Damian Grimaldi was sitting at the bar in Al's Diner. He was sipping a cup of coffee as he waited patiently for the food he had just ordered. He heard the jingle of the bell on the door that announced the arrival or departure of a customer. He saw out of the corner of his eye a man sit down on the bar stool next to his. The new arrival was mumbling under his breath, clearly angry about something. Damian caught some words such as "pervert" and "brainwashed" and phrases like "not a man" and "always hanging with that kind."
"A burger, fries, and a diet coke," the man snapped at Janet Snyder when asked what he would like to eat.
"Bad day?" Damian asked the man.
"You could say that." The man rubbed his forehead, as if trying to rid himself of a headache.
"Damian Grimaldi." Damian offered his hand in greeting.
"Colonel Winston Mayer." He gripped Damian's hand and completed the shake. Mayer. Isn't that Noah's last name? Damian thought to himself. Can't be his father. Luciano said he had passed away. Damian passed it off as coincidence and did not question if the Colonel knew Noah.
"Do you have a son, Mr. Grimaldi?" Colonel Mayer asked, arousing Damian's suspicions once more as to whether this man was indeed Noah's father.
"I do."
"Did you ever have an image of what he would be like as a man? Who he would be when he grew up? How you wanted him to be when he grew up?" the Colonel asked.
"I didn't exactly know my son when he was growing up. He lived with his mother and stepfather. But, yes, I had an image of him in my mind and what kind of a man he would be," Damian responded. "Thank you." Damian was served his food.
"Did he turn out to be the person you wanted him to be?" the Colonel asked taking a sip of his soda.
"Yes. I am very proud of my son," Damian asked, smiling. Thinking about Luciano always brought a smile to Damian's face. "Your son did not?"
"No," Colonel Mayer answered sharply.
"And you are not proud of the man he became? Despite him not being exactly who you wanted him to be?"
"No."
"If you don't mind my asking, what did he do that makes you so angry?"
"He's not a man," the Colonel said, voice full scorn.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I wanted him to join the Army when he turned eighteen but he decided he would rather waste his time with a career in film directing," Colonel Mayer said, contempt and disapproval clear in his tone. "Thank you." The Colonel had received his food.
"That seems hardly a reason to not be proud of your son," Damian said.
"It's not just that he won't join the Army. He has once again fallen in with the wrong crowd. He was always doing that. Even as a kid. I thought the Army would straighten him out, help him make better decisions about the people with whom he keeps company."
"The wrong crowd? He is involved with a gang?" Damian asked, though he was sure that was not what the Colonel meant.
"Not exactly."
"Well, then, I don't understand," Damian said, playing dumb.
"He is involved with the kind of people who brainwash and recruit perfectly good and decent, up-standing citizens. Bring them into their perverted lives. Want to make everyone into their kind of people," the Colonel said, hatred and loathing etched in the lines of his face.
"What kind of people would that be?" Damian asked, dislike for the Colonel now forming inside of him. He knew what kind of people Colonel Mayer was talking about – one specifically – and he did not like hearing someone talk so hatefully about his son and "his kind of people".
"Gay," Colonel Mayer said, spitting out the word as though it were contaminated.
"I see," Damian said, his suspicions confirmed. There was no more doubt in his mind that this man was Noah's father. He had heard stories from Luciano that Noah's father had been unreceptive to Noah's sexuality (though he did not know that the Colonel had tried to kill Luke, twice. Luke had left that part out).
"It's disgusting. Perverted. Unnatural. I will not have a son who is…" the Colonel trailed off, could not speak the word a second time. He had seemed to momentarily forget that he was in Al's Diner and in a conversation with Damian Grimaldi.
"You asked me if my son is the person I imagined him being when he grew up," Damian said, despite his dislike of the Colonel and the sinking feeling in his heart that he had thought the exact words the Colonel had just said when Lily had first told him that Luke was gay. "That isn't exactly true."
"What do you mean?" Colonel Mayer asked.
"I never imagined my son would be gay," Damian said. He had no intention of telling the Colonel that their sons were in love with each other, but he knew he must tell him what he had done to Luke and what he was now doing to correct his mistake in the hope that the Colonel would do the same.
"So they recruited your son too?" the Colonel asked, disgust in his voice.
"No. They didn't recruit my son," Damian said, annoyance apparent in his voice for the first time. "My son was born gay. And so was yours." It was a gamble, but it had to be done.
The Colonel made a hissing sound, almost like a snake.
"I am not going to lie and say that I was non-chalant about having a gay son. On the contrary, I was just as opposed to it as you are now. When I first found out I thought all things you are saying now. I contacted a friend of mine who worked at a deprogramming camp and was completely ready to send my son there."
"Did it work?" the Colonel asked, clearly considering the possibility of sending his own son to a deprogramming camp.
Damian registered the tone of voice in which Colonel Mayer had spoken and wanted to make it very clear that it was a bad idea.
"He never went. He discovered what I was trying to do. So, I let him be." The Colonel made another hissing sound. He's thinks I'm weak because I let Luciano get the better of me, Damian thought to himself. "I spent two years thinking about what I had done – had been trying to do – and I found that I hated myself for trying to change my son and make him into somebody that he's not. My son is my son and he is who is who. I shouldn't have tried to change that. So, I came back here to do everything in my power to get my son to forgive me. It's not an easy thing; I caused him a lot of pain, but I'm trying to make him understand that I wholeheartedly regret what I tried to do to him and he is slowly beginning to trust me again. And I would not change one hair on his head. I truly love my son for who he is and I am very, very proud of the man he has become." Damian smiled again, thinking about Luciano. "Whatever you did to your son, you should think about making amends. Get to know your son, the way he is," Damian said, not caring if he was crossing a line. He had talked to Noah quite a few times and he knew how much the Colonel had hurt Noah by not accepting him. Damian knew how badly Noah wanted a second chance with his father and Damian wanted to help give that chance to Luciano's love.
"If you want to have a disgusting and perverted son, that's fine, but do not be so arrogant as to tell me how to handle mine," Colonel Mayer spat at Damian, slammed his money down on the counter, and left Damian saddened by the fact that he had not gotten through to Noah's father.