"I'm hella shocked you even answered." Chloe nursed her coffee, staring across the table at Victoria. Max had been needling Chloe to go see her again (blah blah 'she's lonely' blah blah), and even though Victoria Chase wasn't a person she would have ever had on her list of Tuesday coffee dates, here they were.

"Well, I'd be lying if I said I wanted to answer," Victoria retorted, but there was a little smile on her face. "Not like I have a lot going on anyways." The blonde had went a similar route as Chloe, knocking out her GED shortly after the storm wiped out Arcadia Bay, and was currently helping her parents out at the Chase Space as she worked on her college applications.

Chloe snorted. "What, your parents not riding you hard enough?"

"Ugh, you don't even know. Be glad you don't have to deal with yours anymore." They both winced, and Victoria immediately looked regretful. "Shit, sorry."

It hurt, a lot more than Chloe thought it could. "I mean, you're not wrong." Leave it to Bitch-toria to really speak the cold, hard truth.

Victoria stared down at her hands, grasping her tea. She suddenly seemed fragile, like a light breeze would be enough to knock her down. "Did you go to the...the service?"

Chloe shook her head. David had told her about the mass service once it had been announced, but she hadn't had the strength to go back a mere week after the storm. "No. Guessing you didn't either?"

"No." She sighed, avoiding eye contact. "I haven't been...back yet. There's too much there."

"I know what you mean. I hated going back." And don't want to go back again. Max had been talking about taking another trip down to see Kate and David, and Chloe was trying to avoid thinking about it.

They sat in silence for a few moments, both sipping their beverages. "How...how's Max?" Victoria asked cautiously.

"Fine." Chloe remembered very well the last time Victoria tried to ask how Max was, and how that ended with her fist in Victoria's face.

Victoria seemed to be recalling the same thing. "I am sorry about how much of a bitch I was that - that day." She shifted uncomfortably. Probably not used to being wrong. "If I had known..."

Chloe shrugged, feeling a little passive aggressive. "You probably would have still been a bitch."

Victoria's lip twitched into a smile. "Touché." She took a long drink. "Guess it's habit by now."

"Look at you now, hanging out with trash like me - in public, no less." Chloe was smirking, enjoying the little bit of panic flashing in her eyes. Old habits certainly died hard, but to Victoria's credit, she quickly forced a neutral expression onto her face.

"You know, outside of your...trashy look, I think we're a lot more similar than I'd like to admit."

Chloe's eyebrow shot up. "Shit, Vicky, are you trying to be my friend or something?"

Victoria's eyebrows knitted, and she smirked a little. "Don't get so cocky, Price. I'm just saying, if you had half the photography capabilities of your girl and a mere ounce of fashion sense, you'd be a discount version of me."

"Was that a disguised compliment, Victoria? I'm honored." The blonde made a "psh" noise, but she seemed somewhat pleased. Victoria's face fell gradually, an apologetic look forming.

"I really am sorry...Chloe. For upsetting Max. She told me it's fine...but it's still bothering me."

"What, like the video you posted of Kate bothered you?" Chloe felt a little flare of anger at the thought. Kate was probably the person Max talked to on the phone the most, and Chloe found herself feeling a little protective of her by association.

Victoria was motionless, looking back at her with an almost pleading look in her eyes. "I know I did some shitty things." Her tone was even, stare unflinching. "I'm trying to be...better."

"Well, that confirms my theory." Victoria looked back at her, confused. Chloe snickered. "I have an inside joke that interacting with Max leads to dramatic changes in personality."

Victoria started grinning. "Oh, you wish your girl was that powerful." Chloe had to fight to keep her smile going. You have no fucking idea what Max is capable of. "But, I guess, in a way, she is, what with all the Jefferson bullshit."

"I prefer the term 'Jeffershit' myself," Chloe shared, a smirk forming on her face as she took another sip of coffee.

Victoria groaned. "Classy."

"You of all people would know."

Victoria rolled her eyes. "But seriously, is she...okay?"

Chloe exhaled heavily, leaning back in her chair. "Sometimes." She glanced up at Victoria, who seemed genuinely concerned. "What about you?"

Her face shifted into a look of surprise. "Me?"

"You were down there, too."

Victoria made a disgruntled noise. "Not for very long. Didn't even get a headshot out of it." She was trying to joke, but it didn't pan out very well. Chloe had to fight off a wince, aware of a past version of herself dealing with a literal Jefferson headshot.

Chloe gritted her teeth a little, trying to keep her voice steady. "Doesn't make it any less traumatic."

"What do you want me to say, Price?" A distraught look appeared in her eyes, although she was trying to hide it. "That I wake up in the middle of the night, screaming, thinking I'm back there?" With a pang, Chloe remembered how white the whole Chase house was, how the white walls of the dressing rooms back at the mall had set Max off months ago. "My parents don't even come in and check on me anymore." There was a bitter tone to her voice, and she shut her eyes defensively.

Fuck. Max was better at handling situations like this. Chloe reached a hesitant hand out, resting it on Victoria's arm, a little surprised when she didn't pull away. "Victoria, I'm sorry. I wish you didn't have to deal with this shit." She didn't move, so Chloe continued. "Max used to wake up every night, too." Her own eyes closed, trying to keep those memories locked down.

She felt Victoria move a little, and when she spoke, her tone was even again. "Used to?"

"She got a little better after a while. She's on meds now, so far so good." Max had been slow to get out of bed the last couple of mornings, but after the initial grogginess subsided, Max seemed happier than she had been in a long while. "Never thought I'd be saying this, but have you gone to see someone?"

Victoria shook her head, her lips curling in a slightly cruel smile. "Not something my parents are super fans of."

"Well, fuck 'em." Victoria's lips turned to form a real smile, amused at Chloe's suggestion. "Go see someone. It helps."

"Are you seeing a shrink, too?" Victoria asked, worry leaking into her voice. Aw, Vicky, so sweet to worry about little old me.

"More to make Max feel better about it, yeah." She wasn't looking forward to her second session the upcoming Friday, but Max seemed to have really appreciated her hour in the chair. "I'm more of an...alternative therapy person myself."

Victoria snorted. "By 'alternative', you mean 'weed', right?"

Chloe grinned, glad she picked up on it. "I'm not hard to read. I think I have one emergency joint somewhere in my things we brought up from Arcadia Bay. I'd have to unpack everything first, though." She still had all of her things piled up in "her room", untouched.

One of Victoria's eyebrows shot up. "I can probably help you with that."

"What, the unpacking?" There was a beat as Chloe thought about what she had previously said. "Oh, shit, that's right, you're from around here. You know the people."

With a wink, Victoria slammed her tea.

An hour later, Chloe and Victoria lay giggling in the bed of the ol' rust bucket, parked on top of a rather empty parking garage. Chloe had never seen this side of Victoria before - the human. Gone was the bitchy, I'm-better-than-you facade. She found herself agreeing with what Victoria had said earlier - the two of them were more similar than they were different.

"I can't believe that was you that defaced Jeremiah Blackwell's statue!" Victoria was in a laughing fit, reminiscing. "It took Samuel weeks to get all that paint off!"

Chloe shrugged, grinning. "It was all Rachel's idea, really. I just made it a reality." She took a deep breath, enjoying the familiarity of the smoke. "Damn, this is some good shit."

"This isn't some generic brand, Price. We have premium selections up here." Victoria looked over at her for a moment before bursting out laughing at her own pretentiousness. "Yeah, it's 'good shit'."

Chloe whistled as she passed the joint over. "Well, never thought I'd end up here, smoking it up with the queen bitch of Blackhell."

Victoria snorted, promptly laughing at her own snort. "I think I could say the same thing about the junkyard drop-out."

"Ouch. You're right." Never, not once, would this have happened before the storm. All because of Max. She felt a chill run down her spine. "Do you ever wonder...if it all would have been different?"

"What do you mean?" Victoria asked, confused.

Chloe exhaled heavily, watching the clouds. "Like, if you could go back in time and stop the storm from happening, what do you think would have happened?"

"I'd probably be dead." Chloe's neck almost snapped from how quickly she turned to look at Victoria, who shrugged. "No idea what Jefferson's plan was, but I don't know if he'd have just set me loose like he did Kate."

"Shit." Chloe had to bite her lip. Although Max had still never fully described what had happened in the dark room in a previous reality, she had hinted that Victoria didn't make it out of that room alive in at least one timeline.

Victoria turned her head to look at Chloe. "What about you? What's Chloe Price's big claim to fame, post no-storm?"

"Probably dead, too. Shot in a bathroom or something." So fucking subtle, Chloe.

Victoria's eyebrows raised, confused. "That's an...oddly specific way to die."

Chloe shrugged, snagging the joint to try to keep herself occupied. "Strange things happen sometimes."

Victoria giggled, staring back up at the sky. "You're telling me."

"I actually just did," Chloe quipped.

"You're a smartass, Price."

"Some people like that kind of thing." She sat in silence for a bit, watching the clouds roll by. "My mom would probably still be alive," she muttered. It hurt to think about.

Victoria laughed, a hard, emotionless exhale. "It's a shitty hand you've been dealt."

"You're telling me."

"I am." Victoria sighed heavily, watching smoke rise. "I'm sorry, Chloe."

They sat in a companionable silence, passing the joint back and forth. Chloe was lost in her own thoughts, wondering what else would have changed if Max had gone back like she asked. Would Max have been...okay, without me? The idea of there being just a Max, waking up from her nightmares alone everyday, ripped at her chest.

As if on cue, Chloe's phone started buzzing. She fumbled with it for a second, her face lighting up when she saw Max's name on the caller ID. "What's up, Max?"

There was an echo of sound coming from the other line, as if she was in a crowded room. "It's lunch time, just wanted to...just wanted to talk." She sounded a little cautious, as if she wasn't sure she was allowed to call.

"You can say 'I wanted to hear your voice', Max, that's not particularly intimate." She grinned over at Victoria, who rolled her eyes, giggling.

Max must have heard the giggle. "You still with Victoria?" Chloe snickered a little, confirming it. "Guessing that coffee date went well."

"Yeah, I had coffee. She had tea though, did you know she doesn't like coffee?" She turned to look at Victoria, grinning. "She's too fancy for caffeine beans."

"Oh my god, Price, stop talking about me like I'm not here." Victoria made a playful grab for the phone, which Chloe easily avoided.

Max was laughing quietly on the other end. "I should probably, you know, let you guys get back to it. Tell Victoria I said 'hi'."

"Victoria, Max says you're high."

"How the fuck does she know that?"

"Wait, what?" Max's voice snapped into a concern tone. "Chloe what are-"

"Relax, babe," Chloe replied. "It's just weed, nothing major." There was no response, but she could hear Max's breathing. "Max, you there?"

"Sorry, I - uh, 'babe'?" Chloe tried her hardest not to burst into laughter. Of course that's what she would get caught on.

"It's a term of endearment. I could call you 'sexy beast' instead if it makes you feel better." She looked over at Victoria who was rolling her eyes.

"What? No!" Victoria evidently heard Max's complaint, as she started cackling. "Chloe!"

"I'm kidding, Max. Talk to you later, 'kay? Love you."

There was a little pause, and Chloe could imagine her girlfriend looking around to see if anyone was listening. "Love you too," she half whispered, hanging up before Chloe could start laughing at her.

Victoria was still smirking as Chloe put her phone away. "Girl, she has you whipped." Chloe could only grin in response.