Corinthos Household-
"You're amazing, you know that, right?"
"Well, back in high school I used to be called 'Mister Fantastic,' like the guy on the 'Fantastic Four.' So, I guess amazing would work… yeah."
Carly snickered. "You were a comic book geek in high school?"
"I was holding the issue for my little brother! The whole situation got out of control…"
"I seem to remember you telling me that you were the youngest son in the family…"
"It could have been a surrogate little brother…"
"Really, Max," Carly countered, "you don't need to lie to me. I mean I think it's very cool that you liked comics growing up."
"No you don't…"
"What makes you think that?"
"Because no sane woman would ever think that someone who read comic books past the age of 12 was 'cool.' It's in the rulebook or something." Max grinned. "Believe me… I've seen several copies of that book, including the revisions."
"You're relying too much on my sanity," Carly noted from the stairway. "You've lived in Port Charles for awhile, Max… you've worked for my husband almost as long as that. Think about it. How many people would ever call me, Caroline Benson Corinthos, sane?"
"Do… do I really have to answer that?"
She laughed, "Yes…"
"Honestly?"
"You know that we don't appreciate lies in this house, Max." They may have told more than a few, but they tried to be honest as much as possible. It wasn't their fault that the honesty policy frequently got thrown to the dogs more often than not.
"I can't even count the number of people who think that you've got a few screws loose, Mrs. C. But it doesn't matter to me what any of those people say. I know you, and I'd like to think that I know you pretty well. You're a level-headed woman… most of the time."
Her eyebrow went up with the final part of his comment. "What do you mean, 'most of the time?'"
"When your kids are in trouble you can get a little scattered, but they're your kids, nobody holds it against you for worrying about them so much that it drives you crazy… I certainly don't."
"Thank you, Max…"
"You wanted honesty, right?" Max loved working for the Corinthos family. Although his mother constantly berated him about working 'for' someone like he was a servant, Max knew that it was the furthest from the truth. He may have done things that made him seem like a servant, but part of the job classification had to do with the people that he was working for treating him like he was nothing. None of the Corinthos family did that, or the Morgan's. They treated him like he was an individual. He'd never had something like that before.
"Just so you know… you're not getting off on that comic book question…"
Groaning as he realized that Carly was not going to concede to his fictitious storyline about the 'little brother,' Max stopped his labor for a moment. "All right, you win… I always wanted to be taller, and maybe a little skinnier… Mr. Fantastic was tall and thin and the smartest guy on the planet… a pretty good role model."
"So then what happened?"
"I got into liking the Punisher," Max dryly commented. "You know, the guy who uses guns all the time… look where I am now."
"I wouldn't feel safe without you around, Max. You're important to me and to my family, just like Jason and Courtney." She meant it. Max was kind and funny, he made her feel safe in more ways than just being protected. "Things wouldn't be as easy as they are now without you."
"Meaning that you wouldn't have someone to move your furniture around?"
The grin returned on Carly's lovely face, "You're a lot more useful than that… but you did come in handy."
Max hid the fatigue that was coursing through his body well. Moving the couches and chairs in the Corinthos home was a lot harder than he thought it would be. Thankfully it was just moving them, it wasn't picking them up. Max may have been stronger than the average man, but he wasn't that strong. "Are you sure Mister C is going to like this?"
"I'm not the one who moved everything around. Why would he get mad at me…"
"You're not using me as a scapegoat for your diabolical furniture plans…"
"Come on, Max, it'll be fun. Besides, when have my plans ever gone wrong?"
"You want the honest answer…"
A moment of quick silence passed before Carly gave him his answer, "No… not this time."
"You still haven't told me just what this is for…"
"You never asked."
"Usually when you have something big in mind you're telling everyone who will listen."
"Are you saying that I ramble?" Carly knew that it was one of her quirks, one that she tried really hard to get rid of, but when she had something to say she was going to say it, and whoever got in her way was going to find that she was not a very easy person to ignore.
"I wouldn't say 'ramble…' more like you get very enthused with your projects." A nice save on behalf of the 'hired help.' Max knew that Sonny wouldn't bat an eyelash at getting rid of anyone who pissed his wife off, at least in a way that she didn't deserve. And when Sonny got rid of people he didn't do it in the firing sense. Max did not want to be on the receiving end of Sonny's wrath. Too many times he had come close to it and those times would always stand out as the times when he was the most scared in his life.
"With Morgan still recovering from everything that happened to him we can't really go out for New Years Eve tonight… which is fine, I guess. Sonny doesn't really like to go out that much anyway. But I didn't want to let the whole night go to waste. It only comes once a year, you know?"
"Chinese New Year is in a few months… Morgan will be better by then."
"It won't be the same. Besides… those paper dragon things that the Chinese use to celebrate New Years make a big mess. You want to be cleaning that mess up, Max?"
"No… but I will if I'm asked to. I don't mind cleaning."
"You're going to make someone a very good husband one day, Max DiMaggio. Is there anything that you won't do?"
"Kill cockroaches… they scare me."
"Now you're just pulling my leg."
"Am I?" Max hated the bugs. Black little demons. They gave him the creeps. Discretely taking in a much needed breath, Max looked around. "Is this good, Mrs. C? Is this what you wanted?"
"It looks great, Max… thank you."
"No problem. If you need me, I'll be watching the door." Max gave her a tender smile as he headed for the door, his hand going for the handle just as Sonny walked in. Max took a step back, not because of any wrongdoing on his part, far from it, he just didn't want to get nailed with the door in his face. "Afternoon, Mister C."
"Hey, Max." Sonny was instantly cautious about what was going on. It was rare that Max was actually in the house. Usually he came in for a moment, at Sonny's request. "Is everything all right?"
"Fine. I was just telling Mrs. C that I was going to be outside if she needed me. Of course, the same applies to you."
"Yeah, sure. Thanks," Sonny focused on the room, waiting for Max to leave before he gave his wife a glare. "What are you doing?"
"Having some fun," Carly replied, completely ready to get into as big of a pouting mode as she needed in order to ensure that she got what she wanted. She wanted to do something with her family, just the adults. She loved her children, but that didn't mean that there were things she wanted to keep from them.
"Fun?" Sonny shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder what you think is fun…"
"Dressing up…"
"See, I don't think that's very much fun, Carly…"
"But you'll do it anyway, right?" Carly walked down the stairs and into her husband's arm, gently running her hands through his slicked hair. "Because you love me… because you love me so much that you'll accommodate for my needs just one last time before the year is over…"
"I don't want to go anywhere… Morgan's…"
"We won't be going anywhere, Sonny," Carly put her finger to his lip, hoping to silence him. "Morgan's still at risk, I know that. Even with Leticia around I still don't think that it's a good idea to leave him. We're his parents, his family. That's why I had Max move the furniture around…"
"Because Morgan's going to get sick if we don't?"
"No, silly," Carly laughed, "because we can use the space where the furniture used to be as a dance floor."
"Dance floor?"
"Sonny… I know you're a lot smarter than you look."
"I resent that comment…"
"It was a compliment."
"Sorry… Ric's told it to me a few times before. You know how I feel about anything that man says about me." Ric could give Damian all the praise he wanted until the day that he died, he would still mean nothing to Sonny. Nobody did that to his family, especially if Ric was a member of his family, and got away with it.
"Tonight is New Years Eve, Sonny. The last big night of the year that starts everything all over again. Tell me you want to kiss me when the clock strikes midnight…"
"I want to kiss you right now…"
Carly leaned her head in and gave him a soft, brisk kiss. "You won't get the real thing until midnight… so if you don't want to come to my party then I guess you'll just have to wait even longer."
"You're blackmailing me, are you?"
"What can I say?" She shrugged her shoulders, "I learned a lot growing up… and being with the Quartermaine's for that time helped. They can try and act all prim and proper, but they're even worse than we are when it comes to the scheming. So… what's it going to be?"
"Just you and me… in the house… dancing… until midnight?"
"No, of course not," Carly shook her head, "Jason and Courtney are going to be over, too. We're all going to be dressed up nicely and you'll cook…"
"I didn't agree to cook anything…"
"It's part of the contract, Sonny. You signed on the dotted line."
"I don't remember that being part of any contract that I've ever signed… and you know me, I read those things pretty throughougly."
"I managed to slip it by you. It says that you will agree to give your most excellent cooking skills to me at the first possible notice."
"Just the four of us?"
"Right now… yeah…"
"Carly..."
"All right," she nodded. "I don't really want to spend the day with anyone else but you and my best friends anyway. I won't even invite my mother. You happy?"
"Don't tell her that… I'd hate to make Bobbie think that I don't like her."
"She stopped thinking that you didn't like her years ago. She also stopped thinking that she didn't like you."
"Thank goodness for small favors."
"So, we're in agreement then?" Carly was hopeful, she didn't even need to beg, she just needed to be persistent. "Tonight, we spend the last few hours of the year together as adults."
"Just make sure you save me the first dance…"
Carly hugged her husband, kissing him on the cheek, "I wouldn't give it to anyone else in the world, Sonny. Nobody but you."