Wow, here we go with chapter 7! I have a couple of my friends and family read and edit my stories as I go so that if it doesn't sound plausible or is not worded right, I can fix it. They have to wait after every chapter for a while until I write another. You guys get to read the entire story at one time with no waiting. What could be better than that?! (Probably me writing and posting them faster would be a bit better) Happy reading! Oh yeah and I don't own General Hospital, any of the characters, or the lyrics or song that I used in this chapter.

Chapter 7

No Work, All Play

Johnny woke up on the couch at the sound of Maxie's singing coming from the bathroom and smiled to himself. In all of the time that he had known her, Johnny had never heard Maxie even hum, much less sing. He got up and decided to just forget about pulling on a shirt, and made his way to the bathroom. He leaned against the wall in the doorway and just stood there watching Maxie. She was singing softly to Alexz Johnson's "How Strong Do You Think I Am". Johnny just let himself listen to her voice.

If I don't cry, do you think I don't feel?

If I look away, doesn't mean I don't see.

And just because I want, someone when I'm alone, doesn't mean I'm helpless, that I can't stand on my own.

How far can we go before we break?

How long can I wait?

How strong do you think I am?

How much can I take of this?

Am I rock, or a rose, or an abyss, or the breath at the end of a kiss?

How deep do you wanna go, cause I'll go there if I can.

You make it harder than it has to be.

How strong, how strong, do you think I am?

It's so hard to tell, what's in your heart.

What you keep to yourself, is tearing me apart

And should I be afraid, to dream about you, and if you feel the same, what are you gonna do?

How far, can we go before we break?

How long, can I wait?

How strong do you think I am?

How much can I take of this?

Am I a rock, or a rose, or a fist, or a breath at the end of a kiss?

How deep do you wanna go, cause I'll go there if I can.

You make this harder than it has to be.

How strong, how strong, do you think I am?

If I move in any closer, if you let go and give yourself away, if we let this happen to us, everything will change.

How strong do you think I am?

How much can I take of this?

Am I a rock, or a rose, or an abyss, or a breath at the end of a kiss?

How deep do you wanna go, cause I'll go there if I can?

You make this harder than it has to be.

How strong, how strong, do you think I am?

Johnny had a huge smile on his face by the time she finished the song and he couldn't believe that she hadn't noticed him yet. "You really have a beautiful voice Maxie."

Maxie whirled around at the sound of his voice and put her hands over her heart and glared for a moment at him. "God! You scared the crap out of me! That's it! You are so getting a little bell to wear around your neck so that I know when you are coming." By the end of her sentence, she was smiling and Johnny began to walk towards her. Just as he was putting his arms around her he heard a clatter from outside. His eyebrows shot down, as Maxie's eyes widened and she clutched Johnny to her like a lifeline. "Johnny? What the hell was that?"
"I don't know, but I will." He turned and started walking out of the bathroom and Maxie saw him pull a gun out from the back of his jeans. "Johnny! What are you doing? You can't go out there, what if it's him? We should just call the police."

Johnny turned around and gave her a reassuring glance. "Honey, don't worry. I can handle this. Just stay here and lock the door behind me. Don't open it again until I tell you to, no matter how long it takes me. I love you." With that he came back and gave her a quick kiss and closed the door behind himself. "I love you too." Maxie said to no one as he closed the door.

Johnny was outside and was walking around the house as silently as he possibly could. He kept trying to push the worry he had about Maxie being left alone out of his head. He had to focus if he was going to catch this son of a bitch once and for all. As he turned the last corner around the house he spotted the intruder working on opening the window. He crouched down and took aim at the bastard. Before he could pull the trigger, the guy whirled towards him and fired a shot. Johnny didn't hear a thing but he sure as hell felt it. The last thought that went through his head before he blacked out was that he couldn't believe that he had failed Maxie.

Maxie was sitting with her back against the bathroom door crying when she heard the front door shut quietly. She held her breath hoping that it was Johnny. When she felt a knock on the bathroom door she began to silently sob. Is it Johnny? What do I do? What if the guy is in the house and he is being quiet because he wants to get us out? If it was the killer would he knock on the door? Maxie didn't know what to do, but didn't have time to think as the person on the other side of the door decided that they were coming in anyway and Maxie felt the door move a bit as they rammed themselves into it. Maxie knew now that it wasn't Johnny and she became terrified because she knew that Johnny never would have let the man in the house if something bad hadn't happened to him first. She didn't know what to do and was looking around the room frantically when she realized that she could probably fit out the small bathroom window. She ran to it and opened it as far as it would go and began to shimmy her way through it. Maxie could hear the bathroom door breaking and began to struggle even more through the window. She was halfway through it when she heard the door blister open and was almost out when she felt the hands grab her ankles and yank.

Johnny woke up on the ground outside of the house and looked down to his shoulder and saw the blood. As soon as he did, he remembered everything that had happened and he sprang up as fast as he could, and regretted it as soon as he had. He took off his jacket and ripped one of the long sleeves of his shirt. He used it to put pressure on his wound and began sprinting to the front door. As soon as Johnny got in the house he began screaming Maxie's name and ran for the bathroom and gasped as he got to the door. It had been broken and as he looked in he saw that the window was open and he knew with the sinking feeling in him that Maxie was gone and that this stranger had taken her. No. Not Maxie. What am I supposed to do now? I don't even know who this guy is, much less where he would take her. Who do I go to? He sank down to the bathroom floor and just cried. It was the first time he had cried since he was eight years old and his mom had died. He cried for everything that had happened to Maxie and he cried for losing her.

Maxie opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings in disgust and put her hand to her head where she had been hit. It took a moment for her head to clear and she recalled how she had ended up in this horrid place. He had grabbed her and yanked her back through the window and she had fought him so he hit her and knocked her out. He must have carried her to a vehicle and then taken her to this place that was god only knew how far away from Johnny it was. Johnny! He never would have let this bastard take me unless he was really hurt, or worse. Oh god, please let him be alive. Maxie had closed her eyes and realized that she was crying silently. She furiously wiped away the tears with her sleeve. No! I wont accept that Johnny is dead. He has no idea where I am so I am so I am just going to have to get myself out of here. All on my own. I can do it, no problem. I just have to figure out how to get back home and to Johnny. As Maxie was thinking all of these brave and heroic thoughts, the door to the room that she was being held in slowly opened. Finally he emerged and Maxie was angry. She didn't know him and didn't understand why he would go to this much trouble just to kill her. "Who are you? Why are you doing this?" He chuckled and then just glared at Maxie as he walked closer to her. "My name is Franco. I'm an artist. That night that I saw you on the pier all by yourself, I knew that you just had to be my next piece."

"Your next piece?"

"I take pictures. Of people who have died. I position them to be beautiful."

"You call that art? Cause, I call that sick!"

Franco got really angry and came forward and slapped Maxie so hard across he face that she saw black on the edges of her vision for a moment. What the hell was she supposed to do, trapped in this place with a psychopath?

Johnny knew that he had to get up and find Maxie instead of sitting on the floor, wallowing in his self pity. He quickly called Lucky and filled him and Sam in on the situation. Lucky brought the police over to Johnny's home and looked for any fingerprints or clues that would lead them to where Maxie was being held. They had nothing, but continued to search anyway because Johnny refused to give up until they found something.

Maxie had managed to keep Franco talking about why he did what he did and why he had chosen her and eventually he had gone away. Maxie's hands were tied behind her back and she was tied to a chair in a small room. That was also locked. She was so screwed. Then Maxie remembered that her cell phone was still in her pocket. She had completely forgotten about it, and apparently Franco was not as smart as he thought he was if he hadn't even checked to see if she had a phone or anything else on her. Maxie then wondered why Johnny had not thought to call her cell phone, and the thought of him being hurt popped into her head. She immediately pushed it aside and decided that he had not called her phone because he had probably been so frenzied on finding her that he had not thought of such a small detail like this. It took Maxie about ten minutes to get her phone out of her pocket and another couple of minutes to get it open. She was not an avid texter and so she did not have all of the buttons on the phone memorized like most people did. For the first time in her life she wished that she was one of those people that was texting, or had their phone stuck to their ear like a growth. She focused on the task at hand and caned her neck to look at the buttons on the phone the best she could. She found the one, which was Johnny's cell on speed dial, and punched it in quickly.