Note: No update yesterday, because word was being a bitch, as I have reported in the past. Since I don't know how frequently this is going to happen, I won't be posting two or more chapters depending on how many days I missed, since I can't work on the story if word doesn't open. So, one chapter, but be happy…

Journeylove- I'm sorry about I-search papers, I used to hate doing them when I had to do them, now, with my love of writing, which I didn't have when I was in high school, I'd probably love it, but then… good lord. Also sorry about the family evils. It happens. We can't avoid it, so we shouldn't even try. I find that ignoring them all is a very good way of dealing with things. Your couples, while interesting, still scare me. I've always liked Durant. I know he's an evil bastard, but I like the fact that he is an evil bastard, so I don't really want to see him go. I didn't want to see Faith go either, that made me sad. As for Dillon and Georgie, I was highly disappointed in both them and the writers. They have sex to get their minds off of a little kid being 'dead' which is highly selfish, and the way the scene was written we didn't get much in the way of 'action.' Yet, when Casper, or LoLo, or Carson make with the sex we get this long, sometimes nauseating, montage? That didn't make me happy.

Story-

Corinthos Household-

The problem with Brook Lynn had been taken care of. They spoke for a few more minutes before she agreed that it would probably be in her best interest to give everyone in her family another chance. The Quartermaine's may have done some crazy things to one another, but Damian was quick to see that in their own strange way they still loved each other as much as any 'normal' family would, sometimes he thought that they might have loved each other a little more.

With the crisis that he had been unexpectedly thrust into already dealt with, Damian had to contend with the other issue… finding Carly's father, or the man that Bobbie thought was Carly's father. He thought about it and he knew how ironic it was. Three months ago he would have never even fathomed doing something that would help Carly out. Even though she wasn't the one who benefited completely from the idea that he and Bobbie had managed to hammer out she still got her fair share of the spillover perks. She'd have a father, if it turned out that Durant was her father.

He even thought about that very statement. If Durant was her father. The federal prosecutor, father of the wife of a mob king. It screamed of the irony that seemed to swirl around their lives. The cosmic playwrights must have been having a wonderful time crafting the varied adventures of his family and there was nothing he could do about it. Well, that wasn't entirely true… he could just not go to New York. Not look for Durant. He could save himself and his family the chance of the great grief that would come from placing that man in their family… but he couldn't do it. He had come to Port Charles to find his father, it would be unjust to deny Carly the same chance, even if it didn't turn out as well as it had for him.

Standing in the doorway, he froze when he saw Carly and Sonny together. It wasn't the first time they'd been together, but now there was something about it that made him worry. What if she knew what he was planning? He'd promised Bobbie that he wouldn't say anything to anyone aside from her and maybe Maxie about the mission that he had been trusted with. He even swore on the grave of his mother. But he wasn't good at lying, or at least he tried to tell himself that he wasn't good at lying.

"Getting the last few days of your vacation and putting them to good use?" Carly wondered, cautiously trying to decipher the strange vibe that she was getting from her step-son. She said nothing, because she wasn't sure if she was just second guessing the boy as she had done many times in the past.

"Well… yeah, I guess you could say that. School's starting on Monday… plus…"

"Plus what?" Sonny hated it when the boy paused between his words. It usually meant that something wasn't good.

Damian was well aware of the fact that he had yet to tell anyone about his internship. It was the best distraction that he had. "I know that you probably weren't expecting me to say this for at least a year or two… but…"

"You're not going to move out again, are you?"

"No, of course not," there were no plans for him to move out of the house, as it was he probably wasn't going to get that much time inside of the house anymore, so the point was somewhat moot. "I got offered an early internship at GH… I took the offer."

Carly understood what that meant for him. "Congratulations." She truly meant the statement. She wanted him to be successful, now more than ever. She'd seen his compassion so many times, but only recently as she able to see it without the haze of hatred blocking her eyes to the obvious.

Sonny beamed with pride as he often did when his children did things that were extraordinary. He'd already had plans of 'borrowing' Dillon's new camera to record Morgan's first steps. Or just buying his own. A better one. But Morgan wasn't the subject of praise at that moment, no, it was the young man that was standing a few feet away. "I'm so happy for you."

"I didn't want to take it at first," Damian admitted, still feeling that he didn't truly deserve the opportunity that was being presented to him. Ever modest and humble, he somehow doubted that he ever would feel completely comfortable with the chance that he had been given. "I didn't think that I was ready…"

"Why didn't you talk to me about it?" Sonny wondered. "If you were worried about yourself being prepared I could have told you that you've been ready for this since… well, since I've known you."

"I'm not nearly as stable as I like to make you people believe, dad…" the day before in the church only showed how much of him was still an emotionally scarred and hurt little boy. "I was afraid of what could happen. Afraid of making the wrong decisions, ones that could end up costing someone their life."

"You can't save everyone, Damian," Carly said supportively. "No doctor is ever that good."

"But I wouldn't even be a doctor… I still won't be. I'll just help when I'm needed, doing a few things, bandaging up patients, maybe checking their vitals. Nothing big. I hope."

"What made you change your mind?" Sonny didn't know that his boy was so insecure about that which he commonly believed to be Damian's 'calling.' Sonny realized that there was still so much that he didn't know about his son, but he thought that he knew enough, and he was almost certain that Damian knew what he was doing, knew what he wanted. Apparently Sonny was wrong.

"Morgan… when I saw him in the hospital. When I was begging him to stay alive… I knew that I needed to do something to make sure that things like that didn't happen to anyone else."

"We were all scared, son… but are you sure you're doing this for the right reason?"

"I have to do an internship eventually… part of the requirement. The sooner I get it done the better. Besides, I'll be working with Monica and Dr. Quartermaine…"

"Maybe you should try and work with someone else," Carly muttered.

"What do you mean?"

"It's just…" she shook her head. "I don't think that they're going to just try and use you for their business. I'm almost certain that they'll start plugging you for information on Michael, trying to use you to get him to go visit them more often…"

"They wouldn't do that…"

She laughed, "You really don't know the Quartermaine's as well as you want to think you do, Damian. Dillon and Jason are easily the two best members that have ever come out of that family aside from Lila herself. Alan and Monica love Michael, but the Quartermaine's are not his family… they never have been."

"Carly, I wouldn't do anything that involved Michael's safety and happiness without at least consulting you about it. You should know me better than that. If Alan and Monica continually grill me for information on Michael then I will be the first one to call them on it, even if it costs me the internship." He'd heard the stories of how Michael's birth father wanted to use him as a pawn in the family. Michael was his little brother now and Damian wasn't going to let anyone put him in any danger, not even people with money like the Quartermaine's. He would make sacrifices, plenty of them, to keep Michael and Morgan safe.

"Just promise me that you'll be careful around them, okay?"

"You're looking out for me now?" He grinned. "Is this a late Christmas present that you've been waiting to spring on me?"

"If it is I won't tell you," Carly stood up, wiping the wrinkles smooth on her jeans. "I'm going to check up on Morgan…"

Sonny watched his wife walk up the stairs. "I didn't notice it before… at least not until right now. You and Carly…"

"What about us?"

"You're… friends. I mean, I noticed that you weren't trying to kill each other anymore, but I didn't see until right now that you actually care for one another. I don't know which I think is better, your new position at the hospital or the fact that you're finally starting to get along with my wife in the way that I always wanted you to."

"I think Carly would warm up to just about anyone… if she actually took the time to get to know them before she ripped their heads off with her vicious fangs."

"We're both living proof of that, aren't we?" Sonny chuckled. His wife was something else, but he loved her more than he had ever loved anyone before. "Well… I think that we should celebrate."

"Actually, I have a favor to ask…"

"What is it?"

"Can I have the jet tomorrow?"

Sonny was surprised by the question. "Are you going home?" It would have made sense for him to return to Los Angeles a few days after the anniversary of his mother's death. Maybe he just needed to be around them.

"Port Charles is home now, dad. Los Angeles is where I grew up… this is where I'm going to actually define myself as an individual."

"I'm happy to hear you say that." Happy was a word that didn't begin to describe the feelings that were swelling up inside of Sonny. His son had finally come to the conclusion that Port Charles was his home. It seemed to him that everything was finally starting to get better in life. Everything was going to be all right. "So why do you want the jet?"

"I want to take Maxie out to New York tomorrow…"

"On New Years Eve?"

"I know it's going to be crowded…"

"You're putting in mildly. Even when I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn there were so many different people around the city on New Years Eve. You could hear them counting down for miles and miles when the ball was going to drop." They were some of his better childhood memories. His mother used to love sitting by the window and just listening to the people, listening to how happy they were. It gave Adella hope for the future. "Maxie must want to be a part of that crowd…"

"I wanted to spend the night here, with you and everyone else. But I wanted to go there during the day… just walk around. I've never actually been to New York… I want to do something special with her before I have to start cutting into the time that I can spend with her as much as I'm going to."

"Is there anything you're not good at?"

"What do you mean?"

"It seems like you're perfect… you're a great son, nephew, brother, friend… and even a boyfriend."

"Don't do that… please." If Sonny knew what his own son was keeping from him he would quickly change his opinion on how great Damian was. Even though the lies that he kept were for the best reasons he knew how Sonny valued trust and honesty, the same way that Damian himself did. Besides, he had plenty of flaws. He was aware of each of them.

"I'm just saying…"

"I know what you're saying, and I really do appreciate the compliment. I'm just not very good at accepting them I guess. So… the jet?"

"Have you checked the weather report?"

"Snow should be coming, but it shouldn't be heavy in the New York Area, it's going a different direction. Please, dad… I really need to do this."

"You're not going to give me a daughter-in-law to be while you're there, are you?"

"What?" He wasn't expecting his father to even fathom such things. "Dad… I'm not going to propose to Maxie. I would tell you if I were. And even if I was… you'd still give me the jet, right?"

"Right… I'll have the pilot ready to take you to New York in the morning."

"Thanks…" the joy that he was feeling, the pride, the togetherness that he had spent so much time looking for, denying himself. He realized how frail it was. With almost no effort everything that they had both worked so hard to gain since they had met could have been destroyed. Damian didn't want that, and he knew that his father didn't either.