"Yeah, right, and I'm Santa Claus," AJ mocked.
"Well, then, Santa Claus, it's a pleasure to meet you," Skye said to AJ as she turned towards him, bowing slightly. "I'm the Tooth Fairy." A huge grin grew on the Quartermaine siblings' faces.
"That's impossible," Alan announced. "There is no way Monica can be your mother." Rinoa was young- in her early or mid twenties. That would make her several years younger than both AJ and Skye, and thus Rinoa would have been borne while Monica and Alan had been married. Although Alan's and Monica's marriage had been anything but stable, and they had both had children out of wedlock with different people, Alan was certain that Monica could not possibly have been pregnant with Rinoa, let alone give birth to her.
The room was abuzz with chatter. Skye and AJ were too busy mocking Edward and his obviously failed scheme, while Rinoa was busy trying to explain her side of the story and how everything she was saying was indeed the pure truth. Edward kept expressing his belief that Rinoa was telling the truth, and he also kept insisting that Rinoa was not his newest plot to gaining power in the family. Alan went back and forth from demanding answers from the seemingly flustered Rinoa while Ned sat down on a chair and laughed loudly at the three-ringed circus before him.
The only person in the room who wasn't making any type of noise was Monica.
Monica stared at Rinoa in shock. Could it be? Could the baby she had thought had died actually be the young woman standing before her right this very instant? Rinoa certainly did resemble the one who would have been her father. She had darkish colored skin, almost olive-colored. Her hair was dark, and her facial structure resembled that of Stavros Cassadine. Or was it just her mind playing tricks on her eyes?
That's right, Mother dearest. Stare at me all you want and see the truth within me for yourself. I'm your daughter, like it or not, and there's nothing you can do to change it. Question is, are you going to shun me the way you did to Skye or are you going to accept me with open arms?
"Monica, this can't be true, can it?" Alan demanded gently from his wife. Alan was sure that Rinoa couldn't be Monica's daughter, but… Monica's stunned silence and inability to utter a single syllable led Alan to believe that the impossible may actually be true.
Rinoa studied Alan carefully. He was the chief of staff at General Hospital, and the current husband of her biological mother. "Is he my father?" Rinoa asked Monica, although she already knew the answer.
"Grandfather, this has got to be the lamest attempt yet to regain ELQ," Skye chided Edward. "What in the world could bringing in Monica's daughter do to help you gain the upper hand, anyway?"
"I am not trying to pull anything," Edward said huffily. "This young woman came by this morning, and she told me she was Monica's daughter. What was I to do? Turn her away? If there was anyone I should have turned away, it should have been you."
Ned stared at Rinoa curiously. If she did turn out to be Monica's daughter, which in no way made her into a Quartermaine, then would she turn out to be like the manipulative, lying Skye?
"I am Monica's daughter," Rinoa declared. "I'll take any blood test or DNA test to prove it."
"Monica?" Alan prodded gently. If Rinoa was Monica's daughter, which, with every passing minute seemed to hold more and more possibility of being true, then who was her father? It couldn't have been him, for Rinoa's dark skin betrayed her father's heritage. And if Rinoa was Monica's daughter, then that led to the question of just whom did Monica have an affair with?
"If you really are Monica's daughter," Ned asked, "then where have you been all this time?"
"I was switched at birth," a sad and tortured smile dawned onto her lips. "And it wasn't until very recently that I discovered that my parents couldn't have been my biological parents." Rinoa looked down and focused her energy on playing the abandoned, desolate newcomer. "I returned to the hospital I was born in and traced back all the possible women who could have been my mother."
"And that's when you were led to Monica?" Skye asked, disbelief dripping from her every word. "You can't be serious."
"And you don't know who your father is?" Monica cut in, before Rinoa could defend herself against Skye. If the identity of Rinoa's father remained a secret, then it would be one less thing to worry about. "No idea at all?"
"I was hoping you would tell me," Rinoa said as she looked up. She bit her lower lip softly. "You do know who my father is, don't you, mother?"
"You can't be AJ's younger sister," Skye said to Rinoa. "Everyone here would know if Monica had another child, and look at them. We all know she didn't have another child."
What lie did you tell your family? How'd your pregnancy escape your husband's and everyone else's notice?
"Mom?" Rinoa asked helplessly. "I am your daughter, aren't I? I've searched too long and too hard to be told that I'm not your daughter."
Monica was positive that the DNA test would prove Rinoa to be her daughter. Monica was positive that all investigative work would yield the same answer: the hospital staff at Salem had been sloppy and both she and Rinoa had been victims to a baby switch.
"Is it true?" AJ spoke up, his face wrinkled into deep thought. "Is this woman my sister?" He had nothing against Rinoa, he honestly didn't. And although the idea had originally struck him as insane, the more AJ thought about it, the more he liked the idea of being Rinoa's older brother. Although he and Skye had started out on rocky terms, Skye had turned out to be a blessing. And there was no reason to believe that Rinoa also wouldn't be a blessing the way Skye was. Hell, successfully bonding with a new, long-lost sister was something that would undoubtedly earn him extra points with Courtney.
AJ Quartermaine. Family disgrace and drunk. But my link to Courtney. Whatever you do, Rinoa, make friends with him and Courtney.
"And you would be my brother?" Rinoa asked, the picture of ignorance and innocence. Rinoa's lips curved into an excited smile. "I've always wanted an older brother."
"This is too much," Ned chuckled. The Heavens were smiling down on him, for sure. First he and Kristina had been successful in getting Jax and Alexis to agree to go on a double date with him and Kristina. Kristina's singing career was starting to show some real promise. And now this- the hilarity of life at the Quartermaines at its fullest. "Monica, just answer the girl's question. Are you or are you not her mother?"
All eyes turned towards Monica.
Monica sighed deeply. She had suffered several months of depression after her baby's death. But she had gotten over it, and had even eventually accepted the child's death as a blessing, for it had given her an automatic escape from accepting responsibility for the child. And the baby's death had released her from the burden of admitting to Alan and the rest of the Quartermaines that she had an affair with another man.
Monica gravely walked up to Rinoa. She picked up Rinoa's two hands and held them lovingly in her own hands. "I don't doubt you are my daughter, for I see your father within you."
She's not going to say my father's name, is she?! She wouldn't, especially since my father isn't well liked by anyone in Port Charles.
"But, just the same," Monica continued, her voice filled with gravity, "even though I believe that you are indeed my daughter, we will need to run DNA tests to make sure."
Of course. You wouldn't let Skye live here without taking one, so you have to force me to a test, too.
"I'll take the test whenever you want," Rinoa told the Quartermaines. "I'll go to the hospital right now and we can start taking tests."
"You're serious?!" Skye gasped. Monica was actually acting as if this Rinoa creature was her daughter!
"We'll go right now," Monica decided. "And I'll put a rush order on our tests, so we should be able to know for sure by the end of the day."
*******
After Monica and Rinoa leave…"Skye, do you have any idea what this means?" AJ whispered to his sister, his voice filled with enthusiasm. "What it would mean to have a new sister?"
"What?" Skye asked. She looked worriedly towards her father. How was he handling the news that Monica had another affair during their marriage and had, as a result, borne another child? Rae had conceived her prior to Alan and Monica's marriage, and so Skye's arrival into Port Charles shouldn't have hurt Monica as much as Rinoa's existence and arrival ought to hurt Alan.
"If Rinoa and I bond and she and I end up sharing a great relationship," AJ said with a devilish grin, "then Courtney will see Sonny as a failure and a loser again. Courtney's feelings for me will increase a hundred times more when she sees my new younger long-lost sister and I bond."
"Hooray," Skye said sarcastically. She weakly pumped her hands into the air. Why couldn't AJ even consider the way their father must feel about this newest betrayal?
"I'm going to call Courtney and ask her to come over right now," AJ said with a gleeful grin. "I'm going to ask her to help me and Rinoa bond. Courtney's going to eat this up." Proving to Courtney that he was a superior brother than Sonny would only cement her growing feelings of love towards him.
"Well, good luck," Skye wished her brother half-heartedly. She had accepted the fact that she couldn't dissuade AJ from pursuing this relationship with Courtney, and she would stand behind him when he wanted or needed her support.
Skye rubbed her forearms unconsciously. Her father seemed to be in a lot of pain, and Edward was doing nothing to soothe his son's pain. Ned, meanwhile, was busy talking on the phone. Undoubtedly he was telling Katrina of the arrival of yet another long lost daughter to Port Charles.
Skye studied her father silently. How should she approach him? Make fun of Monica and her position and remind her father about the harassment Monica had put her through when she had first entered Port Charles? Tell her father that her own love life was going nowhere? Well, that wasn't likely. Tell her father that she was sorry and hoped that he could prove how mature he was by accepting Rinoa with open arms when Monica hadn't been able to do the same to her?
*******
General Hospital…Twittering simp. Pathetic excuse of a mother. Bane of my existence, root of every single flaw within me.
"So… what were your parents like?" Monica asked awkwardly. How Alan managed to bond with Skye, Monica had no idea. But, thank God that Rinoa did not seem as angry and hateful as Skye had been.
"The Lockharts? They were wonderful," Rinoa said softly. "They passed away recently, and, since then, I've been searching for you." And if you hire some detectives to do some snooping, they'll give you the same information I just fed you.
"How long did they know that you weren't their daughter? When did they tell you?" Monica asked, filling in the silent void.
"Last year when my mom got sick and we had to look for a bone marrow match," Rinoa continued softly in her voice. "That was when we found out that there was no way I could have been the daughter of my mother. But we didn't have time to explore the reasons why because mother was so sick. We couldn't find a match, and she passed away quickly. And then father became lost without her and he followed her shortly thereafter."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Monica said uneasily. She looked down at her hands, and feeling at unease, began to twist her hands around each other. Her wedding ring caught her eye, and the broken vows she had made to Alan swept throughout her mind.
"If you do turn out to be my mother," Rinoa spoke up, "and I'm sure this is what the test will tell us, will you tell me who my father is?" This was a test- would Monica tell the truth or would she lie through her teeth?
"Your father passed away," Monica said firmly. The small trace of hatred and venom within Monica's voice was not lost on Rinoa.
"Who was he?" Can't you even say my father's name? Do you hate him that much?
"No one important," Monica lied. "And he was a mistake, someone I ran to for comfort and love when my marriage with Alan- my husband – was going through troubled times."
It was a mistake for my father to seek solace in a woman like you. You were lucky someone like my father chose to give you a second glance.
"Did my father know about me?" Rinoa asked, her eyes boring a hole into Monica's eyes. "Did he know that you had a child with him?"
"No, he didn't," Monica said grimly, a tight-lipped smile on her face. "And I wouldn't have had it any way."
Rinoa forced her look of anger and hatred away. What right did Monica have to say these things about her father? Monica was the one who didn't deserve to know the existence or identity of her child. Monica was the one who shouldn't be trusted with the responsibility to raise children.
"I'll find a way to get the others to accept you as my daughter," Monica promised Rinoa. "I will warn you, though, to stay away from Skye, the red-headed one. She's bad news, Rinoa, and it was a sad day for Port Charles when she first moved here."
If you despise Skye that much, I have a feeling Skye and I will become the best of friends.