Authors Notes: What's this? Me? Trying my hand (or, as it were, fingers) at another story based on the wonderful characters of General Hospital? Why, yes. Yes it is indeed! What can I say? You don't write nearly 800 pages of story for a show and then just drop everything altogether, right? There was so much that was left to explore after 'Shadows of the Past' finally ended that I felt compelled to do a sequel, so the sequel is here. That said… those of you who don't even know what 'Shadows of the Past' is… go read it. I know, I know, its two parts long, a grand total of… nearly, or over, 200 chapters, and like I said, almost 800 pages, but if you don't read that then you won't have any idea about what is going on in this story! I worked really hard for almost half a year crafting that gem, and, dammit, I think it's a good read! Appease little old me by backtracking, would you? If you don't, then, by all means, continue reading, ask questions, and I will address them as best I can. Now then, for my returning readers (and hopefully reviewers), did you miss me?? I know it's been awhile, and I said that a sequel was unlikely, but I say many things that don't come to pass, and I waited awhile, didn't I? First of all, I want to thank everyone who read the original opus, as I have come to call it, and reviewed. Those that stopped reviewing towards the end… please tell me what you thought. I miss the reviews. I miss the reviews!!! I'm a review whore, honestly. Also, tell me what you want to see in this story. I'll do my best to craft something to your reading pleasures, provided it is within my power (if you, say, ask for Lorenzo to come back from the dead, that won't happen). I know a complaint was that I didn't give Damian enough darkness, and I look to change that, especially with the events the concluded the prior story. Now for the legal crap. I don't make any money off of this, I actually lose money because of the time I spend working on this when I could be doing something else like going out and getting a paying job. I don't own any of the characters, save for Damian Zuniga-Corinthos, his Zuniga family and anyone else who I might cook up for this story. Using them without my permission would be a very bad thing. Did I mention how much I love reviews? Well, I do. Give me reviews and I will always respond to them when I update the next time. I usually do daily chapter updates, sometimes more than one (last time, towards the end, I was doing three a day). Now then, my rant has ended… so let's get started with the story!

Story-

Port Charles, New York, Harbor Towers-

People didn't change so much in four months. At least not people that were his age. Children sometimes changed a great deal during such a short span of time, but he was no longer a child. He hadn't been a child since he was by her bedside that day when she left him. The childlike part of Damian died with his mother, and he had to force himself to become something different, something stronger, something more independent than the shy little momma's boy that he once was.

Yet, even with that cold fact, Damian knew that he had changed a great deal. He'd gone from being a parentless only child to being the son of a father who loved him dearly, a big brother to both his adopted brother and his infant half-brother, who he would gladly lay his life down for, and did at least once. More than that, he'd changed in other ways that didn't involve family in the least. He'd fallen in love with a beautiful girl who brought out a part of him that he had thought was long since gone. Maxie Jones was the most important woman in his life, and she would remain so for the foreseeable future. For Damian, Maxie was all that he needed, and he strongly felt that the bond between the two was as strong on her side as was his. Still there were more changes to the young man, who had barely turned twenty-one shortly after his arrival in Port Charles. He'd finally found himself a best friend who he could confide in and just be one of the guys with. And his name was different. Damian Zuniga was a person in the past. Everything about him now was Damian Zuniga-Corinthos, a melding of his mother and his father, a product of a union.

And all of that had happened to him in four months. But there were still so many things that also happened to him. Things that were good, things that weren't good. But, through it all, Damian knew something without a doubt in his mind, he was happy. At least a part of him was, the part of him that he thought might never actually be happy again. There was a part of him that did die with his mother, there would be a part of him that would always belong to her and her alone, but he realized that the parts of him that he thought went away with her did not, in fact, go away, they were merely sheltered, waiting for a time to come out again and show him things that he'd never felt before.

To some, he was still the same Damian that he was when he arrived in Port Charles, or when he left Los Angeles looking for a man that he only knew the name of, but for those that truly knew him, and for Damian himself, he knew that it was the farthest thing from the truth.

He watched the snow fall freely outside the window of the penthouse that belonged to his Uncle Jason and Aunt Courtney. It was enticing to him on so many levels. Something about the unadulterated specks would always appeal to the California native, who had never seen true snow fall before he came to New York.

For others, it was just another mid-December in Port Charles. Dillon Quatermaine was one of those people. He'd seen snow fall plenty of times in his life, and he was sure that he was probably seeing the same snow that he saw fall the other day, that there was some big giant cosmic recycle button that was pressed to make the snow fall. He walked over to Damian and stood beside him, snickering, "You're a real work of art, you know that?"

Damian did not return the snicker, but he did smile. "So says the boy who spends… how much time on his hair?"

"That's a secret that even you don't get to know," Dillon retorted. "You might use the information against me… take my trademark hairstyle and make it your own!"

"Why would I want your hair, Dillon?" Damian wondered, finally taking a moment to gaze at his best friend, who was only a few inches shorter than him. For all they knew, Dillon could eventually be the taller one. He was still in high school, he could hit another growth spurt. "I mean, really? I would have never thought anyone could pull off that look aside from you. I don't know how you do it, to be honest."

"I'm just special, I guess," Dillon was quick to defend his hair, as he always was. It was a part of him, a big part of him, and certainly the part of his own appearance that garnered the most attention. His hair would take second place to Georgie Jones, but aside from her, everything was inferior to the hair. "We can't have a movie marathon if you keep on looking outside the window, Damian! Come on, it's just you and me!"

"Why are we doing this again?" Damian wondered. Dillon's enthusiasm for movies was something that Damian did completely respect, but he could never actually comprehend. How could someone watch the same movie over and over? Even the movies that Damian liked weren't constantly being played in repeat. He would watch them a few times a year, on special occasions, but aside from that, nothing.

"Because we're celebrating!" Dillon threw his hands up in the air, a goofy grin appearing. "You finished your first semester in the medical program at PCU and I managed to make it through the long tedium that comes with the time between summer vacation and winter vacation! Something that I might not have been able to do if it weren't for you."

"You would have done fine without me, Dillon." Damian knew that Dillon was a lot smarter than he let on. Dillon needed to apply himself, and he did, with filmmaking. Everything else was secondary knowledge, unimportant unless he could utilize it in his Academy Award winning directorial debut. Damian understood the focus on a certain field. Medicine had been his passion since that day so long ago, but he also took the time to do his best in other areas.

"It's nice to know that I have something to celebrate," Dillon's attitude and jovialness faded and his face contorted. Something was bothering the boy, something deep.

Damian knew what it was. Dillon was still mourning the death of his grandmother. Damian remembered the morning that Courtney, her eyes welled up with tears, knocked on his bedroom door. He was still half asleep himself when she told him, but he was over to the other side of the building in a matter of moments. Georgie was the love of his life, Damian knew and respected that, but Georgie wasn't able to get there so fast and he was. Damian had never once met Lila Quatermaine, but he knew about her. Everyone who came to Port Charles and stayed knew about Lila Quatermaine. An angel given human form was a commonly used phrase, and she touched the lives of so many. In a lot of ways, Damian's own grandmother was like Lila, and it was because of that similarity that Damian was able to be there for Dillon when Dillon needed him. They didn't hug, Dillon didn't cry on Damian's shoulder, he just sat there, on the couch, occasionally shaking in grief, telling Damian about the few good times that he had managed to get with his grandmother. Tracy, his mother, had taken the boy away and he was deprived of so much because of it. She was still trying to do that, even though he was now safely away from her, under the protection of Jason Morgan.

"You going to be okay?" Damian finally inquired, giving his friend a moment. Sometimes the best way to deal with grief was to let it come, accept that it was there. He had fought that feeling for so long, and it had not been something that he wanted to repeat.

"Yeah," was Dillon's somber reply. "We should get some popcorn." Dillon, looking for any idle distraction, began to dig through the cabinets, looking for the box of popcorn bags. There was a time when Courtney and Jason had next to nothing in their shelves. A growing teenage boy was quick to change that. A growing teenage boy who loved movies brought even more change, like the television that was now safely nestled in the living room. Before, there was nothing. Jason and Courtney weren't the most avid television watchers in the world, and neither was Dillon. While a lot could be said of watching a movie in the theatre, there were movies that just weren't out yet, and because of that he needed a television.

Damian watched as Dillon moved towards the microwave, pushing the buttons for the desired cooking time. Dillon had perfected the art of popcorn making to the best of his abilities. Rare was it when there was even one burned piece or a kernel in the bag. It was a secret art, much like the hair technique. Dillon was avoiding making eye contact. Damian let it go. His best friend was hurting, and Damian knew that Dillon was well aware of the fact that he could depend on the slightly older young man as he had in the past.

Changing the subject as soon as something came to mind, Damian asked, "So, what are we watching this time?" In the time that had eclipsed since his arrival and Dillon's subsequent change of address Damian had been shown some of Dillon's most fondly adored movies. Jason had yet to watch any. Dillon had made it his mission to get Jason to watch one movie with him. So far, the odds were highly in Jason's favor.

"I'd let you pick… but I learned from my mistake." The sadness was slowly being erased from his mind as he recalled that particular moment.

"Maxie said that I would appreciate the moral lesson of Kate and Leopold!" Damian grimaced, remembering the long, drawn out time that movie brought upon both of them. Dillon took it worse. He was quite close to strangling Damian. "How was I supposed to know it was just some cleverly veiled lie so that I would watch the movie?"

"Because it has Hugh Jackman and he doesn't have claws in it!" Dillon did finally let another low laugh come out. "Repeat after me, 'Hugh Jackman with claws, good. Hugh Jackman without claws, bad.' Do you understand?"

"I get it, I get it." Damian was quick to conclude that he would never watch another movie with Hugh Jackman ever again, that way everyone was saved the trouble. "But you need to answer my question now, Dillon. What are we watching?"

"I figured we watched Marlon Brando at his best before he let himself go when we watched Streetcar, so this time we'll watch Marlon Brando at his best when he let himself go and watch the Godfather part one… is that okay?" Dillon was more than willing to give Damian a moment to consider what was said. Maybe he didn't know just how much the whole Godfather mob thing had to do with his own life as the son of a mob lord. But then again, who hadn't watched the Godfather movies? Wasn't it required?

"I've never seen it before, but you usually pick really good movies, so I'll give you this one."

Dillon's theory proved to not be true, but at least Damian was willing to give the movie a shot. "I think you'll like it. People say that two is better, and I agree with them, but Brando's in the first, so that would go with the theme. Besides, maybe all the action going on will get Jason's attention if he comes in."

"You're never going to give up, are you?"

Dillon sat down with the bowl of now finished popcorn and propped his foot up against the table, grabbing the nearby remote and turning on the television. "Quatermaine's are stubborn creatures, Damian, what can I say?"

The movie started and there was a period where everything was fine. Damian was truly interested in what was going on, then everything changed. At first it was slight, and he thought he could hide it, but each time he heard the sound go off it grated at him even more. Finally he couldn't take it anymore, "Dillon… turn the movie off… please."