Early Evening, Port Charles Docks-

She loved to look out at the ocean from the docks. To just watch the way that the waves would curl. It made her feel like there was something that she couldn't even begin to fathom, and she was okay with that. She could stand there the whole night if it were possible. But it wasn't. Not only did Maxie have to parade around in an outfit that she hated, no matter how much good it did for the children, but she wanted to do something with her boyfriend before that. They wouldn't be able to wake up together on Christmas morning. They wouldn't be able to open the presents that they had gotten one another, so that was something that they needed to do in the evening, but it wasn't the only thing.

"As requested, I'm here…"

She heard his voice and she stopped staring at the waves to look at him. She had spent so much time thinking about what had happened to him as a child, what had destroyed his faith in the holiday, and she had cried. But she wouldn't cry in front of him because that would only make things worse. He would hate that his pain had caused her even more pain, she knew that. "You make it seem like you don't want to be here with me…"

"Now why would you think that?" He walked closer to her and scooped her up in his arms. "I could never ignore you wanting to be around me, Maxie. That would just be mean. Besides, it's Christmas Eve. We deserve to spend some time together."

"How… how are you doing with everything?" It was a loaded question. She knew it. It was a question that he didn't really have to answer if he didn't feel comfortable with telling her, but there was no harm in asking. He had told her what had made him so somber around Christmas, so why wouldn't he tell her how he was feeling around that time?

"I think I can manage to watch one of those old claymation specials from the sixties without wanting to throw something at the television. It's a vast improvement…"

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Hide something behind a joke and a sarcastic remark," she knew that it was his defense, a frequently utilized defense on his part, but she wanted him to be honest with her, and he couldn't do that if he wasn't being honest.

"I won't lie to you, Maxie. It's never going to be something that I'll forget. It's always going to be something that comes back to me the first time I hear the beginnings of 'Silent Night,' or when I start seeing the people with their houses that are all decorated for the holiday. But it's also going to get easier. I've managed to go seven years without her being by my side… maybe, what I was looking for was something to fill that void."

"Do you think you've found something that will?" Maxie sat on one of the posts that kept the bridge up, but she failed to notice that it was slick with ice, and the weight that she had was enough to cause her to slide.

Before she could fall into the murky water that would cause her to freeze, she was gripped by the strong arms of the man that she loved. "Well, I never had to save my mom from slipping into the ocean depths, but, like I said, I'm from California, the only time we ever see ice is when we open our freezers."

Maxie laughed, mostly at her own stupidity. But she wasn't going to be happy if she slipped into the water. She hated it when she got wet, unless she planned on getting wet. She hadn't planned on getting wet any time soon. "I should have been watching where I was sitting."

"Did you hear me?"

"Yes, you're from California. You've pointed that out several times in the past few days. It's becoming your trademark…"

"Maxie…" Damian turned around. "You don't get what I said, do you? I was looking for someone to give me something like what I had with my mother. Something that might be similar, but can never be the same… and you give me that. A part of the reason that this isn't as hard as it has been for me in the past, a big part of the reason, is because of you. I'm sure that Michael and the rest of my family have helped the cause, too, but my relationship with you is the one thing that has helped me deal with my animosity towards the holiday best."

"I just wanted to help." She was touched that she meant that much to him. She knew that she meant something to him, but to be compared to his mother, that was an honor because she knew how vaunted Ana-Maria was in Damian's eyes. For him to even compare the two on the smallest of levels was something that she couldn't have dreamed about.

"And you did, more than you know," he saw a few people walking by, dressed in Santa Hats. "See? I'm not ranting about their choice of décor."

"You know… if you don't want to go to the hospital party, Damian, I won't force you to go. I know how much you don't like being around a crowd of people."

"It's for a good cause, and I already said that I would go."

"I wouldn't hold it against you if you changed your mind…"

"Maxie, don't worry about it, I can handle it. This is important to a lot of people that I care about. You, Georgie, Bobbie, Elizabeth and that's not even counting all the kids that are finally going to have something that they can smile about." Damian paused for a second, "Wait a minute. This isn't some final plea for me not to go so I don't see you in that little elf getup, is it?"

"Of course not…" she didn't want him to see her in the outfit, but that wasn't why she made the offer. It was because she didn't want him to deal with emotions that he would have rather ignored. A part of her didn't want him to be a downer, to ruin other people's holidays, but she saw the way that he acted, he tried his hardest to make sure that other people had a good time even when he was miserable.

"Is that what's in the bag that you're carrying?" Damian's index finger pointed at the bag that was in her hand.

"No!"

"Come on, let me see!" Damian didn't believe her, he wanted to see the outfit. "I promise that I won't make fun of you, even when you're in the outfit."

"You'd better not!" She grinned. "But, really, I swear, this isn't the outfit that you want to see me in so much…"

"Then what is it?" He was curious.

"Would you believe that it's your Christmas present?" She was going to wait a little while, but if he was so curious about the bag, she wasn't going to try and hide it from him.

"Is it really? Because, I have your gift, too."

"Do you want to exchange them now?"

"I don't know…"

"Come on!" Maxie put the bag out, "I want to see what you got me! I can't wait!"

"You're going to be waiting…"

"No way!" She started feeling around his jacket, looking for the present. Unlike hers, his present to her wasn't as obvious as being placed in a box.

"You're not even reaching in the right place, Maxie," Damian took her hand and lowered it, effectively ending her misguided attempt at search and seizure. Damian reached under his jacket and pulled out a concealed box. "See? You wouldn't have found it." He placed the box in front of her eyes, "Go ahead, Maxie. It's Christmas, this is your gift. Open it."

Maxie took the box gingerly. She didn't want to damage something that she would no doubt cherish for the rest of her life. A gift from him. From the boy that she loved, the boy who loved her and understood her. That was a gift in itself, but he still got her something. Opening the box, she gasped when she saw the glittering jewels that adorned her gift. "Damian… this… is too much…"

"My father gave me money to buy things for the people that I love, it only seems fitting that I spend the most money on the person that I love the most, doesn't it?"

"I can't accept this…"

"Yes, you can, and you will. Maxie, when I saw this bracelet, I thought about you. I thought about how you would look with it on. It's modest, don't you think? There were some bracelets that you would need sunglasses to look at, but I didn't want to put you in danger of being mugged. See?" Damian took it out, giving Maxie a better scope of the present. "It's silver, with a few diamonds running around it." Putting it around her wrist, he saw that it looked exactly like he thought it would look. Beautiful. "Please, say you'll keep it."

"I love it…" she turned away.

"What's wrong?"

"This must have cost you so much money… what I got you, it doesn't even compare…"

"Maxie, my father has more money than he could ever hope to spend, so he gave me some… I know you don't have the same luxury, I know that money isn't something that you can just throw around like I can, that makes your gift even more special. Please, anything that you get me is going to be perfect. I promise."

"You probably won't be saying that when you see it…" Maxie stretched her hand out and held the bag out to him.

Damian, sad that she wasn't as happy as he thought she would be, took the content of the bag out. "It's… sheet music."

"For the piano. It doesn't sparkle. I could throw some glitter on it, but that would just mess it up."

"Where'd you get this?"

"At that store that you got Morgan's present. I thought about it… and I went in."

"You went in to the bookstore?"

"Don't make fun of me right now, Damian, please!"

"Maxie," Damian wrapped his arms around Maxie, holding the book in his hands, "I love this present."

Maxie scoffed. "You're just saying that to make me feel better. How could you love something like that when you gave me something that is worth so much?"

"Presents aren't about the money that they cost, Maxie. They're about the feelings that come from them. You really thought about getting me this book, didn't you? You even went into a store that you have well established disdain towards, just because you knew that it would have what you wanted to get me. That little gesture, Maxie, that makes it worth more than anything that I could have bought you from any jewelry store. But it's not the only present that I got you."

"Please tell me you didn't get me earrings…" Maxie should have been happier than she had ever been before. She loved getting jewelry. She loved things that she could wear that looked good on her. What teenager didn't?

"I don't think that you can put this on your ear. Well, you could," Damian took the other present out, "but it would look really bad."

"An envelope?" Maxie wondered what was inside. Was it more money? Was he trying to buy her love? Didn't he know that he didn't need to buy her love.

"Open it…"

Hesitantly, Maxie took the envelope and opened it. She saw a letter, and she began to read it. Her face lit up a moment later, "It's from Zander!"

Damian knew that she would love the letter. "I managed to convince my dad to track him down. I know how worried you were about him. I didn't read it, whatever is inside that letter, Maxie, is meant for you and you alone."

"Why did you do this?" She wondered as her eyes glanced down the letter. He was doing okay. The pain from the bullet that he took to save her life had already gone away, and he was starting to like his new life.

"Because I know how much you care about him, and I wanted to give you something that money couldn't buy… see? The value of a gift doesn't matter, Maxie. That letter cost… what… 37 cents, the bracelet was considerably more, and which do you favor?"

"The letter… but I love the bracelet, too." Maxie was distracted by the sound of Damian's phone going off.

Damian picked it up, his caller ID showing the person who was calling. "Uncle Ric?"

"Could you come to my apartment, please?" Ric's voice was heard through the phone. "I need some help, and you're the only one I can depend on."