Joy- Good, you heeded the well known advice that water in Mexico has been known to do many things, least of all kill those unfortunate enough to ingest such putrid liquid. I seriously find myself thinking the same thing when I'm watching the show. I always go 'If Damian were an actual character, he wouldn't let that happen.' It makes me laugh some times because it shows how invested I am in the soap. But you're right, he wouldn't stand for the way that Sonny is acting about the boys. Of course, I don't know if Sonny would actually listen, we know how he gets, after all. There are plenty of policies that the people of Port Charles should adopt, but we don't have the time to actually list those things. Mac is a blind fool, but we love him for that. He does realize that Damian is probably a better guy than Kyle, but considering how low on the scale Kyle was, that's really not saying much. Yeah, I knew I was going to throw BJ's heart into this story when I decided to make Maxie a focal point. I never watched it, but I know what happened and the basic ways that it went. Thank you for the compliments and the continued support!

Story-

Cemetery, Port Charles-

She looked at the tombstone. She knew what it said, but she still needed to see it for herself: Barbara Jean Jones. The tears rolled down Maxie's cheek as she thought of her cousin, one of her best friends, one of the best people she ever knew. She didn't deserve to die so young. She didn't deserve to have to die in order to save Maxie's life. Maxie should have been the one that died, she was already sick and there wasn't any hope for her outside of a heart transplant. But instead it was B.J. that was buried, B.J. that died, B.J. that had her life ended when she had so much potential that she should have done. Maxie had wasted her life doing so many stupid things. Things that B.J. would have never done. She would have been a good person. She would have been everything that Maxie wasn't. She shouldn't have been the one that died. She... shouldn't have been the one. Maxie collapsed on her knees in front of the tombstone, "You shouldn't have been the one..." She continually muttered to herself.

Minutes Later-

Damian and Georgie had dashed from the hospital over to the cemetery. They were both out of breath, but neither of them cared about that. All that mattered was making sure that Maxie was okay. Georgie pointed in the general direction of the tombstone, she'd been there a few times herself. B.J. was important to her. She had saved Maxie's life. "She should be... over there..." Georgie said in between breaths.

Damian nodded, "Stay here."

"What?" Georgie turned her head up, "I'm not going to leave my sister alone."

"I'm not going to hurt Maxie, you should know that better than anyone."

"I would never hurt her either," Georgie stated.

"You hurt her by saying the things that you said to her," Damian noted. "I know you didn't really mean to hurt her, Georgie, but you did. If she sees you... she might just run away again."

"I didn't mean it..." Georgie muttered to herself.

"She knows it, too. You were just upset by her lack of emotion towards your mother. But right now neither of us really knows what state of mind Maxie is in. I don't even know if she wants to see me right now."

"I messed everything up," Georgie acknowledged, more to herself than to Damian. "I let my anger get the better of me and it ruined everything."

"She'll forgive you," Damian said softly. He cared about Georgie as well as Maxie. He knew that she was hurting from what she said to her sister. "She loves you too much to stay mad at you."

"You think so?"

Damian smiled, "If I can get over my reservations over my father... anything's possible."

"Make sure she doesn't get away again," Georgie didn't order him, it was more of a plead.

"I'll try," Damian turned away and walked towards the tombstone.

Maxie was still crying and she had her head leaned up against the tombstone. "If I could do it all over... I'd make sure that you were never in that accident. I'd make sure that you didn't die..." Throughout her whole life Maxie lived with the regret that she had about being the one that lived when her cousin died. She would never accept that it was the truth. She would never accept that she should have stayed alive while Barbara Jean died. She could attempt to make herself look as happy as possible, but there was always that black cloud looming over her.

"Maxie..." Damian stood over her, his voice as soft and soothing as possible. There was no telling how she would react to him being around her. He loved her, she loved him, but she wasn't the same person that he knew, not at that moment.

She jerked her head up, her eyes red from the tears that had fallen down her cheeks throughout the night. "How... did you find me?"

"I had help," Damian took a step towards her. She made no sudden movements.

"Georgie called you, didn't she?"

"She was worried about you."

Maxie snickered, "She's always worried about everyone. The people that don't deserve any of her love. Me... our mother... Georgie's got the best heart in the world, and it's her heart. She didn't have to get it from someone else."

Damian got down on his knees, "Come here..."

Maxie looked up at him, trying to look as stone faced as possible. It didn't work for a very long time. She cracked again and thrust herself into Damian's arms, sobbing into his shirt. He held her tightly. "I should have been the one to die... not her."

Damian didn't really know what to say. He didn't know what she was talking about. "Whom?"

Maxie pulled away and wiped her nose with her finger, "My cousin. Barbara Jean. We called her B.J. when she was alive. I still call her that, even though she's gone. I was supposed to be the one that was going to die. I was the sick one, the one that didn't have a chance in the world to survive. She died... and I got her heart."

"You didn't have anything to do with her death, Maxie," Damian assured her. "These things... they just happen."

"She shouldn't have died!" Maxie yelled. "She should be up and running around and making the world a better place." She slammed her fist into the ground, "She shouldn't be buried in a casket like this!"

"I know how you feel, Maxie. Trust me, I know how you feel."

"Do you really?" Maxie asked. "How could you know what it's like to..." She stopped herself as she thought about it. His mother. She died. She left him. "Damian... I didn't... I'm sorry."

Damian only gave her a smile, "I know, Maxie. You're upset at the world for taking away something so precious to you, and you feel that you should have done something about it. I've felt like that every day of my life."

"She would have been better than me at everything," Maxie stated sadly. "She loved her mother, she was a better daughter than I could have ever hoped to be."

"Maxie... you love your mother."

She shook her head, "No, I don't! That's what makes me such a bad person!"

Damian grabbed her hands, "Are you telling me that you could know that she died and not shed a single tear over her?"

Maxie was silent. Finally, she uttered a single word, "I..."

"We both know that isn't true, Maxie. You're too good of a person to just let your disappointment in the woman that gave birth to you be the only part of your relationship. You might not like that she hasn't always been there for you, but you still love her somewhere inside your heart."

"It's not my heart," Maxie muttered.

"Yes, it is," Damian said. "It belongs to you now, a gift that someone gave to you in order to allow your life to continue when hers couldn't. You need to realize that she would have wanted you to stay alive. I know you might not ever feel entirely comfortable with how you got a second chance in life, but at least one of you could survive."

Georgie was watching the two converse a safe distance away. She couldn't really hear anything that was going on, but she knew that Damian was making some headway. Maxie appeared to be calming down.

Mac ran up, "Where is she?"

Georgie had called him once she knew that Maxie was in the cemetery, "Over there."

Mac looked, "What's he doing there?" Mac went to interrupt.

"Don't, dad," Georgie grabbed his arm. "He's the only one that can do anything right now."

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Mac asked.

"I do," Georgie muttered. "He's right, she might see us and try and leave. She's disappointed in herself and in us. She might not be ready to see us."

Maxie wrapped her arms around Damian's neck, "I love you."

"I know. I love you, too." Damian led her up off her feet, "I'll take you home."

She shook her head, "I don't want to go home."

"Maxie, you have to go home, that's where you live."

"We could go to your place..."

"I don't think my dad's ready to let me bring my girlfriend over," Damian stated.

"Not Sonny's, the apartment. We could be alone. There's a bed there..."

"Maxie..."

"I just want you to be with me tonight," She said

Damian shook his head, "Maxie, I won't do what you want me to do."

Maxie turned away, "I'm not good enough for you, am I?"

He shook his head, even though she couldn't see him. "It's not that and you know it. I can't do what you're asking because I don't believe in it."

"You're not religious," She stated.

"Being religious or not has nothing to do with my morals," Damian grabbed her hand again. "It doesn't change how I feel about you, I just can't do that. Please respect my feelings."

"I still can't go home... they're mad at me."

"They're not mad at you. They're worried sick about you."

"How do you know?" Maxie asked, entirely in disbelief about what Damian was telling her.

"Because I was there when Georgie broke down and said that she felt really bad about what she said to you that made you run away from her. She's waiting for you, if you want to see her."

"I can't..."

"What's stopping you?"

"She wants me to do something that I don't want to do. I can't see our mother."

"Make her understand."

"How can you be so nice to me? I don't like my mother, and yours was the most important person in your life."

"Not everyone has the same relationship with their mother as the one that I had with mine," Damian said. "I know that some mother's aren't the best people in the world, and I accept that people can have different opinions on their parents. I may not know your mom, Maxie, but if she can hurt you as much as she did then I'm sure it was something bad. I'm sorry that you had to go through such pain."

"I'm sorry you had to lose your mother."

"So am I. Come on, your sister is waiting for you."

Damian lead Maxie over to the area that Georgie was waiting for them. He didn't know that Mac was waiting with her, and he really didn't care. If Mac wanted to resent him, fine. Maxie was safe, and that was all that mattered.

When Maxie came close enough, Georgie ran up to her and hugged her tightly. "I'm so sorry, Maxie," She said softly.

"It's okay, I shouldn't have run off like that. I'm really sorry that I worried you, Georgie."

"We'll have a talk about that tomorrow," Mac said. "But, for now, I'm just really happy that you're okay."

"I'll talk to you later," Damian let go of Maxie and started to walk away.

"Hold it!" Mac called out. "Look... maybe I was wrong about you. If you hadn't been around... I don't know what would have happened. But I know that you had something to do with calming my daughter down, and I appreciate it."

"Make sure she gets some rest," Damian instructed. He walked away and headed for home.

"Daddy," Maxie hugged him. "Thank you, I know how hard that was for you."

"I only want you safe and happy," Mac said. "Come on, let's go home."

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