When The Lights Go Out

Sighing as he closed his phone once more, Ric wondered how exactly she did it. He had only been back in Port Charles for a little under two hours and already Lucy Coe had left him seven text messages. Several of his colleagues in the hospital had warned him the closer it got to the Nurse's Ball, the loonier and more superstitious Lucy could get, but he hadn't fully believed them. Now he realized that was absurd. The woman had changed her mind about Maxie's final design at least seventeen times before finally deciding on the first design she had been shown. Of course she was going to drive him crazy.

Deleting her messages was the only sane thing to do, he reasoned. It had nothing to do with the fact that every time he saw Lucy's name he immediately thought of Maxie and the last time he had talked to her. "Say hi to Kate," she had said calmly before hanging up. It had taken him approximately an hour to get Charlotte to confess to talking to her in the weeks before. Now Maxie's sudden silence made sense.

Thankfully Charlotte knew nothing about that momentary lapse in judgment he had with Kate by the pool. If she did, well Ric doubted he would have been able to leave the house. It was only the good will of some divine power that had sent Kate back to New York shortly after. A story he knew Kate had been chasing for years had finally broken and she had to go back. It was good for her career. It was good for his sanity and future health that she was safely back in her element and not reminding him constantly of the good times they had shared.

The problem still remained with seeing Maxie. She wasn't going to want to see him willingly that was for sure. And Ric wasn't positive if he could lie to her. Oh sure he could hide the truth from her, but he hadn't ever outright lied to her. It wasn't a habit he particularly wanted to start. She'd probably break his nose and then his heart if she found out he kissed Kate. Right now he was fairly certain he was just in the break his nose category. He knew he needed to make things right with her, but the issue remained in how to approach her.

His phone beeped, signaling yet another incoming text message. Ric grimaced as he recognized Lucy's number flash across his screen. Now it seemed Sigmund was predicting a major storm to hit town and Lucy needed him to go and make sure there were no leaks in the hotel room the dresses were currently being stored in. After a few too many years of her dresses being "stolen" so the annual underwear tradition could go on early in the show, Lucy had gotten smart and started storing her dresses in another hotel weeks before to prevent some inspired last minute tailoring. His finger moved to the delete button out of habit, when he paused. If Lucy was texting him, then she was certainly texting Maxie. And as much as Lucy was currently annoying Maxie to death, there was no way she would take a chance on anything happening to one of her precious designs. She had too much riding on this show going perfectly. She'd go. Ric smiled as he closed his phone and started to make his way towards his car. Surprise was always the way to go.

*****

Sam tossed her cell from one hand to the other. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't forget her last conversation with Harper. He had never called back and she had made no attempt to contact him. Something in his voice made her feel like a cat backed into a corner. Her hair was standing on end and her claws were extended; every instinct she possessed was on high alert. It had been like this for the past few days and she was in agony.

Why hadn't he called back? Was he okay? Was he in some kind of danger? Was the DA behind it? Was she being paranoid? Yes, she was being paranoid. She had no idea what answers lay beyond her other questions, so she decided to drop it as well as the phone in her hand. She sunk down onto the couch, reached for the phone again, and contemplated just calling. Check up on him. Nothing was wrong with that. They were partners. It was the same similar spiel he had been singing to her all along. And if he saw her number on his phone? Her pride would take a serious beating. She would suddenly be another of the clingy women she suspected he had left in one place or another. No, she wouldn't call him.

There had to be a way to know he was alright without risking something as important as her image. Yes, she had broken down a few times in his presence. She wasn't proud of herself for it. Everyone had a limit and she had pushed herself toward hers one too many times. Maybe it was because he had always been there for her to lean on. She had been able to trust that he would pick her up when she fell. Listen to you, an angry voice shouted at her. You are not this woman. You are not clingy! You are smart and capable, not some doormat for a man. Get it together. She was acting like a confused soap opera character with too many storylines to juggle. Focus, she told herself. Close your eyes, breathe, and remember why you're here. David Harper did not bring you here. You aren't following the man around like a puppy. Snap out of it!

He was probably at home. She could sneak over without even letting him know she had been there, peak in, and be on her merry way. It was that simple. Sam liked the idea so much she left her phone on the couch, locked the door behind her, and headed for the elevator. As she watched the numbers count down, she tried to calm her shaky nerves. The doors swung open once she reached the first floor and, because she wasn't paying attention, she couldn't rely on those once-useful protective instincts. She glanced up and her voice caught in her throat.

*****

Steven watched the TV screen in mild interest. The first Mighty Ducks was playing on the local channel and he couldn't exactly reach the remote to change it. His grandmother had turned it on this channel earlier in the afternoon to catch one of her favorite Perry Mason episode. He only knew hours had passed because of the number of movies he had watched as well as the fact that the bright sunlight from the morning had dimmed severely. It wasn't dark, but the morning and afternoon were gone. He didn't know what to make of this channel. The types of movies it had played along with the older TV shows such as Golden Girls and Boy Meets World didn't seem to fit any particular theme. Life had definitely gotten a little peculiar.

Georgie had left under the excuse to putting together a dinner for the three of them complete with a chocolate cake for dessert. His grandmother had been delighted, but he knew Georgie was overcompensating for what had happened in his hospital room with her father. She had decided to consult one of the recipes his grandmother had lent her and was going to make a chicken, rice, and vegetable casserole. If she were here, she would change the channel.

Steven figured the visit, or interrogation, with the Commissioner could have gotten a lot worse. He was thankful Georgie hadn't left because he didn't put it past the older man to make his death look like an accident. Like anyone in this tiny little town would go against him. Steven didn't dislike him; really, he had no right to make judgments so soon after meeting him. What he knew of Mac Scorpio had come from the stories Georgie had told him. He supposed what made him feel ill will toward his father-in-law was the way he had treated Georgie when he was just as much to blame for them keeping their marriage a secret.

He didn't want to think about how Georgie had gone about revealing their little secret to his family. Elizabeth would be supportive after her initial wariness. He had known that as soon as he fell in love with Georgie. Maybe even before that. Sarah would pretend to care while her nails dried and then trot back to her own life. His parents would throw out petty insults to try and weaken Georgie's credibility. While he understood her need to keep it quiet for just a while longer, this was exactly what he had worried about. At the end of the day, everyone save his grandmother, Elizabeth, and Maxie were angry with them. Still, in all of his musings he had never considered not being right there with her when both families received the news.

His left ankle itched, but he was in no position to do anything about it. He couldn't reach it without causing himself an incredible amount of pain, maybe not even then He called for his grandmother before remembering her telling him she was going to stop over at the neighbor's to take her some chicken soup. She had been feeling lousy, swore that she did every time the seasons changed. His grandmother had been all too happy to do something to make her feel better. How was it that he could luck out with such a relative when his parents were the way they were?

He thanked God Georgie had had Elizabeth and his grandmother while he was lying temporarily useless in a hospital bed. He wished he had been conscious to hear her throw the rest of his family out. Maybe she would tell him about it when she got home. Hearing the door open, he turned his neck slightly and smiled. His smile froze on his face. "Mr. Scorpio."

*****

"Paranoid old kook." Maxie muttered as she stepped out of the elevator onto the twenty-second floor. Her room was at the end of the hall, her text message had said. Room six eighteen. For as long as she could remember, Lucy Coe had never been able to get through an entire evening in the same gown. This wasn't to say she couldn't decide on one; she just seemed to "lose" her original one about the time she stepped out on stage. As a child, Maxie had thought this great fun. It was better than the fair. Now, years later, she realized that it made Lucy even more unbearable. "Change this. Alter that." She mimicked Lucy's recommendations of the first design she had drawn up months ago. There was, of course, nothing wrong with the dress. Lucy simply wanted to go over every detail to insure that nothing would go wrong. It was why she had moved her and the rest of the committee to the Metro Court along with the dresses.

Beneath her frustration, Maxie was secretly pleased. She would snatch up any opportunity to spend the night somewhere besides home. It had become so stressful there she had started working until she was literally falling asleep in Mike's office. No one seemed to notice. A complimentary night in a nice hotel without family drama was as close to Heaven as Maxie was going to find in Port Charles. Reaching into the back pocket of her jeans, she extracted the plastic room key and activated the door. At first, it seemed to fight her. Then, finally, the green light came on and the lock disengaged. Letting out a sigh, she pushed open the door, her eyes having to adjust to the semi-dark room.

Her immediate thought was that she had walked into the wrong room. Sure the key card had worked, but even it had resisted for a time. There was the possibly that the hotel had double booked the room and the one she was actually supposed to be in was a few doors down or on another floor. Confused, she hit a button on her phone and the screen lit up. She tapped the last message Lucy had sent her, the one with the room information, but there didn't seem to be a mistake. Stepping back, she double checked the room number. She was in the right place.

Maxie decided to take the changes done to the room piece by piece starting from the far left back wall. She let her eyes follow the trail of thick white candles as they took a detour at the parallel wall and separated into two semicircles resembling hooks. For every patch of the room that wasn't decorated in candles there lay hundreds of white, yellow, and pink lilies. In the center of the room was a tiny white linen table covered in two plates lying opposite each other, white napkins, two crystal drinking glasses, and two serving dishes. Someone stepped out of the shadows and she panicked, only succeeding in closing herself into the room.

"Not exactly the welcome I was expecting I must admit." Ric chuckled as he noticed the frightened look on her face. "Should I have called first?"

"You startled me." Maxie explained. "What are you doing in my room?" She wanted to ask him so many other things starting with when he had gotten home and how many times he had picked up the phone to call her only to set the phone back down again, but she held her tongue.

"It's called a surprise." He smiled and took a step closer to her.

"It's not a welcome one." Maxie assured him.

"Why not? You didn't miss me?"

"What good would missing you do?"

"Apparently it inspired your most brilliant creations." Ric gestured to the two rails of dresses that had been moved into the room before his arrival.

"So what if it did?" The distance was killing her, but she would damned if she took even a single step in his direction. He was the one that had an explanation to give, not her.

"They'll make you famous." He smiled at her and tried to catch her eye, but she looked down at the floor quickly. Alright, new game plan. Flattery about her ambitions was clearly not working. "You're the only one to know I'm back in town."

"You mean you didn't bring Kate back with you?"

"No. She left for New York before me."

"Well I'm sure sad to see her go."

Relieved would be closer to it, but no need in telling Maxie that bit of information. "It was past time for her to get back to her own life. My sister cried."

"Yes, I imagine she would be very upset about the two of you separating." Maxie nodded.

"More that she had no one to go shopping with anymore."

"You still haven't told me what you're doing here." Maxie reminded him.

"I needed to see you."

"Well, you've seen me."

"Maxie…" Ric reached out and held her still, catching her arm in his hand. "Talk to me."

"Why didn't you tell me Kate was going with you?"

"Because I didn't want you to freak out. Because I didn't ask her to come and she wasn't going there for me. Because I was stupid. Take your pick of reasons."

"I like the last one." Maxie tried to keep herself from smiling, but lost the battle.

"I thought you might." Testing his luck, Ric managed another step forward. "There are some more elements to this apology if you want to stick around for it."

*****

"Samantha." Harper smiled as he saw her shocked face just outside the doors to the elevator. He had come here to try to see her and make sure everything was ok. She had been quiet since their last call and that usually only meant one thing. She was up to something. Gesturing to the inside of the elevator cab, he did a mock bow. "Headed my way?"

"Hardly." Sam replied in a clipped tone.

"So you've taken to standing outside of elevators for fun since I moved out? Interesting."

"I stepped out on the wrong floor. That's all. I was invited to a party and am on my way there. Thanks to you, I'm going to be late." Sam lied brazenly.

"By all means, let's make sure you get to your party on time." Seeing her still standing outside the door, Harper put his hand out to keep them from closing. "It might help if you actually get in so you can get there."

"I'll take the next one. The last thing I want is to be shoved in an elevator with you." Sam told him.

"Why? Have I offended you?"

"Not at all. I just wouldn't want my new friend to misinterpret our relationship."

"New friend?" Harper lifted one eyebrow. "Maybe I should step out and hear all about this new friend."

"What makes you think that's any of your business?" Sam baited him.

"Just trying to make sure my partner is well protected that's all. After all, that is what we are right? Partners?" He goaded her.

"Exactly. I've found it's just much easier to keep sex simple and straightforward."

"So you keep telling me. But if we're just partners, then there should be no reason for you to not ride in this elevator with me." Harper smiled at her calmly.

"Who said I was talking about you?" Sam got into the elevator and kept her back to him.

He smiled as the door slid shut and waited for her to push the button to signal her destination. As she stood there silently, he couldn't keep the small chuckle out of his voice. "Samantha? It won't move until you tell it where to go."

"I know that." She snapped. "Which floor are you going to?"

"Ladies first."

Sam pushed a random button and waited for the elevator to ascend. "You didn't say why you were here."

He felt the folded paper he had shoved in the back pocket of his jeans stab him in his lower back. "I found..." His words were lost as the car suddenly shuttered and jerked to a stop. Thrown off balance, Sam began to fall backwards, causing Harper to hold his arms out on instinct to break her fall. With a mild grunt, she fell onto his chest. The lights flickered once and were replaced with the dim glow of the emergency back up lights. "Easy," He whispered into her ear.

"What happened?" Sam pushed away from him.

"The power's out. We're stuck."

"Well fu—" The lights flickered once more and then there was only the faint red glow from the emergency light.

Preview -

"Care to dance?"

"I hate to break this to you, but there isn't any music."