Story-
Morgan Household-
Jason had felt pain before. Both physical and emotional pain. He didn't like pain, either version. He didn't like showing weakness. He sat on the couch, his wounded knee bandaged and forcing himself to wear workout shorts in order to keep the wound from being bound by the jeans that he would have normally been wearing. He knew at that moment that he was showing weakness, and he hated it.
Courtney had forced herself to stay up for most of the night, worrying about him. She cared about him so much. She knew that he could have been shot at any time, but she had also been very lucky in that it rarely happened. So rare was it that she could sometimes fool herself into believing that it would never happen again. Apparently she needed a reminder. Jason winced in pain as the tendons in his leg fluxed a little. Had he been in the presence of other people, even his wife, he would have been as stoic as he normally was. Since he was alone in his penthouse, however, he could weep like a baby and still maintain his cold image. He wouldn't cry, of course, but the thought was appealing.
Damian opened the door to the penthouse, knowing that it would be open and knowing that he couldn't expect Jason to get up and get the door for him. Under normal circumstances he would have knocked, but he had a 'patient' to worry about, and that took priority. Jason looked up at him, his face blank, showing neither acceptance of his presence nor scorn.
Damian backed away a little bit. He knew that Jason could be a kind person, but often he tried to shield that kindness, much like his father. Would he ever be like that? Would Michael? Would Morgan? Damian certainly hoped that it wouldn't come to that for him or his little brothers, but there were so many things that he wasn't entirely sure about. He only had to add one more item to the list. "I just came to check your bandages," Damian said softly as he took a step.
"You didn't need to," Jason commented. "I can take care of myself."
"Uncle Jason... at least let me do this, please."
"Why is it so important to you?"
Damian smiled softly, "I just can't stand to see anyone hurt. If it happens to be someone that I care about, I won't stand for it at all. Guess what, you happen to be on that list of people that I do care for."
"Should I be honored?"
"I don't know. Should you?"
Jason turned away. He was slowly beginning to adjust to Damian's presence, and even accept him as a part of their life. He wasn't as questioning as Carly was when it came to the boy and his motives, but he had seen too many people come into his family after long periods of absence or no time at all and bring the entire core to ruins. Or... at least he knew it had happened a few times. He couldn't truly remember. "It doesn't look like anything's wrong with my leg, Damian."
"Better safe than sorry, right?"
Jason, with a heavy sigh, succumbed to his nephew's prodding, "If it will make you feel better..."
"It will."
Jason turned those ice blue eyes up, "Fine."
"If you don't want me to do it, Uncle Jason, I won't. I might want to, but I respect your right to not have someone look at your injury. Especially someone that you still don't entirely trust."
"Who says I don't trust you?"
"I'm not stupid," Damian grabbed the fresh bandages and laid them on the table. "I can see the way that you look at Michael. You give him a smile and you genuinely care about him. I can see that when you hold Morgan, too. You try and make it seem like you're unreadable to everyone, Uncle Jason, but I'm just as skilled in keeping my blank face on as you are. I know the tricks of the trade."
"You're right," Jason said. "I don't know how I feel about you. Not entirely."
"I'm okay with that," Damian went into the kitchen, taking note of the severe lack of anything that could be used for cooking in the kitchen. Kelly's must have made a lot of business from Jason and Courtney. "Back home, there are a lot of people in my family that I don't trust, that I don't even like, but I still care about them, and I would still help them if they needed it. That's how I was raised."
"I grew up in a family like that, without the helping and the caring," Jason said, not entirely sure why he said it, but too late to take back his statement then.
"Dillon's family, right?"
Jason was a little surprised, but he shouldn't have been. He knew that Maxie was Damian's girlfriend and that Georgie was Dillon's. It would have made sense for them to actually spend some time together. "You know Dillon?"
"Yeah," Damian soaked a rag in warm water and grabbed another dry one. "Dillon's great. If I knew people like him back home, I might not have hated growing up as much as I did."
"He didn't spend a lot of time around us... it might be why he's actually a decent person." There was still the question about how he was a nice person with the woman that had given birth to him being Tracy... but there was no reason to bring that up.
"Being raised by certain people doesn't make you any more or any less of a bad person," Damian was firm in his belief. "My mother told me that I should never let people judge me by my family, that I should only let them judge me for who I am. Obviously, being here in Port Charles makes it somewhat hard but I'm going to keep on making sure that people see me as more than Sonny's bastard son."
Jason let out a seething breath of pain. If it was too much for him to contain when he was around someone, it had to have been pretty bad. Unless he was faking, but Jason Morgan never faked anything.
Damian was right at Jason's side within seconds, "Uncle Jason, you okay?"
"Give it a second to pass," Jason's eyes were closed, he was trying to mentally block out the pain. It was working, somewhat.
"Your leg should be fine within a week or two," Damian said, hoping that it would bring some level of comfort to Jason's bruised ego. "The wound wasn't that bad, and I've got this funny feeling that you heal pretty fast."
"I shouldn't even be here on the couch," Jason wiped a single bead of sweat from his brow.
"If you would just stop doing what you do, you'd have a much higher mortality rate," Damian tried to sound as sarcastic as he could, but what he said was extremely poignant. "You can't tell me that you and dad haven't already made enough money doing what you do in order to just stop and keep everyone happy for a very long time."
"That's not how it works," Jason pointed out.
"My grandfather got out..."
"Elias was lucky." Jason also added, "And he didn't really get out, if he truly got out, you wouldn't be here."
"I guess you've got a point," Damian remarked sadly. His conception was but the first in a long path of pain. Yet Jason was the one who helped convince him to stay around. It was their one moment that they understood one another almost perfectly. He liked that moment. "You think you can refrain from screaming like a baby when I take these bandages off?" When Jason gave him the cold stare of death, Damian couldn't help but laugh, "Thought so."
"How'd you learn how to do all of this?" Jason wondered.
"I want to become a doctor, I took first aid classes in high school and college. I would have become an EMT, but I really couldn't see myself working alongside a group of my peers in a very productive way." Damian removed the bandages slowly and as painlessly as possible. "Besides, even if I don't become a doctor, I'll at least know how to keep someone alive for a long enough period of time so that when someone who actually knows what they're doing comes up, they can save them. At least I'd hope they could save the person."
"I don't think I ever took any classes, but I can't be too sure."
"You wanted to become a doctor?"
"I did."
"What happened?"
Jason was silent again.
Damian took the hint, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be trying to understand your life as much as I am."
"I don't remember a lot of my past. Let's leave it at that."
Damian nodded. "It doesn't look like you've got an infection." He wiped the dried up blood off of Jason's leg before taking another brief examination and then rebinding the wound. "You're really lucky."
"Yeah, I am. It shouldn't have happened."
"I told you... you can get out."
Jason shook his head, "No, I mean it shouldn't have happened to me. I told Sonny to stay away, to let me handle it. He wouldn't listen to me, he insisted on being there and showing that he was back up to par, but he isn't. If he was, I wouldn't have gotten shot. But if I didn't take that bullet, I would have had to tell you that Sonny was gone."
"You don't think he can do it?" Damian asked.
"I know that Sonny can be one of the most ruthless and calculating people on the planet, and that he knows that it takes a lot of sacrifice in order to keep the people that he cares about safe, but I don't know if he's willing to go that extra mile now that he's put a bullet in his wife's brain that almost killed her."
"He would have killed Faith if she did anything to me."
"Only because you're his son," Jason was quick to state. "Sonny holds his family in the highest regard, and he'll do anything for them. That's one of the reasons why I respect him so much. But that isn't what happens on a daily basis, not with what we do."
"Have you told him?"
"Sonny doesn't like to hear anything that he doesn't want to hear, even if it comes from me."
"So what are you going to do?" Damian asked as he finished patching up Jason's leg.
"Keep him as safe as I can," Jason said. "I'm not going to let your father die, Damian."
"I don't want you to die either, Uncle Jason."
"I wouldn't have any regrets if I died making sure that Sonny survived."
"Don't go and make that possibility a reality, okay?" Damian requested. "I've lost too many people in my life already, I'm not going to keep on adding people to that list."
"I never make any promises I can't keep."
"And I respect you for that." Damian grabbed the kit and packed it, "I'll let you get some rest."
"I've been resting all day."
"Well then I'll give you some alone time to brood. That work better for you?"
Jason called out to Damian as he left, "You know, I don't mean to come off as cold as I do. I just have a hard time opening up to anyone."
"You don't have to apologize for being yourself."
"You know... your father was the first person who actually told me something like that after my accident. It's why I gravitated towards him like I did."
"Dad doesn't try to judge people," Damian remarked. "I'd like to think that I don't do it as much as some people."
"You don't."
"Then I'm doing something right with my life," Damian opened the door and was gone. Something right in the midst of everything he was doing that was wrong. Including the lying.
Morgan Household-
Jason had felt pain before. Both physical and emotional pain. He didn't like pain, either version. He didn't like showing weakness. He sat on the couch, his wounded knee bandaged and forcing himself to wear workout shorts in order to keep the wound from being bound by the jeans that he would have normally been wearing. He knew at that moment that he was showing weakness, and he hated it.
Courtney had forced herself to stay up for most of the night, worrying about him. She cared about him so much. She knew that he could have been shot at any time, but she had also been very lucky in that it rarely happened. So rare was it that she could sometimes fool herself into believing that it would never happen again. Apparently she needed a reminder. Jason winced in pain as the tendons in his leg fluxed a little. Had he been in the presence of other people, even his wife, he would have been as stoic as he normally was. Since he was alone in his penthouse, however, he could weep like a baby and still maintain his cold image. He wouldn't cry, of course, but the thought was appealing.
Damian opened the door to the penthouse, knowing that it would be open and knowing that he couldn't expect Jason to get up and get the door for him. Under normal circumstances he would have knocked, but he had a 'patient' to worry about, and that took priority. Jason looked up at him, his face blank, showing neither acceptance of his presence nor scorn.
Damian backed away a little bit. He knew that Jason could be a kind person, but often he tried to shield that kindness, much like his father. Would he ever be like that? Would Michael? Would Morgan? Damian certainly hoped that it wouldn't come to that for him or his little brothers, but there were so many things that he wasn't entirely sure about. He only had to add one more item to the list. "I just came to check your bandages," Damian said softly as he took a step.
"You didn't need to," Jason commented. "I can take care of myself."
"Uncle Jason... at least let me do this, please."
"Why is it so important to you?"
Damian smiled softly, "I just can't stand to see anyone hurt. If it happens to be someone that I care about, I won't stand for it at all. Guess what, you happen to be on that list of people that I do care for."
"Should I be honored?"
"I don't know. Should you?"
Jason turned away. He was slowly beginning to adjust to Damian's presence, and even accept him as a part of their life. He wasn't as questioning as Carly was when it came to the boy and his motives, but he had seen too many people come into his family after long periods of absence or no time at all and bring the entire core to ruins. Or... at least he knew it had happened a few times. He couldn't truly remember. "It doesn't look like anything's wrong with my leg, Damian."
"Better safe than sorry, right?"
Jason, with a heavy sigh, succumbed to his nephew's prodding, "If it will make you feel better..."
"It will."
Jason turned those ice blue eyes up, "Fine."
"If you don't want me to do it, Uncle Jason, I won't. I might want to, but I respect your right to not have someone look at your injury. Especially someone that you still don't entirely trust."
"Who says I don't trust you?"
"I'm not stupid," Damian grabbed the fresh bandages and laid them on the table. "I can see the way that you look at Michael. You give him a smile and you genuinely care about him. I can see that when you hold Morgan, too. You try and make it seem like you're unreadable to everyone, Uncle Jason, but I'm just as skilled in keeping my blank face on as you are. I know the tricks of the trade."
"You're right," Jason said. "I don't know how I feel about you. Not entirely."
"I'm okay with that," Damian went into the kitchen, taking note of the severe lack of anything that could be used for cooking in the kitchen. Kelly's must have made a lot of business from Jason and Courtney. "Back home, there are a lot of people in my family that I don't trust, that I don't even like, but I still care about them, and I would still help them if they needed it. That's how I was raised."
"I grew up in a family like that, without the helping and the caring," Jason said, not entirely sure why he said it, but too late to take back his statement then.
"Dillon's family, right?"
Jason was a little surprised, but he shouldn't have been. He knew that Maxie was Damian's girlfriend and that Georgie was Dillon's. It would have made sense for them to actually spend some time together. "You know Dillon?"
"Yeah," Damian soaked a rag in warm water and grabbed another dry one. "Dillon's great. If I knew people like him back home, I might not have hated growing up as much as I did."
"He didn't spend a lot of time around us... it might be why he's actually a decent person." There was still the question about how he was a nice person with the woman that had given birth to him being Tracy... but there was no reason to bring that up.
"Being raised by certain people doesn't make you any more or any less of a bad person," Damian was firm in his belief. "My mother told me that I should never let people judge me by my family, that I should only let them judge me for who I am. Obviously, being here in Port Charles makes it somewhat hard but I'm going to keep on making sure that people see me as more than Sonny's bastard son."
Jason let out a seething breath of pain. If it was too much for him to contain when he was around someone, it had to have been pretty bad. Unless he was faking, but Jason Morgan never faked anything.
Damian was right at Jason's side within seconds, "Uncle Jason, you okay?"
"Give it a second to pass," Jason's eyes were closed, he was trying to mentally block out the pain. It was working, somewhat.
"Your leg should be fine within a week or two," Damian said, hoping that it would bring some level of comfort to Jason's bruised ego. "The wound wasn't that bad, and I've got this funny feeling that you heal pretty fast."
"I shouldn't even be here on the couch," Jason wiped a single bead of sweat from his brow.
"If you would just stop doing what you do, you'd have a much higher mortality rate," Damian tried to sound as sarcastic as he could, but what he said was extremely poignant. "You can't tell me that you and dad haven't already made enough money doing what you do in order to just stop and keep everyone happy for a very long time."
"That's not how it works," Jason pointed out.
"My grandfather got out..."
"Elias was lucky." Jason also added, "And he didn't really get out, if he truly got out, you wouldn't be here."
"I guess you've got a point," Damian remarked sadly. His conception was but the first in a long path of pain. Yet Jason was the one who helped convince him to stay around. It was their one moment that they understood one another almost perfectly. He liked that moment. "You think you can refrain from screaming like a baby when I take these bandages off?" When Jason gave him the cold stare of death, Damian couldn't help but laugh, "Thought so."
"How'd you learn how to do all of this?" Jason wondered.
"I want to become a doctor, I took first aid classes in high school and college. I would have become an EMT, but I really couldn't see myself working alongside a group of my peers in a very productive way." Damian removed the bandages slowly and as painlessly as possible. "Besides, even if I don't become a doctor, I'll at least know how to keep someone alive for a long enough period of time so that when someone who actually knows what they're doing comes up, they can save them. At least I'd hope they could save the person."
"I don't think I ever took any classes, but I can't be too sure."
"You wanted to become a doctor?"
"I did."
"What happened?"
Jason was silent again.
Damian took the hint, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be trying to understand your life as much as I am."
"I don't remember a lot of my past. Let's leave it at that."
Damian nodded. "It doesn't look like you've got an infection." He wiped the dried up blood off of Jason's leg before taking another brief examination and then rebinding the wound. "You're really lucky."
"Yeah, I am. It shouldn't have happened."
"I told you... you can get out."
Jason shook his head, "No, I mean it shouldn't have happened to me. I told Sonny to stay away, to let me handle it. He wouldn't listen to me, he insisted on being there and showing that he was back up to par, but he isn't. If he was, I wouldn't have gotten shot. But if I didn't take that bullet, I would have had to tell you that Sonny was gone."
"You don't think he can do it?" Damian asked.
"I know that Sonny can be one of the most ruthless and calculating people on the planet, and that he knows that it takes a lot of sacrifice in order to keep the people that he cares about safe, but I don't know if he's willing to go that extra mile now that he's put a bullet in his wife's brain that almost killed her."
"He would have killed Faith if she did anything to me."
"Only because you're his son," Jason was quick to state. "Sonny holds his family in the highest regard, and he'll do anything for them. That's one of the reasons why I respect him so much. But that isn't what happens on a daily basis, not with what we do."
"Have you told him?"
"Sonny doesn't like to hear anything that he doesn't want to hear, even if it comes from me."
"So what are you going to do?" Damian asked as he finished patching up Jason's leg.
"Keep him as safe as I can," Jason said. "I'm not going to let your father die, Damian."
"I don't want you to die either, Uncle Jason."
"I wouldn't have any regrets if I died making sure that Sonny survived."
"Don't go and make that possibility a reality, okay?" Damian requested. "I've lost too many people in my life already, I'm not going to keep on adding people to that list."
"I never make any promises I can't keep."
"And I respect you for that." Damian grabbed the kit and packed it, "I'll let you get some rest."
"I've been resting all day."
"Well then I'll give you some alone time to brood. That work better for you?"
Jason called out to Damian as he left, "You know, I don't mean to come off as cold as I do. I just have a hard time opening up to anyone."
"You don't have to apologize for being yourself."
"You know... your father was the first person who actually told me something like that after my accident. It's why I gravitated towards him like I did."
"Dad doesn't try to judge people," Damian remarked. "I'd like to think that I don't do it as much as some people."
"You don't."
"Then I'm doing something right with my life," Damian opened the door and was gone. Something right in the midst of everything he was doing that was wrong. Including the lying.