Chapter 8:

It had now been a two and half weeks since Maxie's heart attack. There was no change in her condition, she was still unresponsive to anyone, and yet she was stable. Her heart showed signs of getting stronger since she had been placed on a stronger heart medication through her IV. Carly and Jason had been able to acquire the drug that Robin and Patrick had sent them for, enabling them to mass produce the serum for everyone in the hospital. Alexis, Sonny, Sam, Nikolas, Dillon and even Lulu had all been released and the hospital was no longer under quarantine. Robert Scorpio had remained to try and find out the origin of the virus- Luke and the PCPD were working together to try and find Lucky who had still not shown up. Everything seemed to be returning to normal with the exception of Maxie. At first the doctors had thought that the virus had brought on the heart attack, but there wasn't enough evidence at this point to confirm that theory.

Jesse hadn't left Maxie's side since he first saw her and proclaimed his feelings for her. He felt that deep down somewhere inside her, she heard him. He only left for short breaks to stretch his legs, or get some food, other than that he just sat in the room, sleeping with his head in Maxie's lap. Mac and Georgie tried to convince Jesse to go home and catch up on sleep several times, but they were unsuccessful. At first Mac and Jesse argued, but as the days wore on Mac realized that Jesse was just as stubborn as Maxie, he wasn't going anywhere. In a way it was a comfort to Mac, in case something happened, he knew that someone would be there for his daughter.

Jesse was sleeping in the chair he had pulled up next to Maxie when he thought he heard her speak. He looked up and saw her fluttering her eyes. He jumped up and ran to the door "Hey Someone, I think she is awake! Come quick!" he screamed. He rushed over to grab her hand.

"Maxie, are you awake it's Jesse" he asked softly.

Maxie slowly opened her eyes; she looked around at the hospital room she was in. It didn't look familiar and she had no idea what had happened. Then she realized that someone was in the room with her, he was holding her hand. She looked at him, and their blue eyes connected. There was something about his eyes that she thought she knew, but she couldn't be sure. She pulled her hand away. Jesse seemed confused, but he didn't think much of it.

"Maxie, thank god you're alright, I have to tell you this now before I bust…. I love you, I love you so much, and I am so glad that you're alright" Jesse cried.

"I'm sorry, you… you love me, I don't know what to say…" said Maxie

"I know it wasn't the most romantic place or time, but this whole virus situation has put things in perspective, and I am going to tell you everyday for the rest of our lives, that I love you".

"How can you love me, we don't even know each other" whispered Maxie.

A look of shock came over Jesse's face and his mouth began to get very dry. He was confused, how did she not remember him? Then Patrick and Robin came into the room.

Jesse could barely find the words and when he finally did his words were barely audible. "She… she doesn't remember me, I think… I mean I don't think she remembers anything" as the words came out of his mouth, his heart broke.

"Jesse I think it would be a good idea if you left us alone with Maxie for a little bit" said Robin. "We'll talk to you in a little bit".

"Alright, I'll wait outside" said Jesse as he walked towards the door. As he was grabbing the handle he looked back at Maxie just for a moment, and then he left. Once outside the room he slid to the ground and put his hands in his head. "How could I have been so stupid, I should have told her since the first day I met her" he thought.

Just then Mac and Georgie walked up, they had heard that Maxie was awake and they came as fast as they could. They saw Jesse sitting on the ground outside of the room and he had a look of disbelief on his face.

"Jesse, is everything okay, we heard Maxie is awake, why aren't you in there with her?" questioned Georgie.

"Huh? Oh, uh, um…." Jesse tried to swallow but there was a large lump in his throat "… the doctors wanted to examine her first; they said they would be out in a minute".

"Is she alright?" asked Mac.

"Uh, yeah I'm not sure" replied Jesse.

Minutes later Robin and Patrick came out of Maxie's room. "Mac" said Robin "Maxie is awake and alert, her vitals are looking good, and she has a strong pulse, but she seems to be suffering from amnesia. She doesn't appear to remember anything, not even her name. Now this is probably not permanent, it is actually something that happens more than people realize when they suffer from heart failure. The time frame that is lost to memory varies along with how long the amnesia lasts depends on the amount of time her brain was deprived of oxygen. I think Maxie will come out of this soon, because we we're able to get her stable fairly quickly after her heart attack. But we're going to need to take things slowly and not rush her into anything, you need to be patient with her, this could last only days or it could be longer".

"How long is longer?" asked Mac.

"Worst case- months" replied Patrick.

Suddenly Jesse stood up "Months! There has got to be something we can do for her".

"All you can do is be patient. Tomorrow we'll start her in therapy sessions with Dr. Winters, and depending on what happens, we'll go from there. You can go see her, but I would suggest introducing yourself, asking how she is, and then leaving. Patients with amnesia who are overwhelmed can reject their therapy if they are pushed to hard" said Patrick. Then he looked at Jesse. "We need to keep the visits limited to family for the first few days until we know the severity of her amnesia".

"Wow, just when I thought we were out of the woods, but okay we'll handle this, at least she is alive and her heart is getting stronger" said Mac "Come on Georgie, let's go see your sister". Mac and Georgie walked inside and closed the door behind them. Patrick left to check on other patients and Robin walked over to Jesse.

"Listen Jesse, I know this is hard for you, especially since everyone knows how much you care about Maxie. It's going to be a long and hard recovery for her, so the best thing for you to do is to not push anything and be patient, don't give her too much information, if you understand what I mean" said Robin.

"You want me to be her friend until she gets her memory back, I can't tell her that we we're together, not yet anyways, can I?" he choked.

Robin sighed "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid not, perhaps it's better if you go home and sleep, you need it, and we'll let you know how Maxie's recovery is going". Jesse didn't say anything, he just walked away. Going back to his apartment at Kelly's to sleep was the last thing he wanted to do. But it was hopeless, there wasn't a thing he could do for her, except wait, and have faith that she would remember everything that they had meant to each other.