Chloe threw her clothes into a pile in the corner of the bathroom and cranked up the shower to its maximum heat before stepping inside. She enjoyed how the hot water helped relax her muscles after a few days of hard activity, but it wasn't doing much to help calm her mind. Leaning her head forward, she rested it against the wall of the shower. "Damn it."

Clearly something had happened with Max earlier, but she hadn't gotten a chance to ask Max about it. Whatever it was, she had covered up her initial confusion quickly and managed to assuage Joyce's concerns by claiming her nose was still tender and liable to blood after all the bleeding it had done the previous day. She had stopped short of claiming the doctor had claimed it was normal, but had done a good job giving the impression it was to be expected.

'Guess having to jump around in time so much the past week taught her a thing or two about a good lie.'

When she had tried to catch a whispered moment with Max, the girl had just quickly replied that she would talk to her about it later. As much as Chloe didn't like the delay, she had to admit that her parents were watching them like a hawk, and breaking away from the couple didn't seem likely. It had even seemed like Max had been actively engaging the couple, keeping up a stream of conversation unlike anything she had shown in the past week until they had been unexpectedly interrupted by Max's parents showing up. Which should have been a surprise, but with how carefully she had been watching the brunette, she could see how her shoulders had seemed to relax a bit when they showed up, and the excitement didn't quite seem as genuine as she would have though.

'Whatever happened, it must have occurred after her parents had already arrived at least once,' she thought. She just wished she knew if it was something really bad they had just avoided.

Chloe was beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed by everything going on, not that she wanted Max to know it. The other girl seemed to be taking the past week with a shocking amount of calm. That wasn't to say she didn't seem broken or torn each time they came across a destroyed portion of town, or they saw a covered sheet surrounded by rescuers clearing rubble. But when they had talked about Chloe's experience in that pocket of time, or when she had explained the whole situation to Kate, she never seemed to show any regret about the choices that led up to this moment. Chloe though had to keep trying to dodge the thought that a lot of this was her fault, putting Max in a position where her choices led to all of this.

And now it seemed something else was going on as well. She had wanted to talk to Max about it as soon as they got to the hotel, but her parents had kidnapped her as soon as they got here to have some time alone with their daughter. While totally fair, she couldn't help feeling a bit frustrated by it, and was chomping at the bit to get time alone with Max. Luckily, while their parents were going to share the larger of the two rooms reserved by the Caulfields, Max and her had the smaller single bed room to themselves. It gave her the perfect chance to interrogate the girl when she got back.

Rousing herself from her thoughts, Chloe began to actually wash the dirt and grim of the past few days off. It felt good to get clean after all the work of the past few days, and she could feel some of her tense muscles finally relaxing under the heat and water pressure.

She had almost finished when she heard the door to the hotel room open and shut. Quickly shutting off the water, she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself before bounding out of the bathroom, practically crashing into Max who hadn't moved much past the small entrance way the divided the small bathroom from the main room. "Max! All right, spill it girl. Did you rewind earlier? What happened?"

Max blinked a few times, looking a bit confused and seemed to be avoiding eye contact. "What?" Max squeaked out.

"Dinner, Max. You looked like you saw some more crazy shit, and your nose was bleeding. Is everything okay?"

Max nodded, still not making eye contact. Chloe could see from the part of her neck that was visible from the angle she was holding her head away that she was blushing. "Yeah, its fine. We can talk about it, but can you put on some clothes first?"

Looking down at herself, she saw that the towel covered all the essential bits. But she was still dripping wet, and these cheap towels weren't leaving much to the imagination when soaked. She could feel her own cheeks heat slightly as she realized she was basically standing there naked in front of Max. "Liking the show, Max? Normally there would be a cover charge, but I guess I can waive the fee for you." She said it to try and cover her own embarassment with a joke, but she was proud at how calm it sounded. And it seemed to get the reaction she was hoping for out of Max, whose blush went off the scale at the suggestion.

And if she were going to be honest with herself, underneath her own nerves, she felt pretty damned sexy seeing the reaction she could illicit from Max like this.

Max turned away, "You're still a dork, Chloe. Just put something on so we can talk."

"Your lose, Maximillian."

She headed back into the bathroom basking in a bit of pride at the reaction she had gotten from her friend. While she had only meant to go out there and talk about what happened earlier, the distraction was worth it. Though, it only helped to reinforce some of the odd feelings she had been grappling with since that lazy morning when Max had kissed her. The kiss which she had dared Max to do, making it hard to know the line between Max just following through on a dare or actually wanting to kiss Chloe on her own.

Chloe had been interested in girls as well as guys even as far back as when Max had been around in Arcadia Bay. She had definitely hooked up with a few since as well. But not once had she really thought of Max that way before the past week. When Max had been around, they had been so close that she never really saw the other girl that way. And during the five years Max was in Seattle, she had done her best to not think about Max due to the mixture of hurt and anger is sparked in her.

Now though, it seemed the time apart had created enough of a comfortable distance between the two that her mind kept exploring the edges of something more with Max. And the stupid dare to kiss her hadn't helped her confusion in that regard. Max had changed a lot since she had been gone. In a way, she seemed a lot more worldly, even if all she had really done was move to just one larger city than their podunk little town. The way she could start firing off names of famous artists or photographers, describing their techniques and unique works, made her seem larger than anything you could find in Arcadia Bay.

That wasn't even getting into how she felt about Max practically breaking time to keep saving her life. Whatever shit had kept Max from thinking she could reach out to Chloe these past five years, that right there was proof enough for her that it wasn't because Max didn't care.

She'd be crazy not be attracted to Max after all that. But that was the problem. She wasn't sure how much of it was just the feel good chemicals in her brain getting a kick off the adrenaline rush of the last week. That would be a shitty reason to try and start something. Not to mention, Chloe had only ever really hooked up with people, avoiding anything more lasting than a few friends who she would occasionally sleep with. She was pretty damn clueless about how to go about starting anything more lasting.

'That's assuming Max is even into girls.'

Sighing, Chloe pushed the thoughts out of her head again, recognizing she was making no ground on the problem at the moment. Going over to the pile of her old clothing, she took a sniff of her tank top and scrunched her nose at the odor wafting off. 'I'm used to some funk, but damn. I really need to find a change of clothing if we're going to leave the hotel anytime soon.' Luckily, Max's parents had brought the girl a few changes of clothing from Seattle, knowing she was probably going to go without for awhile. The shorter girl had told her to snag anything she might need from the bag while she talked with her folks, so luckily she could at least sleep in a clean t shirt and shorts tonight.

Putting on her clothes, she stepped out of the bathroom and saw Max sitting on the end of the bed, just staring out the window into the courtyard below. She looked like she was deep in thought, and wanting to get a reaction out of her, Chloe took a few big steps and jumped on the bed, twisting at the last moment, to land hard on her back next to her friend. She put her hands under her heads and just stared up at the cracked ceiling, enjoying the pattern of the leaf vein texture.

"Sup?"

Max turned her body and laid down on the bed as well, ending up parallel to Chloe. "Dork." Chloe just grinned at the jab, causing Max to giggle slightly before the lay there for a few moments, just taking a moment to relax.

"Hey Max."

"Hrmm?"

She brought a hand over to hold on to Max's, fingers intertwining with the other girl's. "Thanks. I've been meaning to say it since the light house. You totally saved my life and so many other people. From the storm and from Jefferson."

Chloe could feel Max stiffen a bit as she mentioned Jefferson, and she wondered if she should have brought that part up. In her mind, Max had been amazing to deal with Jefferson like she did, but she also didn't really know what had happened in that dark room, and she wondered how bad it had gotten for her friend. Still, Max squeezed her hand back, "Of course I'd save you, Chloe. You're my best friend, and I'll always be there for you. No matter what choice is in front of me. I promise."

She could feel some moisture building at the corner of her eyes at that, not really sure how to respond to the level of certainty Max's voice held. She tried to laugh it off a bit, "You sound pretty sure there Max. I've been told I can be kind of a bitch sometimes."

The brunette just looked at Chloe for a moment before going back to looking at the ceiling. "One thing I learned over the past week, Chloe, is that every choice has a consequence. If that is true, I'd rather choose the path that keeps you safe and not look back on what could have been."

Chloe felt her chest tighten a bit at the feeling that statement brought her, electing to just squeeze her friend's hand in thanks without trying to put anything into words. And they remained that way for awhile, not speaking. She still had questions about earlier for Max, but she didn't want to break the comfortable silence that had fallen over them as they held hands and just let their thoughts wander.

It wasn't until the calm of the moment had her beginning to fall asleep that Chloe decided she had to move the conversation along.

"So, do you want to talk about earlier?"

Max let out a long breath, "Yeah. Its just odd,. Like, it sounds crazy to me and I'm not sure if I even am guessing at what is going on right anymore."

"Its fine. I'm listening, and I believe you. We'll just figure it out as we go like a real team, yeah?"

"Mm-hmmm." Max took a moment, seeming to collect her thoughts. "Time stopped again, Chloe. We had finished dinner, and it was just after my parents had arrived. They offered to let us stay with them here, but last time your parents had gone off to your house to try and salvage a few things before it got too dark."

"Were," Chloe began before trying to clear the frog in her throat. The image of something terrible enough happening to Joyce spinning through her imagination. "Were they okay? Did something happen to them to make you stop time?"

"What? Oh, no. They were okay, they were fine." As Max said this, she was shaking her head to try and emphasize the point. "Sorry, I didn't mean it that way."

Chloe nodded once, showing she understood and felt herself relax slightly. "So...why the time stop then?"

"I don't know. I don't even think I was the one doing it this time. I wasn't in control of it at all. And I didn't feel any of the normal strain I get when I use the power. Not only that, but there was a coyote there? At least I think it was a coyote. I'll have to look up a picture of one later to be sure, but even if it was a coyote, this one was freaky large Chloe. I didn't see the doe at all. It seemed to just be me and the coyote that weren't frozen, and it was definitely looking for something. I hid, but I couldn't really figure out what was going on. So I just waited until it had left and time started to full on rewind before I ran to catch up with you. I barely made it back in time to avoid full on disappearing from your perspective."

"That is some crazy shit there, Max. I believe you, of course. But you sure you weren't, I dunno, doing it on accident or something?"

Max shrugged, "I don't know Chloe. I don't know Chloe. I still don't really understand a lot about this stuff. It didn't feel the same, and I couldn't make time change. Even if I could, I'm not sure why I would stop time and rewind it to just then, you know? And it doesn't explain the Coyote. Though to be fair I don't really understand anything about the doe either."

"Yeah, seemed like a stretch. Man, this isn't getting any easier, is it?"

"I think we left the station for easy about a week ago, Chloe."

"Hrmm," Chloe agreed, not really sure what else could be said. If Max was right, then that was scary news. Somehow time was stopping on its own, or someone else was controlling it now as well. While she wouldn't notice it, it clearly could become a problem for Max fast, if she could slip around time and space because she couldn't control time directly in those moments. Not to mention who knew what could happen if someone a little less altruistic than Max had control over time.

'I wish I had a cigarette right about now.' She had enjoyed her last one right before her shower, so she wouldn't smell like a smoke stack while in the same bed as Max. She had thought the nictoine would get her through the night, but her nerves were getting to her again and she could use the chemical hit to calm down.

"Chloe," Max hesitated, looking a bit worried. "There is one other thing that happened. Not during the rewind, but with my parents. I wanted to tell you first in case it came up when I couldn't explain it properly."

Getting nervous at how Max was working her way into the conversation, she rolled on to her side so she could look at Max more clearly. The other girl was looking at her, but she was chewing on her bottom lip like she used to when she was nervous about something. "My parents wanted me to go home with them. I told them I wanted to stay, but they think with Blackwell trashed, I should try to finish school somewhere else."

Chloe frowned, feeling a wash of anger and betrayal surge through her. She let go of Max's hand and scooted up the bed so she had her back against the headrest. "And?" Her tone came out harsh even to her ears, but she was having a hard time not letting her emotions seep into her words and body language.

"Chloe. I just told you I told them I was going to stay. I promised you, we're in this together." She came over to sit next to Chloe, legs folded underneath her. "Besides, I'm eighteen now and can make my own choices. It also helped that I reminded them that Blackwell is the best photography school in the country. Even if I just graduate in name only, that sort of recognition is hard to pass up. My mom promised to talk to my dad about it, so I don't think they really want to follow through on it anymore. But I wanted you to know in case it came up so you wouldn't think I wouldn't leave you."

She could see how desperate Max looked to get her to understand, and Chloe could feel the guilt at her reaction pool in her stomach. If she was going to be brutally honest with herself, she knew she had a fear of being abandoned, and tended to react badly to any hint of it coming. 'She went through hell to help you though, Chloe. Real mature, treating her like this you after everything she did for you.' Max had probably been worried she would act just like this.

"I'm sorry, Max" she said, trying to impress on her friend her sincerity. "It's just bad memories, ya know? You're right, better that you told me now than I pull this sort of shit when they're around."

Max moved to sit next to Chloe, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Chloe said, "really. Lets get some sleep, yeah? I think I'm just being mad crazy from lack of good sleep."

Her friend gave her a giant grin. "Sounds good to me. I just hope you don't snore like the other night."

After so much charged drama in the week following her saving Chloe in that bathroom, the last week had been surprisingly free of surprises for Max and everyone around them. Her parents had even decided to stay in town for awhile, realizing that if Max wouldn't come back to Seattle with them, then they could stay a few weeks in Arcadia Bay to help her get her feet underneath her in the aftermath of the storm. For the most part, the time spent in the hotel escaping the real world and talking with her family or with Chloe had been a balm to her strained nerves.

The hardest transition had been the first twelve or so hours in the hotel. The first night had started with nightmares. Images of the storm destroying the town that morphed into progressively more frightening images of her trapped in the dark room with Jefferson again. She had managed to wake up without disturbing Chloe, but she had spent a long time awake afterwards, trying to keep her crying quiet. Eventually she scooted herself closer to Chloe, taking comfort in the warmth of her back pressed up against her shoulder. And after awhile that warmth had put her at ease, and she had fallen in a far more peaceful sleep. She had quickly adopted the trick of waiting for Chloe to fall asleep each night before moving closer to the other girl, letting her unconscious mind derive some feeling of protection so she could get a good night of rest.

The morning following her nightmares, she had slept until Chloe had decided to rouse herself to go with her parents and investigate their house for anything salvageable. The blue haired girl had claimed she would be fine going alone, and not wanting to be too over protective, she agreed and spent the time chatting with her parents trying not to think of what Chloe must be going through at that moment.

While he dad had tried to give it one more try to convince her to come back to Seattle with them, it was clear when she politely refused that while they weren't happy with the outcome, they would support her decision. After that, they had discussed her plans for the next few months. If she thought the school had a backup plan in place. Plans for making a portfolio to send to one of the art colleges she had been looking into. Various topics that she would have once enjoyed having, but for now left her feeling anxious.

'Do I even want to be a photographer anymore? Just the thought of using my camera makes me ill to think about.' She once had a clear goal in life to become a world class photographer. But having seen what her idol could do with a camera in the dark room, she wasn't sure she could take a picture without those thoughts overshadowing everything else. 'Just one more thing Jefferson took from me in that room.'

Max had to squash a lot of unhappy thoughts in that span of time between her parents leaving to look into temporary housing in town and Chloe coming back to the hotel. And while it wasn't what she would call good luck, Chloe returning to the hotel room with nothing more than a few knick knacks had proven to be a good distraction. She had spent the rest of the day distracting herself and her blue-haired friend with conversation. And while Chloe had seemed a bit morose and cranky at first, it didn't take long for her to relax. They had talked late into the night just catching up on the past five years. Unlike the week before, the conversation wasn't driven by her powers or Rachel Amber's murder, it was just two friends sharing their stories with one another like they had when they were younger.

She had missed these easy going conversations she used to share with Chloe, and even though her friend had changed a lot over the past few years, it felt like they had gone right back to old times. Once Chloe had fallen asleep, she had scooted close and rested her forehead between the other girl's shoulder blades, falling asleep with a smile on her face.

Over the next few days, the only minor point of drama that had occurred had been a brief run-in with Warren. Evidently the boy had managed to break his arm in a few places when a tree had come down nearby, one of its limbs striking him in the upper arm. Luckily he had made it to the warehouse with everyone else from the two whales despite the injury, but since then he had been stuck in another part of town where the more injured people were being treated still.

He had just been coming out of the wreckage of the dorms with his parents when they had visited in hopes of finding any of Max's belongings. There with him had been his parents, and they had only been able to give him a quick vague promise that they would talk soon. Max and Chloe had agreed that it would be simplest to just tell the boy the truth like they had Kate, especially since he seemed open to such strange ideas as time travel and he had experienced first hand Chloe's trek through the frozen storm. For now though, they hoped he would be content knowing that while something weird was going on with Max, he would get answers soon enough.

Over the next few hours at the dorm, they had managed to dig their way towards the rough location of where Max's dorm had once stood on grounds. Most of the debris there had been unidentifiable, though a few polaroid had turned up as they dug. While she had pretended not to see them, she noticed Chloe throwing them in a small duffel she had brought along. The biggest find however had been her laptop, which seemed to have miraculously escaped with only a few dings and dents and a small crack on the screen. A quick test showed that it could still power up, and Max had shared an excited hug with Chloe at the discovery.

They had found it under her desk, which had been flipped and must have acted as a bit of a shield from the further elements. And while she couldn't find the charger, a few men had been collecting some odds and ends electronics they had found in the rubble to either test or recycle, and they had agreed to give her a few chargers just sitting in the pile to take with her and test out. That evening she and Chloe had just sat back and enjoyed the music, even being joined by their parents who had wanted to share in the relaxing activity as they ate their simple convenience store dinners together.

As dinners together with music from Max's laptop became a thing, she even noticed a rapport building between her parent's and Joyce and David. While she figured her folks would be able to quickly reconnect with Joyce, the friendly banter with David was a bit of a surprise. Her fathers love of sports helping to bring David out of his shell, and she even joined in on a few conversations, glad to finally have a slightly normal conversation with David. He had saved her life, and while he might not remember it, she was determined to try and have a better relationship with the well meaning man. Even Chloe had piped in a few times, and though she still wasn't exactly friendly with David, she noticed a significant cooling off of her temper towards him.

The friendship between their parents had even got to the point that it reached a surprising high note a few days in to the hotel stay.

The coast guard had finally been able to setup temporary housing for much of the town. Max knew her parents must have been digging pretty heavily into their emergency funds to afford the hotel at the jaw dropping rates they were charging each night. She was eligible to apply for a priority spot at a discount since she was still a student, something which she had jumped at the chance to take advantage of. She wasn't the only one to do so either, as she saw a surprising number of Blackwell students applying for the same offer to live in the small wood panel living units.

From them she had heard that the school was planning to try and reopen soon, though they would be sharing space with one of the other local high schools. No firm details had been given out yet, but she supposed the outline of a plan had been enough to convince most students to stay and not try their luck on an unknown school somewhere outside of Arcadia Bay.

She had been offered the chance to room with another student in one of the small units, but a shared glance with Chloe was all it took for them to wordlessly agree that they would share a room. It hadn't taken more than a day to hear back that they were allowed to room together, as Chloe would have been eligible for a unit soon enough, and the minor difference in her rent was something they could afford with her school savings.

The high note between their parents had been an agreement that they would share a unit among them. With the Two Whales and Blackwell destroyed, it sounded like even the minor rent for the unit would have strained Chloe's parents finances. Luckily her parents worked for the same newspaper in Seattle, and it sounded like they had taken an interest in the reconstruction of Arcadia Bay. They had gotten permission to stay in town for a few months, working on their writing locally, with only an occasional trip back to Seattle to check in. They had even provided a minor stipend that helped make up the difference for the Prices. While Joyce had initially put up a bit of a fight about not wanting to inconvenience them, it was surprisingly David who had quietly convinced her to agree.

Max silently thanked David in her head for his actions. This way she could have her family nearby and know that Chloe and Joyce were well taken care of until something more permanent could be figured out.

Even in the midst of all the good of the week, she had been given a few reminders about the oddities of these time travel abilities and the mysteries surrounding the town. Time had rewound itself on three separate occasions, though each time it had been a short jump back in time, and she had managed to explain away the small missteps in conversation or her actions easily enough. The only person who seemed to notice was Chloe, helping to cover her moments of confusion. Neither of them knew what to make of it, but they had agreed to keep their eyes open for any signs of odd happenings that might help them find more clues as to what was really going on.

Now that it was the last night of their stay in the hotel, Max was floating in a half sleep, oddly excited about moving into her temporary home with Chloe tomorrow. They had shared a small glass of wine with her parents, who had been nice enough to share some of their drink with the girls even though they were underage. Now she had her arms and forehead lightly pressed against her friend's back, and she was enjoying the body heat she put off, and the slight scent of her shampoo. The whole thing left a nice warm feeling flooding her system, and she slid off into sleep with a smile on her face.

Whew. Sorry for the delay on this chapter. Life happened. I had originally planned even more, but this seemed like a good place to end things. Not to mention this chapter had gotten long enough as is.

Max and Chloe have had a very exhausting and traumatic few weeks, and they deserve a chance to try and unwind and let time heal some of the wounds the storm, the Presscots, and Jefferson left behind. Also, fluff. It was about time to explore some of that as well. ?

See you all in the next chapter.

Clear Skies,

Rylkan