A/N: Aaaagh! Can't believe I missed it last night, it was amazing! So many Zoe and Max scenes and then the end was perfect. I can't wait for next week. Hopefully I will be able to watch it on Saturday to make a change. I forgot Dylan already knew about them as well! Oh well it was the best episode to watch on my birthday :D I loved Lofty pulling Robyn away at the end and Connie's reaction just seemed like she knew what was going on al the time and her suspicions were finally confirmed. It was brill!
Zoe couldn't believe what she had just done when she saw everybody staring at her and Max out of the corner of her eye, but then she looked directly back at him and all her fear and panic evaporated. That speech from him just pulled at her heartstrings and she couldn't stop herself. But that was it now, they'd done the hard part – they were just going to have to put up with all the questions for a while.
The thing is she couldn't think of a reason good enough for Max not to tell anybody and Max knew it. She just didn't want to be at the centre of everyone's gossip because she always used to be and she knew what it felt like to have all the humiliation from the scandals that seemed to surround her. And yet that reason was nowhere near the quality of Max's. He'd just poured his heart out to her and everyone else in the room seemed to vanish. At least they did until she came up for air and saw Lofty pulling Robyn away, her mouth hanging open like a fish.
"Do you want to go back to mine?" he asked her
"No" she breathed heavily her forehead still resting against his "Later, I think we need to go to the pub and face everyone first"
"Are you sure?"
"You've changed your tune" she said "Having regrets?"
"As if" he scoffed resting his arm on her shoulders and leading her out of the ED, everyone was just so gobsmacked at what they had just witnessed. In fact they were all so shocked that nobody even wolf whistled Max noted; beaming with pride at the thought that he had outstripped everybody's expectations and bagged the one women who they thought wouldn't give him a second look, but they obviously didn't know either of them very well.
As they neared the door Max lowered his arm from around Zoe and she gripped his hand tightly.
"Ready?" he looked at her and she nodded
"Ready"
They walked into the pub and saw everybody sat at a table in the middle of the room but they were talking so animatedly that they didn't even notice them when they entered.
"What do you want to drink?" Max asked as they walked over to the bar, might as well do it a step at a time. Unfortunately, they were in no such luck.
"Max, Zoe over here!" Lofty called when he saw them and the whole table turned round to look at them, Robyn had still not fully recovered from the shock and her eyes were wide with anticipation.
"Err yeah…"
"In a minute" Max called back saving Zoe "You know to say you didn't want to tell anybody you're not very subtle are you"
"Oh like you are you mean?"
"Exactly" he said straightening his jacket pompously.
"You asked if you could by me a drink a few minutes after we first met, that is not subtle."
"Well no… but I wasn't trying to be."
"I could tell"
"All I'm saying is that you can relax. They're not going to bite your head off."
"You don't know that, they might all turn out to be flesh eating Zombie's or something."
"Look if I can put up with Dylan you can put up with my sister for an hour"
"It's not just her though is it? Look at Ethan – it's always the quiet ones, he could be a werewolf! Look at Remus Lupin for example"
"But Lupin's a good guy."
"He can still attack you when he's in a fierce mood, even if it isn't the full moon."
He shook his head "Come on"
She sighed in protest but didn't say anything and let him steer her to the table to sit down. Everyone turned to look at Zoe, no one daring to be the first one to speak"
"What? It's really not that big of a deal" Zoe said defensively
"So how long have you two been seeing each other?" Rita asked
"Only about 3 weeks since we got back together"
"Back together? So hang on, you were actually going out properly then had a break up and no one noticed"
"We've been together for almost a year" Max said
"Oh my God" said Robyn her hand covering her mouth as she realised something "Zoe you're shoes!"
"What about them?"
"I knew I'd seen them before, they're yours aren't they."
"What are you- oh yeah" she said sheepishly "Remind me next time not to wear anything so obvious."
"What are you talking about?" asked Lofty
"Those really expensive shoes that I found in Max's room last year. Do you remember I was telling everybody in the ED trying to find out who's they were. You told me it was an air hostess." She turned to Max accusingly.
"They were your shoes?" Rita looked pointedly at Zoe talking over Max's explanation.
"Yes they were." She said exasperatedly "I'm surprised none of you realised to be honest, I was even wearing pumps the rest of the day so no one saw my shoes."
"I just can't believe you've been together behind everybody's backs for a year" Rita said
"Yeah how did I not know, you were hiding in his bed for goodness sake when I walked in." Robyn said
Zoe went bright red and took a long drink of wine. She had a feeling she was going to need a lot of it tonight.
Later that evening Zoe and Max headed back to his house, they knew they were only drawing more attention to themselves by doing this but it wasn't fair on Dylan especially now it was out in the open and he had put up with them for far too long when no one else had. And besides going anywhere but Max's was just being childish and avoiding the problem and she'd had enough of secrets and lies.
There was just one thing Zoe regretted and that was not being able to tell Max she loved him. She knew he loved her – he told her often enough – but she couldn't seem to get the words out despite what her heart was telling her. She did love Max, but she just needed time to get her head around the idea herself and considering the bombshell that had just fallen, she didn't think that would be happening anytime soon.
"Thank you for today" Max said to her. His arm holding her tightly to him so her head was resting in the crook of his neck, as they neared his house "You didn't have to do that."
"Well if I didn't you were going to and I couldn't have that could I? How mortifying! Zoe Hannah being told what to do by a man"
"But you didn't have to kiss me like that in front of everyone. We could have just told everybody or you could have just come up with a reason not to tell anyone."
"But I couldn't, that's the point" she told him "I couldn't think of a reason good enough not to tell people, and whatever reasons I had thought of just became meaningless after you told me your reason for telling people. Besides, they did need to know and it wasn't fair to keep on hiding from them. I think Robyn might be a bit hurt that you didn't tell her, I mean you know how she feels about Lofty. So you were right in what you said."
"Sorry what was that, I didn't quite catch that last bit?"
"Nice try, you're never hearing those words again. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity" she said
"Mmm I'll just have to work my charms then won't I" he said turning to face her and lowering his head so his lips were barely a millimetre away from hers.
"They won't work" she said briefly.
"Probably not" he just managed to whisper before she broke and pulled his head down forcefully so their lips crashed together, losing themselves in each other. They managed to get through the front door but had to break off to sneak upstairs before Robyn realised they were back – their explanation for not telling Robyn could wait until morning.
A/N: Better leave it at that because I have to get up at the ridiculous time of 5:30 in the morning but after that episode I could write for days! Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it! :D