Harbor View Towers-

Max DiMaggio had seen people try to sneak some of the most curious things past him in his time as the guardian of the upper levels of Sonny and Jason's homes. He'd seen people try to get guns past him, bombs, tape recorders. He had thought that he had seen it all, but the look on his face when he saw Dillon and Courtney trying to sneak a Christmas tree, a very large Christmas tree, past him was priceless. Now, it was most certain, he had seen it all.

"Is my husband home?" Courtney, who was carrying the top of the tree asked. She didn't try to make it seem like she wasn't doing something that Jason wouldn't approve of. In fact, the smirk on her face showed that she was having a lot of fun. It was something that Courtney Morgan rarely got to feel.

"Jason hasn't been here for a few hours," Max was curious, but it slowly began to piece together in his mind. "Oh, Courtney. Come on, you're not really…"

"Can we bribe you with Candy Canes?" Dillon, carrying the end of the tree, walked past Max. "We've got the rainbow cherry ones and the peppermint ones. They're festive, sweet, and a good way of not being able to answer questions when cold blue eyed mobsters who don't like Christmas start asking them."

"You want me to lie to Jason Morgan?" Max was stunned. "Can anyone even lie to Jason Morgan? Is that possible?" Jason knew when people were lying to him. He knew when Carly was lying to him. Carly frequently lied to him, but Carly frequently lied to a lot of people, so the point was moot.

"Not so much lie," Dillon assured Max, "just… keep your mouth shut if he wonders what is going on. Come on, Max. You like Christmas, don't you?"

"Well, yeah…"

"And you can't have Christmas without a Christmas tree, can you?" Dillon was slowly going to use his logic to win the battle against tree haters the world over. He'd already beaten down Damian's cynical outlook on the tree, he could beat anyone! "It's like going to the movies without getting popcorn, blasphemy!"

"Popcorn's expensive, and I don't really like the movies…"

"You wound me, Max. You wound me in such harsh ways…" too many people around him didn't like movies. Dillon needed to find a place that worshiped movies as much as he did. That was why he wanted to move to Cannes eventually. They knew how to respect movies, the little ones, too. Not the big international hit ones.

"But I love Christmas, and I always look forward to decorating the tree each year with my family. I won't say anything… but if he finds out, then it's not my fault. I'm not going to put my neck on the line for a pine tree."

"I did," Damian was letting them do the heavy work. It was their idea. He should have just let them find the tree on their own. He would have been nice and cold, and not fighting the fact that he couldn't feel anything. "Nearly froze to death finding that thing."

"You're from California, what'd you expect?" Max asked.

"Finally!" Damian would have hugged Max, if he could get his arms around the man without worrying about them snapping off and breaking into a million pieces on the ground. "Someone who understands my plight!"

"Could someone get the door, please?" Courtney was finding it difficult to not drop the tree and open the door. The tree was large, it needed both hands.

"I'll do it!" Michael ran forward and pushed the door open. "Where are you going to put it?"

"In the corner, by the window," Dillon had planned out everything in his head, as if decorating the tree was like a cinematic experience. "Do you think it's a good place?"

"Well, what if Uncle Jason looks inside the window and sees the tree? Don't you want him to be surprised?"

"Outwitted by an eight year old…" Dillon lowered his head. "Truly, Dillon Quatermaine, you have hit a low point in life."

"Just close the blinds?" Damian suggested. "He can't see through them, and as long as you don't turn the Christmas lights on until he knows what's going on he shouldn't see anything."

"Someone's coming in the elevator again," Max pointed out, seeing the light coming up from the bottom. "You better hurry…"

"Pull, Courtney, pull!" Dillon ordered as he shoved the tree through the open door. "Damian, stall for us if it's Jason!"

"What do you want me to say?"

"Complain about how cold you are… you've been doing it long enough…" Dillon winked as he shut the door with a mule kick.

"Max… if I ever, ever get the bright idea to look for a Christmas tree with Dillon again, do the right thing…"

"Sonny wouldn't like it if I killed his boy…"

"I'll write you a note," Damian waited for the elevator doors to open, expecting the leather jacket to be clearly displayed. But that wasn't what he got. Instead he saw the Jones' sisters. "Maxie? Georgie? What are you doing here?"

"We thought we'd help you decorate the tree," Maxie walked into the hallway. "I wouldn't mind doing that with my boyfriend… does that make me such a bad person?"

"No, it doesn't," Damian was elated to see her. As long as she didn't get into the hyper-holiday spirit like the others had, he'd have someone to keep him anchored. If Maxie started prancing around and stringing up lights and garland and popcorn, he was doomed. "But, I don't want you two to get in trouble with Mac…"

"Mac doesn't know," Georgie smiled mischievously. There was a time when she wouldn't even fathom lying to her father. Now, it was something of a second nature to her. Did that mean that she loved him any less? Of course not. Mac was her father, he would always be her father, but in being her father he did things that she couldn't agree with, like keeping her from seeing her boyfriend in his own house. She had a hard enough time getting Mac to concede brief visits when Dillon was staying at the Quatermaine mansion, now that he was staying with Jason Morgan… well, Mac made sure that she knew that there was nothing that was going to get him to concede a visit. "And as long as he doesn't find out, then everything will be fine."

"And if he does?" Damian could picture the actions that Mac would take if he found out that his darling daughters had decided to spend time in Crime Central. None of the mental images involved a good future for his daughters or their respective boyfriends.

"We'll handle our father," Maxie clutched onto Damian's hand. It was so cold. "Can he really get mad at us for wanting to spend Christmas with the people that we love?"

"If anyone could find a way to get mad at you for that, Maxie, it would be your father."

"Touché," Maxie muttered. She wasn't proud of the way her dad acted. He had ways of doing things that she didn't think were possible, ways of making the most inane logic seem like it was probable.

"Come on, I want to see what the tree looks like in the house!" Georgie knocked on the door.

Michael, being the only one who wasn't hoisting the tree at that moment in time, opened the door at the command of his Aunt Courtney, who said so in a very exhaustive voice. "You're here again?"

"You don't mind, do you?" Georgie asked.

"No, I don't," Michael liked Maxie and Georgie. They were nice to him, they helped him when he needed help, and they were his brother's friends. "It's just, you don't ever come here when you want to see Damian or Dillon, so I didn't know that you would come over."

"It's a special occasion," Georgie smiled and walked in. "And, if anyone asks, you never saw us here…"

"Mum's the word," Courtney said, turning her head and nodding at Georgie. She was glad that Georgie and Maxie had come, it made it better for Dillon and Damian, and that was what she wanted. She wanted things good for them above anyone else.

"Where's Dillon at?" Georgie didn't see him.

"Maybe the tree ate him," Damian said sarcastically. "He probably picked the one tree that was some sort of guardian spirit, and now it's going to take his soul for rupturing it from the earth…"

The girls all shot Damian a very questionable look. It made him blush slightly. Damian coughed and looked at his brother, "From now on, we're not reading any more of those wizards and warriors books that you like so much, okay?"

"I'm right here, Georgie!" Dillon peered his head from behind the tree. "I'm just trying to get this thing in the stand so it doesn't crush any of us." They had stopped off at a store for the essentials, a tree skirt, ornaments, lights and a tree stand. They had them delivered. The place didn't normally do delivery, but when you threw around names like Jason Morgan and a few extra hundred dollars, results were quick to be gotten.

"Here, let me help you," Damian moved away from Maxie, breaking their hold as he walked next to Dillon, grabbing the other end of the bottom of the tree, looking for the slot to put the tree in on the stand. "Move it this way, Dillon. On three. One, two, three…" they lifted in unison, moving the tree until it slid into the slot.

"She's gorgeous…" Georgie said as she kissed Dillon the cheek. "You picked one of the prettiest trees I've ever seen, and it's not even decorated yet."

"Are you just going to do the tree?" Damian was picturing the entire house in Christmas hues. Jason wouldn't like that, but he would tolerate it if he saw how much it meant to his wife and to his cousin. But they could give him some slack and only do a tree, maybe the fireplace for the stockings.

"For now," Courtney looked at the tree and saw the boxes that had been delivered. "Hey, Michael, do you want to help me do the lights?"

"Sure."

"Okay, grab this end and pull, but just go in a straight line until they get untangled," Courtney took the end that was pronged, giving Michael the other. "And, when it's straight, you can start wrapping it around the tree, we'll do a few stands and then we'll start putting the ornaments on."

Maxie put her hand on Damian's back. She loved the boy so much that it was no surprise that she was able to tell that there was something bugging him. It was in the way that he acted. He was trying to hide it, but he wasn't doing so well. She also knew that if she pushed it wouldn't do her any good. She needed to let him come to her. "This is really great, you know. I dreamt about doing this with you from the moment I realized how I felt about you. I hope this is the first of many Christmases for us. Maybe we'll be decorating a tree in our own home in a few years…"

"Maybe," Damian looked at the tree. The Zuniga's never got such a big tree. They couldn't really afford one. They would only do the smallest amount of ornaments and lights. He used to love decorating the Christmas trees, but the magic, just like everything else, seemed to leave. "I'm sure we'll find a way to spend Christmas together every year…"

"Here," Dillon handed Georgie a handful of tinsel, "do what you want with it?"

"Whatever I want?"

"Whatever you want," Dillon nodded. "Go crazy."

"Okay… but remember, you said I could do whatever I wanted with it," Georgie took a handful and threw it at Dillon, the clumps landing in his hair. She laughed, which quickly turned into shorter giggles.

"Now you've done it!" Dillon wrapped his arms around Georgie and lifted her up into the air, "You know how hard it is to get tinsel out of your hair?"

"It's actually pretty easy," Georgie said between laughs, pulling out strands at a time, "See? No trouble at all…"

Damian tried to smile, but he couldn't. There was nothing that he saw that would make him smile. Instead, he turned and went outside.

Maxie saw his frown and followed behind. She was going to break her vow and meddle. She had to know why he was so depressed. "Damian… tell me… please. Just tell me what's wrong…"

"I don't think I can tell you that, Maxie…"

"You can tell me anything."

Damian nodded, looking at her. He knew that he could tell her, but in telling her so he would have to vocally relieve a part of his past that he would sooner forget. But the only way he was going to get over it was to talk about it.