Venus walked through downtown Port Charles. It was beginning to get colder. She enjoyed winters where they actually had snow as opposed to what Simon had planned for her. He had gotten really bossy over the past couple of months and she left him. She went into the Port Charles Hotel and the first person she saw was Jax.

Jax had just come in from the parking garage entrance to the lobby. "V? What are you doing here? I thought you and Simon were going somewhere warmer for the winter." He walked up to her and gave her a big hug. "Don't get me wrong. I'm happy to see you. I've missed having you around."

***

Robin mouth formed a slight smile. “Well, I have some good news! Because my grades where so good and I worked hard, I got to graduate early. So, school is all finished! I’m back in Port Charles for good! I’m glad too, because I have missed you.”

Mac beamed with joy. "I'm so proud of you! Do you Mom and Dad know that, yet?"

Robin got a little upset. "No...they don’t. Its just...I haven’t seen them in a very long time and I’m really not comfortable around them yet.”

Mac sighed heavily. "I think I know how you feel. I haven't been on the greatest of terms with the Jacks side of the family, but now, with Robbie back, I have a feeling it's going to get easier. Give your Mom and Dad a chance. It wasn't their fault that they were gone so long. They would have been here with you if they could. They love you so very much."

"I will, but I want to say this. I don’t want to hurt Anna or Robert’s feelings. The reason I have trouble getting used to them here is because for years I have been raised by you. Somewhere in those years, I started thinking of you as my parent, because you where, in every way that counted. And I love you,” Robin stopped, because she was getting upset.

"Oh, Robin...I love you too. I know I couldn't love you more if you were my own daughter." Mac held Robin's hand and smiled. Just then, he looked up and saw his brother standing in the doorway.

***

Liz hung up the phone and stared aimlessly for a minute. She needed to call Lucky, but she didn't know how to contact him. It had suddenly occurred to her, that since his return he hadn't really mentioned where he was staying. Was he with Luke? Or Laura? Or neither? Shaking her head in frustration, she decided to call Luke. ‘He is probably my best bet.’ She could faintly remember Lucky and Luke coming to a compromise before he disappeared. So, Liz figured Luke would probably know better where she could find him. She pulled out her address book from her purse and quickly dialed the number. "Hi, Claude. Is Luke around?...Thanks." She waited for Luke to pick up the phone. "Luke? Its me, Liz."

"Liz? Long time no speak. I told you to stay in touch after Lucky's death, and I was sure you would. What's up? Is something wrong?"

"Actually nothing is really wrong. Why I'm calling is that I don't know how to get in touch with Lucky. He never told me where he was staying or anything!"

***

Felicia came out of the kitchen and saw her older daughter standing next to the phone. “Hi, sweetie! Listen...don’t you worry yourself about Frisco. I will handle that situation. For now you should just concentrate on Mac. Frisco will call again if its really important. Oh did I have any calls? How was school today?"

Felicia hugged Maxie so tight. ‘She is such a good kid. I am very lucky to have such a responsible child in this house.’

Felicia took Maxie’s cheeks with both her hands and rubbed their noses against one another.

They laughed light-heartedly for a moment.

"Did I tell you how much love you? Hey...are you still growing?” she asks as they both continue to laugh. “Really... tell me about your day. Then, I'll tell you about what’s happening with Mac. And don't you worry about Frisco. He comes and goes like the wind. There isn’t much we can do about."

No matter what her mom said to her, deep down, Maxie knew that she had a strange connection with her father. Even though she barely knew him, somehow she felt a father-daughter bond that seemed to transcend the miles that separated them. She sighed, thinking of how she was going to run away the next morning, and how she would disappoint her mother in so many ways. She knew her mother trusted her beyond her comprehension, but still... she wanted more than anything to finally get to the know the father that as Felicia said, "goes where the wind goes".

Georgie had been up in her half-heartedly doing her homework ever since she had heard her father's message on the machine. 'I've never even met him! How dare he do this now!' she thought angrily. 'Birthday cards and presents don't entitle him to just call up whenever he wants to and disrupt my life!' As she got up from her desk, she shoved the papers off and scattered them all over the room. Kneeling down to start picking them up, she started crying. 'It's not fair! Mac is the only father I've ever known. I love him...not Frisco.'

After all the papers were safely back on her desk, she turned out the lamp and left the room. Bounding down the stairs, tears still streaming from her eyes, she heard her mother's voice.

As Georgie came down the stairs crying, her heart pulled for her little sister. It was obvious she was upset about their father's message. She probably remembered less about Frisco that Maxie herself did.

"Mama..." Georgie said.

Felicia turned to her youngest daughter and saw the tears running down her cheeks.

She decided that perhaps this was something her mother needed to deal with, and quietly left the room, and headed up the stairs.

“Georgie, what’s the matter? You look like you have been crying." Felicia gives her a huge hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Mama...why did Frisco call? I don't even know him... He's never seen me... He can't love me..." she sobbed. "Mac's my Daddy. Not Frisco!" Georgie went over to the answering machine and hit the 'play' button.

"Hi, girls!" Frisco said, cheerfully. "Its your dad. Remember me? I know, its been a long time. I'm in Scotland right now. They call this place Fief on a Hill. Sort of silly, huh? Well, I'm really sorry I couldn't talk to you in person. I wish I could come and visit you girls, but you know how dangerous that is. I shouldn't even be making this phone call, but I had to say hi. I missed you guys. Hopefully I'll talk to you soon. I love you!" The answering machine clicked off and said in its mechanical voice "End of Message".

Georgie turned around and looked at her mother. "Why did he call? He never calls!" she said angrily through her tears.

Felicia felt a chill up her spine. She hasn’t heard from Frisco in years. ‘He is still the same. He'll never stop thinking about the WSB. It will always come first.’ She has a sigh of regret for her children, who will always play second to his job. But for Georgie’s sake, she knew she would have to make light of it. "Georgie, honey, you should be happy that your Dad is thinking of you. He still loves you. He just is in a very dangerous line of work. We all know he doesn’t have much of a choice these days. I am sorry if it hurts you to hear from him. But I think its great. Of course don't let me lead you to think at he is coming home or that the next call will come again soon. It might not. You should just be happy that he called. Okay?"

Georgie's tear-filled eyes looked up at her mother in astonishment. "He's not my daddy anymore. I only want Mac to be my daddy. I can't have two, so I choose Mac," she said, crossing her arms in front of her to show her mother she intended to stand her ground.

Just before Maxie had reached the top of the stairs, she heard Georgie cry out how she chose Mac over their real father. "Arghh!" Maxie screamed out loud. She ran up the stairs and slammed the door to her room behind her, making sure the lock was firmly in place. She sat down on her bedroom floor and quickly pulled from under her bed a shoe box. She lifted the lid and pulled out a grouping of letters that she had tied together with a string. Untying the string she pulled out the top letter and began to re-read the letter.

     Dear Maxie and Georgie,
          No matter what, I want you to know that I love you with all my heart. 
     I wish I could be there with you girls and watch you grow up. I swear not
     a day goes by that I don't think about you two. I dream of returning
     to Port Charles almost every night, I think. But, my work calls. Sometimes,
     I think they have me under lock and key.  I can't visit because I'm 
     working on an important case. If I return, the bad people might follow 
     and I don't want anyone to hurt my two favorite girls. 
          Maxie, I want to thank you for sending me the picture of you and
     Georgie. You two have grown up so much! 
          Well, I have to go, but never forget, I love you.
                                                      Dad

Maxie had never shown the letter to anyone. Georgie included. They seemed to be her special link to her father. It was why as she got older she stopped calling Mac "dad", because she knew that out there somewhere her real dad loved her and would return someday. That's all she ever really wanted from him.

No one understood how she really felt. Sighing, Maxie carefully put the letters into the outside pocket of her duffel bag. She began to pack her clothes preparing for her secret escape from the Scorpio house.

***

Emily heads home to pack for the big trip. ‘I am so excited to be getting out of PC for a little while. Maybe I should try and get in touch with Juan,’ Emily thought.

When Emily is safe in her room she dials Juan’s number. As it rings, she gets a little nervous. 'Maybe I shouldn’t call him.' Emily starts to hang up and Juan answers the phone.

Juan was continuously running about the room throwing clothes into his bags when the phone rings.

Emily starts to hang up and Juan answers the phone.

"Hola?”

“Juan?”

“EMILY! Hi! How are you? I miss you so much!"

Juan decides not to tell her and to surprise her tomorrow, or maybe even later tonight depending on when he can get a ticket to Port Charles. He grabs the cordless and continues packing. "Emily, I hate to do this to you but I'm really busy. Can I call you later?"

"When are you leaving? Where are you going? Who are you going with? "

Juan says terribly upset. He can't believe his luck. His father finally allows him to go back to Port Charles, most importantly to Emily and she wasn't going to be there.

"Juan, I am going to Scotland with Liz, Lucky and Nik. I have to go and support Liz. She has had a really rough time of it. I think its the best idea. We are going to go there to figure out some secret an old friend of hers had. He died and left this box to her. In the box was all sorts of things that need to be figured out. Don't worry. I'll call you when I get back. Oh and by the way, don’t call the house. I told my parents I am going on a photo shoot."

***

Jane felt Robert's sadness. "I know you hate waiting. I do also, but you must give the doctors time to find out what’s wrong with Ana. The more time they spend on figuring out what the problem is, the quicker they can get it fixed." She didn't know if she was helping much, but she was trying to make her brother feel better. "Robert, I don't see Robin anywhere. Does she know about Ana? She is probably with Mac."

Robert looked around for his daughter. "I don't know. Maybe I should go up and find out. Can you stay here in case the doctor comes out?"

"Of course I will or do you want me too go get her so you can wait for news?" Jane offered.

Robert thought for a moment about his sister's offer, then decided it would better if he went. "I'll go. It shouldn't take too long to run up there and find her. I'll be right back," he said, giving Lady Jane a kiss on the cheek and a brief hug. He dashed to catch the elevator as its doors closed.

A few minutes later he was standing in Mac's open doorway. "Hate to interrupt," he said.

Mac and Robin both looked up at him.

"What is it, Robbie? You look upset," Mac noticed.

"It's Ana. She collapsed in an elevator here in the hospital. She's down in the ER. I didn't know if anyone had told you or Robin yet."

"No...we hadn't heard a thing," Mac said. "Robin, why don't you go downstairs with your dad? He needs you right now. I'll be fine. Probably need to get some sleep anyhow." Mac smiled to show Robin that he was okay.

Robin was a little hesitant. “Umm...okay.” She leaned over and gave her Uncle Mac a kiss on the cheek. “I will come back to check on you in a bit.” She walked over to her father.

***

Jason looked back at Carly and smiled, wanting to tell her exactly how he felt. "Carly, listen to me..." he started, taking her hands in his. "This *is* it... This is the real thing. All I've ever wanted was for you, me and Michael to be together. Even when you and I were just sleeping together...there was this small part of me that wanted you to always stay with me. Carly, I--I--I love you. I really do... It's taken me awhile to realize it, but I do... If you don't want to get involved like this...we don't have to... I'll just wait." Jason paused. "Carly, if this is just a moment...then I want our future to be one huge moment. It's up to you now... Should we give us a shot?" Jason asked, hopefully.

Just then, Carly's cell phone rang.

It was Lateshea. “Michael has a fever of 104 and is calling for Mommy and Daddy.”

Carly starts to freak out. "Jason, we have to go! You have to come with me. AJ is out of town. Michael is calling for us. We can talk about this later. What do you say? Are you coming? Can we take the bike? "

Jason immediately got nervous, and jumped up from the table, "Is there something wrong with Michael?!" he asked.

"He has a temperature of 104." Carly tells him.

Jason grabs her hand, "Let's go! Michael needs us!" he says, and they run toward his bike and get on then, head for the hospital, praying that Michael is ok.

***

"I'm so glad, Lucky," Lesley Lu said. "But was the person who kidnapped you caught? Do Mom and Dad know who it was?"

"The person who kidnapped me wasn't caught. I don't even know who it was, Lesley." Lucky says.

"That's so horrible, Lucky," she says. "It's great that you figured a way to get out, but what if this person would pick up a small child off the street? Hopefully something comes up, but until then, at least we all have you safe now," Lesley answers.

"I don't know Lesley. I do know that I will be going with Liz, Emily and Nikolas to Scotland to solve a mystery. Would you like to come along?" Lucky asks.

"I'd love to if it wouldn't be any trouble. When are you guys going?" she asks.

"It won't be any trouble. We are going as soon as possible." Lucky says.

***

Ricardo didn't like this kid at all and didn't want him around messing things up for him. "Well, Lucas, is that your name? If Nadia wakes up disoriented, I don't see how you could help her if you only met her what a day ago!" Ricardo yelled.

Lucas just defiantly stared at Uncle Ricardo. He folded his arms across his chest and listened as the strange man rambled about he would be unable to help Nadia.

Suddenly, a stretcher pulled in with a man bleeding from a chest wound.

He was about to go on when he saw Moreno wheeled in on a stretcher with a bullet wound in his chest. "Oh shit," Ricardo says running over to Moreno. "What happened to him?" Ricardo asked.

As Lucas watched Uncle Ricardo run over to the man's side, he listened in on the conversation.

"That information is for his family only,” a nurse said.

"But I need to give it to a teenage girl who was just brought in she was shot as well," Ricardo said hoping the nurse would take pity on the poor girl he spoke of.

"I'm sorry sir but I can't tell you without authorization," she said firmly.

"You don't understand. This man's her father," Ricardo said hoping that Lucas wasn't within earshot.

"No you don't understand. This man's hopeless," the nurse said walking away quickly to catch up with the stretcher. 'Moreno can't be dead... How the hell am I gonna get paid?' Ricardo thought knowing that if he didn't pay his rent this week he'd be evicted.

'Why didn't he tell them he's related?' Lucas thought to himself. 'Strange.' Lucas shook his head, trying to figure out the scene that was unfolding before him. ‘Was Uncle Ricardo, really Nadia's uncle? It didn't seem possible as the man wouldn't admit to the doctors who he was. And this man on the stretcher was Nadia's father, which meant that Maxie's mysterious friend, was even more mysterious than I previously thought.’

'Moreno can't be dead it'll ruin everything,' Ricardo thought stepping back toward his chair and sinking down into. Then he caught a glimpse into Nadia's room just in time to see her fingers begin to wiggle. 'Oh that little b*t*h can't wake up right now or this kid will find out I'm not her uncle. Damn you! Nadia just sleep a little longer,' he thought furiously but it was too late Nadia's eyes began to blink open and Ricardo saw his world crashing through the floor down to he*l.

***

John knew if he didn't leave now he'd do something he was going to regret. "I'm sorry Samantha. I really enjoyed meeting you, but I must go now or you'll only get hurt," he said rushing toward the door.

Samantha grabbed his arm and pulled him towards her. "Don't go, please!" She pleaded looking deep into his eyes.

'I never should have looked into her eyes,' John thought fighting the urge to stay had become harder. He stood there for a moment looking into Sam's eyes and figuring out what to do. He wanted to believe there was a chance that he could change that he would be good to her but he knew that wasn't true and if he stayed he would end up hurting her just like he had Sarah. "Goodbye, Samantha," he said kissing her forehead, sprinting to the door and not looking back.

***

Sarah was still sulking in her room when the phone rang. She picked it up and heard the voice of the only true friend she met while away from PC. "Omigod! Is this really Tyler Monroe?! This call must be costing you a fortune!" Sarah said hopefully.

"Yeah it's me, but the cost is worth it hearing your voice again. So how's John doing," he said obviously feeling dislike toward John.

"Oh, Ty, I really don't want to talk about John. I just want to forget ever meeting him," Sarah replied, "How did you know he was here?"

"One girl at the Swinger Central knew him and told me about it," Ty answered.

"Can you believe we went to that club?!" Sarah said laughing.

"Well we had just seen Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," Ty said laughing as well.

"Yeah I guess but I almost wish we'd never gone," Sarah said distantly.

"What do you mean? Are you okay, Sarah, cause you sound about a million miles away," Ty said worried.

"Ty, do you remember that night?" Sarah asked still sounding very distant.

"Yeah I guess. Sarah, are you okay?" he asked again.

"I mean do you really remember it. I had my first drink that night. At first I was so freaked out that our fake ID's wouldn't work but you were calm. Then I got so drunk although I didn't even know what I was drinking. It was obviously stronger than I thought. Anyway, I couldn't find you anywhere and I was freaking out since I barely knew what I was doing but then mystery guy showed up and he was like my guardian angel. It was John and he took me to his place since I was too wasted to tell him where I lived and then I actually slept with him. I lost my virginity to him and I barely even remember what it was like. Ty are you still there?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, I'm so sorry, Sarah."

"Why?"

"I'm the one who got you to start doing stuff like that you had the perfect life and I screwed it all up,"

"No! Ty, if anything you made my life better I mean I wasn't happy at that stupid prestigious school. I spent my life trying to please everyone else never thinking about what I really wanted but then you came along. You were my friend for no reason..."

"Well, we were stuck doing that assignment together."

"Don't interrupt this is a dramatic speech," Sarah say and Ty laughs she continues anyway, "You showed me how to have fun and not care what others thought of me and to really live."

"Okay, what's with all the drama? Is there something I don't know? ‘Cause you can tell me anything, Sarah. You know that."

"Ty, over the last 24 hours, I've been contemplating my whole life and everyone I care about and you're the only person who I never let down. Why is that?"

"Because I never expected you to be anything that you weren't."

"You're right... There is something wrong. When I first slept with John, it was my mistake but last night he--he drugged me and then took advantage of me."

"Did he rape you, Sarah?!"

"Don't get upset you can't tell anyone about this! It probably was my fault anyway," Sarah said sobbing.

"Omigod! He did! That little SOB raped you! It's not your fault...and he's going to pay I'll make sure of it!"

"Ty, don't do anything stupid please!"

"Listen, Sarah, we've got Christmas break starting this week, so I'm gonna come down to PC, that is if you want me to do."

"As long as you don't go chasing after John like a madman."

"Sarah, he deserves to pay for what he did to you, don't you understand that."

"Ty, promise me you won't hurt John! I don't want to get you in trouble."

"I won't promise anything but if I get in trouble it'll be my fault. I gotta go Sarah but listen I'll be in PC soon, I still have your address from the letter you sent me, so try to stay positive till I get there."

"Bye, Ty," Sarah said hanging up, she laid back down on her bed and tried to figure out what Ty was planning on doing but she grew tired and fell asleep. ***