Note: Yesterday, was being a bitch, so we couldn't update, so you get two chapters, sorry about the lateness of the chapters being posted, but was still being a bitch earlier… and, I just got to page 500, thought you would like to know that.
Story-
Damian felt his heart skip a beat when he heard John Durant call Maxie on the real reason as to why she was there. It must have been Dino. He had called Durant and told him that Sonny's son was looking for him and that he brought a pretty girl to save face. If anything, Durant probably thought that Damian was holding Maxie hostage, forcing her to do his dirty work because of the fact that she was the police commissioner's daughter. He tried to stay hidden, fighting the urge to reveal himself, to save Maxie before it was too late, but he stayed put, hoping that she would find a way to recover. If she couldn't, he would go to her aid, but unless it was necessary he wasn't going to throw out the entire plan on a whim.
"What… what do you mean?" Maxie's voice was quivering as she tried to keep her eyes from looking back into the alley and giving away her boyfriend. It took everything that she had to not run away from the man that was staring at her with his cold eyes.
"Don't play coy with me, Miss Jones… I know a ruse when I see one."
"I really don't know what you're talking about, Mister Durant…"
"Your father, and quite possibly that incompetent district attorney that you have in Port Charles, want my help in bringing down Corinthos and Morgan, but they're too proud to actually ask for the help themselves, so they sent you to do their dirty work…"
Maxie rested her shoulders, at ease with the fact that Durant thought that she was there for a reason that was the furthest from the truth. She wasn't even looking to help her dad, or Ric for that matter.
John smiled sadistically, "I have to admit, it's kind of pathetic that they can't own up to their own sloppy mistakes. I've thought of plenty of ways that they could have used to take those two down, I've even offered my help to them a few times, but each time they rejected my offer, thinking that they were too good for my help… well look at them now."
"I'm not here for them."
"Sure you aren't, sweetie," John laughed. "I have to admit, they were smart… it's really hard for me to say no to someone so cute and innocent like you."
"I'm really not here for them, honest…"
Durant figured that he would play along, ever mindful of the fact that he was still stringing Maxie by the chain. He knew the real reason why she was there, but it was easy to play the girl, she was so doe eyed. "Then why are you here?"
"It's true that my dad knows who you are, he looks up to you, admires you for what you've done…"
"It's a compliment to be held in the highest regard by Mac Scorpio. At least he's stopped worshiping the cartoon cops who still seem a little more competent at the job than the Port Charles police force…"
"They do their job, Mister Durant," Maxie said with a scowl. The man wasn't just insulting her father, he was insulting Lucky Spencer and all the other people who put the badge on in defense of Port Charles. Sure, there were more than a few times where they had botched up the job, but she was willing to bet that the ratio was a lot bigger in New York, something Durant probably didn't want to admit.
"But do they do it well?"
"Better than could be expected… I couldn't do what they do. I couldn't put on a badge, a uniform, and pledge my life to protecting people, knowing full well that each time I went out I could come back in a body bag. I'm not that brave, no matter how hard I try and tell myself that I would be, I know that deep down I would freeze."
"At least you're honest about that. I commend you for that quality."
Maxie knew that she didn't like John Durant. He obviously had a huge ego problem that needed to be dealt with. She wished he would come to Port Charles, that he would try and find a way to take Sonny and Jason down, and then he would be stopped, because Sonny and Jason wouldn't be caught and he would look like a failure. At that moment, Maxie realized just how deep the mob ran into her mind… before Damian came around she wouldn't have cared if Sonny and Jason got caught, she probably would have wanted them to get caught. Maxie wasn't sure how she felt about her new feeling towards the two people who were listed as the highest public enemies in Port Charles, but it was an argument that was best saved for another time.
"So you just wanted to see one of your dad's heroes?"
"And tell my dad that his 'hero' really isn't all that great," she replied spitefully. "Heroes are supposed to be modest… you're anything but."
"You've got moxie, I like that…"
"I'll try and get rid of it, then." She didn't really want to have any sort of trait that John Durant would like.
"My, you've got a mouth on you…"
"I'm a teenager, what are you expecting?"
"I'm expecting that a daughter of an officer of the law would know how to treat one of her superiors properly."
"You're not my superior, Mister Durant… you're not even superior to my father, or to Ric Lansing. They might not have as many high profile victories as you, but they somehow manage to at least be good people at heart… you're not."
"You can tell how my heart is just by spending two minutes with me?"
"I'm a good judge of character…"
John sprung his trap, tiring of the banter that he was sharing with Maxie. If she wasn't so corrupted by the mob he might have thought about talking to her, getting to know her better, but Sonny Corinthos had infected her as he had infected so many others. "Then why are you covering for your mobster prince boyfriend?"
"What are you talking about now?"
"Come on, Maxie," Damian whispered from his cover, leaning against the brick wall, eyes looking up at the snow filled skies. "Don't blow it."
"You think I don't pay attention to what goes on in Port Charles, Miss Jones?" Durant laughed as he got closer to her, "I pay attention to everything that goes on in the Country if it involves the mob, and sometimes if it doesn't. I might keep my focus here, but that doesn't really matter, does it? Crime is universal, and it is my job to stomp it out wherever it may be."
"How does that bring my, as you put it 'mobster prince boyfriend' into play?"
"I know that you're involved with Damian Corinthos, Miss Jones. I'm very disappointed in you, and even more disappointed in your father for letting you associate with scum like that. It can only lead to your untimely demise, like it almost did when you went to Los Angeles, the unwilling captive of that crazed psychopath, Faith Rosco."
"How…"
"News travels fast, Maxie," Durant boasted. "And I happen to be very involved with the news that involves certain aspects of the criminal life."
"That doesn't prove anything…"
"Open your eyes, girl. Can't you see just how dangerous your little boyfriend is? He's not worth your time… you're only going to get hurt the more that you're around him. I'm surprised that you're not already dead…"
"The same could be said of you."
"Your birthfather's spirit runs through your veins." He knew of Frisco Jones, he'd heard the stories of the dashing and suave man that could make the impossible happen. He had a fire in him that was apparent in Maxie as well. "Hopefully you've managed to get his luck as well."
"I don't need luck…"
"Why don't you let your boyfriend come out of hiding? I know he's here, Maxie… I've been doing this too long to fall for something so juvenile."
Damian wasn't going to let Maxie take the fall for his decision. Bobbie wouldn't want her to be in danger either. If the only way to save Maxie was to keep her from being seen alone, he didn't have a choice. "I got the information that I needed from just being this close to you, Mister Durant…"
"Ah, there he is… Sonny's bastard."
"If you're trying to hurt me you're going to need to try a lot harder." The truth was that he was a bastard child… nothing was going to change that, but it didn't mean that he wasn't loved, that he wasn't welcomed.
"Your father sent you to try and get some information on me, I take it?"
"You're going to believe whatever you want to believe," Damian stood next to Maxie. "Just like you think that I'm a danger to my girlfriend… it doesn't matter what anyone says, if you think that my father sent me to do some scouting on you then that's what you're going to think."
"Should I be afraid of you pulling out a gun on me? Even though we're in the middle of a very public place… I don't think that would stop you."
"If you read the reports on me, which I'm sure you have, you'll know that people don't think I'm capable of doing anything that you assume I am capable of doing…"
"Reports are just words, I only go with what I see… what I see is the Corinthos in you, and in seeing that I know what you're capable of, deep down inside."
"I'm capable of love… are you?"
Durant was silent before he spoke once more, "You're amusing… I didn't think you could be amusing. Perhaps I second guessed you."
"Maybe you did."
John Durant walked towards the door, "We've had our little meeting, Damian. I'm sure you can tell your father that I'm onto him… if he wants to take me down he's going to need to try a lot harder. And, Maxie, remember what I said. Just be careful… I'll know if you end up the causality in a mob war… make sure you don't."
Maxie waited for him to walk into the bar, scowling each time he looked back. "I hate that man… now I see where Carly gets her ego problem from."
"Maxie…"
"No, really, think about it. She thinks that she's the best thing since sliced bread, and so does he. No wonder they're related…"
"I'm just glad that he doesn't realize what I really came here to do…"
"He was mean to you…"
"I knew he would be, but I couldn't let him keep on attacking you. You don't deserve that…"
"I just want to go in there and rip out his throat!"
"That would be illegal, and messy… but I wouldn't hold it against you." Damian pulled out his cell phone, "Come on, we've got the information that we need, let's just go home." The phone rang, "Yeah, this is Damian Corinthos… we're ready to depart. Wait… what do you mean? I see… thank you."
"What is it?"
"The snow… it's too thick, we can't leave New York City until it dies down…"
Maxie lowered her eyes, sighing unhappily, "Mac isn't going to like this." She feared how she was going to explain it, knowing that Mac would probably say it was Damian's fault that there was an act of god that kept them together. Sometimes her dad could be very… biased in his beliefs.