Title: From The Wreckage
Author: Jailynn
This is unbeta'd and I hope it isn't horrible. This is the first time I've ever posted here so I'm trying not to mess it up. Feedback would be appreciated. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
The hospital was barricaded by police officers dressed in blue and by wooden stands that were painted a dark blue. No one was allowed into General Hospital and no one was coming out yet. She pressed a hand to her thundering heart, watching the world fall apart in front of her. A giant blast came from the large building that was in the center of all the madness. Her eyes widened to an almost painful degree. The explosion rocked the street for miles, she felt it shake the rocky ground under her feet, fire touched the sky in bright yellows and reds while ash from the destruction rained down on her light blonde hair, darkening the shade. Maxie held her breath as emergency workers moved around her. The bodies blurred into one mass the more frantic she got. Not one of the faces she saw was the one she so desperately wanted, no scratch that needed to see.
People started to stumble from the wreckage, coughing from the smoke and holding injured parts of their bodies or they were helping others walk/run to safety. She searched harder than she ever had searched before. Not even a really gorgeous pair of designer shoes made her look this madly. He would be in the crowd, she willed herself to believe. His legs would bring him back to her, his heart- his good heart- would find her amongst the sea of concerned people. Maxie rose up on her toes to see past the large shoulders of the guards to find that messy chocolate brown hair of his or maybe he would be wearing one of his beanies. She would know when she found him and she would find him. The last of the group emerged, but Spinelli wasn't in the crowd.
The tears that were gathering in her throat started to burn the backs of her eyes. He wasn't there. How could he not be there, she wanted to scream. It wasn't fair that Spinelli wasn't in this group of survivors. Her borrowed heart dipped further into her chest, falling and breaking as each second passed without him.
Voices of the police and doctors yelled orders when she attempted to break through the line but the only thing she heard were her own thoughts, her own devastating fears. The curse of Maxie Jones strikes again. Another person she dared to love, another person that dared to love her, has fallen victim to the dark cloud that followed her. The gaping black hole of pain and death swallowed up another good man. She wanted to curse at the gods he spoke so intensely about and the one she used to believe in. How was she supposed to believe in anything when the good continued to get taken from this world, while she, who has done nothing good in her life, continued to remain? How is that just? How is that fair? How could there be a God when He only brought pain and heartache to the world?
Strong hands pushed her back when she almost made it through to find him. She needed to find him. If he was dead…Maxie stopped the thought before it crushed what little hope she had left. "Let me go," she screamed. "I have to find Spinelli."
She stopped fighting when another large group of survivors came out of the smoldering wreckage. Maxie saw Sonny, Jason, Carly, Lulu, Edward escape the flames to be reunited with their families that had already been rescued. Even Matt stumbled out, holding his side. Lulu rushed to Nikolas and Lucky. Carly limped over to Jax and he wrapped his arms around her. Sonny turned back to look at the once intact hospital. She felt anger boil inside of her. The people that walked out were the very ones that brought murder and violence to Port Charles. Why did Sonny cheat death once again, when Spinelli might not have?
Her stomach rolled with the overwhelming feelings inside of her. She turned, dropping unconsciously to her knees. The hard, cold asphalt hurt. Maxie couldn't catch her breath. Her borrowed heart felt weaker than it ever had before. She couldn't do this again. She couldn't bury another. She couldn't lose someone else. Why did she get so close to him? Why did she start to open the Great Wall of China size gate around her heart? She could be as angry as she wanted at Sonny and Jason for walking through fire once again, but the one that really caused Spinelli's death was her. Maxie marked him the moment she started to feel something for him. She might as well put a giant bulls-eye on his back and yell open season.
"Maximista," a voice called out. She shook her head. She was losing touch with reality and hearing his voice over the roaring in her head. "Maximista," Spinelli yelled out again. Maxie placed her gloved hands over her cold ears. Stop it, it's not fair! "Maxie!"
She spun at the urgent calling of her name and saw him. His boyish face was slashed, cuts oozing deep red across his forehead. He was cradling his left arm to his body and limping on his right leg. The material of his pants and sweater shirt were torn, ripped and she could see blood seeping from those wounds as well. Dirt covered his cheeks, his always messy hair was even more so but his eyes, those gorgeous ocean eyes, were bright and alive. She jumped to her feet and rushed the barricade once again. This time when the officers tried to stop her, they had a much harder battle on their hands.
"Let me go," she growled, her cobalt eyes never leaving Spinelli's face. He limped over to her and police held him back as well. Maxie's anger exploded. She needed to touch him. She needed to make sure he wasn't going to leave her. She wasn't going to let them stop her. She kicked out; hitting the police officer in the knee with her fashionable high heeled boot then rushed to him when the officers were distracted. "Spinelli," she wrapped her arms around him tightly.
"Mooph," he huffed in pain when she pressed her body into his injured one. She mumbled an apology and started to move away from him, but his arm that wasn't hurt curled across her back and held her to him. She buried her face into the side of his neck, inhaling. His unique smell was buried under the smoke but it was there. Tears leaked onto his shirt as the emotional dam inside of her broke. "Maximista," he questioned.
She shook her head, words fading from her mind, she wasn't sure there were words to describe what she was feeling anyway…well none that she knew. Spinelli would know some. Maxie pulled her face from his neck, looking him in the eyes for a second before she pressed her mouth to his. She let her kisses speak the words that she was terrified to verbalize. Maxie licked at his mouth with her tongue, begging for entry. He hesitated only a moment before granting her access. That was all she needed. Standing on her toes, she rose against him, her hands slipped through his hair as she kissed her feelings into him. Her soul was bare and she felt more naked than she ever had without her clothes.
He kissed her back, touching the soul that he owned so completely and giving her his in return. His words from the sewer almost a year ago flashed in her head, 'I have never been in the position to give my heart, body and soul to someone. If and when I do, all there is of me will be all theirs until they wish to hand it back to me.' Maxie's throat closed up when the reality of what was happening finally set in. Spinelli had been offering her all he was and she's been too scared to see it. No more, she decided. Pulling away, she licked her bruised lips and pushed the truth from her mouth, praying that she didn't put the final nail in his coffin once she did, "I love you, Spinelli."
His eyes widened. Shock, wariness and hope warred for position on his face. He didn't trust her. He didn't believe her. Pain unlike any she's known before burned her heart. "Maxie," he started but she pressed a finger to his lips.
"I know that I've done things that haven't been the greatest," she swallowed. "I've used you and your good heart. I've hurt you and I know I don't deserve you, but I can't stop loving you." Maxie pushed her hair behind her ears. "You have been the best friend I could ever want. You are kind and generous and brilliant. You give so much of yourself. You even risked your life tonight to save people that you don't know and ones that have been unkind to you. I fought what was happening between us, because I always stand at a grave when I say I love you. I always get left behind, but," she wiped at the tears that were falling from her face. "I need you to know that I love you. Even if you don't believe that, I do."
"The Jackal wants nothing more than to believe fair Maximista," he said lifting her chin with his finger. "But he wonders if the feelings are real or if she is merely overwhelmed and is mistaken."
"I'm not," she said firmly. "You once told me that you never had the opportunity to give your body, heart and soul to someone, well I'm not worthy of that, but if you want to give them to me…" she closed her eyes and jumped from the invisible ledge she was standing on, hoping that he would catch her once she did. "I'll try to be a woman that deserves them."
Spinelli searched her face; she could feel his intense caress. Opening her eyes, she let all of her feelings show and he inhaled. "The Jackal would be honored to have fair Maximista's love."
"Everyone I love goes away, ends up hating me or dies," she warned, giving him one last chance to change his mind.
"The Jackal, I, could never hate you," Spinelli caressed her cheek. "I'm not going anywhere and if the Gods allow I will not die while you continue to love me."
Maxie took a deep breath and kissed him again. Her borrowed heart pounded against her ribcage as she let herself feel the love that has been begging to be released since they made love that first night months ago. He held her to him and the world disappeared. She was home, he was safe and nothing else mattered right then.