*This is a repost and continuation. If you've read this fic before you will find that nothing has been altered. To all those who read the orriginal, I'm trully sorry for the delay*

Ripples

PG

AN: this is an AU tale I wrote for the butterfly effect challenge. My story contains two what-ifs.

What if Johnny and Lulu had never taken that drive? What if Maxie and Spinelli had had a very meaningful conversation before the ball? My story takes place mid October of 07. Lulu and Logan had just broken up because of the sex bet. Johnny had recently moved to PC and Spixie were still bitter enemies.

Part one:

Kelly's: (this scene occurs after Maxie tries to convince Coop to get back with her.)

Maxie peered into the windows. She had hoped to find her sister but Kelly's was seemingly disserted. She would have retreated had she not spotted him sitting in the corner booth clicking away on his computer. A wicked grin danced across her lips as she pushed the door open.

"Hi Spinelli" she purred.

His eye's quickly darted up. A frown formed on his lips. "If it isn't the bad blonde one." He said making no effort to conceal his dissatisfaction at her sudden appearance.

"Aww you're hurting my feelings! All I want to do is make nice and have a little chat with you!" She pouted.

She stood before him waiting for a response but none came. Instead he was apparently pretending that she wasn't there. Maxie rolled her eyes. He was sorely mistaken if he believed that he could ignore her.

"Why can't we be friends Spinelli" She cooed sweetly, sliding in beside him. Spinelli inched away.

"The jackal wishes to be left alone!" He replied keeping his eyes on his screen

"Okay, so I made a bet to sleep with Logan if he bagged Lulu. Big whoop! So what? It's not like I was the one who was dating her and anyway" she added sweetly, "my beef with lulu shouldn't stop us from being friends Spin."

"My name is Spinelli and the mouthy one should quit for the Jackal is impervious to her wiles." He said curtly

"Oh come on, you know you want to." She trailed her finger up his arm. "I mean a friendship with me has many perks."

Spinelli flinched at the sudden contact, retreating further away from his assailant.

"It is unfortunate for you that you're actions are entirely transparent to me. I'm well aware of what you are up to. Your plan to malign fair lulu has undoubtedly backfired on you. The clean cut cadet is out of sorts with you and now you wish to repay him and lulu in kind." He sighed and his eyes softened unexpectedly. "You operate on a very predictable pattern. You believe that everyone will eventually hurt and disappoint you so you go preemptive as it were and hurt them before they can get to you. Yet the dismal truth is that you gravelly wound yourself in the process."

"Don't sit there and act like you know me!" Maxie said fighting to maintain her composure.

"Oh on the contrary, I don't presume to know you at all. However, I thoroughly understand you; what ails you I mean." He answered calmly.

"Right, you waste you're time chasing after Lulu and you say I've got problems."

"The hostile one will be bereaved to know that some guys actually prefer the good girl."

"Ha! You are seriously deluded if you believe that Lulu is some perfect saint. Lulu is no better than me. Yes Spinelli, Me! Everyone likes to point out how I broke up lucky and Elizabeth's marriage but no one bothers to mention that Lulu was the one who plotted and schemed to ruin my sister's marriage. Georgie might be too good to hold a grudge but I won't let lulu forget it!"

"You know it's sad—

"No Spinelli, you're sad. What kind of sorry looser chasses after someone who they know will never love them back huh? You wanna sit there and talk about my emotional problems but what about your own. Why do you insist on throwing yourself at a girl who is too stupid and self involved to care about you're feelings?" she raged "Lulu prances around here like some angel stringing you along while screwing Logan. You can say all he crap you want to about me, believe me none of it is news to me, but don't forget that your precious lulu is just as bad if not worse. The only difference is that I don't bother hiding who I really am. What you see is what you get."

She got up and walked to the door, blinking away the tears which threatened to spill out of her eyes. Why did she care what he thought? He was just some stupid computer nerd! But then why was she crying?

Spinelli stared after her, dumbfounded. He'd never seen Maxie so shaken, so hurt. It grieved him to know that he was the one who had caused her sorrow. It was just that she scared him so much. Whenever she was near something inside of him would shift. It was a constant struggle for him to stay in control, to keep from drowning in the icy depths of her eyes. Fighting her was how he'd gotten by so far, but today their usual sparing had turned into something entirely different. Perhaps all she'd really wanted was a friend, but he'd pushed her away, told her that she wasn't good enough. But who was he to judge. Everyone had their faults. What Maxie had said about Him was true. He hid behind his "blind" adoration for Lulu as means to escape the startlingly overpowering pull Maxie had on his entire being.

Roof of the Hospital:

Johnny stared out at the vast expanse below him. From his vantage point he could see most of Port Charles; bright lights and all splashed and sparkling against the black backdrop. He frowned at the irony. From way up high it looked so serine, so full of promise, yet in truth, beneath, on the ground, it was rife with filth and corruption. The sickening thought was that his family's presence, his presence, only worsened matters.

He checked his phone. No calls. No messages. Johnny grinned; his "handlers" were probably still waiting outside of the men's dressing room in the Gap. Getting away had been hard but well worth it. He slipped onto the ledge. The minute he'd gotten away, he'd tried to find a place where they wouldn't think to look. He wanted to escape, if even for just a short time, the truth, reality, all of it.

Johnny heard the creaking of the door as it was pushed open. He watched noiselessly as a woman stepped on to the roof unaware of his presence in the shadows. Although he wasn't close enough to hear her quite sobs, Johnny could tell that she was crying by the slight yet rapid shaking of her body.

He waited, watched. The scene before him just didn't seem right. She deserved to be in the arms of someone who loved her, someone who could make all of her hurts seem small. Yet here she was braving it all alone.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He called out loudly.

Georgie's eyes darted around in search of the source. Swiftly they collided with a pair of dark opaque orbs. The owner of the eyes was perched precariously on the ledge with one leg drawn up while the other lay lazily beside it.

"You were crying. Why?" He called out again.

Georgie tried to quickly wipe away any traces of her tears. "I wasn't" She protested.

Johnny grinned exposing his perfectly shaped teeth. "Your runny mascara says different." He saw her cheeks change shades. "Any way, I'm a stranger so you don't have to worry about me judging you or anything."

Georgie considered him for a moment. He seemed harmless to her, reckless perhaps, but harmless none the less. And like he'd said, he was a stranger so there was no reason to be embarrassed.

"You ever felt lonely?" She questioned shyly.

"Sure all the time. Seeing as I don't have any friends or family in this town." Johnny never complained about his life but the girl before him exuded a certain warmth which broke through his usually guarded exterior.

"I have family and a few friends but sometimes the loneliness is unavoidable. I don't know why but everything seems so bleak."

Johnny knew that feeling very well. He had all the material possessions imaginable but at the end of the day his life was empty and meaningless. "You're alive but you don't feel like you're getting anywhere right?"

"Yeah, you know ever since I got a divorce, things—

"Wooh! A divorce?" His eyebrow shot up. "Aren't you a little young to have been married?"

"I got married when I was seventeen, so yeah, I guess I was young."

He knew that they were living in upstate New York but he had to ask."Shot-gun wedding?"

Georgie laughed. "No, but a life or death situation none the less. Dillon, my ex, had gotten infected during the encephalitis out break. We thought that we didn't have much time together so we begged our parents to let us get married."

Johnny smiled. She had a beautiful laugh, sweet and unpretentious. "I'm guessing he got better?" a tinge of disappointment in his tone. Although he didn't know the guy, Johnny found himself disliking this Dillon character.

"Yeah and we were happily married for a while." Georgie replied

"Why did you two split up?" he asked cautiously.

"Um, basically the short version is that Dillon was tricked by another woman into believing that I was cheating on him. The girl then seduced him and he ended up cheating on me."

Johnny whistled. "What a skank." He said dryly.

Georgie shook her head."No, lulu isn't a skank. Any way it wasn't entirely her fault cause Dillon was the one who didn't trust me. When the truth finally came out we tried to work it out but the trust was gone."

Johnny looked into her gentle unassuming eyes. He couldn't understand the man's reasoning. Johnny barely knew the girl but he was certain that he would believe practically anything which emanated from her lips. He'd never meant a woman quite like her before. In his world women were just as, if not more ruthless than the men. Power and control was all that mattered. Blind ambition the relentless pursuit of wealth left no room for kindness and sympathy. This girl had enough compassion to forgive the person who ruined her marriage.

Georgie misread his silence. "I'm sorry for boring you with my sob story. I mean I'm not the only one who's been divorced. Virtually half of the adult population has gone through the same thing."

"Nawh it's cool. I derived a strange comfort from sad stories. The happy ones always remind me of how crappy my life is. So thanks for sharing."

She smiled. "You're welcome."

They were engulfed in an easy silence as he watched her in the soft shimmer of the moon. She possessed an ethereal beauty. It had less to do with her face and more do with what lay within her. Johnny shook his head. Since when did he become so poetic?

"You haven't asked me yet." He said suddenly.

"Asked you what?"

"Not to jump. Most people would have assumed that I was trying to committee suicide." He pointed to his seat.

He's certainly direct, Georgie thought. "It seems to me that you got on that ledge in search of some answers." She grinned. "But maybe you should jump and see if it helps."

Johnny laughed slightly. "Maybe I will."

Georgie smiled. " Well I've got to go now, but thanks for listening stranger."

"Bye"

"Hey! Wait!" he said.

Georgie turned around.

Johnny was overcome by the overwhelming desire to know everything about her. What her favorite color was, whether she preferred daisies or roses, if she still watched cartoons. But instead this is what came out:

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

Georgie lowered her eyes. She wished! "Um, no I don't"

"Why not? You're pretty." He said bluntly

Georgie drew in a startled breath. He definitely was direct!

Johnny misread her expression. "Okay fine you're beautiful. Again, why don't you have a boy friend?"

"Um thank you…I uh, well to be honest no one has asked me out." Her cheeks turning that pinkish hue again.

"Hmm." He swung both of his legs onto the roof floor. "Are you doing anything this Saturday?"

Georgie couldn't believe her ears. Was this gorgeous stranger really asking her out? She sighed. "Um I have to work."

"How about next weekend?"

She frowned. The black and white ball was next weekend and she'd already asked Coop to go with her. "I sort of have to go to a party on Spoon Island."

"That's too bad. I guess I' ill see you around then."

"Yeah."

As Johnny watched her go, he couldn't shake the feeling that the course of his life had been altered in some way.

An:I read some where that reviewing is the first step towards achieving world peace! I'm not sure if its true but if I were you I wouldn't rist being wrong! :) All jokes aside thought, I really appriciate your feed back so tell me what you think.