We've decided not to go to Seattle. I called my boss and told him what happened. He said that if I couldn't make it out by the end of the week, they'd have to offer the position to someone else.

Max hugged her arms across her chest and felt numb…cold…like she was standing there, but…not.

The house is sold already, so I guess we'll be staying at a hotel for a while until we can find another one. I just felt like it wouldn't be right; I mean, Joyce just lost her husband and…Chloe is apparently having some trouble fitting in at the new school. I think…I think our place is here.

Max looked at Chloe standing there, hugging her mother and crying into her black dress. Her father's hand was resting gently on her shoulder, while Chloe's father…

Chloe needs a friend now more than ever, Max. I can't imagine what she must be going through. Be there for her, Max. Your mother and I need some time to get things sorted out anyway, so…you'll be staying with the Price's…um…I mean, with Joyce and Chloe for a few days.

Max's father's words echoed in her head and she willed her legs to move, her feet shuffling softly through the wet grass. She found herself standing beside Chloe, still clutching tightly to her mother.

"Hey Chloe." Max said softly "I…uh…I wanted to say…"

Chloe looked up from her mother's dress and saw Max standing beside her. Without a word, she swung around and wrapped her arms tightly around Max neck, sobbing loudly on her shoulder. Max felt the tears stream anew down her cheeks; she wrapped her arms around Chloe's back and held her tightly. She didn't know what to do, what else that could be said. Nothing else mattered.

Nothing but Chloe that is. Despite the circumstances, she found herself smiling slightly through her tears at the idea that she'd be staying after all; that she could be there for Chloe like she always had. This, though, would be the toughest thing they'd ever been through. In the pocket of her dress, she had a tape that she was going to leave for Chloe before she left for Seattle. Now that she wasn't, it wasn't necessary…but the words on it, and the feelings they expressed, were still felt just as truly to Max. And she would tell them to her, now that she could tell them to her.

Eventually. We have time now. We have all the time in the world.

She held Chloe, and Chloe held her, for the rest of the funeral. As the coffin descended slowly into the ground, Max stared ahead grimly and coldly; warmed only by the growing wet stain on the shoulder of her dress and the tight grasp of Chloe's arms around her. Joyce Price put her arm around the two of them and hugged them both.

"We'll give you a call in a few days, Max. Let us know if you need anything."

After the funeral, Max's parents spoke to her, then exchanged words with Chloe's mother as Max walked with Chloe to Joyce's car. Max walked slowly beside Chloe, who had stopped crying and now seemed to look ahead expressionless.

"So…I wanted to say…" Max started, trying to fill the silence between them, "I wanted to say that… I'm so, so sorry, Chloe. I can't imagine what you're going through."

"Thank you." Chloe rasped in a monotone, shuffling ahead with red-rimmed eyes, "Thank you, Max."

"My parents aren't moving to Seattle now, and I'll be staying with you and your mom for a little while. So, if you wanted to talk or whatever… I'll be here." Max stopped walking and hugged Chloe. She thought of the tape in her pocket and the words she had recorded when she thought she wasn't going to see Chloe again. "You're my best friend, Chloe. I love you."

"I love you too, Max." Chloe whispered before buying her face in Max's shoulder and beginning to cry again.

Chloe's mother found them like that a few minutes later and gently ushered them the rest of the way toward the car.

Following an awkward wake where Chloe numbly shook the hands of family and friends, most of whom Max didn't know and Chloe clearly had no interest in seeing, the three of them returned to the Price home.

To Max, the home that she spent so many happy times in had never seemed so cold, so empty…

So damn quiet…

"Girls, you go upstairs and get ready for bed. I have some phone calls to make."

Chloe gave her mother a small, sad smile and nodded. The look of pain and sorrow on Chloe's face made Max's heart ache terribly. Max wanted to give Chloe the biggest, tightest hug ever, or do anything that would take away some of her pain.

Max reached out and took Chloe's hand. She didn't know what to say, so she hoped this gesture spoke where words didn't. It did, as Chloe turned to look at Max and she could feel Chloe's hand squeeze hers. Chloe's eyes glistened for a moment and tears once again began falling down her cheeks, but Max saw a smile on her face. Max knew exactly what she was thinking and she smiled back and nodded.

"I am too." She whispered to Chloe.

As soon as they were up in her room, Chloe closed and locked the door then lifted her black dress up and over her head.

"I fucking hate dresses." Chloe muttered.

Max blushed and her eyes opened wide in surprise, both because of the language and also because Chloe was standing in front of her in her bra and underwear. Chloe didn't seem to notice Max's reaction, though. She went over to her bed and collapsed down on it, letting out an audible sigh and then turning onto her side.

There was an overnight bag of Max's things that had been left in Chloe's room along with a sleeping bag, so Max went over and unzipped it, pulling out a T-shirt and some shorts to wear to bed. She removed her own dress more neatly than Chloe had and folded it back into her bag.

"Soo…are you going to brush your teeth?" Max asked, slipping quickly into her clothes.

After a pause, Chloe shook her head.

Max bit her lip, "Are you…going to put on your pajamas?"

Chloe let out a sigh and, with a sniffle, said softly, "Maybe in a bit."

Max undid her ponytail and put her hair tie in a small pocket of her bag. She looked up at Chloe who hadn't moved, and said hesitantly, "So… I'm going to go to the bathroom."

Chloe turned her head to look at Max. Her eyes and cheeks glistened wet, "Why are you telling me, Max?"

Max shrugged, "I dunno. I just…wanted you to know that I was leaving the room for a bit. "

Chloe blinked and and wiped her wrist across her face as she sat up, "Why?"

"Why am I leaving the room? Or…"

Chloe half -laughed and half-coughed, "Why are you being so weird, Max? Just go to the damn washroom!"

Max was going to respond, but decided to not push the issue. She walked over to the door and opened it softly, looking back over her shoulder before she went to see Chloe now sitting up and staring at a photo album from her shelf. She bit her lip before slipping out the door and closing it behind her.

As she brushed her teeth, she tried to make sense of the past few days. One second, she was playing pirates and trying to figure out how to tell Chloe that she was leaving Arcadia Bay, and her, in a matter of days; the next second, she was watching Chloe collapsing into her mother's arms as her whole world was destroyed. Now, she was staying in Arcadia Bay, at least for now, and her best friend – her only friend really – was a wreck.

How do you go from searching for buried treasure to dealing with the most adult thing ever in just a few hours?

As long as she lived, she would never forget the look on Chloe's face when they told her. She didn't even think it was possible to show that much pain in one look. Just thinking about it again made Max begin to tear up, and she quickly sniffed back her tears and wiped her face on Chloe's pirate towel.

When Max went back into the bedroom, Chloe had put on a simple white t-shirt and was still sitting on the edge of the bed; but instead of the photo album, she was holding something else. Max could also see that she'd been crying again.

"Max, what's this?"

"What's what?" Max asked, walking closer until she could see what Chloe was holding out to her and she could feel her heart sink into her feet.

Chloe held out a cassette to Max, the label had "I'm sorry" written on it in pen. "I was over by there and saw this tape sitting by your bag. Is it yours?"

Max clasped her hands in front of her and nodded, her eyes looking down.

"What's on it? What are you sorry about?"

Max sighed. She wished she had thrown it out, but between the funeral and the wake she hadn't even thought much of it. She could also lie and say it was nothing…

No, I can't lie to Chloe.

She looked up again and saw Chloe sitting and looking at her curiously, her face streaked red with smeared tears. Here was her best friend, Chloe Price, holding in her hands what was supposed to be her final words to her before leaving until how knows how long? She poked fun at her all the time…but the truth was that she loved Chloe. She was more than just her best friend; she was…so much more than that.

"I was supposed to leave the same day as your father's funeral. My father was supposed to start his new job in a few days and we were supposed to go. I…didn't know if I'd get a chance to talk to you before, and…I thought I wouldn't be able to say what I wanted to say before I left. And…I didn't know when I'd ever see you again." Max said slowly, carefully, trying unsuccessfully to hold back her tears before failing in the end.

She wiped her eyes and struggled through, "I…I needed to tell you some things. In case…In case…" Max put her hands on her face and, despite trying to will herself to be strong, she just couldn't.

She wiped her hands repeatedly across her face and felt Chloe reach out and hug her, "In case you didn't see me again? In case…you never saw me again?"

Max sniffled and nodded.

Get it together, Caulfield!

"Chloe, even if I had left…I would never let us not keep in touch." Max said pulling herself together and pulling away to look at Chloe gravely.

Chloe looked at the tape in her hands, and then threw it into the cardboard box of stuff to throw out that was still in her room. "I don't need a tape, when I have my best friend." Chloe said, offering a smile to Max.

Max nodded, smiling back.

There was a knock at the door, and the voice of Joyce Price said, "Girls, I know today was really hard but you two should still try to get some sleep. You two can take a few days off school if you want to, and I'll be taking tomorrow off work so maybe we can all do something if you want."

The two of them waited for the sound of footsteps walking away before turning to each other again.

"Well…" Max started, "I guess we probably should try to sleep."

Chloe bit her lip in thought and nodded, "I guess. It's kind of like this is a sleepover…but different."

Max stood up and walked over to turn off the light. The green glow from Glowy Bear was the only illumination as Max made her way over to the sleeping bag on the floor beside Chloe's bed.

"Night, Chloe."

"Night, Max."

Max found it difficult to go to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see Chloe's look of anguish, or the coffin at the cemetery, or tears flowing down Chloe's face. William wasn't her father, but she'd grown close to him over the years so his death hurt Max more profoundly than she expected. She didn't want to take away from Chloe's pain, though, and thought it would be selfish to bring it up.

"Max? Are you asleep?"

Max turned her head, "No."

She heard choked sobs begin to come from Chloe's bed, "Max…"

Max sat up, "Yeah?"

Chloe sniffled and whispered, "Can you cuddle me?"

Max didn't even pause, opening up the sleeping bag and climbing into bed beside Chloe. The blonde girl turned to face Max and buried her face in Max's chest. "Why'd he have to die, Max?"

Max wrapped her arms around Chloe and hugged her tightly, rubbing her back with one hand like her mother would often do to her when she was upset or not feeling well. "I don't know."

Max thought about the tape and the thought that she might not have been here while Chloe was going through this; that the tape might well have been the last time Chloe heard her voice for who-knows how long.

"Chloe?"

"Mmhm?"

"I love you."

Chloe pulled her head away from Max's chest and looked at her with eyes filled with pain, "I love you too, Max."

The two girls held each other close until they both fell asleep in each other's arms.