Joy- I had to check the reviews, because it looked like I had more than I thought I did, so I saw this one before I got the e-mail (which is usually where I check for reviews). Anyway, I don't think it was a hard conversation for Damian as much as it was Sonny, because, as the conversation stated, Damian stopped hating Sonny for not being there after that one time. As for Sonny, yes, it was meant to be very hard, because not knowing your child is something that parents frequently fear. It's funny, because when I first looked I thought you said something about a beautiful blond, so I had to do a double take there. As for the present that Sonny gets for Damian, yes, it's something that is going to touch him profoundly, but what about the other way around? Trust me, it's something good.

Kelly's-

Amid many personal reservations about his ability to keep his scathing remarks inside his mind whenever he saw or even heard Ric's voice, Mike had told Bobbie that he would remain in charge of the restaurant for the time being. If he truly felt that he couldn't hang with the pressure then and only then would he resign from the position. He owed it to Bobbie for giving him the chance to not blow it so nonchalantly. If it was a small bonus, Ric only tended to lurk around when Elizabeth was on one of her shifts, which seemed to be frequent enough, but she didn't work all the time. None of them did. She seemed to work a lot more than she should have, though. Maybe she was avoiding something? Maybe Elizabeth was trying to get out of her house. Perhaps she was lonely. Mike knew how that felt, to have someone and then have them be gone, even if it was by choice… being alone wasn't something that a person ever got used to.

Mike was alone in the restaurant. Kelly's had just opened for the business day and nobody, not even any of the tenants who made the upstairs apartments their home, had come down for anything, not even a cup of coffee. In that moment, he could be at one with his thoughts, only himself in the area. It made Mike reflect on his past mistakes, the haunting decisions that he had made as a parent. All the failures that he had managed to do, the destruction of his relationship with his son, something that would never truly heal itself no matter how hard either of them tried. He hated being alone because when he was alone that was one of the only things that he ever thought about. At least when he was with people he could focus on their problems. When he was with his family he could work to make them happy, to somehow correct the errors of his past. He could smile with his grandsons, or kiss his beautiful daughter on the forehead or just be there for Sonny when he needed him. It wasn't perfect, but it was the best that Mike could offer, and it was better than what he had offered in the past.

The dishwasher machine made the sound that showed that it was ready to be unloaded. Since Mike had no help, it fell to him. He didn't mind, it was something to occupy his time. The steam that came out when he opened the door of the machine crashed against his face, building up a slight coating of mist around him. He really needed to get someone who could just wash dishes. He really didn't enjoy the chore. Adella could have told anyone that, but she wasn't around anymore. He never even got a chance to say goodbye, or apologize. It was hard on him, especially during the holidays. She loved Christmas. The love of Christmas was instilled in Sonny, and it was good that it was, Sonny needed something that he could look forward to. Something that was pure and good.

He heard the bell that sounded whenever someone walked into the door go off. "Be with you in a minute!" He hollered from behind, in the kitchen as he finished unloading and drying the dishes. They'd be dirty again before he knew it and then he would have to restart the cycle anew. It was a cruel and vicious thing, very much like life.

Finishing and wiping his own sweat off with the rag, Mike tossed the piece of cloth into the wash pile and walked out. "Sorry about that… what can I get…" he stopped when he saw his son's dark features looking at him. Sonny was sitting on the stool.

"You know, if I knew you were that easy to spook, I'd come with a white cloth over me and say that I was a ghost…"

"I just didn't expect you to be here, alone, Michael, that's all." He didn't know why he did it, but there were many times when he would regress to calling Sonny 'Michael.' It was his birth name, after all, but it was one that he rarely used. Michael Corinthos Junior. Mike couldn't be one to complain about not using the name that was given. He was still known as Mike Corbin.

"No matter how many times I've tried to tell myself differently in the past, you're my father… and that allots you certain rights…"

"Like being called 'dad,' maybe?"

"Don't push your luck, Mike," Sonny was quick to shoot down the hope that may have been building up in Mike's mind. He wasn't ready to go back to calling his father 'dad' or anything else that recognized the position that was established. For Sonny, a father was someone that was there for his children when they needed him. For Sonny, a father was everything that Mike wasn't. Courtney may have forgiven him for bailing on her as a child, but Sonny wasn't ready to at that point in time. Sonny may not have ever been ready to forget.

"Fine, son, I accept how you feel about me," Mike didn't need to hide the hurt that came from Sonny's words, and he made no effort to do such a thing. "Why don't you let me make you some breakfast? It'll be on the house…"

"I already ate, thanks," Sonny appreciated the offer, but he wasn't hungry, having had some of what he made for Michael.

"Can I at least offer you a cup of coffee?" Mike was grasping at straws looking for something to act as a peacemaker between two grown men, between father and son. "We use your coffee beans, you know…" the part that may have hurt Mike the most was knowing that the coffee business was more than enough to have Sonny and his children and his wife living comfortably, but it wasn't enough for him. Sonny wanted more, and he had to get it by living life in the most dangerous way possible. Mike couldn't help it. Sonny may have been unhappy with him, but Mike was his father, and Mike was always going to worry about his son.

"Only the best," Sonny replied with a wry grin on his face. He liked his coffee beans, it was why he kept the business around, even when he could have used more successful faces to his illegal operations. "I'd like a cup of coffee…"

"For here… or to go?" Mike feared the answer. If Sonny got it to go then it meant that he would leave in a few minutes. Mike enjoyed the time he spent with Sonny, but it always seemed to be something that was so short, unless it involved one of their family members being in trouble. He was too worried about Michael or Damian to enjoy being around his family when they each had their respective stays in the hospital.

Sonny's first instinct was to get it to go, just in case Mike said something that would set him off. Sonny didn't want to have a war with his father, not again, and certainly not during Christmas. His mother wouldn't have appreciated that in the least, and he wanted to honor her memory around their special time of year. "Here, Mike… I can stick around for a bit. I probably should…"

"Any particular reason?" Mike asked as he grabbed one of the glass cups instead of one of the Styrofoam ones, elated that he could make the choice that he wanted. "You and Carly aren't having another fight, are you?"

"No, we're doing fine," Sonny would have been offended by his father's choice to believe that the worst possible thing had happened, but how could he? Carly and Sonny had fights… frequently. They threatened to divorce each other and got as close as possible to filing… frequently. With a track record like that it was no surprise that people assumed that if there was a problem it was marital. Luckily it wasn't. It wasn't even a problem, not really, jut something that Sonny wanted to talk about and the only person that he knew that he could talk about the issue with was another father. Jason didn't have any children, Max didn't, Meyer didn't. The pool of fathers around him was a very shallow pool indeed.

"So then why are you sticking around?"

"Do I have to have a reason?" Sonny was already beginning to regret the choice of sticking around, especially if the questions kept on coming like they were.

"No, of course not," Mike said in an apologetic tone of voice. It was the only way that he knew how to apologize to Sonny, by sounding sorry without saying that he was. Sonny didn't like verbal apologies, and he rarely took them. "It's just a surprise, that's all. Not like you and I spend that much time together."

"We could have…"

"Yes, we could have," Mike nodded. "But I messed that up, and I know that you hate me for it and I accept that you probably always will, but we can… at least work towards being friends, can't we?"

"We are friends… well, maybe more like acquaintances, but it's not like it was when you first came back. I don't cross the street when I see you on the same side of the sidewalk as me anymore, do I?"

"You have no idea how much that hurt me…" Mike remembered the times that he had spent trying to make it in Port Charles, meeting up with his little boy, now a grown and very independent man.

"For what it's worth… I do regret being so petty," Sonny took off his jacket. He was going to try and spend some time with his father, if not for his mother than for himself. Even he needed a father around sometimes. "I should have just told you what was wrong every time I saw you instead of finding a way to hurt you in the worst possible way." Sonny saw Mike walking towards the door. Was he walking out on Sonny… again? "What are you doing?"

Mike flipped the sign that said that they were open, instead showing that they were closed. It wasn't something that he would normally do, but he didn't want anyone interrupting his alone time with his son, it happened so rarely. "Just making sure that we can really be alone together for a little while, Michael, that's all."

"Should you do that?" Sonny was stunned by the gesture, and a little touched, but only a little, "I mean, what about the money that you could lose out on?"

"Money can only make a person so happy, after all these years I've finally learned that. Forgive an old fool for being blinded by the promise of wealth and not seeing how much it hurt the people that he cared about…" Mike sat down next to Sonny. He had already given himself a cup of coffee that was a little cooled, but it would work out just fine for him. "Now, what can I do for you?"

"I'm worried about making the wrong decision when it comes to… well, my son…"

"I get the feeling that you're not talking about Michael or Morgan," Mike knew that Sonny could never make a wrong decision when it came to his younger sons, they both idolized him.

"Good guess…"

"Process of elimination," Mike winked. Unless Sonny had more sons that he had just recently discovered. It had happened once already, who was to say that it wouldn't happen again? "What is it that you're worrying about when it comes to Damian?"

"What if I say something that offends him, Mike? What if I do something that will push him away again? This is like what happened with us, only… well, I'm you… and Damian is me. That's why I needed to come to you, you're the only one who can tell me what to say. I could have gone to Bobbie… but Carly and Damian are entirely different creatures."

"That's putting it mildly," Mike snickered, sipping at his coffee. "Sonny, you care about your son, you want to do what's best for him. The thing that is different about you and Damian that didn't happen with you and me is that he accepted that part about you. He didn't let his disappointment, however justified it was in either case, blind him to the intentions of his father. If you're worried about what you can say to your son or what you do… talk to him. He's not going to lie to you, I would think that you would know that by now."

"I know that he would never lie to me," Sonny was glad that he came to Mike. It was helping. It was helping with a few other things, too. Seeing his father for the man that he was. "He told me something earlier today… when I asked him what he wanted for a present. He told me that whatever I thought of getting him would be fine. How do you shop for someone that you don't know anything about? I have some ideas, but I would hate to be wrong, especially during our first Christmas together."

"How do you shop for someone that you know next to nothing about?" Mike repeated the question, patting Sonny on the back, "By shopping for him using the things that you do know about him. He's always going to have parts of himself that he'll want to keep from everyone, his family, his friends, everyone but himself, he's just that kind of person, but he's also open about a lot of things. He's open about his stance on life, about how he feels. Sonny, I think you know Damian enough to get him something that will make him feel like you do know him."

"And if what I get him makes him think that I don't know him at all?" That was Sonny's greatest fear, the wrong present was much easier to recall than the present that was just perfect.

"Then you speak to him about it after the fact and tell him that you tried your best. He knows that you can only do so much, that you can only do the best that you can, and he'll accept that. I know that about him, and I know him less than you do."

"Are you… going to come and decorate the tree with us this year?" Sonny asked.

"I didn't know that I was invited."

"You're always invited, Mike, you're family."

"Well, maybe I was invited, but I wasn't sure if I would be welcome…"

"I want you there," Sonny admitted. He did want his father there, it was a simple, primal, universal desire to have the people that were loved around.

Mike smiled, "Then I'll be there. Promise."