fic: on a summer day (gh; lucky/maxie; lanaverse au)

[empressearwig]

Title: on a summer day
Author: empressearwig
Pairing/Fandom: Maxie/Lucky; General Hospital, Lanaverse AU
Rating: G
Word Count: ~2700
Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is all for fun. This hasn't happened. Yet. Etc.
Summary: Maxie tries to learn to love Lucky's kids.
Author's Notes: Written for the prompt "amusement park" for my schmoop_bingo card and for normative_jean's birthday. I'm pretty sure that she'll regret asking for this as soon as she reads it. Only for you would I write my first General Hospital fanfic in more than a year. The more things change and all that. Happy Birthday!


This was all Lucky's fault. Maxie wasn't sure about very many things when it came to this mess, like how she'd ever been coerced into agreeing to an outing to the amusement park with Lucky and his kids, though she suspected it had something to do with Lucky catching her at a weak moment, probably after sex, but the one thing she knew for absolute certain was that it was his fault.

Lucky reached over to pat her knee. "Relax. It's going to be fine."

Maxie shot him her best "who do you think you're talking to here" look and he just laughed and patted her knee again. She resisted the impulse to huff -- barely. "I don't know why you're being so calm about this," she said instead. "This is going to be a disaster. What were you thinking? Kids hate me, Lucky. They can sense that I'm so not a kid person and that I fear them and --"

Lucky cut her off with a kiss. As a distraction technique it was every bit as effective as Maxie was sure he knew it would be. She relaxed into the kiss almost immediately, leaning across the middle console to get a better angle. When he kissed her like this, she was willing to believe whatever he said. It was to his credit that he didn't exploit it as often as he could have.

He drew back, breaking the kiss. He stroked his thumb over her cheek, cupping the side of her face. She leaned into the touch. "It's going to be fine," he said again. "You know Cam and Jake. You like Cam and Jake. And they like you."

Maxie opened her eyes. "They like me as their dad's friend, the one who bribes them with extra ice cream --"

"I knew it!"

"--when your back is turned, but as their dad's girlfriend? That's something else Lucky, you know it is."

"We're going to come back to the bribing them with ice cream thing," Lucky warned, pointing a finger at her. "But first of all, they're five and two. They're still pretty fuzzy on the difference between friend and girlfriend thing. Unless you stop with the ice cream bribes, which I'm sure you have no intention of doing, I'm pretty sure their opinion of you isn't going to change at all. And second, stop bribing them with ice cream!"

Maxie smiled impishly at him, patting him on the cheek. "Not a chance."

Lucky sighed. "What am I going to do with you, Maxie Jones?"

"Oh, I have some suggestions," she drawled suggestively, leaning across the console again, but Lucky was looking past her, out the car window. She turned her head to see Elizabeth bringing the boys out of the building, a bodyguard trailing behind them at a discreet distance. She saw Lucky's jaw tighten just the slightest bit at that.

"Hold that thought, okay?" he said. "Really. Hold that thought." He opened his car door and got out to greet them.

It was Maxie's turn to sigh. She knew he hated this part, hated the reminder of where his kids were living and who they were living with. Not for the first time, Maxie let herself think horrible things about the choices that Elizabeth continually made. She looked back out the window and came to a quick decision. She opened the door and joined Lucky as he rounded the hood of the car, slipping her hand into his. He looked up at her with surprise. "Together, right?" she murmured for his ears only. He smiled, briefly, and squeezed her hand.

Cam finally spotted them and broke off from Elizabeth at a run. "Daddy!"

Lucky let go of her hand and bent down to catch Cam as he flung himself at him. "Hey Cam," he said, only grunting a little at the impact. "What's your mom feeding you, bricks?"

Cam frowned. "No."

Lucky shook his head, and Maxie smothered a laugh. Cameron's tendency towards absolute literalism was hilarious. "Say hi to Maxie, Cam."

"Hi Maxie," Cam parroted. "Are you coming with us today?"

"Yes, Lucky," Elizabeth said, coming up to them with Jake on her hip. "Is Maxie going to the amusement park with you?"

"Elizabeth," Lucky warned, voice low and flat. "Don't."

Maxie laid a calming hand on his arm. Really, where Elizabeth got off criticizing Lucky's choices when she married a mobster and tried to take Lucky's kids away, Maxie had no idea, but she was more than capable of rising above. Especially since the kids were there. "Hi Elizabeth," she said sweetly, knowing that it would be driving the other woman crazy. "So nice to see you again." She bent down to Cam's level. "And yes, I'm going to come with. If that's okay with you, I mean."

Cam nodded solemnly.

"Great." Maxie stood back up. "Shouldn't we get going? I mean, I know I'm no expert --"

Elizabeth snorted.

"-- but I always remember the lines being crazy long if you didn't get there early enough on Saturdays and we don't want that do we?" Maxie finished, just barely managing not to clench her teeth as she did so.

"Good idea," Lucky said, reaching over to take Jake from Elizabeth. "I'll drop them off tomorrow night at the usual time, okay? Say bye to your mom, Cam."

Elizabeth stooped to give Cam a hug and a kiss and Maxie softened for just a second, because whatever Elizabeth's other faults she was a good mom to the boys, but when she straightened and gave Maxie a dirty look, all the good will vanished. Elizabeth started back towards the building and Maxie gave an internal sigh of relief.

Lucky pressed a kiss to her cheek, Jake sitting on his hip. "Thank you," he said into her ear.

Maxie shrugged and reached up to ruffle Jake's hair. "No big deal."

"Oh, I disagree, but we can talk about it later," he said. He opened the door to the backseat and began to strap Jake in. "Do you mind --"

"I got it," Maxie said, waving him off. She held out a hand for Cam. "Let's get you all strapped in while your dad deals with your brother, okay?"

He took her hand and they headed around the back of the car. Maxie opened the door and he clamored into his booster seat easily enough, snapping his seat belt closed like a pro. "Wow," Maxie said. "I don't know why your dad thought you'd need any help with that."

"Don't try to turn my kid against me, Maxie," Lucky warned, not looking up from the buckles on Jake's car seat.

Maxie laughed and closed the door, heading back around the car, swatting at Lucky's butt as she walked behind him. She opened her own car door and slid inside, slipping her sunglasses back onto her face. So far it wasn't a total disaster. She could work with that.

Lucky finally finished with Jake and circled the car to get in behind the wheel. He reached over to pinch her knee, hissing "You'll pay for that later," before turning back to his kids. "Who's ready for the amusement park?" he asked.

Jake and Cam answered with a chorus of "Me, me, me's" and Lucky laughed and started the car.

***

Maxie's assessment of the day as not a total disaster lasted about as long as it took to get to the amusement park. Then after the buying of the tickets and the unloading of the car and the first and second trips to the bathroom (and who knew how many times little boys needed to go to the bathroom?), without going on so much as a single ride, Maxie was already exhausted. Cameron and Jake were another story entirely. They were overflowing with energy, Cameron practically dancing in circles around them as Lucky studied the map of the park and Jake banging his fists on the side of the stroller cheering his brother on. She wondered if maybe Elizabeth hadn't given them each a box of sugar for breakfast.

"Alright," Lucky said, folding up the map and sticking it in his back pocket. "I think I have a plan."

"Does it involve --" Maxie started to say, but cut herself off at Lucky's look. "I wasn't going to say anything like that, Lucky, honestly."

"Like what?" Cameron piped up, finally at rest beside his father.

"Yeah, like what?" Maxie echoed, raising her eyebrows at Lucky.

She thought she saw his cheeks turn the slightest bit pink, which was frankly adorable. "Like nothing," Lucky hurried out. "What do you think about going on the Kiddie Coaster first?"

Cameron pumped his fist. "Yes!"

"Well okay, then." Lucky reached down to take Cameron's hand. "It's this way," he said, starting off to his right.

Maxie shrugged and start pushing the stroller along behind them. If stroller duty was her major job for the day, she could probably handle that. She listened to Cameron chatter away at Lucky and watched the crowds of families around them. She found herself wondering if that's how the four of them looked to outsiders, like a family. She blinked. That was not a thought she'd planned on having. She wondered if it was possible to have heatstroke after only an hour, because that was clearly the only explanation for that particular insanity and --

"Maxie?"

She shook her head. "What?"

Lucky looked at her curiously. "Where were you?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know."

"We'll come back to that," Lucky decided. "Do you mind watching Jake while Cam and I go on the ride?"

"Nope." She made a shooing motion. "Go have fun."

Lucky's eyes narrowed. "No bribery, Maxie."

She gave him her best innocent look. "Would I do that?"

Lucky opened his mouth to answer, but Cam tugged on his hand. "Let's go," Cam pleaded. "Come on, Daddy!"

"Yeah," Maxie said on a laugh. "Come on, Daddy."

Lucky pointed a finger at her. "Don't ever do that again. Alright, Cam, let's go get in line."

Maxie waited until they disappeared into the crowd before crouching down next to Jake. "How do you feel about some ice cream?"

***

After Jake threw up on the merry-go-round of all things, Maxie was willing to concede that maybe Lucky had a point on the no ice cream thing. The worst of it was that Lucky hadn't even gotten mad, he'd just sighed and started digging through the bag of stuff that he'd brought along with him looking for wetnaps. If there was a more effective way of making Maxie feel terrible, she didn't want to know it.

"I'm so sorry," she said for the tenth time. "What can I do? There has to be something I can do."

Lucky looked up at her from his spot on a park bench, Jake held against his shoulder. "Maxie. It was bound to happen sooner or later."

She knotted her fingers together in front of her. "I know, but --"

"Why don't you take Cam on a ride?" Lucky suggested. "Jake and I will just stay here and have some quiet time until his stomach settles down."

Maxie blinked. "Take Cam on a ride? By myself?" She said the last word on a squeak.

The smallest hint of a smile crossed Lucky's face for just a split second, but it was enough. She squared her shoulders. She could do this. She would do this. She held out a hand for Cameron. "Come on, Cam," she said with a sniff. "Let's go have some fun."

Cameron hopped down off the bench and took her hand. "Okay. Bye, Daddy!"

Maxie refused to look back as they headed out in search of a ride. She was too afraid of what she'd see.

***

From her seat at the top of the Ferris Wheel, Cam pressed up against her side, her hand over his eyes, Maxie vowed to hurt Lucky at the next available opportunity. Heaven forbid he give her a warning about Cam's fear of heights before sending her off by herself with his son, no, that was clearly too much to ask. How was she supposed to know that Cameron was going to lie about something like that? How could she be reasonably expected to know something like that?

Lucky was going to pay.

"Are we almost to the bottom yet?" Cameron asked.

Maxie looked down at the distance between them and the ground and lied through her teeth. "Almost there, sweetie."

"Are you lying to me?"

Maxie frowned. What was it with Spencer men and being able to see straight through her? She would have at least thought that it didn't kick in until they needed to start shaving or something. "Yes."

"You're not supposed to tell lies."

"Really?" Maxie asked. "Then why did you tell me that you wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel?"

"That wasn't a lie," Cameron said indignantly.

She raised an eyebrow at that. "Cameron, you're scared of heights. How wasn't it a lie?"

His face took on a stubborn set that she most definitely recognized. "I wanted to go on it. So it wasn't a lie."

"You wanted to go on a ride that you knew you were scared of." She said it very slowly, wondering if this was how Lucky usually felt when having conversations with her. It was exactly the type of logic she usually employed.

Cameron nodded.

"Okay then."

They lapsed into silence long enough to get two cars closer to the ground.

"Are we almost there yet?"

Maxie started adding to her mental lists of punishments.

***

They're in the car on the way home when Maxie remembered what they actually went the amusement park to do. "Hey," she said in a whisper, looking over her shoulder at the sleeping children in the back seat. "We didn't tell them."

Lucky looked at her in confusion and she arched an eyebrow at him and all of a sudden the light went on. "Oh," he said. "You're right."

Maxie made a face at him. "You say that like it's a surprise." She saw his lips start to turn up into a smile before he managed to suppress it and her jaw dropped. "Lucky Spencer!"

"Shhhh," he said, nodding his head towards the backseat. "Sleeping children."

She made a hrmph-ing noise and slumped back into her seat, crossing her arms over her chest.

Lucky looked over at her. "Oh come on, don't pout."

"I'm not pouting."

"You're doing an awfully good impression of Cameron when he doesn't get his way if you're not pouting."

"Your son is a whole lot smarter than his father," she said with a sniff. "In fact, if he were much older and I was much younger, I think I'd like him more."

"Well, then it's good for me that neither of those things are true, now isn't it?" Lucky reached over to tug one of her hands loose, twining their fingers together. He raised her fingers to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss against them. "Thanks for doing this with me, Maxie."

She felt herself melt. How did he always manage to do that to her? "I guess you're okay, too. And anyway, it was fun."

"You're a terrible liar," he said, pressing another kiss against her knuckles.

She tried to tug her hand free. "I am not."

"Are too."

"Am --"

"Daddy?"

Their heads swiveled towards Cameron in the backseat in unison, before Lucky swung his back around to focus on the road. "Yeah, buddy?" he said in a slightly strangled tone of voice.

"What were you doing with Maxie?"

Lucky looked at her and Maxie just shrugged her shoulders at him. His kid, his problem. "Well," Lucky said slowly. "You know how your mom is with Jason now, right?"

"Yes."

"I'm sort of seeing Maxie in the same way. Is that okay?"

"Does that mean you and Maxie are getting married?"

Maxie blinked at that. She turned her head to Lucky, who was looking back at her with the same shell shocked look that she was sure was on her face. Clearly neither of them had anticipated that question. "No, Cameron, it doesn't mean that," Lucky said finally. "Just that Maxie and I are really good friends."

Cameron shrugged. "Okay."

"That's it?" Lucky asked, taking a quick peek in the backseat. "You don't have any other questions?"

"Nope," Cameron said. He pointed out the window. "We're home!"

Lucky looked over at Maxie and smiled.

Her heart clenched.

"Yeah," Lucky said, turning the car into the driveway. "We are."