Hello my wonderful readers. So, I'm sorry that's it been a couple days. Just got back into town for good today. I hope you enjoy this next chapter, its a longer one, about the length of the previous one. A few more twists and turns to come, and I'm already started on Chapter 29. Review, Favorite, Follow, please. :) I love to hear from you guys! Happy reading! Enjoy.

-Jess

Michael and Kiki tore into the bullpen, looking for answers. Michael saw a familiar face and walked toward him.

"Dante, we're here to see Ava."

Dante's brow furrowed. "Are you sure that's wise? Besides, Nathan's interrogating her right now."

Kiki spoke up. "I just found out my mother's alive. That's all that's important to me right now."

Dante looked at her and took a deep breath. "Kiki, I don't know what to tell you. Your mother is a murderer. She deserves to be in prison."

"Dante," Michael warned softly.

Kiki glanced at Michael and lightly placed a hand on his arm. "Now, it's okay. I know what my mom did is horribly wrong. I don't tolerate her evil deeds, but she's my mom. Detective, what would you do if, and I'm speaking hypothetically here, what would you do if your mother killed someone? Would you completely write her off?"

Dante seemed to deliberate over how to respond as he pursed his lips and rubbed his hand against his neck.

After a while, he responded. "Ah…no, I wouldn't write my mother off, but then again she would never kill someone. I know you're speaking in hypotheticals, but I wanted to make that clear. If she were to kill someone in cold blood, I would be extremely disproving, I would look into every possible lead as I would find it difficult to believe, but when the facts brought me back to what she had done, I would realize what I had to do. I would arrest her, have her prosecuted and sent to prison."

Michael raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

Dante nodded. "Thankfully, I don't think I would ever have to be put in that situation. It seems to happen more often that she's the one wronged by these sons of bitches, rather than be one of them."

"Kiki?" Kiki whirled to see Ava being escorted out of the interrogation room by detective West.

"Mom," she said and without thinking ran towards her and engulfed her in a tight embrace. Kiki pressed her face into her mother's hair as tears escaped her eyes.

"Kiki, I've missed you so much." Ava whispered, pulling back to get a better look at her daughter.

"But, h-how are you alive?" Kiki stuttered. "We all thought you were dead. We had a funeral for you at Ryan's."

"I know." Ava said. "I was there."

Kiki's love suddenly turned to anger. "What do you mean you were there?"

Ava sighed. "Detective, can I have a moment to talk to my daughter?"

A look passed between Nathan and Dante. Dante sighed and nodded. He took hold of Ava's arm and walked her to the interrogation room and cuffed her to the table.

"Really?" Ava asked, cocking her eyebrow as Kiki sat down across from her.

Dante didn't respond and closed the door behind him.

"Alright, now that we're alone, I can tell you." Ava began.

"How could you watch us all grieve over you? Did you really think that poorly of us?"

Ava shook her head vigorously and reached out to take one of Kiki's hands. "No, of course not Kiki, I love you. When I fell from that bridge, I blacked out. When I woke up I was in a hospital room. I had no idea where I was or who had saved me. It turned out that the person that had saved me was a very able-bodied doctor by the name of Xander Blaine."

"Xander Blaine?" Kiki repeated. "Never heard of him."

"He didn't know who I was or what I had done. He had been on a hiking trip. He saw the whole thing go down, but was too far away to hear anything being said. He saw Sonny try to save me."

"So he did try," Kiki murmured to himself.

Ava nodded. "Believe me, I was surprised, too. Anyway, Dr. Blaine told me that he recovered my body and knew I was still alive as I was barely breathing."

Kiki flinched.

"After being with him for a few days, he dropped some bad news on me."

"What?"

"I had a rare form of blood cancer." Ava said. "I'm fine now, but for the longest while I wasn't."

"How?"

"An unexpected donor."

Kiki gave her a questioning look.

Ava sighed and rolled her eyes. "Brace yourself, I had no idea this person existed. My twin sister, Denise DeMuccio, she provided what I needed."

"Denise DeMuccio?" Kiki said, testing the name. "You just said you'd never heard of her. How did you get in contact with her?"

"Dr. Blaine did."

"And how did Dr. Blaine know who Denise was?"

"Apparently Denise has had some harsh run-ins with the mob in the city."

"Obviously they didn't know who she was related to." Kiki said with a grim chuckle.

Ava chuckled with her. "Trust me, when Denise found out who she was related to, she let them know and they backed off real quick."

"So, because Denise was injured, she had to visit this hospital that you were in…"

"And Dr. Blaine was her attending physician. When he saw me he thought that I was her and that she was involved in yet another mafia run-in."

"Why put himself in danger?"

Ava shrugged. "He said he couldn't just let Denise die, even when he found out that I wasn't her, he still helped me."

"Did you ever tell him your true name?"

"Not until after I was treated."

"Mom, that's horrible."

"I wouldn't be alive if I hadn't." Ava challenged raising her eyebrows.

"Still," Kiki persisted, rubbing her hands through her hair. "Anyway…"

"Anyway, Dr. Blaine told Denise that he needed her help. He wanted to preserve my identity, so he only told her that I was family to her. She conceded to donate."

"Did you ever meet her?"

Ava nodded. "Yes, when I was in remission. She was shocked, to say the least, to see me. Apparently, she knew about me. Her adoptive parents had given her the adoption information, and she tracked down Delia. Delia was so shocked to see Denise that for a moment she thought it was me."

"Because she saw you at the funeral?"

"I didn't reveal that I was there until after everyone had left. Denise quickly set her straight and Delia told Denise about me, not that I was alive, but that I was her twin sister. Denise quickly went into research and found out everything. When I saw her, she greeted me as Ava. I had told Dr. Blaine my identity by that time, and at first I thought that he had betrayed my trust, told Denise about me. Denise quickly set me straight. She only knew that I was family. She had thought that I was dead."

"As did everyone else. So, any chance that I'll meet long lost Aunt Denise?"

"Well, of course." Said a familiar, but accented voice from the doorway. Nathan allowed her to come in.

Kiki's eyes widened as she saw the obvious resemblance between Ava and Denise. "My god,"

"I know right? I was surprised, too." Denise said, flipping her dark brown almost black hair behind her shoulder as she held her handbag on the crook of her elbow.

"Kiki, meet your aunt, Denise DeMuccio. Denise, this is my daughter, Lauren Katherine Jerome."

Denise held her hand out, perfectly manicured fingernails and all, and Kiki shook it with a smile.

"Well it doesn't look like you'll have to deal with any more of those 'problems'." Kiki said, referencing her history.

Denise grimaced. "Trust me, it's a great relief to not have to deal with those goons anymore. Once I told them I was related to Julian, let's just say they ran off with their tails between their legs."

"Does Julian know about you?" Ava asked.

"He does now, I stopped by that fancy penthouse of yours." Denise said, leaning against the wall near the other door. "He thought I was you. Don't worry, I set him straight."

"And how's Xander?" Ava asked.

Denise glanced at Kiki who nodded that she already knew. "He's fine, a bit shaken, but fine. He let the authorities in the city know that you were alive. He also told them that he had no idea who you were until you told him. They believed him because I was there, too. It was an honest mistake."

"I can't believe he betrayed my trust, the little…" Ava started.

Denise glared at her sister. "You say one bad word about Dr. Blaine and the cops won't be the only thing you have to worry about. He saved your damn life, Ava, show some damn gratitude. You basically made him an accessory."

Ava sighed and rolled her eyes. "I know what I did was wrong."

"Besides, you basically turned yourself in." Denise reminded her. "Xander telling the police that you are actually Ava Jerome was basically useless because you were apparently going to do it yourself."

"I haven't seen him in a month. How long ago did he turn me in?"

"About a week and a half ago, he didn't have the proof with him, though, so they didn't take him seriously. Later, he brought back the proof and they've been on the hunt."

"I'm sure the PCPD will discover that soon enough." Ava muttered. "And plus, I had to make it down here to Port Charles safely. I had a mission to complete."

"What mission?" Kiki asked, curious.

"I don't want to implicate you, darling." Ava said casually, shooting a glance to her sister. "Would you mind stepping out for a moment so that Denise and I can chat?"

Kiki deliberated and nodded, exiting quickly.

"So, what's up?" Denise asked, taking Kiki's chair and clasping her hands in front of her.

"I'm not going to jail." Ava confided with a grin.

Denise looked confused. "How do you plan on escaping again?"

Ava shook her head. "I'm not planning on escaping. They can't get me on anything."

"They have your taped confession, Ava."

"Not anymore." Ava said with a sly grin. "I got it hidden nice and neat."

Denise leaned forward, intrigued. "What do you mean you've got it? How did you get it?"

"I recruited an old flame." Ava answered, her eyes flashing with mischief. "You might know him…famous artist by the name of Franco."

"You dated Franco? I've heard he's a complete whack job." Denise said. "How do you know you can trust him?"

"He's the district attorney's son with that crazy bitch, Heather Webber."

"Heather Webber? I've heard she's even more wacko." Denise said, surprised. "So what did Franco do for you that will make it so you don't have to go back to prison?"

"Can I trust you?" Ava asked, dead serious.

Denise gave her the best 'bitch-please' expression she could muster. "Sis, if you couldn't trust me, I would have turned you in ages ago."

Ava nodded. "Alright, well, the district attorney has the only copy of my confession."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Positive." Ava said, her sly grin growing wider into a full out, evil mischievous grin. "So, I got Franco to go get it for me."

Denise leaned back and put her arms over her chest and gave her a speculative look. "And what's in it for him? This Franco doesn't sound like the type of guy that does anything for anybody."

"Depends on the person, but you're right, I did do something for Franco. He's fallen for my ex, Silas's, ex-wife, Nina. I don't see why. She's a crazy bitch who kidnapped my daughter, but I digress. She was kidnapped again not that long ago. Because Nina had done it once before, quite a few people thought she had."

"And how do you know this?"

"I've been in town for a while, undetected, staying in sleazy motel rooms and the like. Anyway, no one knows who really kidnapped Avery, just that she was kidnapped. Franco, because of Nina's history, doubted Nina's innocence, and she didn't like that too much. She got real angry real quick."

"And?"

"And she broke up with Franco. Franco's been beside himself since, desperate to get back in with her."

"What are you doing to help him?"

"I'm going to help him figure out who kidnapped Avery."

"But you benefit from that, too."

"He pointed that out, but I managed to convince him that the only way to convince her that he believes her is to come up with the actual culprit."

"What if she's the one who actually did it?"

"I doubt it, Nina's a nut, but she's not stupid. Besides, I heard that a couple weeks ago she married some lawyer."

"Who?"

Ava smiled. "Ric Lansing, but I think he's up to something."

"I thought he shot up the Metro Court."

"He did, and he was in jail for a while, but they figured out that he didn't do it of his own free will."

"Wait, you mean someone was controlling him? Who?"

"Similar thing happened to Jason Morgan, previously Jake Doe. I didn't know him, he came in after I got out. Some evil broad named Helena Cassadine put a chip in his brain and conditioned him to be under her command. Had to use the chip of course."

"Wait…did you just say Jason Morgan?"

"Why? You know him?" Ava asked, intrigued.

Denise shook her head with a smile. "No, I never knew him. I saw him on the news once or twice for one crime or another. He's quite the looker. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I heard that he was dead."

"He was presumed dead, they never found his body." Ava corrected.

"Do you know the story of this one, too?"

Ava shook her head. "Unfortunately not. I'm sure I'll figure it out soon, though, but that's not important. Ric has no chip, they've checked, but he has a relatively weak mind so it's no wonder that someone unknown force was able to brainwash him. They're still looking into who did it and Ric is still being watched, but apparently he met Nina as the floating rib one night and was under her wacko spell."

"Why would he marry her?"

"She's the heir to a massive real estate fortune." Ava answered. "Motive, much?"

Denise nodded. "Definitely. Does she have any other family that stands to benefit?"

"Because her brother turned out to be her maternal cousin, he isn't a player, but her mother, she's a piece of work."

"What do you mean?"

"Though I'm grateful to her for introducing me to Silas, her daughter was married to Silas. She didn't approve of him, and because of that she set him up for an affair. I was able to seduce him after a lot of effort, and she got the photos. Then, when Nina found out that she was pregnant with Silas's child, Madelyn drugged Nina so that she would lose the baby. Unfortunately, it was too high a dosage, and it ended up putting Nina in a coma for the past twenty years."

"My god. I tell ya if my adoptive mother, Louisa DeMuccio had done something like that to me, I can't tell you what I would want to do to her."

"Trust me, Nina definitely wanted her revenge on her mother. Because of Madelyn, Nina was able to kidnap my baby the first time after forcing me into labor."

Denise shook her head. "Alright, so Nina's with Ric Lansing who you think has an ulterior motive, and Franco's hung up on Nina. You're looking into Avery's true kidnapper for both your benefit and Franco's. When you find out who it is, you can tell Franco and Franco can tell Nina who will take him back? What if she doesn't want Franco?"

"Trust me, those two are goo-goo for each other. Nina wants Franco but she's got a pride about her." Ava countered. "You should probably get going, the police are probably getting suspicious. If you run into Franco, tell him that you know about our plan, and see if he's made progress."

"And why would I want to stick my neck out for you? What you're doing is illegal in case you haven't noticed."

"You don't have to do anything. Just ask. You don't have to participate."

"Fine," Denise agreed and marched out the door.

"Denise, can I talk to you a minute?" Dante asked as soon as the door was closed.

"Sure," Denise said in her classic New York accent. "What can I do for you two officers?"

Dante cleared his throat and crossed his arms over his chest. "You two were in there an awful long time."

Denise chuckled and made a hand flourish as she did so. "Just two sisters gabbing. Let me tell you, it was quite the shock to find out that I even had a sister."

"Really? Cause I saw Kiki leave about ten minutes ago, but yet you stayed. Why is that?"

"Ava had something to tell me that she didn't feel Kiki needed to know."

"Would you mind sharing?"

"It's nothing of concern, detective. Trust me, I'm on the right side of the law most of the time, I'm the good twin."

"We'll see about that," Dante muttered as Denise trotted away.

"Dante, how are you today?" Valerie asked, striding forward.

Dante regarded her gruffly. "I'm fine, Valerie."

He still felt incredibly guilty over what he did with Valerie. Yeah Lulu had run off with Dillon, but he should have known that his wife would never go back on their marriage vows.

"Why so grumpy?" Valerie asked, her brow furrowing as her eyes grew concerned.

"I think you know why." Dante responded. "Now, I don't want to talk about it. We both said we weren't going to speak about it."

"About what?" Anna asked, striding forward.

"Anna, what are you doing here?" Dante asked.

Anna smiled. "Are you kidding? You haven't heard. Sloane's been ousted. Nikolas turned over evidence after making a deal with Baldwin."

"What kind of deal?" Dante asked.

"Back when Helena was in town, she had Nikolas jumping through all sorts of hoops because she had all control of the financials. Nikolas was able to get it all back in order after Helena died. Some suspicious activity has been occurring in the financials, and Nikolas didn't want any secrets to be used as leverage. He revealed that he, as well as Sloane and Mayor Lomax helped rig the mayoral election."

"They actually rigged it? I mean I suspected, but I thought it was a done deal."

"I thought it was, too, but I guess not. I'm glad, though. Felicia is, too. She was surprised, but she's more than happy to take over."

"Good," Dante said with a smile.

"So, who's this?" Anna asked, eying Valerie. Anna had a gut feeling that she shouldn't trust this girl, even though she didn't know his name yet.

"Valerie, Valerie Spencer." Valerie said, reaching out to shake Anna's hand.

Anna firmly shook Valerie's hand and looked her straight in the eye. Obviously, the girl was hiding something.

"Spencer…as in Luke Spencer?"

"He's my uncle. I'm his sister, Patricia Spencer's, daughter."

"Ah…I heard him mention her a few times over the years." Anna said, recalling. "Patricia moved away years ago, though."

"You remember what went down a while back with Luke at his childhood home?" Dante asked.

Anna nodded. "Yeah, I saw it on the news but I've been so caught up in my own stuff. I've seen Luke since then, he seems fine. I'm sorry for your loss, Valerie."

Valerie nodded. "It's quite alright, but I appreciate the condolences."

"Dante, it's been a while. Where are we on Carlos Rivera?"

"His trial is in about a week." Dante answered.

Anna nodded. "What do you do here Valerie?"

"I'm assistant to the commissioner."

Anna raised her eyebrows. "You're my assistant. Well then, alright. Do whatever you were doing before I arrived. I'll let you know if I need anything else."

Valerie nodded and walked away.

Anna pulled Dante away as Nathan escorted Ava down to the holding cells.

"What's wrong with you?" Anna asked once they were I his office.

"What do you mean?" Dante asked, sitting down in the chair in front of Anna's desk.

"You're acting strange around Valerie. I'm getting a vibe, and I've got a bad feeling about her."

Dante sighed and closed his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "If I tell you something, can it stay between the two of us?"

"That depends, is it illegal?"

"Immoral." Dante answered, his eyes agonized.

Anna eyed him speculatively and nodded. "Unless it goes against my better judgment, I will keep your secret."

"Try to keep an open mind."

"Okay," Anna agreed cautiously. "What's wrong?"

"You know about how Lulu, Dillon, Luke, and Laura left right?"

Anna nodded. She also knew that Lucky was back in town, but had been keeping a low profile. "What about it?"

"Lulu and Dillon are old flames. When they left town, Lulu originally lied and said that she was going to Italy to assist her grandmother because apparently Leslie had suffered a fall."

"Okay."

"I found out that it was a lie. Valerie was there to comfort me when I arrived at the conclusion that Lulu and Dillon were having an affair."

"Did she at all lead you to this conclusion?"

"She laid the events out in a way I hadn't seen."

"So she pushed you in that direction."

"Maybe a little. Anyway, I went to British Columbia because I found out that that was where they had gone. I saw clothes thrown all over the place. I arrived at the wrong conclusion that Lulu and Dillon had rekindled their romance and were having an affair. I thought that she had abandoned me and Rocco."

Anna clicked her tongue in disproval. "Dante, you know that Lulu loves you and is faithful to you. The fact that a few suspicious events could lead you to such a drastic conclusion. Dante you should have had more faith."

Dante sighed. "I know, I know. It gets worse. When I got back into town, I was very angry. I kissed Valerie. Then…then I slept with her."

Anna coughed on the coffee she had just sipped. She put a hand to her chest. "You what? Dante, how could you?"

"I know I was wrong, I know."

"Does Lulu know?"

"Lulu knows that I kissed Valerie."

"But not that you slept with her."

"No," Dante shook his head.

"Dante, what you did. It's horrible. In fact, I won't stand for it. I'm firing Valerie."

"What? No." Dante protested. "You can't. She didn't do anything wrong."

"Really? Sleeping with a married man isn't wrong? I'm sorry but if you ask any married woman if it's okay for a woman to sleep with a married man, I can guarantee you that most will say that it's absolutely…"

"Anna I get it."

"…not okay." Anna finished.

"Can I count on you to keep this a secret?"

Anna hated to do it, but she agreed to keep it a secret. "I'm still firing Valerie."

Dante looked tortured. "Why?"

"It's not okay in my department for two individuals to have a romantic relationship if said relationship is going to get in the way of their work."

"But it won't."

"Maybe it hasn't yet, but it will eventually. Plus, I happen to care about Lulu. I don't feel comfortable and I simply don't want to work with a homewrecker."

Dante shook his head and exited Anna's office.

"How any man could think it was okay to cheat on his wife, then not tell her about it, and then continue on like nothing ever happened is beyond me." Anna thought to herself. "And same goes vice versa."

Meanwhile, Denise had just run into Franco outside of Kelly's.

"Ava?" Franco asked.

Denise shook her head. "I'm afraid not, Franco, I'm her twin sister, Denise."

"Oh, Ava told me about you." Franco recalled. "What are you doing here in Port Charles."

"I actually came to find you."

"Really?" Franco asked, looking surprised. "May I ask why?"

"Ava wants to know if you got it yet."

"She told you." Franco realized. "Yes, I have it, but she isn't getting it until I get Nina."

"Understood." Denise said and made her way to her SUV. Minutes later she arrived at the metro court, and parked in the parking garage.

She had just checked in and was making her way to the elevator when a hand reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Ava?" asked a brown haired young man. He looked a little similar to the man that she had seen Kiki with.

Denise shook her head. "Denise DeMuccio, Ava's sister." She introduced herself, holding out her hand.

The young man seemed to gaze at her as he hesitantly shook her hand.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to stare; it's just that you look just like her."

Denise chuckled and pushed her hair back. "You knew her?"

"You could say that. She's my ex-girlfriend." Morgan said. "Morgan Corinthos."

"Morgan, you seem a bit young to be dating my sister."

Morgan chuckled. "Yeah, our relationship was a bit taboo, but we were both in a rough patch in our lives and we helped each other through it. I loved her. I miss her actually, it sounds strange."

Denise's brow furrowed. "You don't know?"

"Know what?" Morgan asked, confused.

"Ava's alive, Morgan. She's at the police station."

Morgan's eyes widened. "No, I don't know who you are, but that's a really sick joke. She has a daughter and if she heard you say that…"

"I met her daughter at the police station with that kind young man, I believe his name was Michael."

"My brother." Morgan informed her and ran a hand through his hair. "You're sure it's her?"

"She's at the police station."

Morgan nodded, unsurprised. "Thank you, Denise."

"Anytime," Denise answered, getting into the elevator.