A/N: My sincere apologies for not remembering to put the break lines into the previous chapter. It has now been updated.

I'm going to keep you in suspense for at least one chapter, although this one does wrap some of the things up.

"All right, Max darling, give me your best fading pose!" Julia aimed her camera at the brunette, who was slowly bleeding to death.

"Wh-, why are you doing this?" Max asked her killer. She still wasn't feeling any pain, just a warm sensation in her abdomen.

"Why, the simplest of reasons of course, - vengeance." Julia put her camera down.

"But I..." Max started, before Julia cut her off.

"Don't flatter yourself, my dear," she said. "You're merely a pawn of my vengeance to Mark Jefferson."

Max closed her eyes. With all my powers, I'm just a pawn in the grand scheme of things. Nothing I do makes a difference.

"Did you know I was Mark's first?" Julia said to Max as she took her camera again. "That was, of course, before I had my revolutionary change in life."

"Back then Mark was quite open-minded for all kinds of experiences," Julia said as she took a couple of more shots. "There, now, perfect!"

"I was in love with him," Julia said a touch of sadness in her voice. "He wasn't the reason I decided to become a woman, though. Ever since my early teens I had felt I was in a wrong body."

Max listened to all this, while she started to feel a bit light-headed. She was wondering how much more time she had.

Chloe, I'm so sorry I lashed at you. Please come and rescue me!

"No, no! You fucking sumbitches, send me back!" Chloe raged in the desolate meadow. "Max is in danger! I need to be with her!"

She had just sensed Max's distress, when she had been pulled back into her personal purgatory.

"I swear to god...!" Chloe yelled, when Rachel suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Chloe," she said to the blue haired spirit.

"Rachel, I need to go back!" Chloe said frantically. "Max is in danger! I have to..." Rachel cut her off.

"Yes, we are aware of Max's situation," Rachel said. "However, since you broke the terms of our agreement, you were pulled back." She kneeled to pick a flower. "We let the nature take its course. With Max's death, the issue of her tampering the timeline goes away."

Chloe couldn't believe her ears. "So everything you care is your precious timeline? All for the greater good and the end justifies the means?"

"If you want to put it that way," Rachel said.

"Who the fuck are you?" Chloe's blood began to boil. "Because you sure as hell ain't Rachel!"

Rachel looked at Chloe fiercely for a moment. Suddenly her form began to change and she turned into a dark haired, more elderly woman.

"You are correct, I am not Rachel," the woman said. "My name is Sara."

"So you and Joseph Adams had a relationship that wasn't just professional?" Detective John Korhonen asked Mark Jefferson.

"Well, on my behalf it was merely self-exploration, but I suppose Joe thought more about it." Jefferson shrugged his shoulders.

"Did you know about his transsexuality?" Finn asked.

"Sure. He was quite open about it, and I didn't mind," Jefferson answered. "Quite the opposite, in fact. I tried to be as supportive as possible." He took his glasses off and blinked his eyes. "Joe didn't realize or didn't want to realize that I had already planned to move on."

"So his decision to go through with the operation didn't affect your decision to break up with him?"

"In retrospective, maybe a little." Jefferson put his glasses back on. "Back then, I just felt that I had got bored with him and wanted something different."

"So he went abroad to have the operation done and couple of years later returned as Julia Bennett?"

"That pretty much sums it up," Mark Jefferson said.

"Did he-, she try contact you after she returned to the States?" Finn asked.

"I did get a letter from Julia soon after her return but I never answered. I had been well established in the photography circles by then." Jefferson looked at the ceiling. "I didn't need any complications in my life."

"Did you follow her career, though?"

"It was hard not to, and I was genuinely happy that she managed to make herself known."

Finn looked at his watch. He'd need to call Kowalski soon.

Max was beginning to feel the iron taste in her mouth. Julia kept on photographing her, while a camcorder recorded every second of her slow trail away.

"You know," Julia said to her. "It wasn't my initial intention to go down this road." She put her camera away again. "I mean, I had managed to make name for myself and I had a successful career." Julia turned to face the freckled brunette

"When I saw in the news that Mark had been arrested and what he had been up to, all the hurt and anger just resurfaced and it wouldn't go away," Julia continued. "Then an opportunity came to settle the score, - you, my dear Maxine."

"What?" Max gasped.

"When I saw your work at the Everyday Heroes contest, and that you were from Blackwell, I was sure that Mark had had his eye on you." Julia took the camera again. "Therefore you became my instrument of vengeance."

Oh my god! She's insane! Max thought as Julia took another set of pictures.

Chloe had to use all her willpower not to beat the crap out of the woman standing opposite to her. She clenched her fists and looked angrily at her.

"Why?" she asked. "Why did you choose me?"

"Quite simple," Sara answered. "You were her soul mate. You could be easily persuaded to watch over her." Chloe frowned on the annotation.

"Then why did you have to let her pine so long? Why couldn't I just do it first thing so that Max would've been able to move on?"

"That wasn't the intention," Sara answered. "But for some reason, all of Max's grief and guilt seems to embody into that picture. In retrospective, maybe it would've been for the best to get rid of it in the beginning."

"Please let me go back!" Chloe pleaded. "Please let me do right by Max! You owe me that much!"

Sara gave a stern look at Chloe but then she sighed deep. "Very well, you can go back and try to save your friend, but that picture has to go first hand!"

"Scout's honor!" Chloe said and put her hand on her chest, while holding the fingers of the other crossed behind her back.

Max started to feel a bit dizzy. She felt that the end was near. Julia took some more photos and seemed to like what she saw.

"I kept a close eye on you after you graduated, Max," she said to the brunette, who was beginning to look pale. "I couldn't believe my luck, when you came to Seattle. – Of course I would've come to you, wherever you went."

"S-, so you mean that the internship was just a scheme to get to me?" Max asked.

"I had different plans for you," Julia admitted. "I was going to take you under my wing, make you my partner in crime." That remark make Max shudder in disgust. "Obviously, that's not going to happen now."

"Why'd you kill Gwen?"

"To send a message to Mark," Julia answered. "Succeeding in what he had failed, would've been my ultimate revenge. – But I guess I have to get consolation from that video I'm going to send him."

Julia kneeled over to Max and looked at her.

"Our time is coming to an end," she said. "I'm curious, though, how you were able to put the pieces together?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, you bitch!" Max managed to put together a smirk.

Max's taunt hit its target and Julia raised her hand to slap the helpless brunette, when she suddenly stopped. She was looking around her bewildered, before she again looked at Max but this time a concern on her face.

"Jesus, god! Max!" Max saw Julia say with an accent that she recognized immediately. "What did she do to you?"

"C-, Chloe?" Max asked quietly.

"Yes it's me, Maximus," Chloe said.

"W-, what took you so long?" Max let out a faint smile.

"I was held up. Otherwise I would've come sooner," Chloe answered. "I'm so sorry, Max."

"No, Chloe. It's me who should be apologizing," Max said. "I totally overreacted."

"Let's worry about that later," Chloe said. "We need to get you medical help."

"I-, I think it's too late, Chloe," Max said faintly. "Soon I'll be joining you."

Chloe looked at her lover and sensed her to be right. A single tear ran down her cheek.

"No!" she said defiantly. "You're not going to die on my watch!"

Chloe stood up and picked up Max's phone from her bag. She chose Victoria's number and phoned her.

"Victoria? It's Chloe. – Listen! I need you to take that picture of the butterfly and drive to Julia's apartment! – Julia's got Max and she's dying! – I'm in control but I can't leave Max. – You know the address? – Ok, hurry!" Chloe hung up.

"Victoria's on her way, Max." Chloe kneeled over to Max, cut her ties and took her on her lap. "Try to hang in there!"

"I-, I'm so co-, cold, Chloe," Max said to her. "Why'd you ask Victoria to bring the picture?"

"I figured the only way to get you out of this alive is that you go back and don't let that creep Prescott to kill me," Chloe answered.

"But what about Arcadia Bay?" Max protested.

"Remember how you told me that I was your number one priority? – Well, you are mine," Chloe said to her. "I know I said that the people of Arcadia Bay deserved to live over me, but I won't accept the idea that you'd have to die for them too. You are awesome, Max Caulfield and I love you!"

"I love you too, Chloe Price." Max answered. "I'd kiss you but I really can't get my head around the idea that you're in Julia's body."

"We'll have plenty of time for that, once we're back," Chloe assured. "Maybe, through some miracle, we'll figure a way to warn the people of Arcadia Bay about the storm."

"Here's hoping," Max concurred.

Victoria was driving like she never had driven before. The speedometer of the BMW was showing 80 miles per hour as she weaved between cars. She'd run through several red lights and only sheer luck had kept her from hitting anyone.

Chloe's call on Max's phone had been a shock. I should have never let Max go alone, Victoria had thought, when she had taken the picture with her and run to her car. Luckily there was not much traffic at this time of hour.

Victoria arrived at Julia's address. She parked on the sidewalk and ran into the stairs. A few leaps later she was behind Julia's door, which was ajar.

Victoria stepped inside and ran into the living room.

"Max, Chloe!" Where are you?" Victoria shouted.

"In here!" Julia's voice came from the corridor between the bookcases.

Victoria stepped into the hidden studio and found her roommate lying on the floor and Julia's figure kneeled over her.

"Max!" The blonde woman ran to them. "How is she?"

"She hasn't got much time left," Chloe said. "Take your phone! Here's what I want you to do..."

Stacy Kowalski sat at her computer and tried to get some sense into the two records that were active.

I really need to get more sleep, she thought. She had absolutely no recollection of opening Joseph Adams' file and especially the one of Julia Bennett.

Now, when she was looking at the two files side by side, it made perfect sense why they were open.

Joseph Adams is Julia Bennett, Stacy thought. I just wish I knew how I came to this conclusion.

Stacy's thoughts were cut off by her phone. Finn's name was on the caller id.

"Talk to me, Finn," she answered the phone.

"I just finished with Mark Jefferson here," Finn said in the other end of the line. "He told me something interesting about Joseph Adams."

"He's Julia Bennett," Kowalski said.

"What? How did you...?"

"Let's just call it intuition. Anything else?"

"Not really," Finn said. "Jefferson hasn't kept in touch with her after he left Seattle."

"Should I call Bennett in for questioning?" Kowalski asked.

"I guess so, although the only thing we have her connecting to this case is that she used to know Jefferson in his Seattle days," Finn answered.

"I'll call her-" Kowalski's phone began to vibrate. "Hold on I got another call coming." She pressed the answer button. "Detective Kowalski."

"This is Victoria Chase," a frantic voice said in the other end.

"How can I help you Ms. Chase?" Kowalski asked.

"I went to search my roommate in Julia Bennett's home and I wound her here tied and wounded! Please-" The call ended abruptly.

Kowalski looked at her phone for a passing moment trying to process what she had just heard, before switching back to Korhonen.

"Finn, I just got a call from Victoria Chase," Stacy said distressed. "She had found her roommate, Maxine Caulfield tied and wounded in Julia Bennett's home. After that the call ended."

"Shit!" Finn cursed. "Take some backup and go there! Call dispatch to send the closest unit in Bennett's address!"

"Will do!" Kowalski ended the call.

Aw crap! Hope we make it in time!

Max was beginning to have trouble staying conscious. Her breathing had become shallow and her feet felt cold.

"Max! Try to stay with us!" Chloe said to her. "Okay, we don't have much time! Let's quickly go this through!" She was now holding Julia's pistol in her hand.

"As soon as the cops come in, I'm gonna point this thing at them and Julia's going to get what's coming to her," Chloe said. "I'll of course bail out at the right moment." She turned to look at Max. "When Julia falls down, you focus into that picture and don't look back! Is that clear?"

"Cl- clear," Max whispered.

"Victoria," Chloe said. "You must understand that when Max goes into that picture and changes whatever she changes, this reality will cease to exist. There's no telling where you'll end up."

Victoria looked at Chloe. The thought of everything coming to an end frightened her, but then she looked at her dying friend and the fear gave way to determination. "I understand," she finally said.

"If there's something you two want to say to each other, now's the time to do it," Chloe said.

Victoria kneeled down next to Max. The brunette reached to place her hand on Victoria's cheek.

"Oh, Victoria!" Max said faintly. "I'm so sorry I failed to see how you felt about me."

"It's all right Max." A tear fell down on Victoria's cheek. "I'm sorry I didn't have the courage to be more direct about my feelings."

"I'm happy I could call you my friend all these years, Victoria Chase," Max said.

"Me too," Victoria concurred. "Max?"

"Yes Victoria?"

"Don't give up on me," the blonde said. "Try to get through to the real me behind the queen bee-atch."

"I will never give up on you," Max promised.

"Just be straight about your intentions, okay?"

"I will."

"I love you, Maxine Caulfield," Victoria said and placed a kiss on Max's forehead.

"I know," Max said and smiled to her.

"Good bye, both of you," Victoria said finally.

"See you on the other side."

"I hate to barge into your mushy moment but I think we're getting some company," Chloe interrupted them. "Get ready, Max!"

Chloe pointed the gun towards the two women on the floor. She saw the freckled brunette take the photo firmly in her both hands.

Victoria held Max on her lap. She could see two police officers barge into the room.

"Freeze! This is the police!" one of the officers bellowed, pointing his weapon at Chloe.

Max saw how Chloe turned her gun holding hand towards the officers, to which they responded with firing. Max could've sworn that for a passing moment between Chloe leaving Julia's body and the bullets hitting their target, she could see the amazement in Julia's eyes. Victoria screamed as Julia fell to the floor.

Now! Max thought and focused on the picture. Memories of the closing hurricane flooded into her mind, as the picture began to pulsate and everything faded into white.

Click! Whrrrr! Max's Polaroid camera spat the photo out. She took the newly taken photo in her hands and shook it to quicken the development process.

Max looked at the photo and then tore it into pieces. Okay, Caulfield! This time you have to get it right!

She looked at her image in the mirror. Seeing her younger self made Max realize how much toll four years of grieving had actually taken on her.

Something in me died too on this very same day, she thought.

Max crouched behind the stalls as she tried to figure out a different outcome from the two previous outcomes. She could just save Chloe again by setting the fire alarm but then the storm would come and as she would be on autopilot, she wouldn't be able to warn the people or otherwise affect the run of events.

There was only one other option she could think of.

Max heard the door open and Nathan Prescott step inside. She stood up again and stepped in front of Nathan.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Nathan asked clearly not happy about Max's presence.

"Well, this is the girl's restroom," Max answered looking around her. "But I am here to talk to you Nathan."

"Well, I don't have time for you, so why don't you make like a tree and leave!"

"I know that you're waiting for Chloe, who's coming to blackmail you for your drug trafficking," Max said to Nathan, who couldn't hide his surprise.

"How do you-," Nathan started but Max cut him off.

"It doesn't matter," Max said sternly. "What matters, is that I know you drugged Kate Marsh and let Jefferson take pictures of her."

Nathan Prescott just stood staggered, when Max spoke. But the punch line was just coming.

"I also know that you overdosed Rachel Amber and then you and Jefferson buried her body in the junkyard," Max let her words sink in.

It took a moment before Nathan was able get his act together. "You can't prove anything!" Nathan tried to brush off Max's claims.

"I have proof that'll place you at a certain barn," Max said. That wasn't exactly true but Max hoped Nathan wouldn't see her bluff. "And we both know what lies beneath that barn."

That was the final blow. Nathan gasped for air and looked like he could have a nervous breakdown any moment.

"What do you want? Money?" he raged.

"No, Nathan," Max said calmly. "I want you to do the right thing and turn yourself in. – You and that bastard Jefferson. I know that he's been using you."

"Yes he has," Nathan admitted. "He and many other people, but that's going to end! No one's going to tell me what to do anymore!" He pulled his gun and pointed it at Max. "Do you hear? No one!"

"Look, Nathan, please put the gun away," Max pleaded, realizing that she had pushed the young man over the edge. "You don't have to do this!"

"Shut up, bitch! Or I will make you!" Nathan pulled back the hammer on his gun.

At that moment the door opened and Chloe stepped in. She looked at the freckled brunette and realized that it was her childhood friend who was being aimed with a gun.

"No!" Chloe yelled as she jumped on Nathan.

Nathan's gun went off as Chloe knocked him down to the floor. Max felt her left leg go limp and she also fell to the tiled floor.

"Max!" Chloe said frantically. "Are you all right? – Someone, call an ambulance!"

Max looked at her leg, which was bleeding rapidly. The leg of her jeans was soaked. She was starting to feel dizzy. She saw how the bright haze at the restroom door began to clear and she could see the school hallway. Then everything went black.

To be continued...