Here it is, hope you enjoy!
Max Caulfield sat in an alley watching a cat walk by. She wasn't quite sure what time it was anymore, she only knew that it was now Sunday morning. She also knew it was chilly out, and she was scared.
When the cat finished walking past the alley Max raised her left hand up and the telltale blur of time I happening enveloped the world around her. When she put her hand down she watched the same cat take the same walk past.
If I were in the Matrix right now this would look like the ultimate glitch. Maybe agents are coming for me.
Again she raised her hand, again with the blue, and again the cat walked by. And for a third and fourth time she completed this little dance of the walking cat-not because she liked watching the cat walk, but so she could be absolutely sure that her powers were back.
She was about to raise her hand to do it a fifth time when she got a text message. She looked down at her phone-it was the one person she wanted to hear from most at that moment.
CC: You can stop doing that anytime you know.
Max rolled her eyes. That's real helpful. Wait a second…
Max texted back. How do you know what I'm doing?
Message failed to send.M
Of course it did.
Another chime indicating that there was a response.
CC: Because I know you better than you know yourself. I get it, you're scared. I don't blame you for doing so.
"Well, that makes it all better than, doesn't it stupid mysterious text message?"
CC: Of course it doesn't, but it's still the truth.
She sighed and shook her head. She had to be going crazy from the grief of losing Chloe-that had to be it.
She knew it wouldn't send but she had to anyway, just to test her theory of going crazy. She typed on her phone. How do I know I'm not going crazy?
The message of course failed to send but a moment later she still received a response.
CC: Put your hands in your pockets.
Max could only blink upon reading that. She was very skeptical, but she did as she was asked anyway. Just about the time she was getting really annoyed it happened. The world blurred around her and time was clearly rewinding. Even that damn cat just walked backwards and was now crossing the alley like it had done so many times before.
Holy fuck, I didn't do that, how did it…
Before Max could even finish her thought her phone chimed again. She pulled her hands out of her pocket quickly to look at the message.
CC: You assume too much Maxine Caulfield.
Max sighed as she read the message.
CC: Yes, I know, Max, never Maxine.
She was of course stunned. How do you talk to, how do you deal with someone who seems to know what you're thinking and doing even before you do. Another chime.
CC: I've arranged a ride for you. Leave the alley and follow the cat. A car will be waiting for you, I've already paid for the ride. We need to meet.
Max was a little hesitant, but she got up and followed the cat. She wasn't completely sure about this whole getting into a strange car at one thirty in the morning, but that's what rewind powers were for, right?
Almost after turning right out of the alley a car pulled up to the curve and rolled down it's window. "Max?" the driver asked.
She nodded and he motioned her to get in. She realized what it was immediately—Uber wasn't something she had used, but she heard of it before. She got in and pretty soon they were off to their destination. It was a quick, quiet trip.
Soon the car was dropping her off at a place called Pinecrest Diner. It wasn't quite a standalone diner of the past like Two Whales, but Max did have to smile that this CC certainly did know what Max liked. The driver asked her to rate him highly and she nodded and he drove off. Max stepped inside not sure what to expect.
As she entered her cell phone once again went off.
CC: Fifth table to the right.
Max looked around, a much larger version of the Two Whales for sure, and still a decent crowd for 2 a.m. She turned to the right and started walking toward her destination. Seeing her table she took note of the appearance of the girl who was sitting there. Brown hair past her shoulder and all swept to a ponytail that crossed over her left shoulder, a hoodie really similar in color to her own were the two most obvious things. She stopped right behind the girl, took a deep breath and rushed to the seat across from her in one quick motion.
She blinked several times as she took in the girl, though she didn't really have to observe anything at all. It was her. She was staring at her own face back at her, though there were slight differences. The color of her freckles were different, and her eyes were just a shade brighter than her own, but it was still her face looking back at her.
"Oh great, I'm back in the nightmare. Or am I still in it?" Max deadpanned.
Christine smiled at Max. "No, you're not in the nightmare, this is very much real, but it's oh so much more complicated than what it seems."
Max took note that Christine's voice was different from her own. She'd heard her own voice on video before so she was a little bit surprised. "So if this isn't the nightmare, then what exactly is going on here?"
Another smile from Christine as she took a drink from her glass of orange juice. "Well, to put it in as simple terms as possible Max, I'm your baby sister Christine."
Eyebrows arching, Max was somewhere between confusion and disbelief. She looked Christine over some more and just based on the features, skin, and the large diamond ring on her left hand, Max had a realization.
"How can you be my baby sister, you look like you're older than me. And quite frankly, you look way too much like me to just be my sister."
A nod from Christine. "You're right of course. I'll get back to the details in a moment, but here's the deal. Did you ever wonder why mom, dad, well anyone in the family doesn't have an announcement of your birth from a newspaper?"
Eyebrows still arched, Max just kind of stared at Christine. "They said they must have lost them, or they're just buried in a box."
Christine sighed and frowned. Shaking her head she looked back up and spoke again. "If you look for birth announcements for September 21, 1995, you'll find a birth announcement for Christine and Maxine Caulfield, born Arcadia Bay, Oregon."
"So we're twins then?" Max asked, interrupting.
She nodded and continued. "However, if you go just a little bit further down the page it will also have death notices. Under the death notice it will read Christine Caulfield, Arcadia Bay, Oregon, died September 21, 1995."
Forget the eyebrows, Max's eyes bulged upon hearing this. "So you're telling me I was part of twins and my sister, you, died?"
"I know, heavy huh?" Christine cracked a smile again. "Sorry, I've kind of become a fan of Back to the Future lately for some strange reason."
Max smiled at that too before her brain got back to work puzzling things over. "Wait, if you died…"
"Then how am I here?" Christine finished for Max. "Well, that actually relates to the nightmare. But you should order something if you're hungry."
Confusion crossed Max's face but then the waitress walked up and filled Max's cup with coffee. She ordered herself an omelet, mostly to compare it to the one at the Two Whales. Once the waitress was gone she turned back to Christine. "How so?"
"You remember in the nightmare when you were yelling at yourself about all the Max's you left behind."
Max held her head with her right hand. "Time travel nightmare semantics and tenses suck!"
"I know, I know," Christine offered. "Well here's the thing, she wasn't completely wrong. This multiverse theory says that every action, every consequences gets played out in a separate reality. Think when you're playing a video game and you reload a save to try something different. Sort of the same concept except that the character who died stays dead and you're actually creating a new one."
"I still don't get how this explains anything," Max said, a little frustration growing in her voice.
"Drink your coffee and I'll explain, I know how we get without coffee."
Max did as ordered and took a few sips from her coffee, and admittedly Max did start feeling better.
"So here's what I've managed to piece together. In your universe, life as you know it, you lived and Christine died. In my universe it was the other way, Maxine was stillborn and I, Christine, lived."
"Basically you're me but with a different name because of what happened before we were born?"
"Yes," Christine said with a smile, nodding. "You're also right about me being older. I have travelled not only into another universe but back in time. My body is probably twenty-one or twenty-two, but as I know time it's 2015."
Max was finally understanding the basics of it. Apparently Christine had been jumping around in time and universes. "And you've never caused any storms?"
Christine sighed. "Just the one that happened when I tried to save Chloe."
Max frowned. "So Chloe died in your timeline as well. Does she always?"
A deep breath from Christine. "No Max. I've been travelling around, observing other Max and Christine Caulfields. There are universes where you and Chloe lived but the storm destroyed Arcadia Bay."
Max gasped at this. "So at least one other Max wouldn't sacrifice Chloe."
A nod. "I've seen universes where it was me and Chloe who lived and Arcadia Bay was still destroyed. I've seen them where we both live and never gain this useful yet terrible ability at all."
"Yeah what's up with…"
"We'll get there," Christine says, cutting Max off. "You, me, and Chloe surviving over Arcadia Bay. Ones where we both live until the storm and one of us dies and the other doesn't. That's a hard one. I've seen them where you get shot instead of Chloe, or I get shot instead of Chloe."
Max sat there stunned. She hadn't considered all those options. How much harder must it have been for a Max or Christine that lost the other but kept Chloe because of the storm.
"I've even seen them where Jefferson succeeds and we get murdered."
A shudder went through both girls at the same time.
"So there's not much for happy endings out there, is there?" Max asked.
Christine shrugged. "It all depends on what you consider a happy ending." She looked down at her left hand.
"So you lost Chloe, and you got married?"
A smile crossed Christine's face. "I did, yes."
Max's eyes narrowed, not sure how to respond to that. "So is your last name still Caulfield?"
Christine fished into her pocket and pulled out a wallet. Grabbing her license, she slid it over the table to Max.
Picking it up, Max immediately saw the date on the license. Issued April 23, 2015. It was only as she glanced over that she noticed the last name.
"Christine Chase? So you're married to…"
"Yes, my darling Victoria."
Max quirked an eyebrow at that. "She just professed her love to me before…" Her eyes opened wide and she quietly said, "oh no."
Christine reached out and grabbed Max's hand. "She's okay. Kate is taking care of her. You'll have plenty of time to explain it to her later."
A sigh of relief came from Max. "I didn't even realize until now that because my rewind came back that I ran out screaming right after she…" Max trailed off, not finishing her sentence.
A smile crossed Christine's face. "Same thing happened to me. She forgives."
"So if you're married to Christine, does that mean we're…?"
Christine pursed her lips. "Well, I'll tell you this. I've seen either of us get together with Chloe, or Victoria, or Kate."
Max understandably looked surprised by that.
"Many iterations of us ended up with Warren. Nathan too. And in the only iterations I've ever wanted to hurt someone in, we ended up in a relationship with Mark Jefferson."
At that point Max looked like she wanted to be sick.
"I felt the same way Max, though you may want to put that out of your mind."
Her omelet had arrived and was placed down in front of her along with the other food. Max thanked her and Christine continued.
"I don't think it's about being gay or straight. I think in the end we fall in love with a person and that's all that we care about it. If Chloe survives, it's her. If not there's a myriad of other options so honestly, don't worry about labels."
Max couldn't help but grin. "Now that sounds exactly like me. Us. Whatever." She started to dig into her food.
"We got married in January and I couldn't be happier. This is actually the longest and first real jump I've made since we got married, I just had to though."
Max put her fork down, chewed, and then looked at Christine more closely. "Why's that?"
"Because we are linked Max. From what I've gathered we are the Max and Christine that are most alike. I knew that you were going to have a very tough time getting through this week so I came and texted people, watched out for you and your friends, and basically made sure that what needed to happen, happened."
Max was getting a little suspicious at this point. "And no storm is coming?"
Christine shook her head. "No, this is payback."
"How?"
A wistful sigh came from Christine. "Because two years ago I rewound time for a week and had to go back into a picture to let my best friend in the world die. At a time when I needed someone around to support and make sure that things got taken care of, someone did. That was you Max?"
"Me?"
"Yes Max, at some point in a few years you'll gain the ability to jump to other timelines like I did. And you'll find me, poor Christine freaking out and heartbroken over the loss of her best friend, confusion because of her new friend, and outright fear when her powers return. You do the same job for me."
Max's head hurt, she knew that she wasn't rewinding but that was quite complicated.
"I know it's a paradox Max, but it seems to work."
A shake of her head before asking, "So why did the powers come back?"
Christine looked around for a moment, as though she were thinking how to put it. "Who said they ever went away. After Chloe died you suppressed them yourself with your grief and anger. Once you got past the week entirely and were with Victoria, you were so relaxed and starting to heal that they became apparent again."
"So do we live the rest of our lives with these powers?"
A shrug from Christine. I only know about the next few years. I'm sure at some point we'll learn more, but until then we just kind of have to deal with what we got. On the plus side it makes a relationship with anyone you choose that much better since you'll never say the wrong thing.
Max laughed at that. "So where do we go from here?"
A smile from Christine. No hurry, I say we just talk, find out what's the same, what's different, and when we'll meet in the future again.
Max beamed at Christine, "I'd like that sis."