Zoe awoke the next morning to the smell of coffee and freshly baked pastry. She blinked in the soft morning sunlight, her eyes focussing on the tray of breakfast on her bedside table, and she smiled as she felt Max's hands running down her back.

"Morning." She rolled over, kissing him softly. "You didn't have to get breakfast."

"Yeah, well." Max slowly shifted his attention to her neck. "I'm not so sure I'm that hungry anymore."As his lips moved south, a soft moan escaped her lips, and she felt him grinning against her skin. She pulled him back up reluctantly - her follow up appointment was in an hour, and she wanted to get it over with sooner rather than later.

"As much as I'd love to carry on, we are going to be late." Even as she was saying it, she felt his hands on her hips, dragging her towards him. "We are going to be very late." He agreed, swiftly pulling her on top of him and biting down gently on her collarbone.

"You are insatiable." Zoe tilted her head back as Max softly traced her curves with his hands. "Not that I'm complaining." She murmured, finally giving into him as he rolled them over and winked before disappearing beneath the sheets.

An hour later, Zoe lay sprawled across the bed waiting for Max to return with coffee - the first batch had gone cold, for obviously reasons. She'd missed her appointment, but Zoe reasoned that she deserved a bit of TLC given recent events. Just as she felt herself drifting back to sleep, her phone began to vibrate, the caller ID flashing Charlie's name. Sighing, she picked it up, wrapping herself tightly in Max's duvet.

"You do know it's 9 o'clock in the morning?" She paused. "On a Saturday?"

"Zoe, I've had some bad news." Charlie sounded shaken, and she sat up straighter, any lingering thoughts of sleep long gone.

"Is everything okay? Are you alright?" There was a pause on the other end of the phone, and Zoe heard Tess' voice in the background. "Are you with Tess? Is she hurt?"

"No, we're fine. Is there someone with you?" Charlie's voice had taken on a similar tone to one Zoe used when dealing with distressed relatives and she began to panic. With almost perfect timing, Max appeared at the doorway, brandishing coffee, and Zoe beckoned him over, covering the phone.

"It's Charlie. Something's happened." She lifted the phone again. "Yeah, I'm with someone. Charlie, will you just tell me what's going on?" She felt Max's hand resting gently on the small of her back and smiled at him gratefully.

"It's Nick." Charlie sounded as though he was bracing himself for Zoe's reaction, but she had no idea what was going on.

"What about him?" An awful thought struck her, her stomach flipping. "Is the tumour back?" She gripped Max's free hand, biting her lip so hard beads of blood appeared.

"Zoe, the tumour's been back for a while." Charlie paused. "Nick passed away earlier this morning." Zoe looked wide eyed at Max, not registering what Charlie had said. Max, although he had no idea what the conversation was about, panicked internally at the expression on Zoe's face - he had never seen her look so completely helpless. She raised the phone again, her hands shaking so violently he was surprised she hadn't dropped it.

"No. Charlie, he's fine, he, he came to see me two days ago, he's not -" her voice broke, and with it Max's heart. When she next spoke, it was the voice of someone much younger. "Charlie, please." She looked like a child, curled up, gripping the phone and Max's hand as though they were her only lifelines. Despite having no idea what was going on, Max gently prised the phone away, turning from Zoe slightly as he spoke to Charlie.

"Charlie, it's Max. What's happened?" As Charlie explained, Max could only watch Zoe sitting next to him, her face drained of all colour and tears streaming down her cheeks. Once he had hung up, the pair sat it silence for a moment, the only sound Zoe's sobs. Max hesitated before pulling her into a hug, feeling her entire frame collapse against his chest as she gave into the emotions coursing through her body. "Zo, I am so sorry." He felt her freeze at the nickname, and mentally kicked himself as he remembered the was what Nick called her. "Charlie's coming over, I thought you might want him here." He knew how much Zoe relied on Charlie for support, and it was clear the older man cared hugely about her.

"I want Nick." Zoe lifted her head, unable to comprehend how such a perfect morning had disappeared so quickly. "Max, he can't be gone. He can't just leave me." She hit her fists against Max's chest. "It's not fair. It's not fair. It's not-" another wave of sobs took hold of her and Max grabbed her hands, pulling her to him again. They stayed like that for what seemed like hours until a knocking at the door told them Charlie had arrived. As soon as he entered the house, Zoe began screaming at him, blaming Charlie, blaming Nick, blaming herself. Max had never seen her so wild before, she was inconsolable, and Charlie took all of it, waiting until she was completely exhausted before approaching her. He led her over to the sofa where they stayed, Zoe resting her head on his lap, until she fell asleep and Charlie gently stood up, carefully placing a pillow under her head.

"I should be getting back." Charlie glanced at Max's panicked face - he had no idea how to deal with a grieving Zoe. "Call if you need me." He paused at the door. "You just have to be there for her. She loves you, but she loved him too and she'll find that hard. Just be there." With a sad smile,Charlie left, leaving the house in a silence heavy with Zoe's grief..

I am so so sorry...tried to make up for killing Nick with some Zax fluff at the start! Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter, not quite sure where to go with this so any ideas welcome! Love you forever if you R&R x