TRIGGER warning for the end of this chapter. Esme has a flashback when something triggers her.

Chapter 51- Post-Traumatic Stress

"Hey, Spencer." Trina kissed him, then sat across from him at the Metro Court.

"Thanks for meeting me," Spencer said. "Would you like to order anything?"

"I already had breakfast. But I wouldn't mind a coffee."

Spencer flagged down the waitress and ordered two coffees.

"So, what's up?" Trina asked.

"It's Ace."

Trina sighed. "I thought he was doing fine."

"No, he's not fine. Esme has a restraining order against me, and I'm not even invited to my baby brother's birthday."

"You didn't think you would be invited, did you? When there's a restraining order?"

"I should be invited," Spencer said. "No. I should be helping plan it and making it the best day ever for Ace."

"Spencer, you've got to let go."

"That's just it. I shouldn't have listened to all of you. I shouldn't have let Esme and Ace move out in the first place."

Trina shook her head. "It's not up to you to let Esme and Ace do anything."

"One thing I might have been wrong about is Esme. Maybe she's not a complete danger to Ace. But she's still not suitable to raise him on her own."

"I thought she wasn't on her own anymore. Isn't she living with the Scorpios?" Trina asked.

"Yes. But Ace needs a father. Our father is in prison. He needs someone to step up, so I'm going to do it like I have all along."

"Spencer…." She reached for his hand. "That isn't up to you. It should be up to Nikolas. Or up to Esme to find him another father."

"You're wrong, Trina. Ace needs me. I love you, I really do. But I love Ace more."

She cleared her throat. "Where are you going with this?"

"You and Grandmother are right in the fact that whoever is with Esme will help her raise Ace. That's why I need to do the right thing for Ace and reconcile with Esme."

Trina withdrew her hands. "You need help, Spencer. Just days ago, you wanted Esme in prison and you wanted to take Ace from her. Now you want to be in a relationship with her? I get wanting to love your brother and be in his life. But this has gone way past love and gone right in the obsession lane. And from what I can tell Esme doesn't want to be with you anymore. You keep this up and you're going to end up alone. I did love you, but I can't be part of this anymore. You want to break up with me, fine. No arguments here." She rose and went over to the elevator.

"You're wrong, Trina. Ace belongs with me." He glanced over as the elevator opened and he spotted Emma and Esme with Noah and Ace in their bathing suits.

Trina sighed but got on the elevator with them.

GHGHGH

"Hey Spinelli." Felicia sat on the couch and held her phone to her ear. "I just want to thank you for all your help with Esme's trial. I can't tell you how much it means to me that my daughter doesn't have to go to prison."

"My pleasure, Felicia. I'm glad I could provide my services."

"I actually wanted to ask for your help again for a few separate things. I want to investigate Victor Cassadine and Diego Alcazar to find out why Georgie was taken from us. I know the Cassadines have a history of faking people's deaths, but why Georgie? And how does it connect with the text message killer?"

"It exasperates me too," Spinelli said. "Wise Georgie was such a dear friend. And I hope we still can be friends. I would be honoured to assist with that."

"You've been great to all my girls. And I know Georgie can use a good friend. I've applied to visit Victor at Pentonville so I can confront him. I'm just waiting for approval. I'd also like to investigate the Princes to find out how they ended up with Frankie… Esme."

"Of course."

"And, this isn't more important, but possibly more urgent. I want to find Dex Heller before he hurts my daughter again. I know the PCPD is searching too, but I can't take anymore chances. It should maybe be priority since he's on the loose, whereas Victor is in prison and the rest are dead."

"Understandable."

"Finally, I'd like to bring Esme into your office one day next week," Felicia said. "So she can shadow us with some paperwork. Maybe don't work on the Princes' or Dex's cases while we're there. I don't want it to upset her. But she says she wants to become a P.I. I strongly suspect she's not actually interested in the work. I think she just wants to because of me or thinks I expect her to or something. She doesn't seem to know what's really involved and didn't know what it even was until Mac told her I'm a partially retired P.I. And given what she's been through, I don't know if it's the best career path for her. But it'll at least give her a feel for it and help her decide if she wants to pursue it or not."

"Of course. We can show her the ropes a bit."

"Thank you, Spinelli." She slipped her phone away and headed to the guestroom. Outside the door she heard crying. "Georgie?" She opened the door and found Georgie kneeling on the floor shaking. "Georgie…." Felicia dropped beside her. "Are you okay? You haven't fainted in a while, sweetie."

"I—I didn't faint. My legs just—just gave out on me. I couldn't pull myself up. I… I wet myself…."

"Okay, let's get you sitting up." Felicia took her arm and helped her onto the bed. "Just take a deep breath, then I'll help you into the bath. Why didn't you call me for help or ring your bell?"

"I—I—I haven't felt dizzy in a while. I—I thought I could do it. Sometimes my legs feel strong. I've been feeling better."

Felicia rubbed her back. "You have been improving and I'm so proud of you. But your body is still very weak. You don't have any muscle yet. Setbacks are bound to happen."

"I can't keep relying on everyone."

"You can rely on us for as long as you need," Felicia said. "But maybe I can hire a physical therapist to come in. Maybe they can get you doing leg exercises in bed to help you build muscle again. I know it's a long road ahead and I wish I could speed it up for you."

Georgie's lip trembled. "I'm just a burden to everyone. I'm never going to be able to go outside again or have a normal life. I don't even know how I can go out again. Everything's changed so much. I'd just be lost."

Felicia held her close. "You are not a burden. We're all so relieved that you're home. We just hate that you have to go through this. But you are going to build strength again and you will go outside. We'll do everything we can to help you catch up. You will have a normal life. I promise you that."

GHGHGH

"And this would be Scout's new classroom." The principal led Drew, Sam, and Scout inside. "It's a grade 2 and 3 split class."

Scout gazed out the window at all the kids enjoying their recess.

"And who would her teacher be?" Sam asked.

"Miss Wallace," the principal said.

"And how is she with the kids?" Drew asked.

"Good. Very kind and compassionate. And she has a good reading program. I need to get back to my office but you're welcome to check out the classroom if you'd like." The principal left.

"What do you think, Scout?" Drew asked.

Scout wrapped her arms around Sam's waist. "I don't like it here."

Sam sighed and ran her fingers through Scout's hair. "I know this school is older, but it's the only one in the area that is accepting new students this time of year. I guess we should have gone with Daddy's school when that spot was available. But I didn't think you wanted to go there."

"I want to go back to my old school," Scout said.

"But are you okay with seeing Donna and Avery every day?" Sam asked.

Scout shook her head. "I don't want to see them anymore."

"Do you think the staff would agree to keep Donna and Avery separated from Scout on the playground?" Drew asked Sam. "At least they're in different classes."

"I asked about that, but they said they can't guarantee that," Sam said.

"Then I don't want to go to school anymore," Scout said. "I want to stay home every day."

"But you could make new friends here," Drew said.

"Yeah and old buildings are actually kinda cool," Sam said.

"I wanna go home," Scout said.

"Okay, let's go home and we'll think about it over the weekend," Sam said.

GHGHGH

Esme set their backpack on the deck and sat sideways on a lounger chair with Ace on her lap. Emma sat on another one while Noah jumped into the pool.

"That was kind of awkward…" Esme said.

"You mean on the elevator with Trina?" Emma asked.

"She doesn't like me. Never has."

"She seems nice though," Emma said.

"Most nice people don't like me," Esme said. "Well, not so nice people don't either."

"Well, it seems like Spencer strung both of you along. At least it sounded like that during your trial."

"Hi Esme." Esme glanced up and saw Spencer grinning down at her. "Hi Ace! How are you, buddy? You taking him for a swim?"

Esme heart sped up. "You need to leave, Spence."

"This is a public area," Spencer said. "And I want to talk to you."

"Spencer, you are breaking Esme's restraining order against you," Emma said. "You aren't allowed to have any contact and you can't approach them."

Spencer turned to Emma. "Noah looks kind of lonely in the pool, go join him."

"I see you're still giving orders to people. I would have thought you'd outgrown that by now."

"I need to talk to Esme and Ace alone." He sat beside them on the chair.

Esme shifted awkwardly away from him.

Emma scoffed. "Can't you see you're making her uncomfortable?"

"Esme, after hearing your testimony, I realize how wrong I was about you," Spencer said. "Both of us have made mistakes, but I realize now, you are the Esme I fell in love with. I broke up with Trina… because you and I belong together. You, me, and Ace."

Esme gritted her teeth. "You helped Nikolas kidnap my son."

"Because I thought you were the evil person everyone thought you were." He touched her arm. "But you're not."

"Okay…." Emma jumped up and walked away. She pulled out her phone and dialed 9-1-1.

Esme pulled away and stood up with Ace in her arms.

Spencer rose too and stepped closer to her. "We were so good together when we united to take care of Ace. He needs both of us."

"I did want that before… but you wouldn't leave us alone!" She stepped around the backpack to back up a bit. "Then you just gave my son away!"

"I'm sorry I gave him to Father." He placed both hands on her arms. "But we belong together, Esme." He leaned forward and kissed her.

"We belong together, Esme." Daddy touched her trembling arms.

"Please tell me her name…."

"All in due time." He leaned forward and kissed her.

Esme pulled away crying. "No more, Daddy. No more. Please, just tell me who Mommy is…."

"No more Daddy!" Esme cried and dropped Ace. "Let go of me!"

Ace screamed and fell onto the backpack, before tumbling onto the deck.

"Let go of her!" Cameron shouted.

He came up behind with Jake and they grabbed Spencer, shoving him into the water. Noah gaped at everyone from the other end of the pool.

Josslyn walked over and scoffed. "What did you do that for?"

Esme fell to her knees and started hyperventilating.

"Esme, you okay?" Cam asked, then picked up a wailing Ace and checked him over. "Shh, it's okay Ace."

Emma rushed back over and knelt beside Esme. "It's okay, Esme. The police are on their way. I left a message for Aunt Felicia too. Just breathe…."

Spencer climbed out of the pool and reached out for Ace, but Cam stepped back.

"Do you really think I'm just going to hand him over to you after what you just did?" Cam asked.

"He doesn't know you," Spencer said. "He needs me. I can calm him down. It's okay, buddy. I shouldn't have given Esme another chance. She can't even hold you properly!"

They could hear sirens in the distance.