WhiteCamellia- A review! Beams With Happiness Thank you for taking the time to review and I am glad you are enjoying this… per your request, here's an update. Only one, since I can do daily updates again…
Scorpio Household-
Georgie was sitting on the couch in her living room, several of her new presents lying harmlessly on the ground below. Christmas to her was always something that was special, but it was made even more special when she met Dillon. She still remembered their first Christmas together, the way that they acted when they tried to give each other the gifts that they picked out. They were so nervous. It was hard to believe that they'd come so far… yet it seemed like not that much time had passed.
She glanced over at her sister, who was on the recliner. How did Maxie feel about it? This was her first Christmas with Damian. Did it go well? She hadn't asked, but maybe it was time that she did. "Maxie…"
Maxie was reading the letter that Zander had written her again. She didn't know how many times she had read it, but there was still something that she wanted to see. She knew that Damian didn't lie to her… he wouldn't, right? The letter had to come from Zander.
Georgie was alarmed when she didn't get an immediate response to her beckon. She also wondered where her sister got the letter from. As always, Georgie's mind swarmed with possibilities. Had Damian broken up with her on Christmas Eve? Was that what the letter was about? They looked like they were happy together at the hospital party, but maybe it was just an act. "Maxie!"
Maxie lifted her bright blue eyes up, "What?"
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
Georgie didn't believe Maxie. Why should she have? "I know you better than that, Maxie, you're not fine. You should be able to tell me what's wrong."
"Nothing is wrong, Georgie, I swear…"
"I would tell you if there was something that was bothering me, why can't you do the same?"
"Georgie…"
"You know you can talk to me about it," Georgie got up, leaving her new PDA on the couch. She could program it with all the stuff that she would need to be successful in the final semester of her high school career later. "Is there something going on between you and your boyfriend?"
"Why are you doing this?" Maxie was already being annoyed by her darling little sister. Gerogie was supposed to be the mature one, not the one who was asking the questions that she didn't need to know the answers to.
"Because you're my sister, and I love you…"
"I love you, too," Maxie was genuine. No matter what, she would always love Georgie. There were times that they drove each other crazy, the times had lessened when they finally grew up and became young women, but there were still plenty of times that they wanted to strangle each other, even in their teenage years. Maxie also realized that she wasn't going to get anywhere with her sister. "You're not going to leave me alone until I tell you something, are you?"
"Nope…"
Groaning, Maxie handed the letter over, "Fine… read this."
"I can't believe he broke up with you in a letter," Georgie was thinking that her theory of a breakup letter was legit. But Maxie appeared to be taking the breakup much better than Georgie would have thought, and for that she was quite proud of her big sister. She could see that Maxie had matured.
"Broke up?" Maxie didn't know what Georgie was talking about, which happened quite often, given the intellectual differences between the Jones girls, but she doubted that it was something like that given the context.
"Damian… this letter isn't from him?"
Maxie laughed, albeit softly. "Damian would never break up with me in a letter, Georgie. I hope he would never break up with me period, but if he did I know that he would do it to my face. Just read it."
Georgie, now much more intrigued with the contents of the letter, began to read. "This… this is from Zander. How'd you get this?"
"Damian gave it to me last night. He said that he knew how much I worried about Zander, so he had someone find Zander… wherever he is, and write me a letter telling me how he is."
"That was very thoughtful of him."
Maxie smiled proudly. She knew how thoughtful it was, and she knew that Damian must have really cared about her to do something like that. "I know… but I'm worried."
"Zander says that he's fine, Maxie," Georgie handed the letter back. "What more could you ask for?"
"What if it wasn't really Zander?" Maxie asked. "What if Damian knew that it was bothering me and he just had someone do this… maybe he did it himself… to make me feel better?"
"I don't think he would do something like that to you. He really cares about you, Maxie. He know how much you care about Zander. Most guys would be jealous of something like that."
"What if he's really jealous, too?"
"Maxie… he's not like Kyle."
"I know that!" Maxie wished that her little sister wouldn't have brought up Kyle. That was easily one of Maxie's biggest mistakes, perhaps her biggest. If she would have never gotten involved with Kyle then she wouldn't have started drinking and doing drugs. He was her snowball effect, and he was gone now.
"What I meant by that is that Damian respects you as a person. He knows that you have friends that you care about and some of them might just be the same gender as he is. Most guys would be very hostile towards their girlfriend having a relationship like you had with Zander. But Damian doesn't want to lose you… he wouldn't do something like forge a letter and say that it was from Zander, he knows how much that would hurt you. He gave you that letter, that gift, out of love… don't turn it around and make it something that is hostile. He deserves better than that, and so do you."
"I guess…"
"Do you want me to talk to him?" Georgie could see that her little pep talk really wasn't having the intended reaction.
"No, I believe you," Maxie didn't want her little sister getting involved in any more of her problems. Georgie was always the one to bail her out of the mistakes that she had made. Maxie was technically an adult now, she needed to do those things on her own. "I'll ask him myself, Georgie, I promise. He wouldn't lie to me, not to my face."
"And what happens if you end up being right?" Georgie wondered.
"I'll be hurt, of course," Maxie didn't like to think of the possibility, but that didn't mean that it wasn't there. "I know that, if he ended up doing it himself, he did it out of love for me… but he shouldn't have done something like that. But if he tells me to my face that the letter was truly from Zander Smith, then I have to believe him."
"Only you could turn something so tender and touching into a vendetta…"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," Georgie backtracked, "I just wish that you wouldn't think of the worst possible outcome in life."
"I wish I didn't do that too, but I can't help it. Sometimes I think about him, Georgie, I really think about him and I wonder how much influence Sonny is having on him. I mean, he covered up everything that happened at the docks."
"Because he didn't have any other choice!" Georgie defended Damian… against Maxie. That was one of the last things she ever thought she would have to do. "And he didn't really lie to you about that, he told you what you needed to know, what he could tell you." Georgie looked around for Mac. She could hear him clanging pots in the kitchen. Still, she kept her voice down, "Plus, he was completely honest to you about what happened with Lorenzo Alcazar."
Maxie nodded. Damian had been forthcoming about his role in Alcazar's murder. None of them held him at fault. Damian had been kidnapped, injured, near helpless, along with his Aunt who was also in danger and Alcazar was about to kill his father, which would followed up by Lorenzo killing Damian himself. Nobody would have done any differently in that situation.
"You've got yourself a keeper, Maxie," Georgie smiled. "I mean… he's no Dillon…"
"We're not getting into the 'let's compare our boyfriends' game again, Georgie."
"Because you know that you would lose."
"Oh, do I?" Maxie grinned. "You said it yourself… and besides, how many lives has Dillon saved in a diner?"
"That doesn't mean anything…"
"See?" Maxie jabbed at her sister coyly, "You know that this time you would lose."
"Why don't we just agree to a tie?"
"I can agree to that. We've both got the best boyfriends that we could ever want." It was the truth, too.
"Maxie, Georgie, come on!" Mac's voice could be heard echoing from the kitchen, "Breakfast's ready!"
Mac watched as his daughters walked into the kitchen. He loved spending Christmas with them. It was like spending it with Robin, only the connection was so much stronger with the girls. That didn't mean that he loved Robin any less, but it was mere fact. He could see them growing up each year as they came to the table on Christmas Morning. Now, they were both mature young girls. But that didn't mean that they were too old for tree shaped pancakes covered with powdered sugar.
The girls took their respective seats at the table. They both loved it when Mac wasn't up bright and early in the morning, but it was also somewhat haunting. They were used to their dad being awake before they were, dressed and shaved. As it was, Mac was still in his pajamas, too. But even the Police Commissioner managed to take Christmas day off.
"And here we are with the traditional Christmas breakfast…" Mac put the plates on the table, "I hope that this is something that you continue to share with your own children… when you have them. In at least twenty years."
"You want us to have children when we're almost forty years old?" Maxie shook her head. "Come on, dad, isn't that a little extreme."
"By the time you're forty, Maxie, maybe you'll finally be mature enough to handle a child of your own."
"For your information some people happen to think that I'm very mature." Maxie stuck her tongue out at her father, mocking him.
Georgie was giggling, "Who, Maxie? The voices in your head? Pass the powdered sugar, please."
Maxie passed the sugar, but her hand jerked at the wrong moment and a gust of sugar ended up going into Georgie's face. "Sorry!"
"You did that on purpose!" Georgie didn't mind, she was still laughing.
"I didn't, I swear!"
"Liar!" Georgie took the powdered sugar and sprayed some on her sister's face. "There, now we're even."
"You did that on purpose, Georgie!" Maxie also wasn't angry, but she wasn't going to back down from a powdered sugar fight. She tried to grab the can, and a tug-of-war began between the sisters over the powdered sugar container.
Mac stood up and got in the middle, "That's enough, both of you. You're trying to tell me how mature you are and you're behaving like little girls!"
The Jones' looked at each other, a mischievous glisten in their eyes. They knew what they were going to do, and in an instant their plan was enacted. Mac found himself covered in the white powder as well.
Wiping the sugar out of his eyes with his fingers, Mac looked at them both, "You're going to get it now!"
They could all be heard laughing as Mac chased his daughters around the kitchen, trying to douse them in powdered sugar. There would be a mess to clean up later, but at that moment it didn't matter. They were being a family.