Chapter 29
Max was finally awake, that was good. But what really messed this whole situation up was the fact that it had been indeed Rachel who had caused this joyful event and that Chloe had learned about that half an hour later after Steph had called her.
Five months. For freaking five months she had been watching him. For five months she had neglected literally everything else in her life, just to be there if Max would wake up. And the moment it happened, Rachel swooped in and shoved her aside to get the medal.
Oh, how much she hated this pretentious bitch! If it hadn't been for the fact that she hadn't been able to see Max awake anyway, because he was going through several check-ups and would stay under constant monitoring until the next day, Chloe wouldn't even have been able to visit him, because of his girlfriend's presence. Damn, she would love to kill her!
"Why can't you just let it go?" said Steph, who was lying beside her, ripping the punky girl out of her thoughts. "I mean, yeah, she fucked up, granted. But damn, it's not like she wanted it."
"Pft…" was everything Chloe replied as she kept on staring at the ceiling to avoid her girlfriend's chiding glance, which caused the latter one to sigh.
"Remember when you gave her a concussion? She had any reason to hate you, but instead decided to give you a chance."
"Just because of Max," countered Chloe, now shifting her gaze towards Steph. "Why do you care so much what I think about her anyway? I don't forbid you to be her friend, so…"
"Because she used to be your friend, too. Yes, she made a mistake, but so did you. Nobody's perfect. Not me, not you and not Max. So, just let it drop and move on, 'cause it's getting annoying."
"Annoying?" asked Chloe in return with a quirked eyebrow, not aware what Steph was up to since she didn't sound angry. And it got even more confusing as the young brunette climbed atop of her, leaning directly over her with a playful smirk on her lips.
"Yes, annoying. As in killing my libido. I mean, c'mon! Max is awake again, Rachel apologized and I'm also relieved. Now stop being an asshole already and start being my girlfriend again!"
Steph then leaned in, pressing her lips softly on Chloe's, who was at first entirely stunned, but soon wrapped her arms around her girlfriend and pulled her closer.
God, she had missed this so much!
With Max in coma, there had always been this tension, but now it was sort of gone. She wasn't feeling pressured anymore, like she forcefully had to show some affection towards Steph in form of meaningless sex. No, this time it was different and Steph felt that as well.
Soon, their clothes were scattered around the entire bedroom and both lovers ended up lying in bed, naked and side-by-side, their bodies covered in a layer of sweat.
"So," Steph then calmly asked, her index finger playfully drawing random patterns over Chloe's chest, "you're gonna give her a chance?"
Once more confused, Chloe stared at her girlfriend from the corner of her eyes, weighing her words carefully as she didn't want to destroy the peaceful moment.
"I…" she started, fixing her sight at the ceiling again. "I dunno. She really fucked up pretty hard and, uh…"
"Just admit that you also have a crush on her, like I do. She has such a strong aura that it's really hard to withstand her."
"Blech, as if I'd ever fuck her. No way! Not in a million years am I gonna touch that cunt! Worse enough that Max is doin' it. Besides, I somehow have the feeling that you wanna use my after-sex-high to change my opinion towards her."
Chloe was smart, Steph knew that, but sometimes she came up with theories that were either hilarious or just plain awful. But changing her mind with sex? Yeah, Steph had quickly realized in the relationship with the punkie girl that sex was a good leverage, but always refused to use this weakness since such moves could easily destroy every bit of trust.
"Chloe, I dunno if I should be amused or pissed by you right now," she said with a stern demeanor and sat up. "Sex is fun for me, not a cheap bargaining tool. I want our relationship built on trust, not mistrust. And as a proof, I tell you here and now: yes, if I had the chance, I'd fuck Rachel. But since I somehow love you like crazy, I'm gonna stick with you. I'm gonna fuck and kiss only you and nobody else until one of us gets tired of the other. You got me?"
For a long moment, Chloe simply stared at her girlfriend. She had expected everything: laughter, rage, yelling, a smack in the face. But not a fiery speech about how much she loved her. Steph would like to fuck Rachel… Hell, who doesn't want to, honestly? Even Chloe herself had given it a thought, the one or another lonely night. Whereas the most dirty variant turned out to be a threesome with the blond actress and Max. So, could she really judge her girlfriend for this?
No, not in a million years. Steph was honest and adamant when it came to her decisions. A person you could rely on, no matter what. Damn, she even had held onto her, though she had been behaving like a real jackass those last months, and now they were here, in her room, naked in bed and confessing their love… At least Steph did.
With tears at the brim of her eyes, Chloe leaned forward until she made contact with her girlfriend's lips, only breaking the contact to whisper "I love you too, Stephanie! Sorry for behaving like an asshole."
Stephanie.
Chloe never used her full name before, not even once. The fact that she's doing it now meant for Steph only one thing: that she really meant it with all her heart. And that was everything that the brunette needed to be entirely happy.
Max was awake. A joyful day! So joyful, that nothing could drag Rachel down today. She had promised this to herself and would pull through it. Not even her raging father on the phone hadn't been able to kill the good mood.
Right now, she was literally dancing through the kitchen, preparing some dinner for herself and her mom with a happy tune on her lips.
She still remembered how Max's eyes had slowly opened. How he had looked at her. And how his lips had very quietly whispered her name. A shame that she hadn't been allowed to spend some more time with her boyfriend, but tomorrow would be a new day. Tomorrow, Rachel planned to visit Max right in the morning. Maybe, if she was lucky, he would even be fit enough for some cuddling. Just this thought alone let a swarm of butterflies roam in her stomach and painted her cheeks in a soft pink tone.
With one last spin, the teenage girl took the pot with tomato-sauce from the hotplate and placed it on the prepared mat on the table.
"Mom, dinner's ready!" she then called through the apartment, already taking a seat.
Her mom, the most awesome person in the whole, wide world. Rachel was still awed by the fact that Sera hadn't really given her some heat for running away from her dad's place. Chiding words, yes. Even a stern glimpse. But not one lecture, like her father had given her, not even a tiny one.
It wasn't like Sera was an always peaceful person, no. Good gosh, Rachel remembered too well the one or other heated conversation they both had, even about little things like a pantie on the bathroom floor.
"Mom!" Rachel called out once more, wondering why Sera wasn't already at the table. "Dinner's gettin' cold."
But again, her mother didn't show up, not even answer.
'Strange…' thought the young girl, already getting up from her seat.
"Mom?"
A first hint of panic was building up in her brain, increasing her heart rate and breathing.
'Chill, Rach! She's probably just sittin' on the toilet. You know that she doesn't like to answer when she's doin' business there.'
Though she tried to calm herself, Rachel still had a bad feeling in her guts. So she nonetheless slowly walked towards the bathroom. Cautiously, she knocked at the door as she had reached it.
"Mom?"
And again, no answer. Was Sera pranking her? Would she jump at her from around a corner and scare her?
Upon the news of Max's awakening, Sera had been in a good mood, too. And pranking each other was also something that happened regularly at the Amper/Gearhard household. But right now, nothing felt like a prank, just...wrong.
Her worries reaching new heights, Rachel pushed down the handle, which clicked effortlessly and opened the door.
'Mom always locks the bathroom when she's in there.' thought the blonde, the darkness in the room underlining her theory. Now there was only one room left, where her mother could be.
Once more, she knocked. This time at the door that belonged to Sera's private space.
"Mom, you in there? Is everything okay?"
And as she, again, didn't receive an answer, Rachel decided to break the highest rule in this apartment. Cautiously she knocked once more before using the handle. And once again, the door gave in without any resistance. Still afraid to violate some boundaries, she simply pushed open the wooden barrier and kept on standing in the doorframe.
But as she saw that Sera was lying in the middle of the room, not moving, she instantly ignored everything unimportant and dashed towards her mother's lifeless seeming body.
"MOM!" she gasped loudly, shaking her, but received no reaction. The first thing she did after that was to check Sera's vital signs.
'Thank god, she's alive!' she told herself internally, performing first aid immediately before she went for her phone and called 9-1-1.
The ambulance arrived ten minutes after the call. During this whole time, Rachel had stayed with her mom, not leaving her side for one second.
She was worried, so fucking worried. Yet, she tried to stay strong. Sera's vital signs were stable and she had neither injuries nor anything else that would be alarming.
'Maybe it's just this stupid menopause-shit? Gosh, I hope, I'll never get menopause!'
Within an hour, Sera then had been checked in to the hospital, where both - mother and daughter - were now in a private room. And it took approximately another few hours until the older woman regained consciousness.
With soft brushes over her hand, Sera woke up her daughter, who had fallen asleep right beside her, sitting on a chair.
"Mmhm…" the young girl mumbled, slowly opening her eyes. But as soon as she realized what was going on, they shot open.
"Mom!" she gasped, immediately flinging her arms around her mom as she was crying out of relief.
"I'm so sorry, my dear!" the older woman answered, returning the hug, which was broken a minute later by joyful looking Rachel.
"What for? That your menopause sucks ass? C'mon!"
Right away, Sera's expression became sad. And though she at first had avoided her daughter's glance, she then re-established eye contact and said "It's not my menopause, Rachel."
Now being puzzled, the young girl frowned, asking "What do you mean?"
Gathering all her strength and courage, Sera inhaled deeply before replying "I…Rachel, please believe me that I tried to tell you, but there…there's a tumor in my head."
"What?!" the young girl exclaimed, backing away a bit like she'd hoped that she might spy the bad joke from a distance. "You're kidding me, right? This...this is nothing more than a stupid joke, right? Right?!"
But there was no joke and no smirk. Not even the tiniest glimpse of laughter.
"Sadly, no. At first, it was just headaches, but soon they got worse. They did a full check-up and...it's inoperable and very aggressive. They gave me some meds against the headaches and upcoming seizures, but there's nothing they can do. I… Shit, I'm so sorry I haven't told you earlier, but...I...I...fuck!"
For the first moment, Rachel was simply in shock, not even moving a finger. And then came the denial.
"Mh-mh!" she hummed in neglectance, shaking her head while first tears were rolling down her cheeks.
"Rachel."
"Mh-mh!" she hummed once more, shaking her head even more as if it would undo the truth.
"Rachel!"
"No!" she then said, at first quietly and then becoming louder.
"Rachel, please!"
"No! No! No! NOO!"
Sera then softly cupped her daughter's head, forcing her to focus on her mother. Now being brought back from this vicious circle of denial, Rachel started to sob quietly while a stream of salty droplets were wettening her face.
"Mom…" she whimpered quietly as she kept on staring into her mother's also watery eyes, her mind still struggling to accept the inevitable.
"Ssh, my beautiful Rachel. It's gonna be okay!" Sera answered calmly with a soft, soothing smile on her lips.
"Mom, there's… there's gotta be something they can do. Anythin'."
"I know, my dear, I know! And I'd hoped that too, but…" Sera paused for a moment, fighting down the big sadness that was about to overwhelm her as well. But she only had to focus on her daughter again to let a flood of positive memories take the upper hand again. "My god, who allowed you to become such an amazing, big girl?"
"Mom, please…"Rachel whimpered once more, her sobs getting heavier.
"Y'know, even though I'm sad that I'm not able to spend more time with you and see you growing up, I'm actually so glad that I'd been given the chance to be your real mother for those last two years. I can't even remember one day that I regretted spending with you. You're the most precious thing in my life, and...and…"
Her voice broke as a sob escaped her mouth. This time she couldn't uphold her facade anymore. Instead, she took her now intensively crying daughter into another hug and said with her last strength "I love you, Rachel! I love you so much!"
Rachel felt so empty, almost like she was simply watching how her body was acting on its own, like a robot that steered remotely by a strange power along the halls of the hospital, her destination: she somehow couldn't remember at the moment.
She hadn't eaten or drunk for hours now, but she didn't feel hungry or thirsty as well, just aware that something was...amiss.
"Rachel?"
Someone had called her name. A woman. But who?
"Oh my god, what happened to you, my dear?! You look awful!"
Her head got softly embraced by two hands and lifted up so that she was forced to look into a pair of blue eyes. Slowly, Vanessa's worryful face came into focus and as soon as Rachel realized that there was a trustful person in front of her, she broke down again, embracing the older woman and weeping into her shoulder.
Vanessa held her tightly, brushing soothingly over her back. But they weren't alone. William, Chloe, Steph...they all were there, watching this scene with bewilderment since they didn't know what was going on.
Steph was the first to join them and was also helping to comfort the crying girl.
Rachel felt those strokes. Felt the comforting warmth of her friends. Heard their voices. They asked her what happened, why she was upset. They cared. And though she wanted to tell them everything in a big blow, the words simply stumbled out of her mouth, sometimes swallowed by heavy sobs.
"My...my mom… My...m-mom…"
She couldn't do it. She simply couldn't bring it over her lips. The spoken truth simply hurt too much. And to everyone's surprise, it was Chloe of all present persons, who eventually embraced her and said quietly "Shit, I'm so sorry, Rach!" stroking soothingly over her back.
Why her? Why of her of all persons? Didn't she hate her? Didn't she beat her up not even 24 hours ago? Rachel didn't understand. Nothing made sense. Chloe was supposed to hate her, not comfort her. But then she recalled that they had something in common.
Chloe had lost her mom, too. She knew how hard it was. Knew the emotional pain. Maybe they weren't that different. Maybe they shared more than they had thought. Maybe their fates were even intertwined.
Thinking about all this caused the young blonde's head to spin. She felt sick. Exhausted. Like collapsing and never getting up again.
"Rach?"
This voice…
It was so familiar, yet weak and hoarse.
Max!
Astonished, Rachel looked up and saw how Max was looking at her with a worried gaze. He looked pale and weak, yet so much alive.
But how did she get in there? Why was she in this room? She recalled being in the hallway, waiting to be in line for visiting Max. Now she was already standing in the middle of the room, probably looking like shit.
During the last 12 or so hours, Rachel hadn't much sleep nor drank or even eaten. She felt so exhausted. So done. All she managed was to stumble towards her boyfriend under heavy sobs and embrace him tightly.