When Michael put his hands on Maria he saw the car crash through her eyes. It seemed to just replay itself over and over again, with images and sounds from when the cars collided. "It's not working." Isabel said out of breath from the healing. Michael still sat there stunned at his visions. He didn't know why he had to see the crash again when he touched her. It wasn't as if he didn't think about it every millisecond. Max nodded, "Yeah but I think we gave her enough energy for her to make it to the hospital." Three of them got up, but Michael still stayed crouched next to Maria. "Michael, are you ok?" Max asked him. Hitting realization Michael nodded in agreement, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, let's just get her to the hospital." Michael and Max lifted her up and put her in the jeep. "I'll call AAA" Isabel chimed in as she reached for her cell phone in her purse. When they reached the hospital, they quickly raced in a found a wheel chair to place the lifeless Maria in. "I need a doctor, my friend Maria Deluca was in a car accident and she's unconscious right now." Liz said to the nurse at the desk. The nurse slowly brought her eyes up to Liz's. "She was in a car accident, and she's unconscious, right, fill out these forms while I get a doctor." She said slowly. Michael walked briskly up to her, "Look, she needs immediate attention, so if you wouldn't mind actually getting up to help save her life, I would appreciate it!" He said loudly and annoyed. The nurse held her hands up in defeat and walked down the hall to find a doctor. A few moments later a man who was obviously a doctor walked into the corridor where they were waiting. "Hello, I'm doctor Carson, I'll be taking care of..." He looked quickly at his charts he held in his hands, "...Maria. Now, was anyone with her in this accident?" He asked while other doctors came for Maria and put her on a stretcher and hauled her off down the hallway. Everyone's eyes followed her, including Michael, who was looking at her more intensely than anyone else. Michael wet his lips and stepped forward, "I was." He said simply. "Well young man, why don't we check you out also." He was about to urge Michael in when Michael resisted, "No, No, I'm fine, just concentrate on Maria. Please, I'm ok." The last thing he needed was a doctor checking out his blood samples. The doctor furrowed his brow, "Are you sure son? I mean it looked like a pretty decent crash." When he saw Michael resist again he said, "Ok then, if your sure. Now I'm going to go give Maria a full examination, please wait here." Then he turned and walked down where Maria was once taken. Liz walked over to Max and clasped his hand with hers. She needed all the comfort she could get with her best friend in a coma at the moment. Isabel walked around nervously for a while, "I'm going to call Alex and fill him in on the situation, he is her friend and all." She said as she walked towards the nearest phone booth. She tapped her foot nervously against the wall till she heard his voice, "Hello?" He asked curiously. "Hey Alex, It's um, It's Isabel." She said Alex didn't let her say much, "Oh hey, Isabel, what's up? Haven't talked to you lately." He was about as nervous as she was about talking to her. She cut him off, "Listen, Alex you need to come down to the hospital. It's Maria, her and Michael were in a car accident, he's ok, but her, well she's pretty bad, and we tried on her, but we couldn't, so you might want to come down and give your support. Liz is sort of freaking out now. I just thought you should know." Isabel gulped in a breath of air. Standing there stunned at the edge of his kitchen, Alex gripped the phone tighter, "Yeah, yeah, sure Isabel, I'll be right there." He said before hanging up and grabbing his keys. Liz and Max sat in the chair provided, next to each other, still holding hands. Michael sat about 5 chairs away from them. He was mindlessly looking through magazines, anything to keep his mind off of what had happened, but it was no use. The images he received from Maria and his own experience of the car wreck were now permanently imprinted into his brain. After about 10 minutes Alex came rushing through the doors. He ran directly to Liz, "God, Liz, how is she?" He asked hugging her. Liz wiped away another tear. "I don't know Alex, we don't know yet, we haven't heard anything." She hugged him tighter. Then they released and Liz went back to sitting next to Max and Alex went and sat next to Isabel. She turned her head at Alex and asked, "Are you ok? I mean, I know you were close to Maria and all." Alex nodded, "Yeah, as long as Maria will be ok, then I'll be ok." He tried to relax in the chair and take in all that was happening. After awhile in agonizing torture as Alex had described it in his head, Dr. Carson walked out and greeted them. "Well, It seems to me, that Maria should be ok. All the test results that have come back are good and solid. But so far she hasn't come out of her coma yet, which isn't a good sign. So, we can't tell if she has any brain damage yet. We suspect she shouldn't, and all her vital signs are good. She should wake up soon, yet the longer it lasts the worst it could get." The five of them sat there stunned, the doctors words stung Michael like a spoon dishing his heart out. Alex looked up at the doctor, "Can we see her?" He asked politely. "Yes, but one at a time. And when you're with her, talk to her, the sound of your voice may trigger something, talk about anything and everything, just make sure she hears you. We've moved her to the recovery unit, you can find her in room 110. Please one at a time." He reminded then and with that he walked away to help another patient. Everyone looked around at each other. All wondering who should go first. Everyone wanting to go, but also not wanting to go. Finally Liz spoke up, "I'll go first." She gave Max's hand one last squeeze before getting up and walking down the corridor. TBC

Part 5