Second Chances
Ok so I was going to focus all my energy on finishing 'I'm Here' my 'Kingdoms' series and my ghffchallenge piece 'Across the Universe' but this idea just came to me. What do we really know about Damian Spinelli's live before November 2006 when he arrived on the cannon besides numerous spoilers regarding his parentage? No this is NOT a Spinelli's parental fic and no he is not some bastard of a cannon character. What is this about...well you'll just wait and see. I give you a prologue and hope to continue. As always I don't own GH just my obsession of the Jackal. PS I don't believe they gave a birthdates/year for Spinelli on cannon (if I'm wrong let me know) so I'm just making it up as I go
He thought he was cursed to be alone, that every woman that came in contact with him was doomed. It all started with his mother...
Damian Spinelli never knew his father; his mother always told him that he was a product of a drunken one night stand. That they were better off without him. They grew up in California and no not on some Hippy Commune though people who met him nowadays would think that was the case. No they lived in the family dormitories of some university. Which one he really couldn't recall. She was a literary professor which is where his knowledge of the classics might come from. They lived a pretty good life that was until the accident.
It happened on a Friday evening in the fall of 1994. Damian was six at the time and his mother was out for the evening with some of her colleagues leaving her son with their neighbor a Veterinary student named Jocelyn. They were having a good time watching some sitcom about a blended family from Wisconsin that put the fun in dysfunction, eating pizza when suddenly the sounds of sirens were heard and there was a knock at the door.
Jocelyn went to the door and opened it smiling at the cop.
"Is this the Spinelli residence?"
Jocelyn nodded.
"Can I come in?"
She nodded a second time still in silence and watched as the cop spotted the child a sad look in his eyes. He whispered something to Jocelyn and young Damian could tell it wasn't good because all of a sudden she gasped and grabbed the wall for support.
"Joss, what's wrong."
"Damian," she said through her tears, "this nice police officer is going to talk to you."
The boy nodded and let the cop escort me to the couch.
He told the child there was an accident. His mother was in the parking lot of a restaurant and was hit by a car. When the ambulance got there nothing could be done, she was gone.
--
He had stayed with Joss and her husband for a few days until his Granny came from Tennessee. She was a highly religious woman who was estranged from his mother. She didn't like the fact that her grandson was conceived out of wedlock and she'd constantly let him know it.
--
A few weeks after the move he was still in a bad place as he walked into the first grade classroom at his new school and followed the teacher as she sat him next to a young girl.
As a six year old boy he should have thought girls had cooties however even then he wasn't into normalcy.
"There was an assembly about you," she whispered softly her blonde ponytail moving as she talked; "I'm Aubrey."
And from that moment on he had solidified a best friend in Aubrey Dawson.
--
As time progressed Damian and Aubrey became an odd pairing. Aubrey grew up to be a beautiful young woman who could have been the most popular girl in school, to date any guy, yet she chose to be his friend instead. On most days they'd hang out at the library after school, sometimes the arcade or her place, never his. It was now their senior year and after all this time Damian was going to make his move.
-
Aubrey spotted Damian in the computer lab and rested her chin on his head trying to see what he was up to.
"Please don't tell me you're hacking into the school's mainframe and finding the answers to the AP Latin exam."
"Do I look like a cheater Aubs?"
"No."
"I'm actually pricing tuxes."
"Tuxes, you mean your actually going to Prom."
Damian twirled around in his chair to face her smiling.
"I know I've never been to any social event in the past but Prom is a right of passage. And besides you know I couldn't let some muscle head jock steal you away from me now."
"So is this you asking me out on a date."
"Maybe."
"Then this is me saying yes."
--
He didn't know why he was so afraid of asking Aubrey out before. If he knew it was going to be that easy he would of done so years ago. However sadly Aubrey and Damian would never make it to Prom as another accident plagued his life.
-
The week before Senior Prom Damian was in a panic. How could he ask one of the prettiest girls in school to Prom and not know how to dance. He was screwed. He was flipping through the newspaper and saw advertised that a Dance program was airing at the moment on PBS so he flipped to go watch it when something caught his eyes.
BREAKING NEWS
He paused and listened as the reporters talked about some major car accident on the outskirts of town. Suddenly the phone rang made him jump.
"Hello."
"Damian." He heard a teary woman said, "this is Gwendolyn Dawson, Aubrey's mother...t-there's been an accident."
Aubrey's car had turned out to be one of the cars in the crash and although no actual body was found their was a body that was charred beyond recognizing that was about her height and build and it was claimed to be her.
For the rest of his senior year Damian became more reclusive then ever locking himself in his room hovering over the laptop he got for his eighteenth birthday, experimenting with drugs, creating a new persona...The Jackal and just escaping from it all. He eventually moved to Port Charles, New York to attend college attempting to build his life up from the ashes.
--
In February of 2007 Damian was in Prot Charles now attempting to rescue his new Blonde One, Lulu Spencer from a hostage crisis along with his new friend and Mentor Jason Morgan whom he affectingly called Stone Cold. In those few months that he'd been in town he began to feel a sense of warmth, of family, one that missed since Aubrey's death. However in a small Tennessee Hospital a young woman was opening her eyes.
"Where am I." she said.
It turned out that Aubrey wasn't dead. Her body was found and rushed to the hospital. She was finally wakening up after being comatose and was confused by her surroundings.
--
Some more time had passed and Damian had bad luck with the ladies yet again. First there was Jolene Crowell the murderous nurse who was his first. Granted she was a cold blooded killer using him for his silence she saved his live jumping in front of a bullet meant for him. Then there was Georgie Jones, her live snuffed out too soon by a serial killer only to find out later that she loved him.
Aubrey on the other hand was blessed with a new life all together. She had been newly christened Hope Owens after being sick of being called Jane Doe. With this new name she took her GED and passed with an exceptional score and had gotten accepted to Port Charles University for their spring semester.
--
She was walking along the road when she spotted a sign in a local diner. Kelly's was the places name.
HELP WANTED
ROOM FOR RENT
She knew someone was looking out for her as she entered the diner and walked up to the counter smiling at the older man.
"Are those signs in the window still true?"
Mike Corbin nodded at the girl.
"Well then I'd like both if that's possible, a job and a room. I'm just starting PCU and unfortunately you come during the Spring Semester and there is no dorm space."
Mike smiled. He liked this girl. She had spunk.
"I'm so rude. My name is Hope, Hope Owens."
"Well Miss Owens do you have ten minutes because I can interview you now."
She nodded.
-
Ten minutes later Mike walked her out of the office and placed a set of keys and an apron in her hands.
"How soon can you start?"
--
TBC
This is yet another experimental fic I don't know if I will continue or not so please comment with what you think so far.Ps. Bonus Points for guessing the show Damian was watching the night his mom died