2. Honesty

A week passed, and then two, and between gentle but firm rebuffs from Anna, who complained she was an adult and capable of overseeing her own life, Griffin found himself thinking more and more about a little patient and her mother.

He managed to track Kiki down and made a subtle inquiry into Avery's health. She only knew what her mother had texted about the accident, and made an oblique reference to having heard from a brother that Avery was doing well.

So he told himself it was boredom that had him reconfiguring his daily run, and coincidence that the new route went past The Jerome Art Gallery. He saw her once, talking to a delivery man. The sun shimmered on her hair, deepening it to a magnificent honey-blonde. He had intended to casually stop in, but suddenly he felt foolish and continued on his way.

He found himself bumping into her in unexpected places-they went to the same dry cleaners on 5th, preferred Jasmine Garden's spring rolls over Noodle Buddha's, and had no use for flavored vodkas. The conversation never went deeper than "hi-hello-", small talk and assurances that Avery was fine, but he found himself looking forward to them anyway.

Until the day he found her in the park, sitting on the edge of the lake, feeding the ducks. Deciding he was tired anyway, he threw himself into the seat beside her, hoping to startle her. She did jump, but the tears in her eyes startled him more.

"I'm sorry, Ava. Could I help?"

"Got a cure for allergies?" she scoffed, defiantly leaving the tears run where they wanted. Her full lips twisted into a tight smile as she leaned forward and gave him a sideways glance. "Now I'm lying to priests." She didn't know why it bothered her-lies rarely did. "I'm upset and I came to feed the ducks because Avery loves feeding the ducks."

"That's as good a reason as any. Although, to be clear, I'm no longer a priest. But I've come to think of you as a friend."

"If that's true, you must be hard up."

Though self-deprecating, it was said with a tinge of humor. "If you would rather I left, I'll go. Your private-"

Ava shook her head. "It's nothing. Or nothing new anyway-Sonny pulled one of his subtle moves, jerking me around and reminding me of my "place". He informed me that Carly has signed Avery up for riding lessons. Therefore I can no longer have her on Wednesdays."

"Surely you can-"

Ava threw up her hand. "Don't-for the love of God, tell me to smile and take it."

"It's one day."

"It's not one day. It's his soon-to-be EX-wife getting time with my daughter. It's disrupting my time with my daughter on her latest God-damned whim. What three year old needs riding lessons? It's Carly rubbing my nose in it, after I told her she was out of Avery's life! It's the fact I'm fed up with no one ever being on my side!"

"I am," Griffin shot back.

"You're not going to tell me to suck it up, like my daughter Kiki?"

Griff grabbed her hand. "It's alright to feel angry."

"Well, hallelujah!" she blurted.

It came out so forcefully, he couldn't help but laugh, and in breaking the tension, Ava laughed too.

"Damn it, I'm still mad," she assured him, wiping away a fresh set of tears. "Take my advice, never have a child with someone you hate."

"At least you have a right. I have to watch Valentin Cassadine raise a child who'd been entrusted to me-for very good reasons." He gave her a brief rundown about Charlotte and briefly being a father. "I would give anything for Charlotte to be free of him."

"And that wacked-out bitch of a wife," Ava added under her breath. "I've had run ins with both of them-psychopaths of a feather, flock together." The look of horror that passed over his face made her heart break for him. "Look-Valentin's a bastard. Eventually, someone's going to catch up with him."

"I thought Anna could."

"Anna Devane?" Ava scoffed. "Valetin doesn't play by any rules. And Anna Devane's handcuffed by them."

"That's a bleak view."

"It's the reality of the world he lives in. I should know, I lived in it too." Ava watched that truth sink in by degrees. "Told you being friends with me sucked. Now you're depressed too."

Griffin blew out a sigh. "I think you simply voiced something I've been afraid to. I don't know why."

"Because we fight so hard for control."

In the silence, she finally realized her hand had been in his for a long time. It felt comfortable there, and she squeezed it reassuringly. Then his head dipped closer and he kissed her. The kiss was the slightest pressure on her lips-as if he was as surprised by it as she was. Tentatively he captured her upper lip, and then the lower. Her heart skipped a beat. But before it went any further, she pulled away, pressing a kiss against his cheek instead.

"Thanks for stopping," she said. Then she rose and walked away.

"_"

The kiss remained uppermost in his mind, as well as the ensuing brush-off. Nothing was clearer than a sisterly peck on the cheek and running for the exit. Resigned to offer an apology tomorrow, he decided to smother his disquiet in some BBQ from The Floating Rib.

Just as he opened the door to enter his apartment building, he looked up to see her in front of him, heading out.

"This is getting to be a habit," she quipped.

"How'd you know where I live?"

"I didn't," she told him, raising an eyebrow. "Kiki lives here."

Griffin knit his brow. "I just moved here about a month ago. I got sick of living in the Metro Court. This is-"

"-close to the hospital," they finished together.

"So Kiki just moved in?" Griff speculated.

"Kiki moved in with her father a couple of years ago," Ava explained.

"So, Franco lives here too? Great."

"Yes and no. Yes, he lives here. No, he's not her father."

"I remember him coming to see Kiki all the time when she was hospitalized."

"Franco and I-he could have been, and for a long time he thought of her as his daughter. She's treated him like one, at first to make up for my perceived ruining of his life."

"They say family is a choice."

Ava rolled her eyes. "I hate it, but less than I hated it before. Kiki's father Silas died nearly two years ago. He was a doctor, a very good one. I'm sure her compassion and desire to help come straight from him."

"And not from you?"

"You're good for my ego."

Griff cleared his throat. "About this afternoon-"

Ava shrugged. "It was a moment. No need to make more of it."

The woman certainly knew how to crush him with clear nonchalance. "Okay," he replied.

"Okay." Ava noticed the take out bag dangling from his hand. "I'll stop impeding your dinner," she said, and moved aside.

"Aren't you here to see Kiki?"

"I was, but she got called in to work. Not that she remembered to text me," she added, dangling a take out bag of her own to him. "Sesame chicken, beef and broccoli, steamed dumplings from Jasmine Garden."

"Ribs. The Floating Rib."

"I knew I smelled that sauce," Ava said. "Maybe tomorrow."

"Why wait? For some reason, I ordered a full slab, plenty for two. You bought me drinks. I've bought dinner."

"I've got enough here to feed three," she reminded him, swinging her bag.

"Then I suggest a trade."

Ava thought and then relented. If you couldn't share a meal with a priest, who could you share a meal with? "Lead on." A boyish smile lit up his face. She followed him to the elevator, and it rose slowly to the top floor. His loft was at the end of the hall, a sparsely furnished large room, segmented by use. A couch, tv and desk anchored the living area, a stove and refrigerator suggested a kitchen, and a screen presumably offered the privacy of a bedroom.

"I would lie, but this is just about everything I own," he admitted.

"The life of a nomad?"

While they made plates and settled on the couch to eat, he gave her a brief sketch of his life. Never knowing his father, moving every few years with his mother the surgeon. Embracing theology when his mother had been diagnosed with cancer, feeling conflicted after his mother's death and rediscovering his commitment to medicine.

"I know I'm grateful. For treating Kiki," Ava added quickly.

There was a husky note in her voice that was going to create an embarrassing situation for him if he allowed himself to dwell on it. "Can I get you a beer?" he offered, just to give himself a reprieve. "I don't have any wine, and I'm out of vodka."

That was just as well, Ava thought to herself. "Sure."

"What brought you to Port Charles?" he asked, handing the beer to her over her shoulder before he rounded the couch and resumed his seat.

"Money. It's a long story, but that's what it boils down to. I wanted what I was owed."

"By Sonny?"

"Him," Ava agreed. "But also my father, and Julian. I barely knew my father before he died. I knew of him. Growing up in New York City, he was a big deal. Power. Wealth. Respect. But he let it slip away and then he died. I thought if I could reclaim what was his, I would feel like I had claimed my birthright."

"You have your daughters."

"Barely," Ava scoffed. "You wouldn't know it, but Kiki and I were so close when she was growing up. She was all I really had. It makes not having Avery with me hurt all the more."

"Yet you have her."

"In spite of everything." While they talked, Ava had admired a laundry list of features, the penetrating green eyes, sinfully black hair, a graceful, athletic body that oozed energy. "It's getting late," she babbled suddenly. "I have an early morning."

"I-okay," Griffin replied, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice. "Let me pack up-"

"Keep it," Ava shook her head, searching for her purse. Griffen found it by the food, and held it out to her. They didn't physically touch, but an electric jolt jumped between them. "Thank you," she said nervously.

"I'm sorry," he said before closing the distance and kissing her. It was more confident than the afternoon's offering. His lips slid over hers, testing their fullness, exploring the shape with his tongue. His hand found the curve of her back, resting their lightly while he waited for a response.

It came with a cautious arm wrapping around his neck, her lips parting as she eased to his touch. Whatever uncertainty had caused tension before melted away, replaced with a sharper, underlying question.

The best thing about the loft was the lack of space. When her knees started to buckle from the onslaught of breathless kisses, within a step they found support in the door, where he could pin her and angle his mouth for a deeper exploration of her mouth.

When Ava wanted to assume control, it was barely three steps to the couch, where he stretched out beneath her, her fingers making quick work of the buttons keeping her fingertips from his taunt skin. She murmured approvingly as she traced the muscle and bone that contoured his body.

And when it was clear their mutual desires coalesced in agreement, it required five steps as they shed what clothes remained to land on the bed. His full weight on top of her, her thighs gripped his hips as they rocked together in anticipation.

His tongue pistoned deeply into her mouth one last time before pulling free and sliding over her cheek to her ear. "Just...one...last...thing-" he assured her breathlessly as he awkwardly flung an arm out.

"Virgin?"

"Condom," he replied, finally finding the nightstand drawer.

It was agony as he fumbled with it, his hands grazing so intimately between them, ratcheting the anticipation to bone-melting heights. Properly sheathed, Ava rose to the first thrust, holding her breath slightly as the engorged length sank inside her. Her cheeks burned hotly, the craving for more overwhelming her body.

Griff gritted his teeth-dealing with sensations he'd long denied himself, either out of devotion or shame. Finding himself free from both, he rocked shallowly at first, letting his tongue circle her taut nipples. As her moans rose, his actions became swifter, deeper, and finally fulfilling, as both their bodies shook with a profound force leaving them depleted and sated.

"_"

The stars had just disappeared in the sky when Ava gently lifted the possessive arm at her waist, quickly dressed and quietly slipped out of the loft. The night's events swirled in her muddled brain, and if she let it, they could spiral out of control.

The elevator doors swished closed, and she held her breath, her escape almost complete. With any luck, Griffin wouldn't wake for hours. Time enough to clear her head, anyway.

Unexpectedly, the doors opened on the fourth floor, and her lips pursed in recognition. She refused to say anything, but she knew she wouldn't even be able to count to five before-

"Av-ah." Franco drew out the syllables with a distinct relish. "Funny meeting you here-at this time of the morning," he said, mockingly eying his wristwatch.

"Shut up."

Letting out a glee-filled giggle, Franco sharpened his needles. "Y'know," he started, sidling closer to her, "I remember a walk of shame. Although by the time you got out of my door, it was at least three in the afternoon. And your skirt was on backwards."

"Jackass. I only went down to the bagel store and back-because you were starving-with my skirt that way."

"I remember it was a very short skirt," he smiled. "Which makes me wonder-where are you departing from? There's only two floors above us. Eight apartments on each. Sixteen possibilities. Now, there's eight couples, four happily married, two unhappily, and two who can't make up their minds. Three lesbian couples-none of them your type. Three single ladies and two single men. Now, Mr. Oakie is a swell guy-but he's 79. Not that he wouldn't be up for your charms. Our last contestant-"

"Don't you have some turpentine you could choke on?"

"-is a charming fellow. Dreamy eyes. Magnificent cheekbones. Solid cross to bear-"

"Ugh," Ava groaned.

"You 'frocked the priest. 'Frock him good? I never would have guessed 'frocking a priest would have held any appeal for you. Not in a million years."

Ava rolled her eyes. "Are you through? Y'know, I don't care about who you slept with. Maneater Carly, or Whackadoodle Nina, or the Nice-y Nice Nurse Liz."

"Oh, I'm thrilled. Confused, but thrilled. Doctor Naughty Pants pays a little too much attention to Liz."

"You and Carly or Nina...crazy is as crazy does. But does Liz really understand what a seething, jealous asshole you are?"

Her insults were like blood in the water, encouraging. "Did he give a Sermon on the Mount? Has he already left for confession? I'd love to sit in on that..."

Fed up, Ava kicked his shin with the sharp point of her shoe. "Happy?"

"Ecstatic!" Franco grimaced, grabbing his leg. "Here's how I see this playing out. Either he's gifted enough to keep you interested, or he's not and I can accidently let that slip to Liz. Either way, I win."

He stared at her with barely concealed impatience. "You can't be expecting me to answer that."

"Why not?" he demanded. "It affects my life."

"What did I do to deserve this?" Ava mumbled under her breath.

"Shouldn't that be Who? Or is it-?"

Before he could add "whom", Ava's knee had savagely connected with his groin. Leaving him doubled over as the elevator door opened.