Journeylove- Don't worry about not reviewing, school is more important to some people. I'm not one of them, although I make sure I get my crap done before I do this… or rather, I do this knowing that I'll have enough time to get my crap done. One of the two. I'm with you on the not liking the Sonny focus, in fact, I find it hard to even care about Sonny these days, which, obviously makes my job as a writer for this story and the context rather difficult, but I think I manage. I try and keep in mind that the Sonny that I write for my stories is the Sonny that I fell in love with back when I started watching. That said, I also like the Sonny and Jason friendship, but, at the same time I am enjoying the separation that they are going through. It's my favorite storyline on the show right now, because it has the most potential for the characters. I love Max, absolutely adore him as a character, so I try and make sure that he gets little moments in the story here and there because, well, that's just the way that I am. I'll also pass on the links to the 500 fics with Elizabeth and Sonny, that's just creepy. Thank you for the offer, though.

Story-

Scorpio Household-

Sometimes it was impossible to remember that she loved Mac with all her heart, but she knew it, deep down. Even when she tried to deny it, it would creep up to her and find some way to be etched in her soul. Mac was one of the most important people in her life, right up there with Georgie. He even ranked above Felicia, because, unlike her mother, her father was almost always there for her when she needed it. Felicia would be away, doing whatever it was that she did when she got the itch to leave everyone that she loved for her own selfish needs, and Mac would be right there, always waiting, always able to take care of her and her sister. Even Robin. Mac was just that kind of person, utterly selfless… but the minute he grew to care about a person in more than just a familial way it was all over. Mac wasn't Mac anymore, he was the overlord, who would throw rules and allegations out left and right, just so he could get his way. Maxie couldn't stand it. It was so hard on her to hate the man that she loved as her father, but there were times that she did.

Some of that hatred was misguided. Maxie was well aware of the fact that she had let herself be clouded by promises and pretty words before in her life, with Kyle. Mac knew that he was bad for her, but she continued to go against his advice and be with him until she finally saw that he was right, that Kyle really was a horrible person. The wounds that he had given her body had long since healed, but her psyche, it would never fully recover. Kyle had made a mockery of her, he had abused her, both physically and mentally. The worst part was that Maxie knew that she went along with it without any argument. She was just so happy to be 'in love' without knowing what it really felt like. Thankfully she got out when she did. Maxie didn't even want to fathom what would have happened if she had stayed with Kyle even longer. Would she have ended up dead like him? She'd overdosed on drugs before, and yet she was lucky enough to survive. Her luck would have to run out eventually, who was to say that it wouldn't have ended there?

The young woman got off of her bed, releasing a hold on the stuffed animal that she had kept since her youth, since she almost died the first time, in the hospital. The little girl with the heart condition that could have killed her if it wasn't for the horrible circumstances that brought along her second chance at life. Maxie was doing everything wrong, she realized that, she always did. Sometimes she was able to fool herself into thinking that it wasn't all that bad, that she wasn't making a mockery out of the sacrifice that was made, but she knew it wasn't true. When she overdosed, when she almost died, it showed that she didn't care about the fact that she had a heart that was a gift to her, a gift that caused her cousin to die, just so that she could have that gift. She almost carelessly threw that away, and in turn she would have thrown away the life that BJ gave up so that she could have.

Maxie walked over to her mirror, sitting on the chair in front of it and staring at herself before her eyes glanced around the edges, the place where she kept her memories. Only the pleasant ones managed to stay up there. Pictures of her with her sister and her dad as she was growing up. Some friends who had gone away to real colleges. They rarely stayed in touch, but that didn't mean that they weren't still friends. Pictures of Georgie and Dillon together, doing whatever it was that they did, Maxie couldn't really understand their antics most of the time. And then there was the single picture that they took together. Her and Damian. Around Christmas. After she had begged him to do it, managing to win the battle against the person who swore that he wasn't photogenic. He smiled a lot when she was around him, she noticed that. He was smiling in that picture. It captured a part of his essence.

It hurt Maxie a lot more than she would ever let on, the way that people treated him, the way that her father treated him. Damian wasn't his father, and no matter how many times everyone told people that, nobody wanted to believe it. They all thought that he was Sonny's child, that he had a rough life, just like Sonny, that he grew up in a broken home, just like Sonny. Everything pointed towards being 'just like Sonny,' and they would believe that he would be that type of person that would turn out just like Sonny. It didn't matter that Damian was kind and giving, that he wanted to be a doctor, that he wanted to help people so they didn't suffer like he did. No, all that mattered was that a part of him came from Sonny Corinthos. Nobody was like that with her. Nobody assumed that just because she was the daughter of Frisco and Felicia that she would end up running away once she had kids. Nobody thought that about Georgie, either. When it came to Georgie the people were all so proud of her accomplishments and her good grades and how she was going to go away to some big Ivy League school. Nobody gave that amount of praise to Maxie… she rarely got any.

She couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like if things would have been different. If they would have been in a different town, a bigger town, if their parents would have been different. If Mac wouldn't have been who he was, if Sonny wasn't who he was. Would they have been able to actually be happy? Yes, Damian was happy with Maxie, and the same could be said the other way around, she knew that, but they weren't completely happy because there was always something there. Always something that kept them away from true happiness. Their pasts.

Maxie was still enraged at her father. At the way that Mac just carelessly said that Damian could have been lying to all of them, even her. That he was Sonny's little plant, used to gain some sort of influence over the people. The nice, straight laced doctor who really had sinister plots in mind. True, Port Charles had seen more than their fair share of such people, but Maxie highly doubted that Damian would be amongst those. In fact, she was sure of it. He had bore his soul to her, shown her everything that he had to give, and she had never seen anything so beautiful. Why couldn't people see that? Why couldn't people get passed their second-guesses and just see him for who he was? He wasn't a bad person… he wasn't.

Her deep thoughts of abandonment, regret, and guardianship were cut short by the sound of her cell phone ringing. It was his tone. She smiled as she realized that he was calling her before she rushed over to her bed, the phone on the dresser right next to it. Grabbing the phone in one hand, she flipped open the cover, "I was just thinking about you…"

"Funny, I didn't sneeze."

"Huh?"

He shook his head and laughed, aware that she wouldn't be able to see him shaking his head, but it was an involuntary reaction. "Maxie, I need to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"Brook just called me…"

"Oh," her voice lowered. She didn't like Brook. They were civil with each other, but that was the end of it. Maxie knew, hell, everyone knew, that Brook had a thing for her boyfriend. Of course, Maxie couldn't blame Brook for thinking that Damian was great, because he was, but that didn't mean that she was ready to cede the title of girlfriend over to Brook. It was hers, and nothing was going to take that away. "What, I mean, why, are you meeting her?"

"She called me up, she sounded upset…"

"I'm sure she did…"

"Maxie…"

"What?" She scoffed. "Everyone knows that all they need to do in order to have you rushing in to save them is pretend like they're having a bad day, call you up, and you'll drop everything that you're doing just to swoop in for the rescue. It's called a white knight complex, Damian, and you've got one."

"I'll have my father call a blacksmith so that they can start forging me my breastplate and helmet once I finish talking with Brook. But I don't think I'll be a very good doctor wearing a suit of armor. The gauntlets don't exactly make for the best possible way to hold anything other than a sword or some other weapon, and most people run away from the weapon brandishing crowd…"

Maxie frowned, he tried to make her laugh at the worst times. "You know, you're not all that funny when I'm trying to tell you that I don't you to go and see someone."

"What's wrong with me helping my friend, Maxie? I called you because I didn't want you to stumble on us talking and I didn't want you to think that anything was going to happen."

"Or you could be calling me to make me believe that nothing is going to happen just so I won't go and look for you to make sure that nothing really is happening."

"Maxie, that isn't fair. You know that, as much as I care about Brook, I don't love her. Nobody else is going to take that place in my heart, nobody but you." He reassured her of that on a bi-daily basis, and more than once whenever he mentioned Brook. It wasn't cute, in some ways it was maddening. But Damian understood why Maxie acted the way that she did. Kyle treated her like she was nothing more than an object, he would go be with someone else and then go back to her, telling her that everything would be different and it never was. As horrible as it sounded, Damian had very little regrets over the death of Kyle.

"You know she's got a crush on you."

"It's the dimples. I can't help it, when I smile I flash my dimples. I'm my father's son, you know those dimples, you've heard the stories. Many a relationship was founded because of those dimples…"

"You're still not helping…"

"Sorry," he turned the corner, walking as quickly as he could. He could hear the waves of the ocean under the docks coming closer, smell the salty air. It reminded him a lot of Los Angeles, without the huge smog problem. "I wanted to tell you what was going on, because I love you too much to see you hurt. I promise you, Maxie, nothing is going to happen. I'm going to do what I can for Brook, maybe take her out for a bite to eat…"

"That's like a date!"

"She probably hasn't gotten anything to eat since she left the Quartermaine Mansion. Dillon said that he used to starve himself half to death because he was so upset at his family that he just forgot that his stomach was rumbling and telling him that he needed to get some food in his belly. Do you want Brook to die of malnutrition…"

"You're asking me at a bad time…"

"Maxie…" he sighed once more. The jealously, understandable though it was, also managed to be extremely petty. He hated petty jealously. "If she does die, then it's on our heads. You know I don't do well with guilt. Look, I'm almost there… I need to talk to her. Please, believe me. I've never lied to you before, I don't intend to now."

Maxie was silent as she thought about it. She did trust him. Unlike the other people in her life, she could trust Damian to do the right thing, to help people, but she could also trust him not to break her heart. "All right, I trust you. I love you…"

"I love you, too. I'll call you later." The docks but a few minutes away, he shut his phone and put it in his pocket. There was an urge to turn it off completely, but he suppressed it. Maxie wouldn't call him, she trusted him.

The girl sat on her bed thinking about what could happen. She trusted Damian, that was true, but she didn't trust Brook. Standing up, Maxie found her shoes and slipped them on before she grabbed her jacket. If it was just some ploy by that cheap tramp to get her man, she wasn't going to stand idly by and take it.

Corinthos Household-

Sonny was still battling the feelings that ran through him by the sound of Damian asking him to keep his distance from the hospital. It felt like Damian was shutting a part of his life out to Sonny. He didn't want to believe it, but the feeling wasn't very easy to shake.

Courtney Morgan walked into the penthouse, her beautiful golden hair sweeping across her shoulder. Sometimes, when she was looking for Jason, the best place to find him was next door. In a lot of ways, her husband was closer to her brother than she was. But that was a closeness that Courtney didn't even want to try and gain. Sonny and Jason did things that would always conflict with her moralistic beliefs, but now, with Damian, she could have someone that she could talk with. It was helpful.

Even though she didn't always feel comfortable around her big brother, it didn't change the fact that Sonny was her big brother, and she loved him. When she saw that he was having a hard time she wanted to help him, if she could. And, as he stood out on the terrace, she knew that he could need some help. Courtney walked the short distance between the living room and the terrace, "Sonny?"

Sonny didn't turn around, he knew the sound of his sister's voice. She was the best sibling that he could ever hope for. Everything that Ric wasn't. She even kept him grounded to his humanity in ways that his children and his wife never could. Courtney was good for him. "Jason's not here right now… I don't know where he is." Despite their close partnership, Sonny did not keep a running tab on Jason. When Jason was doing something that was important to their line of work, Sonny knew, but when Jason wanted to do something for Jason, Sonny stayed out of it. Jason was an adult, he was allowed to make choices.

"All right," Courtney nodded, standing right next to him and touching his shoulder gently. "That saves me one question, but I didn't come here just to see if my husband was here or not. You look like you could use someone to talk with… like you're worried about something."

"I'm always worried about something."

"And I'm always here to try and help you get through it." Courtney gave her best smile, "Come on, Sonny, what's the matter?"

Sonny sighed and lowered his head, "I'm worried that my son is pushing me away again…"