Chapter 12- Bullies and Blow-ups

Maxie poured the Rice Krispies into four bowls. "Georgie? James? You're going to be late for school. Come get your breakfast!"

Bailey wiggled in her booster seat in excitement when Maxie set a bowl in front of her and she started to eat. "Me no go preschool."

Maxie sighed. "Yes, you're going to preschool."

James walked out to the kitchen full of smiles. "Good morning, Mommy."

"Good morning, buddy. All set for school?"

He sat down and started eating. "Uh huh. I'm going to play with Wiley today."

"Well, I'm glad at least one of you likes school. Georgie!"

"Mommy, can I go horseback riding with Uncle Cody again?" James asked.

"Yeah, of course. He loves spending time with you."

She glanced over when Georgie ran out of her room, still in her pajamas, and she went into the bathroom. They heard her vomiting.

"Oh no." Maxie followed her. "Georgie? Are you okay?"

Georgie finished throwing up and plopped down, leaning against the wall. "I don't feel good, Mom."

Maxie touched her forehead. "You're warm. Okay, looks like you're staying home with me today. I'll help you back to bed, then I need to take your brother and sister to school."

GHGHGH

Scout walked onto the snowy playground after her mom dropped her off. She spotted Avery in the distance with three other girls and crossing her arms with a stern look. Donna sat on the swings with a girl in her class. In the opposite direction, Violet was kneeling on the ground alone rolling a snowball. Scout decided to join Violet.

"Hi Violet," Scout said. "Whatcha doing?"

"Building a snowman. Want to help me?"

Scout smiled. "Yeah." She sat down and patted the snow in her hand, then rolled it along the ground.

"This one's done," Violet said. "Maybe this is the bottom. Do you want to make the middle or the head?"

"I can make the middle."

"Okay, I'll make the head."

The girls crawled along the ground until their snowballs were big enough. They stacked them. Scout gave the snowman her hat and mittens and Violet gave it her scarf, then they found stones for the face and sticks for the arms.

"What should his name be?" Violet asked. "You can name him, Scout."

"Hmm…."

"How about Mush?" They turned around to Avery's voice where she stood with her friends. "Because that's what he's about to be. Now guys!"

Avery stood back grinning as her friends kicked the snowman to the ground and stomped on it.

Scout's eyes welled with tears.

"Hey!" Violet cried. "That was our snowman."

"Oops," Avery said. "I guess that's what you get for trying to get me and Donna in trouble!"

"Huh? I didn't get you guys in trouble," Violet said.

Avery turned to Violet. "Scout did. She's trying to break up Drew and Mama Carly! But Drew loves Mama Carly more than her—" She shrieked when a snowball contacted her mouth and her lip started to bleed. She glared at Scout, then ran towards a teacher who had been watching the first graders. "Mrs. Wilson! Mrs. Wilson! Scout threw a snowball at me."

GHGHGH

Willow carried Amelia into the penthouse after dropping Wiley off at school.

"Hello, you must be Mrs. Corinthos." The real estate agent shook her hand. "We just have another person doing a tour, but she's almost finished."

"Thank you," Willow said. "To be honest, I don't know if I can afford it since we only have one income now. But I still wanted to look."

"Well, this was lovely." Nina appeared out of another room with the other real estate agent. "I would like to put down an off—Willow? Hi!"

Willow smiled. "Hi Nina. I didn't know you were looking here too."

"Yeah, well I can't stay at Sasha's forever and Sonny's made it clear that I'm not welcome back home. But this place is great. I think you and the kids should go for it and I'll look somewhere else."

"Hmm, well, I don't think I'm in as much of a rush as you. We can stay at the gatehouse longer. It's just feeling a bit awkward since Michael is at the main house. So, I think you should put down the offer if you like this place."

Nina chewed her bottom lip. "I think you should at least check it out. I could go on the tour with you. I mean if you'd like that. Or—or I can go."

"No, I'd like that. We can check it out together."

GHGHGH

Ace fell asleep again when Esme hummed to him the Aztec lullaby. She then moved over to the window. All she could see were a couple of nurses walking by and the new guard by their door. The PCPD had assigned her a guard which she didn't know what to think about. Would Heather come see her again? Laura had left to find out more information about Charlotte and wouldn't be back until evening to check on them. Even Felicia hadn't come back. Esme didn't know what to think about that either. But she stood there watching for her. It appeared she and Ace would be on their own.

After quite a while of watching, she saw the figure of Daddy coming down the hallway. Her heart sped up and she backed towards Ace's crib.

The door opened and he poked his head inside. "Esme? It's me, Kevin. I won't stay unless you'd like me too. I just wondered if you and Ace need anything?"

She shook her head.

"Okay," Kevin said. "I'll be in my office all day, so I'll be here at the hospital. Don't hesitate to call me if—"

"Is Felicia still our health aide?"

Kevin looked at her. "Would you like her to be?"

"What? I don't know. Ace likes her. Just—just leave me alone!"

Kevin nodded. "Okay. I'll check on you later."

GHGHGH

Maxie placed a cold cloth on Georgie's forehead and hummed to her.

"You haven't… sang that… in a while," Georgie said, closing her eyes.

Maxie smiled. "Well, you know I'm no good at singing. But I always loved when Grandma sang that to me when I was a kid."

"I like it."

"Me too." Maxie turned when there was a knock on the door. "That'll be Grandma now. Just rest and I'll check on you again in a bit."

She left and answered the front door. "Hi Mom."

"Hi sweetheart." She hugged her.

"Come on in." Maxie led her to the couch. "What did you want to talk about?"

Felicia settled next to her. "I—I don't know where to start."

Maxie squinted at her.

Felicia took a deep breath. "I should've told you this a long time ago. But I need to tell you now."

"Tell me what, Mom?"

"Maxie, I have another daughter," Felicia said. "You have another sister."

Maxie stared at her in shocked silence and leaned back a bit.

GHGHGH

Sam arrived at the Port Charles Elementary School and found Scout sitting in the office across from Avery who was holding ice to her lip.

"Ah, Ms. McCall," the principal said, shaking her hand. "Thank you for coming."

Sam knelt beside Scout. "Are you okay, baby? What happened?"

Scout shrugged and kept her gaze lowered.

"Scout admits to throwing a snowball at Avery," the principal said. "But she won't say anymore."

"Nothing else happened," Avery spoke up. "She just walked up and threw it at me."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "And you're saying she did this unprovoked?"

Avery nodded.

"Scout, why did you throw the snowball?" Sam asked.

Scout just shrugged again.

They looked up when Ava walked in. "Avery, what happened?" Ava knelt beside her and cupped her chin.

Avery pointed to Scout.

Ava scrunched her face. "Scout did this to you?"

Avery nodded.

Sam cleared her throat. "Scout wouldn't do anything like that on purpose, unless she was provoked."

"Another child mentioned that Avery and her friends wrecked the snowman she and Scout made," the principal explained. "There's been a conflict between Avery and Scout for a few months now. But now one of them got hurt. This is unacceptable behaviour from both of you. In a school setting it doesn't matter if you're related. I am suspending you both for three days."

GHGHGH

Willow strapped Amelia into a highchair at the Metro Court and she sat across from Nina. "Is everything okay? You seem bothered by something."

Nina sighed. "It's okay. It's nothing."

"Nina, you can talk to me. Remember we talked about being honest."

Nina nodded. "And you said to come to you if Carly is being Carly."

"So, this is about Carly?"

"Yes. I know what you're thinking. It's always about Carly."

"Did something happen? Willow asked.

"She came to my office yesterday. She found out I reported her and Drew."

"Oh," Willow said. "I take it that it didn't go well?"

"Nope. It never does. She told me to stay away from her family, including you and the kids."

Willow scrunched her face. "But I'm an adult. And it's up to me and Michael who goes near Wiley and Amelia, not her."

"And what do you want, Willow?"

"Well, to be honest, I don't know. But I would like to make up my own mind for a change. And get to know you apart from Michael and his family."

Nina smiled.

"I know it's hard, but I think you're just going to have to ignore Carly," Willow said. "Don't shoot back."

Nina's smile faded. "Easier said than done."

"You have to hold back. It'll only end bad if you strike back." She took a breath. "Anyway, that penthouse was beautiful and spacious."

"Yeah." Nina fidgeted nervously. "Willow, what would you think… would you want to… would you be interested in moving there together?"

Willow leaned back a bit. "Oh."

"I mean if you think it's too soon… or if you're not comfortable…. Never mind. I think you and the kids should apply for that place."

Willow chewed her lip. "Well, to be honest, rent or a mortgage is expensive anywhere. And unless I take on more hours at the hospital, which I don't want to do, I don't think I can afford anywhere on my own. So, maybe we could give it a try."

Nina's face lit up. "Really? Oh, Willow, we can paint the kids' rooms and buy them new toys and furniture."

Willow's eyes widened.

"Or… we could just take it one step at a time," Nina said. "And I'm sure the kids have lots of toys and furniture already…."

GHGHGH

Georgie got out of bed and headed to the bathroom when she heard her mom and grandma's voices. She stepped closer to the living room but stayed out of sight.

Maxie shook her head. "What? No, no, that can't be right. You couldn't have had another daughter…. If you did, why didn't me and Georgie know about her? Why wasn't she here with us growing up?"

Little Georgie scrunched her face.

"Well, you and Georgie were teenagers when I became pregnant. This is very difficult to talk about… but Ryan ra ped me."

"What?"

"I took my baby to Texas to protect her," Felicia said. "I planned to return as soon as—"

"THAT'S why you left us!?"

"Yes, but before I could—"

"Well, where is she?" Maxie asked. "Who is she?"

"I just found her the other day," Felicia said, reaching for Maxie's hand. "It's Esme."

Maxie blinked. "Esme? Esme as in… Esme Prince?" She jumped up. "The little psycho who framed Trina, manipulated Spencer, and did all of those other horrible things since she came to town? The one who you've been going to see and ignoring me these past few days?"

"Maxie, I—"

"Why didn't you tell any of us that Ryan did that to you? Why didn't you tell me you had another daughter? Does anyone else know? Did Dad know?"

"I thought I was protecting all my girls. I thought you and Georgie were safest with Mac. And I didn't want Ryan to find out about my baby—"

"You didn't do it to protect me and Georgie, you just did it to protect yourself and your psycho baby!"

"Maxie, I know you're in shock, but please don't call your sister a psycho."

"She is not my sister," Maxie said. "I only had one sister. And because you were so focused on that nutjob, you weren't even here when Georgie died!"

Felicia started crying. "I know and that haunts me every day that I couldn't protect Georgie."

"And then you just left! So, what, were you just raising Esme the entire time you were gone?"

Felicia dabbed at her wet eyes. "No. Esme disappeared when she was a baby. I spent most of that time trying to find her."

"Gee Mom, that's great to know that you left us to search for a daughter who never knew you."

"But I didn't know if she was hurt or in danger. But I knew you were safe with Mac."

"Yeah, Mac was wonderful. Our only true parent. But we clearly weren't safe considering Georgie ended up murdered! But all you cared about was your precious little psycho."

"I know you're angry with me, but please don't take it out on Esme," Felicia said.

Maxie scoffed. "Are you really blinded by her? Of course, she's psycho because her father was psycho."

In the hallway, Georgie gazed up at the framed photo of Bailey Lou.

"I think we just need to give her a chance and get to know her," Felicia said.

"Get to know her? I've heard plenty about her."

"But have you spent time with her or are you just basing off what others say?"

"What others say? You mean credible people who I trust? The people that Esme hurt?" Maxie shook her head. "You know what? Just go. Go to the hospital with Esme. I'm so glad you're there for her in ways you were never there for me!"

"Maxie…." Felicia rose and reached out to her, but Maxie pulled away. "Maxie, I will always regret not being there for you and Georgie through your teen years and not being here when Georgie was killed, but I will not apologize for wanting to find my youngest daughter."

Maxie stared at her.

"Now, you can be mad at me, but Esme doesn't know yet," Felicia said. "I would appreciate it if you didn't tell her. It needs to come from me. But I wanted you and Mac to know first."

Maxie laughed. "You really think I would run right over to tell Esme? I want nothing to do with her. And you know what? Right now, I don't want anything to do with you either."

Felicia frowned. "Maxie…. Please…."

"Just go, Mom!"

Felicia nodded but stopped in the doorway. "I love you, Maxie. Never forget that." She left.

Maxie sat on the couch, not responding.

Georgie stared at the pictures of her siblings and her mom, then headed to the bathroom.