Corinthos Household-

What was it that everyone said about Jason? He tended to be right? That proved true, especially in Damian's case. If it weren't for Jason, he wouldn't have thought that he didn't do anything wrong when it came to how he forced the hands of both Dillon and Jason. Maybe neither of them wanted to go to the Quatermaine party… and they felt that they had to because of him. He had told himself that he gave Dillon a choice, but, really, how much of a choice did Dillon have when he was right in front of the mansion? A scant few feet away from the family that he always felt had shunned him. That wasn't a very nice thing to do, and it made Damian realize that he wasn't being the best friend that he claimed to be.

Luckily, now that Damian knew that he had a problem, the problem that came with doing whatever he could to make other people happy, something that was, incidentally, shared by Michael, he would try and do something to ward against it in the future. It was like his pre-New Years Resolution, one that he would work on before and after the New Year. But first, he had to content with the Christmas celebration. It would soon be over with.

Damian opened the door to the house and saw several people in the living room. Carly, Michael, Mike and Courtney. Sonny was nowhere to be found, but Damian could smell the aroma coming from the kitchen. He had been with his family for Thanksgiving, he knew that his father thought himself to be a splendid cook, which was true, and that he wouldn't be caught dead not making the Christmas Eve feast.

"There you are," Carly hadn't seen her step-son since they had their heart to heart conversation, and she was actually pleasantly content with seeing him walk through the door. The whole day she had been doing nothing but smiling, at least since after they talked, and it was because of him that she could claim it was the first time in a long while that she had a 'good day.'

"Am I late?" He shut the door, keeping the heat inside the house, and the smell. No need to have it get out and be scattered by the four winds, thus causing people to come crashing on their door, demanding some of Sonny's Cranberry Sauce. "Nobody gave me a time that I needed to be back… but I came as soon as I could."

"Michael was worried about you," Carly looked over at the boy, who was wearing a Christmas-themed sweater and still looking at all the presents, waiting for the moment when he could finally, finally have the one thing that he wanted in one of those boxes. Since Michael seemed preoccupied, Carly switched the story a little, "More like impatient… he likes having everyone together around Christmas, because we can only open presents when we're all here…"

"It's okay," Damian grinned as he watched Michael, who had seen him and smiled, but, really, his mind was more fixated on the gifts than anything else. It was understandable. "He's a kid, let him enjoy the holiday frenzy." Damian silently added the 'while he still can' part. Such innocence was fleeting, and it would be stripped from Michael eventually, something that Damian hoped he could help the boy through, and Morgan when the time came.

"There's my favorite grandson of drinking age," Mike beamed proudly.

"I'm your only grandson of drinking age…"

"Oh, I don't know about that," the elder man said smugly. "After all, we don't know if Sonny has any more kids running around the world, some might be older than you…"

"Don't listen to him, Damian," Courtney jabbed her father in the rib. She heard something pop, she hoped it was a bone. "Dad just loves to kid around. You should know that by now, you've been around him long enough."

"Mike Corbin, the Trickster God, present and accounted for," Mike was basking in the glow that he thought he would never get in his life. Surrounded by his children and his grandchildren. The only thing missing was Courtney's child, but he knew that was impossible. The baby, whatever it may have been, was gone.

"Where were you anyway?" Carly grinned at Courtney, but her question was directed towards Damian. "We all thought that you would be coming back right after the hospital party, but you didn't."

"If you needed me to come back home so fast, you could have called, my cell was all charged and everything."

"It's not that, just curious," Carly couldn't help it. She liked knowing where her family was at all times. She couldn't help being overprotective, she'd lost too much. Now, Damian was a part of that family that she wanted to shelter from pain and suffering. He looked fine, but appearances could be deceiving, she knew that.

"I had to do a last minute errand… so I borrowed Bobbie's car from the Hospital parking lot. After I finished the errand, I went to the Spencer house and dropped the car off. I would have stayed over there for a little while… but there was some guy screaming about Cassadines… so I gave the keys to Bobbie and ran as fast as I could."

Carly rolled her eyes, "Don't be afraid of Luke… he just likes to blow off steam, and he loves to do it when there's a crowd. At least he was with his family this year, sometimes he's not."

"Is dinner ready yet?" Michael's voice was half-whine, half-plead. They could only open presents after dinner.

"Michael Corinthos, I'm sure that whatever is inside those boxes can wait the precious few minutes, or hours…"

"Hours!" Michael didn't like the way that it sounded. Minutes were something he could deal with, but hours? Hours was not a fun thing.

"Just wait for the food to be ready, kiddo," Damian tried his hand. Carly was getting nowhere, someone had to do something. "Remember, Christmas is more than just presents, it's also about family."

"Where's Uncle Jason?" Michael knew that there was someone missing, a man that was as much a part of his family as anyone else in his family. Jason was more than an uncle to Michael, he was, at one time, Michael's father and he was always the one person that Michael knew he could talk to, even when he was afraid to talk about it with his parents or his brother.

"He had something that he needed to do, sweetie," Courtney didn't know where Jason went, and she was still rather grated on the fact that she didn't know. She hated it when Jason kept secrets from her. He never talked about the business, but that wasn't a secret, that was out in the open.

"He's safe, Aunt Courtney," Damian could sense the tension in her voice. "Trust me…"

"What do you mean?"

"It's not my place to tell you anything… he wouldn't like it," Damian didn't want, nor need, another chat with Jason in which he was displeased with his nephew. One was enough. Jason being disappointed was… scary. "Just believe me, please."

She wanted to know, but she knew that if she forced him to tell her it would only have adverse affects on him. Not without protest, Courtney gave up on finding out where her husband was… for the time being.

Before she could say anything else, Damian decided that he wanted to see if his father needed anything. He started to walk toward the kitchen, Carly caught him heading in the direction. "Where are you going?"

"To see if dad…"

"Oh, you don't want to mess with Sonny right now," Carly felt it was only fair. Damian had saved her sanity, it was her turn to save something of his, like his head, or some assorted fingers. "When he's cooking… he's in his zone, and his zone is some place that only he can be. He'll come out when he's ready."

"What's that book you're carrying, Damian?" Mike finally noticed the book that he was holding.

"Maxie's Christmas present," he held the book out. "Some assorted piano music. I don't know when I'll get the chance to use it, but if I know I'm going to be near a piano, I don't see the harm in bringing it out."

"You know, we've never heard you play the piano before," Mike figured that if he had a relative, a grandson, that was so musically blessed, he should at least be able to hear it, and proudly say 'that's my grandson.' "Hopefully, we'll get the chance."

"Yeah, maybe," Damian shrugged his shoulders.

"How come you got to open your present from Maxie early?"

"Michael!" Carly loved her boy… but every year… it was like he had a button that only came on during Christmas. But she was sure she was the same way, children were like that.

"Don't worry about it, Carly," Damian didn't mind. Kids had questions, and Michael had every right to ask them. "Michael, when you have a girlfriend…"

"I'll never have a girlfriend, I hate kissing!"

"Well… we'll say if it does happen, not that it ever will, but say sometime, eventually, it does… in some strange universe where the sky is purple and Unicorns run around the open range… it's hard for people to be with their boyfriends or girlfriends on Christmas morning because they spend time with their families, so they give their presents to each other before then… it's just as special as when we open our presents together as a family."

"Bird should be ready in a little over half an hour," Sonny came out of his safe haven, wiping his hands free from any residue that it may have accumulated. "Everyone better stay out of that general area… Max is off duty because of the holiday, so are all the other guards, but I'm still tough enough to take you all down…" he saw that his boy was home. Walking past Damian, Sonny briskly gave the boy a pat on the shoulder. "So, now that we're all here… we can decorate the tree together."

"Wait a second, Sonny," Carly stood up and headed for the upstairs section of the house, "I'll go grab Morgan, he can help, too."

"How was the party?" Sonny asked, looking at Damian.

"It was interesting…" Damian didn't want to tell them about the offer that had been made. They would try and force him into taking the deal up, he knew that, and he didn't want to do it. "Maxie in an elf outfit was something that I had to see at least once…"

"You'll be seeing more of it when you become a doctor. You'll go every year. Maybe, after Alan can't read the story anymore, you'll do it instead."

"Yeah, maybe…" maybe he wouldn't even become a doctor. Maybe he would become a doctor, but leave Port Charles. He didn't know. He wished he did know.

"Look, Morgan," Carly came back down with her infant son in tow. "You remember this, don't you? The Christmas tree! It'll look a lot better after everyone decorates it. You can help, yes you can."

"So… now what?" Damian wasn't sure what to do. How often had he celebrated Christmas with the Corinthos family? How often had he celebrated Christmas with an actual family?

"I think," Sonny pulled out an ornament, "that, in honor of this being your first Christmas with us, you should be the one who puts the first ornament on the tree."

"Dad…"

"I think it's a great idea," Courtney had seen the hesitation in Damian before, when they were decorating the tree at her house, she wondered if the same thing would happen here, at his own place.

Truly, Damian didn't really want to be the first one to decorate anything, or decorate anything at all. But he remembered what he told Ric, about how he did everything that he could to make sure that the other people who loved Christmas truly had a Christmas that they could care about, and it was in that spirit that Damian knew that he needed to at least do his part.

He took a sky blue bulb from the box and looked for a spot. The tree was bear, and apparently they did things differently, since the lights weren't even on yet, but who was he to object? Finding a place towards the middle of the tree, he put the ornament there, "Any objections… speak now."

There were no objections, and how could there be? Even if things didn't turn out perfect, they did it together as a family, and that had to say something, even for the Corinthos family.