Hey, everyone! Good to see you. You're all beautiful.

The next chapter will be posted on March 12th!

Joyce never asked where the money really came from. Max was more than one hundred percent sure she didn't want to know.

Several days before, both Max and Chloe had been laying around together, surfing some social media apps and reading intermittently, when Chloe jumped up out of the bed, snatching out the headphones they shared.

"Money, Max! Money for mom!"

Max remembered feeling slightly queasy. They'd forgotten until then. "How are we going to get a couple hundred dollars in a few days?"

Chloe stood there a minute, chewing her nails and the edges of her fingers like she did when she was nervous. Her eyebrows were so close together in thought, you could have called her Count Olaf. Suddenly, she clapped and stamped her foot in excitement. She gestured wildly at Max, and somehow managed to pull her shirt up a little in her flailing. She flailed sometimes when she was excited. Max thought it was super cute.

"I have an idea!" Her eyes sparkled.

"Which is?" Max didn't know if she wanted to know.

She didn't.

"We- No, I can't tell you."

"Then what are we going to do?"

"No." Chloe ran a hand through her faded hair. "No, I'll only tell you if it works." Max rolled her eyes as Chloe clapped again and pulled on a jacket and some shoes. "I gotta go to my truck for a while. Have you seen a screwdriver around here somewhere?"

Max and Chloe lay in bed together that night after opening presents, playing with the kitten using a stick, some string, and a ball of paper.

Chloe's phone vibrated. She'd been on it off and on throughout the evening, which was odd for her. She was one of those people that could never remember to text anyone back. Unless it was Max on the other end, apparently. Tonight, though, she'd been in a constant stream of conversation with… someone. Max wanted to ask but didn't want to be intrusive. It was a little out of character, after all.

Chloe rolled to face Max, face still buried in her phone while she tapped away at the screen. "Hey," she said distractedly.

"Yeah?" Max pulled the kitten up onto her stomach and rubbed down her back, eliciting loud purrs from the cat.

"So I'm having a bit of trouble." She still didn't look away from her screen.

Max's stomach twisted in a way, but she took a breath before her head started pounding in anxiety. "What kind of trouble?" The next words slipped out thoughtlessly. "Is someone bothering you?"

Chloe laughed for a second and dropped her phone onto the bed. She reached a hand out to Max's face and gently rubbed Max's cheek with her thumb. "Calm down, cream puff. You're gonna leak filling."

Max reached up to touch Chloe's hand, but Chloe caught Max's and kissed it… a little too passionately for a hand kiss. Max felt her cheeks betraying her wishes to seem calm, cool, and collected.

Chloe didn't take her lips far from Max's hand before speaking. "I might need help setting up that date with Kate and the Killer Bee."

Max snatched her hand back appalled but still blushing. She exaggerated her horror and shock to the point even she almost laughed at herself. "You're trying to seduce me in order to help you with a problem you made yourself? I never would have expected such a dirty trick!" She pressed a hand to her chest. "Alas! Betrayed by my own lover!"

Chloe stuck her tongue out, but a tiny bit of pink touched her own cheeks. So she did feel shame after all. Something stirred in Max's stomach. The closest thing she could place to the feeling was longing. She didn't want Chloe to pull away.

Chloe came back, grey sheen on her hands and a smudge on her cheek. A spot on the side of her hand was bleeding, but the grin on her face could have ignited the whole world. Max wanted to kiss her then. The rest of her body wanted in on that action, too, but the nervousness chased it away as it so often did.

"Chloe, what did you do?" She tried to make her tone serious or chastising but failed miserably.

"I called Frank."

"Oh my god, Chloe. What did you do?"

Max pulled Chloe's hand back and held it against her chest. Chloe didn't hesitate to oblige.

"Listen, I mean it though. I don't know what you plan to do, but Victoria seemed pretty nervous about the setup." Max shrugged and absentmindedly rubbed Chloe's knuckles with her thumb. She smiled thoughtfully for a second. "I wouldn't call it a date to Vic."

"Too late. Killer V was pissed. Or embarrassed. I couldn't tell." She smiled that pointy smile she did when she was intentionally being an asshole.

Max's heart fluttered. Stop being stupid, she thought to herself.

Another part of herself chimed in. Come on, man. You almost died yesterday. You can feel these feelings. It's normal. Right?

Chloe seemed to catch on to Max's nervousness and pulled away. "I was thinking, Max. You just had a near death experience and all," Max could tell Chloe was trying to joke, but her eyes showed the lasting fear. "but shouldn't you take some pictures soon for the prom queen?"

Max, who had propped herself halfway on her elbow, flopped back onto the bed with a groan. The sudden movement really made her head scream. Ow. "Ah, shit. I completely forgot about pictures."

Chloe shrugged a shoulder, an impressive feat for someone laying on their side. "I don't think Victoria cares if you've been preoccupied." She looked over at Max biting her lip. "Hey, don't worry. We can go take pictures wherever you want whenever you want." Her eyes went to the clock on the makeshift nightstand. "Except now because it's like ten o'clock, and I am tired."

The kitten rolled around between the two before yowling then curling into a ball. Chloe gave the little thing a few scratches behind the ears with a small smile. "You know, I never thought I'd have another cat after Bongo died."

Max didn't exactly know how to react other than a sad smile.

"I'm glad for this little bundle of love. My cat child. Cat child number two."

"You're delirious. Go to bed." Max reached to Chloe, just to let their skin touch. She hadn't noticed how much she felt like she needed to touch and be touched until… now, it seemed.

"I am… very tired." Chloe admitted, scooping up the sleeping kitten and nestling her in a makeshift bed.

"What's keeping you from sleeping? Besides me and the cat." She laughed a little until she saw Chloe's dark expression.

"I'm afraid you won't be here when I wake up." Her voice was flat, but her eyes told the whole story. Max knew why she was afraid. One thing gone wrong could leave Chloe on her own and Max in the ground. It was a sobering thought.

"I'll still be here, Chlo. I promise." She found and squeezed Chloe's hand. "I'm not going anywhere."

A small wave of relief washed over the tired Chloe. "Local punk teen needs sleep." She smiled a little. "Uh. Max?"

"What is it?"

"Uh… this isn't very punk, so you can't tell anyone."

Max snorted but nodded. "Okay?"

"Can… can you hold me tonight? Just until I fall asleep or something…"

Max felt her heart skip a beat. Chloe had never asked that before. She'd always been the one to hold Max, given their height difference and how Max usually was the one screaming in the night. "Yeah, of course."

Chloe rolled onto her other side, facing away from Max and mumbled a quiet thanks.

Max scooted closer and wrapped an arm around Chloe's slim waist and felt her face get hot. Had Chloe always been so thin? So lean? Muscular? Max swallowed. "Any time, Chloe. Always."

The next day, Chloe came in with an envelope of neat twenties.

"Please tell me you didn't rob a bank, Chloe." Max only sounded like she was halfway kidding because she was, indeed, only halfway kidding.

"Of course not. Do you really think I'm organized enough to plan a heist?" She tossed the envelope onto the cluttered desk, which housed the laptop they often shared. "I'm more the… get-drunk-and-hold-up-a-gas-station type."

Max rolled her eyes and reached out for Chloe. Chloe took Max's hand and flopped onto the bed. "You're a klutz, but everyone has dumb luck sometimes."

"Hey, don't call me a dumb! I will have you know I am a smart." Chloe crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out. "Do you want to know or not?"

"Lay it on me. I have to make up a story if the cops come looking. Then again, if you don't tell me, I won't go to prison with you. Maybe I don't want to be an accessory after the fact."

Chloe jokingly punched Max's arm. "Whatever, nerd. I would protect you in prison."

"You would sell me out for exactly one corn chip."

They both laughed for a second before Chloe jumped back up and counted the money. She nodded like she was satisfied. "I know Frank wouldn't stiff me after we said we were cool, but I like to be thorough. Basically, my dear Max, I sold David's gun. I filed off the serial number and gouged the barrel." She smiled like the cheshire cat and propped herself triumphantly onto the ledge of the desk.

"Chloe, oh my god." Max was exasperated - irritated even - but she was more impressed than anything. She wouldn't have thought of that. "Isn't that a little risky?"

"Probably, but mom deserves something good. Frank said he'd help out and finish what I started. He bitched about it though." She rolled her eyes and started pulling off her shirt. She wasn't nearly as self conscious as Max in that respect. She quickly changed into pajamas and crawled into bed. "Put on your jammies, and come snuggle me. I desire snuggles."

"You're such an ass."

"Yeah, but you love me."

"I do."

The next morning, Max found herself alone in the room she shared with Chloe. Nausea and anxiety washed over her in those first moments of disoriented consciousness. What was the date? Had she rewound to end up back at that morning? Would she have to deal with the fight all over again? The hospital? Was she stuck in a loop of her own making?

A few chirps drew her frantic breaths back down to a manageable level. Chirps. Cat. It was the twenty-seventh. She hadn't fucked up. Chloe was just… somewhere else. The resemblance to that morning was nothing more than a coincidence. She sat up, a dull ache rising in her temples. She ran a hand through her hair and reached down to the floor where the kitten stretched.

"Hey, sweet baby." She baby talked the cat. She wouldn't even think of talking that way to an actual baby, but talking to a kitten in an overly saccharine tone wouldn't hurt anyone. "What's got it?" She ran a finger down Harrison Ford's bony spine.

Out of the corner of her eye, a flash, the click-snap-whir of an instant film camera. Her instant film camera. The distinct Wobble-Wobble of film being shaken out made her smile and look over at Chloe.

"Rise and shine, Caulfield. Picture time." Chloe tossed the picture to Max, who let it continue developing. "You're so fucking cute with that cat. How could I resist taking such a great picture?"

"Shut up and come kiss me." Max rolled onto her back and made grabby hands.

"Hell no, man. You'll seduce me, and we'll never get anything done." Chloe set the camera on the desk and pulled on the jacket thrown over the chair.

Max dropped her arms and huffed. "Would seducing you be a bad thing?"

Chloe made a strangled noise between a laugh and a sigh, which made Max sit straight up.

"Chloe, are you o-"

Chloe's face turned splotchy red and she turned around away from Max. "Just put your clothes on. I'll wait with the cat."

She picked up Harrison Ford, who had walked over to battle with Chloe's shoelaces. With an unsure smile, she glanced at Max and walked out.

Max groaned. She would rather stay at home and cuddle with Chloe than do Responsible Things. It seemed like they needed to talk, too, since Chloe was acting so strange. With a little more effort than usual, she managed to drag herself out of bed and gather a few clothes before heading out to the bathroom. Getting ready felt impossibly slow, every task dragging on forever. She pulled through her still wet hair with a brush and pulled on a spare beanie from Chloe's assortment of Mostly Clean and scattered laundry. She liked stealing Chloe's clothes sometimes.

"A beanie for my ween-" she paused. "That doesn't sound right."

Chloe leaned against the doorway and snorted. When had she gotten there? "Were you going to say 'beanie for my weenie'?"

"I tried, okay?" Max rolled her eyes and messed around with her hair a few more times. "Sorry I took so long."

Chloe gave her an incredulous look. "You've been in here ten whole minutes, dude."

Cold sweat beaded on Max's lower back. She was sure it had been longer… But since she had returned to the Price home from the hospital, ordinary things seemed to go by at odd paces. She'd left a cup of hot chocolate sitting to cool for almost an hour before picking it up, thinking it had been only a few minutes.

"Everyone does that," Chloe had said.

It wasn't just an isolated instance, though… To make it science, I have to write it down, she thought, echoing something she'd heard Warren say more than once. She considered it a moment while shuffling her camera into her bag. Nah, science sucks. Investing in some sort of magical time keeping device, though…

She smiled to herself. "Hey, Chloe, while we're out, can we get me a watch?"

Chloe rattled a granola bar wrapper and tore off a hunk with her teeth, chewing thoughtfully for a minute before asking with a still full mouth, "Why do you need a watch? You have a phone." She swallowed the chunky chocolate chip granola bar. "Get with the 21st century, Max."

Max felt her face grimace on its own, flushing horribly an instant later. "I'm having some trouble keeping time is all. I think all that…" She couldn't even think about saying the damn word "rewind" much less any gerunds, adverbs, nouns, or other garbage sentence pieces. What? She was interested in photography, not rhetoric. Max swallowed and tried again. "I think what happened the other day messed with my internal clock, and a watch is always there. If all I have is my phone, I forget to check. Besides, does anyone actually ever remember the time when they look at their phone?"

With wide eyes, Chloe, who had taken another bite of her breakfast, swallowed slowly and cleared her throat. "Shit, dude, I'm sorry. I didn't even think of that."

Max bumped Chloe's shoulder lightly. "Nah, it's fine. Let's go take some pictures before the pit viper finds out I've been slacking off."

The morning out was less eventful than even Max might have hoped. The streets were relatively quiet, and the snow lay a powdery hush over Arcadia Bay. The snow made the skeletal remains of buildings and charred hulls look more like charcoal drawings than actual remnants of The Storm. Chloe drove around until Max would point out a scene to capture and sat patiently in the car or stood by quietly until Max was done. Memories rose up frequently and caused the duo to need breaks more often than not. The stress started creeping in two hours into the endeavor. Chloe tapped viciously on her steering wheel to an off time beat. Max chewed on her fingers and fingernails.

Close to noon, Max leaned over to take a picture of a particularly interesting field littered by untouched debris. Her breath came in shaky, pained gasps - the cold settling into her lungs and making her cough. Her mind raced as she tried to capture the profundity of the scene, but her hands shook too bad to take a decent photo. She wasn't sure if that was from the anxiety or the cold. Gloveless fingers turned blue in the wind. She was wasting film. She could just… rewind until she took a decent picture….

Chloe's voice interrupted the destructive train of thought. "Hey, Max, do you wanna fuck?"

Max nearly dropped her camera. "What?" Her numb face suddenly could have boiled the snowflakes that touched it. She looked over at Chloe who looked away and stuffed her hands in her jacket pockets. "Chloe, what the fuck."

"I don't know. I've just been thinking about it for a little while since, you know, we haven't exactly done anything like that." Max could tell Chloe was trying to look and sound cool, but she could hear the embarrassment in the edges of her voice.

Max straightened and put her camera in her bag, pursing her lips and trying to catch Chloe as off guard as she had been. "I mean, right here? It's a little cold for that, don't you think?"

Chloe's face finally cracked into a shy smile with a creeping pink blush rising from her neck up. "No, I just…" She took a breath and held out her hand, still not looking Max in the eye. "Come on, you're freezing. Let's get back in the truck."

"Are you going to try to get in my pants? Is this a seduction tactic?" Max placed her hand on her chest in feigned surprise.

"If it would work, yeah, but you're a tough egg to crack." Chloe grabbed Max's other hand and pulled her toward the still running truck.

They climbed in silently, embarrassment still laying on them like a great, itchy, wool blanket. They rode down the road with the heat cranked on high, but their faces could have heated the truck on their own.

"Chloe, seriously, are you okay?" A mild paranoia crept into Max's mind. Embarrassment bled into concern and became consumed by it. "That's really… Sudden? We haven't really…"

Chloe shrugged and leaned her head on one arm, the other on the wheel. "Yeah, we haven't talked about it." She let the words hang in the air for a minute. "You almost died, Max. I don't… I had a lot of time to think when I was in the hospital. I might have talked to Kate about it a little." She leaned her head on the window and adjusted her hair. "She thought that I should talk to you about it. She, uh, told me I should talk to you about it sooner than later. Jesus, she sent me a message this morning to see if I talked to you about it yet."

Max looked out the passenger window and tried to think of something to say. "So you asked Kate if you should 'fuck' me?"

Chloe swerved a little. "Hell no, man. Can you imagine tiny little Kate if I said that? She would fucking die. She would probably clutch her chest, utter a 'my word,' and fucking expire right there." Chloe shook her head again and wiped her nose on her arm - a nervous habit. "No, I realized how much I don't… how much we don't touch like that. How we get all tangled together and... " She blushed and didn't finish. "How much I want to be with you, but I've been so afraid of it? I didn't realize how much I needed you until I thought I lost you."

Max chewed on a fingernail and felt her stomach turn queasy with butterflies. "I… I thought it was just me, honestly. I felt really stupid for feeling like I needed you so bad. I mean, we could get… um, riled up, I guess, but I didn't ever know if I wanted to go through with it." She didn't speak for another minute. "I still can't believe you talked to Kate about this."

Chloe snorted. "I talk to Kate about a lot of things, Max - not before we talked to her about the things that… happened, but ever since then, I think we're friends. The hospital was a lot easier with her there than if she hadn't been, and besides, I can't shut up so I'm going to talk to whoever is nearby. It just helped to be… friends with her. I got to talk about some things that I hadn't really talked about before. Stuff like this."

Max felt her face go even more red than before. "I haven't exactly thought about this stuff. I've been, uh, a little busy."

Chloe laughed and played with a loose strand of her faded blue hair. "It's okay. I think I understand at least a little bit."

A low, insistent buzz came from the cupholder where Chloe's phone stayed while driving. Chloe's light, nervous mood turned irritated entirely too fast. "I told her I would text her when I got a minute, GOD."

Max felt herself press into the seat. Her head started throbbing near her temples. "Uh… Should you… get that?"

"Yes." Chloe huffed and groaned, aggressively picked up her phone, and slid the green button to answer. She grumbled into the phone. "What?"

Max could hear a high pitched voice on the other end despite the woofing heater and the engine clatter.

"Where are you?"

Chloe made the most anime "tch" noise possible. "I'm driving. Listen, I told you I would text you whenever we get settled down."

"I'm not meeting you in that greasy spoon where your mom works."

"You meet us there in thirty minutes, or I won't help you." Chloe's voice turned flat and cold. "You asked me for help, and I'm helping."

"On your terms."

Chloe couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, on my terms. When else will I get to put a pretty girl like you under my thumb?"

"You have Caulfield, so probably every day."

"Vic, that was the gayest thing you could have possibly said. Meet me in thirty at the Whales." Chloe hung up without another word, her face splotchy red. "Could you hear that?"

"Every word." Max's voice came out entirely more smug than she intended.

Chloe wiped her face with her hand. "Get ready. We're bringing the wasp nest into our home."

"You are so cryptic." Max rolled her eyes, but a deep sense of longing came back from their interrupted conversation. She wanted to talk more but didn't feel like talking about the earlier material before meeting anyone wouldn't be appropriate. They were definitely going to come back to that. Just… another day.