Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! We hope you didn't miss us too much while we were gone! We certainly missed you.
Announcements: We are going to go from posting every week to every other week. Sidney and I are just very busy, and we haven't had as much time to write as we'd like. It's probably not what y'all want to hear, but it'll take some of the stress off of us. With both of us in college, there's a lot of that going around. Also, we're going to be posting on Sundays from here on out! Mark your calendars!
The next chapter will be posted on February 28th!
-Ben
[12/26 12:31 Max are you awake? Chloe isn't responding to my messages and I'm really worried!]
Max's eyes widened, and she turned to punch Chloe in the shoulder. "You didn't tell Kate I woke up?"
"Ow!" Chloe rubbed at it, glowering back at her. "My phone was dead!"
Max groaned. "You could have told me, numbskull. She's probably been falling all over herself worried." She started tapping out a response. [12/26 12:32 oh gosh kate im so sorry! im awake and im feeling pretty okay. just a headache now. . ill call u in a bit to fill you in 3]
Chloe leaned back on the couch, kicking her feet up onto the coffee table. "Hey Max, my phone's dead. Can you tell Kate?"
Max sighed. "You're hopeless."
"Hey, it's part of my charm. Quit fuckin' it up." Chloe grinned as she looked down at Harrison Ford.
The kitten was curled up in a little ball of fur in the center of the coffee table, snoring quietly. They'd cleaned her up, so she wasn't quite so ratty anymore, but her poor little ribs poked out from under her skin. Her shoulder blades looked like they could poke right through. She had needed food so badly. They hadn't had any cat food in the house - they still didn't - so they'd fed her a small saucer of water and a nibble of cut up leftover meat.
Max leaned into Chloe, resting her head on her girlfriend's shoulder. "I do love you. You... you know that, right?"
Chloe slid her arm around Max and gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Of course I do."
Max was quiet for a long moment, just watching the slow rise and fall of the kitten's chest. "Do..." She sighed. "I know you don't want me to say this kind of thing. But do you feel trapped?"
Chloe shook her head vigorously. "No, Max. I... feel trapped by a lot of things. But not you. Never you."
"But-"
Chloe pressed a finger to her lips. "Don't say it, babe." She rolled her shoulder. "Look, I kind of... cut us off when we tried to talk earlier. I want to try to say my piece."
Max nodded, and her cool fingers found Chloe's warm hand. "Okay."
"Hopefully this'll come out better than it did yesterday." Max could hear the feeble smile on Chloe's lips. "Sometimes I do get... frustrated. But not at you. I get frustrated with... " She waved her free hand vaguely. "The situation. I hate seeing you in pain, Max. I want to help you, and I don't always know how. Sometimes that comes out wrong, and that frustration comes out on you."
"But yesterday, you said-" Max began.
Chloe tried to shush her.
Max wouldn't let her. "Yesterday you said that I never let you have your own problems. You pretty much said you felt trapped."
Chloe rubbed at the back of her head. "I say a lot of things when I'm upset. I'm not... always the most rational person. Granted. Just because I said it doesn't mean I mean it. I'm kind of a bitch when I'm upset. I wasn't really there for the fight, but... I know how I felt yesterday morning. I was tired and upset. What else is new? I've been tired and upset since the day my dad died. You were just... a convenient target. I'm not the greatest at directing my anger in a focused direction, so it's kind of a shotgun spread. And I'm sorry."
Max considered her words. Harrison Ford chirped and rolled onto her back, stubby little legs waving in the air. Trust. "You're minimizing what you feel again, Chloe. I've spent so much time thinking about how sad I was that I never took a second to consider how you were affected by it. I know it's hard for you. I know it's hard for you to see me like this, and I know it's hard to take care of me even when you feel so awful yourself. Chloe, I just want you to know that I'm here for you, just as much as you're here for me. I can't promise I'll get any better anytime soon." She shuddered. "Especially considering... considering what I did yesterday. But I promise that I'm never going to forget about you."
Chloe was quiet for a moment. "It... helps to hear it. I guess a part of me is always a little afraid that you'll disappear again, you know?" She sighed. "No, wait, that sounds shitty too. Just-"
Max shook her head. "No, Chloe. I did a really bad thing because I was young and scared and stupid. I left and didn't even try to keep in contact then. I abandoned you when you needed me the most."
Chloe was silent, taking the opportunity to bend forward and gently scratch Harrison Ford under the chin. "I guess neither of us is perfect."
"No one is, dummy." Max sat back to lean her body against her girlfriend's. "But we love each other. Right?"
Chloe didn't hesitate. "Right."
"We both have problems. But we both have each other too. As hard as it is now... Chloe, I don't know where I would be without you here by my side." Her hand found Chloe's and squeezed tightly.
"Stop, you're gonna make me cry," Chloe whined with a smile, "and that'll ruin my big tough punk attitude." But she squeezed Max's hand just as hard in return.
"It's okay. Crying is punk."
"What? No, it isn't."
"Crying is totally punk. I mean, punk is basically whining about the government and parents and stuff anyway, right?"
Chloe blinked. "I... wouldn't put it that way? At all?" She snorted quietly. "But whatever you say, hipster."
Max stuck her tongue out at Chloe. "Deal with it." A thought struck her, and she nearly choked. "Chloe, what about my parents?"
"Your parents?" Chloe blinked, as though her train of thought was struggling to switch tracks so quickly.
"My parents! They need to know what happened! That I… That I could have…" She started breathing a little faster as it really hit her. "They don't know at all, they-"
Chloe put her hand on Max's cheek and shut her up with a soft kiss. "Take a breath, girl." She smiled encouragingly. "Mom's done everything she can to get in touch with them while you were out. She left a bunch of messages, but we haven't heard back from them yet."
Max forced her breathing to slow. "Right. Okay. Sorry. Yeah, they're… they're on a cruise right now. Down in the Bahamas or something. They probably won't be able to get the messages for a few days."
Chloe nodded. "That would explain it. Don't worry. They'll know as soon as they can. They'll probably freak out, but… my mom's pretty good at calming people down."
"Yeah, she definitely is." Max's heart rate had finally returned to normal. "Sorry for freaking out like that. I just… hadn't thought about them at all. Is that selfish?"
Chloe made a face. "What? No, that's not selfish at all. You just went through some bad shit. It's scary. It must be even scarier for you, y'know? It's normal to think about yourself first. You've only been awake a few hours."
Max was quiet for a long moment. "Chloe, I… I could have died. This isn't just us being sad and stuff, as much as we want it to be. I…" She looked down at her left hand, flexing it gently. "I had an aneurysm. It could happen again. Maybe not the next time or the time after that, but if I keep doing this…."
Chloe shook her head firmly. "It doesn't matter. I'm standing by you."
It was hard to keep herself from digging her fingernails into her palms. Her hand shook. "It's so hard," she whispered. "Every time something goes even a little bit wrong… it's there."
"Max, believe it or not, I know a little bit about what that's like." Chloe gently cupped Max's cheek with one soft hand. Her voice was quiet, subdued. "The circles I run in… I've had friends who… went through some shit. Hard drugs. It has that kind of effect on you, you know? That feeling of just one more time, of… feeling like you have some control over your situation." She paused to consider her words. Max let her. "Getting off of them… The detox was hard to watch. There's not a whole lot you can do for a person who goes cold turkey except to be there for them. I'm not calling you a druggie. I'm the druggie here." She smiled a little. "But Max, I keep saying it because it's true. I'm right here for you. No matter how hard it gets. And I'm gonna keep saying it until it gets through that thick nerd skull of yours."
"Chloe…" Max felt tears rising in her eyes. For once, they were tears of joy. Tears of pride. How could she have ever gotten so lucky? What had she ever done to deserve-
The imminent sobbing was interrupted as Harrison Ford suddenly flailed back onto her feet as though she'd just had a bucket of water dumped over her, made a loud meowing sound, and took off like a shot into the kitchen. Joyce started to greet the cat, but was cut off as something crashed to the ground. Joyce yelled, but the cat had already disappeared up the stairs.
Max sniffled and wiped at her eyes, smiling. "I'd better go help your mom. Follow the cat upstairs and make sure she doesn't eat your weed?"
Chloe saluted. "On it, boss."
As Chloe heaved herself off the couch, Max leaned forward and gently slapped Chloe's ass. Chloe jumped and made a little yipping sound, startled, then whirled back to face Max with her eyes narrowed. "Oh, you are gonna pay for that later."
Max grinned widely up at her.
Chloe snorted and turned to go again. "There's hope for you yet, Caulfield."
Once Chloe had noisily clomped up the stairs - she was still wearing her boots - Max rolled off of the couch with a quiet groan and a wince. She was feeling much better than she had when she'd woken up at the hospital, but she still had a muted headache pounding away at her temples. Standing up made it spike for a moment, but after she steadied herself and took a few breaths, it receded.
When she felt like she could, she walked to the kitchen, to see what the damage was. It looked like the cat had run wild over the counter, indiscriminately knocking things to the ground. Most of it was just clutter that needed to be picked up, but a large glass bowl, thankfully empty, had smashed into pieces on the tile.
Joyce's wheelchair was parked in the middle of the mess, leaning hard to one side, struggling to pick up a particularly large shard of glass. She looked like she was exerting herself tremendously.
"Hey, it's okay!" Max said, rushing forward. "I've got it, Joyce. Don't worry." She fished around the cabinets until she found an old plastic shopping bag, then carefully dropped onto her knees to pick up the biggest pieces. "I'll sweep it all up."
Joyce looked grateful, but she seemed reluctant to turn the whole mess over to Max. "I can help, honey. My arms still work."
Max shook her head and gently pushed the wheelchair back a few inches. "It was our cat, Joyce. I don't want you to fall out of your chair and hurt yourself because of a little mess. We already know how big and tough you are." She smiled up encouragingly at the older woman.
Joyce sighed. "Well, alright. I always did have a hard time arguing with that face." She sat back in the chair, wheeling herself back until the handles clicked on the counter.
Max cleaned up the rest of the bigger shards of glass, then glanced up at Joyce. "I would have thought you'd be happy for the help. I know it must not be easy."
Joyce shrugged, and her face was a little sad. "Oh, I know I should have left it to you. But sometimes… a body just needs to feel like she can contribute once in a while." The unspoken end to the thought: especially after a day like yesterday. Max couldn't blame her. They must all have felt so helpless.
Max nodded. "Say no more, Joyce. I understand completely." She moved on to picking up everything that wasn't sharp enough to cut; the easy part.
Joyce simply regarded her for a moment. "You really do, don't you?" It wasn't really a question. "I've always thought you saw more than most people, you know. You have an old soul."
Max blinked. "An old soul?"
Joyce waved a hand. "Oh, not literally. You're quiet, but you have more maturity and conviction than people twice your age. Even when you were just a child."
Max laughed quietly. "I just offered to pick up a mess my cat made." Maturity? Conviction? Ridiculous. She was just a kid. She'd never for a moment felt like an adult. Things were always so much bigger than her.
Joyce shrugged with a smile. "You may not see it, but I do. Chloe does too, I think. Oh, I was just rambling. Don't mind me, sweetheart." She paused for a moment. "That's why I've never doubted your intentions with my Chloe."
Max turned bright red. "What?"
"I was more than a little cautious when you came back into her life." Joyce's voice was soft. Not accusatory at all. Simply stating a fact. "I don't mean to dredge up the past when it's gone and buried, but you leaving, without a word… it affected her. Even I could see that, and she never confided in me the way she did her father."
Guilt twisted Max's gut, and she looked away. She had so many regrets, and that was one of the worst.
Joyce's eyes were distant. "But since then… I've seen the way she looks at you. And more importantly, I've seen the way you look at her." She smiled. "It makes me think of William and I, when we were young."
"I…" Max didn't know what to say. It meant a lot to her to hear something like that, and it must not have been an easy thing to get out for Joyce. Sometimes it was hard to believe that Chloe really could love someone like her. Hearing that validated from someone on the outside was… nice. "Thank you, Joyce. I'll… try to be worthy of her."
Joyce winked. "I have no doubt you will, Max. You-"
Joyce cut off suddenly as the sound of a door slamming echoed through the house, followed by a terrified yowl, and the cat came shooting down the stairs like a bullet. "MAX."
Max blinked. "Uh… you okay, Chloe?" she called up the stairs.
Chloe raced down the stairs herself in a big loud rush, her boots hitting the ground hard with each step. "We forgot… It was…"
Max stood up, vague concern written over her face. "What is it? Are you alright?"
It took Chloe a moment to calm herself down a bit, but after a moment she looked at Max, her eyes wide. "Presents. Max, yesterday was Christmas and we never got to do presents!"
"Oh yeah!" Max glanced from the remainder of the mess on the ground to Chloe and back. "Give me a sec to sweep this up, and we can do that!"
A few minutes later, Max and Chloe were sitting on the couch, while Joyce sat in her wheelchair across from them. Joyce had a single, roughly square shaped present sitting in her lap. Max had something big and flat, along with a gift bag and an envelope, and Chloe had a large paper bag at her feet.
They looked from one to another. "So," Chloe said. "Who goes first?"
"Open mine!" Max said. Now that the time had come to share her gifts, she was feeling a lot less confident than she had when she'd made the purchases. What if things had changed? What if Chloe was annoyed? She took a breath and shook the thoughts away. Of all the things she had to be insecure about, this one was pretty stupid. Chloe would be happy no matter what.
Chloe nodded, her eyes sparkling. "Alright. Hit me!"
"Don't laugh." Max handed Chloe the big flat present first, followed by the gift bag.
Chloe grinned and tore into it.
For a breath, Chloe's face was impossible to read and she sat completely still, hands stuck holding tissue paper over her head and face tilted toward the bag's contents. Then, her cheeks turned splotchy just as her eyes turned watery. Softly, almost like picking up Harrison Ford, she pulled a few paintbrushes from the bag. Even Joyce's eyebrows raised.
It had been years ago, when they were just kids, that Chloe had taken up painting. Sure, it had just been watercolors from the convenience store and computer paper, but even then, she had enjoyed herself. Max had thought that Chloe could have some real skill someday, if she kept practicing. Ever since William had died, though, Chloe hadn't even looked at a paintbrush. She'd lost the creative spark.
Risky move, Caulfield.
Pff, my middle name is Risk.
"One is a multipurpose brush, two are for acrylic, and two are for watercolor. At least, that's what the tags say." Max said quietly, breaking the silence. "I couldn't get really fancy ones, but Daniel seemed to think those were good. Kate helped me find the acrylic paint colors."
Chloe pulled a triad of primary color 4 ounce bottles from the bag and a skinny box of watercolors, not entirely unlike the ones they had as kids. Chloe chewed on her lower lip and put the paints on the floor beside the brushes. She pulled out a pad of acrylic paper and watercolor paper from the bag, which fluttered to the floor as soon as it was no longer weighed down.
"It's uh… Just to get you started again. If you want." A wave of uncertainty shot through her again.
Chloe was silent for a few moments, simply staring down at the art supplies in her hands. Then, without a word, she turned and gave Max a tight hug, holding her close. "I haven't thought about painting in so long…" She was clearly trying to act tough, but she couldn't hide a sniffle. "I'll do my best. I'll paint you something nice."
Max just smiled and hugged her back. "Merry Christmas."
Joyce let them have their moment, but she looked happy. She hadn't known what Max's present was going to be, but she looked pleased.
When Chloe finally pulled back, her eyes were a little red. She cleared her throat. "Uh. Yeah. Anyway." Her cheeks went pink. Looking away, she solemnly reached into the paper sack at her feet and pulled out a small wrapped package. She pushed it at Max, mumbling something that sounded like "Merry Christmas."
Max took the package carefully and unwrapped it. Whatever it was, underneath all that packaging, it was small and thin. Socks, maybe? Or- "Chloe, you have got to be kidding me."
Chloe looked at her with a perfectly straight face. "What?"
Max held in her hands a pair of thin white panties with a photo of Warren's face printed front and center on the fabric.
"Chloe…" Max sighed. "I've seen a lot of bad things in my life. A lot of bad things. But this…?" She scrunched up her nose, and tried to wrap her brain around what she was looking at. "This is by far the worst thing I've ever had to look at with my own two eyes."
Chloe blinked innocently twice before breaking into howls of laughter. "No give backs! It's yours and it was a gift so you have to wear it!"
Joyce mostly looked dismayed.
Max couldn't take her eyes off of them. Moreover, she couldn't stop laughing. They were just so… offensive. "Does Warren know you did this?"
Chloe tried and failed to subdue her cackles. "Nope, but Brooke does! I got her to make it for you! She picked out the picture and everything!"
Max groaned and threw the panties at Chloe's face. They landed over one eye, draping themselves over her head. Chloe pulled it off and started giggling again. "My present was so heartfelt and meaningful, and yours was…" She was at a loss for words. "Oh my god?" It had been so long that she'd almost forgotten how, when they were kids, Chloe would start off every Christmas with some kind of horrendous gag gift. In retrospect, she shouldn't have been surprised.
Joyce sighed. "Chloe…" There was real disappointment in her voice.
Chloe kept laughing for nearly a full minute before she was able to get herself back under control. "Okay, okay, I'm good. I'm okay." She leaned in and planted a kiss on Max's playfully scowling cheek. "Don't worry, I've got real presents. Maybe not as um, good as yours, but…" She leaned down to rummage through the bag again.
"I don't know what to do with you," Max said with exasperation, rolling her eyes. "You're so lucky I love you."
Harrison Ford crept back into view from wherever she'd been hiding after all the ruckus earlier. She looked around cautiously for a few moments, then threw herself into the pile of discarded wrapping paper with a loud crackling sound. She started rolling around in the trash, purring and batting at shreds of brightly colored paper.
Chloe's laughter settled down into a grin. "I love you too. If I didn't, you wouldn't get my A-game like this." She pulled out a small, flat present and passed it to Max. "Here's part one."
Max tore off the wrapping, to discover a CD by The Barr Brothers, a group she'd never heard of before.
Before she could really react, Chloe jumped in. "I know it's kinda… quaint to have an actual CD in this day and age, but I thought it would appeal to you." She started talking faster, as if nervously trying to justify herself. "And I found the closest record store in the area, and I told them what kind of hipster nerd shit you like, and they said that these guys would be right up your-"
Max snorted. "Come here, you dork. I love it." She leaned over and gently bumped the side of Chloe's head with her own head.
Chloe sputtered to a halt, then turned to kiss Max on the cheek. Max intercepted the kiss with her lips, which Chloe did not complain about at all.
It took Max a moment to remember that Joyce was in fact still there, and she broke off the kiss suddenly, her cheeks beet red.
Joyce, for her part, was simply looking at the two of them with a sad, wistful smile on her face. She raised her hands in a warding gesture. "Don't mind me. Y'all are young and in love."
Max cleared her throat, still embarrassed.
Chloe wasn't hiding it much better than Max was. She looked away and dug around in the bag again. "God, mom, stop staring at us. You're creepin' me out."
Her mother just sighed. Max punched Chloe in the arm.
"Ow! Hey, what was that-"
Max glared.
Chloe wilted. "Sorry, mom."
Joyce waved a hand dismissively.
After a moment of silence that was not at all awkward, Chloe pulled out another small wrapped box and pressed it into Max's hands. "And here's part two." She looked away.
Max leaned in to kiss her cheek again before unwrapping the present. "Film!"
Chloe nodded and glanced back. "I know you're always complaining how expensive film is for that camera, so I got you a couple boxes. I hope it's the right kind. I sorta went through your stuff to figure out the right brand? Oops?" She tried to look innocent.
Max sighed. "You could have tried asking."
"But then you would have known!" Chloe protested. "It's no fun if it's not a surprise!"
Max would have been genuinely upset with anyone other than Chloe who might have gone through her stuff - especially after her wall had been defaced by a certain Mr. Prescott. As it was, though, she was just a weird mix of irritated and amused. "Alright, alright. You get a pass this time." She jabbed a finger at Chloe's nose. "But only because you're so cute," she said seriously.
Chloe put her hands up as if at gunpoint. "Yes ma'am."
Joyce chuckled.
"Oh!" Max exclaimed. "That reminds me!" She grabbed the envelope sitting in her lap and presented it to Joyce. "This is for you. It's not much, but it's from both of us. Kind of as a thank you for everything you've done for us."
Joyce's brow furrowed, but she reached out and gently took the envelope. She started picking at the flap with one of her nails. "You didn't need to get me anything. I'm really just happy to-" Her eyes widened, and her words cut off suddenly. "How… How much is this?"
Chloe cleared her throat. "It's 300 dollars. We know there hasn't been much spare cash lately, and that you had to dip into savings, and we thought…"
"We thought you could start up that Paris fund again," Max finished quietly. "You've done so much for us. You deserve to be able to go. It's not fair that the storm took so much from you when you've been so generous."
Joyce simply stated into the envelope, her eyes shining. For maybe the first time Max had ever seen her, she was at a loss for words.
It was an affecting sight. Her own heart swelled. Not with pride or anything like that. Joyce deserved so much better, and it was so good to see her understand a little of that.
They let Joyce have a moment to collect herself. When she did, she looked more than a little embarrassed as she sniffed. "Where did y'all get the money for this…?"
Max opened her mouth to give a serious answer, but Chloe beat her there. "Drugs."
Max choked and Chloe grinned, but Joyce mostly looked thoughtful. "...Nah," she said after a moment.
Chloe blinked. "Nah?"
Joyce nodded. "I've known you since you were a baby, and you have terrible business sense. No way you go out and make that much of a profit."
Max snorted again, and raised a hand to cover her laughter.
Chloe looked between her mother and Max, her eyes wide. "Mooom!"
Joyce looked proud of herself. After a moment, though, her face softened. "But… Thank you, girls. This means… so much more than I think you know. It's been… hard. It'll be good to have something to look forward to, once I'm back to normal."
No one knew if Joyce would ever be back to normal, but Max decided that for this, it didn't matter. Joyce deserved Paris whether she could walk or not.
Max nodded. "You're welcome, Joyce. And thank you. You didn't need to take me in, or to approve of me and Chloe, but you did. You've been the best." She grinned. "You really are Supermom."