It was night in Arcadia Bay. The Blackwell Academy swimming pool lit up in secret, empty but for the two friends on an escapade following their break in into the private school. Chloe had wanted to take the principle's cozy chair. Max hadn't let her.

Now they were relaxing in the luminous water, Chloe's blue hair spread out as she laid there floating on her back next to Max.

"I wish Rachel was here. She would totally love being in here at night.
"Wish you guys had met each other..." Chloe said.

"We will. With all this stuff going on, I'm starting to think everything is related…" Max said, staring into the ceiling far above them. She sank back into the water, swimming closer to Chloe. "And I want to find out for Kate's sake. She almost died today."

An image of Kate standing on the rooftop ledge flashed into Max's mind. The birds flew away as if to carry her spirit over, but somehow Max had pushed herself hard enough and stopped Kate from taking her own life.

It still didn't make her feel good, though. No matter how much they called her a hero, with her new ability the result was always bittersweet. What if Kate was an angel that couldn't get back into heaven? Was it really her place to make decisions by cheating time?

Chloe swam slowly, reaching for the edge of the pool. "Your power is changing everything, Max. Especially you. I can already tell … you're not so chickenshit anymore."

At least Chloe had an optimistic view for once. That actually made her feel better. "Thanks girlfriend."

Max gleaned at her. Chloe's dripping sleek hair framed her cute face, her three bullet-necklace moving as she leaned toward the edge. Her black bra had a firm grip on her body, and the tattoo on her arm–oh wowser, she looked so...

"You know what I mean. You're becoming like this force of nature." Chloe said as they leaned along the edge.

Max looked at her. "More like luck of nature. Come on, my power failed trying to rescue Kate…" she started, then let her mind wander. "Maybe I'm just stumbling back and forth in time… for what reason?" She gazed over into the distance. Melancholia.

"You didn't stumble when you saved me, Max."

"Not that time. But that's because you were there to kick-start my power…"Max said. That's when she caught something strange in the corner of her eye. A blue butterfly? How did it get inside?

Chloe perked up. "So it's time to start moving forward in time," she said. "And we're obviously connected, since without me you would have never discovered your power, right?"

A single droplet traveled from Chloe's neck and down, to rest on her chest. Max felt … warm. She watched Chloe's soft lips move as she talked. Then they stopped. Oh, she had asked her a question. Um, connected…

"Absolutely. You make me feel like," Max started, her words almost slipping away. "I know what I'm doing... " she said, staring intensely at her friend.

I get nervous, sure. But never around Chloe. Not like this. And something's weird with that butterfly–it's like that one I saw in the bathroom before... I suddenly feel really, uh–I guess, free? Huh. Life sure is strange.

"And you make me feel like I have a reason to stay in Arcadia Bay," Chloe said.

Max's heart raced. Could Chloe hear it? It seemed so … loud. Chloe was facing her, the pause after her words lingering with some kind of ... subtext. She didn't feel like thinking anymore. If she started, the thoughts would grow too loud, and scare the moment away ... and crush her hopes of living up to Chloe's expectations.

Max wanted to be there for Chloe like Rachel couldn't. Maybe part of it was guilt, but it was also love. Chloe was the force of nature, not her, and she deserved much better ... yet her blue-haired bestie adored her more than she could find any good reason for.

Oh god. I'm not imagining it this time, am I?
I guess ... why not then?

"Chloe?" Max whispered.

Chloe looked at her. "What?"

Max paused, then saw Chloe's eyes shift from attentive, to curious, to … uncertain. Max started smiling.

"I want to whisper something. A secret," Max said, lowering her head shyly. "Come closer."

Chloe chuckled. "Alright, super Max. Let's hear it."

Max's fingers gripped the edge of the pool as Chloe scooted over close to her, leaning in. Their shoulders touched.

"Okay, so–" Chloe began, but Max had become like the shark.

Max threw her arms around Chloe, pushing them both into the pool's edge carelessly. Chloe's arm shot up to keep them from sinking under the surface. "Max, what–" she started, then gasped.

One of Max's hands went down Chloe's side, the other quickly nested in her soft fluff of wet hair, reaching around her shoulder. Chloe's legs seemed to have locked themselves around Max instinctively, catching her. Their eyes met up close in an intimate stare.

"Chloe, I–" Max began, her explanation cut short.

Chloe dashed in for a kiss, her sweet lips encircling Max's.

Chloe's warm breath struck the outside of Max's mouth before locking lips. Max sucked on her lip, then felt Chloe's tongue licking hers like a dancing flame, before lightly sucking and letting go again. Max broke the kiss.

"Wow. I ... bet Warren–" Chloe started.

Max shushed Chloe with one finger as she kept close, still faithfully wrapped around her. "No Warren," Max whispered, her voice firmer than she remembered it. "Just. You … Chloe Price." They searched each other's eyes again.

Max looked down on Chloe's body, then moved in on her neck, planting soft kisses. She felt Chloe lean back at the touch, but her legs gripped harder around her.

"Mmm–Max…"

Marking Chloe's chest with a kiss, she moved the hand nested in her hair down her back to unwrap the Price she had earned from coming into her own. Chloe was so beautiful. What had stopped them from being together like this before?

"Max, wait–" Chloe said, her black bra falling into the water. Max caught it and threw it out of the pool. "Shouldn't we ... head back home? I could show you a thing or two in my bedroom."

"Nu-uh," Max said. "I need you right where you are." Chloe's perky set was out in the open, and Max couldn't wait to show them some love.

Max continued kissing Chloe's body, feeling her legs rubbing up on her anxiously. She licked a path over Chloe's chest.

Chloe moaned.

Max had become so hot inside. Like a fever that kept on building. It needed release, so she decided to make use of a familiar metaphor. "My captain, I love it when your treasures are up on deck, " she said. "But would you lead me to your buried and most prized jewels?" She stroked downward from Chloe's stomach.

Chloe paused. She carefully placed her hands around Max's face, stroking her cheeks delicately. Her elbow kept them fixed to the edge.

"Max…" Chloe said, starting to burst open. "You know that whatever happens–or happened–that I love you, right?
"I know shit got really complicated, but you were the person I wrote letters to. When I had no one else in my life..." Chloe said, a tear running down her cheek.

Max leaned in closer, Eskimo-kissing.

Chloe's eyes wandered again, her voice growing quiet. "I was so fucking dumb, I should've realized what was going on with me—and between us. But I was hella pissed–at everyone. It was wrong to ever take it out on you."

Max kissed her. "I'm so—so sorry, Chloe. I was a coward. I didn't know how to deal with anything either. I always cared, but I couldn't tell you … instead I just left you for Seattle. I let you down."

They floated there for a moment, gently wrapped into each other's embrace.

Max quickened. "I will start making it up to you, Chloe. How … wet are you?" Max said, looking down.

"Well I'm pretty wet, Max. We're in a swimming pool," she said, her sarcastic tone returning.

Max shot some water in her face. "You know what I mean!"

They giggled.

"If you really want to know, why don't you ... take a peek?" Chloe said, looking coy.

"I wasn't kidding, Chloe, I'm going to make it up to you." Max said. "Get up and sit on the edge."

"What?"

"On the plank, pirate!" Max said, pointing.

On the poolside, Chloe helped take off her black panties, and they slid down her leg and into the water before Max sent it flying off somewhere on land. Chloe was completely naked, sitting there exposed in front of her childhood friend.

"Umm, Max?"

Cold air hit Chloe's nude skin, but inside her center burned a kind of fire she hadn't felt since … well fuck it, since Rachel. Her heart beat faster. Her legs tensed up against the inside of the pool, and …

"Umm, Max?"

It wasn't very complicated, was it? She needed Max to fuck her. Take her, put her adorable little fingers ... anywhere, really. But she couldn't say that out loud, could she? This was Max.

Max's gentle hands stroked up her thighs, moving closer to the center. "Open your legs, Chloe," she said.

Chloe did.

Max's hand pushed over her thigh heading north. Chloe closed her eyes, enjoying every sensation, unable to really believe that the equation Chloe + Max = Sex was anything more than a forgotten memory of one of her many weird and wild wet dreams.

Max pinched one of Chloe's nipples, sending a heat wave of desire into her body.

"Fuck, Max!" Chloe said, her legs automatically pulling back together. Max smiled, watching her face, then jabbed her hand in-between Chloe's closing legs.

"Nu-uh, Chloe."

"Max, please."

"I'm getting there, Ms. Price!"

Max started kissing Chloe's leg, her hands parting them both back open. When she was close, she stopped.

A cute little patch of hair presented Chloe's glistening treasure. "I guess I found captain Bluebeard's chest," Max said, grinning.

Max buried her face.

"Holy shit!" Chloe said, stopping a gasp midway, biting her lip–then moaning in a long exhale.

Chloe felt Max's slick flame lap at her in a frenzy, exploring her own fire. It shot all over the place, surprising her with new sensations she had never even thought of before. It went outside on her flesh, playing with her expectations.

"M–Max, st–s … fuuuck!"

Chloe shot forward into the source of the pleasure, grabbing Max's adorable brunette head of hair while trying to resist pushing her down harder than she was comfortable doing. Max. She was with Max!

Max's tongue reached further in to plunder, and right as Chloe felt her eyes glaze over, a noise from the outside disturbed their bubble of bliss.

The doors on the other side of the swimming pool shot open.

Chloe tensed up, frozen in place buck naked, but Max didn't extract herself out of her legs. A figure emerged out of the veiled doors, walking closer around the swimming pool, then pausing in silence.

"What the hell?" Chloe could hear him say. It was fuckin' step-block.

David's flashlight raced out and blinded her, everything going pale white. She could hear the footsteps getting closer. What the shit was that step-prick going to do to punish her this time? "Uh, Max…" Chloe said, prodding her.

"Mmm..." Max moaned into her legs.

"Max!"

Max snapped out of it, raising her head back up, as Chloe was seeing clearly again.

"What in the name of–Chloe!" David said. He looked right at them, puzzling for a while. "I ... I just–don't understand" he muttered.

Max turned around, realizing who it was despite looking lost in pirate land. "Oh! Hey there David, I'm just borrowing captain Chloe for a bit. But I'll put her right back, okay?" Chloe looked at Max, then back at David. He didn't reply.

The girls started grinning. They burst out giggling, full on their new high.

David's hand fell down to the side, and he scratched his head. He started turning back around, idling as if embarrassed–then circled back to them. He opened his mouth to say something, then turned resolutely back around, and walked toward the doors he came from.

He stopped halfway there. "Chloe, just get your ass home. Your mother's worried," he said, then walked straight out of the door and left.

Silence.

"So ... I guess that was a thing that–just happened?" Chloe said, sitting naked on the edge and staring blank-faced across the pool.

"So, should we leave?" Max said.

Chloe began pulling her leg out of the pool, but Max attacked her again, this time pulling her back into the water with a big splash.

Chloe emerged out of the oceanic blue. "You little shit, I'll get you back for that!"

"For which part, this or earlier?" Max said, giggling.

"All of it. Get ready to be eaten by the shark, motherfucker!"