Chapter 7:

After Georgie had awakened, Ned informed her that she would be able to stay with him for the next three nights and that Maxie had dropped off her clothes and things she thought she would want.

Now, she and Dillon were making their way to the Quartermaine mansion for dinner. They opened the door to hear Edward's voice screaming at the family.

"Now, Georgie is extremely upset about her mother and I don't want any of you making things worse for her!"

Dillon took Georgie's hand and squeezed it gently to let he know everything was all right. Dillon cleared his throat and called attention to himself. Edward swung around and tried to cover up the mortified look that was appearing on his face. "Well, now that you two are here we can start. Everyone to the dining room!" he bellowed. A J walked over to where his cousin was standing and whispered, "welcome to the nut house" in Georgie's ear. She looked at Dillon again for reassurance before following everyone into the dining room.

The first few minutes of dinner were silent before A J spoke up. "So, you and Georgie finally got back together. Congratulations," he said casually.

"Um.we're not back together. I have a boyfriend," Georgie said. A smile spread across her face as she continued speaking. "Besides, Dillon keeps flirting with my sister. You should really tell him to stop because Kyle's beat him up before and I wouldn't want that to happen to my best friend."

Dillon glared at her, "first of all, I was NOT flirting with Maxie! You know where I stand on that. And second of all Kyle wont beat me up because I'm sure Maxie's blabbed to him already."

"So you admit it. You two are scheming," she said, her smile not fading.

A J laughed at the look that came over Dillon's face. "You set yourself up for that one," he said.

Georgie grabbed her water and took a drink. When she grabbed her glass, Emily, who was sitting next to her, noticed the gold band she wore around her thumb. "Georgie that ring's beautiful! Where'd you get it?" she asked curiously.

When Georgie realized what Emily was talking about, she tried to hide her hand but Dillon had already noticed it. "Isn't that mine?" he asked.

"No, my grandmother gave it to me," she lied.

He took her hand and grabbed pulled the ring off. "You little liar!" he said, more joking than serious.

"That's no way to talk to me Dillon Quartermaine! Have you forgotten your manners or something?" she asked.

"Look whose talking. It has my name engraved in it. I've been looking for this for the last two years and you've had all along haven't you?"

Georgie laughed. "I took it right off your hand before you left. Think of it as a little revenge for leaving me. Besides, I learned from you so I don't know what your problem is."

The Quartermaine family looked at the two teens amusingly. They had never seen this side of Georgie. Alan and Monica had seen her with who they had assumed was her new boyfriend and she was always shy and quiet. People would put her down and she wouldn't even try to defend herself, but with Dillon she was firing back sarcastic and witty remarks faster than he could get them out himself.

The two got quieter after a few minutes, but just as that commotion started to settle down, the possibility for one much worse arose. Jason and Courtney walked into the dining room only to be stared at by all of the occupants of the room. "What are you doing here you heathen?" Edward asked.

"We came here because Lila asked us to. You know we wouldn't step foot into this house if she didn't live here!" Jason said sharply.

"Yes, because we all know that golden boy is too good to be seen with his family," AJ said hotly. "And we all know that his new wife would hate to have to be in the same room as her horrible ex-husband," he mocked.

Soon, the whole house was filled with the sound of angry voices bickering. It was funny how easy one small comment could set the family into hysterics mode. Georgie looked at Dillon and without speaking a word, he had grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door.

Once outside, he smiled "I was wondering when things were going to get bad, I don't think there's ever been a day that that place hasn't come close to exploding."

Georgie didn't look very amused by his comment. "Can we please go somewhere and eat, I haven't eaten all day and my head is starting to hurt," she told him. The food had taken longer than expected and they had left before it could be delivered to the table.

On the drive to Kelly's, Georgie turned to Dillon, "Dillon?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. For everything," she said.

No other words were spoken. None had to be. Dillon took her hand in his almost unconsciously.

Georgie looked down to see her fingers intertwined with Dillon's and couldn't help but smile. It seemed so.right. It all seemed to fit.

'Don't do this Georgie! You're with Sam now. You care about him and you're over Dillon!' she cursed at herself, while slowly slipping her hand out of his.

He chose to stay silent. 'The last thing she needs is me making her choose between me and the loser she's with,' he thought. The rest of the drive was blanketed with awkward silence.

~*~

When the two walked into Kelly's, everyone in the diner stared. Everyone knew about Felicia by now and they all gave Georgie sympathetic looks. The looks weren't the worst part though. Some of the girls from her school were there and rumors had already begun.

"I heard that she had a total breakdown." they heard one girl say.

"You know what? I think I'm going to wait for you in the car okay?" Georgie asked Dillon.

"Okay, I'll be there in a second," he replied. "And Georgie.ignore them."

She nodded her head and went back to the car. As soon as the food arrived, he paid the waitress and went to find Georgie. She was in the car like she said she was going to be, but tears were now streaming down her face again.

Dillon slowly opened the car door and slid in. "you all right?" he asked knowing that if she replied yes it would be a lie.

"I'd say yes, but you could always see through my lies," she chuckled slightly. "I always hated that about you."

He smiled, "yeah, well I always hated the way I couldn't say no to you and the way you were there whether I wanted you to be or not. You're the only person who has ever been able to pull me out of the dark holes I seem to dig for myself. Let me return the favor. Let me help you Georgie," he whispered.

That's all he had to say to get her to open up. It was always like that with Dillon. Sam, Maxie, Mac, not even her mom could get her darkest feelings out of her and she did well to hide them, but with Dillon it was Different. All he had to do was say something simple like that and she would know that every word of it was true.

"It's just that.my mom's in a coma that she may never wake up from and people are saying that I had a nervous breakdown. Wouldn't you be having a nervous breakdown too if you found out the person you need the most has the odds stacked against her?" Dillon nodded, knowing that that is exactly what he would do if any thing ever happened to Georgie. She was the person he needed most in life. "I know it shouldn't get to me, but it does. I'm supposed to be the strong one. I'm supposed to be the one keeping everyone together; not the one falling apart!" more tears slid down her face as she explained the feelings she had kept bottled up to him.

"Georgie you're sixteen years old. You're the youngest one in your family though you could never tell by the way you act. It is not your job to make sure everyone else is okay. It's not your job to put everyone else's feelings before your own. You are staying with me to get away from them, I know it's hard for you but for once be selfish and just think about how you're going to deal with this okay?"

Georgie just nodded her head and leaned into his embrace. After a few moments he pulled away to start the car and head back to the Gatehouse.