The search is on! But for whom? The authorities are trying to correct their major blunder and figure out the identity of the woman whose body was mistakenly identified as Nelle, while Nina is frustrated that they are hardly doing anything to locate her daughter. Carly is questioned about the events surrounding Nelle's fall from the cliff, but is once again cleared of any wrongdoing. Nina of course doesn't react well at all to this, and insists that Carly is trying to interfere with the investigation despite promising not to do so. Carly says they owe it to the family of the woman misidentified as Nelle to find out what happened to her. Nina says they equally owe it to her to try and find Nelle! Carly tells her that just because the body was not a DNA match for Nelle despite being dressed in Nelle's clothes doesn't mean that Nelle is still alive, and explains that if she were alive, and she was aware Nina was her mother, she likely would have come home a long time ago. The two women start yelling at each other, and Michael and Willow intervene. Willow, once again on bad terms with her mother, gives Nina the choice of POSSIBLY being allowed to see Wiley and Amelia again at some point if she agrees to give up the search for Nelle, or she can try and find Nelle, but will never be allowed to see Wiley and Amelia again.
Nina tells them about going to Nelle's grave on the night of the second anniversary of her supposed death, and having a hallucination in which Nelle appeared before her. Nelle initially had seemed pleased to see Nina. Nina was filled with remorse and apologized for not knowing that Nelle was her daughter when she was alive. Nelle seemingly had accepted Nina's apology, and said that had things been different, the two of them could have "done a lot of damage". After Nina had told her that was not what she had wanted for Nelle, Nelle's tone changed, and she tore into Nina for not recognizing how alike they were. She admits in that moment that she was somewhat frightened of what things could have potentially been like if Nelle was alive, but when she looked up, Willow was standing where Nelle was.
Willow remembers this, and tells Nina about the dream she had that very same evening, in which she came downstairs to find Carly's and Michael's bodies on the floor, having been stabbed to death, and Nelle standing there with Wiley, telling Willow that Willow was the one who had killed them. Willow looked at her hands and saw that they were covered in blood, and Nelle said that karma had finally caught up with her. Willow admits to being scared when she woke up, and that was why she went to the grave, but eventually dismissed it as a nightmare. She tells Nina that everyone is better off without Nelle, including Nina. Nina admits that when she found out Willow was also her daughter, she was so emotionally invested in bonding with her living daughter and helping her recover from her cancer that she did somewhat forget about Nelle. Not completely, she still knew that Nelle was her daughter and Wiley's biological mother, but since Nelle was dead and Willow was alive, and Wiley was being raised as Willow's son, she was able to move forward with her life. Willow reminds Nina that is what she should still be trying to do, even if Nelle was alive.
Nina asks Willow if she is serious about allowing her to see her grandchildren if she doesn't go looking for Nelle. Willow looks over her shoulder at Michael and Carly, who are both staring daggers at Nina, then tells Nina that she tried to let Nina have a place in their lives, but that was a mistake. Willow reminds Nina that Carly, Drew, and Michael have all suffered due to Nina's actions, and Nelle was not the one who influenced Nina to do any of these things. She tells her that she might be able to forgive her for the things she did that directly affected her, but Michael and Carly will never be able to forgive Nina for any of the things she did to them. Nina tells them that's all the confirmation she needs that she's not welcome in any of their lives, and since she has nothing to lose, she's going to find her daughter, but when she does, she's coming back for Wiley! As Nina storms out, Willow yells after her that she will get a restraining order against both her and Nelle if they attempt to go anywhere near their family. The door slams, and Willow breaks down crying in Michael's arms.
Wiley then comes downstairs and asks why everyone was yelling, and why Mommy is crying. Carly takes Wiley into the other room. Willow tells Michael that they are going to have to explain to Wiley that he will not be able to see his Grandma Nina anymore, if that's really what Michael thinks is best. Michael tells her that while he doesn't want anything to do with Nina, she is Willow's mother, and if, at some point, she wants to allow Nina back into her life and allow her to see her grandchildren, he's not going to prevent her from doing so. The person whom he's really worried about is Nelle. Willow asks Michael if he actually believes it's possible that Nelle is alive. Michael says that, as much as he would like to believe otherwise, since it turns out they didn't find her body, she probably is still out there, and is waiting for the right time to return to Port Charles. He suggests to Willow that, although he had intended to wait until Wiley was a bit older to tell him the truth about his mother, they should probably do it soon, lest he find out some other way.
Unbeknownst to them, not only is Nelle alive, but she's been back in Port Charles for months, albeit keeping a low profile.
Nelle continues to bond with Esme, whom she has come to think of as the little sister she never had growing up. Despite this, she still has ulterior motives for wanting to get to know Esme. What Esme doesn't know is that Nelle knows everything about who she is, thanks to her conversations with Ryan while she was in Pentonville. Ryan had told Nelle that she reminded him of his daughter, whom he recently had gotten in contact with, and had helped her get into a boarding school in France. She recognized Esme from a picture Ryan had showed her, and when Esme showed up and asked about the group, Nelle knew she had to do whatever it took to convince Esme to join. If Esme didn't have amnesia, Nelle was certain that she wouldn't hesitate to help anyone who knew her "Daddy" Ryan, and they could bond as "sisters" along the way. But alas, that was not the case. Instead, Esme had forgotten nearly everything about her life, including her creepy relationship with her serial-killer father. Initially she trusted Dr. Kevin Collins, but his resemblance to his twin brother now makes her uncomfortable. Because of this, Esme has not sought out Dr. Collins's help in regaining her memories. This fits Nelle's plan perfectly. She will be the one to help Esme recover not only her memories, but her motives. The tricky part will be figuring out the best way to do this without Esme finding out that Nelle knew her father (as that would no doubt scare Esme away), as well as without anyone else finding out that Nelle is the one behind everything. If Nelle could jog Esme's feelings, rather than her memories, they could make everything else fall into place!
Sneak peek for Part 4: Nelle begins to work her "magic" on Esme, while a new discovery in the search for the identity of the woman misidentified as Nelle raises more questions than answers.