Journeylove- You're right about Mac, he is frequently blinded by his own perceptions and won't see anything unless it happens to be the exact thing that he wants to see. But, that's what makes Mac who he is. Yes, the trust issue shall come into play eventually, just you wait.

Story-

Elizabeth, like many people, was well aware of the fact that Barbara Jean Spencer was one of those people who knew just about everyone in Port Charles. Bobbie had been in the town since before Elizabeth could even speak, or so it would seem. But there was something odd about the way that she was acting towards John Durant. He wasn't a local of Port Charles. Still shocked by the two of them and their glances at one another, she looked over to the older woman and asked the question that she couldn't get off her mind, "You know him, Bobbie?"

Seeing that Bobbie was staying silent about their relationship, John Durant took that moment to rub salt in the wound. He was a lawyer, it was part of his job. "Bobbie and I know each other quite… intimately, Elizabeth."

"You paid for the service, there wasn't much that I could do about it otherwise," Bobbie quickly quipped back.

"You should be well aware of the fact that our relationship was more than that, Bobbie. I still remember the way that you begged me to stay with you before I went on to make a name for myself… I bet it must have stung when you realized that you could have come with me, you could have been my wife."

"Actually, I always thought that it was the best decision that I made, in hindsight. Maybe, at first, I was sad… I won't lie, there were nights when I thought about following you, but I'm not an idiot, John, and I wasn't then, either. Being with you would have been a mistake."

"Could someone please tell me what's going on here?" Elizabeth still had no idea what Bobbie and John were talking about, it was all going over her head. A part of her thought about just leaving them to their own devices, but at the same time she wanted to be there for Bobbie in case she was needed. Bobbie was one of those people who would help everyone if they needed it, it was time to start repaying the favor.

"I thought you were well aware of Bobbie's past… I thought the whole town knew that she was a lady of the night."

"I never hid my past from anyone, John. Can I say the same for you? Do you think you would have gotten nearly as far as you have if people had known that you used to love to pay for sex with whatever common whore that you could find?"

"I was young…"

"You don't really believe I think you gave up the habit, do you?" Bobbie smirked, "Face it, John, the only way you can even get any affection from a woman is if you pay them to do it. You're a cold, heartless bastard, but you also don't want to die a lonely man… but you will."

"You really don't know what you're talking about, do you Barbara Jean?"

"I know more than you've ever wanted to think I knew, John. You always believed that I was nothing more than your little lover, too blinded by childish feelings of enamor to ever get further in life… you may have more money than I do, John, you may have more power, you might even have more respect, but there's something that you don't have, that you'll never have…"

"Breasts? Menopause? The need to keep on coloring my hair so that people won't realize just how old I'm getting?"

Bobbie ignored his attempts to make her feel bad about her age, and mentally made the comment about how, of all people, John shouldn't have been saying anything about hair, since he didn't have much. He used to be so much better looking. Bobbie had always wondered what would happen if she ever saw John Durant again, she wondered if she would feel that love that she once felt for him. But she had her answer now: it was a no. "Love, John. You'll never have love from anyone, and that is more important than anything else that you could have. I'm happy where I am, these people care about me, and I care about them. They accept me for all my faults, and they help me when I need help."

"A nice speech, Bobbie, I'm sure you've practiced it many a time… but I'm not buying it."

"Why are you even here, John? Port Charles doesn't have the glitz that New York does…"

"This is true," John did miss the big city, "but New York also doesn't have Sonny Corinthos, and if I can bring him down, it won't matter where I am in the world, people will take notice."

"Better people that you have tried to bring Sonny down for what he does, or what they believe him to do," Bobbie may have known full well what Sonny did, but she wasn't going to take her grandchildren's father away from them, or help someone do it. "They've always failed."

"I'll take that as a challenge then, one that I heartily accept." John pulled out his wallet and began to finger some of the bills, "Why don't I do you a favor, Bobbie? And pay for a session or two upfront? Even with inflation it probably wouldn't be that expensive, right? You were always pretty cheap…"

Something inside of Bobbie snapped at that moment, and it reflected with the sound of her palm zooming across John's face. "Get the hell out of this place, John, this is my restaurant, and you're not welcome…"

"Nice to see you've still got some of that fire in you," John smiled, wiping the small trickle of blood that came from the slap. Bobbie's nails were quite sharp. "I always did love that fire. We'll see each other around, Bobbie. I'm sure of it."

Elizabeth watched John Durant walk out of the restaurant, then, she looked over to Bobbie, who looked like she was about to break down. Her body was shaking with so much pent up emotion. Elizabeth reached over and gently touched her shoulder, "Are you going to be all right, Bobbie?"

"That was my biggest mistake…" she whispered, mostly to herself. It was at that moment that everything hit her: John was Carly's father. Or at least that was the person that Bobbie believed to be Carly's father. If he was going to stay in Port Charles there was a chance that Carly could find John, or John could find Carly…

Courtney and Damian walked around the corner just as John was leaving. Damian saw that it was John Durant and he quickly backed behind the wall to cover himself from the old man's gaze. His breathing became a little panicked. Why was he in Port Charles? What was going on?

Courtney walked up to the door and held it open for her nephew, but she realized that he wasn't around. "Damian?" She walked back the way that they came and saw him standing there. "What's wrong?"

"I just dropped something," as far as lies went, it wasn't a very big one. Plus, he was still bound by his word to Bobbie that he wouldn't tell anyone aside from Maxie about who John truly was. "Sorry, Aunt Courtney." The young man looked to see if John had left, and he had. "Let's go inside so we can talk, like you wanted."

"Here," Elizabeth handed Bobbie a cup of tea, "it'll help you calm down."

"Thank you, Elizabeth," Bobbie smiled as she looked up at the girl, she truly was something else. Lucky had lucked out, letting go of Elizabeth like he did, and for her to fall in love with someone like Ric, it just hurt Bobbie a lot, but it was Elizabeth's life. And, as Bobbie had just been reminded, there were things in people's lives that they might end up regretting, but that happened anyway.

Elizabeth said nothing, not sure what to say, not even sure if anything that she did say would help Bobbie in that moment. Instead, her head turned to look at the door and she saw Courtney and Damian, "Hey, guys… grab a free table and I'll be with you in a second."

Damian didn't pay much attention to Elizabeth, not because he didn't care about her, because he did care about Elizabeth more than he would ever let on, but rather because he saw Bobbie, and he saw John come out of the restaurant only moments before. He wasn't a detective, but he could put two and two together.

"How's this table?" Courtney asked, picking one of them at the corner. When she got no answer, she looked over her shoulder, "Damian? Are you sure you're okay? You've been quiet ever since we started walking up to Kelly's…"

"I'm fine, Aunt Courtney, really, I just… I've got a lot on my mind, with the test and everything." Another lie. He hated telling her lies, but what choice did he have?

"I told you not to worry about the test until after we finished our meal…"

"I'm sure you'll do fine, Damian," Bobbie, cup of tea in hand, walked over to them and stood by Damian, they both shared a small, but completely understood look with one another. "But, if you don't mind, Courtney, I'd like to borrow my step-grandson for a moment, there's something in the kitchen that we can't reach, we need a nice, tall young man to do it."

"Not a problem," Courtney sat down at the table and waited.

Elizabeth watched the two of them go into the back, wondering the whole time what Bobbie was talking about. There was nothing in the back that was out of her reach. They made sure to keep it like that, so that the short people weren't hampered when it came to grabbing something that they may have needed. Shrugging off the contemplation, Elizabeth grabbed the coffee and walked over to the tables, filling up the cups of the people who were there… people who had gotten to see the show that she saw.

In the back, Bobbie and Damian waited until they were far enough away where they wouldn't be heard, but once they were, they let their panic run free. "What was he doing here?" Damian asked.

"I don't know! You didn't let him know anything about Carly, did you? You didn't even hint it?"

"No, of course not! You told me not to say anything about Carly to that man, and I didn't. You wanted me to go and see who he was and if he had become a good person…"

"He hasn't…"

"I know."

"But at least he doesn't know about Carly yet, right?" Bobbie asked, finding something freeing in being able to talk about it with someone, even though it had only happened a few moments before.

"I don't know why he's here if he doesn't know about Carly…"

"He's a federal prosecutor, Damian," Bobbie pointed out. "Your father is… well, you know who your father is, it doesn't take a genius to realize why John Durant came to Port Charles. He even said as much. He wants to take your father down."

"Does dad know that he's here yet?"

"How should I know? It's not like Sonny confides in me… ever."

"I should… I should go and find him, tell him what's going on…"

"Don't," Bobbie shook her head. "Don't get yourself involved in this any more than you already have. It's because you met John that he came, I know that much now… I don't want him to try and drag you down with your father… when you see him, tell him, but don't go out of your way to look for him. John is cold and heartless, he'll destroy any chances that you have at a medical career, just to make himself feel better."

"I'd rather have him destroy my life than my family…"

"Everything's going to be all right, Damian."

Damian nodded sadly, even though he tried to agree with what Bobbie told him, there was almost no way that he truly believed her, no way that he was just going to hold hope that nothing would happen to his family. John wouldn't let it rest until someone was buried under the law… the question was… just who would it be?

Walking back into the main area of Kelly's, he sat down across from his blood aunt and grabbed a menu, "You know what you want yet?"

"I worked here, remember? I have the whole menu memorized like the back of my hand…"

"At least you managed to get out of here," Elizabeth quipped as she walked over. She looked down at Damian, trying to keep her emotions for the child in check… she hadn't forgotten what was happening, hadn't forgotten what John Durant was trying to do to him, hadn't forgotten that he was probably oblivious to it.

"You love working here, Aunt Elizabeth." It wasn't the first time that he had called her by her newly acquired title, but it still didn't feel quite right. In time it would, but Elizabeth was his friend before she became family, it wasn't like everyone else… he never expected her to marry Ric again, even though he ended up being a part of the reason why it happened.

"Did you help Bobbie with whatever it was that she needed?" Courtney asked.

Damian looked back into the kitchen. He could see Bobbie out of the corner of his eye, sitting there, wondering just what was going to happen to her daughter, to her family, he could relate with Bobbie's problem. "I helped her as much as I could…"