Note- I am hesitant to add to this story but I will give it a try.

A follow up from Maxie's POV.

Fly Away, Love- the sequel to For a Time.

Her eyes were not even open yet, but she knew.

Somewhere deep inside of her, Maxie Jones already knew the end of her story. Like a movie stuck on fast forward it flashed in black and white through her mind: a baby boy crying for his father, a little house that was always too quiet, a beach where she walked alone, single footprints in the sand, their child racing around the park at three, four, five, ten and a bed that she slept in alone every night until she could take no more and then anyone at all would do.

Jerking her eyes open, her head rested on him. She watched his chest to make sure Cooper was breathing. Just to reassure herself that she was wrong.

They were on the run but together, and they would stay that way because he loved her. Never before- when other men said that- did she truly believe it. But with Cooper she did. He loved her. It had to be true. He didn't lie. He was better than her and wouldn't ever lie about such a thing.

His chest wasn't moving. Her hand slid up his body and with shaking fingers she searched for a pulse.

Somewhere, she knew, there was someone who was thinking "That Maxie Jones is getting what she deserves." She feared that someone was God.

(Spend all your time waiting
for that second chance
for a break that would make it okay

There's always a reason
to feel not good enough
and it's hard at the end of the day

I need some distraction
oh beautiful release
memory seeps from my veins)

Her fingers pressed on his throat. Then, in an instant, she became frantic. "Coop, Coop, Cooper, baby, hey..." She got on her knees next to him.

The color was nearly gone from his face. Her mouth moved to his, kissing and breathing into him all at once, but there was no response from him. "You're okay, Cooper. You're fine...wake up...what happened?"

Did his heart give out? Did it just stop like she worried every day hers would? How could his heart stop when she was in his arms, when she was in love with him, when she would do anything to keep it beating.

Soon she was on the phone to the front desk. "You have to help me. My boyfriend...something happened to him...I need a DOCTOR, NOW...please, please, hurry...I don't think he's breathing."

She collapsed onto his chest, pressing her ear against him to try and hear his heartbeat. Nothing.

But he was warm. He wasn't blue. He couldn't be gone yet. She had only been to sleep a little while and in her dream he was saying "Love...you...always...Maxie...always..."

There was no reason to live if Cooper was gone. She wanted to be with him...not left behind, not again. She couldn't bear that. He swore he wanted to take her with him. Her eyes shot to the window of the room. How many floors up were they? Could she jump and be with Cooper again?

For him to lift his arms and hold her close, that would be heaven to her right now.

(Let me be empty
and weightless and, maybe,
I'll find some peace tonight.

In the arms of an angel,
fly away from here.

From this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear.

You are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie.

You're in the arms of the angel.

May you find some comfort there.)

Knock. Knock.

She gripped Cooper's hand. Bending close to his ear she whispered, "I will not live without you. You're the only good part of me."

KNOCK.

Maxie jumped up, twisted a sheet around herself and yanked open the door. The hotel staff flooded in and only two minutes later paramedics were there.

It fell on a stranger she didn't know to pronounce Cooper's condition to her. He said it in a short blast of words, in a rapid fire unattached tone, "Pulse weak and thready. Respiration increased and shallow . We need to move this man, now. On three...one, two..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

HOURS LATER

Maxie Jones sat in the waiting room in some hospital in some state that she couldn't recall the name of right now- but she must know it for she told her sister when she called her. Didn't she? Right now, she could only remember that yes, she made the call and yes, she said the only think that mattered: Come now.

In her hands were letters Cooper wrote the night before, now stained by her sweat and tears. His words swirled around in her mind.

...I could say that working with Craig was the worst choice I ever made. But I never would because that decision led me to you, Maxie. I've been living on borrowed time since the war. You get the feeling when your number is about to be up and I had it for a while now. Still I'm grateful it happened like this, and not back in Iraq, because now I've kissed you. Don't mourn me, celebrate. Celebrate our love. You made me feel more alive in the few months I knew you then all the years that came before. I trust you, with all I am, and I know you won't let me down. Cry a little then stop, and live- for both of us. I have to ask you a favor, too. It will seem like a lot right now but I know you can handle it. Take care of Logan for me, and let him take care of you. I won't be far. I would never leave you behind. But don't wait for me. Just live and know that, wherever I am, I'm still in love with you...

She clutched the letter to her. The doctors had told her that Cooper was poisoned. She knew just who must have done it. His former boss- One, Craig, Jerry- his name didn't matter, he wouldn't need one by the time Maxie was through with him.

(So tired of the straight line
and everywhere you turn

there's vultures and thieves at your back.

The storm keeps on twisting.

You keep on building the lie
that you make up for all that you lack.

It don't make no difference.)

The minutes clicked away on the clock on the wall. Each one was an eternity. She felt cold, and more alone that she thought was possible. She expected to see her own fingers start to turn blue, her own skin start to lose it's color, her own heart- B.J's heart- to finally slow down and then just still.

She knew what dying felt like. It was the living she had never been able to figure out.

XXXXXXXXXXX

HOURS LATER

Maxie didn't move a muscle when she heard the running down the hallway. But she knew who it was. The one person that would run to help her, save her, protect her- no matter what awful thing she ever did-...the one person besides Cooper.

Georgie didn't ask any questions when she skidded into the room, followed by Mac, she only scooped Maxie up out of her seat and hugged her tightly. Into her ear, so low that their father never heard it, Georgie whispered "Logan went after Craig."

Time moved slowly in that room, the sisters separated and Maxie was pulled into an embrace by Mac. Only then did she let out a howl of anguish as her knees buckled and her father had to grip her tightly just to keep her upright. He used to be the only man on earth to make her feel safe but today it didn't work.

She needed Cooper. Only Cooper could save her now. Without him, she wanted to stop eating, thinking, living, breathing. She wanted to live with him or die with him.

"Shhh," Mac whispered "Shhhh, it's going to be okay."

"Not without Cooper it won't." Her hands beat against his back, as she raged at this world that she hated. This world that stole away B. J., Jesse, Tony...and, in a different way, her parents...but left her behind.

She wanted to fall into the blackness with all of them...to not be here struggling anymore. She wanted to kiss Cooper again. Just one more kiss. One more time to hear him say "I should leave you behind but I can't...I can't...I could never leave you behind..."

(Escaping one last time
it's easier to believe

in this sweet madness, oh,
this glorious sadness that brings me to my knees)

XXXXXXXXXXXX

HOURS LATER

She wasn't supposed to be on the roof of the hospital. It was against the rules. Georgie refused to come with her for that very reason. Instead she kept Mac busy down in the cafeteria getting coffee.

Georgie had begged Maxie not to go but, in the end, covered for her when she did.

Maxie had to be here right now. There was nothing she could do for Cooper, but this, so here she stood. She looked over the edge. For so many years, Maxie fought death with one hand and pulled it closer with the other. The drugs. The recklessness. Fast cars. Bad boys. Party after never ending party. She knew it was all risky...it was all what made her feel alive though...and if she was going to die she wanted to go out like that. Not this. Not feeling empty and numb.

Was it too late for her already? She feared that for years now. Since Kyle. It felt too late to save her. Was she going through this motions only to end up back at the same place? She had never been a hopeful woman, she left that particular emotion on an operating room table when she was a very small girl.

The sound of the helicopter filled the air. A moment later the doors to the roof were pushed open and woman in a white lab coat ran out. She glanced at Maxie, with confusion in her eyes and motioned for her to back away from the ledge and duck.

The blades of the helicopter slashed through the air, the engine roared so loud that all other sound was drowned out.

Logan jumped off the helicopter, carrying a briefcase. He immediately passed it to the doctor. He ran over to Maxie and, without a word, put his hand on her back and led her inside the elevator.

"Is there still time?" Logan asked

The doctor said "We'll do what we can."

Maxie was familiar with the horrible hospital speak all doctors were experts in. They never told you anything, until it was too late.

She had spent the day walking back and forth from the waiting room to Cooper's room. He was never alone in there. Doctors kept rushing in and out, trying this and that, till all their options ran out.

The elevator doors opened and the doctor rushed out. Logan and Maxie stepped out slowly, as if they were in a daze and walking was now a foreign concept.

Logan reached out to hug her, but she pushed him away. The action was harsh and yelled You aren't him! You can't fix me!

His hand gripped her arm, hard, she stilled. He was more like her than anyone she met before. Cold, calculating, able to kill, to ruin, to destroy without any hesitation. And he was the only one she knew who needed Cooper nearly as bad as her.

Logan narrowed his eyes at her, titled his head, and silently let her know We are in this together. I'm not giving up and you can't either. Don't you dare betray him and act like he is already dead.

He slowly brought her into a hug. Maxie, through tears, choked out "Did you take care of that bastard?"

"You know I did."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Maxie sat between Logan and Georgie in the hospital chapel. Candles burned in front of them. Her sister held her hand, squeezing desperately as if she was trying to latch Maxie to this life and not let her float away into the next.

Maxie begged :

Breathe for me, Cooper. One breath at a time. Keep fighting. Stay here. Don't fly away, my love. Don't give in. I need you more than you know. I can't do this without you. Logan will never be you, not to me. I'll become everything I fear without you, and so will he. He'll fall into a bottle. I'll wreck myself somehow...I dreamed about having your baby last night...I want that baby, Coop. I want you. I need you both...stay and give me that future only you can. Breathe for me...breathe.....

Logan stood up. He was still for a long moment, then walked over to the alter and dropped to his knees.

Three heads bowed, they prayed, and time clicked on some more. Until Mac stepped into the room, "Honey."

Maxie's eyes jerked over to meet her father's. The answer was there on his face.

(In the arms of an angel
fly away from here,
from this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear.

You are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie.

You're in the arms of the angel.
May you find some comfort there.

You're in the arms of the angel.
May you find some comfort here.) ( Sarah McLachlan)

XXXXXX

YEARS LATER

She walked through the park in Port Charles, holding the hand of a four year old blue eyed boy. Whenever he laughed or smiled, Maxie saw herself. He would be a force to be reckoned with one day.

But whenever her son was quiet, studying something intently -whether it be a bug or his dinner or a book about dinosaurs- she saw his father.

"Want to swing!"

"Sure. Go ahead."

He ran off and she watched him with a smile on her face. It was odd to think she was this woman now. This soccer mom. No, she wasn't without her vices, her insecurities that caused her to be a little more bitter than her sister would ever be, but she had grown up over the years since her days of scheming, of scamming, of hating everything and everyone.

Cooper changed her.

"Hey," a deep voice said from behind her.

She turned and gave Logan a roll of her eyes. "You're late. Like usual, loser."

He smiled. "But you knew I would be late so it doesn't count."

"Oh, is that how it works?" She laughed. "Okay. Well, your nephew could use someone to push him on the swings? Could you handle that or is it too complicated for your little brain?"

"I'll manage somehow." He bent down and kissed her cheek before heading over to the swing set. Little Bobbie Barret squealed in delight as he spotted him.

Maxie stood there with a small smile on her face as she watched them. She thought back to the Metro Court hostage crisis...to a vault...to Three. Man, she had loved him from the start. Instant lust, and devotion, and loyalty. She would have done anything to keep him with her after that night.

But all he wanted her to do was love him. It was simple and something she always felt she pulled off well, better than anyone else could, in fact.

"Baby."

Her head whipped around and she saw him walking towards her. Without a moments hesitation she was flying across the park and throwing herself into his arms. He spun her around.

"I thought you weren't coming home until tomorrow," Maxie said

"The stakeout ended early."

"Thank God," she breathed out. "I missed you."

"Oh yeah?"

"You know I can't sleep without you, Cooper."

His blue eyes lit up. Even after all this time, she knew, he still was amazed by her. She didn't think she was anything worth him loving as much as he did, but he never agreed with that. He loved her like she was the only woman on earth worthy of him. He saw all her ugliness, he saw her at her absolute worst, and loved her through it all.

Leaning down, his lips pressed against hers. It was a simple kiss, just a brush as light as angles wings, but it was all she needed to survive this world.

Their son ran over, circling his parents, and then Cooper lifted him up. He nodded at Logan.

Maxie listened to her son chat excitedly with his father while she thought back to how it could have all gone.

Her eyes met Logan's. They knew they were lucky. Cooper came back to save them both, from this horrible, evil world, and from themselves. He might have believed they could make it without him but he was more optimistic than they could ever be. He believed the best in both of them. But they knew the truth...Cooper was the one really good part of them...and if he had died they would have both ruined themselves as quickly as they could, to get back to him.

She moved her eyes to her husband. She mouthed, "Love you."

Without saying a word aloud, Maxie heard Cooper respond, "Love you always, Maxie. Always."

THE END

Note- I didn't see the point in a sequel just to leave Cooper dead. Though it could be done, it would be too depressing to me. Hope you liked this ending.

Sara