Work Text:
Seven
Adriana Sinclair was laying on her bed, trying to do her English homework when the door to her bedroom burst open and Claudia Zacchara, her best friend, practically fell inside.
She sat up, concern overtaking her as she took the other girl in, noticing her hair pulled back into a ponytail haphazardly, the tearstains streaking her face, and the way her eyes were red and puffy. "Clauds?" She asked, standing and going over to the girl, embracing her. "Are you okay?"
The question just caused Claudia to sob more and practically collapse in the blonde's arms.
Adriana's eyes widened and she rubbed her back soothingly. "Claudia, honey, I need you to take a brief breath for me and let it out." Dread was in the pit of her gut. There were only so many things that would cause her best friend to react this way and all of them were horrific.
Claudia calmed down a bit, still shaking as she apologized. "I'm sorry about that Adri. I didn't mean to scare you. I never want to scare you."
The other girl shook her head and hugged Claudia tighter. "Hey, no! You don't need to apologize. Something is obviously wrong, and I want to be there for you."
The darker haired girl sniffled. "It's one of dad's friends. Trevor Lansing. He visited again."
Adriana felt bile rise at the back of her throat as she led Claudia over to the bed and sitting down with her. She knew what that meant. It wasn't the first time, it wasn't even the second. Anthony Zaccharas friends and clients visiting never ended well, not for his daughter. "Are you okay?" She asked, silently cursing herself once the words were out of her mouth. It was such an idiotic question on her part. Of course Claudia wasn't okay.
Claudia shook her head. "I managed to get away." She whispered, pulling her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them, and resting her chin on her knees. "He still had me cornered in the library though".
Adriana swallowed hard, not for the first time wishing she could give Anthony Zacchara hell. Since Claudia had turned thirteen a couple of months ago, Anthony had handed his daughter to his sleazy friends on a silver platter. She still remembered the first time Claudia came to her house afterwards, dressed in the red tennis shoes that she always wore and a baggy sweatshirt, curled up in Adriana's bed, sobbing. It had happened quite a few times now and it still left Adriana alarmed. "Claudia." She whispered, voice trembling. "We should tell someone about this." It wasn't the first time she'd suggested it and it wouldn't be the last. It always ended with Claudia refusing, though.
At that, Claudia shook her head with a laugh. "No one would believe it or if they did, my father would make sure it didn't go to trial somehow. He could hurt you, Adri. You, your parents, and your brother and sister. I'd never want that to happen."
Tears stung the blonde's eyes at her best friend's concern for her and lack of concern for herself. "This shouldn't be happening to you, though." She told her. "You shouldn't have to be dealing with this.
Claudia scooted closer and rested her head on her shoulder. I wish I wasn't." She admitted. More than anything, I wish I wasn't."
"Stay here for the night at least. My family loves having you here." It felt like the only thing Adriana could offer and it was something that Claudia wouldn't reject, proven by the girl nodding against her neck in agreement. It caused her to let out a breath in relief at this one win.
It stunned Adriana how Claudia could pull herself together. By dinner that evening, she was no longer in tears. She was fresh faced and dressed in a pair of Adriana's jeans and a t-shirt, dark hair in a neat braid, and a smile on her lips as she interacted with Adriana's parents and younger siblings. The way she animatedly spoke to ten year old Jennifer and eight year old Caleb and answering her parents questioned, you'd have a hard time believing that she'd been in tears just a couple of hours before.
"Will you play Monopoly with us?" Jennifer asked, looking up at Claudia starry eyed.
Claudia gave a beaming smile at that, easily agreeing. "You bet."
Caleb and Jennifer both cheered at that, causing Claudia to laugh and when Adriana glanced across the table at her parents, she saw that they were smiling softly as well. That was the thing. Claudia fit in so well with the Sinclair family, it was as if she'd always been there. Adriana knew that both her parents and siblings considered Claudia that: family. Not for the first time, she wished her best friend would worry less about others and tell her mother what was happening at that big mansion. Her parents could at least try to help Claudia if they knew.
She was broken from her thoughts by Claudia gently bumping her shoulder and giving her a gentle smile.
"Hey, are you going to play Monopoly too?" Her best friend asked.
Adriana swallowed hard and nodded. "Sure." She managed, smiling back at the brunette. "That sounds fun."
It was a couple of weeks later that Claudia showed up at the Sinclair house again, barely holding back her tears. Adriana was the only one home. Her parents were out on a date for their anniversary and Jennifer and Caleb were both having sleepovers. "Clauds?" She asked, a horror movie playing on the tv in the living room behind her. "Get in here." She pulled the other girl into the house and shut the door behind them. It was then that she noticed the plastic bag from the local convenience store that was clutched in her hands. She said nothing about that though, watching as the girl set the bag down on the desk in the foyer and shrugged off her coat, hanging it on the coat rack.
"I'm sorry for showing up uannounced." Claudia whispered. "I just...really needed to see you and a place to do this."
Adriana's brows furrowed. "Do what?" She questioned softly, eyes widening as her best friend began to tremble where she stood.
A shaky hand reached for the plastic bag that she'd put down. "I missed my period." She confessed. "I thought it was maybe just late, so I waited a couple of days. But...."
"But you still haven't gotten it." The blonde finished, sucking in a breath.
Claudia nodded her head with a strained laugh before her hand dug around in the bag and she pulled out a pregnancy test. "I bought a few more just to be sure. I haven't done it yet. I wanted to know if you'd be there with me."
Adriana reached for Claudia's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Of course. Always." She said it softly, as if she were afraid of spooking her. "Come on. Let's go upstairs." She wrapped a gentle arm around Claudia's shoulders and the two walked up to her bedroom where Claudia went into the bathroom attached to it, still carrying her bag.
The blonde sat on her bed as she waited for Claudia to be done. She'd offered to stay in the bathroom with her, but Claudia had refused. The door finally opened and the other girl walked into the room. "How long before we know?" She asked.
Claudia sighed shakily. "I set the timer. It will go off in a couple of minutes." She answered.
"I'll be there for you, whatever the results are." Adriana told her, reaching out to hold her hand again.
When the timer went off, the two headed into the bathroom together and grabbed one of the tests. Claudia practically fell into Adriana when she saw the two pink lines that sealed her fate. All of the tests were like that. Every single one.
Again, Adriana begged Claudia to tell her parents what was happening to her and again, Claudia refused for a long time, she wished she'd done more. That she'd told her parents what was happening. Claudia may have felt betrayed, but at least then it would've been safe. She saw her best friend for the last time a couple of weeks later, after Claudia had finally confessed to her father that she was pregnant. She remembered clinging to her best friend and crying as the girl told her that she was being sent away to her aunt's to have the baby. A baby that would then be raised as her little brother. The child of her father and stepmother, a woman Adriana had always thought seemed too kind for Anthony. From what she understood, Claudia's stepmother had no clue what Anthony had been allowing to happen to her. She'd been led to believe that the baby was the result of a teenage fling that her stepdaughter had had.
Adriana Sinclair-Harlow had a good life. She had a beautiful wife named Catherine and two dogs and a cat. The two were foster parents too, though they'd never had children of their own. She'd never forgotten her best friend, though. Not ever. Catherine even knew about her. It was around twenty two years ago that she'd found out news that she'd never wanted. Claudia had been killed. There was no chance of them ever reuniting or Adriana ever apologizing to her for never doing anything more to help her best friend, even though she'd only been thirteen too.
She refused to visit Claudia's grave or anything that would make her death real, until this year. Catherine had convinced her that it would be good for her to finally confront things, that it could be healing. So that led to Adriana showing up in Port Charles, clutching a bouquet of sunflowers in her hand as her other hand held her wife's. Their boot clad feet crunched across the snow as they walked to the grave, spotting a blonde head standing next to the grave, a guy with a dark head of hair standing next to her.
"Oh..."Adriana said breathlessly when the man turned around and she was confronted with eyes that looked so much like Claudia's. Instantly, she knew who this man was. The child that Claudia had had. Johnny Zacchara from articles she'd read.
Johnny studied her for a few minutes as the blonde next to him turned around. "Are you....Adriana Sinclair?" He asked.
Her eyes widened at that. "How do you know that?"
He grinned charmingly, though it held a sad edge to it. "Claudia....she always told me about you. She said that you were the best friend that she'd ever had." He answered. "I'm Johnny. Johnny Zacchara." He held out a hand for Adriana to shake.
"Well, you already know my name. This is my wife. Catherine Harlowe." Adriana said, lump in her throat as she stared at this man who looked so much like Claudia.
"I'm Josslyn. Josslyn Jacks." The young woman beside Johnny said, moving away from him to shake Adriana's hand and then Catherine's.
The older blonde's brows furrowed at that, wondering why the name sounded familiar. Mulling over the name for a bit, her eyes widened. "The girl that Claudia tried to kidnap?" She blurted out.
She grimaced at that, exchanging a look with Johnny,making sure he didn't seem too upset. "Yeah. I'd always wondered why she tried to do that. It was back in November that I finally did something about it."
At that Johnny rolled his eyes. "By that, she means she found out where I was living and came to see me with her boyfriend." He finished for her. His grin softened as he looked at Adriana. "I'm glad that you're here to see her. I think she'd be happy about that. And the fact that you have a wife. I know she always felt guilty for not trying to get into contact with you."
Catherine squeezed her wife's hand in support before she let go and headed toward the gravestone, kneeling down. Her hazel eyes trailed over the name carved in the stone as she spoke. "Hey Claudia. I know we never met, but I feel like I've known you for decades now." She said. "Adriana's told me a lot about you. I'm sorry that we never visited before now." Adriana moved to kneel beside her. When she looked out of the corner of her eye, she saw tears spilling down her cheeks.
"I'm so sorry I never told anyone about what was happening to you." Adriana whispered. "I know you never wanted to say anything to my parents but I could've. They loved you like another daughter, they'd have done anything to help you, to hell with whatever Anthony would've tried. I guess that's a big reason why it took me years to try to find out what had happened to you and even longer to eventually come and visit you. I never forgot you, though. Not ever. I mean, like Catherine said, I told her all about you. And the two of us foster kids, especially teens. So many of them remind me of you. It feels good to be help them, the way that I wasn't able to help you."
A ragged breath escaped Johnny's lips and he spoke, "She never blamed you, you know? She always told me that you were there for her. I didn't even understand how much until she was already dead."
Adriana stood up, hands trembling as she turned around to step closer to him, her hands lifting to frame his face. "You look so much like her." She whispered, eyes traveling over his face. "Especially the eyes and the way that you smile."
A sob escaped Johnny's mouth and his face crumpled before he wrapped his arms around Adriana, causing her to stumble slightly under his weight, before she caught hold of herself and hugged him back.
Josslyn and Catherine watched them both silently, tears streaming down their faces as they did so.
Josslyn led the way for them to Bobbie's, which she'd explained was owned by her family. They all sat at a table with cups of hot chocolate in front of them. She'd already ordered all of them food, which she'd stated was on the house.
"So how to the two of you know each other?" Catherine asked of Josslyn and Johnny.
The blonde laughed out that. "Oh, he dated my cousin. He also dated my mom. He was kind of friends with my stepsister, Krissy, too. I adored him as a kid." She shrugged, taking a sip of her drink. "Of course, I hadn't seen him in a few years, but then I went to find him and I asked him about Claudia and why she took me. I understood her a whole lot more after that."
"You both know that you're her kid then?" Adriana gestured to Johnny at that.
Johnny nodded grimly. "I only found out after she'd died, like I said. Someone wanted to hurt me, so they told me."
"My former stepfather." Josslyn replied darkly. "He's....." She trailed off, thinking of how Sonny had had Dex hung up on a meat hook, how he'd taken him to the Pine Barrens with the intent of killing him if her mother hadn't shown up. Somehow, what he'd done to Johnny with his words about his mother seemed worse.
"I'm sorry that you had to find out that way." Adriana told him.
He shook his head. "It's not your fault." He replied with a shrug. "Still. It explained why she was so protective of me, beyond how a sister is. I think that was why she never told me." At the questioning looks he received, he replied, "I think she was afraid of what how it would make me feel about myself. If I knew how I was conceived."
At that, Claudia's friend sucked in a breath. "I'm so sorry. You and Claudia...you both deserved better."
Johnny managed to smile at her. "Thanks. She made a lot of mistakes, but Claudia was so loyal to people that she cared about. When she tried to take Joss, it was because she'd already lost another child. She'd been pregnant with Sonny Corinthos' baby and she lost it. I guess it brought on memories of losing me, even if I didn't die and she just....."
He trailed off, though he didn't need to say anything more. Both Adriana and Catherine could get the point that he was making.
Josslyn stood up quietly to head over to the counter to grab their food that was done, placing the plates in front of everyone and a to go bag for herself. "I've got to go. I have a movie night that I have to get to." She said with small smile. "It was good to meet the two of you." With that, she grabbed her purse and jacket before leaving the diner.
The other three wished her goodbye, watching her leave before they turned their attention to each other again. "What was my mother like as a teenager?" Johnny questioned Adriana, dark eyes on her. "She's never told me much, except for what a good friend you were and how much she loved your family."
Adriana bit her lip as she thought it over. There was a lot that she could say about Claudia. They'd been friends for years as kids. "Well," she managed, "Claudia was kind of shy. But she really lit up when she was with my family. They adored her. My parents saw her as another daughter, like I said, and my younger brother and sister saw her as siblings. She was nice to everyone. She really didn't have a mean bone in her body. She'd cheat at Monopoly if it was just the two of us, but if my siblings were involved, she'd let them win. She always liked my house, though it was a lot smaller than the one she'd grown up in. Than the one that you grew up in. She said that it had this warmth to it. She loved cinnamon sugar bread. She loved to dance to music on the radio, though she'd get embarrassed if she was caught. Even after she'd left and I didn't see her again, she was still the best friend that I'd ever had. I've never had another friend like her."
Johnny listened to all of this with a fond smile on his face, imagining the girl that Claudia used to be. He didn't even notice the tears that had started to spill down his cheeks. Even now, after twenty two years of not having her in his life, he still missed her and wished that he was here. He wished that he could tell her that he loved her and understood why she never told him the truth about their relationship. But he was getting to know even more about her now, and part of him believed that Claudia had a part in sending Adriana here. That she must've realized how much he needed this, how much they both needed this.
The End