing that would never part again, with a constant rain that seemed to seep into the bones. She quickly made her way through the front entrance, heels clacking sharply against the pavement, and then the linoleum once she was inside.
Alone in the elevator, headed towards the the oncology wing, and psyched herself up.
You are her rock, Chole. You are her anchor. Everything you're going through right now gets shoved to the side. There is no you, there is only Max. You do whatever you have to for her, hug her as long as she needs it, listen to her until your ears bleed.
She stepped out into the hallway, walking towards room 1865; slowing to a stop as she spotted Max stepping out of the room and closing the door behind her. Chloe smiled at first, trying to appear reassuring, and also genuinely happy to see her. But as soon as she got a look at the expression of heartbroken grief etched into her wife's face, she knew the worst had come to pass.
Vanessa Caulfield finally lost her long battle.
Max's mother developed an aggressive form of breast cancer, and over the past three years the family endured a roller coaster of various treatments. Initial triumphs and false hopes, moments where it seemed that perhaps the worst was over, only to have the brief windows of celebration turn to bitter ash. Despite the advanced therapies and medication that were now available in the third decade of the twenty-first century, there were still no guarantees that any cancer diagnosis could be beaten; just better chances than a few years before.
Max immediately fell into her arms, buried her face against her shoulder, and began to wrenchingly sob. Chloe held her wife's entire weight up as best as she could, stroking her hair and back, and clinging to her. She closed her eyes and tried to banish the anger and regret welling up inside her.
Should have been here. Should have been here from the start. How the hell can she forgive me, for not being here in her mom's last hours?
"S-sorry..." she warbled lamely, squeezing Max tighter against her. "Should have been here sooner. Fucking work..."
She bowed her head, and Max tried her best to speak through her tears and grief.
"You're here now. Right when I need you...th-thank you. It...she...it was q-quick and she didn't feel any p...pa..."
Max broke down completely, and Chloe all but carried her single handedly to one of the couches in a small alcove, holding her there for the better part of an hour, letting the other woman finally let go of all the emotional trauma and agony that had been building up inside her over the last few weeks.
Chloe knew there's be a vast multitude of details to take care of; it wasn't fair to either Max or Ryan to be bothered with the arrangements: the funeral, the estate. Who would cook meals, deal with people wanting to come and pay their respects over the days to come.
She could do that much; after fourteen years of successfully running Arcadia Bay, she knew how to get shit done, either personally, or how to find someone appropriate to delegate the responsibility to.
"Gonna take care of you, baby. Promise. You just...you let it out. She loved you and..."
She stopped, not sure what more could be said. Or should be.
It was moments like this, however, that made Chloe want to give up entirely on the whole notion of adulthood. Life had been so much easier when she and Max were nothing more than carefree teens playing at junior detective, or hero rebuilders of the devastated Bay. Everything that seemed so important, so much larger than life now paled grimly in comparison to the terrible realities that greeted them with increasing frequency as their life together continued ever onward.
Chloe toweled the sheen of perspiration off her neck and forehead as she concluded her hour long workout on the elliptical runner. She pressed the stop button on her smartwatch, killing the streaming music feed; while she'd never been much of a Taylor Swift fan in her youth, she found herself enjoying it during these sessions, in that it was catchy and easy to tune out.
That and...I don't know what the hell these kids are listening to today, but it sure as hell isn't decent music.
Grabbing a bottle of water from the mini fridge in the home gym, she chugged it down, and tossed it away into the recycling bin. From there, she'd head to the bathroom and take a shower...
...same as she'd done for years now. It'd become a ritual as predictable as Old Faithful, as certain as the seasons changing.
Even if she couldn't remember the last time she actually saw it snow in the Pacific Northwest.
Thus, it was with no small amount of surprise when she found herself suddenly face to face with Max, almost knocking her back.
"Oh! God...sorry! Are you alright?"
"F-fine." Max stammered, clearly bristling with nervous energy. The two of them fell briefly silent, as Chloe appraised her wife of nearly fifteen years. The wild hipster punk of the early twenties gave way to the more professional-minded free-spirit that was Max Caulfield at age thirty-six. Her hair was longer now, almost halfway down her back. No longer a vibrant red, it'd been years since she stopped dying it, and allowed it to return to its original light-brown coloring. She was a little plumper these days, but Chloe always thought it made her look all the more adorable. Sure, her eye might wander now and then, admiring some of the younger women that walked the streets of Arcadia Bay, but she'd always stayed true to her love.
That said, the days of spontaneity and passion long fell back by the wayside. As the years wore on, Chloe came to the realization that one of the glaring flaws of youth is that it rarely considers what actually happens after the end of the fairytale romance, past the words, the assumptions held in the phrase "And They Lived Happily Ever After." All the trials and tribulations that life insistently continues to throw out.
And bills need paying, and work needs to be done, and careers developed...
When intimate moments of lovemaking became less frequent, fewer, and far more distant between.
Chloe wouldn't say that they were unhappily married; she still loved Max,that could never, ever be in doubt. But were they 'in love' anymore? The way they were in that first wild and crazy decade?
Is anyone really 'in love' like that after a while? Or is it just a lie people tell themselves, an unrealistic measure. God knows, our relationship's gone through a lot, taken a lot of work to maintain. Why should that be so unusual?
"Can we talk for a minute?" Max asked, still fidgeting. Chloe simply nodded her ascent. Though they'd been married long enough for that phrase to invoke a sort of nauseating dread the few times it came up, she wasn't initially so ill at ease; Vanessa's funeral was barely two or three weeks past, so it made sense that Max was going through a lot, and would have things she'd want to talk about.
Max made a few false starts, stammering and going off on tangents. "Been thinking a lot...about life...how much time we really have left...we're not getting any younger..."
Finally, she came right out and said it:
"Chloe, I want to have a baby."
That wasn't what she was expecting, not at all. It wasn't that Chloe was opposed to the notion, but unlike most other women, she seemed curiously bereft of a so-called 'biological clock', and assumed over the years that Max was of a like mind.
"Ah...uh. Wow. Okay, this is really sudden." She started to rub the back of her head nervously, then wrapped the towel around her neck, and over her shoulder. "I figured we settled this issue a while back. I mean, it's not like we really talked about it, but..."
Max rubbed her arms nervously, and said in a soft, but insistent voice. "No. We never did. Not really. We always just assumed...with our careers keeping us busy. But I mean...I always did want to, you know?!" Her voice rose, and Chloe stepped back, a bit startled at the tone of anger bursting forth. "I figured it was just a matter of time, that sooner or later we'd get it together, but we never did. I was waiting for you, and maybe that was stupid of me but...and now my Mom is dead, Chloe! And she never...never got a chance to..." She bit down on her bottom lip, hard. "We're almost forty. We've waited a really long time already."
Chloe swallowed; this was coming so fast for her. Clearly it was something Max had been keeping deep inside, until it finally burbled up like an exploding geyser.
Chloe reached out, trying to rest her hands on Max's arms. "Hon...I...okay, I'm a bit surprised, but maybe we should wait a bit longer to have this talk? You're really on edge right now, and I understand why. You're barely started on the grieving, but I think making a snap, crazy decision..."
"This isn't a crazy thing, damnit!" Max bit back, and not, in Chloe's estimation, doing her argument much good. "I waited too long to bring it up, wasted too much time." She closed her eyes. "I want to talk about it now! I don't want 'later' to be an excuse to wait until it's too late!"
Chloe gently squeezed Max's arms, blinking when she abruptly stepped away from her grasp. "Okay, look, you just can't come up and throw something like that at me, it's not fair. I mean, you're talking about upending our lives. You have your career and me...I mean Jesus, I'm still the mayor, sweetie. So I can't just go and make snap decisions without taking into account how it's going to affect my job, and the people who depend on me to do it."
With a dark light of resentment touching her eyes, Max hissed, "I knew you were going to say something like that! I knew you were going to use that as an excuse..."
"What excuse!? I didn't say no, I just said we need to calm down and think things through! You can't just drop this on me out of the blue and expect me to say 'Oh yeah! Let's do it! Let's jump blindly in.'" Chloe replied, her heart starting to beat hard from the sudden antagonism thrown into her face.
"I...you would have...back when we were first married, you would have done it. You would have understood how important this is to me!" Max countered, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Well that was a long, long time ago, Max! We aren't the crazy kids we used to be." Chloe huffed back, crossing her arms defensively, before adding, "And besides, jumping blindly in simply to make you happy is how I ended up mayor of this damn city in the first place..."
Chloe regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth.
She felt herself melt back under the heat of the burning glare that Max gave her, before her wife turned on heel and fled out of the hallway.
It didn't have to be said, but the situation at present was obvious: Chloe would be spending the night in the guest room.
Later, she lay spread out on the guest bed, staring hard into the ceiling and reminiscing over how they'd gotten to this point in their marriage. She did her best to keep anger from overwhelming her, although God knows she was sure the fuck feeling it: ambushed, resentful and unappreciated.
Still...
...this seems so crazy, so out of character for her. Was it really something this important, for so long, that she just pushed it down? Was she doing it for my sake? Out of the sense like she'd molded my life in so many ways, limited what I could and couldn't do, and now she was asking to do it one more time? Oh God, Max, all you had to do was talk to me about it before. I would have listened, I promise. Maybe...damnit, I don't know how I feel right now about having a kid. Like I said, now's not the time to talk about it. We shouldn't have a kid, just because you're guilty about not having one before your Mom died.
And yet, as Chloe turned to the side, she had to wonder...
Are the cracks finally starting to show? Is this the point where the marriage ends one day? Not like...now, or tomorrow, but in a few years? A slow, painful, downward spiral?
"Okay, shut up, damnit. None of this shit, Chloe. You and Max...this is...seriously, she and I are forever. This is just a damn bump in the road."
But she had to admit that there was some vital spark, some magic, for want of a better word, was missing, Or maybe just long dormant? Theirs had been a relationship for the ages, literally founded on Max, her best friend forever, saving her life, and then kicking Time's ass, over and over again, until it finally relented, but not before saying, "I'll just take out the entire town as payment."
Almost twenty years later though, it all seemed like nothing more than a crazy dream. A fantastic tale that happened to someone else; she'd never seen a glimmer, not a single hint, that there was more to life than the purely mundane, after that one week in October. It was as if for one brief, enchanted moment, everything she thought about how the universe worked was completely suspended. And for those first few years, she was grateful for the comforting weight of mundanity.
But now there was a calcification; a placidity that becalmed their marriage.
I mean it's not like we fight all the time, not really. We're just...day in and day out. It never changes. And that all came across so slowly, we didn't notice until it was too late.
Chloe tossed and turned through the first half of the night, before finally declaring defeat and taking a sleeping pill.
She was slightly groggy the next morning, but not nearly as bad as she'd be if she hadn't slept a wink. Chloe snuck a quick bowl of cereal from the kitchen, and was prepared to head to the municipal building when Max stepped out, wrapped up in a white terrycloth bathrobe. Her eyes were still puffy and wet, clearly having spent the whole night crying.
Chloe froze, like a deer caught in headlights. She had absolutely no idea what sort of mood Max would be in, but quickly found herself being hugged.
"S-sorry. I'm...so sorry, Chloe. Oh God, I have no idea what got into me." Max sniffled back hard, reaching up to wipe at her eyes. She then looked up, trembling. "You were right. I was being unfair because...oh God, Chloe. Because in the end, right before she died, she told me she always wished we'd had kids. My Mom. I mean, I don't think she meant it to guilt me, but..." Swallowing hard, she bowed her head, and seemed to shrink a good six inches.
"It was unfair of me, jumping on you like that. Pushing you and...kids. Wowser. I mean, we're...it's better this way, isn't it? We're a bit over the hill to be having one."
Now that, for some reason Chloe couldn't quite put her finger on, struck a deeply sad chord in her heart.
Chloe leaned in, kissing Max's face and hair, and murmured low. "Huh. Can't remember the last time you said 'wowser'." This elicited a shy, slight smile from her wife. "And no. You really don't have anything to apologize for, okay? You've been through so much, I mean shit...you lost your Mom, when she should have had a lot of good years ahead of her. You're allowed to freak out. A lot. So..." She breathed in hard through her nose, and then tried her best to put on a reassuring smile. "This weekend, let's get away, alright? Just you and me. We'll go to Portland, fancy hotel room. Dinner, dancing. Just live a little. That sound good?"
Max nodded quickly, her head still bowed. Leaned in and crushed her tight in another hug. They shared a kiss, before Chloe took off for the rest of her day. While obviously happy that they'd managed to resolve the worst of the issue in short order, there was still a lingering sense of deep melancholy that she couldn't shake.
The fact that the day was turning out to be slow was doing nothing for Chloe's mood; she'd desperately, semi-jokingly hoped that maybe Vik and Robert would find a new reason to butt heads, forcing her to bring the Chloe-brand of mayor-flavored smackdown on both of them, but wasn't so lucky. By 10:30, she was randomly staring at her terminal screen, left hand endlessly squeezing one of her favorite fidget toys.
She didn't even hear Maggie walk in, and place an e-slate in front of her. Thin as a pane of glass and almost as clear, little more than a touch-sensitive OLED display, they were quickly replacing paper documents these days, at least in situations where contracts and other legally binding documents needed to be signed and sent off.
Chloe picked up it and squinted slightly at it, doing her best to completely ignore the fact that her eyesight just wasn't as sharp as it used to be.
"So what's this, Mags?" she inquired.
"Wellllll, it's that magical time of your term: re-election. Just the standard form you need to thumbprint, to legally indicate your intention to run." Maggie snorted, and tilted her eyes upward. "Seriously, it's just a formality. No one ran against you last time, and I highly doubt it'll be a contested race this year, either."
Chloe stared through the slate in her hand rather than at it, and spoke, in a faraway voice, "Dunno. Robert Exeter is always saying how it'd be different if he were in charge..."
"Oh please!" Maggie retorted. "He knows damn well that you are Arcadia Bay. Everyone loves you, and you've had this city humming like a well-oiled machine for a while now. You'd crush him in the election, and I don't think his puny ego could handle the rejection."
A cold, clammy hand, almost like something skeletal, squeezed hard at Chloe's heart, pulling it down into her stomach as the words reverberated echoingly in her mind.
"you are Arcadia Bay...well-oiled machine..."
Chloe didn't respond to Maggie, her thoughts were so tangled up, trying to piece through what it was she was experiencing.
The machine. This city's a machine. And I'm just a cog...no...shit. Oh shit...I AM the machine. I'm the Man. I'm...
Somewhere, through the yawning chasm of years, she could feel her nineteen-year old self kicking her ass, screaming with frustration. Pointing an accusing finger.
"I used to fight the system! The way it screwed me over, and people just like me, people I cared about..."
But I'm a good Mayor...a damn good one at that, fuck you very much!
"Yeah, and now you've got yourself a comfy, unchallenged little perch, right at the top. And don't act like you didn't sell out, in little ways here and there, to get here. And stay here."
That's called being a responsible adult and a good negotiator. You don't always get every little thing you want when you have a shit-ton of responsibility, little girl. Hell, Chris taught us that much, if nothing else.
"Oh please. Like you're so hella above the wheeling and dealing. Whatever happened to Angry Chloe? Passionate Chloe?!"
Damnit! Some of us grew up, that's what happened to angry. Some of us grew up, you fucking child...
Angry...passionate...
...child.
Oh God...all my passion. All my...why am I still doing this? What good am I doing here? For anyone? I have so much more to give than this. I'm wasting so much time...
"Chloe? Chloe? Madame Mayor? Seriously, can you answer me, because you're starting to freak me out a little..."
Snapping up hard with a gasp, as if emerging from a tank of cold water, Chloe came to her senses.
Her thoughts were racing a split second ahead of her mind, but it was becoming quickly apparent what she needed to do, where she needed to go from here. She tossed the slate unceremoniously onto her desk, pushed back and then rose to her feet. Walking over to the window, she hugged herself, staring out into the city streets below.
Taking a deep breath, she sighed out, "Call a presser for me, Mags. Doesn't have to be huge, the local stations, and maybe one of the papers from Corvallis. Try to make it for three o'clock if you could? And um..cancel my meetings for the rest of the day." She started to turn for the door.
"You don't have any meetings today." Maggie said.
"Great, that makes it so much easier. If something comes up, you know how to get a hold of me."
"Wait...wait! What the...Chloe? What's going on?" Maggie glanced down at the desk. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume this has something to do with the paperwork sitting on your desk, still very much unsigned?"
With a smirk, Chloe turned the doorknob, and said, "You'll find out at three, same as everyone else. I'll let you guess in the meantime." She then strode out, closing the door behind her. As she made her way out of the municipal building, she was possessed of the curious sensation, as if a dry, gritty shell was peeling away from her skin, step by step, breath by breath. By the time she'd made it to the first floor, she was feeling lighter, freer than she could remember in a such a long while.
First, she sent a text to Victoria...
Tori...lunch? My treat...want to ask you some questions about that place you used last year.
While waiting for a response, she tapped a button on her smartwatch, placing a call to Max.
"Chloe? Hi. What's up?"
"Sorry...I probably caught you between classes?"
"It's okay." Max replied. "I have a minute. Whats up?"
Chloe swallowed hard, and said, "I just...wanted to tell you. I love you and...three PM. Browse over to the local streaming feed from the community media site, okay? And then I'm gonna come home, and we have some things to talk about. Alright?"
She could feel the nervous frisson that rose up in Max's heart, bleeding out into her voice.
"...Chloe. What's happening? Is everything alright? Please...talk to me?"
"Everything is fine. Better than it's been for a long time, I think. Please believe me, it's gonna be okay. You'll see. When I get home, we'll talk."
"Alright. I...I love you."
"Love you too, babe."
"...and so I hereby announce my intention to finish out the rest of my term, and then step aside. I will not be seeking re-election."
Chloe leaned against the podium in the lobby of the municipal building, addressing the small handful of reporters who were summoned to cover the event. An audible gasp and a murmur arose; clearly they were expecting some exceptionally mundane and uninteresting bit of fluff: perhaps some sort of self-congratulatory announcement about declaring such-and-such a date to be So-and-So Day.
That the first mayor of the town, now city, of Arcadia Bay was leaving the position she herself fought to create was the last thing they wagered on.
"It's been a good run. For nearly half my life, I've had the honor and the privilege of serving the citizens of the Bay. We've all worked so hard, pulling ourselves up from the brink of total destruction, to become one of the fasting growing, most desirable communities in the entire state."
She brushed aside her blue bangs against the rest of her black hair, and continued, "I've always kinda joked that I was only here until it was time to take off the training wheels. And it occurs to me that day came a long while back. Now? Gotta bring in new blood. New ideas. Shake things up. And I...I'd really like to focus on some things that are really important to me. Now, if you'll excuse me, this concludes my statement. Thank you very much."
As she started to head off, one of the local reporters gathered their wits enough to call out a question: "Madame Mayor! In the wake of your departure, will you be officially endorsing a replacement?"
Chloe couldn't roll her eyes hard enough at this. She was trying to step away from her legacy, give Arcadia Bay a chance to plot out it's own course, instead of always looking to her as some sort of static, dependable anchor. Planting her fists against her hips, she said, "Oh hell no. Seriously guys, let's just throw the doors open now. Although..." she smirked over towards her personal aide.
"Hell Maggie, you gonna run? God knows you know the job just as well as I do at this point." She couldn't help but chuckle internally, pleased with the shocked reaction she got out of the older woman. "Or at the very least, whoever wins could do a lot worse than continuing to retain Ms. Dresden's services as a personal assistant. Anyhow, see you kids later."
Chloe strode off, smirking smugly to herself, as poor Maggie was left to fend off the intense interest bearing down on her from the tiny throng of reporters.
Chloe walked in through the front door, not sure what to expect from Max when she arrived.
Anger? Joy? Sadness?
She wondered if she was in for all three when she saw her smiling angrily through her tears.
"S-so what...Chloe, what the hell was all that about?"
Stopping short, and scratching at the back of her neck, Chloe remarked, "Hi babe. Have a good day at work?"
"No jokes, Che! You...I mean...you just quit!"
"Well no, quitting implies I'm leaving right now. I'm still mayor until January. Only difference is that I'm not re-upping for another tour of duty." Chloe said with an impish smile.
And you called me Che. You haven't done that in forever.
Max stepped close, "Is this because of our fight? About what you said, about what happened with..."
Chloe couldn't reach out fast enough, to grab Max's hands and reassure her.
"No! No no no, oh God. Max! Baby, no...please don't...this isn't...gah!" She paused, rolled back, trying to gather up her thoughts, and speak again.
"Okay, maybe, in some teeny, tiny way? But only in the sense that..."
She paused. Bowed her head. Gently squeezed both of Max's hands in her, and looked up. With steely resolve in her eyes, she continued, "We've made amends, Max. With Arcadia Bay. We're square. At long last. Maybe that's a bitchy thing to say, maybe it sounds like I'm cheapening all the people who died, all the shit that went down, everything that...that we've both felt responsible for. But we've spent almost half our lives - HALF! making things right with this city. We've given so much of ourselves and - and no one can say that we didn't make this place way, way better than when we found it. No one..."
Max breathed out, in a tiny voice. "That was all you, Chloe. I didn't..."
"Damnit, Max! You did! You gave as much as I did. Maybe more. I mean, am I wrong? Do you not see how we're seriously at this weird point in our relationship where...I just feel like we've let ourselves become trapped! I mean, I liked being mayor, and I know you love teaching those kids as much as taking photography commissions and assignments, but something has to give. We can't let our roles, our service, fuck, our feeling that we owe something to Arcadia Bay define us anymore. Especially not when..."
She reached into her blazer, pulling out an e-slate, almost exactly like the one she tossed away this morning, and thrust it out.
Max took it, staring down at it quizzically, then back up to her.
"It's an interactive brochure for a fertility clinic. It's in Canada...Vancover. The place that Victoria used a couple years ago, when she decided she was going to do the whole single mother routine? I already made an appointment, for a month from now. I meant it when I said I didn't want to rush headlong into this. If we're going to have a child, we should do it for all the right reasons. But...but damnit! The more I think about it, the more I think that yeah...yeah I have a lot to offer a kid. And you'd be a fantastic mom. And...and..."
The tears started to fall down her face, as she pulled Max close to her. "It's not too late, Max. It's never too late. Especially not now. Look, this clinic is supposed to be amazing. Top of the line. And they've got this technique. I don't exactly understand how it works, but the South Koreans perfected it ten years ago, and now same-sex couples can have kids that are genetically related to both parents. The FDA are still being puritanical pussy fucks about it, and got it bottled up in stage three testing, but the Canadians have been doing it for over five years, and it works and...and we could have an amazing daughter! Yours...you and me, mine. Ours."
Max stood there, just looking at her, as she gazed back. It was nearly ten full seconds before she breathed out. "Or...or a son..."
Chloe shook her head. "No. Just a daughter. If we do it this way, with two women? Only produces girls. I mean, if you're - you know - okay with that?"
"But... Wait, Chloe. This is crazy fast. What are we going to do...who'll stay home with the baby? And what'll we do to make ends meet if you're out of a job...?"
Chloe laughed softly, a giddy feeling overtaking her, trying not to dwell on the fact that in short order, their places had switched from yesterday evening, "I will! Or you will! Or whatever you want to do! If you wanna put your career on hold and be a stay-at-home Mom, I'll find a new job...I mean shit, I'm the motherfucking Mayor of motherfucking Arcadia Bay. I could easily turn my experience into a consulting gig. Maybe even stay at home stuff, so...so it'd be me and you taking care of the baby for a while. Eventually, you could even go back to work, and I'd be a stay at home...uh...other mom? Look, I have absolute faith that we can do this. We have a nest egg that can float us for a little while, and the job market is good...we can do this...totally. I promise. Oh God, I'm babbling now...help? I can't stop..."
Max moved slowly, not so much falling as clinging to her in slow motion, nesting the side of her head against Chloe's chest. Let out a few sobs of relief, and nodded.
"I'd like that Ch-che. Like it a lot. Let's really talk. It's okay, if we decide in the end it'd be better if we didn't go down this road but..."
"B-but, for right now. I mean, it feels right, doesn't it? In a weird way? Like this is the next step?" Chloe said, with an almost pleading note in her voice.
Max nodded once, before pulling her face down, kissing her; she was gentle at first, but quickly morphed it into needy, almost desperate greed. Cupping her cheeks in her hands, tongue pressing past her lips.
In a heartbeat, Chloe was all of nineteen again, responding passionately, already reaching over to work on undressing the both of them. Everything she wanted, everything she needed was in her arms. Maxine Caulfield, Maxine Price-Caulfield, the love of her life. Her best friend, her savior. Her inspiration, her rock.
Maybe, just maybe, the mother of her future child.
July 22nd, 2033
Chloe paced desperately, back and forth, like a caged lioness. For the most part, the past nine months of Max's pregnancy went well. It took several months of consultation, testing, planning, DNA recombining and all sorts of breathtakingly scientific and stomach-turningly expensive treatments, but Max was pregnant on the first try. She'd managed to avoid all of the boogiemen that plagued later-in-life pregnancies not so long ago: gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, chromosomal defects, Down Syndrome.
Those Canadian doctors know what the hell they're doing, that's for damn sure!
But complications arose during the delivery. There was talk about having use a Cesarian section, and that was about the time that Max got weird. Something about not wanting Chloe to see her in a moment of extreme pain and weakness and...
God damnit, Max! You can be so infuriating sometimes! Why would I love you any less, just because you're cursing like a fucking sailor at me. You could rip my arm off, if that's what it took to get you through this. Why do you think you need to take this on by yourself?
At least Ryan was with her. And maybe that was the real reason. That perhaps this was a moment just for father and daughter. Something unique, special, once in a lifetime. Chloe could definitely forgive that.
Max's pregnancy has meant so much to him. Hell, he single-handedly paid for everything we needed to convert the guest room into a nursery.
On top of that, Max's father made up his mind to retire from his architecture firm, sell his condo, and then settle down into semi-retirement in Arcadia Bay.
Geezus, between him, and the way my parents have been over the moon, this is gonna be one spoiled kid.
Before she could brood-freak-pace any further, a nurse came in to the waiting room, smiling softly in her direction.
"Ma'am? I believe there's someone who'd like to meet you."
"Oh my God, move move move!" In a flash, Chloe took off, rushing ahead of the nurse, her high-heels clacking loudly, as she trotted in, flustered, but eventually letting the nurse gently take her by the arm and aim her in the right direction.
Her heart pounded hard in her chest, as she was struck with the sudden notion that her life was about to end; not literally, but that once she crossed the threshold into Max's room, and saw their baby girl, she was going to stop being Chloe Price-Caulfield, former teenage dirtbag, former political hero, former survivor of life's many cruel and strange attempts to end her life. And become someone new entirely.
She'd been fortunate enough to be granted a second act in her life, something that never failed to amaze her. But that was nothing compared to the third act that was merely three seconds away from kicking off.
And as before, like that night of the storm, she felt the old Chloe die...
...and the new one burst forth onto the world.
There was a definite blank spot in her mind, her perceptions, as she felt the pieces shift in her brain. Before she was able to look forward, and register the sight before her.
Max was glowing, absolutely radiant, cradling a tiny bundle in her arms, and smiling with intense satisfaction. Ryan rose up, leaned in to kiss both mother and daughter on the forehead, and then walked out, wiping the tears his eyes. He clapped Chloe affectionately on the shoulder at first, but then turned to crush her in a bear hug.
"I'll leave you two to get acquainted." he said with a wet chuckle, before departing.
Chloe stumbled forward, catching herself at the edge of Max's hospital bed, before grinning sheepishly down at her wife, who then held the infant up for her.
"Heyyy. Look'it what I made! Say hi to our daughter, Backup Mommy." Max said with a giggle. Chloe glanced up, noticed the morphine drip, and snorted. "Good stuff, huh?"
Max gave a double thumbs up and nodded. "Mmmmhmmm! Just for a little bit. We didn't have to cut me up in the end but...but...yeah, we're done. The Max Baby Bakery is closed. You carry the next one."
Chloe laughed and then looked down at her baby girl. Her indescribably perfect, absolutely awesome, unnaturally beautiful.
Ha ha! Look at that! She has Max's nose. And her face. But...but yeah, those are my eyes. And my head shape and...ha-holy shit! Those Canadian scientist guys did it. It worked. I can't believe they took my DNA and knocked up Max with it, and now we have a girl all our own...
"H-hella awesome. And...one of a kind and...think I might be happy with the one." Chloe breathed out. She breathed in that new baby scent, and suddenly understand what the big freaking deal was about.
Max giggled. "Haven't said hella since before you were thirty, baby."
"Haven't felt this young, doll." Chloe then shifted the baby over, from one arm to the next, giggling as she gave a teeny, tiny little yawn.
"So...this is Vanessa, huh?"
Max tilted her head, "About that, hon?"
Chloe looked up. "Well look, we agreed, it would be a great tribute to your Mom, but we still haven't figured out a middle name..."
"Yeah, we have." Max murmured with increasing drowsiness. "It's Vanessa."
"Ah...I...don't understand. You changed your mind? So what are we going with?"
"Mmmmm. I looked at the clock calendar a few minutes ago, and realized something. You know what day it is today?" Max asked.
"Uh yeah, duh. It's the 22nd of July. How the hell am I ever going to forget that day now?" Chloe asked, eyes alight with glee.
"You...you know...you maybe forget someone else born that day?"
"What? Who? I'm not sure who you're talking abo - oh shit."
It struck her like a physical blow. How the hell could she have not seen it earlier?
"Mmmmm, s'a dollar for the swear jar, babe." Max murmured.
"So...so seriously? You named her...?"
"Yup. Introducing Rachel Vanessa Price-Caulfield. I'm not big for religious stuff but I thought...you know...wouldn't it be kinda funny if this was her chance. Her next incarnation. Coming back to say hi."
Chloe just stared, disbelieving at her dau - at Rachel. She didn't go in for any of the mumbo-jumbo that Max was suggesting...
...but she leaned in, kissing her so hard. Almost broke into tears, right then and there.
"Thank you. Oh God. Thank you, thank you, thank you." Chloe repeated fervently.
Max squirmed and tenderly pushed her aside. "Welcome. Sleepy. Gonna nap so...go. Hang out. Don't let Dad hog her. Come back in an hour, kay?"
Chloe drifted out, nodding dazedly, as she walked out of the room.
Or tried to, at any rate.
Suddenly, everything felt far too dangerous. Her three inch heels, never a problem for her in the years she'd taken to wearing them, felt irresponsibly high, way too unstable. She simply couldn't stand to walk, and carefully, oh so carefully, removed them, walking down the hall in her stocking feet.
Carefully collapsing in a tiny alcove, she covered Rachel's forehead and cheeks in kisses, and cooed to her, under her breath.
"I don't know if that's really you in there, Rache. I mean, that'd be nice, you know? If life really worked out that way. I mean, hell, maybe it does; Max warped time to bring me back again and again, so maybe this was her way of bringing you back to us, too. Her last bit of crazy magic." She thought to hug her daughter a little tighter, but found that she was so scared, so desperately afraid of hurting her, that all she could do was cradle her protectively.
"Doesn't matter. Whoever you are, Rachel Vanessa? First and foremost, you're my daughter. I will love you no matter what. And uh...I'll try...I promise I'll try, not to be a total bitch and make you hate me when you're a teenager, even though it would be totally fair play and karma and everything, if that happened. And...and...thank you. You know? For this new life, we're all about to have. Thank you for everything we're about to see and do together, for the rest of our lives."
She swallowed hard, eyes filling with tears as she sat there, alone in her own little world.
Just her and Rachel.
A/N: Whew! Hi there folks. Happy Boxing Day. And look! I got you all a baby :-D
Anyhow, I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday yesterday. Maybe you got some nice swag, maybe you just had some good food and company. I hope everyone got at least something nice out of it, no matter what it was, how big or small. This year, I have been particularly appreciative of all the wonderful friends I've made in the past few months; they know who they are, because they are all awesome.
And so are you, readers :-)
Anyhow, it's been a long time since I wrote almost an entire chapter in one sitting. It didn't come out quite as well as I wanted, but it never does. Still, I'm looking forward to the next one. I figure after this chapter, there are about three or four left. Like I said, the time jumps are coming a little hot and heavy now.
Have a great new year!