Outside General Hospital-
The car that Dillon and Jason had been riding in had arrived at the hospital. They hadn't really spoken to one another on the ride over. Dillon was usually much more talkative, even though it was mostly because he was almost always nervous, especially when he was around his older and much more lethal cousin. But the nerves that were going off en masse when he was around Jason made him shut his mouth more often than not. After all, Jason could probably pull a gun on him and blow him away without even worrying about it and never losing any sleep. One wrong word on Dillon's part and he would be pushing up daises.
Jason was used to the silence, but he had to admit that it was a little strange that Dillon wasn't rambling. He wouldn't say anything, of course, since the silence let him think about who was trying to hurt his family. Of course, Alcazar's name came up first and foremost. The man had tried to put Damian away forever in a prison cell for doing something that Damian had no part in. Since that plan obviously came up with no good results it was not unexpected for Lorenzo to try the more permanent and quicker solution. There were others on the list as well. Ric, and any number of Sonny's enemies from all around the world. Jason knew he was wasting his time, though. Since, even if he knew who had done the deed, he was in no shape to go after them. He cursed his temporary disability.
"We're here," Dillon said in a near whisper, breaking Jason's concentration.
"You should get up there, then," Jason replied.
"You're not coming?" Dillon asked.
Jason shook his head, "I don't like hospitals."
"Jason... he's your nephew. You defended him in front of the Quatermaine's. Are you telling me that you don't care about him enough to curb the fear that you have?"
"I'm not afraid, Dillon," Jason said harshly.
"You're not?" Dillon pressed the issue, no longer worried about his health but knowing that he needed to get the point across. "Jason, I know that they couldn't help you get your memory back. I know that's why you don't come around the mansion as much as you do and I know that's why you don't like going to the hospital unless you absolutely have to. But this isn't something that you're dealing with. You're not the one that they're trying to help, Jason. They're not going to look at you and not know what to say."
"You're wrong," Jason looked directly at Dillon. "If they can't save him, if he dies, they're going to come to all of us and say that they couldn't save him. They're not going to have a reason because they can never have a reason for everything. I hate not having answers, Dillon. I hate the fact that I can't answer every single question that comes my way because everyone who has a problem automatically tries to find a way to come my way and expects me to be the solution. The reason I'm not going is because I don't want every single pair of eyes turning towards me in case something goes wrong."
"You seem to do fine being the go-to guy."
"How much of that do you think is me just putting on a face?" Jason asked. "I'm sorry, Dillon, but I can't be there... not right now."
"I think I understand," Dillon closed the door and got out, looking at the hospital doors. The car pulled away, the headlights glaring in the night sky. Dillon, in the short time that he had really known Jason, had never seen him act so insecure. It was scary to see Jason Morgan broken down to someone who was scared about not being able to have every single answer. It wasn't fair to Jason, Dillon knew that. People shouldn't rely on anyone else for their own problems, but they relied on Jason. Sonny, Carly, Courtney, Emily, maybe even he did on some level. If things had been any different, would Dillon have acted in another manner? Would he have stayed around as long as Jason did? No, if Dillon had people placing such high expectations on himself he would have run and never looked back. For Jason to keep on going on with life even in spite of what was happening, even though he didn't like being the one that people depended on, was remarkable. Dillon walked into the hospital and went into the elevator.
Upstairs-
Sonny and Carly came back from their time I the chapel. They were holding hands, binding together and sharing their strength as best they could. Carly was the stronger of the two in that moment. Sonny couldn't help but feel that everything around him was crumbling. Everything that he had done to keep his children save had obviously failed. In seeing that failure, did it mean that he had failed as a father? Had he betrayed the one vow that meant more to him than anything else? The one that stated that he would never make the same mistakes that were made in his life? Was he acting like Mike had with him? The fact that Sonny was there, in Damian's life, gave him a small answer. Mike wouldn't have come. Mike wasn't there. Sonny saw Courtney and knew that he needed all of his family with him, at least the ones who could stand to be there or understand what was going on. "I need to make a phone call," Sonny told Carly, breaking away.
"You want me to go with you?" Carly asked.
Sonny shook his head, "It's just a phone call, Carly. I think I can make it on my own without much effort."
"Sonny..."
"I'll be fine, I promise," Sonny walked down the hall.
Courtney got up and stood next to Carly, watching Sonny walk away. "Where's he going?" She asked.
"He said he needed to make a phone call."
"Right now?" Courtney had a bad feeling that it meant that he was making a business call. Of all the times that Sonny should have forced himself to concentrate on something else other than his business... it was in that moment. But she still held out hope for her brother, hoping that it was a call that had to do with the matter at hand. "Maybe I should..."
"No, Courtney," Carly's voice wasn't stern, but it was enough to get the point across. "Sonny wants to do whatever he's doing alone. Right now I don't want to try and take anything from Sonny. He's already lost so much." Carly noticed that Ric was there. The two of them met eyes before both turned away. "I can't believe Sonny's letting him stay around."
"Sonny knows?" Courtney was all too aware of the person that was in question.
"Yeah, Sonny knows."
"Did he say why?"
"I don't know, Courtney," Carly shook her head. "Sonny's got a lot on his mind right now and I guess he just doesn't want to deal with whatever it is that Ric's true purpose being here is."
"He's trying to make it seem like he's concerned," Courtney scoffed. Maybe they were close enough for Ric to hear, maybe not. It wasn't like she didn't really want Ric to hear how much she hated him. "Can you believe that?"
"Well... as much as I hate to admit it... Damian would want Ric here," Carly looked around. "Has there been anything about his condition?"
"Not since I've been here, no," Courtney said. "I didn't know that your mother was in there with him, though."
"She is?" Carly didn't know either. It made her feel somewhat more comfortable. "Mom will keep him safe. I hope."
"I think she will, too. I just wish that we had answers."
"We'll get them eventually, Courtney," Carly tried to sound as optimistic as she could. "I know that we'll find out the information that we need to know soon. If we don't get it directly from them then we'll find a way to get it. Sonny can be pretty forceful when he needs to be."
"You'd know, wouldn't you?" Courtney laughed a soft but noticeable laugh. It was the first time that she had managed to stop acting worried. She was happy for that single moment.
Dillon came up from the elevator. He noticed Courtney and Carly first, although they were too involved with one another to care about him. It wasn't that depressing. Dillon wasn't there for the two of them, after all. No, his attentions were focused on his girlfriend and Maxie. They were a few feet away. Georgie didn't even notice him. Dillon came up and placed a hand on her back. She jumped at first, but when she turned around she hugged him. "I'm so happy that you're here."
"I just wish I didn't have to be here," Dillon replied sadly. "I can't believe it. I didn't even have a chance to talk to him after he got out."
"I did," Maxie muttered, remembering their horrid fight that happened mere hours before his accident. "I was so mean..."
"Maxie..." For once, it was Dillon who was being Maxie's supporter. Acting as the one who would have filled Damian's role if he weren't the person that was hurt. "Whatever it is that you did, I'm sure he had already forgiven you."
Maxie looked at Dillon, "Really?"
Dillon smiled, "How could he stay angry at you? Maxie, he loves you so much, more than you could ever imagine. He was so nervous when you two went out. He could never really be mad at you. And, I also know for a fact that he wouldn't want you moping around. How do you think he's going to like it if he wakes up and sees you with your makeup smudged? Come on, cheer up some. He loves you too much to leave you."
"How do you know?"
"Because he told me so." Dillon got off his knees, "Why don't you go and get some air or something? Give those eyes of yours some time to get the red out. You know that the first time he sees you when he can he's going to think that you're the most beautiful woman in the world."
Maxie got off the chair and hugged Dillon. "Thanks, I needed that."
"Just here to help," Dillon responded.
Maxie walked off, Georgie was watching her. "You know, you really impressed me."
Dillon looked at his girlfriend, "Really?"
"I never thought she would get off that chair until she could see him. How are you able to act like nothings wrong?"
"I'm a Quatermaine, we're good at denial," Dillon quipped. "But I'm still really afraid."
"So am I."
Elsewhere in the Hospital-
Sonny looked at the phone. It was like facing off against his worst enemy. He hadn't asked Courtney to come with him because he wanted to prove to himself that he could bury his past with his father for the good of his children. He would never do it for himself, but for Damian, Michael or Morgan he would have to. No amount of ignoring their bloodline would stop making Mike their grandfather. Sonny put a coin in and dialed. His first instinct was still to hang up, but he forced himself to keep the phone ringing.
"Hello?" Mike's voice was distinguishable. One that Sonny would never forget.
"Mike," Sonny called into the receiver.
"Michael, what's wrong?" Mike asked. At that moment Sonny wasn't Sonny, he was Michael, Mike's boy. He could tell that something was bugging his child, and that made him want to make it go away. Even if his son thought he didn't have any fatherly instincts when it came to their relationship, he was wrong.
"You need to come to the hospital," Sonny's voice was a mixture of demand and request. "Something's happened."
"Is it bad?"
"I think it is, yeah," Sonny put his head on the top of the payphone. "Just come, please."
"I'll be out the door in a minute. Don't leave."
"I won't be going anywhere," Sonny hung the phone up and sighed. He had done it, and he should have felt proud, but he was still living with the fact that his father was little more than a man with a name and a biological tie to him. Would Mike ever be 'dad' to him again? Sonny doubted it. He would never put that much trust in anyone else unless he knew that they could be trusted. He knew that it was the same way between him and Damian. That time that they weren't close, when they were barely even civil with each other. It was a lot like what Mike and Sonny were going through. Sonny was his father in that case, trying to make up for past mistakes with words and apologies. Damian was just like Sonny was still being... not listening, not letting go of something that couldn't be changed. In the first case it was the past, in the second it was Sonny's way of life. It was a dynamic that may never change. Sonny should have been bigger than that. He should have been able to rise above it. But he wasn't.
The car that Dillon and Jason had been riding in had arrived at the hospital. They hadn't really spoken to one another on the ride over. Dillon was usually much more talkative, even though it was mostly because he was almost always nervous, especially when he was around his older and much more lethal cousin. But the nerves that were going off en masse when he was around Jason made him shut his mouth more often than not. After all, Jason could probably pull a gun on him and blow him away without even worrying about it and never losing any sleep. One wrong word on Dillon's part and he would be pushing up daises.
Jason was used to the silence, but he had to admit that it was a little strange that Dillon wasn't rambling. He wouldn't say anything, of course, since the silence let him think about who was trying to hurt his family. Of course, Alcazar's name came up first and foremost. The man had tried to put Damian away forever in a prison cell for doing something that Damian had no part in. Since that plan obviously came up with no good results it was not unexpected for Lorenzo to try the more permanent and quicker solution. There were others on the list as well. Ric, and any number of Sonny's enemies from all around the world. Jason knew he was wasting his time, though. Since, even if he knew who had done the deed, he was in no shape to go after them. He cursed his temporary disability.
"We're here," Dillon said in a near whisper, breaking Jason's concentration.
"You should get up there, then," Jason replied.
"You're not coming?" Dillon asked.
Jason shook his head, "I don't like hospitals."
"Jason... he's your nephew. You defended him in front of the Quatermaine's. Are you telling me that you don't care about him enough to curb the fear that you have?"
"I'm not afraid, Dillon," Jason said harshly.
"You're not?" Dillon pressed the issue, no longer worried about his health but knowing that he needed to get the point across. "Jason, I know that they couldn't help you get your memory back. I know that's why you don't come around the mansion as much as you do and I know that's why you don't like going to the hospital unless you absolutely have to. But this isn't something that you're dealing with. You're not the one that they're trying to help, Jason. They're not going to look at you and not know what to say."
"You're wrong," Jason looked directly at Dillon. "If they can't save him, if he dies, they're going to come to all of us and say that they couldn't save him. They're not going to have a reason because they can never have a reason for everything. I hate not having answers, Dillon. I hate the fact that I can't answer every single question that comes my way because everyone who has a problem automatically tries to find a way to come my way and expects me to be the solution. The reason I'm not going is because I don't want every single pair of eyes turning towards me in case something goes wrong."
"You seem to do fine being the go-to guy."
"How much of that do you think is me just putting on a face?" Jason asked. "I'm sorry, Dillon, but I can't be there... not right now."
"I think I understand," Dillon closed the door and got out, looking at the hospital doors. The car pulled away, the headlights glaring in the night sky. Dillon, in the short time that he had really known Jason, had never seen him act so insecure. It was scary to see Jason Morgan broken down to someone who was scared about not being able to have every single answer. It wasn't fair to Jason, Dillon knew that. People shouldn't rely on anyone else for their own problems, but they relied on Jason. Sonny, Carly, Courtney, Emily, maybe even he did on some level. If things had been any different, would Dillon have acted in another manner? Would he have stayed around as long as Jason did? No, if Dillon had people placing such high expectations on himself he would have run and never looked back. For Jason to keep on going on with life even in spite of what was happening, even though he didn't like being the one that people depended on, was remarkable. Dillon walked into the hospital and went into the elevator.
Upstairs-
Sonny and Carly came back from their time I the chapel. They were holding hands, binding together and sharing their strength as best they could. Carly was the stronger of the two in that moment. Sonny couldn't help but feel that everything around him was crumbling. Everything that he had done to keep his children save had obviously failed. In seeing that failure, did it mean that he had failed as a father? Had he betrayed the one vow that meant more to him than anything else? The one that stated that he would never make the same mistakes that were made in his life? Was he acting like Mike had with him? The fact that Sonny was there, in Damian's life, gave him a small answer. Mike wouldn't have come. Mike wasn't there. Sonny saw Courtney and knew that he needed all of his family with him, at least the ones who could stand to be there or understand what was going on. "I need to make a phone call," Sonny told Carly, breaking away.
"You want me to go with you?" Carly asked.
Sonny shook his head, "It's just a phone call, Carly. I think I can make it on my own without much effort."
"Sonny..."
"I'll be fine, I promise," Sonny walked down the hall.
Courtney got up and stood next to Carly, watching Sonny walk away. "Where's he going?" She asked.
"He said he needed to make a phone call."
"Right now?" Courtney had a bad feeling that it meant that he was making a business call. Of all the times that Sonny should have forced himself to concentrate on something else other than his business... it was in that moment. But she still held out hope for her brother, hoping that it was a call that had to do with the matter at hand. "Maybe I should..."
"No, Courtney," Carly's voice wasn't stern, but it was enough to get the point across. "Sonny wants to do whatever he's doing alone. Right now I don't want to try and take anything from Sonny. He's already lost so much." Carly noticed that Ric was there. The two of them met eyes before both turned away. "I can't believe Sonny's letting him stay around."
"Sonny knows?" Courtney was all too aware of the person that was in question.
"Yeah, Sonny knows."
"Did he say why?"
"I don't know, Courtney," Carly shook her head. "Sonny's got a lot on his mind right now and I guess he just doesn't want to deal with whatever it is that Ric's true purpose being here is."
"He's trying to make it seem like he's concerned," Courtney scoffed. Maybe they were close enough for Ric to hear, maybe not. It wasn't like she didn't really want Ric to hear how much she hated him. "Can you believe that?"
"Well... as much as I hate to admit it... Damian would want Ric here," Carly looked around. "Has there been anything about his condition?"
"Not since I've been here, no," Courtney said. "I didn't know that your mother was in there with him, though."
"She is?" Carly didn't know either. It made her feel somewhat more comfortable. "Mom will keep him safe. I hope."
"I think she will, too. I just wish that we had answers."
"We'll get them eventually, Courtney," Carly tried to sound as optimistic as she could. "I know that we'll find out the information that we need to know soon. If we don't get it directly from them then we'll find a way to get it. Sonny can be pretty forceful when he needs to be."
"You'd know, wouldn't you?" Courtney laughed a soft but noticeable laugh. It was the first time that she had managed to stop acting worried. She was happy for that single moment.
Dillon came up from the elevator. He noticed Courtney and Carly first, although they were too involved with one another to care about him. It wasn't that depressing. Dillon wasn't there for the two of them, after all. No, his attentions were focused on his girlfriend and Maxie. They were a few feet away. Georgie didn't even notice him. Dillon came up and placed a hand on her back. She jumped at first, but when she turned around she hugged him. "I'm so happy that you're here."
"I just wish I didn't have to be here," Dillon replied sadly. "I can't believe it. I didn't even have a chance to talk to him after he got out."
"I did," Maxie muttered, remembering their horrid fight that happened mere hours before his accident. "I was so mean..."
"Maxie..." For once, it was Dillon who was being Maxie's supporter. Acting as the one who would have filled Damian's role if he weren't the person that was hurt. "Whatever it is that you did, I'm sure he had already forgiven you."
Maxie looked at Dillon, "Really?"
Dillon smiled, "How could he stay angry at you? Maxie, he loves you so much, more than you could ever imagine. He was so nervous when you two went out. He could never really be mad at you. And, I also know for a fact that he wouldn't want you moping around. How do you think he's going to like it if he wakes up and sees you with your makeup smudged? Come on, cheer up some. He loves you too much to leave you."
"How do you know?"
"Because he told me so." Dillon got off his knees, "Why don't you go and get some air or something? Give those eyes of yours some time to get the red out. You know that the first time he sees you when he can he's going to think that you're the most beautiful woman in the world."
Maxie got off the chair and hugged Dillon. "Thanks, I needed that."
"Just here to help," Dillon responded.
Maxie walked off, Georgie was watching her. "You know, you really impressed me."
Dillon looked at his girlfriend, "Really?"
"I never thought she would get off that chair until she could see him. How are you able to act like nothings wrong?"
"I'm a Quatermaine, we're good at denial," Dillon quipped. "But I'm still really afraid."
"So am I."
Elsewhere in the Hospital-
Sonny looked at the phone. It was like facing off against his worst enemy. He hadn't asked Courtney to come with him because he wanted to prove to himself that he could bury his past with his father for the good of his children. He would never do it for himself, but for Damian, Michael or Morgan he would have to. No amount of ignoring their bloodline would stop making Mike their grandfather. Sonny put a coin in and dialed. His first instinct was still to hang up, but he forced himself to keep the phone ringing.
"Hello?" Mike's voice was distinguishable. One that Sonny would never forget.
"Mike," Sonny called into the receiver.
"Michael, what's wrong?" Mike asked. At that moment Sonny wasn't Sonny, he was Michael, Mike's boy. He could tell that something was bugging his child, and that made him want to make it go away. Even if his son thought he didn't have any fatherly instincts when it came to their relationship, he was wrong.
"You need to come to the hospital," Sonny's voice was a mixture of demand and request. "Something's happened."
"Is it bad?"
"I think it is, yeah," Sonny put his head on the top of the payphone. "Just come, please."
"I'll be out the door in a minute. Don't leave."
"I won't be going anywhere," Sonny hung the phone up and sighed. He had done it, and he should have felt proud, but he was still living with the fact that his father was little more than a man with a name and a biological tie to him. Would Mike ever be 'dad' to him again? Sonny doubted it. He would never put that much trust in anyone else unless he knew that they could be trusted. He knew that it was the same way between him and Damian. That time that they weren't close, when they were barely even civil with each other. It was a lot like what Mike and Sonny were going through. Sonny was his father in that case, trying to make up for past mistakes with words and apologies. Damian was just like Sonny was still being... not listening, not letting go of something that couldn't be changed. In the first case it was the past, in the second it was Sonny's way of life. It was a dynamic that may never change. Sonny should have been bigger than that. He should have been able to rise above it. But he wasn't.