Notes: People are going to die! Stupid weekend, prohibiting me from watching my soap. Oh, I am so very pissed off about that. Anyways, on to the reviews.

Shadow- Thanks for the compliment on the chapter title. I had to check and see what it was, because I really don't put much weight into the chapter titles as I do everything else. I usually just think about something that has a thread in part with what was going on. Don't worry about how you present yourself in your reviews, the fact that you spend time reviewing them is good enough for me. Also, hope you're happy with the baby's gender. I'm looking forward to finding out what Elizabeth's baby is going to be, since it looks like she might survive, although Ric won't. Anyway, best of luck with getting the gender you want, provided you have a favorite, of course.

Joy- To be fair to Sonny (daddy *snicker*), he did put a bullet in the head of the woman he, at the time, loved. If I did that, I'd pretty much swear off of using guns as well. I thought the choice was wise, and from what I've heard it was actually Maurice's choice to do that, although he later said he wanted to take Sonny back to his roots. I could picture Sonny as a loving father who had to deal with the demons of his past life, but it looks like that part of his character is over, and I'm okay with that. As for why we love Sonny being in the mob, I really don't know. You're right, we shouldn't be so supportive of people who make a living doing illegal things and killing people, but the way that they portray Sonny makes you empathize with him. He was abused as a child, and it is well known that children who are given a hard life growing up will often turn to a life of crime, so you kind of feel for him. Plus, you see that he wants to be a better person than a mobster, but it's basically all he knows. The writers created a character with so many layers, some good, some bad, but they all make Sonny such an appealing character, at least for most. The great thing about Faith as a villain is that she's scary, but she's funny. All good villains have that humorous side to them, at least in my eyes. I love Faith, she's probably my favorite established character to write, because she has so many quirks that I can work into my plotting. I'm glad that you're anticipating the chapters to come, I'd hate to think that my story was boring you.

Story-

Corinthos Household-

It had been hours since Sonny and Jason had bolted for Los Angeles after Damian, and it had been hours since they had told anyone anything about what was now happening. Those hours didn't go by pleasantly for Carly, Courtney, and Michael. Michael had barricaded himself in his room. He knew something was wrong, and no one was giving him the answers. He was tired of being treated like a little boy. Someone he loved a lot was in trouble and the other people he loved weren't telling him what he wanted and needed to know. He had spent a lot of time just running his hand along the chain that Damian had given him. It was the only thing that brought him comfort.

Downstairs the two women were on the couch. Courtney sighed, "Do you think we should be keeping this from Michael?"

"What do you mean?" Carly asked. "Michael's a little boy, he's my baby, he's not ready to understand that people are always going to try and hurt us because daddy and Uncle Jason do a lot of really bad things to people who probably deserve what happens to them."

"Keeping secrets, not talking about what was going on, that's what caused Michael to lose his voice, Carly!" Courtney pointed out forcefully. "I don't want to see that happen again."

"And you think I do?"

"Of course not, but you are not taking the steps that you should be in order to prevent it from happening again."

"What am I going to do?" Carly wondered as she got up and paced around the room. "Tell my son that his dad will find a way to keep his brother safe? What am I going to do if Sonny comes home and brings Damian back in a casket, huh? How am I going to explain to Michael that daddy couldn't protect him, that daddy couldn't keep his promise?"

"Are you sure that's it, Carly? Or do you want Damian dead, and you just don't want to admit to yourself that there's a chance that he could be coming back."

"I can't believe you're asking me something like that, and I don't appreciate the accusation."

"You've done nothing to go against that accusation, Carly! You've fought with Damian as much as you possibly could and tried to push him away from Sonny and the rest of us. You've never made it anything but apparent that you want him out of our lives!"

"I don't want him dead!" Carly shouted. "Believe me, Courtney. I do not like that kid, in fact, I hate him. But Sonny cares about him, and you do, and my sons do. If he was to die somehow it would crush so many people that I do love, and I couldn't bear to see you all going through such pain."

"Why can't you see that he just wants to live his own life?" Courtney asked. "You thought that he was here to destroy your family, and at the beginning so did I. But I can see that I was really wrong about him. He's scared and insecure about himself and his place in life. He wants a place to belong and he's always been able to turn to his family for support, except for when he came here and everyone that was his family was somehow turning their backs on him. Do you know how much he wishes that things could be different, Carly? How much he would give to actually be a friend to you, to have a relationship that wasn't something that involved the two of you tearing each other apart at every turn? He lost his mother, and you're his step-mother. Did you think that, even for a moment, he would love to have you take her place? Did you ever think that maybe he was looking to you to give him what he had lost when he was so young?"

"I could never be that boy's mother!" Carly was infuriated. "He will never be anything more to me than my husband's bastard child!"

"How does that make him any different than us? Or Jason?" Courtney asked. "We were all born into situations like that. Carly, think about how Bobbie had you."

"It was different then!" Carly defended them all. "This is so much different from what happened with us."

"Is it?" Courtney said. "Sonny was forced to have sex with his mother in order to stay alive. None of them asked for it, but it happened, and we should just help give him a place in our family like he deserves."

"No!"

"He loves your children like they were his always his siblings, Carly! Look at him, how he acted with Michael when Michael was in the hospital. I have no doubt in my mind that if Michael was still in that hospital at this moment, Damian would be there with him, and he would have never left. He has every reason to disregard Michael and Morgan, but he doesn't, because he knows that they are family. He could have just walked away from everything after he found out about Sonny."

"He should have."

"But he didn't because he knows how much Michael adores him, because he knows how much it would hurt Michael if he just stopped coming around for no reason. He doesn't want to hurt anyone."

"And yet he does it anyway, Courtney!" Carly snapped at her best friend. "He comes here with the best of intentions, trying to fulfill the last request of his now dead mother, not worrying about what he does to our lives? He may not want to hurt anyone, but he hurt everyone when he came here."

Courtney shook her head, "No, Carly. He just hurt you because there was something that you couldn't even start to control. You try and keep your family under some protective bubble and he came around shattering it. The only reason you hate him is because you weren't the one that brought him around."

"Why are you doing this to me? Why now?" Carly asked.

"Because you're not worried about him!" Courtney shouted. "The only reason you're wondering if he's even alive right now is because if he is dead then you're going to have to play damage control. Do you realize how sickening that is? That kind of stuff I expect from the Quatermaine's, Carly, but I always figured that you had a heart for people even when they didn't deserve it. It was the only reason that I could think of that made me accept that you still talk with Alcazar."

"I do have a heart, Courtney!"

"Then why not try showing it once in awhile?" Courtney asked as she started up the stairs. "There's a little boy upstairs that is very afraid that his big brother won't ever see him again. I shouldn't be the one to try and help him through this, but if you're not going to then I don't really have a choice."

Michael had been listening since he heard his aunt and his mommy yelling. He hated it when the grown ups fought, it made him very scared and at times he wasn't sure that everyone would still be a family. That possibility was what scared him the most. He loved his family and he wanted them all to stay together.

Courtney, in the heat of the moment, didn't even take into account that Michael might be able to hear her arguing with his mother. She didn't regret yelling at Carly with the only exception being that he could have heard her. Carly deserved to be yelled at, she had for a long time. She would always love Carly, but there were times when she just couldn't understand her best friend. When Courtney saw Michael there she covered her mouth and gasped. It didn't take a genius to realize that he had heard something. "Michael, how long have you been standing there?"

"I heard you and mommy yelling," Michael said sadly. "You and mommy never fight. Sometimes Mommy and Daddy fight, or Mommy and Uncle Jason, but never you, you never fight with anyone!"

"I'm sorry, Michael. You shouldn't have heard me yelling, I should have been more careful."

"Aunt Courtney, he's going to come back, right?" Michael asked. "Damian's going to be fine. Daddy and Uncle Jason will save him from the bad people, won't they?"

"I really hope so, honey. But you need to realize that they can't always fix everything."

"They have to!" Michael exclaimed. "I don't want him to go away again!" Michael started to try. The tears were small at first, but the emotions quickly overcame the boy and he fell to the ground in a sobbing fit. "I didn't even get to tell him goodbye."

Courtney knelt down and hugged him, letting his tears soak into her jacket. "I don't know if they will or not, Michael, but I believe in my heart that they'll find a way to bring your brother back to us alive."

"Mommy doesn't want him back."

"I know that, but your mommy doesn't want him dead, either."

"I wish they could be friends."

Courtney patted him on the back, "I wish they could, too." She held him, staying quiet, just letting him know that she was there for him.

Zuniga Household, Los Angeles-

"You know, you're being awfully quiet, even for you."

"I don't have a lot to say, Nana."

She sat on the couch next to him, "You told me that you needed to talk to us about something. That's the entire reason why you're back in Los Angeles right now. So, you need to talk, I'm right here. Talk."

"This doesn't involve you."

She laughed, "Anything in this family involves me, Damian. Anything in this family involves everyone in this family, you know that. It's the way we work, we're strongest when we're all together."

"We'll never be as strong as we used to be, not with mom gone."

She looked at him sadly, "Is that what this is about? Are you still grieving over your mother?"

"How can I not?" He asked. "She died and she shouldn't have."

"We have to accept that it was part of God's plan," She reached for his hand and he pulled away. "Damian?"

"I'm so sick of hearing that!" He yelled, frustrated. "Every time we talk about it, that's all I hear. It was part of God's plan, God wanted her up there. God, God, God. Did God happen to care about what it would do to us? Did God think that I could handle not having either of my parents around me. Because if God did, then God made a really big mistake."

She gasped, "You know I don't appreciate that tone of voice, and I certainly don't appreciate you spitting on the faith of this family."

"I can't deal with it, not anymore! I've kept my mouth shut and let you all shield yourselves to the reality of the situation with your false pretenses, but I just cannot do that now!"

"We've always accepted your choice to abandon your faith, Damian," She said to him calmly. "But you have to respect our choice to keep ours."

Damian was about to say something when Elias walked into the house after a long day. He smiled when he saw his grandson, "I've missed you so much."

Damian glared at him in such a way that Elias was beyond shocked. The old man spoke once more, "What, you can't give your Papi a hug?"

"I want the truth," Damian demanded. "I know what you did before I was born, but I want to hear you tell it to me!"