Port Charles Docks-
Why did he decide to come to this place in particular? It was peculiar, to say the least. While there was always a part of him that would love staring out into the ocean, the docks of Port Charles had a deeper, much more sinister meaning to him as a person. To him as a Corinthos. It was here that he was exposed to violence once more. It wasn't the first time, but it was the first time that he realized just how dangerous his father's enemies could have been. He had barely recovered from the trauma that came with being played as a bartering chip by Faith when there was the ambush at the docks. The ambush that he could have avoided entirely if he had just listened to his father, but he couldn't do it. It was at that very spot where he saw what could happen to the people that he cared about, at that very spot where he saw Jason get shot. It wasn't a bad wound, and it wasn't fatal, but it was still a wakeup call. Truly, in a lot of ways, it was the start of the end of that part of him. After the shooting came the jail, and when he got out he was immediately followed by the accident and subsequent kidnapping and murder. If he would have just avoided the docks, nothing would have happened. It may not have been entirely true, but he kept telling himself that just the same.
Damian looked at the wreaths that were running along the banners of the docks. Port Charles did a lot for Christmas. It wasn't anything compared to what he was used to in Los Angeles, but for a small town, Port Charles tried really hard to be festive, and it succeeded on a lot of levels. The festivity of the town could not force the people to be festive by default, though. There would always be people who didn't like Christmas, and they were entitled to their own opinions.
Ric Lansing was still reeling from the promotion that came with being the District Attorney of the town from being the Assistant District Attorney. It wasn't very easy, but his job was made a little less severe with the crumbling of both Faith and Lorenzo. Neither of them were his intended target, though. It had always been Sonny, but that might have changed. He and his brother would never meet up for lunch and discuss what it was like growing up. Even if they did, they would have entirely different stories. But just because they would never be friends… that didn't mean that he had to destroy Sonny, did it? In doing so, how many lives would he throw into turmoil? Jason, Carly, Courtney and Mike, but none of them seemed to be that important to him. No, he wasn't doing it for the adults. He was doing it for the children. For his nephews. Only one of them actually called him 'Uncle,' and if it weren't for that one, Ric might not have been as nice as he was. Damian had showed him that the hatred that existed between Ric and Sonny didn't have to spill over to the children. Michael may have hated him, and Ric understood why he would, but in time he might have learned to forgive Ric.
It didn't really matter what any of them felt. While Ric yearned for the acceptance of his big brother, he knew first and foremost that the most important person that he needed to feel accepted by was the woman who he loved more than anyone else. And Elizabeth did accept him. She was his beacon, the guiding light that showed the world that, even though there were layers of pain and suffering, Ric had a core that was capable of doing things that were good for the people around him. He had spent so much time trying to persuade people against that fact that the damage had been done. He would have to discover a cure for cancer, aids and a way to repair the ozone layer and then he would have a good shot at redemption in the eyes of so many.
Ric was so caught up in his thoughts that he failed to see the box of Christmas trimming that was laying slightly in the way. Apparently the people who were decorating had not finished, and there was nothing of value in the boxes, so why would anyone want to steal something in them? Ric had no intention of stealing, nor did he have any intention of falling, but he did the latter regardless, falling to the ground, hitting the wooden planks with his full body wait and groaning, his briefcase having flung out of his hand and crashed against the ground, jarring itself open. Groaning as he moved his body, trying to return feeling to his stinging cheek, Ric grumbled, "I hate Christmas…"
"And, in the spirit of Christmas, you have been struck down by the instruments of the holiday. They've extracted their revenge." Damian moved from one of the sides of the dock down. He didn't even notice that it was his uncle until he heard the thud that Ric's body made, then when he looked down to make sure that everything was all right, he realized who it was.
"Great, just great," Ric muttered, his eyes turned up. "I suppose I can't pay you off to not give the information to your father?"
"While I'm sure hearing about how you fell flat on your face because you were clumsy would be the perfect gift for dad, I won't tell him. Promise." Damian stood over Ric, the slightest smile present. It was funny, the way that he fell, and why, nobody was going to deny that. But Damian was often thought to be too polite for his own good, and he wouldn't laugh an uproarious laugh at his dear Uncle's expense. It was because of Ric that Damian was still alive, that he was out of jail. "You want some help up, Uncle Ric?" Damian wondered, his hand stretched out as a gesture.
Ric looked at the hand for a moment, as if caught by surprise, but he knew that he shouldn't have been so surprised. Damian was the good one. The kindness that he knew that his mother possessed was a trait that was shared by her grandson, even though they never once met. Ric latched onto Damian's hand and used his nephew as an anchor, wincing softly as a pain shot down his leg. "Thanks."
"You okay?" Damian asked, all too aware of the fact that Ric had displayed some sense of pain while he rose to his feet. Nothing was broken, his fall was too clean for that, but perhaps a sprain.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just a delayed reaction." Ric looked behind his nephew, seeing his documents spread around the ground. "How many times have I dropped those damned things?"
"Sit down, I'll get them," Damian left his uncle to recover from the fall. Sometimes the smallest falls still hurt for a little while. Besides, unlike the rest of his family, Damian didn't run away from Ric when he saw his uncle. Ric was a good person, deep down. He and Sonny had more in common than they thought. The way that they lashed out against people because of what happened to them. They could help each other, if they could get away from that hatred. It was a fools dream, though. The only time they were ever together was when they absolutely needed to be together. One such case was when Damian was in the hospital. Ric had saved him then, too. In a lot of ways, Ric was his guardian, because he was there to protect Damian whenever Sonny couldn't be.
He had recovered from the accident quicker than usual. Sometimes he would joke that it was the Jason in him, despite not being related by blood, but they did act the same when they were injured. He was going to be a doctor, but he was trying to do things that he shouldn't have done while his bones were still mending. Not the smartest thing to do, but he hated feeling like he couldn't do anything for himself. He had gone too long without being dependent on people that he didn't want to go back to old habits now. The last time he was fully dependent on someone, she left him. He didn't blame her for going, of course, but it didn't make the hurt go away any quicker.
Damian bent down and looked at the files, but he didn't look at any of the names or the cases, he just looked and brushed them off in a fluid motion. The fact was that he thought about doing it just the same. He thought about taking the smallest glance at the names, trying to see if there was anything that Ric could use against his father and his other uncle, but he stopped himself from doing it. It was just another step in the path towards becoming just like his father, protecting people by using the nicest gestures and turning them into something more devious. He had already taken the major step by killing Lorenzo, he wasn't sure he wanted to do any more. In fact, he was sure that he didn't want to, but he was unsure of if he would end up not being forced to.
"Here," Damian put the files away in the briefcase and placed it on the bench, sitting on the other end of the bench. "I grabbed everything that I saw, which I hope is all of your files. You might need to get some copies, though. The snow could damage something inside there. But I'm sure that's easy enough for you to get." There was a moment where Damian said nothing, he just looked down at the briefcase and then back up to Ric. "I didn't look at any of the information in those files, Uncle Ric."
Ric's eyes didn't move from Damian. He just spoke, "You know, when people say that they didn't look at something it usually means that they did."
"I didn't look, though. I swear."
"I believe you," Ric said. "I would have never even accused you of looking at these files, Damian. I know that you're a good kid, and I know that even though the justice system has failed you in the past you wouldn't try and do something to extract revenge on it, or on me."
"Other people… wouldn't be so nice." Damian was amazed that Ric was one of the people who was on his side. Maybe Ric wanted something? It wouldn't be the first time that he tried to butter someone up just to get them to do something for him. Damian looked at Ric and shelved the thought. No, Ric wouldn't do that. Maybe to some people, but not to him. "They just look at me and see my father."
"Well, maybe if you did something about the dimples there wouldn't be a problem," Ric brushed some snow out of his hair with a quick sweep of his hand.
"I'm not kidding around, Uncle Ric…" Damian didn't find the dimple comment funny. Maybe he would have on another day, but not on that day. "I love my dad, I love him dearly, but we might not ever see eye to eye on some things, and I don't want to betray my sense of self just to make him happy."
"Is he asking you to do something that you don't want to do?" Ric didn't put it past Sonny to use his children in a way that was advantageous to him and his organization, although the idea was something that made Ric sick to his stomach. He certainly hoped that it was the furthest thing from the truth, but that didn't mean that it was.
"No, of course not… dad would never ask me to do something that I was uncomfortable with… but there's still the stigma that comes with being his son that I can't wash away. People in my classes, once they found out about who my father was… it changed how they thought about me. Some people thought that I was just getting the grades because dad was threatening the teachers. I've never been the type of person who needed help getting a good grade, and I've never even had to worry about people accusing me of doing something to get ahead, but now that I'm here… in Port Charles. Things have changed."
"I know how that is, believe me…" Ric had the same thing. The inferiority to Sonny complex. It was something that everyone seemed to deal with if they were related to Sonny. Courtney felt the same thing, he knew it. But while he and Courtney had it, they couldn't compare to how Damian must have felt. Sonny was his father, Sonny was responsible for him being in the world. "You just can't let them get to you, kid. You're bright and you're good at what you do, you know that. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
"How's Elizabeth?" Damian asked. Elizabeth was his first friend in Port Charles, she was still a person that was dear to him, but Ric thought of her more than he did. Ric spent more time with her than he did.
"She's getting ready for the Christmas party at General Hospital. Audrey convinced her to spend some of her time off helping with the planning. A lot of preparation goes into getting everything ready."
"But it's for a good cause," Damian had heard about the party. He intended on being there. How could he not? His girlfriend, the candy-stripper, was going to be one of the elves. That alone would be worth a few hours of his day, but even more important to all of them was the fact that the kids managed to have something worthwhile happen for them.
"I don't deny that, I'm proud of her for doing it. Very proud of her." Ric got up, briefcase in hand. "Remind me to look around for any errant boxes of Christmas doom, would you?"
Damian glanced around the area quickly. "I don't think that we have to worry about you tripping over anything now, just avoid that box over there, it's already been acquainted with you."
"Think I should go kick it a few times?"
"I think that would be really petty. The box is just cardboard and you're flesh and bone."
"So I'd have the advantage then."
"Well, yeah," Damian didn't see what good would come from bashing the box a few times, but he wouldn't hold it against Ric if he felt like it. "Do you enjoy kicking around small defenseless boxes to make yourself feel better?"
"It's a hobby." Ric shook his head, "I'm kidding, Damian. I'll just make extra sure that I don't trip again. Unless you want to follow behind me to make sure for me?"
"I'd hate to have people think that I was stalking my father's worst enemy…" Damian stopped himself. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that."
"I know you didn't." Ric's reputation and public displays of Sonny as enemy number one were not something that had anything to do with Damian directly. And the truth was, on some level, Ric was Sonny's worst enemy. Aside from Sonny himself, of course. "I'll see you around, Damian."
"Bye, Uncle Ric." Damian walked down the side of the peer where Ric came from and picked up the garland and ornaments that were still scattered around. He looked at them for a moment, then looked over at the design that was complete. It didn't look that complicated, and he would hate for someone to actually hurt themselves while they were walking around. Maybe hanging up garland and the like would put him in the spirit. Everything was right there for him to finish the job. There was only one way to find out, and he got to work.