Scorpio Household-

There were momentous of a person's childhood, of their upbringing, that were almost always in a person's room. If it was just an old picture of the person as a child, a cherished stuffed animal, or something else, it was rare that a person didn't have something that gave even the slightest bit of a hint as to who they once were. Most kept it as a reminder of better times, when everything seemed so black and white, when people believed that mommy and daddy could solve every problem and that everything would always be okay. It might not have been the best thing to do, since reminders of such times of ignorance and blindness were often looked back on a little bit of scorn, but one couldn't deny that it was a happier time.

Maxie Jones was one of those people. She had so many things in her room that just screamed of her childhood. There were awards that she got from school during that brief period of time when she was actually a good student, or stuffed toys that she was given while she was in the hospital, when they thought she was going to die. She even had a few old albums from bands that she never listened to anymore hidden under her bed, a guilty pleasure that she just couldn't stand to get rid of. It wasn't her fault, Jordan Knight looked like such a cutie when she was a little girl.

But the reminders of her past were not all pleasant. There were pictures of her with B.J. that were clearly displayed on her mirror. Sometimes she would look at them and smile as she remembered the cousin that had been her best friend. Other times she would look at them and cry, missing the person that had to die so that she could live, worrying about how well she was doing at honoring the memory and the heart of someone that everyone loved.

Maxie's room was a reflection of her personality. The little girl that she was once upon a time, and the woman that she had since become. It hadn't changed much in a few years, but one could see the framed picture that she had with her boyfriend by her bedside. The last thing she looked at during most nights was that picture, and every night she would hope that she wouldn't wake up in the morning with him being gone, taken away because of the life that he had.

Maxie was looking at that very picture from her bed as she thought about what had happened. He didn't want to think that anything had changed, but Maxie knew that everything had changed. Not because of the fact that she slept with him, or because they took a shower together, but because she finally saw what had happened to him. She could see the damage that the life that he was now a part of had done to his mind. If anyone was strong enough to weather the storms that were brewing inside the mind it was him, but she couldn't help but remember the horror that was in his eyes. He hated what he had to do, and he might not have truly accepted the fact that it was necessary. "Just be all right…" she whispered as she touched the picture.

Georgie had poked her head in from the hallway. She hadn't seen much of her sister since they both got home, and that was something that she was looking to stop. "Who are you talking to?"

Maxie was surprised by the voice that came from her door. "Don't you know how to knock?"

"Maxie…"

"Sorry," she didn't mean to snap at her little sister. They had plenty of times where they were mad at each other, but she wasn't going through one of those times. She knew the way she sounded, the infliction in her voice, was bordering on hostile. "You just startled me."

"I should have knocked, but the door was open just a little…"

"You're welcome in my room whenever you want, as long as I'm here. You know how much I hate it when you're snooping around my room while I'm out."

"I haven't done that in years…"

"Georgie…"

"I'm serious!" Georgie had long since given up the snooping part of her life. She didn't need to do it anymore. She had Dillon and that took up as much of her free time as she would let it, not to mention the fact that Maxie and Georgie's relationship had gotten so much stronger. They were close, they would come to each other when it was needed, but rarely did they ever actually talk. It was because they had such different opinions on Kyle, he had caused a rift in their relationship that took some time to heal, but it had healed and he wouldn't do something like that again.

"All right, I believe you."

"So who were you talking to?"

"Nobody. You know, just talking to myself. Hoping that I can change something that might not be in my power to change."

"Is everything all right?" Georgie walked into the room and took a seat next to her sister. "Is there anything that I can do to help?"

"Not really, but it means so much to me that you did ask."

"This is about him, isn't it?" Georgie knew that her sister was talking to the picture of her and her boyfriend. She knew that Maxie was thinking about Damian, her mind was almost always on Damian, but it wasn't like Georgie's mind with Dillon. Georgie didn't have to worry about Dillon ending up dead because of who he was nearly as frequently as Maxie did. Even with Dillon's new association with the Morgan/Corinthos families he still wasn't at that much risk. Damian had a lot more clout when it came to ransom and the like. Georgie hated that she was thinking about it, but she couldn't help it.

"He worries me."

"Why?"

"Because sometimes I know that he's trying to keep me out of his life, and I don't want that. I want to be a part of that life, Georgie. I know what could go on, I know the danger that I'm in because of him, but I also know that he'd never put me in danger on purpose. It's like he's being punished just for being who he is and people shouldn't be punished for something like that."

"Sometimes they can't help it, Maxie. Think about it, people can be killers, and you…"

"He's not a killer! Not in cold blood…"

"I know that, but I'm just saying that every person ends up having something bad that comes with being themselves. Sometimes it is something that isn't that important, like with me. I just get called a geek at school because I am, but that's the person who I am, and sometimes it's a lot worse… like with him."

"I've never seen him like he was this morning…"

"This morning? You were with him in the morning?"

"Dad didn't tell you?" Maxie was almost certain that the word of her being alone with the mob prince would have spread like wildfire through the small Scorpio home. Mac was actually staying silent about it, and for that she was grateful.

"I haven't really talked to dad…"

"We were stuck in New York last night. We had to get a hotel room. Dad doesn't know it… but we ended up sharing a room together."

"Maxie!"

"We couldn't help it, Georgie. He wanted to get two rooms, he really did, but they only had one left. It was hard enough to get a room on New Years Eve in that city, we had tried so many other places and come up with nothing that we were very lucky to find the room when we did…"

"So…"

"So what?"

"What do you mean so what?" Georgie smiled. "You were alone, in another city, in a hotel room, on New Years Eve… at night… do I really need to keep on going with this?"

"We didn't have sex."

"Oh," the smile faded. "Well, at least he was respectful enough…"

"He didn't want to have sex with me…"

"Now you're just pulling my leg." A boy, not wanting to have sex? Such things went against the very nature of the gender. Georgie realized that she was stereotyping the man, but it was so hard not to.

"No, I'm not," Maxie shook her head. "He didn't even want to sleep with me last night, Georgie."

"Why not?"

"Because he didn't want me to think that something was going to happen that he wasn't ready to do. If he asked me to have sex with him last night you know I would have… but it would have felt right. I love him, Georgie. I want to be with him."

"I know you do."

"And I know he wants to be with me… at least I think I do. At first I was really hurt by the fact that he decided he didn't want to sleep with me. I knew that he wasn't ready to have sex with me and I even accepted that, but when he said he would sleep on the couch I thought he was rejecting me…"

"Maxie, he'd be stupid to reject you."

"He just didn't want to hurt me. He never does. I don't know why, but it's like he does everything with kids' gloves on and is afraid of doing something that could break me… I'm not a porcelain doll."

"You're pretty like one. And you have a few." She pointed to the few that were in the room, "See?"

"We're okay, though. We talked about it. I told him that when he was ready I would be ready…"

"Dillon and I had the same conversation yesterday… its like we're still connected on that level, except that I'm the one who isn't ready in my relationship and he's the one who isn't ready in yours. Maybe… maybe there's something wrong with him…"

"Georgie!"

"I'm just trying to be honest with you, Maxie," Georgie gave her sister's hand a sympathetic pat. "He's twenty-one years old… why wouldn't he want to be with you in that way?"

"He wants to wait… I respect that, but sometimes it's hard."

"You managed to get one of the only guys in the world who wants to wait… you should consider yourself lucky."

"I do."

"So why are you worried about him then? If you're not worried about him not wanting to have sex…"

"He had a bad dream and woke up. It was because of what happened with Alcazar…"

"He did that to save his dad and himself."

"We all know that, even Damian does, but that doesn't change the fact that he thought about it. I think he dreams about it all the time. He never told me… but this morning I saw it. You should have seen him, Georgie. He was shaking and sweating and you could see that he was really afraid of what was going on. He needed me like he's never needed me before."

"You were there for him, weren't you?"

"I did everything that I could, I held him while we were in the shower, I told him that everything was going to be all right. I don't know if he believed me or not, but I hope he did."

"Wait, you were in the shower with him?"

"He said he needed me. I looked into his eyes and I knew that he really did. I couldn't just stand there and do nothing, Georgie. I couldn't." Maybe that was why she spent so much time looking at the picture. It made her feel like she was doing something, even if it was just passing her love over to him. Maxie could only hope that it was enough.