RedDragen: Thanks so much! I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint!

lily94: There are a few clues in this chapter and the next.

SEEKER-2000: Thanks! More confused feelings in this one, I assure you, hehe

Average Everyday Sane Psycho: Thanks!! It's good to be back!

starbright: Aww! Thanks! I hope you like this chapter too!

Smuffin23: Wow!! That's quite a compliment, thanks so much!!

MercuryMan: I'm a huge angst fan! Glad to see you are too and thanks!!

And it is time for another chapter of my little Georgie and Johnny tale! Hope you continue to read and enjoy and thanks so much for your responses! They are greatly appreciated!

Chapter Three

She was trying. She was trying really, really hard. After all, leaving the hospital to go drinking wasn't a normal thing to do. She had worried everyone, she had disappointed them. Hadn't she hurt them enough?

Georgie looked around the attic, her new room, remembering what it was like to be herself. She had been Georgie Jones- good student, loyal friend, caring sister…

The attic used to be cluttered, full of odds and ends from the Spencers, from the Scorpios and now all of that was pushed to one side. The other side was her bed and dresser- she didn't have much else anymore. They had given her things to charity. Because that was what she would have wanted, she knew that. "I'm Georgie Jones," she reminded herself, "I definitely would have wanted them to move on." And she did. She really did. But now where did it leave her? The world had turned, it had kept going and she had been…

No. She wasn't going back there. Her pulse was already racing, the panic was rising in her throat, the walls were closing in. "I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm really, really fine." The assurances meant nothing. She wasn't fine.

For two years she wasn't Georgie Jones.

And now she was again.

"I'm Georgie Jones." She repeated it again, she tried another way. "Hi, I'm Georgie Jones."

She turned to the dresser with the mirror on top of it and smiled painfully at the reflection. She hadn't seen herself for two years. They hadn't given her mirrors. They. Him. Whatever, she didn't want to think about it. "Stop thinking about it." Saying it aloud didn't help like she thought it would.

She took a step forward, towards the reflection that wasn't hers. Certainly she didn't have that emaciated face and weak pallor. She had once been full of life, her skin sun-kissed and dark. "Hello there, who am I? My name is Anna…"

"I mean Georgie." She winced.

Johnny Zacharra. Why had she given him that name? The last four letters of her name, but it was more then that. Anna was strength, Anna was Robin's mother. "Anna would have escaped from them sooner," she told the mirror, "Anna would have fought harder. Anna would have known what to do." She touched the glass, staring into her own dark, disenchanted eyes. "Georgie Jones was smart- so why didn't she figure out how to get away sooner?"

And why had she bothered hanging out with Johnny anyway? She knew who he was, what he was. He thought he was reformed but she knew better. She knew that there was no such thing as reform. People didn't change and she would never make that mistake again. Never.

But she had changed- hadn't she?

Her hair was longer, her eyes were colder, her face was more serious. She didn't trust people anymore. She was lonely and sad and scared.

She had changed. Not for the better. Maybe that was it, people could only change for the worse. It was the only explanation.

He was smiling at her. He was really there. Without thinking she threw her arms around his neck. "Diego!" she cried out, squeezing his neck. "Oh Diego, it's really you!"

She opened her eyes, stared at the mirror.

A second later she had thrown it across the room and was listening to the beautiful sounds of glass shattering.

Maxie was startled. Without hesitating she was running up the stairs and into the attic where her sister insisted on staying temporarily. She wanted to move out, so soon? It wasn't a good idea. She was very worried about Georgie and leaving her to herself was not the answer to anything.

Maxie climbed the familiar staircase and opened the attic door to see Georgie against the dresser, pushing it to the side of the room. She looked up, "sorry, the mirror fell when I was moving it."

"Why were you moving furniture by yourself, Georgie? You know I'd make someone help you."

Her sister chuckled and shook her head, "I'm not fragile, Maxie. I was locked in a tiny room for two years- there wasn't much else to do but push ups and sit ups. I mean, there were books but I read them all three times each. It gets a little monotonous."

The levity in her tone made Maxie frown, "it's not funny, Georgie."

She shrugged, "I guess not. Anyway, sorry about the mirror."

"It's okay. We'll just get you a new one when I take you clothes shopping." Maxie looked around the room, "and maybe some wall decorations."

Georgie shrugged, "why? I'm just leaving. Hey, you could help me apartment shop. How about that?" She gave the dresser one last shove and then brushed her hands together. Still moving, she started picking up pieces of the glass. "I definitely have enough for an apartment on Cortlandt street, at least for four or five months. Hopefully I find a job before then."

"Why not just stay here and work at Kelly's?" Maxie asked immediately, "rent free! And you can go back to school."

"I'm going back to school," Georgie asserted, "but I want my own place. Somewhere I can go in and out as I please, not answering to anyone. It's important to me." For a second her eyes unfocused, like she was thinking about something else. But a smile chased it away. "I missed you, Maxie- even if you are a pain in my butt."

Reaching over, Maxie pulled Georgie from the pieces of glass on the floor and hugged her tightly. "Losing you was the worst thing that ever happened to me, Georgie. Having you back- it's like this miracle, you know? A real miracle and I don't feel like I deserve it."

"Hey," Georgie pushed back to look at her face, "you deserve good things, Maxie. You do. Okay?" She pushed a piece of her hair back and touched her sisters cheek, "besides, I had to come back. Someone has to keep you on your toes."

Maxie laughed, "and although Spin tries, he's definitely no you."

They stood there for a moment, enjoying their time together, smiling. Georgie began to pick up the glass pieces again and Maxie walked over to get an empty box to put them in. "I'm glad you were there for Spinelli when Jason died. He really cared about him."

"I'm not sure how there I was." Maxie muttered, "he was really together afterwards, really strong. I was the one who was still a mess over losing you. I thought he'd go after Johnny Zacharra too but he just didn't. And now the guy doesn't even work for the mob. For the last year he's run this hot little club called Z's in town."

Gerogie dropped a few pieces of glass in the box but otherwise remained silent.

"He was a really weird guy, I mean, Spinelli used to tell me about the things he did. He had a temper, he hurt this one girl but later, when Spinelli went to talk to her, she just said it was a party that got out of hand. She said he apologized later, whatever. I tried to tell Spin she was probably too afraid to come forward but he insisted that she wasn't. She was just a nice, honest girl." Maxie went on in her stream of consciousness way, almost forgetting her sister was even in the room. "Still, he killed Jason, Sonny and some other mobster in another family and Spinelli did nothing. It made no sense."

Georgie cleared her throat, "I see."

"I still can't believe he got away with it all. I mean, he killed a person. More then one person!"

"Yeah," Georgie repeated dully, "and killing is wrong."

XXX

"Have you spoken to Trevors lately?"

Claudia was chuckling on the other end of the phone. As she should, they had duped Trevor pretty well and in the end received quite a bit of money for no work at all. Now he was dealing with the chaotic mob life in Port Charles and Claudia had more power then anyone could dream of. Not too shabby. "Nope and I think it's for the best. I haven't been in the mood for his bull."

"Hey- is that music in the background, where are you?"

He looked around Joe's, he hadn't even noticed the badly produced punk song playing in the background. He had gotten pretty good at tuning that kind of thing out. "I'm at a bar- yes, yes, I'm at a bar and it's before five pm, no I'm not drunk and yes, I swear that I'm fine." He lied about not being drunk, the room was swaying.

"Fine people don't hang out in bars by themselves in the afternoon. What are you doing, John?"

What was he going to say? He decided on the truth. "I'm waiting for a girl who gave me a fake name and no number. She's been here the last two days, I'm hoping she'll come in again."

"You're waiting for a barfly?"

He could almost see his sister's shocked face, followed by a raised eyebrow. If she had been next to him she would have punched him lightly on the shoulder. Claudia was the closest thing he had to a loving relationship with anyone. It didn't say much, they were too troubled to know what normal was. "It wasn't so long ago you used to be a barfly" he reminded her in his best smug voice. "She's the only person, besides you, that I've had any interest in talking to in over a year and a half, Claud."

"There are plenty of girls that would talk to you."

He laughed bitterly, "that's not usually what they want from me." It was the sad, annoying truth. The girls wanted a night of danger, a good lay but afterwards? Well afterwards they were gone. It had been suiting him fine up until he saw her. "So how are things with this new guy?"

"He treats me like a queen. So for now it's okay."

"Tell him you want to be treated like an empress instead." He recommended with a smile, "or else you'll leave him at the bottom of the river."

"I'll get right on that, little brother." There was a pause, "I have to go, take care of yourself, okay?"

He smiled, "okay. You too."

He hung up the phone and looked around the bar.

He had never taken Lulu here, it had been his own place, somewhere he could go think where people didn't really bother him. He wondered if that was how Anna saw the bar- did she come there to escape like he did? He wondered what she was like outside the bar. Was she as solemn and careful as she was with him? Did he scare her?

He should. He scared himself.

"Do you ever think about what it would be like if we could just ditch everything here and run away?" Lulu asked, her face hopeful and soft, like an angels. His angel. "You wouldn't have to worry about all the violence or about your family. It could just be us- you and me, forever."

He pulled her more closely to him, "you know I can't do that."

"But Johnny-"

His hands dropped away from her, "my family needs me right now, Lulu. Maybe after all of this is done…"

"And when will that be?"

"I don't know," He blasted, "maybe you could go ask Sonny to stop being an inept, power hungry pig and then things can finally work out, okay?" Glaring at her, Johnny stood and walked away before his temper caused an even further rift between them.

He sighed, one fight of many. "Can I get a refill, Cherry?"

She looked daggers at him but refilled the cup and he smiled sweetly back. Why she was mad, he didn't know. Everything that happened, she wanted to happen. She wanted him to not call her- was he supposed to avoid the bar for her all together? Yeah. Right. It didn't plague his thoughts for long, she wasn't that important.

XXX

"I can't make it for another couple of weeks, Spinelli."

He didn't groan, a part of him didn't want Lulu to come back, it would only piss Maxie off. He really didn't want her bringing her stupid boyfriend either. Logan looked at Maxie like she was an ice-cream sundae. "That's fine. Georgie isn't going anywhere."

"I still can't believe she's really alive."

"Well she is." He replied, keeping his voice carefully neutral. He had suspicions about the Wise One's return, something was off about it, something was off about her. Maxie didn't see it. He corrected the thought immediately. Maxie didn't want to see it, she wanted her sister to be okay. He wanted that too but didn't see that happening after two years of captivity. He had read once that after a prisoner was inside long enough he just sought to go back after his release, it was all he knew. Maybe that was why she wanted to move out, into her own place. She was used to the solitude.

"I have a surprise for everyone when I get back."

"Surprise?" He asked, "Lulu, that might not be such a good idea with everything that's going on-"

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course it's a good idea! I have to go, I'll talk to you later."

He gave a half-hearted goodbye.

XXX

Georgie walked into the bar, she was wearing clothes that fit this time. Well, they kind of fit. They were clothes left in the attic, she wasn't sure who they belonged to though. She was wearing a black button down men's shirt that must have belonged to one skinny man for it hugged the curves of her breasts and a pair of blue jean bell bottoms that were form fitting. She only had to hem the arms of the shirt which had been pretty convenient.

Mac and Maxie had donated all of her clothes. It was better that way, they wouldn't have fit her anymore. She was sickly looking now, pale and dead looking. Not what Georgie Jones used to look like. She hadn't looked at an old picture of herself in years, Diego had left some in the room with her but she couldn't bear it. He had so many pictures of her, ones she hadn't even known he had taken.

Shaking those thoughts out of her head she looked around the little hole in the wall bar and smiled when she hit Johnny. She was crazy for looking for him- but she couldn't relate to normal people anymore. She had spent too much time alone or amongst the less-then-sane, anything normal was foreign, alien and kind of scary. Even her family, as hard as they were trying. He waved at her to join him and she started towards him. He was wearing a black t-shirt over a long-sleeved gray shirt and a pair of loose fitting jeans. When she sat down there was a small, mysterious smile on his face. "Not that I'm a freak stalker or anything but, I've been hoping you would come."

She looked back, not returning the smile but still content to sit where she was. "Of course I'd be here. I like it here."

"Let me go buy you a shot and a beer." He offered, "southern blues?"

She nodded and watched as he walked to the bartender. She looked annoyed and angry to see him. An old girlfriend? Probably. It didn't matter to Georgie, why would it? When he returned he had a tray with two shots, two glasses and a pitcher of beer. "I'm ambitious." He explained.

She raised a brow, "that's what they've said."

He replied with a dry chuckle and then poured their glasses of beer full. He then lifted his shot glass and waited until she clinked his with hers before they both took them down. The liquor went down easily, it didn't burn her throat anymore. "Sorry I sat in the corner but…I wanted to talk."

The seclusion didn't bother her, she was used to it and said so.

He liked being alone- but he didn't like being alone by force. At least that's what he told her. "I was put somewhere once, by Sonny Corinthos. He locked me up, held me captive. He thought I took his son, didn't bother looking for proof."

She looked down at the table, that must have been after Diego took her. She didn't remember it happening. "If you don't want to tell me…"

"I do, Anna." He replied quickly, almost feverishly. How much had already had to drink? The question lingered in her mind as she stared into his glazed, excited eyes. Him saying that name Anna put a nervous feeling in her stomach too. He'd eventually find out she didn't tell him her whole name, she wondered when that would be. "I want to tell you everything. I've wanted to tell someone for a long, long time because it's just this thing inside me, this sick thing twisting my guts around."

She understood and nodded at him but again reiterated. "I'm a stranger and your drunk, I'm just trying to remind you so you don't regret what you're going to tell me."

Johnny seemed to consider it, or at least he paused. "It was in an insane asylum, I think the building may have been condemned. Anyway, there was no one in it. He thought I took his son, I didn't." Georgie nodded and leaned in a little closer. She watched his lips as he spoke, the way every so often he'd suck in a little air to keep going or maybe to calm himself. Her eyes moved to his hands as they drummed nervously on the table. "I hated him for that. I did. I ordered a hit on him. Claudia did, rather. I wanted to do it myself." He closed his eyes and his face tensed, his eyebrows were drawn together as though he were deep in thought. "That got botched. Sonny became more erratic. His mood swings were…" Johnny shook his head, "like my father's. He was becoming more and more like my father every day. He kept calling my sister names, he kept threatening her. She was stronger then him and he couldn't stand it. Slut, whore, tramp- and it got worse. He claimed he was going legit but I knew he wasn't." He took down his entire glass of beer and poured another. He poured her another, Georgie hadn't realized she had finished hers. "He went mad one night, he attacked Claudia. Sure, she baited him, she does that, she tests people like a kid. But she never got to be a kid- so I don't blame her. I don't. But he was out of line. He grabbed her and I stepped in."

Georgie could see Sonny getting out of control. It wasn't really a far leap. She remembered once staring into his flat black eyes and seeing nothing there, nobody was looking back and it had scared her.

"I yelled for him to stop it. I punched him. I took his gun. I beat him." It was all said quickly, every statement in rapid fire. "He kept talking and insulting her. He kept coming at me."

"You had to stop him." The words fell from her lips before she could stop them. "He was hurting you. It had to end." She blinked, feeling the tears begin to prick her eyes. Fighting them, she snatched up her glass and drained it. "I get that."

"He was screaming about his children as he died." Johnny whispered, "he was screaming about Carly…there were others that I've killed. But this one sticks with me, I don't know why. Maybe it's because that's why my girlfriend left me."

Georgie blinked, "and were they all mob related?"

He nodded, "every one of them was a mobster. Kill them before they can kill you. That's the game."

For some reason that comforted her. "That's not the game. That's life." She answered dully, feeling the sorrow come back. She poured another beer. It was time to forget. It was definitely time to forget. He flashed a strange look at her but said nothing, just poured himself another beer too. They sat there like that, quietly finishing up there pitcher. She took it back to the bartender, ordered more shots, more beer.

"He's bad news," The blonde warned her as she was walking away. Bad news didn't scare her anymore, nothing could. She lived through every nightmare she had ever had. Things don't get worse then that.

They took down the shots and she was feeling it. He started Talking about the music. It wasn't too loud yet but it was the same punk rock that always crooned from the speakers. The small talk made her feel better, not normal but better and soon she found herself talking about other little things, like the music she liked. He played piano, she hadn't pegged him for that.

She noticed how handsome he was as the conversation wore on. He had a nice smile, pretty eyes and very masculine but soft features. He jerked a little when he moved, like he was nervous or worried about something. "I sing," she offered to his piano playing, "well, that's how I passed a lot of the time in the last two years. I'd get bored and I'd sing."

He smiled, "I'd like to hear you some time."

"I'd like to hear you play sometime." She returned.

"I'll get us some more to drink."

When he returned he had a piece of paper in his hand, he handed it to her along with another shot. "If I didn't freak you out too much…" He slipped it over to her. She unfolded it and smiled. It was his number.

Georgie drank the shot as he did and then smacked her lips loudly on purpose, to lighten the mood, to distract him, she wasn't sure which. "I'm not freaked out by you." She told him slowly and deliberately. "I'm comfortable with you."

He smiled. "It freaks you out a little bit, right? That I've taken someone else's life?"

He was trying to shock her. "I already knew you did. I know who you are, John Zacharra. I know what your family does, what you do. I know."

For a moment he just stared at her then he leaned closer and kept his voice in an urgent whisper. "I've killed others. He wasn't the first, he wasn't the last." His eyes bore into hers and he waited. For what she didn't know. There was nothing for her to say. "I've hurt others too. I've hurt so many."

She swallowed hard but kept her own confessions to herself. "What do you want from me?"

"Tell me I'm a terrible person. Tell me it's okay. Tell me what you think."

What she thought. She wasn't even sure what she was thinking. "I think you're drunk and that when you're sober you will wish you had never told me. I also think that it is not my place to tell you what is wrong and what is right. I honestly don't know the difference between them anymore." She stood up, feeling her legs wobble beneath her a little. "Maybe, if you had come to be me two years ago, I'd have told you that it was wrong. That hurting people wasn't right. I probably would have told you that people deserve second chances, that you should have given Corinthos one, that you deserved one. I would have asked you to stop killing. Stop using guns. Stop all of it." She shook her head lightly, "but that's not who I am anymore. That's not what I believe anymore. I can't forgive you for something you didn't do to me, I can't admonish you for something that I wasn't even here for either. It's not up to me to clear your conscience."

He looked down at the table, crestfallen. "Can you at least tell me that you'll see me again?"

"There was never any doubt that I'd see you again, Johnny Zacharra."

"Goodnight, Anna."