Maybe it wasn't healthy for Max to ignore Mark and all of her problems, she knew very well that it wasn't but she needed time to process and to heal so that's why spending the last few weeks with her Mom, Dad and Maeve was what she needed.
She requested off the time to spend with them because she knew that her Dad wasn't getting any better and it was much better to stay in an environment he knew rather then pack him up and stay at her house, a place he wasn't familiar with.
But the peace and quiet was over and the day after tomorrow was her first day back at the hospital but right now she was on her way to Maeve's school conference, and of course she had informed Mark as soon as she found out but at this point she wasn't sure what was going on with him.
"Mom, I really don't see the point of this whole parent teacher conference" Maeve said sitting in the back seat of her Mom's car.
"Honey, I'm just here to see how you're doing in school that's all it is" Max told her daughter, looking in the rear view mirror she saw the look on Maeve's face, "Is there anything I need to know about before we enter the school"
"I'm sure Mrs. Daily has everything covered" Maeve responded.
"Right" Max sighed before putting the car into park and getting out to help Maeve unbuckle.
"I'm sure it's all going to be okay" Maeve told her Mom with a thumbs up.
"Maeve, it doesn't bring me much comfort to hear you say that" Max said to her, last parent teacher conference Maeve had gotten in trouble for telling a teacher that she was horrible at her job all because she got a simple equation wrong.
"Little faith Mom, little faith" Maeve replied back.
Max walked into Mrs. Dailey's room hand in hand with Maeve, and no sight of Mark.
"Mrs. Dailey, how are you?" Max smiles at the teacher, stretching her hand out for a proper shake.
"I'm doing well, thank you for asking. How are you?" Mrs. Dailey asks, motioning to the chairs in front of her.
Taking a seat along with Maeve, she set her purse on her lap and gave the teacher a nervous smile, "I can't complain. I'm sorry, I don't think Mark will be here today. I hope that isn't a problem"
"I'm here! I'm here!" Mark said rushing into the room, walking over to the teacher and shook her hand before walking to the other side of Maeve and took a seat, "Hi sweetheart" he kissed Maeve's head before giving the teacher his attention.
"Alrighty then, I guess if everyone is ready, we may begin" Mrs. Dailey said stopping momentarily to see both Mark and Max nod. "As we all know, Maeve is a wonderful student, she excels in all classes especially math, she raises her hand when needed and always goes out of her way to help another student"
"That's Good right?" Max asks hesitantly, of course it was good but Max was afraid to hear the rest of it.
"Yes, Dr. Mallard it is good but we have days that aren't good. Just last week, Justin, another student in this class, came in and talked about his older brothers math homework, they were learning about the square root of numbers, so he came in and told the class that his brother was having problems figuring out the square root of 36, and Maeve here, raises her hand and says, 'Is he dumb? It's obviously 6' and when I asked her not to use that language when referring to another person she said, 'As if learning the square root of 36 is hard" Mrs. Dailey set the piece of paper down on the table, and looked at the two parents, who were just as shocked.
"She's nine, how could she possibly know the square root of 36" Max asked the teacher.
"You guys are already learning that stuff?" Mark asked right after.
"That's the reason behind this visit, I believe that Maeve is gifted. I have never seen a child let alone an adult that can do math like she can. Later that day I had tested Maeve on some math problems, we started off easy and then we got to college level math as I watched her figure out the numbers in her head without a calculator I had realized that this needed to be brought up today" Mrs. Dailey tells the two of them.
"What are you saying?" Mark questions.
"As much as the students and teachers love Maeve, we think she needs to attend a school that can better fit her needs, she may be a second grader but she's not learning like one, she's in college level math already and at this school we don't have the resources to teach her anything that will be beneficial" Mrs. Dailey gave them a hesitant smile.
Max looked down at her daughter with shock, "How do you feel about this?"
"Uh, I don't know" She shrugged, she didn't think she was any different.
"Do you think that you need to go to transfer to a different school?" Mark asked her softly.
Maeve just shrugged her shoulders, "Honey, you don't need to feel scared about telling us things. I don't want to put you in a position without you understanding it, okay?" Max says to her daughter in a low tone.
"Dr. Mallard, I'm not sure this conversation should be held here. Take her home, help her understand and then you and Dr. Sloan can discuss what is best for her" Mrs. Dailey tells her.
"Right, yeah. Sorry" Max mutters to the teacher before grabbing onto Maeve's hand and walking out of the school.
She opened the back door so that Maeve could climb Into the seat, she waited until Max was all the way buckled before shutting the door.
"Am I in trouble?" Max heard Maeve's voice and turned back to open the door.
Max looked at Mark before crouching down so that Maeve could see her better.
"Of course not sweetie, why would you think that?" Max asks.
"I just, I didn't realize that it was such a big deal and Mrs. Daily made it sound like I was a freak" Maeve says tearing up.
"Maevie, I know this is hard to understand but I promise that you are not in trouble and I promise that I will try to explain it to you the best that I can but not here, once we get home and you are far from a freak, you are amazing" Max looked at her daughter until she nodded, standing up she kissed her daughter on the head before shutting the door.
"Are you okay to meet me at my house? Or do you have big surgery's today" Max asked Mark with a sigh.
"Nothing that's important enough, I'll just push them back" Mark smiles at her before walking to his car and heading to the house.
The two girls had stopped and picked up some lunch, Max figured that since it was already passed lunchtime and Mark was at the house then she would save time and just pick something up.
Max watched as Maeve took out all of the food containers and set them on the table, pushing the sesame chicken closer to her she set the orange chicken and fries rice in front of Max and the peppered chicken and rice next to Mark.
"Maevie, I know you are confused and you have questions so Dad and I are here to help you with whatever you need" Max told her daughter gently, she wasn't sure how to start the conversation but she also didn't want Maeve to feel insecure about being different.
"Maxi, I think maybe we should just take her to a specialist they could help her understand better then we can" Mark says from across the table.
"Maybe but for now she needs to understand that there is nothing wrong with her and that we love her all the same" Max replied to Mark.
"I'm right here!" Maeve stated.
"I know baby, I'm sorry. Your Dad and I just aren't quite sure how to explain it to you" Max smiled gently.
"Just do the best you can" Maeve offered.
"Okay, I uh, you know how Mrs. Dailey told us about Justin sharing that his brother was having trouble with the square root of 36?" Mark asked the little girl.
"And I told him that it was 6, what about it?" Maeve asked, shoving a piece of chicken into her mouth.
"Well, at nine years old you're not supposed to know that, you're supposed to be learning about adding and subtracting but you, you can understand the problems" Max grabs her water and takes a sip, this is harder than she thought it would be.
"What's the big deal?" Maeve shrugged.
"You're a fourth grader with the mind of a math wiz, you're smart and it's incredible" Mark explained.
"Okay, but why do I have to go to a different school?" Maeve asked.
"Nothing's for certain, Mrs. Daily just expressed some concerns about you not getting the attention and education you need. My older brother actually specializes in stuff like this, if it's okay with you i'd like to give him a call" Max asked her, Maeve had never met Monty and it was kind of an odd way for them to finally meet.
"The one with the weird name? You don't talk to him though" Maeve was calm about this all and both Max and Mark were surprised, it's a lot to take it especially if you're nine years old.
"Uh yeah, Monty. He came in town awhile ago and he staying here"
"Cool, I guess talking to him couldn't hurt" Maeve shrugged before shoving some chicken into her mouth.
Max called Monty and asked if they could meet later that day, she said it was urgent.
"Maxi, you said it was urgent?" Monty asked her, as she walked into his work building.
She looked at Maeve and then to Mark, signaling to Mark that she was going to talk to Monty in private.
"I had parent teacher conferences today, we were discussing how well Maeve was doing in school and her grades but then she brought up something that happened with another student" Max stopped and looked at Maeve for a second, she was beginning to feel out of breath from talking so fast.
"Okay? What happened?" Monty asked her.
"She knows the square root of 36" Max told him, "and she's only nine"
"She could've seen it somewhere and memorized it" Monty said trying to give her an explanation.
"Look" Max grabbed onto Monty's wrist and brought him to Maeve, "Maevie this is your uncle Monty, can you say hi"
"Hello" She said simply.
"Hello there" Monty raised his hand and waved.
"Maeve is it okay to show Monty your cool tricks?" Max bent down to her level and took her hands.
"My counting trick?" Maeve asked excitedly.
"Of course!" Max smiled.
"Okay, what's 9 + 8" Monty asked her.
"17 . Go harder!" Maeve told him.
"Okay, uh what's 15 + 17" Monty said giving her another problem.
"32" She said quickly.
"Uh yeah, uh that's it" Monty looked over at Max and Mark with a surprised look on him face, "Okay what about 57 + 135"
"192" she said quickly.
"Yeah. Can you tell me what 57 x 135 is?"
The group watched Maeve as she thought about it, giving it awhile for her to come up with the answer but when she didn't Monty sighed and turned to Max.
"Just wait" Mark whispered.
"7,695 and the square root is 87.7 and some change" Maeve answered.
Monty grabbed his phone and typed the numbers into the calculator, showing that Maeve was correct.
"Atta girl, Maevie" Mark smiled at her and gave her a high five.
"Okay Max, I have a friend who is a professor at a college, a math professor, I'll put you in contact with him. I'm not sure how long it'll be before he can see you but it's worth a shot" Monty told his sister.
"No, I don't want people poking inside her head and if word got out that a nine year old girl can do this then I'm sure people will want to take a look. We came to you for a second opinion and you gave me it but right now I'm gonna buy her whatever dessert she wants and then go home and talk about our options and that does not include taking her to some guy, that I don't even know" Max looked down at her daughter with worry, life wasn't going to be easy for her.
"Okay, okay but she does need to go to a specialized school, there will be kids like her there and teachers that are better suited for this. I'll send you a list of schools that I recommend and you can choose from there" Monty gave Max's shoulder a comforting squeeze.
"Okay" she nodded, "Thank you"
"Thank you Monty, really" Mark said after Max, extending his hand out for Maeve to grab they started walking out the door.
"Goodbye, Beaumont" Maeve waved at the man before turning and walking out of the door.
Max received Monty's email as soon as she got home, she had shown Mark and now they were all sitting on the couch looking at the pictures and reviews.
"Look at that one, it has a waterfall" Maeve said as she pointed at the picture, Seattle school for the Gifted, it read.
"I'm setting up interviews or as soon as I can and we can go together to see if you like any of the schools, okay?" Max asked Maeve.
"That sounds nice, is Daddy coming too?" Maeve asked.
"I'll try my hardest to be there, pumpkin" Mark told the little girl, "Why do you need to set up interviews anyway? Just choose the best school"
"So you want to send our daughter to school without learning any information? That's like sending her to the wolves, I'm not during that and I'm shocked that you would even suggest that" Max looked at him with a surprised face, sure he wasn't father of the year but he at least should've known that it wasn't even a good idea.
"Fine, just call me when you have interviews set up" Mark said resting his feet on the coffee table.
"Mark I think it's time you go home" Max said to him realizing how tired he was.
"I am home" Mark mumbled.
"I meant to the hotel, where you live?" Max told him.
"Max, no matter what you think, you and Maeve are my home. That's not going to change just because we got into a fight or we don't live together" He finally opened his sleepy eyes to look into hers.
"Fine you can stay here, but you're sleeping in the guest room" She told him and getting up to get Maeve ready for bed, "Come on sweet girl, it's bedtime"
Maeve grabbed onto Max's hand and Mark watched as they walked away together. Sighing he got up from the couch and followed them up the stairs.
He watched as Max turned on the bath water, feeling the water to see if it was okay for Maeve to get in. He helped wash Maeve's hair as Max got her pajamas, brush and toothbrush ready. When Maeve got out of the tub and got her pajamas on he watched Max comb through her hair, making sure there were no knots or tangles.
"Today was fun" Maeve commented.
"What do you mean?" Max asked looking at Maeve's face in the mirror.
"Running around with the both of you, almost like we are a real family" Maeve confessed with a shrug.
"Honey, we are a real family" Mark told her.
"You guys don't act like it" Maeve said simply before walking back into her room.
"When did she become such a grown up?" Mark asked still staring at where Maeve once stood.
"Since she was about 2?" Max told him before following Maeve into her room to tuck her in, Mark decided that he was going to get ready for bed so he walked into Max's room.
Max walked into the room, stopping momentarily to look at Mark before walking into her bathroom.
"Let's have another one" Max heard Mark faintly.
"What?" She asked peeking her head into the room, her toothbrush shoved into her mouth.
"Let have another kid" Mark got up from the bed and walked into the bathroom with her.
"Yeah right" Max laughed, handing him his toothbrush.
"I'm being serious Maxi" He told her.
"We don't even live together nor are we married" Max replied.
"I'll move in tomorrow, and we don't even have to get married" Mark looked at Max like he was serious and it was starting to freak her out.
"We are not ready, I'm not ready and neither are you. We still have a lot of stuff to figure out-" She began.
"I love you, I'm in love with you that's all we need to know" Mark grabbed her shoulders so that she was facing him.
"Love isn't the only factor, we need happiness and stability and I'm not talking about our jobs, I'm talking about us" Max grabbed his hand and took it off of her shoulders so she could walk away.
"What, you think you couldn't be happy with me?" Marks face said it all, he was hurt and Max could tell.
"I didn't say that, I know you still have something to tell me, I notice it now and I noticed it when we were together all those years ago and I'm afraid that it'll ruin us" Max took her decorative pillowed and threw them on the chair in the corner of her room and then pushing the duvet down so that she could get in.
"I have shared everything with you that you need to know" Mark said vaguely.
"So there is something that I need to know about?" Max asked him, pulling his side of the covers down so he could get in next to her. So much for sleeping in the guest room.
"No Max, there isn't" Mark drew out.
"I love you but I don't believe you and for that factor alone, I can't willingly marry you"
"You're letting your own insecurity get in the way of what could be something great?" Mark looked at her confused.
"No, I'm protecting myself and Maeve. I don't know what your big secret is and I'm scared for it and I'll be damned if I let my daughter get dragged into something unsafe" Marks want listening to her, he never really did when it came to logic, he always thought he knew best and sure Max knew that she wanted to marry Mark, she always had but she couldn't just think about herself, she had Maeve to think about also.
Max woke up and made breakfast for Callie, Mark and Maeve. She had an interview at 11:25 at one of the schools the Monty suggested and she was letting Maeve stay home from school so that she could go.
"Are you able to come with us?" Max asked Mark.
"I've got a surgery this morning that I can't push back, but I'm keeping the rest of the day light so I can make it to the other appointments" Mark took a bite of his pancakes.
"Okay, I'll let you know what we think about it"
Mark had just left for the hospital and Max had already gotten Maeve ready for the day, they needed to head out in a couple of minutes but Max was grabbing some last minute things.
"Mom! We're gonna be late" Maeve called out, watching her frantic mom.
"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Max shooed Maeve out the door and unlocked her car so they could get in.
Waiting for Maeve to buckle herself she started the car and drove off to the appointment.
Max did not like the first school and when Mark caught up to them for the second he immediately didn't like it, so now heading to the third appointment for the day none of the went in with an open mind.
"My feet hurt" Maeve complained.
"I know baby, but if everything is perfect then this'll be that last school" Max said trying to sooth her.
"Plus it's the one with the waterfall" Mark added and pointed at the big flowing water in front of the school.
"Fancy" Max stated as she pulled into the parking lot and parked.
The group got out of the car and stared at the school in front of them, the outside was decorated with flowers, there were bird feeders, and playground with tennis and basketball courts and even a field for football and soccer. It looked perfect, now they just had to find out if it was the best fit.
They walked into the big double doors and were faced with a modern interior, couches and chairs to the side with games like chess and checkers on the other.
"It's amazing in here" Maeve said with delight, her face lighting up.
"It is pretty amazing" Max smiled as she took in all the aspects of the place.
They walked up to the receptionist, "Hi, I'm Dr. Mallard and I have an appointment with Dr. Fitz"
"Of course, let me page him and he should be right down there are chairs right behind you if you'd like to sit" The receptionist smiled at them.
"Thank you!" Maeve said excitedly plopping her butt onto the chair.
They waited for about two minutes and now they were being guided to Dr. Fitz's office.
"I hope you weren't waiting long, running a school full of extraordinary kids keeps me on my toes" Dr. Fitzs explains.
"It was the perfect amount, as you can see we are all a little frazzled so sitting and waiting is hard to do" Max smiled at the Doctor when he motioned for them all to take a seat.
"Miss. Maeve here gets to sit in this fluffy couch, how does that sound?" Dr. Fitz asked the seven year old.
"Perfect!" She expressed before jumping onto the couch.
"Maeve Mallard-Sloan" Max scolded.
"She's perfectly alright, with all the change that's about to come, I think she deserves a little carefree" Dr. Fitz laughed.
"I agree" Mark nodded along.
"Okay" Dr. Fitz drawled out, "I think it's best we jump into this" both Max and Mark nodded so he continued, "I'm not going to say this is the cheapest school, but we do offer financial aid for parents that simply can't afford but our number one goal is for the children to feel at ease and comfortable all while learning something knew and I don't think money is an issue? Or am I mistaken"
"I'm a trust fund baby and we're both doctors so definitely no problem at all" Max half joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"Great! I gathered a couple of pamphlets here, lists of sports, activities and clubs we offer so if Maeve is interested in starting anything you can just look at these. I also like to give families tours of the place, sometimes it helps the children feel more comfortable when they already know their way around and the school isn't small so it gets confusing" Dr. Fitz told the family.
"Great, I just have a couple of questions" Max told him with a small smile.
"Go for it" He replied.
"I understand that this is a state of the art school and I'm sure there isn't anything hinky going on but I can trust you and your staff to not have some alternate agenda, like no weird monitoring or sending her works to the government so that they can set her eyes on her" Max didn't care if she seemed crazy, she grew up in a rich neighborhood so she knew that's child like these put stress on students.
"I assure you Dr. Mallard that there isn't anything 'hinky' going on, we just want a safe environment for kids, no judgment or remarks, not every kid is the same but they all come here to be treated with respect" Dr. Fitz was good and Max was almost convinced.
"Dr. Sloan, do you have any questions?" Dr. Fitz turned and asked.
"I just want my daughter to be able to get the education she deserves and if she's happy then I'm perfectly good" Mark said simply, lacing his fingers with Max's.
"I would like a tour of the school please" Maeve said from the comfy couch, when Mark and Max turned to look at her she was sitting with her legs crossed and her hands resting on her knees.
"Maeve has spoken, onward we go" Dr. Fitz stood up from his chair and extended his hand out the door.
Maeve laughed at the older man, springing up from the couch and running over to where he stood.
"Maeve slow down please" Max called out to her, she was running down the hallways with Dr. Fitz.
"She's youthful and brilliant!" Dr. Fitz shouted.
"This is going to be a very weird school" Mark commented.
"She's having so much fun already, maybe weird is a good thing" Max smiled softly as she watched her daughter play with the old man who suddenly had bubbles.
"I want you to know that I was being serious about the other night" Mark spoke up.
"Me too" Max replied back.
"I know you were but I also know that it deserves longer thought, I plan on spending the rest of my life with you no matter what your decision is" Mark pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head.
"I want everything with you, marriage, more kids, a house and maybe a couple more dogs but please Mark let me have time, we were together and then we weren't and now here we are again, I know I talked about wanting to marry you and that still stands but it's all happening so fast just give me time" Max almost begged for Mark to understand, part of him did but another part of him didn't want to lose out on anymore time.
"I love you Maxi" Mark said leaning down the kiss her.
"I love you too" Max smiled.
"Daddy! Look at how huge the bubbles are!" Maeve screamed.
"Wow, sweetheart I think it's magic!" Mark rushed to Maeve and began to play with her, Dr Fitz handing over his own Bubble wand and then walking over to Max.
"This school is perfect" Max softly said to the man.
"It is quite extraordinary" Dr. Fitz hummed.
"What's the cost?" Max asked him simply.
"34,000 a year"
Max whistled, "Wow"
"It's not cheap, I know" Dr. Fitz agreed.
"I'll have to talk to Mark but I'm sure it won't be a problem" Max nodded her head thinking.
"Like I said we do have financial aid, Dr. Mallard" Dr Fitz reminded her.
"We don't need it, and I would feel horrible if I took it and some other child needed it more. I've got the money, I just need to convince Mark" She gave him one last smile before joining Mark and Maeve.
Maeve crashed as soon as they got home, it was a little after 7:00 p.m and Dr. Fitz had worn her out, Max wasn't complaining she had grown up stuff to talk about with Mark.
"The school is 34,000 a year" Max admitted.
"Damn" Mark said leaning into his chair.
"I know but I can do it, with my trust fund, my job and the money I already saved up. I loved that school, Maeve loved that school and I know you did too" Max set the pamphlets and the contract in front of him.
"Just how much money are talking about?" Mark asked her, surprised.
"You know that I came from a family of doctors, my parents, grandparents and my great grandpa and then add old money and new and I'm all set" She vaguely told him.
"A million?" He asked, she hummed at that.
"More then that but definitely not billions?" She simply shrugged.
"See, I can do it and I want to too" Max told him.
"I won't be able to help" Mark admitted.
"That's fine, start saving for college, she'll most likely get into an Ivy League school" Max held his hand, she was serious.
"Fine but as soon as it gets too much then we pull back" Mark agreed.
"Mark, I have enough money to pay for this school, her college and have leftovers for her. Nothing will happen" Max got up from the chair, stepping behind Mark she wrapped her arms around his chest, "I love you so much"
"I love you more" Mark whispered, turning his head to kiss her cheek. Picking up the pen he wrote his name and the handing it to Max so she could write hers, this was going to be an amazing opportunity for Maeve and quite frankly Max was excited
\\
Mark would've been such a good Dad if he had gotten the chance.
So I never discussed how much money Max actually had, she has ALOT, She literally got a house in like two days because she gave enough money for that to happen.
Good for her and her past relatives
If you've ever seen Mr. Magoriums wonder emporium, I picture Dr. Fitz as Mr. Magorium
Grow as we go - Ben Platt