Shadow- Congratulations are in order, I do suppose! My best wishes for you, your fiancée, and the baby! Worry not about age, everything should turn out fine in the end. As for FF.net being the devil, yes, this is true. It has always been problematic for me and many others. Yet it so damned easy to post stuff here that it is, at times, worth dealing with its evil ways. Even Helena Cassadine herself would find a hard time dealing with such evil. Thanks for the praise, I never can get enough of that. The answer, or, partial answer, to Michael's condition is herein.

Story-

"What does this mean?" Carly asked, looking at Michael.

"Come on, buddy," Sonny pleaded with his son, "Quit playing around." Michael shook his head even more rapidly. Sonny sighed, "Mike."

"Sonny," Carly interjected, "What if he really can't talk? It isn't like him to lie." She rushed over and placed her hand on his forehead, feeling for anything unusual, "He doesn't have a fever."

"Michael," Sonny spoke softly, "I want you to be perfectly honest with Mommy and Daddy, okay?" Michael nodded his head in affirmation. "Are you telling the truth? Can you not talk?" Michael again nodded.

Carly hugged her child, "Oh, my baby, what's wrong?"

Sonny pulled out his cell, "I'll call Doctor Lewis, have him meet us at the hospital."

"What about Morgan?" Carly asked.

"Leticia-"

"Went to visit her mother for the weekend, remember?"

In this state of slight panic, Sonny had forgotten that the nanny had indeed gotten some much deserved time off. He continued to dial the numbers, thinking as fast as humanly possible, "Go get Courtney. Tell her what happened and tell her that we need someone to watch Morgan. I don't want him to be in the hospital with us, since I don't know how long we'll be there."

"What about Michael?"

"I'll be right here watching him while I'm on the phone. Carly, just go. The more time we waste the worse it can get."

Carly nodded as she dashed out the door. "Please let him be okay."

Cameron Lewis picked up on the other line, "Hello?"

"Dr. Lewis? This is Sonny Corinthos. Could you please meet me at the hospital as soon as possible?"

Cameron heard Sonny's distress in his voice, "Sonny, is something wrong with Carly?"

"No, it's not Carly. It's Michael."

"What's the problem?"

"I don't know," Sonny quickly answered, "He's telling us that he can't talk and I don't think he's playing a game."

"I see," Cameron's voice was heavy, he wasn't entirely sure that there was a problem. But it was his job to diagnose such things, he needed to at least examine the boy before he made an astute prognosis. "I'm on my way to the office right now, meet me here as soon as possible."

"We'll be there as soon as we can," Sonny closed the phone and gently grabbed his son's hand. "Don't be afraid, Mike. Mommy and Daddy are going to take you to the hospital and they're going to make everything all better."

Courtney came inside, "Sonny?" She saw that Michael didn't look at all different. But she saw Carly's eyes. Carly felt that there was some legitimate reason to be afraid for Michael's well being. Courtney wouldn't doubt Carly's love for her children. It was one of the few constants in her life. "Carly went up to the room, she's going to get dressed before you take him. What's wrong?"

"I wish I had a clue, but I'm not a doctor. I can tell when someone's been shot, or when a bone is broken, but this is way out of my league."

"Don't scare him, Sonny." Courtney advised, "He needs to see that you're being strong, it will make him stronger, too."

Sonny threw Michael's sheets off and picked him up into his arms. Michael grabbed onto his father's neck for support, "You can watch Morgan, can't you?"

"Of course," Courtney kept the door open for Sonny, "Just keep me informed of anything that happens."

"Tell Carly I went down to the car," Sonny requested as he walked down the stairs.

"Don't be afraid, Michael!" Courtney called out, "Nothing bad will happen to you." She turned towards the nursery, "I hope."

General Hospital-

Although they were mentally in a rush to find out anything at all about the condition of their son, Carly and Sonny remained as calm as possible. Courtney was right, Michael would pick up on the emotional signals that his parents were giving and he would adjust himself accordingly. Acting out on the panic that they were feeling only further put their son in whatever danger he might have fallen under. They would smile at him and tell him that everything was going to be fine, even though they might not have believed it all themselves.

Bobbie was working at the desk and saw that her grandson was being cradled by his father. Her instincts took over, "What's the matter with him?"

"We don't know," Sonny responded.

"How could you not know?" Bobbie was less than supportive of their ignorance.

"Carly," Sonny began, "I need to take him to see Dr. Lewis. Could you please explain this to your mother?"

"Yeah," Carly answered, "Just make sure that you don't leave our boy."

"I wouldn't think of it."

Bobbie watched as Sonny hurried down the hall. "Mom," Carly said, "You shouldn't have attacked us like that."

"He's your son!" Bobbie pointed out, "How could you not know that something was wrong with him?"

"He woke up and couldn't talk, mother!" Carly was on the defensive now, it was not something she was accustomed to, "Last night he was perfectly fine, but now I don't know what happened."

Bobbie calmed herself down, "I'm sorry, Carly. I didn't mean to attack you or Sonny like that. I just don't want anything bad to happen."

"None of us do." Carly hugged her mother, "Mom?"

"Yeah, honey?"

"Just tell me that everything will be okay."

Some Time Later-

Michael was in a hospital gown and on an examination table. Cameron was inspecting his responses. Bobbie, Carly, and Sonny all looked on. None of them speaking a word, but having a million thoughts run through their head with every second that ticked. Cameron entered some final data into his folder and closed it. "Everything checks out fine. Michael has no physical ailment."

"Then why can't he talk?" Sonny asked.

Cameron shook his head, "I wish I had a concrete answer to give you, but I don't."

"You're supposed to be a doctor!" Carly almost yelled, "Why can't you tell me what is wrong with my son?"

"I might not have an exact reason for Michael's problem, but I do have a theory. His mind has forgotten the speech function because he doesn't want to talk. Has he been through any recent trauma?"

Sonny and Carly exchanged quick glances. Sonny was the one who asked the question, "Why would that have anything to do with this?"

"Well if Michael has had a hard time coping with something that has happened recently. A death in the family or such, he might not have the ability to express it properly so he's just opted instead to keep everything inside. Until he comes to terms with whatever it is that he's having trouble with he might not talk again."

"You can't do anything at all, Cameron?" Bobbie wondered.

"As much as I would love to help you all with this problem, it isn't something that medicine can heal effectively. I'd like to give Michael time to deal with this on his own before I even start thinking about procedures to take." Cameron started towards the door, "Until then your best bet at solving this problem is finding out what caused Michael to be this way in the first place and helping him adjust through it. I'll be in touch if I find anything that may be of help."

The door shut softly. Bobbie didn't take the same liberty with the pitch in her voice, "You've both got a lot of explaining to do. I'd like to know what it is that happened recently that made my grandson a temporary mute."

Carly shook her head, "I don't know, mom."

"Damian," Sonny uttered.

"What about him?" Bobbie asked.

"We had a fight and he moved out," Sonny told his mother-in-law. "Michael found out and he's been acting miserable ever since."

"Why would he have anything to do with this?" Carly didn't want the theory to have any merit at all.

"You know how much Michael resented him leaving," Sonny said, "It's the only thing that I can think of."

Carly sighed, "So what do you suggest we do?"

"Get him over here."