WhiteCamellia- No, sorry, no Sonny/Carly interaction for another few chapters. But you'll get Carly and Courtney, is that good enough for you? I hope so.

Story-

Children's Wing, General Hospital, Late Evening-

"Hey…"

Carly knew the voice before she looked. She'd been with Morgan for hours, and she had no intention of leaving her baby's side any time soon. But hearing her best friend's voice just made her feel like something was going right. "You didn't need to come…"

"Why would you say something like that, Carly?" Courtney walked into the room. "Of course I needed to come. Michael's all right now. Damian and Jason are still over there with him."

"Did he have a lot of questions?"

"He's a nine year old boy, Carly, what do you think?"

"You know… when I was younger, before I had Michael, I used to see people with their kids that were around his age and they would always be asking questions and it would get so annoying that I would think 'why don't those people just tell the kid to shut up.' And then I would promise myself that when I became a mother I would let my children know that there were some things that just couldn't be answered." She laughed softly. "But look at me now, Courtney… look at me. I'm the mother of a kid who never stops asking questions, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm so proud of Michael for wanting to know so much, even when it's something that he might not be able to understand he just wants to have some sort of idea as to what is going on."

"You raised a smart kid, Carly…"

"I wanted Morgan to be like him. I wanted Morgan to be the type of kid that would get the good grades on tests, that would make me proud… and I almost lost that today." The tears began to well up in her eyes again. She'd spent so much time in the past few hours just continually crying, like there was nothing else that she could do.

Courtney put the cups of coffee that she had purchased for both of them from the cafeteria on the counter and gently embraced her dearest friend and sister-in-law. A lot of times she knew that people with their particular relation were hardly ever friends, they were almost always at each others throats. But Courtney had gotten lucky. She loved Carly dearly, and cared a great deal about Emily as well. She and Emily would never be as close as she and Carly, but they got along. Courtney was blessed to have such strong relationships with the people around her, and while she didn't think about it very often, they were also blessed for having her in their lives.

"I keep telling myself… what if he hadn't have been here? What if I had actually pushed him away to the point where he didn't even care what happened to his baby brother?" She wiped her nose with a tissue paper. "I was so horrible to him for such a long time… he had every reason to hate me, to use this against me… but he didn't."

"He's not that kind of person, Carly. Even if he hated you, hated Sonny, hated everyone, deep down he would have known that doing what he did was the right thing to do. If nothing else he would have remembered what his mother told him."

"I know, but I spent so long trying to get everyone to believe that he was out to hurt us… that he was out to take away from my family. He didn't do that, Courtney. He just enhanced it. Michael and Sonny are so happy with him around… God, how could I have been so stupid?"

"You were worried," Courtney could see that Carly was having an inner crisis. Something that usually didn't turn out very well for her. "We all were when he first got here, remember? None of us were thinking that he was going to be the person that he turned out to be. We were all worried that he was going to do something that would end up hurting us."

"You didn't take action, though." Quickly realizing that she had said too much, Carly tried to cover her past. "You never tried to make him feel unwelcome. Every day I would say something that I hoped would shove him out the door. You know that period of time where he moved out the first time? One of the happiest times of my life… at least when it happened."

"Do you think he hates you for everything that you did?" Courtney asked, hoping that the vibes she was getting would lead her in the right direction. "Because if you do…"

"I don't," Carly cut Courtney off before she could say anything else. "Believe me, Courtney… we've talked about this. I thought I was at peace with everything that I had done, but after today… I can never make it up to him."

"I don't think you need to make it up to Damian, Carly. He wasn't exactly looking to be your favorite person when he first came around. Remember? You fought him just as hard as he fought you. I'm sure he regrets some of the things that he did, some of the things he said."

"Still… my son didn't save his life."

"Maybe someday Morgan will," Courtney didn't want to sound like she was hoping that something would happen to Damian that would require a part of Morgan, because she didn't want anything to happen to either of them, or Michael, or anyone else that she cared about. But she had quickly learned that, in the life that they led, hope wasn't enough to keep people from being hurt.

"You know what else I keep on thinking about? The doctor… he was saying that it was best for Morgan to get the blood from a relative that had the same type. Since I wasn't a match I knew there was nothing I could do, but if it happened with Michael… there's a part of my life that's missing, Courtney. I need to get that part back."

"What are you talking about?"

Carly finally stopped crying, the momentary relief and need to unload herself on one of the few people who she felt comfortable being so vulnerable around having passed. "I need to find my biological father."

Courtney's eyes grew wide. Carly had rarely mentioned ever going and finding the man that helped with her creation. Courtney wasn't around when Carly came to Port Charles, but she had heard the stories. Carly wanted to destroy Bobbie's life. "Are you sure about that?"

"I need to find him," Carly nodded her head. "Because I know that if something happens to Michael, or to me, or to Morgan, of even if I have another child… I need to know that there's another person, another family, that I can look to for help when I need it."

"Carly, the odds of that happening…"

"They're there, Courtney," Carly said firmly. "I don't care if they're a percent of a percent of a percent, but they are there. And when it comes to my children, I can't take even the smallest chance that they're going to leave me. I don't want to take that chance."

"Have you spoken to Bobbie about this?"

Carly's mind flashed back to the conversation that they had in the same room only hours before. She still vividly recalled the pain in her mother's eyes, as if she felt she was being betrayed by her daughter. "Yeah, I talked to my mom about this… she doesn't want to help me. You know what, I don't need her help. Not really. I don't know what I have to do, Courtney, but I've got more than enough money to do whatever it takes to get the information that I need."

"Carly, you're not thinking clearly…"

"You know, I'm so sick of people telling me that I'm not thinking clearly!" Carly snapped, seeing Courtney take a few steps back. Carly took a few moments to let the anger subside. "Sorry, I know that you didn't deserve that. You and Bobbie are both so intent on telling me that I'm not thinking about this properly, when I know that I am. How can I take a risk like this, Courtney?"

"Have you thought about what could happen?" Courtney's own mind was already thinking about what could have gone wrong with the plan. "What if you find this man and he doesn't care?"

"Sonny and Damian managed to make it work, and they're about as opposite as one another as possible."

"Yes, but Sonny and Damian aren't the same as you and whoever your father is. Carly, I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Then help me with this… because if I don't find the man who is my biological father I will be hurt."

"He can still hurt you, though." Courtney walked Carly over to the chair and sat her down. "What if he rejects you? It's different from what Sonny and Damian went through because even when Damian gave up on Sonny, Sonny never gave up on him. Parents aren't supposed to not care about their children, even when their children don't care about them, but this man, whoever he is, he doesn't necessarily have to think like that. You could just be a part of his past that he would rather forget. I don't mean for it to sound like you're not worth his love because I know that you are, but I'm just trying to tell you what you could be facing."

"I'll make him do what I need to," Carly had thought of the possibilities, but she knew that she had options.

"You're going to strong arm your father into being a part of your life? How can you build a relationship with him…"

"I never said I wanted a relationship with my father, Courtney. I just want to know who he is and know that if I need him for something, like blood, an organ or maybe some bone marrow, I can depend on him. This happened to my family before… Lulu was dying and nobody else could help her get better until Laura's other son came around. I don't want anything I go through to be like that."

"Carly…"

"Look," Carly grabbed Courtney's hand, "I know that I can go to Jase and he'll help me with this because he helps me whenever I need him… but I don't want to be at odds with you. Are you going to help me?"

Courtney was quiet, but she knew that Carly was telling the truth. Jason would do whatever it took to help Carly, and she couldn't do anything about it. If she tried to move Jason away from Carly then she would lose her friendship with her best friend. "I'll do what I can… but you have to know that I'm not completely behind this idea of yours."

"Just don't try and stop me," Carly requested.

"Have you told Sonny about this?"

She shook her head, "I haven't really seen Sonny since he left the room. Since he's sick right now he shouldn't be around Morgan while he's recovering. Did you see him in the lounge?"

"Yeah."

"Let me tell him…"

"Of course," Courtney reached over and grabbed the coffee. "I wouldn't dream of doing something like that. This is your problem, Carly. You need to be the one to address this to your family."

"Just so you know… I really have thought about this. I've been doing almost nothing else but thinking about this… and about Damian, but mostly about what steps I needed to take in order to make sure that something like this never happened to my family again."

"That's good to hear."

"And I'm not going to make any sort of plans," Carly added. "I just want to get all the facts that I can before I do anything. But if my mom isn't going to help me out then I'm going to need another way of looking at this."

"I can't believe you're doing this…"

"I thought that I wouldn't need my father in my life, even told myself that there was no room for him… but I found it."

"What if he's dead?"

"He still has family… I hope. Maybe he had another child, or an entire family. I could have half brothers and sisters that I've never met. Maybe some of them are in Port Charles… you never know."

"But think about your mother. Her past… everything that she's done. She's not proud of the person that she was and you're just trying to throw that all back in her face."

"I know," Carly was regretful for the steps that she had to take, but she knew that there was no choice. "If there was any other way for me to do this, Courtney, you know I would, but I don't have many options. Bobbie needs to help me with this… and if she won't then I don't know what I'm going to do."