Lois had always had a keen ear for music, it was a trait that she had apparently tossed over to her darling daughter. Ned may have given Brookie the voice, but Lois gave her the sense. Together, they had made a daughter that could truly make an impact in the music world, if she wanted. Lois had pushed her daughter time and time again to try and start doing something musically related, but Brook, for whatever reason, didn't want to go down that path.

No matter how much Lois thought her daughter was making a mistake she also knew that pushing Brook into doing something that she didn't want to do was only going to lead the teenage girl somewhere that neither of them wanted her to be. Lois had a few jobs that were important to her, but none of them were as important as being a mother to her daughter. A good mother, as good of a mother as she could possibly be.

Sonny beamed proudly, "My son's playing the piano I got him for Christmas." It was the first time that Sonny had ever expressed pride in his oldest child's musical talent, based on how he felt after that original encounter, he had a feeling that he would be doing it whenever he got the chance. Was it wrong to be proud of his son? Sonny didn't think so. "Here," Sonny started walking towards the area where the music was coming from, "why don't you meet him."

Lois was next to Carly, something that she didn't exactly enjoy, but there was nothing that she could do about it, just like there was nothing that Carly could do about it. Lois had a feeling that Carly was enjoying the situation just as much as she was, which was to say that they weren't enjoying it at all. "I didn't know that your little Michael could play the piano." Lois hadn't spent much, if any time with Michael, but she had heard some stories from Jax. They still kept in touch as much as possible, even when they were thousands of miles away. Jax was the type of guy that she could have called with a problem and if she was in Peru or some other country he would be there in a matter of hours for her.

"He can't," Carly corrected Lois, "at least he can't do it yet." Who was to say that Michael didn't have the talent to play the piano in an impressive way? She didn't want to try and squander the boy's potential, that would be bad parenting.

Lois didn't understand. Sonny had said that his son was playing the piano, but then how was his son playing the piano so well if Carly had just admitted that Michael couldn't? "But…"

"You know what, Lois," Carly cut her off, knowing where the question was going to lead. She was going to ask about what Sonny meant, and Carly didn't really feel like explaining. "Why don't you just find out what's going on for yourself." The explanation would be long, and it would keep Lois around for a greater period of time than Carly would have liked to permit. As it was, Lois had already overstayed her welcome in Carly's eyes, but Sonny would never throw his friend out, or allow her to be thrown out.

"I'll do that," Lois nodded. "You know, Carly, you really shouldn't be so spiteful and angry, it doesn't look well on you… makes your eyes get bags around them."

"When the time comes to hide the bags around my eyes, I'll come straight to you. You almost look like you're not a woman pushing forty… almost." There was a theory about Carly and Lois: They would have been the best of friends if they managed to survive through hating each other. So far they hadn't yet gotten to that point in their barely safe acquaintanceship.

Elsewhere, Damian had finished with the song, or almost finished. He was on the last row of musical notes to read from, and in a matter of seconds the tune of the piano had silenced itself, just a faint memory.

"I liked that," Michael was glad that he was spending some alone time with his brother. It seemed like that time had been severely reduced without his permission. Michael coveted the moments where he could be alone with Damian and they kept on happening with less and less frequency. He was always studying, or with Dillon or Maxie.

"You did a great job turning the pages when I needed you to," Damian was completely unaware of Michael's apathy. He always tried to set aside time to be alone with Michael, and he would eventually do the same when Morgan was old enough to actually need him. By then maybe Damian wouldn't have such an all consuming fear about dropping his baby brother. "You can pick another song, if you want."

"Sure!" Michael was delighted and he grabbed the book. He didn't understand what the notes meant, but he could read the title of the songs and if it was something that he knew and he liked then he would ask for that song to be played.

"Why don't you pick another song in a few minutes, buddy?" Sonny walked in, followed by the group of ladies, all of varied ages. "Right now there are some people that I want you to meet."

Damian could see that Michael was distraught. He did his best to comfort the boy, "Don't worry about it, Michael, we'll get another chance. It's still early in the morning."

"Boys," Sonny addressed both of his children, "I want you to meet someone who is very special to me." He stood next to Lois, "This is Lois Cerullo. She's one of my best friends and has been ever since we were children. She's a large part of the reason why I managed to survive growing up."

Lois blushed, "You always know how to give a girl too much credit…"

Sonny laughed softly, "I always thought that I never gave you enough."

Damian saw a side of his father that he had yet to see. He knew that Sonny had friends. Jason was one of his best friends, and they were always together, but there was a tie that he could see between Sonny and Lois that was only theirs. He wondered how Carly took the relationship. One look over at his step-mother showed that she wasn't exactly the biggest fan.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mrs…"

"Miss," Lois corrected Damian as politely as she could. She was never a Mrs. Cerullo. There was a time when she was Mrs. Ashton, but that was a long time ago. "And, please, call me Lois."

"Hi," Michael tried to sound upbeat and positive, but it was rather hard. He was still disappointed in the distraction.

Lois smiled at the younger boy, "You must be Michael. I knew your father when he was your age… quite the troublemaker he was."

"Let's not get into that, shall we," Sonny tried to cover up his tracks. Certain exploits of his childhood were best left between the people that were there at the time it happened, and aside from him and Lois everyone else fell into the 'don't need to know' section.

"I wouldn't mind hearing stories from your past…"

Sonny glared at Damian, not coldly, but enough to get his attention, "You tell me yours first."

"Touché."

Lois looked at the two men. She didn't know about any sort of relationship that Sonny could have had with the younger man. "I don't mean to be rude…" she could hear a scoffing sound that she knew to be Carly. She ignored it. "But I honestly have no idea who you are."

"He's my firstborn," Sonny said.

Lois didn't take the news in an unexpected way. A man that was quite possibly her oldest and dearest friend had a child that was now at least in his late teens and she had never been informed? "Your…"

"Dad didn't know about me, Lois," Damian came to his father's aid. It was always hard on Sonny to admit that he had 'failed' when it came to being there for Damian. Damian figured he owed it to his father to help out as much as he could. "He didn't know my mom was pregnant with me and I went twenty years without being around him. But I'm here now… that's what's important, right?"

"I guess so," Lois thought about Sonny. Even as a child it was so important to Sonny that he be there for his children when he had some. The fact that he had missed out so much on one of his sons' life must have tore at him. She had a feeling that Carly was of little help. "And here I thought I was the only one that had a child that was of driving age. You've got one who can vote… and drink."

"Lois heard you playing the piano…"

Lois once again found herself correcting someone, this time it was Sonny, not one of his children. "Actually, I was so distracted by seeing Sonny again that I wasn't even the one who noticed it. My daughter did. Say hello, Brook."

Brook put up a hand and waved it slightly, "Hi."

Lois was studying Damian's face. She knew that Michael was adopted. She didn't hold that against Sonny, in fact, she was one of the people who was most proud of Sonny for giving his love to a child that wasn't even born from him, but Michael had no genetic connection to Sonny, so he wouldn't look anything like his father. Damian, on the other hand… "You look quite a bit like your father, you know that. Were you a teenage heartthrob like him?"

"Hardly," Damian got an inner chuckle at the idea of himself being a popular person growing up, having loads of girlfriends. It seemed like the farthest thing from reality, probably because it was. "I didn't really have many friends… or admirers growing up."

"You probably just didn't notice," Lois surmised. "Your dad was like that, too. There was this girl that had the biggest crush on him, and Sonny was so clueless about it. Broke her heart, too."

"Lois…"

"What?" She shrugged her shoulders, "You and I both know that Rhonda thought you were the greatest thing since David Cassidy."

"Sonny doesn't like drudging up useless tidbits from his past. If you knew him as well as you claim you do, you would have known that." Carly knew that having Lois around for longer than ten seconds was a mistake, and she was just being proven how right she was.

Lois actually agreed with Carly. She thought that she had crossed a line that she shouldn't have crossed. Rather than admit that she was wrong, especially to the woman in question, she changed the subject. "So…"

"Damian."

"Thank you. Your father didn't say your name. Damian, you were the one playing the piano, I take it."

Damian nodded, "Dad got it for me for Christmas, it was a surprise."

"You were pretty good," Brook paid the boy a compliment. "I mean, Disney movie tunes are a little tired and childish, but you played the song well."

"I'm sure he could play other songs as well," Lois didn't want the poor boy to have his self-confidence shattered. She wasn't gauging his musical abilities, at least not yet. "Why don't you play another song for us… show us how much range you have as a pianist." Lois saw the book of sheet music on the stand and she grabbed it.

Michael glanced at his brother, "I thought I could pick the next song…"

"You can still pick a song, Michael… but Lois is a guest, you'll still be here when she leaves."

"Here's one," Lois put the music back on the stand. "Classic Beetles tune."

"Let it be?" Damian looked at the title. Of course he had heard the song before. "Michael, you want to turn the page for me again?"

"I'm going to go play my new video game…" Michael didn't feel comfortable around everyone. He was the only kid in the room, and it was a fact that he didn't much enjoy being made so apparent.

"Here, sweetie, you can show me how it works," Carly could see that Michael was hurt. If she needed more reason to dislike Lois she had just gotten it. She would have to speak with Sonny about the intrusion issue a little later.

"I can turn it," Brook walked over to the bench, "you don't mind, do you?"

"Not at all," Damian didn't care. Fingers were fingers. "Ready?"

"Yeah."

Damian looked at Lois and Sonny, both were interested in hearing him play again. He'd never really had an audience before. He'd played around his mother, his grandparents, Maxie and now Michael, but they were all people that he felt comfortable around. That wasn't to say that he didn't feel comfortable around his own father, but Lois and Brook were people that he had barely met. Still, he began to play as well as he could, the jitterbugs would just have to be left alone.