Journeylove- I agree, Courtney on the show is being stupid and staying with Jax. I love JaSam very much, but, like you, Journey will be special to me because it came first and it was what I grew to love. I've always liked Ric… which is odd, since I like Ric as bad and I like Ric as good… and I don't really have a favorite version of Ric, I just like Ric. I don't foresee Lucas coming into the story anytime soon, but never say never.

Story-

New York City, New York-

"What'd Mac say this time?"

"The same thing he's always said," Maxie put the phone in her purse as she came from the corner. She didn't want Damian overhearing the conversation that she had with her father, sometimes Mac chose to be a little colorful in his biased against her boyfriend. She knew that Damian appeared that he didn't care, but she didn't want to risk his feelings getting hurt. Sometimes she just wished that her dad could accept the boy for who he was. She couldn't see many flaws, and none of the flaws that he did have were exactly crippling. He didn't make her do things she didn't want to do, didn't pressure her into stealing for him. Sure, he had somewhat of a self-esteem problem, but that was to be expected for someone who had grown up feeling alone despite having a family that was as large as his.

"I'd try and do an impersonation, but I don't think I could do him justice."

"I've never heard you try and do an impersonation of anyone…"

"Well, that's because I'm pretty bad at it."

"You wouldn't try? Not even for me?"

"Not in public, no." He really wasn't very good at the whole impersonation thing. People had tried to get him to do it as a kid, to open up, use his imagination. It didn't work out very well.

"Shy boy…"

"That's me," Damian moved the collar of his jacket up, trying hard not to repeat the scene that he had done while he was looking for the Christmas tree with Dillon, but it was hard. The snow was coming down harder than he thought it would and he was getting colder by the second.

"Can I ask you something?"

"You can ask me anything, Maxie, you know that." While it was true that Maxie could ask him anything, it was not true that he would always give her the truth. Sometimes he couldn't. She understood that there were things that he couldn't talk about freely because of who he was, because of who his father was, but as long as she kept from asking those kinds of questions everything seemed like it would be okay.

"Being here… in New York… does it make you miss Los Angeles?"

He tried to keep a blank face, and for a few seconds he succeeded, then, the slightest crack in his armor came as a grin appeared on his mouth. He started to laugh, a soft but hearty laugh, his shoulders shaking with the laughter, eyes closed.

Maxie didn't understand why he had a sudden fit of laughter. Was he laughing at her? He had better not have been. She didn't like being laughed at, especially when she was trying to be honest. When she was doing something that she wanted to be funny she was all right with being laughed at, but she wasn't trying to be funny. "Why are you laughing?"

"The question… it's not what I expected to hear from you," he stopped laughing, taking a moment to breathe so that he didn't continue giggling. "I don't miss Los Angeles, Maxie… you know how much I hate being in big, crowded cities. That's why I laughed. The idea that I would miss a place like that just struck me as funny. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, really…"

"I just meant if it reminded you of Los Angeles… and your family."

"It reminds of me of LA, yeah, but that doesn't mean I like it. As for my family… I miss my grandparents, of course, but the rest of them… not really."

"You don't talk about them very often, even your grandparents…"

"I try and keep the two separated as much as possible…"

"What do you mean, 'the two?'"

"My life before I came to New York and my life after. I came here to find my dad, Maxie, you know that, but I also came to get a fresh start on my life, find a place where I didn't feel like I was hampered by my past… where I could be something, someone, more than the kid who lost his mother to cancer and never had a father. I can't even run away from it when I go to the other end of the country, as you can see with my recent conversation with Braden."

"They're still a part of your life… you shouldn't deny them the right to be in your heart."

"They'll always be important to me. If they need me to go back to Los Angeles for something, no matter how small it might be, I'll be on the first plane back over… but I won't stay forever. I'm not that person anymore, and I don't want to be."

"What's so bad about being that person?"

"A lot of things… most of all, the fact that if I was that person again, I wouldn't have you in my life…"

"You could move back, I'd still love you…"

"But I wouldn't expect you to keep on loving me while we were separated by three thousand miles."

"Are you saying I can't be faithful?"

"I'm saying that you shouldn't be burdened by my decisions if they take me away from you. It's like what I told you when I thought I could go to jail… I'll always love you, but first and foremost I'll always want you to be happy, even if it means that you're not happy with me."

Maxie wasn't sure how she should respond to what he was saying. On the one hand it was touching that he would always vow to love her and keep her happiness ahead of his, but on the other he was, in some small way, insulting her ability to stay loyal to the one person who had understood and accepted her.

Rather than dwell on the ideas that were being tossed around, or worse, get into an argument, Maxie changed the subject as quickly as she possibly could, focusing on their mission. "We should head over to the bar. We've only got like twenty minutes… who knows how long it can take to make it over there with the crowd being this big."

"You're right." He knew she was avoiding something, but he let her. He didn't want to get into it either. He didn't want to lose her. Maxie was too important to him for something so stupid to rip them apart. "Let's go…"

Outside of Patrick's-

"This the place?" Damian asked as he stood outside of the bar with the very distinctive four leaf clover that was painted on the window.

Maxie looked at the piece of paper that had been provided to her from Dino, reading the address and looking at the name of the establishment. "Seems to be, unless the guy was lying to us."

"I didn't think about that…"

"I don't think he was," she commented, trying to remain positive. "He seemed like a nice guy…"

"He was flirting with you."

"All the men that we've talked to today have been flirting with me, that's why I'm able to get information." She got a sinister smile on her face, "Jealous?"

"Only a little."

"What am I looking for?" Maxie didn't know what she was supposed to do when she saw John Durant. What was she supposed to say? 'How would you feel if you had a daughter in Port Charles who was married to Sonny Corinthos and had your two grandsons?' It didn't seem like the best way to strike up a conversation. "I don't know what I'm supposed to ask."

"Just talk to him. I'll be close enough where I can hear him. I just want to get a feel for the guy… see if he could be a good grandfather to my brothers. Carly can handle not having a great father, but I don't know if Michael and Morgan can deal with their grandfather not being a good person. The only one they've ever had is Mike, and while his fathering skills are… slim at best, he was always a good grandfather to Michael, and to me."

"I'm getting nervous…"

"I think you can handle it, Maxie. You're smarter than you think you are, and braver than you think you are, too. I have complete faith in you."

"Can I get a good luck kiss?"

"You can get two…"

"I feel special."

Damian wrapped his arms around his girlfriend and kissed her on the lips, pulling away as he looked into her beautiful blue eyes, "You are special." He once more pressed his lips onto hers, this time lingering in a long moment, as if he didn't want to pull away. There was no doubt in his mind or in his heart that on some level he did not want to pull away. When he was with Maxie he felt the most complete.

"You'd better go find some place to hide," Maxie was regretful that she had to pull him away from her, since it was the last thing she wanted to do, but it was necessary. "We've only got a few minutes before he comes."

Pulling himself away from her, ignoring the feeling of emptiness that came with the separation, Damian looked around for a safe hiding place, finding a nearby alley which he could hide behind, cloaking his body from any sort of detection, or so he hoped. Finding a secret hiding spot had never been his strongest point.

Maxie dragged her foot on the ground as she waited for him to come. What if he wasn't going to come? What if Dino really did lie to her? Why would he do something like that? She just wanted to talk with him. Sometimes Maxie hated men, the way that they wouldn't give you something that you wanted if you didn't give them what they wanted, which was almost always sex. "Stupid men…"

"Miss… I hope that your bashing of my gender is specific to a few people… I'd like to think that we're not all stupid."

She was caught by surprise, stuttering as she attempted to pull her foot out of her mouth. The task became even more difficult when she realized that he was right in front of her. John Durant, his hat over his head, cold blue eyes apparently staring into her soul. "I… I…"

"You weren't, by chance, trying to sneak into the bar, were you?" John smiled, a slight chuckle escaping from his lips. "Because you certainly don't look like you're of drinking age to me. Some people think that they can get away with it, but Patrick tries really hard to make sure that there are no minors in his bar at any time, especially since I can come in whenever I feel like it."

"No," she shook her head rapidly, "I don't drink…" at least she had stopped. She didn't want to go down that path again.

"A wise choice… but that does beg the question as to why you, a beautiful young lady, are standing out in the cold snow on New Years Eve, in front of a bar."

"I was waiting for someone…"

"Someone?"

"You."

John's eyebrow lifted up, "Why would you be waiting for me, miss?"

"Jones… Maxie Jones."

"I'm sorry, should that name mean something to me?" John had thought about the name, the first name, the last name. He knew plenty of Jones', they were pretty common in the States, and since he was in New York City there were probably a few hundred of them running around.

"My dad is Mac Scorpio."

"The commissioner of Port Charles?" Durant tried to keep the snide comments about how Mac couldn't do his job, if he could, Sonny Corinthos and Jason Morgan would be behind bars, where they belonged."

"Yes, that's my dad."

"Interesting… what can I do for you, Maxie?"

"I… I…"

"Why don't we cut the formalities?" John looked around. "I know why you're really here…"