Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

Author's Note: I haven't written any fic for...looks like 15 years or so. Stepping out of the sci-fi world for the first time. Scary! Max and Helen are the first characters in quite some time that make me need to write some shit. I hope I can do them justice.

Dr. Helen Sharpe lay in her hospital bed going over patient charts, finally getting caught up on paperwork. There had been a steady stream of visitors after her emergency surgery, save for one, and this was the first quiet time she had since. If there was an upside to a nearly burst appendix, this would be it. She winced as she reached for a file on the table next to the bed.

Lauren will kill me if I rip a stitch. If Cas doesn't get there first. Or Max for that matter.

She smiled at the thought of how protective her friends were. The smile faded when she recalled how scared they were as she was wheeled into the ED on a gurney. Helen had collapsed in the restroom with unbearable pain in her side. Pain she, as a doctor, chose to ignore for days as the warning it was.

Because you're a stubborn idiot. Doctors make the worst patients. Ask Max.

Dr. Shin and Dr. Bloom had begun their exams, nearly fighting over Helen in their efforts to help their friend. Helen did recall that part. The rest of that day, not so much. As soon as Lauren did an abdomen check, Helen was lost in the blinding pain. The last thing she remembered was Cassian bellowing out to someone about getting an OR ready.

Helen had later learned from both of them, in different ways, that their medical director had been rather overbearing through all of it. Dr. Bloom had called it a "gut-wrenching panic attack" while Dr. Shin said it appeared to be "an irrational over-reaction." They both, however, similarly summed him up as running around the hospital and barking unnecessarily at pretty much everyone. It didn't surprise Helen. Dr. Max Goodwin had been through enough physical and emotional trauma in two years that many people go through in a lifetime.

Battling cancer while trying to fix a nearly broken marriage with a pregnant wife, only to lose his wife in the end. Beating said cancer alone with an infant, losing a good friend to another hospital across the country, and now Helen could only assume Max thought she was also a goner. He lost his shit and she really couldn't blame him. She was his support system and if he lost her, well...

There was a gentle knock on the door and it opened slowly. Max poked his head in.

Speak of the devil.

"Hey," he greeted her softly. "You up for a visitor?"

Helen smiled brightly at him. "Of course. Come in, please."

Max slipped in and closed the door behind him. He ambled slowly to the bed, smiling broadly.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm just fine, Max," Helen nodded. "How are you holding up from my trauma?"

Max sighed and sank down on the edge of her bed. "You heard about that then?"

"Mmm, I did," she said playfully.

He nodded, not looking at her. "I may have reacted poorly to the situation," he said sheepishly.

Helen reached out and touched his forearm. "I hope it's been rectified. Your staff can't have you freaking out like that every time someone needs an appendectomy." She meant it to be sympathetic.

Max finally looked at her. There was that familiar intensity in his eyes. Helen felt that pull again as she had every day since the day they met. That thing between them she thought had waned since Max had started seeing Alice. And she began seeing Dr. Shin.

"It wasn't just someone," he said it barely above a whisper with a tiny shake of his head. He held her gaze for what seemed like hours. Helen could feel her heart rate increase under his scrutiny. She sucked in her bottom lip and finally looked away.

He's not supposed to do this. He's not supposed to have this effect on you anymore.

"I'm fine, Max," she tried to break the tension. She gathered the pile of charts, avoiding his eyes and reached to put them on the table. She winced again as she reached too far and felt the stabbing in her incision site.

In an instant she felt Max's hand on her side. "Let me see your stitches."

Helen brushed his hand away. "There's nothing to see. I didn't rip them."

"Helen." He stared at her expectantly.

"Max." She returned the stare defiantly.

He tipped his head to the side, waiting. Helen rolled her eyes.

"Fine," she sighed.

This is a bad idea. This is a bad idea. This is a bad ideathisisabadidea

She tugged up her hospital gown from beneath the sheets, just enough to reveal the bandage on her lower right abdomen, glaring at Max. She peeked down and was relieved to see that there was no blood soaking through, which meant that she indeed did not rip a stitch.

Max scooted closer until he was leaning over her from the left side and gently unsecured the gauze bandage. Helen gasped in pain as the adhesive stuck to her still swollen hip.

"Sorry," Max breathed. He gently rubbed a finger over the glue line and lifted the bandage a bit more to see that the stitches were all still intact. "There's no drain?"

Helen shook her head. "I guess they caught it just in time. Lucky me."

"Lucky you is right," Max smiled. He replaced the bandaged carefully, lightly tracing the edges to secure them to her skin once again. "This is still pretty swollen."

His fingers gently pressed around the wound. Helen sucked in a breath and closed her eyes.

"Does that hurt?" he asked quietly.

"Of course it does." It didn't. Not really.

"How about over here?" Max's hand drifted to the right, his thumb stroked her naked hip.

His touch was fire. She shook her head, not finding words in the moment as his fingers danced across her skin. She held her breath so as not to tremble under his caress. His hand moved left across to her abdomen, following the lines of her muscles. Helen watched his long fingers, so light against her dark skin. She couldn't look away as she fought the goosebumps.

He can't know he does this to you.

Helen's eyes moved up to his face. He seemed just as mesmerized as she was. She let go of her gown and reached up, brushing away a strand of hair from his forehead. Her fingertips lightly slid down his face and across his jaw. She lifted his chin. He raised his eyes to meet her gaze.

Helen's heart was pounding in her ears. The hand under her gown that left an electric trail towards her rib cage stilled. She could feel him breathing as heavily as she surely was. The room felt thick as Max leaned in closer, his gaze dropped to her mouth.

Will he follow through this time?

There was a loud knock on the door. "Hey, Helen! It's time for-" Lauren Bloom stopped dead in her tracks as she entered Helen's room.

Max Goodwin bounced off the bed and leapt backward from where he'd been leaning over Helen, skittering across the room to the door. Without a word he was out the door in a flash.

Lauren watched him go and turned to gape at Helen. "What the hell?"

Helen was busy smoothing out the covers, finding anywhere to look but Lauren's face. Her cheeks were hot with embarrassment.

"Nothing," Helen managed. She swallowed hard and finally looked at her friend. Lauren stood there with her arms folded across her chest, one eyebrow raised.

"Was his hand up your shirt, Helen?"

"No!" she exclaimed, too quickly.

Lauren's other eyebrow joined the first.

Helen swallowed again. "It was under my gown," she muttered.

Lauren opened her mouth, then closed it again. Her hands were on her hips now.

"What the hell is the difference?" She looked legitimately perplexed.

"Up your shirt sounds so...lurid," she said weakly.

Lauren snorted. "What, under your gown is any less lurid?"

Helen sighed and slid down under her covers.

Author Note: There will be more. Not sure what path these assholes will take for the next chapter, though.