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Divebar in Indianapolis, some time after the Caledon fire.
Before Max can knock on the door to the backroom where Chloe should be, it suddenly opens. She was about to say something corny like 'Ready for the Mosh Pit?' until she notices the look on Chloe’s face. Her smile falters.
“What’s wrong?” Max asks instantly. For Chloe to look so upset and almost scared, it had to be more than Bash messing up the schedule again or a potentially cancelled show. Max knows right away that it's going to be something very serious Chloe has to share with her and it absolutely frightens her. Don’t assume the worst, is what she tries to tell herself. Stay calm, whatever it is.. And then her biggest fear addressed to her own mind: Chloe is not about to leave you. She won’t die, she won’t break up with you. You know you can trust that.
“I… have to give you something.”
Chloe picks up a polaroid photo from the small coffee table in the room and walks towards her. Max recognizes her own selfie being handed to her. It’s just her selfie from a few months ago. And then it dawns on her: It is her selfie from a few months ago, before the fire at Caledon. Before she failed to save the observatory and students got traumatized having to escape burning alive. Before she almost lost Chloe again, and Moses and Safi being on a collapsing roof with their only escape route cut off. The photo that was supposed to be destroyed by the fire is in her hands, back from the dead. The past staring at her again, wanting to be acknowledged, wanting her to make another choice.
“Moses…” Max says, realizing he had lied to her on the roof. Or not lied but not corrected the assumptions that the selfie was gone.
“He had it all along. Sent it to me with a letter. Said I should decide what to do, give it to you or… destroy it.”, Chloe continues while Max’s thoughts are spiraling. Why did Moses send it now, months later? And not to her but to Chloe? Does he think she should try again to stop the fire? Or does he just feel guilty and wants to be rid of the burden? Max wouldn’t blame him for the latter, the same way she couldn’t just keep her Blackwell bathroom selfie around when she made that choice at 18. Ripping it apart felt final - in a good way. No second guessing, no do-overs months later when the guilt would haunt her.
“Oh. I… see.” Max turns around. So far she had been facing away from Chloe while she tried to gather her thoughts. She badly wants to ask Chloe what she thought the choice should be. Should they even make it now? Why hadn’t Chloe just burned the photo? Part of Max wishes she actually had. But she understands. Chloe does not want to keep this secret from her, they are partners in time after all. They should make these decisions together since it will be both of their lives forever impacted by time fuckery.
Looking at Chloe sitting on the ugly backroom sofa all dejected, Max knew right now Chloe needs her. Not as a time traveller who wants to fix everything. But as her partner to share the emotional burden with. This letter and the selfie was a shock to both of them. But Chloe is clearly torn apart by whatever she is thinking about.
Max steps closer, sitting on the table opposite of Chloe. Chloe takes Max’s hands into her own.
“I know what this photo means. It’s not just a chance to try again. It’s an obligation. I can’t be mad about it, it’s what I love you for.”
“Chloe---” Max tries to reassure her. She is at a loss for words and Chloe is clearly not finished yet with what she wanted to say so Max listens.
“Just… promise me you’ll always find me. Maybe not me, but some version of me. Promise me she gets to be with you if I don’t.”
Max reaches out to Chloe’s face with her left hand, wiping the tears that had escaped during that devastating request away. Chloe seems to expect her to make that decision now, to leave her now in this divebar by jumping into the photo. While there is no real rush, Max knows it will just hang over them all evening and the next weeks or even months that she does not make a choice. She could logically contemplate and plan… but it would torture Chloe to stay in limbo like that, never knowing if Max one day decides to have the do-over and jump into the selfie. No, it should all end here tonight.
Max has never voiced it out loud but she has thought about many possibilities. What she would do if she had a second chance. What it would mean for her, her friends and especially for Chloe. The task of jumping back seems daunting. Back to a time where her and Chloe were broken up and still had to clear the air. The task to do everything right this time with the knowledge she has. Yes, she knows about Ren and Vinh, even Safi now. But there is no guarantee it all would happen the same even if she tries to change as little as possible. Just her having the knowledge and sharing it with Chloe, Moses and Safi from the past would alter things. Could she prevent Safi from accidentally starting the fire? But what would that change? What if the fire is actually a constant and has to happen? Then someone else starts it and she would have no clue who that could be. And what if the fire is needed to stop the Caledon 2.0 plans and bring peace to Lakeport? What would undoing it mean? More protests? More destruction? More students' lives in danger? Another catastrophic event where she wouldn’t be there to help or stop it?
And then her friends. Moses dying on the roof carrying Chloe, all undone by her being there and rewinding time, almost breaking it. Who knows what Safi’s fate would have been during the first weekend. Staying in the Overlight potentially because Chloe and her did not have reasons to trust each other. All her friends can potentially die that weekend. It is a really scary thought to have. Max feels so grateful they all managed to save each other, is undoing that certainty really worth it? It was close the first time, they all could have died on that roof anyway. Maybe Moses and Chloe are meant to end up on that roof no matter what.
What about Chloe and Safi being cosmically intertwined? It worked out the first time, Chloe managed to save Safi. Both are free from the nightmare that is the Overlight. The stitches holding, the reality rewritten. Both alive, no further consequences, no new storm and even Arcadia Bay back on the map as it was - almost a miracle. This probably is the most precious outcome to Max. She took a risk using her powers and for once she got rewarded.
This outcome being connected to the fire, to Safi starting it, really scares her. Preventing Safi from starting the fire means having to make changes along the way in her interactions with her. But Max doesn’t know what to change exactly. There is not one specific action to undo, not one as specific as finding the right person who starts the fire. Stealing Safi’s cigarettes would hardly be the answer to all cosmic problems. And the consequences of one wrong action could be losing Safi or Chloe or even both.
Max has looked at all these little pieces over the last months and it always came down to one thought: It is just too risky to go back. Too risky to undo it all just to prevent one building from burning down and erase the memory of the students affected by it. The truth that Moses shared with her back in the Turtle: You do the best you can. That is enough, you are free. And she had done everything she could.
Then there is the selfish part of Max that cannot imagine having to undo all her new precious memories with Chloe from that weekend: being rescued from a demolition site, the talk at her cabin, the quiet moment in the canoe, the honesty at the Mabon party, the kiss. It all felt meant to be. It would not be the same a second time, the past Chloe may even resent her for not living this reality with her for the first time, of being able to predict her moves and having to keep everything on track with as little change as possible so the causes of the fire she knows would not change. It also would feel wrong to just pretend like it is the first time for her too. And Chloe would know if Max was bullshitting her. So who says that version of Chloe would want to be with Max? Is it fair to force that Chloe to be with Max no matter what? This Chloe in front of her chose everything, the other Chloe will be bound by responsibility: to play along, to keep the timeline on track as Max says it has to be. Would Max be able to live with herself by taking all these genuine moments and memories away from Chloe? She had sworn to herself unless it was life or death she never would use her powers like that ever again.
Max knows she has been staring at Chloe for too long at this point, making her wait for an answer. She feels bad to leave her hanging but she needed this moment to be sure. Max grabs her selfie and holds it out to Chloe, wanting her to take it.
“Here, burn it.”
Chloe looks at Max like she doesn’t really comprehend what Max is asking her. So many emotions display on her face at once. Shock, confusion, disbelief and maybe a glimmer of hope?. She looks at the photo being offered to her and then at Max, silently asking for an explanation. Max thinks they’ll eventually talk about it in detail and all the logical reasons but that is not what Chloe needs at this moment while she is prepared to put on a brave face and let Max go, let her leave this timeline and this Chloe behind. Goes to fuck with time and replaces her with another version of herself who gets to stay and be with Max from then on. Would this timeline even exist without Max? Does another Max suddenly wake up and come to replace herself? No matter what the truth would be, it all feels awful to Max. She just gets to pick a perfect reality to exist in while anyone she leaves behind has to suffer. She knows she has to break this cycle, at least for now. She also doesn’t want Chloe to feel that Max is choosing this for the wrong reasons. Max hopes she can find the right words to make Chloe understand that this is the right decision to make right here and now.
“Look, I know this sounds like I’m making a rash decision but I’m really not. In my head I have played through the what ifs countless times. And I always land at the same conclusion. We prevented all the deaths and minimized the fire impact as much as we could. We did everything right. There is no going back and doing better - I probably only make it worse to be honest. Something will always not be perfect cause reality does not work like that. You said it’s not my fault and I believe you. Who knows if the fire can even be prevented, we figured it could be a constant and happens no matter what, right? And while Moses’s office was pretty cool, it’s not worth losing you.”
Chloe smiled at that last comment so Max feels like she is getting through to her.
“And it’s not worth our memories together. Or breaking reality. Or causing another storm. I have not read the letter but I’m sure Moses has listed a bunch of stuff that can also go wrong if I try this. I’m done trying. What I said back then staring at the storm is still true, you are all that matters to me. The YOU right here who came back to me, who I’m on this journey with right now. I’m sure the other Chloe’s are cool too but no one could ever replace you. I’m choosing you.”
“Last time I ripped the photo apart so it feels fitting you do the honors now. Hopefully there won’t be a next time but… that’s a problem for future us and we can fight over who destroys that picture then. Right now, I’m done looking back. So please, burn it.”
Chloe finally takes the photo from Max, then reaches for her backpocket to pull out her lighter. She gives Max one last look - one last chance to stop her and make a different decision. When Max just confidently nods at her. she lights it up. Both of them stare as the flames consume the polaroid, sealing in this timeline for good.
“You know it was a good selfie actually, I liked your smile.” says Chloe as she puts out the flames from the last remaining piece of the polaroid that remains.
“Thanks, but too much baggage. I can re-create one like it next time we’re in Lakeport if you want. Or rather let’s take one together.” Max suggests, liking the idea more as she speaks it into existence. Chloe nods and smiles at her. Max leans forward, putting their foreheads together.
“Partners in time?”
“Partners in time.”
“Forever.”