Month 8

Claudia and Ellie watched as the city of Port Charles grew larger and larger as the plane began its descent. They had traveled to Italy to spend Thanksgiving with Uncle Rudy, because Claudia knew that her daughter really needed to see him and feel normal again for at least a little bit. She had missed her home and honestly the two weeks in Italy had been a needed break away from Sonny. She had missed Ava though and had felt awful about leaving her especially after the miscarriage scare, but the older woman had taken it in stride.

"So Ellie and I are gonna go to Italy for a few weeks."

Claudia didn't really know how to broach the conversation. Sonny had been easy, because she didn't care what he thought, but Ava was different. She hadn't even told Ellie that they were going in case Ava really needed them to stay put, because she would forgo seeing her uncle for Ava.

"I mean, we totally don't have to if you need me here. I know you and Sonny being alone isn't exactly desirable living conditions for you especially. If it stresses you too much, we'll stay and that's-"

"Claudia, shhh. I think I can survive a few weeks with Sonny; after all I did survive four months before you hauled your butt here. It'll work great, because that means Morgan can stay over without us all worrying about confusing Ellie."

Since the very beginning of Ellie's life she had never seen a married couple or had the experience of knowing two people who slept in the same bed. When Ava and Morgan had started getting closer, Morgan had asked if he could stay and just sleep in Ava's room. It was a totally innocent request, but all of the adults, mainly Ava and Claudia, had worried what Ellie would think. Ellie understood that Ava was carrying her niece, but the understanding didn't go any further, after all she was only four.

"You're sure?"

Ava smiles at her.

"I'm positive, but you're going to miss the big Corinthos Thanksgiving dinner. I mean Carly and Olivia will be there, and you know how much they just love me. You should definitely be jealous of me right now."

"I am very jealous that I don't get to witness Olivia and Carly walking on eggshells and being totally uncomfortable around you."

"Mama, is Auntie Ava going to be at the airport waiting for us?"

Claudia smiles at her daughter as she hears her chomping down on the piece of gum Claudia had given her when the pilot announced their descent. The noise alone would have driven Sonny up a wall, but the added bubbles would have further frustrated him. She has to remind herself to make Ellie spit it out as soon as they land.

"I don't know, baby, but I know daddy will be there and he'll be so excited to see you. You have to make sure to tell him how much you missed him, because your skype calls were definitely not enough for him."

"When are we gonna go back to see Uncle Rudy again?"

Claudia smiles at her.

"Probably not for a while, but before you start school here. Maybe we'll go in June or July and stay for the entire month."

"Can daddy come?"

Claudia furrows her brow, convincing Uncle Rudy to let them return to the States and go in the first place was hard enough. Uncle Rudy hated Sonny, ever since his son almost ended her life. He never would understand why Claudia had taken Ellie and left the safety of their compound, but Claudia understood. She needed to give her daughter a chance of a real life.

"I don't know, Ellie bug. You know how much I love you, right baby?"

"Infinity times infinity?"

She leans down as the little girl nuzzles into her side and kisses the top of her head. She knew being in Port Charles was the right thing for Ellie and she had made friends, at least two more than she had had last time she was there. Johnny not being there was the only problem. She missed her brother more than she let on, but she didn't know if she could just show up at Pentonville to see him.

"That's right, baby, infinity times infinity."

The plane lands and since Sonny had bought first class seats they are the first ones to exit the plane. She picks up Ellie and lets the child's body rest on her hip. She wonders if Sonny will let Ava out of the house just once to welcome them home. She likes to hope that these two weeks have given him time to think about how life will be if he kills Ava, but she doesn't have high expectations of him anymore.

When they finally get to the baggage claim area she sees Sonny standing in the middle of the crowded airport with their bag already sitting by him. Ellie squirms in her arms until Claudia lets her down and she watches as her little girl runs to him, a smile playing on her lips.

"Daddy!"

He picks her up and twirls her. Claudia can't help but smile as she makes her way to them and for just a second they look like a completely normal family. But Sonny doesn't hug or kiss Claudia to welcome her home, instead he focuses most of his energy on their child and she's okay with that- it's how she wants it. She doesn't want to confuse Ellie into thinking her parents are getting together. However, this doesn't stop Sonny from reaching out and pushing Claudia's raven colored hair behind her ear or tracing her jaw bone all the way down to her lips. It's a quick moment, but it's still a moment that makes Claudia look at the ground.

"How's my favorite girl? Ready to go home?"

"Yeah! I wanna see Auntie Ava already."

Claudia watches as his eyes roll and she laughs, he hates how much their daughter loves Ava. Sonny uses his other hand to reach down and grab their rolling suitcase. Claudia follows closely behind them, but stops when they make it to the parking garage. Sonny looks back to see her standing there, looking at his spare cars that he keeps at the garage.

"Claudia?"

"Can I take a car? I need to make a detour."

He nods, slowly, unsure of what this detail entails. She walks over and kisses Ellie on the forehead. The small child is still buzzing with excitement of seeing her father again and doesn't even feel the tension between her parents.

"I'll see you in a little, okay Ellie bug? Mommy has to run an errand."

The little girl nods and hugs her mom's neck. Sonny opens the trunk of the car and puts the suitcase in it, before grabbing Ellie from Claudia again. She's surprised that he didn't bring a driver, but it's nice to see that he can do things without needing a guard. She watches as he puts their little girl in her car seat and closes the door. She goes to walk away, not wanting to discuss this with him, but he grabs her arm.

"What errands do you have to run?"

"I need to go to Pentonville."

He looks confused.

"I need to see Johnny, he doesn't know I'm alive and I've been here for four months, I need to see my little brother."

She pulls at the hem of her shirt; she's not sure why she was so unsure to tell him that she was going to see her brother. It's not like she needed his permission or that she was his prisoner like Ava was, but she was afraid of his judgment.

"Do you need me to go with you?"

She scoffs at him.

"I think I can handle myself, besides we're not taking Ellie to a prison even if it only means she's sitting in the car. I got this. When I get back though, we have to talk, about everything. I can't live in your house without understanding-"

She motions at the air between them.

"This. Us. So can we talk about it?"

He leans in to kiss her and she leans in as well. This is the last thing they need to be doing when neither of them understand the ramifications of their relationship, but they can't help it.

"We'll talk when you get back."

He hands her a key to one of the cars and she clicks the unlock button to see which car it is. Sonny gets into the car with Ellie and drives it out of the lot as Claudia watches them go, her fingertips on her lips. She steels herself knowing that she's going to change her brother's life forever by showing up at the place he'll call home for the next seventeen years.

When Ava hears the door open all she can do is smile, because finally two of her favorite people are home. Sure Morgan will have to go back to sleeping at the Brownstone, but she's pretty sure she'd rather have Ellie and Claudia here instead. Her and Morgan were still in a fragile place and she didn't like it, it made her uncomfortable no matter how much they loved one another. She stands up when she hears Ellie's feet hit the floor in the foyer.

"Auntie Ava!"

"Ellie!"

The little bundle of energy runs into her aunt's open arms. Ava picks her up even though she really shouldn't because of the width of her stomach, but she's so happy to see the little girl it doesn't even matter. What does matter is that Claudia is nowhere to be seen and Max is the one carrying the suitcase up the stairs. She shoots Sonny a questioning look and he shakes his head. She understands that he doesn't want to address Claudia's location until Ellie is not present.

"You know Elli bug, Elsa and Anna sure did miss you while you were gone, maybe you should go get them and then we can watch the movie with them on the couch here. How does that sound?"

She sees how tired Ellie is and remembers how tired she was when Claudia came back the first time. She's hoping that she'll only have to endure a short amount of Frozen before Ellie falls asleep and Ava can watch her soap operas. Honestly she just wants to have the little girl cuddle into her, because within the next month and a half she may be gone.

"Yeah, I'll go get them and the movie and be right back!"

"Hold on Ellie."

The little girl comes to skidding stop as her father calls out to her just as she is about to run up the stairs. She flicks her head back in order to get her raven locks out of her eyes. She watches as her father walks to her and picks her up. He kisses her forehead.

"I have to go to the office for a little bit, is that okay?"

She nods her head.

"Yeah, I'll be okay with Auntie Ava."

"You be a good girl for Aunt Ava, alright? I love you."

"I love you too, daddy"

He lets her go and watches as she runs up the stairs. It'll take her a few minutes to grab all of her dolls and stuffed toys. Ava watches as Sonny goes to the doors.

"Woah, Sonny, where's Claudia?"

"She went to Pentonville to see her brother. I'm sure she's told you about Johnny. She went to see him, let him know that she's alive. Look, I really do have to go to the office, Claudia should be back soon."

They hadn't really spoken much since Claudia and Ellie had blown into town. They never had really liked each other much, so when Claudia moved in she provided the needed padding for them to never really communicate. Ava looks up when she hears footsteps, expecting to see a blur of Ellie as she runs around placing her toys, but instead she sees Diane Miller.

"Diane, I didn't expect to see you so soon."

"Well, when you said you wanted to go over the details of your will, I thought I should probably just make my way over here now so that we can get it over with. What do you need to change?"

"Well-"

This is when Ellie decides to run down the stairs, nearly falling on one of the last steps, but composing herself. In her arms, she has her Elsa and Anna dolls and the Frozen DVD. Ava really doesn't want her to hear this conversation, but eventually she'll have to explain that she won't be around long after the baby is born.

Ellie puts the movie in the DVD player and grabs the remotes to hand to Ava. She then crawls up on the couch, next to Ava, and rests her head on Ava's stomach like she always does. However, she notices that there is another person in the room. Diane smiles at the little girl.

"Hi Ellie, it's good to see you made it home safe and sound from your trip."

Ellie cuddles closer to Ava, she knows Diane, but she is still enough of a stranger to make her nervous. She waves at the lawyer before resting her head and sticking her thumb in her mouth. Ava automatically takes the little girl's thumb out, Claudia had been trying to break her of the habit.

"Well, as I was saying, I obviously need to split the money between Kiki and this baby and the baby's should go into a trust fund to be accessed after she graduates college. I also want to make sure that if I do d-i-e the baby goes to Claudia."

Ellie's head pops up when her mother's name is mentioned and she immediately looks at Ava. Ava smiles down at her and flattens an unruly part of her hair which seems to calm her.

"Sweetie, we're going to start your movie, Ms. Diane and me just have a few more things to go over."

She presses the play button and the movie starts. Diane writes everything down and then hands the papers over to Ava for her to sign. Ava signs them quickly and hands them back to the lawyer.

"All right, I'll get these filed right away. Nice to see you Ms. Jerome. Enjoy the movie, Ellie!"

"Thanks."

Ellie's voice is a whisper and she immediately turns her focus back on the TV. Ava watches as Elsa and Anna's parents' ship gets sunk by a major storm. Ellie looks up at Ava, a questionable look in her eyes.

"Auntie Ava, what happened to Elsa's mommy and daddy?"

Ava takes in a deep breath. After all the times Ellie has watched this movie, she picks now as a good time to ask.

"Well, you see sweetie, their ship sunk when there was a storm and they ended up drowning. They died, baby."

Tears well up in Ellie's eyes, she grabs Ava's neck, wrapping her arms around it. She starts crying. Ava expects to hear her say something about her parents' eventual deaths, but what the little girl says surprises her.

"Don't leave me, Auntie Ava, ever."

Pentonville was a lot nicer than Claudia had remembered, especially for a prison. She sits at stall number ten, watching through bullet proof glass as prisoners are shuttled in and out on their side of the glass. There is a black telephone to her right that will allow her to talk to her little brother, if he wanted to talk. This was a lot like the Logan Hayes murder charge he had faced, but this time there was no way she could get him out of it. She planned on going to Diane tomorrow and seeing if there was a way for him to get a shorter sentence, seeing as their father had abused both of them for most of their lives.

When she sees him, he hasn't noticed her yet. He has a small amount of facial growing, as if he could care less what he looked like and she figured that was truly the case. When he finally sees her, he's about to sit down and she watches as his eyes grow wide. He looks like he can't believe it. He picks up the phone next to him and she does the same. He knows it's his sister by the way her smile lights up her entire face and her eyes slightly close. It's his sister.

"It's really you?"

"It's really me, John, I'm okay."

"H-How?"

She grins at his naivety.

"You think Uncle Rudy's goons weren't watching me go psycho? They snatched me out of my shallow grave and put a Jane Doe in there. They doctored the DNA tests and everything else. I've been in Italy ever since, I didn't wanna let you go to prison, but Uncle Rudy told me I had to. I'm so sorry, Johnny."

"No, no, Claudia, it's okay. I'm just so happy to see you alive and you look okay. What are you doing here? Does Sonny know? He'll kill you if he finds out you're alive, you need to go back to Italy where you're safe."

"You have a niece, her name is Ellie."

She watches as the information processes.

"She's Sonny's daughter?"

Claudia smiles at him and nods.

"She's beautiful and she reminds me so much of you when you were that age. She's just a ball of energy, all of the time, I can't even get her to sit at a piano to teach her how to play like I did with you."

"Oh come on, you didn't teach me."

She laughs, it's true, Johnny had learned how to play from little music books. He had most definitely not learned from her.

"I wanna meet her one day, but I don't want you to bring her here. She's too small to understand anything we went through as kids or to understand why her uncle is in prison."

She nods.

"I'm going to work with Diane on with getting you released early, okay? I want you to be part of her life and my life again. I don't ever want to be apart from you again, John. I'm going to get you out of here."

He puts his hand up to the glass and she does the same. All she wants to do is hug him. He was always able to put her together when she was falling apart. Johnny had been her sanity for years and she knew that would most likely always be the case, but now other things held her together too.

"If you don't, it's okay. I'm not expecting much except for visits at least every week. I went crazy when I thought you were dead, it was a miracle that Sonny didn't kill me. I begged God to bring you back to me, you being dead tore me to shreds."

She wipes at a few tears that were threatening to fall. She knew her "death" had wrecked him. She had read the court manuscript the day he testified in Sonny's trial. He was bent on sending Sonny away for killing her, he had even lied that Sonny had physically abused her. Sonny may have been abusive in many ways, but he had never laid a hand on her.

"I'm so sorry Johnny, I wanted to write you or call you or anything to tell you that I was alive. I just wanted you to know I was safe and I wanted you to know that you had a niece, but Uncle Rudy told me it was dangerous because if Sonny or Jason had seen that you weren't as upset as you were they could've figured it out. I hated not telling you, but the dust had to settle."

"Claudia, it's okay. I understand it all, I've always understood you and right now I'm just so happy to see you alive I could care less about anything else. I love you, so much."

She smiles through her tears.

"I love you too. Are you doing okay in there?"

He nods.

"It's peachy, the Zacchara name does have some benefits when you're in prison."

"Good to know."

A bell rings, signaling the end of visiting hours. She watches as people start getting up and guards start grabbing the prisoners to take them back to their cells. She didn't want to go, she couldn't leave him again.

"It's okay, sis, I'll be here whenever you want to come by. I'll see you soon, bring some pictures of my niece next time."

A guard grabs him by the arm and hoists him up. Johnny doesn't even flinch but she wants to yell at the man and tell him to get his paws off of her little brother. Another guard starts pushing her forward towards the exit and she begins to go willingly. She needed to get her brother out of there and somehow she would.

"Baby, it's okay. It's okay, Ellie."

She rocking the small child, trying to calm her any way she knows possible. Ellie starts to calm down as Ava kisses the tears off her cheek. This time when Ellie shoves her thumb in her mouth, Ava doesn't take it out. She knows it's a comforting mannerism to Ellie so she allows it.

"Don't go away like Elsa and Anna's parents."

Ava lets out a deep breath. She can't believe she's about to have this conversation with Ellie, but she knows she needs to. Sometime within in the next month, she was going to disappear from Ellie's life and Ellie needed to know that it was all going to be okay. She gently pushes the little girl's face up so that she can make eye contact with her.

"Ellie, I need you to listen to me, okay?"

Ellie nods her head and continues sucking on her thumb.

"One day, I don't know when, but one day I will have to go away like Elsa and Anna's par-"

"But I don't want you to go."

She brushes some stray hairs behind Ellie's ear.

"Shh, I know and I never wanna leave you either. I love you so much and you have made my life so wonderful and I don't ever want to leave you, but sometimes we don't get the choice. This is one of those times, Ellie bug, and it stinks so much and I don't like it any more than you do. But if I do go away, I need you to do something for me, okay?"

"What?"

"I need you to tell the baby all about me. She already loves you so much and you two will probably be such great friends. Can you do that for me? Tell her all the good stuff like our marathon Frozen watching and bath time and our tea parties."

"I can do that, Auntie Ava."

She kisses the little girl on the top of her head.

"Now should we finish the movie? Your mommy should be home soon."

Before Ellie can even respond both of her parents walk in the room. They notice the tears in both Ava and Ellie's eyes and wonder what happened. Ava shakes her head as if to tell them not to ask their daughter. Ellie jumps off of Ava's lap and goes to hug her mom.

"Hey baby. I see you and Auntie Ava were watching your favorite movie. But I hate to tell you that you're going to go help daddy cook dinner tonight, however you only get to do that if you go take Elsa and Anna back up to your room and return your movie to the movie room."

"Okay mama!"

She jumps down and grabs all of the items mentioned before running up the steps. Claudia looks over at Sonny and grins at him apologetically.

"Sorry, she was going to ask if she could help you cook anyways, I just figured we'd use it to get some information. First of all, hoe come hug me, I've been gone for two stinking weeks."

Ava rolls her eyes before propelling herself off of the couch and hugging her best friend. Claudia rubs her stomach and smiles when the baby kicks her in response. Claudia and Ava both walk over to the couch and plop down on it.

"So why were you guys in tears?"

Ava sighs.

"Well you know the part in the movie when the parents die? Well Ellie asked me where they went and I told her that they passed away and she just started crying. I figured she was upset about the prospect of you two dying, right, cause that would make sense. But instead she told me to not leave her and I had to explain that I would eventually have to leave her and she would be okay."

Claudia shoots a glare Sonny's way before responding.

"And therefore you cried too."

"Yeah, pretty much."

Ellie runs down the stairs as quickly as possible and jumps into Sonny's unsuspecting arms. He grabs her at the last possible moment, not letting her fall to the ground. He looks at the two women on the couch one last time before taking his daughter to the kitchen to cook dinner. Claudia's eyes follow him on instinct and only stop when Ava snaps her fingers in front of her face.

"Claudia, please don't tell me you're falling for him again. I seriously don't know what I'll do if you don't equally hate Sonny with me."

Claudia looks at her and smiles.

"I'm not falling for him, I never fell for him in the first place. I just…I don't know. Our history makes him impossible to like ignore. I hate him for what he's planning on doing to you, but the rest… he gave me my child. Let's stop talking about this, how were your two weeks of Morgan bliss?"

"It was great, amazing. I love having him around, but he was always hovering and I was so thankful you two were coming home today. Gah, I love that boy, but not having my girls was terrible."

"It's like you need Morgan in little bits, just like I need Sonny in tiny bits, mostly with his pants off."

Ava laughs.

"This is why you're my freaking best friend, you get me. But work on your boy toy, because he doesn't like producing words when you're not around. I swear Claudia he hates me and my guts still."

"Well, it doesn't matter, cause I love you and your bitchy guts and so does Ellie. Me and my kid are going to save your butt I promise."

"I'm holding you to that."

Claudia and Sonny had decided to put Ellie to bed together that night, mainly because they were still worried about the death talk she had with Ava earlier that day. There had been rearranged stuffed animals, stories read, glasses of water, and three bathroom breaks. She kept refusing to go to sleep and Claudia could not understand why. Claudia smoothed down the child's hair and kissed the tip of her nose as Sonny sat on the other side of the bed.

"Baby, what do you need? It's getting late."

"I want Auntie Ava."

"Honey, Auntie Ava is in bed, she needs to sleep."

"I want Auntie Ava."

Claudia hangs her head, why was her child choosing to get close to Ava right now. She didn't know what to do. She had promised Ava that she would help her escape, but that didn't mean Ellie would see Ava after the baby was born. Sonny leaves the bed and she listens as his footsteps go further down the hall to Ava's room. He knocks on the door and she can hear their mumbled voices. Ava's heavy footfall can be heard getting closer and closer to Ellie's room.

"Auntie Ava!"

Ava walks in and sits right next to Ellie on the bed. Ellie immediately grabs one on Ava's hands tightly. Claudia looks back to see Sonny standing at the doorway, he looks about has confused as she is.

"What's wrong, my sweet? You usually don't need me to help you go to sleep, your mommy and daddy usually do a great job."

"Promise you'll be there when I wake up in the morning?"

Both Ava and Claudia hear Sonny illicit a deep sigh and neither of them can blame him. Ava leans down and kisses Ellie's forehead, making sure every piece of her hair is in place. She grabs the stuffed dog Ellie is particularly fond of and puts him next to her, under the comforter.

"Of course, sweetie, I'll be here. I'll probably still be in bed when you wake up, because you always get up so early. But I'll make you a deal, okay? If you go to sleep right now, you can come cuddle with me tomorrow morning and maybe we can even have a picnic outside near the pond. You have to sleep now. I love you so very much, Ellie bug."

The adults watch as she yawns and turns on her side to cuddle with a pile of stuffed animals, but especially the dog Ava had put under the comforter.

"I love you too."

What seems like seconds later, Ellie is out like a light. The adults leave the room, but only after flicking on one of her nightlights. They close the door, but not all the way, allowing for a sliver of the hallway light shine in. Ava bids both of them good night before retreating to her room and closing the door completely. Claudia begins to go to her room, forgetting that just earlier today she had asked if her and Sonny could talk. He gently grabs her wrist.

"You wanna come to my room, ya know, to talk."

She nods and lets him lead her to his room. When he opens the door, she's not surprised to see that the room hasn't changed at all. She lets out a small laugh and he turns to look at her.

"You haven't changed anything in here."

"You know me, never was one for change."

She goes over and flops on his bed. She's so tired that she doesn't know if she has the ability to talk to him about anything or do anything else that he may have in mind. She feels the bed shift as he sits down next to her.

"You're tired, do you wanna talk later?"

She shakes her head and sits up on the bed.

"No, no, no. We need to talk about this now. I need to know what's going on here, between us. I never know what's going on between us. I came back expecting you to hate me, to hate my guts, to want to kill me, but here we are and we had sex and you kissed me when I came home. Are you just going to use me like you did last time and then throw me out when you're done with me? Because if that's the case then I'll take my daughter and my best friend and you won't stop me."

He reaches out to cup her face, his thumb rubbing her cheek bone. She leans into it and she hates that he has that effect on her.

"I don't want you to go, okay? I don't hate you at all, not even the tiniest little bit. I don't know what we're doing, but I know that when I'm with you I feel alive again. You make me feel alive, Claudia, and that's what I need."

He leans in to kiss her and she responds, like she always does. He's pinning her down and kissing her in all the right places on her neck and gently biting her ear. She's moaning into their kiss and he's smiling in return. Their bodies are molding together as if they were meant for one another and no one else. Claudia knows she should pull away, because they didn't solve anything, but it's so different this time. There are no secrets to keep her from him this time, so she doesn't let anything stop her just for now.

After, she's resting her head on his chest and he's tracing circles on her lower back and finally she feels like all the pieces are coming together. They could work together and they both know it, because they've experienced it. Before the truth came out and she had saved his life by pulling a gun right when she needed to. They could be so much more powerful together then they ever could be apart. There is still something that's holding her up, however.

"Don't kill Ava, Sonny."

She expects her voice to be a whisper, but instead it is strong even though she feels so weak lying beside him. He makes her heart race and her stomach drop, but she's not in love; she'll never admit it anyways. He makes her feel alive, too.

"I see your post-sex pillow talk has so improved over the last five years."

For a second he's blinded by jealousy. Who else had warmed her bed while she was in Italy? How many men had used her and then disposed of her like he once had? He didn't know why it mattered so much to him, but it did.

"Sonny, seriously. If you hurt her, I'll leave, I will take Ellie and leave. I can't do this if you're going to murder my best friend, I have too much self respect for myself for that. I have changed from that woman five years ago who was so desperate for your approval."

She wraps the sheet around her body and stands up. She collects her discarded clothes and puts them on quickly.

"Claudia, stay, ple-"

She doesn't even look at him.

"My loyalty is to Ava, so until I know you're not going to hurt her, I can't stay in this room with you."

She throws the sheet over her shoulder at him and exits the room, leaving him there watching the door. He doesn't know what to do, because he needs to avenge Connie. They had gone through so much and finally he had her and they were happy. Then Ava killed her and they had no chance, but now Claudia was back. She was the only one who had ever understood his life and never tried to change him. They had been good for each other all those years ago and now when he was with her, he felt a rush- it was like freefalling.

But he didn't know if his need for Claudia was greater than his need for revenge.