Evelyn is rushed to Chicago Med.

'Evelyn Ward...' Sylvie starts the handover.

'Evelyn.' Will whispers seeing his younger sister being wheeled into the ED, having a seizure. He runs up to Sylvie who is wheeling the gurney. Max is walking beside it. 'What did she OD on?' Will asks Max. Ethan and Maggie join them.

'Nothing, you asshat.' Max growls at him. He looks at Ethan. 'Dr Halstead is Evelyn's brother. He can't treat her. I have medical power of attorney.'

'And who are you?' Will asks him. Max gulps getting ready for the lie he prepared with Evelyn. 'I'm her husband.'

'Will, we got it from here.' Ethan tells Will. They wheel Evelyn into a treatment room and transfer her over to the bed. The paramedics leave, leaving Ethan and Max with Evie.

'Is there anything you think of that could have caused the seizure?' Ethan asks whilst Maggie pushes medication through an IV the paramedics had placed in an attempt to stop the seizures. They slowly stop and Maggie works on getting her comfortable and putting an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth. 'Dr Halstead mentioned OD, could it have been drugs?'

'No.' Max shakes his head. 'She's been clean for five years.' He looks out of the room and sees Will still standing, watching. 'Can we close the door? Evelyn doesn't want her brother to know any of this.'

'Maggie.' Ethan looks at Maggie who nods, walks over to the door, and closes it before returning to the bedside.

'Evelyn has Multiple Sclerosis. She was diagnosed two years ago.' Max starts. 'On top of that, she has a brain tumor - a meningioma, and she has had six strokes in the last four years.' Ethan's and Maggie's eyes widen. 'I know. It's a lot. The strokes were a result of domestic abuse. Now what I'm about to tell you cannot leave this room.'

'If she's in danger, we're duty-bound to report it.' Maggie informs him.

'I know.' Max nods. 'I'm an FBI agent.' He adds. 'Whilst I do have medical power of attorney, I am not her husband. I only said that because her brother was there.'

'Then who are you to her?' Ethan queries.

'Her best friend.' Max responds. 'She's been trying to get away from her husband for the past two years, ever since she had her daughter, and I've been helping her with that. No matter where we moved, he always found her. Even though she didn't want to, she decided to move back here because she knew her husband wouldn't risk coming here. When we did move here, I said that I'd pretend to be her husband. It adds another layer of protection since she now has my surname and not her husband's.'

'Are other authorities aware of this?' Ethan asks.

'Yeah.' Max nods. 'The FBI, my bosses wherever I've been have been helping out. Whenever they close in on Marcus, her husband, he gets away.' Maggie and Ethan look at each other before looking back at Max.

'Do you have any paperwork to confirm this?' Maggie queries. 'We believe you, but we'd just like to double-check since you've mentioned domestic abuse and have you talk with Sharon Goodwin - our head of patient and medical services, and potentially Peter Kalmick who is part of our legal team.'

'Of course. I have all the legal paperwork. I can get it sent to you.' Max nods.

'Much appreciated.' Ethan smiles and nods. 'We'll get Ms. Goodwin and Mr. Kalmick to come and have a chat with you as soon as possible.'

'There is one other thing.' Max says. He looks at Evelyn, bites his lip, and turns back to Ethan and Maggie. 'She's eight weeks pregnant. Marcus tracked her down in the last city we were in and raped her.'

'We'll do an ultrasound.' Ethan nods. 'We'll also do a head CT and MRI as well as a full blood panel.'

'Thank you.' Max smiles slightly. Ethan and Maggie walk out of the room and see Will still standing there. Maggie walks to the phone and calls up to Sharon.

'How is she? What's wrong with her.' He asks.

'We can't give you that information, Will.' Ethan shakes his head.

'She's my sister!' Will exclaims.

'She doesn't want you to know.' Maggie states, putting down the receiver on the phone. 'Neither does her husband.'

'I have the right to know.' Will says.

'Actually, you don't.' Max walks out of the room and up to Will. 'You lost that right when you told her to get the hell out of Chicago. She doesn't want you to know what's wrong with her and that's final. She didn't want to move back to Chicago because of this exact reason but she had no choice.'

'What do you mean?' Will asks confused.

'I've said too much already.' Max sighs. 'Look, I hate this as much as you do. Evie needs her family, but she can't have that when you're still quite clearly pissed off at her for something that happened six years ago so just leave her be.' With that, he spins around and walks back into Evelyn's treatment room, closing the door behind him.

.

A couple of hours later, Sharon and Peter have spoken with Max and Evelyn and gone through all the legal paperwork to do with his and Evelyn's situation and are happy with it. Her files from her previous hospitals have been sent over to Med and Ethan has read through them to get up to speed. He's about to update Evelyn on her results when Max rushes out and up to him.

'She's bleeding. I think she's having a miscarriage.' Max tells him. Ethan jumps up from his seat and runs into the room. Max pulls the curtain over behind them to give them privacy.

'Can I examine you, Evie?' Ethan queries.

'Of course.' She nods. Ethan pulls some gloves on and whilst he does that Evelyn gets into the position for the examination.

'I saw in your files you have had miscarriages before?' Ethan asks.

'Yeah.' Evelyn nods sadly. Ethan nods and starts the examination. After that he does a quick ultrasound. Once he's done, he looks at Evie.

'The examination and ultrasound do indicate a miscarriage.' He informs her. 'I'm sorry.' Evelyn nods slightly. 'Have you had any symptoms?'

'I've had cramps but I've just put that down to stress and my condition and I've had a bit of spotting but I had that with my first pregnancy so I didn't think anything of it.' Evelyn replies.

'Why didn't you say anything?' Max asks her.

'I didn't want to worry you.' Evelyn says quietly.

'It looks like all tissue has been expelled but we'll get OB to come and have a look to be sure.' Ethan says. 'Would you like to speak with one of our psychiatrists about this?'

'No.' Evelyn shakes her head. 'I'm fine.'

'Okay.' Ethan nods. 'I'll send a nurse in to help you get cleaned up and into a fresh gown. Whilst I'm here, your CT and MRI scans came back with no changes to the tumor and your blood work is clear so once OB has reviewed you, I'm happy for you to be discharged.'

'Thanks.' Evelyn smiles slightly.

.

It has been a few weeks. Evelyn has processed the miscarriage. She hasn't seen or heard from Will or Jay at all, which doesn't surprise her. In the past few weeks she has also grown closer to Kelly, though Max is still yet to meet him. She's been working on setting up her new company with the help of Max and some people he was able to find to help her out pro-bono. Finally, it's all set up and ready to go. She's sat at the kitchen counter with her laptop in front of her and Max beside her.

'All you gotta do is click publish and everything will be live. The ads, the site, everything.' Max states. He notices that Evelyn is hesitating. 'You've worked hard for this, Evie. You can do it.'

'What if Marcus does find out about it?' Evelyn turns slightly to face him. 'You know how he is. He has contacts everywhere.'

'It's under my grandparent's family name. He doesn't know what that is. The chances of him tracking it down are slim.' Max reassures her. 'One-click and Moulin Interior Designs is officially up and running.' Evelyn sighs and turns back to her.

'Okay.' She exhales, nodding. She clicks the button and quickly shuts the laptop. 'Done.'

'And you're back in business!' Max grins.

'The easy part is over.' Evelyn laughs, standing up. 'The hard part is getting clients.'

'Hey, with the way you design, people would be a fool not to hire you.' Max tells her. There's then a knock at the door. 'I'll go.' Max walks to the door and returns a few minutes later.

'Who was it?' Evelyn asks.

'You're not going to like this.' Max tells her. 'It's Jay.'

'What the fuck is he doing here?' Evelyn asks. She walks to the door, swings it open and sure enough, Jay is there. 'How the fuck did you find out where I live?'

'I'm a detective, Evelyn.' Jay tells her.

'So you abused your position to find out where I live? Just so you can drive me out of Chicago?'

'What?! No!' Jay shakes his head. 'No. Will told me you were in the hospital a few weeks ago and I just wanted to make sure you're okay.'

'It's been a few weeks Jay. If you really wanted to see how I was you should have checked then. So stop with the fucking fake concern and fuck off.' She slams the door in his face.

'You okay?' She hears Max say. She turns and faces him.

'Yeah.' Evelyn nods. 'I just need some space to cool down.' She walks off to her room closing the door behind her.

.

A few days later, Kelly walks into his apartment building. As he's about to head to the elevator, he sees Evelyn sat on the stairs with her head resting again the wall.

'Evie?' Evelyn looks up at him. 'You okay.' Evelyn shakes her head. 'What's up?'

'My uh- the whole right side of my body's gone numb. I can't walk properly.' She replies. 'My husbands home but I don't want to call him. I don't want to worry him so I'm waiting until it passes.'

'How long have you been sat here?' Kelly questions.

'I dunno. What time is it?'

'About four.' Kelly states.

'Then about an hour and a half.' Evelyn tells him.

'Evie.' Kelly sighs sympathetically. 'Let me help you.'

'You don't have to.' Evelyn shakes her head. 'It will pass soon.'

'You've been sat here for over an hour.' Kelly raises an eyebrow. 'I bet your ass is numb. let me help you. I'm not taking no for an answer.' He adds. 'Or I can just go up and get your husband.'

'Fine.' Evelyn gives in. Kelly steps forward and helps Evelyn up. He puts his arm around her waist and pulls her into him so her right side is against him.

'You ready?' He asks her.

'Yeah.' Evelyn nods. They both slowly walk to the elevator. Eventually, nearly 10 minutes later, they reach Evelyn's apartment.

'Where are your keys?' Kelly questions. Evelyn reaches into her left pocket and takes them out. She hands them to him and he unlocks the door and opens it. When they walk in, they see Max sat on the sofa. He jumps up when he sees them.

'What happened?' He asks concerned.

'The right side of my body went numb.' Evelyn tells him. Kelly helps her to the sofa and to sit down. 'Max, this is Kelly, he lives down the hall. Kelly, this is my husband Max.' Kelly and Max both shake hands.

'It's nice to meet you.' Max smiles.

'Likewise.' Kelly nods.

'Thank you for helping Evie.' Max thanks him.

'Of course.' Kelly smiles.

'I will be right back.' Max says, going to turn.

'Maxence Sacha Ward. I swear to god if you go and get that wheelchair I will tackle you to the ground.' Evelyn glares at him.

'You could try.' Max smirks. 'I'm going to get the wheelchair.' He walks off and as he does Kelly sits down.

'You said you were in interior design, did you design this apartment yourself?' He asks.

'Yeah.' Evelyn nods.

'It's really good.'

'Thanks.' Evelyn blushes.

'What do you usually ask for? Price wise.'

'I usually stick within the clients budget.' Evelyn replies. 'I never ask for more than they can afford. Other interior designers tend to ask for more than the clients budget, it's what made my other business so successful.'

'Why did you start up from scratch?'

'I just needed a fresh start.' Evelyn says.

'The firehouse I work at has been looking at revamping the common room for a while. I'll go to my chief and the higher ups see if they'll allow you to do it.'

'Kelly, you don't have to do that.' Evelyn shakes her head.

'I want to. Plus it will help get your new one off the ground.' Kelly smiles. Max then returns to the room with the wheelchair. Evelyn narrows her at him.

'Evie, you had to have help to get up here. We got the wheelchair for that reason.' Max raises his eyebrow. 'How's the numbness?'

'Fading. Slowly.' Evie replies.

'That's good.' Max nods. 'Still leaving the wheelchair here there.' He places the wheelchair at the end of the sofa and Evelyn rolls her eyes. 'Kelly can I get you a drink? Water? Coffee?'

'Waters fine, thanks.' Kelly replies. Max looks at Evelyn.

'Soda.' She tells him. Max nods and walks off to get the drinks.

'He really cares about you.' Kelly points out.

'He does.' Evelyn smiles and nods. 'Though he can be a bit overbearing.' She adds with a slight laugh. Max returns with the drinks, hands the water to Kelly and the soda to Evie, which he has already opened for her.

'Thanks.' They both smile at the same time. Over the next couple of hours, Max and Kelly get to know each other a bit better. Then numbness Evelyn was feeling has completely gone. Kelly looks at his watch.

'I better get home. I have work in the morning.' He stands up. 'Thank you for the drinks.' Evelyn also stands up.

'I'll walk you out.' She states. She walks with him to the door and opens it for him. 'Thank you, again, for helping me.'

'Of course.' He nods. 'Next time, call me.'

'I will.' Evelyn laughs. 'Bye.'

'Bye.' Kelly leaves and Evelyn closes the door before returning back to Max. He notices that her face is bright  red.

'You like him.' Max states as she sits back.

'I do not!' Evelyn scoffs.

'Your face says otherwise.' Max laughs. 'And the way you squirmed in your seat when you brushed hands earlier.'

'Okay, so maybe I do like him.' Evelyn admits. 'I mean, look at him, how can anyone not like him?' She laughs.

'If you want to go for it, go for it.' Max states. 'You just have to tell him the truth about us and why. He seems trustworthy and I doubt he'd go telling people.' Evelyn looks down. 'Evie, you deserve to be happy. If he makes you happy, then what's stopping you.'

'He makes me feel things that I've never felt before. I feel things that I didn't feel with Marcus.' Evelyn says. 'I was practically groomed by Marcus into our relationship and once we were together he didn't want to let me to leave. Wouldn't let me leave.' Evelyn looks back up at him.

'You're a good friend.' She smiles lightly.

'I just want you to be happy.' Max tells her. 'I know being back here isn't what you wanted but you should this as a opportunity to reclaim what you lost when you were a teenager. Don't let Marcus control your life anymore.'

'Believe me. I'm not letting him take anymore from me than he already has.'

~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know your thoughts!

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