#helleanor what are you doing girl

[crazybagelbitch]

You’re not gonna do it but imma ask anyway 🥺 part 2 where Chimney goes to Maddies apartment that night to ask wtf that was all about

Chimney almost changes his mind and rushes back down the stairs and to his car to drive off, but he takes a deep breath and forces his hand forward to knock on her door. He had almost stopped to buy flowers on the way over, as Hen suggested he had to suck up, but he’s still not sure that would be reading the situation quite right.

Yeah, her rage probably means she still cares, but it was still rage. He doesn’t want to risk bringing her flowers just for her to tell him to fuck off and throw them in his face.

“Howie?” her voice is quiet, and her cheeks flush a bit with what he can only hope is embarrassment and not anger.

“Hi, umm, I wanted to uh... I wanted to see you,” he mumbles, and it’s not the confident, pre-planned speech he had prepared on the drive over, “after today, I uh... I don’t know if I can tell you I’m sorry. I’d do it again but... you were so upset, probably still are, and I hate that I made you upset. So I just wanted to say I’m sorry that I scared you... just... I can’t tell you I’m sorry I did it. And you know that. At least I think you do?”

“I do,” she sighs after a long moment, opening her door wider and motioning in to her apartment.

Her new apartment, so thankfully he hadn’t had to walk past his blood stain on the brick path leading to her old one. It’s nice, he thinks, as he quickly tries to inconspicuously glance around. Not very decorated yet, since she only moved recently, but it’s a nice space.

(And maybe she’s nervous about making another new place feel like home, he thinks.)

“You do?” he asks nervously, shuffling his weight back from one foot to the other, and then back again.

“I do,” she nods, “I know... it’s your job. Buck would’ve done the same thing, Bobby, Hen, Eddie... you did the right thing, you did the brave thing, and I’m proud of you.”

“You’re... proud of me?”

“Had a pretty funny way of showing it earlier, I know,” she chuckles, blushing again, and this time he’s confident she’s embarrassed and not still full of rage, “I just... I got scared. It was a shock, to put it mildly, to watch you do that on TV, sitting there at the call center, helpless. I couldn’t... I couldn’t help you. And you were doing this big, crazy, scary, brave thing and I just.. I miss you. I didn’t want you to die without... I don’t want you to die in general, I just... I feel like there’s so much unsaid between us. And undone.”

“Undone?” he prompts, heart thumping against his chest.

“I want... I want us to be together,” she admits, taking a tentative step forward, “life is short, so even if things are always going to be... different than they would’ve been if Doug hadn’t... different doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be together, right?”

“...Right,” he finds himself whispering, feet carrying him forward as if by some force outside of his own body is controlling him, not even thinking it through.

“I’m still a little mad at you,” Maddie murmurs, breathless as she takes another step to close the distance between them, nudging her nose against his.

“That’s okay. Can I...”

She can’t wait for him to finish the question she knows he’s asking.

She brings her lips to his.