"Chloe, c'mon, you can do this."

Chloe looked at the hand being offered to her, glancing back up at the attached blonde with wide eyes. "Rach, I might be crazy, but this is insane."

Rachel Amber snorted, glancing down at the churning water with a wild look on her face. The wind was buffeting the both of them, and Chloe kept having to lean back into the cliff wall to keep from tipping forwards, towards the sea. Rachel, on the other hand, was unfazed, letting herself tip back and forth. "People do this all the time. Take my hand already."

"I chose life, thanks," Chloe responded, well aware of how fast her heart was beating. Why the hell do people do this for fun? "When you said you wanted to go swimming, I thought we were starting on the beach."

Rachel smirked, glancing down at the water again. "Well, I decided some cliff jumping was in order, seeing as you've never done it." Rachel waved her hand around again, leaving it open for Chloe to grab. "Now, come on." It wasn't an ask, it was a demand.

Chloe swore under her breath before grabbing Rachel's hand, automatically intertwining fingers. "If I die, I'm haunting you," she muttered, trying to focus on the girl next to her and not the crazy shit they were about to do.

Rachel grinned back, hair whipping around her face wildly. "When you live, you'll be thanking me." Before Chloe could protest, Rachel was jumping off the cliff, pulling Chloe down.

Chloe jerked awake, sitting upright. Her heart was pounding, just like it had been in her dream - or maybe it was better to call it a memory, seeing as it did actually happen. She leaned her elbows into her knees, cradling her face for a second in the dark. Of the crazy things she and Rachel had done, cliff jumping was probably one of the more mild ones, but definitely one that Chloe would rather never do again. That kind of adrenaline rush wasn't worth it.

Max stirred slightly next to her, but didn't wake. Chloe watched her for a minute, relieved that her girlfriend was sleeping soundly. It was rare that Chloe could wake Max up nowadays, but on the occasions that she did, Max was always excessively concerned. No, it was far easier for Chloe to let her sleep than have to divulge what her brain was cooking. She sighed before climbing out of bed as slowly as she could, just to make sure Max didn't wake up.

She didn't have dreams featuring Rachel often anymore, but she always felt oddly guilty when she woke up from one, regardless of the dream's content. It almost felt like she was being unfaithful to Max, which was utter nonsense, as Chloe couldn't control her dreams, and in any case, Rachel Amber was dead. It still unnerved her, though, and she hadn't told Max about any of those dreams, either.

Quietly, she slipped out of the bedroom, heading downstairs for lack of anything more interesting to do upstairs without potentially waking someone else in the house up. To her surprise, the kitchen light was on, and she could hear muttering. Curious, she came around the corner to see Ryan, foraging in the freezer in his pajamas.

"Mr. C? What are you doing up?"

Ryan jumped as he heard Chloe speak, standing upright and swinging the freezer door shut in a mild panic. His eyes were wide, although his whole posture relaxed as he saw who had snuck up on him. "Chloe, hell, you scared me!"

She smiled apologetically, shrugging. "Sorry." He rubbed his chest for a moment, glancing between her and the now-closed freezer with a guilty expression. "Digging for a late night snack?"

He nodded, his hand moving to scratch his arm absentmindedly. He glanced back over at the refrigerator, his shoulders relaxing further. "Yeah. I was trying to decide whether or not having some ice cream would be a good idea."

Chloe considered the consequences for a moment, before grinning. Vanessa and Max were both oddly possessive about whatever ice cream was in the house, to the point that Chloe just assumed she wasn't allowed to eat any. Ryan evidently felt the same way. "Well, if we both had some..."

Ryan chuckled, yanking the door open again. "You know, I'm feeling dangerous." He moved to grab two spoons, and they both sat down at the table, digging in and savoring the treat for a moment. After his second spoonful, Ryan looked up at her, curious. "What has you up?"

She froze for a moment, not sure how much honest she wanted to be about a dream staring her former girlfriend. Particularly as she'd be telling her current girlfriend's father. "Just, uh, just a dream," she responded, shoving a spoonful into her mouth quickly.

Ryan's hand paused, utensil poised in front of his mouth. His eyebrows furrowed together, although he seemed to be trying to his face neutral. "A bad dream?" he asked conversationally, although the frozen spoon gave away his actual concern.

Chloe shrugged, pulling the quart towards her to get a better angle at the remaining ice cream. "It's somewhere in the middle." Ryan watched her for a little more before nodding, finally putting his spoon in his mouth. "What about you?"

It took him a second to swallow, his face flushing slightly. "Just too much on my mind," he said, a slight edge to his voice. Chloe gave him a little doubtful look, and he sighed, setting his spoon down. "There's been...talks of restructuring, at work," he explained, sounding more tired than before. "It's got me, and Vanessa, I guess, on edge."

Chloe shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She might not have any experience in business or careers, but she wasn't stupid. "D'you think you'd, you know, lose your job or something?"

"I hope it doesn't come to that," he sighed, leaning back in his chair. He reached up to scratch at his beard absentmindedly. "I do like my job, that's half the reason we moved for it."

"Uh-huh." She knew she sounded too accusatory in her two syllable answer, and Ryan's shoulders sagging confirmed it. "Sorry. I, uh, hope things work out."

"I hope so, too." He was quiet for a moment, staring at the table. He ran his fingers over the table for a moment before glancing back up at her. "It was...we shouldn't have moved, so soon after William passed. I'm sorry about that."

Chloe shook her head slowly, putting her own spoon down. "It sucked, that's for sure," she muttered.

"We should have stayed, even for a few more weeks." Ryan leaned forward, clasping his hands together on top of the table. The pose almost made him look like he was begging for forgiveness. "But the house was already sold, we didn't have our jobs in Arcadia anymore...we had to keep moving, for ourselves and for Max."

Chloe kept her eyes on the quart of ice cream, not wanting to make eye contact. There was still a hint of betrayal thinking about those five years the Caulfields were out of her life. "Mrs. C told me once that Max was never really happy up here," she said slowly, tapping her fingers against the table a few times.

She could feel Ryan's eyes study her for a moment before he exhaled heavily through his nose. "No, she wasn't. She put up hell of a good front most of the time, though." He leaned back, chair creaking as he crossed his arms. "I don't think Max was really happy until she was heading back to Arcadia."

"For Blackwell," Chloe said dully, her eyes moving to study the wood grains in the table.

"For you." Chloe looked back up to catch the corner of his mouth twitching up, a smile that might have been if the conversation was lighter. "She never admitted it out loud, but she didn't pick Blackwell for Mark Jefferson."

It made Chloe feel slightly better, even though she already knew Max had hated the separation as much as she did. She snorted quietly, thinking about the first time she had seen Max as an adult. "Could have fooled me. If I didn't nearly hit her with my truck, I wouldn't have known she was back."

The ghost of a smile quickly became real as he chuckled. "Chloe, this is Max we're talking about. No way in hell would she have had the guts to reach out first."

Chloe couldn't hold back the resulting laugh, although it felt oddly hollow. It was a bittersweet truth. "Yeah, she was always a chickenshit." She winced as a disappointed frown crossed Ryan's face. "Sorry, I know you guys don't like the swearing."

His face softened slightly, and he shook his head, smiling again. "Sometimes, I forget the both of you are adults. I expect two children to come running into the house on occasion." He tapped his fingers on the table, glancing at the mostly gone ice cream. "Still feels like only yesterday Joyce was calling to say you two had gotten into her wine stash. Although, it was yesterday that Vanessa was telling me the same thing."

Hearing her mother's name hurt a little, but the reminder of her recent wine escapade made her snicker slightly. "Oops?"

Ryan laughed, shaking his head as he did so. "I'd rather you drink in the house than go out somewhere and end up driving. Just as long as it doesn't become a habit."

Chloe shrugged, knowing very well that she had done stupider things in her life. "In a year, it won't matter anyways, right?"

"Hmm, yeah." Ryan had a thoughtful look in his face, glancing around the room as he gathered his thoughts. "When did you girls grow up?"

"I have a biting, sarcastic response for me," Chloe joked, actively choosing not to bring William up again. "Max, I can't speak for."

"Max and Chloe, right?" He was muttering slightly, an almost sad look in his eyes that Chloe couldn't quite place. If she had to guess, he was reminiscing their glory days. His eyes eventually focused back on Chloe, now slightly worried. "She's okay, right?"

"Who, Max?" He nodded, and Chloe shrugged in response. Still a loaded question. "For the most part, yeah. I think all the therapy helped, and, you know, time and distance."

Ryan watched her for a little bit, a wistful smile on his face. "And you, I'd say." Chloe couldn't look at him for a moment, surprised at how warm her face was. "I'm glad she has you. And that you have her, of course," he said kindly.

"Same." Chloe drummed her fingers on the table for a moment, wondering how honest she wanted to be in the middle of the night, in a conversation with her girlfriend's father. "I...how cheesy is it to say that I don't know what I'd do, without her?" Minus the, you know, dead part...She shifted uncomfortably at the thought, trying to stop her brain from whirring. "This is a weird conversation to have with you, Mr. C," Chloe blurted.

Ryan snorted, his face splitting into a wide smile. "It really is." He picked up his spoon from the table, gesturing towards the quart. "Want to demolish this ice cream and go back to bed, so we can get yelled at in the morning for it?"

Chloe grinned back, casting a glance towards the stairs. She could almost hear the sounds of disappointment coming down from the upper floor now. "Hell yeah."