Author's note: Beginning with this chapter, the scenes have dialog, as opposed to just a description. It is written so that it somewhat resembles a script.
*Nelle relaxes in her living room, watching TV and sipping a martini. Suddenly the front door bursts open and an angry young woman stomps in.*
Nelle: You know it's really rude to barge into people's houses without knocking!
*The woman marches over to the sofa and glares down at Nelle, who looks up at her. It's Kiki Jerome!*
Kiki: This is sick, what you're making me do!
Nelle: *sniffs* Ugh, you could've at least taken a shower and changed your clothes before coming over. You smell like…death!
Kiki: Of course I smell like death! I've spent the last several hours in a morgue pretending to be your dead body!
Nelle: Did you guys dispose of the real body as I instructed?
Kiki: *sigh* Yes, it's taken care of. Wow, I can't believe I'm saying something like that, as if I'm in the mob!
Nelle: Well you are a Jerome, so it wouldn't surprise me. Did anybody see you?
Kiki: *rolls eyes* No, nobody saw me, aside from the medical examiner. Nelle, you do realize that this plan of yours is insane?
Nelle: That's what every non-believer says whenever someone comes up with an idea that is so crazy that it just might work. Unless you have a better idea?
Kiki: As a matter of fact, I do!
Nelle: Oh really? What do you think I should do then?
Kiki: What I think you should do is go to the PCPD and confess to everything! Tell them where you've been and what you've been up to ever since you fell off that cliff, hope that you'll still be able to find yourself a somewhat competent lawyer who is crazy enough to represent you and pray that they'll be able to work out some sort of plea bargain that will keep you out of solitary confinement in Pentonville.
Nelle: ERGH! I knew you were going to say something like that!
Kiki: Well the reason why is because that's what you should do! And I know you know it.
Nelle: Well, there's no way I'm going to do that, and I know you know it.
Kiki: No, but it's what you should do!
Nelle: Kiki, you and I both know that I will never go down without a fight. I think that's very obvious given the way I supposedly died.
Kiki: Well then you can do so on your own, because I've had enough.
*Kiki turns to leave, but Nelle grabs her arm*
Nelle: And just where do you think you're going?
Kiki: Home!
Nelle: But you are home.
Kiki: No I'm not.
Nelle: Yes you are. We're sisters, remember?
Kiki: Just because you and I share the same father doesn't mean we are obligated to have a sisterly relationship.
Nelle: Then why do you suppose you and I both wound up in Port Charles? Surely it was fate that brought us together.
Kiki: Pfft!
Nelle: We have a lot more in common than just sharing the same father. We both have strained relationships with our mothers. Nina promised to be my character witness when I sued for custody of my son, but instead testified that I was an unfit mother.
Kiki: Maybe because you are an unfit mother?
Nelle: Hold on, let me finish.
*Kiki rolls her eyes*
Nelle: Your mother was responsible for your "death!" You see, if it weren't for her, Ryan Chamberlain wouldn't have tried to kill you. He thought he was doing Ava a favor!
Kiki: Ryan Chamberlain doesn't know the first thing about doing favors for people, and even if he did, he wouldn't!
Nelle: Still, he wouldn't have gone after you if your relationship with Ava hadn't been hanging by a thread! You remember, don't you? Think about it for a second.
*Kiki rolls her eyes again, then closes them*
Nelle: You and Ava hated each other towards the end. The two of you were fighting over Griffin Munroe. You were so angry at her that you gave her a well-deserved slap in the face! And let's not forget about how she drugged Sasha and tried to make it look like she and Griffin had slept together! Or how she switched out Morgan's bipolar medication with placebos in order to keep him away from you! Now tell me, do you really want someone like that as your mother? Because that's what's going to happen if you go back to her. She's only going to hurt you again!
*Kiki's hands are balled into fists, yet she slowly relaxes them and opens her eyes*
Kiki: That was five years ago Nelle. A lot has changed since then. I've been wanting to go back to Port Charles ever since I woke up in that clinic, but they told me that for my own safety I needed to stay there. Initially I thought it was only going to be for a little while until Ryan was locked up, but instead they kept me there for four years! I didn't understand why it was taking them so long, but they told me that they weren't convinced that Ryan really had locked-in syndrome and didn't feel comfortable with the fact that he was moved from Pentonville to Spring Ridge. And it turned out they were right, so in the end I was glad that they had insisted that I stay there. I was very relieved when they told me that Ryan had been killed, and I was finally free to go. But then you swooped in and prevented me from going back to Ava's and said that you'd kill me if I attempted to do so!
Nelle: Yes, all that is true, but you're leaving out one important detail. I didn't "swoop in and threaten to kill you." I offered to let you stay with me in this house, rent free. I offered you a much better job than what you're currently doing for me, and I offered to pay you enough money so that you'd be able to do most of the things you want to do. I felt it was the least I could do for the sister I never got to know growing up! When Ryan told me that he figured out that we were sisters, I of course was outraged and wanted to do to him what I thought he had done to you! But then he told me that your body was sent to the clinic so that you could be part of the ongoing research into bringing people back from the brink of death, and here you are, alive and well. It's a miracle! I have been waiting my entire life to finally have a relationship with one of my sisters, and here you are!
Kiki: Pfft!
Nelle: We are sisters, Kiki! I offered you one of these as a token of our sisterhood.
*she indicates the half-heart pendants on her necklace*
Nelle: But you rejected it. You rejected ME! And that hurt me.
Kiki: Nelle, you don't know the first thing about being "hurt!" You have no concept of emotional pain at all, rather, you enjoy inflicting pain on others! Maybe you're not a serial killer, but you did kill your fiance-
Nelle: He drowned in a kayaking accident!
Kiki: We both know that's a lie, as the PCPD has a recording of you admitting to killing him! But that's beside the point. What you're doing now is still quite horrible! You are lying to people, promising to help them care for their children, but instead are ripping their families apart! You're deceiving people into thinking that you're some miracle worker who can save children's lives, when in fact you know nothing about what saving lives entails. You're not a doctor, or a healer. You're a liar, a murderer, a psychopath-
Nelle: *yawn* I've heard all that before.
Kiki: And you're a fraud!
Nelle: Really? A fraud?
Kiki: Yes, a fraud! Everything that you claim to be doing is actually being done by other people, but you're taking all the credit!
Nelle: If you're talking about Shiloh, he's dead. He left everything to me, because I was his wife. I'm simply carrying on my deceased husband's memory!
Kiki: No, I'm actually talking about this whole "miracle worker" nonsense! You are not a miracle worker by any means. You're not a doctor. You know nothing about saving lives! In fact, I know more than you do, as I was a nurse's assistant at GH! You're taking credit for decades worth of medical research that you had no part in!
Nelle: If you're referring to the director of the clinic, he had his medical license revoked, and he's now in prison!
Kiki: He's OUT of prison now! You wanna know why? Because, as highly controversial as he is, he nonetheless has saved many lives! Something that you have never done, and in fact, have done the exact opposite!
Nelle: He's out of prison, you say?
Kiki: YES!
Nelle: Okay then, if he's out of prison, where has he been all this time? Surely by now he would've returned to practicing his highly controversial medical experiments without people's consent, which is why they locked him up.
Kiki: And you wouldn't happen know anything about that, would you?
Nelle: DO NOT question me! You claim to know everything about me, but you know nothing. I've tried to teach you, but you won't listen.
Kiki: Do you hear yourself? Everybody would say those exact same words about you! You are incredibly blind. You are impulsive, and don't take into consideration that the things you are doing are going to come back to haunt you!
Nelle: Kiki-
Kiki: NO! You need to listen to me! It's only a matter of time before somebody figures out what you're doing and reports you to the authorities. How do you think all the parents of those poor children are going to react once they learn that "Jan the Miracle Worker" is actually the notorious Nelle Benson? How do you think Leann is going to react once she learns that her entire life has been a lie?
Nelle: I had no role in that! I-
Kiki: HOW DO YOU THINK ESME-
Nelle: SHHH! Keep your voice down!
Kiki: *whispering* How do you think Esme is going to react once she finds out that the reason why you know all the details of her life is because you knew her father when you were both in Pentonville? I never thought I'd feel sorry for Ryan's offspring, but I feel sorry for her! And you claim to be this master manipulator who can get anyone on your side, yet you prey upon the weak and vulnerable. You'd never be able to manipulate someone like Jason Morgan into doing your bidding!
*Nelle looks at Kiki for several seconds and says nothing*
Kiki: Why are you looking at me like that?
Nelle: You say I wouldn't be able to manipulate Jason Morgan. You know this how?
Kiki: I-
Nelle: DO NOT underestimate me, Kiki! I'm not without my flaws, yet you seem to be forgetting that I've gotten some of Port Charles's most dangerous men under my thumb. I convinced Shiloh to agree to marry me, and to leave everything to me in his will. I didn't love him, but I knew it was only a matter of time before his life would come to an end, and he had tools which, as you as can see, I've put to good use. I also convinced your would-be killer, Ryan, to stab me, not to kill me, but to get me out of Pentonville! He wouldn't have done that had I not known exactly which buttons to push. Even Cyrus Renault was on my side; I didn't know him personally, but he used Carly locking me on the roof at GH and forging my signature for Wiley to have surgery as grounds for firing Bobbie and Monica from the hospital!
And let's not forget about Michael, who still wanted to be with me even though his mother objected! We had a son together, and despite what everybody says, I love my son! People say that I only care about myself, but that's a lie. Ever since I found out I was pregnant, everything I've done has been for Wiley! The only thing I have yet to do is hold him in my arms and tell him how much I love him.
*Nelle looks at Kiki and smiles. She takes Kiki's hand in hers and caresses it*
Nelle: Kiki, things don't have to be like this. We can still be sisters. Wiley is your family too; he's your nephew! By not letting me into your life, you're denying Wiley the opportunity to get to know his Auntie Kiki!
*She gives Kiki's hand a sudden hard squeeze and releases it*
Nelle: But you won't do that, so I won't waste my breath.
Kiki: I'm prepared to be an aunt to Wiley, but only if his parents are okay with it. And you may have given birth to Wiley, but Willow is the only mother he has known, and it's up to her and Michael as to whether they feel comfortable with me around him.
Nelle: Fine! But you will NOT get in the way of me getting to know my son! If you do, I won't hesitate to do what Ryan originally intended, and this time, no miracle worker is going to save you. Now get out of my house!
*Kiki gives Nelle one last glaring look, then turns and walks over to the front door*
Nelle: Kiki?
*Kiki rolls her eyes and turns back to face Nelle*
Nelle: Don't worry, you'll see Ava again. It's all part of the plan.
As Kiki walks out the door, Nelle turns back to the TV, holding her martini in one hand and clutching the half-heart pendants in the other.