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Part Twenty-Seven: Awake

All day my body trembled.

All day my lungs were empty.

All day my heart stopped beating.

All day I waited for Max to wake.

We got lucky with Georgia helping us discover his inflamed body.

We treated him and now wait.

I've always hated waiting.

I'm impatient.

Laying down  in my office, I stare at my ceiling from my couch and try to find some kind of hope. Some kind of reason. But I don't know if there really is any. There's no reason why things happen the way they do. There's no hope that I'll understand any of this.

As the world keeps spinning, I keep losing myself but by bit and one day- there will be nothing left.

"Helen...." Looking up from my couch cushion, I find my charge nurse Maeve looking at me. "Max is awake."

Without a word or pause, I jump from my couch and race towards the stairwell. I need to go down two floor for ICU. My heart rapidly pounds against my ribs and my whole body feels weak, but I keep moving down the flights of stairs. Pulling open the door, I come out on the Intensive Care Unit and race to Max's room. As I come through the door passed the nurses station, I slow down when I find his eyes shut and Georgia with his head on his lap and holding his one hand and the other on her back. I stand outside the door and stare at him.

Did they get the message wrong? 

In a moment of insanity, I find Max's eyes slowly opening and the energy in my body expand.

He is awake.

Body shaking a bit more violently, a small weak smile rises to his face and the hand that's on Georgia opens and closes as if he's waving to me. My own smile widens tears threaten to drop. I want to go to him.

But Georgia.

She's asleep and relaxed finally after a long hard day. I can hardly wake her by seeing Max. It's unfair- having to be on the outside of it all. Having to step back and allow them their moment. Nodding, I back up slightly and his smile drops slowly. Taking out my pager- I let Dora and everyone else know.  They deserve to know as well. They worked hard today. Despite feeling betrayed by Max and I. Turning back, Georgia is now sitting up and tiredly brushing her hand over Max's cheek. He smile softly at her and when he catches my eyes- he slowly frowns.

"Max! You're up!" Iggy arrives first followed by Dora and Reynolds. Then Kapoor and lastly Lauren. His smile returns, seeing his friends and we gather near the end of his bed.

"Thank God you're alright man." Reynolds beams and holds onto Dora.

"Thank you...everyone...Georgia told me...how hard you all worked..." His eye land on mine and I look down and away. "After all of this...I'm blessed to have each and every one of you."

"Welcome back Max." Fulton steps out of nowhere and we all sort of jump. "I hope you're feeling better after that ordeal."

"I am...Sharpe." I look at him. What's this going to be. "I want to do Chemo....no clinical trial...I don't want to risk anything..."

Now he listens to me. It figures after all my hard work. Nodding, he looks up at Georgia, who is holding his hand tightly in hers. You can tell. You can see it.

The love.

The need.

"That being said...I can't continue being Medical Director...this is going to get harder and the Dam needs someone who can actually run it..."