General Hospital (GH) spoilers hint that three major Nathan West (Ryan Paevey) developments need to happen before Maxie Jones (Kirsten Storms) wakes up. These things must happen first, so let’s run down the list.

1) Nathan gets his detective job back

For starters, we should address Nathan’s desire to get his career back on track.

Although Nathan hasn’t been able to resume his detective duties yet, that’ll likely change in the not-too-distant future.

Nathan may find some way to prove he’s up to the challenge and that he deserves to reclaim his spot at the PCPD.

There’s a good chance Nathan will ultimately score his badge again and get back to solving crime before Maxie awakens.

2) Nathan is finally ready to be a full-time dad to James, who wants the same thing

As for Nathan’s paternal side, that’s sure to grow stronger and become an important part of his story.

Nathan realizes he’s still new at this whole dad thing, so he isn’t pushing the custody issue just yet as a result.

In the November 5 episode, Nathan confessed that he wasn’t ready to be a full-time dad yet, but he left the door open to revisit the topic later.

In the meantime, Nathan can keep building his relationship with James and slowly become part of his daily life.

There should come a point when James adores and looks up to Nathan just as much as he looks up to Cody Bell (Josh Kelly).

From there, Nathan can finally embrace full-time dad status and know that James wants that, too.

3) Nathan’s love life gets complicated

To make things extra soapy before Maxie wakes up, Nathan may face some love life complications. GH fans couldn’t help but notice the bond and the chemistry that was arguably present in Nathan’s recent scenes with Lulu Spencer (Alexa Havins Bruening).

If Lulu and Nathan start falling for each other ahead of Maxie’s coma awakening, that could set the stage for all sorts of drama. Then again, it’s also possible Nathan could develop feelings for another woman on canvas.

Regardless, Nathan may start to worry that Maxie will never awaken and turn to Lulu or someone else for comfort.

It could add to the mess of it all once Maxie’s comatose status is finally behind her.

Of course, there’s another shocker that could happen AFTER Maxie awakens. If Maxie somehow senses this isn’t really Nathan or that his brain has been manipulated somehow, she may sound the alarm!

Whatever the case, General Hospital spoilers say Maxie will indeed wake up down the road, so stay tuned for when her loved ones will face that good news.