The paper was open in her lap as Molly and Nikolas walked into Kelly's. Alexis rose to kiss her breakfast dates and returned to her seat.

-"You look great, Molls. Are you ready for the test today?"

-"God, yeah. I stayed up most of last night studying for it. Normally I hate Friday tests, but this one I just want over with. I don't want to have to think about anything this weekend."

Alexis smiled at her daughter. "I was thinking of maybe going out and catching a movie. Maybe start visiting some open houses. Any interest?"

-"Well, maybe. If it rains."

She tried to hide her disappointment. "Ahhh. You have big plans then. What are they?"

Molly's eyes lit up, "Uncle Victor is going to teach me to ride!"

Nikolas shrugged at Alexis as she tried to hold back her laughter. "Seriously, Molls. Where is this coming from? I didn't know you wanted to ride. I would have taught you."

-"I don't know. Uncle Victor was talking about how he used to ride along the beach in Greece, and just how he described it. Just to be free with the wind in your face. It sounds so exhilarating."

-"OK then. Will you promise me we can go out riding some time when you feel ready?"

Molly smiled. "Sure." She looked at her watch. "Ugh. Gotta run if I'm going to make class. If you see TJ will you tell him I'll stop by after school?" She paused for a moment. "Do you need me today?"

-"Well, I always need you. But no. I don't need you to sit for Danny or anything." Alexis added quietly. "You're always welcome whenever you want, sweetheart."

-"I know, Mom." Molly bent to kiss her mother on the cheek before running out the door.

Alexis sighed as Nikolas looked at her. "So how are you, Aunt?"

-"As well as could be expected I guess. Sam's still out of jail, but I'm not sure how long it will be before they arrest her."

-"Do you really think they will?"

-"They have a lot of circumstantial evidence. We're trying to find anything to disprove their theory. It shouldn't be this hard...their case is a house of cards at the moment. I just need to find a good, stiff wind to crush it."

Nikolas nodded. "Well if you need anything…money, detectives. Anything Alexis, OK?"

She nodded and squeezed his arm, "What would I do without the one good Cassadine?"

Nikolas laughed, "Well, there's more than one of us."

-"Really?"

-"Well, Spencer's not doomed yet. Although Alfred may disagree. There's also *you,* Aunt. You're one of the good ones."

-"Only if you don't look at that karma ledger too closely," Alexis muttered.

-"Your daughters. Don't forget them. There's also…"

-"Don't say it." Alexis made a face at her nephew. "Really, Nikolas. Victor?"

-"I mean, he's been very nice and quite helpful."

-"A Cassadine helpful? That should be your first clue. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts, Nikolas. Especially when those Greeks are actually Russian."

Nikolas laughed. "Look, I know that our family doesn't have the greatest track record."

-"Nikolas. He tried to Freeze. The. World."

-"Well, you trust him with Molly."

-"I trust a charming uncle to teach my daughter how to ride a horse. My daughter, who as the female child of a bastard, has no birthright." She looked at Nikolas warily. "Although now that you say it, I'm being insane. How can I let him around—"

-"Alexis, Alexis," Nikolas recognized his aunt was about to start spinning and tried to nip it in the bud. "She's fine. He's as dangerous a Cassadine as I am. Really. I trust him with Spencer."

Alexis looked at his pleading eyes, but didn't respond. Nikolas continued to build his case. "I mean you had lunch with him. What did you think?"

-"I thought he was very charming."

-"Aaaannddd?"

-"Ok. Ok. He was delightful. A witty conversationalist and a seductive personality. He was thoughtful and considerate."

Nikolas smiled triumphantly. "See?"

-"That proves my point, Nikolas. We're Cassadines. That's how we roll. We're not the Jerome or Corinthos clan—we're not going to shoot up a room full of people and hope we hit the right the target. We plot. And we plan. And we entice. And THEN we strike. It's very methodical."

Her nephew let out a sigh. "Well, then I guess you won't be coming to dinner tomorrow night."

-"Did we have dinner plans?"

-"Victor wanted to get the family together. He said you agreed. I wanted to do it before I leave town next week."

-"Wait. You're leaving town? Where are you going and for how long?"

-"I'm off to Buenos Aires and Santiago for a week. Leaving on Tuesday."

Alexis felt herself get a little excited. "Oh, thank God."

Nikolas gave his aunt a confused look. "Has my company been that onerous?"

She protested through giggles. "No, no! Your company could never be anything but lovely…but if you're not at your home, Molly has to come home to ours...such as it is."

-"You miss her."

-"Yes," Alexis whined. "I hate having her gone. Even having a sullen, adolescent monster stomping around is better having her away. I miss my baby." The thought of Molly's return brought a broad smile to Alexis's face. "I know I told her she had a choice. And I know she hates Julian. But we can work it out. I know we can."

-"Well I salute your optimism. This isn't really a trait I get to see from you frequently, Aunt. It's a little—

-"Refreshing?"

-"I was going to say 'unnerving.' But that's just like 'refreshing'," he teased. Nikolas then rose from his seat. "OK. I have to go. Are you coming to dinner tomorrow night? With Sam and Danny?"

Alexis nodded. "We're in. What could be more relaxing than a dinner at Wyndemere in the bosom of my beloved family?"

-"And one more thing. I don't know what your status is right now with Julian, but—"

-"I'm not inviting him Nikolas. You don't have to worry."

Her nephew smiled. "See you tomorrow night."

Alexis stood down the hall from the Jerome residence and steeled herself. She was pretty sure Julian was out attending to "gallery business" this morning, but his sister was a handful on her own. She raised an eyebrow when the guard asked to frisk her, and she shrugged her shoulders and let him. Fairly certain the next hour would be a struggle, she was reluctant to expend any energy arguing with the henchman.

Upon entering the apartment under escort, Alexis found Ava reclined on the sofa. She struggled to lift her upper body to greet Alexis, offering up a half-hearted "Welcome, counselor". She then turned off the TV just as a character let out a string of curses about a pig farmer.

-"Wow. That was a creative use of language." Alexis joked. Ava didn't respond. There was a prolonged silence and Alexis shuffled nervously as Ava sized her up. The last time the two spoke Alexis had been a flirtation of Julian's. Now that she was whatever she was to the older Jerome, his little sister took her time studying her. Alexis's efforts to look away only made her more uncomfortable. Did Ava know what happened on that couch? *Behind* that couch? Memories started to flood Alexis, and in an effort to move the interview forward she took the brown bag in her hand and thrust it forward: "Here. I brought this for you."

Ava's face softened but the skepticism was still there. "For me? What is it?"

-"Julian mentioned a few times that he had to stop on his way home and get you chocolate. So I brought these brownies from Kelly's. They are life-changing." Alexis thrust the bag closer to Ava. "Here."

A smile curled across Ava's face. "Thank you, Alexis. That's incredibly considerate." She started to open the bad and then paused suddenly, "Do you know who happened to make these brownies?"

-"Shawn. If we're lucky."

Ava started to close the bag. "I don't know that this is such a good idea."

Alexis looked puzzled and then realized, "Oh. Don't worry. He's not about to poison me. I mean he probably hates me a little bit, but he wouldn't kill me via brownie. He *would* refuse to sell them to me, though. Which is why I only buy them when he's not there." She smiled. "Those are safe. If you want, I can be your taste tester."

The mom-to-be sat on the couch confused before it dawned on her. "Ahhh. I forgot about you and Mr. Butler. No, I trust these aren't poisoned." She put the bag aside. "That was very thoughtful. Please, sit down."

Alexis moved to the chair across from the couch. "Can I get you anything?"

-"I think that's supposed to be my line. I am the host, after all."

-"Of course. I just-," Alexis trailed off searching for a tactful way to frame her next thought. She gave up. "I'm sorry. You just look miserable. Are you feeling OK?"

Ava's veil of suspicion lifted. "I am miserable. I don't know what it is about this pregnancy. There's all this heartburn and the nausea's back. It's so different than it was with Kiki."

-"Plus the stress with Sonny." Alexis offered her comment in solidarity but Ava shot her a look. "That wasn't judgment. If anything I guess its sympathy. I hid from Sonny when I was pregnant with his child, too."

-"I'm still hoping it's Morgan's." Ava flushed with embarrassment and looked away from Alexis.

-"Regardless, he's going to view that child as his property, whether it's his kid or his grandkid."

Ava closed her eyes. "Do you mind if we don't talk about Sonny? It's giving me a headache." She opened her eyes and they were hard again. "You're also his lawyer, so I'm not sure I want to share any of my thoughts about your client with him."

-"Understood. Sonny is stressful, even if you're not on his bad side. But not to worry. I'm not his lawyer anymore."

-"You're not?"

Alexis shook her head. "Nope. My only client is my daughter."

Ava smiled slightly. "Right. The reason you're here. You know, Alexis, if you are trying to get me to confess to this crime like you tried to get me to confess to Nina—"

-"I'm not. I know you didn't kill them."

-"Alright." Ava sat up straighter.

-"But I know Sam didn't either. I'm trying to learn what I can about Nina and Silas to see if it will point me in the direction of the killer. You are the one person in town most familiar with both."

-"I was most familiar with them 20 years ago, maybe. I'm afraid my contact of late has been limited. Actually, 'afraid' is the wrong word. I'm rather happy that has been the case."

Alexis started peppering her interviewee with questions and was surprised by her willingness to answer. Ava was open with what she knew about Nina's family, providing extra details as color. As the discussion turned to Nina's parents, Alexis marveled at the sympathetic tone that Ava adopted.

-"You sound almost sorry for Nina."

-"With a mother like that, who wouldn't be?"

-"Well, she could have been worse," Alexis stated matter-of-factly.

Ava's mouth was open in shock. "My, my counselor. That's quite a detached view."

-"You look surprised."

-"Well, to hear Julian tell it you are so loving and forgiving and kind. I wasn't expecting that from St. Alexis."

-"Your brother only knows St. Alexis. He wasn't around for her sinning years." Alexis paused at Ava's raised eyebrow. "OK. Maybe he was around for one night of her sinning years. The point is her mother *could* have been worse. I'm just wondering…"

-"What."

-"Was she worse? The will left Nina's money to Silas when she died. But Nina didn't die. And Silas wasn't controlling the money when she was sick. So who was?"

-"Madeleine was a bitch who poisoned her own daughter." Ava started nodding in thought. "You're thinking would she kill Nina for the money. And since she was still married, kill Silas, too, so he couldn't inherit?"

-"That's exactly what I'm thinking."

-"She would do it in a heartbeat. Believe me."

Alexis considered Ava closely. "You sound like you know Madeleine very well."

Ava was quiet for a few moments. "Let's say I knew Madeleine for a short while a long time ago. It was a very lucrative and very unpleasant time in my life, but not without some benefits. Nina doesn't matter to her. She's cold as ice, that one."

-"Then it's a good thing she's in jail."

-"Is she? I'd check," Ava quipped.

The women spent the next half hour going through every detail Ava could remember about Silas and Nina. Alexis was amazed at how Ava absorbed information from so many different sources. She knew that Silas and Nina were sleeping together again, that Nina was friends with Franco and that something was off with Nina's nurse, Rosalie. All without leaving the sofa.

-"Why do you think something's off with Rosalie?"

-"Kiki tells me things about the way she talks to Silas, what she does around the house, how she taunts my daughter. She's a total operator. Like recognizes like, Alexis."

-"I never thought of Kiki as an operator."

Ava laughed so hard, she started to cough. As the giggles subsided she responded, "Kiki an operator? Oh, Lord no. I love my daughter and I would die for her. But believe me when I tell you she inherited none of my artifice. When I said 'like recognizes like' I was talking about me." She wiped the tears from her eyes. "Oh, thank you for that Alexis. I haven't laughed that hard in a while."

Alexis rolled her eyes, "Glad I could help."

-"Your instincts about people are spot on." Ava added under her breath, "Well, usually." Alexis gave her a look that let her know her aside had been heard. Ava smiled. "So what do you think of the nurse?"

She sighed. "I can't find her, Ava."

Ava nodded her head. "And I bet you won't either."

-"You're probably right." Alexis looked at her phone. "Well, it's getting late and I've got to get home. I gave Molly the afternoon off so I've got to relieve the nanny."

-"It's a shame you're leaving so soon. You know Julian should be home in about an hour." Ava flashed a knowing grin.

Alexis rose quickly. "Yes. Well, I'm sure I'll see him at some point this weekend. He's really come through for Sam." She turned and looked sincerely at Ava. "You have, too. Thank you. I know we never have been cordial exactly, so I appreciate your willingness to help my daughter."

-"It wasn't purely altruistic, Alexis. Sure, my brother loves his daughter and I love my brother. But I'm also very curious about you."

-"Why?"

-"Because my brother is head over heels, counselor. And he is prone to acts of impetuousness when it comes to you. I want to see if you're worth it."

Alexis grimaced. "And?"

-"Jury's still out, but leaning in your direction. The brownie helped."

-"Well, you gave me a gift I wasn't expecting either."

-"What gift is that?"

-"Madeleine. Or as I like to now call her: 'reasonable doubt.'"