Hey guy's here's another update! Hope that you enjoy it, I didn't get a chance to fully edit it so any spelling mistakes; I apologize!

It was a month into the secretive relationship and things had been going fairly well. They had already had their first fight; after one of Maxie's infamous Crimson parties, Maxie stopped by the penthouse a nearing empty bottle of champagne in one hand, her designer heels in the other. Jason opened the door dressed in a pair of grey sweats and a black muscle tank top; clearly have been awakened by Maxie's antics at the front door, he was only thankful that Spinelli had been on a stake out with Sam, or this would have been an completely different story.

All in all, Maxie ended up cradled into Jason's arms as they fell asleep long after the fighting had been over. It had been the first night she had fallen asleep in his arms, and it hadn't been on the bookends of sex. Something they still hadn't gotten too. Not for Maxie's lack of trying, Jason had been adamant about them not having sex until they were out in the open; especially to Spinelli.

Currently Jason was sitting at the desk doing some paperwork for the warehouse while Maxie and Spinelli were sitting on the couch playing a new video game that Spinelli had created.

Maxie kept glancing over at Jason efficiently losing her the game. "Well fair Maximista the Jackal must sadly leave you. My presence is needed at the offices of McCall and Jackal."

"That's okay Spinelli. I should probably head over to Crimson. Even though Kate gave us the night off, I'm sure she still has things for us to do." Maxie answered.

"Well then, my beauty I leave thee." Spinelli said before saying a quick goodbye, to his best friend and mentor; leaving Jason and Maxie alone.

Taking a minute to check her PDA Maxie took her sweet time moving towards Jason who was still doing paper work. "So how important is that paper work you've got there?"

"Why what else do you have in mind?" Jason said setting the pen down, he hadn't changed his body language yet but his mind had already started going a hundred miles a minute.

"Well we have the penthouse all to ourselves." Maxie smiled moving to sit on the edge of the desk, much like how they relationship had began. "I was thinking we could christen the pool table?" Maxie said a small giggle in her voice.

"Don't you think we should have sex in a bed before we try on the pool table?" Jason suggested turning the chair to face her fully, grabbing a hold of her foot to slide her off the desk into his lap.

"Jason I would love to have sex with you in a bed, or the pool table, or anywhere for that matter," she said the annoyance clear in her voice. "It's been a month of sneaking around stealing kisses where we can. Jason I know we agreed to take this slow but come on, this snail speed has got to be driving you crazy too."

"It's more than taking things slow Maxie. We still have to find a way to tell Spinelli about us, and the rest of the world."

"The rest of the world?" Maxie said jokingly. "Jason, Port Charles is hardly the rest of the world. Personally after Spinelli all we really have to worry about it Mac, Robin really can't have a problem with this because she dated you too."

"That's not really the argument you should use when talking to Mac." Jason said smoothing the hair at the back of her head. Over the last month Maxie had put extensions in her hair; she explained that she was thinking about growing her hair out, and wanted to see how it would look before making the change permanent.

"How about we just tell Spinelli and then not tell everyone else, and just have lots and lots of sex?" She suggested, before giving him a flirtatious smile and lowering her lips to his neck. "So what do you say?"

"After we tell Spinelli." Jason said firmly, enjoying the kiss.

"Are you sure it can't be the first thing we do—after we have mind-blowingly amazing sex?" She said in between kisses, she moved from the base of his neck up behind his ear. "Please Jason."

Jason's resolve was starting to ware as Maxie continued her ministrations. She could feel his pulse start to race the longer she kissed. "Please Jason."

"Okay" Jason finally relented. Maxie quickly pulled her face back to look into his eyes to gage his seriousness. "but not here, Spinelli or Carly or Sonny or who knows who else could show up. If we're going to do this, I don't want to be interrupted."

"Okay, so when?" Maxie said, her mind focused on the one thing they had been depriving themselves of in the last month. The longest that Maxie had waited in a relationship to have sex since she had dated Jesse.

"How about Thursday? Kate has been sending you out of town most weekends, and I don't have a shipment coming in until Friday night so that gives us a full evening, so we don't have to rush ourselves." Jason suggested. "I'll reserve us a room at Metro Court and have someone deliver the room key to your office?"

"Sounds like a plan. So two more days of denial." Maxie said sliding off his lap and moving towards the couch to grab her shoes and her purse.

"Where are you going?" Jason said surprised at how quickly she had turned off her libido.

"Well, if we are going to have sex in two days, there's a lot of things I need to do to prepare. I need to go shopping; you have no idea how hard it is to be a girl." Maxie said as she used Jason's outstretched arm to balance as she slide into her 4 inch stiletto heels; something Jason had grown accustomed to since dating the young fashionista.

"Maxie you don't have to do anything over the top for this." Jason said, he knew that she would anyway, but realistically it wasn't either of their first times; but it was "their" first time.

"Guys just don't get it." Maxie said moving towards him to give a quick peck on the lips. "I'll call you later tonight." She said before gracefully walking out of the penthouse leaving Jason to make plans for Thursday night.

In reality he knew it was unrealistic for them to continue to wait especially since telling Spinelli and all of Port Charles of their relationship. Although none would understand it, and Mac would probably try and have him arrested because of it, he knew if he and Maxie had any hope of having a successful relationship, they needed to come out to the town. They needed to stop hiding behind the cover of their mutual friendship of Spinelli before anyone got hurt. He'd learned from his relationship with Courtney the dangers of keeping things a secret. Even if you're doing it to protect the people you love.

But didn't that include Maxie now too? Jason would never say that he was in love with the petite blonde. Most times infuriating was his adjective of choice. But there was something about her smile that tugged at his heart. Something about the way it very rarely reached her eyes. Maybe because she was always waiting for something to go wrong, to keep her from really experiencing true happiness, something she convinced herself she didn't deserve. Or the fact that he preferred Maxie dressed down in jeans and a basic tee than when she was all dolled up for work. He loved picking her up late at her apartment, long after the town had gone to sleep to go on motorcycle rides; taking the turns a little faster than necessary just to feel her arms squeeze him tighter as she held on for dear life. Taking her to the overlook and sneaking into the boxcar which he had equipped with a couch and a small bed so they could relax comfortably. Falling asleep with Maxie safely tucked into his side listening to the steady sounds of her breathing. In the past month he had been given a glimpse of Maxie Jones that he figured few rarely got the opportunity to see, and he was thankful for that. He just hoped, and even prayed that it would maintain after they went public.

It all depended on Spinelli, how he reacted would affect everything. They both knew that.

~*~

Finally Thursday had arrived. In the last 48 hours Maxie had been to the salon and been shopping for new lingerie; she had chosen basic black, the color of Jason' wardrobe; it was a safe bet. She was assured that she would be able to leave work in time to go to the room and shower and change before Jason arrived, something she was excited to do after the long day she had, had at Crimson. Kate had come in late, and in raging bitch mode, barking orders and threatening to fire the girls again; it was becoming a daily occurrence. After returning from her lunch break she found a simple red rose sitting on her desk with an envelope attached.

Room 532, I'll meet you there at 8. That should give you enough time to do whatever it is that makes you so beautiful. I can't wait until tonight.

J

It was nearing 6:30 and Lulu had already left for the night. Maxie was finishing up the last phone call and then was going to head upstairs to begin the process. She had just backed up her files when the elevator door opened.

"Whoever it is we're closed for the evening, so come back in the morning." She said before turning around.

"It is I fair Maximista." Spinelli called walking into the outer office.

"Spinelli what are you doing here so late?" Maxie said, trying to contain the nerves in her voice. She didn't know how she was going to make it up the stairs with Spinelli so close to her now.

"I came to seek out the fair one's help." Spinelli said grabbing Lulu's chair and wheeling it towards Maxie's desk. "I was at casa de Stone Cold, and the phone rang. It was the Mother of Stone Cold, apparently the Elder Quartermaine has suffered from the unfortunate event of heart trouble. Much like Dr. Dad, Alan did. I haven't been able to reach Stone Cold."

It took Maxie a minute to react. In all their secret times together they had talked very little about his relationship with the Quartermaines. She could guess as it was that he had very little attachment to his grandfather, but it wasn't for her to decide. "Why don't you go wait at the penthouse?" Maxie suggested. "I'll check Jakes and the warehouse and I'll call you if I hear from him."

"Will do." Spinelli said quickly before heading back to the elevator. The minute the elevator doors closed, Maxie raced to her PDA scrolling through her contacts to get to Jason's. After three rings his voicemail picked up. "Jason it's me, call me when you get this." She said. Finding the key card on her desk she grabbed it heading for the elevator hoping that Jason had showed up early.

The ride up the two flights was the longest of her life.

When the elevator finally stopped on the 5th floor Maxie exited the elevator and made her way to room 533 as quickly as she could without drawing extra attention to herself. Sliding the key in she opened the door to find Jason sitting on the bed with a smile plastered across his face. Maxie stopped for a second to take in his appearance. For once he wasn't wearing a black fitted tee. He was wearing dark green button-down that outlined the muscles in his arm wonderfully. "Jason." She said exasperated.

"I was hoping you would show up early." He said standing from the bed. He slowly walked towards her resting his hands gently one of her neck and the other framing her face. The pad of his thumb running along her bottom lip. "God, you're beautiful."

All thoughts of Edward and Spinelli rushed out of her head with the simple words. Coming from the mouth of the Port Charles hit man; the man whose best friend had named him Stone Cold, for his apparent lack of emotion. Maxie let him pull her into a fierce kiss that made her quickly drop the bag she had been hold so she could wrap her small arms around Jason's neck trying to deepen the kiss.

Jason obliged her lifting her into his arms and moving her back towards the door she had just entered, Maxie instinctively wrapped her legs around her torso and thanked herself for wearing pants to work that day. The kiss was very quickly spiraling out of control and as Jason moved down her jaw to the delicate skin of her collarbone she knew she needed to stop him before things got too far. "Jason—" she said. It sounded more like a moan than a request of his attention. When Jason gave a small but not so subtle thrust of his hips into hers, she knew the point hadn't reached him. "Jason." She said this time a little more firmly.

"What's wrong?" Jason said pulling back to face her. "Is the door not working for you at the moment?"

"Jason we need to talk." Maxie said. She unwrapped her legs from his body and slowly slid down to the floor, feeling his erection press into her stomach as she did. "It's about Spinelli. He stopped by the Crimson office right before I came up here."

"And—" Jason said. He was trying to figure out why talking about Spinelli was more important than what was going on against the door moments before.

"He was at the penthouse when Monica left a message." She said, that had grabbed his attention. "Apparently Edward is in the hospital. He had a heart attack, I don't know any more details than that but Spinelli came looking for you."

"Okay." Jason said simply, his expression not changing.

"Just okay?" Maxie said shocked. "Jason I know you're not close to the Quatermaines, but Edward is still your grandfather."

"Maxie just forget it." Jason said moving to sit on the edge of the bed, placing his head in his hands.

Maxie moved to sit next to him. She didn't know what to say but she didn't want this night to end in silence. "Jason I know that I don't have any idea what the Quartermaine's have put you through. I didn't know you before the accident, and I didn't know you right after but I remember after the metro court when you were rushing around to kill Jerry Jaxs, and be at the hospital for your father. What if Edward dies tonight?" She said proposing the hypothetical.

"It's not that simple."

"Would you just talk to me?" Maxie shouted, becoming annoyed with Jason's one sentence answers. "Seriously Jason, we were going to have sex tonight, and you can't even talk to me about your family? How are we supposed to make this relationship work when everyone is against us if you won't even talk to me?"

"Maxie just because we were going to have sex doesn't mean you get a full access pass to my life!" Jason yelled standing from the bed, shaking Maxie's arm off his shoulder. "Maybe this was a bad idea."

Maxie was taken aback by Jason's outburst, but she wasn't going to let him see it. "Well I told you. I guess my job is done. I'll see you around Jason." Maxie said moving towards where she had dropped her bag on the floor. Jason bent down to pick it up affectively blocking Maxie's exit to the door.

"I didn't mean to go off on you like that." Jason said firmly holding the bag in his grip. "You just don't understand the Quartermaine's, especially Edward."

"Jason what I understand is that sometimes people fail us. Sometimes they hurt you more than they realize, but you have an opportunity to surprise your family. This isn't about you Jason, or your pride. This is about Edward, and maybe right now he needs to see his grandson. Despite what may have happened in the last 15 years." After Maxie finished her small speech she waited for Jason to move or speak before she did. Finally Jason released the bag and pulled Maxie in for a breath taking kiss.

"You amaze me Mariah Jones." Jason said using her formal name before standing back and moving towards the door. "Are you coming?"

"This is something you need to do on your own. Plus we can't really explain why I'm hanging around." She said checking her phone; Spinelli had sent her a handful of text messages asking if she had found Jason yet. "I should probably head back to your place; tell Spinelli that I found you and that you're on your way to the hospital."

"I'll call you later." Jason said giving her a quick kiss on the forehead before leaving the room.

Maxie waited a few minutes before following out the door, her plan was to head over to the penthouse and tell Spinelli that she had found Jason. She didn't know what else she was going to tell him, but she had the urge to just blurt out that she and Jason were dating.

~*~

After finding Spinelli she told him she was needed back at the office for a layout meeting. After slyly asking what his plans were; securing her the safety that she could meet Jason at the hospital without having to worry about running into trouble, or Spinelli.

She had checked in with the nurses station and knew that Mr. Quartermaine was in serious but stable condition. So she wouldn't be attending a funeral anytime soon. Hopefully that also meant, that he wasn't in any shape to argue with his grandson, because as a heart patient herself she knew it was good to avoid stress.

She made a quick phone call and found that Jason had moved up to the roof. She found him leaning against the edge looking out at the lights of the city. It was only 9:45 so most of the small town was still awake.

"Hey stranger." Maxie said making her presence known. She didn't want to stare at him too long, but she felt bad interrupting his solitude.

"What are you doing here?" Jason asked, he had just talked to her on the phone moments ago but he didn't know her reasoning for her being at the hospital.

"I know how much you hate hospitals, and I know how hard it is for you to be here for Edward so I figured I'd be here for you. Isn't that what girlfriends do?"

Jason had wrapped his strong arms around Maxie holding her firmly to his body. "So how bad was it?" Maxie whispered.

"That old man, still has it regardless of the fact that he just had a heart attack." Jason said with a smirk. It was probably where Jason got his fighting spirit from; the Quartermaine's could give anyone a run for their money.

"Are we okay?" Maxie asked, turning herself in his arms to face him. "I mean about all the stuff from before."

"While I don't enjoy you pushing the Quartermaine's on me but I understand your reasoning behind it." Jason explained. He didn't want to talk about the fight again, but he knew it was bound to come up. "You got to see firsthand what happened after Alan died."

"There's nothing you could have done Jason, for Alan or for Edward." Maxie nuzzled his cheek with her hair. "So how bad was it?"

"It was the basic hoodlum, thug crap." Jason said as if those words had no meaning anymore. He had heard them spewed from Edwards mouth for so many years he didn't have to react anymore, he just expected it. "But then there was this moment."

Maxie turned back to face him when Jason didn't continue. Jason's gaze was fixated on the water that was visible near the docks. Bringing her palm up to his cheek Maxie turned Jason's face until he had no choice but to look at her. "Jason you work for the mob, people have called you a cold-hearted killer. Jason I don't care about your job, or what you've done; because you've done it to protect people you love, and the people you've sworn to protect. As one of those people, I've never felt safer than when I'm with you, and when I'm in your arms." Maxie said concluding her speech. "So screw the Quartermaine's for not accepting Jason Morgan."

Maxie's last statement causing him, to give a true laugh, something he truly needed at that moment. Without anymore words needing to be spoken Jason took the opportunity to give Maxie a quick kiss. But it was Maxie who choose to take the kiss to the next level, pushing Jason back and then forcing him back towards a nearby wall. Moments before Maxie would have risen to her tip toes and started what she had hoped would be a breath-taking kiss, a loud gasp could be heard from a small distance away.

"Spinelli!" Maxie said pushing away from Jason. "This is what it looks like."

"So there's a good explanation for why the Blond One was in what looks like a luscious lip-lock with the grasshoppers mentor." Spinelli rambled off, he had begun to pace back and forth across roof. "Would one of you please—"

"Spinelli—"

Jason started before being cut off by Maxie. "I kissed him, or at least tried to. I followed Jason up to the roof, I was here visiting Robin and followed him, and then tried to kiss him. Spinelli it's my fault."

Jason was about to speak up again, the look he was giving Maxie scared her to the core. "As always the bad-blonde-one shows her ugly man eating ways." Spinelli said, the use of her former name ripping her apart. "You disgust me. Both of you." Spinelli finished before heading out the way he had entered.

"Jason we have to go after him." Maxie said torn between talking things through with Jason or running after her best-friend. Or who she hoped would still be her best friend after she was able to explain things to him.

"Maxie just give him a minute to cool off. This is a huge shock to him." Jason said moving a few steps closer to her. "I think he would have handled it better if we had been able to tell him the truth. Maxie what were you thinking."

"I just panicked. I just need to go talk to him, I'll call you after I find him." Maxie said before sprinting away as fast as her 3 inch heels would allow her. The 3 inches became the problem. Halfway down the steep roof access stairs Maxie decided that her shoes of fashion were slowing her down. As she tried with all her might to get the strappy sandals off her well manicured feet she lost her grip on the railing giving her the momentum her body needed to send her tumbling down the stairs.

It was the stop of Maxie's heels hitting the metal stairs that drew his ear in that direction. When he heard the loud thudding noise he rushed down the stairs becoming overwhelmed with fear when he saw the object of his affection, and the star of his late night dreams lying unconscious on the landing.