Chapter Text
Chloe felt something move against her and woke up. She groggily looked at the sun streaking on the high stone ceiling above her and heard the ocean outside. She also realized her back really fucking hurt. She started to move and felt a weight on her, looking down to see Max sleeping on her chest. Chloe's heart jumped and she started to smile before she remembered what had happened yesterday. She remembered that they had slept in the lighthouse. She remembered huddling together with Max for warmth as they listened to the raging storm. She remembered watching Arcadia Bay disappear beneath an enormous tornado.
Chloe laid back down on the uncomfortable stone floor. It was still cold against her bare back and she shivered. She was suddenly aware that she and Max were in their underwear, having taken their clothes off to dry on the rail of the stairwell inside of the lighthouse. Chloe wasn't thrilled at the idea that Max's first waking sight would be her boobs, so she carefully moved Max so she could get up. Max somehow stayed asleep despite being placed on the cold, hard floor and Chloe retrieved her pants from the railing.
Their clothes were still uncomfortably damp, but they were bearable. Chloe pulled her shirt on and grabbed Max's jeans and shirt. She knelt down and gently shook Max's arm. "Max? Hey, wake up."
Max stirred and groaned slightly. She opened her eyes and looked up at Chloe. "Chloe...?" she said sleepily.
Chloe held out Max's clothes. "C'mon, get dressed."
Max slowly sat up and took her clothes. She pulled her shirt on and sat there, looking around half dazed. "Where are we?" Max had never been a morning person.
"We're in the lighthouse," Chloe said quietly. "We stayed here to get out of the storm."
That last word seemed to wake Max up. She got up and put on her jeans, then quickly walked outside with Chloe following. Chloe squinted from the bright sun as she stepped outside. Her bare feet squished on the soaked ground as she walked after Max, who stopped at the cliff that overlooked the ocean. Chloe thought of the hellish scene of the storm from yesterday and couldn't believe how calm the sky and sea were now. She came to stand next to Max and followed her gaze.
Chloe looked at what remained of Arcadia Bay. From this distance, she couldn't make out much, but there didn't seem to be much left standing. Some buildings were completely destroyed while others were just damaged. She saw cars that had gotten tossed around by wind and water. She didn't see a single telephone pole still standing. There was even a dead whale laying in the street. Everything was broken and mangled, chewed up by the storm and spat back out.
The two girls stood there looking at the destruction until Max turned and moved to sit on the bench. She sat back and looked at the ocean. Chloe sat down next to her and stared at Max's face, trying to read what she was thinking. Eventually Max reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. Chloe realized she had left hers in the truck, which was parked at the bottom of the hill that led to the cliff. "I'm gonna go get my phone out of the truck," Chloe said. Max nodded as she fidgeted with her cell. Chloe went back in the lighthouse to put on her shoes before trekking down the hill. They were still very wet and squelched as she jogged to the truck.
Chloe came back quickly. She had grabbed Max's bag as well and set it down on the bench next to Max, who was on the phone. "I'm so glad to hear that, Kate," she said.
"Kate!? She's okay?" Chloe exclaimed.
Max nodded. "Yeah, she texted me this morning. Her parents took her home yesterday." She paused, listening to something Chloe couldn't hear. "Chloe's here, too," she said.
Chloe took her own phone out and started walking around to get reception. It must have lost the signal yesterday, because she just had two messages from her mother from the previous evening. She hoped that was the case, anyway. As she walked around with the phone raised up, she pushed away the thought that those were the only messages she would have. She finally got a signal and stood still, waiting.
After a few seconds, the phone began to vibrate so much that Chloe almost lost her grip on it. She watched the notifications stack up, one after another, all of them from her mother throughout the night and morning. Tears started forming in her eyes and she sank to the ground.
She heard Max say "Hey, Kate, I'll call you later, okay?" before coming over to where Chloe was sitting. "Hey, are you okay?" Max asked.
Chloe sniffed and nodded. "Yeah, it's just." She took a deep breath to stop her voice from choking. "My mom's been blowing up my phone," she said with a slight laugh.
Chloe saw relief wash over Max's face and she knelt down to hug Chloe.
"Thank God," Max murmured.
Chloe's phone finally stopped, the final count on it reading 27 texts, 38 missed calls, and 12 voicemails. She cleared them without checking and called her mother. It only rang twice before she heard it pick up. "Chloe?" Her mother's voice sounded frantic.
"Mom," Chloe answered, fighting to keep her voice controlled.
She heard Joyce start to cry. "You're alive," she sobbed. "Oh thank God, you're alright."
"I'm fine, mom. Max is here too."
Her mother chuckled. "You two always were invincible when you were together."
Chloe laughed too. "You just can't keep us down." She looked at Max sitting next to her and smiled.
Max returned the grin and wiped at her eyes. "I'm gonna call my parents," she whispered. Chloe nodded.
"Where are you?" Chloe's mother asked.
"We made it to the lighthouse, away from the storm. We stayed there all night."
Joyce gave a short, sad laugh. "If only everyone was as clever as you girls."
"What about you? Where were you last night?"
"The Two Whales. I dunno how, but that crummy old diner actually stayed standing."
"What about...who was with you?" Chloe wanted to ask if David had made it, but was actually scared to find out.
"There was an old fisherman named Joe, one of Max's classmates, a boy named Warren, and the drug...uh, Frank Bowers, the man who lives in the RV." Chloe was happy to hear that Frank was alright. As complicated as their past was, Rachel had loved him and Frank loved Rachel, so she was glad he made it through.
"Max! Warren's okay!" she yelled over at Max, who had her phone to her ear. Max smiled and sighed happily. Chloe turned her attention back to her call. "Is...is David..."
"David is safe, too," Joyce said happily. Chloe sighed with relief. "He was in some sort of bunker, apparently. He called me earlier and said he still had to help the police with some investigation they’ve been on since Thursday evening." Chloe realized that he must have been in Jefferson's bunker when the storm hit.
Chloe held the phone away from her and whispered just loud enough for Max to hear. "David was safe in the Dark Room." Max nodded as she continued trying to get a hold of her parents.
Joyce was talking when Chloe put the phone back to her ear. "...are all congregating at the Blackwell football field. They have rescue workers out here already who've been handing out supplies."
Chloe heard Max say "Mom?" and she started explaining what had happened. Chloe guessed that it was still too early for this to be all over the news. "Chloe's here with me. Her mom and stepdad are okay, too."
\
They gathered all of their belongings and began the drive to the Blackwell football field, where all the survivors were gathering. Chloe tried to keep her eyes forward and not look too closely at the obliterated town. She hoped that Max wasn't looking too closely either. They had to take several detours because of debris blocking roads and saw some emergency vehicles on their way. They were stopped a couple times by police, who made sure they weren't just here to gawk and ultimately helped direct them around the wreckage and towards the football field.
The parking lot was mostly empty. There were a few civilian vehicles but the ambulances and Red Cross vans outnumbered them. Chloe parked and she and Max entered the small stadium. There were people scattered throughout the bleachers and on the field, but they were all generally grouped together. The Red Cross workers were buzzing around, checking on everyone. A lot of the citizens had blankets wrapped around them and some form of food or drink in their hands.
As the two girls walked towards everyone else, one of the helpers noticed them and came over. “Hi, how are you two?” she said in a gentle voice. “Do you need anything?”
“Um,” Chloe was glancing around at the survivors. “I’m looking for my mother. Uh, Joyce P- uh, Madsen?”
The woman nodded and said to follow her. They walked closer to the crowd and she raised her voice just enough to be heard. “Joyce? Joyce Madsen?”
After a moment, the crowd parted slightly and Chloe’s mother emerged. “Chloe!” she yelled and ran forward, the blanket that had been on her shoulders flying off. Chloe jogged towards her and they met with the strongest hug Chloe had ever given her mother. “Oh, my angel. I thought I’d never see you again.” Her mother started to cry again.
Chloe sniffed hard as she fought back sobs. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.” She tried to laugh as she spoke but choked instead.
The two of them stood there quietly for a moment, neither one ready to let go. The responder had walked away to help other people. Chloe was the first to loosen her grip and her mother followed suit after an instant of hesitation. Joyce looked around her daughter. “Max Caulfield, you get over here.” Chloe saw that Max had started to cry too, but she smiled and jogged over to embrace Joyce. “I’m just so thankful my girls are okay,” Chloe’s mother muttered.
“So is David here, too?” Max asked as she and Joyce parted.
“He was earlier. He came to check on me, but the police wanted him back to help with something.” Chloe and Max glanced at each other briefly, which caught Joyce’s attention. She squinted at them. “Do you two know what’s going on with that?”
The girls looked at each other again and had a silent conversation. Chloe looked back at her mother. “I think David will be able to explain it better.”
Joyce looked back and forth at both of them for a few seconds before rolling her eyes. “I learned a long time ago not to even bother prying if you two had a secret.”
Max jumped a bit as her phone began to ring. She pulled it out of her pocket and checked the screen before answering. “Hey mom. Yeah, we’re with her now.” Joyce looked at Chloe, who shrugged. “Yeah, one sec,” Max said, slightly confused. She pulled the phone away from her ear and put it on speaker. “Okay, mom.”
“Joyce?”
“Hi, Vanessa. Been a while,” Chloe’s mom responded.
Max’s mother sighed. “Sorry about that. I wish I was calling under better circumstances. Are you alright?”
“The three most important people in my world are safe, so I can’t complain.” She glanced up at Max and Chloe with a warm smile. “I don’t know what I woulda done if either of these girls were hurt.”
“I can’t tell you how much Ryan and I appreciate you looking after Max. Your house was always a second home for her.”
“Well she was always like my second daughter.” Chloe saw Max smiling and rubbed her shoulder affectionately.
“That’s actually why I wanted to talk to you, Joyce. Do you know yet what condition your house is in?”
Chloe hadn’t even thought about the house yet. Her mom sighed. “David checked on it. It’s not in good shape.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that, Joyce. You too, Chloe. It can’t be easy to lose a home.”
Chloe met eyes with her mother, who gave her a small smile. “Like I said, everything important to me is fine.”
Chloe returned the smile and felt tears start to well up again, blinking hard to keep them back. “Yeah, what she said.”
Vanessa gave a short laugh. “I’m glad you two are so strong. Well, that still means you, David, and Chloe don’t have a place to stay. And I already talked to Ryan about you three coming to stay with us until things settle down.”
Joyce looked surprised. “Vanessa, that is so kind of you. Thank you.” She paused, thinking. “But, we couldn’t impose on you and Ryan like that.”
“Joyce, really, it’s no problem. We have a spare bedroom, the girls can share Max’s room. Just at least until all the insurance and whatnot is figured out.”
Joyce bit her lip and put her hands on her hips as she thought. Chloe looked to Max, who smiled at her. “We can be roomies.” Chloe couldn’t help but smile and leaned over to give her best friend a quick side hug.
“Please, Joyce. Let us help,” Max’s mother said after several seconds of silence.
Chloe’s mother looked up from the ground and at Chloe. She stared at her for a couple seconds. “I can’t accept your offer to have me and David stay with you.”
“Joyce-”
“But. I would be forever grateful if you could take Chloe in for a while.”
Chloe was a bit surprised. “Mom, are you sure?”
“Really, Joyce, you and David-”
“David and I can stay with his parents for a little while. They’re retired and I doubt we’d intrude on their lives too much. But you and Ryan both work and already have Max to support. David and I will, of course, give you money for Chloe’s expenses.”
“Oh, that’s not a problem, we don’t mind-”
“Now Vanessa, you know me. I provide for my family,” Joyce said sternly.
Max’s mom was quiet for a second before she sighed. “Right. But please, get back on your feet first. You can pay us back later.”
“Fine,” Chloe’s mother said hesitantly. “But that’s as generous as I’ll allow you to be.”
Vanessa laughed. “Alright, I won’t twist your arm anymore.”
Joyce smiled. “And thank you again, Vanessa. You’re an angel.”
“No problem at all. Family sticks together. Go ahead and take me off speaker, Max.” Max did so and put the phone back to her ear, turning away to talk to her mom on her own.
“So why not take me with you and David?” Chloe asked her mother once it was just the two of them.
Joyce raised her eyebrows at her daughter. “I would not subject David’s parents to that sort of torture.” Chloe scowled slightly, which Joyce chuckled at. “You’ll be much happier staying with the Caulfields than you would be with us. It’s going to be a stressful time for everyone to say the least, and the last thing I’d want is for you to be in the thick of it with me and David.” She glanced over Chloe’s shoulder. “Or for you and her to be torn apart again.”
Chloe looked behind her at Max, who was pacing slowly as she talked on the phone. She caught Chloe’s eye and smiled at her. Chloe returned the smile before turning back to her mother. “Thanks, mom.”
Her mother smiled and hugged her, holding on for a moment to rub Chloe’s back gently. She let Chloe go, but kept a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll drive up there after the house has been sorted through and drop off anything that you might need that survived.” Chloe nodded. “Whenever David gets back, we’ll give you whatever cash we have.”
“Mom, you don’t-”
“Shut up. You use it for gas and food on the way to Seattle. Get a change of clothes for both of you, too. Give the rest to Max’s parents. Understand?”
Chloe couldn’t help but smile. Despite everything, Joyce had still gone into mom mode. “Yes, mom.”
\
Joyce called David after that, letting him know that the girls had met up with her. He said he’d be there shortly. As they waited, Chloe looked around at the other people gathered. She didn’t see many faces that she recognized. Frank wasn’t there. She didn’t see any of the Blackwell students she knew. Max had asked about Warren and Joyce said that he and his mother had left town earlier that morning.
Some of the survivors were doing well, like them. Others were practically comatose, staring blankly and barely moving. There were a lot of people crying, presumably over lost loved ones. Chloe looked them over sadly and eventually turned her attention to Max sitting next to her. She was looking at the survivors too, but her eyes just stared at them with a dead gaze. Chloe had never seen an expression like that on Max. She realized then that it was possible that Max blamed herself for this. A chill ran throughout Chloe’s body at that thought and she reached out to put her hand on Max’s shoulder. “Max,” she said quietly.
“Chloe!” Before she could say anything, Chloe heard a yell and turned to see David jogging over. She and Max stood up and he hugged them both tightly.
Chloe was surprised at the sudden show of affection. “C’mon, David. I know you’d be bored without me, but-”
He sniffed hard and Chloe realized he was crying. “I’m so sorry,” he said. His grip on the girls tightened a bit.
Chloe looked past David’s head at Max, who also seemed confused. Chloe put her hand on his back. “It’s okay. I know I was a pain in your ass and you were just trying to keep me in line.”
David finally let them go and took a step back. He wiped at his face with his hand. “Not that,” he said as he tried to regain composure. He looked at Chloe with the saddest expression she’d ever seen him wear. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help Rachel.” David choked on her name and started to cry again.
Chloe understood then. David had been in the Dark Room. He had found the pictures. The police must have found the body by now. And David must be blaming himself for not catching Jefferson and Nathan sooner. Chloe felt a sharp pain in her heart as she thought about Rachel. She stepped forward and hugged David. He returned it and started quietly sobbing on her shoulder. Chloe started crying too. “It’s not your fault,” she assured him. “It’s not your fault...”
“Wait, what happened to Rachel?” Joyce’s voice came from behind her.
David stood up and took a deep breath, taking a few seconds to put on a strong face before facing his wife. “I’ll tell you everything, but let’s get the girls on their way first.” Joyce shut her eyes tightly, obviously realizing that Rachel was gone. David looked at Chloe. “Is your truck still running?” Chloe nodded in response as her mind wandered to Rachel. She had gone through waves of grief since they had found the body but had forced herself to get to a place of acceptance so she could focus on keeping herself and Max alive. But Chloe was sure that if she was left to herself, she’d break down again.
“Your cell phones both work?” David’s voice didn’t register with her at first, but she heard Max say ‘yeah’ and her attention returned to the present. She nodded in response. “Alright.” David pulled his wallet out and Joyce stepped up beside him, pulling out a wad of cash from her uniform. David took it and the cash from his wallet and counted. As he did, Chloe looked over at Max, who seemed to be spacing out as well. Chloe pushed Rachel to the back of her mind to deal with later, determined to make sure Max was okay before worrying about herself. She turned back to David as he held out the money. “Here’s 340 dollars.”
Chloe hesitated but saw her mother raise an eyebrow at her. She took the money and shoved it in her pocket. “Thank you.” She threw her arms around her mother and David, who hugged her back.
“Max, get in here,” Joyce said.
Chloe raised her arm to let Max slip in beside her. The four of them stayed in the group hug for several seconds before they parted. “Drive carefully,” David said. “It’s not terribly far, but take breaks. If it’s getting late, find a hotel and call me and I’ll give them my credit card number.”
“Right,” Chloe replied.
“And you be on your best behavior for Vanessa and Ryan, you hear me?” Joyce warned. “Max, keep her in line.”
Max laughed. “I will.”
“Please call us if you need anything,” Joyce said. Chloe nodded. Tears started to pool in her mother’s eyes. “We love you girls so much.” David nodded beside her, his face tight as he tried not to cry again.
“I love you too, mom. You too, David.” That seemed to break David, as tears started streaming down his face.
“Thank you both for everything,” Max said.
They all stood there quietly for a moment. Chloe knew it might be a while before she saw her mother and David again. After so many years of wanting to get away from them, now that she was faced with doing so, she was hesitating. A hand came to rest on Chloe’s arm and she looked at Max beside her, who seemed to understand. Chloe smiled and put her arm around Max’s shoulders.
“We’ll see you both soon,” Chloe told her parents. She and Max turned to walk away and waved to them as they left.
\
Chloe drove through the streets of Arcadia Bay carefully but as quickly as she could, trying to get away from the destruction so that Max wouldn’t think about it too much. She glanced over at Max, who was staring out the passenger window, still and quiet. Chloe felt like she could read Max’s expression without seeing her face. She slowed the truck until they were stopped, taking a moment to check on Max.
Chloe reached out to put her hand on Max’s shoulder. She felt her immediately respond to her touch. Max slowly turned and gave Chloe a small smile. Chloe wasn’t sure what to say, but just that seemed to breathe a bit of life into Max, as she shifted in her seat and sat up straight, looking forward. It was good enough for Chloe and she looked back at the road and kept driving.
Chloe thought about her life in Arcadia Bay. The fun that she and Max had as kids, playing pirates and dreaming about the future. The pain of losing her dad, and then losing Max when she moved away. The shitshow that her life became after that. She thought about Rachel, but didn’t dwell there. Chloe thought about this past week with Max. About how she had wanted nothing more than to get the fuck out of Arcadia Bay for years, and now all she cared about was never letting go of Max again.
Chloe saw the sign that meant they had reached the city’s limits. She felt a small pain in her heart as she drove past it. She took a deep breath. Chloe knew that she’d be alright as long as Max was around. Like her mother said, they were invincible when they were together. All Chloe had to do now was be there for her.