Season Six, Episode Three
I always feel like somebody's watchin me

Max could already tell that it was going to be a busy night, they had just gotten patients that were involved in a car accident and from her point of view, it was not pretty.

"What I realized is that- is that Peds is the only specialty where I could do it all. You know, cardio, General, ortho. It's like the whole body is your canvas and the fact that it's a small canvas makes it even more challenging. I mean, I have no idea if you have someone on your service right now but I would really love to witness your artistry" Christina Yang had followed Max from the Ambulance to the trauma room, she really needed to be on Max's side in order to stay at the hospital.

"You got this, Hunt?" Max looked at Owen, he gave her a small nod before walking with the patient, "Christina, you don't even like kids and you have to like them in order to do this job"

"I love kids" Christina gave her a fake smile.

"Liar" Max squinted at her, "Whatever, I'll see you in rounds"

"Great" Christina gave her another smile before walking away. Max just watched her friend with curious eyes wondering how this will play out.

Max walked out of the ER and tried to make her way toward the Peds wing, turning the corner she watched as Mark and Derek argued about the merger.

"Hey, Mark" Max smiled sweetly at her boyfriend before turning to her friend, "Derek. I guess everyone's freaking out about this merger huh"

Derek whipped his head around, "Could've been better if you told us"

"No offense, Shep but I'm putting the hospitals best interests at heart, we need the money and it's gonna suck for awhile" Max rolled her eyes at him, "Besides we've got a great team here"

"Is he in there? Cause I've got the-" Lexie ran toward the patient but instead tripped over her feet and fell on the floor.

"Damn" Max sighed. Walking over to her blood covered friend, "Are you okay, Lex?" She asked, waiting for the nod, "Okay, let's get you cleaned up"

Max pulled Lexie up from the ground guiding her to the bathroom. She couldn't help but let out another sigh, this was not what she needed right now.

Max finally made it to the Peds wing, Christina was meeting her to start the rounds but Max couldn't help but speculate.

"You ready for rounds, Yang?" Max asked her, holding up the charts.

"Yes" Christina smiled at her, "Oh. Um, continue with your course of treatment and keep me updated on any new developments"

Max looked her up and down as she was turned around, she looked at the back of her white coat and frowned. There was no cute animal on the back. It got worse when Christina faced her again and there was no stuffed animal hangin from her pocket.

"Yeah, sorry Yang but I don't think you're ready" Max let out a mischievous grin, she was excited for what she was about to do.

"No, I'm ready. I looked over your patient charts and I noticed you have a shock wave lithotripsy-" Christina began to ramble as Max reached into her pocket and grabbed a mini care bear, "scheduled for kidney stones this morning and I was- oh. I'm, uh, I've never done one of those so I'm looking forward to it"

"That's good luck bear, he's one of my favorites. Anyway, now you're ready" Max smiled at her green bear sitting in Christmas pocket.

"Oh, uh, yeah"

"Come on!" Max gave Christina's shoulder a pat as she began moving towards the patients room.

Max gave the door a gentle knock, letting her patients know that she was about to come in, "Oh, look whose coming!"

"Oh wait, where's Sage? Dr. Yang have you seen her? She's 6, light brown hair, gorgeous blue eyes, she just had a tumor removed from her belly so she has a bandage on her tummy" Max looked at Christina, faking a worry, "Dr. Yang, you should check under her bed, maybe she's down there"

Max pointed under the bed as she walked closer to Sage's Mom, "Her labs are better than we expected"

"She's not under the bed" Christina told her.

"Oh, man. What about the bathroom? Maybe she's in there" Max pointed at the bathroom while Sage let out a little giggle.

"How did she do last night? Either of you get any sleep?" Max turned to face the Mom again.

"She did, I didn't"

"Um, bathrooms clear" Christina announced.

"What? Wait! Shh, shh, shh. Do you hear that? I think it's coming from your pocket! Did Sage hide in there?" Max pointed at her pocket with a smile, she watched as Christina's face changed with annoyance.

"No, no. She's hiding here" Christina told her, yanking the blanket off Sage.

"Aw"

"You gotta look in your pocket first" Sage told her sadly.

"No I don't because I found you already. Now I just need to check your incision site, so-"

"Don't touch it, it hurts" Sage backed away from Christina's hands.

"I bet Good luck bear would like to see Sages scar, he's been talking about it all morning! Right, good luck bear?" Max looked down at the bear sitting in Christina's pocket.

"Oh, um" Christina said, "Yes, I would" Her voice deepens dramatically.

Max looks at her with a 'what the heck' face, "Okay, Yang. Why don't I just take over for now? Sound good?"

Christina looks at Max, giving her a slight nod before stepping back to give her more room to check on the girl.

Max knocked softly on her next patients door, letting him and his mother know that she was about to walk in.

"Good afternoon, Tyler! This is Dr. Yang, she's gonna be here to help me with whatever I need, okay?" Max waited a moment before looking at Christina, giving her the nod.

"Tyler Lee, 9 years old, came in with renal colic three days ago that has not resolved. We are going to be preforming extracorporeal shock wave therapy today to break up the stones in his ureter so they can pass" Christina memorized his chart and spoke with confidence.

"Actually, we aren't" Max smiled at Christina.

"Oh, uh, yes, we are" Christina fumbled as she checked back to see if she missed something.

"There was no blood in his urine this morning, so we aren't doing it anymore" Max looked down at Tyler and Mrs. Lee, cheerful at the news.

"Um, just in case? We should do the procedure just in case?" Christina stepped back and spoke quietly.

"You want to send extracorporeal shock wave through a 9 year olds body even though It's no longer needed?" Max squinted her eyes at Christina.

"No, of course not" Christina hung her head, slightly disappointed in the lack of "action"

"Great. So you do you want to tell them the good news?" Smiling once again as she gestured to Tyler and his mom.

"It seems as though your sons stones may have passed on their own"

"He doesn't need surgery?" Mrs. Lee asked, confirming the good news.

"Nope! Looks like Tyler healed himself" Max turned to look at Christina, "Can you believe that Dr. Yang? On your first day in Peds, you are one luck gem!"

"No, I can't, actually and no I am not"

"Does this mean I can eat?" Tyler asks, looking at his doctor.

"Of course, you can. Dr. Yang can go get you something, she'll be back in a jiffy" Max nodded her head at the boy and turned to her sister-in-law, who was making a face of disgust.

Max had passed Christina onto Arizona Robbins, there was a schizophrenic man who is here waiting on his mother and besides Lexie, Max was the only one who took an extra class on brain disorders.

The blonde stood next to Graham, talking to him about everything and anything when they heard slamming. Turning their heads to see Lexie stumbling around looking for something.

"Hey, Lex? Is everything okay?" Max shouted, furrowing her eye brows in concern.

"Yeah, of course. Just looking for something" Lexie half lied.

"Oh. And you thought whatever it was would be in the trash?" Max pointed at the trash that Lexie had previously looked through.

"You look crazy" Graham chuckled.

"Oh, this is partly your fault" Lexie pointed at her boyfriend, "You're the one who told me to act like I deserve to be here and I did and now I lose a schizophrenic-"

"You what?" Max sputtered.

"And now I am gonna be fired unless I find the schizophrenic" She began manically looking behind anything and everything to find him.

"I don't think you'll find him behind there, darling" Graham joked.

"You do not get to be charmed by this because this is not charming! This is me getting cut from the program"

Max watched as Lexie talked to Graham, her eyes going back and forth between the two and then going wider when Lexie started to freak out more.

"You two are already amazing. I am just starting out, okay? I have never stapled a bowel and I have never resected an esophagus. I am not amazing yet!"

"All right, let's just breathe" Graham grabbed her arms to keep her steady, watching as she breathed out, "one more time, darling. You have gone mad and I don't quite know how to react"

"Stay away from me! You get back! Stop! Get back!" They heard a man yell down the hall.

"Oh god, that's him"

"Don't-" Graham began to say but Lexie was already out of his grasp and running toward the commotion, with Max and Graham following after.

"Where's my mother? What have you done with her?"

Everything happened to fast, the security guy was trying to get the man but at the last minute he stepped back on the steps and fell all the way down, the three doctors watched the man lay on the floor not getting up.

Max sat with Mark and Graham as they ate lunch, they were watching the interns and first years. It was kind of funny how scrambled some of them looked, but it worried Max that some of the first years weren't putting in as much effort as the others.

"I'm amused, let me be amused" Mark chuckles at Graham as he lifted his arm up and rested it on the back of Max's chair.

"Lexie hasn't slept in days, shes fumbling! She's the smartest person I know and she's going mad" Graham's head fell into his hands with a sigh, he looks stressed, "You have a say in who stays and who goes, tell me Maxine, are you going to fire my Lexie?"

"Oh no, no, no" Max put her finger up, "I'm leaving it all up to the board, I've only got a hand full of people whom I picked to stay and the rest is up to them"

"So, yes. Max is keeping Lexie" Mark told them as if it was obvious, which it was.

"Why do you think you know everything?" Max rolled her eyes at her boyfriend.

"You and Lexie are best friends" Mark stated in a 'duh' tone.

"I'm going up to see, Malakai. I'll catch you two later" Max got up from her seat and kissed Mark on the lips, hearing him ask if he could come too after they parted which she nodded at, "See you later, Hammy"

"Max, please just tell her. Yesterday we went to the store and she bought two six packs of Reece's peanut butter cups and she's ate a whole pack" Graham pleaded, you could hear the desperation in his voice.

"Fine, Graham" Max ruffled his hair before following Mark to the daycare.

When they reached the daycare, Mark turned to look at her, "Are you meeting with Mrs. Wyatt today?"

Max gave him a puzzled look, "I've got a work load but I was going to try and make it before she left for today, why?"

"I was just making sure, I know you get cloudy in the pretty little brain of yours" Mark told her softly, missing her forehead out of love.

"I love you, Mark" Max told him seriously, grabbing his hand and squeezing it three times.

"I love you" Mark squeezed her hand back as he opened the door to the daycare.

"Dr. Mallard, Dr. Sloan" They were greeted by the daycare worker, "Here to see Kai?"

"I've been aching to kiss his little cheeks" Mark told her proudly as he picked up his son from the crib, "My little guy"

"He's gonna give us a run for our money" Max smiled at her baby, playing with his tiny fingers.

"All of our kids are, it's in our blood" Mark told her but said it in a baby voice to make Malakai laugh.

"All?"

Mark snapped his head to Max, worry filled his eyes. He didn't mean to say anything that might upset her, "I-I meant just Malakai and Maeve"

"How many kids do you want, Mark?" Max asked him gently, she realized that they never really talked about it and all Mark has said is that he didn't care how many he had.

"Maybe just one more?" Mark told her hesitantly, "I was in the fertility wing a couple of days ago and I saw a pamphlet for adoption and you've talked about wanting to but I wasn't sure" He slowly pulled the paper out of his pocket and gave it to her.

"A couple day ago? And you have it in your pocket?" Max laughed slightly, opening the pamphlet, "Don't you think you're going a little too fast?"

"I'm manifesting for the future" He smirked, "The least we could do is see an adoption agency, I read that sometimes they call you when they have emergency cases where they need to put a child in a home"

"I think it's a good idea" Max told him, surprising herself.

"We don't have to do it right away, we can wait awhile" Mark told her gently, rocking the baby as he began to doze off.

"I feel like we should make an appointment soon. If it's meant to be then we are walking in with open arms" Max smiled at Mark and then down at Malakai, "Besides, I think it'd be fun having all these kids around"

Mark couldn't help but smile down at her, he knew she was getting to a point in her mental health where she could allow herself to happy, although they both knew she still had a couple months of therapy. Progress is progress.

Max met Lexie in the hall, they were getting together to check on their patient. "I'm a nervous wreck"

"Uh, okay?" Max furrowed her eye brows at Lexie.

"What if I get fired? Or worse"

"What could possibly happen here that would be worse then getting fired?" Max asked, she felt kind of bad for her.

"Oh god. I'm going to fired aren't I? I knew it, I came up with a speech and everything for when people asked for why I got fired and now I'm going to have use it and-"

"I'm saving you, Lex" Max told her, interrupting her mini meltdown.

"What?"

"I told the board that there was only a select people that I knew could make it if they stayed here and you're one of them" Max smiled gently at her friend.

"Thank god" Lexie sighed happily, pulling Max into a hug.

"Let's go check on the patient, yeah?"

They walked back the door, making sure to not do anything too sudden that could scare him. Max silently nodded her head to Lexie, letting her know that she can take the lead.   "I'm sorry, we just, uh we wanted to make sure that you're okay. Are you okay?"

"I injured my spleen and there just waiting to see if it stops bleeding on its own" He replied back hesitantly.

"Good. Well, I'm glad you seem... well you seem better and I'm glad. Anyway, we should probably go" Lexie stammered.

"Oh, it's all right. They- they've got me in restraints. I wouldn't be able to hurt you, even if the voiced told me to" He lifted up his hands to show his restraints, "It's a joke" He said when he noticed the scared look on Lexie's face, "Schizophrenia humor"

Max watched as Lexie let out a nervous laugh. "Um. There's this though that I... I'm trying to get it out and um, I keep thinking that they planted a camera, uh, in my stomach during the ultrasound and I was gonna wake my mother and have her, you know, talk me down but she's tired and..."

Lexie moved to grab the monitor in the corner, pulling it so it's rested by his side, "Here is your spleen. See? And this, uh, this bright spot here, that's blood. That's not supposed to be there but uh, no camera"

"No camera" he repeated, looking back at the monitor.

Lexie shook her head, "I can leave this up if you want , so that when the thoughts come back, you can look and you can see that they're not real. They're just scary thoughts, they're not real"

With one last look, Max and Lexie walked out of the room neither of the commenting on anything.

"I have an idea" Lexie said suddenly, "We have to meet Bailey"

Once they reached the x-ray room, Lexie didn't wait to announce herself before she started, "Has Mrs. Crowley agreed to the surgery?"

"No. She's gonna go home and she's gonna die, then what's that boy gonna be left with?" Miranda continued to look at the x-ray.

"He needs surgery"

"Well, does he need a transfusion? Is there active bleeding?" Miranda turned around at that, letting them know she was fully listening.

"No, his crits stable and I know we don't operate unless there's an active bleed but it's so close and if we operate on him, maybe she'll let us operate on her. That way, we can keep them together through the surgery, through the recovery, they'll be together and maybe you think this is a bad idea, that I'm proposing unnecessary surgery and maybe you'll tell the chief and the chief will think that it makes me a bad doctor but I think it makes me a good doctor, and I think-"

"Okay, Lex"

"Stop talking"

Miranda and Max looked at each other before going back to Lexie, "Are my words hurting you again?"

"No, you're right" Miranda told her, "It's a good idea"

Miranda, Lexie and Max walked out of the x-ray room and towards the Crowley's, if they had any shot at saving the Mom, they would have to get her into surgery soon.

"No, I... I'm not letting you cut me open. You're gonna put a camera in me. You're- you are one of them" Tom said soon after they purposed doing surgery.

"Okay, Mrs. Crowley-"

"No. He's scared, he said no" Mrs. Crowley looked at Miranda.

"Tom, you need this surgery and you will feel better after it and your moms surgery will save her life" Lexie tried again to convince Tom and Mrs. Crowley to do the surgery.

Max let out a sigh walking over to Toms side, "Tom, I need you to look at me, okay? I am not an alien and I am not one of them. My name is Maxine Mallard, I have a ten year old daughter and a four month old son and I would do absolutely anything for them, just like your Mom would do anything for you. She really needs this surgery because she will die with out it" Tom shook his head No once again, Max closed her eyes and reached for her pocket to grab a needle she forgot to take out of her jacket and poking herself in the finger with it. "Look, my blood is red. I am human, just like you and your Mom. I am a doctor and we would like to help your Mom but you have to trust us"

After the Crowleys surgery, Max knew that she should probably see Dr. Wyatt so that's exactly where she went. Not bothering to knock on the door since she had already paged Dr. Wyatt informing her that she was coming.

"Dr. Mallard, how are you?"

"I had a dream about Edith last night" Max didn't bother answering the question, she needed to tell someone about her dream.

"Your sister right? What was it about?" Dr. Wyatt asked, prompting her glasses on the bridge of her nose.

"There used to be this bar down the street from the hospital, we used to go after long work days. Edith, Amelia and Sunny were all interns and I remember Sunny telling us that she wasn't sure about being a medical doctor, that she thought about being a therapist" Max's voice shakes, remembering the last night Edith was still alive, "Nobody understood of course because for us it was the thrill of surgery that kept us going but we knew Sunny and it just made sense for her so they wanted to celebrate Sunny but I really wanted to get home to Mark so I didn't go"

Max paused again, "Dr. Mallard?"

"Yeah? Sorry" Max gave her a smile, "Anyway, I didn't go but they did. It was later in the morning that I had gotten that phone call saying my baby sister was dead. The cops told me her body was lying next to some drug that I can't remember the name of and god, I knew where she got those drugs from. Amelia came to my apartment strung out that night after the phone call, she was crying and I couldn't help her, in my mind she had killed my sister, if she wouldn't have gotten Edith hooked then maybe she would still be alive. Sunny left that day too, she actually called me and told me that she was going to California and she would go into the intern program at St. Ambrose, she told me that New York wasn't home for her anymore"

"Why do you think you had this dream? Why do you think you're reliving memories?" Dr. Wyatt asked, "Maybe part of you want to be like Sunny, move away and start fresh?"

"I got this same dream before I drowned and then I saw her after Chief and Miranda tried to save me. I had the same dream again the night before I had Malakai. I don't know why I keep dreaming of this night but all I know is that every time I do, something bad happens"

Maeve and Malakai were at their grandmas so Max didn't have an excuse to not hangout with her friends. The group of eight stood on the baseball field, laughing and drinking beer. Max looked up at Mark when she felt his hand snack around her neck, she smiled at him and leaned her head into his neck.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I don't have time for games. I have to get back to the hospital" Christina shouted at her friends as they tried to get her to stay.

"She's right. She does have to go back to the hospital" Meredith added.

"Wrong! Christina, you are married to Leo. The same Leo that owns half of the hospital? What makes you think you'll get cut the second time around?" Max asked her simply.

"I don't want to stay because I'm married to a Mallard, I want them to choose me to stay because I'm great at what I do"

"Fair enough" Mark shrugged.

"We're not gonna talk about the hospital, we're here to play baseball" Derek announced.

"And drink beer. Drink your beer" Graham said, handing everyone another beer.

"Drink a beer. What more do you want in life"

"How can I drink beer when all my friends just got fired?" Lexie scoffed but still took the beer.

"You know, I'm sorry. I'm leaving" Christina said, turning around to leave.

"Sorry but no" Leo stopped her, "You need this. You are already brilliant and we all know that they didn't choose you to stay because of me, they chose you because you're you. Smart, amazing, a leader, do I need to go on?" Christina shook her head no, letting Leo put the helmet on, "Perfect, you look perfect"

"There we go, look at this" Derek shouted.

"Stand here" Leo guided Christina to the plate, "Hit the ball!"

"I don't want hit the ball" Christina told him as he clicked the remote so the ball would automatically shoot.

"Oh, my god!" Christina shouts when the ball fly's at her.

"Hey, batter, batter, batter, batter" Mark yelled just like the actual people at the games.

"Here we go. Here we go. Strike one!"

"Focus on what's right in front of you, now hit the ball!" Leo yelled at her, pressing the button again but this time, Christina actually hit the ball.

"Woah!" Max yelled when the ball flew. Everyone started cheering along, not expecting her to actually hit the ball.

"Oh, my god. Oh, my god. I hit it, I hit the ball!" Christina chanted, running over to Meredith.

"My turn!" Max yelled, grabbing the bat as Mark grabbed the helmet.

"You'll need this, Bubba" Mark said, placing the helmet on her head.

"How do I look?" Max asked, striking a pose with the bat in her hand.

"One of a kind" Mark smirked and his eyes twinkled.

The night went on just like this, people taking turned to hit the ball and passing around drinks. For the moment Max forgot all about the dream, all about her therapy session and the feeling of anxiousness went away. Max looked around at her group of friends, she watched as Graham and Lexie were slow dancing without music, she watched as Leo drunkingly told Christina how amazing she was and she watched as Derek guided Meredith on how to hit the softball.

"How are you feeling?" Mark looked down at her.

"Like the luckiest person in the world"

//
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Woooweeee here we go again.

I am absolutely in love with Max and Mark and the group of friends they have.

Anyway! Hope you like the new chapter and let me know how you think it'll all play out and what you wish to happen(: