Corinthos Household-

He could have gone to Kelly's. The room was still his, it would always be his for as long as he felt the need to use it. How ironic it was that he never thought he would really need it again, only to think about it almost all the time. Whenever things got hard, whenever his family life became too hectic for his mind to comprehend, Damian briefly considered fleeing from his problems and finding a way to make them all go away. It was the coward's way out, the easy way out. He knew that, he accepted it, and he didn't mind that he was taking it. Why would he? There was nothing wrong with needing some time alone. It was a lot easier to get that time alone when he was at home… aside from his grandparents, he was pretty much ignored.

Why did he think about the place in Los Angeles as his home? Because, in some way, it would always be his home. It would always be the place that he would say he came from, the place that he grew up, the place where he was made into the person that he had become. It was in Los Angeles that he was born, created. It was in Los Angeles where the part of his soul that he thought would never die actually did die, faded away, to the point where it would almost never come back again. Sure, Damian had felt that spark inside of his being, the same feeling that he knew he lost when Ana-Maria died, but it was just a spark, it would never turn into a flame. It would never burn eternally, like he thought it would.

It may have been the coward's way out, and he may have seriously considered it time and time again, but he wasn't a coward. He had gone through too much with the people that he lived with now, his family who he loved with all his being, to allow himself to tuck his tail and leave. Damian had done that once, and the way that it hurt the people around him, and himself, was so deeply felt that he vowed never to do something like that without a good enough reason again. The last time he left, Michael went through so much trauma. It wasn't fair to the boy to put him through that kind of hell again, just because of his own fears. It was wrong and completely unfounded. He loved Michael too much to do something like that again.

Sonny was still reeling from the big reveal that came when he found out that his father-in-law was John Durant. To say that Sonny didn't believe that his luck had once again bit him in the ass would be a lie. After all, he had a mother-in-law who may have grudgingly accepted him in her life, but who didn't really like him all that much, and now he had a father-in-law who wanted more than anything else in the world to actually put him away for the rest of his life. Sonny couldn't help but wonder if something was going to change. If John would allow himself to take the time to actually get to know Sonny, to understand that he wasn't a horrible person. That was a dream that would never happen. Sonny knew that Durant wouldn't believe anything that Sonny said, anything at all.

It was relatively late in the evening when the door opened. Sonny looked over, expecting Jason or one of his men. Everyone that was supposed to be home was home. Carly was upstairs, dealing with everything that she needed to deal with. Michael and Morgan, on the other hand, were both in dreamland. Sonny had seen Carly look in on both of them, watch them as they slept and he knew that she was wondering what would happen to them. Sonny wondered the exact same thing. The expected parties did not enter the house, instead, it was his son, his son that was supposed to be working. "Damian? What are you doing home? Your shift doesn't end until tomorrow…"

"I got sent home."

"When?"

"About twelve hours ago…" had he really spent that long drifting in and out of his world, trying to find a way to decipher the many mysteries that needed to be unlocked inside of his mind? Apparently so, as a look at the clock showed.

"Why did you take so long to come home?"

"Because… because I have a lot on my mind right now, dad. I think I'm busy going through some sort of bizarre initiation into this family. You're not really a Corinthos until you feel like you're juggling the entire world on your shoulders and they just keep on adding more weight to the burden, are you?"

Sonny knew that it was a common procedure of his child to try and do something that would push away the pain, the idea that he was going through some sort of ordeal. It may have worked before, when Sonny didn't know Damian nearly as well as he had, but it wouldn't work again. "Sit down…"

"Dad… I'm really tired…"

"I said sit down, please," Sonny could be both forceful and polite at the same time, which was odd, but it was what was necessary. If Sonny wanted to do something he found a way to do it, and there was nothing that Sonny wanted to do more than help the people that he loved, which would always have his children at the top of the list.

Damian sighed and sat on the couch, while Sonny continued to stand, like he was lording over his son, judging him. Damian didn't feel comfortable with the idea at all. "I take it this is the part where you want me to confide my problems in you, isn't it?"

"The idea had crossed my mind."

"Don't you need one of those really bright lights, and a scowl? I know you can do the scowl, I've seen it more times than I thought I would, but the bright light… you might need a little help getting that on such short notice, and at this time at night." If anyone could find a way to get it, it would be Sonny. His father had a way of making the most impossible things happen without a hitch.

"Damian, I'm not going to beat around the bush like this. You need to tell me what's going on… what happened? Why did you come home? Did… did they take you off of being an intern? Can they even do that?"

"Yes, they can do it. If the intern doesn't appear to be doing what they need to do, if they can't handle everything that they're expected to, they can be kicked out of the program. No questions asked. But that isn't what happened with me, dad. Monica gave me the shift off because she saw that there was something bothering me…"

"I can see it, too."

"Do I have it written on my face or something? What's the point of trying to internalize my pain if everyone can read me like a book…"

"You need to get better at it."

"Do you think you can teach me? You must be the master of such things…"

Sonny snickered, "Believe me, if there's one thing that I've regretted during my life it's the way that I push people away when I actually need them the most. I never understood what people went through, I never had that idea of family in my head, not really. Even when I finally got it, with Jason, with Carly, with you and your brothers… I still can't tell myself that I can completely trust them. There's always that little nagging voice in my head that makes me want to do something, makes me want to depend on myself and myself alone. The worst part is… I listen to that voice more than I should. I don't want you to have that voice."

Damian got up, no longer feeling like sitting on the couch. He paced around the room, slowly, trying to hold everything in, trying to do the opposite of what his father said. Despite the advice, despite the love that was there, Damian didn't think that it was true. He didn't want to think that he couldn't depend on himself… but he knew that he needed some help. "She cheated on me… dad."

"Maxie?"

He nodded, but refused to cry. More tears had been shed than he ever thought he would, because it hurt so much, it tore at his entire being more than he ever thought possible. "She thought that I was cheating on her with Brook, so she found someone that she could have sex with and she did it. She didn't even think about it, she just decided that she wanted to have sex with someone because she thought I had been in the wrong…"

"Why would she do something like that? Why would she think that you were in love with Brook?"

"Because Brook cares about me…"

"She's your friend, of course she cares."

"No, dad, she cares about me more than that. She wants me… I don't know why, but she does. She kissed me today, after everything had happened, once she found out that Maxie and I had broken up. I didn't expect it, and I sure as hell didn't ask for it."

"What did you do?"

"What do you think I did?" Damian asked. "I pushed her away. I didn't want to… I mean, I wanted to make sure that she knew it wasn't going to happen, that I wasn't ready to move on, but I didn't want to hurt her because of my decision… it didn't matter, did it?"

"No, she would be hurt either way."

"So that's what happened… Monica saw that I was busy thinking about my personal life, she knew that there was something that was bothering me, I tried to tell her that there wasn't anything wrong, but she didn't believe me, and she sent me home."

"She did the right thing."

"She thinks that you had something to do with it, though. She thought that there was something in my life involving you that managed to push me over the edge. I'm losing my confidence, dad… it's like my entire world is shattering around me, and I can't do anything about it…"

"You can depend on me…"

"That won't be enough."

"How can you say that?" Sonny asked, walking over and standing in front of his son. "You're a big boy now. I didn't see you grow up, I didn't watch you as you became the man that you are, but I know that you are that person now, Damian. I know that you can fight against anything and everything that the world is going to throw at you, and you're going to win, because we don't lose."

"I wish I believed that…"

"You should believe it, you should know that I'm telling the truth. I wouldn't lie to you, not after what happened the first time."

"Why did she do it, dad?" Damian wondered, knowing that his father couldn't give an answer, but asking nonetheless. "I've been looking for that answer ever since I saw her in bed with that other person…"

"Michael knew that there was something wrong with you, too."

"Michael?"

"He talked to me and Carly, said that he felt there was something wrong with you. I didn't think that it was anything big. I'm sorry, for not being there for you when you needed me the most."

"You're here now… my family is here now."

Sonny realized at that moment that Elizabeth was talking about Damian when she said her cryptic message at Kelly's. It wasn't Morgan that she was talking about, it was Damian. Which meant that she knew. Elizabeth knew about Damian's problems before his own father did. Although he was hurt, Sonny knew that a guilt trip was the last thing that the boy needed at that moment.

"I'm going to get some rest… now that I don't have anything that I need to do tomorrow, I know I can sleep in. Goodnight, dad. Thank you for listening, really."

"Damian," Sonny called out to the boy before he reached his door. "You're going to be fine. Don't lose faith in yourself…"

"I'll try and remember that, dad. I really will." Without another word said, the young man walked into his room and closed the door behind him.

Sonny put his problems on hold, the problems that he was dealing with, the problems that his family was dealing with. Instead, he focused entirely on his son, who needed him the most. Sonny could battle against everything that came his way and come out without many marks. Damian, strong as he was, didn't have that kind of training, and, if Sonny had his way, the boy never would. Sonny wanted something better for his child, something that allowed him to be himself again…

Walking over to the phone, Sonny dialed a number, a number that he knew well. He checked the clock one more time, to make sure that it wasn't that late before he pressed the last number. When the phone rang he felt like hanging up for a moment, but knew that it was in his son's best interests. "Hi… it's Sonny. I'm doing fine, thank you. No… he's not hurt or anything… at least not physically. He needs you, though. He needs you so much right now. I can send my jet… do you think you can be ready tomorrow? Yes, I know… it's not much time to prepare, but if you saw him you would know that this isn't something that we can wait on… yeah, it's looking that bad. You can come? Both of you? Great… he'll love it. Thank you. I'll see you soon." Sonny hang up the phone and looked at the closed door, "Help's on the way, son. I promise."