Later-

"You want to explain to me why I'm blindfolded, in a car, on Christmas Eve?"

"Because my induction ceremony into the business requires that I kill a rich person at point blank range. You were the easiest rich boy to nab. You didn't think I befriended you because of your charm, humor and wit, did you?"

"No, I was pretty sure that it was because of the hair."

"The money certainly didn't go against you." Damian had an idea of what he wanted to do, he had gotten it especially after his encounter with Tracy. Yes, there was the nice, normal present that he had bought for Dillon in the back seat of Bobbie's borrowed car, but there was something else that Damian wanted to give his friend, but he knew that Dillon would probably object to the idea if he knew what it was.

"It doesn't even take this long to walk from the hospital to the towers, Damian. Where the hell are you taking me?"

"I told you… well, I didn't tell you everything. We're going to the woods, there, you will be executed…"

"Stop playing around," Dillon knew that the boy wasn't going to shoot him, but he was getting tired with the cryptic nature of the information that was slowly being siphoned to him. "Come on, I wouldn't hide a secret from you."

He had only been to the Quatermaine mansion a scant few times, but that didn't mean that it didn't stand out. How many other lavish mansions were there in Port Charles? Lucky for him, the guards seemed to have the day off. Even the Quatermaine's knew what Christmas meant to the little people. It was probably their Christmas bonus that they even got the day off. Without pay.

Both Georgie and Maxie objected to the idea. He had told them while Dillon was away, bathroom break or something. Neither liked the idea of once again exposing Dillon to the harsh Quatermaine world. That was why they weren't with him, because they would have kept on objecting. It wasn't that Damian thought he was right. For all he knew he could have been wrong, but he needed, wanted, to offer Dillon the chance that he was denying himself. If Dillon said that he didn't want to go, then that was it, they would go back to the penthouse, nobody would be hurt, nobody would hold it against him, but he needed to make the choice himself.

"You know, I could take this blindfold off me without much effort," Dillon hated the silence that was in the car. He hated silence for the most part, unless it was silent film. He liked silent film. "It's not like you tied my hands or anything."

"I'm trusting you to trust me on this, Dillon… but I won't stop you from taking the blindfold off. In fact, go ahead. We're here." Damian switched the car into park and waited for the presumably inevitable fallout.

"Where'd you even manage to get a blindfold, anyway?"

"Hospital's full of them… or maybe Bobbie just has a few on hand. Being Luke Spencer's sister, it's not hard to understand."

"No, I guess," Dillon removed the blindfold from his eyes and saw the house. He should have known that he was back at the mansion. He should have felt the way that his skin crawled whenever he came back to the house. "What the hell are we doing here?"

"Your family's Christmas party is happening right now."

"And what are we going to do, throw eggs at the house? Please say that you brought a carton of eggs…"

"It's not Halloween, Dillon," Damian undid the seatbelt. "Don't tell me that you don't want to be here on Christmas. This is your family. I saw the way that you looked when you were talking about the Quatermaine Christmas parties. You were happy, Dillon. You were in that place that you go when you talk about the things that you really love, but you switched…"

"They don't want me here." Dillon lowered his head. He couldn't believe his best friend would torment him like he was. Didn't Damian understand how much it hurt him to see the mansion, especially on Christmas Eve?

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"I just know," he couldn't explain it. "They never wanted me around, not when my mom dropped me off so that she could go and play around in Europe without me, not when she came back… I was always just tolerated."

"Your mother loves you, Dillon," Damian knew the battle wasn't going to be easy, but he wasn't going to give up easily.

"How would you know?"

"Because all mothers love their children, at least on some level, not to mention the fact that when we were talking at the hospital I could see it in her, I could hear her. She misses you, Dillon."

"Then why did she throw me out of the house?" Dillon asked bitterly. "You don't shoo the people that you love away. You don't push them to be someone that they aren't, to be something that they don't want to be." Realization hit Dillon, and he had to know the answer to the question that buzzed in his head, "Why are you defending her, anyway? You, of all people. The only person who would be less likely to defend my mother would be Georgie."

"She was against the idea…"

"Yeah, well, she knows me. Apparently she knows me better than you do. She knows how much I don't want to see my mother." Crossing his arms as if he were a child pouting, Dillon muttered, "I know you're trying to help, Damian… but we don't all have relationships like the one that you had with your mom."

"You're right, you don't. Your mom is still alive."

"That's not what I meant…"

"No, but it's what I mean, Dillon," Damian started the car again. "I gave you the chance that I thought you wanted, but I guess I was wrong. You don't want to do this for your mother, you don't want to do it for yourself."

"Who else would I do it for?"

"What about Lila?" Damian's hand went into his pocket, reaching for his phone. He pulled it out and pushed one of the speed dial buttons. His plan was two-fold.

"What about my grandmother?" Dillon didn't understand the connection.

Damian waited until he heard the faintest sound of recognition from the phone before he spoke, "This is the Quatermaine's first Christmas without Lila, without the one person who always brought the family together. I may have never met your grandmother, but she's a lot like my own, Dillon. Everyone loved her, respected her, would do anything for Lila. Right now, do you really think that Lila would want her family apart? Don't you think that she would want her family to be with one another if they could be? You live in Port Charles. It's different if you live across the country, or on the other side of the world, but you live in the same town, you're barely a few minutes away. Think about your family, this is one of the hardest times for them. It's never going to get easier, but you being there, being with them, just giving them a shoulder that they might need, that they might not even know that they need, that's what she would want."

Dillon thought about Lila. She was never far from his mind. He thought about the way that she smiled when she was happy, she always smiled the most when her family was together… and when they weren't trying to destroy one another. He thought about the way that his mother looked at the funeral, the way that everyone looked, even Jason, when they realized that she was gone, that she wasn't going to be coming back. Every Quatermaine was torn into pieces when she died, but none it appeared more than his mom. He didn't like the way that she was, but he never wanted her to be in pain.

"I hate it when you're right, you know that…" Dillon finally succumbed. "I mean it, Damian. I really, really hate it when you're right. What's worse is that you always know how to point out that you're right."

"I've got skills," Damian smiled. "Nobody is expecting much, Dillon. Your mom's not even expecting you to be there."

"Why are you helping her? She doesn't even like you."

"Because she's still your mother," he said simply. "Like you said, people don't always have the relationship that I have with my mom, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to stand by and watch as you neglect your own mom. When she's gone, Dillon, you're going to wish that you had spent more time with her… I'm giving you the chance to make the separation easier. A chance that I never got to have."

"You win," Dillon opened the door, undoing his safety belt. "I don't have presents for them…"

"It's more than just presents, go," Damian still wished that he had one more moment with her, something that he would never get. He knew that Tracy felt that way about her own mother. The two of them had things in common that nobody else even thought they would have.

When Dillon was safely out of view, Damian ended the phone call. The connection was still strong. It was a gamble, but it was one that he felt that he needed to take.

Morgan Household-

"Who was that?" Courtney had seen Jason on the telephone for what seemed to be a few minutes. But he hadn't said anything outside of 'Hello' and now he was off the phone. It was a strange conversation.

Jason looked at the phone, surprised that Damian had taken the steps that he took. "Courtney… I need to go."

"What?" She was surprised. She walked over to him and clung at his arm. "Jason, please. It's Christmas Eve. Now is the time for us to be with our family, I don't want you to go out and do something. I know that I told you I would never ask you to pick between your family and your business, but just this one time I am going to ask that of you. Please… don't do something dangerous."

"It's not dangerous," Jason rested his chin on the top of her head, hugging her. "It's just something that I need to do, for my grandmother."

"Lila?" Courtney looked up, wondering what he meant. "What does she have to do with this…"

"Apparently everything," Jason smirked. "I don't know how long I'm going to be gone." He didn't know how long he could stand to be around the Quatermaine's, even for Lila, even in honor of her, but, as Damian so pointed out, it was something that she would have wanted, so he at least had to give it a try. "Tell Sonny that I probably won't make it to the tree trimming."

"Do you need me to be with you?" Courtney asked.

"No, this is something that I need to do alone, but thank you." Jason put his jacket on and walked out the door.

Quatermaine Mansion-

Dillon remembered doing the same thing that he was doing at that moment when he first arrived. He would just hide and watch the family that he was supposed to living with. He never found living with the Quatermaine's to be an easy task, it was daunting. But he could see the way that they looked. He could see the way that his mom looked. She was in pain.

Reaching for the doorknob, Dillon really hoped that he was making the right decision.