She wasn't sure what had woken her up, but when Chloe opened her eyes, all she could feel was an immense wave of achy pain. She shut her eyes quickly, rolling onto her side, away from Max as her stomach clenched similarly. She quickly realized she had no choice but to breathe out of her mouth - her nose had gotten congested over the course of the night.
She felt the bed shift slightly as Max moved closer to her, voice coming from somewhere above her. "Chloe?"
"Hey Max," she responded weakly, trying to ignore the slight pounding in her head.
A cool hand rested on her shoulder. "Whoa, you okay? You don't sound good."
"Eh, I've felt worse." The hand moved to reach for her forehead, and Chloe attempted to swat it away. "Your hand is cold," she complained, trying to move further away from Max.
"Probably because you're running a fever," Max responded, pulling her hand away. "Did you just wake up?"
"Yeah." She tried to inhale through her nose again, still finding it almost impossible. "Fuck, my nose is all nasty."
"Hang on," Max said quickly, almost bouncing out of bed. Chloe heard the door creak open and the sound of footsteps heading down the hall, before hearing the same sounds in reverse. "Grabbed tissues," she explained as the door shut. With her eyes still closed, Chloe could hear Max move in front of her, setting something down on the bed side table. "Do you, ah, need anything else?"
She reached out blindly to find the tissue box, and although she couldn't see it, she suspected Max had adjusted the box so she could grab a tissue. It was still a struggle to breathe even after blowing her nose. "I'll take some sleep, if you have it," Chloe responded, trying to set the tissue down on the bedside table.
"Well, I can't bring that to you," Max retorted, a humorous tone in her voice. There was a short silence before Max walked around the bed, slipping into her spot. "It's early, go back to sleep, okay?" Chloe made a sound of agreement, shifting to pull the comforter tighter around her neck.
The next time Chloe opened her eyes, Max's phone was chiming its usual wake-up alarm. "Sorry," she heard her mutter, the bed moving slightly as Max reached out to silence her phone. "Should have turned it off before I fell asleep."
Chloe waved a hand, trying to sit up. Her body complained as she moved, and without the blankets covering her, it was awfully cold in the room. "S'fine. You should get ready, I'll get up."
Max was still sitting next to her, frowning. "Chloe, just stay in bed, okay? You're obviously not feeling well."
"You have school today," she argued, trying to push herself on to her feet while ignoring the slight spin of the room. She was feeling her stubbornness wane, though - no way would she be able to drive Max today, not in this condition. "My keys are in my jacket, you should-"
Max was reaching over to grab Chloe's arm in order to pull her back down onto the bed. "I'll be fine," she said quickly, hands moving quickly to press down on Chloe's shoulders.
Chloe let herself fall back to a laying position, but her argument was still standing. "Max-"
The response came quickly and firmly, as Max pulled the sheets back over her. "School doesn't matter. You do. Now, shut up and go back to sleep."
Chloe yawned, stretching out again before curling back up on her side. "I like it when you're bossy," she murmured sleepily.
Max exhaled a little laugh, running her fingers lazily through blue hair. "Okay, Chloe."
One weird fever dream later (featuring Victoria and Steph throwing printers at her), Chloe woke up again, groaning as she felt the aching in her body. At least when I'm asleep, I don't totally feel like shit.
She heard Max chuckle, and forced her eyes open to see her girlfriend sitting at her desk, turned to look at her. "Hey, you're up again."
"Not by choice," she moaned, rubbing her forehead. Looking over at the bedside table, she saw a glass of water had been placed within reach, next to the box of tissues. "You brought me water?"
Max hummed an acknowledgment. "And some Tylenol, next to it. Didn't want to give you ibuprofen until you ate something."
"Eh, I'd take the empty stomach gamble right now. More drugs, the better." She pushed herself upright, wiping her nose with the back of her hand before knocking back the pills. Swallowing was uncomfortable with a sore throat, but she got distracted by a familiar scar on her wrist. "Know what this reminds me of?"
There was a little smile on Max's face as she got up, walking around the bed to Chloe's side. "What?"
She rotated her wrist towards the brunette as she drew closer. "When I broke my wrist in elementary school."
Max laughed quietly, sitting down on her side of the bed, resting her back against the headboard. "Yeah. You thought you could do an ollie on your skateboard."
It was an unnecessary blow to her pride to remember the exact details of that fall. "Hey now, I can do an ollie. I was just…there was a pothole," Chloe pouted, sniffing dramatically.
Max was shaking her head, a smile on her face. "Yeah, three feet away from you."
"Shut up," Chloe retorted, feeling slightly better as Max laughed more earnestly. "At school, you'd dash between classes so I didn't have to carry my school books myself."
"Well, your hand was out of commission for what, a month?" Max asked, reaching out to grab the hand in question.
"Yeah. Got real good with writing with my right hand, though."
There was a derisive snort in response. "It was chicken scratch," Max commented.
"But I could at least read it, towards the end," she said quietly, sighing dramatically.
"Sure you could," Max replied, a humored twinkle in her eye. She patted Chloe's knee before giving it a little shake. "I'm going to get you something to eat."
She didn't feel nauseous, but eating was the absolute last thing on her mind. "This might be a first, but I am not hungry," Chloe said, rubbing her stomach as she spoke.
Max was shaking her head, standing up. "You need to eat something, or you'll fade into nothing."
"Okay, I'm not that skinny," she commented, but Max had already left the room. "Great, just walk away from the sick person," she called, hearing a quiet giggle from somewhere in the house.
She took the opportunity to lurch her way towards the bathroom, using walls and various pieces of furniture to help stay on her feet - laying around all morning hadn't done her legs any favors. She had already flushed the toilet before she heard Max's feet coming back up the stairs, quickly followed by knocking on the bathroom door. "Hey, you could have waited for me," Max said crossly.
"I have a cold, Max. I'm not paralyzed," Chloe responded, opening the door to see a white-faced Max on the other side. It took her a second to remember a conversation they had had, the night before the storm. A different Chloe, from a different timeline. And I didn't think I could possibly feel worse today. "Shit, sorry."
Max pursed her lips, holding a plate with a few pieces of buttered toast in one hand. "Let's just get you back to bed," she said shortly, offering her free arm out for Chloe.
She quietly grabbed Max's arm, letting herself be guided back to their room. She decided to focus on making it back to the bed before trying to shove another foot into her mouth out of stupidity. Once she had settled back into bed, Max handed her the plate silently. The toast didn't look appetizing in the slightest, but Chloe dutifully took a bite, chewing slowly.
"Aren't you going to eat?" Chloe asked, after forcing herself to swallow the first bite.
"Already did, when you were sleeping," Max said quietly, starting to chew on one of her nails. She still had an odd look on her face, almost distracted.
"Okay, I'm the only one allowed to feel like shit right now," Chloe joked before taking another bite. Max didn't say anything, just kept chewing on her nail and looking across the room. "You know I didn't-"
"It's fine, Chloe," Max replied, although the way her arms were crossing and the tone in her voice indicated anything but "fine".
"Uh, it's obviously not."
Max was quiet for a minute before sitting back down on the bed, holding her hands in her lap. "I can't expect you to...to remember all these timelines you weren't a part of," she finally said, a heavy, matured tone in her voice. "That's not fair."
"But I did know about that one, when you saved my dad," Chloe said quietly, disappointed in herself.
"You didn't live it, though." Max was shaking her head, picking at the strings of her pajama pants. "I-I'm glad you didn't, that you don't have to remember all that."
Chloe shifted so she could reach one of Max's fidgeting hands. It froze for a second before relaxing around Chloe's hand. "What, am I supposed to be happy about that?" she asked quietly.
"I mean, I can't say I enjoy it," Max sighed, rubbing her thumb along the back of Chloe's hand. She sat there, thinking, before she suddenly started smiling. "It's not all that bad, though."
"Oh really?" Chloe asked, using her free hand to grab Max's pillow to propping herself up. "Do tell."
She was shaking her head, but couldn't knock that smile loose. "I don't know, just, not all of it was bad."
Chloe raised her eyebrows, tugging at her girlfriend's hand. "Did you sneak extra kisses out of me or something?"
Max blushed a little, but she was still shaking her head. "You wish."
"So, that's a yes," she teased, smirking.
"I really didn't." The smile finally started fading, melting into a reminiscent stare towards the wall. "It was a crazy week," she muttered, gripping Chloe's hand tight.
"Yeah, it was." She was quiet for a minute before realizing that her eyelids were starting to droop. "Are you gonna be mad if I fall asleep again?" Chloe asked, adjusting her position to a more comfortable one.
Max smiled, leaning forward and giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Not in the slightest," she responded, giving Chloe's hand another squeeze before slipping out of the room, leaving Chloe to her fever dreams again.