Dr. Max Goodwin is the Medical Director of New Amsterdam Hospital in New York City. It is the oldest hospital in the United States and a hospital Max, himself, was a patient of just two years earlier. Max was diagnosed with throat cancer at this very hospital. He was treated and to his luck, beat cancer all at this very hospital. Max's wife also gave birth to their daughter, Luna, at this very hospital and unfortunately, Max also lost his sister and wife at this hospital.

To say New Amsterdam was a large part of Max, would be an understatement. Max practically lived at the hospital. Max took it upon himself as a doctor and as the director of this hospital to help any such person who walked through the doors of his hospital. Whether they could pay or not, whether they were legal citizens or not, whether they were victims or criminals. Max took an oath, and with all he had gone through at this hospital, he wanted his future to be about saving as many lives as he could knowing there were two particular lives he would never get over because he was not able to save them. Those two souls would haunt him, not because it was his fault, but because he knew it was not his fault and he could not do anything about it. He felt helpless, he was a doctor and could not save them.

He had cancer. He was dying two years ago. He had collapsed on a dock in the middle of nowhere and his wife had saved him by listening to directions over the phone. She saved him with a straw, a frickin' straw. He had undergone chemotherapy, an extreme form of chemo he did not expect to survive. But he did survive. He survived so his unborn daughter would not grow up without a father. And in all of that, his wife was the one who was taken from this world. Not the sick man, the weaker person, but his much healthier, stronger wife. Where was the justice, he thought?

Max would never be able to come to terms with fate's cruel decision that day. All he could do at this point was try to save all the lives he could. Including his own.

"It was good seeing ya' Dr. Robbins," Max said leaving Dr. Robbins office. "Let's do this."

"Are you sure, Max. I mean Dr. Sharpe—" Dr. Robbins said following Max out of his office.

Max cut him off, "I know. Trust me. I know. But I'm sure."

"I'm mean if you are sure. I will see you tomorrow?" Dr. Robbins asked.

"Yes. I'll be here."

Max remembered this conversation they had three months ago. Max always remembered this conversation as he sat keeled over his office toilet hurling his guts out almost daily. He washed his mouth out in the sink and swirled some mouthwash around before spitting it out. He'd splash some water on his face and try to look better. He put on a smile and hoped no one saw through it.

The truth was Max's cancer had come back.

He'd known for three months and because of his daughter he chose to fight it. He was stubborn before, but he knew he needed to be stubborn against the cancer and not the treatment this time around. Luna needed her father and he needed her. She was the sole ray of sunlight in his life right now. With Georgia gone for over a year now, Sharpe was dating Dr. Shin, and now he had cancer again, Luna was what he lived for. Max admitted to having his cancer this time, at least he admitted it to himself and Dr. Robbins. He chose to keep his little secret to himself this time and not to worry everyone else with his problem.

Max splashed a little more water on his face and slapped his cheeks to look more awake. As he left the bathroom, he rolled down his long sleeves to hide his arm injection spot where he had been hooked up to a chemo bag earlier. It was time for rounds, and he needed to check in with his doctors. See who needed his help this morning.

The second Max walked out of his office he was spotted by Dr. Helen Sharpe. She began speaking at the same fast pace she was walking causing Max to move a lot faster than he wanted to.

"Max. There you are. Where have you been? Never mind, not important. You look terrible. Would you like my coffee," she handed him her cup which he didn't mind taking because it might help his disguise, "Well, you know my patient, Ms. Wallace?" He nodded and she continued "Yes, well, she is going to be the last member of our clinical trial."

She waited for his response, but he had not noticed she had stopped talking. His mind was swirling with thoughts of dizziness and where the closest bathroom was at the moment.

"Max?" Helen stopped walking to get his attention.

"Yes, what? Oh yes, the trial. That's great." He faked his enthusiasm. He spotted a men's room just down the hall or he could swing back to his office if need be.

"That means our trial is full and I just need your signature for final approval before we can begin."

"Why do you need my signature? Aren't you the deputy medical director?"

"I'm afraid the board will only approve of a trial with your permission."

"Okay, well I wish they would see your authority as they see mine," Max didn't mean to be complimentary even though it made Sharpe smile. He just did not want so many people having to flag him down for signatures. "Do you have a pen?"

"Yes, here." She handed him the pen and he immediately signed the piece of paper in front of him before Sharpe could instruct him where to properly sign.

"Okay? Is that all?" Max handed her the pen back which she did not take.

"Max you just signed the papers to transfer my other patient to Psych. That form was for Iggy. The form I need you to sign is this one," she pulled a second form from her clipboard stack. "I was about to get it for you before you signed the other one."

Dr. Sharpe gave him a slight head tilt of concern but let it go thinking he might just need more coffee. Max signed the correct form and said a quick 'see ya' later' to Dr. Sharpe before she could say anything else.

"Okay, bye then," she said quietly to herself.

Max disappeared down the hall into a door marked Men's Restroom. Maybe he really had to pee, she thought.

She headed to the psychology department to find Dr. Iggy Frome and get him to sign another copy of the form Max had originally signed.

"Hey, Iggy." She greeted Dr. Frome in his office.

"Hello, Helen. How are you?" Iggy politely addressed her looking up from his paperwork.

"I'm good. Do you have a sec?"

"Of course. What can I do for you?" He waved her to come in and sit. She took a seat in one of the leather armchairs across from his desk and set her clipboard of paperwork on his desk.

"Well, I came here to get one of my patients transferred to you for a psych eval, but I just ran into Max and…" she trailed off trying to figure out just exactly she was wondering.

"What happened with Max?" Iggy asked leaning on his elbows intently on his desk.

"Nothing really. He just seemed a bit… off," was the word she landed on scrunching her face up. "Has he seemed different to you lately?"

"I mean, no, but Max seems off to a lot of people. He does things very differently than most expect a medical director to do."

"I know Max is a little eccentric, if you will. But I mean, have you notice him to personally to be off. Like the way he looks or the things he says?" Sharpe was still trying to figure out what she really thought was wrong with him. He could have been tired, lacking caffeine, or maybe he had a cold?

"Now that you point it out, Max has seemed a little down lately. Not his usual let's save the world sort of peppiness."

"Yes," she thought a moment, "He seems like he is tired a lot, too."

"Do you think he is not sleeping again? I mean I did not sleep much when my kids were Luna's age, but I, at least, had my husband. Max is doing it by himself."

Helen knew Max could function without sleep. She had seen him pull many long shifts back to back to back and it seemed like he never needed any sleep, like he was a robot. Maybe the needs of young child were wearing on him. That was a much better conclusion.

"You're right, Iggy. Thank you. I'm sure he is just exhausted juggling work and Luna. Maybe I will offer to babysit her so, he can have a night free."

"Great idea. Anything else you need?"

Dr. Sharpe had Iggy print another form and when he signed it, she left. She would track Max down later to make him take her up on her offer to babysit.

Max had stayed in the men's room for a while having to wait in between visitors to expel his insides into the toilet. He went through his routine of clean up, having to return to his office for some mouthwash. Max was realizing how hard it was going to be to keep up this little charade of his. Morning visits with Dr. Robbins, doing his chemo in secret, sneaking into bathrooms randomly and often, washing up and trying to not look sick and tired all the time. He could have sworn Sharpe gave him a look earlier. He hoped she was not getting suspicious because she would be the one to figure it out and he could not let that happen.

Max exited his office again and hoped to get through this day without running into Dr. Sharpe again.