Harbor View Towers-

The date was over. He took her home and watched her walk into the house, then silently cheered a great cheer at the idea of finally being able to get into clothes that wouldn't make him want to scream out in pain. The dress clothes weren't that uncomfortable, but they could have been. It was worse than Chinese water torture, much worse.

Damian walked out of the elevator when it opened on the top floor, his room, and more precisely his closet, seeming so close yet so very far. His head turned towards the front door of the penthouse as he heard someone walking out. Jason's head was pointed down, but he looked over and saw the boy standing there.

Knowing that Jason's eyes never gave away anything in terms of if he was in a good mood or a bad mood, Damian was forced to ask the question that he didn't really need to ask of very many other people, "Everything okay?"

Jason let his hand go from the knob and walked towards his own home, "Everything's fine."

"And even if it weren't, I suppose that you wouldn't even want to tell me, would you?" The realization that Jason and Sonny still kept secrets from him wasn't something that he enjoyed, but he didn't have a choice. Damian had seen their world, he'd been in it, and it scared him. The boy wanted to know when he was needed to help people that he cared about, but if push came to shove he would probably be much happier with life if he was kept out of the mob. The pull, however, could eventually prove too strong.

"I wouldn't want to tell you," Jason had made a history of never lying to anyone that he cared about, and while their relationship was strained, Damian was still on that list, "but if there was something wrong… I probably would."

"Really?"

"You're not a little boy, Damian, you're not like Michael. You've seen what Sonny and I do, you've felt it… you've been a part of it." Jason didn't want him to ever have to worry about those things again, but he wasn't sure that would be the case. Jason could keep everyone safe, but he couldn't work miracles, and even he couldn't stay around forever. "Besides, you're smart and when you want to help people you actually do it. You're not like Carly… you don't go off on and execute some strange plan that only makes things worse."

"Really? Remember Christmas?"

"That was different. If someone was in danger of being hurt you wouldn't have done that, I know that, you know that. Carly wouldn't have cared, she would have done it anyways… and then I would have been stuck picking up the pieces, like I always am."

"Why do you do it?"

"What?"

"Why do you pick up the pieces every time one of us makes a mistake? If you don't want to do it… you've always been one of those people that won't do something that you don't want to do, I've learned that the hard way."

"We all make sacrifices for the people that we care about," Jason replied. "Sometimes my family is more important to me than keeping myself happy. You know how it goes, Damian… look at you. When you came here and you found out, what did you do? You ran away and you thought you would never come back, we all thought that you would never come back… some of us were even hoping that you wouldn't."

"Carly…"

"No, not Carly," Jason knew that she was included, but he wasn't speaking about Carly. "Me."

"You… you didn't want me here?"

"When you came here, when I first found out about you, I didn't know what to think… and then I saw you with Carly and with Michael, too. You were always battling with Carly, and I'm not going to say that it wasn't because she asked for it, because she did, but you have to understand that Carly's always going to be special to me and when I see someone treating her badly it doesn't exactly make me want to go up and give that person a hug."

"Do you even give hugs?"

"Don't change the subject."

"Sorry… continue."

"But that wasn't all that I saw you do. I saw you with Michael… and you were good with him from the start. You want to know why I didn't really want you to come back? Because a part of me was afraid that Michael was going to start phasing me out of his life once he had you. He would come to me whenever he needed someone who wasn't his mother or father… but if he had you, a brother, then why would he need me? I'd already been placed out of a role in Michael's life before… I just didn't want to lose what I had left."

"I… I didn't know that you felt threatened like that." The last thing that anyone expected from Jason Morgan was for him to feel like he was being pushed out of someone's life. People that had Jason in their life were damned lucky to have him, Damian realized that, and he knew that Michael did, too. "But you don't have to worry about it, Uncle Jason… Michael's always going to love you. He's always going to come to you for help when he needs it… just because I'm his big brother now doesn't mean that you're not still important to him."

"I know that now, but at first I wasn't sure. Michael's the type of kid who throws himself completely into new people that come into his life, like he did with Sonny… at least after awhile. But you're right… because he still comes to me, and I'm touched that he does. Just right now he asked me for help on some project that he needs to do for school…"

"What was it?"

"He wanted to do a report on one of the countries of the world… I used to read him books about that when he was little." Fond memories swelled in Jason's mind, the best memories of his life. Holding a child who would always be his in spirit and telling him of the world that he would one day want to explore.

"He wouldn't have come to me for that… I'm horrible with geography."

"I doubt that."

"See? I try and give you credit, but then you go and shut me down." At least they were talking, having an actual conversation. Since the whole ordeal with the Quartermaine's they hadn't done much together.

"Why are you dressed like that?"

"Here I was hoping that you wouldn't notice…"

"How could I not notice?" Jason asked bluntly. "You're wearing a tie…"

"But it's a loose tie!" He took it off, having almost completely tore it off of his body while he was waiting for the elevator to take him to the top floor. "I was at a wedding…"

"Wedding?" Jason thought about who Damian knew that could be getting married. He had been around Port Charles for some time, but hardly enough time to make a lot of connections. Then he realized who it had to be. "Oh…"

"I would have told you… but I didn't know how you would take it."

"She married him again, didn't she?"

"It won't be like…"

"Don't," Jason cut in. "You can tell me that he's changed all you want, but I'm not going to believe it."

"I know, I wouldn't ask you to believe it. I'm sure she would have loved to have seen you there, but…"

"I wouldn't have gone."

"You can at least wish her well when you see her… right?"

"I don't know," Jason walked towards his home, the knowledge that Elizabeth had once more made the huge mistake of marrying Ric Lansing heavy on his mind. Why did it bother him so much? Elizabeth wasn't a part of his life anymore, and he was married to Courtney. It was because Jason still cared about her, the same way he cared about all the other people who he had been with. The passion might have been gone, but that didn't mean that he wanted her to make mistakes like that.

Jason opened the door just as Dillon was walking out. The teenager walked passed Jason, "I thought I heard voices out here…"

"Move."

"Okay…" Dillon backed away from Jason, who seemed possessed by something that he probably couldn't hope to understand. "What was that about?"

"I told him about the wedding."

"What wedding?"

"Uncle Ric's…"

The realization dawned on him. "You were there?"

"You think I would be dressed like this if I weren't doing something that was considered formal?"

"I don't know, you are a Corinthos."

"Don't start with me, Quartermaine… or I'm going to start asking you what each fork is used for."

"I don't know that…"

"Sure you don't."

"No, really, I don't!" He might have known a few of them, but he was hardly a master of the many forks that could be placed on the table at any given time. But he wasn't out in the hallway talking to his friend just because he wanted to have some chitchat, Dillon had a reason for being outside. "Damian, I need to tell you something."

"Okay. Shoot."

"It's about Brook…"

He rolled his eyes, "Please tell me that you're not going to say something like Brook has a crush on me and she wants to break me and Maxie up… because, honestly, I've heard it so many times today that I'm going to scream."

"She does…"

"No she doesn't! Dillon… I don't know where you get these ideas from, but it isn't true."

"She told me!" He didn't know why he was doing it, why he was telling Damian about something that could have been considered a secret, but it involved Damian, and he had a right to know. "Earlier… she told me."

"How do you know she wasn't joking?"

"Because I can tell when she's joking. I don't know her that well, but there was something in her voice… she cares about you, a lot."

"She doesn't even know me."

"I know that! I tried to tell her that it wouldn't work, that you wouldn't even think about doing something with her because you still love Maxie, but she wouldn't listen. I just thought that you should know."

"I should go talk to her…"

"No, don't! She's just going to get angry at me for telling you."

"Did she want me to know?"

"She's a girl… she never wants you to know that she likes you, that's part of the game."

"Dillon… I don't want this girl to think that I have feelings for her when I don't. She's my friend, she's your niece… but that's it."

"I know that, but does she? I don't want her heart to be broken…"

"All right," he sighed. "I won't say anything. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go and take these slacks off before they become grafted to my legs." Damian made the short walk to his door and opened it, trying to keep Brook out of his mind. Everyone was right about her, apparently, and he had been too blind to see it.