Chapter Two: Time to Kill
Chloe, Max, and Maxwell all sat in Chloe's room, the music softly playing as the lit joint is passed between Chloe and Maxwell. Chloe looked at him closely. "Hmmmm..." She wonders in her head. "What would that be like?" She thinks about the times she and Max had had, and what they might be like if they were more open about their feelings from the beginning. "So how long do you think you have?" Max says. She felt bad that they were just letting him sacrifice himself, but he didn't seem like he was going to not do it. She knew if she was in his spot and had promised Chloe she'd do it for him and her life together.
"By my estimates I think I've got close to... half a year. Maybe a little more." Maxwell says. There's suddenly a sound downstairs, Chloe's eyes then widening as she bolts downstairs. Max goes to quickly follow her but her arm is lightly grabbed by Maxwell. "Hey Max, I wanna talk to you for a second." Max turns around to him and looks him in his eyes... which were her eyes. It felt like looking in the mirror. "Look... I don't know if maybe you might get a bad feeling seeing me around Chloe... but I swear to you I'm not after her. I know that my Chloe is gone." He looks at Max closely. "Have you even told her how you feel?" Max turns a light crimson as she looks away. "I... I uhh..." Maxwell frowns and grabs a hold of her face by her cheeks. "You better tell her ASAP. Trust me. You gotta make every second with her count... She's... She's worth it.. Isn't she? I know exactly how you feel about her. I see the look in your eyes... well... our eyes. I know how strong and intense that love is. You can hardly keep yourself from crying just thinking about her can't you?" Max looks back up at him and her eyes water as she nods quietly. "Right. Then you go get her. I want her to have a good life with you. Do that for me." Max nods solemnly. "I will. I promise." They then go downstairs to see David Madsen there hugging Chloe firmly, both of them crying. "David!" Max cries out as she runs over and throws herself into the hug. Maxwell stands in the back, looking at David. "He always ended being up okay in the end. He just needed something to break his walls down." He thinks to himself.
After a moment David looks up and dries his eyes as he sees Maxwell. "Who is this?" Before Maxwell can answer, Chloe jumps in. "This is Max's cousin Maxwell." David looks at her strangely. "Yes they're both named Max. But he's Maxwell. He's gonna be staying around for the rest of the school year." Chloe chuckles. Maxwell nods and holds out his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you sir. You've served your country both abroad and here on home soil and I think you're a shining example of what it means to be a man." David shakes his hand, smiling a bit. "I think I like this one." Max gets a text and looks down at her phone. "Everyone at Blackwell is okay... The school was built sturdy enough that it didn't sustain any damage." Max has a small smile on her face. At least they were fine. Maxwell yawns heavily. Would you guys like to check that out while I grab some z's? I'm beat from all that... traveling." Maxwell says. "Of course!" Chloe says. "You can sleep on my bed." David gives her a strange look but she rolls her eyes. "like I'm gonna make Max's cousin sleep on the couch if I'm not using my bed! Besides he's been... quite a good help for me and Max since he got here just today. I think he's trustworthy." Chloe smiles before she heads outside, grabbing her keys. Max walks over to Maxwell and hugs him tightly. "Thank you. I mean it. For everything." Maxwell smiles as he hugs back tightly. "Just keep your promise. It's all I ask." Max starts to turn away again but Maxwell stops her once more. "And I have to be honest with you." Max looks at him. "You can tell me anything. I'm so grateful to you." Maxwell's eyes well up with tears. "I haven't just failed to save my universe's Chloe... I failed to save three others." The tears begin silently falling down his cheeks. "Every universe I've ever been in Chloe is fated to die. She's cursed on a cosmic level... But I swore... I swore that someway... somehow..." He shakily moves his hand into his pocket and then pulls out a small box, opening it to reveal a diamond ring. "The girl I love will live."
Max had not a single word she could think to say. She simply looks at him sadly. He'd must have watched Chloe die like a billion times. She thought she had it rough but his was on a whole different level. She looked down and wondered if she deserved to have this universe's Chloe more than him. "Maxwell... If... If you-" Maxwell puts his hand up and his finger to Max's lips. "Don't. Don't go down that road." He gives her a look that says he knows what he's talking about. "I do love Chloe. And it's very tempting to say yes and take her. But this is your universe. It's not fair to you. Now go to her." He turns her back towards the door. "Besides... Honestly I think it's kinda hot that there's a lesbian version. And you know... you really look like you fit with her... almost like... maybe this universe is the one that is supposed to be. Maybe you're the real Max and I'm the alternate one." He laughs a bit. "Guess it doesn't really matter though, huh? Now go get her tiger. And umm... I guess I should give you a tip and make it go smoothly. Here... I'll never forget these words... and it's not even like you're taking someone else's words since we're the same person." He laughs and then whispers some words into Max's ear, then collapsing on the bed and passing out like he'd been there a thousand times.
Max got to the bottom of the stairs and saw Chloe standing there, her beanie clinging to her head. Max walks up and pulls the beanie off. "Chloe... can we talk really quick?" Chloe gives her a smile. "Sure thing Doctor Who. What's up?" Max bites her lip and looks down, then looking up at Chloe. The look on Max's face make Chloe's get serious. "Chloe... I've saved you so many times, and I'm not trying to make you feel guilty. I'm just explaining... that every single time I will save you. No matter where you are, no matter when you are, I'm going to keep you alive and keep you safe. I love you. I'm in love with you. You're who I will spend the rest of my time with." Max's eyes well up with tears as a breathless Chloe's eyes get wet as well. "M-Max...I..." Max doesn't let her finish, quickly leaning in and kissing her deeply while her arms clutch at the taller girl. Chloe immediately wraps her arms around Max as she kisses back, feeling like she was the one stuck in time now. After a long moment Max slowly breaks the kiss and they lock eyes. "Chloe I love you and I want to be yours." Chloe has tears streaming down her cheeks as her smile seems to go from ear to ear. "I love you too Max Caulfield, and I want to be yours too." A tired David sees the display from the other room, but he says nothing as he turns back around. If it made things easier on them... he didn't see why he should stop it.
An hour later Max and Chloe were pulling into the school. They'd been holding hands the whole way, both feeling like something inside them had unlocked and been set free. They got out of the truck and then head into the girl's dorms first. Max opens the door to find Kate attending to a small shrine with candles lit. "Kate!" Kate turns and her eyes widen when she sees Max, quickly running to her and throwing her arms around her. "Oh thank God you're okay Max! I was so scared!" They hold each other for a moment before they stand apart. "You seem well Kate." Kate gives a strong nod. "The Lord protected me and all the students from that storm. we got so lucky. " Max gives her shoulder a gentle squeeze. Suddenly the girls dorm door bursts open, a patched up, broken, bruised, but still walking and breathing Warren Graham. Max's heart skips a beat as her hand goes to her mouth. "Max!" Warren yells out, quickly limping over to her and then throwing his arms around her, leaning on her enough to make her fall over. She hugs Warren tightly as she falls over with him.
He layed there on top of her. "Max I need to tell you something. I'm in love with you. I've been in love with you for like forever and I need to know if you can have a life with me!" Max uncomfortably looks over at Chloe. Chloe sighs, knowing how this must suck for Warren. She then moves her fingers in a backwards circle. "She wants me to rewind? And stop him from asking?" Max holds up her hand and time reverses to just before Warren bursts into the door. "This is gonna hurt but it's a lot better than letting him embarrass himself. Like ripping off a bandaid." Max suddenly grabs Chloe and kisses her deeply on the mouth, her hand on her cheek. Chloe's eyes widen in shock at the PDA, but she relaxes into it as Warren bursts through the door. Max turns around, Warren having seen it. "Warren!" Max runs to him and throws her arms around him. "You're alive! We thought you were dead!" Tears stream down her face as she looks up at him. At one time she'd considered getting involved with him, but Chloe... no one could replace her. Chloe was Max's destiny. Warren felt a worse pain inside than he'd felt during the tornado on the outside. But at least Max was okay.
"We all made it back into the walk in cooler in the diner... those things are built to withstand tornadoes." Chloe looks over at him intensely. "We?" Warren looks over at Chloe. "Joyce, Frank, and this guy... He appeared outta nowhere. had kinda short brown hair, skinny but had some muscles. He looked real intense. He screamed at us to get in there, we were paralyzed with fear. He saved us... but... he didn't make it into the freezer in time. I don't think he made it..." Chloe's face was shocked. Maxwell... he saved her mom. That was why he wanted to stay home alone, to go on the internet and look through pictures. She looks over at Max. "We should go back to the house now!" Chloe dashes outside and Max follows, looking back at Warren. "We'll catch up later! We'll watch a movie I promise!"
From the intense speeding they made it back in about twenty minutes, the truck screeching to a halt in front of the house as they ran in. There was a slightly wounded Joyce clinging to David. She quickly runs to Chloe and Max and throws her arms around them, both of them returning the favor. It seemed today was filled with tears. Everyone was getting torn down emotionally. The town would never be the same, there was no way. Once they calmed down and the stories were swapped, Chloe and Max look towards Chloe's room. "We have to go do something... Mom I promise we'll come back." Joyce just smiles. "All that matters is we're all okay now, and we're gonna be a family."
In Chloe's room, Maxwell was seated in front of the computer, news pictures of the tornado there. There's a picture of the diner right at the start of the storm. There's blood coming from his nose. Chloe and Max enter, Maxwell looking up with a smile. "There's my girls. Sorry I... wasn't totally honest. I just didn't want either of you to talk me out of it which I knew you would because you've tried about ten times." He laughs a little bit as he pulls out a handkerchief and dabs away the blood. Chloe looks over at Max, and they whisper something to each other. Max nods and smiles as she puts her hand on Chloe's cheek. "It's okay. Absolutely totally reasonable. And it's not like anyone of us is going anywhere." Max kisses Chloe's cheek before leaving the room slowly. Maxwell looks slightly confused. "I've never encountered this situation before in this way. Usually it happened earlier and never after I said..." Chloe turns around and looks at Maxwell, her heart pumping as she walks over to him. "How do you know what I'm going to do?" he feels his whole body start tensing up as she gets closer. "Because I see how your eyes look right now and I know that look and I know exactly what you're about to do." Chloe sits down on his lap and puts her hand on the back of his head. "Are you gonna stop me?" Maxwell gives in and leans up against her, feeling the familiar feeling of his beloved against him. "I never have in any timeline before."