Note: Apparently, I got Max's last name wrong. It is not, as I have stated in the story, DiMaggio. It is apparently Giambi, but, I specifically remember Alexis saying that he was Mr. DiMaggio. So, for the intent of this story, it is Max DiMaggio. I apologize for any confusing.

Journeylove- To be fair, Mac does have extremely legit reasons for not being as trusting of Damian as other people might be. Remember, he's the police commissioner, and Damian is Sonny's son, while it is true that Sonny has never been convicted of anything, Mac knows full well that Maxie was almost killed because of her connection to Damian. The same can be said for Maxie, she sees her boyfriend as one of the few people in her life that she can be comfortable with, and in comes Brook, someone who has admittedly more connections, personality wise, with Damian than she does. After a relationship like Kyle, wouldn't it make sense for Maxie to want to keep the relationship that she has with Damian?

Story-

Corinthos Household- Morning

The joy of being in college was picking the times when his classes started, for the most part. Some of them still started painfully early, especially for someone who was juggling both school and a rather excessive workload as an intern. That was the pain of doubling up, and Damian was well aware of the fact that, in undertaking the ordeal, he was setting himself up for a whole lot of work. So far he had managed to deal with it fairly well, but, sadly, it was only two weeks into the semester. There was still plenty of time for him to be driven to the brink of insanity. Such a time had yet to come, and he was altogether unaware of the fact that breakdowns were something that he may have inherited from his father. Sonny hated the fact that his mind was so easily destroyed, and he tried to keep it from the people that he loved. Jason and Carly knew, Courtney as well, and Alexis, but he didn't want his children to ever see him in such a state of sheer vulnerability. Sonny Corinthos was a man who stood strong and laughed in the face of everything that came at him, he needed to keep that appearance up, for his own good as well as the good of the family.

Helping Brook Lynn out was easier than he thought. Damian was good at helping her, he'd been the one that she turned to time and time again, and he was glad to do it. In some way, Brook was something of an unofficial member of his family. After all, Lois and Sonny were best friends, and had been for years. They knew each other better than anyone else knew them, even their respective lovers. Lois was one of the only people in Port Charles who didn't allow misconceptions about who Sonny Corinthos was as a person bother her. She knew who Sonny was, the boy he had been, scared and hurt, brought up in a horrible home, and she saw who he had become, a man who had everything that anyone could ever want, even though he had to make terrible sacrifices, including selling away a part of his soul just to get it. Lois got Sonny, she was one of the only people who did, and Damian got Brook, so it was like the relationship between Lois and Sonny had been passed on to their respective children, even if it did drive Maxie and Ned crazy. He'd called Maxie up while he walked home, completely unaware of the fact that she was still at Kelly's. His girlfriend seemed happier, and that was what he wanted.

Damian walked into the bedroom, pants on his waist, shirt laid out on his bed as he finished drying his dark hair with the towel. He could only hope that he had done enough studying to pass the test that he had in a few hours. It was supposed to be easier, he was supposed to have a lot more time to study, but he had been caught between spending time with his father and spending time with his friend, both of which depleted valuable study time. By the time he got back to the house he was so tired from the dramatic overload that he barely cracked the books open before he was out cold on the bed. The funny thing about the hospital was that, even though it was supposed to be the place where most of the drama took place, most of it happened at his house, or somewhere else. Compared to being a Corinthos, being a doctor was smooth sailing.

Backpack was slipped over his shoulders, the weight causing him to lean backwards just a bit before he found his balance again. Medical textbooks were quite heavy, and he hoped to get some last minute cramming into the day before he had his test at noon. It was only ten in the morning, still plenty of time to grab something to eat and do the necessary review. It never hurt to go through everything one more time, at least that was what he thought. Sonny agreed, just about everyone did. The young man walked out of his room into the empty house. Morgan was upstairs, more than likely, and Michael was at school, too, much to the redheaded child's chagrin. Wherever Carly and Sonny were was their business. If he needed them he knew they would come. Both of them.

Courtney waited by the elevator. She knew that her nephew had a class at noon, and she also knew that Damian, being Damian, refused to be late as much as possible. It was a good quality, one that Courtney could share sometimes. Promptness was a virtue, not a vice. But she had been waiting to see if he would get out of the house for a good half hour. Why was she waiting? Because she wanted to talk with him about Sonny's concerns. She wasn't so sure that Sonny was over it, in fact, it was quite likely that he wasn't. Sonny was, after all, his own worst enemy, and his mind would always work against him at the worst possible occasions. She just wanted Damian to understand where Sonny was coming from, and since she was the one who acted as their emissary, it fell onto her shoulders. She didn't mind doing it, she loved them both and wanted them to have a good relationship with one another. If Courtney saw Damian and Sonny distance themselves like Sonny and Mike had it would break her heart. She didn't want history to repeat itself twice.

The beautiful blonde woman turned her head to see Damian walk out of the penthouse. She smiled, trying to act like she hadn't been waiting forever. "Hey, funny meeting you here…"

"Yeah, funny meeting my aunt, who happens to live across the hall, at the elevator, which is basically the only way to get back down to the bottom level, where we can walk out into Port Charles. Who would have thought that we would meet like this?"

Courtney laughed softly, "You know what I mean. I thought you'd be doing something. You're always so busy."

"Believe me, if there was a way for me to stop being so busy, I would find a way to do it. The only way that I can free myself of this busy schedule is if I drop out of school… and that really isn't an option."

"Nobody would hold it against you if you stopped doing something if you thought it was too much for you to take on, Damian. Look at Jason, he stopped trying to become a doctor."

"My situation isn't exactly like Uncle Jason's," it was a pity about Jason, too. Damian had always figured that Jason would have made a wonderful doctor, but fate had other things planned for Jason Quartermaine, soon to be Morgan. "And I know that you guys would be all right with me dropping out and doing something else with my life…"

"Provided you didn't go into the business…" Courtney added lightly. She didn't want to see him do the same thing that her husband and her brother did. She just couldn't allow herself to get behind it again. It was their choice, but Damian had made his own choice, Courtney would hate to see him forced into something else.

"Relax, Aunt Courtney, I don't think I'll ever want to do that. You know what happened the last time… it still bothers me every day of my life."

Courtney gently reached over and touched his shoulder, "Change of subject, back to the thing we were talking about. You wanted something to do now that you're not so busy, come with me… we'll get something to eat or drink at Kelly's."

"Why?"

"I just want to spend some time with you… you're the only nephew I can actually talk with, Damian. Don't get me wrong, I love Michael, and he's extremely smart, but he's a boy, he doesn't understand things the way that you do."

"I wouldn't sell the kid too short. He's a lot better at understanding things than we want to give him credit for. Sometimes I worry that everything that dad and Uncle Jason do to try and protect Michael from finding out about their lifestyle is just for nothing, and Michael is playing along with it just to make them feel better about themselves."

"Trust me, you're not the only one. But, come on, what's there to lose? I won't force you to come with me, but if you don't, I'll be sad. You wouldn't want to make your Auntie Courtney sad, now would you?"

"If it will get you to stop referring to yourself as 'Auntie Courtney,' I'll be glad to go with you, but you're paying."

"Deal." Courtney grinned again and reached for the button. She hated having to be so subtle about everything, or maybe he was being subtle about it. She could never really tell.

Kelly's-

Elizabeth and Ric didn't talk to each other much when she returned home from the restaurant. They tried, but they would find themselves at opposite ends of the argument. The honeymoon truly was over. There was no way that they would be able to recover from something like that and return to the bliss that they once had. It wasn't something that would break the two of them up, but it was something that showed the two of them that, no matter how much they had in common, they also had plenty of things that made them different. Elizabeth still loved her husband dearly, that wouldn't change.

Bobbie Spencer walked into one of her many establishments in Port Charles. She had come a long way, much like her son in law. They both came from pasts that they weren't entirely proud of, and they tried to do what they could to make everything better for themselves and for the people that they loved. Even with that in common with Sonny, Bobbie found it impossible to be completely behind him and his endeavors, because of the danger that it put Michael and Morgan in. Even Damian was something of an unofficial grandson to Bobbie, someone that she loved with all her heart. How could she not? He was so good with her true grandsons, and he was madly in love with her niece.

She was always a busy woman, rarely ever able to devote enough time to everything that she needed to spend time on. Thus was the curse of being Bobbie Spencer, running around with so many errands to do, there was never enough time in the day, never. Bobbie walked up to the counter and waited for Elizabeth to come out, "Mike said that he needed me here for something."

"Yeah, he had to take care of something personal, but the new dishwasher that you ordered for the back just came in, and you know that only the owner and the manager can take care of things like that, and since I'm neither…"

Bobbie nodded. She understood just exactly what Elizabeth was talking about. "I'll go in the back and take care of it. At least this shouldn't take up much of my free time. I finally get some, and then it's taken away from me. That hardly seems fair."

"Welcome to the club, Bobbie," Elizabeth said coyly as she watched the woman walk into the back. Kelly's was still relatively slow, and Elizabeth was fine with that, it gave her time to think, she liked that time. However, Elizabeth's bliss was interrupted when she saw John Durant walk in.

"Ah, Miss Webber…"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, "You know that I'm married to Ric. If you're going to call me by some title, I would prefer Mrs. Lansing, but I would much rather you call me Elizabeth, if you have to call me anything at all."

"Feisty and beautiful," Durant smiled at Elizabeth, "I can see why Ric was taken by you not once, but twice."

"Our personal life is just that, Mr. Durant, personal. None of it is your business. Now, would you please tell me what you're doing here?"

"I loved the coffee yesterday and I thought that I would try it again on my way to the office. Maybe you could give me a message to give to your husband, I'm sure I'll see him there. So long as it isn't a kiss, of course."

"I don't need a messenger to relay information between Ric and I, we communicate just fine with one another." Elizabeth reached over and grabbed the pot of coffee, filling it up to the prim and then putting a cover on it. She wanted to keep quiet about Durant's opinion on Damian, but it was so hard.

"Elizabeth, do you mind if I ask you a question…"

"You'll ask anyway, won't you? That's part of your job."

"You seem to be holding something back. Your eyes are so intense. Beautiful, alluring, but intense."

"I have nothing else to say to you other than here's your coffee, please pay for it."

"My pleasure," Durant pulled out another five dollar bill and handed it to her, "keep the change, you might need it eventually…"

"Just what's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, yet." Durant held his coffee up to Elizabeth, saluting her. "I'll see you again…"

"Wait," Elizabeth couldn't hold it in. Not when it was so important to her. "You know, you might be able to turn plenty of people against that young man, and I don't even want to try and begin to understand why you're doing it, but you'll never be able to do it to me, Mr. Durant."

"I don't have the slightest idea as to whom you're speaking of."

"Oh, don't give me that. My husband told me about your little mission to discredit his nephew, my nephew now as well. Damian's a good kid, and he doesn't deserve to be slenderized simply because you have a bone to pick with his father."

"I've never met Sonny Corinthos in my life."

"It doesn't matter, you still make it your agenda to put people like Sonny away. That's fine, you ask me, I respect you for that, but I don't respect you using such horrible tactics against innocent people just to get what you want." Elizabeth was glad that Mike wasn't there, because he might hear, and Mike was very protective of his grandsons, it stemmed from failing his own son so long ago, he hoped to make it up to Sonny by being there for the children, it worked, for the most part.

"It seems to me like Damian Corinthos has you under the same spell that the rest of the people in this town are under. Don't worry, Elizabeth, I'll find a way to purify you from whatever hold he has."

Bobbie, who had taken care of everything, walked back into the room from the back, wiping her hands clean, "Everything's been taken care of…" She was forced to stop speaking when she saw John Durant standing there.

Durant himself was stunned, not expecting to see Bobbie, "You…"

Bobbie sneered at Durant, "What the hell are you doing here?"