Max and the Crystal Gems

By the Hospital Bed

As the doctor led David down the long hallway, he tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

"Here we are."

The doctor held the door open for them, then consulted his papers.

"His right leg has a rather nasty fracture and his jaw is smashed. A few ribs have good bone bruises. Recovery should be a few months. I'll give you a moment with him, then we can look into contacting his parents. I'm very glad he was in the hands of a competent guardian while away from home."

"Thank you," David said sincerely.

The doctor nodded and left, closing the door behind him.

David sighed heavily.
He stared down at the tiny boy and tears sprung into his eyes.

"Hey Max," he said quietly.

He sat on the chair next to the bed and reached for Max's small hand, grasping it in his.

"It's me. It's David. You're safe. You're going to be okay."

Max's eyes were closed but his forehead creased.

"Max? Can you hear me?"

Max groaned and turned his head away from David.

Then suddenly he croaked, through his stiffly bandaged jaw,

"David..."

"Yes! Max, it's me, I'm here."

Max turned and looked at David with his usual scowl.

"What're you..."

Max's eyes were hazy and unfocused.

"How are you feeling?" David asked tentatively.

Max closed his eyes.

"Shit."

"Language," David said, before he could stop himself. Max looked around at him furiously. He stared for a full ten seconds at David's bandaged hand in his, but he didn't try to pull it loose. Then the mist seemed to clear, and Max blinked and when he spoke his voice was stronger and clearer.

"You're hurt."

"Oh, it's nothing, I'm fine-" David said, but stopped when he saw the look of striking fear come into Max's eyes. "What is it?"

"Did... did they..." Max seemed terror struck, and under that, a burning anger. "Was it my ...parents?"

David blinked.

"What? No. God no. This is just from the crash."

Max sighed and rubbed his face into the pillow.

"Max..." David didn't even know where to begin. "Max, I know you probably don't want to talk about this, but it's really serious. I had no idea your parents were abusing you like this. I knew after Parents Day that they obviously didn't care enough about you, but this..."

"It's no big deal..." Max grunted. "It's not... it doesn't happen a lot. It's just... when Dad gets angry- well, he takes it out on Mum. And Mum takes it out on me. She... um... she tends to drink, too. Usually they don't bother even talking to me. But when they do... well, you know..."

"But why did it happen this time?"

Max coloured and averted his eyes.

"They were taking the piss out of you," he said very quietly.

"What?"

"Yeah, they were insulting you. It was really shitty. So I told them to stop."

"This happened because of me?" David whispered, horror struck.

"No!" Exclaimed Max quickly. "No, it wasn't your fault- it-"

"Wait a minute..." David frowned, thinking for a moment, and then the awful realisation hit him. "Max, you've been coming to Camp Campbell for three years now. The second time you had a broken hand. You... you didn't fall out of a tree like you said, did you?"

Max shook his head.

"I didn't want to come back," he whispered. "Mum got angry."

A doctor entered the room and David and Max stopped and looked at her.

"Hi there," she said. "We just need some contact information, if that's okay."

Max and David looked at each other.