A/N: This story takes place after Pushing Aside The Demons. Enjoy

He was dead. He didn't move. He couldn't breath on his own. By all definition, Nick was dead. His brain was alive, but wasn't functioning. He was dead.

Mark sat in the room, holding Nick's hand. "You know I hate this place." he said. "I hate it. But here you are. You're lying here with tubes and wires and... you can't even breathe." Mark paused. "Can you hear me? Can you even hear me, Nick?"

Mark felt a hand come down on his shoulder and he jumped, turning around. "Mark..." Jack said. "We need to call his family."

"It's just his father," Mark said softly. "He's... he's in New York."

"We need to get in touch with him."

"No," he said "No way. Nick would not want him here. He wouldn't want his father here. I know that."

"He's still Nick's father," Jack said.

"No, Dad," Mark said. "No way. You have to think of something. That man can not get into see Nick." Mark sighed. "Please, Dad. Please."

"Mark..." Jack said. He paused "I don't know what I can do." He watched his son's face. "I'll see what I can do. I can't guarantee anything."

"Thanks, Dad." he said

"Don't thank me yet" he said "Let me see what I can do."

>>>>>>

KIDNAPPING FIASCO ENDS IN ARREST: LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR WELCOMES HOME SON

The photo of the child covered a full quarter of the front page. His big blue eyes were round and vibrant and his tiny smile showed just a hint of pearly white. He was happy. That sweet little boy was happy.

She had grown up with a mother and about a thousand 'fathers', spending her childhood moving around the country from one motel to another as her mother would entertain a different guy each night.

It wasn't until she was nine that she learned that she had been adopted as a baby. She had been no more than a month old. She had never set out to find her birth parents. Had often wondered what they were like, why they gave her up, but she had never actively searched.

A year and a half earlier was when she had been in San Diego. A long night of drinking, a shot gun wedding that lasted as long as the hangover, and an unplanned pregnancy. She had nobody. She hit a state of depression and at once, she realized that she couldn't raise a baby. She wanted a family who would love him, who would care for him.

Kevin and Kelly Buchanan fell in love with him from the minute they set eyes on him and she had no problems signing custody over to the Buchanans.

She had gone almost ten months without seeing the little boy and reading the story in the paper about little Ace's return is what brought her to Llanview. She had nowhere to stay. The only money in her pocket was enough for one good meal. She was lost, walking around Angel Square, praying that some poor person would drop at least a fifty. No luck.

She walked by Logan's, looking in the window, smiling. The dress was gorgeous and nothing said that she couldn't go in and simply try it on. She walked into the store, admiring the garment. Smiling, she heard a woman's voice. "Emily? Emily?" She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Emily?"

"I'm sorry," she said "You must have me confused with somebody else. My name isn't Emily. It's Bella. Bella Carey."

Bella watched the woman's expression as she looked the girl over. "No," she said "No, it's you. I know it is, please. Please tell me... Have you lived in Llanview long?"

"No ma'am," Bella said. "My momma... we moved around a lot," she sighed. "Emily... is she your little girl?"

The woman nodded. "She'd be your age now. Are you about 20?"

"A few weeks," she said Bella could see the pain in the woman's eyes. "What happened to her?"

"Somebody took her," the woman said. "We were shopping and she was in her carriage... and her brothers... they were there. They stepped away from me so I... I just ran for them. For one second and... when I turned back, she was gone... Emily was gone and I never saw her again."

"I'm really sorry," Bella said

"You could be her. You could be my baby, Bella."

"I'm sorry..."

They were silent. "She had a birthmark..." the woman said. "On the small of her back. It was the only mark on her body."

It was that moment that Bella stopped. "I have..." she turned and exposed her lower back, revealing the tiny birthmark.

There was silence again. "Emily..." she said "You're her. I know you are. You must think I'm some crazy woman but please. I'm begging you, please. I need to know."

Bella looked at her. "I don't even know your name." she said

"Helen" she responded. "Helen Solomon. Please, Bella."

She smiled softly, nodded. "OK," she said, trusting the woman completely. "I'll do what you need I want to know too."

"Bella," Helen said. "Thank you."

She smiled. "Please... if you want... a lot of people just call me Babe."