A/ N: I own nothing GH related. Set early 2008.

There was something about the snide blonde. She had this prickly covering that warned she was best handled with care and caution. And if you had an ounce of self-preservation…avoided altogether. But John Zacchara had never backed down from a challenge, and he wasn't going to start now.

And so he merely smiled back at Maxie's angry mutinous expression that was promising him all kinds of retribution if he didn't comply with her wishes to leave her the hell alone. Johnny had no intention of going anywhere.

He wasn't even really certain why the sight of her looking so lost and alone, weeping on the park bench had gotten to him in the first place. But it had – it had pulled at something in him, filled him with a sense of something being wrong in the universe to see her so defenseless and defeated looking. Before he could stop to question the wisdom of his actions, he'd instructed his driver to stop and was approaching the tiny blonde.

She'd looked up to see him approaching, scrubbed furiously at her tears and told him with a glare to go to hell. For some reason, he'd taken comfort in her belligerence; it suited her better than the broken little girl look she had when he'd walked up. But he still refused to leave.

She glared at him, "Why the hell do you even care Johnny? You barely know me; we sure as hell aren't friends."

He shrugged, "No we're not, but you look like you could use one."

Maxie sneered at him, "If I was looking for a shoulder to cry on, it wouldn't be yours."

He stared down at her, "Are you always this much of a bitch?"

"Yes, or do you not listen when your girlfriend talks?" she smirked and Johnny raised his brows at her.

"There's a difference in being a bitch to Lulu and just being a bitch."

She sighed and glanced down at her feet. "I am a bitch, ask anyone." Her face scrunched up and she tilted her head to look at him. "Spinelli is the first person in a long time that sees more than that when he looks at me."

Johnny frowned, "You're crying over Spinelli?" He didn't know why, but the thought grated at him for some reason.

"No. Well, kind of – it's just that…" she paused, her eyes shining with unshed tears, "My sister always believed in me, I mean – she wasn't stupid or anything, she knew I was a selfish manipulative bitch; but she loved me anyway. And now that she's gone…" she sniffled and wiped at her eyes. "Spinelli is the closet I've come to someone believing in me again since Georgie died. Having someone believe in me like that again is like having a little piece of Georgie back."

She glanced away from him, her voice a shaky whisper, "I miss her so much. And I'm going to lose it even that little bit of her again because I can't stop myself from being a bitch to Lulu."

Johnny stared at her for a long moment, "Spinelli may not be my favorite person and in all honesty, I don't get your friendship with him. But I don't think you're giving him enough credit, I think he's capable of being friends with both of you without trying to force either of you to be friends with each other."

He paused briefly, "And truthfully, Lulu does her fair share of provoking the bitch in you in this little war between the two of you. It's not really that surprising that you can't help reacting to it."

A startled laugh escaped her; the sound surprised and genuine. "I think that's the first time I've ever heard anyone not automatically jump to saint Lulu's defense. But the truth is I could probably try harder and not be such a bitch to her -" She grinned at him, her eyes twinkling mischievously, "I just don't want to."

He laughed in response, he couldn't help it. She was definitely unique, and there was no denying her beauty, but it was more than that – there was something about her self-effacing honesty and unapologetic self-centered streak that brought out the protective side of him. He figured it was because she reminded him so much of his sister.

He shook his head slightly at the thought, his sister and Maxie - there was a pairing that could rock Port Charles to its core; then returned her grin.

Her smile dimmed a little and she furrowed her brow thoughtfully "Lulu's right though."

"About?" He prompted her with a raise of his eyebrows and she shrugged slightly, "Spinelli. He is a really good person, too good to be hanging around me. Who I am, the things I've done –"

"Maxie, nobody's perfect – mistakes are a part of living, you can't beat yourself up for making them from time to time."

She shook her head at him, "It doesn't matter how hard I try - I will never be good and kind like Georgie. And sometimes, I think – why bother? Because I'm always going to be the screw up, no matter how much I don't want to – I always seem to fuck things up, so why try? But the thing is, I really don't want to with Spinelli – I don't have many friends. And I know that I'm destined to fuck up and let him down and I just – I just…" She glanced up at him then and he felt his heart tug at the tears glistening in her eyes.

Without a second thought, he tugged her up and pulled her into a light embrace, tucking her head beneath his chin and stroked her back reassuringly. Her voice was muffled against his chest as she continued, "I just don't want to disappoint him like I do everyone else."

She rested her head against his shoulder, "What if one day he realizes Lulu was right all along and decides he doesn't want anything to do with me anymore?" Her voice hitched and she shuddered out a tight breath, "I can't lose him, he and Sam are the only friends I have left."

Johnny pulled back slightly to look down at her and shook his head, "No they're not. You have me too."

She grinned wryly at that, "As much as I appreciate anything that causes that bug of Lulu's to crawl further up her ass, why would you want to be my friend? For some reason that I'll never understand, you've joined the ranks of the morons that follow Lulu around like a devoted little puppy."

She pulled her head back and fixed him with a look that conveyed clearly her opinion of his choice of girlfriend and continued with a grin. "And in case you missed it somehow, Lulu hates me."

He shrugged but didn't release her from his embrace, "You look like you could use some friends. I know I sure as hell could."

"Yeah right." She scoffed, "Friends with the son of resident psychopath Anthony Zacchara?" she pulled away from him and placed a hand on her hip, "And what exactly makes you think I want a friend with a permanent bull's-eye on his back?"

"I would think your friendship with Morgan's little buddy would make you immune to the perils of associating with people surrounded by danger."

She narrowed her eyes at him, her glare practically radiating waves of heat towards him and he was once again struck by the similarities of her demeanor to that of his older sister. "Morgan's little buddy? Is that why you're trying to play knight in shining armor, you think I'm going to be so grateful that the great Johnny Zacchara wants to be my friend, that what ? I'm going to get all relaxed around you and accidentally spill all of Jason's secrets?"

He raised his hand to her face and with the back of his fingers, stroked the soft skin of her cheek with a chuckle. "Maxie – I think we both know, I'm far from being anyone's knight in shining anything. Besides I have a hard time picturing you being either grateful or relaxed and as far as spilling Morgan's secrets?"

He raised an eyebrow at her and she fought the urge to smack the amused look off his smug face, "Something tells me Morgan isn't stupid enough to let you anywhere near anything that would be useful to my family, let alone trust you with anything important."

"Hey!" Her face grew indignant at that and he laughed outright when she stamped a tiny foot, giving a perfect impression of a petulant third-grader, "If you think trusting me is so stupid, then why all this weird I want to be your friend crap?"

Instead of the flippant comeback she was expecting, he frowned thoughtfully and considered her question for a moment.

"I'm not sure, I know that some people would think trusting you could prove to be a dangerous undertaking, but..." he shrugged, "I saw what losing your sister did to you, nobody fakes that kind of desperation, that kind of grief – nobody should feel that alone."

"So?" at his confused look, she huffed in aggravation, placing both hands on her hips as she glared at him. "What does Georgie have to do with you trying to be my friend?"

He met her stare head-on with an intensity that caused Maxie's breath to catch a little at the naked emotion reflected in his eyes, "Honestly? You've got guts and an instinct for survival second to none. I admire you Maxie…I don't see how anyone couldn't. If I ever lost Claudia - especially so fucking randomly and so violently - it would send me under so deep that no one – not even Lulu – could bring me out. You are one of a kind, Maxie; I have never met anyone like you before."

Something intense flowed between them and Maxie mentally flailed around in her head for a moment searching for something –anything – to say. "Yeah, well you and your sister do have that whole Angelina Jolie and her brother, creepy vibe going on – really makes a person wonder about the two of you."

At her words Johnny threw his head back and laughed, genuine amusement dancing on his face. "I think we are going to be great friends. You – Maxie Jones – are many things, but I'd be willing to bet…you are never boring."

Maxie grinned at him, "That's me, a constant source of amusement." She slipped her arm in his and sighed dramatically, "Well, come on – let's get on with it."

His brow lifted questioningly, at both her words and her arm in his – "Get on with what exactly?"

Her grin widened and her eyes took on a calculating gleam, "You –friend - are taking me shopping."

He couldn't help it, he laughed appreciatively at her boldness and grinned down at her, "Shopping, huh?"

Her grin grew impish as she nodded her head enthusiastically, "Yep, it's what I do for all my friends."

"Really? You let all your friends take you shopping? How incredibly exciting for them."

Maxie blatantly ignored his sarcasm and began walking towards the waiting limo tugging him with her, "It really is, now come on – I want to start reaping all the benefits of being friends with Port Charles' Dark Prince of the Underworld."

He shook his head at her as they climbed into the back of the limo and settled back against the plush leather, "Dark Prince of the Underworld? You've been hanging out with Spinelli too much."

She shrugged and shook her head refusing his silent offer of a drink from the stocked mini-bar. "Get used to it; the friend version of the Maxie doll comes complete with the mandatory Spinelli action figure."

Johnny choked a little on the scotch he'd just poured for himself, "Spinelli action figure? Something tells me that particular toy gets very little, uh - action."

With a raise of her eyebrows, she grinned wickedly at him in response, "I wouldn't be so sure of that, besides you never know – maybe he comes with great thrusting motion."

This time he spit out his drink and glared at her while wiping the liquid from his pants, "Jesus Maxie, that was just all kinds of fucking wrong."

At that she laughed outright, loud and hard, her smile so contagious he couldn't help return it with an answering grin.

The sound of Darth Vader's theme song broke out and Johnny raised a questioning eyebrow at the music emanating from the direction of her lap. Maxie flushed and shot him an apologetic grin, digging into her purse and producing a slim phone.

With an expert flick of her wrist Maxie flipped open her phone and chirped, "Hi Kate."

Looking out the window at the passing scenery Johnny tuned out Maxie's conversation and thought about the complicated blonde next to him. There was just something about his girlfriends' arch-nemesis that intrigued him. He'd meant what he'd told her, he really did admire her – she survived, thrived even, in circumstances that would break most people.

Sure, she was a raving mess of conflicting emotions and possessed an all consuming need to hurt others just to seek some sort of solace from her own grief and demons. But he'd rarely seen, let alone met, someone who could keep going through all the shit that life seemed to be constantly throwing at her. It was almost inspiring really.

Okay, so maybe inspiring was a little much, but she was strong and she was definitely a force to be reckoned with. Lulu constantly compared her to a hurricane and maybe she was; swift and fast moving, hurdling through obstacles with the kind of confidence born of surety, of absolute belief in one's own destructive powers.

She was more than just a force of nature though; it would probably take a force of nature to take her down. And he liked that, he liked knowing that no matter who tried, no matter the circumstances, no matter the shit life piled on, she was just going to keep going, keep shoving forward – even if it was just anger, grief and hatred that fueled her on.

Made him want to believe again.

Believe that the ability to survive anything, even the burden of being a Zacchara was achievable. Most days all he wanted to do was run, escape from his family, his life, himself. But the deceptively delicate looking blonde next to him was a living reminder that no matter how bad you had it; it could always be worse. He didn't know if it was pity or admiration…but he knew with absolute certainty that he wanted Maxie Jones in his life.

He's had so little in his own fucked-up life to believe in, except for maybe his sister. The unavoidable truth that no one else besides Claudia seemed to be able to understand was that heartbreak, chaos and insanity were unshakable constants in his family, his life.

And maybe that was it, what was at the heart of this puzzling connection he felt for the feisty blonde. He had a gut feeling that Maxie would understand the demons he and his sister fought against on a constant basis. That not only would she understand but she wouldn't run from them or pretend they didn't exist.

Maybe it was more than wanting to be near Maxie; maybe he needed to have even just a little bit of her in his life. He needed somebody beyond his sister that knew the bullshit that he was capable of, could see him clearly for who he was and wouldn't care. He liked the idea of having someone in his life outside of Claudia that was capable of matching him dysfunction for dysfunction but would be there anyway; trust him anyway.

What the hell?

Johnny shook his head -- did he just reference the word trust to Maxie Jones? He thought about it for a minute then shrugged mentally and accepted it. It was what it was; he decided to just accept it. Maybe that's what had been missing in his life, acceptance. Acceptance without the conditions and limitations that his last name invariably guaranteed in all of his relationships.

For too long, he'd had to question everything, wonder about the motives of everyone around him, and he realized he was tired. Tired of the exhausting tedium of mistrust.

He knew it made no sense – he and Lulu were still dancing around the edge of trusting each other, and she'd made clear her feelings about his sister. But what she didn't get, was that Claudia came from his life, his world – if she hated his sister, then she hated a part of him that he could never truly turn away from. How would they ever truly trust each other, let alone build something long lasting?

But he believed in going with his instincts, it was how you survived in his world. And everything in him was telling him that he wanted to trust Maxie Jones. He wanted to be someone else in her life that believed in her.

He grinned to himself, when he had a revelation…he didn't mess around. The thought, the realization; that he wanted – maybe even needed -- the friendship of the snarky, defensive, manipulative blonde was a freeing one and he laughed out loud, the sound cracking through the darkened limo. Feeling freer than he had in a long time, he leaned forward and shut her phone with an audible click.

She stared at him mouth agape, then narrowed her eyes "You do realize that you just hung up on my boss?"

He shrugged, "I'll buy you a new one."

Her lips tugged upwards in a reluctant smile, "A new boss?"

"You shouldn't be answering to anyone Maxie, someone like you should be giving orders, not following them."

She raised her eyebrows questioningly at him, "Are you going to buy me my own fashion magazine?"

Again he shrugged, "Sure, why not?"

Her mouth fell open and then quickly shut, the calculating gleam back in her startling blue eyes, "I think I'm going to like being friends with you."

He raised his glass in her direction, "Here's to the start of a beautiful friendship."

She grinned at him, and leaned against him to tap the edge of his glass with her cell phone, "Here's to pissing off Lulu Spencer."

Her smile lost its mocking edge and settled with warmth at his answering laughter.

This promised to be a hell of an interesting friendship.