Title: Sinners and Saints, Chapter 1

Rating: M, overall. G probably for this chapter.

Warnings: none that I can think of for this chapter, unless you count angst.

Characters/Pairings: Nikolas/Ava, Kevin/Laura, Elizabeth/Franco, Lulu/Dustin; Charlotte, Rocco, Aiden, Cameron, Jake, Carly; mentions of Avery, Sonny, Josslyn, Donna, Michael, Willow, Wiley.

Sinners and Saints

Normally, Ava didn't mind taking the launch. In fact, she found a certain semblance of peace in its slow, unhurried pace. The rhythmic lapping of water had a surprising centering effect whenever her thoughts were overrun or her emotions were strung tight, both frequent occurrences lately. Today, however, she found no such welcomed comfort.

Mother's Day had dawned cold and gray on Spoon Island.

To be fair, in her limited experience residing there, most days did. But today? This particular Mother's Day? Its colorless beginning had sent shivers down her spine upon waking. Even now, the unseasonal chill still seeped into her very bones and made them ache, much like her heavy heart. A crisp breeze plucked at the scarlet edges of her scarf and made them dance, lifted her hair from her face, and Ava bowed her head, giving in momentarily to the melancholy that always seemed to hover nearby ready to claim her. If anyone noticed or dared acknowledge the tear slipping down her cheek as the launch prepared to dock, she had a pretty lie already perched on the tip of her tongue.

Thankfully, the captain said nothing. Nor did the driver Nikolas employed to see her around town.

If they were typical newlyweds, Ava would look upon her husband's gesture as something thoughtful. Protective even, at least geared to appear that way in the eyes of unsuspecting onlookers—there was yet another mob war brewing on the horizon—but her marriage to Nikolas was anything but conventional. The stately vehicle awaiting her was just another symbol that screamed of his continued distrust in her.

The driver politely tipped his hat to her, holding open the door. "Would you be wanting to visit Miss Avery this Mother's Day morning?"

Mustering up a smile that was nothing more than a brief dispassionate flicker, Ava declined the offer. Not for lack of a desire to do so, but rather a lack of permission. "Later perhaps. There's somewhere else I need to go first."

"Where to, Mrs. Cassadine?"

"The Metro Court, please."

x

Nikolas was uncomfortable. What had initially seemed like a good way to make inroads into further redeeming himself with his family when he'd accepted Lulu's reluctant invitation to join them, now seemed like just another set up for failure.

Thus far, Charlotte had spent the majority of their Mother's Day brunch silently glaring daggers at him.

Rocco, on the other hand, apparently felt driven to fill all the awkward, lengthy silences that kept lapsing amongst the adults at the table with chatter that was just as relentless in its own way as the judgment his half-sister obviously shared with their mother.

Then there was Mother, ever the peacekeeper. "It's a beautiful gift, Rocco. I love it, Sweetie."

The boy beamed, sitting up taller in his chair and preening at the praise before shoveling another forkful of scrambled eggs into his mouth.

The eyeroll and muttered "it's a paperweight" issued from his niece's mouth had a sly smirk curling Nikolas's lip that earned him a raised eyebrow from Kevin and a hasty look of censure from Lulu. Ignoring both of them and raising the Bloody Mary he'd ordered on a whim to his mouth, he winked at Charlotte. While she showed no outward appreciation of the show of solidarity, Nikolas thought he saw a spark of newfound consideration in her dark eyes.

Coming to his cousin's rescue, Aiden chimed in with his own compliment. "It's really cool, Rocco."

Unsolicited, Franco agreed. "You did a good job, Kid. Where'd you learn those mad Mod Podge skills?"

Not for the first time, Nikolas wondered who thought it'd be a good idea or even semi-appropriate to invite Franco to any Mother's Day brunch, much less his mother's holiday brunch. Thankfully, his sister's heretofore bewildered looking boyfriend chose that moment to finally jump into the fray, distracting him from that particular train of thought.

"YouTube."

"YouTube," Rocco echoed with a proud grin.

"Olivia did her part," Lulu reminded Dustin.

"I'm sure she did," Elizabeth commented.

She said it softly, almost delivered it in a whisper, but Nikolas heard it. Cameron and Jake did too, and his lips twitched when his old friend ducked her head to hide her smile and the guilty blush of her cheeks.

"It's not that hard. I can show anybody that wants to know how later," Rocco offered. "If you want."

The clear insecurity in his nephew's voice had a sobering effect on Nikolas and he was heartened to hear a chorus of voices request their own little how-to demonstration. His gaze again strayed to his mother to find her watching him and he offered her a smile that she readily returned. All too soon his attention was diverted elsewhere. To the opening elevator doors.

And his wife.

x

Spying her new extended family occupying one of the Metro Court's largest tables, Ava painted on an overly bright smile and made a beeline for them. Unfortunately, she was immediately waylaid by none other than Carly.

"Excuse me. Where do you think you're going?"

"To join the rest of my family for Mother's Day brunch. I'm late. So if you don't mind…"

Hugging the menu in her hands against her chest, Carly sneered. "Oh, I definitely mind."

Ava refused to back down. Instead, she straightened her spine and calmly asked, "Don't you have better things to do than harass me? Like enjoy Mother's Day with the daughter you refused to let me see today?"

"It's not your day."

Sighing, Ava couldn't help allowing a little bit of pleading bleed into her response. "It's Mother's Day, Carly. Have a heart."

"Like I said," Carly repeated. "It's not your day."

Not wanting to embarrass the mother-in-law she was here to honor, Ava sighed and dug deep for restraint. Sidestepping Carly, she tossed over her shoulder, "If you'll excuse me…" She ignored the click of her nemesis's heels behind her in favor of greeting Laura with a warm smile, delving into her purse to retrieve the gift she'd brought along. "Happy Mother's Day, Laura." Laura's frozen expression and the absence of any empty chairs had a fist closing around her throat, her fears that her husband had purposely forgotten to mention the brunch's rescheduled time to her gaining more credence by the second. "I'm sorry I'm late."

"Late. Uninvited. Not exactly the same thing," Carly spoke almost directly into her ear. "Looks like it's strictly a family affair. Right, Mr. Phillips?"

Looking somewhat stricken, the teacher by trade all but sprang to his feet and offered his chair. "Why don't you take my seat while I go find an extra one?"

"Thank you," Ava said simply.

"The gentleman you don't deserve," Carly remarked snidely.

Ava bit her tongue, looking around the table for support. When even Laura seemed reluctant to champion her, that fist closed loosely around her throat rapidly started to take on a crushing quality. She studied the half-empty plate in front of her, anything to avoid Carly's smug smile as she admired the multitude of gifts that littered the tabletop and launched into detailing the morning she'd enjoyed with her sweet daughter, the morning she'd denied Ava herself.

"Avery made me the sweetest Mother's Day present."

Ava worked to regulate her breathing, to keep her expression under control and not give Carly the satisfaction she was seeking. The death grip she had on her purse made her fingers blanch. She sensed Lulu tensing beside her and felt multiple pairs of eyes unable to tear themselves away from the spectacle of her pain.

"It was this picture she drew of her and me and Sonny. Michael and Josslyn and Donna too. She even drew Willow and Wiley and signed it To Mommy. It was honestly the cutest thing. I can't tell you how lucky I am to be able to raise that little girl as my daughter."

Having heard enough, Ava bravely lifted her chin and attempted to meet her mother-in-law's eyes. She didn't quite succeed, at least not for any measurable amount of time, and her voice was strangled with tears she refused to shed in Carly's presence as she murmured her goodbyes. "I wish I could stay, but…"

Laura's eyes were soft with sympathy. "Ava."

To the table at large, Ava implored, "Enjoy this day. Cherish it. A day might come when it will prove more precious and rare than you ever imagined." Her borrowed chair scraped against the floor when she pushed it back to rise and she held up a hand to keep Franco from standing up to follow her. "I'm…just don't. Don't. I'm going to go." As she stumbled away, the hush that had fallen over the party shattered and several voices started talking at once. She didn't stick around to hear what they had to say.

If she had, it would have gone a little something like this:

"You're not going to go after her? What a prince."

"Franco, stop. This is none of our business."

"She may not be your friend, Elizabeth, but she's mine and she didn't deserve that."

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Lulu joined in, "but I'm with Franco. Was that really necessary, Carly? Really?"

"I found an extra chair," Dustin announced. "Where did Ms. Jerome go?"

"Anywhere but here, of course," Kevin answered when nobody else deigned to, a frown etched between his brows.

"Nikolas," Laura said simply. "Honey."

"It's Mrs. Cassadine."

"Come off it, Nikolas. We all know your marriage to Ava is fake."

"It's Mrs. Cassadine. If you'll excuse me, Mother?"

Laura nodded. "Go."

Drop me a line or two if you enjoyed my efforts to sprinkle some more Nava content around these parts because there's currently a disappointing lack of it. These two have me so intrigued and I've been rooting for the GH writers to give us something befitting of their potential, but so far they've languished mostly on the back burner since their dramatic interruption of Nina's wedding to Valentin and whenever we have seen them, they've seemed stuck on pause or something. Like they're running in place and we're getting shown all the animosity with not enough hints of their attraction to each other.

I've been outlining this story in my head for months. Since the wedding and that kiss. But it's only recently that I've starting actually writing all my ideas down in various places, and trust me, I do mean various places (lol).

More and more characters and couples are going to eventually get sucked into the story and there's going to be angst, fluff, some love and romance, more angst, humor, drama, wish fulfillment, the whole kitchen sink. Basically this is shaping up to be quite the crackfic in some areas so I hope you don't mind.

Hope you'll join me on the ride.