It was dark when Max woke up. She could just make out the shapes of other people nearby, and could tell she was lying on some sort of thin bed or cot.

The last thing she remembered was making her way into the basement with the rest of the students and finding a place to sit down with Chloe in the basement. The students had been incredibly quiet as the storm grew in volume and eventually reached the school grounds overhead. She wasn't sure how long the storm had stayed in the area, but she remembered at least a few minutes of it before exhaustion had hit her. Despite the noise above, once it seemed that the basement would survive the adrenaline had left her system and she had fallen asleep almost instantly.

Sitting up, Max attempted to bring her arm to her face to wipe the sleep away when she felt a weird pinching sensation in the crook of her arm, followed by a tug. She felt her heart suddenly start beating hard and fast against the inside of her chest, and she felt as if she were having difficulty breathing. Grasping at her arm, she felt something plastic on the skin there, a needle puncturing the skin below. Without thinking, she began to try and sit up, kicking off whatever was on top of her and scrambling to pull the needle out of her arm.

A moment later a set of hands touched her shoulders, and she tried to sweep them away in her panic before someone turned on a flashlight, revealing Kate hunched over her, trying to keep Max calm. Just behind her she could see a brown haired woman in her mid thirties, wearing scrubs, and looking exhausted pointing a flashlight in their direction.

"It's all right, Max. Its okay," Kate cooed gently, trying to talk through the haze that Max was in. Though she stopped swinging her arms around, it took Max a long moment to begin to bring her breathing back to normal, during which time Kate slowly eased Max into a sitting position on some sort of cot before taking a seat next to her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. 'I'm not sure if she's doing that to be comforting, or to make sure I don't freak out again. Way to go, Max.'

Coming over, the doctor began to move some of the equipment that had been set up next to her bed to hold what looked to be like an coat rack with an IV bag hanging off of it. "Sorry for the surprise, Ms. Caulfield. I was told you've been asleep since the storm, so I'm sure this must be a bit surprising. We were told you had lost a lot of blood, and given your state when you got here we decided to err on the side of getting some fluids back into you. We did get permission from your parents beforehand, of course."

Max could feel her cheeks flush with embarrassment at how she must look to the seasoned doctor. And now her parents knew something had happened to her as well, which would only make things more complicated. 'Though, with the storm there wasn't much chance they'd be driving here already to find me.'

But even worse was the shame she felt at how she had reacted to the needle. It was just a simple needle. She hadn't been restrained, she knew she wasn't in the dark room. And yet just the feeling of anything working its way into her skin like that had caused her to flip out. "Sorry," she mumbled, "I don't like needles much."

She could feel Kate wince slightly at that statement, and she immediately added a sense of guilt to the roiling emotions inside her. Of course Kate would be sensitive to the idea of a needle as well. She didn't know about Max's experience in the dark room in this timeline. To her she probably seemed silly for her fear when compared to what she had gone through, not to mention how much it likely hurt her to even think about the experience.

Looking anywhere but at Kate, Max noticed that they were all sitting underneath a tarp, with numerous cots full of sleeping individuals spread throughout the area. What she did notice was that she didn't recognize anywhere nearby, and the person she wanted to see the most right now was definitely not in the area.

"Where are we," Max asked, looking at the doctor. "And where is Chloe? I was with a tall girl, blue hair, during the storm. Is she okay?"

"Your friend is fine," the doctor replied. "She was here until about an hour or so ago from what I've heard. You've been asleep for just under about ten hours, and I think the excitement of the day finally caught up with your friend as well. Her mother went with her somewhere so she could be out of the way to get some rest."

Kate nodded. "Chloe was really worried about you Max. I had to swear to her that I would keep an eye on you while she got some sleep."

Max felt a knot in her stomach lessen slightly with the knowledge that Chloe was all right. 'She deserves some rest after all of that. I need to find out what happened, but that can wait for morning.'

The doctor turned to the girls and knelt down in front of them, gesturing mildly towards Max's arm. ""My name is Dr. Cole by the way. Would you be all right with me taking out your IV lead?"

Max nodded, and was relieved once the small piece of metal and plastic was off of her arm and covered by some simple gauze.

"Seeing as its close to two in the morning, you two should probably get some rest. In the morning I'll come back to check up on you and see about getting you out of here and on your way." The doctor looked around at the patients nearby and then seemingly a bit further into the town itself. "Not exactly the best circumstances to release you into, but a bit of rest and you should be fine. Most of the other doctors and helpers from the coast guard are handling the more serious cases, but we're still spread a bit thin."

Shaking her head, Dr. Cole put back on what she assumed was the woman's professional face. "Still, I shouldn't be bothering you with needless details right now. Get some rest. I'll let your friend's mother know you are awake while I make my rounds in case Chloe asks about you in return."

"Thank you Doctor," Max said, earning a small smile from the woman before she moved on.

Once the doctor had retreated and left the two of them alone, Kate withdrew her arm from Max's shoulder and placed both of her hands in her lap, gripping and rubbing the fingers tight in some anxious gesture. Even though it was dark, she could just see the worried expression on the girl's face, and Max was worried that she really might have brought up some bad memories for the girl. Reaching over, she lightly placed her hand on top of the girl's own. "Kate?"

She jumped slightly at the words and touch. "Oh, I'm sorry Max. Do you need anything? I can go get you some water if you'd like."

Max shook her head. "No, I'm fine. But you seem worried, Kate. I'm sorry if I brought up some bad memories with my...reaction. I was just confused when I woke up, and I didn't expect to be in that position. I'll try to be a bit more mindful of it in the future, I promise."

"Oh," Kate said, her face slipping into an odd smile Max couldn't quite understand. "It's fine. I'm not worried about that, but thank you for the thought. I...understand not liking needles. It's funny. I used to be fine with doctors, but I'm not sure how I would react if I needed even a simple shot now. Not to mention waking up confused with a needle in my arm..."

Kate went quiet for a moment, and Max could feel a slight shudder run through Kate via the hands she was holding. After a moment, Kate seemed to gather herself. "Sorry. I promise, I wasn't thinking about it before, and its not your fault now. I think its good to talk about these things, but...I've been kind of nervous to do so with most everyone. But I kind of feel like I you're something of a hero to me Max, silly as it sounds. And its a bit easier to face my fears and talk about it with you."

"Kate..." Max began, but the girl just shook her head.

"No, I promised Chloe not to bother you with this sort of thing tonight. I promise, I'm fine. There are a lot of things I want to talk to you about soon, once Chloe wakes up and we can all find some time."

'I wonder what that conversation was like. Chloe and Kate talking seems like such a weird mix. Still, Chloe must be trying to make sure we get our stories straight for the storm.'

"Okay," Max responded. "I don't want you to feel like you had to break a promise just because I was curious."

"Its nothing bad, I swear!"

"I believe you," she responded, smiling at the other girl. "And thanks for staying to watch me. Chloe probably needed the sleep."

Kate nodded, "She looked really tired. Her mom was really nice and understanding of her wanting to stay with you, but I could tell she was glad she finally got Chloe to agree to leave for a bit."

"Joyce is like that. I'll have to introduce you two someday. She is a wonderful woman, and makes the most amazing pancakes."

Kate smiled, giving one of those rare bright full smiles she hadn't seen enough out of the girl recently. "I'd like that."

Max was trying to think of something to say when she began to cough a bit, realizing just how dry her throat was. She gave Kate a crooked sort of embarrassed smile, "Does that offer for water still stand?"

"Of course, Max. Anything."

Chloe woke up slowly, finding herself lost in that moment of floating abandon where everything was comfortable and none of the responsibilities ahead had managed to come to mind yet. Slowly, though, she began to notice the aches and pains of over-exertion from the day before, and memories of the storm and the pocket of near frozen time began to seep into her half waking dreams. Sighing, she eventually gave the effort to go back to sleep up, knowing she should get up and find Max as soon as possible to see how she was doing.

Opening her eyes, she saw was greeted by the sight of a cracked plaster wall. Underneath her were a few cushions that had been pushed together to form a makeshift mattress, a thin blanket thrown over her as well to complete the simple bed. She remember her and Joyce finding a small alley to tuck away in for the night, as their home had been in the path of the hurricane. In fact, their block had been one of the worst hit.

'I'm sorry, Mom.'

Joyce was resting in a chair nearby, her head resting on a bundled jacket meant to keep her neck from bending too far to reach the wall behind her. And standing just a few feet away at the alley entrance was David. He was just staring out into the city, doing something she had only seen him do a few time before, smoking a cigarette.

Pushing herself into a sitting position, David turned around at the sound. She could see his face flash through a couple different emotions. General surprise at the sound, to a look of relief, to a slight frown that seemed to be his normal expression. Though for once she felt like he wasn't directing it at her.

They continued to look at each other for a few moments, an awkward tension building in the air between them as neither spoke. The last time they had a chance to actually talk had been the time when she had gone to him to explain about the dark room. In the moment, her anger at Nathan Prescott and Jefferson and David's surprise at the information had masked any of their normal awkward interactions or animosity towards one another. To his credit, at the time he had not questioned what she had to say, just accepting it and jumping into action to reach out to his cop buddies to go check the place out.

Now that the crisis was over though, she wasn't sure what to say to him. She had a lot of practice of getting under her skin she felt inclined to default to, but he had saved Max's life in that other timeline, and had saved the Chase girl in this one. Not to mention avenging Rachel by making sure Jefferson was captured. So he deserved something better than that. But sudden changes were not something Chloe Price had a great track record with navigating.

"Uh...morning, David.," she said, being quiet enough to not wake Joyce nearby.

"Chloe, I..."

"Crazy storm, huh?" She half-joked, interrupting him before he could make this more awkward. "Guess you won't have as much to patrol for awhile, huh?"

David snapped his mouth shut before turning back to look out over the outskirts of town where the Blackwell students had been left to wait for now and where she and Max had crashed. "Yeah. Never seen anything like it before." He took a long drag off of his cigarette, nearly finishing it in one go. "Storm damn near destroyed everything in this town. Everything important gone in a few hours and not a damn thing any of us could have done about it." He pulled out another cigarette, and she thought for a moment he was going to power through this one as well before he just held it out to her. She had only seen him smoke a few times when he seemed really stressed out, and he had never been supportive of her habit before. Evidently we had moved into crazy stress territory.

Moving slowly so she wouldn't disturb Joyce, Chloe got off the cushions and stood next to David, accepting the cigarette and the light afterwards. They just stood there for a few minutes, watching the occasional towns person or coast guard go by as they worked through the rubble of the town. Sighing, Chloe leaned against the nearby walls, feeling a sense of despair growing in her as she really saw the scale of the damage for the first time.

"Its a lot to take in, something like this." David continued to look out at the town as he spoke. "I've seen a few places like this before when I was in the service. A place gets destroyed, and once the dust settles and aid leaves, the people are just left to pick up the pieces for themselves. It just ain't fair. No one deserves this crap, least of all you and Joyce. I didn't want you to have to see anything like this."

David sighed again, and Chloe was about to say something when he held up his hand and gave her a more determined look this time. Whatever she was about to say stopped in her throat as he made sure he was going to be heard this time.

"I'm not a great person, Chloe. I took things way too far, I know that. But I only ever wanted to protect you and your mom from some of the shit I've seen out in the world. I know you and I didn't really get on even at the very beginning, but I didn't want that. I always wanted a family of my own, and from day one with Joyce I thought you could be part of that too. But with this storm and that madman Jefferson going after girls like you and Rachel, regardless of my attempts to protect you, I realize all I did was accomplish shit for all my over protectiveness. You deserved someone who could be a good dad to you and not just some watch dog. I'm sorry."

'Woah. Talk about the monologue for David. He must be really messed up by the past few days.'

"Uh, I'm not sure what to say to that, but its not all your fault man. I didn't exactly give you much of a chance to do the whole family thing with me being a queen bitch all the time. As for the rest, you did stop Jefferson. And saved that Chase girl. And hell, you can't blame yourself for the storm. Weird weather of the past week aside, no one saw that coming."

'Except for Max and I. If anyone to is to blame, its me.'

Chloe took a long drag from her cigarette, trying to push that piece of doubt down where she wouldn't have to deal with it. Dropping the cigarette and crushing it under her shoe, she turned to face David and held out a hand. "Truce? I'm not over the shit you tried to pull, but I think I get the whole trying to protect us thing. So I'll try to keep my bitchiness to manageable levels until we see where this goes."

David let out a half breath of laughter, putting out his own cigarette on the concrete and shook her hand. "Better than I deserve, but I'll take it."

"Has anyone ever told you you're a downer?"

He smirked. "It might have come up once or twice." He indicated with his chin towards Joyce, who was still sleeping. "She was worried about you. But I suspect she'll be asleep for awhile yet. Could use it too, before dealing with all of this. That doctor came around a few hours ago, said Max had woken up and was doing well. Why don't you go find Max and your mother and I will come find you when she wakes up."

Chloe nodded, "Sounds good."

She began to head towards the small courtyard where the rescuers had set up first aid for the least injured people, but turned about around about a half a street away to look back at David and Joyce. She watched as he took the blanket from where Chloe had been sleeping and place it over her mom before just sitting down on the old cushions and staring off at the alley wall, deep in though. For a moment Chloe had a feeling should say something more to help David, but the sense that she lacked the right words to express in the moment overcame her and she moved on to find Max.

"Yo, getting breakfast without me? What kind of friend are you?"

Max looked up from the granola bar that she had been given by one of the coast guards to see Chloe making her way over to where she and Kate were sitting. They had just woken up and been ushered out of the medical tent by Dr. Cole, who had pointed out where they were giving out food. "A hungry one. I know how long you can sleep for, I wasn't going to wait for you."

Chloe put on a fake frown and lightly poked her with the toe of her boot, "Brat". She nodded to Kate and slumped to the ground hard next to Max, already dropping her petulant act as she reached over to pluck off a piece of granola before her fingers and putting it in her mouth.

Kate leaned forward past Max, looking over at Chloe and holding out some of her own food. "You can have mine if you'd like Chloe. I had a little bit to eat yesterday at the church we stayed at, and I'm sure the helpers will be by with more soon.

"She used to do this all the time" Max explained to Kate as she swatted at the other girls hand. "She kept stealing my food to fuel that freaky height of hers. She'll live."

Kate smiled softly, "Okay. But if you're actually hungry Chloe, just let me know. I'm always happy to share."

Chloe leaned back into the wall of the hardware store they were up against, putting her arm out with a thumbs up past Max so Kate could see it. Leaning over, Max lightly bumped her shoulder into Chloe's, turning to look at the girl. With her dirty jeans and torn tank top, missing her beanie, she looked pretty rough. But her face didn't appear to be scrunched up in pain like it had been when they talked outside the dorms. "How're you doing? Looked like you had a pretty bad migraine last time we got to really talk." What she was really asking was 'Anymore time travel symptoms?'

The blue hair girl nodded, "Got some rest. That migraine is gone too. Pretty sure we can chalk it up to the stress of a giant ass storm coming in to fuck the town up, Yeah?"

Looking at her friend closely, she couldn't see any reason to believe she was covering anything up, so she just nodded and took a bite out of her granola bar, her mind turning over the past few days slowly. It felt odd to be sitting her with Chloe in the aftermath of it all. The last week had been a whirlwind of activity, and while she knew that the clean up after the storm was going to be a thing, it was nice in the moment to imagine they could just stay like this for awhile. Just like that slow morning in Chloe's bed, it was nice ignoring the reality on their doorstep and just be together like they used to do.

In the distance Max spotted a few Blackwell students she knew by sight but not name and two coast guard begin to make their way up the path to the wreckage of the school. Possibly to see what of their things remained, judging by the duffel bags they were holding.

"Kate was telling me what she heard happened after I passed out asleep. It sounds like Dana really took charge yesterday, getting everyone to work together to dig out from under the gym and get help from town." Max frowned, "I can't believe I slept through that."

"A few others helped as well, yeah," Chloe replied. "But don't feel bad. We were both pretty spent, and you did more than your fair part yesterday. Honestly Dana even came over and told me to just keep an eye on you and leave it up to them." Chloe stopped there for a moment to catch the attention of a nearby coat guard who was carrying a few pieces of wood and a toolbox. She mimed the motion for drinking something, and the man took out a bottle of water from his side bag and tossed it to her before moving on.

Chloe took a long draft and passed it to Max before continuing, "She seemed pretty worried about you too. Hell, I could have bottled your sweat and sold it to those people as holy water, the way they were treating you after you got them to the basement." Chloe looked over at Kate, her mind catching up with her words as she realized who they were sitting with, "No offense."

Kate shook her head to show she didn't mind and Max rolled her eyes, "You're gross, Chloe. Still, I'm glad that worked out. If not for you coming in at the last minute with that little bomb, we would have been stuck for sure. I bet most of them were just in awe of your last minute save."

Chloe shrugged, and Max was about to go on when Kate cleared her voice. She saw the girl awkwardly turning her food over and over in her hands, her nerves seeming to get the best of her as she appeared to be thinking about something she wanted to say. After a moment, she took a deep breath, looking over at Chloe who had turned her head slightly to see what Kate was doing. Max could see a slight tightening around Chloe's eyes as she seemed either annoyed or worried about what was about to come up.

"Umm, now that you're awake Chloe, I was hoping to ask that question."

Max looked between the two girls, pretty sure it had to do with whatever Kate had been unwilling to talk about last night. Chloe just turned back to stare out at the courtyard, though Max could feel her leaning just slightly closer into Max's side.

"That's up to Maximillion here," she said slowly. She turned to look at Max, "Your friend here had some questions about the storm. Sounds like some strange shit was going down yesterday, and she claims she found a note with your name on it, telling her where to hide. She also found your camera somehow."

Chloe said it lightly enough, but she could hear the question plainly in her voice. 'How much do we tell her?'

By the sound of it, Chloe had done something to try and get Kate and the rest of the hospital residents to somewhere safer. It had obviously worked, but whatever she did must have left Kate with some questions that would be hard to answer. And Kate was a smart girl. People thought that because she was quiet and accepted what people told her, she didn't notice things, but Max knew that wasn't true. She had a lot of chances to get to know the girl over the past month, with their frequent tea trips. And she had seen the photos that had earned the girl a spot in Jefferson's class. She had a talent for somehow capturing a scene that could hint at the observer that something deeper was going on behind the single frame captured. She had an eye for how things worked together, she just chose to take people at their word.

If they lied, there was a good chance Kate would just accept it, but know she was being left out. But invoking time travel was likely to sound even crazier to her friend. Even with all the evidence they could point to that made it plausible.

Looking at Kate, she could see the girl looking more and more unsure about her question and the following silence. She could see her eyes moving about and her mouth moving just slightly as she seemed to work out what to say, and Max got the feeling the girl was about to try and backtrack on her question, claim that she didn't want to intrude.

Max looked over at Chloe, who gave her a slight nod to go ahead, before turning to face Kate more squarely.

"It all began when I saw Chloe get shot a week ago."

"So we headed to the place where I had my first vision of the storm, the lighthouse," Max said. "We watched as it tore through the town, and I could see how terrible it was going to be. I mean, we're sitting in the evidence now, but being just off to the side of it was terrible in its own way, watching places you know and love get torn up. And when it reached Blackwell, and I realized how many people were still there, I couldn't help it. I just reacted and tried to rewind time again. It was like I knew in my head that I should stop using my powers, as it only seemed to make things worse. But I couldn't help that knee jerk reaction to try and help. Only this time I brought Chloe with me somehow. "

Chloe didn't give her input to that bit, choosing to continue working at the crumpled and slightly wet cigarette she had fished out of her pocket. Halfway through the story she had placed a hand on Max's knee, giving it a reassuring squeeze whenever they got to a difficult part of the story, and she did so again at those words.

Through the story, Max had tried to be as honest as possible without revealing some of the more emotionally scaring information. Like she had not spoken to Kate about her being on the roof in any sort of detail. Instead she had carefully tiptoed around the topic, claiming she saw her on the roof, and used her powers to get there in time. Not mentioning the fact she had seen her actually jump the first time before she had made it to the roof. That wound was still too fresh, and she didn't want to Kate to know that she would have actually followed through on her dark thoughts of suicide. Avoiding it entirely seemed like it would only bring attention to the incident, however.

"She was the one who carried me through town and left that note for you. She is the one who really saved all those people yesterday. So if anyone deserves credit for what happened, its her."

Chloe chuckled, "Think they'll give me the keys to the city for it?"

"Joyce made me carry extra home keys for you when we were kids Chloe. You'd lose them on the first day."

"Like I said before, you're a brat,' the blue-haired girl said with a grin. "But yeah, I left that note and the camera for you. I also lifted a phone off of a doctor and sent a message to them saying the storm was headed their way and to get out. Figured it would help you convince them to get the hell out."

Kate nodded, having kept silent through most of the story. She looked lost in thought, but not disbelieving of what they were saying. Eventually Kate sighed and leaned back against the wall. "'Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.' Ezekiel 13:13."

Max shared a worried look at Chloe, not sure what the other girl was getting at. "Kate? Are you okay? Are you...angry with us?"

The girl shook her head, giving her a sad smile. "No. You were doing the best you could with the knowledge you had. I don't think he was really trying to smite you, Max. You're too nice for that. And he wouldn't have given you such a gift if it were only going to make him so angry. At least, not the god I want to put my faith in. Its just a thought that entered my head. He gives us choices in life, and it sounds like you made the best choices you could."

Max could feel Chloe flinch at that, but Kate didn't seem to notice the other girls reaction. "Thank you Max, Chloe. You two have done so much, and I think the town owes you both so much. But I promise to not tell anyone." She leaned into Max for a moment, laughing a bit. "I suppose it would sound more crazy than miracle to most."

Standing up, Kate brushed off her pants and turned to face Max and Chloe. "I am going to go check on some of the kids from the hospital. I have a lot to think about, but its okay. And thank you for saving me, Max. Even before you got those powers, you were one of my best friends. That meant a lot to me. I'll come find you two later." She turned around and headed off towards the old church where the children were still being kept, and Max felt herself deflate a bit after the stress of the moment had passed.

"She seems nice," Chloe said. "Definitely seems to have a hero complex for you, though. Watch that, might become your first super fan."

"Be nice. She's a good friend, and I've been worried about her all semester. Its a bit embarassing how she's been treating me, but its better than her being depressed."

"Not trying to be mean. I'm just saying that I've called dibs on the sidekick role. She has to wait her turn," Chloe grinned at her. A small bit of mischief entering her eyes for a moment, causing Max to laugh.

The two girls spent the next few minutes just sitting together, not really saying much, but just enjoying each others company. Eventually Chloe shifted, moving away from Max slightly, leaving her side suddenly quite a bit colder.

"What's up?"

Chloe sighed, "Something odd happened when we were in that storm, Max. I didn't want to get into it yet, but its been bothering me, and I think we need to talk about it soon."

"Okay, Chloe. Whatever you need."

"Max, when you were out, this place was a ghost town. Everyone was frozen. Except once. I saw someone else who wasn't frozen. And he was pissed."

And so Chloe began to tell Max what she had missed while unconscious. And with it, the momentary feeling of being past the mystery of the last week was buried under her sinking stomach as more details were revealed.

Another chapter done. A little bit of reflection on the storm, and some fall out from the storm and choices made. Its going to be a long road to recovery for Arcadia Bay.

As always, favorite, reply, etc.

Clear Skies,

Rylkan