Chapter Forty Four

"Good to see you home ok Frankie," CC said to her.

"Yeah it went smooth, not one picture taken that I know of." She turned to Ava, "Ok we need to let mom rest, lets go make us some cookies"

A couple hours later, and scores of ingredients later, the scent of cookies were filling the apartment.

Ava sat down with her soda. "What's wrong with your mom? She looks sick?" she asked gently

Frankie sat beside Ava and wondered how to explain it. "She is, she has a very bad kind of illness. Kinda like your grandpa had."

Ava nodded and looked at her wide eyed "Is she going to die?" she asked

"Yes honey, she is." Frankie blinked back the threatening tears, "Now let’s not get all sad. Your dad should be here soon."

Ava nodded and just threw her arms around her neck in a small hug.

She wrapped her arms around Ava and hugged her tightly, Which is exactly how two startled men found them as they opened the door.

Richie and Jon got back to the apartment in the late afternoon still deep in discussions about the Soul meeting when they walked back into the living room and to their surprise found out that Frankie wasn’t alone.
"Ava? Baby?" Richie asked confused

"Dad!" she exclaimed as she launched herself into his arms. Richie picked her off the ground as he always did and swung her around.

Frankie glanced at Jon and gave him a smile before turning to watch Richie and Ava. "Meeting go ok?"

"Yeah it went fine Ces, Ava what are you doing here? How did you get here?" Richie asked confused looking at Frankie

Frankie spoke up so Ava wouldn't have too. "There was a slight umm, altercation going on at home. Nanny was on vacation and well Heather and..Jack is that his name?? Well they needed a little down time. Ava called you.. You left your cell here btw Richie. She needed a place to go, so I went to get her." She walked over to Richie and handed him the paper she had Heather sign. "They'll be gone a couple weeks. So you have Ava til then at least."

Richie closed his eyes "Thank god you were here Frankie, I can't believe " Richie stopped himself always swearing to never bad mouth her mother in front of her. He leant down in front of Ava. "I am so glad you called me baby, even though I wasnt here, I am glad you trusted Frankie to come and get you" he said as he hugged her tight. He looked up at Frankie and smiled gratefully.

Frankie smiled at the group. "She even helped make cookies." She turned to Jon, Blue eyes meeting blue, "and before you say a doggoned word Da......" She paused and stopped the snotty Daddy dearest before it came out, "I wasn’t seen by anyone. We played secret agent and she ducked down on the way out of her house. NO pictures were obtained."

Ava looked at her and then looked at Jon, she was almost going to say Dad, she looked like Jon!

Jon looked at Frankie and smiled a genuine smile "You did the right thing honey, you really did " as all he said. Jon smiled at her. He should have been angry at the risk she took but she did the right thing.

"Well thank you Jon. Helping Ava was worth it." Frankie gave him a genuine smile that mimicked his in every way.

Richie stood up from Ava as she went back into the living room to the tv. He stood in front of Frankie and wrapped his arms firmly around her. "Thank you so much Princess, you have no idea how grateful I am you were here, what if I had left my phone and no one was here?" he asked worried

"Ava seems pretty bright. I bet she woulda called Jon next. She seems to be self sufficient. she was a bit scared, but she didn't show it. She’s amazing Richie.. really." Frankie reached up and kissed his cheek gently. "was the least I could do for my Prince."

Richie beamed; he could see that Ava had already taken a shine to Frankie and that never had happened so soon after meeting one of his girlfriends before. Not that she had met many before. "Thank you so much baby, this means so much to me that you did this for me, she’s the most important thing to me next to you," he said as he met her in a long kiss.

Frankie's smile would have lit the city if it were needed. "Go, scoot, be with your lil girl. She had questions in her eyes, and I betcha they're the kind only daddy can answer."

She turned to Jon as Richie sauntered from the kitchen. "Ok let me have it."

Jon shook his head "I'm not going to let you have it Frankie, I am so proud of you and how you handled this situation, I was so wrong to treat you the way I have, I couldn’t see that you were an adult, and now I see that" he said honestly,

She smiled. "Well thank you Jon. Now you scoot too, Mom's waiting on ya I'm sure."

"Ok" Jon almost gave her a hug but he decided it was too soon for that, he needed to get her to trust him and see him as her father again before that.

She tilted her head and walked towards him and leaning in gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for apologizing Jon."

"No problem Frankie" he said smiling as he watched her clean up the kitchen. He was so proud of what she had done today and he knew it would endear her to Richie even more, if THAT was even possible.