While Maxie may have been overjoyed with the possibilities of her boyfriend getting a foot in the medical door, she noticed that the same was not to be said about the boyfriend in question. He should have been happy, but he wasn't. Why wasn't he happy? She wanted to ask, but she didn't want to make it obvious to the other people that were around him. Maybe they didn't know him as well as she did. Maybe they didn't notice that there was something that was bothering him like she did.

"I…" rare was it when Damian was forced to be at a loss for words, but he was at that moment in his life. What could he say? This was his dream, and it was closer to becoming a reality. Even if he wasn't a 'doctor' if he was just someone who went around with the Doctors Quatermaine and Bobbie that was still better than nothing, certainly a degree better than most 21 year old students ever got. So how could he pass it up?

"Isn't this wonderful?" Bobbie, ever the excited one, finally managed to get the big secret off her chest. They had been discussing it since that day when Jeremiah came into the hospital, singing the praises of the young man who kept him alive. She had to keep it a secret from everyone, even Lucky, Georgie and especially Maxie. She couldn't risk any of them ruining the surprise that she had helped with.

"It's an honor," Damian subconsciously gripped onto Maxie with more force, just for the stability that touching her gave him. "But… I just don't see why you're doing it."

"No good deed goes unpunished," Monica was wondering why the boy hadn't accepted yet. "Obviously, this time when you saved a life it didn't come at the cost of you being in the hospital unconscious overnight…"

"Monica," Alan spoke firmly. "I'm sure that he doesn't want to remember that night. Nobody does. Although, if you wanted us to be completely honest with you, Damian, that night does have a lot to do with it, and the time that you were falsely imprisoned. It showed us that you're not the type of person who is going to back down from a challenge. You spent two weeks inside of cell, you missed two full weeks of classes, normally that would be enough to cripple any medical student, and then you were in the hospital, kidnapped, bedridden… not to mention the tremendous pain that you must have been going through while your body recovered, and still you managed to pull your grades up. A lot of people would have just given up, at least for a semester or so. I know I would have."

"If those things would have happened to me, I wouldn't have tried to salvage my grades," Monica agreed with Alan. It was a testament to Damian's sheer power of will that he was able to steady himself after such a huge tumble.

"I spoke to your professors at the college myself," Alan continued, "a few of them were old colleagues of mine. They knew who you were and they said that you had a lot of potential. We're just offering you the chance to let that potential grow."

"Do… do I have time to think about this?" Damian hoped that he didn't have to make a decision at that moment. He didn't think that he could. There were so many things that he needed to consider. He would still have to go to school, keep his grades up, work at the hospital, be with Maxie… how much of his life would he be sacrificing? He was ready to make the sacrifice that often came with being a doctor, the one where a person was a doctor first and a person second, but that was something that he wasn't ready to do when he was so young.

"Of course," Monica smiled, understanding, at least on some level, what he must have been going through. It was a big decision. One that couldn't be made the moment it was offered. That wouldn't have been the right course of action to take. "But you have to let us know as soon as possible, and if you wait until the end of your break then there's nothing that we can do, we have to file the paperwork and everything before the first day of classes."

"I'm just so happy for you!" Bobbie hugged Damian. He wasn't her grandson, but he could just as well have been. She cared about him, and she knew that he cared about her. Who knew that one kid from Los Angeles that she had spoken to on the phone about renting a room at Kelly's would change her life, her family's life so much? "Sonny will be, too."

"Thank you, Bobbie. I appreciate how much you had to do with this." He knew that she had to have some input on the situation. A nurse was different from a doctor, but she was the head nurse, more importantly, she was Bobbie Spencer. When she talked, people listened.

On the other side of the room, Ric and Elizabeth had finally gotten to the point where they weren't standing and staring at each other. They had made the big step towards sitting on two chairs and staring at one another.

"Did I thank you for coming to this?" Elizabeth wondered.

"I believe you did, yes," Ric could faintly remember her saying something about thanks and coming. "But, to be honest… there was a part of me that didn't want to come. That part of me almost convinced every other part of me to not come."

"Why would you not come?" Elizabeth was hurt. Even though Ric had hurt her before, she didn't think that he would hurt her in a way that meant so much to her.

"Because of what happened at the apartment… the last time we saw each other. Elizabeth, I know what you look like when I hurt you, when I really, truly hurt you deep inside. You gave me that look when you left the apartment, and something inside of me snapped. I couldn't think about anything but you, the way that you looked at me, and how much it meant. You know, I didn't even go outside of my apartment for two days, didn't even get out of my sleeping clothes that whole time… I just didn't want to face the reality that I had broken the one promise that I didn't want to break."

Elizabeth listened to his explanation. She was hurt, yes, hurt that he was willing to toss out a gesture that was just made because of the love that she had in her heart for him, that did sting. She wouldn't deny it. But she had gotten over it after a few hours. Ric had every right to not want his apartment decorated. It was his apartment, it wasn't their apartment. "What promise was that, Ric?"

"The promise I made to not hurt you anymore, not in any way, but certainly not in the way that I used to. I should have known that it was a promise that I couldn't keep."

"You didn't mean to do it, Ric…"

"I never mean to do it, Elizabeth!" Ric sulked. "But that doesn't mean that I don't do it. You know, I try to tell myself that I'm something different, that I'm a better person than I used to be, and every time I start to believe that it might just be true, something happens that makes me wonder if I'm just fooling myself…"

"You're not," Elizabeth gave his hand a gentle pat. "You're not that man that pushed me away, not any longer, and you don't need to apologize for what happened. The fact that you came was all the apology that I needed, besides, I should be the one who apologizes to you. I tried to invade your personal space, to do something to an area of your life where I had no right being."

"Elizabeth, every part of me, everything I own, everything I am, is open to you at your own disclosure. You don't have to worry about overstepping your bounds. You could never do that with me." Cupping his hand over hers, he looked into her eyes, "Are we done fighting? Because I hate it when we fight."

"I hate it, too…" she smiled, leaning into his chest. "Yes, we're done fighting, Ric."

Meanwhile, the final preparations were being made for the party to start. A few of the children had managed to sneak out of their beds and were trying to get a glance at the moment before it was there time, luckily for the hospital, Officer Spencer was on duty. Lucky had managed to round up the escapees and return them to their room before they got too far in. Kids just couldn't wait for Christmas. Lucky remembered what that was like.

As he went by to make sure that there were no kids that he missed, he saw Damian and Maxie sitting on the couch that he had moved with the help of the younger man. They seemed to be holding something back. Lucky hoped it was nothing bad.

Dillon, Georgie in tow, saw that his best friend was troubled over something. Instantly he recalled the conversation that Damian appeared to be having with his mother. "Hey, Damian, don't let her get to you."

Pushed out of his mind, where he was contemplating every decision that he could have made regarding the internship, he looked up at Dillon, "What?"

"My mom…"

"What about her?"

"I saw you talking to her, remember?" Dillon knew he would, Damian was the reason that he stayed away from Tracy, because he had seen that Damian thought he could handle himself, maybe he was wrong. "I knew I should have helped you deal with her."

"This has nothing to do with your mom, Dillon," Damian assured the younger man. "Although I'd be lying if I said the Quatermaine's weren't involved."

"What are you talking about?" Dillon looked at Georgie, who could only shrug her shoulders. She was just as clueless as he was in the matter.

"They offered me an internship for the spring semester…"

"That's great!" Dillon smiled. "Really, that's so cool. You'll be on your way to becoming a doctor in no time."

"Congratulations, Damian," Georgie smiled warmly, "we all know that nobody deserves this more than you. Did they tell you when you were going to start?"

"I didn't say yes…" Damian hated bursting their bubble, but they were getting excited over something that hadn't even happened yet, that might not have happened at all.

"Why?" Dillon and Georgie were stunned, and their bewilderment showed when they both asked the question at the same time. Damian wanted to be a doctor, was going to be a doctor, why would he take steps that would prohibit his dream from coming true? That didn't make any sense to either of them.

"You haven't even told me yet," Maxie had remained silent, giving Damian the time that he needed while still showing that she was there to support him no matter what he decided. "You haven't even given me one good reason why you would pass up this chance. It's not like people get it all the time, you said it yourself."

"What if I can't handle it?" Damian asked the gathered crowd. "I don't have the training that I would have if I took the internship later, when I took more classes. I'd be inexperienced, really inexperienced. What if I made some stupid mistake that cost someone their life? Then the hospital would be liable, both Doctor Quatermaine's would have a horrible mark on their reputations…"

"You don't need to worry about Alan and Monica having bad reputations," Dillon was trying to lighten the mood. It was what he did. "Being Quatermaine's is more than enough for that to happen."

"I just don't want anyone to get hurt…" Damian finished his statement. Dillon's efforts, while appreciated, did not have the desired effect.

"You don't hurt people, Damian," Georgie tried her hand at the making him feel better mission. "You save people's lives, like that guy at the diner."

"He saved someone's life at Kelly's?" Dillon hadn't even heard the story, and he wondered why he had been kept out of the loop.

"He was amazing," Maxie told Dillon. "He knew exactly what needed to be done and he did it, no questions asked, no second thoughts, just did what it took to keep the poor guy alive."

"It was different then," Damian got up from the couch. "I know how to help a person who is having a seizure. I know how to make a splint for a broken bone. I know how to do a lot of things, guys, but I don't know enough. Not yet. I should take this chance, I know that I should. This is something I want to do, but I don't know if I should. They said that I had time to think about it, and I'm going to take that time, as much of it as I need."

"Maxie, Georgie," Lucky once more came around, this time at the behest of Bobbie herself. "Bobbie says that they're ready to start, you guys need to go over there."

Hesitant to leave, the girls knew that they had a duty, one that wouldn't take very long. They could help Damian through his problem after they helped make the kids feel better. Besides, he had Dillon at his side, and Dillon didn't appear to be going anywhere. Where else could he go, next to the Quatermaines?

A few minutes later, Maxie and Georgie were leading a trove of children towards the area that had been turned into a winter wonderland for them. It was easy to see that they were all truly touched by the spectacle, and everyone shared in that jubilance, watching as Santa, Ned Ashton in costume, handed out various gifts to the children, one at a time.

When the presents were handed out, and Santa left to fulfill his promise to give children around the world the gifts that they deserved, Alan came up and sat in the same seat, opening the book and beginning the yearly reading, the time honored tradition that had become as much a part of General Hospital as anything else.

Family and friends gathered around, at least for the most part. For some, that simple desire couldn't be fulfilled. Although she had the hastily changed Ned by her side, Tracy didn't have Dillon. She could see him, she could always see him, and she could see the distance that was between them. Something she wanted to change.