Kelly's-
Georgie, still equipped in her candy striper uniform, came bolting through the doors. Kelly's was still empty, but the buzz around the hospital made it the place of the hour. She was working at the desk when the emergency crew brought in the man who had gone into a seizure while eating at the establishment, and she heard him and his wife speak of the young man who had saved the life of the victim. He was taken away and, when she checked last, he was still being examined, but he was highly grateful for what had been done.
All Georgie wanted to do was see if this mysterious hero was still around. Not because she wanted to flaunt herself at him, she still had Dillon and she felt that her heart would always belong to him and him alone, but she thought it would have been so cool to speak with an actual hero. The wife said that he wasn't even a doctor, so it was just some random person. It was humbling to Georgie, realizing that there were people like that who could and did help people just because it was the right thing to do, learning how to help people because they felt that they should have.
She saw her sister and Damian, who had since located to one of the tables in the dead area. Excitedly, she turned around, and the excitement fell quickly. "I missed him!"
"Who?" Maxie asked. "Dillon?" It made sense that her little sister would be so happy to see Dillon Quatermaine, but if that was the truth, then Maxie had to be the bearer of bad news. "Georgie, if you had a date with Dillon here then I guess he missed it, because we've been here for awhile and neither of us have seen him."
"He was at Jason's earlier," Damian informed Georgie, also on the wavelength that Maxie appeared to be on, thinking that Georgie would have only been so giddy if it was Dillon that she was clamoring over. He didn't even fathom that she was looking for him, neither did she. Thinking about Dillon made Damian feel even worse about the way that he had treated his best friend. Dillon deserved better than Damian had given him earlier. He needed to apologize. He couldn't help that he was so traumatized by the experiences that he went through, but that, in no way, made it acceptable for Damian to drill poor, innocent Dillon. Maybe he should have gotten Dillon a vat of hair gel as penance. Imported, from Switzerland. They made good hair products, didn't they? "He never mentioned going out with you, Georgie. Not that I gave him much of a chance…"
Maxie raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend. He seemed… remorseful. "What do you mean? How did you not give him a chance?"
Unaware that he had said the last statement in a way that made it listenable, Damian found himself taking the defensive, which was rare. He was usually the supporter, the one who was trying to talk to people when they had done something wrong. That didn't mean that he never did anything wrong, as his current situation proved. "It's something that I need to apologize to him for. I didn't hurt his feelings… I hope, but I wasn't as receptive towards his offer for help as I should have been. Quite the opposite, I nearly told him to blow off…"
"Did you mean to?" Georgie asked. She was trying not to take her boyfriends side, because she didn't know the whole story and the situation seemed to be something that Damian would rarely engage in. He wasn't the type who got into fights with people, and when he did it wasn't because he was a mean person.
"Of course not, Georgie," Damian didn't want to talk about it anymore. He didn't want to keep on reliving that moment, and the moments that came before it. They were painful for him. He may have been reassured in his purposes, but he didn't want to be constantly reminded of his doubts. "Look, both of you, I appreciate what you're trying to do by helping me out right now, but this is something that I need to apologize for myself. It's probably not that big of a deal, I'm probably taking it way out of proportion, but I'll deal with it."
"If that's what you want to do, then we'll support you," Maxie put her hand over his and gave it a gentle pat. She knew that something was bugging him, maybe it wasn't the way that he had treated Dillon, maybe it was, but there was something that Damian wanted to get off his chest, needed to get off his chest. "Just come to us if you need some help. Isn't that right, Georgie?"
"Yeah, of course! You're more than my sister's boyfriend, Damian, you're one of my really good friends, someone who I know I can come to if I need some help, a guy that I can talk to about my problems with Dillon. Before… the only person I could speak to about it was Mac, and he was always threatening to throw Dillon in jail simple for making me shed a tear because he said something that hurt my feelings or because he forgot about something that was important to me. You're a big improvement over that."
"Being compared to your father isn't exactly what I was expecting from either of you, but I'll take it as a compliment." Especially considering that he was the son of the mob king, being compared to the commissioner, the near polar opposite of his father, was odd. But in many ways, Sonny and Damian were separated. Damian was close to Mac in a lot of ways, maybe that was why they had such a volatile relationship. They weren't friends, they tolerated each other for Maxie's sake, but at least they didn't hate each other. Mac had helped Damian when he was in jail, too. That was something that Damian did appreciate, but it didn't change much. They wouldn't hang out in the backyard waiting for Maxie to get ready for a date. "Thank you, both of you."
"No problem," Maxie worried about her love, hoping that he was strong enough to make it through whatever it was that was causing him so much grief. He had helped her when she had a relapse of purpose. He was the only one who talked her down from that dark part of her mind. What if she couldn't' do the same for him? What did that mean? That he didn't value her as much as she valued him? No, of course not. Sometimes people needed to battle things on their own, no matter what. Maxie may not have had that time in her life, but maybe Damian was going through his.
"Well… I was all excited, and now I don't know what to feel," Georgie sulked. "I don't even think the hero guy is here anyway, I think I got overzealous."
"Hero guy?" Maxie laughed, what a lame name.
Damian was also somewhat interested in the 'hero guy' that was apparently supposed to be at Kelly's. While he was looking at Georgie his gaze was diverted when he saw Ric walk into the restaurant. Ric saw him and smiled, giving a soft wave, Damian returned it with a nod of his head.
"Yeah, there was this guy who had a seizure here at Kelly's earlier today. I would have thought that you would have been here if you've been around for a bit… did you see?"
"Yes, we did," Damian realized just what was going on. The 'hero guy' was him.
"It was scary," Maxie was also aware of the moniker, but figured that she would let her little sister sweat it out a bit. Not out of malice, just a good natured prank against Georgie. The type that big sisters were good for. "I was so afraid."
"Well, this guy, the hero, he helped save the seizure victim's life. The wife said that he acted so quickly and confidently while everyone else was worrying about her husband and not doing anything. I don't know, I just thought that I would come and see if the guy was still here so I could tell him how impressed everyone back at the hospital is."
"Like who?" Maxie tried to hide her grin. Georgie really had no clue that she was talking about Damian, to her, it was hilarious. But why wouldn't he be considered a hero? He saved a life, that was something heroic.
"Alan, Monica and Bobbie, for starters. Even Audrey and Uncle Tony were talking about it."
"Was it a slow day at the hospital?" Damian asked. Why would he be the talk of some of the best medical minds in the county? He saved a life, they saved thousands, maybe even tens of thousands, in their years of service, but he had saved one and everyone was treating him like he was something special. He felt Maxie smack his shin with her foot. "I mean, that's great… but… I don't know, I don't think that the person would want so much attention for doing something that just came naturally."
"Who doesn't like attention?" Georgie didn't believe a word that was coming out of Damian's mouth. People craved the spotlight, it was just the way that they were. Georgie craved it just as much as the next person. It didn't mean that she got it, but she wanted it.
"True heroes," Elizabeth came out from behind the wall, she smiled at Ric and started walking towards him, "are those that do what they do because it's the right thing to do, Georgie. Not because they can get attention and their face in the paper for it. I think that was the last thing from the guy's mind while he was saving that man's life."
"Did you guys see him?" Georgie asked her sister and Damian. The excitement had returned.
Ric hugged Elizabeth. He hadn't heard about the medical fit at the restaurant but he was glad that everything turned out okay. He kissed his girlfriend on the forehead, "Are you okay? You're not jittery about what happened?"
"I was, but I knew that the guy was in good hands when I saw who was working on him…" Elizabeth looked at Damian and winked.
"Answer the question!" Georgie was losing her temper. They were holding out on her, she could sense it. They knew who the guy was and they weren't telling her. They were all so mean!
"I see him every day," Damian replied. "I'm sure that he wouldn't like being called a hero, Georgie."
"How do you know…" she refused to believe him. Not because she didn't trust him, but because she was sure that he didn't really know.
"Because, Georgie, you're looking at the 'hero guy.' Damian was the one who saved the life of Jeremiah," Maxie started laughing at her little sister, and especially laughed so much more when she saw Georgie blushing.
"You really did that, Damian?" Ric asked. He was impressed. He knew that his nephew was a good guy, a guy who was going to be a doctor, but to save a person at random, just like that, it was something special.
"Please, don't make a big deal out of it, all of you," Damian pleaded. "I did what I was supposed to do, can we just leave it at that?"
"Damian, you don't have to be so humble," Ric was trying to be supportive. Damian deserved something. "What you did… was really worth at least some praise."
"Ric's right, Damian," Mike finally returned from behind in the kitchen, too. "I'd bake a cake, but right now anything sweet… just wouldn't be appealing."
"Wait a minute, did you just say that I was right?" Ric was astonished.
"Don't think that it's a habit, Lansing," Mike countered. "Occasionally, very occasionally, you can say something that is actually worth mentioning. I don't expect it to happen again anytime soon, though."
"Mike… Ric's a part of Damian's family just as much as you are," Elizabeth always found herself defending Ric and his place in Damian's life.
"Can we not do this right here, please?" Damian asked, getting up from the chair. "If you guys are going to just engage in the Corbin against Lansing battle again, do it without me stuck in the crossfire, would you?"
"Damian!" Maxie got up, but she stopped herself, watching the young man walk out of the diner. She looked at Mike and Ric. "I hope you guys are happy. You're both going from praising him to making him feel uncomfortable. That's seriously got to be a record of some kind."
"I shouldn't have taken that moment to attack Ric, but I won't apologize for not liking the man."
"Nobody is expecting you to walk around hand in hand while singing the yellow brick road, but at least you could try and be civil towards one another while he's around," Elizabeth was with Maxie in this battle. She hated the animosity, understandable as it was. She just wanted to get rid of it. "Family means so much to him, and he knows that you will never be together in that way, but he tries to play peacekeeper as much as he can. I understand where he's coming from."
"Should we go talk to him?" Ric knew that it was only a matter of time before he ended up pushing away the one member of his family that could tolerate him. It was the last thing that he wanted.
"I think that you've done enough for now, Ric," Maxie said scornfully. She didn't understand why Damian cared about Ric as much as he did, but she loved him because he was willing to look past the faults of everyone that was around, even her. "I'll go talk to him. Georgie, do you want to come with me?"
"No, thanks… just make sure he's all right."
Maxie didn't have to look far for him. He was right around the corner, out of the sight of those that were in the restaurant, but still around. He wasn't crying. She'd never seen him cry, but he was obviously upset. "I'm so sorry that you had to see that."
"I don't ask for much, Maxie. I really don't ask for much. It's not like I'm asking for the world. I don't even ask for a dinner together with everyone that I'm related to in Port Charles… I just ask for some peace from the snide remarks that I hear whenever they're around Uncle Ric. And I can't even get that…"
"Come here," Maxie hugged him, doing her best to comfort him when he needed her. "Maybe they don't like each other, but they all care about you. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"Yeah," Damian nodded, "but it might not ever be enough."