Los Angeles, California-
Sonny had not gotten any sleep over the night. There was no real reason for it. He was in a comfortable bed, there was no amount of noise that was keeping him awake from outside, he just couldn't sleep. Sonny had gone through many sleepless nights in his life, and they could almost always be attributed to one thing: his guilt. Sonny often could cloud himself in a false sense of moral righteousness that let him continue on with his life, but every so often that shield was shattered and he wouldn't be able to bring it back for a time. He had been feeling his guilt press on him harder and harder ever since he spent that first night at the hospital with his son, and now, as he waited to inform the people who had raised Damian about his condition, he found that it was too much.
Sonny picked up the hotel phone and dialed the house number to the Penthouse. It was 8 in the morning in Los Angeles, it would be 11 in the morning in Port Charles. Michael would already be in school. If Carly wasn't there, Leticia would be.
Carly heard the phone ring in the penthouse. She looked at the ID and saw that it wasn't a number that she knew, but she also knew that Sonny would be calling her from a line that wasn't going to be identified. She picked it up, "Hello?"
"Carly?" Sonny said.
"Sonny, hi," Carly shifted around uneasily. Did Sonny know anything? Had Lorenzo found a way to contact Sonny and tell him of her dealings with him? How she was indirectly responsible for the plight that had befallen his son? "How are you?"
"You know me," Sonny sat on the bed again. "Just trying to get up the courage to make the drive over."
"Sonny, you know that you don't have to do this, right?" Carly said, sympathetically. She thought that the idea wasn't the smartest thing in the world because of the fact that she didn't know how the Zuniga's would respond to Sonny, especially if he was bringing them horrible news like he was.
"I know that I don't have to," Sonny repeated, "but I feel that I should."
"Is Jason there?" Carly asked. She was going to tell Jason to make sure that nothing happened to Sonny.
"No, he's in his room," Sonny replied. "Have you been to the hospital today?"
"No, I haven't," Carly said. "I was going to wait till Michael got home and then we'd go together."
"I would have liked you to go, Carly. I want to make sure that everything is still okay..."
"Sonny, if anything would have happened the doctors or Courtney would have called us," Carly replied.
"Maybe I should call..."
"Sonny, he's probably asleep," Carly knew how much the recovery was going to drain the boy. "And Courtney's probably resting as well. She likely spent all night watching him and now that it's daylight she might be trying to catch up on some sleep."
"I still worry, you know?" Sonny asked.
"Yes, I know that you worry about everything," Carly said with a soft laugh. "But you don't need to worry about this, Sonny. Courtney will keep him safe. I'll make you a deal, okay? Once Leticia gets back from getting some lunch, I will go to the hospital myself and check up on them."
"Leticia's gone?" Sonny asked.
"Yes, I'm watching Morgan," Carly replied. "I can do that, you know. I did give birth to the boy, after all."
Sonny chuckled, "I don't doubt that you can't watch our son, Carly. Fine, you win. I should get going, anyway."
"Don't let them abuse you, Sonny," Carly said. "Don't let them guilt you into thinking that this is your fault, because it's not."
"I don't know if I can remember that," Sonny said honestly. "I don't know how I'm going to do this..."
"Let Jason help you," Carly said. She heard Morgan crying from his crib. "Sonny, Morgan's crying, I have to go."
"I love you, Carly," Sonny finished his end of the call with a simple gesture.
"I love you, too," Carly replied, hanging up the phone and feeling a tear run down her cheek. She loved her husband, but she didn't love him enough to save him from feeling the pain that she had instrumented.
Sonny heard the line go dead. He looked at the phone, thinking about actually giving Damian a call anyway. But he knew that Carly was right. The boy needed his rest, and Sonny's little sister was already doing a lot for him, if he woke her up he would feel bad. Sonny got out of bed and opened the door, "Jason!"
Jason opened his door, which was right across from Sonny's, "Yeah?" Jason was already dressed and looked like he was ready for anything.
"Let's go."
"Sonny," Jason started, "don't you think it's a little early to go visit someone?"
"Jason, these people are always up early," Sonny responded. "Besides, the sooner that we tell them, the sooner that I can leave and go back to my son."
"How can you be so sure that they will be home?" Jason pondered. "You don't know much about them."
"If they're not home, we'll find them and tell them," Sonny said. "You coming or not?"
"Yeah," Jason got his jacket and put it on over his navy blue shirt. "Let's go."
Outside the Zuniga Residence-
Sonny gave Jason the silent treatment the entire ride over from the Hotel. It wasn't long, and they had managed to beat the rush hour traffic so they made the journey in less than 20 minutes. Jason wasn't expecting Sonny to be open about anything at that time, though. He knew that Sonny was going through so much because of what had happened. Sonny was his mentor, his best friend, and he was in pain. Jason couldn't even begin to imagine what Sonny was going through, and he was somewhat happy that he would never actually have to worry about it. Courtney wouldn't have children... it was a sad thought, but when he saw how much Sonny worried about all his boys, it was hard for Jason to not be thankful that he would never have to feel the same thing.
When the driver stopped, Sonny got out. Jason stayed inside, leaning over, "Do you want me to come with you?"
Sonny shook his head, "I need to do this alone. You're only here to make sure that I don't leave without saying everything."
Jason gave a brief nod, "Okay."
Sonny stepped onto the concrete walkway that he had only walked on twice in his life, both times to do something that wasn't pleasant to anyone involved. Even though the house was mere feet away, it could have been so much longer to Sonny. They felt like miles, each step that he took made it seem like he was grasping for air, looking for something that could never end. He took a look back at the car, at his salvation. He saw Jason's eyes looking directly at him. Jason wouldn't let Sonny leave without saying something. It wasn't just for Sonny's sake, though, it was also for Damian's.
Sonny finally made it to the front door and he knocked. A second past, and then another. Sonny felt a drop of sweat begin to fall down his brow. His body was tensing up. He had done plenty in his life that made him feel nervous, but the situation he was in at that moment easily had him acting the strangest that he had ever done in his life.
Sonny had hoped that it would have been Victoria who answered the door, but his luck wasn't holding and Elias was the one who did. The patriarch of the family that his son had the last name of did not look thrilled to see Sonny, but he knew who the man in front of him was. "Can I help you?" Elias asked.
"Mr. Zuniga..."
"What is it, Corinthos?" Elias continued. "Why are you here?"
"Is your wife here?" Sonny really wanted to talk with Victoria, she was so much different than her husband. So much less intense about everything.
"No, she's at the market doing shopping for our family," Elias answered. "She'll be gone most of the day."
Sonny was going to ask why it took her so long to do some simple shopping, but since he rarely did any shopping on his own, he couldn't say anything. "This..." Sonny tried to find a word to express his grief. He tried again, "I'm here because I have to tell you something..."
"Spit it out then," Elias ordered. "You're wasting my time."
"Look, I know that you don't like me very much..."
"Isn't that obvious?" Elias cut in.
"But I am your grandson's father, and I will not be treated like I am some criminal..."
"Aren't you, though?" Elias inquired. "Do you not traffic illegal products through your harbors in Port Charles? Did you not work for the man who wanted to destroy me and my family..."
"I was young, I didn't know how to stand up for myself... but I'm doing that now. If you don't want me to tell you what happened to your grandson, fine. I'll leave and you won't know anything."
"Do not even attempt to use Damian against me!" Elias's eyes, which were very much like Damian's, burned into Sonny. "What is it?"
"He's... in the hospital," Sonny finally said.
"What?" Elias's anger quickly turned to worry. "How did that happen?"
"Two nights ago he was struck by a truck and flung into the air," Sonny said. "He broke several of his ribs, bruised his tailbone and lost a lot of blood..."
"Is... he..."
"No, he's alive," Sonny answered. "He's awake, and alert. There is no brain damage that was sustained."
"You had something to do with this, didn't you?" Elias, his worry washing over him, had returned to anger.
"No," Sonny replied. "I didn't know what was going on. It was an accident."
"Nothing is never an accident when someone spends their life the way you do! I should know, I spent years working the same way that you do, Corinthos. Why do you think I lost everything? Because of all the sins that I had committed when I was younger!"
"I had nothing to do with the accident!" Sonny yelled. "I would never harm any of my children! I don't care how much you hate me for doing what I did to your daughter over twenty years ago, and I will never be able to forgive myself for that night, but I won't let you or anything else dare say that I am someone who would not go to the ends of the Earth to protect my children, because I would!" Sonny calmed himself down somewhat, "I came here because I felt that you had a right to know what was going on. I didn't have to tell you anything, but I did."
"Damian would have let us know sometime," Elias muttered, although he was aware of the fact that the boy was calling them less and less as he spent more time in Port Charles. It was almost like they were stealing Damian from the Zuniga's. "He still cares for us."
"I know he does, and because of that fact I forced myself here... I didn't want to be accused of doing things that I didn't do by anyone, especially you." Sonny got out a piece of paper and wrote something down. "Here."
Elias took the paper and looked at it, "What is this?'
"His phone number at the hospital, call him if you want. Tell your wife not to worry, and don't forget the fact that I'm going to protect him from something like this happening to him again."
"You truly swear that you had nothing to do with the accident?" Elias asked.
"I would never hurt my children, if you don't understand how a father loves his children then maybe I shouldn't have come here."
"I know what it is like to love children better than you think, Corinthos." Elias held the paper in his hand. "I gave up everything to start a family, to protect my future children and the woman that I loved. I gave up the money and the power. I gave up my false idea of happiness for true joy in life when I decided that I would no longer have a part in the organizations of crime. Is that something that you could do?"
"I... don't know."
"Then it would be in your best interests to find out," Elias responded. "I do appreciate the information that you have given me, and I know that my wife will appreciate it as well. But let something be known, Corinthos, I am giving you the benefit of the doubt in this situation. If my grandson suffers anymore while under your care, I will find a way to make you pay..." Elias shut the door.
Sonny turned around, shaking his head, trying to regain his composure. He had done what he went to do. He had gotten the information to Damian's family. He had proven himself to be a good father in his own eyes, and his opinion was one of the only ones that mattered.
Sonny had not gotten any sleep over the night. There was no real reason for it. He was in a comfortable bed, there was no amount of noise that was keeping him awake from outside, he just couldn't sleep. Sonny had gone through many sleepless nights in his life, and they could almost always be attributed to one thing: his guilt. Sonny often could cloud himself in a false sense of moral righteousness that let him continue on with his life, but every so often that shield was shattered and he wouldn't be able to bring it back for a time. He had been feeling his guilt press on him harder and harder ever since he spent that first night at the hospital with his son, and now, as he waited to inform the people who had raised Damian about his condition, he found that it was too much.
Sonny picked up the hotel phone and dialed the house number to the Penthouse. It was 8 in the morning in Los Angeles, it would be 11 in the morning in Port Charles. Michael would already be in school. If Carly wasn't there, Leticia would be.
Carly heard the phone ring in the penthouse. She looked at the ID and saw that it wasn't a number that she knew, but she also knew that Sonny would be calling her from a line that wasn't going to be identified. She picked it up, "Hello?"
"Carly?" Sonny said.
"Sonny, hi," Carly shifted around uneasily. Did Sonny know anything? Had Lorenzo found a way to contact Sonny and tell him of her dealings with him? How she was indirectly responsible for the plight that had befallen his son? "How are you?"
"You know me," Sonny sat on the bed again. "Just trying to get up the courage to make the drive over."
"Sonny, you know that you don't have to do this, right?" Carly said, sympathetically. She thought that the idea wasn't the smartest thing in the world because of the fact that she didn't know how the Zuniga's would respond to Sonny, especially if he was bringing them horrible news like he was.
"I know that I don't have to," Sonny repeated, "but I feel that I should."
"Is Jason there?" Carly asked. She was going to tell Jason to make sure that nothing happened to Sonny.
"No, he's in his room," Sonny replied. "Have you been to the hospital today?"
"No, I haven't," Carly said. "I was going to wait till Michael got home and then we'd go together."
"I would have liked you to go, Carly. I want to make sure that everything is still okay..."
"Sonny, if anything would have happened the doctors or Courtney would have called us," Carly replied.
"Maybe I should call..."
"Sonny, he's probably asleep," Carly knew how much the recovery was going to drain the boy. "And Courtney's probably resting as well. She likely spent all night watching him and now that it's daylight she might be trying to catch up on some sleep."
"I still worry, you know?" Sonny asked.
"Yes, I know that you worry about everything," Carly said with a soft laugh. "But you don't need to worry about this, Sonny. Courtney will keep him safe. I'll make you a deal, okay? Once Leticia gets back from getting some lunch, I will go to the hospital myself and check up on them."
"Leticia's gone?" Sonny asked.
"Yes, I'm watching Morgan," Carly replied. "I can do that, you know. I did give birth to the boy, after all."
Sonny chuckled, "I don't doubt that you can't watch our son, Carly. Fine, you win. I should get going, anyway."
"Don't let them abuse you, Sonny," Carly said. "Don't let them guilt you into thinking that this is your fault, because it's not."
"I don't know if I can remember that," Sonny said honestly. "I don't know how I'm going to do this..."
"Let Jason help you," Carly said. She heard Morgan crying from his crib. "Sonny, Morgan's crying, I have to go."
"I love you, Carly," Sonny finished his end of the call with a simple gesture.
"I love you, too," Carly replied, hanging up the phone and feeling a tear run down her cheek. She loved her husband, but she didn't love him enough to save him from feeling the pain that she had instrumented.
Sonny heard the line go dead. He looked at the phone, thinking about actually giving Damian a call anyway. But he knew that Carly was right. The boy needed his rest, and Sonny's little sister was already doing a lot for him, if he woke her up he would feel bad. Sonny got out of bed and opened the door, "Jason!"
Jason opened his door, which was right across from Sonny's, "Yeah?" Jason was already dressed and looked like he was ready for anything.
"Let's go."
"Sonny," Jason started, "don't you think it's a little early to go visit someone?"
"Jason, these people are always up early," Sonny responded. "Besides, the sooner that we tell them, the sooner that I can leave and go back to my son."
"How can you be so sure that they will be home?" Jason pondered. "You don't know much about them."
"If they're not home, we'll find them and tell them," Sonny said. "You coming or not?"
"Yeah," Jason got his jacket and put it on over his navy blue shirt. "Let's go."
Outside the Zuniga Residence-
Sonny gave Jason the silent treatment the entire ride over from the Hotel. It wasn't long, and they had managed to beat the rush hour traffic so they made the journey in less than 20 minutes. Jason wasn't expecting Sonny to be open about anything at that time, though. He knew that Sonny was going through so much because of what had happened. Sonny was his mentor, his best friend, and he was in pain. Jason couldn't even begin to imagine what Sonny was going through, and he was somewhat happy that he would never actually have to worry about it. Courtney wouldn't have children... it was a sad thought, but when he saw how much Sonny worried about all his boys, it was hard for Jason to not be thankful that he would never have to feel the same thing.
When the driver stopped, Sonny got out. Jason stayed inside, leaning over, "Do you want me to come with you?"
Sonny shook his head, "I need to do this alone. You're only here to make sure that I don't leave without saying everything."
Jason gave a brief nod, "Okay."
Sonny stepped onto the concrete walkway that he had only walked on twice in his life, both times to do something that wasn't pleasant to anyone involved. Even though the house was mere feet away, it could have been so much longer to Sonny. They felt like miles, each step that he took made it seem like he was grasping for air, looking for something that could never end. He took a look back at the car, at his salvation. He saw Jason's eyes looking directly at him. Jason wouldn't let Sonny leave without saying something. It wasn't just for Sonny's sake, though, it was also for Damian's.
Sonny finally made it to the front door and he knocked. A second past, and then another. Sonny felt a drop of sweat begin to fall down his brow. His body was tensing up. He had done plenty in his life that made him feel nervous, but the situation he was in at that moment easily had him acting the strangest that he had ever done in his life.
Sonny had hoped that it would have been Victoria who answered the door, but his luck wasn't holding and Elias was the one who did. The patriarch of the family that his son had the last name of did not look thrilled to see Sonny, but he knew who the man in front of him was. "Can I help you?" Elias asked.
"Mr. Zuniga..."
"What is it, Corinthos?" Elias continued. "Why are you here?"
"Is your wife here?" Sonny really wanted to talk with Victoria, she was so much different than her husband. So much less intense about everything.
"No, she's at the market doing shopping for our family," Elias answered. "She'll be gone most of the day."
Sonny was going to ask why it took her so long to do some simple shopping, but since he rarely did any shopping on his own, he couldn't say anything. "This..." Sonny tried to find a word to express his grief. He tried again, "I'm here because I have to tell you something..."
"Spit it out then," Elias ordered. "You're wasting my time."
"Look, I know that you don't like me very much..."
"Isn't that obvious?" Elias cut in.
"But I am your grandson's father, and I will not be treated like I am some criminal..."
"Aren't you, though?" Elias inquired. "Do you not traffic illegal products through your harbors in Port Charles? Did you not work for the man who wanted to destroy me and my family..."
"I was young, I didn't know how to stand up for myself... but I'm doing that now. If you don't want me to tell you what happened to your grandson, fine. I'll leave and you won't know anything."
"Do not even attempt to use Damian against me!" Elias's eyes, which were very much like Damian's, burned into Sonny. "What is it?"
"He's... in the hospital," Sonny finally said.
"What?" Elias's anger quickly turned to worry. "How did that happen?"
"Two nights ago he was struck by a truck and flung into the air," Sonny said. "He broke several of his ribs, bruised his tailbone and lost a lot of blood..."
"Is... he..."
"No, he's alive," Sonny answered. "He's awake, and alert. There is no brain damage that was sustained."
"You had something to do with this, didn't you?" Elias, his worry washing over him, had returned to anger.
"No," Sonny replied. "I didn't know what was going on. It was an accident."
"Nothing is never an accident when someone spends their life the way you do! I should know, I spent years working the same way that you do, Corinthos. Why do you think I lost everything? Because of all the sins that I had committed when I was younger!"
"I had nothing to do with the accident!" Sonny yelled. "I would never harm any of my children! I don't care how much you hate me for doing what I did to your daughter over twenty years ago, and I will never be able to forgive myself for that night, but I won't let you or anything else dare say that I am someone who would not go to the ends of the Earth to protect my children, because I would!" Sonny calmed himself down somewhat, "I came here because I felt that you had a right to know what was going on. I didn't have to tell you anything, but I did."
"Damian would have let us know sometime," Elias muttered, although he was aware of the fact that the boy was calling them less and less as he spent more time in Port Charles. It was almost like they were stealing Damian from the Zuniga's. "He still cares for us."
"I know he does, and because of that fact I forced myself here... I didn't want to be accused of doing things that I didn't do by anyone, especially you." Sonny got out a piece of paper and wrote something down. "Here."
Elias took the paper and looked at it, "What is this?'
"His phone number at the hospital, call him if you want. Tell your wife not to worry, and don't forget the fact that I'm going to protect him from something like this happening to him again."
"You truly swear that you had nothing to do with the accident?" Elias asked.
"I would never hurt my children, if you don't understand how a father loves his children then maybe I shouldn't have come here."
"I know what it is like to love children better than you think, Corinthos." Elias held the paper in his hand. "I gave up everything to start a family, to protect my future children and the woman that I loved. I gave up the money and the power. I gave up my false idea of happiness for true joy in life when I decided that I would no longer have a part in the organizations of crime. Is that something that you could do?"
"I... don't know."
"Then it would be in your best interests to find out," Elias responded. "I do appreciate the information that you have given me, and I know that my wife will appreciate it as well. But let something be known, Corinthos, I am giving you the benefit of the doubt in this situation. If my grandson suffers anymore while under your care, I will find a way to make you pay..." Elias shut the door.
Sonny turned around, shaking his head, trying to regain his composure. He had done what he went to do. He had gotten the information to Damian's family. He had proven himself to be a good father in his own eyes, and his opinion was one of the only ones that mattered.