Chapter Text
"Hello?"
"Hi Chloe… it's Max."
"Max?! Oh my god! Rachel turn the music down! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. How… how are you?"
"I'm good. You never text me back."
"I am so sorry Chloe, it's just been crazy. I may be coming back to Arcadia Bay, if they accept my application."
"Oh? That's cool."
"If I get in, would you like to get together and catch up?"
"Fuck yeah! Just give me a call when you get here!"
"You won't leave without me, will you?"
"How did you know-"
"Just a guess. I'll see you soon!"
"Too right you will."
She snapped back to the present, two weeks after she allowed the destruction of Arcadia Bay to save Chloe's life. A choice she knew she would always make. She was aware of the morning light streaming in through her open bedroom window. At first the familiarity of the room didn't concern her, then she froze, she was certain she'd done everything right, there was no way she'd got it so wrong. The room was exactly as she'd left it only minutes ago, the same bird song drifting in from outside, their clothes thrown over the back of her desk chair. They were still in her parent's house in Seattle, nothing had changed. She lay back down on the bed with a thump, aware of Chloe's body on her right.
"I'm sorry Chloe, I tried."
"Wuh huh?" Chloe muttered, rolling over to put an arm over Max. She admired the blue haired beauty for a moment, the regret building inside her to an intolerable level.
"I tried to fix it, something must have gone wrong."
"Fix what?" A third voice said from the floor at the bottom of the bed.
Max sat up suddenly, aware of the hazel eyes staring at her from over the edge of the covers.
"Holy shit…" Max said, taking in the features of Rachel Amber who was now standing up to stretch in just her underwear and vest top. Her blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, the blue feather earring in her left ear just like the picture Chloe had shown her. Rachel Fucking Amber was alive and well, in Max's bedroom.
"What's got into you?" Rachel asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I… what?"
"Oh shit, is this the Main Mad Max?" Rachel said, poking Chloe's exposed bare foot. Chloe reacted with a slapping motion towards the cause of the irritation.
"Wah?" Chloe said, looking up through half closed eyes.
"The Main Max, I think she's back." Rachel said, sitting on the end of the bed.
"How do you know about that?" Max asked tentatively, pulling the covers up over her own vest top, very aware of her state of undress before Chloe's beautiful best friend.
"Oh please, Chloe and I have been watching you rewind and manipulate time for the last three weeks. It's hella awesome!"
"Oh." Max said, looking at Chloe who was now looking at her with concern in her eyes.
"You okay?" Chloe asked, taking hold of one of Max's hands.
"Disorientated." Max admitted. "I don't know what's happened over the last 7 months."
"Mad Max is back. I told you." Rachel said, scooching up the bed to sit in front of Max. "What is the last thing you remember?"
"Making an anonymous tip to get Jefferson arrested… and asking you to meet me when I started at Blackwell." Max said to Chloe.
"That was months ago!" Chloe said. "So you did one of your selfie jumps?"
"Yeah. You know about those too?"
"Sweetie, we've been your partners in time for three weeks, your shit is our shit." Rachel said, taking Max's other hand, though not with the same grip as Chloe.
"What did you change?" Chloe asked with a big grin on her face. "Come on! You have to tell us."
"I saved your life." Max admitted to Rachel.
"Mine?" Rachel recoiled slightly.
"You really want to know?"
"You told me all about my other self, I'm sure Rachel would love to know what peril you saved her from!" Chloe wasn't letting it go.
"Go on. Tell us. Therapy time." Rachel said cautiously.
Max sighed and told them everything about her previous three weeks, from saving Chloe in the bathroom to making the choice at the lighthouse before the tornado, and finally her choice to return to the past in an attempt to save Rachel from her previous fate. She left pieces out, like searching Frank's RV or the topic of her feelings for Chloe, something she felt she had to bury now. Rachel Amber would have Chloe's heart, and she'd be the third wheel.
"Well that explains Nathan getting arrested." Rachel said. "But Jefferson? I'd never have suspected, he was cool, he was handsome, he…" She went quiet. Chloe was looking at her strangely, Max was glad she hadn't mentioned the crumpled up note she had found in the other timeline, she had no idea if it even existed now.
"So Nathan drugged Rachel at a Vortex party, and killed her?" Chloe asked, confirming what she'd heard.
"With a drug overdose, Jefferson helped cover it up." Max said with a sigh.
"In this Dark room place?"
"Yes. And two weeks ago Jefferson killed you when…" Max swallowed hard, saying all this in front of Rachel was difficult enough, but the look on the blonde's face was heart wrenching. "When we found Rachel's body. Then he drugged me and kept me in that fucking place too. I did everything to escape, selfie jumps, rewinds, over and over trying to get out and when I did I had to find a way to save you too!" Chloe squeezed her hand.
"But we're all here now, Rachel and me. You saved us both, you're a damn hero!" Chloe pulled her into a tight hug. "You're awesome Max."
Rachel looked as though she was trying to come to terms with her previous fate, staring down at a single spot on the bed. Her stare had a deep intensity, it was starting to freak Max out when she looked up, smiled wide and joined in the hug.
"Thank you Max. Without you I wouldn't be here. Without you I'd be in a hole somewhere." Unexpectedly, Rachel planted a large kiss on Max's cheek.
"Hey now." Chloe said with a smirk. "This Max is mine."
"You may have competition Price." Rachel retorted with a grin.
"If you two are done playing tug of war, with me in the middle, could you tell me what I've missed?" Max said weakly from between the crush of the two girls on her smaller frame.
"Of course." Rachel said, sitting back. Though Chloe didn't let Max go. "I guess we should start when you arrived at Blackwell?"
"That might help."
"I suppose I should start?" Rachel asked Chloe.
"You got to see her first." Said Chloe.
"Only because I knew exactly who I was looking for what with all those Chloe calming sessions after she called."
"Calming sessions?" Max looked at Chloe, concern clearly etched on her features.
"Nothing to worry about. I was nervous to see you again, kept freaking out. Rachel was an excellent therapist though."
"Freaking out? I still remember one night." Rachel put on her best impression of Chloe. "Oh God, what if she looks at me and decides she doesn't like what she sees? What will I do then Rach?" Chloe aimed a soft kick at Rachel, glancing her crossed legs, Rachel laughed. "So, your first day at Blackwell, I was the one who showed you to your Dorm room. You were absolutely oblivious to who I was, didn't know my name. But when I name dropped Chloe your demeanor changed entirely. This shy little girl went all nervous and wary, asking me all kinds of questions of how Chloe was, how often I see her, whether Chloe still wants to meet. You were adorable. But I kept you close that day, knowing Chloe would freak if I didn't at least look after you."
"Other-Max wouldn't have remembered…" Max started to say.
"We know, it's okay. Especially after what happened with the photograph into your past when you tried to save William."
"I still did that? Why?"
"Getting a bit ahead of us here. Would you prefer to ask questions or get the story?" Chloe said, a sad look in her eyes.
"Story."
"Then hush up questioning Max!" Rachel said with a playful tap on the leg. "Where was I? Oh! First day. When class that day was over I almost had to drag you out to the parking lot to see Chloe. You were almost as bad as she was, but like a good friend I persuaded you to do it or you'd probably regret it."
"Did it go okay?" Max asked, followed by a wide grin from Rachel.
"Let's just say you didn't really use your Dorm much in the first month." Chloe said with a snigger. "You'd finish class, come out with Rachel and we'd all take off to chill. We'd stay at either my house or Rachel's, then in the morning I'd drive you both back to school. Like clockwork."
"Yeah, we didn't spend any time apart. Chloe was absolutely alive, like I'd never seen her before. And you were turning into my own personal photographer, you always knew the best way to capture me when I posed."
"Then in October things got… weird." Said Chloe
"Weird how? What did I do?" Max tried to move away, but Chloe gripped her tighter.
"It wasn't your fault!" Rachel said, placing a reassuring hand on Max's leg. "On the 7th of October you had an episode in class, your nose started bleeding so I got you out of there to the bathroom. I tried consoling you but you'd only talk to Chloe." Rachel looked a little hurt, even after all this time.
"That's where I take over." Chloe said proudly. "Rachel brought you out of the school looking pale and rough, so we bundled you into my truck and quickly made haste to the Junkyard. The entire way Rachel held you tight while I drove, she was really worried about you and it was starting to worry me. When we were getting out you asked me to wait. Rachel understood and left you with me."
Max looked at Rachel, who only smiled reassuringly at her. "We have since talked about it, I already know what was said in the truck."
"You'd had some kind of vision of a giant tornado wiping out Arcadia Bay. Obviously we thought it was a dream, like you'd fallen asleep or blacked out. I suggested you got some Junkyard air, so we got out and started walking to the tracks when Rachel joined us. You were starting to talk a bit more, loosening up, when you stopped behind us before we even reached the tracks. You grabbed me in a tight hug, and pulled Rachel in too… jabbering on about a train hitting us. I mean, obviously we didn't believe you at first, we thought you were having a panic attack. We sat you down in the hideout, we tried to comfort you, but you kept going on about it, as though you'd lived it, describing really intricate details." Chloe went quiet for a moment, so Rachel picked up the story.
"You said you'd rewound time, like traveled back along it. Then you proved it. You told us the next five things to happen, in order, with detail. Chloe was shocked, I was freaked out. I tried to disprove it, giving rational thought to how you knew it. So then… you did it again. You told me exactly what I was going to say next, word for word. You even told me things I'd only told Chloe, that we'd never discussed with you."
"It was awesome." Chloe whispered into Max's ear. Then continued a little more loudly so Rachel could hear. "We stayed at the Junkyard, trying to make sense of your tornado vision. It was only when it started snowing…"
"That we believed you could be right about that too."
Both of the girls went quiet for a moment, possibly considering what to say next or how to say it. Max sat patiently, waiting. Her mind was still racing about everything she wanted to ask, everything she wanted to say but Rachel's presence had put a block on her voice. So far Rachel had appeared genuine and nice, but what time they'd spent together over the last month was only from Rachel's perspective now. Max had no idea how to open up to who she thought was a complete stranger.
"We should eat." Rachel said, springing up off the bed. "I'll get us something." She pulled on her leggings and quickly left the bedroom, casting a sideways glance at Chloe who didn't seem to notice. She'd let go of Max to lean over the edge of the bed to grab her pack of cigarettes and lighter.
"Is she okay?" Max asked as she rearranged her pillows behind her head while Chloe enjoyed her cigarette.
"We apparently had a few close calls last week, saved by the Max in Shining Armour, so she knows you're not making it up. But… I don't know. A timeline where she died? Could mess with anybody." Chloe said, taking a drag.
"Should I go and check on her?"
"Sure, the story can wait. I'm just going to… enjoy this." Chloe said, leaning back with a look of contentment on her features.
Max threw back the covers, retrieved her jeans and followed the blonde. Rachel was leaning against the kitchen counter when Max caught up, the same look of deep thought in her hazel eyes.
"Hey Rachel, are you okay?" She asked timidly.
"Huh?" Rachel looked up, broken from her thoughts. "Yeah I'm fine. A lot has happened lately."
"Tell me about it."
"So I have to ask, if there was a timeline where I died, but you still met up with Chloe, why did you risk changing everything for me?" Max cringed inwardly, she should have expected this question.
"Well…"
"Don't lie to me Max."
"Chloe begged me to try, she said if we picked the perfect time and the right way everything should be fine, especially if I told her I'd be going to Arcadia Bay."
"Yeah… she waited for you. We were supposed to have gone to LA months ago but after that call, Chloe wouldn't go, not until she'd seen you."
"I'm sorry Rachel."
"Why? We're in Seattle now right? I finally got out of Arcadia Bay!"
"I just… I know how much you wanted to leave that town, what you did to try to get away."
"How? You're alternate future Max, I haven't told you any of this."
"Chloe and I, we were investigating your disappearance in that timeline and I asked around, a lot. Even found your pictures in Frank's RV." Something passed over Rachel's features, fear? Shock? Max couldn't tell, but the girls attitude seemed to change in an instant.
"You know about… that?" Rachel said, not putting a title to their relationship.
"He helped us in the end, because of you."
"Yeah, he would." Rachel had started hugging herself, just like Chloe had done in the past when she was struggling. They were so alike in their own way. Max wondered how she now fit into their relationship. "Look, Chloe doesn't know, neither of you found out about Frank and I. Please don't tell her, please."
Max nodded uncomfortably. She didn't want to start lying to Chloe, but she didn't want to do something that could ultimately lead to her losing Rachel all over again.
"Thank you. It was over anyway, I haven't seen him in weeks and I don't want to see him again." Max didn't know what to say, instead choosing to help find some snacks out of the cupboards. Rachel said nothing more, instead helping to carry what food they wanted up from the kitchen to Max's room, where Chloe was still in bed, enjoying her cigarette.
"Took you both long enough! I was starting to wonder what you were up to." She said, sitting up as Rachel threw a bag of cookies to her.
"Girl talk." Rachel said with a smile. They dropped their sugary goods on the bottom of the bed, took what they fancied and assumed their previous seating positions. Chloe gave Max a gentle nudge as she got back into bed.
"So where were we?" Rachel said between mouthfuls.
"Monday night, snowfall." Max said, well aware the eclipse happened the next day.
"Nothing else really happened that night. I mean, what else could we do? We were all still processing the fact one of our friends was now a Time Traveler!" Rachel said enthusiastically. "So we hauled ass back to Chloe's, stuck on some shit film…"
"Ahem… Blade Runner is not shit." Chloe said.
"And chilled the night away." Rachel finished, ignoring Chloe.
"I think I need more of a break." Max said suddenly.
"You okay?" Chloe asked, putting down her food. "We've only just got back to it."
"My mind is just racing at a million miles an hour and I want to ask questions because I want the answers, but I don't at the same time."
"Well how about you ask us some questions and put your mind at ease?" Rachel offered. "You've saved our butts enough times these last three weeks, we're not going anywhere now. The whole story can wait."
"What happened to the Bay?" Max asked straight away. "Did I have to make the choice again?"
"Us or the Bay…" Chloe said solemnly. "Yeah, you had to decide between letting that train hit us or sacrificing the bay. At least that was our theory at the time, probably wrong after what you've told us. You could have gone back, let us die and still had to face that fucking thing alone."
"From what you've told us though Max, without you neither of us would be here. We couldn't let you carry that weight alone, we wouldn't." Rachel added. "We all made a promise by the lighthouse to stay together, come what may, whatever you decided."
"I could never let Chloe go, originally." Max said.
"And I'm so grateful that you would sacrifice a town for me" Said Chloe. "For us." She added, seeing a wounded look in Rachel's eyes. She wrapped her arms around Max again and squeezed her tight. "I'm so glad to have my two best friends"
"Alright love birds, break it up." Rachel said.
"Love birds?" Said Max, wondering if it was just a joke or something else.
"I'm going to give you both time for this one." Grinned Rachel. "Who knows how you felt in the other timeline." Rachel got up and once again left the room. They heard the bathroom door close from across the hall.
"Love birds?" Max asked again, looking Chloe in the eyes, trying to glean something from the beautiful blue eyes she'd spent the last two weeks gazing into.
"I'll kill her." Chloe said, almost as a whisper.
"Chloe."
"We played a game of truth and dare a while ago, Rachel's idea because she wanted to know more about you. It was either that or two truths and a lie, but I know you Max Caulfield, you couldn't lie to save your life." Max smiled at how well Chloe knew her.
"You're right, I'd be apologising after I said it."
"Well Rachel had been sipping on wine all night and decided to up the stakes. She went from doing silly little things to…" Chloe was turning red, it was kind of cute to see. "She dared you to kiss me. I thought you'd take the forfeit, but nope, you were straight in. Rachel was grinning like she'd won a bet or something." Now it was Max who turned red in the cheeks. "Our relationship had somehow changed because… look this is really weird to say because I don't know how you feel, but I know how I feel and…"
Max decided then and there to help Chloe understand how she felt. She leaned in closer, inhaling the blunette's scent, aware of her fear jumping up and down in the back of her mind but resolved to show this beautiful girl how she felt once more. The soft kiss sent sparks through her nerves, her heart was alight with the love she felt, her fear was gone as the beauty kissed her back, as though Chloe had been wanting this kiss as much as Max. They parted slowly, a smile on each of their faces.
"Does that explain it?" Max asked softly.
"Perfectly."
"What about you and Rachel?"
"We're friends and I love her, but it's nothing like how I feel for you. I thought it was but… nobody is you Max." Chloe placed her forehead against Max's, a gentle yet reassuring pressure.
"I'm glad to hear it." She tilted her head back to plant another loving kiss on Chloe's lips. As they parted, Max was taking in the blue of Chloe's eyes when a thought intruded on the peace. She had to ask. "How did you two know I'd used the selfie this time? Rachel was calling me Main Max." Chloe bit her bottom lip, suppressing a smirk that was forming on her face.
"You're not the only snooper Max, I have my own history of poking around." She put a hand under her pillow and pulled out a small note with a selfie attached. "I found this in your desk drawer. Care to explain?"
Max took the note and knew exactly what it was. As she'd made the phonecall to Chloe she'd jotted down a small note to herself and attached the selfie, an emergency selfie in case their plan totally backfired, a way to fix the timeline if she broke it. "I wrote it in case I fucked it all up." She said quietly. "And I dated it in case another version of me found it first, so they'd know how long until I snapped back."
"Which you did, because you wrote some stuff in your journal." Chloe said, indicating the closed book on the desk.
"Have either of you read it?"
"No. We respect your privacy too much to do that to you."
"Think it could wait?" Max asked, not really in the mood to get a lecture or something from another Max.
"We're not going anywhere, not yet."
"Yet?"
"Well we were all discussing it before..." Chloe quickly went quiet. "I'm sorry, I guess we haven't all discussed anything."
"Just tell me what plan we'd come up with Chloe." The door opened as Rachel quietly tried to peak in, probably hoping they weren't still kissing.
"Glad I didn't walk in on you two again." Rachel said, the door snapping to behind her.
"Does that happen often?" Max asked, looking between the two girls.
"Once or twice, or six. I have bad timing." Rachel grinned. "It's not like you two look bad kissing, I just feel awkward in ruining your moment."
"The plan." Chloe said, returning to the conversation despite her cheeks turning red again. "Was to go on a road trip, the three of us. Your parents are concerned after the Arcadia Bay tornado but... they're not totally against it." Chloe was smiling with a puppy dog look to her features, Rachel too. They were ganging up on her! They wanted her to agree without thinking it through. She couldn't resist Chloe and a road trip would certainly give her time to think and get the rest of the story out of them. Plus she could take photos of the beautiful Rachel Amber.
"Let's do it!" She replied with a smile to match theirs.