Season 2 Episode 3 AU Helen's POV

Max bursts into Helen's office as she's going through the patient's file. She began speaking before he could even sidetrack her.

"Do you know how hard the FDA makes it to answer one question?" she questioned him. Helen walked to her desk but she could feel his energy shift into confusion. He looked at her questioning if she was being serious or messing with him.

"Is that a serious question?" Max asks. She nods her head before glancing up at him. She explained to him that the FDA stopped approving metal-on-metal hips in 2016 due to higher risks. Her patient was one of the 3000 patients that got the hip replacement before 2016 and the company never bothered to fix it. She was shaking with rage the more she explained to Max.

Max's face cleared of all confusion and was instead replaced by a tentative smile. "I'm so glad you said that, because that is exactly the kind of issue that you are gonna be solving when you are on the board of New Amsterdam." Max continued to stare at Helen as he proposed his crazy idea.

Helen let out a small chuckle because Max must have been joking. When she realized that his bright blue eyes were still fixed with hope she softened slightly before responding. "On the board?" she asked dubiously.

Max nodded to show he was serious. He added that she was his first choice but of course she could read his face.

"Really?" she scoffed as she raised her eyebrow. "You don't want Dr. Sharpe. You want Dr. Helen." Max looked down in shame as he agreed with her and explained that Brantley wanted a celebrity who would be able to bring money to the board.

"Max, when you first got here, you asked me to scale down on publicity and scale up on medicine, which gave me purpose, a renewed sense of self, something I could use right about now." Helen hoped that Max could see the fire in her eyes, especially with this new patient. She hoped that he would support her like she has always done for him.

Max softened his tone and took a step closer to her before staring into her soul with his bright blue eyes. He knew she had a soft spot for his ocean blue eyes and she never says no to him anyways so it couldn't hurt to try. "I know, but I really need one of us on the board to make a difference, someone who represents our views, and Brantley already nixed Reynolds."

Helen let out a laugh as she made her way to her door to urge Max to leave. She knew if she didn't get him out of her office she would probably give in to his insane idea. "Oh, gosh, I thought I was your first choice." She joked coyly.

"First in my heart." Helen's breath caught at Max's response before she remembered what he was trying to do. She played it off like he said nothing and pushed her feelings for him down. He was joking, just trying to get her to agree to his dumb plan.

"Oh Max, I would love to help you and this hospital, but Brantley will never approve me, celebrity or not. Because effective chairmen only approve board members that they agree with, and that's mort definitely not one of us." She gently urged him out the door.

As he walked past her, he gave her one last puppy dog look. When he had no effect, he shook his head with a tiny smile and left on his mission to find a new board member.

Helen leaned against the door grateful to be out of Max's presence. His intense stares and his sweet words just kept making her feel more confused and guilty. When Georgia was still alive it was easy to push everything down and blame herself for thinking more into his actions. Now with no buffer between them it was getting hard to discern if he liked her or if he is just being a good friend. She hated herself for feeling a little happy at Georgia's death.

She shook her head to clear it and refocus on what she was doing, saving her patient. She continued to go through her files until her fears were confirmed. Vince, her patient, would need a hip replacement again. She paged Lauren to expect her in the ED before explaining what she found.

Lauren and Helen approached Vince and explained that his blood would need to be filtered to help save his remaining kidney function. They told him that it was all due to his first hip replacement that had a metal-on-metal hip. The two metals were rubbing against each other and the metal was being released into his bloodstream. Vince seemed confused and asked how to stop the metals from leaking into his blood. Once she explained that it was the company's fault and that he would need a new hip, Vince became distressed. He had no way to pay for the new hip replacement and he couldn't possibly take off that much time for the recovery.

Helen felt a fire light within her and disgust at Wedlow Medical, the hip manufacturer. She knew that they could afford the surgery so she decided that they would be the ones to pay. She reassured Vince that he didn't have to worry and that she would do everything in her power to make sure that he would be okay.

Helen was heading back to her office after a failure of compromise with Wedlow Medical. They decided to not agree to her terms of replacing all their metal-on-metal hips and now she would have to take the hard road.

Tomorrow she would be making a rare TV appearance where she would air out all the dirty information about the manufacturers. If that means the end of her medical career to save her patient, then its what needed to be done. She was tired of people acting like because she was a TV doctor that she wasn't certified and knowledgeable.

As she entered her office, Max was pacing her room anxiously. Before she could even question why he was there or what had him so anxious, he began speaking quickly. "Helen, you can't do this. They will destroy you."

Helen shook her head in complete disbelieve of what Max was saying. This was the man that ripped up the hospital's insulin contract, and before that implemented a nursery for prisoners in Rikers. Max continued on, trying to get Helen to understand what she was doing. After Georgia, she was the only person he had other than Luna. She was everything to him right now, the only thing keeping him going other than his precious baby girl. He explained that the company would never stop hunting her and with their endless funds, she will lose everything that she has worked for.

"They only see me as Dr. Helen, the TV personality, so I intend to put that personality to good use." Max stared at her incredulously. "Yeah, but what about Dr. Sharpe and her patients. The need you." Max implored. He didn't know how he was going to make it if she wasn't around but she was not aking down. He hoped that she would back down so he wouldn't have to tell her the truth, that he was the one that needed her desperately.

"She is out fighting for her patients, something that you do every single day, and yet, you're asking me to pull my punches." Helen was confused by Max's approach to the situation. She thought that he would fully back her and support her in her decision. Toi be honest he was the one that inspired her to go to such limits for her patients.

"Because this will end your career, and I cant do this without you." he shouted. He could feel the tears stinging his eyes but he refused to let any roll down his cheek. He bit his cheek, took a deep breath before he continued. "I'm not fully here. A part of me is still on that ambulance."

Max sounded tired and exasperated. His body deflated as the truth was released from his lips. His eyes stared deep into her own chocolate ones. He hoped that she understood what he was trying to say, even though it might have been selfish of him.

Helen couldn't believe Max's audacity. He knew she would do anything for him especially due to how he lost Georgia and her guilt for not dying. But she was getting tired of him emotionally manipulating her. She was getting so anger and flustered that tears began to spring to her eyes. She hated herself for this. She hasn't let anyone get this close to her to make her this flustered since Mo.

Helen took a deep breath before responding to Max. "You push me away, and you expect me to understand. And then you need me? And you use your feelings as leverage." She couldn't help but to raise her voice at him. She just felt the anger keep building from him ignoring her since she's been back, her anger at her own feelings towards Max and how weak she was when it came to him.

Max screwed up his face in confusion, "you think I'm using Georgia to manipulate you?"

"I don't know what you're doing because you won't ever talk to me anymore." Max just shook his head at her statement, in complete disbelieve. How could she be so smart but so oblivious. Even when Georgia was around, he was still trying to hide his emotions from her although for a different reason. He didn't want her to be burdened by all of his pain and loss.

"I can't talk to you because I'm trying to spare you. I don't want you to feel this. I don't want you to experience this." He let out a small chuckle as her face finally signaled her comprehension. Her body didn't relax though, he could tell he was not having any effect on her choice. Max knew he had to try harder if he was ever gonna change her mind. "I know it's not fair. I know but none of this is fair."

Her voice was still angry and tired. "We can just toss 'fair' out the window. Max, when you need me , I am here for you." She couldn't help but to emphasize that she was always ready to be burdened by him. Her heart ached to see him in so much pain but there was nothing he could say right now to change her mind. "For all of it, I am here," she stressed. "But not at the expense of my patient."

"You cannot keep doing this to me Max. Every time I let you go , you do this." She could feel the hot tears race down her cheeks as she lost all control of her emotions. "You don't have the right to tell me what I can and can't do anymore. I am tired of being at your beck and call Max." She wiped her eyes and exhaled as she finally said what she had been thinking.

She thought that would be the end of the conversation but Max wasn't don't yet. He took she steps towards her with a purpose. She was so shocked by his advance that she backed up into her desk. He was breathing heavily and peering down into his soul. His eyes flickered from her lips to her eyes and back.

She couldn't resist the urge to bite down on her bottom lip, waiting for his next move. Max lowered his head and she thought he was gonna kiss her but instead he placed his forehead against her own. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes before pleading with her shortly. She closed her eye and slowly shook her head no. He smiled before taking a step back.

"Okay, Helen. Do what you need to. I'll do what I have to too." Max quietly left the room, leaving Helen in a stupor. She just kept going over his words in her head. She was confused on what he was going to do and she could feel her love for him beginning to blossom again.