Chapter One

Hate. A four-letter word that both Ethan Winthrop Jr. and his younger sister Jana used. A lot. There were a lot of things the two siblings hated. Rebecca was one, Gwen was another, and their younger adopted sister Abby was another. They hated everyone in the family that they had been raised in, except for their uncle Fox and aunts Virginia and Anna Crane. They had their reasons and no one could sway them.

Ethan was 24 and Jana had turned 18 months before. Jana looked like a model, her friends often said. Ethan was told the same things as his younger sister. Ethan still had the same sandy blonde hair he had when he was a little boy, while Jana's jet-black hair set her apart from her family, showing the world that she did not belong in the Winthrop family.

Jana was two weeks away from graduation and the day afterwards Harmony would be a place of the past as both siblings had decided to leave as soon as Jana was legally able to do so. Upon their departure, both siblings had decided to change their last name from Winthrop to Lopez-Fitzgerald, wanting a connection to the mother that they had been stolen from.

Neither of them had seen their mother Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald since she had lost the last custody battle when Ethan had been ten and Jana four. Both of them still remembered the day their mother had been forced out of their lives. Theresa had been told to leave Harmony and she had. She had not been seen since that day.

The hate for Ethan Sr. and Gwen had developed that day and nothing could change how they felt about the two people that had raised them. Ethan and Gwen were never their parents. The only parent they had ever claimed was their biological mother.

Jana walked around her room in the Crane Mansion, deciding on what she would take with her when Ethan came into the room.

"Hey bro. Have you decided where we are going to go?"

"Yes, I have found a place for us to go. A small town in upstate New York where some of mom's old friends live to this day. They may be able to help us find mom," Ethan said.

"I hope so. I am so sick and tired of Gwen and Etard. I want mom," Jana said. She sat down on her bed as she sighed. "We should've grown up around mom, not around them."

"Jana Sarah Winthrop, get down here now! We have a party to plan!" Gwen yelled up the stairs at that moment.

Jana groaned. She hated when Gwen got like this. "God, she is so superficial. I am not having a grad party! I've told her that several times! And I told her time and time again that my middle name is not Sarah. It's Pilar," she said before she stomped to the stairs, but did not go down. "Gwen, I am not having a grad party! I've told you that! And my middle name is Pilar!"

"Young lady, you will call me mom and you are having a party! And your legal middle name is Sarah! Your father and I had that changed!" Gwen yelled back.

"Gwen, leave her alone! She doesn't want to have a party, so she won't have one! And her legal middle name is Pilar! I never had it changed even though you requested it!" came the voice of Ethan Sr. as he stood by the front door.

"I told you to change it to honor her sister…"

"She is not my sister, Gwen! You are not my mother! You will never be my mother!" Jana yelled before stomping back to her room and her brother.

Downstairs, the argument between Gwen and Ethan continued while Jana shut the door of her room and grabbed a box off the floor and began to pack some of her books inside.

In Port Charles, Theresa Spencer stared out the window of her home as it rained, thinking about her eldest children. But they were not the only family members in her world.

Two years after she initially had been forced out of Harmony, she had gotten married to her good friend Lucky Spencer. Seven months later, they welcomed their first child together, a young girl they named Lilianna Grace Spencer. Two years later, they welcomed a set of premature twin girls, Leigh Paloma and Liana Pilar Spencer. Both girls survived their two-month premature birth and were now happy, healthy 14-year-olds. Lilianna was 16 years old and was a very popular girl in the sophomore class at Port Charles High School. Leigh and Liana were at Port Charles Junior High in eighth grade. A year and a half after the twins were born, Lucky and Theresa welcomed their twin sons, born a month premature, Lucas Lorenzo Spencer III and Liam Lorenzo Spencer. Liam and Luke, as he is called, are 12 and are sixth graders at PC East Elementary School. All five children knew of their elder half-siblings and knew everything they could about their lives.

Lilianna actually communicated with her elder sister through emails and online chats, of course, she did not reveal to Jana that she was her sister or where they were. Lilianna never mentioned the name of her mother to Jana, so she was never able to make any connections other than friendship to her email confidant.

Lilianna was upstairs in her room, on her computer, waiting in an online chat room waiting for Jana to make her daily appearance. They had set up a private chat room that only the two of them could get into.

A moment later, a familiar name came on the screen with a familiar greeting. "Go Yankees!"

"Hey girl! Ready to end high school?" Lilianna quickly typed.

"Ready to leave Harmony behind. E and I are taking off the day after grad," came the answer back.

"Where are you going?" Lilianna typed.

"E said a small town in upstate NY. He's here. I'll ask him exactly where. Oh, he just said the town is called Port Charles," came Jana's reply.

Lilianna smiled. She would get to see her two elder siblings in two weeks. "I'll get to see you in person! Cool!"

"You live in Port Charles, L?" Jana asked.

"Yep. And I know someone who will be so happy to see you."

"Who?"

"Jana, I've been hiding something from you."

"What? You've told me everything other than the names of your parents and your last name."

"Jana, my full name is Lilianna Grace Spencer. My parents are Lucas Spencer Jr. and Theresa Spencer."

"Theresa? No way! Lilianna, you are not saying that my mom is your mom!"

"Yes, I am, Jana. I am your 16 year old half-sister."

"Oh my god! E and I are definitely coming to Port Charles! I want to see mom and meet all my younger siblings and become a…Spencer, right?"

"Yeah, Spencer. Is E still there? Is he seeing this?"

"No, he went to his room. Why?"

"You get him, I'll go get mom so she can talk to the two of you. That way, we can set up a few things."

"You got it. Back in a few minutes," Jana answered back.

Lilianna moved away from her computer and ran downstairs to where her mother was still staring out the window.

"Mom?"

Theresa turned from the window and faced her daughter. "Yes, Lili?"

"I need you to come upstairs. There is someone you need to talk to," Lilianna said.

"Who?"

"Ethan and Jana, my elder siblings," Lilianna said.

Theresa's eyes widened at her daughter's words. "They are on the computer? Right now?"

"Well, Jana is signed on and she just went to get Ethan," Lilianna said.

Theresa quickly launched herself for the stairs and Lilianna quickly followed her.

"Ethan!" Jana yelled as she came down the hall to her brother's room.

"What is it, Jana?" Ethan asked as he came out of his room.

"Come into my room and I'll explain," Jana said.

Ethan quickly followed and he shut the door of Jana's room behind him.

Jana quickly turned to her brother. "You know the young woman I've been talking to online for over a year?"

"Yeah, Lilianna. You never told me her last name."

"Her name is Lilianna Spencer and her parents are Theresa and Lucas Spencer Jr.," Jana explains.

"Theresa as in our mom?" Ethan asks, wide-eyed.

"Yes. Lilianna is our 16-year-old half-sister. She just told me this, right after you said that we are going to Port Charles. That is where they live," Jana tells him.

"Is she still on?" Ethan asked.

"She just went to get mom," Jana said.

Ethan quickly grabbed and extra chair and sat down beside his sister. Jana quickly typed in, "Lilianna, are you back?"

A minute passed before an answer came back. "I'm here. Mom's here too. You got E there?"

"Yeah, he's here. Hi mom!"

"Hi sweetie! Hi EM! How are you two? Driving Gwen and Ethan nuts, I hope," Theresa's words came next.

"Driving Gwen crazy and she drives us crazy. At least Ethan defends us when we tell Gwen off. Especially when it comes to what we want," Ethan types in.

"Good. Gwen deserves to be driven crazy for tearing the two of you away from me," Theresa quickly typed to her eldest children.

"Rebecca deserves it too. After all, she influenced Gwen to have me taken away and influence the judge to make sure both of us were taken away," Ethan typed in.

"No kidding. Lili tells me that there are three members of your family up there that you claim. Which ones?" Theresa asked.

"Well, five technically. We claim uncle Fox, but not aunt Whitney, I think you know why. We claim aunt Virginia and Uncle Mark, and aunt Anna and uncle Matthew," Jana types in.

"Ah, yes. The people I still consider my friends. It's just too bad that all of my family left Harmony not too long after I was forced out the first time," Theresa typed back.

"You're right. If he would be here, we would claim uncle Chad too, but he left town with aunt Paloma. How are they?" Ethan typed in.

"They are doing alright. They live up in Buffalo and they love to come down here because PC is much quieter than the big city up there," Theresa types.

"And grandma?" Ethan asked.

"She is doing fine. She makes a trip up here at least twice a year. Your younger siblings just love spending time with her and getting gifts from her," Theresa typed in.

"How many younger siblings? We know Lilianna, but who else is there?" Ethan asked.

"Well, for siblings younger than Lilianna, you have 14 year old twin sisters Leigh and Liana, and 12 year old twin brothers Liam and Lucas III. Do you want to know about your other family members?" Theresa asked.

"Yeah. Might as well learn about them before we arrive in Port Charles," Ethan typed.

"You are definitely right about that. I can't wait to see the two of you. And as for your other family here, you have your uncle Nikolas Cassadine and his wife Emily Quartermaine-Cassadine and their children Alexandria, who is 16, Mitchell, who is 15, and Anastasia, who is 13. Your aunt Leslie Lu Spencer-Harrison and her husband Jonathan Harrison and their six-year-old son Spencer. Your grandfather Luke Spencer and his second wife Skye, as well as grandma Laura, who happens to be in Shadybrook," Theresa typed in.

"Wow! We have a lot of family to meet," Jana types in.

"That's true. When are you two coming home?" Theresa types in.

"We're leaving Harmony the day after grad and we'll be down there sometime that night or the next morning," Ethan types in.

"Well, we have rooms nice and ready for you here at the house, so you have a place to stay. Just don't tell Gwen or Rebecca whom you will be staying with or else they'll try and stop you," Theresa typed in.

"We know, mom. We know how to be careful with info like this. And Gwen deserves this anyway," Jana types in.

"Very true. Lili and I need to sign off. Your stepfather will be home shortly and I need to start supper and Lili has homework to do," Theresa typed in.

"Understood. Same time tomorrow, sis?" Jana asks.

"I'll email you and let you know for sure. See you soon, sis," Lilianna types in.

"See you soon," Jana types in before she signs off from the chat.

Ethan smiles as he watches his sister shut down her computer. That nice little chat made him look forward to seeing his mother. He also looked forward to living in the same house as his mother, stepfather and half-siblings.

Jana turned to her brother, smiling. "Can you believe this? We got to talk to mom!"

"Yeah, I can't wait to see her!" Ethan exclaimed.

"See who?" came the voice from the doorway.

They turned to see their uncle standing in the doorway. "Hi uncle Fox. You know that Jana and I are leaving Harmony the day after she graduates, right?"

"Yeah, you guys told me about that a few weeks ago. Have you decided where you're going to go yet?" Fox asks his niece and nephew.

"A small town in upstate New York called Port Charles. I chose it because it has a nice university that Jana here can attend," Ethan said.

Fox nodded. "That's good. And are you two still planning on changing your last name to Lopez-Fitzgerald when you leave?"

"We're changing our last name, but not to Lopez-Fitzgerald anymore, but to Spencer, the last name of our stepfather," Jana said.

"Stepfather?" Fox asked.

"You know that young woman I've been chatting with online for over a year?" Jana asked her uncle.

"Yeah. Lilianna. You never told me her last name," Fox said.

"I didn't know her last name until today. Her full name is Lilianna Grace Spencer. Her parents are Lucas Spencer Jr. and Theresa Spencer," Jana explains to him.

Fox nods in understanding. "Lilianna is your half-sister and you want to take the last name the two of you should've had all along."

"Yeah, and there is absolutely nothing that Gwen and Etard can do about it. We are going to be a part of our true family now," Jana said.

"Mom even has rooms ready for us. She definitely wanted to get us back; she was just stopped from doing so. That's something I've checked on," Ethan said.

When Ethan had gone to college, at Harvard like his uncle before him, he got a degree in law along with a concentration in forensics. The forensics helped immediately because it helped him discover the truth of why his mother had left town and had never tried to get them back after the last custody battle. Gwen and Rebecca had threatened to hurt her entire family if she didn't leave town and give up the fight. Theresa left town to protect her family. When he found that out and had told Jana, their hatred for both women had grown.

Later that night

Theresa sat on the edge of the bed in her and Lucky's room with her only picture she had of her eldest children clasped tightly in her hands. A smile spread across her face. They were coming home to her and Lucky.

Lucky walked up beside her with a smile on his face as well. Theresa had told him earlier about the good news that in two weeks, they would have all their children with them. Lucky had immediately checked the internet himself and found out information about his stepdaughter and stepson. When he saw that Ethan was a lawyer and had a special minor in forensics, he knew the best place for him to work would be at the PCPD and the DA's office, working for both his parents.

Lucky was now the police commissioner while Theresa was ADA under Alexis Davis, who had shoved her ex-husband out of the office of DA several years ago

Lucky looked forward to working with his stepson. And he hoped his stepdaughter would join the team of Spencers upholding the law in PC.

Theresa turned to her husband as she put the picture down on her nightstand. "Oh, Lucky, this seems like a dream come true. Ethan and Jana are coming home!"

"I know, Resa. It will be great to have all of our children under one roof. And it'll be nice to have EM working with the two of us," Lucky said.

"I'm not going to force him to work with us, but Lili can encourage him to do so through her chats with them," Theresa said before kissing her husband of almost 17 years passionately.

Lucky tumbled the two of them back onto the bed and took advantage to participate in a ritual both he and Theresa enjoyed.

The whispers in the morning

Of lovers sleeping tight

Are rolling like thunder now

As I look in your eyes

I hold on to your body

And feel each move you make

Your voice is warm and tender

A love that I could not forsake

'Cause I am your lady

And you are my man

Whenever you reach for me

I'll do all that I can

Lost is how I'm feeling lying in your arms

When the world outside's too

Much to take

That all ends when I'm with you

Even though there may be times

It seems I'm far away

Never wonder where I am

'Cause I am always by your side

'Cause I am your lady

And you are my man

Whenever you reach for me

I'll do all that I can

We're heading for something

Somewhere I've never been

Sometimes I am frightened

But I'm ready to learn

Of the power of love

The sound of your heart beating

Made it clear

Suddenly the feeling that I can't go on

Is light years away

'Cause I am your lady

And you are my man

Whenever you reach for me

I'll do all that I can

We're heading for something

Somewhere I've never been

Sometimes I am frightened

But I'm ready to learn

Of the power of love

(Power of Love by Celine Dion)