"Chase?" Willow called out as she entered her boyfriend's apartment, Nina behind her. "Are you home?"

"Yeah, I'm right here," Chase replied, emerging from the direction of his bedroom. "You actually have perfect timing. I just got home from work." He threw her one of his blinding smiles that she loved, his eyes only for her as he walked towards her. Placing his hands on her waist, he leaned in and placed a sweet, deep kiss on her lips.

Willow felt butterflies in her stomach as she instantly melted into his kiss, her own hands coming up to rest on either side of his face as she quickly became ensconced in everything that was Harrison Chase.

She loved everything about him: his handsome features, his loyalty, his dedication to his work, his kindness, his love for her, etc. There really was no limit to how much Chase meant to her. He was the first man she trusted after Shiloh and Dawn of Day; they had a rocky start at first, but when she began getting to know him, she found that he was a man worth admiring. She had been afraid of love, of relationships, after her time in that house of horrors, but he never once pressured her or made her feel like she was pathetic for how she felt. Instead, he was gentle with her, protective, and he never tried to push anything. He respected her boundaries and listened to her when she said no.

Willow was still so young, but she could say with 100% certainty that Harrison Chase was the love of her life and the only man she could see herself being with for the rest of her life. He was perfect for her.

After what felt like eternity kissing him (and she could kiss him for eternity), Willow pulled away and laughed quietly when he leaned forward to press their foreheads together. It was like he refused to be parted from her and the thought of being loved so deeply, so genuinely, from a man made her heart swell and knees weak.

She only snapped out of her loving haze when she heard a throat clear. Turning around, she saw her mother standing there, smiling with amusement shining in her eyes.

"Normally this is where I would be the overprotective mother," Nina joked. "But since I already did that earlier, I'll let you off the hook this time."

Willow laughed. "Well, thank you for that," she said.

Chase smiled, but Nina's words made him pause. "What do you mean 'I already did that earlier'?" He asked his girlfriend's mother.

Willow sighed and Nina's smile dropped from her face. "Before we came here, I was at Kelly's after my therapy session with Dr. Winters. I wanted to get us some lunch, but instead I saw Harmony."

Chase's jaw clenched as he felt that all too familiar anger towards Willow's adoptive mother rise within him again. After discovering the abuse Willow suffered at the hands of Shiloh in Dawn of Day and discovering the role Harmony played in it, the woman became the person he hated the most. Not even Janelle Benson incited that kind of rage in him when he saw her and she sullied his reputation during their relationship.

"What did she do to you at Kelly's?" Chase asked protectively, ready to head over there and read Harmony her rights the second Willow gave her approval.

Willow shook her head. "She didn't do anything to me, Chase," she answered gently. "She called me honey and tried to explain, but she didn't do anything."

"She grabbed your arm and was trying to keep you from leaving," Nina interjected.

Willow sighed when Chase let out a thunderous "What?!"

"It's true," Nina said. "I walked into Kelly's just as Harmony was grabbing Willow's arm. I lost it then and we got into an argument."

"I'm getting my handcuffs," Chase growled, beginning to move when Willow reached up and gently cupped her boyfriend's face in her hands.

"Hey," she said softly. "I'm fine, okay? She didn't physically hurt me; Nina made sure that didn't happen. There's no need to arrest her or yell at her or anything like that."

"She shouldn't have touched you," Chase said, tenderly holding Willow's hands to his face.

"You're right, she shouldn't have," Willow agreed. "But I don't want to dwell on this. I want to move forward. Focusing on Harmony and everything she's done…it wastes too much of my time and energy that could be directed towards my career, my healing, us." She kissed his lips softly before offering him a small smile. "So let's do that instead. Okay?"

Chase searched his girlfriend's eyes for another moment, but he found the same resolve in them that he's always loved in her from day one, and he nodded. "Okay," he acquiesced.

"Thank you," Willow whispered, giving him one more kiss before saying, "Now can we please get going with making lunch? I'm starving."

Chase and Nina both laughed and agreed with her, the three of them pitching in the meal until they were sitting down, enjoying the food and talking about happier topics.

When Nina and Willow left, Harmony released Ava and the blonde whipped around, slamming her hands down against the bench nearby Kelly's.

"I hate her!!!" Ava roared.

Harmony could relate to the art dealer in that moment. Nina Reeves not only stole her daughter from her, but she was cruel enough to throw Ava's complicated past with her own into her face. If the situations were reversed, if Nina knew about her little Destiny and used that sweet baby who'd only lived for a night as a weapon, she would have lost it entirely and become a version of herself that would have been worse than she was in Dawn of Day.

"I don't particularly like her myself, either," Harmony commented, taking Ava's hand and motioning her to sit down on the same bench she just assaulted, which the art dealer did.

"How could she just use my daughter against me like that?" Ava's voice trembled from both rage and grief at the memories that Nina's tirade brought roaring into the forefront of her mind. "I know I wasn't a perfect mother, but I loved her! Doesn't that count for anything???"

Harmony rubbed Ava's shoulder, her dark eyes glistening with sympathy. "Of course it does," she said softly.

"It doesn't feel like it," Ava admitted with a wet laugh. "Not if she felt like I didn't."

Harmony bit her lip, feeling a lump form in her throat. "I know how you feel," she said, swallowing past the lump. "I know that sounds like a really generic, tired saying, but I really do know how you feel. Because of everything I've done, I don't think Willow feels like I ever loved her at all, but that's not true. I love her so much, I just…I wasn't good at showing it."

"Well, that's certainly something we have in common: how much we screwed up with our daughters," Ava commented dryly, wiping away the tears that had fallen down her cheeks at the thought of Kiki.

"Let's go back inside and have a coffee while we talk about this. My treat," Harmony offered.

Ava nodded her consent and they re-entered Kelly's. Some people looked at them warily as if another argument was about to break out, but both women had enough of fighting for one day. The duo settled down at a table and once their orders for coffee were taken, Harmony began their conversation: "Willow isn't my only child."

Ava looked at her curiously, prompting the other woman to continue. "She's my only adopted child, but I was pregnant before. Three times. Two ended in miscarriages and the last one I gave birth, but my little girl only lived for 24 hours."

"Oh, Harmony, I'm so sorry," Ava said, staring sympathetically at her.

Harmony couldn't stop the tears that began flowing down her face. "I felt like I had a second chance with Willow, but then I ruined it by uprooting her childhood and joining Dawn of Day. I hate myself so much for that." She grabbed several napkins from a dispenser and dabbed at her eyes.

"Harmony," Ava waited until she regained her composure and met her gaze before continuing, "I can't imagine how terrible it must have been to lose three children, and this never excuses deplorable actions, but being grief-stricken can severely alter an otherwise sound mind."

"You say that as if it's a fact," Harmony laughed weakly as their coffees were placed before them.

"Maybe not necessarily a fact, but it's definitely an explanation for cruelty sometimes."

"But how could I be cruel to her? Of all people, why her? Why my daughter?"

"I wonder the same thing. Why did I have to be cruel to Kiki? Why did my daughter have to bear the weight of her mother's scorn when she did something wrong?" Ava drank a sip of coffee, savoring its strong and slightly bitter taste. "It wasn't Kiki's fault that I did and said all of those awful things. It was mine, and it took losing her to truly realize that."

"I think I already lost Willow," Harmony whispered.

The more Ava got to know Harmony, the more she saw a different side to her than what everyone in Port Charles saw.

Everyone in Port Charles only saw this heartless monster who gave her daughter to a rapist and didn't care at all about her well-being. And maybe, to a degree, they were correct in their assessment.

Ava, however, saw a deeply flawed, broken woman who'd experienced one too many losses to healthily express herself. She found that she could relate to Harmony.

"Our daughters were precious to us, Harmony. They were beautiful, kind, gentle, thoughtful, headstrong, and compassionate young women who made mistakes but learned from them to do better. Kiki is gone, stolen from me by an evil bastard, but Willow doesn't have to be stolen from you by Nina. I don't care what biology says, that woman didn't raise your daughter. She doesn't know what her first word was, she didn't see her first steps, and she didn't feel the same overwhelming love that you and I felt raising Willow and Kiki. Your bond is frayed, yes, but it's not broken. You can change that."

Harmony sniffled, her cup of coffee remaining untouched. "You really think so?" She asked, hating how small and pathetic her voice sounded.

Ava nodded. "Of course I do. If Kiki and I could do it before I ruined things again at the end, then you can still do it with Willow."

Harmony allowed herself to smile. It was a small smile, but a smile nonetheless. Finally, she lifted her coffee to her lips and drank. It tasted like hope for her and Willow's future.

Ava returned to the Jerome Gallery after her impromptu coffee date with Harmony, a heavy sigh falling from her lips. She loved her job, but after the conversation she had with Harmony at Kelly's, all she wanted was to go home and spend the rest of the day with Avery, her only living child, work be damned.

Opening the door, Ava stopped when she saw Nelle Benson looking around at all of the works of art.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Ava asked in surprise.

"I'm back," Nelle smirked. "Did you miss me, Ava?"

"Not particularly," Ava replied dryly, taking off her coat and hanging it up before making her way towards the younger troublemaker.

"I'm hurt," Nelle pouted, feigning devastation. "I would have figured you would since we were so close before I was unjustly separated from my child."

"You mean before you nearly killed the father of your child in a car accident you caused and passed off a dead baby as your own," Ava said with a raised eyebrow.

Nelle rolled her eyes. "Michael was trying to take my son away from me. What else was I supposed to do?" She asked.

Ava gave her a long, searching stare. "What do you want, Nelle?" She asked, beginning her duties for the day and sitting at her desk to begin the mountain of paperwork that never seemed to end for an art dealer.

"I want a job here again."

Ava froze in place and looked up at her from her paperwork. A few moments of silence passed before she opened her mouth. "What?" She laughed. "You're kidding."

Nelle stared at her, straight-faced, her hands flicking out in a Why Else Would I Be Here? gesture.

"You're not kidding," Ava stood up and hurried over to her. "Why would you want to work for me again? That didn't exactly end well the first time."

"Yeah, well, I believe in second chances," Nelle said. At Ava's incredulous look, she continued: "I actually like it here: it's nice, relatively quiet, and I do appreciate good artistry. Besides, it wouldn't look good in the court's eyes if I wasn't trying to find employment."

Ava rolled her eyes. Of course Nelle would have an ulterior motive: her quest for full custody of Aaron Corinthos. "Well, you can find employment elsewhere," she said, returning to her desk and inspecting the documents for the pieces in her upcoming art show. The deadline was approaching and she had a lot of work to do.

"Ava, please," Nelle sat down in the chair before her desk. "I need this job. I've been away from my child long enough. I know what people say about me and how much they doubt my love for him, but I do love him and I want him with me." She felt the same desperation that had been building within her since the moment she felt the walls closing in on her after Michael figured out everything she'd done to his mother during her pregnancy.

Nelle loved her son, she truly did. She knew she was a horrible person; her upbringing pretty much set that in stone for her, but Aaron was the one person in her life who truly loved her and she refused to lose that.

Ava looked up at Nelle, preparing to refuse her request again, but she paused when she noticed the pleading look in her eyes. The hurt, longing look of a mother who—all things considered—held genuine love for her child. It was the same look in Harmony's when she talked about Willow and presumably in her own when she discussed Kiki and Avery.

Sighing, Ava told her, "Come in tomorrow at 9:00 A.M. sharp. I have other employees, but two of my most helpful assistants are still high school students and it's a school day."

Nelle's face lit up with a smile and she stood up. "Thank you, Ava," she breathed with joy and relief.

"Nelle!" Ava called as she was rushing towards the door. When Nelle turned around expectantly, the former Mob Princess warned her: "Don't make me regret this."

"I won't," the younger blonde promised before she walked out of the gallery.

"God, I hope not," Ava murmured before she returned her attention to her work, hoping that she hadn't just made a huge mistake.