From the Ashes

Authors Note: Chapter 2 is finally up lol. Thanks so much for the reviews for Chapter 1. I read over all the reviews and took what everyone said and decided that this chapter is not going to have any Nem or any of the Fab 4 in it. So this chapter is GQ, Lusky and Zaxie friendly lol. I'm also writing in more characters like Mac and Dillon.

And finally...don't forget to review! I love reading reviews and it encourages me to write more and more often than if I didn't get any lol

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Maxie emerged from her bathroom dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a light blue fuzzy long sleeved shirt. She had her hair neatly pulled back into a ponytail and she was grateful for the creation of hair dryers otherwise, her hair would be drenched and she wouldn't be cold all day since it was winter after all.

She went over to the staircase and heard familiar voices of her sister Georgie, Dillon and Mac down stairs. Maxie slowly walked down the stairs and into the kitchen to see all three of them seated at the kitchen table having breakfast.

"Hey Maxie, you better dig in before its all gone." Dillon said with a grin before shoving a big bite of a waffle into his mouth.

Maxie smiled slightly and took a seat next to her father. "What time do you have to go to work?" she asked him making small talk. She wanted to think of the right way to ask him about the note that she found.

Mac looked at his watch on his wrist. "I have about an hour or so before I have to leave here." He replied. He glanced at Georgie and Dillon and then at Maxie. "What do the three of you have planned today?" he asked them. This was a usual routine on the weekends, Mac liked to know what his children were doing while he was away at work.

Maxie dished up her food deciding to let Georgie and Dillon answer first. Dillon and Georgie exchanged glances and smiled at each other. "Dillon and I are going to go to pond to go ice skating." Georgie said. "Dillon is going to try and teach me not to fall every two seconds." She says with a slight laugh.

Mac grinned. "That sounds like fun you two." He said and then looked over at Maxie. "What do you have planned today Max?" he asked her. He had a hunch what she was probably going to do...volunteer at the hospital, but he asked anyway.

Maxie pushed her waffles around on her plate not looking up. "I'm going to the hospital to volunteer." She said and then pinned the bit of waffle with her fork and brought it to her mouth. She put the waffle in her mouth and chewed it slowly and then swallowed it.

Mac nodded. "Well that's good Maxie, I'm sure the hospital really appreciates all the time you put in there." He said

Maxie just smiled in response as she noticed Mac, Dillon and Georgie exchanged worried glances. She knew they were concerned about her, heck she was concerned about herself. She hadn't been the same since loosing Zander in the fire....Maxie was well aware of that. She quickly gulped down her food... even beating the chowhound Dillon. She stood up. "I have a few hours until my shift at the hospital stops....do you mind if I go shopping for a little bit? I need some supplies for college." She said. Besides, this would get her out of the house for a while.

"Do you want Dillon and I to come with you Maxie?" Georgie asked as she turned and looked at her sister.

Maxie shook her head. "Nah, it's just going to the store... Nothing exciting there. You two have fun and enjoy yourselves. And Dillon, you better buy my sister a hot chocolate!" she said putting on a smile. Maxie then grabbed her coat and headed out the door. She had forgotten all about asking about the note.

Dillon laughed. "Can do Maxie." He replied watching her leave. He stood up from the table. He turned to Georgie. "I have to stop by the Quartermaine Mansion to go and get my skates....do you want to come along with me or do you want me to meet you over at the pond?"

Georgie pressed her lips together in thought. She wasn't a fan of Dillon's family....especially his mother, but she decided to go along with him anyway. "I'll come with you." She said with a slight smile.

Dillon took her hand in his as they walked to the door together. Dillon helped Georgie put on her winter jacket and then put his own on.

"I'll see you later dad!" Georgie called out to Mac as she grabbed her skates from the floor by the door.

"Bye Mr. Scorpio!" Dillon called out to Mac

"Bye Dillon, Bye Georgie, have fun." Mac called out from the kitchen. He wasn't worried about Georgie. She had Dillon and Mac knew that he made his daughter happy. Who Mac was worried about was Maxie. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Skye finished the last drop of her coffee and set her cup down. The two had planned the whole day out for Lulu and Luke was grateful for Skye's help.

"We do have a problem...." Skye said as she looked down into her empty coffee cup. She kicked herself for not realizing this sooner.

Luke looked at her curiously. "And that would be???....." he asked gulping down the remainder of his hot java.

Skye sighed softly. "I just remembered that I have no idea where my ice skates are." She admitted. "We are going to have to stop someplace so I can buy some because I doubt I'll be able to find mine."

Luke bit his lip as an idea came into his mind. "We won't necessarily have to stop someplace." He replied as he stood up from the table. "Come with me." He said to Skye and didn't even wait for a response as he exited the room.

Skye quickly rose to her feet and followed Luke all the way up to the attic of the Spencer House. She felt like she would follow Luke Spencer anywhere. She made her way up the attic stairs hearing a creeking sound whenever she would step on the next step. Once she was up in the attic, she stopped in her tracks as she noticed Luke heading towards a bunch of boxes.

"Luke, can you please tell me what we are doing up in the attic?" she asked planting her hands on her hips.

Luke, who was busy looking through the boxes for the right one didn't even bother looking up when he replied. "I'm looking for a box."

"Well obviously....but the question is why?" Skye asked as she took a seat on an empty crate. She watched him go from box to box looking for the right one. "Do you need any help looking for whatever you are looking for?"

"Nope, I don't need any help Blaze." He said as he finally found the box that he was looking for and opened it up. "Found it." He announced. He dug through the box carefully and pulled out a pair of women's ice skates. "You are a size 7 ½ right?" he asked Skye.

Skye had no idea that he knew that about her. They did know a lot about each other, but Skye didn't know his shoe size....she didn't expect him to know her's. *I guess he knows more things about me than I thought* she thought. Skye nodded. "Yeah, that's right...but-" she started but then Luke cut her off.

"Laura has...or had the same shoe size as you." Luke said standing up and walking over to her. He looked down at the skates and smiled sadly at them. Thoughts of his Laura flowed through his mind.

Skye knew what he was getting at. "Oh no Luke, I couldn't possibly wear Laura's skates." She started as she stood up. She placed her hands on his, which were on the skates. "These are special because they are hers. I wouldn't feel right wearing them, besides I don't want to ruin them." She said with a warm smile as she looked into his eyes.

Luke looked into her eyes and nodded. He wasn't going to push the issue. "Okay, I guess we are going to the store then." He said as he set the skates down.

"I guess we are..." Skye said softly as she glanced around the attic. Luke had a lot of things up there....a lot of memories of Laura and his children from when they were younger. Skye wished she had wonderful memories to hold onto....items that reminded her of the good times. She still didn't know about her father....she didn't even have a name of the man that helped her come into this world. As for her mother....she died about 6 months ago. Rae had gotten into a horrible car accident that cost her life.

"Get some red skates." Luke said simply and then cracked a smile trying to relieve the tention. He walked towards the attic stairs.

Skye felt the tension lift and smile as well. She pushed all of those thoughts out of her mind. "We'll see what they have...if you can find me a pair of red ice skates, I promise I'll buy them." She replied following him to the attic stairs and out of the attic. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dillon and Georgie stepped up on the porch of the Quartermaine Mansion. Dillon rang the doorbell and waited patiently for their new butler Philip to answer the door. During the past year or so, they had gone through so many butlers. Since their family had some money again, Edward became pickier...like he used to be. Dillon had to say that his favorite Quartermaine butler had to be Alexis as Dobson. His thoughts were interrupted as the door opened. Philip had indeed answered the beckon.

"Hello sir." Philip said with little or no emotion in his voice. He sounded like a robot.

"Uh...hello to you too Phil." Dillon said as he and Georgie stepped inside.

"Hi Philip." Georgie said politely hoping for a smile from the man. She didn't get what she wanted. As soon as they were physically inside the door, Philip shut the door and was gone.

"That's one cheery man." Georgie said sarcastically. "He is almost like a robot."

Dillon grinned. "He will come around eventually. Living in this mad house...he will have to break sometime." He said. "I'll be right back, my skates are in my closet. You can wait here." He said going over to the staircase and ascended up them.

Georgie watched him disappear up the staircase and glanced around as she waited for him. While she waited, she heard a voice that she despised growing closer...Tracy Quartermaine. Then Georgie saw her, coming from the living room ordering Philip the butler around like a dog. Tracy halted as soon as she laid eyes on Georgie.

"Look what the cat drug in. What are **you** doing here??" Tracy said giving Georgie an icy glare.

"Dillon and I are going ice skating. We will be gone in a few minutes." Georgie said sighing heavily.

Tracy rolled her eyes. "My son will get bored with you eventually." She said. "That Sage Alcazar was far more interesting than you."

Georgie cringed at the name Sage. She hated that name and never wanted to hear it again. It was just like Tracy to throw it in her face like that.....typical Tracy Quartermaine. She didn't say anything in response to what Tracy said. *Come on Dillon, hurry up* she thought to herself.

Tracy knew she hit a nerve. "Maybe I should go and look Sage up....bring her back to Port Charles to rescue my son from you." She said with an evil smirk.

Georgie was about to say something when she saw Dillon coming down the stairs with his skates. Dillon noticed Tracy and groaned.

"Leave Georgie alone mother." He said as he reached the main level of the Mansion.

"I'm not bothering little miss boring Georgie." Tracy lied. She then gave Georgie a look.

"I don't believe you....you aren't capable of not bothering anybody." Dillon said placing his around Georgie. "Lets get out of here." He said.

Georgie nodded. "I agree." She said giving Tracy a look back before the two headed to the door. Dillon opened the door and the two exited the Mansion.

Tracy heard the door click shut. "If I weren't so busy helping Helena get revenge on Luke, I'd be putting a stop to this." she huffed. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Maxie walked slowly through the Port Charles Park with her shopping bag. She really did go and buy some school supplies like she said she was. She glanced at her watch and noticed that she still had time to kill before she was to be at the hospital. Her mind drifted to her sister and Dillon as she wondered if they were at the ice rink yet. Now what those two had was young love. Maxie envied her sister for finding someone like Dillon. Even though he messed up majorly with Sage, Dillon was an overall good guy and had been golden since the Sage mess.

As for her love life...she could honestly say that it sucked. Her crush on Lucky Spencer was a waste because he obviously was not interested in her in the least. Her relationship with Kyle was a mistake from day one. He had stomped on her heart and she would never forget that. She regretted ever giving herself to him, that was one of the things she regretted the most in her life. She was such an idiot back them, young and wild....not thinking about her actions, just doing them. She was out of control and she was glad that she was able to pull herself back together.

Then she remembered the note...she had forgotten to ask Mac about it. She quickly pulled out her cell phone and dialed her home phone number hoping to catch Mac before he left for work. She held her phone to her ear as she waited for someone to pick up. As Maxie was about to hang up, she heard Mac's voice come over the other end of the line.

"Scorpio Residence." He said sounding very professional that Maxie almost laughed out loud.

"Hey dad, its Maxie." Maxie said smiling to herself still getting over how funny he sounded.

"Hey Maxie, is everything alright?" Mac's voice asked.

"Yeah, everything is fine. I got what I needed and I'm going to head home very soon. I just had to ask you something before you headed out the door." Maxie said taking a seat on an empty park bench.

"Well, you have perfect timing, I was just about to head out the door." Mac said. "What did you want to ask me?"

Maxie paused for a second. Trying to think of how to ask him, she finally decided to come out and flat out ask him.

"Did you leave a note for me in my room this morning?" Maxie asked as she found herself holding her breath for some reason.

Mac didn't know what Maxie was talking about. "A note?" he asked. "No Maxie, I didn't leave a note in your room." He said.

Maxie was stunned. She fell silent. If the note wasn't from him....then who was it from?

Mac noticed the silence. "Is everything okay...and what's this about a note?" he asked concerned.

Maxie decided to not involve him in this. She faked a laugh. "Oh, it was probably Georgie....she just left me a goofy riddle in the note." She said. "Well I better get off my cell phone because I don't want to waste my minutes."

"Okay, I'll see you after work. I'm getting off around dinnertime so I'll be home for dinner. Have fun at the hospital and don't work too hard." Mac said.

"I won't work too hard. Bye Dad." Maxie said drawing the conversation to a close

"Bye Max." Mac said.

With that, Maxie ended the phone call and put her cell phone back in her purse. She knew damn right that Georgie didn't write that note. The writing that was on that note was not that of a girl, but that of a guy. It then hit her....someone was in her room. Maxie knew she felt a breeze that morning when she woke up. "Could it have been Dillon?" she asked out loud. She shook her head immediately dismissing the thought. "Dillon wouldn't be leaving me a note. If he left a note, it would be for Georgie." She said. Maxie still remembered what the note said.... "Look into the past for someone is not lost in it." She said out loud repeating the contents of the note to herself. She knew it was some kind of a riddle, but Maxie hated riddles. Georgie was more of a riddle- solver than she was. Maxie knew she couldn't solve one if her life depended on it.