Port Charles-

"I don't see why you don't just come up with us…"

"It's quite simple, if I get too close, I remember things, and then I break out into hives. I'm allergic to nostalgia for teenage angst."

"And yet you're dating a teenager…"

"Maxie might be nineteen, but at least she's out of high school." Damian had walked with Dillon towards Port Charles High, but kept his distance. He could see it in the horizon, but could not get too close. Damian was a lot like Dillon in that he hated his time at high school, but, unlike his best friend, Damian was almost completely alone when it came to the school. He didn't have a girlfriend at the time, or a niece, or even people that he could really think of as good friends. He had people who he would hang around from time to time, but he felt that he was more distanced from the rest of them than anyone else could. He didn't even fit in with the 'outcasts' that wore black and eyeliner.

"I should drag you there one of these days."

"You do that and I swear on everything that is holy that I will tell Georgie that you don't really want to go to that winter formal dance, and then she'll be upset with you."

"You wouldn't…"

Damian smiled, "Try me, Dillon. The Quartermaine's might be good at blackmailing, but I have a few tips up my sleeve, and what are you going to do that would help make up for my trump card?"

"I… I…"

"That's what I thought." The smile widened to a grin, "Relax, Dillon, I wouldn't even think about actually doing something to harm your relationship with Georgie…"

"Only because if you did, Maxie would end up being upset at you."

"Why does that have to be the only reason?" Damian asked, pretending to be offended, knowing that the two of them were just going back and forth with the jabs, like best friends should have done. It was not something that he was used to, but it was something that he enjoyed doing. "It can't be because I think that you're one of the best people that I've ever met, and, hurting you would be a violation of my ethics?"

"Corinthos's have ethics?"

"You bastard…"

Dillon realized that it may have hit a little too close to home. Although Damian didn't look like it hurt him, Dillon still felt the need to apologize, "Look, I was just kidding around. I know that you and your dad are way better people than the media is trying to portray you to be."

"Thanks. It helps knowing that there are a few people who don't think of me as some cold blooded killer in training."

"Now, if only we could get my father to agree with that," Georgie walked up to them from her side of town. Dillon and Georgie liked to meet together before they went to school, that way they could go hand in hand and ward off the evil together. Truly, in such a game, two people had a better shot at making it out alive than just one. "But he knows how much you mean to Maxie, Damian, and, if anything is going to endear you to him, it's that."

"It just seems like every time that Mac might actually start trusting me, or at least not hating me without much reason, something happens that sets everything that I've been working for back a few steps. Believe me, Georgie, I want your father to see me for the person that I am, not for the person that I'm supposed to be because of the blood that runs through my veins, or because of my family." He was a child of the mob, there was no denying it. He couldn't even say that there was a part of him that wasn't born into violence, because there wasn't. Even though he hadn't realized it for twenty-one years, he did now.

"You're always going to have us," Dillon said assuredly. "Me, Georgie, Maxie, Brook, we're never going to say that you're some horrible person. I know it isn't much, I know that people just think that we're kids and we're not seeing the big picture, but we're not as blind as they want us to be. Besides, I'm sure Alan and Monica could vouch for you, if push came to shove… and Bobbie… and Elizabeth… and Ric. You've got a lot of people in your camp."

"Is there something that you're not telling me?" Damian asked, a cautionary glare given to Dillon.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing… just… I don't know, it seems like you're trying to prepare me for something that I need to brace myself for. Like you know something that I don't know. Do you know something? Is there something happening that I'm not aware of… that I should be aware of?"

"No, of course not," Dillon didn't want to alarm his friend, even if he was fully aware of the fact that people were slowly trying to rethink their position on Damian and his motives. Dillon knew that they would correct themselves in time, realizing that they were fools for even fathoming that someone like him would have some sort of sinister intent. "I'm just saying that, if push comes to shove, and you have to do something to defend yourself against the people that want to bring you down, you don't have to do it alone."

"He's telling the truth, Damian," Georgie agreed. She put her hand on his face and gripped, "Would that face lie?"

"In a heartbeat…"

Dillon threw his hands up in the air, "I'm putting out applications for a new best friend!"

"Who would take one?" Damian quietly asked, again with the tongue in cheek humor. People didn't realize that Dillon was eccentric because that was just the way that he was. He wasn't 'trying' to go against the mold, he was just being who he needed to be, who he was comfortable being. People were always trying to bring him down for the decisions that he made, and it was completely unfair. If Dillon was going to help defend Damian, then it was only right that the situation was reversed. Brothers in arms, a position that both gladly accepted.

"I would," Georgie replied. "Dillon's my best friend, too…"

"I'm touched," Dillon looked down and gently kissed his girlfriend on the lips. "No wonder I'm taking you to the winter formal."

"I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with the forcing I put on you…"

"Of course not."

"You're a horrible liar," Georgie said with a light chuckle, "but you're also incredibly easy to break down, that's why I love you."

"She wants to mold you into her ideal man, Dillon." Damian replied with a cautionary tone, but it was not serious. Very little of the conversation that they had when they were around one another was serious. Doctors were supposed to be humorless creatures, and that was not something that Damian wanted to uphold. He wanted to have friends outside the practice, he wanted to be able to laugh with them. He wanted to be as normal as he could be. Something that was hard to do, given who he was, but he understood, and accepted his role.

"Mold away, sculptress," Dillon replied whimsically.

"Okay, you too are getting a little too Dawson for my tastes," that was serious. After all, he could only take so much gushing, even when the gushing happened to be gushing about his own relationship. "I'll talk to you guys later, I need to get myself to my classes, too."

"Bye, Damian," Georgie called out. As soon as he was far enough away, she tugged on Dillon's arm, "Don't you think you should have told him?"

Dillon shook his head, "I know that people are just overreacting, Georgie. Your father always does that, there's no reason to put any undue stress on him because of what people are talking about behind his back. He deserves better than that. Come on, we don't want to be late for class."

Damian had only been walking for a few minutes before he saw Brook walking towards the school. "Hey, Brook."

"Oh, hey," Brook smiled and moved her hair out of her face the moment that she saw him. She wanted to try and appear as good as she could for him. "You on your way to school?"

"Yeah, another test… they never end. Be happy that you're not trying to be a doctor like the rest of your family, it's a lot of work." He grinned, "But I'm sure that you could handle it, if you really wanted to. You're the type of person who can deal with everything and never break."

"If you really believed that I was that kind of person I wouldn't need to come to you when I wanted some help with a problem."

"There's nothing wrong with getting any sort of help for your problems, Brook," Damian said with assurance. "I know my dad hates asking for help from anyone, even your mom, but that doesn't mean that it's a bad thing. It's just part of who he is. Sonny Corinthos needs to be a manly man."

"And what about Damian Corinthos?" Brook asked. "What kind of person does he need to be?"

"Strong enough to find a way to deal with everything that is thrown at him… a lot like you, actually."

"You think we're alike?"

Damian shrugged, "We are alike in a lot of ways, sure. Our parents are best friends, and we're pretty good friends, even though we haven't known each other for that long. We both feel like we don't belong in our families at times, because we're used to one thing and what we have now is something that's completely different… and we both love music."

"You know, I was trying to write a song with my dad, and I thought that you would be good at playing it. It's more melodic than anything that a guitar could get at, I think a piano would be perfect."

"If I had the time I would love to do something with you more often, Brook. I'd love to just sit there and play the piano while you sang, but I have so much on my plate. But… whenever we do get together, know that it really is one of the best times of the day for me. Hearing you sing, it's so soothing and beautiful."

Brook blushed, "Stop it…"

"I'm sure your date for the winter formal would agree with me."

She turned her head to the side, "There is no date, Damian. I don't know if I'm going to go."

"Brook, you should go… I mean, if you want to go. Trust me, people are probably waiting to ask you, you just need to open up a little. I'm not saying throw yourself at a person and hope for the best… but give them a chance. There are people out there that will see you for who you are, and will care about you because of it. Sorry, I wish I could talk with you some more, but I need to go."

Brook watched him leave, whispering to herself, "You're all those things…"

Corinthos Household-

Sonny kept on walking back and forth between the phone and the couch, sometimes he would reach out and touch it, other times he wouldn't, but he would pull his hand back even if it did go out. He knew that he needed help, but it was not something that he enjoyed to admit. And he also knew who he could look for to help him, again, it wasn't something that he wanted to deal with.

Sonny walked into another room, looking at the picture of Ana-Maria, Damian's mother. "I don't know what to do, Ana. I don't know how to help our son, not in this way… I don't know if I can make the sacrifice that I need to make, if I can trust the person who I need to look for to help me. There's just so much pain and bad blood… I don't know how I'll get passed it."

Although he knew that there was nothing the picture could do, Sonny looked for help from the spirit of his son's mother. He was a very spiritual man, something that people tended to think of as foolish, but to Sonny, it made perfect sense. And so did the message that was pouring into his mind, a message about how he was Damian's father, and he needed to do what was best for his son, nothing else.

Sonny walked over to the phone once more and picked it up. Still there was that hesitant feeling, but he forged through it, pushing himself forward until he dialed the numbers that he needed to dial. "I need to meet with you… as soon as possible."