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She had saved Chloe. She had pulled the girl she loved, the love of her life, back from the brink of death once again. Just like when they were eighteen, during that nightmare of a week when she stopped Nathan from shooting her, saved her from being crushed under the train, and shielded her after escaping Jefferson's dark hands. At Caledon, amidst the flames, even though Max didn't know what she was doing at first, she had managed to get her out of that hell alive. And now... Now she had saved her from falling off a tall building.
After quickly righting and securing the fallen ladder so Moses and Safi could climb down safely, Chloe anxiously turned her gaze to Max. Max was still in the bed of the pickup truck, her shoulders slumped, her head bowed. Her body was shaking like a leaf as the price of pushing her limits so far. The second Chloe finished her work with the ladder, without wasting even a moment, she directed her steps toward Max.
"Hey..." she called out in a soft but worried tone, gently placing her hand on her back. Max slowly turned her face to her, as if there were tons of weight on her neck. Chloe took a deep breath and continued, "come on, let's get you down from here."
Max gave a faint nod. A painful groan escaped her lips as she tried to push herself up on all fours to get off the truck bed. The inside of her head was throbbing as if it were being torn apart. With her strength already at the point of exhaustion, pushing beyond her limits for Chloe had drained all the life energy from her body, leaving her too weak to even lift a finger. But she didn't regret it one bit. Max would do anything for Chloe. She would burn the world, tear time into pieces. If it happened a thousand times, she would cross those limits a thousand times and save the girl she loved again. Just as Chloe always said, she was always there for her.
Chloe reached out tenderly, wrapping her arms around Max's waist to help her down. But Max's exhausted legs refused to carry her own weight. The moment her feet touched the ground, her knees gave out, and just as she was about to collapse, Chloe caught her tightly in the air.
"I gotcha," Chloe whispered, with confidence in her voice. Max let all her weight rest against that familiar, warm body next to her, it was impossible for her to stand unsupported. Chloe's strong arms wrapped around her so protectively that Max felt like she was in the safest haven in the world.
"Do you need anything?" Chloe asked, not taking her eyes off her face.
Max shook her head no. "no... I just need to rest a bit."
Chloe nodded. With a tissue she pulled from her pocket, she gently wiped Max's still bleeding nose, as if afraid to hurt her. She held her waist tightly with one arm while trying to stop the bleeding with her free hand. Max rested her head heavily on Chloe's shoulder, taking refuge in the warmth radiating from her skin. At that moment, she saw Moses and Safi walking toward them, but she was too exhausted to say a single word to them.
Setting her headache aside, everything around her had started to spin. With the last ounce of strength in her body, she grabbed and squeezed Chloe's arm in pain. She couldn't fully open her eyes, she was seeing the world through a blurry filter. Another involuntary, small moan escaped her mouth.
She spoke with difficulty, in broken words. "I n-need to sit down."
Realizing the situation, Chloe immediately sprang into action, looking around; the gloomy light of the building still blazing right next to them was hitting their faces. While planning to take Max straight to the car, she suddenly felt the body she was carrying in her arms completely give out. Before Chloe could steady them, they lost their balance and both collapsed onto the grass.
"Max!"
Max's eyes were almost completely closed, but she wasn't exactly unconscious either. Trying to suppress her panic, Chloe checked Max's consciousness. "hey, hey, can you hear me? max?"
Even though Max slowly nodded, what Chloe realized with horror was that Max's earlier tremors had intensified, and her consciousness was dangerously fading in and out. She knew that Max passed out when she overused her powers, yes. But she had last seen this during their high school years, back when that goddamn storm hit. It might have been something she was used to, but the current picture was vastly different. The last time she ruined herself this much, they were escaping from Jefferson, and Chloe had to carry her to the lighthouse all by herself.
She didn't know exactly what kind of hells Max had seen across the timelines, she only remembered the broken words she sometimes mumbled while unconscious and how terrified she was. She had always hated seeing her suffer like this. And now, she had thrown herself into this darkness once again for Chloe. Chloe's heart broke whenever she remembered that terrifying mental breakdown Max had experienced on the roof.
Moses hurriedly crouched down next to them, Safi asked in a worried voice, "is she okay?"
Chloe had isolated herself from the rest of the world, she didn't even care about that side of things. After carefully sitting Max on the ground, she stroked her cold cheek with a trembling hand. "max, you're okay. you're going to be okay, stay with me, alright?" she practically begged. Closing her eyes, she pressed their foreheads together and rubbed their noses against each other. She wanted to draw strength from that familiar touch.
But when she pulled back, she realized there was no reaction from Max. Chloe's eyebrows furrowed in worry. Without taking her hand away from her cheek, she lightly tapped her face with her fingers, hoping she would wake up. "Max?"
When she got no response, she realized Max had completely lost consciousness. A heavy curse flew from her lips. "Dammit." She looked at Moses in desperation, shaking her head as if asking what they should do.
Moses moved closer and said, trying to soothe her, "she's going to be fine. she hasn't pushed herself this hard in a long time."
These words weren't enough to put out the fire inside Chloe, of course. Cursing both herself and everyone who caused this situation in her mind, she slowly stood up, taking care not to shake Max. Without letting her go for even a second, she scooped her tightly into her arms. As she stepped toward her pickup truck, she gave the duo waiting behind her a nod that said 'we're leaving.'
While carrying Max to the car, she pressed her lips to her ear, whispering continuously: "I'm sorry, Max... I've got you, I won't let anything happen to you."
When they reached the truck, Moses ran up and opened the door. As Chloe carefully laid Max down on the back seat, she settled in next to her, by her head. While Safi and Moses got into the front, their destination was straight to Max's house.
Throughout the journey, Chloe's hands didn't stop for a single moment. With slightly trembling fingers, she stroked Max's soft hair, brushing the smoke scented strands away from her face. She couldn't skip that sweet, freckled face; she left tiny, desperate kisses on her forehead and cheeks. While Chloe couldn't bear to hurt even a single hair on her head, seeing Max like this unconscious, shivering with a fever, and blood trickling from her nose was slowly destroying her from the inside out.
༯
As the hours blended into the night, Chloe had carried Max to her bedroom, taken off those disgusting clothes smelling of smoke and soot, dressed her in clean pajamas, and tucked her into bed.
She was just sitting in the chair she had pulled up next to her, watching Max's unconscious but beautiful face. She had joined both her hands with Max's, gently stroking her skin with her thumb. She looked so innocent, so peaceful while sleeping, as if no pain in the world had ever touched her, as if she hadn't just come face to face with death.
She had had a brief chat with Moses and Safi and sent them both home. Moses was sure Max would wake up, but he couldn't help but add that they needed to think about what to do if everything went south.
Chloe didn't even want to let that possibility cross the corner of her mind. Because Max was strong. Stronger than anyone she knew, stronger than the whole wide world. Nothing could break her.
She couldn't lose her. Just when she had let her back into her life again, after all those years, she couldn't bear it. Like an idiot, she had abandoned her in the past, breaking that strong girl's wings with her own hands. Despite everything, Max hadn't broken, she had continued her life. As Chloe was crushed under the regrets of the past, she felt her eyes burning. The thought of being without her was so heavy, so suffocating that her head dropped forward. But she didn't separate their intertwined hands for a single second. A painful sob broke from her lips.
She didn't know how hard she had squeezed herself to keep from crying, how long she had held this poison inside, but now all the dams were broken. She started sobbing uncontrollably. It was the accumulation of days, months, maybe those toxic years spent apart. She felt every second spent without Max piercing her chest like a sharp piece of glass, doubling over from the cramp in her stomach.
Just when she was at the bottom of that darkness, she felt that familiar pressure holding her hands tightly. When she quickly raised her red, teary eyes, she met Max's beautiful but tired blue eyes.
"Max?" she whispered, her voice trembling, her eyebrows shooting up.
Max, with a frail smile appearing on her face, answered in that tired voice, "the one and only."
Chloe let no power in the world stop her; she lunged forward and pressed her lips tightly against Max's. It was the most innocent kiss in the world, yet it held years of longing, fear, and an unending love. It wasn't their first kiss since they reunited, they had kissed at the observatory too, but this... This was entirely different. It was like a seal proving that everything wasn't over, that they were still alive.
Max slowly raised a weak hand, placed it on Chloe's wet cheek, and kissed her back, stroking with her thumb.
When Chloe pulled away, out of breath, her red eyes started scanning Max's entire body like a scanner. "you're okay, right? you're not hurt? how's your head? Max... oh my god, you scared the shit out of me," she listed the words all in one breath.
Her hands wouldn't stop, checking Max's arms, face, neck, waist, and legs in a panic, yet so gently, examining her as if she were terrified of finding a new wound. The worry in her eyes didn't fade until Max caught her by the wrists and stopped her softly.
Max's calming voice filled her ears. "hey...i’m okay, alright? you know, these things happen," she said, trying to smile slowly.
"Don't you ever do something like that again," Chloe said, with a sharp seriousness that contrasted the trembling in her voice.
Max smiled. "of course, captain."
"Max, I'm serious. Do you know how much you scared me?"
Max looked at Chloe's eyes, which were bright red from crying. Tears were still gently trickling down her cheeks. She reached out, caught one of those tears with her thumb, and wiped it away affectionately.
"I'm sorry," Max said, her face falling instantly. Her eyes had welled up. "I'd do anything to save you. I did... and I will do it again," she continued, with a clarity that harbored not an ounce of doubt in her voice.
That sentence melted away all the defensive walls inside Chloe, the harsh expression on her face softened completely. She let go of Max slowly, moved to the other side of the bed, and snuggled up right next to her under the sheets. She pulled her close, making sure Max's head rested on her chest. Max was now practically in her arms, in her safest home.
"Don't apologize. I'd do the same for you," Chloe whispered into her hair.
Max buried herself deeper into her chest. Her headache had started to ease; a warm, cozy peace had enveloped her aching body. Being next to Chloe, breathing in her scent was the best medicine in the world. She nodded, smiling despite the tears rolling down her own cheeks. She was right where she belonged most. She let out a deep, relaxed breath.
After a while, Chloe broke the silence. Her voice was cautious. "had this happened before? I mean... when I wasn't around?"
"No..." Max said thoughtfully. "actually, I did pass out before Safi died, but it wasn't like this. I thought I had good control over my powers now, that I had learned their limits. But I guess they still exhaust me in unexpected ways."
Chloe pressed a long kiss into Max's hair, resting her chin on the top of her head. "I'm sorry," she said in a muffled voice.
Max lifted her head slightly. "what are you apologizing for?"
"I forced you. I couldn't think of anything else, and I believed it would work. And it did... We couldn't stop the fire, but we saved Moses and Safi, we saved the students. We survived. But I caused you to pass out, to push your limits and suffer..."
"Chloe, don't you ever say something like that again," Max cut her off, her voice coming out stronger than expected. "you are the most important thing in the world to me. I would die for you if I had to, you know that."
"I know, and I would too," Chloe said, her voice raspy, her eyes burning once more. She wrapped her arms a little tighter around Max, squeezing the girl who was already glued to her chest as if she wanted to merge her into her own body. "still, I'm sorry. for once, at least, I was supposed to be the one saving your ass," she added, with a bittersweet but teasing smile on her lips.
Max looked up at the girl whose chest she was lying on with a slight smirk, studying her face with her eyes as if memorizing every single line. When she noticed Chloe's gaze drop to her own lips, she reached up slightly and joined their lips. They didn't know how long they stayed like that, how long that kiss lasted. In the dimly lit room, there was nothing but their mingling breaths and the sound of their lips. Their situation wasn't perfect, everything ached and they smelled of soot, but they were together, and that was realer than anything else.
Max pulled back softly to take a breath. Chloe seized the opportunity and directed her lips to Max's neck, starting to plant tiny, ticklish kisses on her skin. Max felt ticklish at this familiar sensation, letting out a warm giggle right through her exhaustion.
After finding peace in each other's breath in the same position for a while, Max whispered, "If you stop getting into my bed with those muddy boots of yours, we'll call it even."
Chloe let out a genuine laugh that broke the silence. Wrapping her arms fully around Max, she tipped backward, burying them both in the pillows. “I love you," she whispered, pressing her lips against Max's ear. Right after, she planted a brief, affectionate kiss on her temple.
Closing her eyes peacefully, Max left a soft kiss in the crook of Chloe's neck. "I love you too."