Note: Sonny/Michael scenes... so cute, so sad... I want more!

Kayla- I'm glad that you're enjoying the relationships that I have in my story. It is very important to me that people like the way that things are going and like who is involved with whom, it's easily the most important part of doing what I do. Thank you for affirming that I'm doing something right.

Story-

Scorpio Household-

Maxie walked into the house, a light smile on her face. She had a feeling that everything was going to be okay. Damian had been honest with her, even though he didn't trust her conversation with Lucky at first. She didn't know what she was thinking, talking to Lucky at that moment was one of the worst things she could have done. He didn't tell her anything, but she wasn't really expecting him to. She wanted to know, but if Lucky couldn't tell her, or wouldn't tell her, she would have to find out through other means. She walked past the living room, and noticed that her sister and Dillon were still there. "You two haven't even left the house since I've been gone?"

Georgie looked over her shoulder, cradled in Dillon's arms, "We thought we'd stay around the television in order to make sure that everything stayed the same with Damian's case. We knew you'd want to know if anything had changed."

"Thank you," Maxie said. "I appreciate the effort."

"How'd it go?" Dillon wondered. He and Georgie weren't going to interfere with their relationship, but Damian was still Dillon's friend and he wanted to know how everything was going.

"He seems to be fine," Maxie said. "He told me that as long as I believed in him, he'd be able to keep going."

"We believe that he's innocent, too," Georgie said. "We know it."

"Yeah, he couldn't hurt anyone."

Maxie nodded, "I know."

The door opened again as Mac walked into his home. He was worried about how Maxie was taking the news. He needed to talk to her. He thought he would have to fight with her to open the door to her room, but she was right in front of him. "Maxie..."

"Dad!"

"Do you know... what's happening?" Mac asked, concerned for his daughter's welfare. She had almost had a complete mental collapse such a short time ago. Pushing her further with anything stressful could break her.

Maxie nodded again, "He didn't do it."

"I know."

Maxie was a bit shocked, "You know?"

"Yeah, I know he didn't do it."

"Then why are you letting the people treat him so badly?" Maxie wondered. "If you know he's innocent, how come you're allowing everyone to think that he's a murder?"

"It doesn't work like that, Maxie," Mac said firmly. "You know that it isn't as simple as that when it comes to clearing someone's name. Just because we know that he didn't have anything to do with it doesn't mean that he's automatically free of guilt."

"You still think he had something to do with it?"

"Not with the murders directly, no," Mac said. "But I'm not going to lie, Maxie, I think he knows who were involved. I think he might have been there."

Maxie was quick to disagree, "He'd never be at a place where there was going to be violence. He'd never stay around and wait while his dad and Jason did their dirty work."

"Not unless he had a reason," Mac said. "Maxie, you know how much he loves his family. You know that he'd want to protect them at any cost. What if he went there just to make sure that everyone was going to be okay?"

"He wouldn't..."

"Who are you trying to convince?" Mac wondered. "Me, or yourself?"

"He wouldn't lie to me!" Maxie shouted. "I don't like you implying that he would!"

"Honey, I believe that he's innocent, I truly do."

"Then why can't you leave him alone?"

"Because he's the only person that we have a link on with the events that happened last night! We have to follow up on it, no matter how much we're against it." Mac sighed, "I will do as much of this investigation as I can myself, to make sure that no one treats him like he's a criminal when he's not, but I need you to do me a favor."

"What?"

"I need you," He cut himself off and looked over at Georgie and Dillon, "all of you to tell me if he says anything at all about what happened yesterday to any of you. Every little bit of information that we can get will help us clear him."

"He's not going to incriminate his family just to clear himself, Mac," Dillon spoke, not even taking notice of the fact that Mac didn't attempt to throw him out the minute he saw him. Obviously what Georgie had told him was true, Mac was becoming less of a hard-ass. Not much, but any softening was an improvement. "If any of them were even involved." Dillon knew in the back of his mind that they probably were. Somehow Jason was involved, that was almost certain. Jason was almost always involved in some of the more lascivious acts of Port Charles. Why should last night have been any different?

"He might feel safer talking about what happened around you guys," Mac focused on Maxie again. "Especially you, Maxie. You're the best chance that we have of clearing your boyfriend."

"I won't betray him."

"Not even if it means helping him stay out of jail? Maxie, if the District Attorney is able to pin all of those bodies on Damian..."

"He won't," Maxie cut in.

"But saying that he does," Max reaffirmed his comment. "If Baldwin is able to get Damian pinned for all of those bodies he's going to get the death penalty... or if the jury is being extremely kind he'll get life in jail. Either way, you'll never see him again."

"How can you be so cold, dad?"

"I'm not being cold," Mac defended himself.

"You just told me that my boyfriend was either going to be murdered for doing something that he didn't do, or he was going to rot in a cell for the rest of his life. Explain the part that isn't cold about those two statements to me, please."

"I'm trying to show you that you have to help me clear his name," Mac leaned against the door. "Maxie, I can see how much you care about him. Are you telling me that you don't care about him enough to keep him safe?"

"He wouldn't want me to try and go behind his back," Maxie said. "Even if he ended up getting cleared of all of those charges... if he found out that I worked against him and tried to use his honesty against his family... it would destroy him. He'd stop loving me."

"Maxie, think about what's more important," Mac said to her, firmly. "Damian's freedom or his opinion of you."

"How can you ask me that?" Maxie was close to tears. She knew that the situation could get bad, but Mac had just told her that it could end with Damian's death. She didn't want that to happen.

"There are some things in my room that I need to get before I go back to the station," Mac was sad. He didn't want to put his daughter through anything, but he didn't have a choice. "If anything happens, please call me."

Mac walked up the stairs, looking back at Maxie one last time. Georgie had come up to her and hugged her, always being the one who did the comforting. As always, Maxie was lucky to have her. They all were.

"Everything's going to be okay," Georgie said softly. "We won't let anything happen."

"Not like you could stop it," Maxie noted. "Dad's right, as much as I hate to admit it. If Damian does know something, and if it involves his family at all, he's going to keep quiet until the very end. He won't say anything that could hurt his family. He'll gladly go to jail if it means protecting them all."

"I thought you loved that part of him," Georgie said.

"I do," Maxie commented. "But I never knew it could be something that could get him into so much trouble."

"You scared?"

"Does it show?" Maxie asked.

"Only a little," Georgie tried to smile.

"Don't Georgie, please. Don't make me laugh."

"I won't," Georgie's face went blank. She wouldn't do anything Maxie wouldn't want her to.