Max was lying. Dr. Sharpe set out to find out why. She knew Max kept a busy schedule as Medical Director, nevertheless, he had designated appointments all the time. He could not keep everything a secret. When he was not in an appointment where was he? She knew she could track his whereabouts for most of the day, it was the between time that would be tricky.
Unless, what if she made this a team effort? If she got the other doctors involved, they could message one another when Max had been spotted. Instead of Find My Friends, it would be their own version of Find Max. Was this bordering on stalking? She thought. What if Max was telling the truth and he was fine, and she was just invading his personal time.
Maybe he was seeing someone. Did he feel guilty about finding someone after Georgia? No one would judge him. Maybe he was sneaking around with a new girlfriend, not that he needed to. Despite, this real likelihood of Max dating someone new, Sharpe was still going to do a little investigating on her own. She knew Max too well and hiding a girlfriend did not match with how he was acting. He seemed sad and tired. He had said he was feeling under the weather.
The next day, Dr. Sharpe showed up at work earlier than normal. Her rounds did not start until 8am so, she arrived at 6am to look into Max's disappearances around the hospital. He claimed to be facilitating his duties as Medical Director, though after speaking to several colleagues after her talk with Max in her office, she was informed by several nurses and doctors that several hours of the day, Max was not accounted for. He had no meetings or physical sights every morning, and odd times during the afternoon.
That is why she arrived early this morning. Upon her arrival, she spotted Max's car in the parking garage. She knew he was here. Her first stop would be the nursery. Max dropped Luna off every day, they would have had to see him.
"Hi, Dr. Sharpe. What brings you by so early?" Nurse Conway asked as she bounced a swaddled baby boy who was crying.
"I came to ask you something." Sharpe walked into the nursery seeing a beautiful 1 year old girl sleeping in the corner crib. "I see Luna Goodwin is here. Do you know where Max is?"
"I can't say that I do. He drops her off every morning and picks her up after shift. Although, he does make several pit stops throughout the day to see her." The nurse beamed at his loving father behavior.
"What time every morning would you say he drops her off?"
"6am sharp."
"Every day?"
"Yes, only for about the last 2 weeks. It fluctuates. About two to three months ago it was 6am drop off, then he went to 8am drop off, and for the last couple weeks he's been back to 6am. Why?"
"Oh, you know, hard to track him down," Dr. Sharpe made something up. Why was his schedule different month to month? "Has he ever said where he is headed after dropping Luna off?"
"Nope. I assume he heads to his office to file all that lovely paperwork he has to do." The nurse continued her rhythmic bouncing.
"Well, thank you, Nancy. Mind if I say hi to Luna?"
"Be my guest. You're practically her godmother having helped deliver her with Dr. Bloom."
Helen walked across to the corner crib. A healthy-looking baby girl was curled up under a light blue blanket hugging a stuffed llama. She bought Luna that llama, it made her happy seeing it cherished in her arms. Dr. Sharpe took a long stare at the peaceful girl. She sighed, "What is your daddy up to, Luna?"
As Sharpe turned to leave, Nurse Conway said, "Good luck finding him."
Where was he? At 6 am, it was too early for rounds. Max hated paperwork so, she very much rejected the idea that he'd show up early to do it. No meetings were scheduled for this hour. However, maybe she would stop by his office just to check.
Ten minutes later, Dr. Sharpe was knocking on Max's office door. She tried the door handle, but it was locked. Max never locked his office. He always welcomed visitors. Hard to help people when they can't come in.
She knocked louder, "Max, are you in there?"
Meanwhile, on the second round of knocking, Max bolted up from his sleeping position on his couch. Sharpe was at his door. He looked around frantic as to what to do. Here he was with half a chemo bag still hooked up to his arm and Sharpe was outside his door. Maybe he could get her to leave without opening the door.
He walked the door, holding his mobile chemo bag on a pole for balance. When he got to the door he spoke, "What's up?"
"Can I come in?" She asked.
"Uh no. I'm, I'm not decent." His lies were getting worse.
"Not decent? What does that mean?"
"I couldn't sleep at home so, I came here. You woke me up just now. So, I'm not decent."
"So, then put some pants on."
"You this is not the best time. I don't feel well."
"In case you were not aware, I am a doctor. Let me take a look at you."
"No. I'm good. I just need to rest."
What game was Max playing at? Was he indecent, tired, not feeling well, or was this a bad time?
"Max, open the door. I'm not leaving until you open this door." Helen was sick of running in circles. She was going to confront this head on.
Max did not answer. He knew how stubborn she could be. She'd sit outside all day if she had to. He needed to hide his chemo bag.
"Max?"
"Give me a second to get dressed." Max wheeled his medicine to the bathroom where he disconnected the drip from his arm. He pushed it into the corner of the room and quick splashed some water on his face. Closing the bathroom door behind him, he threw his eye mask into the microwave for a quick nuking while he searched for a long sleeve shirt to hide his injection butterfly that was still in his arm. Max found a shirt and pulling off his short-sleeved scrubs and pulling on the long sleeve shirt. The microwave beeped its readiness. Max held the eye mask on his face for as long as it took him to walk to the door before tossing it on top of his filing cabinet. He took a deep breath before opening the door to see a disgruntled, crossed arms Sharpe tapping her foot.
"Good morning Dr. Sharpe," Max mustered all the energy he had.
"What took so long, Max? And why does it smell like popcorn in here?" Dr. Sharpe entered his office curiously looking around for something out of place.
"Would you like a bag? I find it to be a great low-calorie snack and you are always telling me to eat more." Max beamed his charm smile at her.
"Cut the act, Max. I know something is up." Sharpe was pointing a finger at him. "You hate getting up early. You never eat at work and since when do you not wear scrubs?"
Max clapped his hands together, smiling more trying to avoid all her questions, "Somebody has been watching too many Sherlock episodes." He walked behind her and nudged he towards the couch to sit down. He pushed his napping blanket down to the foot of the couch and invited her to sit down. He took the chair opposite of her and waited.
Although this peppier and smiling Max was more normal, Sharpe still knew he was hiding something.
"What brings you to the hospital this earlier, Dr. Sharpe?" He asked trying to make her the subject and not himself.
"You, actually." She leaned forward resting her arms on her knees.
"Me? Why me?" He sat back into the chair with his leg crossed over the other.
"I wanted to know where you've been sneaking of to every morning. According to Nurse Conway, you drop Luna off two hours earlier than you used to but for no apparent reason."
"You talked to Nancy?" Max gulped.
"Yes, I did. She said she does not know where you spend your mornings. Suggested paperwork. Now, we both know that isn't true. So why Max, why are you here so early?"
"I, um—," he was struggling to come up with a new excuse, "You see, I—"
Then it hit her. She looked Max up and down. His skin was pale, his hair did have the full nature it usually did. He bags under his eyes and seemed to always be running off to the bathroom. Now, that she looked closer he seemed thinner than normal. How did she not see it before? She slapped her own leg. She was denying the truth because she did not want it to be real, again.
"I see it now. You have been acting weird. You're always tired, you look sick, you've been wearing baggy clothes. You've been avoiding us, showing up earlier in the morning in secret, running off to the bathroom. I can't believe how stupid I've been. Denying what I knew to be true." Max had started breaking eye contact with her when she was listing all his side effects and behaviors. "You have cancer, again. Don't you?"
Max looked up and connected her eyes. The sparkle in his eyes had vanished replaced now by the guilt of a naughty puppy's. He did not speak.
