Journeylove- People refuse to see passed what Sonny appears to be at face value. It is ultimately their greatest flaw, one that is obviously attached to anyone within his inner circle. As for Durant… his plans will be seen soon enough.

Story-

New York, New York-

He waited for her at the table, drinking his tea inside of the coffee house. It wasn't a full house, but the place was still packed. New York on New Years Eve was just as bad as he thought it was going to be. He didn't like being around all the people, but he didn't have a choice, not anymore. He couldn't leave the city until the weather cleared up, the pilot not wanting to risk Sonny Corinthos's oldest child, knowing that even if he managed to make it to Port Charles intact, Sonny would not be happy. Damian didn't hold it against Lou, the pilot, but he still wasn't all that content with the situation.

If there was one thing that was keeping him happy it was her. The way that she looked at him. She didn't mind being stuck in New York. Why would she? Maxie was born to be one of those people who was painfully happy, the kind of giddy that even the most cynical person in the world couldn't hate, no matter how hard they tried. Damian wasn't one of those people, but he knew people like that. They would love Maxie, because she was almost commanding of that love.

Even with the crowd of people in the admittedly cramped space, she stood out. There were plenty of other blonde haired girls and guys in the place, but none of them radiated her beauty. Maybe it was just because he loved her so much, but he wanted to believe that he would have noticed her even if it was the first time they met. He had noticed her the first time they met. It seemed like it was such a long time ago, but it wasn't, it wasn't even half a year. So much had changed in that time. He'd changed. She'd changed. Most of the change was good, but some of it was undoubtedly bad. He was willing to compromise his morals for his family, something that he didn't think about when he was in Los Angeles, something that was never really necessary to think about. The Zuniga's may have had their skeletons inside of the family closet, but they had long since stopped doing the illegal activities that marred Sonny and Jason.

Sometimes he wondered if it was worth it, if, deep down, it was really worth making the sacrifices that he made. If finding his father was truly worth leaving the only home that he had ever known, even if it was one he didn't particularly care for. There were obvious reasons why he felt it was worth it: Michael, Courtney, Morgan, Dillon, Sonny, Jason, Elizabeth, Ric, even Carly. But none of them meant more than Maxie. With her he found a part of himself that he didn't even know existed, a part that scared him to the depths of his being yet made him happy to be alive at the same time.

She waved at him once more from her place in the line. For some reason the coffee shop had two lines, one for tea and one for coffee, since coffee had long since become all the rage in the country it was a much longer line, Damian was done in a few minutes, Maxie had been standing there for almost ten, but she didn't let it bring her down. Nothing would bring her down, at least he thought nothing would. She could always find the silver lining in a situation… even though sometimes she didn't think she could.

He knew why Mac was so fierce about protecting his daughters, Georgie and Maxie both, but he also knew why Mac was so intent on making sure that Maxie was the one who got the brunt of his attention. Georgie had something that Maxie sometimes lacked. Georgie was much more levelheaded than her older sister. It wasn't an insult to Maxie, it was just the truth. Mac worried about Maxie more than Georgie, Damian worried about Maxie more than Georgie, hell, Dillon probably did, too. She'd gone from a very bad relationship into one that was healthy, but with a person who brought up nothing but red flags to the police commissioner. Damian hated the fact that Mac couldn't just accept him for who he was, see that just because he shared a name with someone didn't mean that he shared their path in life, but that was a fools dream. He couldn't ask Mac to just accept him as a decent person, even though on some levels he knew that Mac believed the relationship that he had with Maxie was much healthier than the one that she had with Kyle, but he would have to show Maxie's father that he would never do anything to hurt her, not intentionally.

Maxie was finally free of the line that had plagued her, complete with her Mocha Latte, which she handled gingerly. Much like Damian had surmised, she loved being in the city, especially on New Years Eve. She had even seen a few people that she knew from school. Some of them, like the guy that Damian had seen, were at school in New York City at one of the many colleges. She hid it well, but she envied them. They hadn't made the mistakes that she made, they hadn't made it almost impossible to get into a good college right out of high school.

There were plenty of good things that came from her decision to not go away to a good school right away, the biggest reason sitting a few feet away from her. "You look like you could use someone to talk with."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, you were staring at me most of the time I was in line."

"I was captivated by your radiant beauty, Maxie," he grinned, since it was, in fact, the truth.

"You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine…"

"What happened wasn't your fault," she noted, placing a hand over his sympathetically. "I mean, I know my dad is going to find some way to put the blame on you, but you can't let it bother you…"

"I don't let it bother me. Mac hates me."

"He doesn't hate you…"

"Tell me that with a straight face and maybe, just maybe, I'll believe you."

"Damian, I swear to you, my father doesn't hate you." She knew it in her heart. Mac didn't hate the boy… he just didn't want Damian with his daughter. It wasn't Mac's call to make, but he found a way to make it anyway.

"We'll worry about your father later," he wanted to believe her, and maybe a small part of him did, but a bigger part couldn't help but know that Mac Scorpio would only be happy when Damian was out of Maxie's life, something that neither of the two young people in love were ready to have happen anytime soon.

"What are we going to do now? You want to speak with Durant again?"

"No," he didn't want to speak with Durant ever again. One time was enough. The fact that the man was Michael and Morgan's grandfather didn't fill Damian with much in the way of happiness. Genetics could be a huge burden. Poor Michael, forced to be AJ Quartermaine's biological son and John Durant's biological grandfather. Hopefully Michael would never need to find out about the man that was his grandfather. Durant wanted to destroy the lives of the people that Michael loved, and that would in turn destroy the boy, no matter what his age was.

"Good," Maxie agreed with everything that Damian was likely thinking. She didn't usually hate a person after only meeting them once, but it was obvious that she hated John Durant. The man thought that he was some superior god, but he wasn't. He wasn't anything worth mentioning. Someone needed to tell him that. If she had her way she would be the one to do it.

"We need to get a hotel…"

Maxie finished drinking her coffee, only because she would have spit it out otherwise. "You want to find a hotel… in New York City… on New Years Eve?"

"Do you want to sleep in an alley?"

"We could sleep on the plane…"

"Yeah, we could… and we might have to, but if I can avoid it… if I can get you an actual bed for the night, that's what I want."

"Is it really important to you?"

"Sleeping in a room with a heater instead of sleeping in a plane? Yeah, that's important to me."

"You do realize that you're trying to find something that probably won't be available?"

"There are thousands of places to get a room for the night in New York City, Maxie…"

"Yes, and there are millions of people from all over the world who come to New York City on New Years Eve, Damian. I'm not exactly the best person when it comes to math, but even I can see where that's going to end up."

"Only one way to find out, right?"

"Lets go…"

Some Time Later-

Maxie was right. There was almost no way in hell that they were going to get a room in New York City. They had tried every place that they could think of, finally resorting to calling because walking from one place to the other was becoming tiring. It wasn't until they found a very large hotel that they walked inside, hoping beyond hope that it would provide them with what they needed.

"Can I help you?" The clerk wasn't very enthused to see two college students that had decided to try and enter the hallowed halls of his hotel. Really, college students couldn't afford the rooms.

"We're looking for a room…"

"Was the motel six full?"

"All of the ones in the city," Damian muttered. He could tell that they were already being typecast as poor children, and he wasn't very happy with the stigma. "Look… do you have two rooms for the night? Just for tonight… hopefully." If they needed to they would add another night until the weather cleared up.

"It's New Years Eve…"

"I'm aware of that. Please, just check. If you don't have anything we'll leave. Pretty simple, don't you think?"

The man rolled his eyes and did as he was instructed. He didn't think that there was anything available, especially that the college kids could afford, but he was still forced to do his duty because they could possibly be customers. "We don't have two rooms available… we have one."

"Damian," Maxie grabbed his hand. "They have one room… I don't mind."

His eyes were closed as he thought about it. He loved Maxie. Always would. But was he ready to share a room with her? Looking outside at the snow, which was coming down even more than it was when they entered the hotel, he knew his answer. He wanted her to be comfortable, and that was more important to him than making himself comfortable. "We'll take it…"

"Credit?"

"Cash."

The clerk was stunned by the fact that the boy wanted to pay cash, especially since the room wasn't really cheap. When he said the amount, Damian didn't flinch, instead just throwing down some bills, his face emotionless. It was the first time that he had ever really needed to flaunt money around, he didn't like it, but it was necessary.

Damian and Maxie took the elevator to the floor where the room was. Maxie had never seen such a lavish place in her life. She thought the Port Charles hotel was something special, but the place she was in at that moment had it beat without even trying.

When Damian opened the door to the room, Maxie covered her mouth with her hand. Everything that she dreamed of when she was a little girl was there. A canopy bed. A fireplace, chandelier… it was perfect.

"Maxie…"

"I love it," she whispered as she kissed him on the cheek. Her mind was running with the possibilities that were there. She could have the moment that she would never forget with the man that she loved in a magical city.

Damian was thinking about the possibilities as well. That which he wouldn't do, and that which he would. It was a very slim margin.