Archive of Our Own

When Chloe sloppily parks in Blackwell’s parking lot Monday morning, she already knows that the day is off to a bad start. The sight of the school initially makes her sick- this was the last place she saw Rachel. She had dropped her off, for school, and got a text later saying she wouldn’t need a ride home. She hasn’t seen her since. And now, she has to talk to that sick fuck Nathan. She’s doing it for Rachel, she reminds herself, so that once she comes back they can get the fuck out of this hellhole. But that doesn't make it any easier. 

She glances at the missing Rachel Amber posters stacked on the front seat and sighs. She just wants to get some cash and have this all be over with. So, Chloe inhales deeply before stepping into the main building, marching her way towards the girls’ bathroom and praying that David doesn’t see her. She won’t have a chance if he does.

Bracing herself for interacting with the most notorious douche of all, she pushes the bathroom door open, sucking in a breath. She exhales immediately and the first person she sees isn’t Nathan Prescott, but her childhood best friend Max Caulfield- who she has been trying her hardest not to think about these last five years.

Nathan is too caught up in his argument with Max to notice her, but when Max makes eye contact with her, she goes still. Nathan turns around to see her, and Chloe doesn’t know what she could possibly say, too distracted by Max's presence.

“Oh great, it’s you,” Nathan says, and it’s only now that Chloe sees his gun, aimed at her.

“No, leave her out of this!” Max yells, desperate and pained. And it’s funny, in a way. Chloe has been dreaming of Max’s voice for years, but it’s different now, harsh and hollow. Nathan turns back to face Max and then- when Max takes a step towards Nathan- the gun goes off. 

Chloe is unable to move, unable to do anything as she watches Max crumple to the floor.

And Chloe can’t breathe. She’s not listening to Nathan’s frantic, mumbled apologies. She doesn’t pay attention to the gun falling out of his hands, landing on the tile floor.

“Max!” she yells, disbelieving what’s before her eyes, running and dropping onto the ground next to her. She gently lifts her up- trying to hold her. “Oh God,” she says, staring at the blood that’s pooling on Max’s right side. There’s so much of it and it’s so red. She doesn’t know if a person can bleed this much and still live.

“Chloe,” Max murmurs.

“Max,” she says weakly, gently touching Max’s face with the tips of her fingers. “You’re- you’re gonna be okay.” Chloe’s voice falters, and her chest compacts.

Max just smiles at her, in an angelic, haunting kind of way.

“I’m so glad it’s me and not you,” she says quietly, with so much warmth it’s as if she hasn't just been hit with a bullet.

“Max, what are you talking about?” Chloe asks, wide eyed, trying not to focus on the fact that Max is dying right before her eyes. “Max, you’ve gotta stay with me, okay?”

“I- I’ll always be with you, Chloe.” Max’s voice cracks when she says her name, and Chloe can feel her heart breaking with it. “I never meant to leave you.”

Chloe’s breath is caught in her throat as she realizes the depth of what Max is saying. She wants to tell Max that it’s okay, that she forgives her for not being a part of her life anymore. That she’s going to be okay, but the words don’t come past her lips because David suddenly barges into the bathroom.

David’s yelling, and Chloe’s head is spinning too fast to process what he’s saying.

“Call 911 he shot her, he shot her!” Chloe screams, panicking, feeling crushed by the dark blue walls surrounding her, and the thick, metallic smell of Max’s blood. Max has gone limp in her arms but she’s still breathing and that’s all that matters. Chloe sits there, holding her upright, and for a brief moment- when David escorts Nathan out the door and seconds before the EMTs get there, she’s alone with Max, who’s still bleeding.

This can’t be happening, Chloe thinks. Not when it’s their first time seeing each other again. It can’t end with Max dying on this ugly, mismatched floor of this shitty school.

And then she’s gone- on the stretcher.

Chloe can’t shake the feeling that this will be the last time she’ll see her.

***

Chloe learns that she hates hospitals: their stiff chemically smell, their blindingly bright lights, the nurses and the doctors and the people, coming and going and dying- Chloe can’t stomach it. The worst part of it all is the waiting, even with Joyce with her, Chloe feels like she's trapped in a nightmare by herself, where time isn't moving forward.

After two of the longest hours of her life, a middle age, pale blonde nurse guides her to Max.

Chloe’s not family, so she’s technically not supposed to see her, but Max’s parents called the hospital staff and convinced them to let her see their daughter. They’re on their way flying from Seattle.

She gasps when she see's Max- who is connected to monitors and tubes. She looks so… small, Chloe realizes, underneath scratchy looking blankets and enclosed by the pasty white walls. She appears almost translucent, as if she’s not really there. But the monitor displaying her heartbeat, scarily slow but steady, disproves that.

“Max,” she says, voice strained. But there’s no response. Max is sleeping, and Chloe is afraid that she lives in a world where she will never wake up.

Chloe pulls a chair next to her bed and sits, anxious. She wants to reach for Max’s hand, but the girl is almost a stranger to her now. Someone she knew once, in another life it seems. A life full of seaside adventures and snowball fights and sleepovers… Before she left.

Before she literally took a bullet for her.

Chloe starts to cry, without a sound, because she’s used to crying quietly, so her mom won’t worry and check in on her. Out of all the cruel things the universe has done to her, Chloe can't fathom how violently it's trying to take Max away from her- the second she's in her life again.

This morning shouldn’t have been their reunion, but she doesn’t have it in her to blame Max anymore, not after seeing the relief on her face. Chloe shivers, Max was so…calm earlier, and happy to see her, despite the pain she must have been in. That she’s still in.

Joyce joins her before too long.

“Honey, the doctor says she isn’t going to wake up for a while, maybe you should go home and clean up, give yourself a break, before Max’s parents get here.”

“Clean up?” Chloe asks, before looking down at her shirt, splattered with blood that’s not her own. Shit. “Will you stay with her? And call- call me if she wakes up?” she adds.

“I will, Chloe,” Joyce says solemnly, wearing that all too familiar look of grief. Her eyes are sunken in, her body hunched over, and Chloe is reminded that this isn’t the first time her mother was in the hospital, waiting for someone to wake up. She squeezes her mom’s shoulder before leaving, ill prepared for the contact of a full out hug.

Chloe drives home without listening to any music- the shock from what happened this morning is still wound tight within her. When she enters her house, she tosses her white tank top into the garbage can, she knows it’s impossible to get a stain that red out of white clothing. She throws on her black half sleeved jacket in the wash, donning a black tank top and camo jacket before slamming the door.

Breathing in the fresh air outside, Chloe can’t imagine going back to Max’s hospital room, not yet. Holy shit, she thinks, after realizing that she hasn’t smoked at all today. No wonder I’m so fucking stressed.

And maybe it’s because she needs some space, and maybe also because she’s a little sentimental, Chloe takes a roundabout route to the hospital, and marches out of her car, finding herself at the bench near the lighthouse. She and Max used to play here when they were little, their names are still carved on a tree stump.

She stares at the ocean, to see that the sun is starting to set, and it’s a beautiful, golden shade. Chloe can’t recall ever being so frightened, terrified at the thought that Max might never wake up, that she’ll lose her- again. Like her dad and Rachel. There’s a slight breeze blowing by and it’s eerie in the sense that she feels like Max is with her. Which is impossible, she knows. Max is in the hospital with Joyce.

Still, whatever peace she thought she found has vanished, and she suddenly feels terribly alone. For the millionth time she wishes that Rachel were here, she’d know exactly what to say to make her feel better. Hell, she’d probably still be in the hospital with Max if she asked. Rachel was special that way.

***

When Chloe gets to Max’s room, David is outside the door waiting for her.

“Max’s parents are here,” he says slowly. He isn’t William, Chloe is all too aware of that. He doesn’t have a memory of Max when she was younger, racing downstairs to eat an entire stack of pancakes. To David, she’s just another Blackwell student. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your best friend a few years ago?”

Chloe shrugs.

“What does it matter? Nathan Prescott still shot her.” She eyes the files in his hand murderously. “You here for the report?”

“It’s my job, Chloe. I’m really sorry about your friend. I’m a security guard, do you really think I’m happy a student pulled out a gun under my watch?” David pauses, frowning. For once, Chloe tries understanding what’s behind his dark brown eyes. “What the Hell were you doing on campus anyway?”

“It’s not any of your business, okay?” She crosses her arms.

“Chloe,” he barks, stern and unfazed by her glare.

“I was trying to get some money from Nathan, alright? We were supposed to meet in the bathroom. And Max-” Chloe glances at the door to Max’s hospital room. “She was there when I walked in. They were arguing about something. And then he shot her. That’s it.”

David sighs, exhausted.

“Thanks for cooperating, Chloe.”

“Whatever, can I go see my friend now?”

David nods, with a look of pity that Chloe can’t stand.

She’s enters the room and is immediately greeted with stiff but warm embraces from Max’s parents. They’ve both been crying, Chloe can tell, judging from the redness in their noses and the blotchiness in their cheeks.

She plans on giving Ryan Caulfield a handshake, but he hugs her. When she hugs Vanessa, she starts crying again.

They don’t comment on her hair or tattoos, or how long it's been since they've seen each other. The first thing that Vanessa says to her is, “Oh Chloe, you’ve grown up.”

For forty-five minutes, Chloe stays with them, in awkward, stifled silence. As it starts to get late, Chloe starts to feel restless because Max still hasn’t woken up, and her parents have made it clear they’re not leaving anytime soon.

“Is it okay if I go now and uh, come back in the morning?” Chloe asks, hesitant to leave but dying to get out of there at the same time.

Ryan nods at her.

“You deserve some rest,” Vanessa says, not taking her eyes off her daughter.

***

Rest doesn’t come easy to Chloe. She can’t sleep, and she can’t cry anymore. She doesn’t know what to do, for once she doesn't even have the urge to get high. Caught in the zone of being half asleep and half awake, Chloe imagines that she can go back to that moment in the bathroom, and stop Nathan from using his gun. Maybe she’d never set foot in Blackwell this time, or maybe she’d take the bullet herself.

It doesn’t matter anyway, she thinks, feeling cheated. She’s played with the idea of going back in time before, to stop her dad from picking up her mom, or even to stop Max’s parents from moving. This time is no different, her old best friend has been shot, because of her, and there’s nothing she can do about it.

She wakes up unnaturally early on Tuesday, and anxiously glances at her phone, hoping for a text or call about Max. And there’s nothing. No words or condolences from anyone. Not that Chloe could really expect anything, out of the two good friends she’s ever had one is missing and one is in the hospital. And Chloe is angry at the universe.

When she visits Max’s room, her parents are dressed in the same clothes as last night, with large bags under their eyes.

“Hey,” she says, as cordial as possible, before glancing at Max, watching her chest rise and fall beneath the sheets. Still sleeping. “Um,” she begins, unsure how to word it, unsure how to handle any of this, “if you guys want breakfast, my mom’s still at the Two Whales. She’d be happy to treat you. And uh,” she swallows. “If you guys need a nap or something, that’s fine too. I can stay with Max.”

Ryan and Vanessa look at each other with exhaustion, and a bit of relief.

“That would be really great, Chloe,” Vanessa says. “I wouldn’t want to leave her here without anybody looking after her, thank you.”

“No problem.”

“You’ll call us if she-” Ryan begins, voice heavy and thick with concern.

“Yeah, promise.” Chloe fills in, offering him a smile.

Ryan sighs and stands up, slowly leaving with Vanessa as if in a trance.

“Well, Max.” Chloe says, taking the chair Vanessa had been sitting in, still warm. “Our first hang out in five years and you’re asleep. Nice going.”

After three long exhales from Max, she starts talking again, with a little more certainty.

“Sorry, it’s not your fault. I just, I’d been dying to see you again for years, you know? And you never called, or anything. Not even to let me know you were coming back here. And now-” Chloe sighs, rubbing at her eyes with the heel of her hand. “Now we’re together again, but you’re still so far away from me.”

Chloe waits, irrationally, for Max to respond but she doesn’t. There’s not even a shift in her breathing.

“The doctor said you were supposed to wake up sometime yesterday, after the procedure, but you didn’t. And that- that terrifies me so much, Max. You can’t just show up in my life again, get shot and die that’s not- that’s not fucking fair.”

Chloe crosses her arms and glares at the wall. She shakes her head and stands up, walking over to the window, afraid to look at Max, scared that if she does, it will be the last time.

Around noon, Max’s parents come back, with more news about Max’s condition. Chloe tries to be patient as she listens, but it’s hard. The doctors still don’t know why she hasn’t woken up, so they’re going to have to run some more tests.

And Chloe doesn’t know where to go. She can’t go home, because her mom is working and she doesn’t want to be alone in her house. She can’t go back to the lighthouse, because the idea of going back there without Max feels wrong. She considers going to American Rust, but that’s just another reminder of Rachel.

When she steps outside the hospital building, she sees it’s started to rain, which is pretty fucking fitting, all things considered. Chloe ends up smoking cigarettes in her truck, unwilling to drive anywhere, unwilling to think of anything at all. She focuses on hearing the rain tap against her car, hoping it will drown out her thoughts.

***

At eleven o’clock that night, she gets a call from Vanessa.

“Chloe, I know it’s late, and I don’t want to ask this of you, but would you consider staying with Max at the hospital tonight? I don’t think Ryan and I can do it again.”

“Of course,” Chloe complies. “I’ll be right there.”

It’s not exactly what Chloe wants to be doing, but she doesn’t know what else she could do instead.

And it feels right to be with Max. Even if she’s not really there. It’s their first sleepover since they were barely teenagers.

“Remember our first sleepover? You were so nervous at first.” Chloe laughs a little. “It was adorable. You were adorable, we were honestly the cutest kids ever.” Max had forgotten her toothbrush, and Chloe had offered to let Max use hers. Looking back, it wasn't the most hygienic thing to do, but Chloe never minded, not if it would make Max laugh. 

Chloe falls asleep in the chair, with her head on Max’s legs. And that night, she has what are probably the best dreams of her life.

In them, Max is with her, smiling and laughing. And she’s so familiar, like they’ve never been apart. Most of the details are blurred, but when Chloe wakes up in the morning, she can recall green and railroad tracks and splish splash and Max’s shining eyes- lit up in a way she’s never seen before. There’s something else, something more important, she knows, but she can’t remember it for the life of her.

She’s not surprised that she dreamed about Max. It’s not the first time, but it’s the first time it felt real, like a memory. It’s as if she actually had these adventures with Max, and Chloe knows it’s impossible, but it doesn’t stop her from feeling it.

It’s as natural as being with Max now, the morning light creeping in through the windows. Chloe doesn’t say anything to Max, it’s starting to feel wrong to talk to her when she can’t hear her. All of it is wrong, especially because it shouldn’t be Max in the hospital- it should be her, she’s the reason Nathan brought the gun to campus in the first place.

Eventually, Joyce and Max’s parents walk in, all wearing the same solemn expression.

“What’s wrong?” Chloe asks, her voice shaking. “Is it Max’s tests?”

“No, Chloe it’s not that,” Joyce says, lips pressed tight. “Honey, there’s something I have to tell you, I don’t think here’s the best place.”

Vanessa and Ryan are giving her the same look of pity, and Chloe feels like she’s under a spotlight.

“Sure, let’s go somewhere else then, I could use some breakfast anyway.” Chloe looks back at Max, before standing up and following her mother out of the room.

“What’s so bad you can’t tell me in front of Max’s parents?”

“Chloe-”

“I’m serious is- holy shit.” Chloe stops walking as she sees the news shown on the TV in the waiting room. A teacher from Blackwell Academy has been arrested for the alleged drugging and murder of girls. His name is Mark Jefferson, and Chloe can faintly remembering Rachel mentioning him before.

***

It happens in the kitchen- Chloe, waiting for her mom to just get it over with, and Joyce, leaning on the counter for support. Chloe's pretty sure she can handle anything else the universe throws at her this week, but her stomach is tugging at her, like it did when she found out her dad died.

The first news is disturbing but not surprising: Nathan Prescott and Mark Jefferson were apparently working together, and David's been in on the investigation. 

It's when Joyce tells her that Rachel was one of their victims, that they killed her, that the world stops spinning. Chloe feels like she’s suffocating, like her lungs are collapsing within her, and all she can think is, No, not her.

Chloe doesn't believe it, not until Joyce explains that David was on the team that found Rachel's body in the junkyard. The place that was supposed to be theirs. Chloe shakes her head, falling onto the kitchen floor, sobbing. Joyce sits next to her, slowly placing her arms around her in comfort.

Chloe doesn’t get up for hours.

She doesn’t visit Max again either.

***

Chloe doesn’t sleep at all Wednesday night, and Thursday morning starts with the sun shining in her window- a day as beautiful as ever. Chloe glares at the light. Rachel is dead- just gone, and she never got to say goodbye. And Max- Max must be dying, Chloe realizes, because why else is she still asleep? Why else don’t the doctors know what’s going on?

Chloe can’t cry anymore, but her eyes are still red and puffy and she’s never wanted to die this badly until now. The universe, she realizes, has taken away everyone she’s ever loved, and she’s had enough. She doesn’t feel strong enough to deal with any of this.

She goes through her mess of a room, and her heart wrenches when she sees pictures of Rachel- a glimpse of that blonde hair, that dash of blue, smiling and alive and real. Chloe would give anything to hear that summery laugh of hers one more time. She places the picture of her (giving the finger) and Rachel (gleaming at the camera) delicately on her desk. She then freezes when she sees a picture of her and Max, dressed as pirates. The Chloe in that picture looks happier than Chloe can even imagine being.

She considers visiting Max, but the thought of seeing her again with those blue eyes closed, possibly permanently, scares her.

Chloe isn’t sure what she’ll do if she loses Max again too.

***

Chloe sleeps in until twelve o'clock on Friday, and the sound of her ringtone going off is what wakes her.

It’s Vanessa.

“Hello?” she asks, feeling groggy and not fully awake yet.

“Chloe, Max woke up.”

Chloe sits up immediately, screaming “SHE WHAT” into the phone.

“She woke up a few minutes ago, she’s been asking where you are.”

“Tell her I’ll be right there!” Chloe ends the call, and throws on her black jacket and beanie. She runs down the stairs to let Joyce the good news, only to remember that she’s working today.

She fumbles with locking the front door while she tries to send Joyce a text at the same time.

Twenty minutes and one illegal U-turn later, Chloe finds herself reminding herself to breathe as she stands outside Max’s room. It’s Max, the girl she’s had a million sleepovers with, shared a million secrets with, who she can’t stop dreaming about. She tries not to think about how angry she was at her for leaving, and focuses on how she’s still alive.

This is their real reunion, Chloe realizes, holding in her breath and opening the door. When she sees Max, sitting up in the hospital bed, she stops walking.

“Chloe!” Max says, voice hoarse, and she tries to crawl off the bed.

“Max, honey, you shouldn’t get out of bed,” Vanessa warns gently.

“It’s fine, Mom,” Max says, struggling.

Chloe rushes to her side.

“Hey, no need to hurt yourself over me again, okay?” She leans down to hug her, and it’s an awkward angle with Max still seated, but she hugs her back, tightly.

“Oh, Chloe,” Max says warmly, after they pull away. The smile she wears is so genuine, so relieved, that Chloe almost forgets all the pain she’s been through this week. No one’s ever looked at her the way Max is looking at her now, as if she’s the only thing that matters.

“Mom, can Chloe and I have a minute alone?” Max asks. There’s a sense of urgency in her voice, and Chloe isn’t sure if Vanessa picks up on it. Chloe glances at Vanessa, who clearly doesn’t want to leave Max, but she gives in.

“Of course.”

Vanessa and Ryan exit the hospital room slowly, looking back to make sure that Max is still awake. Chloe takes the chair next to Max’s bed and sits still, heart hammering inside her chest.

“I’m still tripping over the fact that you saved me,” Chloe says, smiling. “I uh, I don’t know how to say ‘thanks,’ after everything you did,” Chloe admits, taking her eyes off of Max for the first time, eyeing the window behind her.

“You don’t have to, Chloe. I’m just so glad you’re here.”

“Same,” Chloe laughs, glancing back at the girl, who’s still smiling at her, for a moment.

The smile fades when she starts to apologize.

“Chloe, I’m so, so sorry that I haven’t been a good friend to you. I should have been there for you sooner-”

“Max, you were there for me when I needed you most.” Probably, she thinks. She wants to spare Max about how miserable her life has been since she left.

“I don’t think that’s totally true,” Max says softly, almost as if she knows something Chloe doesn’t.

Chloe shrugs.

“You’re with me now, okay? That has to be destiny.”

Something about those words changes Max, she stills and starts crying.

“Sorry,” Max says, rubbing at her eyes, embarrassed. “I think it’s all the drugs they’ve given me. Uh, what day is it?”

“What? Oh, it’s Friday.”

“The eleventh?”

“That’s right.”

Max looks out her hospital room’s window, it’s sunny out, a perfect day. Max relaxes into her bed and sighs. “I’ve been knocked out awhile, huh.”

“Yeah, you had us worried there, you know.”

Max doesn’t reply, instead her huge doe eyes stare at her, concerned.

Only now does Chloe realize that she hasn’t showered since Monday, and even though she’s wearing her beanie, her hair feels grimy and gross. But Max hasn’t seemed to notice.

Chloe laughs, and shakes her head.

“It’s almost like nothing has changed, right? I mean, everything has changed, but, being with you again is, so amazing.” Chloe stops herself, she hasn’t even spent five minutes with Max and things are already getting mushy.

“I feel that way too, Chloe.” Max says, grinning.

And that grin of hers is enough to get Chloe to start believing that things might actually be okay. 

***

Rachel’s funeral is on Saturday, and Chloe has no words for Rachel’s parents. They had asked if Chloe wanted to say anything, but Chloe refused. She wonders if they knew she was in love with their daughter.

After the service, Chloe visits the hospital, still wearing her black funeral attire.

“I’m so sorry about Rachel,” is the first thing Max says to her. Max had texted her earlier, and said she would have gone if she could have, for moral support, but the doctors aren’t letting her leave till tomorrow.

“Yeah, me too.” Chloe says.

“I heard you were… close.”

“Yeah, that’s putting it lightly.” Chloe bites her lip, and looks down at her feet. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be blunt with you.”

“That’s okay, Chloe. You can talk about it, if you want.”

Chloe looks at Max carefully, remembering bits and pieces of her dream from last night: it was raining and Max was crying, that’s all she can recall.

“No, I think I just want to mellow out here, for a bit.” Chloe sighs. “If that’s okay,” she adds, unsure if Max even wants to see her. 

Max laughs. “I’d love your company, honest. There’s actually something I have to talk to you about.”

“Yeah?”

Max sighs. “I know that the timing really sucks, with Rachel and everything. Um, but the doctors say I can leave tomorrow, and my parents- they want me to go back to Seattle.”

“Oh,” Chloe says. It’s something she should have expected- of course her parents would want her to go back with them.

“They said I could stay, but that I can’t be in a dorm by myself, until I’m healed. They already talked to your mom, and she said it was okay if I stayed with you guys for a few weeks. But if you’re not cool with it I understand, I totally bailed on you five years ago and-”

“Max, do you-"

“I want to stay, Chloe. With you. If that’s cool.”

Chloe grins.

“That is hella cool,” she says.

***

Two Months Later

They’re in Max’s dorm, and Chloe is sitting on her couch, absentmindedly playing Max’s guitar while Max studies for her world history test. And the weird thing is, aside from the dreams that feel like forgotten memories, is that it feels like they’ve done this before. And it’s impossible because they never hang out in Max’s dorm.

There's always been something natural about being with Max, but ever since they've been reunited, it's been different. Like they've lived this all before. Chloe has never taken the idea of reincarnation seriously, but after all these vivid dreams that leave her feeling both full and empty when she wakes up, part of her has to reconsider.

“Do you believe in reincarnation?” Chloe asks, regretting it as soon as the words leave her mouth.

“What?” Max asks, startled, putting her pen down and looking over at her.

“I just- okay, here's the thing, Caulfield. I’m only telling you this because you’re my best friend okay? If you don’t believe me, that’s fine, but, I want you to hear me out."

Max doesn’t speak right away, her lips are pursed, eyes thoughtful.

“I’ll always believe you, Chloe,” she says softly, and Chloe swears she’s heard her say that before.

“I’ve been having these dreams for the past couple of weeks,” Chloe starts, unsure of how to explain any of it to Max.

“What kind of dreams?” Max asks.

Chloe would look away, but Max is looking at her so intently, that Chloe wonders if it’s possible she’s been dreaming the same dreams. Max’s gaze holds that kind of familiarity: soft and starry eyed. Chloe doesn’t think she’s ever appreciated freckles as much as she does now.

(And it doesn’t help that she’s always thought Max was really, really pretty).

“Dreams of us,” Chloe says, feeling brave. “They don't always make sense. They're usually of you and me exploring I guess? Sometimes I can't move in them, like I'm paralyzed or something, but usually they're good dreams. Like, there was one where I managed to convince you to sneak into Blackwell's pool with me and we did. It was amazing." 

"That sounds like... fun," Max tries, and she’s torn about what to say, Chloe can tell.

“I’m not doing a very good of explaining,” Chloe admits.

“That’s okay,” Max laughs, and returns her attention to the review on her desk.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Chloe points out, after a minute of replaying their conversation in her head. “About reincarnation. Or what the dreams could mean.”

Max’s eyes meet hers, concerned.

“Chloe,” she begins, averting her eyes, and then looking back at her, with a wry smile. “There’s a drive-in movie theater, sixty miles from here.”

“So?”

“So, if you take me there, on a date, I’ll answer your question on the drive back.”

Max's smile says it all: she must be having dreams similar to Chloe's. Or something. And it has to be big, otherwise she's sure Max would tell her right now, even though she has her history test first thing tomorrow morning. But more importantly, Chloe realizes, is that Max wants to tell her after their date.

Chloe can’t hold back her grin.

“Fine,” Chloe agrees. “But only if we get to make out for like, half the movie.”

Max giggles at that.

“Fine by me," she says, standing up. Max walks over to her slowly, keeping her eyes on her. 

It's a look Max has given her a hundred times since she got shot- sad and hopeful and knowing. But this time is a little different, Max looks more happy than sad, and Chloe gently places the guitar down on the couch. She's about to get up but suddenly Max is on her, with one hand on her shoulder and she's leaning in to kiss her and Chloe kisses her first. 

Max pauses for a second, from surprise, Chloe guesses, but she can feel Max smiling against her so she kisses her again. Max kisses her back eagerly, softly, and even though it's their first kiss, it doesn't feel new, but familiar. 

A knock on the door breaks the kiss, but Max doesn't shift.

"Sorry," Max apologizes. "I forgot I made plans with Kate to study for the test."

Chloe laughs. 

"It's okay, Max. I'll uh, pick you up tomorrow? For the movie?"

"Yeah," Max says, kissing her cheek before opening the door for Kate.

***

It's raining and freezing on the cliff, and Chloe isn't ready for any of this.

“Max, it’s time,” Chloe says, trying to prepare herself to say goodbye. 

Max shakes her head, avoiding looking directly at her.

“There’s another way,” Max says. She bites her lip and turns around to look at the storm. “A way to save everybody.” Max slowly turns back to face Chloe, calm and unafraid. “A way for us to still be together.

“I’ll go back,” Max explains, “to when I took that picture. And then I’ll talk to Nathan- if I can save Kate without my rewind I can stop him from shooting you right?”

“Max-”

“It’s going to change everything, but I have to believe it’ll be for the better.” Max looks at her with tears in her eyes. “I don’t want to take all these memories away from you.”

Chloe smiles at that.

“Even if I don’t remember, they’ll always be ours, okay? You're my hero, Max,"  she says, desperate for Max to know that.

Max steps towards her, slowly, and her gaze never leaves Chloe’s. She leans in to kiss her, gently placing both her hands on Chloe’s cheeks. It’s a slow kiss, and when Chloe deepens it, Max moves in closer. Max is the one who breaks it, staring at her, sinking every moment in. Chloe realizes she’s doing the same thing. When Max hugs her, pressing her body up against her, part of Chloe wishes she were selfish enough to convince Max to stay with her in this life.

“I’ll always love you,” Chloe says, when Max has pulled away, photo in hand.

“I know,” Max replies, smiling. “You’re my partner in time.”