Port Charles-

They'd made their way back to the small little town that most people forgot about shortly after they ended their stay at the hotel. Maxie was refreshed and altogether content with everything that had happened, but she was still worried. It always worried her when she thought about what could happen to him, what was going on in his mind. He said that he trusted her, and she believed him when he said that he did, but there were still things that he kept from her, things that didn't involve his father, things that involved him. She should have known. Being involved with a Corinthos man was just asking for at least a few secrets to be hidden in the proverbial closet. But, as with any woman who ended up falling in love with one of the Corinthos men, she didn't let the fact that they were so stoic in their ways stop her from worrying about him.

He hadn't said much to her on the fly back to Port Charles. She wasn't expecting some heartfelt confession, and she didn't mind the fact that he was so quiet. He would smile at her while she hugged him on the couches in the plane, but that was almost the total extent of the feeling that she was getting from him. She was worried that he was slipping away from her right before her eyes, worried that there wasn't much that she could do about it. If Maxie lost him she didn't know what she would do. She didn't know how she would go on.

"Sorry about this…"

Finally, something out of his mouth. She tried to sound supportive and unbiased as she spoke, "About what?"

"About how I'm acting…"

"If I had a bad dream like that I would be quiet and reserved, too," she gripped onto his arm and held it tightly, "I don't hold it against you, Damian. You helped me when I needed someone to just be there for me, remember?"

"Of course I remember." He could never forget the way she was when she was worried about how she was unworthy of anything, including the heart that she had managed to get from her late cousin. "You scared me."

"And you're scaring me…"

"I don't mean to."

"I know you don't, but that doesn't mean that you don't actually do it. We do things without even thinking about them and we don't worry about what could happen to the people that we love."

"I don't want to push you away," he admitted. "I know how my dad acts when he gets overloaded with everything. I've heard the stories." There were things that Maxie couldn't be aware of, such as Sonny's mental state at times. Sonny himself had been the one to inform the boy of the fact that he had been through a few breakdowns, it was part of their 'no secrets' amendment to their relationship. Sonny didn't have to tell Damian about them, he wouldn't have asked, but the fact that he managed to do it meant a lot to the young man, as if it were a sign of complete trust. "I just don't want that to happen with you and me."

"Then don't let it…"

"What?"

She looked up at him with her beautiful blue eyes. She didn't want to sound like she was forcing him to do something, because she wasn't. She was offering her advice and that was something that Maxie could not do on very many occasions, but she felt that she could do it for him. "You have the power to stop this, Damian, you're the only one who can do it, but you have to decide that you want everything that has been keeping you up at night, everything that has been haunting you in your sleep, to end."

"You know I do…"

"I know you do, and you know you do, but you're the one who isn't actually doing anything about it."

"What can I do?"

"I don't know. Talk to someone. It doesn't even have to be me. Talk to your father, your aunt, your grandfather, Dillon, Ric, anyone. Nobody is going to push you away if you need help, Damian, at least not the people who care about you. If you go and ask some random person off the corner of the street for help they might not give it to you, but I know for a fact that you come first for me, that if you have a problem I'm going to do whatever I can to help you, even if its just what I'm doing now… just listening."

"How many times have I told you that I don't deserve you?"

She blushed, "You're being modest again, because you know that you do. If anything, I don't deserve you."

"Let me walk you home…"

"Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Maxie, your father knows that we had to stay in New York together, I don't think he's going to have someone there to arrest me on the spot."

"Again, are you sure about that?"

Damian thought about the question for a moment. When it came to Mac Scorpio one could never be too sure, especially when it involved the wellbeing of one of his daughters. Mac was quite like a fierce dog, able to get lockjaw and never let go until the problem was dealt with. Damian, to Mac, was a problem, but he had yet to receive the full effect of Mac's overprotective complex. The relationship between him and Maxie was still young, though. Dillon had more than a few horror stories. "I have Justus on my speed dial…"

"That might help."

"Wait," Damian muttered. "He can't know…"

"About the fact that we took a shower together and slept in the same bed? I'm not stupid, Damian, I know that I can't tell him that."

"Did it change anything?"

"What do you mean?"

"What happened between us… did it change anything about our relationship?"

"I'd be lying if I said it didn't," she grabbed his hand. "But you have to understand something, I still love you, I probably love you more now that I've seen that you're willing to share more things with me than you were when we started going out. You're willing to share your bed, and, in some ways, your body, but you don't expect anything out of me. Do you know how few people there are that actually don't expect anything more than just sleeping together in the same bed with their girlfriend?"

"You're not going to compare me to Kyle again, are you?"

"No, I'm not, but he is part of the group of guys that I know who would have been putting on a condom the moment the door closed in that hotel room… maybe even not putting on a condom, just getting naked and expecting me to…"

"I'm not ready for that."

She nodded, touching his cheek with her free hand. "I told you last night, I don't have any expectations other than when you're ready and you think that the time is right I'll be ready, too." She had a very strange relationship with her boyfriend. Usually it was the man who had to be the 'waiter,' but she ended up being the one who was just waiting on bated breath for the perfect moment when she would have him in every way possible. Maxie was learning patience because of her relationship with her boyfriend, it was working for her.

"You're understanding of me and my beliefs…" not necessarily religious beliefs, although they had something to do with it, but just the fact that he had things he wanted to do with his girlfriend and things that he didn't.

"At least now I won't be asking about your birthmark…"

"I hate that thing…"

"It's cute."

"You're just saying that."

"Maybe…" she hadn't really thought about it until that moment, but she was more the prowler than him. The whole time they were in the shower together it was her who was looking at him, examining every inch of his fully exposed body with childish curiosity. He just focused on her face, or kept his eyes closed.

"Thank you for doing that…"

"You're sure that's what you wanted?"

"I told you… I was sure, I'm still sure. I don't regret taking a shower with you, Maxie. I don't regret needing your touch when I was scared."

"I don't have any regrets either," she tugged on his arm softly, walking towards her home.

Outside the Scorpio Household-

The walk wasn't that long, and they were certainly chattier about things when compared to the plane flight back to Port Charles, but they were just making small talk. The bigger issues were those that couldn't be solved just by a conversation while they had a leisurely stroll through Port Charles.

"You want to come inside?"

"No, thanks," he let go of her hand, "I'll call you later tonight, though."

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know, wherever. Don't worry about me."

"You make it seem like I can just turn it off. I'm going to worry about you no matter what."

"I won't do anything dangerous…"

"That's supposed to make me feel better?" When Corinthos men said that they weren't going to do anything dangerous it was a white flag comment. She knew that. Corinthos men didn't really know how to do not doing anything dangerous, it came with the name.

"I swear!"

"All right…"

"Oh, goodie…"

Maxie was taken back by his attitude shift. She heard the door close and she knew why. Turning around, she saw Mac walking towards them. "Dad!" She tried to liven the mood by going over to him and giving him a hug. "Happy New Year!"

"Save it, Maxie."

Damian groaned. He knew what was coming. A lecture about how he was a horrible person who was only going to bring ruin to Maxie's life. Mac had all of his speeches on a disk somewhere in the house. They just needed to find it.

"Dad…"

"Go inside," Mac ordered. "You're not in trouble, either of you, I promise, but I just want to talk with Damian for a minute."

"But…"

"Maxie…"

"Go on, Maxie," Damian nodded. "I can take care of myself."

Mac waited until Maxie was gone before giving the boy a stare down. "I'll always have my reservations about the two of you being together, but she's my daughter and I believe that I have a right to worry about her."

"You do."

"That said… I just thought you should know that I do not blame you for what happened last night. You couldn't have done anything about the weather. I thought about holding it against you, but that would just be wrong. And, deep down, I felt better knowing that my daughter was with someone that loved her while she was staying in the big city. You kept her safe, I owe you my thanks."

"No thanks necessary, Mac," Damian was surprised by the respect that was being displayed, but he appreciated it all the same. "I love her too much to let anything bad happen to her."