Maria took a long breath as she swallowed the latest bit of news she had been given since she regained consciousness four hours earlier. "Yes," she said still a little confused. "When will I see Hope?"

The nurse continued removing bandages as she spoke. "The doctor needs to see you before we allow any visitors." She removed the final layer and gently touched Maria's hand. "The bandage is off. You know," the nurse began as she giggled a little. "No one really believed Marianna was a patient here. Most of your face has been covered since you arrived a few days ago."

"Can I open my eyes now?" Maria asked as she raised her hands to feel her face.

"Yes," the nurse said. "Now remember, you may be able to see very little, if anything at all. But your vision is expected to make a full recovery."

Maria batted her eyes a few times. The muscles had not been used in some time and were weak. When she was unable to see anything, she moved her fingers over her eyes to be sure her lids were indeed open. "Something's wrong," she panted. "I can't see." Maria's breathing quickened and her voice became shaky. "Are my eyes open?"

"Ma'am," the nurse began in an attempt to calm her patient.

"Marianna! My name is Marianna!" Maria demanded that the nurse call her by name.

"Marianna, the blindness is temporary. The doctor is almost certain..." the nurse said touching Maria's shoulder.

"Almost!" Maria exclaimed. "I want to talk to the doctor!" Maria was confused and scared. She had awoken to the sound of a beeping heart monitor and an unfamiliar rush of voices. After being told Hope was okay, she was told her own health was still in question. Nurse Mildred told explained that optical damage caused by the swelling of her brain left her with a great possibility of temporary blindness and a mild possibility of permanenet blindness.

"I'll go see if I can rush him," the nurse said propping pillows for Maria. "In the meantime, why don't you lean back and I'll turn on the..." the nurse paused as she realized her careless mistake. She was about to offer to turn on the television.

"How about the radio," Maria said annoyed.

"Yes, Ma'am...uh, Marianna." The nurse stopped at the doorway before leaving. "I promise, the next fa...voice you hear will be Dr. Guerin's." The nurse walked outisde the door and scolded herself making a mental note to sign up for the next patient sensitivity seminar.

Maria's mouth dropped and her eyes, despite their condition, opened wide when she heard the name of the doctor. "Dr. Guerin," she whispered. Thoughts began crowding her mind. "Could it be? Is he back? Michael....a doctor?" Before Maria's imagination ran away with her, she tugged hard on reality and pulled herself ashore. She shook her head and laughed sarcastically. "Sure," she thought. "Go ahead, fate. Bring on the pain. Give me a doctor with the only name that could scare me more than this blindness." Maria laid back onto the pile of pillows and marveled at the irony.

..............................................................................

The doors opened to the elevator and Alex stepped out. He was surprised to see Isabel and Michael standing together with their arms crossed. "Hi!" he said with obvious shock in his voice.

"Hi," Isabel answered without smiling. "We need to talk."

Isabel and Michael stared into the eyes of Alex who took one step back for each step Isabel and Michael took towards him.

"What's up, guys?" he smiled nervously.

Michael jerked when the pager on his hip began beeping. He checked the alpha message scrolling on the screen. "Dang!" he said angrily. "I gotta go," he said to Isabel. "Don't let him go anywhere."

"Don't worry," Isabel said still looking at Alex. "I'll keep an eye on him."

After Michael left, Isabel began laughing. "Did we scare you?" she asked.

"What?" Alex asked with wide eyes.

"We saw Liz," she said still laughing at the fear Alex displayed. "Why didn't you tell us she was here?"

"You saw..." Alex began as he realized Isabel and Michael must not have suspected Liz's true meaning for being at the hospital. "Why do you think she was here?" Alex said countering Isabel's question.

"Well, didn't she come with Max?" Isabel asked.

"Max!" Alex nearly shouted with relief. "Right! She came with Max! That makes sense."

"Huh?" Isabel wrinkled her brow confused.

"Nothing...um, let's go see Hope," Alex said walking down the hall ready to escape from the near tragedy of the conversation.