Notes: Funny how I tend to forget to mark the page number count at the
bottom, but I remembered this time. Go me!
Story-
Los Angeles-
Faith walked out of one of the stores that lined up the streets of the great city of Los Angeles with a wide smile on her face. She stepped into her car and laughed, "Do you know how long I've been looking for this fragrance? You just can't get it over in Port Charles."
"Maybe you should think about relocating here permanently if you find it so hard to live in New York without smelling the way you want," Maxie countered spitefully.
Faith rolled her eyes, "Why is the gag not over her mouth? I specifically asked for the gag to be over her mouth at all times! Zander, were you looking for some intelligent conversation from her? Need I remind you just how idiotic this girl is?"
"She was thirsty, Faith," Zander replied. "She's not going to do you any good unless she's kept alive, remember?"
"I remember everything, my dutiful servant. Including the attitude that you give me when I don't request it. How many times must I remind you that you need to remember your place in our little pyramid of power? I'm at the top, and you're way at the bottom." Faith got out a stick of lipstick, "Do you want me to draw you a graph? Would that help?"
"You do realize how much time we've wasted while you gallivanted around this city on a shopping spree, don't you?" Zander wondered. "By now that kid could already be somewhere else."
"Where would he go?" Faith asked. "The only people he knows in this city are his grandparents. He was a loner, he doesn't have any friends. Probably because he has the personality of a dead tree stump."
"Damian is the nicest person alive!" Maxie pointed out. "He has a heart, he cares about people more than he cares about himself, and he would try to help them. That's more htan I can say about you."
Faith pinched Maxie's cheek and laughed, "You know, you're feisty. If I didn't plan on using you for a bartering chip now I might think about putting you on the payroll."
"I'd never work for you, Faith."
"You'd never have a choice, kid," Faith shot back.
"I'd sooner die than spend my time taking orders from someone as self involved and pathetic as you!" She spit on Faith.
Faith made a sound of sheer disgust as she wiped away the spit, slapping Maxie across the face so hard that the side of her mouth started to bleed. Faith, utterly enraged, stared at her, "You're lucky that your boyfriend just happens to be the most vital piece of my plan or else I'd make sure to waste him in front of you just because of that!" She checked herself in the mirror, making sure that she was fine with the spit wiped away, "You know, when it comes to your boyfriends, Maxie, I seem to be the one that makes their mortality rate drop considerably."
"What are you talking about?" Maxie asked, not showing anything in her voice that would give Faith the indication that her slap hurt Maxie, even though it did. Inside she was scared and she wanted to know that she could see the people that she loved one last time.
"You know? The rich kid that ended up dying a month ago. Kevin? Keith? Kenny? What was his name?"
"Kyle."
"Ah, yes, him." Faith grinned at Maxie, "You didn't know that I was the one that ended up giving him the drugs that killed him?"
"Why would you do something like that?" Maxie asked.
"You graduated High School, didn't you?" Faith mocked Maxie. "You had to take economics. Do you need me to explain it? Fine. Money can be exchanged for goods and or services. Kyle had the money, I had the goods. We did the exchange thing and I was able to buy something pretty for myself while he got the most potent drugs that I had. A pity he ended up dying, he most certainly would have been a returning costumer if he hadn't have been so stupid and overdosed. Of course, I suppose he would have done it eventually, although I still wish that I could have gotten more money from him. No use crying over spilled milk and body bags, I suppose."
"You don't even care that a young man died because of what you gave him! You, you're so horrible!"
"Please, girl," Faith said. "I know what kind of kid that Kyle was. He was lower than most of the people that I employ, and that's really saying a lot. Don't you remember all the stuff that he did to you? Keeping you around for drugs and sex, making sure that you were always at his side even though he treated you like you were nothing. Don't try and get all self- righteous on me right now, because I know that you're perfectly content with that boy being six feet under."
"That's a lie!" Maxie said. "I may hate Kyle, but I never thought he deserved to die. He was a horrible person, and he probably would have continued to act that way for the rest of his life, but I saw what type of person he was and left him for it. Maybe he would have changed, maybe not, but he at least deserved the chance to live long enough to make his choice. You didn't even give him that!"
Faith grinned, "You going to cry over him?"
"I'm through shedding tears for Kyle," Maxie instantly replied.
"How long will you cry if I happen to off the new boy on accident?" Faith asked.
"If you hurt Damian in any way, Faith, you're going to end up dead for it! Sonny's not going to let you kill his son, and I'll make sure that my dad puts the entire PCPD after you."
Faith laughed, "I'm so very afraid of the morons that your father employs, Maxie." Faith grabbed the gag and put it around Maxie's mouth. "You provided me with an outlet, but I've already grown tired of hearing your voice. I've more important things to do with my time now than worry about you. Let's go find that boyfriend of yours, shall we?"
Zuniga Household-
Elias looked at his grandson, the only link that he had left to his daughter, the child that was supposed to give him so much. Ana-Maria had showed so much promise. An excellent student, compassionate, she had many colleges all around the country looking for her, hoping that she would get an education there and use her talents to help better the world. That all changed the night that the old feud was brought back into the light. The night that she was tainted with a man that was not her husband. How could Damian have found out about that part of the past? It was forbidden to talk about the old ties in front of the grandchildren, even his children were only marginally aware of the past that their father once lived through. It was for their own safety. They knew enough to keep them alive, and didn't ask any more. Elias played Damian for a fool, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Damian snickered, "For someone who lives by such a strict theocracy as you, you sure do go against that Bible that you love so much. Wasn't one of the first things they taught you not to lie to anyone? Especially your family."
"I don't appreciate being called a liar!" Elias shouted.
"I don't care what you appreciate, Papi!" Damian snapped back. "Tell me the truth or I will take you to your grave with nothing but hatred in my heart for you. Don't make me hate you, Papi. I don't want to hate you."
"How could you say such things to your Papi?" His grandmother asked. "He raised you from the moment you were born, he's the only father figure you've ever had!"
Elias shook his head, "Victoria, stop."
She looked over, "But he is dragging down your good name!"
Again Elias shook his head, "No, mi Corazon, the only ones who do that are you and I."
"Elias," She let her voice hang.
"He is correct. We live our lives by the good book, yet we betray that word every day by not telling him of the past that he has a right to know about." Elias turned to Damian, "We only did it to protect you, Damian. You grew up without a father, and then you lost your mother. You've been through so much already and we're both so very proud of the way that you've handled it, especially given your youth. But we felt that this was something that would break you and we would eventually lose you the same way we lost your mother. That would kill us both, because we love you so much. Victoria," He called out, "Please leave us. This is something that I must do alone."
The silence hung over them both when Victoria was gone. It wasn't easy for either. Damian felt some regret over the words that he used on his grandfather. But he did believe that he could hate Elias if he wasn't honest with him anymore. Damian felt that he deserved to be told the truth, and he knew that he really did. It was more than Elias's past that was being affected, Damian was brought into the world because of that past. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, that past was always going to be a part of him.
"You must never blame your Nana for any of this," Elias began. "She is the only reason that I am still alive, and through her the only reason that you and everyone else in my family breathes. If it were not for Victoria's love, I would have been dead long ago. She took me from the edge and showed me the light, she is innocent in this, perhaps as innocent as you. She lied to you only because we agreed that all of you should never deal with my sins. I never intended for you to find out."
"You intended to lie to me for my entire life. You would have taken this to your grave, wouldn't you?"
Elias nodded, "As much as it pains me to say it, yes. I would have died never speaking this words to you if I could have managed it. I know how much they hurt you."
"They don't hurt me as much as knowing that you lied to me, Papi," Damian said softly. "You've always taught me to be honest about anything, no matter how hard the truth was. How many other things have you lied about to me?"
"I swear on the name of my beloved Ana-Maria that everything else I have told you in your life is entirely true," Elias stated. "You know my love for your mother eclipses that of anything else in my heart, I would never use her name in vain."
"I know, neither would I."
"How did you find out?" Elias asked. "The people in New York, they should not care about the activities of a former criminal in Los Angeles."
"My father lives in Port Charles, Papi," Damian said. "He has a wife and two children who he loves very much."
"El Diablo," Elias muttered. "The one that took something from my daughter that she could never hope to get back. Tell me, is he a good man?"
Damian struggled for the words, "I don't know. I want to believe that he is, Papi, because he is my father and I want to have respect for him. But, much like you, he has lied to me about the things that he did in his life. I lived with him for a time, but when I found that he lied to me about his activity with the mob I had to leave. I cannot accept being around people that would not give me the honesty that I give them."
"Why did you not come back home to Los Angeles?" Elias wondered. "We will always take you in, Damian. This is your home as much as it was when you left."
"I cannot leave Port Charles, Papi. There are people that I care about and I know they cannot get by with me being gone. He has a son, not even 10, named Michael. That boy is not even his by blood, but he loved Michael in ways that some blood parents do not show their children. And I love Michael as well, he is my little brother and he looks to me for support. I cannot leave him, I cannot cause him the pain that my departure would bring upon him. There is also the baby, Morgan. I want to be in their lives as much as I possibly can, because they are family and they deserve to know that I care about them."
Elias listened, but he could tell that there was something else. "There is more that you are not telling me. It is more than the people that you have found that are your family through your father. What are you keeping from me?"
"I wasn't going to keep it from you, you interrupted me. I have found more than family in New York. I have found friends, people that respect me for who I am and how I act. But there is still more, I have found someone that I love."
"Victoria will be happy to hear this," Elias noted. "She always worried that you would be too shy to find a person that would make you happy."
"She makes me very happy, Papi. I think of her constantly, and know that she thinks of me as well."
"Will you marry this girl?"
"I would like to think that one day we would be married, yes. But that is a very long time down the road. She is important, but she respects my choice to become a doctor. If we truly love one another, it will last until I am done with my schooling."
"I had never imagined that you would find so much in a place so far away from us," Elias boasted proudly. "It shows me now more than ever that you are no longer the boy that I held in my arms after you were born, but you are a young man that I can depend on to do the good that I know your mother would have if she had not been taken from us so soon. I am sorry that I lied to you, Damian."
"I know you are, and I know why you thought that doing such a thing was the right thing to do, but it was not."
"Do you forgive me?"
"I suppose I do."
"And what of your father?" Elias wondered. "His reasons for the lies that he told you are not much different from the ones that I told you, are they?"
Damian shook his head, "Forgiving Sonny is something that I do not believe I can do. He lied to me directly, Papi. I asked him why there were so many people that wanted him out of their way, and he gave me an answer that had some truth, but was not what I was looking for."
"The life he leads is full of corruption, Damian. He was trying to keep you safe."
"I do not need him to keep me safe," Damian replied as he heard a knock. Since he was closest to the door he got up to answer it, but not before turning his head back, "I can take care of myself."
As soon as he opened the door he saw Faith looking at him, "Can you now?"
68
Story-
Los Angeles-
Faith walked out of one of the stores that lined up the streets of the great city of Los Angeles with a wide smile on her face. She stepped into her car and laughed, "Do you know how long I've been looking for this fragrance? You just can't get it over in Port Charles."
"Maybe you should think about relocating here permanently if you find it so hard to live in New York without smelling the way you want," Maxie countered spitefully.
Faith rolled her eyes, "Why is the gag not over her mouth? I specifically asked for the gag to be over her mouth at all times! Zander, were you looking for some intelligent conversation from her? Need I remind you just how idiotic this girl is?"
"She was thirsty, Faith," Zander replied. "She's not going to do you any good unless she's kept alive, remember?"
"I remember everything, my dutiful servant. Including the attitude that you give me when I don't request it. How many times must I remind you that you need to remember your place in our little pyramid of power? I'm at the top, and you're way at the bottom." Faith got out a stick of lipstick, "Do you want me to draw you a graph? Would that help?"
"You do realize how much time we've wasted while you gallivanted around this city on a shopping spree, don't you?" Zander wondered. "By now that kid could already be somewhere else."
"Where would he go?" Faith asked. "The only people he knows in this city are his grandparents. He was a loner, he doesn't have any friends. Probably because he has the personality of a dead tree stump."
"Damian is the nicest person alive!" Maxie pointed out. "He has a heart, he cares about people more than he cares about himself, and he would try to help them. That's more htan I can say about you."
Faith pinched Maxie's cheek and laughed, "You know, you're feisty. If I didn't plan on using you for a bartering chip now I might think about putting you on the payroll."
"I'd never work for you, Faith."
"You'd never have a choice, kid," Faith shot back.
"I'd sooner die than spend my time taking orders from someone as self involved and pathetic as you!" She spit on Faith.
Faith made a sound of sheer disgust as she wiped away the spit, slapping Maxie across the face so hard that the side of her mouth started to bleed. Faith, utterly enraged, stared at her, "You're lucky that your boyfriend just happens to be the most vital piece of my plan or else I'd make sure to waste him in front of you just because of that!" She checked herself in the mirror, making sure that she was fine with the spit wiped away, "You know, when it comes to your boyfriends, Maxie, I seem to be the one that makes their mortality rate drop considerably."
"What are you talking about?" Maxie asked, not showing anything in her voice that would give Faith the indication that her slap hurt Maxie, even though it did. Inside she was scared and she wanted to know that she could see the people that she loved one last time.
"You know? The rich kid that ended up dying a month ago. Kevin? Keith? Kenny? What was his name?"
"Kyle."
"Ah, yes, him." Faith grinned at Maxie, "You didn't know that I was the one that ended up giving him the drugs that killed him?"
"Why would you do something like that?" Maxie asked.
"You graduated High School, didn't you?" Faith mocked Maxie. "You had to take economics. Do you need me to explain it? Fine. Money can be exchanged for goods and or services. Kyle had the money, I had the goods. We did the exchange thing and I was able to buy something pretty for myself while he got the most potent drugs that I had. A pity he ended up dying, he most certainly would have been a returning costumer if he hadn't have been so stupid and overdosed. Of course, I suppose he would have done it eventually, although I still wish that I could have gotten more money from him. No use crying over spilled milk and body bags, I suppose."
"You don't even care that a young man died because of what you gave him! You, you're so horrible!"
"Please, girl," Faith said. "I know what kind of kid that Kyle was. He was lower than most of the people that I employ, and that's really saying a lot. Don't you remember all the stuff that he did to you? Keeping you around for drugs and sex, making sure that you were always at his side even though he treated you like you were nothing. Don't try and get all self- righteous on me right now, because I know that you're perfectly content with that boy being six feet under."
"That's a lie!" Maxie said. "I may hate Kyle, but I never thought he deserved to die. He was a horrible person, and he probably would have continued to act that way for the rest of his life, but I saw what type of person he was and left him for it. Maybe he would have changed, maybe not, but he at least deserved the chance to live long enough to make his choice. You didn't even give him that!"
Faith grinned, "You going to cry over him?"
"I'm through shedding tears for Kyle," Maxie instantly replied.
"How long will you cry if I happen to off the new boy on accident?" Faith asked.
"If you hurt Damian in any way, Faith, you're going to end up dead for it! Sonny's not going to let you kill his son, and I'll make sure that my dad puts the entire PCPD after you."
Faith laughed, "I'm so very afraid of the morons that your father employs, Maxie." Faith grabbed the gag and put it around Maxie's mouth. "You provided me with an outlet, but I've already grown tired of hearing your voice. I've more important things to do with my time now than worry about you. Let's go find that boyfriend of yours, shall we?"
Zuniga Household-
Elias looked at his grandson, the only link that he had left to his daughter, the child that was supposed to give him so much. Ana-Maria had showed so much promise. An excellent student, compassionate, she had many colleges all around the country looking for her, hoping that she would get an education there and use her talents to help better the world. That all changed the night that the old feud was brought back into the light. The night that she was tainted with a man that was not her husband. How could Damian have found out about that part of the past? It was forbidden to talk about the old ties in front of the grandchildren, even his children were only marginally aware of the past that their father once lived through. It was for their own safety. They knew enough to keep them alive, and didn't ask any more. Elias played Damian for a fool, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Damian snickered, "For someone who lives by such a strict theocracy as you, you sure do go against that Bible that you love so much. Wasn't one of the first things they taught you not to lie to anyone? Especially your family."
"I don't appreciate being called a liar!" Elias shouted.
"I don't care what you appreciate, Papi!" Damian snapped back. "Tell me the truth or I will take you to your grave with nothing but hatred in my heart for you. Don't make me hate you, Papi. I don't want to hate you."
"How could you say such things to your Papi?" His grandmother asked. "He raised you from the moment you were born, he's the only father figure you've ever had!"
Elias shook his head, "Victoria, stop."
She looked over, "But he is dragging down your good name!"
Again Elias shook his head, "No, mi Corazon, the only ones who do that are you and I."
"Elias," She let her voice hang.
"He is correct. We live our lives by the good book, yet we betray that word every day by not telling him of the past that he has a right to know about." Elias turned to Damian, "We only did it to protect you, Damian. You grew up without a father, and then you lost your mother. You've been through so much already and we're both so very proud of the way that you've handled it, especially given your youth. But we felt that this was something that would break you and we would eventually lose you the same way we lost your mother. That would kill us both, because we love you so much. Victoria," He called out, "Please leave us. This is something that I must do alone."
The silence hung over them both when Victoria was gone. It wasn't easy for either. Damian felt some regret over the words that he used on his grandfather. But he did believe that he could hate Elias if he wasn't honest with him anymore. Damian felt that he deserved to be told the truth, and he knew that he really did. It was more than Elias's past that was being affected, Damian was brought into the world because of that past. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, that past was always going to be a part of him.
"You must never blame your Nana for any of this," Elias began. "She is the only reason that I am still alive, and through her the only reason that you and everyone else in my family breathes. If it were not for Victoria's love, I would have been dead long ago. She took me from the edge and showed me the light, she is innocent in this, perhaps as innocent as you. She lied to you only because we agreed that all of you should never deal with my sins. I never intended for you to find out."
"You intended to lie to me for my entire life. You would have taken this to your grave, wouldn't you?"
Elias nodded, "As much as it pains me to say it, yes. I would have died never speaking this words to you if I could have managed it. I know how much they hurt you."
"They don't hurt me as much as knowing that you lied to me, Papi," Damian said softly. "You've always taught me to be honest about anything, no matter how hard the truth was. How many other things have you lied about to me?"
"I swear on the name of my beloved Ana-Maria that everything else I have told you in your life is entirely true," Elias stated. "You know my love for your mother eclipses that of anything else in my heart, I would never use her name in vain."
"I know, neither would I."
"How did you find out?" Elias asked. "The people in New York, they should not care about the activities of a former criminal in Los Angeles."
"My father lives in Port Charles, Papi," Damian said. "He has a wife and two children who he loves very much."
"El Diablo," Elias muttered. "The one that took something from my daughter that she could never hope to get back. Tell me, is he a good man?"
Damian struggled for the words, "I don't know. I want to believe that he is, Papi, because he is my father and I want to have respect for him. But, much like you, he has lied to me about the things that he did in his life. I lived with him for a time, but when I found that he lied to me about his activity with the mob I had to leave. I cannot accept being around people that would not give me the honesty that I give them."
"Why did you not come back home to Los Angeles?" Elias wondered. "We will always take you in, Damian. This is your home as much as it was when you left."
"I cannot leave Port Charles, Papi. There are people that I care about and I know they cannot get by with me being gone. He has a son, not even 10, named Michael. That boy is not even his by blood, but he loved Michael in ways that some blood parents do not show their children. And I love Michael as well, he is my little brother and he looks to me for support. I cannot leave him, I cannot cause him the pain that my departure would bring upon him. There is also the baby, Morgan. I want to be in their lives as much as I possibly can, because they are family and they deserve to know that I care about them."
Elias listened, but he could tell that there was something else. "There is more that you are not telling me. It is more than the people that you have found that are your family through your father. What are you keeping from me?"
"I wasn't going to keep it from you, you interrupted me. I have found more than family in New York. I have found friends, people that respect me for who I am and how I act. But there is still more, I have found someone that I love."
"Victoria will be happy to hear this," Elias noted. "She always worried that you would be too shy to find a person that would make you happy."
"She makes me very happy, Papi. I think of her constantly, and know that she thinks of me as well."
"Will you marry this girl?"
"I would like to think that one day we would be married, yes. But that is a very long time down the road. She is important, but she respects my choice to become a doctor. If we truly love one another, it will last until I am done with my schooling."
"I had never imagined that you would find so much in a place so far away from us," Elias boasted proudly. "It shows me now more than ever that you are no longer the boy that I held in my arms after you were born, but you are a young man that I can depend on to do the good that I know your mother would have if she had not been taken from us so soon. I am sorry that I lied to you, Damian."
"I know you are, and I know why you thought that doing such a thing was the right thing to do, but it was not."
"Do you forgive me?"
"I suppose I do."
"And what of your father?" Elias wondered. "His reasons for the lies that he told you are not much different from the ones that I told you, are they?"
Damian shook his head, "Forgiving Sonny is something that I do not believe I can do. He lied to me directly, Papi. I asked him why there were so many people that wanted him out of their way, and he gave me an answer that had some truth, but was not what I was looking for."
"The life he leads is full of corruption, Damian. He was trying to keep you safe."
"I do not need him to keep me safe," Damian replied as he heard a knock. Since he was closest to the door he got up to answer it, but not before turning his head back, "I can take care of myself."
As soon as he opened the door he saw Faith looking at him, "Can you now?"
68