Chapter 20- Esme's Choice

Esme stared around the dark room. She held her hands out to reach for the light switch. No sign of a wall.

"Esme, come to Daddy and I will tell you." Daddy appeared, sitting on his bed from Ferncliff. He patted the spot beside him.

Esme's lip trembled. "J-just tell me. I want to know!"

"All in good time. We have more important matters first."

"Oh, my sweet, precious, baby girl!" Heather emerged on the other side of Ryan, holding her arms out to her. "I will protect you from all the lunatics. We'll travel the world together."

"Esme, don't listen to them." Felicia came into view next to Heather. "They aren't good people. They're trying to hurt you. I am your mother."

"No, I am your mother," Heather said. "You are just like me."

"Don't listen to Felicia," Ryan said. "She is licentious and duplicitous. My greatest disappointment."

Next, Nikolas and Spencer appeared with Ace. "Come on, Ace, let's get you and your brother out of here. Esme is going to be locked up for good."

"No… no!" Esme cried, but Nikolas, Spencer, and Ace disappeared.

"It's okay, Esme." Felicia smiled at her. "I'm going to help you and Ace. If you will let me."

"No, I am your helper, Esme," Heather said.

Esme cradled her head in her hands as their voices echoed. "No… no! Get out of my head! Get out of my head!"

Esme bolted upright, her forehead all sweaty.

Ace slowly woke up beside her and looked up at her.

Esme held him close and cried. "I don't know what to do." She looked over at her phone and stared at the date. Tuesday had arrived.

GHGHGH

"Why did you want to meet for lunch?" Maxie asked, after she and Felicia ordered their meals.

"I wanted to talk to you about our dinner at Bobbie's the other day," Felicia said and pulled out Georgie's drawing. "We ran into Esme and Ace there, so they joined us. All the kids drew pictures and this was Georgie's." She pointed to the 'Psycho Toddler' and 'Little Psycho' figures. "She said this is Bailey Lou and Esme."

Maxie scrunched her face. "What? Why is she calling Bailey Lou a Psycho Toddler?"

"I was hoping you'd have the answer to that."

"And why was Esme having dinner with my children?" Maxie asked.

Felicia sighed. "We saw Esme and Ace there, so I invited them to join. It was going really well until Georgie showed us this picture. Esme left in tears. Georgie seemed to know about Esme already. Did you talk to her about her?"

"No. I haven't said a word to the kids. They didn't even ask about her after swimming. I guess they just figured you were being nice to a random person."

"Then why did she call Esme and Bailey Lou psycho?" Felicia asked. "I know you called Esme that when I told you about her. But the kids were at school."

"Georgie must've overheard. She was sick that day. But I was talking about Esme. Why is she calling Bailey that?"

Felicia's eyes widened. "Maxie, you said Esme is psycho because her father is psycho."

"So, Georgie thinks Bailey is psycho because of Peter…."

Felicia nodded.

"Okay, I'll explain to her that I was only referring to Esme," Maxie said.

"And… that you were wrong to say that, period. Maxie, I was making somewhat of a progress with Esme, and I'm worried this set us back. Not to mention how much Esme is struggling right now."

Maxie paused in thought. "But how do you know Esme isn't going to revert? What if she gets her memories back? She never paid for what she did to Spencer, Trina, Cameron, and Josslyn. Not even for what she did to Nikolas and Ava. I don't trust her."

"I don't think it's that black and white. And I'm not pleased that a middle-aged man got my teenaged daughter pregnant then left her to deal with it… and that was after he locked her in a tower."

"Teenaged daughter? She was an adult when she slept with Nikolas."

"A very fresh adult under the influence of one of the most evil, psychotic men on the planet. Ace is almost a year, so she would've been 18 years old when Nikolas got her pregnant."

Maxie sighed. "I guess. I never looked at it that way. But I don't think she's some innocent little flower."

"Just please, stop with the name-calling and be nice to Esme," Felicia said. "I don't want to lose her again."

"All right. I will try to be civil with her. Unless she gives me reason not to. But I still don't want my children to be left alone with her."

Felicia nodded. "Okay. We won't leave them alone with her."

GHGHGH

Esme sat with Ace in her room all day, staring at the time on her phone. She fed Ace but didn't bother eating herself. Heather would be coming for them at 6:30pm. But should she willingly go with her? Should she and Ace find somewhere to hide? Or should she tell someone?

Laura did have a point. She did need help. But Esme refused to believe it in the psychological sense. But she didn't have a job and this room at Bobbie's was way too cramped. Soon, they'd run out of Laura's money. And Heather did steal her trust fund which she probably would never have access to again anyway.

If she went with Heather, she would have access to the money she earned growing up. Then she wouldn't have to worry about Nikolas, Spence, seeing Daddy's face, or everyone in this town constantly watching until she slipped up again. But her mind went to that night Daddy and Heather abducted her from Spring Ridge. When Heather put the hook into Austin right in front of Esme. She still had nightmares from it. But even Heather told her that night that Daddy was a dangerous lunatic. So, could she believe what he said about Felicia?

Felicia had been really kind to her and it helped having her at the hospital. She even had a warm feeling inside when James drew that picture and included Esme and Ace. It was like hope that she'd be part of a real family and not just constantly stuck in Spencer's circle where nobody cared about her.

But could Felicia ever really want her? Going with Heather seemed a lot easier. Heather seemed to really want her, no matter how creepy she was. It was better than not being wanted at all.

But Ace's home was in Port Charles. He loved Kevin, Laura, and even Spence. Was it best to uproot him and go on the run?

At 5:00pm, her stomach growled. Maybe if she ate something she could think more clearly and make the right decision.

She scooped up Ace and carried him downstairs to the dining room. When she walked up to the counter, she saw Felicia who turned around and smiled at her.

"Hi Esme. I was just getting some takeout, but I was hoping to see you too."

Esme nodded.

"Can we sit down for a few minutes?" Felicia asked. "I wanted to talk about the other night."

Esme lowered her gaze. "You think Georgie is right. That I'm a psycho."

"No, I don't. I was not pleased with her at all and I talked to Maxie about it."

Esme looked up at her again. "You did?"

"Yes, I did. Maxie is going to talk to her about it and she agreed to be civil with you."

"Okay."

"Esme, I want you to feel comfortable when you're around us. And I really would like to spend more time getting to know you. But I also don't want to overwhelm you. I just want you to know that you do mean a lot to me. And whenever you're ready maybe we can talk more and we can spend time together."

"Felicia, your dinner is ready." Carly handed her a paper bag.

"Thank you." She turned back to Esme. "I'm always just a phone call away if you need anything. And I mean anything at all." She squeezed her arm gently and turned to leave.

Esme's heart sped up. She looked between Ace and Felicia who headed towards the door. She started to choke up. "I—I don't want to go with Heather."

Felicia spun around and looked at her concernedly.

"She—she—she's coming tonight." Esme pulled the letter out of her pocket with a shaky hand and held it out to Felicia.

Felicia took it and read it over.

"She's the one that drugged me and took me to the cabin," Esme said. "I—I had to escape to get back to Ace. I was scared and didn't want to be alone. But I'm still scared. I don't want to go with her. I don't want her to be my mother. I want to go with you." She burst into tears. "But only if you want me."

Felicia rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her and Ace tightly. "Yes, yes, I do. I always have. Look…." She let go of her for a moment and pulled the DNA results from her purse and showed her. "This proves what I already felt in my heart. I'm just so sorry I didn't bring it with me the day I told you, sweetie. I've been carrying this copy in my purse ever since, hoping for the right moment to give it to you. I have the original at home and if you prefer that one, you can have it instead. But it just proves that Heather is not your mother. I am." She hugged her again.

Esme cried into her shoulder.

"I'm so glad you told me," Felicia said. "Come home with me and we will talk more there." She rubbed her back and kept her arm around her as they headed for the door. "Don't worry about your things tonight, let's just get both of you safely home."

"But—but how will Heather react to me… not being here?"

"Don't worry about Heather," Felicia said, opening the door. "The burden isn't yours anymore. Mac and I will handle that."