Kelly's-

Despite owning the restaurant in question, Bobbie didn't really spend that much time at the place. It was through that lack of leadership that she thought it was best to hire someone who could give it the guidance that it deserved. She couldn't do it because she wouldn't be able to give up something that was so important to her. As much as she would have hated to admit it to someone, the fact still remained the same: her nursing job was more important to her than owning Kelly's. Never mind the fact that nursing made her more money, it was also a better job for a lot of other reasons. Bobbie, who had started out life with everything going against her, was finally doing something that would help people, help people who were like her when she was younger. She could help the people who Ruby would have hired had she still be around, get them to turn their lives around, be happier. Hopefully they would never have to worry about giving up a baby, only to find that child and have a very rocky relationship. While she and Carly may have patched things up and began a very beautiful and fulfilling relationship there was always going to be the fact that they were two completely different people in many ways.

Mike was someone that she trusted, not just because he was the father of her son-in-law, the grandfather to her own grandsons, but because she saw a lot of herself in Mike. He may have started later in life than she had, but he was trying to turn his life around, was trying to make amends for the mistakes that he had made in the past, that he was still making. But he had showed her that he could be responsible, that he could be someone that people could count on. Ten years ago someone who made that claim would likely get laughed at, but now, things were different. Things were better. Or so she thought, when she got the call to come to Kelly's, she could hear something in Mike's voice that showed that he was worried, or hurt. Maybe Sonny had done something, said something, to open up the old wounds that would always come so close to being healed before one of them ruptured and spilled fresh blood.

She was waiting at her favorite table for Mike to come out from the back. She had finally gotten off her shift and she was really looking forward to getting some well deserved rest, but she wouldn't, couldn't, say no to someone when they needed her, to do so would go against everything that Bobbie Spencer believed in.

Elizabeth was helping a young couple make a choice on what to eat. They were travelers, coming from Maine to visit relatives for Christmas. She loved hearing the stories of the people as they came around. To some they were boring, but they fueled her imagination. Sometimes she would even paint a picture in her head. She missed painting. Kelly's still hadn't picked up to its usual amount of traffic since the medical incident. Hopefully those people weren't starting a rumor that Jeremiah had the seizure because of something that he ate. Food didn't cause seizures, did it?

When they had made their respective orders, Elizabeth walked over and put the order on the stand so that it could be taken care of. It was then that she saw Bobbie. She had been busy listening to the couple that she didn't see her boss walk in. But, with Bobbie there, it gave her someone that she could talk to, someone that she knew. And it never hurt to just say hello. "Did you come here to eat?"

"No, ever since I started coming here so frequently I developed a resistance to the food…"

"Maybe you should say things about that when we're not feeding other people," Elizabeth tilted her head at the couple, who didn't seem to be paying attention, but they could have been playing fools. "How about some coffee then?"

"Got my own cup," Bobbie held up the cup of coffee that Elizabeth had managed to overlook. "Being the owner has some perks, like being able to get my own things." She loved Elizabeth like she loved a daughter. Elizabeth had helped Lucky through some of the hardest parts of his life, for that alone she would always be indebted to Elizabeth. "The extra money that comes from this place doesn't hurt, either. Especially around Christmas, and now that I've got an extra person to buy a present for…"

"Save yourself the lecture and don't ask him what you should buy him," Elizabeth knew that it was Damian that Bobbie was talking about. Nobody else fit the description, unless Bobbie had herself someone special.

"You tried to get some hints, did you?" Bobbie took a sip of her coffee. Black was the only way to go after a stressful shift. It helped snap her back into reality, rather than sugar coat her mind with sweetness.

"He said that I should use my money for better things than buying a present for him. Sometimes I swear he and Ric are so alike… Ric doesn't ever want me to buy him a Christmas present, either…"

"There are those people who deserve a lump of coal…" Bobbie and Elizabeth had one thing that was always going to cause a rift between them, Ric Lansing. Like many other people, Bobbie couldn't see that Ric was trying to be a better person. All she saw was a crazy man who locked her daughter in a room and kept her from her family for months at a time.

"Bobbie… please," Elizabeth had no desire to get into another argument that focused around Ric. She needed to get a stamp that said something like 'give Ric a chance…' or just a tape recorder of her various arguments, played at the right time. It seemed like she was cycling through the excuses as it was. It would have saved her time. "I would have thought you'd come around sooner than you did…"

"Why?" Bobbie was interested in the comment, then she remembered that the seizure patient had been brought in at Kelly's, she was more astonished by the fact that someone was able to help him more than she was interested in where it happened. But she corrected herself, "Because of the man that was brought into the hospital?"

"It was so scary, Bobbie," Elizabeth wouldn't forget the scream of the wife when her husband fell, or the way the plates all crashed to the ground. She wouldn't forget the way that he looked when he was convulsing on the ground.

"Just be glad that you had someone around that knew how to help him," Bobbie had yet to be informed of just who the person that had done the miracle deed was. "He wasn't even a doctor, but he knew how to help. Maybe he was an EMT or something…" she looked up at Elizabeth, who was grinning and holding back laughter, "Elizabeth, I hardly thing that someone having a seizure that could have been fatal is something that we should be laughing at. In fact, I'm certain of it."

"I'm not laughing about that, Bobbie," Elizabeth would never laugh about someone else's misfortune. She would never be that dark, no matter what happened she wanted to help people, not hurt them. "But you really don't know who the person was?"

"Should I?"

"I think you should," Elizabeth got up when the couple waved her over, walking past Bobbie and whispering, "it was Damian…"

"No…" Bobbie was stunned, but she didn't know why she was stunned. It made sense. He was studying to be a doctor, why wouldn't he know how to help someone having a seizure. He knew how to take a bullet out of someone's knee.

Elizabeth sat back down when she finished refilling their drinks and assuring them that their food would be ready in a few minutes. "Yup, it was Damian. We got lucky that he came here…"

"Why was he here?"

"We don't really know yet, he went upstairs. I found him in his old apartment…"

"You don't think that he's trying to move back in, do you?" Bobbie wouldn't say no, the apartment was still being rented to him just in case he needed to get away from his father, but she didn't want Damian and Sonny to go through another relationship issue. She knew how much it tore at Michael, and even how much it tore at Damian. She didn't want that for any of them.

"I don't think so… he went back to the penthouse a little while after everything happened. He would have told me that he and Sonny were having problems, he did the first time that it happened. Maybe he just wanted some time alone…"

"Maybe," Bobbie thought about asking, but she didn't want to intrude. Much like with Elizabeth, Damian knew that he could come to Bobbie, that he didn't have to worry about what she would say. She would help him, it was that simple.

"He was amazing, Bobbie," Elizabeth's eyes beamed with praise. "He knew exactly what to do, and he improvised so quickly."

"He understands that if he hesitates someone can die, Elizabeth. That's something that nobody in our position can ever forget. Someone who went through what he went through to make him take the path that he's taking remembers it even more intensely… but what's important is that he was able to help save the man's life."

"Did they say what was wrong with him?" Elizabeth asked, curious for her own good as well as his. Damian probably wouldn't ask around about the guy, he wasn't that type of person, even if he did want to know. If she knew for him she could tell him eventually.

"He said that he hadn't had a seizure since he was a teenager, and that even then they were rare, but he's been having them since he was a little boy. It was just something that built up after all those years. He never told his wife because he figured that he had outgrown them. She probably wouldn't have known what to do and he would have died if he had one when they were alone."

"Georgie said that he was creating a buzz around him at the hospital. A buzz that you yourself were engaged in at the time…"

"What he did was a terrific thing, Elizabeth. Of course we took notice of it. It's rare when someone who isn't a doctor is responsible for saving a life like that. I'm very proud of him."

"You're not the only one, you should have seen Mike," Elizabeth grinned when she thought about how Mike acted. "About the only thing that he didn't do was bake Damian a cake… speaking of which, you might want to get new pastry devices…"

"What?"

"Nothing," Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Bobbie didn't need to know about that. It wouldn't be something that she wanted to think about.

"Where is Mike, anyway?" Bobbie asked. "He called me over, made it sound like it was something that was urgent… and he's kept me waiting."

"Sorry, Bobbie, but I do have people that I need to cook for," Mike came up and tapped Elizabeth on the shoulder, "Elizabeth, their food is ready, and I think you can take your break after that… not that you didn't get enough of one when we were all alone, but this is paid… even if we do get people, nothing I can't handle."

"Okay…" Elizabeth got up, "I'll talk to you some other time, Bobbie. I still have to give you your gift. Unless you're still here, then we'll talk some more…" She got the people their food and told them that they just needed to ask for Mike's help if they needed something.

"Bobbie… thanks for coming."

"You sounded like you needed me for something, Mike. Why wouldn't I come? This is my business, I try and take care of it, and you're my friend, I try and take care of you…"

"I don't think that I should be working here anymore…"

"Mike!" Bobbie exclaimed, stunned. "You're doing so well for this place, I couldn't do it without you. I don't want you to go!"

"I don't want to go, Bobbie, but I think it might be the best thing for me to do… given the circumstances."

"What? Does Sonny not want you working here or something? Mike, I know that you work in overdrive trying to make up for what you did in the past, but you cannot let the man run your life. You're an adult, you're free to make your own choices."

"Sonny doesn't have anything to do with this… well, he has something to do with it, but it's a very abstract reason." Mike didn't like the idea of leaving, he hated it, but he saw something in Damian's eyes, hurt. Hurt that he had caused. "Bobbie… whenever I get around Ric Lansing something inside of me snaps, and I can't control myself. Even when I should, something comes out of my mouth that is just so mean… and I like that about myself, but I know that there are people around me who don't."

"You mean Elizabeth?" Bobbie could see Elizabeth lecturing Mike about being nice to Ric… and nothing that anyone could do would stop Elizabeth from defending the man that she loved.

"No, actually, it's not Elizabeth," Mike wished that it was Elizabeth. Even though he cared about her it wasn't the same if he hurt her feelings. He wasn't supposed to keep her happy. "It's Damian. The way that he looks at me when I say something to Ric… I know that he wants me to stop doing it, and I know that no matter what, I can't. Because I can't, I know that each time that they're around, together, I'm going to hurt Damian because of my grudge against Ric. And Ric comes around here a lot because of Elizabeth, and Damian comes around here a lot because of his friends, so they're here at the same time more than I'd care to see…"

"Mike, he understands that you have your opinion about Ric, he understands why you don't like him. It hurts him, but he doesn't hold it against you. Please… just stay."

Mike was quiet, but he looked at Bobbie and saw that she was being genuine and truthful. He didn't want to let another person down. "Okay… I'll see what happens."