Journeylove- Well, at least you had stuff to read over the summer, right? If nothing else, does provide people with extreme amounts of time wasting material, but this isn't a bad thing. If I read a little more, I would probably have come around more often during the summer months. And, despite the fact that the central character is a doctor, I seriously have no clue what I'm talking about, or what you're talking about. What's a CRNA? I'm glad that you have such lofty desires. Being a doctor is a respectable thing, much better than people like me who just want to write. Truth be told, I didn't watch any of Dancing with the Stars, despite the fact that our beloved Kelly Monaco was a part of it. I loathe Reality Television on the big networks, and tend to shy away from it out of sheer protest for the huge amount of programs that pollute the airwaves. That said, I'm not sure about the decision to do the dance off, but, as far as I'm aware of, it wasn't necessarily ABC that did it, the fan reaction was big enough to merit the rematch, or something. Regardless, if she wins (and she probably will win, since soap viewers are loyal bastards, and guys will just vote for her because she's sexy), then that is that. If she doesn't, she gave it her all.

Story-

John Durant grinned the grin that showed his sinister intent, one that would not be spoken of aloud. No, Ric Lansing was the enemy. Not just because he was the District Attorney of Port Charles, but because he was Sonny's little brother. Half-brother, but brother nonetheless. Had Durant taken it upon himself to strike against Sonny a year before he did, Ric would have made the perfect ally. John had been watching Ric since he arrived in Port Charles, from afar. He watched as Ric fooled everyone into thinking that he meant nothing to Sonny, only to end up revealing that he wanted to destroy him, and he tried, lord how he tried. But now, Ric was becoming spineless, unable to do what he should have been doing. Unable to bring his brother down.

"I asked you a question," Ric said sternly. John Durant may have been one of the most powerful people in the country, but that didn't mean that Ric was going to bow down and let Durant treat him like he was some unskilled little pup. "I'd like an answer."

"You should know the answer to the question, Lansing. Why does anyone come to Port Charles, New York? Regardless of who they are, what's the one reason why they come?"

"The gazebo in the park," Ric commented dryly. "People love that gazebo. Don't they, Lucky?"

"It's nice." Lucky may have been a cop, but there was still a part of him that was Luke Spencer's son, and that part of Lucky was telling him that Durant wasn't a very good person. "I think I'll go and take some pictures of the gazebo when I get off duty."

"Ah, Mr. Spencer," Durant turned to face Lucky, "you're something of a celebrity in this town, aren't you? Son of the former mayor and noted schemer, Luke Spencer. Half-brother of the supposed Prince, Nikolas Cassadine… and onetime boyfriend of Mrs. Elizabeth Webber-Lansing, who just happens to be married to the man standing right over there. Some would say that you're her greatest love, Lucky…"

"I don't see why my wife has anything to do with the possible reasons that you would have for coming here," Ric was getting frustrated. He hated it when people tried to undermine his relationship with Elizabeth. He worked so hard getting it back to the level that it used to be, and making it better.

"Elizabeth and I are over," Lucky said, trying to help Ric out. "We had our chance, it didn't work out. She's the greatest person in the world, Durant, don't do anything to hurt her, especially when you're right here, in Port Charles. If you know this town as well as you know my family history then you would be well aware of the fact that Elizabeth's grandmother is Audrey Hardy, one of the most respected women in the state of New York. You try and bring Elizabeth down and people will turn on you so quick it'll make your head turn."

John wasn't impressed by Lucky's bravado. He'd dealt with bigger, worse people than Lucky Spencer. Nonetheless, John would not remain silent, "Some could take that as a threat, Officer Spencer. It's never a good idea to threaten a district attorney."

"It's merely a warning, and you're not my district attorney. Ric is."

"And he's doing such a wonderful job at it, isn't he?"

"You know what?" Ric shook his head, "If you came in here to swap records of who is doing better as a district attorney, then you can just get the hell out of this office and drive back over to New York where you belong."

"Ric's doing a good job as the DA."

"Why thank you, Lucky…" Ric didn't expect such a compliment from Lucky Spencer, of all people. They still didn't get along. Yet another bridge that Ric needed to repair.

"Especially considering the last person who had the power," Lucky added. He didn't like Ric, but he disliked Scott Baldwin a whole lot more.

Mac walked inside the room, "Why did someone give me the message that I should drop everything and get into your office as soon as possible, Ric?"

"Believe me, Mac," Ric began, "I didn't have anything to do with it."

"But I did," Durant turned to look at Mac. "Commissioner Scorpio. We've met a few times before, haven't we? Long before you had this seat of power, long before you lost the edge that gave you this seat. Now that I have the two most powerful forces of the law in Port Charles in the same room, and, one of their lackey's…"

"You will not speak to one of my officers like that, especially while I'm here," Mac snapped at Durant. They may have met, and Mac may have respected Durant, but he wasn't going to let anyone take potshots at the people from his force. They all meant so much to him, Lucky was one of the top, too. "Lucky does his job and he does it well, he's well on his way to a long career as a law-officer."

"Until he decides to go down the Spencer route, right? You know as well as I do how his father loves to think that he's one step above the law."

"I am not my father!" Lucky glared at Durant. He hated being compared to Luke. There was a time when Lucky wanted nothing more than to be his father, but that time of childlike innocence and pointless worship of his father had long since passed.

"I'll say it again, Durant, if you came here to just exchange barbs and insult the people of Port Charles who work to make this place a little bit safer at night, then you should just get the hell out of here, or tell us what it is you want, because this conversation stopped being interesting the moment you opened your mouth." Ric had taken a seat once more, but he wanted Durant gone. The sooner the better.

"I was just waiting for Mac to come, Ric. You don't have to be so testy." Durant leaned against Ric's desk, looking at the wedding picture for a moment before he turned his eyes away. "People say that I'm one of the best there is in the country, and, I'll admit, the praise is well worth it… New York is one of the biggest cities in the world, gentlemen, it's impossible to keep the streets completely devoid of any violence, but I work my hardest to make sure that my citizens can sleep a little better at night. You know what the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning and grab the paper is?"

"Your gut spilling out over your pajamas?" Lucky asked sarcastically. If Durant was going to play the insult game, Lucky wanted to show that he could push just as hard. He was, after all, a Spencer.

"How very… amusing…" Durant rolled his eyes. "You really should think about a career as a stage comedian, because the act that you put up when you put that badge on is so pathetic that it's already laughable. Back to the point, I see Sonny Corinthos or Jason Morgan on the front page… connected to something in the crime ring. And I ask myself, 'why is it that I can contain crime to a respectable level in a city that has millions upon millions of people… and the people in Port Charles can't even keep crime off of their streets?' I've been asking myself the same question for such a long time that I finally decided to do something about it… so, guess what? I'm here to lend my formidable skills to the crusade of ending the regime of Corinthos and Morgan."

"We don't need your help," Ric said.

"Oh, but I think you do. After all, you haven't made a single allegation against Sonny in how long?"

"Sonny hasn't done anything, or been connected to anything, that could be considered breaking the law," Mac informed Durant. "If you're as smart as you are, if you watch Sonny as much as you do, then you should know that ever since that kid of his started running around Port Charles he's really tried to keep his act together."

"You speak of the bastard, don't you?"

"Don't call him that!" Ric growled, hand gripping the seat of his chair a little harder than usual. Damian was his nephew, Ric wasn't going to let Durant just treat him like he didn't matter. "His name is Damian, he's an intern at General Hospital, he wants to be a doctor… what does that say about his character?"

"That he's a better actor than Spencer over there…" Durant said with a chuckle. "I've met the person in question… ran into him in New York City right at the turn of the year… with your daughter, I might add, Commissioner. Oh, he tried to pull the act that Sonny didn't want anything to do with me, that Maxie just wanted to meet the guy that her dad respected ever so much. I didn't buy it."

"Maybe because you're blind," Ric commented. "Damian would never hurt anyone… I'm sure everyone in this room would agree with me on that."

Lucky nodded, "I was wrong about the kid when he came, but I can see who he really is… he's basically a choirboy."

Mac turned to his side. He didn't like Damian that much. Mac was well aware of the fact that Damian was different from his father, he was also constantly being told how much Maxie loved him… but neither of those were the question. The question was if Mac believed that he would never intentionally hurt someone… and he had an answer for that. "They're right, he's not dangerous to anyone."

"And that is why I need to be here, in Port Charles. Because you people are so bewitched by whatever Sonny Corinthos throws at you that you're more than willing to believe that his own child, a product of his makeup, is incapable of being anything like his father."

"You can't just come in here and take control of the operations in Port Charles, Durant," Ric said, "it doesn't work like that. I'm still in charge."

"I pulled a few strings, Lansing, you don't have to worry about me taking your job, yet, but I've got myself a new assignment that allows me to make base here in Port Charles for the foreseeable future. In other words, I'm going to be here, making sure that every time you screw up there's someone there to make note of it. That goes for all of you. I'll pick my desk out tomorrow."

The trio watched John Durant leave, shutting the door behind him. They all stayed silent until they were certain that he was far enough away that he couldn't hear anything. Lucky was the first to speak, "I can't believe the nerve of that guy…"

"Don't let him get to you, Lucky," Mac advised. "John Durant is a master at playing mind games, that's how he manages to get the power that he does. I won't lie, he's a damned good attorney… maybe even better than Ric, but he's also seedy and underhanded."

"The important thing is that we make sure that we just keep on doing our job the exact same way that we're doing it. We can't let Durant think that he got to us," Ric finally let his grip of death off of the chair, "because if we do, then he wins."

"Lucky, could you leave the two of us alone?" Mac requested. "I need to speak with Ric about what we're going to do about all of this and it would be better if it was just the two of us."

"I thought you said that you respected me…"

"I do, but respect has nothing to do with this. This is just procedure. You're an officer right now, Lucky. Maybe in a few years you'll be high enough to be involved in something like this… but not right now. Please, I'll tell you everything that's important, but I need to be with Ric, alone."

Ric waited for Lucky to leave, "So, what are we going to do?"

"Did you know about Damian seeing Durant?"

"I thought you said that we were going to discuss what we were going to do about Durant."

"That was just smoke to get Lucky out of here… I need to know, Ric, did he tell you anything about meeting with John Durant when they were in New York?"

"Damian's my nephew, Mac, not my son… maybe I shouldn't be the one that you're talking to about this, don't you think that it would be much better for you if you spoke to Sonny?"

"Answer the question!" Mac demanded, leaning over the side of the desk and getting into Ric's face. It was true, Ric wasn't Damian's father, but Ric was close to his nephew, Mac knew that. It was like him and Robin… almost.

"I didn't know anything about Damian seeing John Durant when he went to New York with Maxie, Mac. I don't see why this has anything to do with him being here right now."

"What if he's telling the truth?" Mac wondered. "What if Durant isn't lying about Damian putting on an act, all of this good natured stuff that he's giving us, what if it really is just a ploy to gain trust that way Sonny can get away with more than he already does?"

"Mac… you're being way too critical of the situation. You know Damian…"

"No, I don't. Nobody does, probably not even Maxie. Think about it, Ric… how much of himself has he really let people see?"

Ric shook his head, "I trust Damian, Mac. Maxie trusts him, too. So does Lucky, and Elizabeth, and Bobbie, and both Alan and Monica Quartermaine… do you really think that he could fool that many people, and more?"

"I want you to watch him…"

"I'm not going to spy on my own nephew!"

"Fine," Mac shook his head, "but if my daughter ends up hurt because of something that your nephew was involved in, don't think I won't find a way to make sure that you suffer for it!" His threat, and it was a threat, not a warning, delivered, Mac walked out of the office, slamming the door behind him. Leaving Ric alone, silently questioning the fact that maybe, just maybe, Durant could have been right.