Chapter 5: An Attempt to Tip the Scales

Characters:

Rachel Janacek (Sam and Sonny)- 23

Emma Morgan (Sam and Jason)- 17

Gabe Morgan (Sam and Jason)- 16

Maddie Morgan (Sam and Jason)- 16

Katie Morgan (Sam and John; raised by Jason)- 14

Selena Morgan (Stella and Tyler; adopted by Sam and Jason)- 4

Morgan Corinthos (Carly and Sonny)- 29

Josslyn Jacks (Carly and Jax)- 22

Courtney Jacks (Carly and Jax)- 17

Connor Jacks (Carly and Jax)- 16

Jacelyn Jacks (Carly and Jax)- 14

Chloe J Hunter (Maxie and Matt)- 17

Christian Hunter (Maxie and Matt)- 17

Lukas Spencer (Maxie and Lucky)- 16

Leah Zacchara (Maxie and Johnny)- 15

Ava Zacchara (Maxie; adopted by Johnny)- 14

Daniel Zacchara (Olivia and Johnny)- 17

Mia Webber (Olivia and Steve)- 16

Allie Webber (Olivia and Steve)- 14

Izzie Zacchara (Claudia)- 23

Clay Corinthos (Sonny and Claudia)- 22

Zack Corinthos (Sonny and Claudia)- 17

Hunter Corinthos (Sonny and Claudia)- 16

Brittany Corinthos (Sonny and Brenda)- 16

Brenna Corinthos (Sonny and Claudia)- 15

Lindsey Scorpio-Drake (Robin and Patrick)- 23

Nate Scorpio-Drake (Robin and Patrick)- 17

Noah Scorpio-Drake (Robin and Patrick)- 16

Spencer Cassadine (Nikolas and Courtney)- 28

Aiden Cassadine (Nikolas and Elizabeth)- 22

Paige Cassadine (Nikolas and Emily)- 17

Aubrey Crowell (Nadine and Nikolas)- 16

Nattie Cassadine (Nikolas and Brook Lynn)- 15

Colton Cassadine (Nikolas and Elizabeth)- 14

Wes Janacek (Kristina and Kiefer)- 16

Haley Lovett (Ethan and Lisa)- 16

Logan Davis (Ethan and Kristina)- 15

Livvie Davis (Ethan and Kristina)- 15

Molly Lansing Webber (Ric and Alexis)- 28

Addie Lansing (Ric and Elizabeth)- 16

Cameron Webber (Elizabeth and Lucky)- 29

Jake Spencer (Elizabeth and Lucky)- 24

Brendan Webber (Elizabeth)- 17

Stella Hunter (Elizabeth and Matt)- 16

Alec Barrett (Brenda and Aleksander)- 23

Ashlyn Falconeri (Lulu and Dante)- 15

Lila Rae Alcazar (Skye and Lorenzo)- 28

Jamie Quartermaine (Dillon and Georgie)- 17

Tanner Quartermaine (Dillon and Lulu)- 16

Julian Quartermaine (AJ)- 15

Grace Quartermaine (Skye)- 14

Tyler Drake (Lisa and Patrick)- 17

Ian Niles (Lisa)- 14

Carrie Corinthos (Michael and Abby)- 15

Ryan Rosco (Faith)- 17

Dominic Rosco (Faith)- 14

Prue Webber (Molly and Cam)- 0

Henry Spencer (Lindsey and Jake)- 0

Sophia Janacek (Rachel and Kiefer)- 4

Kailey Franco (Franco)- 16

Reed Worth (Maggie)- 16

Rhiannon Deusa- 16

Lauren Grayson- 16

Brianna Edwards- 17

Deceased:

Bella Jacks (Jax and Brenda)- 15

Mason Zacchara (Olivia and Johnny)- 15

Jazzie Corinthos (Sonny and Kate)- 14

Lola Zacchara (Claudia and Nikolas)- 14

Ben Lovett (Ethan and Lisa)- 15

Liam Drake (Elizabeth and Patrick)- 15

Matt Zacchara (Lulu and Johnny)- 17

Joey Falconeri (Dante and Brenda)- 17

Trevor Alcazar (Skye and Lorenzo)- 16

Taylor Corinthos (Michael and Abby)- 14

Parker Ruiz (Manny)- 16

Corey Spinelli (Spinelli)- 15

Bailey Spencer (Lucky and Siobhan)- 15

Max Franco (Franco)- 15

Lily Mir (Leyla and Aleksander)- 15

Paige

Spending the night in the hospital had been rough for the Cassadine kids, especially after they found out that Nikolas's body was identified as one of the ones that had been burned. There were three others also, belonging to the cook, butler, and maid.

Ever since then, Paige had felt completely numb. She and her father hadn't been close, but he was still the only parent she had left. At 18 years old, she had lost both parents. She wasn't sure what would happen now. She was technically old enough to get an apartment or something, but what would happen to Nattie?

Almost everyone had called Brook Lynn, but she had yet to return any phone calls. Nattie was an emotional wreck and Paige knew that she needed her mother, but it didn't seem like that would be happening. Sam was doing a pretty good job at filling in though, and she had been sitting with the fifteen year old for the majority of the night.

Now, it was almost nine o'clock in the morning and Paige's aunt, Alexis Davis, walked in. She had been at the hospital for a while, but then she said she had some business to take care of and went home. Clearly she had showered and collected some documents because she was holding her briefcase.

"I know this might not be the best time for this, especially with everyone's emotions running high, but we need to discuss the most important part of Nikolas's death." Alexis began.

"Aunt Alexis, I'm sorry, but it's kind of inappropriate to worry about the business right now." Spencer said from where he was sitting.

Alexis looked at him. "I'm not talking about Cassadine Industries; I'm talking about custody of your sisters. Now, Nikolas had primary custody of Nattie and obviously sole custody of Paige. Paige, you're eighteen years old, but since you're in high school still, I wouldn't recommend moving out on your own."

Paige just nodded her head. She wasn't sure where she wanted to go, but she knew one thing that had to happen. "Nattie and I have to stay together."

The aging lawyer nodded. "I figured that you would say that. Now, your father left custody of both of you to Brook Lynn Ashton in case anything should happen. Since she has been out of the picture for so long, and she's not answering any of our phone calls, Nikolas has stated he would like custody to go to your godparents. Paige's godparents are Jason Morgan and Elizabeth Webber, and Nattie's are Lulu Spencer Falconeri and Dillon Quartermaine."

"Absolutely not." Paige spoke out immediately. "I will not be living anywhere near Elizabeth."

"And I barely know Aunt Lulu, and she's not even with Dillon anymore. Plus we want to stay together."

"Your father also put that if either of you have objections, then it will be open to you and your family members to decide where you both go." Alexis looked at everyone. "Here's what I want you guys to do. Paige and Nattie, go take a walk or go to the cafeteria or something and discuss who you would be the ideal person for you to live with. I want to speak to all of the adults, please. Anyone else, find something to do."

Paige and Nattie stood, looking at each other hesitantly. They walked away from the others, thinking about where they would want to go live.

Sam

Sam studied the adults standing around. Alexis was still sitting down with her briefcase. She and Jason stood together, along with Josslyn and Aiden, Spencer and Izzie, Aubrey's mother Nadine Crowell, Kristina and Ethan, and Molly and Cameron.

"I know it's a lot to ask, but these girls need a place to live. Remember, Paige just turned 18, so once she starts college, it will most likely only be Nattie staying with you."

"Can I say something, please?" All eyes turned to Nadine. "I know that I don't know the girls very well, and that I only told Nikolas about Aubrey less than three months ago, but I would be willing to take Paige and Nattie if no one else is. They could get to know their sister, and I know what it's like to raise a teenaged girl. Plus, I only have one child, while most of you have multiple teenagers, new babies, or you're pregnant."

"Thank you, Nadine." Alexis smiled at her.

Sam studied the blonde woman. She had liked Nadine when Nikolas dated her (though she always been Team Emily) and she knew that she would take good care of the girls. But something inside of her knew that wasn't the right arrangement.

"Jason and I will take Paige." She announced. The others looked at her. They all knew that it made sense; Sam and Nikolas were cousins and they had been close, and Emily was Jason's sister, so they were both related to her and had her best interest at heart, plus Jason was Paige's godfather so it was partly honoring Nikolas's wishes.

"I figured you would say that." Alexis looked at Spencer and Aiden. "What do the two of you think? Any objections?"

"I'm not very close to either of them. I don't think they would even want to live with me." Spencer stated.

Aiden and Josslyn were staring at each other having a silent conversation. She nodded, so he looked at his aunt. "If no one else wants the girls, then we'll take them. I just don't think they would really want to live with us, so we probably won't be their first choice."

Alexis turned to Sam and Jason. "You definitely want Paige? Both of you?" they nodded. "What about Nattie?"

"We'll take her too." Sam said.

"We'll have to talk about it." Jason said at the same time. They looked at each other. "Sam, we've got our five kids, Mia, a baby on the way, and Mia and Gabe will be having a baby too. That's a lot."

"They are our family, Jason. How can we say no? And how can we split them up?"

Sam could tell that Jason was conflicted. She just prayed that he would see things the right way.

The Cassadines

Sam and Jason had insisted their children go home and take Zack and Courtney with them, Spencer made Izzie go home and sleep, Kristina had to work, Molly had to get home to Prue, and Aiden had practically forced Josslyn to go to work, so all that was left at the hospital was Alexis, Sam, Jason, Spencer, Aiden, Paige, Aubrey, Nattie, and Colton.

"Did any of you know about this?" Spencer put a manila envelope on the table everyone was sitting around.

Paige, who was sitting closest to it, picked it up. She pulled out some kind of papers and a picture. "What is this?"

"I found them in Dad's office yesterday. He sent me in there to get something and I saw these and grabbed them. I was going to ask him about them, but I never got the chance. Apparently he and Brook Lynn were in the process of getting a divorce. Look at the picture."

Paige looked down at the picture that was behind the papers. She saw her stepmom with another man, and there was more than one picture. She glanced towards her right where Nattie was sitting and saw that her sister had seen them too.

"Paige, you know how you asked me to look for Brook Lynn?" Sam asked. The newly eighteen year old nodded. "That's what I found. I went to your father first so that he could handle telling you, and Nattie, about what was going on."

"So was she even really on tour?" Nattie demanded. Paige could tell she was getting angry by her voice, but she didn't blame her. How could her mother just leave her behind? Paige knew that if her own mother had the choice, she would have never left her.

"Yes, but it ended months ago. She had found this man, and she was planning on asking for a divorce."

"Why didn't she ever come home? We called her so many times during the whole TMK thing, and she promised that she would be home soon! How could she just leave me like that?" Nattie yelled. A few tears slid down her cheek. "Was she ever going to come back to Port Charles?"

Sam shook her head. "No, she wasn't."

Nattie started to sob. Paige reached out and hugged her. "If my own mother didn't love me, then who else is going to want me?"

Jason got out of his chair and walked across the room. Technically, Nattie was his cousin, but he saw her as more of a niece. He leaned down so he could look into her eyes.

"You've always got a home with us, Nattie." He looked at both of the girls. "If you want to, both of you are welcome to come and live with us."

Paige turned to her sister. "What do you think, Nat?"

Nattie hugged Jason tightly. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He kissed her forehead, and then went to Paige.

She squeezed him as tight as she could. "You guys were our first choice, you know."

"It was never really a choice. Sam and I were fighting for you, no matter what."

"Thank you for taking Nattie too. I know she's not as much related to you as I am…"

"Stop. We love both of you, and you're both our family. It's no trouble at all." Jason kissed his niece's forehead. "I'm warning you now that things get a little crazy at our house, and it's gonna be sort of crowded. We're thinking about building a house though, so you would get to design your own bedrooms."

"Really?" Nattie questioned.

"Well we can't have you sleeping on the couch, can we?"

Alexis looked at her daughter. "I'll need to have you sign these papers."

"What are they?" Sam wondered.

"It's granting you custody of Paige, and temporary custody of Nattie. We are still going to need Brook Lynn's permission. I'll do everything I can."

"Thanks, Mom." Sam hugged her.

She knew that it was going to get crazy. They were going to have twelve people living in their house by the time Mia had her baby in August. But, as she watched Paige and Nattie smile and talk with Jason, she knew it was the right choice.

Emma

Emma walked with her hand and linked in Courtney's, both of them completely silent. They (and Chloe J) had been there when Emily died and tried to comfort Paige. They saw her at her worst time, and they didn't want her to ever have to feel that way again.

Even though Emma had barely spoken to Paige lately, she still was her family. She loved her a lot, and she would do anything for her, but right now, she wasn't sure what she could do. She didn't know what it was like to lose a parent.

Zack opened up the door to the Enchantment, letting both of the girls go in before him. Emma wasn't surprised to see that Chloe J and Nate had beat them there.

"Hey!" Chloe J jumped up, hugging both of the girls. "How is she?"

"We didn't really talk to her much. She was kind of sticking with Nattie, and we figured that was what was best for both of them. She's taking it hard though, as expected." Zack answered. He sat down on the recliner. Emma came over to him and sat on his lap, leaning back against him. Chloe J, Courtney, and Nate all sat on the couch.

"So what do we do?" Chloe J questioned. "How do we help her get over this?"

"You never really get over it." Nate told his cousin. "But what helped me the most after my mom died was knowing that you were all there for me."

"But this is different." Courtney reminded them. "This is the second parent that Paige has lost. She's an orphan now."

"It's so sad." They all looked at Emma. "Everything can change so quickly. Yesterday, Nikolas was alive. Now, he's gone, and he died on Paige's birthday, no less. She's going to remember that forever and her birthday is never going to be a happy day for her again."

"We'll help her, Princess." Zack promised.

"But what if we can't? I just don't understand how we can make this better. At least when Emily died, Paige was still pretty young. But she's 18 years old now and she understands a whole lot better. She's not ever going to be the way she was before."

"Probably not, but we can help her get as close as possible. It doesn't matter if it's hard. She's our friend, Emma. We have to help her." Nate told her. "Even if we can't, we have to at least try."

"Maybe we could have a sleepover here tonight." Chloe J suggested. "That way, she'll know that we're all here for her."

"That sounds like a good idea. I'll call her." Courtney offered. She pulled out her phone and dialed Paige's number before putting it on speed dial.

"Hello?"

"Hey P. How are you doing?"

"I honestly don't know."

"I'm at the Enchantment with Emma, Chloe J, Zack, and Nate. You wanna come over and have a sleepover tonight?"

"Thanks for offering, but I kind of need to be with Nattie right now. We just found out that Brook Lynn never had any intention of coming back to Port Charles. She found someone when she was on her tour. I asked Aunt Sam to try and track her down, and she found out about Brook and this new guy and told my dad and he was filing for divorce. We're just gonna go over to Aubrey's and stay there tonight."

"Okay. If you change your mind, then call us. We love you, and we're all here for you."

"Love you, Paige!" the other four shouted.

"I love all of you too. Bye."

"Bye." Courtney hung up. "That's intense."

"It's terrible, for Nattie especially. She basically just lost both of her parents too." Emma bit her lip. "I wonder where they're going to be living now."

Mia

Mia walked into the Metro Court hotel. She had agreed to meet Daniel and Allie for lunch, considering she hadn't seen them in a couple of days and she missed them. That was the only thing she regretted about leaving her parents' house; she didn't get to see her siblings nearly as much.

She walked into the restaurant part and was surprised to see Josslyn. "Hey Joss."

"Hi." Josslyn said, sounding exhausted. "You meeting your friends?"

"Daniel and Allie. I'm a little late, so they should already be here. What are you doing here?"

"Aiden forced me to come. He said that I would be more useful at the hotel than at the hospital. I just don't know how to help him and it's stressing me out." She ran a hand through her hair. "And I didn't sleep at all last night, so I'm beyond tired."

"That sucks." Mia grimaced. "You'll know what to do with Aiden. If you really love him the way I think you do, then it'll just come naturally."

"Thanks, Mimi. I hope so." Josslyn let her walk past her and to her table. Mia took a seat next to Allie.

"Hey guys." She greeted.

"How's Paige?" Daniel wondered. "I heard about what happened to Wyndemere on the news."

"She's safe, but she's far from okay. Her father was killed in the fire and the whole house was burnt down, so everything that belonged to her is gone."

"That's terrible." Allie said sadly. "I hope all the Cassadines get through this."

"They will. They have no choice but to keep going." Mia opened up her menu, though she pretty much knew it by heart. "What are you guys getting?"

"Steak and mashed potatoes." Daniel answered.

"Chicken Caesar salad." Allie replied. "What about you?"

"Chicken and shrimp pasta." Mia closed her menu. The waitress came over and took their orders, and then it was quiet.

"Mom really misses you guys." Allie said, breaking the silence.

Mia sighed. Allie was living with Olivia again and she seemed to be happy, especially since their over critical and overly judgmental father wasn't there. She wasn't sure what Daniel's opinion was on their mother, but Mia definitely knew her own.

"I miss her too." Mia stated carefully, taking a drink of her water. She wasn't just going to sit there and bash her mother, but she did have some pretty strong thoughts on Olivia Falconeri.

"You guys should come back home." Allie was a lot quieter when she said that. "I miss us all being together."

"Absolutely not." Mia turned towards Daniel. She had figured his thoughts were similar to her own, and his words just confirmed it.

"But why not?"

"I like living with my dad. Mom just sat by and let Steve treat Mia however he wanted. I'm not even mad about him pushing me up against a wall or anything else he had ever said to me. I'm mad about how he treated his child, his own flesh and blood, and Mom didn't say a word."

"She's changed, Daniel. She loves you guys and she wants us all to be together again. Dad's out of the picture."

"But for how long? Until Mom needs some money? Allie, you know Mom hasn't worked in fourteen years, right? Where do you think she's getting money from?"

"Child support and once the divorce goes through, she'll get spousal support."

"And if Steve decides not to pay it? Then what?" Daniel shook his head. "No. I think Mom just wants us back because she wants the big, fat checks my dad has always given her, and then she'll get more money because she'll be getting some for Mia too. I'm not going back there until she proves to me that she's changed, and it'll probably be too late by then. I'm starting college soon and I'm going to go somewhere far away so I can get away from the insane, messed up town."

The youngest of the siblings turned to her older sister. "What about you, Mia? Why can't you come live with Mom?"

"Allie, I'm two months pregnant. I need to be with Gabe."

"Teenagers raise babies from two different houses all the time."

"And how many of their relationships survive?" Allie was quiet. "Exactly. Would I like to live with Mom? I don't know. I haven't talked to her in a while and I don't exactly believe that she's as different as you say she is. But I'm going to have a baby soon. I need to put that baby first, and the best thing for him or her is to have both of their parents together."

Allie completely dropped the subject, but the rest of their lunch was awkward. Mia was ready to leave, and she could tell Daniel was too. He had picked Allie up and volunteered to drop her back off, so after dessert, they left.

"I'll see you guys later." Mia hugged both of her siblings. "Love you."

"Love you." Daniel and Allie said together. They went to their separate cars.

Mia didn't even bother turning the radio on for the drive back to the penthouse, which was unusual for her. She usually sang loudly, but she had too much on her mind.

When she arrived at the penthouse, she was relieved to see that no one was in the living room. She didn't want to explain her lunch to any of the other Morgans.

She knew Gabe was home because she had seen his car in the parking garage, so she went to his room. He had clearly just showered and he was laying in his bed.

"Hey Mimi."

"Hi." Mia walked in, closing the door behind her. "I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

"No, I was just trying to take a quick little nap. How was lunch?"

"It was good to see Daniel and Allie again, until Allie started talking about how much my mom wants us to live with her."

"Really? What did you say? What did Daniel say?"

"Daniel flat out said no, and I did too. Why should I put myself back in that situation?" she took off her shoes and layed down next to him. Mia rested her head on Gabe's chest and he immediately started playing with her hair.

"Paige and Nattie are going to live here."

"Wow. Do Emma, Maddie, and Katie know?"

"Uh-huh. My parents sat us down and told us about an hour before you got here."

"How do you feel about that?"

"I don't really care, but that's probably because I'm a guy and I know that my parents won't make me share a room with anyone."

"Maybe I should start considering living with my mom." Mia said.

"Why?"

"The penthouse is getting extremely crowded. Your parents have you, Mads, Emma, Katie, Sellie, they'll have a baby boy in three months, we'll have a baby in seven months, and now Paige and Nattie too? There's not really any room for us here, Gabe."

"I guess you're right, but I don't want you to go. You shouldn't have to be forced to go back to your mom." Right as he finished speaking, Sam walked into the room.

"Hey guys." She smiled at the two teenagers, even though they really weren't supposed to be in the same room together. Sam just let it go, considering it was only 2 o'clock and not bed time yet. "Could you listen for Selena? She's in her room playing, but I'm going to try and take a nap since I didn't sleep all night."

"Yeah, that's fine." Gabe answered. "Mom, don't you think the penthouse is getting a little crowded? I think it's time for an expansion."

Sam smiled. "Your father and I are thinking the same thing. I'll see you at dinner." She left the room just as Emma came back in.

"Hey, I thought you were staying at the Enchantment." Mia stated.

"No, Paige wanted to stay at Aubrey's with her and Nattie, so we decided to just not do it. Also, we're gonna hold off on the whole cheerleading takeover thing. Britt, Courtney, and I talked and we decided that it would probably be best to let everything settle down with Paige, Aubrey, and Nattie before we attempt to take over Madison's cheer team."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Mia agreed. "I hope you do it soon so I can help."

"Sorry Mimi, it doesn't look like it's gonna happen for a while."

Mia sighed. "Well there went all my hopes and dreams."

Emma rolled her eyes with a smile. "Shut up." Mia laughed. "I'm gonna go shower." She left the room.

Gabe kissed his girlfriend's forehead. "You need to try and get some sleep too. It's not good for the baby that you were up all night."

"I'm fine." She said through a yawn.

"Yeah, sure you are. Close your eyes."

Mia did as he said and she could feel herself quickly drifting off.

Josslyn

Josslyn laid in Aiden's bed, her arms wrapped tightly around her boyfriend. He had cried earlier, and now he was just silent. It was kind of unsettling; he had always been the strong one while she fell apart, but she knew it was her turn to step up now.

"How can he just be gone? He's my dad, Joss." Aiden said quietly.

She ran a hand through his hair. "I know, but he's in a better place."

"What are we going to do without him? I know he wasn't much of a father, and he usually cared more about Cassadine Industries than his children, but he was still our dad."

"He loved you all so much. Sometimes, people just have a hard time showing it." Josslyn was speaking from experience. She had no problem telling people when an outfit was ugly or they were doing something that bothered her, but she couldn't open up when it came to her feelings, especially loving someone.

Aiden's head turned towards her suddenly and she saw his eyes get bigger. It scared her a little bit.

"Aiden…"

"Marry me." He blurted out.

Her mouth fell open. That was definitely the last thing she expected. "What?"

"You heard me. Life's too short, Joss. I love you, and I want you to marry me."

Josslyn's heart and her head had a little battle, and then she just let her heart take over. "Yes. Yes I'll marry you."

Aiden kissed her gently. He reached over into the table next to his bed and pulled out a box. He opened it up and there was a huge ring just like the one Josslyn had always imagined she would have one day. He slid it onto her finger.

"It's perfect." She whispered, feeling herself tear up. She was not a crier, so she didn't understand why.

"Lindsey helped with it."

"How long have you had this?"

"Mmmm, about three months."

"Three months?!" Josslyn nearly shouted. "Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"I was waiting for the right time. I wanted us both to be ready, and I finally think that we might be."

"I love you, Aiden. I know I don't say it a lot, but I do."

"I know. I love you more." He kissed her forehead.

Josslyn cuddled into his arms, hoping that she was giving him even a fraction of the comfort he gave to her. Then it hit her.

She was engaged!

The Morgans

"Good morning." Sam greeted as Paige and Nattie walked into the penthouse. They each only had a small bag with them; Jason had given them some money to go shopping yesterday and buy a couple of things until everything was sorted out with Nikolas's money, and then they would have time to actually go and buy everything they need.

"Hi." Paige smiled at her. Nattie followed her older sister's lead. While she was also related to Sam and Jason, she wasn't nearly as close to them as Paige was. It was kind of strange that she was going to be living with them now.

"You guys can just sit on the couch. We're about to have a family discussion." Sam told them. Paige looked over and saw that only Maddie and Selena were in the room.

"Where is everyone?"

"Still in bed." Sam went to the stairs. "EMMA! GABE! MIA! KATIE! Get down here now!"

Jason walked in from the kitchen. "Hey."

"Hi, Uncle Jason." Paige hugged him.

"How are you?"

"We're doing…okay." Paige said quietly. She definitely wasn't okay and Sam, Jason, and Maddie picked up on that, but how else could they expect her to be? Her father had just died.

Katie was the first downstairs. Her long, dark hair was wild around her and she was wearing purple silk pajamas. She came in and sat next to Nattie on the couch.

Mia was next. Her hair was pulled into a bun on top of her head and she was wearing blue Ravens shorts and a pink and black cheer t-shirt. She sat down on Maddie's lap.

"You okay?" Maddie questioned.

"Headache." She rubbed her temples and closed her eyes.

"Where are Gabe and Emma?" Jason asked.

"I don't know, I was in Maddie's room." Mia responded.

Gabe came downstairs and he was already dressed for the day. He sat on the floor next to Maddie.

Emma was the last one to come into the living room. She had bags under her eyes, her hair was the same as it had been last night, and she was wearing sweatpants and a PINK jacket.

"Em, did you even sleep?" Gabe wondered.

"No, not really." She sat down next to Selena, pulling the four year old onto her lap. "What's going on?"

"Since our family is growing pretty quickly, we figured it was time for a little talk." Jason began. "First of all, as you all know, Paige and Nattie will be moving in with us. For now, Paige and Emma are going to share a room and Nattie and Katie. Mia, you will still be staying in Maddie's room, and don't think that either of you have been sneaky. We see that she's not following the rules, Gabriel, and we expect Mia to sleep in Maddie's room every night.

Emma held in her groan. In her entire life, she had never had to share a room and she knew that she would be annoyed by sharing with Paige. She glanced over at Gabe, who was rolling his eyes at their parents' discussing Mia's sleeping arrangements.

"Now, we have an important question to ask you guys." Sam stood next to Jason. "How would you feel about moving?"

"You mean out of the penthouse? Like completely?" Maddie asked.

"We would still keep the penthouse just because of the fact that we've had it since before you all were born and it has a lot of good memories. But we would buy some land and have a house specially built for us, and you would all be able to design your own rooms."

"Sounds good to me." Katie spoke first. "Almost everyone is sharing rooms now, and once the new baby and Mia's baby come, there won't be anywhere to put them."

"I agree. We should have moved a long time ago." Maddie agreed.

"What about you, Sellie? How do you feel about getting a new house?" Sam asked the youngest member of their family.

"Can we get a swing set?"

"If that's what you want." Sam assured her. She hated that her older children had to grow up without a yard to play in, and she wanted to change that for Selena and the new baby. "What about the rest of you? Mia?"

"I honestly don't care. Anything is better than living with my mother, so if you wanna move, then so do I."

"Gabe?"

"We've outgrown the penthouse. I'll miss it, but it's time to go."

"Nattie? How do you feel?" Jason tried.

"Um, I don't really know. It's not really my decision."

"You're as much part of this family now as our children and Mia. We want everyone's opinion."

"Then I think it would be good. That way, we would have a place that we could actually call our own. I don't know about Mia and Paige, but I kind of feel like I'm intruding and if you built a house knowing that I was going to be living there, then it wouldn't be like you're just stuck with me."

"I agree with her." Paige added.

"Then that just leaves you." Sam and Jason turned to Emma. "Any thoughts?"

"Not really thoughts…it's more like conditions."

Jason sighed, getting ready for whatever she was going to say. "Let's hear them."

"I want to still be in the PCH school district. I don't want to be any further than ten minutes away from Zack's and Courtney's."

"I agree with that." Maddie threw in, Gabe and Mia nodding along since their best friends- Hunter, Brittany, and Connor- lived in those houses.

"I want us all to have our own space. I know you're saying that you're letting us design our rooms and all that, but I think we should all have our own rooms. I know that Paige and I are going to be going to college soon, and Mimi, Gabe, and Mads will be going right after us, but it's still good to know that you have a place to come home to."

Sam nodded. "We'll definitely stay in the PCH school district, and you guys can have your own rooms. I'm not sure if we'll be able to find any land available within ten minutes of the Corinthoses and the Jacks', but we'll try our best. If not, it will be no longer than twenty minutes."

"I guess that's reasonable." Emma allowed.

"I have one request too." Mia threw in. Sam was a little surprised; the sixteen year old preferred to try and stay out of the way. Sam knew it was because she felt like she was a burden (which she wasn't). "I know you guys aren't really comfortable with Gabe and I sharing a room, but I'm going to need you to make sure that my room, Gabe's room, and our baby's room are all pretty close."

"Definitely." Jason said. "Anything else?"

"I want a pool." Maddie told them. "We never got to have a pool because we live in a penthouse, and I think it would be cool to have one now."

"Not true, Mads. The Enchantment has a pool." Katie reminded her.

"Yeah, but we never technically lived there." She turned to her parents. "Why aren't we just moving in there?"

"We agreed that the Enchantment has become more of your guys' place and we don't want to intrude on that." Sam stated. "Any other requests?"

"Theater room." Katie said, quickly earning agreements from the others. "It would be so cool!"

"A playroom!" Selena cheered.

"Oooh, an in-ground trampoline would be awesome!" Mia was now looking at her phone.

"What are you doing, searching the most outrageous things you could have in a house?" Jason questioned jokingly.

"That's so cool!" Maddie said. "Look at it, Dad! It would be so fun!" she grabbed Mia's phone and showed him the picture.

Mia continued to scroll down. "There's also a zip line, an outdoor movie screen, a hammock, a backyard stream, these little cocoon things that hang from trees, a swing set fire pit…"

"Let me see that." Emma grabbed her phone. "Oh my God, we totally need that at the Enchantment!" she looked at her father. "Dad, please?"

Jason knew in that moment that he would give these kids anything. Seeing the heartbroken looks on Paige and Nattie's faces disappearing, even if it was only for a couple of minutes, and his kids and Mia really smiling for the first time in months, was amazing. So if they wanted an in-ground trampoline or a pool or even a full sized football field, he would give it to them.

"I'll see what we can do." Jason looked at the picture Emma was showing him. Five wooden porch swings were attacked to a large metal frame in the shape of a pentagon. In the middle of the swings was a fire pit.

"We would need six swings though." Gabe reminded him, thinking that two people from the Dream Team could sit on each swing.

"Look at this!" Mia showed Gabe a set of pool bumper cars. "Four wheelers would be cool too."

Sam shook her head, knowing that Jason was easily being pulled into everything these teenagers were calling out. At the rate they were going, they would have to buy half of Port Charles to fit all this stuff in.

"What about you guys?" Jason turned to Paige and Nattie. "Any crazy ideas?"

"It's not really crazy, but can we get a piano?" Paige asked. "We had an instructor and we all had to learn how to play, so it would be nice to keep going."

"We can get one." Sam agreed.

"Inflatable twister!" Katie shouted from where she was looking over Maddie's shoulder at Mia's phone. "Mom, we have to!"

"Why do you need inflatable twister?" Sam looked at the phone. "Actually, that does look kind of awesome…"

"We would need a pool shower." Gabe said, pointing to one of the other pictures.

"Why?" the girls asked simultaneously.

"I'm just thinking about all of you and your long hair and the chlorine."

"He's right." Maddie agreed.

Mia searched something else and Sam and Jason immediately heard all of their kids gasp.

"What is it?" Jason questioned.

"Bowling alley!" they shouted together.

"When do any of you ever go bowling?" Sam wondered.

"Well we would if we had a bowling alley in our house!" Katie said. "Paige, Nattie, come here. You guys have to look at this stuff."

The two girls came over, sitting down next to the others. Emma grabbed her IPad from on top of the table and handed it to Mia. "Here, use this instead. We'll all be able to see better."

Sam and Jason smiled at the way that all of their children were huddled around together. Jason grabbed a pad of paper and a pen off of the desk and he and Sam sat on the couch.

"Okay, so what do we have so far? A pool- do you want in-ground or above ground?"

"In ground." They all said together.

"With a slide!" Selena cheered.

"And a diving board." Katie added.

"Okay." Jason wrote that down. "A movie theater, bowling alley, four wheelers, piano, pool shower, in-ground trampoline, outdoor movie screen, a hammock, and inflatable twister?"

"And a swing set fire pit for the Enchantment." Maddie reminded him.

"Look! A hidden room!" Mia pointed to the IPad. It was a room that could only be accessed from swinging open a bookshelf.

"Let me see that." Jason took the IPad. "I don't know why you guys would need a hidden room."

"Yeah, I guess that one is a little unnecessary." Mia gasped. "Balcony pools!"

"That would be awesome! We could all have our own floors with pools on them!" Katie said.

"Wait a second. You do realize that there are eight of you? With that, plus two babies, and the two of us? We are not having an eleven story house."

"Plus we're doing an in-ground pool in the backyard." Jason reminded.

"Skylights are so pretty." Paige said, looking at the picture on the IPad. "Can you imagine looking at the stars from your bed?"

"Walk in closets are even better." Emma stared dreamily at the screen.

Jason smiled. "All of you will have walk in closets, just like you do now." The girls all high-fived.

"I NEED THIS." Everyone looked at what Selena was pointing to on the screen. The door of a closet opened up to a slide, which went down to a waterslide that was in the house.

"That would be amazing!" Maddie agreed.

"Okay guys, we're only getting one pool and it's going to be outside." Sam stated. Maddie and Selena pouted slightly.

"A swing into the pool?" Mia asked. Jason wrote it down on the list.

"Swimming pool movie theater?" they all said together. There was a large outdoor movie screen on the back of the house and rafts in the pool that faced it like a theater."

"That might be possible." Jason added it to the list. "But remember, you could only use it in summer."

"I still want a theater room in the house." Katie insisted.

"A slide instead of stairs?" Selena questioned. Jason was confused at first, but then he saw that it was a spiral staircase with a slide attached to the other side. He wrote it down, though he didn't think they would actually do that one; too many hazards.

"Is it weird that I want that in my room?" Emma said. It was an indoor tree house.

"Jason, maybe we can do that for the baby's room." Sam suggested. He wrote it down.

"Okay, so I know you said only an outdoor, in-ground pool, but this is awesome!" Maddie showed the IPad to her parents. It was a pool that was partly inside and partly outside, saying that it was for days when you didn't want to sunbathe.

"Can you imagine how messy that would get? The floors would be soaked!"

"That's why we would have a special pool room. And then in the winter, we could swim too! We could get a hot tub put into the pool room too! Please, Dad?" Maddie begged.

Jason added it to the list, ignoring Sam's glare.

"Can we get an elevator?" Mia wondered.

Jason smiled. "Now you're just being lazy."

"Hey, pregnant girls get tired walking up stairs!" Sam nodded her agreement.

"We're not getting an elevator."

"What about a rock wall?"

"No."

"Ceiling hammock?"

"No."

"Waterfall shower?"

"No."

"But we would be able to wash our hair so much faster!" Katie protested.

"How about you all get on the internet and find pictures of stuff you want in your bedrooms? You will all have a walk-in closet and your own bathroom, so plan on that. We're gonna let you pick out all of the decorations and all that, as long as it's not too extravagant." Sam stated. The kids quickly agreed. "I know you're all dying to plan, so you can go ahead and do that."

"C'mon, Sel, I'll help you." Katie offered, carrying her younger sister upstairs. Emma, Gabe, Maddie, and Mia quickly followed, talking about all of their ideas. Paige and Nattie stayed on the couch.

"We're going to need to get some stuff for you both." Sam said. "We're getting your cellphones put onto our plans. Do you have your car still, Paige?"

"Yeah. I never really used it on the island, so it stayed parked here."

"Okay. We'll need to think about clothes, and you'll both need beds. If you want, Jason and I can take you shopping."

"Thank you." Paige smiled at her aunt. "You didn't have to let us live here, but you did and…"

"Stop. You're family and we wouldn't have let you go anywhere else." Jason turned to Sam. "Are you sure you're up for shopping?"

"I'm sure." Sam went to the stairs. "KATIE!"

Her fourteen year old exited her room. "Yeah, Mom?"

"Can you keep an eye on Selena? We're going to take Nattie and Paige shopping."

"Sure."

"And try to clear out a part of your closet. Tell Emma to do the same. We're getting beds and clothes."

"Okay." Katie disappeared back into her room.

Sam smiled at her cousins. "Let's go."

Rachel

"Alec?" Rachel said, interrupting the football game her boyfriend was watching. He looked at her.

"What's wrong?"

"Well you know how I went and saw Sam yesterday?" he nodded. "We talked about how I'm not really close to the kids, and she told me that I should invite them to do something. But I don't know anything about them or what they like to do."

Rachel knew that Alec knew a lot more about the Morgans than she did. His mother, Brenda Barrett, was once married to Jason (though it was a marriage of convenience, not anything having to do with love).

"I've known them all since they were born, and the first thing I'm going to tell you is that they will all stick together, no matter what. I'm not trying to freak you out, but if you upset one of them, they're all going to be against you. The easiest one is Sellie, but you already know her. She loves princesses and playing games and dressing up. Then, there's Katie. She's just like a mini-Emma, but no one realizes that yet. She's always hanging out with her friends, and she likes to have fun. She's adventurous. Maddie is the quietest one, but she observes everything. Even though she might not be super outgoing, she's easy to get along with. Gabe is going to be the hardest for you to get to know. He's closed off and he doesn't trust easily. He loves football, and he's good at it. He doesn't like to play around with girls or their emotions, mostly because the closest people to him are women. Then, there's Dimples." Rachel saw him smile and knew that he had a soft spot for her half-sister. "I know her the best because when we were growing up, she and Courtney were always around because of Josslyn. You might not guess it from looking at her, but she's funny. She will try anything once, and she never backs down from a challenge. She can make friends in any situation, and she loves to talk and laugh. That being said, she probably won't let you in right away because she's extremely protective of the people she loves, and younger brother and sisters are right at the top of that list."

"So what do I do? How do I get to know them?"

"Maybe invite them out to lunch. That way, you can all talk."

"But I hardly know anything about them."

"I can tell you the basics. Emma is a senior, and when she was at PCH, she was the cheer captain and student body president. She dated my younger brother before, but he beat her up, so she's extra cautious around men now, except Zack Corinthos, your half-brother from your biological father. She's also really close to Josslyn's sister Courtney, and Chloe J Hunter, but you probably don't know who she is.

"Gabe, like I said, plays football. He's a junior. He's dating Mia Webber, who has been his best friend since kindergarten, and she's two months pregnant. Things are rough with Mia's family, so she lives with Sam and Jason.

"Maddie is a junior and a cheerleader. She's dating Josslyn's younger brother Connor. Her ex-boyfriend, Parker Ruiz, was killed right in front of her by the TMK when he got him by a car.

"Katie is a freshman. Josslyn said that she just recently found out that Jason isn't her biological father. She's a cheerleader, like Emma and Maddie. As far as I know, she's single. She's really close with Josslyn's sister Jacelyn, and another girl named Ava Zacchara." Alec studied her. "You're never gonna know if you don't try."

Rachel picked up her cellphone and found the name she was looking for in her contacts. "Hi Maddie, it's Rachel. I was wondering if you guys would want to meet up with me for lunch…if you want, I can bring Sophia so she'll be kept busy…okay, sounds great. See you then."

Alec raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"We're meeting in an hour." Rachel went to get Sophia ready.

The Morgans

Rachel stood in front of Kelly's with Sophia in front of her, waiting for her siblings to arrive. She didn't know why she was so nervous, but she wanted to make a good impression on them. Sure, she had met them all, but Sam had always been there. It had never been just her brother and sisters.

The first one she saw was Emma. She had Selena on her hip and they were both laughing. Katie followed behind her, staring down at her phone. Last were Gabe and Maddie, who were walking next to each other. Her eyes met Maddie's and she immediately felt the awkwardness of the whole situation.

"Hi, Sophia!" Selena practically shouted. Emma put her down and the two girls ran into the diner.

"Thanks for meeting me, guys." Rachel greeted.

"No problem." Emma said. Katie, Maddie, and Gabe went inside, just nodding at Rachel in acknowledgment.

They all sat together at a table and their orders were taken. Surprisingly, it was Katie who took charge of the situation.

"So, why did you want to meet up?"

"I just wanted the chance to get to know you all. Sam's told me so much about you, and even Alec says things, especially about you, Emma."

Emma groaned. "Don't believe anything he says."

Rachel smiled. "It's all good things."

"Good. And if he ever happens to mention a Merry-Go-Round, just know now that he made that up." Maddie and Gabe looked at her in confusion. "Let's just say something happened when I was at a carnival with Courtney, and Joss, Lindsey, Jake, and Alec were supposed to be watching us."

"I don't even want to hear that story." Katie took a drink. "So, you want to be called Rachel, right? Not Lila?"

She took a deep breath, deciding to ask something she had been wondering for a while. "Did you all know about me?"

"Mom told us all about you. You're the reason she and Dad got together, so I guess if it had never been for you, then we wouldn't have been born. So thanks." Emma gave her a small smile.

"What did she say about me? I'm just not really sure how to ask her questions about it; I don't want to bring up old pain."

"I'm sure she doesn't really hurt as much anymore." Katie reassured her. "She's always been really honest with us. If you ask her anything, she'll answer you."

"But I don't know her that well. It's not the same with us."

"Yes it is. No matter what, you're our sister. You have the same mother as us, and she's going to treat us all the same."

At that moment, Rachel felt some sort of connection with Katie. She knew that she honestly thought of her as being her sister. Emma seemed to be opening up to her too, but Gabe and Maddie hadn't spoken once.

"So, tell me about yourselves. I want to know all about you."

"Where do we even start?" Katie laughed.

"Just whatever you think is important."

"Well, my full name is Katiana Alexis. As you know, everyone calls me Katie, except for when they're mad at me, and Alec calls me Kat. I'm fourteen, and my birthday is July 1st. You might know this already, but Jason isn't my biological dad. He and Mom were having some trouble in their marriage after they had Gabe and Maddie and they both cheated. My biological father is John McBain and he lives in Llanview, Pennsylvania."

"Have you ever met him?"

"Twice. I went there with a couple of my friends, and then he came here to see me after we got the DNA test back. He's letting me make my own decisions with all of this and I know that Jason's my dad no matter what, but I think I might want to know more about him one day. All I know is that he's a cop, he's got a wife named Natalie, and they have three kids named Liam, Sydney, and Tommy."

Rachel looked to the oldest of the group. "What about you?"

"Um, my name's Emma Joy. My parents…I guess our parents…picked my name because of my dad's sister, Emily, and they said that I was the happiest baby they've ever seen, even from the beginning, so they chose Joy. I'm seventeen and my birthday is July 26th…"

"When's your birthday?" Katie interrupted.

"November 8th."

"Mine and Emma's are in July and the twins and Selena's are in August, so they've always been right by each other. Mom and Dad say that it's stressful, but I think they like throwing all of the parties."

Emma continued. "I don't really know what else to say about myself. I don't have a boyfriend, I go to Madison Academy…"

"Do you all go there?"

"Maddie and I do. Gabe and Katie go to NYCS."

"Why do you go to different schools?" Rachel noticed the immediate change in demeanor of Emma and Maddie. "Do you guys not like it there?"

Maddie took over. "We absolutely hate it. Mom and Dad forced us to go to Madison, and they let Gabe and Katie pick where they wanted to go."

"Why?"

"We're still not entirely sure." Maddie rolled her eyes.

"What about you guys?" Rachel looked at the twins.

"My name's Gabriel Jason. The only person that really calls me Gabriel is Mia. That's my girlfriend, and my best friend. You probably already know that she's pregnant." He paused. "Can I be honest for a second?"

"Of course." Rachel agreed.

"I don't like new situations. I don't like meeting new people who I'm automatically supposed to trust. I don't like that you have connections to the Janaceks. For our entire lives, we've been taught that they aren't good people. We learned that Kiefer nearly beat our aunt to death and then," he stopped, looking at Sophia and Selena, "and then Wes came from that whole mess, who he stole away from her. He forced Izzie into a relationship and she's basically been like an older sister to us for our entire lives. I don't know that much about you, and I'm not going to trust you for a while."

"And if Gabe doesn't trust someone, then I don't either." Maddie agreed, surprising her sisters. Usually, she avoided confrontation at all costs, but it didn't seem that way with Rachel.

Rachel took a deep breath. "Can you tell me a little bit about you, Maddie?"

"My name is Madelyn Lila. Yes, my middle name is after you, and our grandmother. I have a boyfriend. I go to Madison. I've changed a lot in the past couple months, and I've learned that you can't believe everything people tell you. Even people who you think are your family can turn their backs on you." Gabe, Emma, and Katie knew that she was talking about Trevor. "Selena, tell Rachel about yourself."

"My name is Selena Claire Morgan and I'm this many." She held up four fingers. "I like princesses and toys and games and the park and puppies and chocolate and…"

"Sel." Katie said in annoyance.

"I'm special because I have two mommies and two daddies. My first mommy and daddy didn't know how to take care of me, so they wanted me to have a good home. That's why they gave me to Mommy and Daddy." She smiled at her best friend/niece. "Your turn, Sophia!"

"I'm Sophia Summer Janacek and I'm four. My favorite color is purple. I'm gonna be five on August 19th, but I have a long time 'til then. My daddy is a mean man, so I don't know him anymore, but it's okay cause I still get to see Izzie. Your turn, Mommy!"

"I was raised as Rachel Lila Janacek, and I'm 23. I had Sophia when I was 19, and it wasn't by choice but I'll never regret her. My brother, Clay, and I were always taught to think that we weren't good enough to be in our family. Everything was always about Aleksander or Kiefer, and how they would always know the right thing to do. I was only a year older than Clay, but I took my job as the oldest seriously, especially after Wesley came. The three of us stuck together because I was expected to take care of him, and I taught him about how wrong everything Theo and Kiefer were doing was. Because of that, he knows how to respect women and the proper way to act in the real world.

"I had always been told that Kiefer was my brother, so I never understood how he could hurt me the way that he did." Rachel ran a hand over Sophia's head when she spoke. "It's a relief to find out that he really isn't. Once Izzie came, she realized that Kiefer wasn't a very good guy, and at first, I honestly don't think she remembered who he was. Then, he told her and she wanted to get out, but he wouldn't let her. He tried to force her to have a child with him, but he didn't know that I had been giving her the birth control that Theo had been giving me. I would have given my life to protect Izzie, Clay, Wes, and Sophia, and I thought of them as my siblings. It's the same as with the five of you. I love them all so much, and I know that if you'll let me, I'll be able to love you too."

The food came to the table at that moment, fixing the awkward moment. Katie was content with Rachel's confession because she was already feeling connected to him. The older three, however, were a bit weary. The whole TMK experience had taught them not to trust too easily, so they were going to wait a little bit before making a decision on their big sister.

The Jacks'

Carly walked downstairs, seeing her three youngest children in the living room. Courtney was lying on the couch, staring at something on her phone. Connor was in the chair with his focus on the TV. Jacelyn was lying on her stomach on the ground in front of the TV and it looked like she was dividing her attention between that and her phone.

"What are you guys doing?"

"Texting Paige." Courtney responded. "She's a mess."

Carly hadn't always gotten along with Emily, and she wasn't particularly close with Nikolas, but she felt sorry for one of her daughter's best friends. She had lost both of her parents so young, one on her birthday no less. She couldn't imagine her children suffering that pain.

"Jax!" Carly yelled up the stairs. She went over and turned off the TV, earning protests from Connor and Jacelyn. "Court, sit up. We need to have a talk."

Jacelyn joined Courtney on the couch just as Jax came downstairs. Connor sat up straighter. "Is everything okay?"

"We just want to talk to you all." Jax came over to stand next to his wife.

Carly took over. "You guys know how crazy Port Charles has been lately. With all of those teenagers being killed," she paused for a second as they all remembered Bella, "and then Robin dying, and now Nikolas, your father and I have been thinking."

"I'm not moving." Courtney stated.

"Me either." Connor agreed.

"Moving isn't even an option." Jacelyn agreed.

"We're not moving." Carly confirmed. "We just want you all to know what would happen in case your father or I weren't there anymore."

"Don't say that." Courtney immediately shook her head.

"Court, it's a possibility. Cars and planes can crash, people can get sick, people can be in the wrong place at the wrong time. We just want you all to be prepared in case it was to happen. We've already discussed this, and if something happened to us, you would all go to live with Morgan and Lila Rae."

"WHAT!?" they all shouted together.

Jacelyn wrinkled her nose. "Lila Rae would never want us to live there. Plus, Morgan is so boring!"

"Why can't we live with Josslyn?" Courtney questioned.

The front door slammed closed right as she spoke. "Cause your big sister is about to get married!" she held up her left handing, showing off her big, sparkly engagement ring.

"OH MY GOD!" Courtney, Carly, and Jacelyn ran over to her, asking a million questions.

"Not my little girl." Jax groaned, sitting on the couch.

"I'm with ya, Dad. I don't think I can deal with her being Bridezilla." Connor sympathized.

"When will the wedding be?" Jacelyn asked.

"I'm not sure yet, Aiden just asked me last night. Lindsey's going to be my maid of honor, but I want you two to be my bridesmaids and I'm gonna ask Emma too, and Connie, you can be a groomsman." Josslyn looked at her father. "You'll walk me down the aisle, right, Daddy?"

All of Jax's negative thoughts floated away when he saw the happiness in his daughter's face. Since she was his first child, Jax had always naturally had a soft spot for Josslyn, resulting in all of her siblings referring to her as 'Daddy's Little Princess'.

"Of course I will." Jax hugged her. "Congratulations."

Josslyn smiled up at him. "Thank you."

Carly hugged her tightly. "I can't believe you're getting married! Who would have ever thought you would be the first?"

"Mom, Michael and Abby are married."

"Yeah, but all they did was go to the courthouse and sign some papers. You're having an actual wedding!"

"It's gonna be huge." Josslyn said with a big grin. Courtney and Jacelyn held back their groans, knowing that their sister was about to get really annoying.

The Corinthos'

Dinner time came quickly, and Sonny suggested that they eat in the dining room. For the past two months they had been sitting in front of the TV, or eating in their rooms to avoid the awkwardness that came with the empty seats at the table.

"This is weird." Brittany was the first to speak as she took her usual seat. It had always been Sonny at one end of the table with Brittany, Brenna, and Lola, then Claudia at the other end, and Jazzie, Hunter, and Zack next to her, going back around to Sonny.

At the same time, all four of the teenagers looked towards the two empty seats left by their sisters. The deaths of Jazzie Corinthos and Lola Zacchara had made a huge impact on their remaining family members.

"It's so strange knowing that they'll never be here again." Hunter said. "Like if you just think about everything we've ever done with them. All of the games we played, like when we were kids in the summer and used to play hide and seek in the dark in the backyard. Or the vacations we took, or even just when we would all sit in one of our rooms together and complain about our older brothers and sisters, or our parents' rules. Jazzie and Lola will never be there for those situations again."

"I can still remember everything about them. Their voices, their laughs, the smell of Jazzie's favorite perfume. But I'm scared that one day I'll forget it." Brenna admitted.

"I'm just glad for all of those home videos Mom used to take when we were kids. It was annoying at the time, and I usually hate it when she pulls out the camera now, but we'll always have that little piece of them." Zack reminded his siblings. "Even if they're not physically here, they'll always be here. We'll always remember them."

"That's the thing I most scared of. Being forgotten after I die." Brittany said quietly. "Our friends and siblings will remember us, along with any children we have, our grandchildren, and if we're lucky enough to meet them, then maybe our great grandchildren. But what about after that? We'll just be a face in a picture and eventually, our names are going to fade away into nothing. We won't matter."

"That's a pretty morbid thought, Britt." Claudia came into the room and sat in her usual seat. She realized that both sides of her, usually occupied by the youngest members of their family, were empty and moved to sit next to Brenna instead. "But that's why we have family. So we can talk and tell stories. You know, my father hated me from the minute I was born. He never wanted a daughter, and he wasn't in love with my mother, so he just saw me as a waste. Some people, like him, deserve to be forgotten, which is why I hardly talk about him. I know that your children will probably never hear a story about him because there aren't any good memories for me to tell you, so you won't have any to tell about him, so that might be for the better. But we're not going to forget Lola or Jazzie. We'll tell stories about them to each other and your kids once they're born. Not saying that I want any of you to have children any time soon." She added quickly.

Hunter laughed. "I think that's pretty unlikely since Brenna is the only one here who is dating anyone."

"And you aren't having babies for a long time." Claudia hugged her now youngest daughter.

"Trust me, it won't be happening." The fifteen year old agreed.

"Mom, how are you feeling about this whole Nikolas thing?" Zack wondered.

Claudia sighed. "I'm sad, of course. Nikolas and I weren't ever going to work out, which I should have known from the beginning, but I was at a rough point with your father and he had just broken up with Elizabeth; I still loved your dad and he still loved Emily. We were both hurt and didn't know what else to do. I will never regret that short relationship I had with him because it resulted in Lola. He was the father of my child and I'll always love him because of that and it's terrible that the rest of his children have to grow up without a dad now. But I know that he's in a better place and he's up there with Lola now."

Sonny came in, carrying a pan full of lasagna. He sat it down in the center of the table. Claudia gestured towards Jazzie's seat and he took it, leaving the ends of the table empty.

"It's strange being in here after so long." He commented.

"This is our new normal. We might as well get used to it." Hunter said, reaching for the lasagna. Zack and Brittany followed his lead, and after a moment of hesitation, Brenna did too.

Claudia and Sonny looked at each other. They weren't sure if they were ready to let go of their youngest children, but they knew that they had four more that were depending on them to step up. They both nodded and joined their children.

The Davis-Lovett's

Haley sat on the counter with a bag of pretzels. Even from down here, she could hear her father and stepmother screaming at each other. She rolled her eyes; would things ever change?

"Hey." Wes greeted as he came in the back door. He lifted himself onto the counter next to her. She offered him the bag of pretzels and he grabbed a handful. "Did anyone make dinner? I'm starving."

"They've been fighting for at least an hour, so no." Haley bit into a pretzel, chewing as loud as possible to block out their voices.

"It didn't work."

"How long can they possibly go at it?" Wes asked.

"Well, let's see. If they fight about me, it can go as long as two hours. If it's about the twins, it's usually at least for an hour. I don't think they've fought about you yet, so I'm not sure about that. If they're fighting about each other, this could go on all night."

Logan and Livvie came downstairs right at that moment. As soon as they stepped into the kitchen, they heard glass shatter upstairs.

"What is that?" Wes wondered.

"Mom. She throws things when she's mad." Logan started to dig around in the cabinet. "How does grilled cheese and ramen noodles sound for dinner? I'll make it." His siblings muttered their agreement, so he started to pull packages of ramen noodles out of the fridge.

"How long have they been fighting? I just got home an hour ago and it's been pretty loud since then."

"Two and a half hours." Livvie responded.

"What's it about this time?"

"Their marriage being a lie or something like that." She rolled her eyes.

"How often does this happen? You guys make it sound like a lot." Wes said.

"They've been pretty good since you came here. I think they were just trying to make a good impression. They used to fight at least twice a week." They heard something else break upstairs. "I guess they decided you like them enough."

Wes was surprised they were all taking this so well, especially Livvie and Logan. He knew that Haley would probably side with Ethan no matter what since he was her father, but the twins just acted like it was nothing.

"You know what? Let's go out. I'm sick of listening to this." Haley grabbed her keys and Logan quickly put the ramen noodles back in the pantry. The sophomores walked out the backdoor and Haley and Wes followed behind them.

"Are you okay?" Wes questioned.

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It has to be hard listening to them fight."

"Not really. I've grown up with it practically my entire life. It's gotten a lot worse in the past couple of years, but we're used to it."

"Aren't you worried about them getting a divorce one day?"

"I don't know, I've never really thought about it. Kristina and I don't always get along, but I know that I wouldn't be happy if my dad divorced her."

"What about your mom? Would you go live there?"

"That's not really an option."

"Why not?"

"I know I haven't really told you the whole story with my mother except for that I don't spend time with her." Haley sighed, figuring she might as well tell him. "My mom, Lisa, was obsessed with this doctor named Patrick Drake, you probably know him, he's Nate and Noah Scorpio-Drake's father. He was married to their mother, Robin, but he and Lisa had a one night stand. He still was in love with Robin and he chose to stay with her and that drove Lisa crazy. She thought that if she could make him jealous, then maybe he would realize what he was missing. That's when she started to talk with my father. She got pregnant with my only a month after Tyler was born and because she hadn't waited long enough, there were some complications. I was born two months early. My dad started getting closer to Kristina, but Lisa didn't want to crowd him because that's what she had done with Patrick and he hardly wanted to see Tyler because of it. She wanted me to have the best life possible, with both of my parents. She got pregnant with Ben two months after I was born by accident. She told my dad and he told her that once the baby was born, he was taking us away, which Kristina's mother Alexis helped with and that's partly the reason why I never really liked Kristina. Lisa told me that when I was taken away from her, I screamed and cried and reached for her, but my dad didn't care. She only got to see Ben once. After we were taken away, she slept with a doctor at Mercy and got pregnant with my youngest brother, Ian. She's never been with another man since then because she completely dedicated herself to Tyler and Ian, and she wanted to try and get Ben and I back. Up until two months ago, I had always believed that she just abandoned us, but Ben never did. He always thought the best of others." She smiled sadly.

"I'm sorry for bringing it up, Hales."

"It's okay. It's just hard to talk about because I don't know who I should blame for this. My dad for taking us away? Lisa for not fighting harder? Kristina for getting pregnant while my parents were still together and then having her mom help my dad win custody? Myself for not ever making the effort to get to know Lisa?"

"It's not your fault, especially if you were told that she just abandoned you."

"But I should have known. Ben knew; why couldn't I?"

"Because you don't trust as easily." He shrugged his shoulders. "It's not always a bad quality to have. It keeps you from getting walked all over."

"But it also keeps me from opening up to people." Haley ran a hand through her hair. "I just don't know where to go from here. Talking to Tyler and Ian is one thing. They're just my brothers, and they had no say in the situation. But talking to Lisa? She could have taken us and run, or she could have gotten a really good lawyer."

"What kind of life would that be? Living on the run would be difficult. And what if she didn't have enough money for a lawyer? Yeah, she's a doctor, but she was already raising one kid practically by herself, and I'm assuming she was supporting you too since your dad doesn't really have a job." Haley nodded. "She did what she thought was best for you. You have to just let yourself be open to the idea that she's not the bad guy."

"You're right." Haley hugged him hesitantly; she wasn't really a touchy-feely kind of person. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Wes kissed the top of her head. "We better get going before Logan and Livvie starve to death."

"You know what's weird? A couple of months ago, I would have never gone anywhere with Livvie and now I volunteered to go to a restaurant with her."

"Things change and this seems like it might be for the better."

Haley would never admit it, but having Wes around to listen to her was really amazing. She just hoped nothing happened that would screw up what they had going on.

Jamie and Addie

"Hello, Miss Addison. Are you here to see Mr. James?" Alice greeted as she opened the door to the Quartermaine mansion.

"Yes, thank you." She took off her coat and hung it on the coat rack in the corner. "Is he up in his room?"

"Yes, would you like anything to eat or drink?"

"No thank you." Addie climbed the stairs that led to the bedrooms of the Quartermaine teenagers. She shivered involuntarily as she passed the door that still said 'Trevor' on the outside and knocked twice on Jamie's, letting herself in.

"Hey." Jamie greeted with a smile, closing his chemistry book.

"Wow, look at you. Homework on a Sunday night. Usually, you don't even bother doing it." She slid off her shoes and sat on the bed.

"Not that I'm not glad you're here, but this is a surprise."

Addie shrugged. "I just didn't want to be alone tonight."

"Where are Cam, Molly, and Prue?"

"They're home, but it's not the same. I needed to be with someone who really understands."

Jamie came over and sat next to her. "Is everything okay?"

"After everything with the TMK, I just thought things would get better. It's amazing to me that Port Charles keeps taking one hit after another." She sighed. "I barely knew Nikolas Cassadine, but what about Paige, Colton, and Nattie? Aubrey just found out he was her father and now he's gone. Things are going to change so much for them. One little thing can change your life forever."

Jamie studied her face, seeing that she was staring blankly at the wall. "Addie…"

"I don't have a lot of family, you know? The Cassadines kids have their mothers, except Paige, they've got the Morgans, the Quartermaines, all of their friends. The only people I really have are my sister, my dad, and you."

"That's not true. You've got Haley, you're friends with the majority of the Crew, you know that Sam and Jason would do anything for you since you're Molly's sister, and even though you don't want to admit it, you've got new siblings now."

"Yeah." Addie shuddered. "It's so weird that Cameron is my brother now. My brother and sister are married."

"Don't say that. It sounds so weird." Jamie said with a frown, making Addie smile. "Have you thought anymore about having a relationship with Elizabeth?"

"I feel like the only reason she wants me around is to replace Stella. I've gone sixteen years without a mother and I can keep doing it."

"Well why don't you try and talk to some of her kids then?"

"Who? Cameron, Jake, and Aiden don't have the best relationship with her. Brendan and Colton know how insane she is and even they don't really like her."

"You don't have to talk about Elizabeth. Just find out stuff about them. You've got five new brothers, and a new sister. If I had more siblings, I would want to know them."

Addie felt sad then. Jamie had lost his mother when he was ten years old and his father only had one other child, his half-brother Tanner. He had been raised in the big, empty Quartermaine mansion for the past eight years and hadn't really had much of a family since then. Sure, there was the whole Quartermaine clan, but they weren't there every single day.

"I love you." She leaned over and hugged him. "I'm glad that I'll always have you to depend on."

"I love you too." He kissed her forehead.

Is anyone even still interested in this?

Nikolas is dead. Feelings?

Do you like it would be best for Paige and Nattie to be with Sam and Jason, or is there someone better?

Thoughts on Brook Lynn? How would you feel if you were Nattie? Do you think Brook will cause trouble for Sam and Jason getting custody?

Are Mia and Daniel being too hard on Olivia.

Josslyn and Aiden engagement?

What do you think of the requests the Morgans, Mia, Paige, and Nattie made for the new house?

Thoughts on the Rachel/Morgans lunch?

Do you think Kristina and Ethan will get a divorce? How will affect their kids?