Haunt you every day
Season four episode five
Mark had been staying the night at the Mallard household for the last 2 nights and if Max was being honest, she was getting used to waking up to him. So when she woke up this morning and he wasn't next to her she felt emptiness take over her body, she laid in bed staring at the ceiling for a couple of minutes before finally getting up and starting her day.
Taking the short walk to her bathroom she stopped in front of the mirror and sighed when she saw her reflection: messy hair, dark circles and pale skin. Turning on the sink, she cupped her hands together and splashed some water onto her face hopeful that it'll wake her up just a little.
"Get it together, Maxine" She muttered to herself, reaching over to grab her toothbrush she noticed how perfect hers and Marks looked together, she groaned angrily grabbing the toothpaste and pouring some onto her toothbrush.
She finally made it downstairs but she didn't forget to make it known that she was in a mood with huffing, sighing and stopping her feet.
"If you're always going to be this annoying in the morning when Mark doesn't stay over then I am personally going to ask him to move in" Callie said to her, not even bothering to be sympathetic.
"Why are you so harsh and mean, so so mean, I do not appreciate it" Max groaned when she opened the mug cabinet and then groaned again when she slammed it shut.
"I'm your best friend, I don't get paid to be nice" Callie responded back.
"You don't get paid at all" Max pointed out.
"Well maybe if I did, I would be nicer. It takes a lot to put up with you" Callie joked, "and don't forget to lay out Maeve's Halloween costume for tonight!"
"So mean" Max said again but didn't go any further, which made Callie laugh which made Max more annoyed so she grabbed her coffee cup and went to her room.
Grabbing the package with Maeve's Halloween costume, she grabbed a pair of scissors she sliced it open, reviewing the Amelia Earhart costume that Maeve had picked out and gently picking it up and placing it on her bed, luckily Maeve stayed the night at her grandmas because if she had gotten one glance at the costume she would have wanted to wear it to .
Max slammed her locker door shut when she felt someone sneak up behind her, she instantly knew whose body was pressed against hers, his hot breath tickling her ear she melted into him, leaning against his body with a satisfied sigh. But then she remembered.
"I am mad at you" Max said aggressively, turning around she pointed at his chest with her pointer finger.
"What? Me? What did I do?" Mark replied back shocked at her sudden change in mood.
"I woke up and you weren't lying beside me, so I'm angry" Max told him, in all honesty she knew she was being a little over dramatic.
"What!" He laughed out, maybe he thought she was joking but when he noticed her stony face he clammed up, "Max did you forget that I don't live with you?"
Her eyes widened at that, did he really just say that? "I am so mad at you!" She yelled one more time before she walked away from him.
She huffed down the hallway making everyone glance at her with confusion, slamming her stuff down on the counter she groaned.
"What's got you all huffy and puffy?" Miranda asked from beside her.
"Stupid Mark thinking he had the right to be stupid" Max vaguely tells her.
"You are giving me a headache" Miranda sighed and rubbed her temples.
"I know! It's giving me a headache too, I mean I wake up and I looked over to find that he's not laying next to me and now I'm annoyed" Max gently layer her head down on the folder she had slammed down a few seconds ago.
"I wasn't aware that he lived with you" Miranda said nonchalantly.
"What? He doesn't?" Max looked up at her confused.
"So why would you assume that he would be there? He pays to stay at a hotel, why waste his money if he was just going to stay at your house?" Miranda rhetorically asks.
"You are so mean" Max tells her.
"Yeah, get used to it" Miranda shrugs and walks away from an emotional Max.
Max didn't have anything to do this morning so she began to wander the halls, making conversation with the nurses when one popped up but other then that there was nothing.
Turning the corner she saw Derek talking to a little kid, "Ryan! I haven't seen you in awhile" Max said once she realized who he was.
"M2!" He smiled up at her.
"What are you doing here? Where's your Mom?" Max questioned, his Mom worked in the cafeteria so people knew her when they bothered to strike up a conversation.
"She's working, I'm looking for Mark Sloan do you know where I can find him?" Ryan asked her.
"Of course I do, but you'll have to do something for us" She looked at Derek with a smirk and then pulled out twenty bucks.
"Oh, man you would not believe what happened to me this morning" Mark said once he turned around and noticed Derek.
"There's a, uh, kid looking for you" Derek says to him, not even trying to prepare him.
"What?" Mark asked confused.
"Daddy?" Ryan steps from behind Derek and says.
"What?" Mark says freaking out.
"Wait did he just said 'Daddy?' He cant be more then 12 years old" Max steps in and says pretending to be mad.
"No no" Mark stutters.
"Mark, oh my god you cheated on me" Max says to him pretending to cry.
"What? No no, Max I-" Mark began to explain but was cut off when Max began to laugh and then pulled out twenty bucks.
"Nicely done" Derek laughs when he noticed Marks face.
"Thanks" Ryan's smiles and holds up the twenty.
"I'll be getting you back for that" Mark says to Max who was still laughing.
"Looking forward to it bubba" Max tells him leaning in to kiss his cheek.
She walked away to the private room that she had set up all of Ryan's x-rays and school notes so that when they walk in, Ryan could just jump right into it.
Max was seated on the chair closest to the door when both Ryan and Mark walked in.
"Yay, he's convinced you!" Max excitedly said to Mark.
"Not yet, I'm not even sure what's happening" Mark tells his girlfriend with a shrug.
"Ah well, that's gotta change" Max says back to him, handing him the folder with the X-Rays and then looks over at Ryan and gives him an encouraging nod.
"I've also brought letters from kids in my class, letters to Dr. Sloan" Ryan tells him pointing to the stack of letters on the table.
"So you've got the internal structure to hear, you just don't have a canal or external structure" Mark says aloud as he looks at the X-Rays that Max had handed to him, while purposely not addressing that part about the letters.
"Right, I thought that if I came in with my letters, Dr. Sloan might feel sorry for me and do the surgery for free" Ryan replies back to Mark, and then flickers his dyes to Max who still had a hopeful look on her face.
"Uh, look, I'd like to help, I would if I could, but pro bono surgery-" Mark began but was interrupted by the kid.
"You should probably know that on my way here this morning, three different people thought I was in a costume. My head looks like a permanent Halloween costume, just thought you should know that" The little boy informs Mark but not without adding the sad faces and tones.
"Not bad, kid" Max smiled down at him as she brought her hand up to Marks shoulder.
"Pro Bono surgery is not just me giving you my time, a surgery like this requires O.R. time, an anesthesiologist, a general surgeon to remove the cartilage from your ribs, at least two surgical nurses" Mark explained to him that it was going to be an easy ask.
"Well, I'm sure you could ask them for help" Max cunningly asks him.
Mark looks up at Max with narrowed eyes, "I could, but I don't have any social capital, the nurses hate me they've formed a club that's all about hating me and the other doctors don't owe me any favors cause I've never done any for them. I'm sorry, I wish I could help, I would if I could"
Max watches Ryan's face and feels heartbroken for the little guy, "Okay, first of all why do the nurses hate you? And second of all, if you need my help you could've just asked, I'm practically best friends with everyone in this hospital, I've got social capital" She glares her eyes at Mark and then focused her attention to Ryan, whose face brightened with just a few words.
"Fine make it happen, you manage that and I'm all yours" Mark said to her, again purposely not bring up a topic and then walking out of the room.
Max waited till he left before turning to Ryan with her hands out so that he could give her a high five, "See I knew it was going to work"
First stop was Richard Webber, if she could get through to him then she's got this in the bag.
"I've got an earless boy" Max tells him after she practically barges into him office.
"I'm sorry?" He asks, staring at her confused.
"Dr. Sloan has agreed to build him ears pro bono, if you will donate the O.R. and all the equipment-" Max began telling him her mini speech she had prepared but was cut off by the man himself.
"I'm sorry, Maxine. My pro bono slate is full, there are protocols to be followed, all sorts of red tape-" Richard tells her and he didn't even notice when Max motioned Ryan to come in with his pillow case.
"Trick or treat!" Ryan says to the chief holding up his bag.
"Get it! He's trick or treating for ears" Max said to him, letting her voice drop down for special effect.
"Max-"
"You know my Dad, your brother, was big on pro bono surgeries. I think it's the reason why I always loved giving back to this hospital that does so much for people like Ryan here" Max pointed to Ryan which made Richard get a good look at the kid, "I mean, I feel like I do a lot for this hospital, don't you think Uncle Richard?"
Richard sighed, looking between a sly Max and a little boy with no visible ears, "O.R. 2 is free at 6:00 P.M"
"Thank you!" Ryan says to the chief, while at puts a little red check next to Richard Webber's name.
Max stepped off of the elevator with Ryan and stopped when she noticed Mark talking with one of the nurses.
"Why do you think they hate him?" Max asked the little boy.
"I don't know, I'm only 12" Ryan replies back to her with a shoulder shrug.
"What if he turned back into a whore, you know before Mark and I dated all those years ago, he got around with a lot of women, I mean a lot, so what if as soon as he got here he began his old dirty ways" Max spoke again, not really paying attention to Ryan.
"I'm not going to pretend like I know what any of that means so I'm just gonna ask if you asked him about it" Ryan rolled his eyes at the older lady.
"Well I can't very well ask him something I just found out about like 5 minutes ago, can I?" Max jokes with him before pulling him along to find Miranda.
"Dr. Bailey, I am putting together a team to help rebuild a little boys ears today, pro bono and I thought maybe you would like to donate some time" Max asked her very best friend in the world as nicely as she could ask.
"Um, thanks to the fine, upstanding citizen who cut off his foot on my watch, I've got a mountain of paperwork. I promised to try and get out of here to see Tuck in his Halloween costume" Miranda looked up at Max briefly.
"Miranda, Tuck isn't even old enough to know what Halloween is" Max pointed out.
"I know but his father is and that's who I promised" Miranda told her and then looked down at her paper work.
"Trick or treat!" Ryan pops up, again opening the bag as if really trick or treating for candy.
"For ears?" Miranda said looking at Max, "He's trick or treating for ears?"
"Yeah, he even said that he'll miss out on all the candy and fun just to convince the staff to help him get some ears" Max gloom's, "If you could also persuade some of the surgical nurses to help out, they seem to really like you"
"Trick or Treat" Ryan said again when he noticed that Miranda hadn't responded to Max.
"Uh, stop that" Miranda tells the boy, "All right, I'm in" Shaking her head, she looked back down at her paperwork getting back to work.
"Okay, next up Graham Dumont" Max told him with a high five before they made there way to the office of Dr. Dumont.
Knocking three times before opening the office door, she was greeted with Graham sitting on his desk focused on paperwork.
"Hammy, I have the best news!" Max speeds up next to him.
"What can I do for you Maxipad?" He questioned, taking off his glasses and setting them down in front of him, he clasped his hands and set them in front of him.
"I'm apart of this team that's going to help build a boy some new ears!" Max screeched with excitement.
"Max, as I know how qualified you are as a Doctor, I'm just not sure that plastic surgery is your forte" Graham tells her with a sad face.
"Of course not, I'm only the mastermind behind all of this" Max replies back, "Ryan!"
Max waited for Ryan to show himself to Graham, "You remember Ryan? Anyway I am here to recruit you to help me and this poor poor little boy in building him some ears"
"What's the catch, M2" Graham said carefully.
"Pro bono" She said simply.
"Maxine" Graham sighed, leaning back in his chair.
"I already got the chief to sign off on it, Miranda and some surgical nurses all I have left is an anesthesiologist and I wasn't about to ask Dr. Taylor" Max practically begged.
"I have so much work to catch up on, I just don't think I have enough time" Graham told her sadly.
"Trick or treat" Ryan finally said, pulling out the big guns.
"Really? Maxine you are bloody ruthless! You have him trick or treating for ears?" Graham said bolting out of his chair, which Max thought was a little extreme.
"Graham, you're the only person left to agree on helping Ryan get the ears that he wants. After that, we go to Mark with all the forms and when 6:00 p.m rolls around we get this little guy in O.R. 2. I need your help, we need your help" Max looks at Graham with pleading eyes, and then back at Ryan to see that he was doing the same.
Graham nodded his head sighing, "I suppose, as if I would've said no"
"I know you wouldn't have, Hammy. It's why we're best friends" Max walks closer to Graham and kisses him on the cheek before taking Ryan's hand and walking out of the room to find Mark Sloan.
"Okay, so we have one plastic surgeon, a general surgeon, an anesthesiologist, three scrub nurses and an O.R. Let's call your Mom, kid. You're gonna get some ears" Max listed off everything they needed for Mark to agree on the surgery and she was damn excited for it.
Max stood next to Mark watching him scrub his hands for surgery, they hadn't spoken since this morning and she felt his bottomless pit in her stomach, like something bad was going to happen.
"You know, I'm impressed" Mark looked back at Max with a smile.
"Why? Didn't think I could pull it off?" Max asked him with a frown.
"No, that's not what I meant-" Mark began to explain himself.
"Mark, we need to talk" Max interrupted him.
"I know, I know" Mark sighed.
"You said earlier that the nurses hated you? I mean, I haven't heard anything from the nurses about you" Max asked him, picking her nails, a habit that she had picked up.
"Max... I'm sorry" Mark whispered to her.
"You slept with them. God Mark! While we were together?" Max yelled slightly, closing her eyes she leaned back against the wall, she didn't think it would be this bad.
"What? No of course not! It was when I first got here, we weren't even talking then" Mark tried to explain to her.
"So What, I didn't deserve an explanation? I had been walking these halls for months and I haven't heard anything about having sex with everyone with a vagina, am I that self involved that I couldn't realize what was happening under my own nose?" Max felt tears well up in her eyes but she wiped them away before Mark could notice them.
"I went around and asked them not to tell you, I wanted to do that on my own time and you do deserve an explanation and I should have been honest in the beginning but I knew if I came out with it then you couldn't have taken me back-"
"When were you going to tell me? When I finally agreed to marrying you? Our wedding day? Were you just going to add that little confession into your vows? You manipulated me into thinking that you were the same guy I feel in love with, I spent half of a year standing up for you, only to find out that I've been the foolish one" Max jabbed her finger into his chest with anger.
"Why do you always have to make a big deal out of everything! I had sex with those nurses before I started dating you again, why does it matter" He says to her.
"I feel like I have to keep explaining myself to you, Mark! It matters because I love you and I thought that you were in love with me too, I took a blow when I found out that you were here chasing after Addison but I set that aside for the sake of our relationship and your relationship with your daughter and maybe it was too good to be true, you didn't come here for me anyway you came here for Addison and when you didn't get your fix with her you decided to find it elsewhere, leaving me your last choice, you knew that I would come back to you after all those nurses had enough of your bullshit so don't tell me you didn't manipulate me into loving you when you knew I was just putty in your hands" Max took a few steps back from him, shaking her head with a mixture of sadness and anger, "and to think I was so mad about not waking up to you this morning that I was going to actually ask you to move in with me, sounds crazy to me now"
"Max, please" Mark pleaded with her.
"I'll see you tonight, Mark" Max tells him softly before making her way out the door.
Max was currently getting Maeve dressed for Halloween, she had already got the outfit on but Max was trying to get the short wig on and when you have a nine year old who won't stop moving it gets a little hard.
"Honey, you've got to stop moving so that I can get the clips in" Max says to her daughter.
"Sorry, mommy! I'm just so excited about wearing my costume" Maeve says excitedly.
"I know baby, but the costume isn't complete without the hair just give Mommy a few seconds and you can show aunt Callie how amazing you look" Max tried to reason with her.
"I can do that" Maeve replies back and immediately stops moving.
It only took Max about five seconds to put the wig on and as soon as she was done Maeve bolted out of the chair to show Callie her costume.
"Callie! Look how awesome I look!" Maeve shouted at Callie, giving her a little twirl.
"Wow! Look at you, spitting image of Amelia Earhart if I do say so myself" Callie laughed and the crazy girl.
"You really think so? Mommy, Callie said that I look just like her, what if people actually think I'm her!" Maeve giggle with excitement. Max grabbed both of their coats and bent down to Maeve.
"I wouldn't be surprised, you are just as smart and beautiful as her" Max said kissing her cheek and wrapping her jacket around her small frame so that she could put it on.
"I can't wait till Daddy gets here so I can show him"
Maeve tells her Mom.
"Show me what?" Mark pops in.
"Daddy! Look at my costume" Maeve said showing him her outfit for the evening.
"Wow, Amelia Earhart in the flesh, it's so nice to meet you" Mark says to her shaking her little hand.
"No Daddy! It's me Maeve!" She giggles at him.
"Oh right, how could I have made that mistake" He tells her pulling her into a hug.
"Okay, let's get this show on the road. We definitely don't want to be out in the pitch black, do we Amelia?" Max joked with the little girl as she opened the front door.
"No we do not captain, it is time to fly!" Maeve said grabbing onto Marks hand and pulling him out the door.
The three of them spent a couple of hours going door to door, everyone loved Maeve costume and Maeve loved the attention. As for Max and Mark, they only talked when it was suited for them but Max knew that when the night was over and a new day started, so did their problems and everything would have to be brought up again.
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For Max being the head of pediatric surgery, she doesn't really do her job
How do you guys feel about Max's reaction?
Do you think they'll break up?
I swear I almost cried when I saw the look on Ryan's face when Mark said that he couldn't do the surgery, poor little guy):
I felt the need to spice some things up, I have plans to do some spicyness in the future and just thinking about it makes my heart heart
So if you have any questions or confusion let me know!
Never say Never - the fray