Notes at the end.

Victoria and Kate listened to Max tell her tale of meeting Christine. Kate for her part was in awe the entire time and even though she seemed to have a hard time reconciling how it worked with her faith, she seemed to accept it. Victoria for her part looked far more skeptical. Her lips remained pursed for most of the story. When Max finished talking, Kate was the one who went straight to the questions.

"So did Christine have a different style than you? Was he basically you but older?"

Victoria took a deep breath and stood up, surprising both Kate and Max.

"I'm sorry," Victoria said with a frown on her face. I have to go for a walk."

She had to quickly look away from Max. Seeing how Max looked almost hurt at Victoria's sudden need to leave pained the tall blonde as well. Before Max could say anything Victoria was out of the hotel room.

She grabbed her cell phone out of her pocket, and even though she knew it wouldn't work she went to the entries where Christine had been texting her. She sent a simple text. I want to meet.

To Victoria's surprise, her phone didn't report that the text message couldn't be sent. A moment later she got a response.

There's a coffee bar across the street from the hotel. I'll meet you there.

Victoria raised her eyebrows, but she couldn't really complain since she was getting exactly what she wanted.

It took Victoria only a few minutes before she was seated at a private table at the coffee bar. Her heart skipped a beat when Christine walked in—she was exactly how Max described and Victoria's own infatuation with Max couldn't tell the difference. Christine quickly spotted the blonde and made her way over to sit down with Victoria.

Christine had changed her clothes compared to what Max described. Christine looked a lot less hipster and a lot more stylish—though the cashmere sweater she was wearing was a little too much.

"Hello Victoria," she said, the slight difference with Max's voice just barely noticeable.

"The now famous Christine Chase," Victoria deadpanned.

"Not yet, that'll be a few years," Christine said with a straight face before breaking into a smile. "Relax Victoria, I'm not here to cause problems. I know you want to speak because you have concerns."

Victoria pursed her lips and studied Christine for a moment, seeing all the physical differences that Max had described to her. Finally she spoke. "Do you already know how this conversation is going to turn out?"

Christine shook her head. "No, this is my first time going through this conversation."

"So me, I mean other Victoria, she didn't talk to anyone about this whole situation? Max made it sound like this is a similar event."

Another shake of Christine's head. "Well she did, but I wasn't there to witness it."

"You don't know what my concerns ahead of time are?" Victoria asked, eyes focused very intently on Christine.

"Well, I have guesses, but that's only because they're the same questions I sat picturing Vic… my Victoria asking in her situation."

"I see," Victoria said, her analytical had firmly on. "What about your rewind?"

Christine sighed a little. "I won't use it Victoria, I promise. Besides, Max would notice, probably setting off Kate or whoever else she is with and you'd know later."

Another nod from Victoria. "Alright. Don't get offended, but I kind of hate your existence."

This time Christine looked a little bit caught off guard—perhaps even a little hurt. Victoria quickly realized that even though she wasn't the Victoria that Christine had married, she was still Victoria Chase in looks and voice, and that it'd have to hurt having the love of your life saying they hated your existence, even if it was way more complicated than that.

"Can I ask why?"

Victoria nodded and answered. "Because I don't like the idea of destiny, that our paths are predetermined and that there are certain things that will happen, or that you could manipulate to make happen."

Christine tilted her head quizzically toward Victoria. "Such as what?"

Victoria sighed and closed her eyes. "I really like you." A sigh. "I mean Max. I don't know if it's something that is supposed to happen. But you being here, a sort-of alternate version of Max and married to an alternate version of me makes it feel like Max is going to be pushed to being with me because it's what happened with you."

A slow nod of understanding from Christine. "So you feel like me being here is like forcing Max to like you back."

A deep breath and a nod from Victoria.

"I didn't tell her that she had to be with you to be happy. There's so many different people that any of us could end up with in parallel dimensions that she's better off just figuring out what works for her."

Victoria opened her eyes and just assessed Christine again. "So you didn't tell her to kiss me when we met back up."

She could tell that Christine was caught by surprise with the question. "Wait, she kissed you when she rejoined you back at the hotel?"

"That's right."

"Wowsers," Christine said, and Victoria did manage to smile just a little at that. "I didn't see that coming, no. After my talk with Max here in San Francisco during the Everyday Heroes event, I didn't kiss Vic… my Victoria upon returning to the hotel. In my case I was always too afraid of offending Kate."

Victoria didn't expect that answer. "So no prompting from you to…"

Christine adamantly shook her head. "Not at all. If she chose to kiss you when she returned she's more gutsy than I am, and she did that of her own accord."

Wow! Victoria looked speechless for a moment before managing to compose herself. "Alright then, I need to know about your relationship with Victoria."

A frown crossed Christine's face. "You don't think I'm just going to give you information about the future?"

"I don't need or want anything important, I just want to understand some of the dynamics. Like has it been easy?"

A relieved smile replaced the frown. "No Victoria," Christine said while shaking her head. "No relationship is easy. There were a lot of fights, not so much at the beginning but in the middle, and we still have fights to this day."

A confused looking Victoria looked back at Christine. "But what about your rewind, that dirty magic that you two have in common?"

Understanding seemed to dawn on Christine's face at the question. "Have I used the rewind power with Victoria? I'd be lying if I said I hadn't."

Victoria frowned in response.

"But I will tell you this, it was only for stupid little shit that didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Believe it or not neither Max nor I are perfect. There's a reason that we didn't even have a three point G.P.A. We have an IEP for a reason."

Victoria's eyes bulged at that. "I didn't know," she said quietly, a look of guilt now.

"I know you didn't. But I never thought about rewinding time during our big fights. I would never rewind time for things that mattered. It was a promise I made to myself and to her. By us fighting she would know that I wasn't just manipulating things to keep them perfect."

A slight nod from a guilt-ridden Victoria.

"Believe it or not, this whole rewinding time kind of sucks when it comes to relationships. Even if we were to rewind things to make life happier for you it eats us up inside."

"Oh," Victoria muttered. "So I don't have to worry about Max?"

Christine shrugged. "I don't know Victoria. As alike as we are and as linked as our two timelines seem to be, I don't know the future. She might be willing to rewind the big stuff to keep you happy, I don't know. There's already differences that I can note."

"Like what Chris?" Victoria blurted out.

"Well for starters, I know how much Max hates being called Maxine, but I like my full name, thanks."

"Sorry Christine."

"It's alright Tori," Christine said with a smile. "Sorry, Victoria. Well, I can tell you this, I know it's your Max that came to see me when I was in San Francisco. But she wasn't called Max Chase or Maxine Chase."

Victoria looked curious. "She still called herself Max Caulfield. She was married, though her hair was similar in length to how it is now. We're different people Victoria, that's all I can really tell you so how she'll respond to something is going to be different."

A smile crossed Victoria's face. "Thank you Christine, that's what I needed to hear I think."

"You may not be my Victoria, but I still have a weak spot where you're concerned. In the end I know how wonderful of a person you are and someday you'll be very happy with someone. Whether that's Max, or someone else remains to be seen, but you know what, enjoy the ride Chase."

Victoria was beaming now. "Yes ma'am. Any advice?"

Christine was standing up. "Go out to dinner, or stay in and order food. Like I said, just have fun."

Victoria stood up too and the two women hugged. "Thank you Christine."

"Always."

They broke the embrace and Christine made her leave. The conversation hadn't taken that long and Victoria quickly made her way back to the hotel.

Entering the room she found Max and Kate still talking. The two girls stopped and looked up when Victoria entered. Victoria smiled and walked over to Max and sat down on the bed next to her. After a moment of awkward silence Kate resumed the conversation they were having and Victoria put her arm around Max, leaning into the brunette. She didn't look directly at Max's face, but she could see the smile as Max's hand reached up to hold Victoria's.

Slight shout out to Mr. Me, who helped me figure out exactly what Victoria didn't like about Christine. I knew Victoria wasn't going to like it, but figuring out why wasn't as obvious. It also brought back the concept of Victoria's insecurities that have always plagued her.

Also this chapter title was inspired by The Offspring song of the same name.