The ringing phone shattered the silence in the room. Sonny hoped it was the kidnappers with their demands. "Corinthos." He said harshly into the receiver.
On the far side of the room Mike stood uneasily. Sonny had yet to notice the older man's presence. Mike tried to look at the photos Sonny had dropped when he answered the phone. From the angle Mike was standing at he could barley make out the details. Still, it seemed like Sonny was the only familiar face Mike saw in the pictures. Who was the woman? Who was the child? Why did Sonny have these pictures? And if they were who he thought they were, why had Sonny never told him? Would Sonny tell him now?
Sonny began to pace around the room as he listened to the person on the phone. His mood didn't improve when he saw Mike. "Great all the more I have to explain to him." Sonny thought silently. He had given Mike so much hell about leaving. Sonny wondered how he could explain that he had done the same thing.
Mike looked at his son. He saw anger and rage in Sonny's eyes. Mike contemplated leaving. Sonny's rage was really not his favorite thing to experience. His need to help comfort his son was quickly losing his internal battle of wills to his sense of self-preservation.
Sonny listened intently to the man on the phone. He wondered how he could possibly pull it off on time. What would happen if he couldn't? That possibility scared him.
Mike came close to bolting. However, taking one last look into his son's expressive brown eyes. There he saw a new more intriguing emotion. Behind the anger, Mike saw fear.
Hanging up the phone, Sonny turned to Mike. "What in God's name are you doing here? Who let you in?"
"What is going on?" M9ike asked ignoring Sonny's rage.
"Get out." Sonny demanded. He couldn't deal with Mike, not today.
Mike thought hard. Picking up the picture he thought of a way to get through to his son.
--
Ned tapped his foot on the floor nervously as he listened to the ringing phone. "Where are they? Why don't they answer the phone? Why doesn't their machine pick up? What would I say to a machine if I got one?" Ned asked allowed.
He finally decided he didn't know what to say and hung up the phone just as he heard a knock at the door. Ned groaned. So many people had come by already. They wanted to help. He appreciated that his friends and family cared, however, they always asked him questions he wasn’t prepared to answer.
How was he supposed to answer when they asked him how he was? He lost a woman who had been his best friend, his lover. Yet, they weren’t together anymore. It wasn’t like losing his wife. Still, it hurt. Ned never expected to lose her. He hurt for himself, but mainly for Brooke.
Ned decided not to answer the door. He didn’t want company; he didn’t want to wake up Brooke; and he didn’t want to explain everything. However, the person at the door had other ideas.
Realizing the visitor would never stop knocking, Ned opened the door.
--
Emily sat in the attic in tears. How could it still hurt this much? She wondered while reading her mother’s old letters. Paige had written Emily a series of letters of love, support, and advice. Emily read them whenever she needed Paige; still, they got to her. She felt Paige’s presence more when she read them. She felt her absence more as well.
She pushed the sadness out of her mind. She had a mission. She looked through boxes to find anything that might give her a clue to her father’s identity. She had just found a stack of intriguing letters locked in Paige’s jewelry box, when the phone rang.
Emily groaned as she reached for the portable beside her. Emily hoped the call would be short. “This is Em.” She said into the receiver.