Sorry about the wait on this one. I was doing a quick read-through of the first three chapters to kind of refresh my memory and ended up proofreading all of them to tighten them up and polish some parts. This chapter is the last of what I'm gonna call the Prologue arc. Next chapter, the story really starts to kick in. I just didn't wanna jump in without giving these three time to settle into the apocalypse.

Chapter Text

That night, under the light of a crescent moon and the soft buzzing glow of a nearby streetlamp, Max luxuriated in a man-mad hot spring Al had created by welding together several old military supply crates. The hard plastic coating on the interior made the perfect insulator against the heating coil below, allowing the water to remain warm while the occupants didn't have to contend with scalding metal under them. Dinner was done, and Max had helped Al cook, so she was excused from dishes. When Al had asked if she had wanted a bath, Max had never so readily agreed to anything in her entire life. Despite the fact that it had only been two days, it felt like a lifetime since her last bath.

The bathing area itself was located just behind the Red Rocket station, surrounded by high wooden walls (allowing Max to bathe nude in peace) and connected by a door that lead right into the place. It was Al's pride and joy, the culmination of weeks of work dedicated to that one simple pleasure: a hot bath. It was a joy too few people had time to appreciate these days, he insisted, at least out here in the frontier lands. Stadium City, he had said, now had indoor plumbing.

As she lay back in the warm water, Max found herself once again going over the events of the day. They had fixed Lisa, and in the process, they had liberated a burgeoning frontier town from the grip of raiders. And...Max had killed people. Several people. In the moment, it had just seemed the necessary thing, and she still stood by that. Those men would have killed every single one of those settlers, and they would have taken Max, Chloe, and Rachel as some kind of demented rape-slaves, if one raider's comment was anything to go off of. She certainly didn't feel all too guilty about it.

Still, killing someone, even when necessary, was a big thing to work her head around. Ending another person's life was...a horribly powerful feeling. She remembered Dad's words, when he had taught her how to shoot, and she had asked him if she was going to have to kill someone.

“I really hope not, Skipper. God, I pray that you won't get sucked into the ugly side of things, every day. But the world is headed toward something, and it's probably not good. So I'm teaching you this. And I'm sorry. I know it's a burden. And when the time does come, and you have to pull that trigger and end someone's life, I don't want you to regret it. I never want you to regret saving yourself from someone else. Regret that the other person pushed you do to this to them. If you regret anything, regret that you had to pull the trigger, not that you did. Do you understand, Max?”

Max hadn't, at the time. But she had nodded, said “Yes, Dad,” and then they had gone off to get ice cream. And that had been that. The war with China, the energy crisis, the Resource Wars, it had all been tucked into the back of her head again, like always. She had sunk back into the American Dream and forgotten about it all. Shaking her head, she found herself wishing she could go back in time and...do something. Yell at everyone back then to wake up, stop ignoring the problem, because it wasn't going to go away, no matter how much they pretended it would.

Well, she mused, holding her hand up, she could go back in time, but not quite that far. Judging by the effort it had taken to go back several minutes before, her maximum rewind time was probably only a half hour, tops. Still, she could hardly complain; she had discovered what amounted to a superpower. It was just like the comic books she had once read with Chloe.

Chloe.... Max had only discovered she had the power to rewind time because of her best friend. Or maybe that wasn't enough, she mused, as she gently shook her head. It felt like so much more than a simple friendship. Despite what had seemed like an insurmountable distance of time between them, Chloe and Max had reunited and clicked, like they had never spent any time apart. It felt like...becoming whole again. Max just wasn't Max without Chloe there to bring out the best in her. To embolden her and bring out the small bit of nerve she actually had. And Chloe was always at her kindest when Max was in her life. They were the yin to each other's yang, opposite sides of the same perfectly balanced coin. She felt like she needed Chloe, and she could only hope Chloe felt the same way.

Speaking of Chloe....

“Max?” Chloe's voice called softly as the door to the bathing area slide open. She stepped out, and Max stifled a small gasp at the sight of her. Her pale skin was completely exposed, a towel dropping to her side clutched in one hand as she let it fall. Chloe's long, long legs, slender and shapely, led up to...oh, wowser....

She shaved.

Her waist was trim, two perfect teardrops tipped with pink hanging just below her collarbone, and it was only when Max reached Chloe's impish smile that she realized she had just drank in the sight of her best friend's nude body like an ice-cold glass of water on a hot day. Rather than tease, Chloe just winked at her, giving a single suggestive waggle of her eyebrows before making for the tub.

“How's the water?” she asked.

“Beautiful,” Max breathed, shaking her head. “Um...great. It's nice and warm.”

Jeez, Max! Could she be any more obvious right now!? Would it have been petty to use her rewind power just then to take back that “beautiful” slip up!? Chloe was a good sport about it, though, simply slipping into the water and settling in next to Max with a happy sigh.

“Daaaamn, it feels nice to just soak it up after today, hm?” she said. “I'm tense in places I didn't know could be tense.”

“I'm just worn out,” Max sighed, glad to simply move on and talk like normal humans. “It feels like I've just been freaking out nonstop since I got up this morning.”

“Preach,” Chloe nodded. “But you looked like you had it handled. I mean, you were too cool for school, shooting that guy, and then that other guy, you didn't even look at him.”

“That wasn't nearly as cool as it looked,” Max said with a shake of her head.

“Max, you were awesome today,” Chloe insisted. “You saved my bacon with that deathclaw thingie.”

“That's only because....” Max trailed off with a small sigh. “Chloe, I have to tell you something. And it's gonna freak you out, because...well, it's freaking me out just a bit, but – “

“Max,” Chloe said, leaning forward and peering over at her. “I...I already know, okay? You don't have to say anything.”

“You...how do you already know?” Max asked.

“It's...kinda hella obvious, is all,” Chloe said with a small smirk. “I mean, that eye-fuck you just gave me alone is...pretty compelling, you know?”

“Chloe, what the hell are you talking about?” Max asked her, completely lost at this point. Where was Chloe going with this?

“Max...you're super gay,” Chloe said, as thought it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Isn't that what you were gonna tell me?”

“What!?” Max said, feeling her face heat up with a blush. “Chloe, no! Why would you - ? You think I'm gay!?”

“No, Max,” Chloe snickered. “I know you're gay. C'mon, you didn't?”

“What is going on out here?” Rachel's voice said, and they both turned as she strode into the bathing area, tossing her towel over a chair and staring down at the pair. She was nude as well, and Max found herself blushing even darker as the implications of Chloe's assumptions sank in. She wasn't ready to deal with this!

Rachel drew closer, and while she didn't have Chloe's statuesque physique, Max couldn't deny she was still a looker, light and pixie-like but with a shapely butt –

Oh, crap.

“Max has something important to tell us, I guess,” Chloe said, looking more than a little amused at Max's silent existential breakdown.

“Oh, did she finally come out to you?” Rachel asked with a warm smile at Max, who definitely felt something inside of her break.

“Can we please not have this discussion right now!?”

…...

By the time Max finished explaining the discovery of her power to rewind time, all three girls had washed up and were simply enjoying the warmth. The evening was beginning to cool off, causing steam to rise up into the air and billow around the small bathing area. It truly was like a sauna. And it certainly set a mysterious sort of mood for the strangeness currently occurring in Max's already rather extremely strange new life.

“You saw me get shot?” Chloe asked, and Max nodded. “Damn.”

“And get shish-kebabed by the deathclaw,” Rachel said, awe in her voice as she stared at Max with wide eyes. “You can rewind time.”

“Wait, what number am I thinking of?” Chloe asked, and Rachel rolled her eyes.

“She can't read minds, Chloe,” she said with a shake of her head.

“Oh...damn it, right,” Chloe grumbled.

“Well, what number was it?” Max asked her.

“It was stupid complicated, 12,457,” she said. “I dunno, I – “

Max held her hand up under the water and rewound, watching Chloe's lips move in reverse. She almost rewound too far, Chloe and Rachel's inferences about her sexuality still causing her a bit of a fluster, but she let go just as Rachel was beginning to speak.

“...an't read minds, Chloe.”

“Twelve thousand, four hundred and fifty-seven,” Max recited, rewarded with a shocked stare from Chloe and a bemused expression on Rachel's face.

“Is that right?” Rachel asked with a glance at Chloe, who nodded with eyes so adorably wide that Max couldn't help but giggle. “I thought you could—you rewound after she told you, didn't you? She said the number, and you rewound....”

“Yeah,” Max said.

“Do it again,” Rachel said, pausing for a moment. “Seven hundred and...fish.”

“Fish?” Max snorted. “Seven hundred and fish?”

“Go back and tell me,” Rachel said. “It'll be even better because it's not a number.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Max said, rewinding again and stopping a moment before Rachel finished speaking.

“..it again,” she said, and Max snickered as she spoke.

“Seven hundred and fish?” she prompted Rachel, who went very still for a moment before letting a single “ha!” of laughter.

“No fucking way!”

…...

Of course, Chloe wasn't satisfied with just some simple “mindreading” tricks in the bath. A few days later, she insisted on a full-scale scientific exploration of Max's new abilities, which just amounted to Max showing off for the other two. And the best place to do this was obviously Sanctuary Hills, back past the river and deep into the overgrown remains of the housing community.

“C'mon, slowpokes! This is gonna be sick!”

“Chloe, slow down!” Max called after her best friend. “Little legs back here!”

“Always keeping me waiting,” Chloe said with a smirk over her shoulder, spinning to stop and waiting in the middle of the cul-de-sac at the end of Sanctuary Road, the main and only street in Sanctuary Hills. For some reason, she had brought along the hubcap of a car from Al's garage, toting it along and letting it bounce a bit against her hip as she walked.

“But we're so worth the wait,” Rachel said, bumping Max with her hip. “Right?”

“So worth it,” Max snickered, and Rachel winked at her

“Yeah, yeah, you're both fly as fuck,” Chloe drawled with a roll of her eyes. As Max passed, Chloe reached out and pulled her into a quick hug with her free arm, causing Max's face to suffuse with heat as she felt herself blush. Ever since the other night, and those insinuations about Max's...sexual leanings, Chloe had been extra affectionate, almost as though assuring Max that nothing about their friendship had changed. Why, then, did every hug and touch feel so...charged?

“So, Chloe, this is your scientific venture,” Rachel said, seeming quite unperturbed at the two girls' moment. “What's the first order of business?”

“Hm,” Chloe noised, resting her chin on Max's head and peering over it at the overgrown cul-de-sac. Most of the houses were in the same shape as Max's, falling apart in shambles or caved in under the weight of trees that had fallen and long since rotted away. Only one was still in decent shape, the old Millers' place. Max remembered Jack Miller bragging to Dad about the new coat of Centuries paint he'd put on his house, a tacky green enamel that had promised three centuries of rust-proofing.

Apparently, it hadn't been an empty boast.

“Uh, Chloe?” Rachel asked, and Max's attention snapped back to the pair to see Chloe producing a length of thick cloth, wrapping it around her eyes and tying it behind her head.

“Okay,” she said, fixing her blind gaze on a position slightly to Max's left. “I found this hubcap back at Al's place. Here's what we're gonna do. I can't see where you are, so you stand where this thing is gonna land, I'll throw it, and Rachel can verify.”

“And you have to be blindfolded for this?” Max asked dubiously.

“Yeah,” Chloe said, as though it were plainly obvious. “I don't wanna get psyched out when you say where it's gonna land and fuck up the throw!”

“Chloe, are you accidentally utilizing the scientific process?” Rachel snickered.

“Probably,” Chloe shrugged placidly, snagging up the hubcap. “Alright, heads up!”

She tossed it straight up, higher than Max would've thought she was able, and the two girls watched it sail into the air before arcing back down and landing with a muted clack that was swallowed up by the foliage around them. There was a short, awkward moment where no one moved before Max realized she was supposed to be showing off her power. Holding her hand up, she rewound, the familiar squeeze taking hold of her head as the hubcap bounced around a bit before sailing back up into the air. She watched it fall back into Chloe's hand before letting time flow forward once more and moving into position as Rachel spoke.

“...identally utilizing the scientific process?” she said on a laugh, turning to watch in curious silence as Max drew a little X in the dirt where she had seen the hubcap land.

“Probably,” Chloe said. She reached down for hubcap once more, oblivious to Max's movements. “Alright, heads up!”

The hubcap went airborne once more, sailing in a perfect arc to land exactly where Max had drawn the X. She stood nearby, watching Rachel's gaze as it followed the metal disk's progress before glancing up at Max.

“Woah,” she said with a disbelieving laugh.

“What?” Chloe asked, looking blindly in Rachel's direction. “Did she get it?”

“She called it,” Rachel said admiringly.

“Sweet!” Chloe said, holding her hands out. “Alright, give it back, I wanna do it again.”

“Chloe, don't you think we have enough proof?” Rachel asked, though she obligingly handed the hubcap back to Chloe, fixing Max with a long-suffering look as Chloe shook her head vigorously.

“Dude, we have proof that she got lucky!” Chloe says. “I mean, I believe her, but I wanna see it in action!”

“You're wearing a - “

“Not listening!” Chloe cut her off, tossing the hubcap up again.

And again.

And again.

Max repeated the process six more times, rewinding, moving to stand where the hubcap would land, and watching Chloe grow increasingly creative with her throws. If it wasn't for how very adorable Chloe looked having fun while tossing metal disk around, Max might have grown bored. As it was, she often got a little too lost watching her friend's blonde hair flair around her head as she spun in the next throw, the bright glimmer of her huge smile as she tossed the hubcap.

She was just so pretty.

Crash!

And destructive.

“Chloe, you took out that window!” Rachel shouted, a smile on her face as she chided Chloe.

“Oh, shit,” Chloe snorted, laughing a bit and peeking out from under the blindfold. “Wow, nice shot though, hm?”

“I'll get it,” Max said with a roll of her eyes, hurrying over to Jack Miller's old house. He had always complained about kids playing ball near his house, citing the risk of a broken window. Two hundred years later, here he was being proven right.

Max stepped into the house through the empty front doorway, the Miller house's door having been taken for some unknown purpose who knew how long ago. Inside, the place wasn't quite as well-preserved as the exterior. Someone had set up a camp at one time in the cleaned-out living area, but from the dusty state of the woolen blankets, it had long been abandoned, probably in a Gaul attack. In the middle of the room, Chloe's improvised testing tool sat amidst a bunch of glass shards, and as Max made her way closer, she had an idea. Rather than retrieve the hubcap, she held a hand up and rewound, watching as the projectile soared back along its path, the shower of glass following behind it and reforming into a single pane of the Millers' window. Moments later, she let the timestream resume, lurking out of the path of the hubcap and waiting for the crash to happen again.

But it never came.

“Max?” Chloe's voice shouted outside, and Max turned to peer out the open doorway.

“Max, where'd you go?” Rachel called, and Max heard her speak in a low voice to Chloe. “She was totally just here.”

“Did she just disappear?” Chloe asked, pulling the blindfold away and starting to look around a bit frantically. “Max!”

“Don't freak, I'm right here,” Max said with a wave of her hand. She stepped out of the Millers' house and made her way down the path toward her friends. “You threw the hubcap into the house, so I went to get it, and then I rewound, instead. I was gonna wait for you to throw it again.”

“You were there one second, and I looked away, and...then you were gone,” Rachel said, peering between the house and the cul-de-sac. “Max, you can like...teleport. I mean, you have to walk it, but then you rewind, and it's like the walk never happened, but there you are.”

“That's so fucking cool!” Chloe said, hurrying over to Max. “But also don't scare me like that. I thought that big lizard thing like came back and ate you.”

“Sorry for worrying you,” Max told her with a smile, nestling in happily as Chloe pulled her into another hug. She swayed a bit as Chloe released her. “So, are we done for now, or...?”

“Maybe we should call it quits for now,” Rachel said, her gaze never leaving Max. “You look a little wobbly.”

“I...feel a little wobbly,” Max said, a rush of vertigo taking over. She wasn't sure when she fell, but the next thing she felt was Chloe wrapping her arms around her to catch her.

“Max!”

…...

Caldwell's Photo Boutique was exactly as Max remembered it, a cozy little store tucked down a side street in Concord and packed to the brim with every piece of photography paraphernalia imaginable. Max could have spent hours in this place, days testing out various lenses or just listening to Hamilton Caldwell himself wax poetic about the art. He was quite the prolific photographer in his own right, having been published in a number of journals and even opened up his own exhibit in the city once. He kept a few of his favorite shots hanging around the store, and Max always made it a point to discuss one or two with him when she visited.

Today, though, the shots weren't of towering nuclear cooling stations or soldiers on the march, echoing Caldwell's love of pictures that were a commentary on contemporary America. Today, Max saw only a tableau of her life, more specifically the moments she had shared with Chloe. Given the amount of time they had spent with each other, there was a lot to see. Some of the photos looked like the ones Max had tucked away in her photo album, taken by Max or their parents while the pair hadn't been paying attention, too caught up in their own little world. There was Max's tenth birthday, Max front and center wearing a rapturous look as Chloe kissed her on the cheek and presented her with a compendium of Mistress of Mystery's first ten volumes.

That had to have cost her a pretty penny.

Two pictures down, Chloe and Max were in Chloe's backyard, dressed in full pirate gear and pretending the swing set was their grand ship, the Blue Duchess. Chloe was gesturing grandiosely off into the distance, Max watching with a beaming smile.

“I love that one,” a quiet voice said behind Max, who jolted and turned around, gasping at what she saw.

“Chloe?”

It was Chloe, but as Max remembered her from their childhood, no older than twelve and still bright-eyed, full of optimism. She wore a sundress with a Vault 111 t-shirt pulled on over it, a blue ribbon holding her hair back.

She was adorable.

“That's Captain Chloe to you, scalawag!” she said with a giggle. She reached out to take Max's hand in both of hers, pulling Max along the row of pictures. They passed a few shots of the two camping, sitting around a bonfire, enjoying William Price's barbecue-basted ribs. Max found her heart twisting a bit at the memories, simpler times.

“It was great, wasn't it?” Chloe observed, turning her wide blue eyes up to Max. “It felt like those summers would never end.”

“I wish they never did,” Max sighed.

“Me, too,” Chloe nodded, pausing in front of another picture, a scene that was far too familiar to Max, despite the fact that there had been no pictures taken that day. Chloe and her mother in black, standing in front of a casket with an American flag draped over it. In the next picture, Chloe was watching stone-faced as a twenty-one gun salute went off, the whole scene observed from the rear window of Dad's car as they drove away from the funeral and out of Chloe's life.

“It wasn't fair,” Chloe sighed. “None if it was fair. Dad, your parents moving.... The war took a lot from us.”

“Chloe, I'm so sorry,” Max said. “I should've...been a better friend.”

“You were the best friend,” Chloe said with bright smile at her. “You're still the best friend.”

“I'm just...glad I found you,” Max told her as they passed by a picture of Chloe facing down the deathclaw. Max could see herself distantly in the background, a flash of red as she had discharged her rifle. “If I hadn't been there....”

“That was pretty intense,” Chloe said with a distant smile at the picture. She spent a long moment staring at it before turning back to Max. “But it's not over yet, Max. The world's become a dangerous place. You'll need your friends by your side.”

“Well, I have you and Rachel,” Max said with a smile. “Together, we can do this thing. We can...I dunno, we can make it. I really feel like we can. We can do this, Chloe.”

Chloe smiled at her for a long moment, turning around and meandering over to the large display window at the front of the store. Past the tripods and lighting fixtures that Hamilton Caldwell had put up to entice passerby into shopping in his boutique, Max saw the ruined street of Concord as it was now, ruined rubble and ancient buildings flattened out into a makeshift street.

“Can we?” Chloe asked, her lips a thin line of concern that didn't belong on such a pretty young face. “Can you save me, Max?”

Outside, Max saw the familiar armored figure of Chloe yanking her helmet off to reveal her blonde locks, celebrating her victory as she had before.

“Chloe, I'll always be there to save you,” Max said urgently, watching in horror as the deathclaw from before crawled out of the ground, advancing on her. No, not this again. She couldn't watch it again. She looked down to see the younger Chloe smiling sadly at her.

“I believe you,” she said in a voice barely above a whisper. “I believe you'll try.”

A snarling roar sounded, and Max saw the deathclaw lunging at Chloe –

Before her eyes snapped open, and she pulled in a sharp gasp. Directly above her, Rachel was peering down, her loose hair forming a curtain of sorts around Max. It looked like she had been settled onto a softer part of the dirt and was using the blonde's lap as a pillow.

“Hey,” Rachel said softly. “How do you feel?”

“Head hurts a little,” Max said. “Where's Chloe?”

“She ran off to get Al,” Rachel said. “She's been gone for nearly half an hour. Can you stand, or do you need to lie down for a bit?”

“I think I can stand,” Max said, slowly sitting up. Her head felt heavy and wobbly, and there was a dull, throbbing pain behind her forehead, like the worst sinus infection she had ever had She tasted a strange, metallic flavor on her lips and reached up to feel something tacky on her mouth and chin. She pulled her hand away to see blood on her fingertips. “Sorry to worry you.”

“Don't apologize,” Rachel said with a shake of her head. She gently pulled Max into a hug, squeezing her in her narrow grip. “Chloe has a way of getting carried away and just pulling you right along, doesn't she?”

“She's been that way for as long as I can remember,” Max snickered.

“You love her, don't you?” Rachel asked softly, lowering to sit on a sizable rock and relax. Max sat next to her, feeling her face heat up. Rather than press her, Rachel reached into her pocket for a handkerchief and began dabbing gently at the blood on Max's face.

“Well...I think...yeah, I do,” she said. “I think I have for a long time, but I just didn't know. The last time I saw her, I was thirteen. I didn't...I mean, I barely knew what it meant to like boys, let alone...girls.”

“That's too precious,” Rachel said, though her tone wasn't condescending, simply warm and full of innocent mirth at the situation. “She told me pretty much the same thing. She knew there was something there, but she didn't wanna push you into anything.”

“Chloe...does she...?”

“You have to ask her that,” Rachel told her, shaking her head. “It's not my place to tell you whether she does or not.”

Damn it, she was right. Sighing, Max just dropped her head onto Rachel's shoulder, prompting a giggle from the blonde girl.

“You two are so cute,” she said. “Finding love in the apocalypse. It's like one of Mom's romance novels.”

“Smutty or otherwise?” Max asked her, and Rachel snorted.

“If I know Chloe half as well as I think I do, extra smutty,” she said, cackling as heat bloomed in Max's face.

Chloe arrived not five minutes later, along with not only Al but Lisa as well, still hobbling along in her Protectron body.

“Max!” Chloe gasped as she ran over, tugging Max to her feet and into a hug. “Jesus Christ don't ever scare me like that!”

“Everything okay over here?” Al asked. “The way Chloe was talking, you'd think you just fell over dead.”

“Yeah, I'm fine, just...overexerted myself a little,” Max said, ducking her head a bit at how much she was being fussed over, all because she'd had a little fainting spell. Too much attention! “Um...hey, Lisa.”

“Are you okay, Max?” Lisa's synthetic voice sounded, and she clopped closer on her flat feet, a soft, tinny humming sound coming from inside her domed head. “Scanning.... Vitals are elevated, though normal. I would advise you go home and rest for the remainder of the day.”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Rachel said, standing and helping Max up as well.

“Yeah, it's looking like it might rain a bit later anyway,” Al said. “C'mon, let's all get back.”

…...

The rain fell shortly after they arrived home, pinging softly off the metal roof of the trio's home as they lounged in the small room that accounted for their living area. There wasn't a lot of room to spare in the small shelter Al had helped them assemble in the Red Rocket parking lot, but the little shack was still nothing to complain about, affording both the girls and himself some much-needed privacy and giving them a place to actually call home. It wasn't much more than a simple three room wooden hut with some metal siding, but it was a roof over their heads, and he was happy to continue to let them take meals at his place, so long as they helped out around his little stead. Al kept a sizable farm on a hillside across from the Red Rocket station, growing corn, carrots, strange trees that bore a bulbous purple fruit called mutfruit, and twisting vines dotted with the potato/tomato hybrid known simply as tato. He usually spent his days helping a couple of robots he'd pieced together maintain it, starting as soon as the sun rose and not quitting until well past noon. The three girls had taken to assissting him in return for his continued help. It was hard work, but rewarding knowing that this was the very food they would be eating later.

Today, though, with rain threatening and one of his harvest bots acting up, Al had given the three the day off, which was what had brought them to Sanctuary Hills in the first place. After Max's episode, however, it looked like it was to be a relaxing day indoors. Chloe had gone for the shower immediately after they had arrived, citing the constant running to and from the Red Rocket station and the resultant sweat as “the funkiest I've ever felt”. This left Max, who had been given the couch, and Rachel, lounging in an armchair near the front door. Max had her journal open in her lap and was currently scribbling away while the radio in the corner crooned out a slow piano tune from a postwar group called Quiet Klaxon. Trade caravans didn't pass by often, but when they did, Al bought whatever odds and ends he thought he might need. Max had found a stack of notebooks in his workshop the other day, and he had been quite willing to part with one to serve as Max's journal.

“Whatcha writing?” Rachel asked, nodding at the book in Max's lap.

“I like to keep a journal, just day to day stuff,” she said with a glance at Rachel. “I used to write in my old one every day, back before the war.”

“Why not just use a terminal?” Rachel asked, though she sounded more curious than bemused. She seemed to understand that Max had a good reason and just wanted to hear it.

“I guess I just like to take time to write it down,” she said with a tiny shrug. “And be able to take it with me to write anywhere. I used to go down to the woods outside of Sanctuary Hills, find a quiet place, and just write for hours. I'd take pictures and tape them to the pages and write a little something next to it.”

“Like what?” Rachel asked with a sweet smile.

“Just...why I took the picture,” Max told her, staring down at the journal. If she concentrated, she could almost imagine that the rainfall was the sound of leaves in the wind, just like those endless summer days way back when. The occasional bird song, the quiet rushing noise of a car in the distance, the barely audible sounds of children and mowers and life humming along in Sanctuary Hills. “I would write how it made me feel, why I felt like it was worth capturing in time. Or I'd make notes on how I was feeling when I took the picture. One time I was feeling lonely, so I took a picture of a bird on a branch, all by itself. It was singing the whole time I was there, looking for a friend. It never gave up, so I couldn't either.”

“Aw, you're just another little bluebird, looking for your mate,” Rachel said with a small laugh. “Sorry, that sounded totally condescending.”

“Just a little,” Max admitted. “I guess I found her. I'm just...too nervous to go land on her branch.”

“You are too freaking cute,” Rachel chuckled softly. “Max, trust me. Just...talk to her about this. When I first met Chloe, I don't think a day went by that she wouldn't at least mention you, even if it was just a passing little comment. Even if she doesn't feel exactly the same way, it's not like you're gonna mess everything up just by telling her. She cares way too much about you to let something like this ruin it all.”

“I'm just a total coward,” Max sighed. Rachel stared at her disbelievingly for a long moment.

“You're kidding, right?” she asked in a flat voice. “Max, do you remember the time you figured out how to rewind time itself just to save our lives? Chloe and I are both only here because you saved us. Those people in Concord, they're alive because of you.”

“You guys helped, though,” Max insisted. “It wasn't just me.”

“It was mostly you,” Rachel insisted. “Max, you're amazing. You're braver than you give yourself credit for, and you do your best when you're helping people. You're just...good. And I'm so glad I've met you.”

Max didn't know what to say to that, feeling her face heat up under the praise. She was spared having to think of a reply by the door slamming open, Chloe stepping out from the small bathroom wrapped in a towel and drying her hair. A small cloud of steam followed behind her, courtesy of the shower that Al had spent a full day meticulously rigging up for them.

“Shower's free,” she said. “Should still be plenty of hot water.”

“Dibs!” Rachel shouted, jumping to her feet. She scampered over to the bathroom, flashing a knowing smile at Max from behind Chloe's back. That little sneak! The door shut behind Rachel, leaving Max alone with Chloe. In a towel. And nothing else.

Oh, wowser....

“How you feeling, Max?” Chloe asked, moving over to sit next to Max on the sofa. Max scooted to sit up a bit, pulling her feet away so Chloe could lower herself onto a cushion. For a moment, she didn't even realize Chloe had spoken, staring at the way her slender shoulders shifted around as she combed her wet hair. It was getting so long, the tips of it just barely brushing her collarbone –

“Um!” Max all but coughed. “Better. I'm feeling better. I think I just pushed myself a little too hard.”

“Sorry about that,” Chloe said with a winsome little grin at her. “I just got a little carried away, forgot that this is all kinda new.”

“It's alright,” Max said, shaking her head. “It's probably a good idea to figure out what I can do with this thing now and not...well in the middle of a fight or something.”

“Yeah, we gotta science the hell out of this,” Chloe insisted. “Especially if...you know, we ever decide to do more than just hang out at this truck stop for the rest of our lives.”

“What do you mean?” Max asked her, and Chloe hummed softly, standing and letting her towel drop. Max could only stare wordlessly as she strolled to their bedroom as though it were the most natural thing in the world to do so nude, emerging moments later with a Vault 111 jumpsuit—Lisa had gone back to the vault and retrieved a bunch of them simply so the girls would have some sort of wardrobe and not be wearing the same gross suit every day—and sliding it on with no undergarments. The suits were quite comfy, but still....

“I was thinking, we handled ourselves really well in Concord,” she said, sliding her hands through the arm holes (she had ripped the actual sleeves off, preferring to bare her arms) and zipping the suit up, though only just enough that she offered a view of her cleavage. Max couldn't help it; she found herself staring until Chloe sat next to her, reaching to tip her chin up. “Eyes are up here, Max.”

“Sorry,” Max breathed out, but Chloe just shook her head, tousling her hair gently.

“Anyway,” she said, “we did really well in Concord. And with your rewind power, you're like the ultimate spotter. If any of us gets shot or something, you just rewind and warn us beforehand. We'd be practically invincible. I say we take this on the road, do something about how fucked up the world has gotten.”

“What do you mean, just...go out and help people?”Max asked.

“Yeah, like the Lone Ranger or something,” Chloe nodded. “Except there are three of us, and we'd also be doing courier work for Al.”

“Courier work?” Max asked. “What does a courier even do?”

“They, you know...deliver things to places,” Chloe said with a shrug. “There's no real mail system in the world anymore, not one that can deliver in frontier lands. We'd be loading stuff on a truck, hauling it off to wherever it's supposed to go, make some money, and kill all the bad guys we meet on the way. Everybody wins, and the mail gets delivered.”

“That does sound like a worthy cause,” Max smiled. Chloe's optimism was always infectious, especially when she was hip deep in her next big scheme. “I would like to do something good with this power. Save some people.”

“That's the spirit!” Chloe cheered, bumping Max gently with her shoulder. “Super-Max, to the rescue.”

Max let a quiet giggle, getting to her feet and stretching her arms above her head.

“I'm gonna go get some fresh air,” she said. “I've been on this couch for like two hours.”

“Want some company?” Chloe asked her, quickly standing and following. “I don't want you conking out again with no one around and...getting stolen by raiders.”

“I'd tell you not to exaggerate, but that sounds like a real possibility, honestly,” Max told her, reaching for the front door and slowly cracking it open.

Outside, the rain was falling in fat, heavy drops that were quickly beginning to puddle in the remains of the nearby road. Their shack was built within a quick walk to the Red Rocket's metal overhang, so they only had to cross a short distance through the rainfall before reaching the relative shelter of the area outside the station. Al was currently puttering around his workshop, a cozy light filling the small diner, and behind them lay the comfort of their own slice of this post-apocalyptic world. But for the moment, it was just the two of them, Max and Chloe yet again.

“I always hated rain,” Chloe muttered as they ambled slowly around the dry area afforded by the small overhang. “Dreary, cold and just...wet. Sucks the life and the color out of everything.”

“I guess that's true,” Max said with a tiny smile. “I guess...I've always thought rain was an opportunity. The world's sort of...closed, I guess? Nature needs some time to itself, so it gives you a chance to appreciate what you have. You can curl up with a book or watch TV or listen to some holotapes or even just nap next to a window. It's...cozy.”

“Or you can talk with your best friend and figure out why she's suddenly acting even more spastic and awkward than usual?” Chloe prodded her, and Max froze mid-step, Chloe making a few more feet before realizing she'd left Max behind. “Max, what is up with you lately? Is this about the whole 'you being gay' thing? Because I wasn't completely serious, even if it does seem like – “

“I'm in love with you!” Max blurted, staring at Chloe's feet. “Chloe, I think I've been in love with you since I was like eight years old. I once told Mom and Dad that I was gonna marry you someday, because I couldn't imagine a husband being better than you.”

“Oh my God, that's adorable,” Chloe murmured, but Max held up a hand to stop her.

“And I haven't been able to tell you because...I was afraid of screwing something up, and I think the only reason I'm able to tell you now is because if I really did screw it up...at least I can rewind and still keep you as a friend.”

“Well, don't you dare rewind,” Chloe told her, stepping closer. “I mean...if you wanna rewind and relive this...go for it.”

And then she was kissing Max, whose eyes fluttered shut as Chloe's lips pressed on hers, soft, sweet, and tender. Kissing Chloe was strangely...familiar, even while it was new and exciting. Max felt like this was something she should have been doing her whole life, like she was picking up where she had never left off. There was one moment where Chloe came up briefly for air, wrapping an arm around Max as she tried to pull away thinking they were done.

“Where do you think you're going?” Chloe growled playfully, pulling her back in. Max stumbled into round two, gasping as Chloe deepened the kiss.

She tasted like Nuka-Cherry.

Max wasn't sure how long they were at it, and she could probably have gone on for hours longer, but they were interrupted by a quiet cough.

“Ahem,” a man's voice said, and Max and Chloe jumped apart, Max turning and seeing Preston Garvey standing in the shelter of the overhang, a nearby street lamp washing him of color. He had a rain slicker pulled on over his jacket, and his hat was dripping pooled water from the brim as he took it off and gave it a quick shake to dry off. “Sorry. It was between interrupting and waiting until you were done, and I didn't wanna come off as a Peeping Tom.”

“No, I get it,” Chloe said as Max hid herself in Chloe's chest. So embarrassing! “You here to see Al?”

“Actually, I'm here to see you three,” Preston said. “The Minutemen need your help. I need your help.”

“With what?” Chloe asked him, squeezing Max a bit.

“There's a small farming community a ways east of here, Tenpines Bluff,” Preston told them. “We passed by it on the way here. They've got a pretty good-sized farm going, tato, mutfruit, corn, even a brahmin pasture. When we passed through, they said they were having problems with raiders, a band of them set up in an old military bunker nearby. They were able to deal with them, but...just now, we got a call from them over the old ham radio frequencies. The raiders are coming at them with better guns, explosives, even power armor. They've begun evacuating, but something has to be done. Those raiders can't keep rampaging unchecked.”

“And you want us to do what, exactly?” Chloe asked.

“We've loaded up the truck with what arms we can spare,” Preston said with a gesture over his shoulder, back at Concord. “I'd like you to drive it out there. You know how to handle yourself, and maybe you can even stay and help the people take their home back. Please. This is the sort of thing the Minutemen would do, but...I'm all that's left.”

“Well, not anymore,” Chloe said with a grin. “We'll do it. Right Max?”

“Definitely,” Max said with a firm nod. This was exactly what she had been talking about when she had said she wanted to do more with her power. Preston was practically handing them an opportunity to do some good in the world.

It was time to be a hero.