2 Broke Girls: And the Walk Home.
It had all happened so fast, Caroline thought to herself. She sat in the chair next to Max's bed, still shaking from what happened. She looked down at the dried blood on her hands; she had neglected to wash them the whole time she was there. She wiped the tears from her face again, since Max would probably tease her for crying. Call her Whiny Blondie or something. The nurse walked in.
"We're keeping her monitored. You can go home if you want," she said in a gentle tone. Caroline, without turning to face the nurse, shook her head.
"Well, is there anything I can get you?" She asked.
"No…wait actually; I know Max is going to be starving when she wakes up," she said still not taking her eyes off of Max. The nurse nodded her head and left. Caroline leaned back in the hospital chair and struggled to keep her eyes open. She was exhausted though, and soon gave in to the lull of sleep. As she fell deeper into her slumber, she started to dream about what happened earlier.
She and Max had just finished delivering two dozen cupcakes for a boy's fourth birthday party. They were dropped off by Oleg, who was going to be in the area anyway. The train they needed to get home was under maintenance care, so they needed to take a bus.
The two of them were walking along, talking about nothing in particular, when they saw the bus drive away. They ran after it.
"C'mon," Max said, "If we cut through here we can catch it!" They ran through an alleyway, when out of nowhere a scraggly looking man popped out.
"Give me yer money bitches, and no one gets hurt!" he somewhat slurred. He was holding a piece of metal that he fashioned into a knife. Max instinctively put her arm in front of Caroline.
"Listen drinky," Max said trying to defuse the situation. This wasn't her first time getting mugged, and it probably won't be her last.
"We're trying to catch a bus, and we're probably just as broke as you are, so put away the toothpick and we'll be on our way," she said in her usual calm sarcastic way. Caroline on the other hand was not calm. She was frozen with fear; the only reason she wasn't completely freaking out was because of Max's arm across her body, making her feel safe.
"Just do it lady!" he shouted at them. Max pushed Caroline behind her. The man ran towards them, Max moved forward, punched him the gut, and they started to fight.
Caroline was conflicted between closing her eyes from the scariness of the situation, and watching to make sure Max would be safe. They fought for what seemed like a while. Max had dodged a few knife jabs. When Max pushed the mugger back, he ran toward her and she punched him right in the nose. He fell, hard, on his ass and ran off, clutching his bloody nose and dropped his impromptu knife.
Max just fixed her hair and jacket. Caroline jumped for joy for her heroine. She was about to hug Max, when she saw the knife on the floor. Its blade was coated in blood, about an inch or so. Caroline turned to look at Max to see that she wasn't stabbed not once, but three times. She hadn't felt it yet because of the adrenaline. Caroline, barely a whisper, pointed to Max's stomach and said.
"Max…look."
Max looked down to see her blood oozing out three holes in her midsection. She covered them with her hands as best as she could. She looked up at Caroline and gave her a weak smile.
"And it's not even that time of month," she said, always trying to make the situation better with humor.
"Got any pads Caroline?" she asked. Caroline watched in horror as Max fainted and fell back into a pile of garbage. Caroline ran over to her friend, yelling her name and started shaking her.
"Max! MAX! PLEASE GET UP! PLEASE!" Caroline screamed through her tears. She used one hand to try and cover the wounds and took out her phone with the other. She called 911, told them what happened and where they were. By the time the ambulance arrived, a small crowd had formed around the scene. Caroline was allowed to ride in the ambulance when she said she was her partner, though they may have taken that the wrong way.
She watched as they worked on Max. Everything else became a blur; all Caroline could think about was her.
Caroline was snapped out of her sleep when the same nurse walked in with a tray of food and placed it on Max's bed. She shook the bad memories out of her head and her eyes immediately went back to Max. The doctor had told Caroline that Max would be fine, but she couldn't help but worry.
Her best friend is in the hospital, she has never been in a situation like this, where she could've lost someone. The police had shown up to ask questions earlier, she answered them but not without breaking into tears, she gave them a description of the guy and they said they'll be on the lookout for him.
Caroline was lost in her thoughts when suddenly her phone started to ring. She wiped her face, cleared her throat and answered.
"Hello?" She tried her best to sound like her normal cheery self.
"Caroline?!" Han's squeaky voice blasted through the phone.
"Where are you and Max?! Your shift started hours ago!" he said in his best boss voice. Caroline looked up the clock in the room to see it was 10 in the morning. Had she really spent the night here?
Trying to stay calm as possible, she replied: "Han, we can't come in, Max got sta-" she couldn't bring herself to say it. Tears formed in her eyes.
"I don't have time for excuses! Just get in here!" he squawked back. Caroline got pissed off.
"Listen Han! Max got stabbed and we're in the hospital! SO EXCUSE THE HELL OUT OF ME IF I'M NOT WORRIED ABOUT SERVING NASTY FOOD RIGHT NOW!" Caroline hung up, dropped her phone on Max's bed and started to cry into her hands.
"Damn, that was brutal. Even I'm not that mean to Han," Max said through her respirator. Caroline looked up to see her injured friend raising her bed with the remote. Tears of relief rolled down her face as she hugged Max.
"Yeah, I'm glad to see you too but, you're kinda on my wound," she said through clenched teeth.
"OH GOD! SORRY!" Caroline quickly hopped back into her chair.
"I'm sorry," she started to wipe the tears from her cheeks. She couldn't stop herself from crying. "It's just, that I was so worried about you and-" she cried even harder.
"Hey now!" Max pulled off her respirator. "Can the waterworks blondie, I'm okay, really. I mean, I'm a little lightheaded but morphine will do that to you." Max gave her trademark smile. Caroline still had tears rolling down her face, but she smiled back at her. Max always knew what to say.
"Oooh, hospital food!" she exclaimed, opening the containers of food that was probably no better than the diner's.
Caroline was beyond relieved; she felt like she could breathe again. Max was alright. Indomitable as always. Not even a stab wound would keep her down. She sat back in her chair, finally able to relax just a little. Max offered her some of the mashed potatoes which Caroline politely declined. She didn't have much of an appetite at the moment. She sat, silent, watching Max chow down. There was silence for a few minutes. When she finished the Salisbury steak and potatoes, leaving the broccoli untouched, she moved on to dessert.
"If I knew that getting stabbed would make you this quiet, I'd've stabbed myself a long time ago," Max said while struggling to open the chocolate pudding. She winced in pain. Caroline grabbed it and opened it for her.
"Thanks Barbie. Seriously though," Max continued, "If anybody asks, don't tell them I fainted. Fainting isn't what badasses like me do. Gotta protect my street cred, y'know?" she said, half joking half serious, with a spoonful of pudding in her mouth. Her famous sweet tooth was showing. Caroline nodded in agreement.
"Sure thing Max," she replied. She was just glad Max was fine. Max examined Caroline's face,
"Sheesh, Caroline! Did you sleep at all?" She saw the weary look Caroline had.
"Just a little," Caroline admitted. She didn't want to worry Max. Especially now.
"You didn't really think I wasn't gonna pull thorough, did you?" Max asked, unsure of why Caroline still looked shocked.
"I didn't know what I thought Max! I've never been in a situation where I could lose someone I love before!" she yelled out, before realizing her mistake. "Oh god, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you, I know it's not helping you in any way. I didn't mean to snap at you," she apologized profusely. Max was in a state of shock from her words. After a short reevaluation, Caroline had realized the gravity of what she said.
"Did you just say-" Max had started to say before being interrupted.
"MAX! DARLING!" Earl exclaimed loudly as he entered the room, followed by the others. Max shot Caroline a quick look that read as; 'We'll talk later'. Then she shot Earl a huge smile.
"Earl!" Max said excitedly. She wrapped her arms around the old man. As the whole diner family flocked into the room the nurse appeared.
"I'm sorry but all of you can't be in here at once," she warned. Sophie shouted at the nurse in angry Polish, forcing her out of the room.
"Max, sweetie, are you alright?" Earl asked, worry still on his face. The old man had a bag in his hand, no doubt filled with substances both sweet and probably illegal.
"Yes, I'm fine Earl." She hated seeing him worried; she preferred his usual cool laidback self.
"What happened darling?" he asked, sitting down in the seat Caroline offered.
"Oh, just some punk who wanted our non-existent money. Don't worry though, I gave him a broken nose to make him easier to identify. Just like you taught me." She playfully punched him on the arm. Caroline have him an inquisitive look.
"Darling, I've lived in some rough neighborhoods," he simply said, giving Caroline a new outlook on the jazz player. Han suddenly cleared his throat.
"Max, Caroline, I'm sorry about what I said."
"No Han, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. That was uncalled for."
"I thought it was hilarious" Max chimed in.
"No, no, we're family, I should've called earlier or something." Caroline still felt terrible.
"Don't worry Caroline, we're here now, that's what matters," Han reassured her.
"Max, I got some 'goodies' in here for you. Just uhh, don't let the nurse catch you with some of them." Earl offered the plastic bag to Max.
As the tension lifted, the diner family went into regular (at least for them) conservation; Han talking to Oleg about menu changes, Earl to Sophie about getting painkillers for Max.
While that went on, the words Caroline said rang in Max's head: 'someone I love'
What did Caroline get herself into now?
Chapter 1 end.
