TWO
Ava & Franco
2 Days Later
"I'm still saying this is a stupid idea. We're practically stalking the poor girl." Ava whispered harshly to Franco who shrugged and ducked into the crowded diner as he responded, "I'm just relieved she's not still working at Vaughn's."
"You wouldn't be the only one." Ava muttered as she grimaced. The fact that possibly one of her three girls had actually turned to working as a stripper did not make her happy in the slightest. They were supposed to be meeting Sam here to discuss her findings and deep down, whether Ava cared to admit it or not, she hoped that Tessa Peters did turn out to be the daughter she thought dead for almost 24 years. "Can she take any longer to get here?" Ava grumbled as she happened to catch sight of Tessa as she made her way into the diner.
But who she was with had Ava cringing.. And from the looks of it, the two were quite cozy. Franco sipped the coffee in front of him and mused aloud, "Now this.. I'm not so sure how I feel about it. Morgan's not in a good place right now and from the sound of everything we read about Tessa, she isn't either." and quietly, she wondered to herself if her switching out his bipolar medication with placebos had been discovered yet. Hopefully, it hadn't, because if it had…
The two watched as Morgan and Tessa took a booth in the corner and then a few seconds later, they were joined by Josslyn who'd apparently just gotten out of school for the day. A few minutes later, they had to stop their 'observing' for a little while, because Sam joined them at the booth, files in hand.
"Everything checks out.. Literally everything I've found points to Tessa being your daughter, Franco. All we need to really prove this true or false is a DNA match." Sam observed the girl in question before glancing over at Franco. Franco gave a nod and held out a hair sample, taken from his own comb earlier, as well as a Zip – loc bag containing a Q – Tip.
Ava submitted her own samples and then turned her attention back to Morgan and Tessa, watching them together like a hawk. They seemed to be in a deep and quiet discussion that every now and then was broken up by a stolen kiss. "I really hope she doesn't love him because he's toxic." Ava mumbled to herself as she forced herself to stop watching them and pay attention to Sam's additional findings.
After all, the girl sitting a few booths away most likely wasn't her daughter and when they got that news, Ava was pretty sure she'd go right back to not even realizing the girl existed. As Sam left, Franco eyed the booth that Morgan and Tessa sat in together and nodded in that direction as he told Ava quietly, "Whatever you're thinking about doing, Ava.. do the opposite."
"If she is our daughter, Franco, which I highly doubt.. But if she is… there is no way I am going to let Morgan ruin her life too."
"Interfering already cost you Kiki."
"She'll come around." Ava scoffed. She knew deep down that Franco was right, but she still couldn't help it.
Before she realized what she was doing, she was standing, she was walking towards the table that the two of them sat at. "Just a warning.. He ruined my daughter's life. That's what he does lately, and you look like a nice enough girl. I just don't want to see it happen again. If I were you I'd leave him alone."
The strawberry blonde looked up and raised a brow, glancing over at Morgan as she muttered quietly, "It's already starting, I see." and after a long sip of a milkshake, she calmly told Ava, "You don't know me well enough to know whether I'm a nice girl or not for one thing. For another, my life has been ruined for a while now.. Personally? I think that since Morgan and I figured things out, my life is getting better. And third, with all due respect.. Some people are just toxic together. I happen to think that Morgan and I aren't." as she slid out of the booth and held out her hand to Morgan. "Let's get out of here."
"That's actually the best idea." Morgan glared angrily at Ava, wondering why Ava suddenly felt this burning urge to be a mother to perfect strangers when she hadn't even been a halfway decent one to her own daughter. "Oh and Ava?"
"What, Morgan? Be angry all you want but you and I both know it's the truth.. You Corinthos men may seem charming and good on the surface but it goes no farther than that." Ava smirked and Morgan chuckled as he said calmly, "I was just going to tell you that maybe you should point fingers at yourself first.. I think we both know what I mean by that. You ruined Kiki's life too, way before I did."
The would be couple left the diner with Joss in tow, Joss glaring angrily back at her as she walked out of the door and Ava gaped. Franco spoke up from beside her and said calmly, "What did I tell you? I specifically said not to go over and interrupt them. Do you really see this going well if she does turn out to be our daughter? Because I don't." as he strode out of the diner and started to get ready to go in to work at the hospital.
Ava grumbled and gathered up her purse and got a lid for her coffee and set off for the art gallery. "She'll see just how much of a mess he is." she tried to tell herself as she drove to the gallery.
Morgan
"What in the hell made her walk over and do that?" I wondered aloud as Tessa and I walked down the sidewalk, heading back towards the coffee shop. Tessa shrugged but there was this look in her eyes. For a second, I felt my stomach tightening. Had Ava gotten to her?
"I don't know and I don't care." Tessa muttered and I stopped our walk down the sidewalk. "You're already worrying about it though." I asked, studying her facial expression intently.
"Don't be stupid, Morgan. Look, we're going to get it from everywhere, okay? Because anybody who really knows me knows that I'm definitely not a saint.. And you having bipolar, everybody's convinced that you don't possess a brain to think for yourself. Or are you asking because you're already doubting that we'll be able to make it?" as she looked up at me and bit her lip. "That woman had zero room or right to say all that shit. Nothing she said worried me. It's… Other stuff, okay?"
"What other stuff?" I asked, grabbing her hands and leaning in, giving her a kiss. The worry was starting to edge off, thank God, but I wondered what was wrong.. Something was off.
"Well, for one thing, where I'm gonna find another job." Tessa grumbled and I admitted quietly, "I, umm.. I might have talked to Alexis about something.. I was going to tell you night and surprise you."
"You didn't have to do that.." Tessa eyed me with a raised brow, she looked a little irritated. I'm going to go out on a limb here and given our past arguments last month for that little while and the whole thing outside of Vaughn's last night, I'm going to guess that she's not a fan of people doing things for her without asking her about it first. So that's probably one reason we'll argue.
"I didn't but I did sort of drag you out of your job last night."
"I want her to hire me because I'm needed and I'm good at what I do, not because she felt like she owed somebody something. Damn it.. Morgan, you can't just swoop in and fix everything all the time… Especially when you don't let people do it for you." Tessa grumbled but she was leaning against me and she raised to tiptoe to give me a kiss, so maybe this time she's not too angry.
"If you want to talk to her about it, go by their office at 2."
"I will but you cannot keep doing this stuff, okay?" Tessa pretended to scowl, taking a lecturing tone with me when she said it. I chuckled and shrugged and reluctantly, I slid on the apron I had to wear while waiting tables in my dad's coffee shop and working behind the counter.
She rose to tiptoe and pulled me into another kiss and muttered quietly, "6 right?"
"Yeah, I get out of here at 6."
"I'll be waiting on you." she called out as she smiled and waved, walking towards her car. And I turned around, came face to face with my dad.
"Who's she, Morgan?"
"Tessa.. that girl I told you I tried to date a little while last month? That was her." I really didn't owe him an explanation or anything and I waited on him to start nagging at me about how my head's not in the right place for a relationship, how I just ended things with Kiki for good and I needed time to get my head on straight, instead, he shrugged and stepped out of the doorway, letting me inside the coffee shop.
Tessa
Almost as soon as the round of nausea hit me, I raced to the little bathroom in my apartment. I'd been attempting to clean up and try to figure out what I wanted to make tonight… I had this idea, I was going to light candles, make Italian and Morgan and I were going to have a nice and quiet night in.
30 minutes passed and I'm not closer to leaving the bathroom than I was last night when this crap, whatever it is, woke me up just after midnight. I finished wiping my mouth, washing my face and brushing my teeth when it hit me… The box of tampons beneath the sink?
They haven't even been opened since last month.
I groaned inwardly as I bit my lip and went to look at the calendar sitting on my desk. Sitting down in the chair at the little two person dining table, I lightly banged my head against the table's surface. If what I suspected was true, that just made this entire situation just a little bit messier.
"Shit." I muttered the words as I slid on a jacket and pocketed my keys, locking up the apartment. I was glad I hadn't gotten to cook anything yet. If I had, it would probably be burnt by the time I got back.. I just needed a drive and to think.. I needed to go and buy an EPT, too.. But just the thought of it had my head spinning and my heart racing.
How the hell was I going to be a good parent when I really didn't have any positive childhood experiences from a certain age forward to draw from? I felt tears threatening and I started my car, driving down to the drugstore in town. After wandering through rows of Halloween special items and grabbing a horror movie, some nail polish, candles and a few other things, I grabbed the EPT and made a beeline for the counter.
And I promptly smacked right into Ava Jerome… My birth mother… I mean she doesn't know it and she probably never will, but.. it's awkward either way, you're buying an EPT and you run into one of your parents.
The collision sent a few of my items falling onto the pharmacy floor, one of them being my pregnancy test. Ava bent, picking the things up and she eyed me in what seemed like real parental concern.. I mean for a second there? You'd think she knew she was my mom with the way she was looking at me.
"I really hope for your sake that this is just a scare." she remarked as she held out the EPT. I bit my tongue but I was dying to let her have it. Instead, I kept quiet.. And the situation only got even more embarassing when I discovered just who was in front of me in line.
Morgan's mother.
Just fucking great.
I groaned internally, rolling my eyes towards the ceiling as I faced the front. But then it happened.. if Morgan and I wanted to pick our moment to tell Carly about us? We were dually screwed out of it because Ava tapped Carly's shoulder.
"What do you want, Ava?"
"Just to tell you that your son is at it again and this time, he might have gotten someone pregnant.. And he better not even think he's just going to get away with it, either." Ava blurted, nodding to me. Carly's intent gaze fixed on me and she scoffed at Ava. "You really must be bored. I've never seen this girl before in my life and I'm pretty sure my son hasn't, either."
"Actually.." …. ' What the actual fuck are you about to do, Tessa? The woman will flip her shit. You know this, you've seen her go into mommy lion mode before! Gee, it's not like you and Morgan don't already have every single fucking card in the deck against you… why not add more?' … I trailed off as my own mental turmoil raged on.
"What?" Carly asked, eyeing me with a raised brow.
"Morgan and I are seeing each other.. And yes, there is a good chance that.. Nevermind.." and I turned to Ava, glaring harshly.
I thought that'd be the end of it but nope, it wasn't.
"If you two are 'seeing each other'," Carly air quoted the term, "Then why don't I know about you?"
"Maybe because we were going to tell you and his father both at one time, this weekend?"
Carly had her phone out in seconds and I groaned inwardly. Noticing another counter open, I ducked out of this line and made my way over, paying quickly, hurrying out the door without bothering to stick around. I don't have the patience to deal with either woman right now, personally, because standing in that line, defending our relationship yet again, I realized something… Actually, I should thank my birth mother later, because her own snide remark made me realize it… until Morgan, I never honestly thought about being a mother, having a family.
It was just something I never really thought I wanted?
I mean I still don't know how I feel about it right now, my own childhood experiences for the most part aside, but I do know that I have sort of dreamed about something to that extent.. it was the flight back from Boston and all I wanted to do was get back to town.. I wanted to be sure Morgan was okay, I wanted to see him again so bad it was driving me crazy.
And on the flight back, I dreamed about a little girl and I baking cookies.. I know it seems mundane, but the dream just sent this wave of calm over me. I actually didn't want it to end when I woke up to get off the plane.
"Both of them could drive a sane person crazy. If she fucking ruins this before I get a chance to tell him, I swear to God." I grumbled as I pulled to a stop in front of my apartment building. For a few seconds, I sat there being really quiet, lost in thought. My cell phone ringing drew me out of it and I picked it up.
"Hey. I'm guessing she called you."
Morgan chuckled and I bit my lip and asked, "So the cats out of the bag now."
"And she wasn't happy with it but she's going to have to deal with it? I mean we argued for ten minutes then my dad came over and took the phone, but either way.. We can expect my mom to start butting in with anything and everything now." Morgan explained as I lightly hit my head against the wheel and then told him quietly.. "Did she tell you anything?"
"Just that you were there buying a pregnancy test." Morgan chuckled and I swear I could practically hear him giving me that smirk of his through the phone. I bit my lip and told him quietly, "I'm going in to take it when we're done talking.. If you need time to think or whatever.."
"We'll talk about everything later. I gotta get back to work, this really big group just came in. I'll see you tonight.. Don't overdo it." Morgan let me get off the phone after telling me that and I bit my lip..
"If he leaves because of this, oh well.. I'll just deal with everything on my own." I muttered quietly as I went in my apartment, preparing myself to take the test.
And the entire time, I'm wondering… does Morgan have one foot out the door now? I hoped he didn't but my life's taught me one thing and one thing only.. hope for the best but prepare for the worst. So I set up the test and followed it's directions… And then, I waited.
And the entire time I waited, I fumed in anger about the things my birth mother kept insinuating and I found myself wondering why she seemed to pop up every few minutes as of late… Because she can't possibly know who I am, right?
The timer went off and I bit my lip as I picked up the stick.. Two pink lines… What surprised me was the shocked and dazed smile that came after.. The relief that flooded me when I realized it wasn't negative… and then panic took over.
How was Morgan going to take this?
What was this going to do to us?
And now, I had to wait until 6 pm to find out…
Morgan
I haven't ever really been the most patient guy, so I think I spent at least half the day watching the clock on the wall and waiting impatiently on 6 pm. Around 4 my dad finally noticed the way I kept watching the clock and he asked me why and I told him. I know my mom will let him have it when he goes home tonight after he closes down the shop, but I just want him to hear things from my side.
When he asked me what was going on, I told him. "Mom called earlier."
"Yeah, about that.. She's just worried about ya, son.. But what's got you watching the clock like you have been for almost half the day?" my dad asked, a curious look in his eyes. For a few minutes I stare at my hands and then he spoke up and surprised me by saying, "I'll keep your mom off your back.. I hope you're going to bring your girlfriend around though.. let your family get to know her."
I looked up and nodded, then it came before I could stop it.. The idiotic grin and my telling him the news. "Tessa might.. There's a chance she's pregnant."
My dad coughed a little and then said quietly, "I see."
"I realized how much I wanted my own family when I thought Avery was mine.. But I'm just freaked out that Tessa might not want to be with me… I mean I have a lot of problems." I surprised myself when I admitted my biggest current fear out loud.
"And you're afraid that she isn't going to want to have a baby with you.."
"Basically." I bit my lip and I spared another glance at the clock. It was now 5:30.
The door to the coffee shop opened and my dad nodded to me. I turned and looked, I cannot tell you how relieved I was when I saw her walking towards me. I'd worried that she'd leave town or something I guess.
Before I could walk over to her, she'd come up to me instead. "So, guess who just got out of the clinic?"
"I could have taken you."
"I had to go before they closed. I didn't want to take you away from work." Tessa slid her arms around my waist and hugged against me, looking up. She looked just as afraid as I've been all day, so that was kind of a relief too.
"Son, I'm going to lock up in back." my dad cut in after clearing his throat. And as soon as he was out of the room, Tessa bit her lip and then said quietly, " I'm sensing that if I want to surprise you it will never be easily done again. I wanted to wait until we got back to my apartment, but I can't wait… I need to know now how you're going to take this.."
By now, her words and the way she's so jittery have me jittery too and I'm at least eighty five percent she's going to break things off or tell me she doesn't want kids. I'm not sure which is worse.. I mean that whole thing with Avery, it showed me what I want. And now that I have a chance with Tessa, I'm constantly scared to lose that. Everything with Kiki was conditional.. I think that's what I got used to, what I expect.. But something my therapist said in our last session stuck with me.. Love isn't based on conditions.. it's when you can completely screw things up and somehow still manage to stay together.. I hope that's what Tessa and I have..
"You're freaking me out, babe." I muttered quietly, brushing my lips to her forehead.
"I'm sorry, just.. I'm nervous? I mean all day long, I've been trying to picture how this will go, and every scenario is like worse than the last and I am really not good at this stuff.." she was pacing in front of me, I stepped in front of her to stop her. "Just try."
She took a deep breath and for a few seconds, she didn't say anything. "I'm pregnant. I mean according to the two urine tests I took.. The blood test will be back tomorrow." she finally managed to say it and I blinked, shocked. And then, I picked her up and kissed her. "Whoa, whoa.. easy.. really not wanting to see cheesecake right now." she muttered against my lips as she told me how the whole thing went, adding at the end, "They'll do an ultrasound when the results come in."
"What time?"
"Luckily, it's on both of our lunch breaks."
"You two should come by the house." Dad called out behind us as we made our way out. I turned my attention back to Tessa and asking, "So does this mean you went to see Alexis?"
"Mhmm.. And we worked out something after she emailed one of my professors.. so I'm a secretary now?" Tessa gave a soft laugh and I picked her up, running to the car with her, her telling me to put her down the whole time.
But I don't want to because I haven't been this happy in a really long time now. And with the luck I'd been having lately, I think I needed tonight to happen.
"Hey, there's this new steak house that opened up just a few minutes out of town.. I was thinking we could go and get food tonight?" Tessa suggested, admitting that she'd been sick earlier and she'd been planning to make something she just hadn't gotten to.
"Actually, that's a great idea. I think Michael went to eat there a few nights ago. It's out near Vista Lake, right?"
"Mhmm."
"We can go change and go.. I can see if maybe Michael wants to meet us there." I texted my brother to ask him while Tessa drove us home.
I know it's weird but there was this feeling in my gut that was telling me that something was going to happen and I should have stopped the whole idea then, but I was just too happy. For once everything wasn't going completely wrong...
FOOTNOTE:
Okay, like i said before... anyone who wants to know more about Tessa, go to my bio page and read. It's probably a good idea to do that anyway because there's a lot of information there that I might not be able to squeeze in here.
Obviously, this chapter is a cliff hanger and i know, that sucks.. I know you're all also freaking out right now because obviously, you've figured out that the day this chapter is centered around is the day Morgan died on the show but fear not.. Morgan is not dying because the story is for him. I'm keeping the explosion in the story as well as Ava replacing Morgan's bipolar meds and quite a few other things too. The accident will happen differently though. Before you really flip out, I'll spoil this little bit.. No, Tessa isn't losing the baby.