ItalianChick- Thank you for the review, I'm glad that you are enjoying both the story overall, and my creation. Since you people demand Journey sooooo much, I really should find a way to keep you content, shouldn't I? Well, guess what, Journey's in this chapter. Not that much, but they are there…

Story-

Corinthos Household-

Sonny returned home from his short and ultimately useless meeting with Commissioner Scorpio. Add in the extra tussle with his little brother and Sonny realized that he wasn't ending the year on a high note. Closing the door, Sonny put his fingers on his temples and started to massage them, hoping that he would get rid of the headache that was pulsating through his mind. He hated it when he had headaches, they weren't as bad as breakdowns, but they were pesky as all hell.

It was only when Sonny opened his eyes and looked around that he remembered Carly had done some temporary redecorating. Sonny fumed a little, not wanting to make the short extra steps that it would take to sit in his favorite chair. If it wasn't so important to his wife he would have never even agreed to the whole idea.

He heard someone walking down the stairs, staring blankly when he saw it was Jason. Other people he may have been a little worried about being in his home while nobody else was around, but Jason was a member of the family, he could be around whenever he wanted.

"Can you believe this?" Sonny asked, pointing to the floor.

"They want us to dance… that's what I can't believe."

Sonny poured himself some water, not wanting to drink anything with any sort of alcohol, knowing that it wouldn't help the headache that he was having. Water was best. "We can handle it, Jason. We've managed to come through worse."

"I hate being in a suit…"

"I don't."

"You're always wearing one," Jason remarked, and it was the truth. Seeing Sonny without a suit was a rare and altogether fascinating thing. Jason, on the other hand, wore suits only when the situation called for them. The last time he wore one was when he had to say goodbye to Lila.

"I told you that I could get you my tailor, Jason. I'm sure Courtney wouldn't mind…"

"I'll pass," Jason didn't want to get a new wardrobe, the leather jacket was his friend. "Carly and Courtney went to do some last minute…"

"Shopping?"

"Yeah."

Sonny shook his head. "I need to put that wife of mine on an allowance or something. Half the money that we make ends up going towards her wardrobe needs. Sometimes I wonder if money is ultimately the root of all evil."

"Some claim that it is."

"I've seen true evil, Jason," Sonny sat down in the chair. "It doesn't come from money, it comes from people. My stepfather wasn't a rich man… and he was the worst person that I had ever seen. Sometimes when I try and sleep I see his face and I can't do anything about it… I see myself, a little boy, and I can't protect myself." The glass began to shake as the tension of the memories got to Sonny's body. He didn't share much with the people around him, but he tended to share the secrets of his past with Jason, only because it could have been important for something and Jason was the person who he trusted the most.

"I know, but other people use money and they become evil… look at the Quartermaine's…"

"I guess we'll just never know how it comes about, right?" Sonny finished his water, putting the glass on the nearby counter.

"Michael's asleep… he was in here for awhile, I just picked him up and put him in bed when I heard you come in."

"He's going to be too big for either of us to carry into bed soon…"

"I'm surprised he hasn't already started telling us that we shouldn't do it," Jason took a seat across from Sonny. "I remember when I was raising him I would read books because I didn't have any clue what I was doing… he's getting closer to the age where he's going to want to do things on his own… but he hasn't really started doing it yet."

"He's a good kid, he knows that he can depend on us for anything that he needs."

"You raised him right, Sonny."

"You helped me, you and Courtney… Carly and I wouldn't be where we are right now if it wasn't for the two of you. That's why she wants to do this for you, for both of you, to give you something to do that will relax you instead of helping us through our latest crisis."

"Carly figures that making me dress up in a suit, which she knows I'm going to hate, is going to relax me?"

"I didn't say that she really thought the whole thing through, did I?"

"No… I guess you didn't." Jason heard the phone ring, which caught his interest. He usually didn't listen in on Sonny's conversations, but he was still worried about the fact that something had happened and Sonny didn't tell him, that was enough to cause him to ditch his usual distance.

"Hello?"

Damian looked out of the window over the city. It was a great view. Maxie was busy trying to find all the interesting things in the room. He figured he should have called his father, just to tell him what was going on. "Dad, it's me…"

"Lou called me up… told me about the weather."

"Did he?" Damian was glad that he didn't have to hear Sonny trying to say that Damian was just making up excuses so he could spend the night with his girlfriend. He didn't really need that.

"Where are you?"

"A hotel…"

"You found a hotel room in New York City today?"

"It wasn't cheap… and they only had one room left."

"Sure they did."

Damian groaned, "Dad… please, not right now, okay?" It was bad enough hat he was fighting his own moral battles, he didn't need his father adding to the problems. "I just wanted to tell you that we weren't going to be coming home tonight. My phone should still be working, though, so if something happens… call me."

"You sure you're going to be okay?"

"Don't complain when you see the credit card bill… I wasn't planning on spending the night."

"Carly's part of the bill will overshadow anything that you could come up with, son, don't worry about it. Make sure that you and Maxie are taken care of… and tell her not to worry about her father, I told Mac about the weather."

"You did?" He couldn't hide the fact that he was stunned. Sonny, talking to a police officer, of his own free will? That was scary in and of itself. "How did it go?"

"Take a guess…"

"That bad?"

"Worse."

"I'm sure we'll hear all about it," Damian could already think of the stories that were going on in both his father's head and Mac's head. Two different sides of the same story, both parties attempting to demonize the other. It would have been so much easier for everyone involved if Mac and Sonny could just get along, but Damian knew that it wasn't going to happen. "I'll call again tonight… I know Michael wanted to spend New Years Eve with me… but I can't make it."

"He'll understand. He's sleeping right now. Jason was staying with him while Carly and Courtney went shopping… again."

"I'll check in a little later," Damian tried not to laugh at the fact that Carly was spending even more money. "Bye, dad."

Sonny hung up the phone without saying goodbye, as was his custom. At least his boy was all right and he didn't need to find a place to sleep, although the plane would have been more than adequate.

Jason turned away, trying not to look suspicious, but it would have looked even worse if he didn't ask any questions. "Damian?"

"Yeah," Sonny nodded. "The reason I wasn't here when you came was because I wanted to tell Mac about the problem myself. I know that Mac didn't want the kids to be together today, but I thought I could appeal to his senses of being a father."

"And it didn't work out as well as you wanted?"

"I respect Mac's choices to protect Maxie from people who might hurt him, I even sympathize with the fact that he thinks Damian might hurt her, not directly, but just by association… he's right, because Maxie is a target now… but he's trying to make it seem like Damian is bad for her, and we all know that it isn't true."

"Mac's always had his own opinions about everything and everyone, Sonny. You're never going to do anything that will change that, the only one who can is Mac, and that isn't something that happens very often."

"You seemed like you were trying to find something out about the call, Jason. Is there something you're not telling me?"

Not one to lie, especially to Sonny, Jason told him the truth. "Nobody else knew what kind of call you had gotten. Carly just said that you got a phone call and you said you would be back when you were done taking care of something. I wasn't sure if it was something that had to do with the business…"

"I would tell you if it was something that was related to the business…"

"I know, but for a second I thought that maybe you were trying to keep something from me."

"Why would I do something like that?"

"I don't know…"

Sonny studied Jason. In some ways, it was a strange relationship that the two had. Student and Teacher, with Sonny as the teacher. He had taken Jason under his wing after the accident, had given him a purpose. Jason had been taught almost everything that he knew how to do simply because of Sonny. "This isn't like you."

"It was just a thought, I managed to convince myself that I was just being skeptical."

"You shouldn't ever think that I don't trust you, Jason, because I do. If I felt that I couldn't take you in with me to do something I would do it. You tell me all the time that you think I should just stay put, and I listen…"

"It was just odd for a second."

"I'll have to speak to Carly about what she tells you. I didn't want you to think that I was excluding you from our work. That was just something involving my son and his girlfriend, so I thought that it would be best if I talked to Mac father to father. You being there would have only complicated things."

"I understand that now."

Carly and Courtney walked in, oblivious to the tension that had been building. It was almost completely dissipated by the time they walked into the house. They were laughing as they carried a few bags into the house, much less than they normally did. "Hey… you're back."

"More shopping?" Sonny asked, giving Carly his scornful eye.

"A woman has to have options…"

"You have plenty of options already. You can effectively change your outfit at least three times an hour and you would still have extra clothes to wear."

"Well, maybe I'm going for four times an hour…"

"Is everything all right?" Courtney asked, not wanting to be involved with the squabbling that had seemed to run so rampant in their lives. "You took off like you were a man possessed."

Sonny decided that there was no reason why he needed to keep the facts a secret from his family, "Damian and Maxie are stranded in New York, the weather's too much for Lou to fly the plane back to Port Charles until it clears. No telling when that is, but they're at least stuck there for tonight. They've got a hotel room, though, so they should be fine."

Carly was glad to hear that they were all right, but her focus was on her own son, "Michael wanted to spend some time with Damian before midnight… he's going to be so disappointed."

"It can't be helped," Sonny reminded her. "We'll just have to make sure that he realizes that and doesn't hold it against Damian or Maxie." That was Sonny's greatest fear, sometimes Michael didn't really understand everything that went on around him. The penalty of being young.

"If you need me, I'll be in the room picking out something to wear… but I'll stop if you need help."

"Putting your child in front of your wardrobe… touching."

Carly gave Sonny a dirty, but harmless look as she walked up the stairs into her room and closed the door. She hoped everything would be okay, they all did.