Hi everyone, according to Wiki Esme is 21, but for my story she is 20. Enjoy!
Chapter 5- Willow's Choice
Willow arrived at the Savoy with Nina. They ended up driving together and Willow told her all the activities Wiley wants to do with his grandma this year, including bike riding, playing baseball, and going to the beach. Nina got teary-eyed again and Willow wondered if she was getting sentimental again about the things they missed out on.
They walked down the stairs and heard angry voices. Ned, Olivia, Lois, Sonny, and Michael were gathered around. Some of them had arms crossed and Sonny was seething.
"WHO IS IT, MICHAEL?" Sonny demanded and swung his index finger. "WHO TURNED YOUR MOM INTO THE SEC?"
"All right." Michael took a deep breath and exhaled into his hands.
Willow stepped down from the staircase with Nina.
Teeth clenched, Michael pointed to Nina. "It was Nina."
All eyes moved to Nina, including Willow's. Nina's lip trembled and she looked between Sonny and Willow.
GHGHGH
Elizabeth paced back and forth in her living room. Gregory and Alexis had taken Aiden and Violet for the night while Elizabeth and Finn searched for Jake.
Yet Elizabeth wasn't searching. Waiting by the phone was useless. "I need to go find him—"
Her phone rang from the coffee table. She gasped. "It's the hospital. Hello?"
"Hi Lizzie."
Elizabeth sighed. "Mom, I don't have time to talk right now. Jake—"
"Jake is here," Carolyn said. "I found him by the pier."
"What?"
"He's been beaten up."
"Oh my gosh." Elizabeth put a hand over her mouth. "Is-is he okay?"
"I think he will be," Carolyn said. "But he's not in very good shape. Are you with someone? I don't think you should drive."
"Finn's here. We'll be right there." She hung up and tears streamed down her cheeks. "Someone… someone beat up Jake."
Finn hugged her.
GHGHGH
"What is taking so long?" Esme shifted Ace to her right side because her left arm started falling asleep. "I haven't heard anything about Ace's urine sample, and we still haven't been called yet for his other tests. We've been here for six hours. It's passed my son's bedtime."
The nurse checked the computer. "Yes, Ace's echocardiogram is scheduled at 11:00pm."
Esme groaned. "11:00pm?"
"Echocardiogram?"
Esme whipped around to Spencer's voice. Trina was at his side.
"Why is Ace getting an echocardiogram?" Spencer asked.
Esme rubbed her temple. "I don't know. The doctor tried to explain it, but I don't know what it is."
"Well why is Ace even here?" Spencer asked. "And why didn't you call me?"
Esme gaped at him. "We've been over this. You are not his father, and you don't make his medical decisions. I do. I'm his mother."
"Come on." Trina pulled on Spencer's sleeve. "Let's go get my mom. Esme will fill you in later."
But Spencer didn't budge and he placed his hands on his hips. "Who's paying for Ace's hospital visit?"
Esme squeezed her eyes shut.
"Who is paying for Ace's hospital visit, Esme?" Spencer repeated. "It'll either be me or Grandmother. You should've called me!"
Meanwhile, Felicia had returned to the hospital because she had forgotten her phone earlier. She was going to wait until the next morning, but worried Maxie would be trying to get a hold of her. She arrived at the ER and caught the last few things Spencer said.
"Ms. Prince?" The nurse spoke up. "We just need to update your contact information for our records."
Felicia bent over and searched under the same seats she sat earlier with Esme.
Esme turned back to the desk.
"So, your full name is still Esme Prince?" the nurse asked.
Esme nodded.
"Birthday June 15, 2003?"
Felicia bolted upright.
"Yes," Esme confirmed.
The nurse spoke again, but Felicia drained out her voice.
"Dr. Chamberlain is here to receive medical attention, not visitors," Esme said as Felicia walked in.
"And you are?" Felicia asked.
"Esme Prince. And you are?"
Felicia eyed her up and down. "Well, you're not a nurse."
"I work at Spring Ridge," Esme said. "I'm assisting a patient today."
Felicia glared at Ryan. "You mean an inmate…. Ryan harassed and stalked me for years. Before his infatuation with Ava, I was his obsession." She squinted at Ryan. "Is this young woman your new fixation?" Felicia turned back to Esme. "Remember…. He was obsessed with Ava Jerome, so he put a knife in her daughter. That's what he does to women. And he also left his brother to rot in an asylum for months. If he's willing to do that to his own blood, what might he do to you?"
Esme glanced back at Ryan. "I'll bear that in mind."
…."Esme, there's one thing you have to understand," Ryan said, pointing his gun at Esme, later on at Wyndemere.
Esme's lips trembled.
"You. Belong. To. Me. You and that baby."
Felicia wacked Ryan over the head with a fireplace poker and Esme fled.
…."Mac… Jordan… what does Ryan want with Esme?" Felicia asked.
"Oh," Heather cut in, beaming all over. "Didn't I mention? He's her daddy."
He's her daddy….
He's her daddy….
He's her daddy….
"No," Esme's voice brought Felicia back to the present. "We're not living there anymore. We live at 142a Wilson St."
No longer caring about her phone, Felicia stepped closer to study Esme's brown eyes and the shape of her nose. And poor little red-faced Ace, resting on his mommy's shoulder.
"Thank you," the nurse said. "We'll call you for the echocardiogram soon."
"Well?" Spencer said again. "Who's paying the medical expenses?"
"I am," Felicia spoke up in a choky voice.
Esme turned to her scrunching her face. "What?"
Spencer scoffed. "What? Who are you to Ace?"
Felicia teared up, looking between Esme and Ace. "I'm his gr—I'm his… his health aide."
Spencer sighed. "Okay. Keep me posted, please." He left with Trina.
"I-I don't understand," Esme said.
Felicia smiled a little and touched Esme's arm. "It's okay, sweetie. Just focus on Ace right now."
Esme shook her head. "I can just ask Laura to pay for it. It's fine."
"And I'm saying it's fine too. I want to pay for it."
"Ms. Prince?" the nurse said. "We're ready for Ace. There was a cancellation, so we moved up his test."
Felicia nodded. "I'll be right out here if you need me."
Esme looked at her funny. "Okay…." She followed the nurse.
GHGHGH
Trina held Spencer's hand as they made their way down the hall. "Mom must be working overtime again."
Spencer frowned. "I should go back and wait with Esme and Ace."
Trina sighed. "There's not much you can do right now. I'm sure Esme will call right when she knows."
Portia finally came out of one of the patient's rooms, pale and with tears in her eyes.
"What's wrong, Mom?"
"I-I just lost a patient," Portia said. "A young mother. Leaving her baby girl behind."
Trina hugged her. "I'm so sorry."
"The father just died a week ago," Portia continued. "We were counting on the mother to make it. There's no other family."
Spencer felt his heart sink, thinking about Ace in the ER without him.
GHGHGH
"Oh no…." TJ punched the wall after checking his phone.
"What's wrong?" Molly touched his arm.
"Scarlett's mom is gone," TJ said. "She's dead."
Molly's eyes welled with tears. "Scarlett… she has no one."
TJ wrapped his arms around her. "I-I've been spending a lot of time with Scarlett since she's been in the hospital. She doesn't deserve this. Now she's all alone at the hospital and will probably end up in the foster system."
Molly paused in thought as she and TJ just held each other silently thinking about little Scarlett. Finally, Molly spoke. "TJ…. What if… what if we've been going about this the wrong way?"
TJ pulled away a little and scrunched his face. "What do you mean?"
"I mean with the surrogacy," Molly said. "Why are we going to all these lengths, making Kristina sacrifice her body and her own egg when there's children out there like Scarlett who don't have a family or a home?"
"So, you think we should adopt?"
Molly nodded. "Why don't we adopt Scarlett?"
TJ smiled. "Do you think we can?"
"I don't see why not. She's already had a little time to get used to us. I can't see a judge denying us if we applied. Scarlett needs a family, and we want a baby."
"Scarlett is beautiful," TJ said. "And I hate thinking about who else she could end up with. Or she might not even get a family. Let's do this."
"Okay, I'll just have to break this to Kristina. But I know Mom and Sam will be happy."
GHGHGH
"Where's Jake?" Elizabeth rushed over to Carolyn when she and Finn arrived at the ER.
"We finally have him comfortable," Carolyn explained. "He has a concussion and he's pretty bruised up. But he's going to be okay."
Elizabeth sighed in relief. "What happened?"
"I don't really know," Carolyn said. "But the police will be here soon."
"Okay, I need to see him."
Finn squeezed her shoulder. "I'll be right out here."
"He's in Room 405," Carolyn said.
Elizabeth started heading that way, then turned around. "Thank you, Mom."
Carolyn smiled a little watching her disappear down the hallway.
GHGHGH
Sonny stared at Nina incredulously. "It was you?"
"Sonny…." Nina said breathlessly.
"You're the one that reported Drew and Carly to the SEC?" Sonny asked.
Willow stood there quietly, her mind racing a mile a minute.
"Sonny," Nina said. "I am so so sorry."
"At least you're not denying it."
"I-I was planning to tell you, I just—"
"Why?" Sonny demanded. "I want to know why you did it?"
"Whoa, whoa," Lois cut in. "I mean, I wanted to let the truth out and get the ball rolling, so you'd stop harping on Ned. But this is a little extreme."
"Oh, this is nothing," Michael cut in. "Nothing compared to what Nina deserves. She's the reason Drew was almost beaten to death in prison."
"No, she wasn't," Ned scoffed. "It might not have been in good taste to tattle tale, but Drew was the one who committed a crime here. Carly too. And it was Drew who chose to take all the punishment on himself to protect Carly."
Ignoring him, Sonny continued giving Nina the death glare. "Do you hate the mother of my children so much that you'd want to send her to prison? Out of spite?"
"I did not tip off the SEC out of pure spite," Nina said. "That was part of the reason. But remember how sick Willow was last spring? When all of this happened? We almost lost her and the entire time Carly knew that I was her mother. And if she would've come forward sooner Aunt Liesl would've been able to donate her bone marrow right away. The fact is I spent years- YEARS searching for my daughter and at that moment I thought I was losing her." She looked over at Willow for a split second. "Losing you…." She turned back to Sonny. "When I first found her."
"And that made you angry," Sonny said. "I get it. BUT it doesn't explain why you roped Ned and Michael into the situation."
Nina scoffed. "I did not rope them into this. They found out and I was scared to lose you and Willow."
Willow glanced at Michael.
"Then they black…." Nina looked at Willow and held back. "I know I should've told you sooner."
"We did blackmail her, yes," Ned said. "Sorry Michael. If I'm not getting of scot-free, then neither are you."
"And I would do it again," Michael said. "I had to protect my family from Nina. That's why I had to limit her time with them. And that was justified after everything she's done to us."
"What the hell is wrong with you, Nina?" Sonny asked.
"When-when I reported them to the SEC," Nina said sheepishly. "I regretted it immediately."
"Immediately? Before or after you got Carly arrested? Donna's mother could've been sent to prison. Scout's father did get sent to prison. You ripped him away from her. And let's backtrack… You had Carly arrested at your own daughter's wedding!"
Nina started to cry.
Willow frowned. "Suddenly, looking at you, I realize how we were robbed. All the moments that we didn't get. Me brushing your hair before school. Taking a million pictures at your prom. And helping you pick out your wedding dress."
"I wasn't thinking about all that," Nina said.
"You weren't thinking?" Sonny shouted. "Drew almost died!"
"Stop it." Everyone whipped around when Willow finally spoke up. "Stop it. Would you listen to yourselves? Lois is right. This is extreme. Nina did not beat Drew up. I hate that that happened. Drew has been good to me, Michael, and the kids. But at the end of the day, that was punishment for something he did. Not what Nina did."
Nina smiled a little through her tears.
"Yes, it was petty that she did that, but that was a split-second thing she instantly regretted," Willow continued. "But you, Michael? Blackmailing my mother for months and controlling our time together?"
"Willow—" Michael started.
"And not trusting that I could handle the truth," Willow said. "Not trusting me to make up my own mind for how much or how little time I want to spend with her? In case you haven't noticed, Michael, I'm not some delicate flower. I've had life experience and have been through way worse than this."
"Listen, why don't we just go home, have a good sleep, and talk about this in the morning?" Michael suggested.
"I'm going home, yes," Willow said. "But you can sleep somewhere else." She headed up the stairs without another word.
Nina turned back to Sonny. "Sonny—"
"Get out of here!" Sonny held his hand up. "I can't even look at you right now. You want to fix this? Go right over and apologize to Carly."
Nina gaped at him. "But it's the middle of the night."
"I don't care."
Ned cleared his throat. "Just leave, Nina. It's not worth the energy. This is what it's like living in Sonny's world. The one who commits the crime is the victim, while the one who reports it is the villain."
Sonny brushed past Nina. "Come on, son. You can sleep at my place since there will be one less person there."
Nina watched hopelessly as Sonny and Michael left together.
GHGHGH
Esme kept shifting Ace between each arm and had trouble getting comfortable on the chair. A few minutes later Felicia came back. Esme eyed her.
"Any news yet?" Felicia asked sitting beside her.
Esme shook her head.
"I'm sorry, I had to use the restroom," Felicia said.
"Wh-why are you here?" Esme asked.
"Because I'm…. Because I care. Would you like a break? You look like you're struggling."
Esme stared at her. "Okay…." She handed Ace to her.
"Hi Ace." Felicia rubbed his back and looked at his tiny fingers, the skin peeling away.
"Ms. Prince?" Terry walked over to her. "I'm sorry we keep changing staff tonight, but I have Ace's results."
Esme's eyes widened. "And? Is he okay?"
"I'm afraid we're going to have to admit him."
Esme's breathing sped up. "What?"
"Ace has Kawasaki Disease."
"What's that?"
Felicia swallowed hard. "That's a heart condition. My daughter Maxie had it."
"His-his-his heart?" Esme burst into tears.
GHGHGH
Heather Webber strolled down the snowy sidewalk after breaking out of Pentonville. She had stopped by the Collins household, what she believed to be her daughter's current home. She gasped, however, when she heard the mayor get off the phone and tell Ryan's brother that Esme was at the hospital with Ace.
The last time she'd seen Esme at the hospital, they had her handcuffed to a bed. She had to rescue her daughter and grandbaby, so she went straight to General Hospital, after stealing a car from the Collins house.
They could be anywhere, she thought. Maybe she'd try the nursery first.
She approached the lonely crib and smiled down at the baby. "Oh, sweet Ace. Why did they dress you in pink?" She lifted the sleeping baby and cradled it in her arms. "Come. You can wait in the car while I go get your mommy. My sweet precious girl."