I really appreciate didi6, babymomo, McAliceKatePotterGHShield, smilelino, Myevildog04, HookSwanEndGame, who have reviewed and/or follow this story. Thanks.

General Hospital Nathan and Maxie story

The Shot: True Love Comes Once in a Lifetime

Chapter 4: The Wait pt 3

"I'm so…."

"No. O God... NO. He can't be dead. NATHAN!" Maxie shouts as she once again collapses and cries.

Once more, Dante gentle picks up his wife's best friend and carries her to a couch and lays her down.

Liz is there and goes over to comfort Maxie and in a very understanding voice says, "Maxie, l know you are scared and worried but the doctor wasn't implying that Nathan is dead. He meant to say that he was sorry that, and please listen closely, Nathan is in a coma and doesn't know if he will make it through the night or if he'll make it 72 hours from now. He just doesn't know."

"So, he's not dead?" Maxie questions.

"No, he's not," Liz reply.

"But…. Can I see him?" Maxie asked.

Liz looks up and sees Dr. Lenney nods his head without saying a word.

"Sure you can but only one visitor at a time." Elizabeth responds.

Dante helps Maxie up from the couch and slowly walks with her to where Nathan is. He leaves and closes the door to give Maxie and Nathan some privacy.

Maxie quietly watch rise and fall of his chest as the vent fills his lungs with oxygen to help him breathe. It seemed like there was too many machines and IVs to count that were hooked to him. Nasogastric tube, or NG tube, was given his nutrients and medicines. She didn't even want to know what was hiding under the covers.

All she wanted was for him to wake up and tell her it was all a dream but she knew it wasn't. They had already lost so much time that it felt like the world was stacking trials against them because it didn't want them to be happy.

She was about to speak when there was a quiet knock before she turns and sees Liz coming through.

"Maxie, could you leave for awhile so I can check him over?" She asked. "There are things that I need to do that you don't want to witness. It will take about an hour so why don't you go and stretch while I do this. Lulu is out there, too."

"I don..." Maxie started to say before Elizabeth interrupted her.

"I know you don't but it might embarrass him if he knew you were in here while I did this." Liz explains.

"Yeah…. Okay…. I guess you right but when you are done, please come and find me. I don't want him to be alone." Maxie requested.

"You know I will." Liz acknowledge.

Maxie leaned over and kissed his forehead and squeezing his hand and said, "I love you and I'll be right back," before leaving so Liz could update his charts.

Elizabeth went through checking his chart which included his BP, IVs, checking the readout on the ventilator. She went to get another nurse to help her change his position.

Hour later, Maxie was back by her boyfriend's side. "Sorry that I had to leave. Liz thought it would be a good idea for me to leave even though I wanted to stay. I'm going to keep on saying, 'I love you' until I see you opening those beautiful gorgeous eyes of yours. You have made it through being shot and two surgeries so now you got to wake up."

Maxie pauses and again squeezed his hand in the hopes that he heard her and would respond by squeezing hers but it never did. She continue to talk to him as she watches for any movement that would tell her that he was coming out of the coma. Nathan's girlfriend would close her eyes for a few minutes but then would quickly reopen them because she was afraid that he would stop breathing and the alarms go off.

Sometimes the blond hair woman would walk around the room to do some stretch exercises or just walk to get the sleep out of her feet. She would start talking and just say whatever came to her mind. She would tell him how much she loved working at Crimson and how it was a pain to work for Kate Howard. She talked about the love of fashions and wanting to start her own fashion magazine company. She talked about anything and everything just something to keep her occupy as she waits for him to gain consciousness.

"Maxie…. Maxie"

"What…. What!"

"You need to go home and get some rest. You have been here for over 12 hours. You are not going to do him any good if you aren't at your best. Let Dante take you home and he'll bring you back once you get some sleep and food." Lulu addressed.

"I can't," replied Maxie. "I'm afraid that if I do he will think that I don't love him and he'll give up and died."

"Don't think like that Maxiee. He knows that you love him and is fighting with everything he got to return to you. And I'm sure he doesn't want you to end up in the hospital, too. What about those dark circles under your eyes, you are going to scare him if he see you looking like you haven't slept in days."

"I know that you are right but I just don't know if I can handle not being here," concluded Maxie

"If something changes, you know that Dante will be on the phone faster than you can blink and definitely be the first person he calls." Lulu reassures Maxie.

"I guess I do need to freshen up. I look like a cat was dragged in." Maxie's stomach growls. "I better eat, too."

"Now that you mention it," Lulu pauses. "You do rather look like an older woman with those puff and dark circle eyes," then Lulu laughs.

Lulu motions Dante to come in and sit with his partner.

"Maxie, I won't hesitate to call you if there's any change in his condition." Dante reassures her.

Lulu and Maxie left but before they went down on the elevator, Maxie stopped at the nurses station and told them under no circumstances were they NOT to call her the minute something changed or there will be hell to pay.

Dante was getting bored in watching over his partner that he started to give an updates on what happen after he was picked up and taken to GH and the whereabouts of Faison. He also explained how Maxie is about him and if he didn't show signs of waking up than he didn't know how Maxie would make it without him in her life.

Hours went by and nurses came and went, still Nathan lying down as his chest would rise and fall with the life support machine.

In the dawn of the following day of the shooting, Dr. Lenney along with a team of nurses enter the CCU room.

"Is there something wrong, doc." asked Dante

"No, we need to take him down for some testing. It should last only a couple of hours so you should go home for a few hours and someone will call you when Nathan returns to this room." replied the doc

"No can do, doc. I promised Maxie that I wouldn't leave his side until she returns and I'm not going back on that promise so you're stuck with me until then."

Seeing that Dante wasn't going to back down, "Okay but you can only go as far as the Radiology doors, non medical personal cannot enter no matter what the circumstances are."

"I guess that will have to do," Dante states as he gets out his phone to call his wife about Nathan going for more tests.

As the nurses got Nathan ready to move, Dante calls his wife to bring her up to speed.

Maxie and Lulu were resting when Lulu hears her phone vibrating and she leaves the room so not to disturb her friend's sleep. "Hello?"

"Hi, honey. How is Maxie?" Dante asks

"She is good as you can expect. She was so tired that I was able to get her to go to bed for a couple of hours. Why you calling? Is there something wrong with Nathan?"

"No, I just wanted to let Maxie and you know that they have taken him for some tests. I was able to talk the doc into letting me stay with him while he is in Radiology." Dante clarifies

"Thanks for calling, hon. We will be there shortly. Bye." Lulu hangs up and heads back into the room to wake up Maxie.

"Hey_ hey_," her friend quietly whispers. "Maxie, you need to wake up."

"What?" Maxie jumped. "What is…. Is Nathan awake? He is not dead, is he?"

"No, Nathan is fine. They are doing some tests and Dante wanted you to know about it." replies Lulu.

"Oh_ Let's go!"

"Um, Maxie. I don't think you want to be walking around the hospital dressed like that?" Lulu expressed

Maxie looks down, "Oh…. yea_ I probably should change. What would he think of me if I went to see him in this?"

"Well_ Um_ I can think of many ways…." Lulu was a little embarrass with what she was thinking.

"Lulu!" Maxie looked at her with a strange look and stutter, "What_ would Dante _say if he knew what you were thinking?"

"I know, he would kiss me and start undr….

"Lulu!" Too much info." as she stomps off to change.

"Quietly," Lulu responds by stating, "You asked."

Within the hour they were heading back to General Hospital to see what the doctor had to say. The girls were in their own thoughts as Lulu drive them.

They arrived back at the hospital and went to the CCU floor. When they got there, some nurses were at the main desk. Lulu and Maxie go up and asked if Nathan had return to his room and one of the nurses checked and told them that they were still running tests but they should be wrapping it up shortly.

It wasn't until an hour later that they saw Nathan being wheeled back with Dante walking behind the bed.

Lulu see her husband and ask, "Did the doctor say anything to you about the tests?"

"No, he is looking at them right now and he will come and tell us what they found good or bad," Dante reply.

Another two hours came and went and the doctor still had not return.

Dante looked at his wife and Maxie and saw that what little sleep they had indeed helped them. They looked better than the last time he had seen them.

It wasn't until three hours later that Dante looks up and sees two doctors walking towards them and their expressions on their faces told him all that he needed to know. It wasn't looking good for his best friend and partner.

They knew Dr. Lenney but they didn't know the other guy that he was walking with. Dr. Lenney spoke up, "This is Dr. Charley, Neurologist, he specializes in Traumatic Brain Injuries.

Maxie also saw the doctors and started to worry as she saw their facial expressions, too. It did not look good, in fact it looked worst.

"Just tell me that he will make it?" Maxie begged.

The doctors would not answer….

"Do not give me that look! You go back and run those tests again and again until you come back here and tell me that HE IS NOT DYING!" Maxie yelled.

I…. We….

Not wanting to upset Maxie more, Lulu calmly said, "I know you are angry, worried, and upset but you have to give them a chance to address their results of the tests before you draw any bad conclusions."

"I know but I just found him, just not to lose him to a bullet." cried Maxie.

She hated to see her friend in such an awful situation and wishes she could change what had happen to their friend but deep down, she knew she couldn't.

Dr. Lenney jumped in, "I'm sorry you are going through this but what you saw was not what you thought it was. Yes, he still alive but the results show that he is still in a deep coma and there are no indications if or when he will regain consciousness. All we can hope for is that he as the will to fight and come out on his own."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm sorry to have to bring this up but it means if he doesn't wake up on his own, you might have to transfer him to a long term facility. There is nothing more we can do, its all up to him now." Dr. Charley replied to her question.

Maxie walks up to Doctor Charley and starts pounding on his chest, "NO! I'm not going to listen to this. He WILL make a full recover no matter what I have to do. He is not leaving me. He is going to have to get through me if he thinks he can give up without a fight!" Maxie storms off.

After Maxie outburst, Lulu went looking and found her in the chapel.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. It's not the first time and it won't be the last that I have had a family do that. I'm sorry to be the bringer of bad news but I've founded that families needs to hear thing that they might not want to hear. Sorry but I need to go. I have another patient's family to talk to." Charley explains.

Drew took over, "In a couple of hours a team of therapists will come and evaluate Nathan. They will make a plan for him to start therapy while he is in coma. It has shown that it helps a patient from having atrophy getting into the arms and legs. I will be back to check on him tomorrow morning and then in the evening. I'm also on call if there is an emergency and don't worry about calling my personal nurse, she also happens to be my wife, if you have any other questions to asks. Her name is Rosie."

"Thanks, Drew for all your help and patience" Dante replied

Dr. Drew Lenney leaves.

After all that drama, Dante quietly reenters the room. "Hey, listen up buddy. You need to start fighting your way back or you could lose the one person who truly loves you. You don't want to get on her back side. Us men think that we don't need a fighter of a woman but we are totally wrong. But without them, we would be living like wandering fools. So I_ Maxie needs you to fight with everything you got and then some. I need my best friend and partner to wake up and get better so you can come back to the PCPD when you get release to return to the police force."

Dante gets up and stretches before returning to the chair and waites for Maxie and Lulu to return.

Lulu put her arms around Maxie to comfort her. They just sit there praying. "Let it all out. I'm here for you and Nathan." We will get through this together..."

Author note: Drew is Doctor Lenney's first name.

Coming up: Chapter 5 The Wait part 5