Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Dillon and Georgie pulled apart from their kiss when they heard someone clearing their throat in the doorway. Georgie turned away and her eyes grew wide.

"Dad..."

"Um, Commissioner Scorpio, I was just-" Dillon was fumbling for words, embarrassed to have had been caught making out with the Commissioner's daughter. He hoped Mac didn't have a gun. Mac held up his hand.

"We'll deal with that later," Mac said, keeping it official. "Right now, I need to get your statement Dillon."

"Oh." Dillon was relieved.

Mac pulled out a tape recorder. "I'm going to record this, okay?" Dillon nodded. Georgie gave his hand a soft squeeze and drifted away from the bed, taking a seat on the chair in the corner. She pulled one knee up to her chest and prayed that she wouldn't break down again, hearing about Dillon's tribulation.

"I was sitting with Georgie, Maxie and Kyle Radcliffe in the waiting area," he began. "Kyle had come by to tell Maxie that he'd seen a blonde woman nearby when Elizabeth was lying on the ground. Then a few minutes later, Faith Rosco walked out of the elevator, and I just got this feeling she was somehow involved, you know?" He looked to

Mac who simply nodded for him to go on. Dillon continued. "So I sent Georgie to get security and I ran to Elizabeth's room. When I got there, Faith was standing over Elizabeth with her hands around Elizabeth's neck. Liz yelled for me to call someone but I knew Georgie had gone to get a guard and I didn't want to leave her alone, so I tried to stall for time. I managed to talk Faith away from Elizabeth, but then she pulled a gun on me and told me that if I didn't cooperate, she would kill us both." Hearing this, Georgie gasped quietly. "She took me down to her car and made me drive, all the while pointing the gun at me. She was saying all these things..." Dillon looked uncomfortable.

"What kind of things, Dillon?" Mac asked patiently.

Dillon sighed and closed his eyes, bringing his fingers to the bridge of his nose. He opened his eyes again. "Georgie," he said quietly, causing her to snap her head toward him, "would you wait outside please."

"No way," she told him firmly. "I'm not leaving you."

"Georgiana..." Georgie knew that when Mac used her full name he meant business. It usually worked, but not this time.

"No," she told him quietly. She turned to Dillon. "I want to know what happened. Something is bothering you and I want to help make it better, so I'm going to stay here with you and to hell with what you think."

Dillon conceded. "All right. Then-" he glanced quickly at Mac, hoping the older man wouldn't try to shoot him dead -"come here." He held out his hand to her. Georgie walked over and took it, sitting gingerly on the edge of the bed. Dillon traced small circles on the back of her hand with his thumb in a comforting motion.

"Faith started saying that she was going to make me - be - with her..."

"You mean, sexually?" Mac asked.

Dillon nodded. "Yes."

"That's-that's rape!" Georgie exploded.

Dillon rubbed her back. "Shhhh...shhh..." She closed her mouth obidiently.
Mac pressed on. "Did she ever use the words directly?"

"Well, no," Dillon admitted. "But her language definitely implied it."

"Keep going."

"Well, I asked her what she wanted and she said that she wanted me. She made a lot of - motions..."

"What sort of motions?" Mac wanted to know. Dillon groaned. He hated Georgie hearing this.

"She started...rubbing up my leg...and, and higher -" he cringed -"and she said something about how I talk a lot and then said "I wonder what else you can do with your mouth" or something like that, and she made... obscene...motions with her tongue..."

Mac looked at his daughter. She looked shocked, angry, and a little queasy. He took a breath to mask his own disgust. "Did she say anything else, Dillon?"

Dillon gritted his teeth. God, he would do anything to keep Georgie from being hurt in the way he knew this would hurt her. "Faith said that she was going to 'rock my world' in..." he trailed off, squeezing his eyes shut tight and sucking air through his teeth as if in pain.

"Dillon..." Mac prodded him on. Dillon looked sadly at Georgie, who was staring at him with huge, frightened eyes, waiting to hear what he said.

"Are you sure you won't leave?" his voice was pleading, but she shook her head vehemently. Dillon nodded, defeated. He turned his head away and closed his eyes. He couldn't look at Georgie or her father when he said this.

"...in way that Georgie never could," he choked. He heard Georgie choke and felt her tense. Her hand crushed his. He opened his eyes. Mac looked furious and Georgie's eyes shone with angry tears.

"Is that all?" Mac wanted to know.

"No," Dillon said quietly. He reached up and moved Georgie's hair out of her eyes, using his thumbs to wipe the tears off her cheeks, not caring what Mac thought. We'll worry about it later, Mac had said. Dillon knew he could worry about the Commissioner telling him to stay away from his daughter later.

Mac watched the undeniably handsome boy lying in the hospital bed reach up and tenderly brush the tears off his daughter's face. Mac felt his breath catch in his throat as he recalled watching another little girl he loved so desperately being handled with the same tenderness by a young man, also from a hospital bed. Georgie was so much like Robin... but right now, he had a job to do.

"What else was said, Dillon?"

Dillon pulled Georgie close to him, as if protecting her. "He said that if I didn't give her what she wanted, that she was going to kill Georgie," he informed Mac, his voice clearly giving away the fact that it was killing him to say it.

Georgie's eyes went wide and she tried to suppress a whimper. Mac's went narrow.

Dillon rubbed Georgie's back.

"Tell me about the accident, Mr. Quartermaine." Mac said, desperately needing to stay professional, trying to keep his voice calm. Dillon barely raised an eyebrow at being addressed as Mr. Quartermaine, knowing that Mac was trying to distance himself from the situation for the moment.

"I wanted to stop Faith somehow, but she was obviously beyond reasoning with. I couldn't let her hurt Georgie. The sun was setting and there was a heavy glare so it was hard to see at times. I spotted a big tree by the edge of the road and I couldn't think of anything else. So when the glare came in again and I knew her vision was obstructed, I cut the wheel as hard as I could and floored it."

Georgie cried out quietly in shock, unable to help herself.

"Into the tree?" Mac asked quietly. Dillon nodded. "So you caused the accident on purpose?"

"Yes sir," Dillon replied.

"What was your intention?"

"Well, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure."

"Did you intend to commit suicide?" Mac wished to God that Georgie hadn't been so stubborn. She was now crying softly, sitting on the edge of Dillon's bed.

Dillon wished the same thing. "Absolutely not," he answered emphatically.

"Did you intend to kill Faith Rosco?" Mac wanted to know.

"I didn't think about it at the time," Dillon answered honestly. "But I suppose I didn't intend NOT to kill Faith Rosco."

Mac nodded. "And were your actions motivated by self-defense?"

"Largely," stated Dillon.

"Was your intent also to protect my-" Mac caught himself. This was strictly business. It had to be. It couldn't matter who Georgie was to him at that moment. "-to protect Georgiana Jones?"

Dillon nodded. "Yes." He tightened his hold on Georgie.

"Anyone else?"

"Well, Elizabeth Webber Lansing too, I suppose, but I was only thinking about Georgie."

"Were you aware that your actions might result in your own death or permanent injury?"

Dillon nodded again. "Yes. But I had to take the risk."

Mac continued. "According to officers present at the scene, the car hit the tree at a forty-five degree angle, with the majority of the impact to the front passenger side."

"Yes," said Dillon. "I turned the wheel again just before the car hit so that Faith would get the brunt of it."

"You previously stated that it was not your direct intent to kill Mrs. Rosco."

"It wasn't," Dillon explained. "But I did intend to disable her, to knock her unconscious so that I could get away, or call the cops or something."

Mac took this in. "Is there any other information that you feel is relevant at this time, Mr. Quartermaine?"

"No sir."

Mac softened an infintesimal amount. "Are you absolutely certain, Dillon?"

Dillon caught the man's eye for a second. "Yes Commissioner, I'm certain."

"All right then. Thank you for your time." Mac shut off the tape recorder. Now he could be a dad. "Georgie." He said, holding out his hand. She slipped out of Dillon's embrace and went to him, putting her arms around his waist.

"Dad..." Mac closed his eyes, holding on to his daughter for dear life. Dear God, he thought, why couldn't he stop the evil in this world that seemed so desperate to take away the people he loved? Evil men, evil women, evil viruses...he kissed the top of Georgie's head.

The door opened and Bobbie entered. "Oh, I'm sorry to intrude," she offered. "I can come back."

Mac moved away from Georgie, but kept one arm around her. "No no, it's fine."

Bobbie walked into the room and turned to Dillon. "Well, Dillon, your x-rays and cat scan all came back clear. Everything should be fine, but you'll have to stay for several days for observation."

Dillon groaned. "Yeah, I know, Monica told me."

Bobbie smiled. "Immediately, the biggest concern is your concussion. If you lose consciousness you could be at a risk of further cranial injury, so you're going to need to stay awake for the next eight hours." This caused Dillon to groan even louder.

Georgie jumped in. "I'm staying with him," she stated loudly.

"Georgie..." Mac's tone was warning. She turned to him.

"I'm staying," she said quietly and firmly as she had earlier.

Mac regarded her. How he wished that he could keep her small forever, keep her from growing up, from getting hurt. But he'd done the same thing with Robin, tried to monitor her every move, kept her so close he could feel her tearing away. It was only, he realized, when he had relented and tried to listen and be understanding that things were good between them again. The only way to keep Robin close, he had realized, was to let her go and hope she stayed nearby on her own. Now it was time to do the same for Georgie. His gaze moved to Dillon. God, how he had hated Stone for so long, hated him for making Robin grow up, for taking her away, for putting her at risk for HIV...but he had come to realize in the nick of time how deeply Stone loved Robin, how he would have done anything in the world to keep her safe, to make her happy, even sacrifice himself. They'd had something in common, Mac had come to realize, Stone and himself - they both loved Robin more than anything else in the world. Now he was beginning to recognize the same common thread between him and Dillon. Like Stone, Dillon was more experienced in life than straight A Georgie was, or valedictorian Robin had been. Both boys had grown up without much sense of authority or without thinking about the consequences of their actions. But they both had undeniably good hearts and strong consciences when it really mattered. And in the same way that Stone had loved Robin, Mac realized, feeling himself choke up, Dillon loved Georgie, and he would-

"Mac?" Bobbie's voice broke him out of his reverie. He turned to her.

"Yeah?"

"I'm on all night," she told him calmly. "I could keep an eye on Georgie and Dillon, come by here every hour to check on them..."

Mac looked at Dillon, who was watching Georgie, then at Georgie, who was looking at him with pleading eyes.

"Please Dad?" she begged.

Mac looked at Bobbie, who nodded assuringly at him, then back to Georgie. He nodded.
"Okay," he conceded.

Georgie threw her arms around him. "Thank you," she whispered genuinely. Mac returned the hug. Releasing her, he stepped back. "Tell Bobbie if you go anywhere, and leave your cell phone on."

She nodded. "Yes Dad."

Mac turned to leave. Then he stopped and looked directly at Dillon. "Dillon, what you did in that car was incredibly stupid and dangerous." By Mac's tone, Dillon knew it wasn't the time to argue. He looked down.

"Yes sir, I know."

Mac was silent for a moment. He moved closer to the bed and extended his hand. Dillon looked confused, but extended his own to meet it, shaking Mac's hand with a questioning look. Mac looked Dillon right in the eye. His spoke again, his tone considerably softer.
"Thank you for protecting my daughter."

Dillon nodded slightly. "You're welcome," he whispered. Mac released Dillon's hand and left, followed by Bobbie. The door closed behind them.

Dillon reached for Georgie. "Come here," he said quietly. She went to him and climbed up on the bed, putting her arms around his neck and lying down next to him. He drew her in close, holding her tight, resting his cheek against the top of her head which laid on his chest.

"I love you," he whispered.

Her eyes were closed. "I love you too."

He reached down to draw her chin up toward him and she tilted her head up to him, opening her eyes to stare into his. He stroked her cheek lovingly with his fingertips. After a minute, a smirk began to play on his lips.

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. "What?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Georgiana?"

Georgie smacked him good naturedly. "Hush!"