'I er, I need to go' Max stumbled. Had he just heard that right? Zoe couldn't have children? Why would she keep that from him?

He ran out of the ED.

'MAX, WAIT!' Zoe shouted after him hysterically.

'Zoe..' Connie tried holding her back.

'This is your fault!' Zoe snapped at the Lead Consultant, 'not only were you intent on taking my job, now you're doing your best to ruin my life!'

'Zoe, please, calm down, you need to come into my office.' Connie was trying to keep her as calm as possible. She didn't want a fuss in front of the patients, she felt terrible for what she had said, her and Zoe didn't always get along but she would never intentionally hurt her.

'Connie's right Zoe, come on' Charlie appeared. Zoe broke down on him, 'I need to find Max!' She cried.

Connie and Charlie took Zoe into the office, 'I need to find Max!' She repeated.

'Zoe, I am so sorry, I didn't realise Max was there. I admit I said what I did out of spite because of this morning but I never thought this would happen.' Connie was close to tears, she had Grace, she couldn't imagine not being able to have children.

'Zoe, you need to give him time to digest it, this was something that should have been discussed privately between you and now half the hospital have heard.' Charlie was always the voice of reason, he gave Connie one of his looks letting her know his disapproval at what she'd done.

'Please, just let me go find him!' Zoe begged.

'Fine, but remember, he may need time to come to terms with it.' Charlie gave her a tissue to wipe her eyes.

Max had gone to his "office, or cupboard as Zoe referred to it. How had this happened? He punched the wall, letting out a scream. 'How could she have kept this from me?' He said to himself. Maybe be she likes to keep secrets, after all that's what she wanted their relationship to be. Maybe she wasn't that serious about them after all? They hadn't discussed children, they hadn't really discussed anything about their future apart from the house, he didn't even know if she wanted children if there was a way, or if she wanted to ever get married.

'God!' He said out loud, how could he have been so blind sighted? He was so in love with the now, he hadn't thought about the future like that.

Did he want children? He didn't know, he'd never had the option taken away from him before.

'Max, please, I know you're in there!' Zoe was banging on the door! 'I need to talk to you!'

Max opened the door and pushed past her 'yeah, you should have thought of that before.'

'Max, please, I love you!' It was no good, he was gone, she collapsed against the door. 'Why didn't I just tell him?' She had meant to, she just hadn't got around to it, there was never a right time. They'd been having so much fun, she didn't want to ruin it.

Max was sat on a bench outside, his head in his hands. He needed a cigarette. He was about to light up when he looked up to see Molly Drover in front of him.

'Can I join you?' She asked.

'Cigarette?' Max offered.

'No thanks, I've had too many vices in my life time.'

They sat in silence until Molly spoke again 'you know, I was in the gutter when I was drinking, it was the first thing I thought of when I woke up and the last thing before I went to sleep. I wanted to get better, I just didn't know how. There was one person who believed in me, one person who wanted me to pull through'

'Zoe' Max said.

'Yes, Zoe Hanna. She had her own problems but she was still there. She's not perfect, she made mistakes with me, she's made a mistake with you, but who's perfect? Are you?'

'No.' Max shook his head. 'But she kept this from me, something that would affect us in the future. I found out through someone else, I thought she loved me, I thought she wanted a future, I guess I was wrong.'

'My guess is she was scared. Have you seen her scared before? No. She puts on a brave face, this is something she's been dealing with alone. You need to help her with it, I know it's hard for you but she won't have kept it from you on purpose.' Molly had taken his hand now. 'I owe my life to Dr Hanna, I wouldn't want to see her lose what is her life,' she looked him in the eye 'you.'