WhiteCamellia- Unless something happens to me or my internet, I usually update every day… because I really don't like the people who take forever to update, so I make sure that, for myself as a writer, I don't fall under those horrid habits. Maxie's hatred, fictional or not, is at least in her mind, justified with her contempt. If I were Maxie I wouldn't like her… but I'm not Maxie, so I can love Carly. As for the Journey chapter, I'm glad you enjoyed…

Story-

Port Charles Police Department-

Mac Scorpio knew that he was supposed to be doing his job, and on some level he was. Mac was a man who had many jobs, and they were all of great importance to him, but the job that would always prove to be the more important of any other job was his job as a father. The girls were all that he had. They weren't even his children biologically but he would do anything and everything that was necessary to protect them from people who might hurt them. That was why Mac was always so protective of them both, especially Maxie. The poor girl had gotten her heart stomped on too many times by that bastard that she thought she loved.

It wasn't that Mac didn't think Damian loved Maxie, he could see that the young Corinthos did, and Maxie in turn loved him, but the fact was that Damian was always going to be caught in the middle of a war that he didn't want to be a part of, and anyone associated with him was also going to be in danger of getting caught in that war. Maxie was too young to die. Mac wasn't strong enough to protect her from everything.

But he could keep her as safe as he felt possible, even when it threatened to cross the borderline into annoyance. "You were supposed to call me twenty minutes ago, Maxie."

"It took us twenty minutes to find a place in New York where there wasn't too much noise around us so I could call you, dad," Maxie's face showed her displeasure. She had agreed to the terms that Mac had given her and if she dared to try and go against them she would find herself in more trouble than she possibly could have been in otherwise.

"Don't make excuses."

"I'm not making excuses!"

"Yes, you are," Mac sat in his chair, his back turned to the door. "What's Damian doing?"

"Trying to find a nice street corner so he can sell my body for a good price…"

"What?"

"I'm joking, dad, relax," she knew that it would get to him, but she couldn't help it. Maxie had a sense of humor that needed to be fulfilled at times. It only worked against Mac in that instance.

"That's not very funny…"

"I'm sure if I could see your face right now it would be."

"Maxie, do you want to be able to leave the house again when you get back home?"

"Yes…"

"Then I suggest you stop joking around and get serious for a second," Mac was stern and firm. Maxie was too old to be playing games like she was. "What are you doing, where are you?"

"I'm standing underneath an awning… it's snowing really hard right now, dad."

"I know," Mac looked out the window, seeing the same snow. "Nobody thought that the storm front would bring the snow this way… guess that goes to show how much a college education can do for a person."

"Damian's waiting for me… I bought an umbrella at the store."

"Have you done anything yet?"

"No," Maxie thought about telling him everything, but one look at the young man next to her and she knew that it wasn't her place. "We're still looking for something to do. I'm sure we'll find it… this is New York City, after all."

"Stay safe, Maxie. If anything happens to you I'm holding your boyfriend personally responsible…"

"And what if something happens to him?"

"Then I'll have received a Christmas present a few days late…"

"Daddy…"

"I'm joking, Maxie, relax. See? I can have a sense of humor, too. Tell Damian to be careful too, okay? Call me in a few hours."

Ric had been listening in on the conversation. It wasn't something that he wanted to do, but he needed to speak with Mac. He was willing to give the man enough time to finish the conversation with his daughter, waiting until Mac hung up the phone before he knocked on the door.

Mac turned around in his chair and saw Ric. They didn't really get along, but Mac could see that Ric was trying very hard to become a better man than the person who people always saw him as. Mac wasn't yet ready to believe that Ric was anything other than the deranged man who had stolen a baby from a pregnant woman, a pregnant woman who just happened to be his sister-in-law, but time could change a person. Time had changed him.

"Maxie's out with Damian?"

"You didn't know?"

"No, I didn't," Ric replied. "He's not my son, he's my nephew."

"I thought you were close."

"In my family being close to me means trying not to kill me each time someone in my family sees me… Damian's never tried to kill me, I don't think."

"You've done plenty to earn that reputation."

"I'm aware of that, commissioner, and I'm trying to atone for everything that I did. That's why I'm here…"

"You're here because Scott Baldwin was quite possibly the only man in Port Charles who is more corrupt than you are. You're here because you managed to weasel your way into the Assistant District Attorney position which meant that when Scott was forced to resign you got the automatic promotion."

"Need I remind you, Mac, that you are a part of the reason that Scott Baldwin was forced to resign. You are a part of the reason why I'm in the position of power that I am in. If you didn't want me to be here then why the hell did you even bother helping with the situation?"

"Momentary weakness?"

"You just need to make sure that you're better than everyone else around here, don't you? Mac the morally pure commissioner, the single beacon of light and hope in the swarm of darkness and disease that is known as the Port Charles Police Department…"

"Do you mind if I quote that?" Mac asked. "I think it would look really good on my business cards…"

"You can't even be serious with me…"

"You want me to be serious with you, Ric?" Mac stood up. "Fine, I'll be serious with you. I do not like you. I never have, I probably never will, but I helped you out because I know that there might be a small part of you, deep down, that wants to do the right thing. I've helped people get their lives back on track… I don't see why I can't make the same offer to you, Ric. But if you mess this up… I don't give second chances."

"I don't want a second chance…"

"I don't care what you want, just make sure you don't use it. We might be in different positions here, but I still have a very high regard with the local board, more than enough to take you out through all the legal means, which you can't do anything about."

"Your dislike for me runs that deep?"

"My desire to keep the system as good as it can be is what runs deep, Lansing. I've watched this department wallow in so much corruption over the years that when I came into rank as commissioner I vowed to do something about it. So far I don't have a very good track record, but even small changes that are for the better are changes in the right direction."

"I want to help, Mac," Ric knew that Mac was telling the truth. He wanted to do the best thing for the town, for his children. Who was Ric to say that it was selfish of Mac to want Port Charles's safety level to go up? Ric wanted to be a father one day, he should have been already, he wanted his children to be safe, to be able to run around the park without fear of being shot.

"You can help by keeping yourself in check…"

"I've been doing that, and I've got help." He had people who cared about him, who would help him anchor himself back to the place that he needed to be. Elizabeth and Damian wouldn't let him slip back into his old habits.

"Let's hope it's enough…"

"If it is, will you actually tell me? Or will you just let me think that you're still looking for a reason to get rid of me?"

"If I told you that you would know what to look for," Mac wasn't going to give Ric any information that he felt Ric didn't need.

"Thank you, Mac…"

"Don't thank me, Lansing. I'm just doing my job."

"So am I," Ric nodded. "Which is why I'm here… although I must say that our little altercation wasn't something that I'm going to forget anytime soon…"

"Just get to the point."

"I need the file on the arsonist that we arrested a few weeks ago. Looking to sentence him soon."

"Make sure you don't go easy on him…"

"Why?"

"Because the empty house that he burned down was right next to a daycare center," Mac's eye showed just how much he hated the man for what he did. "If that guy had lit the fire a few hours earlier little kids could have been seriously hurt."

"I'll keep that in mind… I've got to get over there."

"Lansing."

Ric stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder, "Looking to take one last potshot at me, Mac?"

"No… maybe it's because I'm thinking about innocent kids, but for whatever reason I'm in a mood where I'm willing to tell you that I think you're on your way to getting what you want."

"Careful, commissioner, people might think that you actually like me."

"I wouldn't go that far," Mac muttered. He watched as Ric walked away, sitting in his chair once more. He realized that Ric and Damian were more alike than he thought they were, and Mac wasn't sure if that made him feel better about the situation, or worse.