Chapter Text
Michael Guerin was working on the pacemaker to save his brother when it happened. A rush of something filled him and the tools fell out of his hands. He didn’t need anyone to tell him it was Max. He knew without a single doubt. Gasping, he brought his hand to his chest. His heart was racing. Without thinking he stood and reached for his phone when it suddenly began ringing. He didn’t need to guess who was on the other end as he answered it.
“Please tell me I’m wrong and something didn’t happen to Max,” he answered.
“You need to get to the hospital , NOW!” Sure enough Isobel’s voice answered him. “We don’t know what’s happening but something is definitely going on with Max and it’s not normal at all. The surgery is postponed indefinitely.”
He blinked in shock at that. Because the surgery wasn’t even a solution. Noah’s heart wasn’t viable yet which was why he was making the pacemaker. And secretly he wondered if it would even work because he was no biological scientist, his area was mechanics, but he was pretty sure the odds of Noah being a match for Max and his body not rejecting the heart was extremely rare, even if they were both aliens. This was supposed to buy them time.
“I’m on it.” He didn’t ask questions. It was clear by Isobel’s tone that this was a matter of life and death. He ignored the pieces of the pacemaker and rushed out of his bunker to his truck.
‘Don’t die on me, Max’ he thought. As if in response that strange feeling that had alerted him to whatever was happening grew. He couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but he knew something was happening. It wasn’t long before he found himself rushing through a flickering hospital into the surgery room. There, he found Kyle and Liz in their scrubs standing with Isobel beside Max’s body.
“What’s going on!”
They turned to him and Liz shook her head. “We don’t know. We can’t get any readings with the power acting like this. And Isobel can’t get into his mind to find out. We thought he was trying to stop us but whatever’s happening doesn’t seem to be coming only from him. And we can’t risk surgery at all, let alone with him in this state.”
“So basically, there’s nothing we can do,” he growled. That feeling was growing so strong it was almost burning. He could tell Isobel was feeling it too. An image of a blue flame flickered in his mind. He bit back a scream from the pain and through it managed to see Max’s body seizing. He knew Kyle and Liz were shouting but he couldn’t focus. Suddenly the pain stopped and he gasped, hearing Isobel do the same. The lights had stopped flickering and he frowned as the familiar sound of a heart monitor filled the room along side other equipment readings. But it didn’t sound right. Or rather, it did.
“That’s impossible.” Liz was staring in shock at the heart monitor. Kyle was rushing over to pull the rigged ultrasound machine they’d been using to set it up, a look of disbelief on his face as well. Michael watched in shock as the image appeared on the screen. He’d spent so long staring at the image of Max’s shredded heart that his brain couldn’t quite compute the image he was seeing.
“What? What’s happening?” Rosa’s voice asked as she hesitantly joined them.
“Max’s heart, it’s healing itself. Or something is healing it,” Liz answered. “This shouldn’t be possible.”
Michael looked over at Isobel who was standing still. She was in shock. He doubted she could even try to reach Max right now. Not that he thought it would work. That same bond from before told him that Max was completely unreachable while whatever was happening did its work.
“Well whatever is happening we need to figure out what to do,” he said. “Max would never pull his plug to end his own suffering. Unless he thought he was saving us from something. And I’m a little sick of his heroic martyr crap.”
“He didn’t want to hurt anyone because of all the negative energy he absorbed resurrecting me,” Rosa answered.
“Figures. Well, he’ll just have to find a way to release it safely because I’m pretty sure he’ll have a long life ahead of him unless he does anything else heroically stupid.”
Michael snorted at Kyle’s words. “So until the next crisis comes along.”
Kyle sighed. “Pretty much.” He watched Liz draw blood as they took readings. “It looks like whatever happened healed his heart but it’s still going to take time and he probably won’t wake up for weeks. He doesn’t need to go back in a pod though.”
Kyle stepped away as Liz drew near again, her mask coming off as she rested a gloved hand over Max’s chest. Michael moved, dragging Isobel with him, so that the woman could have a moment alone. She had been expecting a moment to say goodbye before letting Max go, not another miracle. The last one had come at the cost of Max’s life and Michael wondered what the price for this one was.
Whatever had happened, he could sense Max’s presence. It was unconscious, resting, like Kyle said. Max would probably not wake up for weeks. Reassured that Max would be okay for now, he turned his attention to Isobel who still hadn’t spoken. Like Max, he could suddenly feel her mind and presence. It was like all those years ago, that horrible day in the Wild Pony parking lot. That mental shield he had built in his “ignore it and it will go away” attitude had crumbled and suddenly he could feel the others again.
‘Isobel’ he thought. He felt her stiffen before turning her wide gaze to his. ‘He’s going to be okay.’ He said this much more quietly mentally when he realized he had practically screamed at her psychically.
“There always has to be three,” he said, echoing Max’s words from their 21st birthday.
He didn’t know what had happened. He didn’t know what Max would be like when he woke up. But he knew no matter what happened they would face it together.
Later, he walked into Max’s room after he had been moved to his house to find Liz next to him. “Uh, I just came to check on him. I’m gonna come back.” He turned around to leave but Liz stopped him.
“No, no, no. Hey, hey, hey. Stay, Stay.” At her gesture he joined her sitting on Max’s bed.
“What were you going to do if that miracle hadn’t happened?” he asked.
“I…would have kept him comfortable for as long as possible,” she answered. “I would have told him I loved him. And if is heart stopped beating and there was nothing I could do…I would have said goodbye. But we don’t have to live in that “what if” scenario anymore. He’s okay. We’re going to keep him in the coma until he’s strong enough to wake up. And he will wake up. Whatever happens next, we’re going to handle it. Max is alive, Michael.” With that she patted his leg, gave one last brush of her fingers against Max’s, then got up and left. Michael was alone with Max.
Stars are on Your Side by Ross Copperman playing (because you can’t have any version of this scene without that song).
“First thing I remember is the three of us,” he said. “We woke up terrified and lost, but together. And then all of a sudden I was alone. And I got real good at being alone. I’d given up on people entirely. And then you found me again. Hell of a hero move. You showed up just in time.
When you are a kid who nobody loves, kindness is a currency. Friendship doesn’t mean jack. Family just lies and hurts and leaves. I’ve only ever known love to be temporary. So, yeah, I push people away. Every time someone threatens to care about me, I test their love until they have to leave. Connection is conditional. Everybody eventually gives up on the guy who refuses to be rescued. But y-you were the only one I could never run off. You never believed me when I tried to be something I wasn’t.” He was standing now and scoffed before sitting again. “I was building a pacemaker to at least buy you some time but of course you went and had to show off. So, instead, I’ll be there when you wake up, no matter what happens. I won’t let you hurt anyone. We’ll figure all of this out together That’s my hero move, Max. If you wake up, you consider us even, okay? If you wake up, we can be a family.”
If, later that day he got the symbol that had followed them around for so long as a tattoo in honor of Max, well, that was his secret for the moment. It felt right, like finally acknowledging something that had always been there. After all, “There always has to be three.”