Carly and Leticia were taking Morgan through a walk in the park. The baby loved it when he could be alone with his mother and his nanny, it was evident by the smile that was on his cherub-like face. Every time Carly looked at Morgan, she thought she saw something new, something that made her love him even more, if such a thing was possible. Carly already loved Morgan with every fiber of her soul, to love him more seemed impossible, but, if there was one thing that Carly knew, it was that there were ways to make things that were impossible possible.

Carly took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment before she opened the again. Turning, she looked at Leticia, who was pushing the stroller that Morgan was in, "Even though it's winter, and everything is dead, it's still a very beautiful day, isn't it? The air smells so clean and fresh." Carly may have loved New York City for the stores, and she did, but there was one thing that Carly did not love about the big city, and that was the way that it smelled. Her materialistic side may have had its appetite filled by the time that they left, but the other parts of her? They longed for home, the place she knew best, the place where her family was. Carly came to Port Charles all those years before, looking to destroy everything that her mother had touched, because of the way that Bobbie ruined her life. Who knew that now she could have everything that she wanted, everything that she dreamed of? A loving husband, beautiful children, best friends who she could always count on, and a mother who she was close to now. The only thing that Carly was missing was her father. Although she had finally given up a small amount of hope in finding him, whoever he was, she would always know that there was a part of herself that wanted to know the man, no matter who he was.

"I think Morgan likes it just as much as you do, Mrs. Corinthos," Leticia said as she looked down to see the baby, his arms and feet dangling around wildly. Leticia loved Michael and Morgan with all her heart. They were like children to her, although they weren't hers. There were times when she thought about leaving, thought about taking her services somewhere that wasn't as dangerous, but the boys meant so much to her, and she couldn't just abandon them. Besides, it was going to be hard to find a job that was as lucrative as working for Sonny Corinthos.

"That's because Morgan's like his big brother. Aren't you, Morgan? You love being out in the open, looking at the pretty things that nature can give you. They're so beautiful, aren't they, baby?"

Ric was coming back from his meeting with Sonny, the occasion fresh on his mind. Yes, he wanted John Durant to get out of Port Charles, and out of his hair, but Ric had taken an oath, one that said that he would serve and protect the people of Port Charles. Was working for Sonny Corinthos, his brother, who he knew was in the mob, despite claims that he may not have been, really taking that in the right direction? Maybe he was looking at it in the wrong light. Maybe he shouldn't have looked at it as working with Sonny, but more as working against Durant. People thought that Baldwin was a bad District Attorney, but Ric knew that Scott didn't compare to John. John was so intent on getting what he wanted that he would have no problem throwing everything out into the air, every rule, every regulation, just if it meant taking down someone for a crime as innocent as jaywalking. Ric couldn't have a person like that running the law in Port Charles. He may not have been the most perfectly moral person, but Ric had grown in strides as an individual since he arrived, and he was becoming more and more like a person that people could respect.

So caught up in his own thoughts was Ric that he didn't hear the voice that would have made him turn around and go another way. Carly was his sister-in-law, but, like typical relationships between the in-laws, they weren't exactly the best of friends. That was more Ric's fault than Carly's fault, a fact that he openly admitted. He had apologized time and time again for everything that he had done to Carly, but Ric was fully aware that people just didn't forget the pains that had been wrought upon them. He had 'given' up his quest to destroy Sonny, but that didn't mean that there still weren't moments when the animosity of their mother choosing Sonny over Ric did not burn inside of Ric's heart. Unable to turn around without being noticed, Ric decided to take his chances and walked towards Carly and her son. "Well, isn't this a sight for prying eyes. Carly and her baby, out in the open." Ric smiled at his nephew, a baby whose life he had once looked to ruin. Now, all he saw were innocent eyes that, in some small way, reminded Ric of himself. "Hi, Morgan. Look at how big you've gotten. Pretty soon you're going to be up and running around…"

Carly and Leticia shared a cautionary glance with one another. They were both fully aware of Ric and his past, the things that he had done. Carly much more than Leticia, but there was no love loss between Ric and the nanny. "Leticia, why don't you take Morgan home, I'll catch up in a few minutes, all right?" Leticia said nothing, only gave a nod as she pushed the stroller away from Ric, but not without looking at him one time, her cold eyes hiding none of the animosity and fright.

"You know, I can't believe how much that boy has grown… and he's only, what? A year and a half?"

"I can't believe that you wanted to take away the sight of me watching my own child grow in front of my eyes," Carly remarked bitterly.

The words cut Ric deeply, he felt the pain in every part of his body. But there was no denying that Carly was speaking the truth. "Carly… I know that nothing I can ever do or say is going to make up completely for everything that I've done, but I've told you and Sonny both time and time again that I'm deeply sorry for everything that I did to you when you were pregnant with Morgan. You have to understand… I wasn't in the right frame of mind, I thought that Sonny had cost me my child, I was dealing with losing a baby. You've dealt with that pain before, too, Carly. I know you have. You know the things that go through a person's head, the ways that they want to do anything, anything at all to get that feeling back, the feeling that they had when they were expecting to be a parent."

"I might have known what you were going through, Ric, but even when Sonny and I lost our first child together I never thought about having someone kidnapped and chained to a wall while she was pregnant with a child just to feel the part of myself that had died along with that baby again…"

"You have Michael, you've always had Michael. You and Sonny had someone to fall back on, someone that you could still love and cherish with all your heart. Elizabeth and I didn't. We didn't have anyone."

"Look, I'm sorry that you and Elizabeth lost your baby, I truly am. You're not my favorite people in the world, either of you, but I would never wish that kind of pain on anyone, even someone that I hate as much as you."

"I just… I just want you to forgive me. I want you to know that I know that what I did was horrible, and that I'm deeply sorry for it."

"You keep on saying it, and even if I do believe it, that doesn't mean that I'm going to forgive you for it. Do yourself a favor, Ric, stay the hell away from my family!"

Ric watched as Carly walked passed him, his eyes lowered. Without turning around, he spoke to her again, "You might want to tell your husband about the way that you detest me."

Carly stopped as well, "Sonny's always know how much I've hated you, ever since he got me back from all the crap that you put me through."

"Goodbye, Carly." Ric finally started to walk back towards the PCPD station, feeling the cold wind brush against his exposed flesh, almost numbing it. That was a good feeling, because it almost helped Ric with the pain that he was feeling. Almost.

Coffee House-

There was a little coffee house that was only a few minutes away from the main PCU campus, relatively close to the dorms. Damian could have stayed there when he arrived in Port Charles, but, since he wasn't a freshman, he didn't want to have that kind of experience. Add in the fact that, as an only child, he was accustomed to having things a certain way, his way, it just didn't make for dorm life being all that lucrative. He'd probably end up getting some idiot as a roommate who he would wind up hating and wanting to get out of his life. Although it wouldn't have mattered in the end. Damian had lived at Kelly's for only a few days before Sonny came and swooped him up into his world, into his life. True, there was that momentary pause where he had retreated into the sanctuary that Kelly's gave him, that feeling that he had where things made sense amid the chaos that his life had become, but, on the whole, he was living with his dad and his family in the penthouse, something that he didn't foresee changing anytime soon. He may have been twenty-one, which was a little old to live at home in some cases, but, at the same time he was Hispanic, and his values and morals were deeply intertwined with the values of morals of his family. In a lot of homes the children didn't leave until they were married, whatever age that may have been. They stayed with their parents, sometimes even after they were married if the connection was that strong. He remembered that his Tio Andres was twenty-six when he finally met and married his wife. It was just the way that they worked, and he didn't see anything that was wrong with it. In fact, a small part of Damian missed Los Angeles, a bigger part than he thought, actually.

One of the many, many medical textbooks that he was required to have read by the end of the year was placed on the table, his eyes scouring the information, retaining as much as he possibly could before he felt that his head could explode. Dillon and Georgie had it easier than they thought, and they weren't taking advantage of it. If Damian had known then what he knew now, about how much work he would have done in medical school, although he knew it wasn't going to be easy, he would have spent a little more time enjoying the relatively lax workload that he had in high school. Even with the advice of a certified college student, he knew that the teens weren't appreciating his knowledge, his insight. Already he had reserved the right to say 'I told you so' to both of them when they talked to him about how much they needed to do.

Damian turned away from the book for a moment to look around him at the students that made the coffee house their home away from home. A few of them were somewhat familiar faces, people that he knew by name and face, but not people that he really knew. In some ways, college was like high school, people didn't like to associate with those that they didn't quite know or understand. They were less vocal about it, which was a curse just as much as it was a blessing. He saw the way that they latched onto those that they knew, avoiding the people that they didn't know as well, or at all. They probably all knew who he was, most people in Port Charles did. And, they probably believed everything that people were saying about him, and his father. Most of it was true: he was a mob prince, although he didn't identify with that aspect of his life. At times the scope of his situation truly did baffle him. It was still so hard for him to see his loving, tender grandfather as a person who was once so cold and callous, dodging rival gunfire left and right. It was so hard for him to think of his Papi like that. Not his grandfather. But, no, Elias had admitted to it when asked, and Elias had never lied to his grandson, not even when Damian pleaded with him to say that there was some way that the doctors could make his mother better when she was terminal.

At times, Damian realized just how much he was going to lose. Dillon, Georgie, Brook, they were all dear friends to him, some more than others, but that didn't make any of them less important to him, even though all three of them were in high school… and, at the end of the year, all three of them would also be gone, going to the schools that they wanted. Georgie would probably go to some Ivy League school where she would come back with a pompous attitude, no longer the innocent little girl that she was. Brook would go to some music school and amaze the people around her with her beautiful voice, one that would surely catch the attention of the people around her, getting her a recording contract in just a matter of moments. Then, she would become a worldwide sensation, making people feel the deepest of emotions with her moving voice and lyrics. She wouldn't be the girl that he knew anymore. She'd have people that she could go to when she had problems, she wouldn't need him to be her crying shoulder, to be able to talk with him when she needed someone to blame. And then there was Dillon, the boy that he connected with so quickly that it surprised him. Damian had seen many, many rich people in Los Angeles, a lot of them went to his school, battling their parents for Public education because it made them stand out more. They were the guys and girls that could have everything that they wanted because mommy and daddy would just gladly fork out the money without a second thought. The ones who didn't need to try and do anything, because even if they failed they still had a nice comfortable cushion to fall back on. Dillon could have been exactly like them, but he wasn't. He was different. He was special. And not the short bus kind of special, but the special that people aspired to be, unique, a visionary. He would go far in his chosen craft, Damian was certain of it, and he was also certain that he would go to each and every movie that Dillon directed… but if he would go as a mere member of the audience, or as a friend… that was something that he wasn't quite so sure about. His friends, the people that he cared about, they could all change from the people that they were to him at that moment without a second thought. And what if they forgot about him… what if he lost them all?

Only Maxie would remain by his side, which meant that he would at least have a constant connection with Georgie, unless Georgie decided to cut off her ties to her less educated sister, which was not something that Damian thought Georgie capable of doing, but that didn't mean that she couldn't do it. Maxie wasn't even a student at PCU, she was a student at the community college, although she was looking to attempt transferring over at the end of the year, and, luckily, her grades in college were a lot better than her grades in high school. If push came to shove, would Damian actually use the leverage that he had to swing the vote in his girlfriend's favor? Maybe. But, even if he did, what kind of person did that make him? He hated asking himself that question, he hated even thinking for a moment that he could use his situation to his advantage. It was part of who he was, he couldn't deny that, but it wasn't who he was, he didn't identify with it.

"You ever wonder why you're always alone?"

Damian turned his eyes up from the book to see Durant staring at him. "Trying to see if you can find a young girl that you can bed, Mr. Durant?" Damian asked coldly, "That's what you like, right? You like them young. At least you did when you constantly paid for Bobbie's services…"

"I could have gotten those for free."

"Or at least for the cost of enough liquor to place her in such a drunken stupor that she thought you were someone that was marginally worth spending a moment with."

"Now look here, amigo…"

"And a bigot, too. Boy, you're just the poster child for politics, aren't you? Well, actually, I think you are something of a poster child for politics. You lie, you use your contacts for your advantage… shall I keep on going? The list is pretty long."

"Who do you think they're going to believe, Damian?" Durant asked, leaning against the table where Damian was sitting. "Me? The upstanding District Attorney, who is credited for making the streets of New York City a lot safer than they were ten years ago. Or you? The son, and the grandson of noted mobsters?" Damian's eyes went wide, which only made John smile. "You think I don't do my research? I know all about it, kid. You're not playing with some minor leaguer here. You're playing with the big boys now, and, as far as the major league goes, I'm a star. Why don't you mull over that for a little while, huh?" John winked and turned around, leaving Damian alone, alone to think about just how much John knew. And just how serious he was.