Four: Almost Fine

The moment the antiseptic scent filled Max's nostrils, she knew she was in a hospital.

The fluorescent lights and blank walls were secondary clues. A snort of disgust followed by, "I hella hate hospitals," reassured her; she was not alone. But when Max looked up, her eyes were greeted by a sight she'd hoped to never see again: Chloe lying in a hospital bed.

Max's heart was in her throat. "Are you all right?"

"Me? Dude, what about you?"

Confused, Max glanced down and tried to take stock of her situation. She was sitting in a plastic chair that was already making her rear end sore. Her right hand gripped Chloe's. Her left arm was in a sling. "Oh. I'm fine." At least she was in normal clothes–a super retro getup with black leggings and a plaid skirt topped off with a Nirvana tee, but still regular street clothes. Unlike Chloe, who donned a hospital gown.

Chloe reached up to rub the back of her neck and that familiar gesture filled Max with relief and gratitude. She could move–thank Dog! "This is so fucking weird," Chloe grumbled. And then she lifted the collar of her hospital gown and peeked down into it. "And this time I don't even have underwear." She glanced over at Max with an impish grin. "Are you blushing?"

"Am not."

Chloe shrugged. "I've got a giant bandage wrapped around my middle so I guess we probably shouldn't take advantage of the situation."

"Okay, Don Juan, I think we've got other things to worry about."

"Like?"

Max rolled her eyes. "Like can you read what's on your hospital bracelet?"

"Oh right."

Raising her right arm, Chloe twisted and turned it to read the plastic strap around her wrist. "Susan Baker."

Max considered this for a moment. It was just all so weird. "So I guess we're cosplaying as Michelle and Susan."

Frowning, Chloe peered at the bracelet for another minute. "Northwest Hospital mean anything to you?"

"Yeah, it's in Seattle."

"Guess the girls got out of the Bay. Lucky them."

"Umm... Chloe? Hospital."

"Aside from that. Nice shirt, by the way. Better than the spangles."

"Shut up," Max said with a laugh. Some of tension began to drain out of her and she let out a long breath. The last time she'd been in a hospital had been only slightly less nerve-wracking. But as she thought of Kate's room, filled with cheerful balloons and get well cards, she was struck by the lack of them here. There was just... nothing. As if these two had been all alone in Seattle without family or friends.

"Max?"

Giving herself a shake, Max turned her attention back to Chloe. "Seeing you like this scared the shit out of me." Her voice sounded fraught, though she'd wanted to say it calmly, like it wasn't a big deal–though it was totally a huge deal.

Chloe flashed a grin. "Hey I'm fine." She leaned closer and flinched. "Jesus! Almost fine." And then she pressed a kiss onto the top of Max's head. Max couldn't speak so she just intertwined her fingers with Chloe's. "I don't think I'll be wandering around though. So... do we just wait around here? Is there a time limit?"

Chloe's words were still hanging in the air when a woman walked into the room and stopped there in the doorway, clutching a lumpy handbag to her chest. Her bobbed hair curled around her ears in stiff brown locks that spoke of a bad dye job. The floral print of her dress reminded Max of some of the wallpaper at her grandmother's house. Her eyes fixed on Max. "Michelle." It came out in a breathy whisper and she paused to dab at her eyes with a tissue.

Max and Chloe exchanged a look. "Umm... hello," Max ventured.

"Hello, dear. How are you?"

Shifting in her seat, Max tried to ignore the discomfort of role playing someone she had never met and knew nothing about–besides her love for hairspray and Nirvana. It isn't like before. Nothing we do here is going to affect the present. "I'm fine."

The woman–Michelle's mom, she supposed, squeezed her handbag like a child might hug a plushie. "We should talk."

"Okay."

"Outside." Chloe's hand tightened around Max's fingers.

Max shook her head. "We can talk here." She saw the way the woman's eyes narrowed as she glanced at Chloe–or Susan rather. Max bristled, at–well whatever it was: suspicion, slight, or disapproval.

"I don't think we should discuss anything in front of your... friend."

"Girlfriend," Max and Chloe corrected at once. The discomfort on the woman's face was obvious and for several very long, very awkward seconds, she didn't say anything at all.

"Girlfriends," Chloe repeated, scowling. "You know? Fem-fuck buddies? Tongue and groove gals? Vagetarians?"

"Chloe," Max hissed, mortification making her want to crawl under her chair.

Michelle's mother cleared her throat and focussed all her attention on Max. "You should come home."

Even though she knew none of this was real, and no one was asking her to leave Chloe behind, Max felt a lump forming in her throat. Max just shook her head.

Michelle's mom turned to look at Chloe, hands spasming around the handbag. "You should go home too, Susan. You mother will take you back now that your father's gone."

Chloe snorted. "Fuck that."

The expression on the woman's face shifted from discomfort to annoyance. "The medical bills will crush you. You don't have insurance, do you? How do you think you're going to pay for the surgery? For that hospital bed?" She turned to look at Max, her eyes pleading. "Come home and we can work something out."

Max turned to look at Chloe and met her gaze. "No," she said without turning to look at Michelle's mom. "I'm never leaving her."

#

They were back in the tent.

Their hands remained outstretched, Chloe passing the hospital bracelet, and Max's fingers grazing its faded plastic label. It was as if no time had passed at all. Chloe reeled back, staring at the bracelet. "Didn't see that coming."

"I guess... I guess it's like the tree. If we both touch it we... see... something from the past."

Carefully, Chloe placed the bracelet with the locked memento box she'd discovered earlier. She considered the rusty metal box the objects had come from. "There's probably some other stuff in there. I'll have to sift through all the dirt."

"But what does this have to do with that vision I had? Whatever happened with Susan and Michelle was a long time ago–maybe even before we were born."

Chloe shifted over so she was close to Max, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "We'll figure it out. Just like last time."

Hugging her knees, Max squeezed her eyes shut. She could still see the funnel inhaling her hometown. "That didn't turn out so well."

"Practice makes perfect?"

Sitting side by side, Max could feel Chloe's warmth seeping into her. She bled heat, always, as if a wildfire were burning just under the surface of her skin. It made her the perfect sleeping bag buddy for November camping, Max's own personal heating pack.

"I wonder what happened to Susan and Michelle. Why were they in the hospital?"

"Car accident?" Chloe suggested. And then, heaving a groan, "That was hella awkward."

"Yeah." She leaned her head against Chloe. "I'm so glad my parents didn't freak out." Those weeks in Seattle had been hard. Trying to come to terms with everything that had happened, trying to decide what do to next... There had been nightmares and sleepless nights and a lot of false steps. And Chloe had had her own baggage to deal with too. Max couldn't imagine how much harder all that would have been if, on top of it all, her parents had made a big deal of her dating Chloe.

"Yeah, they were cool about it. What would you have done if they hadn't been?"

A faint smile crept onto Max's lips. "We could've eloped I guess. We never did get that trip to Portland."

"Booyah!" Chloe said, giving Max a shake. "We still need to go! Beer, weed, doughnuts."

"And–"

"And books from Powell's. I know, I know, hippie."

Max glanced over at her father's camera, tucked away safely in its case where she'd set it down. Analog still had a special place in her heart, but she was worried about looking into a photograph and fucking up time. At least with digital she didn't have to stress about that since it was all on screen. Plus it saved Warren from having to scan her photos in for the project. "Once the project's done..."

"How's that coming along? You get some cool shots today?"

She shrugged. She'd photographed so much debris, so much destruction that she was starting to feel like one of those trashy reporters who just swooped in to survey the devastation and then drove right out of town again. The photos had to do more than just document what was left behind. People had to remember Arcadia Bay as a real living town, not just as a disaster site. "We still can't agree on a name and not everyone's agreed on which shots to use. Victoria has a good eye but she's a pain in the ass to work with."

"She's jealous because you're so fucking talented. And because you have a hot girlfriend."

That made Max smile, at least for moment. She didn't know what she'd do without Chloe by her side. But weariness had settled on her like the weight of the whole world.

Max lay down on her sleeping bag and stared up at the lime-coloured dome of the tent. She wished she knew why all this was happening. Did they piss off a minor deity at some point? A pirate god of old whom they'd forgotten to pay tribute to? Or maybe it was like Chloe had said... Arcadia Bay was full of ghost and monsters.

A flurry of rustling told her that Chloe had stretched out next to her. From the corner of her eye, Max could see Chloe, lying on her side, looking at her. Max turned onto her side and for a minute they lay like that, eyes locked on each other. She never got tired of looking into those blue eyes. She never got tired of the way Chloe looked at her, like she was something special.

Chloe reached out, but before her fingers quite reached Max's cheek, Max spoke her name. "Chloe? You're still muddy."

Hand hovering in midair, Chloe's eyes darted to her mud-caked fingernails. "Shitballs." She groaned and heaved herself back up. "I guess I'll have to go to the Otter showers and wash up. Pain in the ass." She rummaged around for a minute, stuffing a bar of soap in her pocket and slinging a clean towel over her arm. "You'd better get your beauty sleep. Your folks'll freak if you look like a zombie tomorrow."

Max groaned. "I'd forgotten about that." Ryan and Vanessa Caulfield had already been down to Arcadia Bay once, just a few days after she and Chloe had set up camp. They'd wanted to check on the living conditions, Max was sure, though they'd also made a big point of bringing piles of donated food and blankets that they'd collected at the office. They'd promised to make another trip soon. "Soon" was this weekend. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to think about reassuring her parents that everything was totally fine when she was actually having crazy visions and semi-real time travel all over again.

Chloe paused, hand on the tent flap. "If you're not in some sort of sleepwear when I get back I'll undress you myself." She shot Max one of those impish grins of hers and then crawled out of the tent.

Sighing, Max began unlacing her sneakers.