Spencer, Trina, and Gia returned to find everyone in an uproar. Well, at least everyone related to Spencer anyway. Everyone else just stood back and watched as Laura berated Stefan for being such a bad influence on Nikolas and then turned on Nikolas for abandoning both of his sons, leaving Spencer to give Ace some semblance of family, but everyone stopped talking as Spencer and Trina marched into the mansion and approached Nikolas hand in hand.

"Spencer, you came back," Nikolas simply stated.

"Why? That's what I need to know, so I can explain it to Ace when the time comes. Why did you abandon us? Do you even know what we had gone through? What had happened since you had run off to only God knows where?!" Spencer stood there, staring at Nikolas with clear hurt in his eyes.

"I can explain that," Nikolas held up his hands in defense.

"Please do! Because I can't come up with an explanation! I'm just thankful that Ace won't remember any of this! God! You weren't even at my wedding!"

"I know...I know son and I regret that so much."

"Then you do this big reveal instead of just coming to me and telling me that you're back!"

Nikolas winced. "Well...I did kind of come to you...I mean following you…"

"Wait...that was you?"

Nikolas simply nodded. "Stalking was not easy, especially when all I wanted to do was have both of my sons in my arms again…"

"Nikolas, you are out of your mind!" Gia shook her head, just astounded by all of this. What had happened to the noble prince she had once loved and adored? What happened to change him? "What happened to you?"

"One simple word actually. Ava. At least, to explain my recent disappearance."

"Ava?" Trina frowned, her eyes finding her former employer at the back of the crowd, looking rather nervous as she clung to the arm of Austin Gaitlin Holt, who also looked like he was going to throw up.

"Yes, Ava. I admit, threatening to take Avery away from her was not a wise move...but I didn't expect her to try to kill me by knocking me in the head with a paper holder," Nikolas glared at his ex-wife.

"Ava, is this true?" Laura looked at Ava, remembering all the times they had talked about Nikolas's disappearance.

"Oh, and that's not all. According to Mason Holt, she and her friend there tried to hide my unconscious body in a closet at Wyndemere, but thankfully Mason got me out of there and had me hooked up on life support until I healed. Then Uncle Stefan showed up and whisked me off to Cassadine Island until we were ready to return to Port Charles. Now here I am, ready to reclaim my life back. That means my name, my fortune, my home, and my sons."

"Is this true?" Spencer glared at Ava, remembering how she had him blaming himself for chasing his father away when it had been her all along!

"You don't understand," Ava stammered. "He threatened Avery! I had to stop him somehow and...I was scared! I've been scared this whole time! I never meant for any of it to happen!"

Spencer just gave a dry sardonic laugh. "That is always your excuse! You didn't mean to betray me back when we thought Valentin had killed my father and now here you are again, you didn't mean to try to kill my father and have us believe he just left town without a word!"

"Oh come on...I…," Ava began to protest, feeling desperate. It was Trina that made her shut up in shock.

"Ava, just shut up! Shut up right now! You made Spencer blame himself and all along, it was you at fault! How could you do that to him?!" Trina glared at her former employer, feeling betrayed, because she thought that the last person who would ever lie to her was Ava, and also betrayed on Spencer's behalf.

"Trina, it wasn't like that! I never meant to hurt him! I had even called Laura and Sonny when he started blaming himself!"

"And that makes it even better? You knew that they were all worried about Mr. Cassadine's whereabouts, yet you knew and said nothing! What else have you lied to me about? Were Joss and her family right about you all along?!"

"I told you so," Joss piped up then fell quiet when Trina glared at her. "Sorry…"

"Anyway, you now know what happened to me and now I'm home for good. I'm not going anywhere," Nikolas smiled. "We can be a family now. I promise. Ava's out of my life like you wanted. Now we can start over."

"Wait," Elizabeth stepped forward, a mixture of emotions on her face. "What about what you...what we had done to Esme? Aren't you afraid of any legal repercussions?"

"All of that has been taken care of. Nikolas has been put on probation and cannot leave Port Charles for five years and must do community service," Stefan explained.

"It's that simple," Nikolas shrugged.

Spencer felt exhausted from all of these revelations. He felt as if his head was going to explode. He wrapped an arm around Trina's waist, needing her closeness just to keep himself grounded. "This is too much…"

"I'm sorry, son. I promise you, this separation will be the last one. I'm never leaving you and your brother again. That is a promise," Nikolas reached out to touch Spencer's arm, but the young man jerked away. "Spencer…"

"I can't do this now. I need to go home to Ace…"

Nikolas felt hurt hit him hard, but then he looked closely at his son and saw the hurt little boy who only wanted his father staring back at him and his heart broke in a million little pieces. What was he doing? What has he already done? Why did he keep doing this to his son, over and over again?! "Spencer, wait, don't go. I promise this is the last time! I'm home! I'll never leave you again!"

Spencer didn't say a word. He just gripped Trina's hand in his and turned around to walk away from his father, taking Trina with him.

"Spencer!" Nikolas called out, moving to go after them, but it was his mother's hand on his arm that stopped him.

"Let him go, Nikolas! He needs time to process all of this!"

"Mother, no! I can't! He'll hate me forever...and I need to make it right!"

"You can't make it right! Not right now! He needs time and space. Let him have that, at least for the rest of the night. Right now...I need to know why this big reveal like this? What are you and Stefan planning? What does it have to do with Spencer? Heck, what does it have to do with this whole town?!" Laura stared her son down.

"I can answer that, Lasha," Stefan stepped forward, playing with the Cassadine ring on his finger.

"Well do tell, because I'd like to know as well," Alexis came up to stand beside Laura.

"The whole plan is to make the Cassadines great again. Unite all of the family, even you Lasha and Natasha, and your girls into one big family unit," Stefan explained.

"What? You cannot be serious. Stefan, we have our own lives now! Plus Laura and Kevin are happily married and have their penthouse. Molly and TJ are domestic partners...Spencer is happily married, we all have our own lives!" Alexis stared at her brother in disbelief.

"So? I'm not saying to leave your respected partners. Everyone is welcome! That is why I brought this huge estate!"

"Oh my god," Alexis shook her head, completely overwhelmed by all that's happened so far.

"Plus, this is a chance to pick up where we left off...if given the chance," Nikolas eyed Gia, making his interest clear.

Gia simply rolled her eyes. "You're not the same guy I fell in love with all of those years ago, Nikolas. Plus, it'd be too weird with my niece married to your son."

Nikolas didn't say anything, but by the look in his eyes, Gia knew that he didn't care about any of that. Nikolas wanted her and he was going to do all he could to get her. "We'll see about that."

…..

When Spencer and Trina returned home, they dismissed the babysitter and changed into some regular clothes. Spencer finished before Trina and headed right into the nursery, where he scooped Ace up into his arms and held him protectively against his chest.

"I won't abandon you, Ace. I don't care what he says. Even if he takes you from me, I'm always going to be here to protect you. I promise you. We'll always be together...and unlike our father, I'm going to keep that promise," Spencer kissed the baby's head.

"Spencer?" Trina stood in the doorway, feeling emotionally exhausted. She felt so betrayed by Ava, yet her concern for Spencer's emotional state kept her from dwelling on that too much.

"I have to protect him. I don't want our father to hurt him like he had me," Spencer looked at Trina with hurt, sad eyes.

"Oh baby," Trina went to him and wrapped her arms around both him and the baby. "That's nice, but who will protect you?"

"I'm an adult. I can handle it. But Ace is a child. He won't be an adult for a very long time. He needs me."

"He has you. He always will. Just like you said."

"Father's going to try to take him from me and I won't be able to fight him because he's his father. But what if he abandons him? What if he hurts him or ignores him? What then?"

"I don't think he'll do that. I think he's learned his lesson."

Spencer just shook his head. "Look at how small he is Trina."

"Spencer...he's safe. He'll always be safe. No matter what, he'll have both of us to look out for him. Come on, put him down to bed. He's sleepy and you're emotionally exhausted. Let's go to bed."

Spencer gave a sad sigh as he kissed the baby's forehead and then put him down for the night. Trina gently took Spencer's hand and led him to their room. She turned to get in the bed when she was suddenly pulled against his chest and strong arms wrapped around her, holding her tight.

"Spencer, what is it?" She turned in his arms to wrap her own arms around him.

For a minute, Spencer didn't answer. He was just too full of emotions. He felt like he was drowning and holding on to Trina was the only way he could stay afloat.

"I need you…"

"You have me. Always," She promised. Taking his hands, she led him over to the bed where she had them both lay down with his head on her chest. They stayed like that for the rest of the night, with her stroking his soft hair until they both fell asleep.