Note: 200+ reviews! Counting both stories, of course, but nonetheless, yay!
Journeylove- I'd rather not see Michael suffer anymore than he already has on the show. You know that they're switching Morgan's, right? The new set of babies don't look as cute, now I can't look at the television and go 'cute monkey!' It's a very sad thing.
After all the angst and drama I've been putting the collective clan through for the past... well, the chapter count is pretty big and I'd rather not actually go back and count, I figured that I needed a little bit of humor to lighten up the mood and keep people from reaching for razors while they read my story. You're not being rude, and I appreciate the criticism of Damian's purity. I have something in store that will cause a tainting of that purity, but it's nothing big. I guess if you want something super huge then I'm afraid I'll have to say that it won't be delivered, since I'm coming towards the end of the story (the writing section, posting's still got some time to go). Should I ever do a sequel, which is unlikely since, as much as I love doing this, I don't think I should devote myself to a single story for over half a year, I might do something of the like, but I won't get your hopes up. Yes, I promise (promise!) that Damian will not end up like Jason, he'll remember stuff and whatnot. Everything will be fine with him mentally. Emotionally and physically are two other sections entirely, but his mind will be intact.
Story-
The Next Morning, General Hospital-
Sonny knew a thing or two about sleepless nights. He'd had more than his fair share of them in his life, but almost all those times that he was staying up it was because he was fighting his demons. He never wanted to stay up all night because he was worrying about someone, but that was what had happened to him the night before. He couldn't sleep. He didn't even try to sleep. He was afraid that if he closed his eyes, if he let his guard drop even for a minute, someone would take his son away from him, either physically or spiritually. The only way that Sonny was going to protect Damian was if he constantly stayed and watched.
There was no change in Damian's condition, which was both a good and a bad thing. He hadn't gotten any worse, but conversely he hadn't gotten any better. Sonny wanted him to be awake, wanted him to open his eyes. Nothing he tried was working, though. That was the most maddening part of the situation, knowing that he couldn't fix the problem that he had to deal with.
Bobbie had only gotten a marginal amount of rest over the night. She was worried, too. However, she knew that the things she was feeling were very small when compared to the pain that Sonny was going through. She had a job to do as well, a job that meant that she would have to ask Sonny to leave. It could have ended up being a long battle between the two, but Bobbie hoped that Sonny would understand that she wasn't doing what she was doing to hurt Sonny but to help Damian instead.
"We've finished monitoring him," Bobbie said as she walked into the room. "We hope that he's had enough time to recover that we can do some examinations on his body without complications."
"What, you're saying that there's still a way that he could be hurt by the examinations that you're going to put him through?"
"There's always that chance, Sonny," Bobbie said lightly. "No matter what we do, there is never anything that can be done to ensure that it isn't going to do something that could hurt the patient. But we take all the necessary precautions and then some extra ones just to be on the safe side. We're going to do our best for Damian, but we need to take him..."
"I can't go with him, can I?" Sonny asked.
"No, I'm sorry... you can't. This isn't like a pregnancy, Sonny. As much as you're going to hate me for saying it, people who aren't trained to deal with the problem are only going to get in the way of fixing the problem at hand. I understand that you love your son, and I appreciate the fact that you want to come with him, but you can't do it right now." Bobbie put a hand on Sonny's back, "I'm going to be looking over everything as closely as I can. I'll take care of him the same way I would take care of Michael and Morgan."
That filled Sonny with a slim amount of ease. He knew that Bobbie would fight to protect her grandsons with every fiber of her being. That she was making the promise for his own son, who wasn't her grandchild in any way, was comforting. "I'm not going to leave the hospital."
"I wouldn't expect you to," Bobbie stated. "In fact, I'd be offended if you did. Maybe you can take this time to call the family, tell them that we're taking him in for some tests. I know they want any updates that they can get."
"Yeah," Sonny grabbed his jacket, which had been draped over the chair, "I think I should do that, too. How long is this going to take, Bobbie?"
"I don't know for sure," She thought about it, estimating all the times that average operations took in her head. "A few hours, at least." She knew that Sonny hated to wait. "You might want to get something to eat. The cafeteria isn't the best, but some of the things we have are edible."
"I might just do that," Sonny walked out of the door. "Do everything that you can for him, Bobbie. I don't care what it costs, just do it. As long as it doesn't put his health at considerable risk, take the chance."
"I'll keep that in mind," She watched a few doctors come into the room and prep Damian's unconscious body for the examinations that he was going to be going through. It wasn't going to be anything that was too drastic. A few tests to determine if he had any broken bones or internal bleeding, and a scan of his brainwaves to make sure that he was still functioning properly. Bobbie hated the idea that they were testing such a bright and capable young man for the possibility of being turned into a vegetable, but it was a possibility that she had to take seriously.
Monica came in shortly after. She wasn't really supposed to be on call, but she had volunteered for the inspection, knowing that Sonny would want the best. It wasn't egotism when she said that she was the best that was on staff at the hospital, it was just a fact. Besides, she had more at stake than angering Sonny Corinthos. She knew that Michael would be crushed if the man that he viewed as his big brother were to just leave him without any explanation. There was also the thing with Dillon, who hadn't come home the night before to her knowledge. "That went better than I was expecting."
"Sonny's a stubborn man." Bobbie said before adding, "But he loves his children more than life itself. He would never do anything that would place them in any danger."
"Aside from live the life that he does, you mean," Monica countered coldly. There would always be that animosity towards Sonny. He was part of the reason why Michael would never call her 'grandma.' She wouldn't use that small amount of contempt against him or his son, but that didn't mean that it wasn't there.
"That's Sonny's decision to make," Bobbie defended her son-in-law, something that she rarely did, but would do if she felt that it was right. "We don't have the right to tell anyone how they should live their lives."
Monica ignored the issues that were to be had. They were personal issues, and she would never let the personal issues get in the way of saving lives. "I checked the readings, he's managed to get a little stronger over the night."
"Is it enough so that we won't have to worry as much about putting him through all of this?"
"Just barely," Monica had seen people fight for their lives more times than she wanted to count. Sometimes they had been family, sometimes friends, sometimes complete strangers, but they all had the desire to not die. "The sooner we get him into the examination room, the better." She looked at the two other doctors, "Wheel him in, please."
Bobbie went to follow them but she stopped. Everything was getting to be so real to her. The threat of losing someone, the threat of it having a huge impact on her family. She didn't want that to happen.
"Bobbie?" Monica noticed that Bobbie wasn't acting like herself. She knew why, too. "If you feel that you can't do this, Bobbie, you know that you're supposed to let someone else handle the duties. You're the head nurse. You have the most seniority, but don't use that to compromise the situation."
"I won't," Bobbie said confidently. "I can't let this get to me."
"If you ever change your mind, know that nobody is going to be looking down on you for doing it," Monica knew what it was like to worry about someone the way Bobbie was. "We'd all act the same way."
"Thanks, Monica." The two women shared a brief, comforting smile before they both walked out of the room, which was now empty.
Waiting Area-
Sonny had been walking, but he hadn't been paying much attention. The hospital was so alive, people were walking around left and right, others were being paged over the intercom system, but none of that mattered to Sonny. To him, everything was silent, dead. He could see what was going on around him, but he couldn't feel it at all.
"Michael..."
Sonny heard his father's voice and found it odd that of all the people that would snap him out of his haze, it would be Mike. Sonny turned around and saw that Mike was the only one that was even around. His light blue eyes did nothing to hide the fatigue that he was feeling. Sonny wondered what was going on. "How long have you been here, Mike?"
"Only a few hours," Mike replied. "I couldn't sleep. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't fight off the feeling that I needed to be here more than I needed to be sleeping."
Sonny wasn't surprised that Mike's conscience was telling him to be with his family. What surprised Sonny was the fact that Mike had finally listened to the little nagging voice when it came to that particular topic. Mike had never really been the best father in the world to either he or Courtney. He was trying to make up for it by being a better grandfather. So far, it was working. "I'm sorry that I didn't see you when you were here yesterday and earlier today," Sonny said. "I just couldn't bring myself to be outside of that room unless I had to be."
"You don't have to apologize for that, Michael," Mike said. "I understand why you did it, and I respect the drive that you have to be there for your son. I envy it, in fact."
"No reason you shouldn't," Sonny replied. A flare of anger and disappointment came back. Sonny saw his father and he saw all the years of pain and sorrow that had been caused. He realized that he would never be able to truly forgive Mike for doing what he did. "This isn't the place to bring up old issues though, Mike. Whatever it is that we still have to work out can wait. I want you to know that I appreciate the fact that you're here right now."
"Was there any chance over the night?" Mike wondered.
"Nothing considerable," Sonny answered. "I've been trying to reach out to him through every possible way that I could think of. I've tried talking to him, touching his forehead... but nothing's got even so much as a twitch out of him. I've never been so afraid of losing someone before in my life."
"You can't think like that," Mike knew that Sonny could be dangerous when he was busy doing the self-pity thing. It would compromise everything that Sonny was trying to do. It would hurt Damian more than it would help him. "Just try and look on the positive side of things, Sonny, it's the only thing that you can do."
"The only thing I can do right now is wait," Sonny said. "They're taking him into one of the rooms where they do the examinations. They're going to see if he's got any broken bones or internal bleeding. They're going to tell me if my son will ever be the same again."
"I..."
"And what if he isn't?" Sonny asked. "What if he ends up like Jason? What if all the work that we've put into making ourselves a family just ends up being tossed out the window? What if he loses everything that made him the person that he was? What if he can't play the piano, or can't remember any of the things that he learned in all those classes he took? Worst of all... what if he wakes up and he's just like me? I can't look at my son and see someone that I want to go through the same life that I do. I always wanted something better for all my children."
"Stop it," Mike pleaded. "You can't keep on thinking like that, Michael. He's going to be fine. Damian is driven by the strongest desire that I've ever seen. No amount of accidents is going to make him lose the individuality that he has. I know that for a fact."
For that brief moment, Sonny looked at Mike and believed that he was telling the truth. In that one second, things could have been different. They could have made an attempt to try again, but neither of them made the effort. Maybe they were afraid that if they did try again it would just fail once more and they would never even get to the point that they were at in that moment. "I should make some phone calls..."
"You're going to call his grandparents in Los Angeles, aren't you?" Mike asked.
"What? No..."
"Sonny... they're his family. They've known him his whole life. They have a right to know that he's in trouble, that he's been hurt."
"I can't do it," Sonny said. "They trusted me to take care of the one thing that they had that tied them to their dead daughter. I can't tell them that I couldn't protect their link to Ana... they've suffered so much already because of me, I can't keep on making them go through old wounds over and over."
"The only way that you're going to be hurting them is if you keep them in the dark," Mike said. "Sonny, I know what they're going to feel. I'm thinking about my grandson being in a hospital room being poked and examined by a handful of doctors and I'm so afraid, but at least I know that he's in there, at least I know what's going on. At least I know that the chance of him not making it exists. How do you think they're going to feel if they just go through life thinking everything is going to be okay and then they finally find out that he's gone? That will destroy them more than anything else. They deserve a chance to say goodbye, or at least show him that they still love him as much as they do."
"When'd you get all these instincts?" Sonny asked.
"I refuse to let the past happen again," Mike replied. "I was a horrible father, but I'm trying to make up for it by being the best grandfather that I can allow myself to be."
"You're doing a good job, considering the past..."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"Because that's what it is," Sonny said. "One of the only ones you'll ever get from me. But, Mike, I don't think I can be brave enough to call them and tell them. That's not even something that I should do over the phone."
"I could do it..."
"No," Sonny said almost a second later. He didn't need his father to solve his problems for him. He never did. Sonny rubbed his temples. He hadn't even thought about the Zuniga's since they had left Los Angeles. "I'll think of something. But I'm not going to give them anything until I know something myself."
"Fair enough," Mike submitted. He wouldn't grill Sonny anymore. He had gotten his point across. Sonny needed to seriously consider the fact that Damian did have a family outside of Sonny and the others. He hadn't done it until Mike had reminded him, but now that he did... it wasn't something that Sonny was going to forget.
Journeylove- I'd rather not see Michael suffer anymore than he already has on the show. You know that they're switching Morgan's, right? The new set of babies don't look as cute, now I can't look at the television and go 'cute monkey!' It's a very sad thing.
After all the angst and drama I've been putting the collective clan through for the past... well, the chapter count is pretty big and I'd rather not actually go back and count, I figured that I needed a little bit of humor to lighten up the mood and keep people from reaching for razors while they read my story. You're not being rude, and I appreciate the criticism of Damian's purity. I have something in store that will cause a tainting of that purity, but it's nothing big. I guess if you want something super huge then I'm afraid I'll have to say that it won't be delivered, since I'm coming towards the end of the story (the writing section, posting's still got some time to go). Should I ever do a sequel, which is unlikely since, as much as I love doing this, I don't think I should devote myself to a single story for over half a year, I might do something of the like, but I won't get your hopes up. Yes, I promise (promise!) that Damian will not end up like Jason, he'll remember stuff and whatnot. Everything will be fine with him mentally. Emotionally and physically are two other sections entirely, but his mind will be intact.
Story-
The Next Morning, General Hospital-
Sonny knew a thing or two about sleepless nights. He'd had more than his fair share of them in his life, but almost all those times that he was staying up it was because he was fighting his demons. He never wanted to stay up all night because he was worrying about someone, but that was what had happened to him the night before. He couldn't sleep. He didn't even try to sleep. He was afraid that if he closed his eyes, if he let his guard drop even for a minute, someone would take his son away from him, either physically or spiritually. The only way that Sonny was going to protect Damian was if he constantly stayed and watched.
There was no change in Damian's condition, which was both a good and a bad thing. He hadn't gotten any worse, but conversely he hadn't gotten any better. Sonny wanted him to be awake, wanted him to open his eyes. Nothing he tried was working, though. That was the most maddening part of the situation, knowing that he couldn't fix the problem that he had to deal with.
Bobbie had only gotten a marginal amount of rest over the night. She was worried, too. However, she knew that the things she was feeling were very small when compared to the pain that Sonny was going through. She had a job to do as well, a job that meant that she would have to ask Sonny to leave. It could have ended up being a long battle between the two, but Bobbie hoped that Sonny would understand that she wasn't doing what she was doing to hurt Sonny but to help Damian instead.
"We've finished monitoring him," Bobbie said as she walked into the room. "We hope that he's had enough time to recover that we can do some examinations on his body without complications."
"What, you're saying that there's still a way that he could be hurt by the examinations that you're going to put him through?"
"There's always that chance, Sonny," Bobbie said lightly. "No matter what we do, there is never anything that can be done to ensure that it isn't going to do something that could hurt the patient. But we take all the necessary precautions and then some extra ones just to be on the safe side. We're going to do our best for Damian, but we need to take him..."
"I can't go with him, can I?" Sonny asked.
"No, I'm sorry... you can't. This isn't like a pregnancy, Sonny. As much as you're going to hate me for saying it, people who aren't trained to deal with the problem are only going to get in the way of fixing the problem at hand. I understand that you love your son, and I appreciate the fact that you want to come with him, but you can't do it right now." Bobbie put a hand on Sonny's back, "I'm going to be looking over everything as closely as I can. I'll take care of him the same way I would take care of Michael and Morgan."
That filled Sonny with a slim amount of ease. He knew that Bobbie would fight to protect her grandsons with every fiber of her being. That she was making the promise for his own son, who wasn't her grandchild in any way, was comforting. "I'm not going to leave the hospital."
"I wouldn't expect you to," Bobbie stated. "In fact, I'd be offended if you did. Maybe you can take this time to call the family, tell them that we're taking him in for some tests. I know they want any updates that they can get."
"Yeah," Sonny grabbed his jacket, which had been draped over the chair, "I think I should do that, too. How long is this going to take, Bobbie?"
"I don't know for sure," She thought about it, estimating all the times that average operations took in her head. "A few hours, at least." She knew that Sonny hated to wait. "You might want to get something to eat. The cafeteria isn't the best, but some of the things we have are edible."
"I might just do that," Sonny walked out of the door. "Do everything that you can for him, Bobbie. I don't care what it costs, just do it. As long as it doesn't put his health at considerable risk, take the chance."
"I'll keep that in mind," She watched a few doctors come into the room and prep Damian's unconscious body for the examinations that he was going to be going through. It wasn't going to be anything that was too drastic. A few tests to determine if he had any broken bones or internal bleeding, and a scan of his brainwaves to make sure that he was still functioning properly. Bobbie hated the idea that they were testing such a bright and capable young man for the possibility of being turned into a vegetable, but it was a possibility that she had to take seriously.
Monica came in shortly after. She wasn't really supposed to be on call, but she had volunteered for the inspection, knowing that Sonny would want the best. It wasn't egotism when she said that she was the best that was on staff at the hospital, it was just a fact. Besides, she had more at stake than angering Sonny Corinthos. She knew that Michael would be crushed if the man that he viewed as his big brother were to just leave him without any explanation. There was also the thing with Dillon, who hadn't come home the night before to her knowledge. "That went better than I was expecting."
"Sonny's a stubborn man." Bobbie said before adding, "But he loves his children more than life itself. He would never do anything that would place them in any danger."
"Aside from live the life that he does, you mean," Monica countered coldly. There would always be that animosity towards Sonny. He was part of the reason why Michael would never call her 'grandma.' She wouldn't use that small amount of contempt against him or his son, but that didn't mean that it wasn't there.
"That's Sonny's decision to make," Bobbie defended her son-in-law, something that she rarely did, but would do if she felt that it was right. "We don't have the right to tell anyone how they should live their lives."
Monica ignored the issues that were to be had. They were personal issues, and she would never let the personal issues get in the way of saving lives. "I checked the readings, he's managed to get a little stronger over the night."
"Is it enough so that we won't have to worry as much about putting him through all of this?"
"Just barely," Monica had seen people fight for their lives more times than she wanted to count. Sometimes they had been family, sometimes friends, sometimes complete strangers, but they all had the desire to not die. "The sooner we get him into the examination room, the better." She looked at the two other doctors, "Wheel him in, please."
Bobbie went to follow them but she stopped. Everything was getting to be so real to her. The threat of losing someone, the threat of it having a huge impact on her family. She didn't want that to happen.
"Bobbie?" Monica noticed that Bobbie wasn't acting like herself. She knew why, too. "If you feel that you can't do this, Bobbie, you know that you're supposed to let someone else handle the duties. You're the head nurse. You have the most seniority, but don't use that to compromise the situation."
"I won't," Bobbie said confidently. "I can't let this get to me."
"If you ever change your mind, know that nobody is going to be looking down on you for doing it," Monica knew what it was like to worry about someone the way Bobbie was. "We'd all act the same way."
"Thanks, Monica." The two women shared a brief, comforting smile before they both walked out of the room, which was now empty.
Waiting Area-
Sonny had been walking, but he hadn't been paying much attention. The hospital was so alive, people were walking around left and right, others were being paged over the intercom system, but none of that mattered to Sonny. To him, everything was silent, dead. He could see what was going on around him, but he couldn't feel it at all.
"Michael..."
Sonny heard his father's voice and found it odd that of all the people that would snap him out of his haze, it would be Mike. Sonny turned around and saw that Mike was the only one that was even around. His light blue eyes did nothing to hide the fatigue that he was feeling. Sonny wondered what was going on. "How long have you been here, Mike?"
"Only a few hours," Mike replied. "I couldn't sleep. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't fight off the feeling that I needed to be here more than I needed to be sleeping."
Sonny wasn't surprised that Mike's conscience was telling him to be with his family. What surprised Sonny was the fact that Mike had finally listened to the little nagging voice when it came to that particular topic. Mike had never really been the best father in the world to either he or Courtney. He was trying to make up for it by being a better grandfather. So far, it was working. "I'm sorry that I didn't see you when you were here yesterday and earlier today," Sonny said. "I just couldn't bring myself to be outside of that room unless I had to be."
"You don't have to apologize for that, Michael," Mike said. "I understand why you did it, and I respect the drive that you have to be there for your son. I envy it, in fact."
"No reason you shouldn't," Sonny replied. A flare of anger and disappointment came back. Sonny saw his father and he saw all the years of pain and sorrow that had been caused. He realized that he would never be able to truly forgive Mike for doing what he did. "This isn't the place to bring up old issues though, Mike. Whatever it is that we still have to work out can wait. I want you to know that I appreciate the fact that you're here right now."
"Was there any chance over the night?" Mike wondered.
"Nothing considerable," Sonny answered. "I've been trying to reach out to him through every possible way that I could think of. I've tried talking to him, touching his forehead... but nothing's got even so much as a twitch out of him. I've never been so afraid of losing someone before in my life."
"You can't think like that," Mike knew that Sonny could be dangerous when he was busy doing the self-pity thing. It would compromise everything that Sonny was trying to do. It would hurt Damian more than it would help him. "Just try and look on the positive side of things, Sonny, it's the only thing that you can do."
"The only thing I can do right now is wait," Sonny said. "They're taking him into one of the rooms where they do the examinations. They're going to see if he's got any broken bones or internal bleeding. They're going to tell me if my son will ever be the same again."
"I..."
"And what if he isn't?" Sonny asked. "What if he ends up like Jason? What if all the work that we've put into making ourselves a family just ends up being tossed out the window? What if he loses everything that made him the person that he was? What if he can't play the piano, or can't remember any of the things that he learned in all those classes he took? Worst of all... what if he wakes up and he's just like me? I can't look at my son and see someone that I want to go through the same life that I do. I always wanted something better for all my children."
"Stop it," Mike pleaded. "You can't keep on thinking like that, Michael. He's going to be fine. Damian is driven by the strongest desire that I've ever seen. No amount of accidents is going to make him lose the individuality that he has. I know that for a fact."
For that brief moment, Sonny looked at Mike and believed that he was telling the truth. In that one second, things could have been different. They could have made an attempt to try again, but neither of them made the effort. Maybe they were afraid that if they did try again it would just fail once more and they would never even get to the point that they were at in that moment. "I should make some phone calls..."
"You're going to call his grandparents in Los Angeles, aren't you?" Mike asked.
"What? No..."
"Sonny... they're his family. They've known him his whole life. They have a right to know that he's in trouble, that he's been hurt."
"I can't do it," Sonny said. "They trusted me to take care of the one thing that they had that tied them to their dead daughter. I can't tell them that I couldn't protect their link to Ana... they've suffered so much already because of me, I can't keep on making them go through old wounds over and over."
"The only way that you're going to be hurting them is if you keep them in the dark," Mike said. "Sonny, I know what they're going to feel. I'm thinking about my grandson being in a hospital room being poked and examined by a handful of doctors and I'm so afraid, but at least I know that he's in there, at least I know what's going on. At least I know that the chance of him not making it exists. How do you think they're going to feel if they just go through life thinking everything is going to be okay and then they finally find out that he's gone? That will destroy them more than anything else. They deserve a chance to say goodbye, or at least show him that they still love him as much as they do."
"When'd you get all these instincts?" Sonny asked.
"I refuse to let the past happen again," Mike replied. "I was a horrible father, but I'm trying to make up for it by being the best grandfather that I can allow myself to be."
"You're doing a good job, considering the past..."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"Because that's what it is," Sonny said. "One of the only ones you'll ever get from me. But, Mike, I don't think I can be brave enough to call them and tell them. That's not even something that I should do over the phone."
"I could do it..."
"No," Sonny said almost a second later. He didn't need his father to solve his problems for him. He never did. Sonny rubbed his temples. He hadn't even thought about the Zuniga's since they had left Los Angeles. "I'll think of something. But I'm not going to give them anything until I know something myself."
"Fair enough," Mike submitted. He wouldn't grill Sonny anymore. He had gotten his point across. Sonny needed to seriously consider the fact that Damian did have a family outside of Sonny and the others. He hadn't done it until Mike had reminded him, but now that he did... it wasn't something that Sonny was going to forget.