Shadow- I could picture a young, relatively untainted, Faith dancing around in a pink tutu. It's pretty scary, but plenty realistic. And even if it isn't true, you're right, it's something Faith would say in a heartbeat. She's so wicked, that widow maker. Jason's less than pleasant and gentle evacuation of Damian was needed, even if she wasn't planning on poisoning him at that point in time. It's actually a good thing that the trip got postponed. Now I have a chance of going to Disneyland and California Adventures. Word is that Cali Adven has a soap opera café. And if this is true (one of my best friends told me, so it probably is), I won't be stopped from going in there and acting like a beatnik.

Maddie- Thanks for the review! It's always good to know that I please the reader!

The Cellar-

Zander Smith did not enjoy being treated like he was some lackey. Although he couldn't deny that based on what he did with his life it was indeed his choice of a lifestyle. He worked for Faith, not with her. They weren't partners in any sense of the word, not even in bed. To her, he was submissive, and Zander wasn't the type of man that would just stand around and obey. Faith had made it very clear to him, however, that if he did try and run away from the life she would see him dead. He was good at avoiding trouble for the most part, but he wasn't sure that he could live a life where he was constantly watching his back for one of her other minions. He was already part of a very dangerous life, but at least he had some control over it. If he ran from Faith he might not be so lucky. For now he'd just be a good servant, but he was quickly realizing that his threshold for obedience was wearing thin. When it broke what would happen? Maybe he didn't want to find out.

Faith was on her knees, dealing with the mess that Jason Morgan had left her. She was cautious when she was cleaning up the shattered glass that littered the floor of her bar. She didn't want her skin cut. She was a fan of blood, although it wasn't all that great when the blood was hers. Now that the excitement was gone she was bored again. The worst part for her was the fact that she didn't even get to play with the young pup that had made an appearance. The drink wasn't even laced with anything, her plan was to get him drunk enough of pure liquor before she put anything special inside. Jason ruined that for her, much like he ruined just about everything. "I never was any good at cleaning up messes."

"But you're plenty good at being on your knees," Zander came down the stairs and chuckled, "Your choice of activity is just a whole lot different."

She got up and wiped her hand, "You're right. I'm just so much better at making messes than I am at cleaning them up. Maybe it's just my special talent."

"I wouldn't go that far," Zander smugly commented.

Faith mock pouted once more, "You're just no fun today, Mr. Smith."

"You don't pay me to be fun, Faith."

She shook her head, "On the contrary, my pet. I pay you to do whatever I want done and make sure that it is done right." She pinched his cheek harshly, "Which reminds me, didn't I send you on a mission of some kind a few minutes ago?"

"You did."

Faith thought about it, "You better have results for me."

Zander smiled, "Would I come back if I didn't have what you wanted?"

"I asked you to do my grocery shopping and you couldn't do it all," Faith commented.

Zander sighed, "How many times must I tell you, Faith? They do not make black vanilla ice cream. I know that you can't even look at white without hissing, but you were asking for just a bit too much there."

"Oh, I never ask for too much," Faith sat on a stool, "I always make sure that the amount I want is just right."

"You want the information that I have for you or not?"

Faith grabbed a pretzel and dangled it in her fingers, "That depends, is it worth my time?"

"I'm willing to bet it is," Zander stated.

Faith took a bite of the pretzel, "Fine, do tell."

"That kid you met earlier is Sonny's son."

Faith laughed, "It's so easy to tell when you're lying."

Zander looked at her, "Then you should be able to tell that I am not lying right now, shouldn't you?"

"The only kids that Sonny has are the Quartermaine throwaway and the miracle baby," Faith said. "Sonny never said anything about having a full grown son."

"I heard him and Jason talking about something. They kept on mentioning 'father' and 'Sonny', it doesn't take a genius to put those two together. Damian is Sonny's son."

Faith giggled, "I knew he got around once he came into power around here but I never imagined that he was so wild when he was a mere underling. Don't get any ideas of planting your seeds inside people while you're under my rule, Zander. In the meantime," She pulled out some money from her cleavage, "You've made a believer out of me." She took a smaller amount from the wad and placed it in Zander's pocket, "Make sure you use it to buy me something pretty. You know how much I like the shiny stuff."

"When are you going to stop treating me like I'm your subordinate?" Zander asked.

Without turning around and looking at him, Faith gave her answer, "When you stop acting like my subordinate, dear Zander. You grew up watching 'Dallas', I'm sure you can think of a few ways to use J.R.'s teachings and make an impact." She heard Zander hurry up the stairs once more as she reached for a bottle from behind the counter, "Just don't mess up if you try, I won't be there to pick you up when you fall."

Corinthos Household-

Jason walked in without knocking, if Sonny had gone somewhere Jason would have known about it. The only place he could be was at the penthouse. While Jason was expecting to see Sonny in the living room he was instead shocked to see Carly there, her eyes welled up with tears. Carly turned to him and quickly got to her feet and hugged him, "Thank God you're here!"

Jason placed his arms around Carly, "What is it? What's wrong?"

She pulled away from him, "It's Michael."

Jason looked up towards the area where Michael's room was, "What's wrong with him?"

"He's mad at me," Carly said.

"He's not hurt or anything, is he?" Jason asked.

She shook her head, "Not physically, no. But, Jason, he's torn apart right now. He's blaming me for what happened with Damian. He's absolutely crushed that Damian moved out."

Jason walked her over to the couch, "You saw how much they connected while he was living here, Carly. Michael was used to being the big brother, when he got one of his own it should have been obvious that they would build a close relationship. You shouldn't have been expecting anything else in the event that Damian did leave."

"He's so trusting of people that come into our lives," Carly mused, "He's got that childlike ignorance that I never had. I tried to give him everything I could to make him happy. At times that involved getting out of his life when I knew that I'd do more bad than good. I should have never let them get so close."

"You couldn't have stopped it from happening no matter how hard you tried, Carly."

"I could have kept him from moving into this house!" Carly lashed out, "I should have held firm in my belief that he was only going to wreck everything, made Sonny see that I was right. But instead I folded. I wanted to give my husband what he wanted, and look where it got me."

Jason was always supportive of Carly, even in the times where he thought she was wrong. They had a strange relationship that only they truly understood. At one time it was something much more than their close friendship, but it was better suited this way. They had become closer than most natural brothers and sisters. Jason certainly felt more at ease around Carly than he did around his blood relatives. Emily might have been an exception only because she was adopted. Still, even with the kinship that Jason and Emily had it wouldn't compare to that which was shared by Carly and Jason. "Michael," Jason stopped himself, not exactly sure as to how he would explain what he needed to say, "Michael was always afraid that the two of you would clash so much that something like this would happen. He said that he thought you hated him."

"It wasn't far from the truth," Carly replied.

"But he couldn't understand why you hated him, Carly." Jason pointed out, "Michael's not able to understand a lot of things right now. You're not giving him the answers that he wants and needs to the questions that he's asking."

"I can't explain why I don't trust the boy, Jason."

"Then how can you expect Michael to understand it?" Jason asked, "Maybe once you find the answers inside of yourself you can help him realize what you want him to understand. Whatever that may be."

"Do you think I was being too harsh?" Carly grabbed his knee. She valued his opinion more than she valued a lot of other people's. At times that list included Sonny. This was such a time.

"I think that you're a woman with strong opinions, Carly. At times they can be so strong that they will blind you from what you need to see, but you eventually do see something that either changes your opinion on only affirms it. He only gave you reasons to think that he was here to do something that would hurt you and your family in your eyes. You weren't doing anything more than acting on instinct."

Carly hugged him again, "I'd crumble without you, Jason. You know that, right?"

"You're a strong person, Carly. You'd eventually find a way to get along without me."

Carly shook her head, "No, you're not going anywhere!"

Jason smirked at her, "You know that isn't true. We can't live forever, Carly, it's a fact of life. I don't intend on going anywhere anytime soon, and I will be wherever you need me to be if you just tell me to be there for you, but someday one of us won't be coming back. Given the life we lead, I'm pretty sure that I'm the one that's going to go first."

"Don't talk like that," Carly pleaded, "You can't leave me, you can't leave Courtney."

Sonny walked down, "Morgan's asleep again. Leticia was right, he falls asleep easier in my arms." He saw the scene in front of his eyes, "What's going on here?"

Carly looked up, "Nothing, Jason's just helping me reflect on my life, like always."

"What did you find?" Sonny asked Jason, who was either more concerned about Faith or simply did not care about what Carly was going through at the moment.

"I found your son at the Cellar," Jason informed Sonny.

"What are you talking about?" Sonny asked, "He's not even old enough to drink yet."

"As of today he is."

Sonny shook his head, "And?"

"Faith was going to give him a drink, I stopped him from taking it and made sure that he knew what kind of a person Faith is. I got the message across and he left."

"You didn't have to do that," Sonny told Jason, "He's an adult, he can make his own choices. He doesn't need me or anyone else fixing the problems he gets himself into."

"I couldn't just let Faith poison the kid," Jason stated. "But aside from that I didn't have any chance to inspect her and now she'll be expecting me."

"We blew the chance we had," Sonny surmised. "But, I guess I can live with it. You helped my boy, Jason. Thanks."

"I've got a shipment coming later tonight," Jason informed Sonny, "If you need anything you know how to get in touch with me."

As soon as Jason was out the door Sonny turned and started to walk upstairs, "Sonny!" Carly called out, "What's happening to us?"

Sonny refused to turn around, "I don't know, Carly. I just don't know." He walked up the stairs and out of her sight.