Port Charles Docks-
The Jones' sisters waited there on the docks together. Their meal with their father had been the first meal in a long time where they actually had some fun. There was always something going on in one of their lives, usually Mac's, that would prohibit them from being a family together. For Georgie it was somewhat incomplete without Felicia there, but Maxie liked it that way.
"How long have we been waiting?" Maxie asked, sitting on the bench, holding her jacket closer to her person in an effort to warm herself up. She should have gotten some cocoa, but it was an oversight on her part, one that she was very upset for making.
"Less than ten minutes," Georgie laughed at her sister. Maxie had a lot of quirks, some of them were good, some of them were bad. That was true of every person, though, not just Maxie. Georgie had a vested interest in the quirks of her big sister, maybe that was why she noticed them so much. "You're so impatient."
"I just don't like standing around here waiting for something that we don't even know anything about!"
"Dillon asked us to meet him here, Maxie. You were there with me when I got the phone call."
"He could have been a little more… informative about why we were supposed to meet here, you know?"
"That's Dillon for you," Georgie replied with a shrug. "Maybe he's trying to get us to join a troupe of traveling actors where he's the director."
"I'd hate to break your boyfriends heart, Georgie, but if he wanted us to do that I would have to tell him no."
"So would I," Georgie would do many things for Dillon. Many things indeed, but there were few things that she wouldn't do. Acting in front of a bunch of people, even if it was the love of her life who had orchestrated everything, was one of them. Georgie could put on a show once a year for a few hours if it meant making kids smile, but doing it on a regular basis? No way that was going to happen.
"You think Damian's going to be with him?" Maxie hadn't heard from her own boyfriend the entire day. They didn't have to talk every single day, but it was Christmas, she figured that would have at least complied him to call her up.
"They're next door neighbors," Georgie took a seat next to Maxie. She had been pacing. Although she had called Maxie on her impatience the truth was that Georgie was also impatient as well. She just knew how to hide it much better.
"Did you ever think that it would end up like this?"
Georgie moved an errant strand of hair away from her eyes, "What do you mean?"
"That we would end up dating guys who became each others best friends," Maxie thought about their boyfriends. "I mean, it's so surreal how well they get along." She didn't want to say anything, but she knew they were both thinking about it. It was so much different from the way that Kyle was with Dillon and vice versa. Those two hated each other deeply, although only Dillon truly had reason to detest Kyle. Kyle's only reasons for disliking Dillon were based entirely on the fact that Dillon's family had more money. Dillon had been abused by Kyle and had seen him abuse Maxie. There was a sizable gap in justification behind their respective motives.
"I know," Georgie agreed. "And then Dillon goes to live with Jason and Courtney. They might see each other more than we see them."
"Should we be jealous?"
Georgie thought about it for a second, but it wasn't actual thinking, she was just being funny. "Maybe a little. If they come up to us at any point in time holding hands, we reserve the right to beat the hell out of both of them."
"Deal."
"But I don't think that would ever happen," Georgie continued. "I mean, I don't think they would ever want to hurt either of us. Both of them. Like, Damian wouldn't want to hurt me and I'm sure Dillon wouldn't want to hurt you."
"We're sisters," Maxie commented. "Dating one of us is almost like dating the other. We come in a package deal."
"I'm so happy that you didn't go away to college…"
Maxie turned away slight, "I didn't really have many other options, did I?"
Georgie knew that she had hit a nerve. Not a very big one, but Maxie did resent the way that she had blown off doing anything that would get her ahead academically until it was almost too late. The City College in Port Charles would accept just about anyone so long as they had the money to pay for tuition. But it was still a college level education, even if it was filled with most of the people who were working at a McDonalds the next town over, still living with their parents and trying to hold onto that final strand of what it was like when they were in high school. Luckily, Maxie wasn't like that.
"You don't have to keep on going there, Maxie," Georgie tried to lift Maxie's spirits up. If anyone could, given the context, it was Georgie. She knew a lot about… well, everything, really, but colleges were her specialty. She got started early, as soon as she was in high school she was already priming herself for an ivy league education. "You don't even have to go there the whole two years that it would likely take to finish your general education. You can probably try to apply for late admission to PCU…"
"That's still Port Charles."
"This is your home, Maxie," Georgie didn't want her sister to leave her. She realized she was being hypocritical. She wasn't likely to end up going to PCU herself, it wasn't what she had in mind, but she wouldn't let anyone stop her from doing what she wanted. She would try and stop Maxie from leaving her, but if Maxie tried to get her to stop from leaving, Georgie knew she would go.
"I know that…"
"And you have a lot of people who care about you, not just me and dad. Maxie, your boyfriend is here. He's not going anywhere. He's going to be here for at least a few years while he finishes up his medical degree, plus he'll probably end up staying because of his family."
"What if I want to go somewhere?" Maxie asked. "What if, once I can finally get into a good college somewhere else, I want to go away? What should I do then? Should I just stay here because he's here, because he won't leave? Should I give up what I want to do for someone else?"
"Do you think I would really ask you to do that?"
Maxie looked over the railing to see Damian, who she hadn't anticipated coming. She didn't want him to hear that. She also knew the answer to his question. "No," she said softly, "of course you wouldn't ask me to give up a part of me just for you."
"Maxie," Damian continued to walk down the steps, "if you want to go away to another college when you get the chance you should go. I wouldn't stop you. It would kill me to know that you were away from me, I won't lie, but it would be selfish of me to even think that I should try and keep you here."
"I didn't mean for it to sound like it did," Maxie was instantly switched over to the apologetic mode. "I was just thinking about it… I don't want to leave you."
"But if you ever did, I wouldn't stop you."
"You wouldn't even try?" Maxie wasn't sure how she should have taken the declaration. She thought their love was strong, but if he wasn't even going to try and keep them together, even a little, then maybe she was wrong.
"I would promise to always love you," Damian passed Georgie, sitting on the side opposite to Maxie. "Just like when we thought that there was a chance that I could go away to prison for that frame-up job…"
"I don't want to think about that…"
"But do you remember how I felt then?" He asked. "I told you then the same thing I'm telling you now. Maxie, you're always going to be in my mind, I'm always going to love you. Distance can't change that. You could go to school in Switzerland, and I'd still love you just as much as if you went to school at PCU with me."
Maxie knew that he was being sincere. Nobody could ever be as honest as Damian, nobody could ever say something that sounded so completely simple yet deep that it would make Maxie's heart melt. Holding back tears from the thoughtful words that had come out of his mouth, she could only hug him tightly, her bracelet shining in the light. She also had the answer that she needed about her questions of the letter. She knew it was legit because he wouldn't do something like that to her. Ever.
Georgie watched the two of them. They were something else. Maybe it was because they were older, or maybe it was because Damian grew up in a completely different household in the cultural sense, but there was something that they had that she could never have with Dillon. She wasn't even sure she wanted it. It was just for the two of them and if she tried to emulate it that would just feel wrong to her.
Pulling away from the hug, Damian held onto Maxie's hand. "I'm going to assume that we all got a telephone call from Dillon telling us to meet him here?"
"That's why we're here," Georgie nodded. "But he didn't tell us anything about why he wanted us to meet here. Do you know why?"
"He just said to meet him at the docks… and he's not here yet. If he was coming from the towers it shouldn't take this long to walk over."
"But I didn't come from the penthouses," Dillon appeared from the side. "At least not after I went to the Quatermaine Mansion…"
"You went to your families?" Georgie was stunned. She hadn't even thought to ask how the heist that Damian was planning went, but since they weren't at each others throats she could assume that it didn't go too badly.
"I had to rescue someone…"
The three people on the bench were all dumbfounded as to what meaning could possibly have been behind Dillon's statement. They all looked to him for more answers, but he gave them only the biggest Cheshire grin that he could manage.
"You can come out now," Dillon called behind his shoulder, only further adding to the mystery.
"Dillon…" Georgie was suspicious. She didn't like it when Dillon kept secrets from her.
"Everybody… I'd like to introduce you all to… well, technically she's my niece, but we won't get into all of that right away…"
Brook walked out from behind Dillon, expecting to see nobody that she knew. She barely even knew Dillon, but he had been rather insistent on dragging her out of the mansion and she was getting tired of hanging around with people who were all over twice her age. She jumped at the chance to meet up with some kids her own age. It was only icing on the cake that she had already known one of them, "Hey!"
Damian was just as stunned as she was. The girl that Sonny's friend had brought over to visit earlier that morning was Dillon's niece? "Hi, Brook."
Dillon switched glances between the two of them. "You two… already know each other?"
"She was at the house earlier," Damian was unaware of the way that Maxie was looking at him and Brook. "If I had known that she was the niece you were telling me about last night I would have said something."
"Yeah, Sonny and my ma go way back," Brook didn't want to divulge into their little history, but she probably could. Her whole life since she could remember had been filled with stories where Lois told her about how much fun Sonny was. "So since we're here in Port Charles for a little while she thought it would be cool to go see her old friend and she dragged me along, right? But while I was there thinking that I wouldn't do anything but wish to get the hell out I heard someone playing the piano and then I saw that it was Damian…"
"You got a piano?" Maxie asked, somewhat jealous that Damian had dared to play the piano for someone other than her.
"Dad gave it to me for Christmas. Now I can use the book that you gave me. Isn't that great?"
Maxie smiled widely as she kissed him on the cheek, showing that he was hers. "That's wonderful. Now you can practice more and then you can play a song that's just for me."
"Well, that gives me one less introduction," Dillon continued with his mission. "Brook, the one next to Damian is Maxie Jones and this vision of pure beauty," Dillon walked over to Georgie and wrapped his arms around her, resting his head on her shoulder, "is the woman that I love, Georgie Jones."
"Nice to meet both of you," Brook watched as the two couples fawned over each other. It made her feel very uncomfortable, which she was almost sure wasn't Dillon's intention. He didn't seem like he was that malicious. But then she did just meet him. Regardless, she wasn't sure how she would get along when she was the obvious odd girl out.