He sat back and stared forward for a few minutes while Fiona waited, surprisingly patient, for Sam to regain his composure.

A few minutes passed until finally Sam spoke. "He might not wake up, Fi." His gravelly baritone ragged, it felt worse to share the burden than it would have been to keep it to himself but he knew she would demand answers and he wasn't going to lie. "We need to tell Maddie." Sam pushed himself up onto shaky legs. Although he'd delivered news of dead or dying relatives before, he'd never done it with someone he cared about so much. There was no point in delaying it.

Fiona remained in her chair as Sam got up, she watched him blankly move into the room.

Sam entered the dark room unable to even look at Michael. He had such a history with him, he didn't want to have to remember him this way. Madeline looked at Sam coming towards her. Sam dropped Michael's chart down in the end of his bed again and then pulled a chair to a 90 degree angle to Madeline's. Sitting down he looked at her, took a shaky breath and started to talk. "Maddy, I just talked to the doctor. Right now, it's not looking too good." Sam reached out and took her hand. Fiona had followed Sam after a few seconds and she sat down in the chair on the other side of Madeline staring at Michael. Madeline said nothing but looked at Sam. He continued saying, "They're worried about his brain from a mix of things, blood loss and also lack of oxygen as well as a concussion."

Madeline got to the point, "What does that mean, Sam?"

He looked down at his hands. "Right now, it's not doing the important stuff, like breathing. They think..." He stopped. Sam saw a tear fall down onto his hands, his own. He closed his eyes for a second, trying to find his voice. "They think he might not wake up." Sam looked up at Madeline. She wanted to badly to be angry with Sam for allowing this to happen to her son, she wanted to yell, to tear up the room, but she knew it wouldn't help. She was surprised to see Sam with tears in his eyes. He was the emotional one out of the three of them even though he put up the gruff exterior, she'd seen men like him before. Madeline stood, leading Sam up by the hands. She leaned in and wrapped her arms around him, she felt him do the same as she leaned into the blue scrubs he was wearing. After a few seconds she heard him sniff and pulled away. She looked up and put her hands on either side of his face, her own eyes brimming with tears. "We'll just have to wait and see." She said. Madeline moved her hands down, patted Sam on the shoulders and announced, "I need a cigarette." She grabbed her purse and left the room.

Physically and emotionally exhausted, Sam collapsed into the chair again and ran his hand through his hair. He looked to Fiona, overall, she seemed to be taking everything well. She had turned to face Michael's bed and she stared at him intently. Finally, Sam looked to Michael. He noticed the blood bag was empty. It was weird to see Michael so stationary; he had the illusion of never sitting still normally. Even if he was sitting, you could almost see his mind running at full speed behind his eyes. Assessing, making decisions, strategizing, even if there didn't appear to be anything to strategize about.

Finally, Fiona spoke again. "Sam."

"Yeah, Fi." Sam answered quietly.

"Thank you." She said, turning in her chair and craning her neck to look at him.

"For what?" Sam asked, surprised by her words.

"For doing what you did, to save him and get him this far."

Sam sighed heavily. "He'd have done it for me." Fiona smiled and turned back around. Sam watched as she leaned forward and took Michael's hand carefully in her own. She moved it, lifeless and heavy, to his side and continued to hold onto it. She positioned herself to get comfortable with her eyes on Michael waiting for something to change, for something to happen.Come on, Michael, she thought, if you don't wake up on your own, I'll have to do it for you.She smiled to herself but let it fade as she realized there might not be anything she could do to wake him up this time. She felt a lump in her throat rise thinking about the last time she woke him up after an injury, when he first came to Miami and this portion of her life started. She admitted to herself that this had been a good amount of fun and that she didn't want it to end. She didn't want to give it up, and she wasn't going to give up on Michael this easily. She had originally come to Miami because she was still in love with him, she would stay now and see this through for the same reason. Even though she wasn't prepared to admit that to anyone but herself.

A/N: Thanks for reading. You guys have been a great 'audience'. I plan on bringing this right up into 'Eyes Open' since there's a lot of interest. I've posted about 3/4 of what I've written so far, but I'm still working. Thanks again!