Samsonlove- Edward showed his sensitive side when Lila died. The scene where he touched Jason's cheek and said that he had Lila's eyes had me bawling my own eyes out. Plus, after her death, on the show, he said something about how Brook's voice was so beautiful, before she tried to have a career. So, Lila's death was the catalyst for showing people the softer side of Edward Quatermaine. GH hasn't been all that great, so you're actually not missing that much, if anything at all. I do hope that Ric is not returning to his evil ways, because I like repenting Ric, it gives him complexity. Complexity is a good thing.

Story-

Docks-

It seemed to those that were a little observant that the hub of Port Charles communication fell onto the docks of the fair town. People walked to and fro hundreds of times a day, sometimes more, and almost always there was a person or two who ended up stopping and having a conversation or two. Indeed, even to those who weren't exactly paying attention, it seemed like the docks were the place to go when people wanted to meet, or even when they didn't really want to meet.

Ric wasn't really the type of person who enjoyed being late to work. For Ric, truancy was not acceptable… but, there were always times when something came up, something that was surprising, so surprising that it seemed to trump whatever it was that he had planned at that particular moment. For Ric, that moment came when Sonny, his older brother, the man that Ric thought would never, ever accept him after everything he had done, had taken a small invitation for coffee. To most, it wouldn't have been all that important, but, to Ric, it was a small step towards something that was always desired: a wonderful relationship with his big brother. Ric was not a fool, he knew that the odds of Sonny actually finding a way to accept him, despite his faults, was slim to none, but, there was a faint glimmer of hope in his eyes, and that glimmer could turn into a full blown supernova if given the chance. He could only hope that it would, because, despite his anger towards the world, most of it stemmed from the lack of family that he always wanted.

It seemed selfish, and it seemed to be counterproductive to everything that Ric stood for, but he couldn't help it. When he saw people that were having fun together, when he saw families that looked like they were straight out of Hallmark cards a part of Ric's soul was ripped apart by the sight. Even when he was a little boy, even when he wasn't particularly aware of what he was missing out on, he knew what he wanted, and he knew that there was almost no way that he was going to get the thing that he wanted. Life had dealt Ric a horrible blow, and he had to find a way to make peace with it, but it was much easier said than done.

Sonny and Ric didn't talk about a lot of things. In fact, they spent most of the time just looking at each other and then looking away, only speaking in short, uncomfortable sentences. Despite their discomfort, it was obvious that they were both trying to do something new… if not for themselves, then for their families, although it was much more likely that the brothers were attempting to bridge their relationship because of their own secret yearnings.

It was because of the euphoric feeling that managed to somehow overpower the discomfort that Ric was running a few minutes late. John Durant, should he have been at the station, which he probably would be because he always seemed to have the worst possible timing, would likely bring that up in his attempts to usurp the position that Ric coveted: the district attorney's office.

He wasn't running late, unlike his uncle, who he didn't even notice was coming down the other end of the docks. His mind was thinking too much about his own issues to truly have a strong grasp on everything that was going on around him. Did that make it a horrible time to deal with the people that he would be forced to deal with for days on end? Yes, it did. But, Damian knew that if he let something like Maxie's betrayal destroy what he wanted to do with his life then everything that he worked so hard for would just end up being destroyed. He couldn't have that. No matter the pain, he was going to find a way to deal with it, get past it, and continue life. The only thing that was impeding him at that particular moment was the fact that every time he took a breath, or blinked, or moved there was a sharp pain that coursed through his entire being.

Ric was taking the high ground, with Damian walking on the lower section of the docks. They would not have even noticed each other, were it not for the fact that Ric caught the faintest glimpse of the boy out of the corner of his eye. "Damian!"

The boy stopped walking towards his destination, which wasn't the hospital because he had a few hours left before he needed to check himself in. He would have spent it in his room, but in doing so he was bombarded with so many memories and feelings. He needed to do something, anything, that would help him find a way to cope. "Uncle Ric… hi."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that."

"You didn't scare me… I was just thinking about something else."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ric asked. Sure, he was technically late for his job, but what were they going to do? It wasn't like there was some pressing matter that he needed to deal with when he got into the office. They could manage to remain afloat without him holding their hands, or so he hoped. If they couldn't, then Ric really needed to look into finding replacements for the incompetent squad that he had at his disposal.

Eyes that showed the familial relation stared at one another, both sets shining with the faintest similarity that gave hint to the part of Adella Corinthos that made them both who they were stared back at one another. In Ric's eyes, Damian saw the honesty and compassion that he needed. In Damian's eyes, Ric saw something that he thought he would never see: sorrow. But, the ball was in the younger man's court, and, for whatever reason, probably because he didn't want to deal with talking about it with anyone, only turned away. "It's complicated…"

"You're Sonny's son, if there's ever something in your life that isn't complicated, that is worth more alarm than something being complicated."

"Please… don't try and joke around with me right now."

Ric sighed and nodded, "All right… you know, I thought you trusted me more than this."

"I do trust you."

"But you obviously don't trust me enough to tell me what's bothering you, whatever it is."

"I need to deal with it by myself… I just want some time to think about it alone. Actually, what I really want is something to get my mind off of the pain, because there is just so much pain that I need a distraction, I need to do something else."

"Maybe I can help you with that…"

"Really?"

"Yeah, really," Ric placed a hand on Damian's shoulder. "You know, we haven't really spent much time together since I got remarried to Elizabeth. Now, I know that you already knew her, I know that you already cared about her before we went down that path, but I think it would be great if you spent some time with just the two of us…"

"I can't," it wasn't that he didn't want to, it was just because he had other things that needed to be done. "I mean, I can't do it right now, Uncle Ric. I've got to deal with my internship at the hospital for the next few days before I can even do anything else. Don't think that I don't believe the idea to be a good one, because I do… it's just…"

"No, I understand. Believe me, there are times when I have to put my career in front of the things that seem a lot more fun than dealing with legal papers and trying to find a way to defend my client. Why don't you ask Maxie when she has an evening that's free? That way the four of us can do something together… maybe you won't feel as uncomfortable."

"Oh, trust me, it would be uncomfortable…"

"Come on, are you saying that you're too old to spend time with your uncle?"

"We broke up…" he muttered.

Ric couldn't really hear the younger man that much, because his voice was so muffled. He needed to hear him more clearly in order to truly understand what he was saying, "What was that?"

"We broke up, all right!" Damian repeated, the second time louder and with more anger and pain in his voice, letting out all the bunched up emotions that he had dealt with privately, although in letting them out of his system he hardly found himself filled with glee. "Maxie and I… we're not together anymore…"

It was at that moment that Ric saw the same thing that he had seen only minutes before, the pain that Damian tried in vain to keep hidden from the world around him. "What… what happened…"

"She was with another guy…"

"Maybe they're just friends."

"They were in her bed together, Uncle Ric. They were in bed together, and they were naked… I know what I saw. She cheated on me with some random person that she went to high school with… the girl that I thought I could trust with my heart stomped on it instead…"

Ric fell silent. What could he say? What could he hope to do that would find a way to help ease the pain that Damian was going through? Could he even say anything? There was something that he could say, although that which he could say was hardly going to be comforting enough. "I'm sorry…" it sounded completely unnecessary when he said it, but if there was one thing that Ric understood it was that there were times when the only thing a person could say were the things that sounded completely unnecessary and stupid, because only those words made sense. Only those words came out.

"Why?" He asked, more to himself than to anyone else. "Why'd she have to do something like that? Why couldn't we have kept on having the relationship that we had before? I was… I was so happy…"

"Sometimes these things happen for a reason."

"You think that Maxie tearing out my heart happened for a reason?"

"I don't know… I'm just trying to help you right now. I'm not very good at the whole comforting thing. Believe me, when I try to do it, things just end up coming out wrong. But I really am sorry for what happened, you have to believe that…"

"I do… that's why I told you. I haven't told anyone else yet, anyone… not even my father. You were the first."

Rather than take pride in the fact that his nephew had entrusted him with the information that was obviously quite important to his life, Ric found himself wishing that the news had never hit his ears, because if it didn't then maybe it wouldn't have happened… and there was one thing that Ric knew: he didn't want to see his nephew going through all that pain, even though there was apparently no way to avoid it.

"Could you do me a favor, Uncle Ric?"

"Sure… what do you need?"

"I need you to make sure that you don't tell anyone about what happened. Not Aunt Elizabeth, and certainly not my father. I need to deal with this on my own, I need to decide when to tell them what happened… I need to find a way to do this myself. Please, don't ruin that for me."

"I understand…"

"Thank you." Damian gave an appreciative smile that was laced with the inner torment of his battered soul before he attempted to turn and walk away. But, rather than be free, he found only the grip of his uncle to become firmer. Turning around, Damian saw little else before he felt the arms of Ric wrap around him, an appreciated attempt at making the pain go away, but certainly not a tactic that was met with much success.

Outside Port Charles High-

"I don't even know why I'm doing this…"

"Because you're still my little sister."

"I'm so mad at you right now…"

"Why are you mad at me?"

"Because of what you did, Maxie!" Georgie yelled. "You don't even seem to care about the fact that you managed to crush someone's spirit with one idiotic act that you pulled completely of your own free will!"

"I didn't mean to do it!"

"Don't lie to me like that!" Georgie quickly countered. "I know you better than that, Maxie. I know that the moment you saw what you thought you saw, which wasn't even what you really saw, you tried to find some way to make sure that he suffered just as much as you did when you saw him with Brook. You didn't think. You never think. You always just act and you end up hurting people because of it…"

"I made a mistake."

"And that makes it okay?" She scoffed. Sometimes she felt like finding a way to take apart her sister, and, if she knew how to do it and get away with it, there was very little that stopped Georgie from actually doing the dastardly deed. "I can't deal with you right now, Maxie. The only reason I agreed to see you is because I have a free period right now…"

"Nice to know that I manage to be more important than the time you spend alone in the library…"

"Whatever," Georgie rolled her eyes and walked off.

Maxie sat down on the nearby bench and sunk her head into her hands. Why did she have to destroy the good things in her life? Why couldn't she find a way to make everything decent?