I am madly in love with this video. Seriously the person that did this is really talented. They picked a perfect song and scenes. Even if your not a G-Spin fan you have gotta see this!!
by soapyfankatie
A fan blog about Bradford Anderson and his character on General Hospital Damian Spinelli .
Friday, July 27, 2007
A/R Crashing Down-Spinlu Video
another A/R video: A/R. Spinlu are married and lulu gets pregnant and during the delivery she has complications and dies. Spinelli doesn't think he can go on anymore without her with him, but in the end he realizes that by looking at their son he has her with him always.
by ashley2580
by ashley2580
A/R Gallery-Spinlu Video
Lulu is with Logan, and spinelli is telling her he's not right for her and thats he's cheating on her with maxie.
by ashley2580
by ashley2580
Night Shift: Mr Jackal
Well Lulu went with Spinelli to the ER for an unnecessary check up at the his request. His plan was to make Nurse Jolene impressed about having the Lulu as his girlfriend (I think).
the Jackal transforms 'fine' to 'not fine' when he spots the "angel of mercy".
Jolene and Spinelli have a sweet momment where she tells him that she knows what he needs and presents him with BBQ chips & Orange Soda. She get some major points from me for that. She did reject the Jackal's offer for attending the tech expo with him. So it was a wash. (Spinelli I would go with you)
She's the coolest!
Then we are treated with a cute scene with Jason and Spinelli. Like all Jason and Spinelli scenes it is full of great fun and moments.
Now that we are now done with episode three let me give you my thoughts less far on the serise as a whole. Yes it has unrealistic storylines and sometimes poor dialog but as I was watching this episode my face hurt from smiling so much. I don't get that from GH right now. I do prefer GH Spinelli slightly over NS Spinelli but I am enjoying the show.
Night Shift: recap coming
ok I admit it.. I fell asleep before I could watch it last night. The amazing invention of the DVR will allow me to watch it today. So look for it some time around 10am.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Picture of the 7-26-07
I miss Spinelli....
I think he misses us too..
Don't forget about Night Shift tonight at 11pm on SoapNet
I think he misses us too..
Don't forget about Night Shift tonight at 11pm on SoapNet
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Picture of the 7-25-07
There was a lot of dropping of Spinelli's name today. No Spinelli but they were talking. Milo even used "Unworthy One" on the unworthy one.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Do you have problems viewing this Blog
Let me know if you have any problems viewing this blog. If possible post a reply to this post with your brower and problem you have having.
Picture of the day 7-23-07
(a day late and a dollar short)
This picture has it all. Spinelli, Lulu, Spin's baby, orange soda and chips (I assume BBQ)
Monday, July 23, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
July Challenge: Voting FYI
If anyone has any suggestions please let me know :)
voting will at this time be staying the same. If anyone has any questions email me at spinellirules (at) gmail.com
July Challenge Poll
Voting is now Closed
Your Pick for Video
Winner "The Best of Spinelli (Part 1)"
Spinelli the reason I watch GH"
"Why Spinelli is a viable love interest"
Your Pick for Written Word
Winner "The Reason I watch GH by Stephanie"
Your Pick for Video
Winner "The Best of Spinelli (Part 1)"
Spinelli the reason I watch GH"
"Why Spinelli is a viable love interest"
Your Pick for Written Word
Winner "The Reason I watch GH by Stephanie"
Special mention to BlackKatRaven for almost winning and having a crazy amount of votes.
"Spinelli the reason I watch GH"
- Spinelli, THE reason I watch GH by F.A
- Spinelli, the reason I watch GH by Stephanie
- Spinelli: The reason I watch General Hospital by BlackKatRaven
July Challenge: Secret Heart, a SpinLu fic
By Regency
read more....
Chapter 1.
Spinelli stood on the Port Charles waterfront waiting for his ride. It was the dead of night, his favorite time and he was going on a trip.
Earlier today, he’d been looking for the Blond One. She’d done one of her usual disappearing acts in preparation for her date with Dillon. He’d looked everywhere: Lucky and Liz’s house, the Quartermaine mansion—they hadn’t appreciated his visit---and Kelly’s before he showed up at the hospital, thinking she’d stopped by to see Liz. After speaking with his quasi-sister-in-law, he began to wander the halls hoping to randomly run into Lulu.
He didn’t particularly need to see her, but he was definitely in the mood. However, luck was not on his side, and he managed to make it from the pediatric ward to intensive care before he had another idea. She was at Shady Brook, she had to be. It was where she always went when she really needed to bolster her confidence. Her mother did that for her, just by sitting there. The memories Lulu had seemed always to be enough.
So, he’d hightailed it to the quiet side of town where Laura Spencer spent all her time. He’d recently made a few adjustments to her patient file, including adding himself to her authorized visitors list. The nurse on call let him straight through—obviously a new girl.
He’d slipped down the hall and peeked through the window to her room, expecting to see two blond ones—instead he saw one and another guy. His stomach dropped as the guy presented a syringe with the intent of injecting the blond mother with it. He’d acted without thinking---there wasn’t time---and shoved his way into the room, scaring the guy into dropping the needle on the floor, thereby rendering it useless.
Spinelli stumbled, but stood firm. “Look, I don’t know what you think you’re doing to the Blond One’s mom, but I’m not gonna let you hurt her.” He glowered balefully at the gray-haired man, crouching in front of Laura’s unmoving form.
The man sighed and looked towards the ceiling as though making a direct appeal to the Higher Power. He stood with a groan, absently dusting schmutz from the knees of his khakis. “I wasn’t going to hurt her, mate. I was hoping to heal her. And you just ruined the only chance I had of doing that.”
Spinelli blanched, staring at the syringe leaking onto the carpeted floor. He watched enough medical television drama to know it was no good now. He gulped.
But now to the business at hand.
“And you are?” Spinelli immediately inquired. Not many people ventured to visit Laura aside from the family, and even occasionally, himself. Certainly no men with distinct Australian accents.
The man in question dampened his lips and he extended his hand in a gentlemanly fashion.
“Robert Scorpio. You must be The Jackal.”
Spinelli’s eyes practically bugged out of his head. The Scorpion? No way. This man was a legend with the State Department and, having himself read their records front to back, him. What he didn’t understand was how he even showed up on The Scorpion’s radar. He shook the proffered hand with a stunned expression.
“You are aware of The Jackal?”
Smirking, Robert suavely tucked his hands in his pockets. “You’re sort of a celebrity in my area of expertise. You can hack systems more sophisticated than anything we’ve managed to design so far. For some time there’s been a buzz about recruiting you, but just before we managed to get a word in edgewise Alcazar snapped you up. I guess you could say you were a bit beyond our reach at that point. Now that you’re working for Corinthos, you’re untouchable.”
Spinelli struggled to take it all in. His idol was telling him that basically he was on the wrong side. He could be out in the world--saving the world! Yet, he was here, making a mess of things as usual. He inclined his chin towards the still figure of Laura Spencer.
“And what of the Blond Mother? Why are you injecting her? If she could be cured you would’ve done it by now.”
“Not that simple, I’m afraid. You see, this elixir has existed for some time, but it’s been damned hard to procure. An old enemy of Luke--you know him, I presume--and Laura’s had it in abundance but wasn’t in a sharing mood. So, we had to swipe a bit; just enough for analysis and later to administer. We had just enough.” He rubbed his face, clearly distraught beneath his calm exterior. “Now, we don’t have any.”
Spinelli stared at the back of her head, guilt pressing insistently down upon him. He’d messed up, big time. He’d taken Lulu’s mom away from her forever, maybe. He didn’t think he could live with that on his conscience.
“You said there was more though, right?”
“I did.”
“Then, let’s go get it.” He had no idea what he was getting himself into, but he knew there was no alternative. He had to do this.
“Whoa there, buck. What exactly are you saying?”
Spinelli’s leg began to twitch impatiently on the floor. At this point, he was perfectly willing to run the distance. He stood tall and brave. “The Jackal is declaring his intention to assist the Scorpion in obtaining as much of the Elixir of Life as is necessary to resurrect the Blond Mother.” Upon recognizing Robert’s near complete lack of comprehension, he simplified, “Her family needs her. You probably know that better than I do.” He looked down at his shoes.
Robert nodded, his expression darkening. “Her absence has left a considerable void in this town. Hell, my motives are purely selfish,” he shrugged. “I miss my friend.”
Spinelli nodded, sensing something else beneath the word friend, yet deciding that some things were better preserved in silence. “Then, our path is clear. The sooner we accomplish our goal, the sooner she reaps the benefits.” He had begun to take on Lulu’s cause as his own. Could there be anything more wrong than an innocent woman imprisoned within her own body?
The elder spy looked at the young layman with something akin to pity. Spinelli was filled to the brim with a kind of romanticized idealism---poor naïve boy. Robert sensed that it would be harder than that. There was evil brewing in Port Charles in the form of the formerly adoring Scotty Baldwin and it was imminent. His fear was that they’d return---if they returned---to find an empty chair where Laura had been and she’d be lost to them for good.
“I can’t allow you to go with me. It’s too dangerous. You don’t have the experience.” This kid, for all his genius, had already shown himself to be a liability. Robert couldn’t take a chance that he’d muck up anything else.
“I do have the expertise where computer systems are concerned. I am the overlord of the internet…” Spin put aside his usual lingo in the hopes of impressing the Mighty Scorpion. It was crucial that he made his case clearly. “I can get you in and out of anywhere. And, I’ve got youth on my side. No offense, sir, but, you…don’t.” He winced at his own lack of tact.
Robert narrowed his eyes in response. “No, I don’t. Nonetheless, I can enter and leave a building without an excessive number of people wanting to strangle me. Somehow, I doubt you’re endowed with similar talent.”
Spinelli ducked his head, reddening. No, he didn’t have that one. “Look, Super Special Agent Scorpio, The Jackal is desperate to correct this grievous error--I need to fix this. For the Blond One, for the Unlucky Male, and even for the Absent Papa.” Slipping, he had to catch himself. “If you could just see them, you’d see how much they need her every day. Whatever she gave them they don’t have without her. The memories aren’t enough. Let me go with you and make this right. Let me give Lulu back her mom.”
Robert debated with himself, resisting his instinctual response to say no and be done with it. Young Spinelli had made several key points that he had to consider. They needed his technical skill and his age was also a plus. A young man was more likely to blend in than a man of his distinguished years. So, he did, indeed, need the Jackal. He felt an immense migraine coming on.
“All right. But first things first.” Robert looked around warily, composing a hasty and foolhardy plan. “We need to make the Golden Mother disappear before she really does disappear courtesy of Scott Baldwin. Jack, I need you to shut off the lighting in this wing of the clinic for roughly--and I mean roughly--five minutes while I get her out of here.”
Spin didn’t give himself time to ask why. This was the Mighty Scorpion after all. When he struck--damned be those who stood in his way. He dropped to the edge of Laura’s vacant bed with his laptop at the ready. It was his constant companion, hadn’t let him down yet.
“The lights here will shut down in two minutes and be down for five minutes, twenty-three seconds. Rough enough for ya?”
Robert made an a-okay sign with his fingers before slipping out of the room in search of a wheelchair. Spin allowed his gaze to drift from the screen where he was monitoring the hospital cameras to the empty eyes that seemed to find the window so appealing. Under all the emptiness, he thought he saw parts of Lulu: that kindness she used sparingly, that smile she shone that dragged mere boys down the path to obsession. He saw where she got her beauty from, and her heart.
“We’ll get you back. I promise.” He looked back down to see the timer at the corner of his screen twenty seconds from zero. Just then, Robert eased back into the room and motioned for him to assist in Laura’s transport.
He nodded and positioned his laptop for optimum observation. They guided her stubborn muscles carefully, afraid of breaking the shattered porcelain. She came down easily--and then the lights flashed out. Save for the strong gleam of his plasma screen, they were immersed in darkness.
“All right, now we go. I planned for this. If worse came to worse, Laura would be moved to a different facility where she could receive constant treatment. And I don’t mean her sitting in a chair everyday. I mean actual treatment. That’s where we’re taking her now, just in case the elixir can’t be procured and, therefore, can’t be of help. Move quietly and turn off the computer. Follow me.”
Spinelli clicked the laptop shut and followed docilely, having to rely on his ears to tell him where Robert had gotten to. With stealth James Bond would have envied, they maneuvered through the panicked psychiatric patients and staff out of the building to a picturesque loading dock near a lake. There was a yacht idling gently just off the shore. Robert gave a great whistle and it cruised towards them at low power.
Out of the corner of his eye, Spinelli thought he saw a flash of awareness in Laura’s face but it was gone when he turned his head. He had a feeling. Regardless, he knew they were in negative time and that Laura’s absence would probably be noted immediately as they were likely to do a headcount after the blackout.
An unfamiliar brunette stepped out of the lower cabin to assist them in moving Laura out of the chair. She had a pretty if serious face and her expression didn’t lighten as she took in her old friend’s slack features.
“Oh, Laura, are you even still in there?” Her accent tickled Spin’s ear as well and he filed it away for later.
“She is,” Robert answered for her. “I see her, but she’s far away.”
The dark-haired woman looked over Robert’s shoulder at Spinelli who shuffled his feet. Robert noticed and snapped his fingers. They were out of time. “That’s the Jackal and he’s half the reason we’re here right now.” He held up his hand as she prepared to protest further. “There’s been a mishap and he’s coming with us.” He turned to Spinelli. “Be on the docks tonight. We’ll come for you. Right now, we need to get her as far away from here as possible. You’re probably on record as her last visitor, which means you need to be accessible for a while longer.” He nodded to Anna who revved up the engine full-power. “Tonight!” he reminded him firmly.
Chapter 2
The yacht quickly disappeared into the distance, leaving Spinelli with a heavy heart and a little bit nervous. He had a feeling that something was about to go very wrong, even more wrong. The back doors of the clinic opened and he realized exactly what it was. Security!
Without wasting another minute, he bolted, knowing he’d be caught and not giving a damn. He could not spend the night in jail. He pulled the tried and true duck and dodge. And it worked. He managed to get all the way back to town with that one.
Then, he got to Kelly’s and ran headfirst into the Absent Papa. Things got very sticky from there. Evidently, something tripped Luke’s radar, prompting him to catch Spinelli by the scruff of his neck and not let go.
“Where are you headed to in such a hurry? Or should I be asking where you’re coming from?” He sounded mildly amused and not-at-all curious. Spinelli was inwardly thankful and prayed he’d be released before the inevitable phone call came. Alas, that was not to be.
Luke’s cell rang and he let Spin go long enough to reach for it. Another cue for the skittish one--he shot away from the tiny coffeehouse like a bullet out of a homemade pistol. He kept listening even as distance came between where he was and where he’d been.
“Hey, you! Get back here!” Long strides followed his shorter ones, so he double-timed it. He knew Luke Spencer was old school. Zigzagging wouldn’t save him with this guy. That left him one option: run like hell and pray for rain. Robert had said accessible, not available for a rousing bout of kickboxing with the Blond One’s father.
Spinelli tripped and was seized by a pair of unrelenting hands that threw him to the sidewalk. He stared up in horror at Luke Spencer who said, “You either tell me what you’ve done with Laura or you see stars.”
At this point, Spinelli couldn’t actually breathe. He was too afraid to try and, so, held his breath.
“Speak!” His fist was poised over the Jackal’s face, looking as though it packed a serious punch.
“I know not of what you speak,” he uttered at his own risk.
“Really?” Luke’s expression became even less forgiving. Spinelli braced himself for pain. “You went to see her not an hour ago. Then, she vanished. Why were you at Shady Brook?”
Spinelli squinted up, hoping--maybe even praying a little--for an intervention. “I was looking for the Blond One.” He realized his words and panicked. “The other blond one! The younger blond one! I didn’t find her. So, I left.” He winced at the impossible lie. It wasn’t a good one, not nearly one of his best.
“You left?”
Spin nodded only to be met with Luke’s hand around his throat.
“Where did you take her?” Luke was nothing if not single-minded. Rationality was foreign in this moment.
“I don’t know where she is.”
“Did you see who took her?”
Damian pursed his lips, diverting his eyes, thinking maybe they wouldn’t give him away. It wasn’t a day for him to praise his body parts.
“Computer boy, I’m not kidding. Tell me or I kill you. Simple options: chose one.”
“Just some guy,” he whispered, hedging. He needed to be going. If he was going to save the Blond Mother, he’d have to shake the formerly Blond Father.
He did indeed see stars as he skull made harsh contact with the pavement. He groaned. “More than necessary force, Distinguished One.”
“I’ll show you force, spud. If you don’t tell me where Laura is I’ll force you into the middle of rush hour traffic--on your back!”
“I can’t tell you,” he relented. It wasn’t worth his life, or Laura’s, to keep up this lie. If he could just show the Proud Papa that he was the only key to Laura, he’d be fine.
“Why not?” They were causing quite the commotion. In fact, Spinelli recognized a blond head bobbing in the crowd.
“Dad! Let Spinelli go. Dad.” Lulu came up behind her father, attempting to separate him from her clearly overcome suitor. Luke wasn’t going anywhere.
“He took your mom, Lulu. He was there when she disappeared and he won’t tell me where she is, who has her, and why they took her. I’m not letting him go.”
Lulu looked stricken. She clearly hadn’t gotten the call. “Spinelli, is that true? Do you know where my mom is?”
He shouldn’t say. He knew it would make things even more complicated if he told her what had happened; he just wasn’t smart enough to lie to her. He looked away.
“Spinelli, if you know, you have to tell us. She can’t protect herself. That means it’s up to us to keep her safe. Tell me, please.”
“She’s all right,” he croaked. His throat ached and the stars he was seeing changed into dark spots on his vision.
Lulu was next to his head, touching his face. It was nice. “Spin, where’s my mom?”
“In the company of greatness,” he wheezed.
“Who?” Luke cut in.
Spinelli attempted to pry Luke’s fingers away from his neck. “The Scorpion. He was present at the Jackal’s arrival.”
Luke gave a confused scowl. “Robert?”
“Yes,” he rasped. “He was trying give her something, something to revive her, but the Jackal…I made him jump and he dropped the needle. Therefore, I am duty-bound to help him get more of the cure.”
“There’s a cure.” A faint hope lit Luke’s voice, and he loosened his hold on Spinelli’s neck, who could finally nod.
“It’s location is perilous, but The Jackal will help him get there to retrieve the antidote. I’m the only one who can.”
Luke stood up, not bothering to dust himself off. “I don’t think so. You’ve done enough. I’ll get it.”
Spinelli propped himself up on his elbows, staring helplessly at the towering figure of the Blond Mother’s eternal savior. He shook his head. “No, sir, it can‘t be you. It has to be the Jackal. I have technical the expertise to do this. It has to be me. Even the Scorpion agrees,” he shrugged as though that was the final word. He turned to Lulu, who looked scared and determined and his sinking feeling didn’t lessen. Her mindset was his open book.
“No, Blond One, you have to stay here. Your sole duty is to ensure the Blond Mother’s safety while we’re away. There are people out to hurt her. If we have a cure, but we don’t have anyone to give it to the journey will be pointless. Give me your word that you’ll keep an eye out.”
Lulu looked suspicious, but trusting. “You know I’ll do anything for my mom. I just don’t know how I can take care of her if I don’ t even know where she is.”
Although Spinelli realized the vow he was about to make was false, he knew that not making it was worse. The plan would stall if he couldn’t send the Spencers on a different path. He licked his lips uneasily. Did he mention lying was not something he was good at?
“When the time is right, a call will come for you,” he took Lulu’s hand. “It will tell you the location of the Blond Mother. The thing is, you’ll only get the call if we fail in our mission. It will probably only come if we die trying. Otherwise, we’re not gonna stop until we can bring her back. We just won’t. I won’t.”
Lulu was putting on a brave face and nodding as though she understood. That was the thing, Spinelli thought, she knew him better than anyone alive and she knew he meant it. He would die trying to give her back what she wanted most. It was immature, and maybe a little selfish. That didn’t meant he wouldn’t do it. It was love after all.
Aware that they were still sitting on the pavement in the middle of the street, Lulu helped Spinelli up. Luke had already disappeared, most likely in search of his old friend and Lulu looked about ready to flee herself.
“When are you leaving?”
“Tonight.”
She arched an eyebrow in surprise. “So soon. I thought it would take more time to get this kind of operation under way.”
Spinelli stuck his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. “You’d think so, but the Scorpion planned well, even well enough to weather the Jackal’s reign of destruction. He was prepared for things to go awry.”
They started to walk together, amid the whispers of the latest Spencer hijinks, towards the docks. He deviated somewhat, directing them back towards Kelly’s. He didn’t want her anywhere near the docks when he had to leave. If she was there, she was as good as going on the trip and he wasn’t gonna let that happen. She was tough as any warrior princess he’d ever known, as beautiful too, yet she was someone he wanted to shield, to protect. He wanted to be her hero for once instead of the other way around.
When they arrived at the entrance to the tiny coffee shop, he had a feeling it was almost his time to go. He wanted to call it his gut, but that mainly consisted of the part of his brain that told him when to hit the space bar during level four of Spartan Battlements III. No, his instincts weren’t much to speak of, but they were his and he trusted them.
“The Jackal must depart, now,” he smiled nervously. “But, uh, I’ll be back. Hopefully, upon my return, I’ll be able to revive the Blond Mother and restore order to the House of Spencer.” It sounded so noble, he almost didn’t believe he was the one trying to do it. And he didn’t know what else to say. “Take care.” He didn’t want to say goodbye this way.
The Blond One was nonplussed. She was non-responsive, he would even describe her eyes as somewhat lost. She didn’t say a word; just threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. Her tears were on his face, salty and wet, warming his heart and cementing his resolve.
“I will always love you for this,” she whispered in his ear. He clung to her and memorized it all. This was first love and it was forever.
“That’s why I have to do this,” he whispered in return. “Because I love you, too.” There they were, words he couldn’t yank back into his soul where they were sure to go unbothered. She was stunned into silence; her lips moved without sound. He brushed her feathery bangs away from her eyes so that he could commit them to memory. It was a small gesture that meant it all.
“Farewell,…my Lulu.” Without waiting for her response, he pulled out of her embrace and hurried headlong into the night. The Scorpion was waiting.
I'm a high school senior who loves Bradford Anderson and adores Spinelli so completely that I would definitely be his girlfriend, you know, if he were real.Theme: "Why Spinelli is a viable love interest"
read more....
Chapter 1.
Spinelli stood on the Port Charles waterfront waiting for his ride. It was the dead of night, his favorite time and he was going on a trip.
Earlier today, he’d been looking for the Blond One. She’d done one of her usual disappearing acts in preparation for her date with Dillon. He’d looked everywhere: Lucky and Liz’s house, the Quartermaine mansion—they hadn’t appreciated his visit---and Kelly’s before he showed up at the hospital, thinking she’d stopped by to see Liz. After speaking with his quasi-sister-in-law, he began to wander the halls hoping to randomly run into Lulu.
He didn’t particularly need to see her, but he was definitely in the mood. However, luck was not on his side, and he managed to make it from the pediatric ward to intensive care before he had another idea. She was at Shady Brook, she had to be. It was where she always went when she really needed to bolster her confidence. Her mother did that for her, just by sitting there. The memories Lulu had seemed always to be enough.
So, he’d hightailed it to the quiet side of town where Laura Spencer spent all her time. He’d recently made a few adjustments to her patient file, including adding himself to her authorized visitors list. The nurse on call let him straight through—obviously a new girl.
He’d slipped down the hall and peeked through the window to her room, expecting to see two blond ones—instead he saw one and another guy. His stomach dropped as the guy presented a syringe with the intent of injecting the blond mother with it. He’d acted without thinking---there wasn’t time---and shoved his way into the room, scaring the guy into dropping the needle on the floor, thereby rendering it useless.
Spinelli stumbled, but stood firm. “Look, I don’t know what you think you’re doing to the Blond One’s mom, but I’m not gonna let you hurt her.” He glowered balefully at the gray-haired man, crouching in front of Laura’s unmoving form.
The man sighed and looked towards the ceiling as though making a direct appeal to the Higher Power. He stood with a groan, absently dusting schmutz from the knees of his khakis. “I wasn’t going to hurt her, mate. I was hoping to heal her. And you just ruined the only chance I had of doing that.”
Spinelli blanched, staring at the syringe leaking onto the carpeted floor. He watched enough medical television drama to know it was no good now. He gulped.
But now to the business at hand.
“And you are?” Spinelli immediately inquired. Not many people ventured to visit Laura aside from the family, and even occasionally, himself. Certainly no men with distinct Australian accents.
The man in question dampened his lips and he extended his hand in a gentlemanly fashion.
“Robert Scorpio. You must be The Jackal.”
Spinelli’s eyes practically bugged out of his head. The Scorpion? No way. This man was a legend with the State Department and, having himself read their records front to back, him. What he didn’t understand was how he even showed up on The Scorpion’s radar. He shook the proffered hand with a stunned expression.
“You are aware of The Jackal?”
Smirking, Robert suavely tucked his hands in his pockets. “You’re sort of a celebrity in my area of expertise. You can hack systems more sophisticated than anything we’ve managed to design so far. For some time there’s been a buzz about recruiting you, but just before we managed to get a word in edgewise Alcazar snapped you up. I guess you could say you were a bit beyond our reach at that point. Now that you’re working for Corinthos, you’re untouchable.”
Spinelli struggled to take it all in. His idol was telling him that basically he was on the wrong side. He could be out in the world--saving the world! Yet, he was here, making a mess of things as usual. He inclined his chin towards the still figure of Laura Spencer.
“And what of the Blond Mother? Why are you injecting her? If she could be cured you would’ve done it by now.”
“Not that simple, I’m afraid. You see, this elixir has existed for some time, but it’s been damned hard to procure. An old enemy of Luke--you know him, I presume--and Laura’s had it in abundance but wasn’t in a sharing mood. So, we had to swipe a bit; just enough for analysis and later to administer. We had just enough.” He rubbed his face, clearly distraught beneath his calm exterior. “Now, we don’t have any.”
Spinelli stared at the back of her head, guilt pressing insistently down upon him. He’d messed up, big time. He’d taken Lulu’s mom away from her forever, maybe. He didn’t think he could live with that on his conscience.
“You said there was more though, right?”
“I did.”
“Then, let’s go get it.” He had no idea what he was getting himself into, but he knew there was no alternative. He had to do this.
“Whoa there, buck. What exactly are you saying?”
Spinelli’s leg began to twitch impatiently on the floor. At this point, he was perfectly willing to run the distance. He stood tall and brave. “The Jackal is declaring his intention to assist the Scorpion in obtaining as much of the Elixir of Life as is necessary to resurrect the Blond Mother.” Upon recognizing Robert’s near complete lack of comprehension, he simplified, “Her family needs her. You probably know that better than I do.” He looked down at his shoes.
Robert nodded, his expression darkening. “Her absence has left a considerable void in this town. Hell, my motives are purely selfish,” he shrugged. “I miss my friend.”
Spinelli nodded, sensing something else beneath the word friend, yet deciding that some things were better preserved in silence. “Then, our path is clear. The sooner we accomplish our goal, the sooner she reaps the benefits.” He had begun to take on Lulu’s cause as his own. Could there be anything more wrong than an innocent woman imprisoned within her own body?
The elder spy looked at the young layman with something akin to pity. Spinelli was filled to the brim with a kind of romanticized idealism---poor naïve boy. Robert sensed that it would be harder than that. There was evil brewing in Port Charles in the form of the formerly adoring Scotty Baldwin and it was imminent. His fear was that they’d return---if they returned---to find an empty chair where Laura had been and she’d be lost to them for good.
“I can’t allow you to go with me. It’s too dangerous. You don’t have the experience.” This kid, for all his genius, had already shown himself to be a liability. Robert couldn’t take a chance that he’d muck up anything else.
“I do have the expertise where computer systems are concerned. I am the overlord of the internet…” Spin put aside his usual lingo in the hopes of impressing the Mighty Scorpion. It was crucial that he made his case clearly. “I can get you in and out of anywhere. And, I’ve got youth on my side. No offense, sir, but, you…don’t.” He winced at his own lack of tact.
Robert narrowed his eyes in response. “No, I don’t. Nonetheless, I can enter and leave a building without an excessive number of people wanting to strangle me. Somehow, I doubt you’re endowed with similar talent.”
Spinelli ducked his head, reddening. No, he didn’t have that one. “Look, Super Special Agent Scorpio, The Jackal is desperate to correct this grievous error--I need to fix this. For the Blond One, for the Unlucky Male, and even for the Absent Papa.” Slipping, he had to catch himself. “If you could just see them, you’d see how much they need her every day. Whatever she gave them they don’t have without her. The memories aren’t enough. Let me go with you and make this right. Let me give Lulu back her mom.”
Robert debated with himself, resisting his instinctual response to say no and be done with it. Young Spinelli had made several key points that he had to consider. They needed his technical skill and his age was also a plus. A young man was more likely to blend in than a man of his distinguished years. So, he did, indeed, need the Jackal. He felt an immense migraine coming on.
“All right. But first things first.” Robert looked around warily, composing a hasty and foolhardy plan. “We need to make the Golden Mother disappear before she really does disappear courtesy of Scott Baldwin. Jack, I need you to shut off the lighting in this wing of the clinic for roughly--and I mean roughly--five minutes while I get her out of here.”
Spin didn’t give himself time to ask why. This was the Mighty Scorpion after all. When he struck--damned be those who stood in his way. He dropped to the edge of Laura’s vacant bed with his laptop at the ready. It was his constant companion, hadn’t let him down yet.
“The lights here will shut down in two minutes and be down for five minutes, twenty-three seconds. Rough enough for ya?”
Robert made an a-okay sign with his fingers before slipping out of the room in search of a wheelchair. Spin allowed his gaze to drift from the screen where he was monitoring the hospital cameras to the empty eyes that seemed to find the window so appealing. Under all the emptiness, he thought he saw parts of Lulu: that kindness she used sparingly, that smile she shone that dragged mere boys down the path to obsession. He saw where she got her beauty from, and her heart.
“We’ll get you back. I promise.” He looked back down to see the timer at the corner of his screen twenty seconds from zero. Just then, Robert eased back into the room and motioned for him to assist in Laura’s transport.
He nodded and positioned his laptop for optimum observation. They guided her stubborn muscles carefully, afraid of breaking the shattered porcelain. She came down easily--and then the lights flashed out. Save for the strong gleam of his plasma screen, they were immersed in darkness.
“All right, now we go. I planned for this. If worse came to worse, Laura would be moved to a different facility where she could receive constant treatment. And I don’t mean her sitting in a chair everyday. I mean actual treatment. That’s where we’re taking her now, just in case the elixir can’t be procured and, therefore, can’t be of help. Move quietly and turn off the computer. Follow me.”
Spinelli clicked the laptop shut and followed docilely, having to rely on his ears to tell him where Robert had gotten to. With stealth James Bond would have envied, they maneuvered through the panicked psychiatric patients and staff out of the building to a picturesque loading dock near a lake. There was a yacht idling gently just off the shore. Robert gave a great whistle and it cruised towards them at low power.
Out of the corner of his eye, Spinelli thought he saw a flash of awareness in Laura’s face but it was gone when he turned his head. He had a feeling. Regardless, he knew they were in negative time and that Laura’s absence would probably be noted immediately as they were likely to do a headcount after the blackout.
An unfamiliar brunette stepped out of the lower cabin to assist them in moving Laura out of the chair. She had a pretty if serious face and her expression didn’t lighten as she took in her old friend’s slack features.
“Oh, Laura, are you even still in there?” Her accent tickled Spin’s ear as well and he filed it away for later.
“She is,” Robert answered for her. “I see her, but she’s far away.”
The dark-haired woman looked over Robert’s shoulder at Spinelli who shuffled his feet. Robert noticed and snapped his fingers. They were out of time. “That’s the Jackal and he’s half the reason we’re here right now.” He held up his hand as she prepared to protest further. “There’s been a mishap and he’s coming with us.” He turned to Spinelli. “Be on the docks tonight. We’ll come for you. Right now, we need to get her as far away from here as possible. You’re probably on record as her last visitor, which means you need to be accessible for a while longer.” He nodded to Anna who revved up the engine full-power. “Tonight!” he reminded him firmly.
Chapter 2
The yacht quickly disappeared into the distance, leaving Spinelli with a heavy heart and a little bit nervous. He had a feeling that something was about to go very wrong, even more wrong. The back doors of the clinic opened and he realized exactly what it was. Security!
Without wasting another minute, he bolted, knowing he’d be caught and not giving a damn. He could not spend the night in jail. He pulled the tried and true duck and dodge. And it worked. He managed to get all the way back to town with that one.
Then, he got to Kelly’s and ran headfirst into the Absent Papa. Things got very sticky from there. Evidently, something tripped Luke’s radar, prompting him to catch Spinelli by the scruff of his neck and not let go.
“Where are you headed to in such a hurry? Or should I be asking where you’re coming from?” He sounded mildly amused and not-at-all curious. Spinelli was inwardly thankful and prayed he’d be released before the inevitable phone call came. Alas, that was not to be.
Luke’s cell rang and he let Spin go long enough to reach for it. Another cue for the skittish one--he shot away from the tiny coffeehouse like a bullet out of a homemade pistol. He kept listening even as distance came between where he was and where he’d been.
“Hey, you! Get back here!” Long strides followed his shorter ones, so he double-timed it. He knew Luke Spencer was old school. Zigzagging wouldn’t save him with this guy. That left him one option: run like hell and pray for rain. Robert had said accessible, not available for a rousing bout of kickboxing with the Blond One’s father.
Spinelli tripped and was seized by a pair of unrelenting hands that threw him to the sidewalk. He stared up in horror at Luke Spencer who said, “You either tell me what you’ve done with Laura or you see stars.”
At this point, Spinelli couldn’t actually breathe. He was too afraid to try and, so, held his breath.
“Speak!” His fist was poised over the Jackal’s face, looking as though it packed a serious punch.
“I know not of what you speak,” he uttered at his own risk.
“Really?” Luke’s expression became even less forgiving. Spinelli braced himself for pain. “You went to see her not an hour ago. Then, she vanished. Why were you at Shady Brook?”
Spinelli squinted up, hoping--maybe even praying a little--for an intervention. “I was looking for the Blond One.” He realized his words and panicked. “The other blond one! The younger blond one! I didn’t find her. So, I left.” He winced at the impossible lie. It wasn’t a good one, not nearly one of his best.
“You left?”
Spin nodded only to be met with Luke’s hand around his throat.
“Where did you take her?” Luke was nothing if not single-minded. Rationality was foreign in this moment.
“I don’t know where she is.”
“Did you see who took her?”
Damian pursed his lips, diverting his eyes, thinking maybe they wouldn’t give him away. It wasn’t a day for him to praise his body parts.
“Computer boy, I’m not kidding. Tell me or I kill you. Simple options: chose one.”
“Just some guy,” he whispered, hedging. He needed to be going. If he was going to save the Blond Mother, he’d have to shake the formerly Blond Father.
He did indeed see stars as he skull made harsh contact with the pavement. He groaned. “More than necessary force, Distinguished One.”
“I’ll show you force, spud. If you don’t tell me where Laura is I’ll force you into the middle of rush hour traffic--on your back!”
“I can’t tell you,” he relented. It wasn’t worth his life, or Laura’s, to keep up this lie. If he could just show the Proud Papa that he was the only key to Laura, he’d be fine.
“Why not?” They were causing quite the commotion. In fact, Spinelli recognized a blond head bobbing in the crowd.
“Dad! Let Spinelli go. Dad.” Lulu came up behind her father, attempting to separate him from her clearly overcome suitor. Luke wasn’t going anywhere.
“He took your mom, Lulu. He was there when she disappeared and he won’t tell me where she is, who has her, and why they took her. I’m not letting him go.”
Lulu looked stricken. She clearly hadn’t gotten the call. “Spinelli, is that true? Do you know where my mom is?”
He shouldn’t say. He knew it would make things even more complicated if he told her what had happened; he just wasn’t smart enough to lie to her. He looked away.
“Spinelli, if you know, you have to tell us. She can’t protect herself. That means it’s up to us to keep her safe. Tell me, please.”
“She’s all right,” he croaked. His throat ached and the stars he was seeing changed into dark spots on his vision.
Lulu was next to his head, touching his face. It was nice. “Spin, where’s my mom?”
“In the company of greatness,” he wheezed.
“Who?” Luke cut in.
Spinelli attempted to pry Luke’s fingers away from his neck. “The Scorpion. He was present at the Jackal’s arrival.”
Luke gave a confused scowl. “Robert?”
“Yes,” he rasped. “He was trying give her something, something to revive her, but the Jackal…I made him jump and he dropped the needle. Therefore, I am duty-bound to help him get more of the cure.”
“There’s a cure.” A faint hope lit Luke’s voice, and he loosened his hold on Spinelli’s neck, who could finally nod.
“It’s location is perilous, but The Jackal will help him get there to retrieve the antidote. I’m the only one who can.”
Luke stood up, not bothering to dust himself off. “I don’t think so. You’ve done enough. I’ll get it.”
Spinelli propped himself up on his elbows, staring helplessly at the towering figure of the Blond Mother’s eternal savior. He shook his head. “No, sir, it can‘t be you. It has to be the Jackal. I have technical the expertise to do this. It has to be me. Even the Scorpion agrees,” he shrugged as though that was the final word. He turned to Lulu, who looked scared and determined and his sinking feeling didn’t lessen. Her mindset was his open book.
“No, Blond One, you have to stay here. Your sole duty is to ensure the Blond Mother’s safety while we’re away. There are people out to hurt her. If we have a cure, but we don’t have anyone to give it to the journey will be pointless. Give me your word that you’ll keep an eye out.”
Lulu looked suspicious, but trusting. “You know I’ll do anything for my mom. I just don’t know how I can take care of her if I don’ t even know where she is.”
Although Spinelli realized the vow he was about to make was false, he knew that not making it was worse. The plan would stall if he couldn’t send the Spencers on a different path. He licked his lips uneasily. Did he mention lying was not something he was good at?
“When the time is right, a call will come for you,” he took Lulu’s hand. “It will tell you the location of the Blond Mother. The thing is, you’ll only get the call if we fail in our mission. It will probably only come if we die trying. Otherwise, we’re not gonna stop until we can bring her back. We just won’t. I won’t.”
Lulu was putting on a brave face and nodding as though she understood. That was the thing, Spinelli thought, she knew him better than anyone alive and she knew he meant it. He would die trying to give her back what she wanted most. It was immature, and maybe a little selfish. That didn’t meant he wouldn’t do it. It was love after all.
Aware that they were still sitting on the pavement in the middle of the street, Lulu helped Spinelli up. Luke had already disappeared, most likely in search of his old friend and Lulu looked about ready to flee herself.
“When are you leaving?”
“Tonight.”
She arched an eyebrow in surprise. “So soon. I thought it would take more time to get this kind of operation under way.”
Spinelli stuck his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. “You’d think so, but the Scorpion planned well, even well enough to weather the Jackal’s reign of destruction. He was prepared for things to go awry.”
They started to walk together, amid the whispers of the latest Spencer hijinks, towards the docks. He deviated somewhat, directing them back towards Kelly’s. He didn’t want her anywhere near the docks when he had to leave. If she was there, she was as good as going on the trip and he wasn’t gonna let that happen. She was tough as any warrior princess he’d ever known, as beautiful too, yet she was someone he wanted to shield, to protect. He wanted to be her hero for once instead of the other way around.
When they arrived at the entrance to the tiny coffee shop, he had a feeling it was almost his time to go. He wanted to call it his gut, but that mainly consisted of the part of his brain that told him when to hit the space bar during level four of Spartan Battlements III. No, his instincts weren’t much to speak of, but they were his and he trusted them.
“The Jackal must depart, now,” he smiled nervously. “But, uh, I’ll be back. Hopefully, upon my return, I’ll be able to revive the Blond Mother and restore order to the House of Spencer.” It sounded so noble, he almost didn’t believe he was the one trying to do it. And he didn’t know what else to say. “Take care.” He didn’t want to say goodbye this way.
The Blond One was nonplussed. She was non-responsive, he would even describe her eyes as somewhat lost. She didn’t say a word; just threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. Her tears were on his face, salty and wet, warming his heart and cementing his resolve.
“I will always love you for this,” she whispered in his ear. He clung to her and memorized it all. This was first love and it was forever.
“That’s why I have to do this,” he whispered in return. “Because I love you, too.” There they were, words he couldn’t yank back into his soul where they were sure to go unbothered. She was stunned into silence; her lips moved without sound. He brushed her feathery bangs away from her eyes so that he could commit them to memory. It was a small gesture that meant it all.
“Farewell,…my Lulu.” Without waiting for her response, he pulled out of her embrace and hurried headlong into the night. The Scorpion was waiting.
July Challenge: New Friends Are Just More Loyal, a G-Spin fic
By Regency
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Sure, she’d apologized like she always did when she thought she’d lost his loyalty, but it hadn’t felt any more sincere than the last time. He’d shrugged it off and stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He always did that when he was anxious--it kept him from biting his nails till they bled. It was a little gesture, a way of coping he had. He had a lot of them, so many he couldn’t count them anymore.
His life had made coping mechanisms a necessity. Something was always going on--mom was having trouble holding on to her latest conquest and dad was back for just one more shot at fatherhood. The two of them came and went effortlessly while he immersed himself in the only world that mattered anyway: the Net.
He knew he came across as this long lost stoner with no future and no hopes, and maybe they were right, but he hadn’t been that way forever. When he was young, he believed that his brains could take him places. All those great movies where the parents came together to watch their genius kid save the future of his generation rang around his head. Just take one more test, he’d tell himself, just one more A and they’ll come home for good. One day, though, he got a serious wake-up call.
He’d been finishing up his science fair project in his room when he thought he heard his mother’s voice. She hadn’t been much of a presence in his life up until recently, but he knew the sound of her voice like he knew the back door of a Linux Operating System. So, he wrapped up what he was doing pretty fast and made a beeline for the stairs when he heard his grandmother’s voice rise in anger. He stopped, knowing his grams didn’t usually yell--she scared the bejeezus out of him well enough in normal tones-- and listened.
His mother was speaking in that tender drawl that lured men in, but couldn’t keep them. She was condescending his grams and he frowned because she didn’t have the right to do that. She’d dropped him on the doorstep when he was two with only his pacifier and a toy to keep him quiet. He hadn’t seen her again until he was ten, for a day and no more. Just as he was about to charge to grams’s defense, his mother stopped him in his tracks again.
“Stop acting like that kid’s got anything going for him, mama, ‘cause he don’t. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a sweet boy, but he wasn’t born to rule the world. He wasn’t even born to be important. He was born because there wasn’t anything to do but to have him. I tried to love him, mama, I did, but I don’t. At this point, I can’t even try.”
From his vantage point, he could hear his own mama, dark-haired and beautiful, standing off against the only family he’d ever had in front of the door. His grandmother held her fists stiff at her side, her anger evident. She shook her head and looked away from her wayward daughter.
“He’s got more of a future in his head than you’ve got on your back, little girl.” She turned away completely. “And more love in his heart than you’ll ever see in those men you find so appealing. Go home, Hannah. You’re no good to Damian, you’re the worst thing that could happen to him.”
“The feeling’s mutual, mama. My life ain’t gone right since he was born.” Then, his mother, in all her empty glory, stormed into the dark Tennessee night, reminding him painfully that he didn’t matter at all.
His grams was the only person who loved him and he’d tried to come to terms to that as a kid. So, he did the only way he knew how, he’d reinvented himself, in body and online. He got into these great role playing groups where the people were great, and some were like him, the typing wounded. They were his best friends. In trying to fill the hole his family, what there was of it, had left behind, he became a loner with even fewer real life companions. It was sort of a lonely existence but that was okay as long as he had his laptop. You see, that way he always had his friends, even those that were a thousand miles away. That was his life until Lorenzo Alcazar found him.
After that, his world was transformed into a place where he mattered in way; it wasn’t love, but it felt so much like affection that he grabbed on with both hands and just kept going. When he found Stone Cold, the Goddess, and the Blond One, he was positive that things were taking a turn for the best. He had these badass, cool people counting on him; it was like having a purpose or a calling. It was righteous and awesome and he didn’t want it to stop. Then, he started to care about what was happening to his friends--that’s when it turned into a mess.
He fell for Lulu Spencer and he got involved in the whole Who’s the Daddy roundup with Elizabeth, Stone Cold, and the Goddess. He got too involved and he hurt people, and people hurt each other. There were so many lies that no one really remembered who’d said what anymore; it was just easier to pick a side, pick a mascot, and stick to it. He picked Lulu, the safe bet. The problem was Lulu didn’t know what side she was on. All he wanted to do was keep the peace; no kid should grow up in the kind of shambles he’d grown up in. He didn’t learn who his father was until he was nine and that was a year before he met his mother for the second time. He wasn’t gonna let Stone Cold’s kid get wrapped up in the mess his parents had made.
At least, that was what he’d wanted to do. But when he’d tried to carry out his goal he ended up on the ugly end of the Blond One’s temper and on the outs of her romantic coven. Not that it made a difference, he knew she couldn’t love him anymore than his mother or father could. This was just one more experience for the interactive video game that would be made of his life someday. See, Spinelli still had goals--just different ones.
He laughed a little bit at himself. He didn’t know too many people who’s biggest dreams was to be a character animated by a keyboard or a joystick, but what could he say? The docks were empty so he didn’t think he had to worry about looking like he’d lost it. He’d spent more years than he cared to remember justifying his online obsessions with counselors who thought he just needed a listening ear to set him straight--his grams’ words. I, Damian Millhouse Spinelli, am a lost cause, he thought glumly, but at least he was consistent.
Sounds of the city danced on the night air, teasing him with snippets of unattainable, unwelcoming domesticity. He’d never had that--no birthday parties, no anniversaries, no Tooth Fairy. His grandmother wasn’t that kind of woman; she thought that sort of fantastical fairytale was for weak children and she didn’t raise Damian that way. Nonetheless she tolerated his obsession with virtual reality; she knew he’d be lost without it. Thus, here he was, skittish, pale, and wobbly. That was him, the one and unwanted Spinelli.
He pulled his knees up to his chest on the bench he inhabited. Happy Birthday to me. No one in Port Charles knew and the person who might’ve had a kind word for him today was a few states to the west.
He jerked at the sound of footsteps behind him. It was a pretty girl--she looked familiar. She also looked about like he felt: really alone. She didn’t seem to see him either. She walked past him to the docks and watched the water; he thought she might be ready to cry. There wasn’t anyone else coming and he thought he might be able help in spite of his track record.
The wind blew his hair in his face and he spied her brushing her own out of her eyes as she wiped away a trail of tears. He suddenly knew where he recognized her from: the attic. She used to be Film Guy’s girlfriend before the Blond One intervened. He winced for her, familiar with the ache of a broken heart.
He rummaged around in his bag for the little packet of Kleenex he kept on hand for his allergies and approached carefully. “Hey, do you want a tissue?”
Stifling a scream, she spun around, obviously noticing him for the first time. She held her chest, pale, and laughed nervously. “Oh. Yeah.” She reached out and accepted the courtesy, hastily drying her face and looking away. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”
He shrugged. “I’m not that noticeable.”
She frowned. “I think you are; I was just thinking about something else.”
He raised his eyebrows sarcastically. “I could tell.”
She laughed awkwardly again to cover the silence that was rolling in. Arms crossed in front of her, she looked like little girl who’d lost her mother in the department store. He stuck his hands in his pockets before realizing that he was probably keeping her from her innermost thoughts.
“Oh, man, I’m not interrupting, am I? I can go and leave you to, you know, your contemplations.”
As he made a move towards the stairs, she stepped forward to catch him. “No! Please, don’t go. You don’t have to. I’m not thinking about anything I haven’t thought about before, so I’m not gonna take this place from you. I need a new thinking spot anyway.”
Spinelli’s ears perked up and he moved closer. “You have a thinking place, too?”
The one he mentally dubbed Pretty One looked up from her concentration on the water-stained dock to meet his bewildered look. “Yeah. I used to think everybody did, but then realized that not everybody thinks.”
He jerked his hands out of his low-slung pockets in a victory cry. “I know! I know, I just found that out, too. I thought everybody needed somewhere to go--ya know, someplace to think clearly. They don’t!” Afraid he was starting to freak her out, he toned down his joy at finding a kindred spirit. “It’s just weird, ya know?”
Her sad face started to lighten and he saw more than a hint of a smile. “Yeah, it is. My cousin Robin is the only other person I know who has to go somewhere special to clear her head. My sister Maxie thinks it’s weird--she thinks most of what I do is weird.”
Spinelli dropped back down to the bench and waved her over. He realized he couldn’t remember her name even though he’d visited her house three times and started to feel really bad about that. He hadn’t been much better to her than Film Guy. That was something he intended to change .
The Pretty One sat down next to him and sighed. It was weird, looking at her up close. Dark eyes peered out of what might seem like an unremarkable face on anyone else. She wasn’t like most girls though, she wasn’t like Lulu. There was more to her beauty than just her dark blond hair. He felt his heart thump extra loud and feared the Pretty One might hear. She didn’t turn her head away from the mysterious visage of the port waters, assuring him that his secret was safe.
“Well, Her Bitterness is wrong. I don’t think you’re weird. You’re just not like anybody else she knows and I think that’s really cool. Being unique is cool.”
She swept her eyes back to him and he knew he was in trouble. He licked his lips and jumped up to pace in front of her. He felt her watching him now and he wasn’t used to this. Her undivided attention was squarely on him and he didn’t know what to do with it.
“You’re a book worm, a really pretty bookworm,” he stammered. “There aren’t many of girls in the world who can make the football quarterback fall in love with you, and not because you’re doing his homework! Gods drop down from the heavens for girls like you or at least they should. And us mere mortals, well, we shouldn’t even be wasting your time.”
He halted his spastic motion expecting to find her gone, having snuck away in his frantic state. She remained, however, her eyes still fixed on him and her attention intact. He waited with bated breath for her to laugh at him and give him that stupid tolerant smile that he got from everybody else. When she didn’t, he felt his skin turning bright red. Had he overstepped some unspoken boundary or something?
The Pretty One rose and laid her hand on his shoulder, stopping the very motion of his breathing. She was standing so close he could see the tears that hadn’t begun to well up yet. He was near enough to distinguish one gently curling eyelash from another, and the faint lines where her tears had washed away her foundation. She shouldn’t have to hurt like this, he thought. It wasn’t fair and it wasn’t right; he added it to the extensive archive of things that shouldn’t be.
“You’re really sweet.” She openly smiled at him and he knew she should’ve been able to hear his heart now. The urge to beat Dillon until he cried was unbearable. Spinelli had never been a violent guy, but he felt protective of the Pretty One. This was the first real chance he’d had to talk with her one on one and she wasn’t a bad person. It was just more proof that bad things happened to good people, especially when it shouldn’t.
He beamed and bobbed in his way, tucking his unwieldy body into his sweatshirt. “I try to be. Besides, it’s the truth. I’ve heard people talk about you and it seems like you keep getting the short end of, like, every stick to ever be handed to you.”
“It feels that way sometimes, but I’ve been okay. I mean, compared to a lot of people, I got lucky.” He knew that trick and was somehow sadder for having employed it himself to get through hard times.
“Ah, the stray dog got luckier than the pound dog.” The compulsion to bite his nails reared its ugly head and he shoves his busy hands back in his pockets.
She looked at him sideways. “Relativity?”
He nodded and turned to face the hot night with her. “It’s a matter of what’s worse according to you. Doesn’t matter if my best friend yelled at me if you’ve had your heart broken.”
“It’s a way of looking at things,” she conceded and sighed again.
“My way. My ways are always kind of weird, though.” Spinelli looked down at the floorboards. This was strange, having someone to talk with. He didn’t really know what to say or how to keep her. All of the sudden, he came to the conclusion that he probably would’ve made a really crummy boyfriend for Lulu anyway. Yeah, he could live with that. Just another way he wouldn’t change the world.
“Hey,” she nudged his shoulder. She didn’t look quite so melancholy anymore and he felt a mature satisfaction in knowing he’d helped her somehow. “You know, I don’t think you’re weird. You seem pretty cool to me.”
He rubbed the top of his head, that old anxiety creeping up his neck. He tried to shrug it off, but it clung to him. That streak of hysteria he’d inherited from his mother was coming through. “You don’t know me that well, but if you did you’d think I was bizarre. Everyone does. I play Dungeons & Dragons for weeks straight and hack the State Department mainframe every chance I get and I call myself ‘The Jackal.’” He had the good grace to laugh, even though it wasn’t funny. “What normal person does that? I don’t even think that’s normal.”
This happened to him every so often. He’d remember what his mother said at a particularly stressful time and it would feel like the most accurate picture of exactly what he was. Spinelli, the burden--the weird burden. He’d lived up to his mother‘s prophecy--sweet pyrrhic victory. He smoked so he wouldn’t have to feel this way.
Two arms slipped around him, slamming him back to the present with enough force to knock him off his feet. She was holding him. She didn’t know him from anywhere other than her attic, yet she was holding him and whispering unintelligible kindness in his ear. His eyes stung in misery, but he wouldn’t cry. His grandmother hadn’t raised that sort of man.
“She was supposed to be my friend and she hurt me. I know she didn’t mean it, but it just keeps hurting.” The Pretty One held him tighter.
“She was a friend, one that you adored--that’s the worst part.”
He looked back at her. She knew who he was talking about and she got him. “Yeah,” he forced a macho chuckle. “You get over it, though.”
“You try.” She rested her chin on his shoulder, sending the scent of her shampoo floating under his nose. It was sweet; maybe peaches, something citrus. He could recall standing under a peach tree once; it was something like this, this kind of peace.
“You say that I’m really sweet, but you’re the one holding me together.”
She gave a wry chuckle and hid her face in his shoulder. “Let’s say I’m used to this type of thing.”
“Oh, the dependable one?”
“That’s me.” He heard her stifle a sniffle. Her breath shuddered by his ear. She was hurt again, he concluded.
“Well, good thing you’re here then. I’m always getting myself into trouble. Maybe you can give me some advice.”
“I’d be glad to.” The new subtle undertone of amusement in her voice sent butterflies soaring in his stomach.
He chewed his bottom lip--another coping tactic--and debated whether it was too late to take her somewhere. There were late night movie theaters, maybe a diner. He just didn’t want her to go yet. He wasn’t even sure he had the courage to ask.
“So,” he began nervously. “I was wondering--if you’re not busy…” he trailed off, hoping she’d fill in the blank.
“You were hoping what?” She was smiling, definitely smiling. He was thrilled that he could read her voice; it was nice.
“I was hoping you’d be interested in getting a milkshake with me. Or maybe even going to a late night movie. I know where some are playing…if you want to go.” He’d been rambling and he wanted to kick himself for taking leave of his senses. What was he thinking, the Pretty One would never want to go out with him.
“I’d love to.” His world? Toppled onto its side and did the ‘Running Man.’ He swung completely around to look at this girl, standing before him with the sweetest smile he’d ever seen. The moonlight was in love with her and wrapped her in its influence, making her shine. Her soulful eyes gleamed and reflected her gentleness and her amusement. She wanted to spend time with him.
He cleared his throat as though he’d known that all along. “So, the movies?”
She shrugged, appearing perfectly willing to go along with him. “Sounds good to me.”
He gave up the ghost and grinned. This was turning out to be a pretty cool birthday after all. She grinned in return. Like a gentleman, he offered his arm and she accepted. They marched up the dock steps together, chatting animatedly about which movie they were going to see. They had two different ideas about what made a good movie, but Spinelli was willing to see whatever she liked. The Pretty One didn’t know that though, and so she haggled.
“I’ll see The Reaping with you, but we have to get a massive popcorn--with butter. And Smarties. I need my Smarties.”
“You love the Smarties, too?” At her confirmation, he pumped his fist. “Righteous. The Smarties are the candy of kings, next to Nerds, of course.”
“Of course,” she agreed, prompting Spinelli to declare to himself that he had found his soul mate. Smart, beautiful, kind, and she liked Smarties.
Damian Millhouse Spinelli was in love.Scorpion was waiting.
“I’m not ready for this exam. In fact, I’m not ready for anything. I need a vacation.”
He grinned, images of sandy beaches and bikini bottoms floating through his head. “Vacations are good. Where do ya wanna go? I bet I can get Stone Cold to pull some strings.”
Georgie pulled her eyes away from the unbearably small historical text to look at him. “I’d love that. But I doubt Jason would go out of his way for me. He and my dad don’t exactly have the best of relationships,” she emphasized with the arc of her eyebrow. Ah, Stone Cold and Mac Daddy were sort of on differing sides of the law.
Spinelli shrugged, feeling very proud of himself. “Yeah, but me and Stone Cold are kind of a team. I go to bat for him, he does it for me. So…if I ask, it’s pretty much a done deal.” He would love to be able do something like this for her. So far, she’d been great to him; he wanted to return the favor.
Georgie rested her head on her hands, getting a content if far away look in her eye. “I’d love to go somewhere. I haven’t been out of Port Charles since I was a little girl. Maybe a change of scenery will get me through the rest of the school year.” She looked both hopeful and skeptical. “If you could make it happen, I would adore you forever.” She fluttered her eyelashes at him, making him melt.
He loved that she could do that to him without his feeling like an idiot. It was as though she could read his mind, like she knew exactly what to say and how to push just the right button to get her way. The difference between how she did it and how Lulu had done it was that he wasn’t hurt when she was done. He was still himself, still the same with no more scars, maybe even fewer ones. For once, he didn’t feel the fool for adoring her.
“Then prepare for an eternity of adoring me, because I will make it happen. Just tell me where you wanna go.” He laid his hand next to her book, palm up. Without hesitation she put her hand in his and squeezed.
She gave it some thought, drumming the fingers of her free hand on the table. “I was thinking…Australia.”
He blinked, surprised. Of all the wonderful places he’d envisioned her wanting to see, Australia hadn’t crossed his mind. There was always the Sydney Opera House, he supposed. Whatever she wants, he told himself, and was content with that.
“Any particular reason?”
Seeing that he wasn’t about to openly ridicule her choice, she beamed. “That’s where Mac is from and I’ve never been. I know it’s weird and you probably wonder why I care, but I do. I can’t give you a reason other than it might be the only place in the world where I really fit in.”
He played with her fingers, secretly loving how she laughed when he did. She was Georgie, the Pretty One, his muse; he couldn’t imagine her not fitting in.
“What about here? You have your sister, your step dad, your…friends.” As he started to think about it, he realized that he didn’t know any of Georgie’s friends. He’d visited her at PCU a bunch of times already and had yet to see her really hanging out with anyone. He didn’t like the idea that she was always alone when they weren’t together.
Georgie sighed. “I’ve never been the popular girl. That was Maxie. I’m just the sister she’s nice enough to hang out with sometimes. Otherwise, it’s just me. It’s not that I can’t make friends--I can. I never really tried when I was younger and I don’t try now. The friends I do manage to make either die or betray me, so, I spend a lot of my time alone. You are actually my only friend right now.”
Spinelli brought her hand to his lips and kissed it lightly. He wasn’t usually the guy for that kind of thing, but he was determined to show her how great he thought she was, even if he was too afraid to ask her out on a real date.
“Then, the Jackal will be the best friend you’ve ever had.” His words seemed to sadden her and rushed to backtrack. “I’m not promising you, Prett--Georgie, I mean it. I’m telling you that I’ll be there for you when you need someone to talk to or someone to study with or someone to take you on a trip to keep you from losing it. That’s why I’m here. Maybe that was the reason all along.”
She sucked on her lips, nodding. He knew she trusted him; she’d shown him that from the night they met on the docks. They’d gone to one of the last outdoor theatres left in the state and sat on the prickly, green grass. The movie ran long and late, transporting them both back to a time that was about as simple as two people meeting and connecting for the first time. She fell asleep against his shoulder and by the time he walked her to her door, she was wearing his jacket. The weight of her kiss warmed the corner of his lips as he slept contently through the late night and early morning.
“You would come with me, right?” She appeared somewhat anxious at the idea of leaving her hometown alone in search of an entirely new place, an entirely new country.
“If you want.” He was hoping she’d say yes. He needed her to say yes.
“Oh, I want. If you can’t go there’s no reason for me to.”
“Then, it’s a go. We’ll go to Australia and find a place for us. I know what it’s like to be a misfit. If you think that’s the place, then we have to go. You never know, there might even be a spot for me.”
“There’s always a place for you, Spin. At least with me.”
Spinelli blushed. He was dreaming, had to be. Georgie could not have just said that. She had, he knew she had. There was no stopping it, he was already in love.
I'm a high school senior who loves Bradford Anderson and adores Spinelli so completely that I would definitely be his girlfriend, you know, if he were real.Theme: "Why Spinelli is a viable love interest"
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Chapter 1
Spinelli tugged at the collar of his turtleneck against the spring heat of April in Port Charles. Not that he was uncomfortable enough, given that he’d just been chewed out by the Blond One for talking about doing what she had wanted to do. She confused him and she’d hurt him, and he wasn’t sure she even cared.Sure, she’d apologized like she always did when she thought she’d lost his loyalty, but it hadn’t felt any more sincere than the last time. He’d shrugged it off and stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He always did that when he was anxious--it kept him from biting his nails till they bled. It was a little gesture, a way of coping he had. He had a lot of them, so many he couldn’t count them anymore.
His life had made coping mechanisms a necessity. Something was always going on--mom was having trouble holding on to her latest conquest and dad was back for just one more shot at fatherhood. The two of them came and went effortlessly while he immersed himself in the only world that mattered anyway: the Net.
He knew he came across as this long lost stoner with no future and no hopes, and maybe they were right, but he hadn’t been that way forever. When he was young, he believed that his brains could take him places. All those great movies where the parents came together to watch their genius kid save the future of his generation rang around his head. Just take one more test, he’d tell himself, just one more A and they’ll come home for good. One day, though, he got a serious wake-up call.
He’d been finishing up his science fair project in his room when he thought he heard his mother’s voice. She hadn’t been much of a presence in his life up until recently, but he knew the sound of her voice like he knew the back door of a Linux Operating System. So, he wrapped up what he was doing pretty fast and made a beeline for the stairs when he heard his grandmother’s voice rise in anger. He stopped, knowing his grams didn’t usually yell--she scared the bejeezus out of him well enough in normal tones-- and listened.
His mother was speaking in that tender drawl that lured men in, but couldn’t keep them. She was condescending his grams and he frowned because she didn’t have the right to do that. She’d dropped him on the doorstep when he was two with only his pacifier and a toy to keep him quiet. He hadn’t seen her again until he was ten, for a day and no more. Just as he was about to charge to grams’s defense, his mother stopped him in his tracks again.
“Stop acting like that kid’s got anything going for him, mama, ‘cause he don’t. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a sweet boy, but he wasn’t born to rule the world. He wasn’t even born to be important. He was born because there wasn’t anything to do but to have him. I tried to love him, mama, I did, but I don’t. At this point, I can’t even try.”
From his vantage point, he could hear his own mama, dark-haired and beautiful, standing off against the only family he’d ever had in front of the door. His grandmother held her fists stiff at her side, her anger evident. She shook her head and looked away from her wayward daughter.
“He’s got more of a future in his head than you’ve got on your back, little girl.” She turned away completely. “And more love in his heart than you’ll ever see in those men you find so appealing. Go home, Hannah. You’re no good to Damian, you’re the worst thing that could happen to him.”
“The feeling’s mutual, mama. My life ain’t gone right since he was born.” Then, his mother, in all her empty glory, stormed into the dark Tennessee night, reminding him painfully that he didn’t matter at all.
His grams was the only person who loved him and he’d tried to come to terms to that as a kid. So, he did the only way he knew how, he’d reinvented himself, in body and online. He got into these great role playing groups where the people were great, and some were like him, the typing wounded. They were his best friends. In trying to fill the hole his family, what there was of it, had left behind, he became a loner with even fewer real life companions. It was sort of a lonely existence but that was okay as long as he had his laptop. You see, that way he always had his friends, even those that were a thousand miles away. That was his life until Lorenzo Alcazar found him.
After that, his world was transformed into a place where he mattered in way; it wasn’t love, but it felt so much like affection that he grabbed on with both hands and just kept going. When he found Stone Cold, the Goddess, and the Blond One, he was positive that things were taking a turn for the best. He had these badass, cool people counting on him; it was like having a purpose or a calling. It was righteous and awesome and he didn’t want it to stop. Then, he started to care about what was happening to his friends--that’s when it turned into a mess.
He fell for Lulu Spencer and he got involved in the whole Who’s the Daddy roundup with Elizabeth, Stone Cold, and the Goddess. He got too involved and he hurt people, and people hurt each other. There were so many lies that no one really remembered who’d said what anymore; it was just easier to pick a side, pick a mascot, and stick to it. He picked Lulu, the safe bet. The problem was Lulu didn’t know what side she was on. All he wanted to do was keep the peace; no kid should grow up in the kind of shambles he’d grown up in. He didn’t learn who his father was until he was nine and that was a year before he met his mother for the second time. He wasn’t gonna let Stone Cold’s kid get wrapped up in the mess his parents had made.
At least, that was what he’d wanted to do. But when he’d tried to carry out his goal he ended up on the ugly end of the Blond One’s temper and on the outs of her romantic coven. Not that it made a difference, he knew she couldn’t love him anymore than his mother or father could. This was just one more experience for the interactive video game that would be made of his life someday. See, Spinelli still had goals--just different ones.
He laughed a little bit at himself. He didn’t know too many people who’s biggest dreams was to be a character animated by a keyboard or a joystick, but what could he say? The docks were empty so he didn’t think he had to worry about looking like he’d lost it. He’d spent more years than he cared to remember justifying his online obsessions with counselors who thought he just needed a listening ear to set him straight--his grams’ words. I, Damian Millhouse Spinelli, am a lost cause, he thought glumly, but at least he was consistent.
Sounds of the city danced on the night air, teasing him with snippets of unattainable, unwelcoming domesticity. He’d never had that--no birthday parties, no anniversaries, no Tooth Fairy. His grandmother wasn’t that kind of woman; she thought that sort of fantastical fairytale was for weak children and she didn’t raise Damian that way. Nonetheless she tolerated his obsession with virtual reality; she knew he’d be lost without it. Thus, here he was, skittish, pale, and wobbly. That was him, the one and unwanted Spinelli.
He pulled his knees up to his chest on the bench he inhabited. Happy Birthday to me. No one in Port Charles knew and the person who might’ve had a kind word for him today was a few states to the west.
He jerked at the sound of footsteps behind him. It was a pretty girl--she looked familiar. She also looked about like he felt: really alone. She didn’t seem to see him either. She walked past him to the docks and watched the water; he thought she might be ready to cry. There wasn’t anyone else coming and he thought he might be able help in spite of his track record.
The wind blew his hair in his face and he spied her brushing her own out of her eyes as she wiped away a trail of tears. He suddenly knew where he recognized her from: the attic. She used to be Film Guy’s girlfriend before the Blond One intervened. He winced for her, familiar with the ache of a broken heart.
He rummaged around in his bag for the little packet of Kleenex he kept on hand for his allergies and approached carefully. “Hey, do you want a tissue?”
Stifling a scream, she spun around, obviously noticing him for the first time. She held her chest, pale, and laughed nervously. “Oh. Yeah.” She reached out and accepted the courtesy, hastily drying her face and looking away. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”
He shrugged. “I’m not that noticeable.”
She frowned. “I think you are; I was just thinking about something else.”
He raised his eyebrows sarcastically. “I could tell.”
She laughed awkwardly again to cover the silence that was rolling in. Arms crossed in front of her, she looked like little girl who’d lost her mother in the department store. He stuck his hands in his pockets before realizing that he was probably keeping her from her innermost thoughts.
“Oh, man, I’m not interrupting, am I? I can go and leave you to, you know, your contemplations.”
As he made a move towards the stairs, she stepped forward to catch him. “No! Please, don’t go. You don’t have to. I’m not thinking about anything I haven’t thought about before, so I’m not gonna take this place from you. I need a new thinking spot anyway.”
Spinelli’s ears perked up and he moved closer. “You have a thinking place, too?”
The one he mentally dubbed Pretty One looked up from her concentration on the water-stained dock to meet his bewildered look. “Yeah. I used to think everybody did, but then realized that not everybody thinks.”
He jerked his hands out of his low-slung pockets in a victory cry. “I know! I know, I just found that out, too. I thought everybody needed somewhere to go--ya know, someplace to think clearly. They don’t!” Afraid he was starting to freak her out, he toned down his joy at finding a kindred spirit. “It’s just weird, ya know?”
Her sad face started to lighten and he saw more than a hint of a smile. “Yeah, it is. My cousin Robin is the only other person I know who has to go somewhere special to clear her head. My sister Maxie thinks it’s weird--she thinks most of what I do is weird.”
Spinelli dropped back down to the bench and waved her over. He realized he couldn’t remember her name even though he’d visited her house three times and started to feel really bad about that. He hadn’t been much better to her than Film Guy. That was something he intended to change .
The Pretty One sat down next to him and sighed. It was weird, looking at her up close. Dark eyes peered out of what might seem like an unremarkable face on anyone else. She wasn’t like most girls though, she wasn’t like Lulu. There was more to her beauty than just her dark blond hair. He felt his heart thump extra loud and feared the Pretty One might hear. She didn’t turn her head away from the mysterious visage of the port waters, assuring him that his secret was safe.
“Well, Her Bitterness is wrong. I don’t think you’re weird. You’re just not like anybody else she knows and I think that’s really cool. Being unique is cool.”
She swept her eyes back to him and he knew he was in trouble. He licked his lips and jumped up to pace in front of her. He felt her watching him now and he wasn’t used to this. Her undivided attention was squarely on him and he didn’t know what to do with it.
“You’re a book worm, a really pretty bookworm,” he stammered. “There aren’t many of girls in the world who can make the football quarterback fall in love with you, and not because you’re doing his homework! Gods drop down from the heavens for girls like you or at least they should. And us mere mortals, well, we shouldn’t even be wasting your time.”
He halted his spastic motion expecting to find her gone, having snuck away in his frantic state. She remained, however, her eyes still fixed on him and her attention intact. He waited with bated breath for her to laugh at him and give him that stupid tolerant smile that he got from everybody else. When she didn’t, he felt his skin turning bright red. Had he overstepped some unspoken boundary or something?
The Pretty One rose and laid her hand on his shoulder, stopping the very motion of his breathing. She was standing so close he could see the tears that hadn’t begun to well up yet. He was near enough to distinguish one gently curling eyelash from another, and the faint lines where her tears had washed away her foundation. She shouldn’t have to hurt like this, he thought. It wasn’t fair and it wasn’t right; he added it to the extensive archive of things that shouldn’t be.
“You’re really sweet.” She openly smiled at him and he knew she should’ve been able to hear his heart now. The urge to beat Dillon until he cried was unbearable. Spinelli had never been a violent guy, but he felt protective of the Pretty One. This was the first real chance he’d had to talk with her one on one and she wasn’t a bad person. It was just more proof that bad things happened to good people, especially when it shouldn’t.
He beamed and bobbed in his way, tucking his unwieldy body into his sweatshirt. “I try to be. Besides, it’s the truth. I’ve heard people talk about you and it seems like you keep getting the short end of, like, every stick to ever be handed to you.”
“It feels that way sometimes, but I’ve been okay. I mean, compared to a lot of people, I got lucky.” He knew that trick and was somehow sadder for having employed it himself to get through hard times.
“Ah, the stray dog got luckier than the pound dog.” The compulsion to bite his nails reared its ugly head and he shoves his busy hands back in his pockets.
She looked at him sideways. “Relativity?”
He nodded and turned to face the hot night with her. “It’s a matter of what’s worse according to you. Doesn’t matter if my best friend yelled at me if you’ve had your heart broken.”
“It’s a way of looking at things,” she conceded and sighed again.
“My way. My ways are always kind of weird, though.” Spinelli looked down at the floorboards. This was strange, having someone to talk with. He didn’t really know what to say or how to keep her. All of the sudden, he came to the conclusion that he probably would’ve made a really crummy boyfriend for Lulu anyway. Yeah, he could live with that. Just another way he wouldn’t change the world.
“Hey,” she nudged his shoulder. She didn’t look quite so melancholy anymore and he felt a mature satisfaction in knowing he’d helped her somehow. “You know, I don’t think you’re weird. You seem pretty cool to me.”
He rubbed the top of his head, that old anxiety creeping up his neck. He tried to shrug it off, but it clung to him. That streak of hysteria he’d inherited from his mother was coming through. “You don’t know me that well, but if you did you’d think I was bizarre. Everyone does. I play Dungeons & Dragons for weeks straight and hack the State Department mainframe every chance I get and I call myself ‘The Jackal.’” He had the good grace to laugh, even though it wasn’t funny. “What normal person does that? I don’t even think that’s normal.”
This happened to him every so often. He’d remember what his mother said at a particularly stressful time and it would feel like the most accurate picture of exactly what he was. Spinelli, the burden--the weird burden. He’d lived up to his mother‘s prophecy--sweet pyrrhic victory. He smoked so he wouldn’t have to feel this way.
Two arms slipped around him, slamming him back to the present with enough force to knock him off his feet. She was holding him. She didn’t know him from anywhere other than her attic, yet she was holding him and whispering unintelligible kindness in his ear. His eyes stung in misery, but he wouldn’t cry. His grandmother hadn’t raised that sort of man.
“She was supposed to be my friend and she hurt me. I know she didn’t mean it, but it just keeps hurting.” The Pretty One held him tighter.
“She was a friend, one that you adored--that’s the worst part.”
He looked back at her. She knew who he was talking about and she got him. “Yeah,” he forced a macho chuckle. “You get over it, though.”
“You try.” She rested her chin on his shoulder, sending the scent of her shampoo floating under his nose. It was sweet; maybe peaches, something citrus. He could recall standing under a peach tree once; it was something like this, this kind of peace.
“You say that I’m really sweet, but you’re the one holding me together.”
She gave a wry chuckle and hid her face in his shoulder. “Let’s say I’m used to this type of thing.”
“Oh, the dependable one?”
“That’s me.” He heard her stifle a sniffle. Her breath shuddered by his ear. She was hurt again, he concluded.
“Well, good thing you’re here then. I’m always getting myself into trouble. Maybe you can give me some advice.”
“I’d be glad to.” The new subtle undertone of amusement in her voice sent butterflies soaring in his stomach.
He chewed his bottom lip--another coping tactic--and debated whether it was too late to take her somewhere. There were late night movie theaters, maybe a diner. He just didn’t want her to go yet. He wasn’t even sure he had the courage to ask.
“So,” he began nervously. “I was wondering--if you’re not busy…” he trailed off, hoping she’d fill in the blank.
“You were hoping what?” She was smiling, definitely smiling. He was thrilled that he could read her voice; it was nice.
“I was hoping you’d be interested in getting a milkshake with me. Or maybe even going to a late night movie. I know where some are playing…if you want to go.” He’d been rambling and he wanted to kick himself for taking leave of his senses. What was he thinking, the Pretty One would never want to go out with him.
“I’d love to.” His world? Toppled onto its side and did the ‘Running Man.’ He swung completely around to look at this girl, standing before him with the sweetest smile he’d ever seen. The moonlight was in love with her and wrapped her in its influence, making her shine. Her soulful eyes gleamed and reflected her gentleness and her amusement. She wanted to spend time with him.
He cleared his throat as though he’d known that all along. “So, the movies?”
She shrugged, appearing perfectly willing to go along with him. “Sounds good to me.”
He gave up the ghost and grinned. This was turning out to be a pretty cool birthday after all. She grinned in return. Like a gentleman, he offered his arm and she accepted. They marched up the dock steps together, chatting animatedly about which movie they were going to see. They had two different ideas about what made a good movie, but Spinelli was willing to see whatever she liked. The Pretty One didn’t know that though, and so she haggled.
“I’ll see The Reaping with you, but we have to get a massive popcorn--with butter. And Smarties. I need my Smarties.”
“You love the Smarties, too?” At her confirmation, he pumped his fist. “Righteous. The Smarties are the candy of kings, next to Nerds, of course.”
“Of course,” she agreed, prompting Spinelli to declare to himself that he had found his soul mate. Smart, beautiful, kind, and she liked Smarties.
Damian Millhouse Spinelli was in love.Scorpion was waiting.
Chapter 2
Spinelli tried to play it cool. The Pretty One--or Georgie as she gently insisted on being called--was sitting across from him with a textbook and a big cuppa joe in hand. She had tests coming up and she was as nervous as he’d ever seen anyone. Of course she managed to be exceptionally lovely while doing it. He was still mesmerized by her, even when he didn’t have all of her attention.“I’m not ready for this exam. In fact, I’m not ready for anything. I need a vacation.”
He grinned, images of sandy beaches and bikini bottoms floating through his head. “Vacations are good. Where do ya wanna go? I bet I can get Stone Cold to pull some strings.”
Georgie pulled her eyes away from the unbearably small historical text to look at him. “I’d love that. But I doubt Jason would go out of his way for me. He and my dad don’t exactly have the best of relationships,” she emphasized with the arc of her eyebrow. Ah, Stone Cold and Mac Daddy were sort of on differing sides of the law.
Spinelli shrugged, feeling very proud of himself. “Yeah, but me and Stone Cold are kind of a team. I go to bat for him, he does it for me. So…if I ask, it’s pretty much a done deal.” He would love to be able do something like this for her. So far, she’d been great to him; he wanted to return the favor.
Georgie rested her head on her hands, getting a content if far away look in her eye. “I’d love to go somewhere. I haven’t been out of Port Charles since I was a little girl. Maybe a change of scenery will get me through the rest of the school year.” She looked both hopeful and skeptical. “If you could make it happen, I would adore you forever.” She fluttered her eyelashes at him, making him melt.
He loved that she could do that to him without his feeling like an idiot. It was as though she could read his mind, like she knew exactly what to say and how to push just the right button to get her way. The difference between how she did it and how Lulu had done it was that he wasn’t hurt when she was done. He was still himself, still the same with no more scars, maybe even fewer ones. For once, he didn’t feel the fool for adoring her.
“Then prepare for an eternity of adoring me, because I will make it happen. Just tell me where you wanna go.” He laid his hand next to her book, palm up. Without hesitation she put her hand in his and squeezed.
She gave it some thought, drumming the fingers of her free hand on the table. “I was thinking…Australia.”
He blinked, surprised. Of all the wonderful places he’d envisioned her wanting to see, Australia hadn’t crossed his mind. There was always the Sydney Opera House, he supposed. Whatever she wants, he told himself, and was content with that.
“Any particular reason?”
Seeing that he wasn’t about to openly ridicule her choice, she beamed. “That’s where Mac is from and I’ve never been. I know it’s weird and you probably wonder why I care, but I do. I can’t give you a reason other than it might be the only place in the world where I really fit in.”
He played with her fingers, secretly loving how she laughed when he did. She was Georgie, the Pretty One, his muse; he couldn’t imagine her not fitting in.
“What about here? You have your sister, your step dad, your…friends.” As he started to think about it, he realized that he didn’t know any of Georgie’s friends. He’d visited her at PCU a bunch of times already and had yet to see her really hanging out with anyone. He didn’t like the idea that she was always alone when they weren’t together.
Georgie sighed. “I’ve never been the popular girl. That was Maxie. I’m just the sister she’s nice enough to hang out with sometimes. Otherwise, it’s just me. It’s not that I can’t make friends--I can. I never really tried when I was younger and I don’t try now. The friends I do manage to make either die or betray me, so, I spend a lot of my time alone. You are actually my only friend right now.”
Spinelli brought her hand to his lips and kissed it lightly. He wasn’t usually the guy for that kind of thing, but he was determined to show her how great he thought she was, even if he was too afraid to ask her out on a real date.
“Then, the Jackal will be the best friend you’ve ever had.” His words seemed to sadden her and rushed to backtrack. “I’m not promising you, Prett--Georgie, I mean it. I’m telling you that I’ll be there for you when you need someone to talk to or someone to study with or someone to take you on a trip to keep you from losing it. That’s why I’m here. Maybe that was the reason all along.”
She sucked on her lips, nodding. He knew she trusted him; she’d shown him that from the night they met on the docks. They’d gone to one of the last outdoor theatres left in the state and sat on the prickly, green grass. The movie ran long and late, transporting them both back to a time that was about as simple as two people meeting and connecting for the first time. She fell asleep against his shoulder and by the time he walked her to her door, she was wearing his jacket. The weight of her kiss warmed the corner of his lips as he slept contently through the late night and early morning.
“You would come with me, right?” She appeared somewhat anxious at the idea of leaving her hometown alone in search of an entirely new place, an entirely new country.
“If you want.” He was hoping she’d say yes. He needed her to say yes.
“Oh, I want. If you can’t go there’s no reason for me to.”
“Then, it’s a go. We’ll go to Australia and find a place for us. I know what it’s like to be a misfit. If you think that’s the place, then we have to go. You never know, there might even be a spot for me.”
“There’s always a place for you, Spin. At least with me.”
Spinelli blushed. He was dreaming, had to be. Georgie could not have just said that. She had, he knew she had. There was no stopping it, he was already in love.
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