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I am seriously loving this show. I was hooked the first season and had my fingers crossed the whole time that it would be renewed. So I was ridiculously excited when I heard that it was and the second season has been even better than the first, which is really saying something. One of the many things I love about this show is that I feel like it switches things up from the standard. The relationship development of Max and Cole has been amazing and breaking so many of the typical "rules" in the best way. They are out here giving us all our favorite tropes so quickly, and I'm definitely here for it. The individual character development has been on point too. The way Ellis picked Max up at the end of this episode and the look he gave her, immediately left a whole crew of plot bunnies jumping around in my brain. So I knew I had to write something and just switch things up a little bit. If you've read any of my works before, you know I love doing that! So read on and enjoy!
"Yates, how did it-"
"Get to Max's. NOW!" Yates yelled into the phone and Cole felt himself tense.
"We're almost there, we were already on the way. What's going on?" Cole pushed his foot down harder on the accelerator as he spoke to Yates, every muscle tightening as he prepared himself for the worst.
"The mistress. We're on our way over now, but I don't think we'll get there in time. Get there, Ellis." Yates sounded desperate and out of breath, and Cole could hear her feet pounding as she ran along with other officers in the background. All of Cole's focus shifted to Max and that she was in danger. He needed to get to her.
Max backed into the corner of the couch, desperately looking for anything else she could use as a weapon. But she had used every object within reach and there didn't seem to be anything else to slow Hottie down. She had even already used all the pillows. Hottie had just stabbed right through them. And the girl looked even more pissed off than she had when Max had first seen her looking up from the street. Max couldn't even try to run with the damn cast on her ankle. She held her hands out to offer any protection for the rest of her body that she could and figured she may as well try to talk her way out of the mess. If anyone could, she knew it would be her. Max was sure someone had to be on the way. Yates, or Ellis. Someone had to be coming. She just needed to hold out and buy them some time to get there. She could do that.
"You don't have to do this." Max inwardly groaned at the most cliche sentence in existence coming out of her mouth.
"Oh, I do." Hottie snarled at her as she once again thrust the knife at Max.
Max did her best to lunge away from the hit but all she managed to do was move and turn herself so that it went into the back of her right shoulder. But she figured that was better than her heart where Hottie had clearly been aiming. Max tried her best to hold in her scream of pain, but a whimper managed to come out as Hottie ripped the knife back out of her shoulder and pulled her arm back to stab her again. Max didn't think she had enough energy to lunge out of the way again.
Cole had run pretty fast several times in his career. Well, probably more than several given that the perps always seemed to try to run. But he didn't think that he had ever run as fast as he was in that moment to get to Max. Simmons was hot on his heels and both had their guns drawn, ready for anything. Though Ellis knew that he wasn't being as stealthy as he probably should be and that he was letting his emotions and fear for Max run the show at the moment. But he didn't have time to turn them off or force himself to be in control. He had to get to her. They were just hitting the landing for Max's apartment when they heard her scream. Cole felt himself breaking out into a sweat as he felt anger and fear completely take over. He burst into Max's apartment and took in the scene in front of him in seconds. Cole charged toward the figure that was about to stab Max and without a second thought for his own safety or any kind of proper protocol, he tackled her to the floor. All he could think about was keeping Max safe. When they hit the floor, Cole yelled for her to drop the knife. As he did, he began to take in more details about the scene. Like the fact that there was blood on the knife, which had his gaze snapping to Max on the couch. Seeing the blood and Max's expression of fear and pain had his vision wavering. Knowing that Simmons was behind him and would take care of the woman he was holding, he levered himself off of her. Simmons knew exactly what Cole needed from him, and without a word, knelt down and handcuffed the woman before pulling her off the floor and beginning to read her her rights as he led her out of the apartment. Cole only had eyes for Max as he stepped toward her cautiously, not sure if she was in a state of shock and would be freaked out by him coming near her.
"Max?" Her name came out in a rough whisper as he took in the blood on her pajamas and her hands. At the sound of his voice, Max's wide eyes met his. Cole saw the lingering fear leave her as quickly as the tension in her body. He didn't think she even noticed the tears streaming down her face, each one making a direct hit right to his heart. Despite all of this, she remained calm and cool. Maybe not fully collected as she usually was, but she wasn't freaking out or screaming her head off either. Nope, his girl was as tough as they came. Cole didn't give himself time to dwell on how he had automatically thought of her as his, or how right it felt to think so. He was too busy eyeing the amount of blood she had on her.
"Ellis?" Max said his name hesitantly, as if she was still in a fog and wasn't sure he was really here standing in front of her. He nodded his head as he stepped closer to her slowly and knelt down. He grabbed a blanket that was next to her on the couch and rolled it up so that he could use it to apply pressure to her shoulder in an effort to staunch the bleeding. Max hissed in pain as he did so and he couldn't resist reaching out with his other hand and stroking her cheek. He told himself he was only doing it to help calm her and reassure her that he was there and she was safe. But he knew that wasn't it at all.
"Cole?" Max said his name quietly again. He felt a shiver roll through him at the use of his first name. He wasn't used to anyone calling him by his first name and there was something right about it when Max did it.
"Yeah. I'm right here. You're gonna be okay." He reassured her quietly.
"I'm sorry." Max said as she closed her eyes tightly. Cole was shaking his head before the words had even fully come out of her mouth.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm the one who should be saying sorry. I should have taken you seriously from the first call and looked further into things. I should have been the one over here helping you investigate. And I damn well should have been here sooner to make sure you were protected. I knew you and Yates were doing the sting operation tonight and I thought you would be safe from over here. So I'm sorry, Max. I'm sorry you got hurt." Cole continued stroking her cheek with one hand and holding pressure to her shoulder with the other. It didn't look like it had gone all the way through her shoulder as there didn't seem to be blood coming from the front of her shoulder. Just the back. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Yates.
"Simmons said you got her?" Yates asked breathlessly.
"Yeah but I'm going to need paramedics up here. Max has a stab wound to her shoulder that's bleeding pretty heavily."
"Shit. Okay, sending them up now. We'll meet you both down here and Simmons and I will follow you to the hospital." Yates hung up before Cole could respond and he stuck the phone back in his pocket. One of Max's hands cupping his cheek brought his eyes back up to hers.
"You were still my partner through this. And you got here in time to save my life. So no apologies from you, either." She said with a gentle smile.
"I still consider myself a little late but I'm damn glad I got here when I did. Jesus, Max-" Cole's words got stuck in his throat and now it was his turn to close his eyes tightly. But all that did was have his mind playing out what could have happened if he had been even ten seconds later. Max was stroking his cheek and without saying a word he knew that she was waiting for him to open his eyes and look at her again.
"I'm okay." She insisted when his eyes finally opened and met hers.
"This isn't okay, Max. You're not supposed to get hurt." Cole said sternly which had Max's smile widening.
"There's my grumpy cop." She said affectionately.
Before Cole could make a response back, two paramedics were coming in the door with their bags. Cole moved out of their way so they could take care of Max but he didn't want to go far. He ended up around the back side of the couch and somehow his hand ended up intertwined with Max's while they did what they could for her before getting ready to take her to the hospital. She tried to argue that she was fine and didn't need to go to the hospital since they had been able to stop the bleeding and put a bandage on it but one of the paramedics stated that she would need stitches and Cole wouldn't let her argue further with him. When she gave him her big eyes and pout, he relented and said that he wouldn't make her ride in the ambulance but refused to budge on going to the hospital. He knew that Max was hurting when she didn't argue back with him and was okay with that solution. The paramedics made their way out of the apartment as Cole grabbed a coat for Max and his phone out of his pocket.
"What's going on?" Yates answered.
"She doesn't want to go in the ambulance. Can you and Simmons be ready outside her apartment? I'm bringing her down now."
"Of course. We'll be waiting." Yates hung up without another word and Cole gently eased the jacket around Max's shoulders before picking her up. She gasped in surprise and gaped at him.
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Cole asked with one eyebrow raised.
"I was stabbed in the shoulder not the leg." Max quipped back.
"Yeah. Which is an additional injury to the one you already had. In your leg. I got you, Max." Cole ended gently. Max didn't respond, just sighed and laid her head on his shoulder as he walked them out of her apartment. They met a few officers on their way up to process the scene, Cole gave them a nod and they dipped their heads in response as they all quietly told Max she would be okay and back to work soon. Cole couldn't help but smile at the way they interacted with her. She had no idea how much everyone at the station had grown to love her. Even Yates. He still couldn't believe the two of them seemed to be almost friends at this point.
As he made his way out to the car with Max in his arms, he realized she had fallen asleep. He maneuvered them gently into the car, doing his best not to jostle and wake her up. As soon as they were in, Simmons had them on their way and Cole was pretty sure he was going over the speed limit. Clearly, he was worried about Max as well.
"I'm sorry." Yates said quietly from the front. She continued before Cole could stop her. "I should have thought about having someone with her in case things went south. Especially with her out of commission with that cast on. Her getting hurt is on me."
"Hey, this isn't on anyone except for the one who actually attacked Max. No saying sorry. She already made that clear upstairs. She doesn't blame anyone. Actually, she was trying to apologize to me for getting into trouble." Cole responded gently.
"Okay, no saying sorry. Max is going to be fine and we will celebrate closing two cases." Simmons broke in.
Max groaned as she attempted to put her coat back on. The sound had barely come out of her before Ellis was there to help.
"Let me do that." He said gently.
"Great. Now I'm even more helpless than I was earlier today." Max groused.
"Hey. Not helpless. Never helpless. Look what you accomplished while injured? If you hadn't been home when all of that went down, we would have been called out there to investigate a murder instead of being able to prevent one. Once again, Max, you saved the day. And you weren't helpless. You were as badass as ever. You held out until I got there." Cole pulled her into a gentle hug before she could respond and it took everything Max had to hold back the tears that were suddenly welling in her eyes. The hug simultaneously felt like it lasted forever and was over far too soon. When Cole pulled back, he noticed a tear track down her face and gently swiped it away with a smile.
"Let's go home." He whispered and Max nodded gratefully, accepting his help to the wheelchair the hospital insisted she leave in. She even let him help her into the car and couldn't help but settle against him with a quiet sigh as Simmons and Yates took her home.
When they got back to Max's apartment she looked around at what was left of the chaos of the evening and once again felt tears welling in her eyes. She had really thought for a moment that she was going to die here. And as she looked around she noticed that the team had done their best to clean things up and leave her living room looking like nothing bad had happened in it. If it weren't for the missing pillows and a few pieces of stuffing from them scattered on the floor, she wouldn't have been able to tell that something so terrible had happened. Cole came up behind her and stopped, looking around at what was left of the mess, himself. He let out a quiet sigh and Max felt one of his hands touch the back of her head gently and stroke down her hair as if he just had to touch her to make sure she was really here and in one piece.
"Come on. You need to get to bed." He said quietly and once again had Max in his arms as he carried her up the stairs. Max didn't even protest the action anymore. Partially because she had accepted that Cole was going to do it and partially because she found she really liked being in his arms and being held by him. Even though she would never admit it to him. She felt like something had been shifting between the two of them the last few months and tonight it felt like something within her also shifted. Lost in her thoughts, Cole was setting her gently on her bed before she knew it and helping her to get under the covers. Max was a tough, independent, con artist who didn't need anyone but herself. But she found herself worrying about Ellis leaving her alone. Ricky was still out doing who knew what and probably wouldn't be home tonight. And Max just didn't know if she could be alone in this apartment after everything. If she was, she knew that she wouldn't get a wink of sleep because she would be worrying about every single sound she heard. But she should have known better because even as her thoughts were racing, she noticed that Cole was setting up a makeshift bed on the couch in her room.
"You're staying?" She asked in disbelief. How did he know she needed him?
"Of course I am. I'm not leaving you alone after all that."
"Thank you, Cole." Max said as she let out a deep breath of relief. He must have sensed her relief and knew what fears she was having because he walked back over to her bed slowly and hugged her once again. Max held onto him tightly, breathing him in and relishing the fact that she was here and able to be hugging him at all. But this time when he pulled back, Cole left a kiss on her forehead and stroked her hair before going to the couch in her room and settling in. She didn't know what to think about the gesture, but she knew that she liked it, which just left her even more terrified. She couldn't get used to things like that. He was just doing it because he had been worried for her and she had scared him. Cole just didn't want the guilt on his shoulders if something happened to her. But even as that thought crossed Max's mind, she knew that wasn't the case. There was more than partnership between her and Cole. There had been from the first moment they met. And even through their difficult time when Max had lied to him, she knew they had come out the other side of things stronger than ever. Something had shifted between the two of them and after everything that happened tonight, Max wasn't willing to sit idly by or ignore it anymore.
"Cole?" She spoke his name into the darkened room.
"What's wrong?" She could tell he was instantly alert with the question.
"Can you come up here with me? You're too far away and I just really need you to be right here. I don't want to make it a big thing or have a big discussion or argument about it, It's just really what I need after everything, and-"
"Max, stop. Of course I will." Cole was already at the side of her bed when he spoke and slipped under the covers next to her. They laid there in silence for a few beats before Cole scooted closer to her and gently pulled her to him with his arm wrapped around her securely, making sure it wouldn't hurt her. Max didn't realize just how much she needed exactly that until she felt the remaining tension leak from her body and felt relaxed for the first time that night. Yup, something had definitely shifted between the two of them and with how she was feeling now, Max wasn't going to backtrack or pretend it wasn't happening. She knew a discussion was going to have to be had and that it was going to be awkward as hell, but she also knew that it was going to be worth it and needed to be done. Though it didn't have to be tonight or anytime soon, so she let herself slip into a content sleep, refusing to worry about it until the time came.
That's it! Just a little one shot. It did run away from me a bit more than expected but I really enjoyed writing it and while I know that nothing like that was going to happen in the show, at least not at this point, I just really needed something more. So I hope you all enjoyed and hopefully I will have some more plot bunnies soon!