Chapter 6:

Nikolas saw Maxie coming out of a patient's room and walked over to her. "Hey Maxie, I want to apologize for earlier- I didn't know about you and Jesse".

Maxie turned around and sighed "It's alright, I was wrong to be mean like that- I …" Maxie felt very dizzy all of a sudden and everything began to get very hot.

"Maxie!" Nikolas yelled as she fell to the ground. "Jesse" murmured Maxie. "Maxie, Maxie! Can you hear me" Nikolas grabbed her in his arms and felt her head- she was burning up. "EMILY! Someone help, quickly!" Just then Patrick and Robert came running.

"What happened" said Patrick as he felt Maxie for a pulse. He looked at Nikolas with a blank expression on his face. "She doesn't have a pulse- we have to get her to the ER immediately". Patrick lifted Maxie up in his arms and ran.

Patrick brought Maxie into the ER where Robin began working frantically- checking vitals- hooking her up to IV's and a heart monitor.

"She's having a heart attack" yelled Robin. "Someone needs to tell Mac"

"I'll go Robin" said Robert quickly.

"I don't know if she's going to pull out of this one- she's already had one heart transplant and I think she has the same virus as everyone else" remarked Patrick.

"We're losing her" said a nurse.

Robin and Patrick looked at each other. Patrick noticed a look of fear and terror creeping into Robin's eyes and his heart melted. He didn't know if she would be able to handle this, and he was worried about her HIV and the effects of the virus. He quickly worked to help Robin save her cousin- they were going to have take drastic measures in order to save Maxie's life.

Mac was just coming back from getting him and Georgie some coffee when he heard a voice he was sure he had imagined.

" Mac, thank god, I've found you" said Robert as he put a hand on his shoulder.

"Robert, I though, we all thought…" stammered Mac.

"… Thought I was dead, yeah I know, there is some explaining to do, but not now, something has happened- Maxie had a heart attack".

"What! Where is she? When… why hasn't anyone told me, I have to see her" cried Mac as his faced turned white. Mac ran into the ER where he saw Robin and Patrick. "Robin, what's going on? Is Maxie going to be alright?"

Robin just looked at him trying to fight back tears. Patrick knew she was taking this pretty hard. "Commissioner- Maxie suffered an almost fatal heart attack- she is stable right now, but she is in a coma… we have her on the transplant list, but she has already had one, which decreases her chances of getting a second heart" said Patrick trying his best to be compassionate and professional at the same time.

"She's in a coma? How could this happen, I just talked to her, she was fine" questioned Mac. There was a long silence before Mac said "Robin will you take me to see her, I need to be with her, and I need to find Georgie and tell her".

"Absolutely, I'll take you to her room and then I'll go find Georgie" said Robin. She took a deep breath as she led her Uncle towards Maxie's room.

Jesse finally reached the cabin just as the sun was rising. He didn't see Lucky's car or any signs that there was anyone around. He looked though the glass before trying to open the door. It was unlocked. He walked in, looking around at furniture that had looked like they had been covered for a while. "Lucky!" Jesse yelled. "Hey Spencer, are you here? Hello?" Jesse looked around but didn't see him. He didn't know what was going on. He decided that it would be best if he went hospital to see if Liz had heard from him yet.

As Jesse was leaving the cabin, he began to get very hot and started to sweat. He rolled down the windows and took off his leather jacket. "I really need to get some sleep" he thought. He turned on the radio to keep himself awake. As he was listening, the station interrupted with a news update.

"The Port Charles General Hospital has just been placed under quarantine by the Chief of Staff. They are warning the public of a possible outbreak of some form of encephalitis. Anyone in the hospital is unable to leave, and anyone who is not showing symptoms will not be admitted. The hospital is asking for people to please remain calm, and not panic. As of now not much is known about the origin of the outbreak, and therefore they are asking the public to remain inside and stay out of contact with members outside of their family, until further notified".

"Maxie is in the hospital, I have to see if she is alright" thought Jesse. He put on his siren and flew down the road trying to reach the hospital as fast as he could. When he finally reached GH, the SWAT team was placed outside, keeping people from entering or leaving the building. He got out of his car and ran up to a member of the SWAT team "I'm Detective Beaudry with the PCPD, I need to get into this hospital" ordered Jesse.

"I'm sorry, but we are not letting anyone who is not sick in this building" replied the man.

Jesse walked away trying to find another entrance. Then he spotted Jason and Carly suspiciously standing outside of a door. "What are you two up to?" asked Jesse.

"Nothing, we're waiting to hear on Sam and Sonny, they've both been infected by the virus" said Carly.

"Have you guys seen Lucky? I haven't been able to find him and he won't answer my or Liz's phone calls" asked Jesse

"I don't remember seeing him …." Carly stopped and looked at Jesse who was now completely pale. Then Jesse fell to the ground. "Hey! Somebody, he needs help, I think he has the virus!" shouted Jason.

A member of the SWAT team ran over and got the attention of a nurse nearby. The nurse got a stretcher for Jesse and brought him inside as she radioed that a doctor be ready for the next patient. Noah was waiting for Jesse when they brought him in. " He looks pretty bad, we're out of rooms, just put him wherever you can find room, get him on some fluids, and let me know if he gets worse" said Noah as he walked away to find Patrick and Robin.

Jesse woke to find Maxie in his arms. He looked at her beautiful face and couldn't help but smile at her. He had been so fortunate to find her, the things he had learned about life and love in the short time he had known her made him realize that he was meant to spend the rest of his life taking care of her, protecting her, and loving her. He smiled as he wiped a hair from her face. Maxie felt the warmth of Jesse's touch and smiled. She didn't even have to open her eyes, she knew his touch, the curve of his face, the sound of his voice, she knew everything about him and loved every bit of him.

"Morning baby" Jesse whispered as he placed his lips to her forehead.

"Hi" Maxie smiled back as she stretched her arms, "Can we stay like this all day? I don't want to leave your arms; I've spent far too much time without them".

"Don't I know it, I'm sorry that my assignment kept me away for so long but I'm back now with time off, so you're going to get to see a lot of me, like it or not".

Maxie didn't say anything, she just leaned towards Jesse and buried her head in his chest. She began to trace her fingers on his stomach and slowly traveled up to his soft, sweet lips. He took her fingers and entwined them in his, and then slowly pressed his lips against hers, first softly and then harder. Jesse was experiencing a moment of utter perfection; there wasn't a thing that he would change, not now, not ever. Then Jesse heard a voice that was growing louder and louder.

"Jesse…. Jesse, can you hear me?"

Jesse opened his eyes to see Patrick Drake standing above him. He looked around and realized that he was in a hospital bed, connected to several monitors. "What happened to me?" he asked.

"You were the latest victim of the virus, you passed out in the parking lot by the entrance" answered Patrick. "How are you feeling?"

"Yeah, I actually am, how long have I been in here?" replied Jesse

"Good to hear… about 4 days now I believe, we were able to isolate antibodies from Luke Spencer and create a cure, we ran out, so not everyone was able to get some, you however were lucky" said Patrick.

"Lucky, have they found him yet? I tried to tell Jason and Carly about it, but I think that's when I lost consciousness."

"I haven't heard word on Lucky Spencer at all"

"Is everyone else okay? Maxie, is she alright?" Jesse asked quickly.

Patrick paused before answering "Jesse, I probably shouldn't be telling you this, because you're not completely out of danger yet, but Maxie suffered a severe heart attack and is still in a coma, we don't know if she is going to be able to pull out of it".

Jesse just lay there silent. The last thing he had said to Maxie was that she was a spoiled brat; he couldn't breathe, it was as if someone had dropped an anvil on his chest. He didn't know what to do, say, or even think. "Can I see her?" Jesse asked.

"I don't know; I'll have to check with her family, I'll be back" said Patrick. Jesse watched him walk out of the room and as soon as the door closed behind him Jesse let the tears he had been fighting back stream down his face.