Month 6

Claudia had been washing the breakfast dishes when she heard footsteps in the living room. She knows that Ellie and Ava are both taking naps and Sonny's at the office, so she's confused as to who is making noise downstairs. Ava was exhausted, because she hadn't been sleeping through the night at all, so she knows it isn't Ava. Ellie knew she needed to rest up, because her and her mom were going to take a boat ride over to Spoondemere, as Claudia had always fondly called it. She turns around when she hears a knocking on the doorframe, she smiles when she sees her former stepson standing there.

"Morgan, hey!"

"Hey, Claudia, um is Ava here?"

She attempts to not roll her eyes, Morgan doesn't know that Ava is trapped here, that she's not even allowed to leave to come to Wyndemere with Claudia and Ellie. She wishes that they would just tell Morgan the truth so that he can have his own opinion on the subject, but neither Sonny nor Ava think that is in his best interest.

"Yeah, she's upstairs napping. The baby has been in an awkward position or something during the night and she's having trouble sleeping so I sent her and El both upstairs to take a nap. Do you want me to go wake her? She'll probably only sleep for another ten minutes at most. Can I get you anything?"

She continues to wash the dishes, scrubbing particularly hard at the dried milk on the bottom of one of the bowls. Morgan takes a seat at the small table that sits in the kitchen and runs a hand over his face. Claudia watches from her peripheral vision and listens as he sighs deeply. This situation has got to be running the kid ragged.

"Can I get a beer?"

Claudia laughs to herself mainly, because even though Sonny had gotten rid of the alcohol, she had bought some beer yesterday just in case she needed to relax from the tension this house held. After Ellie went to bed of course. She nods at him and goes to the refrigerator to pull out a beer. She slides it across the table to him before sitting in the seat across from him. After he opens it and takes a sip, he speaks again.

"I don't know if I'm supposed to hate you or not. When I was a kid, you were always nice to me, but you put my brother in a coma and I lost a year with him. But you also gave me another little sister and you've been so good to Ava when dad and I have only treated her like crap."

"If you want to hate me, you can, I won't try to change your mind. I was an awful person before Ellie and I won't make excuses for that person. I love my brother, just like you love Michael and I think if you had been in my situation you might have done the same thing, but that's not me any more. So maybe you could hate the old Claudia, like I do, and like the new Claudia?"

He seems to consider this for a second and then nods.

"Yeah I think that could definitely work for me."

They smile at each other and then silence falls between them. She wants to tell him that Ava is in danger and she needs to get Ava and the baby to Italy or some other country so that Sonny can't hurt Ava, but she doesn't. She doesn't want to watch his life crumble around him as he realizes two of the people he loves most are murderers. She hears Ellie's voice and then Ava's and she realizes they're running out of time, especially since they should've left already.

"Look, Morgan, Ava is probably my best friend- the only best friend I've ever had and I need you to protect her, okay?"

He looks confused.

"Protect her from what?"

Ava is down the stairs and soon she'll be in the kitchen wanting to grab ice cream for a late morning snack.

"Just protect her."

"Mommy!"

Ava comes in carrying Ellie, her long legs wrapped around the top of Ava's stomach. Claudia gently grabs her daughter from Ava as her friend notices the presence of her child's father. Her eyes shift quickly to Claudia and Claudia only shrugs.

"Morgan…hi."

"Hi, Ava."

"Ellie what have I told you about Auntie Ava carrying you? You have to be careful because of the baby."

Ava steps in, kissing the child's temple and grabbing Claudia's wrist. Claudia isn't sure if it's because Morgan's here and she's worried or if she needed someone to steady her.

"It's my fault, after I brushed her hair, I picked her up, it was instinct. I promise me and the baby are fine. Ellie only weighs like five pounds anyways, so it's not big deal, right silly girl."

Ava tickles her stomach, making her squeal in delight. Claudia knows what this is about. Waking Ellie up from her naps, brushing her hair for her play dates, carrying her down the stairs; it's all because she doesn't think she'll have the opportunity to do these things with her own daughter. Claudia turns to look at the clock on the oven and realizes they needed to have left practically ten minutes ago.

"Ellie, say bye to your brother and Auntie Ava and go get your shoes on so we can go see Spencer."

Ellie quickly goes to hug her brother and then Ava before running from the room. Ellie and Spencer had had a play date a week ago at the park, while Claudia and Britt talked on a bench with the baby, Ben. But today they were going to the island and Claudia was abnormally nervous about seeing Nikolas for the first time with him knowing who she is. She grabs Ava's wrist before she leaves the room.

"Are you gonna be okay? Do you wanna see if by the grace of God you can come with?"

The last part is a whisper that Morgan doesn't hear, but he most definitely hears the first part. Ava nods at her and gives her a reassuring smile. Ava has no fear when it comes to Morgan, nor should she since she's having his baby.

"Yeah we'll be just fine. I may even eat something healthier than ice cream for lunch."

Claudia looks at her with fake horror, grabbing her chest as if she's really surprised.

"And I'm going to miss it?! Darn, play dates. Take care of her, Morgan. See you later, Ava."

Just like that, the once one woman wrecking ball is gone. Ava listens as Ellie squeals with delight and the front door opens and closes. The sound had become increasingly normal to her, especially since she only heard the noise, instead of being the one opening the door. She looks over at Morgan who is looking at her intensely, eyes practically boring holes into her side. She grabs some fruit and things from the fridge to make a smoothie. The blender covers up the silence for now, but she wonders what will happen once it's just them covering the silence.

"Mommy, that boat ride was so much fun!"

Ellie is walking beside her mother, holding her hand and grinning ear to ear. Claudia can't help but look over to the beach where Nikolas had fished her out of the ocean. There was history everywhere in this town for her, but for the most part she tried to ignore it all, it was in the past. Ellie is practically dragging her to the door and when they get there Ellie rings the doorbell, but Claudia grabs her hand before she rings it a second time.

"Sweetie, once is enough, okay?"

Ellie nods and then smiles as Alfred answers the door. Alfred almost instantly recognizes her and he lets a small smile slip.

"Ah Ms. Zacchara and the young Miss Zacchara, the family has been expecting you. They're in the living room, down the hallway to your left."

"Thank you, Alfred."

"Mommy this place is huge."

Ellie's voice is a whisper, but Claudia nods. They find the small Cassadine family sitting on the couch in the living room. Spencer jumps up as soon as he sees Ellie and runs to her. They greet each other quickly before Spencer turns to Nikolas.

"Dad, can I show Ellie my room?"

"Of course, just come back quickly, because we're having a living room picnic."

The kids run off, leaving Claudia standing at the doorway. She feels Nikolas' eyes on her and before she knows it, he's pulling her into a hug. She looks over at Britt, who is holding her son as if her fiancé isn't hugging another woman. Britt smiles at her and Claudia realizes it's okay to hug him back.

"I thought you were dead. I'm so glad you're okay."

He releases her. After Johnny and Lulu had broken up, they had practically lost contact, but if they ever saw one another around they would always catch up. The last time they had seen each other was after the miscarriage when she was going to get checked out by Dr. Lee, she had been a mess and he hadn't heard of what was happening. It was a very complex moment in their friendship, but they had always been good to one another.

"Well, surprise, I'm glad too. I'm also glad our kids seem to be getting along so well, since they are cousins after all."

Nikolas and Britt both look surprised, but then Nikolas realizes she's right. He turns to his fiancé to explain how their interesting family dynamic works. But Claudia thinks he needs to talk it out to make sense of it as well.

"Courtney, Spencer's mother, was Sonny's sister and Sonny is Ellie's father. I didn't even think of that. It's always good for him to have family around, especially since he hasn't been getting along with Cameron, Elizabeth and Lucky's son."

The last part is for Claudia's benefit, even though she thinks she already knew that. Britt waves her over to the couch so she goes over. The women knock shoulders as a greeting and then the attention is focused completely on Ben.

"Hey Ben, do you remember me? We saw each other at the park. Britt, I swear he's gotten cuter if that's even possible."

They smile at each other and Ben reaches out for Claudia, so Britt hands him over. Claudia misses Ellie being this small. She'd love to have another baby, but she's so focused on Ellie and saving Ava that there is no way she could manage having another baby, plus you need a man to do that.

"Hey buddy."

Nikolas sits in the chair closest to Britt and watches their interactions. It was strange for him to watch his fiancé and the woman he once had feelings for be friends. It was weird that Claudia's daughter was his son's cousin. Claudia being in his house while simultaneously being happy was weird for him. He could have fallen in love with her, if she had appeared in his life later when he wasn't still mourning for Emily on such a primal level. He's so happy with Britt and Spencer is so happy about having a brother and a mother figure. This is his family and it's perfect; he understands that, but Claudia was still Claudia.

Alfred brings the food in; it's sandwiches and other simple lunch foods. The adults listen as the kids run down the stairs, as if they could smell the food being brought out. The tables and chairs are pushed back and picnic blankets are laid out on the living room floor. Britt leans so that her mouth is at Claudia's ear.

"We have to do picnics inside, because the princes never want to eat outside."

Claudia laughs.

"Well they are princes after all."

The living room picnic ends up being fun, though, and everyone, especially the children, have a wonderful time. Claudia likes to look at Ellie and watch her as she interacts with Spencer. She never really had an overabundance of friends in Italy, which was another reason for coming back to the states. Ellie needed a real childhood.

And now she was finally getting one.

Once Ava's smoothie was done, she didn't know what to do. Morgan had finished his beer and was leaning on the refrigerator, also unsure of what to do next. But he was the one that came to her, so he knew he had to be the one to initiate the conversation.

"Wanna go to the living room? That way you can put your feet up."

He knows he sounds like a total idiot, so he's really surprised when she nods. She leads them to the living room where she does exactly as he suggested. She leans back on the couch and immediately puts her feet up. He's unsure where to sit but decides to sit next to her, even though that may not be the best idea.

"I just, I think we need to talk about what happens after the baby is born."

Ava tries to take a deep breath in without alarming him too much. How is he going to raise this baby by himself? How the heck is he going to handle the fact that his father killed her? Because she knows for sure that Claudia will be running to him to tell him. She has to play this off for now, she has to be helpful.

"Yeah, that's a good idea. We should have no uncertainty once she's here, we need to have answers now."

"I want you and our daughter to come live with me."

She looks shocked.

"Haven't you been living with Carly? I can assure you Morgan, she won't let me live in her house, grandchild or no grandchild."

Morgan grins at her, it's so weird that his mom is going to be a grandmother. It hasn't even really registered with him that he's going to be a dad, but he thinks he can do it. He's going to emulate Jax, because Jax was a great dad to him. He has a plan.

"Actually Michael set me up by having me renovate the Brownstone, where our grandmother used to live. I'm saving up money so that I can get a two bedroom apartment for us and the baby."

He grabs her hand, it's instinct to do so. He thinks he's still in love with her even though he hasn't really liked her recently. She betrayed him, with his own father no less, but they're having a baby. Their little girl would be there in three months and he wanted everything to be just right for his baby girl.

"Oh, Morgan."

She tries to not let the pain in her voice shine through. He's so good and she is so not good- she doesn't like to think she's evil, she's just made questionable decisions recently. But he wants them to make a life together and it's painful to listen to. She won't be here for them to be a family. It will only be the two of them, her daughter and the love of her life.

"And if you don't want us to share a bed, I can sleep on the couch and you can have the bed. We'll figure it out, but I want the three of us under the same roof."

He puts his hand on her abdomen and they both jump slightly as their baby girl kicks from inside Ava. Morgan is mesmerized and he moves his hand around to try and see if she'll do it again. Ava watches in silence as she breathes in the moment.

When it's time for her to take her final breath, this is what she'll remember. Not killing Connie or shooting Kate or having sex with Sonny in the Quatermaine crypt; but the time Morgan told her he loved her for the first time and this moment now where he's searching for his daughter's kick.

"You're going to be an amazing dad, Morgan. Our little girl is so lucky to have you as her father."

"I'm lucky to be able to share a daughter with you."

Their eyes are locked on the other. A war could be going on around them and they wouldn't know.

"I want it to be different with her, I wasn't a good mother to Kiki- I was so young and foolish and so selfish and now I just want this baby to have the best life possible. I want her to have the world."

His thumb slides across her abdomen, sending chills up and down her spine. She doesn't know how long they've been sitting here but it feels like an eternity, but in this moment she knows that eternity wouldn't be long enough for their little family.

"She'll have the world, you both will. Kiki is happy for us, by the way, I saw her the other day and gave her and Michael the news. They know we'll make this work and I know we will too."

Her hand cups his face, like it's the most natural thing to do, as if for the last six months he hasn't been ignoring her or telling her to abort their baby. She feels like they may be able to leave it all in the past, maybe they can start fresh, if Sonny doesn't kill her first.

"Morgan, I'm so sorry, what I did was so wrong and I should have never done it no matter what I thought was happening between you and Kiki. I don't know how you could ever forgive me, but I pray every single day that you do."

"I do forgive you, Ava, God I forgive you. I asked you to have an abortion and that was wrong, so wrong. I wouldn't be asking you to live with me if I didn't forgive you, if I didn't love you."

He leans and kisses her. It feels like everything is okay again, except that she murdered Connie and Sonny knows. Everything is okay, except for the fact that in three months when she gives birth to their daughter, his father is going to kill her. But they're kissing and their hands are holding each other and for a second she feels safe and loved and wanted. When the moment is over though, it's over and things revert back to what they once were.

"I have to go, work and stuff, you'll be okay here by yourself?"

She smiles at him.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, Claudia and Ellie should be home soon."

He nods and then just like that he's gone. Her shoulders slouch, because she doesn't know what just happened. They were okay and they were kissing, things felt fine and then he just left. She rubs her hands over her large abdomen and smiles as her daughter kicks.

"We're going to be okay, me and you. Claudia will figure out a way to get us out of here, we might have to leave daddy for a little bit, but we'll be safe. Mommy and Auntie Claudia are going to figure something out, I promise, I'm not leaving you, my sweet baby girl."

"Ava, we're home!"

Claudia yells as she opens the door, kicking it closed behind her. Ellie is practically dead weight in her arms, because she's almost asleep. Her and Spencer had ran around the castle for hours, just chasing each other and laughing, while the adults had sat in the living room and talked. Claudia loved watching Nikolas with Ben and Spencer, even with Ellie; he was such a good dad.

Ava was still reclining on the couch when they walk into the living room her eyes are practically closed. Claudia laughs to herself, all Ava and Ellie do is sleep or at least that's how she feels, but she's okay with it. When Ava is awake, she's worrying, so sleep is the best thing for her right now. Claudia sits down beside her, putting Ellie down in the space between then. It's almost an automatic response for Ellie to curl herself around Ava and to rest her cheek on Ava's stomach. It's almost five o'clock and neither of them will sleep tonight if they take a nap now, but Claudia doesn't say anything.

"Hey."

Ava's voice is only a whisper, but a smile is playing on her lips.

"Everything good?"

"He still loves me, Claudia."

Claudia smiles.

"I hate to say it, but I told you so."

"How was the prince?"

Claudia had told the story to Ava of Prince Nikolas saving her life and how there had been a spark between them. Ava had asked her if she still had feelings for the Prince and Claudia had denied it; she didn't think she had feelings for anyone. Besides, even if there were feelings still there, Nikolas was engaged and in love with Britt and Claudia thought Britt was great, she couldn't afford to lose a friend over the Prince.

"He was very princely, but it wasn't like that. I admire what a great father he is, but that's it. How about you and El take a nap here on the couch? Sonny will be home soon and I'm sure he'll be happy to cook dinner."

Claudia goes to stand, but Ava grabs her wrist.

"Where are you going?"

"Just outside, if you need anything just yell, okay?"

Ava relaxes back into the couch and both her and Ellie are fast asleep in a matter of minutes. Claudia grabs the blanket off the back of the couch and throws it over them. She knows it's not really cold, but Ellie always liked having something soft to snuggle into. When she's sure they're okay, she goes out onto the terrace and feels the sun shine on her face. She slips off her heels and goes down the steps so that her feet are on the plushness of grass.

Back in Italy, their house is surrounded by acres of lush grass. Especially in the summer months, her and Ellie can be found running in the grass and admiring the flowers. It was one of their favorite things to do, because it was just them and Claudia always felt so safe with nothing but acres of grass and flowers surrounding them. She walks to the pond and sits on the dock-like structure that Sonny had built. She had been coming here often, because she felt closest to her son here. This had been the last place they were alone, the last place she had felt safe and he had truly been safe. She brings her knees to her chest and rests her chin on her knees.

"Hey baby boy."

They had never named him, but she always figured it would start with an M like Michael and Morgan's names did, that way he wouldn't feel so left out even though he was so much younger than all of his siblings. But she always referred to him as baby boy, because that's all he would ever be- he would never get the chance to grow up.

"Hope you're doing okay up there. I'm sure Lilly and your siblings are taking good care of you. It's been weird here, being in your room, but instead it's Ellie's room. You would've been such a good big brother. She's been hanging out with Josslyn and I'm so glad she has a friend, but Josslyn and you were supposed to born so close together. You should be playing with Josslyn; you should be here with me too. I'm so grateful for you sending me Ellie, because I was such an awful person even after you died. I tried to be better for you and then when you were gone, all my goodness just kind of followed out with you. I thought it would get better. I thought that year after year the pain would lessen and soon it wouldn't hurt me to think of you, but it still does. I love you so much-"

She stops when she hears a snap behind her. She wipes her eyes quickly and then turns to see Sonny standing there. She scoffs and rolls her eyes at him. He always interrupts her in these moments of solace. He sits down beside her, careful not to make skin-to-skin contact with her.

"You come out here to talk him?"

"I come out here to escape feeling like I'm being smothered in your house."

"Claudia, seriously."

"Yes, I come out here to talk to him. This was the last time that it was really just the two of us and we were safe. It's not a lot, but sometimes I just need to talk to him. Sometimes, I'm just so stressed by this situation that I need to talk to him. Are Ava and Ellie still asleep?"

He smiles and she feels her heart rate quicken. His smile was always her biggest weakness and the fact that their daughter has his smile doesn't help at all.

"Yeah, they didn't even hear me come in. How was the play date?"

"It was good, she adores playing with Spencer. They tire each other out too. It was nice to see Nikolas again, too, he's such a good dad to Spencer and Ben, you know his fiancée's son. I'm really happy for him, he got his life together, I never thought it would happen because he was so in love with Emily."

Sonny raises his eyebrows, slightly confused.

"I didn't know you and Cassadine were ever close…?"

She smiles as the memories once again flood her. She thinks he may be jealous, but she's going to play it off. Maybe his jealousy is a sign he's developing a weakness to her. Weakness is exactly what she needs right now.

"He saved my life a few times, he's always been good to me. Ellie loves him too, he's so great with her."

"I see."

Just like that the conversation is over. She knows for sure he's jealous now.

"So, grandpa, decided what you're going to do?"

"Nothing's changed Claudia, Carly and I will support Morgan as he raises his daughter alone."

She pushes herself up and walks toward one of the many trees that surround the pond. She's so angry that she punches the trunk of the tree, pain radiates through her hand, but she ignores it. How can he think that nothing's changed? Morgan and Ava are having a baby and that little girl needs her mother. She listens as he follows her, but keeps a semi-safe distance between them. He's close enough that he can practically feel her breath on him; he can smell her strawberry shampoo, and the fruity fragrance of her perfume.

"Let me see your hand."

"It's fine, my hand is fine. Do you not get that Morgan wants Ava to raise his daughter with him? Do you not get that Connie was just collateral damage in all of this? She was never part of this business and in the end that was her weakness and yours. You didn't protect her like you should've and that's why she's dead. It's the Michael situation all over again."

His finger is up, in her face, before he knows what he's doing. She sees all the anger written on his face and she shouldn't have said it, but she did and she will not apologize for it.

"Don't you dare compare this to the Michael situation! Connie is dead; Michael is here thriving and alive. A life for a life? I thought that was always how this worked, but please Claudia, you've been in this business so much longer than I have been, tell me how I should rectify this problem."

She shoves him back, he's too close to her face and he's slowly suffocating her.

"Damn it, Sonny! You wanna take your anger out on Ava, right? Because you feel like you failed your family. Connie was the great love of your life and you went through a bunch of stuff with her, yeah? You want an out; you want to blame someone else. Why wait?"

She grabs the gun out of his side holster, her fingertips grazing his side. She then forces him to wrap his hand around the gun and she pulls it to her temple. She prays to whoever is up there that he gets the point she's trying to make instead of actually blowing her brains out.

"Kill me, Sonny. I'm responsible for your son being shot, he was in a coma for a year, and he suffered because of me. Go ahead, shoot me, then you don't have to kill Ava. You can let her go, live with Morgan, they can be happy. You can raise Ellie all on your own."

Sonny throws the gun down, it almost goes into the pond. He's standing there, body heaving from the lack of oxygen. She wonders if he's been taking his bipolar meds regularly. She wonders why he didn't shoot her.

"Claudia, God! How could you even do that to me?"

"You hate me, don't you? Why didn't you just shoot me? I gave you a chance to kill someone you hate and you didn't take it, why?"

He gets dangerously close to her face and they both know it.

"When will you get that I don't hate you enough? Maybe not even at all."

His lips crash into hers and he pushes her against the tree that she punched earlier. It feels like they're who they were five years prior. With his dark and twisty personality and her scheming ways. They thought they both had changed, but instead here they are making out in his back yard. His hands are holding his lips to hers and her good hand is holding onto his neck. She moans into his lips, making him smile, but finally they are forced to break apart in order to breathe. Their lips are swollen and both are trying to shake off the warmth spreading from their insides. His hand cups her face while his thumb grazes her bottom lip. She pulls her face away from him.

"We really can't do that again. We can't get involved with each other. I don't want to do this just because me hanging around Nikolas is making you jealous and I'm trying to save my best friend's life. This won't work."

"It was working before I found out about the shooting and I've moved passed that."

"Yeah your anger for me transferred to Ava. We're not doing this, we can't do this."

Ava and Claudia are in the bathroom giving Ellie a bath. Really Claudia is giving Ellie a bath, while Ava sits on the closed lid toilet and just watches the almost five year old play with ducks and bubbles. At one point, Claudia realizes that Ava is staring out into space so she flicks some bubbles in her face. Ellie starts giggling and Claudia follows suit.

"Claudia!"

"Oh come on Ava, lighten up."

Ava reaches down and flicks some bubbles in Claudia and Ellie's face as gently as possible. She's careful not to get the bubbles in Ellie's eyes. All of the girls are laughing when Sonny comes to the bathroom door. They don't even realize he's standing there until he clears his throat. Ellie grins at him.

"Hi daddy!"

Sonny matches her smile.

"Ready to go to bed, sweet pea?"

She nods slowly. Ava reaches down to pull the plug on the bathtub the water quickly starts draining from the tub. She hands Claudia Ellie's towel and clothes while attempting to avoid Sonny's eyes at all costs. Claudia helps Ellie out of the tub, dries her off, and dresses her in her pajamas. She kisses her daughter's forehead and holds her close, her and Sonny make eye contact, but she looks away.

"Sleep tight my sweet girl. I'll see you in the morning. I love you."

"I love you too mommy."

Ellie turns to Ava and hugs her stomach first. Ava then picks her and kisses her cheek, Ellie returns the gesture. They smile at each other. Claudia can't help but glance over at Sonny and she sees that he is watching the exchange as well.

"Night night, Ellie bug. I love you."

"Love you too, Auntie Ava."

She skips over to Sonny and he picks her up. They watch the father/daughter duo enter Ellie's room and gently shut the door. Claudia gets herself off of the floor and puts all of Ellie's rubber ducks in the mesh bag. She then helps Ava up.

"See you in the morning?"

Ava asks her, as if she's not sure where Claudia will be from one second to the next. Ava continually wonders if her best friend will just decide to up and leave when the stress becomes too much to handle.

"Of course, can I come to your room after I get ready for bed? It's not like you sleep anyways."

Neither of them laugh, because it's not a joke, it's true. So instead, Ava just nods. The two part ways and go to their separate rooms. It takes maybe ten minutes for Claudia to do her nightly routine and head over to Ava's room. She knocks once before opening the door and stepping inside. Ava is already laying in her bed and she pats the spot next to her. Claudia flops down on top of the comforter next to her.

"What happened while me and Ellie were napping today?"

"I went crazy."

"Well that's no surprise to me."

Claudia gently swats her hand.

"Ava, I made him hold his gun to my head and told him to kill me instead of you."

"Jesus, Claudia, what the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I could get into his head and that he wouldn't kill you. I'm trying here, Ava, to do everything and anything to throw him off of his game. So I pulled his gun and held it to my head."

"Never do that again, seriously, Claudia, don't. Never again! Damn it. Can you imagine if he had and then Ellie and I had woken up to the sound of Sonny blowing your brains out? Never do that again, promise me."

"Fine, mom, I promise."

This time it's Ava's turn to smack Claudia's arm, but there's nothing gentle about it.

"Sonny kissed me, well more like Sonny and I made out."

"What?"

"Yeah and I don't know what I'm doing. God, we were toxic, Ava and if we go back to that. I can't do that. I know that I keep telling you to be a bitch and to make life harder for Sonny, but he makes me weak. He's my biggest addiction."

"Then I'll keep you sober, okay? You came here and made life so much easier for me, so I'll help you at least for the next three months."

"Ava, you're not going to die in three months, if so it'll be over my dead body."