Despite Janice's reservations about Mac and Dara's relationship, she was true to her word and with the exception of the childish prank about the bedrooms, she was the perfect hostess to her houseguests. During the dinner, without being obvious, Janice closely observed Mac and was unexpectedly surprised by his attentiveness towards Dara. Several times during the evening Mac and Dara glanced briefly at each other and seemed to communicate not with words but more often with sly smiles, brief caresses, and playful winks. From the dinnertime conversations it became apparent to Janice and Robert that Mac had traveled all over the world and had led a quite colorful life before settling in Port Charles. The Williams loved to travel and every year during their marriage they indulged in an extravagant vacation. Mac spoke knowledgably of many of the vacation spots they had visited and in more than one instance was able to entertain the dinner party with some of his experiences in his 'younger days'.

Reluctantly impressed with his background, Janice commented, "Coming to Port Charles, New York is quite a big change from Istanbul, Sydney, and Beijing. Don't you ever get the urge to pick up and resume your past adventures?"

Sipping the excellent Chardonnay obtained from Robert's wine cellar, Mac momentarily remembered how Felicia would have probably loved it if he did long to go back to his old life. He shook his head and said without reservations, "Not at all. I think raising my niece Robin domesticated me quite a bit and made me realize that there was more to life than travel and adventure and espionage. That way of life contributed to the early deaths of my brother and sister-in-law. My work as police commissioner is far from boring and it satisfies my need for adventure and more importantly, my need to make a difference in this world. There are other things that are important to me now," Mac said looking at Dara, "including good friends and family."

After dinner, the two couple changed into evening clothes and headed to Chances Are, a popular upscale dance club in Buffalo for a late night Valentine Day celebration. The boisterous DJ welcomed the roomful of couples to the club tonight and enthusiastically talked about the program for the night. After playing several very popular love songs to get the audience in the appropriate frame of mind for the evening festivities, the DJ made an announcement.

"Some folks are visiting us here tonight from out of town and the gentleman wanted a special song played for his ladylove. So folks, come on out on the dance floor and join Mac and Dara as I play Mac's special request for Dara. It happens to be one of my favorite songs - which is why I agreed to the request." The crowd broke out in uproarious laughter. "Dara, Mac asked me to play Gerry Rafferty's 'Right Down The Line' and here is it for you."

Absolutely floored that Mac had arranged in advance to have a special song played for her, a dazed and extreme touched Dara was led to the center of the dance floor by Mac.

"This song really expresses how I feel about you, about us," Mac whispered as he took Dara in his arms. He softly sang, slightly off-key, the lyrics of the song to Dara as they danced.

You know I need your love, you've got that hold over me,
As long as I got your love, you know that I'll never leave.
When I wanted you to share my life, I had no doubt in my mind,
And it's been you, woman, right down the line.

I know how much I lean on you, only you can see
The changes that I've been through have left their mark on me.
You've been as constant as the Northern Star, the brightest light that shines,
It's been you, woman, right down the line.

Mac led Dara in graceful glides and twirls around the dance floor. Even the couples who originally joined them on the dance floor eventually stopped dancing, stood smiling, and watched as Mac serenaded Dara.

I just wanna say this is my way of telling you
everything I could never say before,
Yeah, this is my way of telling you that
everyday I'm loving you so much more.

'Cause you believed in me through my darkest night,
Put something better inside of me, you brought me into the light.
Threw away all those crazy dreams, I put them all behind,
And it was you, woman, right down the line.

"How did he pull this off?" Janice asked in amazement. She was mesmerized as was everyone else as she watched Mac and Dara dance to the song. "He's not a bad dancer, considering..." Janice grudgingly acknowledged.

Robert gave a sheepish grin and replied, "Mac called me last week and asked about our plans for the weekend. When I made the suggestion that we all would probably come here tonight to celebrate, he took it from there and contracted the manager here."

There was no doubt, as she sat and watched her best friend be literally swept off her feet tonight by Mac, that Dara loved Mac and was very happy. No matter what reservations Janice may have had about Mac and his relationship with Dara, it was obvious that they loved each other and it didn't matter to them what Janice or anyone else thought. At this moment, Janice consciously decided to be a true friend to Dara instead of being a 'best friend'. Janice was glad that Dara had finally found the happiness she so richly deserved.

I just wanna say this is my way of telling you
everything I could never say before,
Yeah, this is my way of telling you that everyday
I'm loving you so much more.

If I should doubt myself, if I'm losin' ground,
I won't turn to someone else, they'd only let me down.
When I wanted you to share my life, I had no doubt in my mind,
And it's been you, woman, right down the line.

As the song faded the crowd burst out in applause as Mac sweetly kissed a teary-eyed Dara and said, "Happy Valentine's Day sweetheart".

"I love you, Mac," Dara whispered, leaning her head on his shoulder as they walked arm in arm back to their table together.

"I love you too. This is only part one of your Valentine weekend surprise. Part two takes place on Sunday," Mac promised.

~~~*~~~~

"I can't remember when I've spent a more miserable night on Valentine's Day," Felicia grumbled to herself as she hung her winter coat in the hallway closet. The house was totally quiet; Robin and the girls were probably in bed already.

Roy and Bobbie invited Felicia and Tony to the brownstone for a quiet Valentine Day celebration. Felicia felt that Tony was sweet but let's face it, she knew that she had hit rock bottom when the only male company should could dig up for tonight was her ex-brother-in-law. Heck, Lucy had reclaimed Kevin has her steady date so even Kevin wasn't available as a fallback date. And there was no way she was going to spend Valentine evening alone. That evening everyone tried to cheer up Felicia and encouraged her to move on with her life. She absolutely planned to move on with her life, just as soon as she could eliminate Dara from Mac's personal life and get him to move back home. Felicia had called Mac's cellphone twice today to wish him a happy Valentine Day but each time her call was routed to his voice mail service. Thinking that he might returned her call while she was at the brownstone, Felicia looked at her answering machine and noticed that she did indeed have one message waiting. "I knew that Mac wouldn't be so petty as to not wish me a Happy Valentine's Day, even if he is out of town with that tramp." Pressing the play button, an unknown male voice spoke from the answering machine. Felicia's triumphant smile slowly disappeared as she listened to the message. It was a message for Mac; obviously the person did not that Mac spent little time at home these day. Annoyed that Mac hadn't called, in a spiteful act Felicia reached forward to erase the message since she had no intention of forwarding to Mac. Upon hearing the words "weekend surprise for your lady", Felicia's movement was arrested and her hand hovered above the answering machine. Puzzled she pressed the repeat button to hear the message again in its entirety.

Jacob Blutner was the proprietor of a small general store near Union Springs New York. Mac owned a cabin at Cayuga Lake, about 10 miles from the general store. In a pleasant voice, Mr. Blutner's said, "Mr. Scorpio, I left a message for you at work but just to be on the safe side I'm leaving this message for you at your home number also. Everything is arranged for your weekend surprise for your lady friend. I was able to have someone go in and clean up the cabin according to your instructions. I stopped in there myself today to drop off some supplies and food items and I can tell you that the cabin will be a perfect place for a romantic weekend. The weather is due to be nasty but somehow I don't think that you and your lady friend will mind," Mr. Blutner chucked. "Let me know if there is anything else you need from me and drop by the store for a minute if you can during your visit."

Filled with rage and frustration, Felicia pounded her index finger on the erase button of the answering machine. Damn it Mac. You never took me to that cabin. You were always too busy and we were always going to do it soon. But now you're going to take Dara there and not me?!! Well, you may get there with her but you won't have the weekend that you planned. Turning off the lights downstairs, a malevolent Felicia went to her bedroom to work on her plans to sabotage Mac's getaway weekend with Dara.