The search was on! But for whom?
The authorities were trying to correct their major blunder and figure out the identity of the woman whose body was mistakenly identified as Nelle, while Nina was frustrated that they were hardly doing anything to locate her daughter. Carly was questioned about the events surrounding Nelle's fall from the cliff, but was once again cleared of any wrongdoing. Nina of course didn't react well at all to this, and insisted that Carly was trying to interfere with the investigation despite promising not to do so. Carly told her that they owe it to the family of the woman misidentified as Nelle to find out what happened to her. Nina said that they equally owe it to her to try and find Nelle! Carly says that just because the body was not a DNA match for Nelle despite being dressed in Nelle's clothes does NOT mean that Nelle is still alive, and explains that if she were alive, and she was aware Nina was her mother, she likely would have come home a long time ago. The two women started yelling at each other, and Michael and Willow intervened. Willow, once again on bad terms with her mother, gave Nina the choice of POSSIBLY being allowed to see Wiley and Amelia again at some point if she agreed to give up the search for Nelle, or she can try and find Nelle, but will never be allowed to see Wiley and Amelia again.
Nina told them about going to Nelle's grave on the night of the second anniversary of Nelle's supposed death, and having a hallucination in which Nelle appeared before her. Nelle initially had seemed pleased to see Nina. Nina was filled with remorse and apologized for not knowing that Nelle was her daughter when she was alive. Nelle seemingly had accepted Nina's apology, and said that had things been different, the two of them could have "done a lot of damage". After Nina had told her that was not what she had wanted for Nelle, Nelle's tone changed, and she tore into Nina for not recognizing how alike they were, and Nina had buried her face in her hands, sobbing with remorse. Nina admitted to them that in that moment, she was somewhat frightened of what things could have potentially been like if Nelle was alive, but when she looked up, Willow was standing where Nelle had been.
Willow remembered this, and told Nina about the dream she had that very same evening, in which she had come downstairs to find Carly's and Michael's bodies on the floor, having been stabbed to death, and Nelle standing there with Wiley, telling Willow that Willow was the one who had killed them. Willow looked at her hands and saw that they were covered in blood, and Nelle said that karma had finally caught up with her. Willow admitted to being scared when she woke up, and that was why she went to the grave, but she had eventually dismissed it as a nightmare. She told Nina that everyone was better off without Nelle, including Nina. Nina admitted that when she found out Willow was also her daughter, she was so emotionally invested in bonding with her living daughter and helping Willow recover from her cancer that she did somewhat forget about Nelle. Not completely; she still knew that Nelle was her daughter and Wiley's biological mother, but since Nelle was dead and Willow was alive, and Wiley was being raised as Willow's son, she was able to move forward with her life. Willow reminded Nina that was what she should still be trying to do, even if Nelle was alive.
Nina asked Willow if she was serious about allowing her to see her grandchildren if she didn't go looking for Nelle. Willow looked over her shoulder at Michael and Carly, who are both staring daggers at Nina, then told Nina that she had tried to let Nina have a place in their lives, but that it was a mistake. Willow reminded Nina that Carly, Drew, and Michael have all suffered due to Nina's actions, and Nelle was not the one who influenced Nina to do any of these things. She told her that she might be able to forgive her for the things she did that directly affected her, but Michael and Carly would never be able to forgive Nina for any of the things she did to them. Nina told them that was all the confirmation she needed that she wasn't welcome in any of their lives, and since she had nothing to lose, she was going to find her daughter, and once she found her, they would be coming back for Wiley! As Nina stormed out, Willow yelled after her that she will get a restraining order against both her and Nelle if they attempted to go anywhere near their family. The door slammed, and Willow broke down crying in Michael's arms.
Wiley then came downstairs and asked why everyone was yelling, and why Mommy was crying. Carly took Wiley into the other room to talk with him. Willow told Michael that they were going to have to explain to Wiley that he would not be able to see his Grandma Nina anymore, if that's really what Michael thought was best. Michael told her that while he didn't want anything to do with Nina, she was Willow's mother, and if, at some point, she wanted to allow Nina back into her life and allow her to see her grandchildren, he's not going to prevent her from doing so. The person whom he was really worried about was Nelle. Willow asked Michael if he actually believed it was possible that Nelle was alive. Michael said that, as much as he would like to believe otherwise, since it turned out they didn't find her body, she probably was still out there, and was waiting for the right time to return to Port Charles. He suggested to Willow that, although he had intended to wait until Wiley was a bit older to tell him the truth about his mother, they should probably do it soon, lest he find out some other way.
Unbeknownst to them, not only was Nelle alive, but she had been back in Port Charles for months, albeit keeping a low profile.
Nelle continued to bond with Esme, whom she had come to think of as the little sister she never had growing up. Despite this, she still had ulterior motives for wanting to get to know Esme. What Esme didn't know is that Nelle knew everything about who she was, thanks to her conversations with Esme's father, serial killer Ryan Chamberlain, while she was in Pentonville Penitentiary. Ryan had told Nelle that she reminded him of his daughter, whom he recently had gotten in contact with, and had helped her get into a boarding school in France. Nelle had recognized Esme from a picture that Ryan had showed her, and when Esme showed up and asked about the group, Nelle knew she had to do whatever it took to convince Esme to join. If Esme didn't have amnesia, Nelle was certain that she wouldn't hesitate to help anyone who knew her "Daddy" Ryan, and they could bond as "sisters" along the way. But alas, that was not the case. Instead, Esme had forgotten nearly everything about her life, including her creepy relationship with her serial killer father. Initially she trusted Dr. Kevin Collins, having forgotten that Kevin was Ryan's twin brother and her uncle, but Kevin's resemblance to his brother now made her uncomfortable. Because of this, Esme did not seek out Dr. Collins's help in regaining her memories. This fit Nelle's plan perfectly! She would be the one to help Esme recover not only her memories, but her motives. The tricky part would be figuring out the best way to do this without Esme finding out that Nelle knew her father (as that would no doubt scare Esme away), as well as without anyone else finding out that Nelle was the one behind everything. If Nelle could jog Esme's feelings, rather than her memories, they could make everything else fall into place!