AN: Well, Michael's niece and sister arrive in town to visit him, and she runs into Marie. If you read my past stories, you know that these two are not friends, and that is not going to change any time soon given the current situation.

Chapter Three: Waking Up to Rude Awakenings

Charles was sitting in a corner chair, sound asleep in Michael's hospital room. He stretched a little bit, and cracked open his left eye to see his older sister Marie leaning over to give Michael a kiss on the cheek.

Jesus Christ, here we go... He thought inside of his mind.

Charles sat up, and Marie looked over at him.

"How is he doing?" She asked silently.

"From critical to guarded." Charles said, wiping the remaining sleep from his eyes. "Where's Lori Ann and Grandma?"

"Outside with Melody." Marie said. "What exactly happened?"

"He was walking Miley home when some crazy kid shot him." Charles said, summing up the story.

"Really? Was it intended for Miley?" Marie asked.

"Probably, and why are you asking that?" Charles asked back.

"Well, from what I heard, Miley got a lot of enemies now that she told the world that she was Hannah Montana." Marie said softly. "Lori Ann hates her now."

"Which we knew already." Charles answered. Marie turned her attention to her brother, who knew what was coming next.

"Why in the hell did I have to find out about this from the news? Were you too busy to give me a call to tell me what had happened?" Marie asked him.

"Yeah, I was busy, I was here trying to make sure that our little brother didn't die." Charles said, trying to keep his voice to a whisper.

"Really, and what about Miley? Has she even been in here to see him?" Marie asked Charles, getting angry at the thought of that little tramp.

"Marie, please, don't go there." Charles said in a warning tone.

"Why? Charles, she sunk her nails into our brother, and now look at him. If it wasn't for her using him as if she didn't care about him, he wouldn't be dying." Marie said, her voice full of hate.

"Marie. Stop. You are only saying that because you are worried about Michael, and you need someone to blame for his shooting." Charles said in a soothing tone. Marie sighed and sat in a chair, covering her face.

"Charles, what if he doesn't pull through?" Marie asked him.

"He will. Knowing him, he will outlast all of us. He has the will to." Charles said, soothing his older sister.

"We need him here with us. We all need him." Marie said, tears stinging the corner of her eyes.

Michael opened his eyes, and looked around. He saw his sister outside with Melody and his grandmother, but when he looked for his brother, he didn't see him. With what little strength he had, he sat up just in time to see a doctor walk in.

"Well, it is nice to see that you are awake and feeling better." The doctor, a brown haired female said with a smile.

"Where is everybody? How long have I been out for?" Michael asked in a weak tone of voice.

"Relax, you have been in surgery for a few days. We had to remove several bullets from your back." The female doctor said. "You are very lucky, anyone else would have died from this."

"I have heard that a lot lately." Michael said back with a weak laugh. "Hey, how come I can't move my legs?"

"Oh, uh well..." The female doctor's voice began to trail off, and Michael knew that some bad news was coming his way.

"What is going on?" Michael asked, bracing himself for the worst...

The female doctor walked up to Charles and Marie, and the minute that the three of them had made eye contact, she knew that this was not going to be good. Sharing one last look between each other, they both looked at the doctor.

"Are you Michael Harris's family?" The doctor asked.

"Yeah, how is he doing is he going to make it?" Marie asked her.

"He is awake and you can go and talk to him for a little bit, but I have something that you guys need to hear." She said, sitting across from them. Charles and Marie exchanged another look, and braced themselves for the worse once more.

"We safely removed the bullets from his back, but in order to restore his spine back to normal, we had to operate on it, and he may still require surgery in the near future." The female doctor said, taking a deep breath before continuing.

"Wait, what are you trying to tell us?" Marie asked, grasping Charles's hand as if it was a life line.

"Marie, Charles, I hate to say this, but Michael is not going to walk again." The female doctor stated.

Charles just sat there, letting the words sink in. Marie buried her head into her little brother's shoulder, crying very hard.

"Can we go and see him?" Charles asked, his voice breaking.

"Sure. Go in there to see him." She stated, pointing to his hospital room.

Charles and Marie re entered Michael's hospital room, and found their little brother asleep in his bed. When they went to opposite sides of his bed, further inspection saw that his eyes were puffy and his face has faint wet streaks of him crying. There was no need to wake him up and tell him the bad news.

"What do we do now? How do we tell him the bad news?" Marie said to Charles.

"We don't. Let him sleep. He has been through enough. Now we begin the long road to recovery." Charles said, ruffling Michael's long blonde hair.

This is not going to be easy on anybody, that is for sure...

AN: We will advance time in the next chapter, because Michael returns home, and Miley get's an earful from everyone in his family. R&R!