"Mum, I'm busy." Max groaned internally as he answered the phone to his mother. Saying he was busy was a complete lie but that wasn't something which he wished to tell Greta Miller.

"Well I won't be long, I'm just ringing to check that you and Zoe are still coming up here for Christmas." Alarm bells started ringing in his head, he vaguely remembered promising his mum that they'd visit at Christmas during their wedding day. Despite Robyn's nagging, he still hadn't told his mum about the end of his marriage mostly because he didn't want to hear her say 'I told you so' but partially because he wasn't sure whether it was really over.

"Oh, erm yeah of course we will be. Right, my shift is about to start so I'll speak to you later mum."

"At 11:14?"

"Bye mum." He hung up the phone, ignoring his mum's comment about the time as she clearly knew he was lying. Max immediately got up out of bed and threw on a pair of jeans and a top that was lying on his bedroom floor that looked clean.

"Max it's your day off, I thought we were going out for lunch." Robyn called as her step-brother came running down the stairs and was now hunting around the living room looking for something.

"There's been a change of plan. I need to get to the hospital." Max told her. "Have you seen my wallet?" He asked once he'd searched down the sofa.

"Yeah, it's in the kitchen and are they short staffed again?"

"Something like that." Max offered in the way of an explanation before he left the house and run out to the car that he named Kylie.

…

"I thought it was your day off." Lofty commented as Max walked through the hospital doors.

"It is, I have something I need to deal with though. Is Zoe in?" He asked casually, as he looked around.

"She's just lost a patient in resus, she said she was taking her lunch early so your best bet is her office, or sometimes when you're not here she sits in your cupboard." Lofty admitted, having found Zoe leaving his cupboard every time Max had a day off.

"Okay, I'll head up now."

"Max, where's your uniform?" Connie asked, a slightly angry tone to her voice that had been present since she'd accidently admitted sleeping with Jacob to everyone else.

"I'm not actually working today." Max told her, and then watched as Connie just walked off. He continued his walk up to his cupboard, pretending that he'd left something in there the day before.

Max placed his hand down on the handle, but paused slightly as he heard Zoe's gentle singing coming through the door. It was the song that she always sung when she was feeling lost and useless, for a moment he was unsure whether to interrupt her but something in his heard told him that he had too.

"Zoe?" Max asked as he entered the room to find her sitting on the chair in the corner of the room, her head in her hands but she stopped singing the moment she heard Max's voice.

"Oh erm, I was just looking for a lightbulb." She said suddenly as she jumped up, quickly wiping the tears away from her eyes as she turned to the drawers in front of her.

"Zoe stop." Max told her softly as he stepped forward and rested his hand on her arm. She visibly calmed at his touch, but panic soon arose in her eyes as she turned to face him.

"Don't worry, I'm okay."

"No you're not. What's wrong? Lofty said you'd just lost a patient in resus." Max asked, but Zoe started tearing up again. Instinctively Max pulled her into his arms, so that her head was resting in the crook under his neck.

"I just feel so useless Max, this isn't me but I feel like I'm not the same person and everything's falling apart."

"You're still you, you just need to take some time to remember who that is. This is where I come in, and just listen to me before you refuse straight away."

"Why do I feel like I'm not going to like this? We both know that I'm not going to say no to you though Max." Zoe said sadly.

"Maybe listen to what it is before you say that. Will you come and stay at mums with me for Christmas?"

"You haven't told her?" Zoe asked, a bit of hope filling her heart.

"No, I couldn't. It's only a couple of days, a week at most. Obviously you don't have to but I'd appreciate it if you would." Max began waffling, telling her that they'd have to pretend to still be together and he wouldn't let his mum say anything bad to Zoe.

"Yes." She finally answered, when Max looked back at her shocked she opened her mouth to speak again. "I hardly have people queueing up to spend Christmas with me and I'm not sure I could stand another with Dylan and Dervla. Anyway, even if we are just friends, it'd be good to spend some time with you." She told him honestly.

"Okay good."