Due to my sadness over Zax leaving Casualty, I thought I'd write a cheeky little one-shot.
James shoved Max into the wall pretty hard and it kinda hurt, but Max couldn't let him get away with this. As he chased after his once-friend, he grabbed his arm and hung him back around to face-him.
"Get off me Max!" James shouted furiously.
"No, 'cos fact is, is that you beat-up your Wife, and now, she's pregnant with your baby. And she doesn't want you anywhere near it!" Max argued-back, if there's one thing he couldn't stand, it was men who treated women so badly.
James was infuriated by Max's response and swung for him, punching him the jaw before kneeing him in the stomach and pushing him to the ground, kicking him just to make-sure he didn't follow-him.
"You're supposed-to be my friend." James seethed.
Max led on the floor in pain, but he still wasn't finished with James. "I stopped being your friend the minute I found-out you hurt your Wife." He said, earning him one last kick-in the stomach from James.
"Get Lost Max." James said before storming-off, leaving Max on the ground, writhing-in agony.
A while later and Max had managed-to make his way back downstairs, covering-up his pain pretty well as he wandered-over to reception.
"Louise, I reckon I'm gonna head home early, I don't feel too great." He said.
"Okay…I'll let Dylan know…Max…What's happened to your lip?!" Louise asked, noticing the cut on his lip.
"Owh it's nothing, I just…Walked-into a…Door…" Max stuttered, trying to make-up some pathetic excuse, just as Zoe walked-past and upon hearing-him, laughed.
"You walked-into a door?!" She chuckled, coming-to stand next-to him, before catching sight-of his lip properly, and suddenly, her amusement turned-to concern. "Wait, Max, this looks nasty…Have you been in a fight?!" She asked-him, it wasn't like Max but that's certainly what it looked-like.
"Not exactly…" Max trailed-off.
"Well at least let me clean-it up for you in cubicles?!" Zoe suggested.
"Nooo…" Max said, not wanting the attention.
"Come-on, don't be such a wimp." Zoe joked, lightly back-handing Max's stomach, but he winced as she made contact after James' beating.
Zoe spotted-him wincing and looked-up at him.
"Right, that's it, cubicles. Now." She told-him firmly.
The pair-of them were soon enough approaching a cubicle together, but Max just stood there, not really wanting Zoe to see him in this way.
"Right then, so are you going-to explain to me what's happened?! Or do I have to work this out in riddles?!" Zoe asked, touching Max's stomach but he winced again.
"It's probably just nothing. I just…Tripped-over earlier that's all…" Max said, trying-to make-up excuses as Zoe gently lifted-up his top a little and witnessed the bruising and red marks on his stomach left-by James.
"Tripped over?! Owh yeah right Max…" Zoe sighed. "Come-on Max…Be honest…This is me you're talking-to remember?!" She re-assured-him.
"It was James. He's been beating-up his Wife…So we've moved her to a safe-place whilst she recovers, somewhere where he won't find her…But then I confronted-him over-it and he got angry…And that's when this happened." Max finally admitted-to Zoe.
"Owh Max…" Zoe trailed-off in sympathy for the poor-guy, gently touching his cheek, but he shrugged-her away.
"I don't need your sympathy Zoe." Max said.
"Okay well at least let-me have a proper look-at that bruising." Zoe replied.
"Alright…" Max sighed, moving-himself onto the cubicle-bed, taking his top-off, before tenderly lying-down.
Zoe quickly checked-him over, and 5 Minutes later she was finished. "So the verdict is?!" Max asked as he sat-up on the bed and put his polo-top back-on.
Zoe shot him a small-smirk. "You'll survive…This time. I'll get Charlie to get you some pain-killers for the pain though." She said.
"Alright…Thanks…Zo…" Max replied, standing-up and moving close-to Zoe.
"My pleasure. As long-as you're okay Max, that's all that matters." Zoe said, reaching-up and touching his cheek once again, except this time, he didn't shrug her away. "Are you okay?!" She asked.
"I was a mess without you…But right-now…I couldn't be better…" Max said.
"Well…Apart from the bruised ribs…" Zoe chuckled.
"Yeah well that's just a minor inconvenience." Max laughed before wincing-in pain. "Owww!"
"Careful!" Zoe giggled-as they walked-back to reception together, where Louise was stood waiting for them.
"So, how's the wounded soldier then?!" She asked, curiously.
"Never better…My Doctor has healing hands." Max said.
"Ugh…I'm not sure I wanna know." Louise said before wandering-off to complete her next-task.
"I'm glad that you're okay." Zoe told Max.
"And I'm glad that you're back." Max replied, shooting her a friendly smile as he did-so.