New York, New York-

"Why… why didn't you tell me about this?"

"Tell you about what?" Maxie asked smugly. Rare were the times when she could get under Damian's skin. It was never with malicious intent. Far from it. Maxie was just having fun.

"New York… it has how many different precincts?"

"Why would I know something like that?"

"Because you've been to New York before… and because your father is the damned police commissioner of Port Charles!"

"Port Charles is small… I've lived there my whole life. You, on the other hand, lived in Los Angeles for almost twenty one years…"

"And we all know how often I managed to get in trouble with the law during those twenty years, don't we?"

"Are you saying I was a troublemaker?"

"You told me that…" he muttered. "Besides, I didn't mean it like that. Los Angeles is a big place… but I never really got out of the house. I went to school, I went to church for awhile, I went to the hospital… and then I went to the college. It wasn't like I was hitting up the clubs."

"I've heard they were fun."

"I'd get a migraine." All that horrid music blasting into his head, if he went he'd probably end up having a seizure. "Not to mention all the smug people that would be around the place… I'd hate to catch some of their uber-materialism."

"Weren't we fighting about something?"

"We were fighting about how many damned police stations there are in New York City… and how it's going to be almost impossible to find John Durant if there are so many places that he could be…"

"And this was my fault because?"

"It isn't your fault," he said, holding her hand. For whatever reason he had spent most of the time that he had been in New York attached to Maxie. As if he was trying to make sure that she didn't get lost without him. Or maybe he just needed her to anchor him down. All the people were making him nervous. "I was just looking for some reason to complain… maybe Carly's rubbing off on me."

"You probably shouldn't let her do that. If you're going to start emulating Carly, that's easily the worst trait that you could pick."

"Well, Maxie, I'd love to hear what you think is my step-mother's best trait." It was an interesting comment, one that would no doubt bear a more interesting answer. What did Maxie like about Carly, if anything?

Maxie stopped at the street corner while she waited for the light to turn. She didn't know if there was anything about Carly that she didn't loathe. If she said that there was nothing would he get angry at her? Probably not, but she didn't want to take the chance. Looking around, inspiration struck. With jubilance, Maxie gave him her answer, "The ability to spend money on things that aren't needed is Carly's best trait."

"True… she does love to spend money."

"Especially in New York City."

"Well, look around," Damian observed. "It's a lot like Los Angeles, there are so many places that just scream at you to spend money, even if you don't have it. Carly has more money than she'll ever need, which means that she has plenty of reason to blow it off."

"And she sometimes buys things for the people that she cares about…"

"It's rare. Believe me, I saw her Christmas bags, they were filled with more stuff for her than anyone else. And I thought I ignored the spirit of the holiday."

How dense was her boyfriend? Maxie was laying all these hints that she wanted him to buy her something nice because they were in New York and she wasn't getting anywhere. What did she need to do, tell him that she wanted something upfront? Maybe he was just focused on doing what he was supposed to do. It was her favorite quality about Damian. The way that he would selflessly give himself up for the people that he cared about. His other qualities didn't hurt, but there were those that were just there, and those that needed to be there.

"Maxie… can I ask you something?"

Her eyes lit up as she thought he had finally taken the hint. "Yeah, what is it?"

"Do you think it's snowing a little too hard?"

Her head slumped slightly as she realized that he didn't catch the clues that she was giving him. She wondered if Dillon was as oblivious. But then Georgie didn't really have the need for things like she did. Taking a moment to access the question that had been given to her, Maxie put her hand out and felt the snow falling into her palm. "I don't think it's anything we have to worry about. I know how much you don't like the snow, but I think you can manage, especially if we spend most of our time inside of some building."

"What if he's not here?" Damian asked. "I mean, it is a holiday…"

"Why don't you call Ric and ask? He's the district attorney of Port Charles, he would probably know where to find John Durant."

"I can't call Uncle Ric…"

"Why not?"

"Because… because I don't trust him with this." He felt guilt saying that he didn't trust Ric, but that was the truth. "I know he's not a bad person, Maxie. Nobody is going to tell me that he hasn't seen what he did and hasn't tried to atone for it, but this is something that doesn't concern him. I trust my uncle with my private information… but someone else's, especially Carly's, isn't something that I can just hand out. Plus, I promised Bobbie I wouldn't tell anyone but you. He's going to ask why I'm looking for John Durant."

"I see…" that was what she was talking about. The way that he was able to just take a person for what they were. He'd probably have given Kyle a chance to redeem himself if Kyle hadn't have died. Such a nice person… maybe too nice. "Look," she pointed, "there's a police station. Maybe they'll know where he is."

"Zuniga!"

Damian found it odd that someone would be calling his name in the middle of New York City, let alone his last name. He turned around, still holding onto Maxie's hand. "Hello… Braden."

"Hey, man… been awhile… whose this pretty lady you have next to you?"

"My girlfriend," he realized that he said it a little possessively. Such things tended to happen when one was forced to interact with a person who wasn't exactly a friend. "Maxie… this is Braden, we went to high school together."

"Hi…" Maxie smiled. She could sense the hostility, but she was trying to see why Damian wouldn't like some random guy that he went to school with.

"Seems like you got yourself a keeper," Braden grinned, looking at Maxie with more than just a friendly eye. He was checking her out, that was obvious. "What are you doing here?"

"We're looking for someone…" Damian remarked.

"Maybe I could help?"

"I doubt it, Braden. New York is a big place." Although he had no doubt that if anyone in the world could find a way to meet and talk with every single person in New York City, it was Braden. "How about you, what are you doing here?"

"I always wanted to live here… so when I graduated from high school I made sure to apply to NYU. I got in, scholarship and everything. A few of the other guys from the wrestling team managed to make it here, too… you should come and hang out."

"I'll have to pass… we're just here on a visit."

"You still live in Los Angeles?" Braden couldn't help but keep on looking at Maxie. He had to admit it, Zuniga managed to get a hot girl. Who would have thought? Braden almost felt bad about starting all those rumors about him being gay… almost. Wasn't Braden's fault that Damian had never managed to get a girlfriend during four years of school.

"No… I moved to New York, too… just not the city. Port Charles."

"Little place… most people want to get out of there."

"I like it," he countered.

"Should have known that you would want to be in a town where there was a lot less… mingling."

"What can I say, Braden? Los Angeles left an imprint on me. Not a very good one, at that."

"You really didn't like it there, did you?"

"Kind of hard to like the place where your mother died, don't you think?"

"Still riding that card, are you?"

"Look, Braden, we have somewhere that we need to be. I'm glad to see that you're well and that you won't be one of those people who we hear stories about at reunions where a person ended up getting drunk and choking on their own vomit." It didn't take a genius to see that they didn't get along. But Damian hadn't yet attacked the man, so he was holding back something.

"Hey… for what it's worth… sorry about everything I put you through."

"In the past," Damian turned around. "But I had managed to forget about it… until I saw you."

Maxie looked back one more time at the guy that she had seen her boyfriend become… mean towards. "Do you want to talk about that guy?"

"Not really, no…"

"Will you if I ask you to?" Maxie didn't want him to hold the festering anger inside of him. That had gotten Damian into trouble too many times, she wanted to help him, but in order to do that she needed to know what she was up against. "Remember… you told me that you would try and include me in your life more. I can help you if you give me the chance."

"Braden's just a part of my past that I would have rather forgotten…"

"What did he do?"

"Made it so my outcast status never changed. Even though I didn't really care he found some way to make me seem like I was the type of person who nobody wanted to hang around with, unless they were forced to by blood. You know how high school is, Maxie… people like Braden, the people who have everything, are able to set the tide."

"He said he was sorry…"

"That was a cheap apology probably made to ease whatever guilt he may have been feeling… or just something so he could say it, knowing that it would piss me off. If so, he was right."

"What did he mean about riding the card?"

"He thought I was just using my mother's death to make excuses. I was able to miss a lot of days of school while she was sick… and yet I still managed to get good grades without being around. He thought that it was because the teachers pitied me…"

"Jerk…"

"I've called him some things that were more colorful than that in my life. But it's behind me now, Maxie… I have you, I have my family. I don't need to be reminded of things that don't matter anymore."

"I'm sorry he was so mean to you."

"Thanks… I know you mean that."

"You know… I did that for awhile, in school. Made people outcasts… made them probably hate going to school."

"And how do you feel about it now?"

"Horrible… I didn't have a right to treat people like that, but I kept on doing it anyway. I knew it was wrong deep down… but he was always there to tell me that it was the right thing to do."

"Who?"

"Kyle…"

"The difference between people like Kyle and Braden, and people like you, is that you can really change for the better. You wouldn't do that now if you had the chance, we both know it." He looked down at her, watching as the white specs of snow contrasted with the golden hues of her hair. "Come on, we still need to find Durant."