Life After You:

Prologue:

Once Upon a Time: The start of all good fairytales. The stories that involve a Princess and Prince, and some insurmountable but ultimately fixable circumstance standing in the way of their happily ever after. Unfortunately as all impressionable children in the world eventually learn that is not reality. The truth is…reality sucks.

By the ripe old age of seventeen; any illusions Zoey Jones had about love and perfect relationships were completely destroyed, which in theory was fine. Having grown up in a single parent household, her mother was the epitome of Superwoman. Their Manhattan penthouse was filled with love, laughter and enough support that the fact that her sperm donor was absent didn't affect her well rounded upbringing.

As Zoey's senior year at Manhattan Preparatory Academy wrapped and graduation approached reality began to set in. Packing and obsessing for her summer semester of college at NYU was all the distraction she needed to help her get over her recent break up with Andrew Wellington. Just another man…boy who made empty promises and ultimately disappointed her.

Watching her mother attempt to date throughout life was more than enough to stop Zoey from being disillusioned about romance in general, so after walking in on Andrew in the middle of "Desk Detailing" Madeline Gilroy it hadn't been the heartbreak she was expecting. In fact after the shock and initial wallowing session, she hadn't shed a tear about the situation since. Of course she lied to her mother and told her their different college plans was the reason they broke things off amicably being the pragmatic women she was. But in reality even though she had exchanged 'I love you's' with Andrew, Zoey had only loved with her head, not her heart. She was too smart to be that vulnerable.

While cleaning out and shredding the pictures and passed notes in her mother's office Zoey uncovered nine years' worth of birthday and Christmas cards from said sperm donor. Her mother had always told her that he was absent for their safety but the reality of the situation to Zoey was that he just wasn't interested in being her father. And that was fine. If he didn't want her, then she didn't need him, her mom was more than capable parenting alone; despite her ridiculously demanding fashion career. When she was younger she used to ask her mother questions about her father and the time before they moved into the city; but after a while she could tell that the stories and memories would make her mother sad, and that had only fueled her anger for her father.

Growing up her childhood was filled with fashion and art and music and a fast paced world of color that the fashion industry brought to their lives. Every summer that she could remember she had spent in Paris; her mother shopping the latest fashions and meeting with new designers; while Zoey learned to speak French and toured the Louvre, stole sips of French wine and made out with French boys. She had truly lived the life that most only dreamed of, so when she was given the choice to spend her final summer before she claimed adulthood in Paris or starting an accelerated program at New York University; she opted for the latter, with a slight detour. It wasn't that she didn't want to spend the summer with her mother but, the choice provided her with the perfect opportunity. She could sneak away and see her father without having to outright lie to her mother. Plus this summer had the awkward elephant in the room, her mother's new fiancée. Thomas Reynolds had become a recent addition to their lives for the last eleven months.

So with her mother and Thomas across the ocean, Zoey would be free and clear to live out her life as she planned. With a detour and deferment from her summer at college, and a surprise and spontaneous trip to the place of her birth was in the works.

Port Charles, New York…here comes Zoey Jones.