"Max?"

"Johnny?"

"Your kid?" Johnny's eyes opened wide.

"What? What?"

"You have a kid?"

"Oh my God! I cannot deal with this right now!" and Max turned on her heels, storming off down the hallway.

"Max!" Caroline called, chasing after her. "Stay there Johnny we'll be right back!"

"What the hell is he doing here?" Max demanded when Caroline caught her. "He's not supposed to be here!"

"I don't know Max-"

"I'm here for my kid, not for her".

"He's still there, Max".

"I don't care! I don't care about him, I care about my kid who is SICK and I can't lose her Caroline", Max said in one breath.

"Calm down!"

(When had Caroline Channing had become the calm one? The moment that little girl had wandered into their lives, Max reasoned. That was the day that her heart had started wandering around outside her body and sweet Lord, she was glad that she hadn't said that out loud. No one would ever let her live that one down.)


"Max", Johnny said.

"Johnny", she said quietly.

(How was it possible that had had gotten hotter since they'd last made out?)

"How is it possible that you have a kid?" Johnny questioned. "And how have you never mentioned it to me before?"

"I didn't tell anyone", Max admitted (because that was the boy who had broken her heart more than once, and still the boy she kept going back to). "She wasn't my kid to have-"

"What?"

"I was a surrogate, Johnny, I had the kid but she wasn't mine. And then her parents died and now I've got a kid and she's sick and it scares the hell out of me, because I can't lose her".

Max Black would have never in a million years admitted that she was scared. But she was no longer Max Black, she was Max Black the mother with a kid who was currently sick, and hell, she was scared.


"Johnny wants us to have dinner", Max blurted out to Caroline.

"What? Are you going? Oh my God, you're going to get married!"

"Whoa! Back up". Max frowned at her. "I told him that I wasn't a home wrecker and he was friggin' Johnny and Cash- an INSTITUTION-"

"Max they broke up-"

"Caroline that is not the point- I don't want Beth getting close to him, because when he leaves he's going to end up hurting her!"

"You're afraid of getting hurt again", Caroline said.

"Yes, I am actually!"

(She had changed so much in such a short period of time, Caroline was getting whiplash.)


It took half an hour, but a doctor approached them with a diagnosis for little Beth (who was quite cheerfully watching Tangled in her hospital room with a drip in her arm, one particular nurse having been quite taken with her).

"Pneumonia?" Max snapped. "How the hell did she get pneumonia? It's October!"

"It's bacterial, by her symptoms", the doctor assured her, "And you can get pneumonia any time of year, Miss Black. It's likely that she's picked it up from one of her classmates or the environment she's been exposed to. She'll be on antibiotics but I want to keep her in at least overnight because her lungs are quite swollen. Has she had any symptoms up until now?"

"She's had the sniffles", Caroline offered. "We thought she was maybe getting a cold. But she got really bad this afternoon, she started to cough and had a slight fever. And then her fever skyrocketed".

"The diner", she growled to Caroline. "I need to have words with Han. Can I go and see my kid?" Max questioned the doctor.

"Of course, go ahead". He nodded and Max took off, Caroline on her heels.

"Hey Max", Beth said sheepishly, as her mother flew in the door.

"Hey kiddo, how are you feeling?"

"Hey sweetie", Caroline said gently. "You gave us a bit of a scare!"

"Sorry". She grinned at them.

"Well she's obviously feeling better!" Caroline laughed at the cheeky sparkle that had come back to her eyes.


"You go home", Max said quietly, as she ran her fingers through Beth's hair. The little girl had settled down on the bed, and was finally asleep (despite fighting, she needed it). "I'll stay here with her".

"Are you sure?" Caroline said gently.

"Go home, get some sleep. I'll call Han and tell him that I won't be able to make it in tonight- want me to get you out of work too? Super gonorrhoea?"

Caroline chuckled at the memory that insult brought up ("this is not one of those moments you bring up in a few weeks and are like 'hey, remember that time'- no. this is not one of those times". "You've got to admit it was pretty funny! We're the most unlikely animal friendships". "For the love of God shut up"). "I'll let Han know she's sick".

"And you tell him that that diner is a breeding ground for illness!"

"We know that", Caroline reminded her.

"Well you tell him again". Max brushed back a lock of hair from her daughter's face, unable to shake the image of that newborn baby that she had held for only a few moments.

"Good night Bethy", Caroline said softly, kissing the little girl's cheek. "I'll be back soon alright Max? I'll bring you a coffee".

"Thank you", Max said quietly.

(They both knew she wasn't just talking about the coffee.)


Max drew the conclusion, that afternoon that Beth was exactly like Caroline when she was sick. She wanted the whole world to know about it. She definitely did not get that trait from Max, who'd prefer to die alone and in peace. In other words, she was a drama queen and had been spending too much time with Caroline.


"Thanks for stayin' with me Max", Beth said drowsily, leaning against her mother's ample chest. Max smiled, enjoying the time she got to spend with her daughter.

"Wasn't going to leave you here kiddo", she said gruffly, trying to keep her emotions intact.

"Love you".

"Love you too kiddo".


"Han!" Beth said in surprise, sitting up in her bed (despite Max's best efforts to keep her still, Beth wasn't having it).

"Lay down!" Max said in exasperation, turning around to see the Korean in the doorway. "Han? What the hell are you doing here? Its seven thirty".

"Surprise!" Oleg said brightly, carrying in a bunch of balloons.

"What?"

Earl followed, bearing a gift bag. "We heard little Beth wasn't feeling very well. So we closed the diner and came to visit".

"Oh, Earl!"

Oleg motioned to her discarded dinner tray. "What is that?"

"Dinner". Beth frowned. "I wanted French fries, Oleg, but they didn't gimme any".

(Beth was the probably only person in the entire world who actually liked the food from the Williamsburg Diner. Max didn't know why, and she definitely wasn't going to tell Han that.)

"I'll make you French fries", he promised, letting go of the helium balloons.

"We got you something!" Han said brightly.

When Max had made pot cupcakes for their failed cupcake shop, she'd saved three for Han, Oleg and Earl. Han, getting all sentimental, had declared them a family. And while she had scoffed at the time and told them to eat their cupcakes, she realised that it was kind of true. They had all gone to the hospital when Earl had his heart attack, and they had all sent well-wishes (and soup) home with Caroline when Max got sick.

"Thanks Han", Beth said, and he smiled at her, handing her the gift bag. "Look Max, the bed is higher than Han!"

There was no doubt that she was Max Black's kid.