A/N: I got kinda skimpy reviews this time around, both in terms of content and number. But I understand why. I'm pissing you all off with all of these almost kisses. So, I decided to update, give the chapter this title,and maybe...

MelindaM- I'm glad you like it! I'm trying to keep Jesse and Maxie's relationship true to the show but at the same time I am trying to fit them into my AU and completely rewrite them.

tania- I hope this was quick enough for you! I'm glad you liked that I used the actual story of his brother and the baby thing!

Vicki316- Glad you like it. Jesse can have a very calming effect. Lol.

emmalee05- Some big stuff is going to go down here on the docks!

brittany- lol. You wrote 'review' instead of 'update'! That's ok, I do that all the time!

AnAngelofAStar- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dissapoint. I hope I can make it up to you. And I love the way you started the review. That 'GASP' made me laugh.

middiegurl08- Don't be sorry, it happens. Believe me, I don't think of you as dumb or anything. You are one of my smart reviewers! Without mentioning any names, some of my readers write some pretty dumb things in reviews that make me literally go "oye" as I'm reading it.

anon14- Becoming suspicious of Jesse are we? Hmmm, there is more to it, I'm sure you got that from the extended summary. But what is it? Dun dun dun!

Lauren- Stupid adults : )

Rivercity-Chic- Maybe...

blackcherrymeg16- They will get together, don't worry. It's just a matter of when...

brucasbrathangrl- I'm sorry that it's killing you. It's never good to kill readers, lol.

Chapter 6- The Kiss

"I came here to think. But seeing you here is an added bonus. Do you believe in fate Jesse?" asked Maxie softly.

Chapter 6- The Kiss Chapter 6- The Kiss Chapter 6- The Kiss Chapter 6- The Kiss

"No, I think it's up to us to make our own decisions" he told her.

"So you don't think our being interrupted all the time has anything to do with nature trying to tell us to back off. That we're not meant to be"

"Maxie…"

"Jesse, I see the way you look at me. I see the pain in your eyes and I know it's there because I have the same pain in my eyes. We may have some obstacles to get past, but without the obstacles it would just be boring" she said going over to him and taking his hands.

"Maxie! We can't do this!" he said jerking out of her grasp.

"I am so tired of suppressing my true feelings" she admitted as the tears started down her face.

"Please don't cry" he said walking over to her and trying unsuccessfully to wipe away all of her tears. "Please don't cry" he repeated softly.

The moment was perfect. Their eyes met and Jesse felt himself lift one hand to cup Maxie's cheek, caressing her soft skin. Maxie lifted her arms to around his neck and they both moved their heads in a little closer. Before they knew it, their lips met. The kiss was sweet and tender, and it was everything that they both had wanted. As the kiss deepened, Jesse finally came to his senses, forcibly removing her arms from him and taking a giant step back.

"We…we… can't do this" he said as he started to pace around nervously.

"Why not Jesse? Because of my idiotic brother!" she yelled.

"Maxie! I am your guard. You are supposed to be a job and nothing else!"

"Yeah, I'm supposed to be! But I'm not!"

"Maxie, we need to pretend like this never happened" he said as he lowered his voice.

"Well I can't just pretend like that" said Maxie in a surprisingly calm voice.

"Don't you get it Maxie? You have to! We both have to. It's too complicated"

"I can talk to my brother! I can get my sister to help me. She's been in the same position. We can make it work!" she yelled right back as their voices became raised again.

"Dammit Maxie! It's a hell of a lot more complicated than that! There's more to it."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Go home Maxie. Go home and pretend like this never happened. You and I feel nothing for each other" he said in a cold voice that she had never heard him use with her before.

Maxie's eyes grew wide and wet with tears as she turned on her heel and just started running. She ran all the way home, never looking back. Not seeing as the tears Jesse were holding back finally spilled.

"Courtney?" came Maxie's feeble voice as she walked into her penthouse, tired and emotionally drained.

"Maxie? What happened?" asked Courtney as she and Carly emerged from the kitchen.

"Is Jason home?" she asked.

"No, he's across the hall at my place with Sonny. What happened?" asked Carly.

"I'm glad you're both here, we need to talk. Sit down" she said, motioning to the couch as the three women sat. "Jesse and I kissed tonight" she said, bringing on a fresh batch of tears.

She put her head in Courtney's lap and the two women hugged her and told her it would all be alright as they exchanged glances, knowing what was coming.

"Lemme guess, he pushed you away because he didn't want to have to deal with my pigheaded husband" said Carly.

"And you fought him on it, but he said something so hurtful and cruel that you just needed to get out of there before you said something you would regret" said Courtney.

"Yes! Exactly" said Maxie as she picked her head up.

"Been there, done that" said Courtney with an exasperated sigh.

"Start from the beginning. Tell us exactly what happened. Start from when you started to have feelings for each other" said Carly.

"Alright. I don't know the exact day. But we started talking when he was guarding me and sometimes we would just have these moments. These moments where we just understood each other" said Maxie

"Sounds about right" said Courtney as both she and Carly nodded their heads.

"And then the other night, at that party, I was with this guy. And he got a little touchy and he was basically attacking me. And Jesse showed up and he beat the guy up and threatened him. And then he held me in his arms and comforted me"

"Wait a second! You were attacked!" screeched Courtney.

"It's ok. I'm ok. All thanks to Jesse"

"Court, calm down" instructed Carly. "For the baby. Now, let's go over this again. Jesse plays protector and comforter. This is all adding up" she said with a nod of her head again.

"Alright, focusing on the love connection, not the perverts. So, he protected you, played hero" said Courtney.

"Exactly" said Maxie. "And then, we almost kissed"

"Almost? What happened?" asked Courtney.

"You walked in" said Maxie with a smile.

"Seriously? Oh Maxie, I am so sorry"

"It's ok Courtney, really. It wasn't the right moment for the kiss anyway. But after that, neither of us really mentioned it. We almost kissed again once after that, and then, he came over tonight. He was looking for Sonny and he found me instead. And we got to talking. And he told me all about his family. I mean it was a real personal sharing experience. And we got into this little blowout about what he does for a living. And he stormed out. But then he came back and he told me he didn't want me to see him as a killer. And then we almost kissed again" said Maxie.

"But everyone came back to the penthouse at that exact moment" said Carly with an all knowing smile.

"Exactly. After that, I found him on the docks. And we talked, and then we kissed. But then he pushed me away. He told me it couldn't happen. He was so cold and harsh. He was like a different person. So I just turned and ran. I ran all the way back here"

"Aww, Maxie. Come here" said Courtney as she pulled her sister into a big hug.

"I know that he feels the same way about me. I just know it. But I don't understand why he's being such a jerk" sobbed Maxie.

"I know exactly where you're coming from. I had to deal with the same thing when it came to being with Jason. We fall for the misogynistic pigs. They may be handsome, and they may be loving, but they think of us as helpless and weak. They have no idea about how strong we really are. They are programmed to protect us" said Courtney.

"And it's infuriating, and it's frustrating, but we care about them too much to just brush them off. We have to fight, and that 'we' includes you" said Carly.

"So you think I should fight for Jesse" said Maxie.

"Absolutely" said Courtney as Carly agreed too. "I fought for Jason. And it was hard at first. Really hard. I was all ready to give up. But in the end, true love won. He ended up coming to me. And it was all worth it in the end. I have the man. And I'm carrying his baby. We're going to have a family and we have our happiness. It may be difficult at times, but you need to fight for what you believe in"

Jesse took the long way back to Kelly's. He walked through the park, watching as fireflies danced around in the dark. The park seemed to be abandoned. It was late, and most people were at home, in bed or preparing for it. Jesse finally made it to Kelly's and he used his key to get into the diner. He trudged up the stairs. He had never known there to be so many stairs in the place. He was becoming too tired as he walked up them. But he knew that his exhaustion was due to the emotional turmoil that he was dealing with.

He wished she wouldn't invade his thoughts all of the time. He wished he could close his eyes and not see her beautiful face. It made it too hard. It made life too difficult. He knew that he could never have a relationship with Maxie for many reasons. It was just too complicated. He wished for a simple life. A life where he could storm over to the Harborview Towers and sweep Maxie off of her feet and confess his true feelings for her. He wished he could tell her that he was falling in love with her. Jesse finally made it to his tiny room and he pushed the door open. He promptly collapsed on to the bed, trying to get the images of the past night out of his head. He was lonely he decided. But he didn't want just anyone to take care of his loneliness. He wanted Maxie to. Maxie was the one he needed, the one he couldn't live without. Yet he pushed her away completely. He couldn't. He couldn't be with her, as much as he wanted to. As much as he was aching to be with her. As strong as the yearning was, he needed to stay away. It didn't matter that his heart was shattered into a million little pieces.

Maxie made her way up to her room after talking with Courtney and Carly for a little longer. She brushed her teeth and put on her pajamas before pulling back her blankets and settling into bed. Courtney was trying to convince her to keep the faith. She was trying to tell her that it would all work out in the end. Maxie thought about the people sleeping in the bedroom down the hall. Courtney and Jason had so much working against them. But they made it through it all and were now married and expecting a baby. They went to sleep at night holding each other. Maxie wished she was in Jesse's arms right now. Despite her best efforts, she began to cry. She was unable to hold back her tears any longer. She wished Jesse was there to wipe away her tears and to make it all better. She was falling in love, there was no doubting it. Her thoughts were always on Jesse and she wasn't sure if she could ever think of anything else. Or anyone else.
The next morning, Maxie sat in Kelly's talking with Georgie when Diego walked in.

"Hey Diego, where's Brook?" asked Georgie as he sat down with them.

"How should I know? We broke up again" he informed the girls.

"Sorry" said Georgie.

"Yeah, that's too bad" said Maxie, although she didn't really care being that her thoughts were elsewhere.

"It doesn't have to be so bad" said Diego as he moved in closer to him. "I could use someone to comfort me" he hissed in her ear.

"I have to go" said Maxie jumping up, hating how uncomfortable Diego was making her.

Diego watched her leave and Maxie could feel his eyes on her as she walked out. Maxie didn't want to be with Diego. She wanted to be with Jesse. Diego was completely wrong for her. He was greasy and sleazy, and he was far too assertive for her liking. His father had caused so much trouble for her family over the years, and Maxie wasn't about to canoodle with someone whose family hurt her's so badly.

Jesse watched from afar as Maxie left Kelly's. He had seen her talking to Diego and then storming off, so he could only assume what the conversation was about.

'That a girl Maxie' he thought with a smile.

She had brushed off any other guy. It was obvious that he was the only guy she wanted to be with. And she was the only girl he wanted to be with. He knew that he had no right to be jealous, but he didn't like that Diego was all over her.

As Maxie started to walk, Jesse followed her. He was still her guard, and as much as it hurt to just watch her like that, he knew that he needed to do it. Because he would always be her protector. And he would always love her.

A/N: Tada! I made them kiss, finally! So now you can all review again and not just roll your eyes at me.