ONE
Ava & Franco
Ava Jerome almost threw the package into the garbage when she saw that it came from the deranged mother of her former lover Franco but a ringing cell phone stopped her.
"What do you want, Franco?" she asked, giving the phone an annoyed roll of her eyes. "Did you get a package from my mother?" Franco asked as he sorted through the manila envelope that had been inside of his package. He wondered for a moment if he should just toss it, after all his mother wasn't exactly the picture of perfect sanity and she'd been known to lie on more than one occasion.
The story she pitched was too far fetched to be true, but the old saying about in every lie a grain of truth was nagging at the former murderer turned artist's mind. Maybe that's why he hadn't thrown out his and instead, he'd called Ava to ask if she'd gotten one too.
Ava's eyes settled on the package in question on her end of the line and she grumbled. "Yeah."
"You might want to open it.. Remember that one secret we both said we were never going to bring up again?" Franco asked as he got to the section in the envelope about the whereabouts of this alleged child he and Ava had stolen from them.
As soon as he said the words, a chill crept down Ava's back. "About our other daughter?"
"Mhmm."
Ava grabbed the silver letter opener on her desk and started to work the taped edges of the package open. "It's a file or something. I'm telling you, Franco, the woman cannot be believed. She's institutionalized."
"And so was I for a while. I'm pretty sane now." Franco grumbled, glaring at the phone as he held it in his hand while also reading the folder in his lap in shock. Ava grumbled too and begrudingly, she tore into the folder's contents, surprised when a perfectly normal birth certificate and a doctored one similar to her own copy fell out onto the floor of the gallery.
She bent to pick it up right as Franco asked, "So.. Apparently our daughter is alive and well.. I mean if you go by this, she is. And she's been living right under our noses for almost 2 years now, right here in Port Charles."
By now, Ava was reading the files, looking at the pictures, her face a mixed mask of shock and anger. "This can't.. It's not true. We saw her body. I saw her body."
"People lie all the time. Especially my mother." Franco used Ava's previous argument as to why the package and it's contents could be a sick joke against her. Ava snorted in derision. "So you're saying you believe this… This sick joke? Because we both know that's what it is." she was pacing the room, her mind going back to that night in May, 23 years ago. "There's no way this is true. She couldn't have known about it or had anything to do with it like she's bragging about in the letter sent to me.. she didn't even know me.. Or you, she didn't know where you were then."
"My mother always knows exactly what she's doing. Organized crazy.. we're talking to the woman who can and did actually do this with other people's children, Ava."
"You're dead set on believing her, aren't you?"
"If it means I get a chance to be a father then I'm going to check into it, yeah." Franco admitted quietly. Ava didn't get it.. When the twin that lived was revealed to be the daughter of Silas after Ava strung him along for years and claimed that she was his daughter, kept them apart… it wrecked him. Now knowing that his daughter might still be out there somewhere..
It shouldn't have, but it gave him a little hope. Hope was something he hadn't had in a while now.
"You do that, Franco.. But when you're wrong, don't come crying to me because all I am going to say is I told you so." Ava replied curtly, hanging up the phone as quick as she could after saying it. Morbid curiosity got the best of her though and before she knew it, she was sitting down, she was reading through the rather in depth look into the life of a 23 year old girl who happened to share a birthday and a birthplace with her own daughter, Kiki.
She gaped when she got to the most recent additions to the 'file' in her lap.. And the picture had her gasping.. Maybe just a little. The girl was similar to Kiki, yet totally different.
There was this feeling in her gut.. there was something to this accusation, no matter how wild it sounded. She glared at her phone. She placed the blame for this little seed of absurd hope growing in her mind solely on Franco at this point and when she called him back in a few seconds, she was going to be sure she told him so. She highlighted his number and hit call, starting to make Avery's bottle as she did so.
Franco raised a brow but answered the call.
"Suppose I'm curious.. if we look into this and it's another of your mother's deranged jokes, Franco.."
"I already spoke to Sam and faxed all the papers Heather sent me over to her. If it's not true then we don't ever bring this up again. There's no sense in telling Kiki, getting her hopes up too. I think even Silas would agree if he were still alive."
"Good because she's been through more than enough already, what with being shot and then all this mess with Morgan and me. I don't.. I won't hurt her for no reason. So we're keeping this to ourselves.. Clear?"
"Crystal." Franco replied before hanging the phone up and going to take a shower. He had an early shift at the hospital first thing in the morning and if he didn't try to get some sleep now, he'd never get any sleep.
Tessa
The absolute last person I ever expected to see at Vaughn's was Morgan Corinthos. Honestly, I didn't expect to ever see him again, I mean the last I heard or maybe I should say saw, because I didn't hear about it, I actually saw them together at Kelly's, he and Kiki were trying to make things work out. Or that's what I assumed when I saw them together last week after I got back into town.
Maybe that's why I froze in the middle of my dance and just stared with wide eyes. Before I could say anything, he'd hauled me off the stage over his shoulder and he'd started to walk towards the exit at the back of the club. "She quits." he told my boss on the way out.
My boss, of course, didn't give a flying fuck in space because I'm not even his biggest draw. Losing me wasn't a loss for the club.. Not to mention, after a year and a half of trying to get me in his bed, he'd yet to do it.. It was probably just a matter of time before he fired me anyway and deep down, I was glad. Pissed because he'd come in here and basically given me no choice in the matter and done it for me –tonight was my last night anyway, but relieved that I'd never have to step foot in Vaughn's ever again.
"Morgan! What the actual fuck was that?" I was throwing a fit from over his shoulder, lightly hitting him and trying to get down, I was pissed.. I mean we spent one weekend together and we went on a few dates after.. We fought a lot and I just assumed that when we fought that last time, that was the end of things because not even a week later, I saw him out with a fraternal twin half sister who doesn't even know I exist ( more on that later ) and I figured that they were on their way to domestic bliss again.
One weekend and a few dates doesn't give him the fucking right to show up here and pull stuff like this and as soon as he'd stood me on my own feet in the alley way behind Vaughn's, I told him as much. My answer wasn't even verbal, it was more of him pushing me against the brick wall of the building, leaning against me and pinning my hands with his hands as he pulled me into this lip bruising and deep kiss. When it started, I started off trying to fight it.. By the time his hips were flush with mine and his teeth were tugging at my lower lip and his tongue was battling with mine for dominance, I'd caved in.
The hand that had been flat against his chest trying to push him the hell away gripped his white t shirt and my other hand tangled in his hair, tugging. His hands left my hands and slid to my ass, gripping as he slid me up his body and carried me in the direction of my car, sitting me on the hood once we reached it. I wasn't trying to flinch just out of his lips reach, I was whimpering into his mouth and begging for more.
And it hit me then and it hit me hard.. I missed this. I missed him.
I wanted him, I wanted to belong to him. I loved him.
The kiss finally broke and I gaped up at him, eyes wide and panting for my next breath. Then I lightly punched at his upper arm and asked again, "What the fuck was that?"
"That was me deciding what I really want. That was me making a move and cornering you because apparently, you've decided to avoid me for almost a month now." Morgan muttered breathlessly against my lips. I eyed him with a raised brow, wary. "What about Kiki?"
"There's nothing left there, okay? I thought.."
"So now you're just going to what? Make yourself love me? Rebound? That's not how things work, Morgan." I asked, biting my lip.. Seeing the flash of hurt and maybe just a little anger brewing in his eyes I decided against really pushing it and having one of our infamous shouting matches right there in front of Vaughn's.
It's trashy enough I was even working there to begin with, no matter how justifiable my reasons for doing it were.. No sense in being even trashier and having a 'domestic dispute' in front of the damn place.
"I already love you, Tessa. It just took everything ending and you not picking up your damn phone or texting me back for almost a month to realize how much.. And then I go by that apartment you were living in and you're not living there anymore? I thought you left… I thought I really lost you and that's what fucking terrified me."
I scoffed at him. I mean yeah, he's saying all this now.. But I've never been a strong believer in someone's words. His next ones surprised me though. " I figured out where you went though.. Showed up there the day you left to come back but I tried to come to you."
And now the maid at my adoptive parents mansion calling me after I'd gotten on the plane to come back to Port Charles made sense.. Something about a guy coming by, looking for me. I bit my lip and stared up at him for a few seconds, not sure what to say.
I was still pissed that he just quit my job for me, but.. everything I shoved as deep down as I could shove it about my feelings for him came flooding back too. "I had to move.. The lease ran out while I was back in Boston.." I managed to mumble quietly.
"Yeah, that's what the manager at your old apartment told me.. Told me where to find you tonight too." Morgan grumbled. "Why in the hell would you work at this place?" he asked, staring down at me, arms folded over his chest and a less than thrilled look in his eyes as he waited on my answer. I bit my lip and told him quietly, "Because when I started working here last year I was looking at the fact that I'd be debt free by the time I finished the law program at PCU.." and Morgan grumbled again.
I started to feel it again, the nausea I'd been feeling off and on all day and I groaned inwardly. "Move."
"Why?"
I shoved past him and ran towards the first garbage can I saw, vomiting with so much force that honestly I thought I'd puked up everything I'd eaten for almost 3 years. Morgan jogged over and grabbed my hair out of the way as he asked me quietly, "Are you okay?"
"I've been feeling sick all day."
"We should get you home.. Resting.." Morgan's voice was softer and he eyed me in concern when I was standing straight again. "I'll be fine.. I just ate something that didn't agree with me I guess." I shrugged it off.
I mean it just hit me this week out of the blue. I figured it's just a virus it's got to run it's course and I've pretty much been going on like I usually would because I cannot afford to miss class this close to the end of the semester.
Not in the mood to argue and mostly just too damn tired from the week I've had so far, I nodded and pressed my car keys into his hand. "It's that apartment complex right next to the docks."
"You're living in that dump?" he asked me, a look of shock on his face as his eyes fixed on mine. I sighed and nodded. I mean it's not longterm, trust me. The place is a dump and it probably should have been condemned twenty five years ago, but it was the only one in my comfort zone as far as price went because I am determined not to touch any more of my inheritance or the money I got from selling my adoptive parents house unless I absolutely have to. I already paid my student loans ahead of schedule. For now, I was just going to do what I could to get by with using as little money as possible.
"It's kind of the only building in my price range at the time that actually had an apartment open." I told him quietly as he helped me into the passenger seat of my car and shut my door, going around to get into the driver seat. I leaned my head against the window and watched main street fly by in a series of brightly lit blurs and before I knew it, we were pulling into the parking garage at my new apartment complex and Morgan was picking me up, carrying me towards the building.
"305." I muttered as I rested my head against his shoulder and admitted quietly, "Tonight was my last night working at Vaughn's anyway. I was going to quit on my own at the end of my shift."
"Why'd you go to Boston for 3 weeks?"
"My adoptive mother finally died. The estate lawyer was giving me back all the money she stole from the inheritance my adoptive father left me and I stayed an extra two to sell that fucking house because I'll be damned if I ever set foot in it again." I mumbled and the elevator came to a stop. "You can put me down."
"As long as it took me to actually find you, nah, I'd rather not." Morgan muttered quietly as he stopped at my door, trying to find the key to my apartment on my key ring. "Seriously, Morgan.. You might want to put me down." and almost as soon as he got the door to my apartment open, I ran through it, slamming the door to my bathroom shut behind me. He knocked and I managed to croak, "Just a minute."
The door opened and he leaned in the doorway, eyeing me with a raised brow and holding a package in his hand. "This was on the welcome mat.. Are you still sick?"
"Obviously." I muttered as I finally finished being sick again and then eyed the package in his hands with a raised brow. "Who's it from?"
"No sender name."
I stood and washed off my face, rinsing my mouth out as I turned to find myself chest to chest with him in the small bathroom. He sat the package on the counter and he asked me quietly, "You sure you're okay? I can take you to the hospital in Benson Hurst, it's only like an hour.."
"Morgan, I'm fine. Pretty sure it's just a bug going around PCU and stress that I've been putting on myself." I admitted, looking up at him. I was standing there warily, like I'm not sure at this point whether to just let it happen and let myself love him or not.. I moved a little closer and he pulled me completely against him. "We really need to talk.." he muttered as his lips grazed my forehead.
"About?"
"About this.. About us. I need to know if you feel the same way." Morgan admitted it quietly, his eyes barely meeting mine. Everything we talked about that short period of time we were a thing came back to me and I realize why he was avoiding my eyes right now, because he was afraid.
I'm afraid too. Because if I tell him that I do feel the same way as he does, that changes everything. That gives him the power to hurt me. That puts me in a position to get my heart broken again. But I thought back over the last month when I was avoiding him, trying to quit him like I mostly quit drinking.. I couldn't risk feeling that lonely or empty again either.
We might fight, we might make each other completely and totally batshit insane at times but there's just.. There's something between us that I haven't felt anywhere else or with anyone else before. I tried not to feel it with him, either but somehow I wound up falling anyway.
So I stole a page from his playbook earlier and I pushed his back against the bathroom door, pulling him closer to my lips by the front of his shirt, nipping at his lower lip as my tongue slowly slid out and traced an outline of his lower lip and my teeth followed, nipping at it. He groaned and muttered softly, "Ughh fuck." and deepened the kiss, picking me up and sitting me on top of the shitty gray countertop in my bathroom and he deepened the kiss. "So do you feel the same way?"
"I do." I mumbled breathlessly against his lips as the kiss broke.
"Not gonna puke again on me.. Right?" Morgan asked, giving me a soft but teasing smile as he laughed. I grumbled and shook my head. "I think I'm all empty right now."
My eyes settled on the package and I almost opened it then but I decided to wait until later. Morgan grabbed my hands and lead me to the living room, gently pushing me so that I was sitting on my couch. I raised a brow and he explained calmly, "Pizza is on the way… I mean unless you can't handle eating that."
"Actually that sounds good right now." and oddly enough, I'd been kind of craving pizza all day. My mouth was watering already, just thinking about it. He flopped down on my couch and pulled me into his lap and grabbed for the remote. "No baseball."
"But.."
"Morgan, damn it."
"Fine." he muttered, chuckling a little to himself. We fell into a comfortable silence and when I woke up around 7 am with my alarms going crazy to get ready for class, he was still asleep on my couch, snoring.
I found myself wondering if maybe I couldn't let myself get used to this and just see where it all went and just hope to hell it didn't all blow up in my face or wind up in me getting hurt later on down the line.
FOOTNOTE:
Anybody wanting to know more about Tessa, check out my author bio on here, it's full of information. Actually, gonna go on and say that it's probably a good idea to read the information on my bio anyway because some things here might have been more than a little confusing. Also, my formatting is weird I know, but the way I do it is first person will either be told in Morgan or Tessa's POV since y'know, they are the main characters of this story and everyone else is basically just ensemble. Everybody else's POV will be told in third person narrative. Hopefully this makes sense, but if it doesn't, sorry. This is just the way I feel most comfortable writing now, to be honest.
There's a lot going on in this chapter. Sorry if I bombarded yous guys, but it's kind of a quick moving plot to start off with! It won't be so chaotic in future chapters, hopefully. FYI, this chapter takes place two days before the explosion that killed Morgan would have happened. Obviously, he's a main character in my story so he won't be dying but.. Big things will be happening for him.
Anyway, this is me, trying again with this sharing a story thing and hopefully you guys like it. I'm working on another chapter now, but I'm honestly not even sure how many will bother reading this story since Morgan's not really everyone's cup of tea. I don't see why I mean I loved the guy.
