The Calm Before The Storm

No Matter What

~Chloe~

What happened to us, Che?

I swallow hard even though I knew I was going to have to tell Max sooner or later. "Well... a lot happened, Max. And honestly, I don't remember most of it".

Please tell me

I close my eyes and take a deep breath before moving back to my original position beside her on the bed,"Okay. I'll tell you... but first? How much of the accident do you remember?".

Not  a  lot

Okay... okay, I can work with that, I think to myself, resting my head against hers, "So... what's the last thing you remember happening? Do... do you even remember why we were driving?".

Max shakes her head, then pauses with a thoughtful look on her face.

Please don't remember the ring, please don't remember the ring, I beg inwardly.

I  just  remember driving

"Ok, we'll start there," I tell her, briefly filling her in on how I got hurt, why we were driving, and the extent of both our injuries. She looks away when I mention her sinus injury, so I figure it has something to do with her powers. "You tried to rewind... didn't you?". She closes her eyes and nods, burying her face in my shirt. I sigh and start stroking the back of her head as she grips onto me and continues to cry. Her sobs are hard and sound painful, but All I can do is hold her tight and listen. "Shh, it's okay. You're okay," I reassure her. I can feel her small frail body shivering from both fear and sorrow. She mumbles something incoherent but... honestly? I already know what she's trying to say. "I'm sorry". I hug her tighter, but not so much that I'm hurting her. "It's okay..." I coo, sniffling at my own tears. "I'm here and I've got you,". I hear her mutter again before pulling away and taking my hand in her trembling one:

I just wanted to help

"I know... I know, Maxie. You did, okay? You helped".

She shakes her head and grips my hand, I fucked up, Che. This is my -

I pull my hand away before she can finish, "Don't".

She gives me a blank confused stare and reaches for my hand again, but I pull away again, "Dude, I swear if you say "this is my fault", I'm gonna be hella pissed".

She continues with the blank stare, and I turn and hold her by the shoulders, "This is not your fault, Max. You need to believe that. The roads were frozen and slick that night, so we were more or less in danger already. Anyways, you were distracted and-".

Shit.

Max forcibly grabs my hand now and starts tracing letters on my hand so fast that I can barely translate them:

Distracted! What do you mean?!

"Shit, Max, relax okay? I'll tell you, but I need you to calm down," I say, giving her a slight jostle when she begins to panic. Her eyes lock onto mine, full of fear and panic. Max takes a slow, shaky breath before nodding, urging me to continue.

I too, take a deep breath before I... before I break the news again. "So... I- I need you to promise you won't hate me for this... I feel like shit as it is,".

Tell me, Chloe Max urges with a gently squeeze, and I could never hate you.

I sigh and pull away for a second and take something out of my jacket pocket, keeping it hidden from sight until I'm ready. "I- I don't know why I.... *sigh* I wanted to... Ugh. I... I asked you to... to uh, ... to marry me", I say, slowly and hesitantly hand her the black box again.

Max takes it in her still shaking hand and holds it close, rubbing her thumb over the soft velvety material of the box. She doesn't have any sort of negative reaction, nor a positive one for that matter.

"I'm sorry," I mutter, trying to hide my blushing face.

Max turns to me with a raised eyebrow and takes my hand again, do you regret it?

"Huh?".

Do you regret asking me?

I blush even more, "I- I...".

Fuck, Fuck, Fuck! Say something! I curse at myself.

"No".

She looks at me again and smiles (or tries to) and pushes the box back into my hands.

Hold on to it

I continue to look at her, waiting... for her to answer., I guess. And I know she knows that's what I'm waiting for, but she doesn't say or do anything. Max just keeps on staring at me with a slight blush on her cheeks.

I offer my free hand to her and she takes it gratefully, placing it against her cheek. Smiling, I start softly caressing the side of her face. She shivers a little.

"You have no idea how badly I want to kiss you right now," I whisper.

She nods and closes her eyes, cuddling up against my chest.

"You okay?".

She nods again and takes my hand, Perfect. Still have questions though. Not sure I want to ask.

"Well, remember... I'm always here when you need me, and you can always talk to me," I reassure her with a kiss on the forehead. She nods and lets out a breathy sigh:

How long?

I raise an eyebrow, "What?".

How long have I been unconscious

I hesitate which, of course, scares her shitless. "Almost 2 weeks," I finally reply. "10 days to be exact".

Were you okay? You look tired

"Yeah, I- I didn't sleep much. I just kept talking to you, hoping that maybe hearing a familiar voice would help you wake up faster... who knows if it even got through".

She smiles timidly, I think it worked

I return her smile and gently kiss her nose, "I'm glad. But come on, you look exhausted too. It's okay if you want to rest".

Max shakes her head almost immediately, looking sort of startled. It takes a minute to click but... I figure she's scared of either being alone or having nightmares... or both.

I reach over and grab her hand intertwining our fingers, "I'm going to be right here beside you, okay. I'll always be with you... no matter what".