Work Text:
Max Caulfield smiled at the forming crowd. Today was Kate's big day; the day she would get one of her paintings put on display in a gallery for the first time. Beside her, Chloe fidgeted a bit with her necklace; one of the bullets seemed to have entered a button hole in her suit. Rolling her eyes fondly, Max reached out to help her.
"Thanks, Max... Ugh, I swear these buttons are in a conspiracy against me!" Chloe complained.
"Well, you should treat them a bit better then, shouldn't you? After all the buttons you've popped..." Max said teasingly.
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. And don't act like you two don't enjoy it when I rip both of your clothes off."
Max blushed brightly. "Well..."
Chloe grinned unrepentantly. "Yep. There it is."
Max huffed. "You don't have to be smug about it..."
"Where's the fun in that?" Chloe asked, still grinning.
"You do realize I still hold Supreme Pancake Power for this week, right?" Max said, raising an eyebrow.
"Worth it."
Max sighed fondly and returned her gaze to the crowd. It was a pretty nice showing, all things considered.
She looked over at Kate, who was standing next to the covered painting; after over four months of (top secret, no cookies for a month if you peek, Max) work, she finally declared it finished. Her and Chloe couldn't be more proud of their wife if they tried.
"I can't wait to see how she painted you, Chloe." Max said.
Chloe turned to Max, a twinkle in her eye. "Who said she painted me?"
Max blinked confusedly, taken aback. "Huh? But why was it essential for you to be there when she painted, then? Have you been hiding your artistic talents, Chloe?" she asked.
"Hah, no... trust me. It's part of the surprise, Max..." Chloe replied softly.
Max was bamboozled, to say the least. She tried to think of what Chloe could mean, but a clearing of Kate's throat interrupted her thoughts.
"Greetings, everyone! Welcome!" Kate said with a brilliant smile. "My name is Kate. Thank you for coming."
Max focused on her wife. This was Kate's time to shine.
"Well... first of all, I would like to thank the gallery for agreeing to showcase this painting. Thank you for giving me a chance!" Kate said. There was a smattering of polite clapping and smiles from the crowd. Max and Chloe, meanwhile, felt their love and pride in Kate surge again. When they encouraged Kate to nourish her artistic talent, they knew she would come far.
Kate took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. "When I began to work on this particular painting, I was thinking back to a very dark time in my life. Those who know me know what I'm talking about. Those who don't... well, I attempted to take my own life."
The crowd murmured slightly; mostly mutters of compassion. Meanwhile, Max's memory of that rainy Tuesday, many years ago, flashed again. The feelings of helplessness; desperation, hope... relief. She shook her head.
'Not the time, Max.'
"Even though it's in the distant past, it's not something that I'm ever going to forget. The despair... the hopelessness... I was thinking about letting it all out onto canvas, to achieve some kind of catharsis, but... that wouldn't have been very good, reminding us of how bad things were, would it? Then, I thought to myself: 'Kate... is there anything positive about that time that you can put on canvas?'" Kate said, wearing a melancholic smile.
That smile brightened, however, as she continued. "And I mentally bonked myself on the head because of course there was. Always a light after the darkness, right?" Kate said. "And so I began to put it on canvas. The emotions I felt. The light that I saw. The hope it offered. But... I couldn't do it alone. I needed help." Kate turned towards Chloe. "And I asked my wife, Chloe, to provide her superior well of knowledge on the subject." she said, looking at Chloe with adoration. She held out a hand to Chloe. "Please come up?"
Chloe separated herself from the crowd, and went to join Kate on the small podium. She kissed Kate lightly, offering an encouraging smile. Kate smiled back.
"Chloe helped me with portraying... well, the soul, to put it simply. She has an understanding of the subject that I can only hope to achieve in this life." she said, her voice wistful and hopeful.
Chloe nudged her slightly. "You will, you know. I have absolutely no doubts. You won't do it alone."
Kate chuckled. "I know, dear... Thank you." she cleared her throat again. "And so, we worked on this months-long endeavor together."
Max looked at them fondly, while still wondering what they meant.
"I'm... incredibly happy with it. I just hope you all can see what I saw that day, on the roof of that dorm." Kate said. She turned to Chloe, and nodded. They both grabbed the sheet covering the painting.
Kate took another deep breath. "I present to you... 'An Offer of Sanctuary'."
And with that, they unveiled the painting.
Max's heart stopped.
Whatever she had expected to see... it wasn't herself.
She barely registered the crowd gasping and muttering appreciatively.
A small part of her brain - the one that wasn't dumbstruck - noted Kate's amazing job on the painting. The roof looked perfect; you could practically hear the rain falling.
Or maybe that was just her memory surfacing again? 'Gee, Max.'
She looked soaked to the bone, just like she remembered. Matted, wet hair, soaked gray hoodie and pink 'Jane Doe' shirt and jeans. She was gazing up slightly at the viewer (at Kate), offering a hand with a hopeful smile.
Then her gaze wandered lower, and even that small part of Max's brain shut down.
Kate continued her speech. "The one light in the darkness, for both of us."
"She's... our savior, pure and simple. Without her, neither of us would be here today." Chloe said.
But Max couldn't quite hear them, fixated as she was on the roof's floor.
In the giant, rain-disturbed puddle of water that the roof bore, Max's reflection shone; except it didn't match with the painted figure.
"... we felt we needed to express this side of our wife; the quiet, kind hero who..."
The Max reflected in the water had giant, pure white wings protruding from her back; outstretched as if to shield the viewer. An ethereal light seemed to radiate from her.
Max felt tears prick at her eyes.
'Is... is this...'
"... Max?" Kate said.
Max looked up, humbled beyond belief. The tears started leaking. 'Is this how Kate saw me? How Chloe saw me?'
"Please join us, darling." Kate said.
"Move your hipster ass, Maxipad, c'mon." Chloe said softly.
Max slowly walked forward, still dazed. The loving touches, the details, the love obviously poured into the painting... when Max sobered up, she'd admit she found it completely overwhelming; however, she wasn't in a state of mind to process that right now.
As she reached Kate and Chloe, they embraced her, and Max found herself crying in earnest.
"You... you two..." she hiccupped.
They hugged her tighter. "You're our angel, Max. We're so thankful that you're in our lives." Kate said.
"Yeah... I bet the big guy is waiting up there to get the formalities crap over with and just give you your halo right at the gates." Chloe said cheekily.
Max couldn't help but let out a giggle at that.
"I'm certain He is, Chloe." Kate agreed, gazing lovingly at Max.
Max shook her head, laughing. "I... I don't even..." she tried to say something, but stalled. She settled for hugging them back as tightly as she could.
The crowd behind them was completely forgotten. Max was content to stand in the embrace of the loves of her life; wondering how she got so lucky.
"I just... thank you both so much. Thank you for your love. Thank you for everything." Max whispered. Kate and Chloe hugged her tighter, starting to get teary-eyed as well.
"Don't you think we should be the ones saying that to you, Max?" Kate said, lightly teasing.
Chloe laughed. "Let's call it a draw before we get competitive, hm?" she said.
After a minute in the embrace, Max opened her eyes to look at the painting over Chloe and Kate's shoulders.
It seemed to be looking at her knowingly.
Once upon a time, years ago, Max would've gladly taken an offer like this. To get away from the problems of the world with Chloe; to be safe, to get away from the torrent of despair that that one week in October caused... to get away from her powers.
Now, though?
Max huffed out a choked laugh. 'I have my sanctuary already, thanks.' she thought, visions of her, Chloe, and Kate's happy lives together going through her head.
She was sure the Max in the painting would've winked if she could.