Six weeks later, Maxie sat on her couch staring blankly at the TV. She'd been doing that everyday after work. The first few days after Spinelli had banished her, she had tried to see him, only to be escorted out by Jason's men. She didn't know what to do with herself anymore, and Mac was starting to freak.

He was in the kitchen on the phone. "Robin, I'm really worried about her."

"Uncle Mac, just give her time."

"But she's been sick the past couple of days too. And she won't let me take her to the doctor."

"Why not?"

"She thinks that Spinelli will check the medical records and get worried. She says he has to focus on work right now."

"I guess he does. We've been getting some of Jason's men and that Russian's in the ER."

"Down at the precinct too. I'm just really scared, Robin."

"How about I come over and take her out?"

"Will you? Please?"

"I'll be over in a few minutes."

Mac walked into the living room and hung up the phone. "Maxie?"

"Uh huh."

"Robin's coming over. She wants to take you out."

"I don't want to go out, Dad."

Mac sat next to her on the couch. "Maxie, honey, you're starting to scare me."

"What?" Maxie looked up at him.

"You don't go out; your friends don't come over…"

"What friends? Spinelli won't see me, Lulu and Johnny are missing."

"You've been sick and won't let me take you to the doctor."

"I explained that."

"Maxie, please. Just go out with Robin. For me?"

Maxie sighed. "Okay dad."

"Thank you." The doorbell rang at that moment. "There she is."

"Hi Maxie, hi Uncle Mac." Robin kissed his cheek.

"Hi Robin." Maxie said dejectedly.

"C'mon Maxie. We're going out." Robin grabbed her arm and pulled her to the door. "Bye Uncle Mac."

"Bye girls. Have fun."

Once they got outside, Maxie pulled her arm away. "Okay Robin, you got me outside, you can go now."

"I promised Uncle Mac that I'd take you out. So we are going out."

"Robin, I don't feel well."

"Then I'll take you to GH."

"No you will not."

"Alright, then we're going to Kelly's." Robin pulled her down the street.

--

They walked into Kelly's.

"Hi Mike." Robin called as they settled at a table.

"If it isn't two of my favorite ladies." Mike smiled and came over. "Maxie, I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."

She gave him a tight smile, and then stiffened as she looked at the door.

Robin turned and saw Spinelli.

"Hey Spin." Mike greeted him as Spinelli halted when he saw Maxie.

Maxie slapped her hand over her mouth, "Excuse me," and ran to the bathroom.

"Maximista?" Spinelli sounded awed.

"Spinelli, stay here." Robin hurried after Maxie. "Mike, keep him here." She called over her shoulder.

Spinelli turned to escape but was pulled back by Mike's hand on his messenger bag.

"Just where do you think you're going, Spinelli?"

"The Jackal cannot be around the Fair Maximista."

"Yeah right. Have a seat at the bar."

"But.."

"Sit down."

Spinelli ducked his head and sat down on a stool.

"Now Robin said for you to wait. So drink your soda and wait."

Robin pushed the bathroom door open. "Maxie? Are you okay?"

She heard a groan from one of the stalls and looked in to see Maxie on the floor, leaning over the bowl.

"Maxie?"

"Robin, I'm sick."

"I can see that. Are you done?"

"I think so."

"Alright, get up. Let's get you freshened up." Robin helped Maxie up. "Have you been throwing up a lot?"

"Yeah."

"What do you think it is?"

"I hope it's the flu. I think…I'm pregnant. Maxie leaned on the sink, resting her head in her hands.

Robin's eyes grew wide. "Why do you think…?"

"Because I'm late, I'm throwing up, and I had unprotected sex."

"Maxie, you know better than that." Robin groaned. "Have you done a test?"

Maxie laughed hollowly. "I haven't left the house for six weeks except to go to work."

"So you might not…"

"I am."

"But who?"

"Spinelli."

"What?!" Robin covered her mouth. "I thought you…I mean; I didn't know…I don't know what to say."

"You can say that Dad's going to kill me. No, actually he'll kill Spinelli first, then me."

Robin started pacing the bathroom. "Okay, so I'm going to find Kelly and have her do a test for you, then…"

"No." Maxie interrupted. "Spinelli will hack in and get my records and he'll start freaking out."

"You don't want to tell him?"

"Not right now. Not when there's a mob war going on."

"Okay, but I'm sure Mike's keeping him in the diner."

"Why?"

"Because you two need to talk."

"Robin…"

"Not about a baby, just to talk." Robin grabbed her arm, again, and pulled her back into the hallway.

Maxie peeked around the wall, to see Spinelli sitting at the counter, talking to Mike.

"The Jackal really should depart."

"Not yet Spinelli."

She saw the dark bags under his eyes and knew he hadn't slept in a long time. His usually messy hair was even worse than usual and his clothes were wrinkled.

"He looks really bad." She whispered to Robin.

"He looks like he misses you."

Maxie nodded and walked into the dining room.

"You need a haircut, Spinelli."

Spinelli jumped, running a hand through his hair. "Maximista!" His voice softened. "Are you well?"

"I'm fine. And you?"

"As well as can be expected."

Robin and Mike watched from the counter.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay." Maxie told him. "I really am."

"As am I. For you, I mean."

"Well, Jason probably…"

"Yes, the Jackal should…" He leaned over and touched her cheek lightly. "Bye Maximista." He hurried out of the diner, his head lowered.

Maxie turned to Mike and Robin, who immediately pretended to have been talking.

"You two are horrible fakers, you know?"

"You okay, Maxie?" Mike asked sympathetically.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be? Has Spinelli been coming in a lot?"

"Not as much. Jason's…Well, he's been busy."

"Is Jason okay?" Robin asked.

"You know I can't talk to you girls about this."

"Can I ask you this: Will it be over soon?" Maxie looked at him with desperate eyes.

"I sure hope so, Maxie. I sure hope so."

--

Maxie and Robin left Kelly's with full stomachs.

"Alright, I know you don't want to go to GH, so how about Nikolas' clinic. I know everyone who works there and I bet we can convince them to keep it off the system."

"I don't…"

"Maxie, you have to find out for sure."

"Okay."

Nadine greeted them as they entered the clinic.

"Robin! You here to volunteer?"

"No actually, umm…"

"We're here for me." Maxie decided to just say it."

Nadine was surprised. "What?"

"I need a pregnancy test done, and I really need you not to put it in any computer system."

"Okay, I'm a little confused."

"Maxie thinks she's pregnant, so we need a test to be sure, but we don't want it recorded anywhere because she doesn't want anyone else to know."

"I'm still confused, but I suppose we can do that. There should be a room available."

Nadine took them to a back room and did the test. "It'll be a few minutes."

"Thanks Nadine!" Robin called after her.

"What are you going to do if it's positive?"

"I don't know."

"Well, would you want to keep it?"

"Of course."

"Are you sure? You're so young and well, you're not with Spinelli."

"Not right now, but who knows? The thing is, Robin, I know that I'm not going to be able to have lots of kids and any pregnancy I do have is going to be dangerous because of my heart, so I'm keeping my babies."

"I hadn't thought about that."

"I try not to let people."

"What about Spinelli? Will you tell him?"

"Not until he'll let us be around each other." She sighed. "I don't know how you did this Robin. First Stone, then Jason. How could you stand it when they pushed you away to keep you 'safe'?"

"I don't know. I think I volunteered to baby sit you."

They laughed together.

There was a little knock on the door and Nadine stuck her head in. "Am I interrupting?"

"No," Robin smiled, "come in."

"I've got your results, Maxie. You are pregnant."

Maxie let out the breath she'd been holding. "Okay."

"I didn't put it in the system, but you really need to make an appointment with your OB/GYN. That is, if you're keeping the baby."

"I will, I promise. I just need to figure some stuff out. Robin, I'm gonna head home, okay?"

"Sure. I'll call you later."

Maxie left.

"Is she okay?"

"She will be. She was pretty sure she was pregnant."

"Does she…does she know what she's going to do?"

"I don't know. Look, I gotta go, but the clinic looks great. You guys are doing a wonderful job."

"Thanks. I'll see you."

--

Jason was working at his desk when someone knocked on the door.

"Jason?"

"Robin?" Jason stood and opened the door for her. "What are you doing here? Actually, you probably shouldn't be here."

"Don't start with that. Is Spinelli here?"

"No, he's at the coffeehouse."

"Good." Robin walked in and sat on the couch.

Jason shut the door and turned. "Is this about Maxie?"

"Yes."

"It's not safe right now."

"Do you know what this is doing to her?"

"I know that she only leaves the house for work, at least until today. I know that Kate is starting to worry about her work, you might want to mention that to her. I know…"

"Okay, you know things. Good grief."

"I told you there was a guard on her."

"I didn't know he gave you updates."

"I need to know when to send Spinelli over."

"And six weeks in the house didn't seem like the right time!"

"Hey, calm down. I figured she was okay. Well, at least until you took her to the clinic today."

"Nothing is a secret from you, is it?"

"Only why you went to the clinic." Jason sat down on the coffee table. "Is she okay?"

"Well, she's pregnant."

Jason was dumbstruck. "I'm going to kill Spinelli."

"Wait. You knew that…that they…"

"Considering that I walked in and found them on the couch…"

Robin jumped up. "Ew, Jason!"

"What's she going to do?"

"She's keeping the baby."

"Is she going to tell Spinelli?"

"I don't know."

"Robin, he's going to know. Even he can figure it out."

"Just give her time."

Jason reached for his phone. "I need to double her guard."

Robin looked straight at him. "Jason, are things really that bad?"

"It's bad, but we're winning."

"There's no winning, Jason."

"Robin, don't…"

They were interrupted by the sound of the door opening as Spinelli came home.

"Dr. Robin?"

"Hi Spinelli. I should go. Bye Jason. Nice to see you again Spinelli."

Spinelli started upstairs.

"Hold on Spinelli."

"Yes, Stone Cold."

"I want you to stop moping in your room."

"Moping, Master?"

"Yes. Moping. You've been doing it for six weeks."

"If the Master is unhappy with his Grasshopper's work…"

"Your work has been excellent and you know I'm not talking about that."

"I'm sorry Stone Cold. The Jackal doesn't understand."

"You've been missing Maxie and I don't entirely get you two, but this is going to be over soon. I promise."

"I saw the Fair Maximista today, you know."

"I know."

"She said I need a haircut."

"You do."

"It hurts, Stone Cold. There is a hole that only she can fill."

"I promise, it'll be safe soon. But I am going to increase her guard until this Karpov thing ends."

"Thank you, Stone Cold."

--

Maxie walked into her house.

"Dad?"

Mac leaned out of the kitchen. "Maxie? What are you doing home?"

Maxie threw herself on the couch. "I went out with Robin. Then I came home."

"Where's Robin?"

"I dunno."

"Did you have fun?"

"Not really. We went to Kelly's."

"Oh?"

"Spinelli was there." Maxie started crying and Mac slipped onto the couch next to her.

"I'm sorry sweetie."

"It's not fair dad. And I can't even tell him that I'm…" She leaned into his shoulder.

"You're what?"

Maxie composed herself and sat up. "Daddy, you can't freak out, okay?"

"This doesn't sound good."

"I'm pregnant."

"What! But you haven't even…" Mac stood and started pacing. "Okay, who do I need to go kill?"

"No one, Dad. I told you not to freak out!"

"And you expected me to listen? Who did this, Maxie?"

"I did! And I thought you didn't want to know about my sex life?"

"I do when it means you're going to have a baby!"

"Stop shouting, Dad, please. I can't do this with you so mad at me."

"I'm sorry." He sat back down and held her hand. "Who is it, Maxie?"

"Spinelli."

"What…how…what?"

"You know, I don't get why everyone is so shocked. We were inseparable."

"But…Spinelli?"

"Sure, you know he's actually got a great body and…"

"I don't need to hear about Spinelli's body."

"Sorry, Dad. I just start to ramble. Usually no one is interrupting. Spinelli just listens."

Mac held his head. "Maxie, I just…I can't believe that Jason Morgan's right hand man is the father of my first grandchild."

"He's not always going to work for Jason. He took a Private Investigator course."

"What is your mother going to say?"

"Why should we tell her? She doesn't care?"

"Maxie…I'm not in the mood."

"I'll tell her, eventually. But I should probably tell Spin first."

"You're still not allowed near him."

"I'll figure something out." Maxie gave her dad a brilliant smile. "Do you think he'll be happy?"

"I don't know, sweetie. But I don't really know anything about him. Do you? I mean, what about his family?"

"He doesn't talk about them. I know he has a grandmother in Tennessee, but that's all."

She leaned against his shoulder.

"Thanks, Dad."

"For what?"

"Not yelling too much."