Hey guys! long while since I've written something but I'm feeling inspired after watching the trailer! After watching so many other characters take focus and Zoe and Max becoming background characters, I was really losing hope!

Hoping at long last Zax get some peace and get back together! Ive seen a lot of people slating Max, which I personally don't understand as i think he has every reason to have trust issues etc, after whats happened, and I also don't think people would be as forgiving if he cheated on Zoe and not vice versa!

I actually quite like the pace that its been taken at, them slowly building up trust/friendship again. I do hope they get back together properly now though, i need some cute scenes in my life! Us Zax fans have had enough drama!

So this story is based around Zoe and Max a few weeks after the wedding, and where things go from there.

Any feedback is much appreciated as I haven't written Zax in about a year, so heres hoping! Its a bit of a slow burner, as my stories usually are!

Zoe rolled over as she heard her alarm sound. Surely it wasn't time for work already, it felt like she had just stumbled into bed. Her head pounded with the glasses of wine she had had before bed, her eyes felt unfocused. She shook her head a little, her sight restored to normal. She glanced sadly to the untouched other half of the bed, the part where Max was meant to be. She sat up, sighing a little. The last few weeks had been hard to say the least. Nobody knew what was going on, so both herself and Max were the subject of a lot of hospital gossip. And the one person that did know, Robyn, was not exactly being discreet.

But she didn't care about that, she cared about Max. She had gone to see Nick Jordan in the states, which had been nice but it was a temporary fix. While her head was in America, her heart was in Holby. She knew he wasn't going to forgive her overnight, but months had passed and he hadn't so much as looked at her. It was exhausting, exhausting and lonely.

She drank some water and pulled on a purple dress, before taking a seat to do her make up.

She thought about the day ahead of her, the 12 hour shift. She remembered when her and Max used to have coffee and chocolate, she remembered when they used to laugh together. Even one glance between them used to be enough to propel her through the next couple of hours. His stuff was still in the flat, his clothes, his shoes, his band posters. She assumed he had been in at some point to grab a few things as she still had a key. He just didn't want to see her, which hurt even more.

She drove to the hospital, ready to put her front on. No matter how destroyed she felt on the inside, nobody in the department was allowed to see that side of her.

"Ah Zoe, at last, some competent staff" Dylan sighed, falling into line with her as she crossed the entrance, passing her a few files as she walked in

"had a fun day in charge then?" she asked, a laugh evident in her tone. Connie was away for a few days and Dylan had taken the lead, knowing that Zoe didn't need any extra reason to be the centre of attention

"honestly, it is like running a department of children" he shook his head and went to the coffee machine, still shaking his head as he got to it. She chuckled slightly, before seeing Lofty and Max in the staff room, the very room she needed to deposit her stuff in

She felt Max's eyes on her as she entered the room, as the conversation he was having suddenly slowed down and he began to stutter. this was a regular occurrence. It frustrated her and upset her in equal measures, it was playground.

"Hey Zoe" Lofty kindly said, stirring some tea and looking at her, his eyes wide, warm. Lofty was either being very professional, or didn't know. She was going to go with didn't know

"Hey, how are you?" she responded, as casually as she could, putting her bag and coat in her locker and smoothing herself down

"oh, you know, long day" he smiled, absent mindedly stirring his tea, and half glancing towards Max, who was continuing his use of the silent treatment. He gave Max an odd head jerk towards Zoe, indicating that he should acknowledge her, which he seemed to understand. He opened his mouth and for a moment she thought there may be progress. but before any sound could come out, he shut his eyes, then he promptly left

"sorry-" Lofty started, the awkward air lingering for a few minutes after Max's departure

"honestly, its ok" she said, sighing a little

"I dont know what happened-" Lofty continued, gesturing a little with his hands. She could tell he was uncomfortable, bordering on nervous

"he has every reason to leave the room I'm in, honestly. don't worry' she said, with a tone of finality. Then she too, left the room, leaving Lofty still stirring his tea, looking more puzzled then ever.

Max sat in his office with a curly wurly, looking at the pile of magazines on the table. He looked at one of the top of the pile, about a celebrity wedding. One that had happened after a whirlwind romance, and before that the celebrity in question had been engaged to someone else. How did people move on so quickly, let their feelings go so quickly?

It had been 3-4 months since him and Zoe had separated and he still carried around the heartache like it had happened the previous day. He couldn't even bring himself to look at her without feeling rage, and then pain. He knew full well that Zoe was self sabotaging, and that what she had done didn't mean anything, but it had still been done. He had still married her on the basis of a lie. He shook his head a little, as if trying to shake the thoughts away. All he had done over the past couple of weeks is think about it again, and again and again, nothing ever changed. Nobody in the hospital apart from Robyn knew, which also meant he had a lot of staff members trying to get the real story out of him. All they knew his that they weren't together anymore, and that it was his decision.

He had had Cal, who told him that Zoe was hopelessly out of his league and he needed his head testing dumping her

He had Noel and Mac, who despite being his friends, they had known Zoe a lot longer, so they naturally thought the break up was something he had done

He had Charlie, who had wistfully made a comment to a patient about people who didn't take marriage seriously. This comment was more of a general once, but Charlie had glanced at him more then once over the course of that conversation, as if to tell him that this also applied to his situation.

"penny for your thoughts?" a voice interrupted, opening the door, and there was Robyn. Despite being a resident motormouth who couldn't keep her opinions to herself, Max had to admit his sister had been brilliant through all of this. She had only verbally dressed down Zoe once, and she was soft on him. She had been covering for him if he had overrun his breaks, she brought him tea and biscuits, she had let him stay at their old flat for 3 months and hadn't even mentioned rent. Maybe she was being too soft on him, maybe that was why he was in the rut he was in

"they aren't worth much" he gave her a soft smile

"we need to get you back out on the playing field" Robyn rubbed her hands together, passing him a biscuit from the tin she had smuggled out of the nurses lounge

"no, no we do not" he laughed a little

"well i heard a few of the nurses talking, they reckon theres an app that you can have on your phone, you can pick whoever you want-"

"as great as that may be, i just- i just don't want to yet"

"Max, i love you. you know i do, but you've spent month after month moping around after Zoe"

"its not just a 2 week fling you know, she was my wife" even though the words were his, the 'was' still stung him

"was, is, isn't, whatever. you either forgive her or you move on!" she said, dipping her biscuit in his mug of tea, as if it was the easiest decision of his life. He mentally took back every nice thought he had just had regarding Robyn's treatment of him. She had gone back to being overly persistent and a little annoying, she had obviously decided that there was no longer any reason to be overly soft on him

He sighed a little and rested his head on the wall

"this is why I never approved of her" Robyn said, nodding her head as if to confirm this decision to herself. She waited for a response, which never came, so she carried on "you were mopey enough the first time, she hurts you" he didn't appreciate the use of the word mopey, but he decided not to interrupt her

"didnt stop you asking to go shoe shopping together did it?" he remarked, chuckling a little. His sisters annoyance on his behalf was loyal, and it was lovely, but when they were at their best, she had loved Zoe. She wanted to know hairdresser details, share make up, go on joint shopping trips

"thats the past. and thats where you need to leave it" she smartly replied, before gently pulling his phone out of his hand and bouncing off the bed "guess who is being signed up to the app!" she grinned, before frowning, and then smiling at the screen

"no-no" he held up his hands in protest "well i have a security lock actually" he rolled his eyes up at her, sighing with relief. Thank god for Apples annoying, but helpful-in-these-sitatuons insistence on security codes

"Max, the first rule of security is don't use your birthday..idiot" she ruffled his hair affectionally, before leaving, her walk turning to a slight jog

So now he was being signed up to a dating app. Suddenly he wished he had just called in sick.

"What picture shall i use" Zoe asked Robyn ask another female member of staff, and she rolled her eyes a little impatiently. Whatever Robyn was upto, it didn't look particularly work related. She also knew that Robyn had every reason to blurt out the truth about her and Max, which was not something she needed the other staff to know, so she turned around, she knew Robyn was trying to push her buttons, almost daring her to say something so she could retaliate, then everyone would know..

"Are you genuinely going to ignore little miss sister in law signing herself into a dating app while theres a patient in bed 9 who needs a blood work up?" came the voice of reason, Dylan

"I just don't have the energy" she responded, a little limply, and tapped a few things into the computer, slowly

"this limbo your working in isn't doing you any favours Zoe" he remarked

"what limbo?"

"the limbo that you and lover boy are in"

"which is largely due to you" she looked at him, her eyes and expression telling him to stop talking. Every time that Dylan had pressed on the subject, she had used this particular excuse. She knew that it wasn't Dylans fault, she probably would of told Max at some point, the guilt would of consumed her. But right now, she needed something to cling onto, so at the moment, she was blaming Dylan

"but its not is it" he answered back, matter of factly. Usually he dropped the subject, but the sensitivity barrier had clearly now dropped. He took her lack of a response as a cue to continue

"i take responsibility for my bad timing, but the deed in question, was something you did. you, you alone, not me, and not him. what I'm saying is you either try and work through it with him or without him, because at the moment your avoiding every floor he's on, and letting his capable but gossip hungry sister run rings around you, because you don't want everyone knowing the real reason you two aren't together at the minute. The Zoe I usually work with, would not let this happen. Snap out of it" he exhaled as he finished, and walked away, leaving Zoe completely and utterly stunned

She was starting to wish she had never come in.