I just wrote this because I thought as I'm sure alot of us did, that the s/l since the return to PC after Maxie's ILY was really crap. The writing was so WTF, I always thought the issues that they should deal with was Winifred, and Spinelli's leaving Maxie, who already has abandonment issues. So that's pretty much what I'm writing about. Spin's got his freedom, and Maxie hasn't talked about her feelings of abandonment to him, but is rather pushing him away, in fear that he might leave her again, and because of resentment that he left her in the first place. It's not a dark fic, just one that deals with their issues, and their growing romance post Maxie's declaration...


Spinelli stopped, and stared at her. She was beautiful. But that wasn't new. Maxie Jones could do anything and she'd be beautiful. Simply sitting in Kelly's busy with her cellphone, her brow furrowed in concentration as she sms'd someone, and he could find thousands of reasons why she was beautiful, even though she looked a little annoyed with her phone.

Ever since his return to Port Charles, nothing romantic between himself and Maximista had taken place. They'd returned back to Maximista's and the original blonde ones apartment, and Maxie had phoned the fashionista the next morning, and booked off the week from work. She had insisted that she was going to help fair Samantha, StoneCold and the Priestess in the mission to free him from the federal ones, and now the mission had been accomplished a week ago Maximista had immediately returned to work.

The prior going ons in the city of angels, had not been mentioned, and for the week of sharing living space, Maximista had allowed him to sleep on the couch, without any argument or insistance that he should just share her bed like they had done in the past. He wished that he had the courage to have declared his love the way Maximista had so openly declared hers. But he wasn't sure whether hers had been declared in a moment of fear that he might leave, or in the spirit of a love that verged no further than friendship.

However there had been moments when Maximista's eyes would lock with his briefly, those glances, he had perhaps imagined had a deeper meaning than the ones that they shared when they were mere friends, and the lingering touches, the way she would sit closely besides him, so their bodies touched. But then again, Maxmista had always been the one to frequently touch him during their friendship. He wished he had more courage, as since his return to Port Charles no intimate moments had taken place, no feelings had been spoken between them, and often in the last few days since his freedom had been secured, he felt as though his Maximista was pulling away from him. She no longer sat closely beside him, her touching was at a bare minimum, the last kiss was shared between them in the city of angels. There were times when he even thought that perhaps the blonde one looked at him with a hint of resentment or anger, although she had not said anything that showed any anger towards him. So He was not sure if he was seeing things or not though. The Jackal had to admit, it distressed him that his friendship between Maximista was perhaps not changing for the better.

"Spinelli" Maxie had glanced up, and noticed Spinelli standing by the doorway in Kelly's in a daze, and had been waving him over, trying to get his attention

Spinelli came out of his thoughts "Maximista" he greeted with a friendly smile, as he walked to the table and sat down across from her. Trying to push aside his feelings of doubt

"You looked deep in thought" she remarked casually

Spinelli hesitated, her eyes were focused on her coffee mug rather than looking at him "The Jackal, is most relieved that he can now take moments to idly take in his surroundings without fear from the federal ones caging him"

"Oh right" she nodded in agreement "Yes, this past week has been a relief, the first week when we got back I haven't been so stressed out in my life, I swear anymore of that and I'd be getting frown lines" she said with a deep sigh

"Maximista has nothing to fear, she is as beautiful as ever" he could see a faint pink taint color her cheeks, as she glanced up ever so briefly, her eyes meeting his, but her gaze dropped quickly, too quickly for him to read the look in her eyes

"Just promise me you won't get yourself into that situation again"

"You have the Jackals word, His brush with the law has humbled him" he assured her, and Maxie looked up once again, she looked as though she wanted to say something, but changed her mind, and remained silent, rather looking back down, and running her finger along the top of her coffee mug "How if I may ask is the fashion world?"

"Oh work is great" Maxie looked up and smiled, her face lit up. Work was for many a topic best left unmentioned, but Maximista would light up whenever she had the chance to talk about her job, and Spinelli smiled slightly. He missed the days though that she'd light up when she saw him "Busy you know, that's why I haven't really had time to call or hang out or do anything with you for a few days until now" she added quickly, and Spinelli nodded, he did not know whether her words were truthful or not "Kate was in an awful mood with me for a while when I first got back, but lets face it, she's lost without me" Maxie continued, with a grin "Like the other day totally proved it, we had these designer clothes come in and lets just say that I saved a huge catastrophe from happening, I sometimes wonder what it is that Lulu actually does" her babble continued, as she was unaware of his thoughts "Don't get me wrong, I was happy she didn't go on the run with Johnny, but that was more so I had someone to boss around than anything else"

Spinelli rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the usual uncomfortableness settle in, at the mention of the ex mob prince "What of the ex mob prince and the Crimson events?"

"Oh, well Kate's a bit pissed off because of the two events I didn't end up going to, because I was off work" she waved a hand dismissively "And now Johnny has the garage, I just kinda think it'd be better for me to get a model to go with"

He felt a mixture of relief that she would no longer be around the ex mob prince, but also jealousy, as his Maximista would be continuing these events on the arm of a no doubt another good looking male.

"So uh, the Jackal assumes that the uh, events in that case are not over" he guessed, trying not to sound miserable

"Of course they're not, so Until Kate gets bored of me, and wants a model to go instead, which I hope doesn't happen, because I really enjoy them, and the after parties, getting out of Port Charles" she shrugged nonchallantly "But why am I telling you about how nice it is to get out of Port Charles, I'm sure you remember" there was a hint of irritation in her voice, and Spinelli looked at her in surprise, but before he could reply, Maxie's phone began to ring, and she answered it "Hi, Kate, yes I was just on my way" she said standing, and grabbing her bag and her jacket from the back of her chair, she covered the mouthpiece and held the phone away from her ear, before speaking to Spinelli "I'll see you later, we can do something" she said, as she headed towards the door, and began to talk to Kate again "I'll pick those up for you on the way-" the door shut behind her ending what else could be heard from her conversation


Obviously by later she'd seemingly not meant hours, as it was two days before he next saw Maximista.

Spinelli jerked upright in surprise, as the door to the PI office, was flung open, and a rather windblown blonde stepped inside, she shut the door and turned to face him with a smile "Hi"

"Maximista" Spinelli stood, and returned her smile "This is indeed a wonderful surprise"

"I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to return your calls" she apologized "But I'm here now" she grabbed a free chair, and pulled it over to Spinelli's desk and sat down "I thought I could call you back, or just come over and see you as soon as I was free, so, lets catch up, what are you up to?"

Spinelli sat down again, and shrugged "The Jackal has busied himself with mountains of work, and has greatly missed Maximista"

"Oh, I've missed you too Spinelli" she told him "Kate's been a slavedriver, literally, and Lulu as usual has been not much help" she rolled her eyes "But I have the afternoon off" she informed him with a smile "Do you want to go to Kelly's?" her eyes moved to the pile of paperwork on his desk, and she grimanced "Or can I help you with anything?"

Spinelli began to smile "Really?"

"Yeah, I actually miss helping you with the whole PI thing"

"Well the Jackal has been inspecting survailance cameras at the request of his latest client" he said, indicating to the computer screen, he was just about to suggest the coffee break instead, but Maxie had already stood up and moved around his desk to have a look at the screen

"I'll never understand how you actually manage to hack into all this stuff" she remarked in awe, as she looked over his shoulder "I have mentioned you're a genuis right?" she asked, as she lent in, to get a closer look at the screen. Spinelli could feel her body pressing against his back, and her warm breath on his neck, unable to stop himself, he turned his head towards her, and caught her gaze, she didn't move away, and he moved in, bridging the distance between their faces, but just as their lips were about to touch, Maxie suddenly sprung back a few feet away from him, as though she'd had an electric shock

"I uh, just remembered, there's a um, thing I have to do" she blurted out uncomfortably, looking rather flustered, as she moved back to where she had been previously and gathered up her stuff, barely looking at a still stunned Spinelli "Sorry Spinelli, I'll see you later okay?" she asked sounding a little breathless, Spinelli blinked a few times, wondering if he'd imagined the whole former scenario, he was about to answer her, but she was already out of the door.

Spinelli frowned in confusion, as the door shut quickly behind her

Watching Maxamista leave, now that he was used to lately...

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