Note: I have decided, after seeing yesterday's episode, that there must be a Tracy and Jason moment worked into this story. It would make me very happy. My love for her is great, she's such a bitch.

Joy- I knew when I went with this plot point that it would have at least one moment where Bobbie and Scott did something where they brought up their past. Yes, Bobbie's heartfelt words did very little to motivate Baldwin, but give her some points from crying.

I didn't think I would enjoy writing the Damian/Scott banter as much as I did. It was something that was a little like Sonny/Damian in that they're two completely different people. And, much like with Sonny, Damian was able to appeal to Scott on some level, regardless of how futile it could have been.

Kayla- On some levels, Damian's beliefs are those that should be shared by many people. Wealth, monetary wealth at least, is certainly a benefit in life, but it isn't true wealth. I'm glad you felt that the message was poignant.

Story-

Corinthos Household-

Carly and Michael walked into their home hand in hand. Michael was normally very happy to return home to the place that he loved, filled with people that he cared about deeply. However, that feeling was all but gone. Now, he knew that there was something missing when he stepped inside. There were still people that he loved, but not everyone that should have been there was there. The first time it happened, Michael took it hard, but he knew that Damian would still come to see him if he wanted it. Now Michael understood that Damian couldn't just waltz into the house whenever he wanted. He couldn't even get out of that prison cell. Michael wasn't sure how he felt about that. He had been taught that only bad people got put in jail and prison, but Damian wasn't a bad person and he was there in the jail.

Michael looked over at the door to Damian's room. It was usually open, even when he wasn't home or he was in the living room. Now, it was closed. It meant a lot more to Michael than simply 'the door was closed.' His brother wasn't home, his brother might never come home.

"Honey?" Carly looked down at her son. She saw where he was looking. Her heart went out to him. Damian was a powerful influence on him, and he was also a good one to Michael. Carly couldn't see it at first, but now that she could she realized just how wrong she was.

"Buddy?" Sonny and Courtney were sitting on the couch. Sonny spoke, concerned over yet another son's wellbeing. Morgan wasn't old enough to be affected by Damian's sudden departure. Or, at least, Sonny hoped he wasn't.

Michael looked at each of his parents. On one side he had Carly, who wasn't approving of any relationship Michael had with Damian in the beginning. On the other he had his father, who couldn't keep his big brother safe from the bad people that took him away. In one form or another, both of them had failed him, as well as failed Damian. Courtney stood up, her eyes giving off the easily readable signs of compassion and sorrow. Michael broke free of Carly's hold, carefully, and passed by his father, wrapping his arms around his aunt's waist. He wasn't angry at his parents, but he was disappointed in each of them for some reason.

Courtney gazed at Carly and Sonny for a moment. She wasn't sure what was going on, but whatever it was, Michael wanted to be held by her. She couldn't deny her young nephew such a simple request. She had an idea about what was causing Michael so much distress. It was a feeling that she felt as well. "We'll get through this, Michael," She said softly.

He looked up at his aunt. For a fleeting moment, he believed her. "I'm going to go into my room."

"Sure, honey," Carly said, taking a few steps before sitting on the arm of the couch next to her husband.

Michael let go of his aunt and walked up the stairs. He was slumped over. It was still bugging him.

Courtney sighed, "This is killing him."

"He's not the only one," Sonny muttered. "He's taking it hard because he doesn't entirely understand what's going on. If he did, he'd be taking it even worse. It's bad enough on the adults to know what is happening to Damian. How he's sitting in that cell and being treated like scum for something that he didn't even do."

"Justus can't do anything?" Carly asked. "You pay him to be the best attorney for our family, don't you?"

"He's trying," Sonny admitted. "But there are a lot of hurdles that he needs to jump in order to get Damian off. Justus can do it. I have no doubt in my mind that he can eventually find a way to free Damian. The problem is that it can take awhile. Days, months, maybe even a few years depending on how well Baldwin plays the game that he's playing with my son's life."

"And there's nothing that you can do?"

Sonny shook his head, "There's plenty of things that I can do, Carly. I can buy my son's freedom. I can break him out and take him away, give him a new identity. I can have someone threaten Baldwin until he finally gets Damian released, but none of those options are things that I am willing to do because in the end they won't help Damian at all. They're only going to push him away from this family, and I can't have that happen. I won't let it happen. Not again."

"In the meantime we just let our little boy suffer?" Carly asked.

"It's not like that, Carly," Courtney defended her brother's actions. "Sonny's just trying to do what he can and not put his relationship with Damian in danger. Can you blame him for not wanting to destroy something that's so important to him, but fragile at the same time?"

"I didn't mean it like that," Carly put her head in her cupped hands. "I just don't want to see Michael suffer like he is."

"None of us do," Courtney said softly.

"How'd things go at the hospital?" Sonny inquired, taking his mind off the subject of his son being put through hell as much as possible.

"She wasn't happy," Carly told her husband. "Not that I blame her. But she thinks that I didn't want to tell her when it happened because I wanted to keep it from her. I just couldn't bring myself to inform my mother that Damian had been thrown in jail like that."

"Did she believe you?" Sonny could see Bobbie acting like that, but that didn't mean that he liked it.

"I don't know," Carly thought about it. "I certainly hope so."

"We know that you just couldn't bring yourself to tell her, Carly," Courtney said sympathetically. She was once one of the people that was against Carly's resentment towards Damian, but now that Courtnye could see that Carly had changed her ways, she wasn't going to let anyone accuse her of doing something so mean, at least now that she wasn't guilty of such a thing. "If she doesn't understand that right now it's because she's just as scared as the rest of us. She'll come around."

Carly nodded her head before she got up, "I'm going to go check on Michael, just make sure he's okay."

When Carly was gone, Courtney eyed her brother. "You know, dad still doesn't know."

"Does he need to know?" Sonny asked.

"How can you even think about something like that, Sonny? He's our father, and he's Damian's grandfather. He has a right to know what is going on in his grandson's life."

"Tell him."

Courtney shook her head, "No, I'm not going to be the one to tell our father that your son is in jail. This is something that you need to talk to him about, Sonny. No one else can tell dad about what happened aside from you."

"What makes you think that I'm going to tell him?"

"Sonny... he's our father."

"He left us both."

Courtney closed her eyes, "You and I both know that he thought he was doing what was best. That didn't mean that it was right, but he was young and confused and he regrets what he did before now, he regrets it a lot."

"It doesn't make everything okay, Courtney," Sonny pointed out.

"I never said that it did!" Courtney said. "Sonny... please. Don't make anyone else tell dad. It has to come from you."

"He doesn't deserve to know."

"How would you feel if Damian still hated you and he had a son, your grandson, that was in trouble and Damian wouldn't even tell you that something was wrong? How would you feel if you were kept out of someone's life, someone that you cared about very much?"

"I'd never abandon my family," Sonny got up. "I'd never be like Mike."

"Sonny... I know how much hurt dad put you through after he was gone. I know that because he left you got abused by Deke, but you can't keep him at arm's distance forever. Whatever it is that the two of you have to work out has to be done soon. Can you really live on with your life knowing that you didn't bury an old grudge with our father? If dad were to get hurt tomorrow, if he were to be gone like that, you wouldn't feel guilty?"

Sonny thought about it for a long moment. He and his father were civil with one another, that had changed from the time that Sonny couldn't bring himself to care about his own father, a man that left him and his mother, which led to her ultimate self-destruction. Sonny loved his mother, dearly. His pain was partly on his own behalf, yes, but there was a large part of the reason that he loathed Mike as much as he did because of what happened to Adella. It wasn't fair to her. It still wasn't fair to her. "No, I wouldn't."

Courtney couldn't believe that Sonny was telling the truth, but she had no way of being certain that her brother was, in fact, not being completely honest. "You should still call him. If not for yourself, if not for him, then at least for me and Damian. Do you think he'd accept the fact that you never told our father what happened?"

Sonny had to admit that Damian wouldn't be in favor of keeping Mike in the dark. "If anyone asks, this is for the both of you, not because I feel like he should know." Sonny picked up his phone and dialed Mike's number. "I want to keep him in my boys' life as much as possible, let him be there for him when he wasn't there for me or for you, but I can't erase my pain, Courtney. I just can't."

"I'm not expecting you to forgive everything that happened in the blink of an eye, Sonny. Work at your own pace. If you want something bad enough, we both know that you'll eventually get it." Courtney watched and waited for Mike to pick up the phone.

"Mike?" Sonny spoke into the phone. "Yeah, it's me. Listen, do you think you could come over? No, it's not something that I can tell you over the phone, I really should talk to you in person. Yeah, the sooner you get here, the better. Okay, see you in a bit." Sonny closed the phone and looked at his sister. "There, you happy?"

"More than you could ever imagine."

"You're easy to appease, you know that," Sonny commented.

"When it comes to being your little sister, I've learned to take even the smallest victories against you in stride." Courtney smiled. "How long did he say it was going to be?"

"He's on his way. What should I tell him?"

"The truth," Courtney said simply. "Don't hide anything."

"I never hide anything, Courtney," Sonny said. "Never."

Courtney had a feeling he wasn't being honest. After all, he was hiding just how much he really did care for his father, even if he refused to believe it, she saw it.

Later-

They were both alone while they waited for Mike when there was a knock on the door. At Sonny's insistence, Courtney stayed. She wanted to give them the moment alone, but Sonny was afraid that he wouldn't tell Mike what he needed to hear if Courtney wasn't there. She was a moral anchor.

The two looked at each other before Sonny got up and opened the door. He saw his father standing there. "Hey, Mike."

Mike took a step in, "So, what's this big news that couldn't be told to me over the phone?"

Sonny eyed Courtney, who only gave a slight nod of her head. Sonny turned to his father again. "Mike... Damian's been put in jail."

"What?" Mike was as much astonished by the news as anyone before him had been. "Well, what are you doing standing around here? Get him out."

Sonny shook his head, "It's not that simple. I've tried already, we can't just get him out of there like nothing. They want him to stay in there to get at me, and they're making sure that he does."

"Who is doing this?" Mike asked. "Lansing?"

"No, Ric's on our side."

Mike chuckled, "Do you really believe that, Michael?"

It was strange, the way that Sonny would let his father call him Michael. It was his birth name, much like his father's and his son's, but he had been Sonny for such a long time. The only other person who called him Michael was his mother. "I don't have much else to believe in. I don't know why I'm choosing to trust Ric, but I am. This operation is all Baldwin."

"When did it happen?"

"Last night," Sonny informed his father. "We were gone, out in the city for the night. We didn't think that anything was going to happen."

"You couldn't have known," Mike didn't hold his son's actions, in that particular instance, against him.

"I was here, dad," Courtney said. "I didn't want to let them take him away, but Damian said that I shouldn't try and keep them from doing their job. They had a warrant, we couldn't stop them."

"I can't believe any of this is happening," Mike muttered. "How's he doing?"

"He seems to be fine," Sonny said. "When I saw him last night he wasn't really acting like anything was bugging him."

"Just because he acted like everything was fine doesn't mean that it was. He's a Corinthos male, we hide our emotions real well."

Sonny turned away, "Yeah, I guess we do."

"Almost as well as we are at making sure that we get what we want," Mike continued. "You'll get him out, Sonny. I have faith in you."

"Thanks," Sonny poured himself a glass of water. "I'll need all the faith I can get if I'm going to do this right."