And now here I stand with these blood soaked hands
On this sleepless night, that never ends
And these songs I sing
With these hopes that I cling to
Desperately wondering
Are we finally getting to something new?
– Something New, Airborne Toxic Event

---

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Morgan Penthouse: Living Room

Maxie yelped, then jumped back. “What the hell was that?”

Spinelli, not paying all that much attention to her, just grunted from his position on the sofa, hunched over his laptop. “What was what?”

Maxie leaned down, snatched something from the ground. “This!”

He glanced over, then squinted. “One of the Little Dude’s army guys. Gotta watch where you walk, Maximista. Little bit of a minefield these days—”

“Ugh—” Maxie dropped the plastic figurine onto the coffee table. “Didn’t we spend, like, half a day putting together a perfectly good bedroom and play area for those little urchins? Why do they have to infest the entire penthouse?”

Spinelli winced. “You can’t be talking that way,” he said, glancing over his shoulder towards the doorway almost as if he expected Elizabeth or her grandmother to burst in. Fortunately for Maxie, they’d taken Jake to the park for a few hours, otherwise he never would have let Maxie upstairs.

“I can do whatever I want especially since Elizabeth literally chased Lucky and Sam right out of the entire state. Not that I care about Lucky, but you know, he never even gets to see his sons—” She shook her head. “Never mind. Whatever. That’s not why I came over. Has that slutty nurse said anything to you?”

He closed his laptop, tucked it under his arm as he stood. “The Jackal requires another liter of orange soda.”

“Don’t change the subject. I wanna know what Nadine’s said about Saturday. I’m sure she’s trying to turn you against me and I—”

“She doesn’t talk about you at all—”

“Bullshit. That asshole humiliated me—”

Spinelli opened his mouth, but then shook his head. “The Jackal would very much like to change the subject—”

“Why? Don’t you get that she seduced Johnny right out from under Lulu’s nose, and she turned him against me—we were friends, okay? United front, and now we hate each other—”

“That is not what happened—”

“She saw her chance to get Johnny, and she went after him. She didn’t even wait for Lulu to be adjusted to the time change—there’s a word for women who go after other girl’s men, and it’s—”

“Maxie Jones?”

Maxie whirled around, her eyes almost comically wide when she saw Elizabeth standing in the partially open doorway. Spinelli grimaced — they’d been so loud he hadn’t heard the key in the lock. “Excuse me?” Maxie demanded, whirling around.

Elizabeth closed the door, tossed her keys on the desk. “You heard me, Maxie. If you’re going to stand in my home and talk about homewrecking sluts, let’s start with you—”

“Oh, you’ve got a lot of nerve!” Maxie retorted. “This was Sam’s home first!”

Elizabeth arched a brow. “If you’re going to throw insults, try not to sound pathetic. Sam’s been gone from here a long time. But Lucky? He was still my husband when you stole pills for him, don’t you remember?”

“I—” Maxie pressed her lips together. “You were sleeping with Patrick—”

“You know that’s not true. You’ve been told repeatedly that’s not true by everyone involved, including Lucky. But you need it to be, don’t you?” Elizabeth sauntered towards her, smirking. “Because that’s how you justify sleeping with my husband—”

“Are you going to let her talk to me this way?” Maxie said, turning to Spinelli. “You’re supposed to be on my side!”

“The Jackal would very much like to be excluded from this narrative,” Spinelli said.

Maxie narrowed her eyes. “Coward,” she hissed, then focused back on Elizabeth. “I’m sorry, but which one of us had to have a paternity test? Because that was you—”

“Which one of us faked a pregnancy and a miscarriage to keep a man interested?” Elizabeth interrupted, and Maxie’s face went white. “Yeah, you think you’re all grown up and mature with your big important job, but you haven’t learned a damn thing from getting in the middle of adult business, have you?”

“You never deserved Lucky! He loved you!”

“You’re right, Maxie. I never deserved Lucky. You did.” Elizabeth picked up Maxie’s purse, went to the door, and tossed it into the hall. “Why don’t you go find your next victim?”

“How dare you—”

“You’re getting out and you’re not coming back as long as I live here. Now. Or I’ll call security.”

“Spinelli—” Maxie saw Spinelli’s eyes on the floor, and her cheeks heated. “Fine. Fine. I’m leaving.”

She lifted her chin and stalked out, her indignant exit ruined when she had to stoop to retrieve her clutch and the items that had spilled out of it. Elizabeth slammed the door.

“I’m sorry, Fair Elizabeth,” Spinelli said. “I did not think you’d be back so soon. I wouldn’t—”

“You can have whatever relationship with Maxie you want, Spinelli. But she’s not welcome here as long as my kids are living here. I understand that this is your home—”

“No, it’s good. The Jackal, uh, doesn’t enjoy having to defend the Noble Nurse Nadine all the time. I can’t tell her what happened, but I know it’s not what Maxie thinks. And she’s too mad to think clearly about any of it.” He cleared his throat. “But she won’t darken the door again.”

“Good. And Maxie should just count herself lucky that I left Jake with my grandmother and Bobbie for a few hours. I don’t want my boys around her.”

“Understood.”

General Hospital: Nurse’s Station

Nadine stepped behind the counter, sighing as she flipped through a copy of the new schedule. “Is there any chance we’ll ever be fully staffed again?”

“Not under this board,” Epiphany muttered. She glanced over at her. “Why? You got a complaint?”

“No. No. I just…I wish I’d stayed in peds, but I heard those nurses are floating now, too.” She folded the schedule and put it behind the counter. “Is anyone actually getting to stay where they’re trained?”

“We’d need to hire at least twenty more bodies, and unless there’s a miracle, that’s not gonna happen. You’re floating on the general wards this shift. Where else?”

“ICU tomorrow, then down to the ER, and then finishing it off in post-op.” Nadine wrinkled her nose. “Just wish there was more consistency.”

“There should be—” Epiphany held out her hand for Nadine’s schedule. “You’re only supposed to be in one department every rotation. I’ll talk to your charge nurse—”

“No, no, don’t do that. I don’t want to cause any trouble—” Nadine bit her lip as Leyla passed by her, then whispered something to Regina Thompson, another nurse. “Not any more trouble anyway.”

Epiphany’s eyes followed the nurses, then she focused on Nadine. “You still getting the cold shoulder because of the, uh, marriage?”

“I guess Lulu Spencer had more friends in the hospital than I thought.” Nadine picked up a pen, started to flip through a chart. “Leyla thinks I’m the worst person alive and is telling anyone she can find—”

“As if Leyla Mir didn’t snatch up Patrick Drake the second he was available,” Epiphany muttered. Nadine widened her eyes — it was very uncharacteristic of Epiphany to even admit she knew about any gossip, much less repeat it. “Don’t look at me like that, I don’t like mean girls. And that one? No other word.”

“Well, I guess from her perspective—”

“Does her perspective matter so much?” Epiphany asked. “Did you have a good reason for marrying Johnny Zacchara?”

Did she? It had felt that way at the time, but now a month later, Nadine wasn’t sure of anything. “I thought so.”

Epiphany waited another beat, but Nadine said nothing. “I don’t know what you were thinking, only you do. Live your life, make your mistakes, and remember that you don’t answer to anyone but yourself at the end of the day. As long as you can look at yourself in the mirror, you got nothing else to worry about.”

The nurse left the hub, and Nadine watched her go, then sighed. She didn’t know if she could do that either.

Eli’s: Restaurant

 Johnny tapped his fingers on the counter, watching the line cooks behind the counter pulling another rack of meat from the smoker in the back. His attention was pulled when Maxie strode through the entrance, her head down, her fingers flying across the keys of a phone.

Damn. Why was he always running into her in restaurants? Kelly’s was bad enough, Johnny didn’t want to think about what damage Maxie could do in a barbecue joint.

Her head rose up and their eyes met. She narrowed hers. “You really got some nerve, don’t you? What, are you stalking me?”

“I was here first—but—” Johnny accepted the brown bag the employee handed him, then shook it lightly in her face. “I’m leaving, so don’t throw any chicken wings at me.” At least Nadine wasn’t here, he thought, striding past the acerbic blonde and out the door, at first congratulating himself on avoiding confrontation.

Then he winced, remembering the pain on her face, the way she’d talked about the humiliation, begging him to give a damn about what mattered to her. He turned back towards the front door.

“What, did you find someone else to marry on your way to the car? Need a witness?” Maxie asked nastily, shoving the phone into her purse, turning away from the front counter. “I hope you got a prenup because that gold digger—”

“This has to stop—”

“What? You don’t like hearing the truth about your precious goody two shoes? She’s got all you snowed,” Maxie muttered. She snatched her order out of the employee’s hand, tossed down the twenty and walked past him.

Johnny grimaced, then reluctantly decided to follow her. It was time to settle this, once and for all.

Morgan Penthouse: Kitchen

“Where nuggets?” Jake demanded when his mother set his dinner down — a hamburger cut into smaller bites along with mac and cheese as a side. He frowned. “Nuggets.”

“Hamburger,” Elizabeth said. “Nuggets tomorrow.” She sat next to him, ready to cover his dinner plate with her hand the moment he attempted to launch any piece of it. She looked across the table at her grandmother, fixing her own hamburger. “I wish you’d consider staying a few more days, Gram.”

“Oh, we’re bursting at the seams here,” Audrey said, steadying Cameron reaching for his sippy cup filled with juice. “I’ve done my job, and you’ve recovered quite nicely if I say so myself,” she said.

“You’re welcome to stay as long as you want,” Jason told her, and she smiled at him—something Elizabeth never could have imagined only a few weeks ago, but her grandmother and Jason had clearly developed a new respect for one another. “It’s no trouble—”

“I’ve loved spending extra time with my babies…” Audrey smoothed Cameron’s curls back and he grinned at her. “They grow up so fast, and before you know it—” She looked over at Spinelli who was cleaning up orange soda that had sloshed out of his glass. “Well, before you know it, they’re off having their own adventures. But I do miss my quiet house. And you and Jason should have some time on your own without your grandmother hanging around.”

Elizabeth sighed. “I guess it’s selfish to ask you to keep giving up your life. I just…I’ve been a little spoiled with all the people I love under one roof.”

“And I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. It’s been a blessing, but you’re going to be back at work, and Jake will have a wonderful time spending the day with his father. I think it’s time we all got back to, well, what passes for normal in Port Charles. As long as we can. But I’m just a phone call away if you need me.”

Eli’s: Parking Lot

“Stay away from me, or you’ll get the pepper spray,” Maxie threatened, digging through the purse looped over the arm holding the paper bag.

“Relax, pain in the ass, I just want to talk. This has to stop,” Johnny repeated. “You get to be angry at me, but the digs at Nadine have to stop—”

“Really? Really? I have to stop being angry at the woman who pretended to give a damn about Lulu just to get close to you?” Maxie raged. “I bet she couldn’t wait to tell you every day! Reading magazines to her, washing her face—” She stopped, her voice choked. She pressed a fist to her mouth, turned away.

Johnny cleared his throat. “I—she never told me—I didn’t know that.”

“What? Don’t be stupid! Why would she do all of that if—” Maxie looked at him, her voice shaking. “She dropped Nikolas like a hot potato when he wouldn’t take her to California, but she knew you were lonely—”

“Maxie. Come on. Come on. You’re smarter than that.” Johnny took a step closer to her, and she closed her eyes. “I know you’ve heard the rumors. Mac’s your stepfather.”

Maxie’s lips trembled, so she bit down on them, folding her arms, the paper bag crinkling. “So? That doesn’t explain why she was with you on the pier or why she agreed to protect you. She barely knows you. She wanted your money, and saw her chance, so she made sure to impress you by taking care of Lulu—”

“She never told me a single word of that, Maxie. Never. And look, get mad at me, okay?” He pressed a hand to his chest. “I’m the one who put Lu in that situation, brought her to that wedding. Waited too long to get her help. I did all of it wrong. But Nadine did nothing but be a good person. At every step. You’re telling me she sat with Lulu, took time so Lu wasn’t alone. She also found time to sit with you, didn’t she? And do you know what she was doing with me that day?”

“I bet I do—”

“Defending me to Nikolas, angry that I was being cut out of Lulu’s treatment. Helping me think about what to say to Elizabeth Webber so that she’d talk to Nikolas for me. She’s protecting me, Maxie, because she thought it was the right thing to do. She’s a good person who doesn’t deserve the shit you’re giving her. Whatever they’re saying in the hospital, you don’t know her. None of you do. You’d never say any of this if you did.”

Maxie looked away, tears staining her cheeks. “It’s not fair. None of this is—if Lu were here, none of this would be happening, and maybe I hate her because she’s not here. And you know, this is my fault, okay.  Lulu was just trying to save me, and now she’s gone, and Spinelli hates me, too, for all of this, and Elizabeth that bitch kicked me out of the penthouse, and it’s just not fair!”

The words came out as a rushing tumble, so rapidly that Johnny couldn’t follow most of it. “Maxie—”

“Don’t. Don’t. I’m already humiliated enough.” She closed her eyes, took a deep breath. “Fine. Fine. You want peace, you’ve got it. We’ll just ignore each other. And when Lulu comes home, I’ll help her kick your ass.”

“I look forward to that. I mean it, Maxie. Thank you.”

Morgan Penthouse: Master Bedroom

Elizabeth switched off the bathroom light, made a face. “I feel guilty.”

Jason picked up the white baby monitor on the nightstand, checked the volume. “For what? Leaving your grandmother with the boys while we took the bike out again? She didn’t seem to mind.”

“No, not about that.” She shook her head. “Did Spinelli say anything about today?”

“No.” Jason frowned, sat on the edge of the bed. “What happened?”

Elizabeth sat next to him, wrinkled her nose. “Gram and I went out for a little while with Jake, and then I came back early. Maxie was here.”

“I’m sorry. I should have told him—”

“I know they’re friends. I don’t understand why—she was always so terrible to him, but I guess after Georgie—” Elizabeth sighed. “I was going to be okay with that, you know. I really was. But I walked in on her raging about Nadine, insulting her—saying all the things I know she’s said about me—I lost it on her. I kicked her out, and I told Spinelli she can’t come back.”

“Spinelli knows Maxie’s an acquired taste,” Jason said. He covered her knee, his thumb stroking the skin left bare by the long sleep shirt she wore. “And this is your home. I want you to feel comfortable here—”

“But it was Spinelli’s first,” Elizabeth said. “And I don’t want him to feel like he can’t have the people he cares about—”

“It’s just temporary, right?” Jason reminded her. “You want us to move back to your place. I figure Spinelli will stay here, and he can have Maxie over whenever he wants.”

“But—”

“What happened to Georgie, he took it hard. He was the one to find her. Being there for Maxie, it helped him deal with all of that.”

“Which is why I should suck it up and—” She bit her lip. “It’s not about Lucky. It’s not that she had an affair with my husband. I don’t even care about that anymore. I really don’t—” she repeated when he just looked at her. “I—”

“You were faithful to Lucky until that night here in the penthouse,” Jason reminded her, and she sighed. “Worried about him, thinking about him. And he was having an affair with Maxie, telling her that you’d cheated first. A rumor she had no problem spreading far and wide. And then when you were sacrificing your time with Cameron to help Lucky, he continued to sleep with her, and she kept giving him pills. Not being in love with him anymore doesn’t change what happened. Or Maxie’s role in it.”

“No, I know that.” She rested her chin on his shoulder. “I just don’t like her very much and knowing that she’s taking that same terrible attitude and turning it on Nadine — it made me so angry.”

Jason kissed her forehead. “It’s okay. If Spinelli has a problem with it, I’ll handle it.”

She sighed. “Okay.”

“Are we done talking about Maxie now? Forever? Because that would be great.” Jason drew her palm to his lips.

“Oh, most definitely,” Elizabeth promised. She crawled into his lap, straddling him, and cupping his face with her hands. “I can think of much better things to talk about.”

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