Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

My name is Lorraine Miller, but after I'm initiated into Dawn of Day, I will go by Harmony.

This is my pledge to join Shiloh's Trusted circle.

Kali is not my child. Not biologically.

I gave birth to a baby girl on June 15, 1993, but it wasn't Kali. Douglas and I named our little girl Destiny because we felt that her birth was fate. Before my pregnancy with Destiny, I had had two miscarriages and after my last one, I was told that it would be difficult to carry to term if I became pregnant again, so when I discovered that I was carrying Destiny, we were convinced that this was God giving us one last chance to be parents. We considered her to be a miracle.

But our miracle died overnight from some kind of medical condition, I don't know what it was or how long she had it, and I didn't care. All I cared about was that my baby girl, my Destiny, was gone before I could even truly know her.

Douglas and I were devastated, but we later learned that we were going to have a miracle after all. A blonde woman came to us in the hospital. She had come all the way from Florida. She told us that her daughter had just given birth to her children and was unable to care for them because she fell into a coma shortly after. She told us that Kali's twin sister was given to another couple, then she gave us what appeared to be one-third of a heart necklace, $100,000 in cash, and the most beautiful baby girl I had ever seen.

She was so small, only a newborn, and she had a healthy glow with pink cheeks. Her eyes were open and were the prettiest shade of blue I ever had the pleasure of seeing on a human being, like the ocean's water glittering beneath the sunlight. From what I could see, she had a tiny amount of brown hair peeking from her hospital cap. She was so perfect.

The woman told us to take the baby, the necklace, and the lump sum of money and to raise the new baby together, to give her a good home. I asked her if she had a name, but the woman said no. Her daughter hadn't even been able to hold her children before she fell into her coma.

Douglas and I were overjoyed. We took our new baby and as soon as we were cleared, we left the hospital, intending to raise her the way that we were advised to: with all of the love in the world.

I would never forget my Destiny, but I would always be grateful to the blonde woman who gave me my Kali.

Chapter Text

Nina Reeves sighed as she sat in her chair in her Crimson office, thinking once again about her missing children.

Children.

The nurse that had cared for her while she was in her coma, Phyllis, informed her the last time that they interacted that she had given birth to two babies, twin girls, instead of just the one she originally thought to be carrying. She had two daughters, but thanks to her mother, she didn't even know where they were. She thought that Sasha had been one of her missing children, but later learned that it had been a ruse, fabricated by Valentin Cassadine in one of his misguided attempts to win her back.

Thinking about it still made her furious, but all that fury was now directed at her ex, not Sasha. Sure, she had been hurt at first, absolutely destroyed, to learn that the young woman she called her daughter wasn't truly her daughter. Now, she understood why she did it. Sasha agreed to the idea not out of malice, but out of love, for the grandmother desperately in need of medicine and Nina herself, who Sasha had begun to love as a mother during the almost year that they had bonded. But, even with the love that was returning for her faux daughter….

Nina reached over to the top drawer of her desk, opening and reaching into it for the special little box that contained the only lead to her missing children. 

Nina took out the box, closed the drawer, and opened it to reveal one-third of a golden heart necklace. She had received this from her mother, Madeline, when the older woman died in prison from a heart attack, and was told that it would help her find her daughters. Her part was one of three: the other two had been given to the babies that Madeline had cruelly ripped from her before she could even hold them.

Nina lifted the necklace and gently pressed her lips to it, closing her eyes as she did so. 'I'll find you, my babies,' she vowed. 'I swear I'll find you.'

"Nina!"

Nina jumped at the sudden call of her name, nearly dropping her necklace. Clutching it carefully in her fist, she placed it down on her desk, watching as Maxie Jones, her brother's widow and the mother of her nephew, rushed into the room.

"Maxie, what is going on? Is James okay?" Nina asked, her protective instincts instantly flaring at the thought of something happening to her nephew.

Maxie took a minute to catch her breath. "He's fine. Just as healthy and happy as always," she answered, reassuring her former boss.

"What's the problem?"

"It's not really a problem. It's...well…just look at this!"

Maxie practically shoved her cell phone, glowing with the front page of the newest article from The Invader, into Nina's face. Taking a second for her eyes to adjust, Nina carefully inspected the article.

'BABY SWITCH IN PORT CHARLES --- HEIR TO THE ELQ FORTUNE ALIVE WHILE GRIEVING MOTHER BURIES HER CHILD' 

Below the large, bold, printed words was a picture of the memorial given for Wiley Cooper-Jones, the real Wiley Cooper-Jones, and a picture of a devastated Willow Tait as she led the procession with her boyfriend, Detective Harrison Chase, walking loyally beside her.

Nina's heart panged in sympathy for the woman she had previously scorned. It was no secret to anyone in Port Charles how much she disliked Charlotte's teacher. The two of them had gotten off on the wrong foot when Willow had called her, Valentin, and Charlotte's mother Lulu in for a conference about Charlotte bullying Aiden Spencer. Looking back, Nina admitted that she had been the instigator in the majority of their confrontations, had shamed and belittled Willow's teaching ability when she only tried to help. Looking at the face pinched with grief and the blue eyes shining with tears of a woman who just discovered that the baby she spent over a year protecting wasn't even hers, Nina felt empathy for her. She knew exactly what the brunette was going through. Her twins may not be dead, but they were apart, and she understood the ache that Willow was undoubtedly experiencing at this very moment.

"What is there to look at, Maxie, other than a woman grieving her child?" Nina asked.

"That isn't important!" Maxie replied.

Nina's eyes snapped up, staring at Maxie in shocked outrage. How could she say something like that?? How could Willow's grief not be important?? The blonde felt a protectiveness for the young brunette stirring within her, a protectiveness that puzzled her given their negative history, but she wrote it off as commiseration for her tragedy.

Realizing how her statement could be misconstrued, Maxie backtracked, "I mean, of course it's important. Willow losing her child is awful, but look!" Maxie pulled her phone from Nina's eyesight, enlarged the picture, then gave it back to her friend.

Nina felt her heart drop into her stomach once she finally understood just what it was that Maxie was trying to show her.

Right there, peeking out from the neckline of Willow's black dress, settled snugly against the base of her throat, was one-third of the heart necklace Nina owned.

"Oh my god," Nina whispered, placing a hand on her mouth as tears came to her eyes.

Willow Tait had one of the pieces to her necklace. Willow Tait was one half of the twins that were stolen from her. Willow Tait was her daughter.

"Nina? Are you okay? Did I break you?" Maxie nervously questioned, staring at the woman sitting prone in her chair.

"She's my daughter," Nina breathed, her throat tightening as some of the tears fell. "She's one of my babies. My little girl, and I never knew. Oh, God, Maxie! Do you know what this means??"

"Yeah. It means that you know who one of your daughters is," Maxie replied, giving Nina a wary stare.

"No!" Nina shouted. "It means that I tried to ruin my own child's life!"

"What?" Maxie asked. "What do you mean?"

But Nina didn't answer. Instead, she brought her portion of the necklace up to her lips and kissed it as if she were kissing her daughter's head, as if she were comforting the baby girl that should have been hers from the beginning, as if this action could erase the months of hateful words and accusations she had hurled towards Willow.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart," Nina murmured. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I didn't know."

She kept muttering those words to herself, repeating them even as Maxie talked to her, trying to get some answers for her reaction. Maxie didn't matter to her in that moment. Crimson didn't matter to her in that moment. Her budding relationship with Jax didn't matter to her in that moment. What mattered to her was her little girl, her Willow. 

Nina had to make amends with her daughter. She had to be a better mother to her than what she has been. She had to do right by the child she now knew was hers.

'I'll make it up to you, baby girl. I promise.'

Chapter Text

"Now, Charlotte, remember that your grandmother is still recovering from her injuries. She's going to need to rest," Nina told her former stepdaughter as they exited the elevator. Valentin had business to take care of, so he called Nina to ask if she would take Charlotte to visit Laura, a request to which Nina readily agreed. She loved Charlotte and knew that the little girl needed to see her grandmother.

"I know, Nina, I'm just so happy to see Grandma," Charlotte replied.

Nina smiled at her as they approached the nurse's desk, where Elizabeth Baldwin was standing, going over her duties.

"Elizabeth," Nina called.

Elizabeth looked up and smiled. "Nina, Charlotte, hi! I'm guessing that you're here to see Laura."

Charlotte nodded enthusiastically. "Grandma could use some cheering up since she's still in here and Nina came with me so I could see her," she said.

Elizabeth's smile grew wider. "That was sweet of her. You can go on and see her, sweetie. Your uncle Nikolas is visiting with her right now. She's awake, alert, and more than happy to have a visit from her favorite granddaughter," she gave her a wink.

Charlotte giggled and grabbed Nina's hand, leading her to Laura's room. Just as they reached the door, Nina heard someone call out to Elizabeth, their tone frantic and worried.

Nina turned her head to see Chase rushing up to Elizabeth, a look of desperation painted on his face.

Her heart dropped and a nauseous feeling built in her stomach. Her daughter's boyfriend was in the hospital. Her beautiful, fragile, heartbroken daughter who was mourning her baby's loss and who was completely unaware of the fact that she had been adopted, stolen away from her true mother. If he was in the hospital, something must be wrong.

'No,' Nina thought. 'Please don't let me lose my daughter after I've just found her.'

"Elizabeth, have you seen Willow anywhere?" Chase asked.

"No, have you checked the children's wing?" Elizabeth replied.

Chase nodded. "I checked there first. No luck," he said, still with that concerned expression on his face.

Nina stood motionless, watching as Elizabeth led the worried detective over to check the hospital's schedule. She was missing. Her daughter was missing and Chase had no idea where she was.

Elizabeth consulted the computer. "It says that she called in sick today," she informed.

Chase's body gave slightly and he reached out to grab ahold of the desk to steady himself. "She did?" He asked, a look of horror in his eyes as his voice rose slightly with misery. "When?"

"It doesn't say," Elizabeth murmured, then looked up and noticed Chase's despair. "Is something wrong?" The brunette was immediately filled with apprehension at the appearance of her friend.

Chase heaved a sigh. "She, uh, she lost someone very precious to her," he explained. Seeing Elizabeth's confusion, he continued, "the service for Wiley Cooper-Jones that was held a few days ago, the gravestone that used to have Jonah Corinthos' name engraved on it. That was her baby."

"Oh, God," Elizabeth whispered. "The baby that Brad and Lucas adopted that Nelle switched with her and Michael's. He was Willow's?"

Chase nodded. "He was. Nelle came up with the idea and Brad went along with it. Willow's been protecting who she believed to have been her son for over a year only to find out that he's been dead this entire time," his voice was grave as he answered the nurse.

Something hot coursed in Nina's veins when she heard Nelle's and Brad's names, something primal and angry, something that she hadn't felt since she awoke from her coma and learned that Silas had had another child during their marriage. 'They did this to her,' Nina thought, enraged. 'That psychotic bitch and that coward hurt my daughter. They made her believe that my grandson was still alive when he wasn't. She's suffering because of them.'

Clenching her fists, Nina swore to make Nelle and Brad pay for what they've done to her daughter, to her deceased grandson, and she wouldn't stop until they got what they deserved.

'For Willow and Wiley,' Nina vowed.

A tug on her hand broke Nina out of her vengeful haze and she looked down to see Charlotte staring curiously up at her. "Are you coming, Nina?" She asked.

Nina blinked at her, then noticed that the door to Laura's room was open and Nikolas was standing in the doorway, staring curiously at them.

Nina glanced back at Chase as he conversed with Elizabeth, at his worried face that only intensified as they discussed Willow's struggle with reality, and she made the only logical decision for her.

Turning back, Nina smiled at Charlotte. "I just remembered that I have something to do for Crimson that needs to be done by the end of the day or it won't be included in next season's magazine and I need to go to the office for it, but you go ahead and visit Laura, then Nikolas can call me and I can come back and we can spend time together. Does that sound good?"

Despite her disappointed expression that Nina wasn't coming in with her to see her grandmother, Charlotte gave her a wide grin and nodded. "That sounds really good," she responded.

Nina smiled and gave her a hug and a kiss on the forehead, watching as Nikolas led Charlotte into Laura's room. As soon as the door closed, Nina's smile faded and a serious expression came over her face. Turning on her heel, she marched determinedly over to Chase and Elizabeth.

"Detective Chase!" Nina called out, watching Chase's attention divert from Elizabeth to her upon hearing her voice.

"Ms. Reeves," Chase said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Call me Nina, please," Nina threw him a tentative smile. "I came here to bring Charlotte to her grandmother since Laura's still recovering. I overheard you saying that you think that Willow is missing. Why do you think that?" She tried to mask her voice so it didn't sound as desperate as she felt.

Chase exchanged a reluctant look with Elizabeth, a look that was understandable given Nina's history with Willow. Slowly, he explained, "She said that she was going to go into work today, that she has to work, but I've been looking for her everywhere in the hospital and she's not here. Elizabeth just told me that she called in sick and I'm worried," by now the confused look that he donned from Nina's unexpected concern for his girlfriend morphed into the same one of despair as before.

"Do you have any idea where she is?" Nina asked. This time she couldn't help some of the desperation that bled through her voice.

Chase went silent for a few minutes, partly due to the shock from Nina's own distress and partly in his attempt to recall where Willow could have gone. Finally, realization dawned in his eyes and he spoke, "She's seeing Wiley."

From the look on his face and his solemn tone, Nina knew that he wasn't referring to Michael's son Wiley. "I'll go check on her," Nina volunteered, taking the chance to comfort her daughter the way that she wanted since discovering their connection.

Chase's eyes widened, struck dumb by Nina's offer. His mouth moved fruitlessly for a few moments before nervously clearing his throat and asking her, "Are you sure that's a good idea, Nina? You and Willow have never seen eye-to-eye, and that's putting it mildly."

Nina flinched slightly at the reminder of how horribly she treated Willow. "Chase, please. My children may not be with me right now, but I know what it feels like to have your flesh and blood ripped from you. It hurts more than words can describe, and I wouldn't say this if I didn't think that I could help her," her sincerity shone in her words as well as her face. Despite her need to make amends with her child, Nina also wanted to find Willow because she did know some of the grief that Willow was experiencing. She may not have voluntarily given her daughters up for adoption, but they were still taken from her, and though she found Willow despite her other twin's identity and whereabouts continuing to be a mystery, the pain she felt from being unable to consciously give birth to them or hold them or name them or even to raise them threatened to overwhelm her on a daily basis.

Chase's skepticism melted into something softer at hearing Nina's words and he nodded.

"Thank you," Nina breathed. With that, she hurried towards the elevator, intent on finding and comforting her daughter.

***

Willow slowly kneeled down onto the snowy ground, feeling the bitter coldness of it chill her knees through her jeans but not caring. She stared unseeingly at the little tombstone for a moment before she reached tentatively for it, not stopping until she felt the icy marble beneath her fingertips.

She slowly moved her hand from side to side when she made contact, brushing off the snow that had accumulated there. When it was clear and she could read the name (despite knowing just who was buried beneath), she felt her heart break just a little bit more.

'BABY WILEY COOPER-JONES

FEBRUARY 22, 2020'

Willow swallowed past the lump in her throat, her swollen eyes once again stinging with tears. The name engraved on that stone used to be Jonah's, but since the truth came out, it was replaced by her son's.

Her sweet, beautiful, little son who was alive and ready to go home with his new fathers and then was dead in his crib the same night. Her son who obviously never meant as much to Brad as he claimed since he gave him to Nelle Benson to use in her twisted little game against Michael and his family.

Her baby boy who she only got to hold once before she gave him up for his own protection.

"Hi," Willow whispered, wincing as she heard the hoarse quality of her voice. "I'm sorry I haven't been by to see you since your….your reburial….I've been hesitating, not wanting to face the truth, but I have to, don't I?

"I never thought that this would be the way I would meet you again. All this time, I thought that you were with Lucas and Brad, that you were happy and safe and comfortable. I never could have imagined that you were here…...buried underneath all this dirt and snow with a name that wasn't even yours."

Tears slid down Willow's cheeks, but she hardly noticed them. She cried so much within the last few weeks that she barely registered it now. Her heart panged painfully as the glacial winter Port Charles wind froze the salty liquid on her face. It took all she could not to break down right there.

"I'm so sorry," she whimpered, wrapping her arms around her waist as if trying to protect herself from what she already knew. "I'm so sorry I didn't protect you. I failed you, baby, and I am so, so sorry," her words broke off into a sob and for the thousandth time since discovering what really happened the night Michael's son was born, she cried. She cried until her vision blurred and she could barely breathe, her breaths coming in short gasps.

"Willow?"

Willow's head snapped up and she turned to see Nina Reeves standing there at the cemetery gate, staring at her in concern.

"Ms. Reeves, what are you doing here?" Willow asked as Nina came over to her.

"Chase came by the hospital looking for you while I brought Charlotte to see her grandmother. He said that he hadn't seen you at all and I was worried about you," Nina answered, slowly lowering herself onto the frosty ground beside the younger woman.

"I don't understand," Willow said slowly. "Why would you be worried about me?"

Nina winced slightly. 'She's perfectly within her rights to ask that question,' that traitorous voice in the back of her head spitefully chimed in. 'You treated her like she was worthless, you terrible mother.'

"I know what it's like to have your baby taken from you, Willow," Nina said softly. "I gave birth to two baby girls and they were both stolen from me by my mother."

"But your babies are still alive," Willow said. "Mine is…" she trailed off, swallowing hard as she gazed back at the little tombstone.

Nina followed her gaze and saw the name of Willow's baby, her grandbaby, and once again she felt that pain of loss hit her. Her grandson is here, her daughter was right in front of her, and yet they were both still so far away.

Nina gently took Willow's hand, drawing her attention from the marker to her. "My babies are alive, yes," Nina spoke softly still as not to alarm or overwhelm the brunette. "But they're still gone. I have no idea where they are or how they're doing, what kind of lives they had, if they're safe. I think about them every day and I still feel their loss."

Willow's eyes filled with tears again. "I should have known that he was gone, I should have taken better care of him, I should have…" she trailed off again as her throat closed up.

"Don't do that to yourself," Nina brought her hands up to gently cup Willow's face, surprising the former teacher but Nina noticed with glee that she didn't pull away. Instead she sat there, staring at her with a look that she couldn't quite describe.

'Could it be that she somehow recognizes her mother's touch?'

"You can't play the should have game. By all accounts, I should have known my mother's plans. I should have never trusted her. I should have known somehow that my miscarriage didn't really happen and that my babies were still alive, but I didn't because I can't afford to play that game. Thinking about all of those scenarios in which I should have done things differently doesn't change what happened to me. The only thing I can do is move forward, and that's what you need to do, too," Nina told her, brushing a few locks of brown hair that stuck to her face behind her ear.

"What if I can't?" Willow choked out.

Nina felt her heart break all over again for her little girl, the rage towards Nelle and Brad flaring even brighter for the damage they've caused. "I'll help you," Nina promised.

Willow's eyes widened as shock temporarily replaced the grief in her eyes.

"I know that we haven't gotten along in the past, Willow, and I admit that a lot of that is because of me, but I want to try to make up for that by helping you through this. Will you let me do that?" Nina pleaded, staring into her daughter's eyes with all of the earnestness that she could muster.

Willow opened and closed her mouth a few times, struck by the kindness that the woman who always scorned her was showing in this moment. Unable to say anything, she nodded, a sliver of hope blooming in her chest at the thought that she and Nina could finally form some semblance of peace.

Nina smiled and surprised the brunette again by bringing her into a hug.

Willow froze for a moment before she found herself returning the embrace, burying her face into the blonde's shoulder. She craved a mother's touch, a mother's love, for so long that she was willing to take it from anyone, even from Nina.

Nina's eyes shone with joyful tears as she felt Willow accept the olive branch she was extending. Maybe she hadn't screwed up with Willow as much as she thought she did. Maybe there was hope that she could form a relationship with her daughter after all she's done to her.

Maybe they could both have a second chance to have the family they always wanted.

Chapter Text

Willow took in a deep breath as she stood in front of the front entrance to the Quartermaine mansion, trying to find the courage to knock on the door. 

She didn't know why she was here, really. Maybe it's because she still loved the boy who lived there despite him not being her true son. Maybe it's part of the healing process that her therapist and Nina (Willow still couldn't believe that her former enemy had become such a staunch supporter of hers, but she was grateful nonetheless) told her she would experience. Or maybe she was a glutton for punishment, finding ways to make herself feel worse for the situation she was in.

She was starting to think that it was the last out of all of those possibilities because as she stood there, hands moving up and down as she tried to decide if she should even be doing this, she had never felt so helpless or uncertain as she did in this very moment. Not even the day she found out—

"Don't go there," Willow muttered, shaking her head. "Don't go back to that place."

"Don't go back to where?"

Willow jumped, a gasp escaping from her lips as she whirled around, eyes wide and hand clasped to her chest in shock, to see Michael Corinthos III, the father of the very boy she had been thinking of, standing there, watching her.

"M-Michael," Willow stammered. "You scared me."

"I can see that," Michael replied. "I'm sorry, but I'm confused. Why are you standing at my front door?"

Willow tried to speak, to answer him like a normal person, but she couldn't. Not when her eyes finally focused on the baby boy held close to his chest, strapped securely in a blue baby harness.

'Has he been here this whole time?' Willow thought, unable to tear her gaze away. 'Why didn't I notice?'

Michael noticed the direction of her eyes, and his own softened. "Did you…" he began, trying not to startle his grieving friend as he took a step closer to her, his hand coming up to gently rest on his sleeping son's head. He didn't finish his sentence, but he knew she got the message.

Willow wanted to take a step back, but found that her back was already pressed to the front door. Instead she swallowed nervously and looked up at Michael. "I---" she trailed off, unsure on what to say. Part of her wanted to say yes, to see the little boy she thought was hers for so long, but the other part of her wanted to run and never see him again.

"Do you want to come in and talk?" Michael asked, still with that gentle tone of his.

Willow hesitated, but found herself nodding. Her friend smiled and walked past her to unlock the door and lead her inside.

"I was visiting Mom and Dad, letting them see Aaron," Michael began as soon as they were both inside, taking off his coat and unstrapping his son from his chest.

"Aaron?" Willow asked, confused.

Michael turned to face her. "I, uh, changed his name. Jonah didn't feel right anymore because it reminds me of that night and Wiley was your son's name, so I changed it to Aaron," he explained, placing his son carefully into the playpen that his grandmother Monica had set up for him the other day.

"It's nice," Willow commented.

Michael smiled. "Everyone else thought so, too," he replied.

It was quiet for a few moments, save for the sounds of Aaron's babbling, before Michael broke the silence, "Willow, I don't know how to say this so I'm just going to come right out with it: I want you to still be in Aaron's life."

Startled, Willow's eyes, which had been looking down at her clasped hands, darted up to meet Michael's. She let her hands fall to her sides as she stared at him, too stunned to speak.

Seeing that he captured her attention, Michael continued on, talking quickly as if afraid that if he gave her a chance, she'd deny him, "You can still be you with him. The wonderful, sweet, loving, caring you. Aaron needs that, and…" he trailed for a second, almost as if he didn't want to say it, but then pushed out the last bit, "and to be honest….so do I," he stopped then, staring at her, anxiously awaiting her response.

For a moment Willow couldn't speak, gazing at Michael with an indecipherable expression on her face. Finally, with a voice that quaked with emotion, she told him, "I love Aaron so, so much," she clasped both of her hands on her chest and over her heart to let him know the sincerity in her words. "Which is why I have to let him go."

The words were chalky and bitter in her mouth, wrong, as if just by saying them she was abandoning her own baby all over again.

'But he's not my baby,' she thought sadly. 'He never was.'

'But I loved him as if he were my baby,' the other part, the maternal part of her that loved Aaron just as fiercely for a year and a half as she had loved Wiley for the nine months that she carried him, replied. That part of her yearned to hold him in her arms, to continue to be his mother.

'But he already has a mother,' the rational side of her spoke up. 'She's a psycho and a lunatic and a liar, but she's still his mother.'

'She doesn't deserve to be his mother,' maternal Willow snapped.

Neither side of herself could argue against that.

Willow looked up at Michael to see him take in a deep breath at her words, a thoughtful air forming around him. She watched with growing anxiety as he turned around and walked over to the fireplace, leaning against it slightly with one arm as he stared at the wall before him.

Walking over to him, Willow began to further explain the words that contradicted so heavily with her feelings, "I know that you're trying to keep me in Aaron's life for my sake as well as his and I appreciate that, Michael, I really do, but Aaron isn't...mine," her voice trembled slightly as the word fell from her lips. "He never was, and now, knowing the truth about my son, that within hours of being born he stopped breathing, that Nelle used him as a weapon to hurt you, that she and Brad used my baby boy like some prop," a furious undertone came into her voice at this and Michael looked down at the floor as if he were somehow guilty of Nelle's and Brad's deception. "It's all I can think about, Michael, especially when I see Aaron," her voice broke slightly at the end.

"I'm sorry," Michael instantly apologized, kicking himself for being so careless to her grief. "You're dealing with all this and here I am…."

Noticing Michael beginning to spiral into self-loathing, Willow quickly jumped in, "You were thinking of your son, what he needs, it's okay," she waited for him to look at her, to see the truth in her words. "I would love to still be part of Aaron's life, but children are sensitive to everything around them and I don't want him to pick up on everything that I'm feeling."

It was true; she was a mess. She was angry, depressed, bitter, and alternated between lying in bed crying and working to the point of exhaustion. Aaron was such a sweet little boy; he didn't deserve to be damaged by her emotional baggage. She'd be more like the woman who gave birth to him if she decided to stay in his life when she wasn't mentally stable.

'You sound like his mother,' maternal Willow whispered.

Both Sad Willow and Rational Willow promptly shut her down, unwilling to listen to that side of herself.

"I don't think it would be good for either one of us," Willow finished.

Michael sighed heavily. "I wish that me getting my son back didn't mean that you have to lose yours all over again," he told her, staring at her with sympathetic eyes.

Willow stared back at him, her eyes vulnerable and grief-stricken as her heart thudded hollowly in her chest. For a moment she felt like she couldn't breathe, that the walls were closing around her. The worst part was that she thought the same thing at first: Michael got his son back, why couldn't she have hers?

Then the guilt came, and she felt ashamed of herself for thinking that way. Michael was just as much a parent to his baby as she was to hers and he suffered the way she did when he believed his son to be dead; it was wrong to even think that the grief would be less intense if it had been her baby who had survived and not Michael's.

"I didn't know my son was gone. I never mourned him and it haunts me," Willow began, moving her hands up in the direction of her chest as if that would rid her of her heartache. "A big part of me feels like I should have known, that the mother in me should have been able to take one look at that baby and say, 'that's not my child,' but I didn't know the difference," her hands dropped to her sides again with a smack, a sudden self-hatred overtaking her, a self-hatred so strong it nearly took her breath away. "What kind of mother doesn't know her own child?" It was devastating to her that she didn't know that Aaron wasn't Wiley. She held him once and looked into his eyes before she gave him up to Brad and Lucas, she felt a connection, so how could she fail to recognize that he wasn't hers? Was she really such an awful person and an awful mother that she couldn't tell her baby apart from someone else's?

"What kind of father doesn't?" Michael countered, feeling the same self-doubt and self-loathing for himself. "I spent the last year and a half loving Aaron without even knowing that he was mine. We were lied to, Willow, it wasn't our fault," he stared into her eyes so she could see that he meant it. "You loved Aaron the best that you could and I loved your little boy the same. I grieved for your son as my own and you fought like hell to protect mine. I guess in a way that kind of makes them brothers, doesn't it?" He smiled at her.

During his speech, Willow had leaned her arms against the fireplace. Now she crossed them as if to protect herself, tears forming again in her eyes as she thought about Michael's words. It was true in a way: Michael loved her son like his own and fought for him when Shiloh was demanding custody, and she still felt such a strong protectiveness around Aaron that those bonds created something akin to family.

"Look, just please don't shut Aaron out," Michael pleaded desperately. "If anyone deserves a place in his life, it's you."

Suddenly Aaron began fussing, catching their attention, and Willow watched as Michael instantly rushed over to pick him up just as Sasha, his girlfriend and Willow's best friend since she came to Port Charles, walked in through the door.

"Hey, Willow," Sasha smiled.

Willow nodded at her, not trusting herself to speak. Sasha frowned at her, hurting for her friend.

"Okay, this little guy needs a nap, he's getting cranky," Michael laughed, holding the sleepy baby on his hip.

"I can do that," Sasha volunteered, taking Aaron from her boyfriend and giving the two a brief smile before climbing up the staircase to Aaron's new nursery.

"She's good with him," Willow commented as Sasha disappeared from view.

"She is, but she doesn't think so," Michael replied.

"Why not?" Willow asked.

"She thinks she doesn't have a very maternal side, which is ridiculous because Aaron loves her and she helps out whenever she can," he answered.

Willow hummed.

It was silent for a while, then Michael spoke, "He loves you, too, you know. Aaron."

"I love him, too," Willow replied in a voice barely above a whisper.

"You are the best mother for him, Willow," Michael told her.

Willow sighed. "Michael…"

"This isn't me trying to force you into doing anything," Michael amended quickly. "I just want to let you know that. Aaron may not be yours biologically, that's true, but he is yours emotionally. You've been caring for him, loving him, protecting him all this time before you found out he wasn't yours. He deserves a maternal figure who actually loves him and won't use him for a revenge scheme."

Willow's lip trembled slightly and she looked away for a minute before returning her gaze to him. Just before she could reply to him, Sasha came downstairs, catching their attention.

"Hey," Sasha smiled and placed a hand on Michael's shoulder. "Am I interrupting anything?" She asked, her smile dropping when she noticed the tension between her boyfriend and best friend.

"No, not at all," Willow said quickly, jumping at the chance to finish this conversation and leave the Quartermaine mansion.

"Are you sure? I know you two have a lot to talk about," Sasha stated.

"And we did," Willow nodded before turning to Michael. "Thank you, Michael," she said.

"Yeah, well, I don't necessarily think we're finished, but…" he gave her a smile before turning to look at Sasha. "Is everything okay?"

Sasha looked a little sheepish. "You know that conversation we had earlier about training Aaron to sleep through the night, especially after having a day out?" When Michael kept his gaze on her, she admitted, "Well, I am a pushover because he woke up after a few minutes and so I picked him up, thinking I could get him back down because he wanted to be held, but he's having trouble. I guess he just doesn't want to sleep."

While she was explaining, Michael smiled fondly and Willow watched her with the ghost of a smile upon hearing about the baby she had come to love as her own (because you did think he was your own all this time, and you loved him like he was, that traitorous maternal side whispered).

"Okay," Michael said. "I'll go check on him."

He turned to Willow again and hesitated for a second before telling her, "Look, Willow. I support whatever choice you make to help yourself heal. I just want you to know that you will always have a place in my family and that Aaron will always be your son, regardless of who gave birth to him."

Willow nodded at him, silent but the slight pull upward at the corners of her lips were every indication that Michael's words meant something to her.

With that said, Michael left to tend to his son while Sasha stepped closer to Willow, a kind smile forming on her face.

"Are you okay?" She asked softly.

"No, not really," Willow shook her head, giving Sasha a weak smile. "But I'm doing better than I was."

"I heard that Nina was helping you feel better," Sasha commented. It surprised her when she heard about Nina's new friendship with Willow, given all of the complaints she had heard about Willow from her back when she and Valentin were still running their con, but it pleased her, too. Willow needed someone else beside Chase to stand by her through this difficult time, and she was happy that it was Nina.

This time Willow's smile wasn't so pained. There was a warmth on her face that had never been there prior to that day in the cemetery, back when she and Nina were always at odds. "She has been very supportive through this," she confirmed. "I can only assume that the reason for that is because she had her twins taken from her, but I'm grateful. Having Nina as a friend is much better than having her as an adversary."

"Don't I know it," Sasha replied. She definitely didn't want to go back to the months after it was revealed at Valentin and Nina's wedding that she wasn't Nina's daughter. Nina had treated her coldly, with good reasoning, of course, but it still hurt to see the woman she had begun to consider as a mother be so angry and unforgiving with her.

"It looks like Michael is adopting to fatherhood quickly," Willow commented.

"Oh, don't let him fool you," Sasha replied. "He is constantly doubting himself. He's not sure he can make the transition from 'fun uncle' to 'Dad.'"

"Somehow I don't think that that's going to be a problem," Willow retorted, a fond smile stretching her lips as she moved away from Sasha, towards the coffee table where a baby monitor and several baby toys littered the smooth surface.

"Nope, it's not, but it's really adorable watching him think that it is," Sasha laughed as she followed Willow, who had knelt down in front of the coffee table.

"Aaron couldn't ask for a better father," Willow claimed, picking up the few toys that were on the ground and placing them on the coffee table with the others. When she was finished, she turned to her best friend and, rising, said, "He's really lucky to have you in his life, too."

"Thanks, but as much as I cheer Michael on and pitch in to help with Aaron, I am not his mother," Sasha responded, revealing her insecurity to the brunette standing in front of her. 

Willow looked away. "Yeah, well, as it turns out, neither was I," she murmured, her heart twisting painfully at yet another reminder that the baby she loved so much wasn't hers.

"Except that you were," Sasha commented, waiting for Willow to meet her gaze again before she continued. "You were more of a mother to Aaron than a lot of…" she trailed off. 

"Real mothers," Willow finished, closing her eyes and nodding her head.

"Biological moms," Sasha amended, watching Willow look back up at her. "Look, two of the greatest mothers I have ever seen in Port Charles have been Nina with Charlotte and you with Aaron. No biology and all of the love."

"That is very kind of you to say," Willow managed through the lump in her throat.

"I'm just calling it like I see it," Sasha replied kindly. When Willow continued to stare at her, Sasha went on, "And while I've gone this far, I might as well go all the way. Aaron is not the only one who needs you. Michael does, too."

Willow stared at her friend in surprise. Michael needed her? How could Michael possibly need her?

'Probably because you're the only other true parent he knows that Aaron has,' that annoying maternal side of her whispered in her ear.

'Shut UP!' Rational Willow hissed, sick of that voice.

Mercifully, that voice went silent.

Willow saw that Sasha was watching her, expecting a response, and just like with Michael earlier when he wanted her to remain in Aaron's life, she blurted out, "As much as I love Aaron, it's just too painful to be around him. It's not good for me and I don't think it's good for Aaron, either."

"Okay, I'm just going to level with you," Sasha sighed. "After all that you've done to fight for Aaron, to give him the best life possible, why stop now? Aaron deserves to have someone as fierce and selfless as you are in his life and in return, you deserve to have him in yours, too," as she said this, she placed a comforting hand on Willow's shoulder.

"Thank you for saying that, Sasha, but I can't," Willow stressed. She appreciated all that her friend was saying, she really did, but it didn't help her when all she could think about when she laid eyes on Aaron is how much she wished that she could have her own baby, alive and safe in her arms.

"How do you know if you haven't even tried?" Sasha's rebut was passionate. "Isn't Aaron important enough to try, Willow? You have so much love to give to children. It showed when you were with your students, anyone could see it. Even Charlotte came around. And when you thought you might be pregnant….the love that you have to give….I don't know how to describe it, it's profound, I guess, is the word," she stared at her friend with awe as she realized once again just how loving the other brunette really was.

"Which is your way of saying that I should share this profound," despite her best efforts, a twinge of bitterness laced her voice at the word. "Love with Aaron."

"Yes, it is," Sasha said emphatically. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to strong-arm you, but…"

"Yes, you do," Willow interrupted. "And it's okay. You're just looking out for Michael and for Aaron, and I'm just glad that they have someone in their life that cares about them so much."

Sasha began speaking as she watched Willow turn away to retrieve her coat. "Turn yourself off from Aaron. Maybe that's what you need right now, but it's still going to hurt. Not just Michael and Aaron, but you, too. Don't you think you deserve better?"

Willow's expression remained carefully blank, although her eyes spoke of a pain so deep and raw that anyone could see the wounds on her soul just by looking at her. "What I deserve is to know that my child is alive, that he wasn't used to hurt someone I care about, that he was meant to be more than someone's means to an end," her voice was weak and small, causing Sasha to almost have to strain herself to hear her. She felt like she was going to suffocate underneath the sheer agony, the primal grief, that had become normal for her within the last few weeks. Saying the words aloud, those damning words in which her precious baby boy, the child she carried within her womb for nine months, the one she gave birth to with the intention for him to be raised by two loving parents, to give him the life that she never had, never had the chance to experience that true love, that security of having a family who would do anything to keep him safe, made her so terribly sick that she felt bile rising in the back of her throat. She swallowed the bitter substance down, unwilling to expose herself any more than she already had.

Sasha began to tear up slightly as she heard the pain in Willow's voice. Before she could have reply, Michael's voice drifted in from the staircase, "Hey buddy, you want to go see your friend Willow? Let's go say hi."

Terror crossed Willow's face and she instantly scrambled to grab her purse. "I get what you're saying, but I'm sorry, I can't."

And with that, before Sasha even had a chance to stop her again, she was gone.

As Willow stood against the door, in the cold, she could hear Michael and Sasha, talking, laughing, with Aaron, and her heart tore itself apart once more.

Unable to stop herself, she turned her head to see through the wooden blinds, watching her friends sit on the couch, Michael's son between them, the picture of what a normal, happy little family looks like without jail time and cult leaders and toxic relationships. Tears pricked her eyes and before she could catch herself, one salty droplet dripped down her cheek, making a path until it fell off of her chin and onto the cold ground.

"It's for the best," she whispered, wiping her face and walking away from the Quartermaine mansion, away from her problems, and especially….

….away from Aaron.

Chapter Text

Willow sat on the park bench, her mind whirling with thoughts of her baby, his death, the switch that Aaron's bitch of a mother initiated with Brad Cooper. The pain that tore through her each time she remembered that the child she was protecting wasn't hers, that her true child was buried beneath a grave stone, bearing the name Wiley Cooper-Jones instead of Jonah Corinthos was intolerable. Even with the support of Chase, Michael, Sasha, and Nina, getting up in the morning was so agonizing that it stole away her breath each time.

She couldn't cope. She put on a brave face for the rest of the world, but it didn't help make her feel less empty. Everyone in Port Charles knew that the Quartermaine heir was still alive, and while they rejoiced over that, she had to suffer with the terrible knowledge that her son wasn't breathing and hadn't been breathing since July 29th, 2018.

Tightening her fists into the fabric of the coat she was wearing as she sat in the chilly weather, Willow wondered how she had become so bitter. She would never wish for any child to be lost to their parent, especially not someone as close a friend to her as Michael, so why did it seem as though she'd rather her son be alive and no one else's?

'You should be angry,' that damned maternal side of her reared its ugly head again. 'Your baby was taken from you in the worst way possible. Why should you have to hide your feelings when no one else does?'

For once the rational and sad sides of herself stayed quiet. It was as if they agreed with Maternal Willow by not scolding her, and the real Willow just didn't have the strength to fight against that voice that seemed to scream louder than all the ones in her head.

Willow's attention was diverted when she heard the sound of a cup falling to the ground, quickly followed by a splash. Turning her head, she saw a little boy who couldn't have been less than ten stand over a puddle of brown liquid. 

"My hot chocolate!" The boy whined, disappointment crossing his sweet little face.

Before she could even think, Willow rose from the bench and hurried over to the child. "Hey, it's okay," Willow cooed softly as she knelt beside the little boy, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, sweetheart. Why don't we get you another one?"

Instantly the boy's father appeared. "Hey, what's going on?" He asked.

"I think he just dropped it," Willow said, picking up the fallen cup after a moment of hesitation.

"Yeah, I saw," the father replied, smiling politely at the woman, but it was clear by his attitude that he wanted his son as far away from her as possible. "Thanks for, umm…"

The father then took his son's hand. "Come on, Caleb." Then they were gone.

Willow watched them go, embarrassment and shame coloring her face as she thought about how insane she seemed.

'Stupid,' she thought, standing there with the empty cup in her hands.

She had just humiliated herself in front of a little boy and his father and for what reason? Because she missed her own? That wasn't good enough. Nothing she ever seemed to do was good enough.

"Willow?"

Almost robotically, Willow turned to see who had called out to her, finding Chase standing there, staring at her with concerned eyes. "Hey, you okay?"

Silently, Willow shook her head, reaching out to pull him to her. Her body pressed against his, desperately needing comfort. Her boyfriend reciprocated the embrace, holding her just as close.

After a few minutes, Willow pulled away. "I'm sorry," her voice was small as she looked into his eyes. "I thought that we could meet for hot chocolate, watch the skaters...I did not mean to ruin it."

Chase shook his head. "Don't apologize. Being here for you actually makes me feel useful," he said.

"No, no," Willow protested. "I am so embarrassed!"

"Why? Because you got a little upset?"

"No, because I watched a little boy drop his hot chocolate and swooped in to make it all better."

"What's wrong with that?"

"I must have looked like a crazy person. The crying lady at the park? Even I would run away from me if I could," Willow wrapped her arms around herself as she walked a little away from Chase, her mind once again filling with thoughts of how insane she seemed to everyone else, how unstable she was to try to make things better for children who weren't hers.

Her heart throbbed painfully. Children who weren't hers. Like Aaron Corinthos. Thinking about that little boy made her thoughts shift to Michael, who was still so insistent on her being in his life.

"So would Michael," Willow sighed as she turned around to face Chase, her mouth twisting into a grimace. "If he had any sense, but he insists that he wants the opposite."

"What do you mean?" Chase stared at his girlfriend. Knowing that Michael had wanted to ask her out first admittedly made him a little paranoid that the Quartermaine heir still had those feelings for her despite being with Sasha.

"Last night I told him that I couldn't be around Aaron anymore, but Michael asked me to find a way and the more I think about it, the more I want to," her eyes lowered to the snowy ground as she realized that she still felt connected to the child.

"Wait, so Michael asked you to do what specifically? To keep being Aaron's nanny?" Chase asked.

"No, nothing like that. He just doesn't want me to exclude myself from Aaron's life. Aaron has lost Lucas and obviously Brad, but Michael thinks that I can be a consistent presence in Aaron's life and from Aaron's perspective, things haven't changed. I'm still Willow, the nice lady who reads him stories and babysits him sometimes," she explained.

"But everything has changed from your perspective," Chase pointed out, voice laced with worry as he saw the struggle in her eyes.

"I know, but should finding out that Aaron isn't really mine change our relationship? And no, he's not the child I gave birth to, but I was part of his life. It's exactly what Michael was going through. Michael didn't know that Aaron was his child and he loved him anyway. And even though I know now that Aaron isn't mine, I love him anyway. Aaron is in my heart."

'You didn't feel that way when you were talking to Sasha at the Quartermaines,' rational Willow spoke up.

'She's allowed to change her mind. Aaron has been her child this whole time,' maternal Willow snapped.

'Except he's not!' Rational Willow argued.

Sad Willow remained silent in her corner.

'The voices in my head are arguing. Great,' Willow thought. As if she didn't believe she was crazy before. Now she hears voices, two of which fight all the time.

"That's not what you said last night," Chase said, snapping Willow out of her thoughts. "In fact, you felt the exact opposite."

'Exactly.'

"I know, but I miss him. I miss him so much," Willow admitted.

And she did. She felt many things these days: angry because she was lied to, devastated that her son was dead, betrayed because of Brad's part in the switch, one of the adoptive fathers she entrusted Wiley's future to. She felt all of those, but through that mess of negativity, she knew in her bones that she missed Aaron, that she still loved him. She meant it earlier when she told Sasha that she wasn't ready to interact with Aaron yet, but it still didn't take away that longing to hold Michael's son.

"Well, before you make a decision, one way or the other, maybe just stop and take a breath?" Chase suggested.

"Of course," Willow nodded. She wasn't going to jump right into it. She needed time to think, to heal.

"Michael may be thinking about what's best for Aaron, but I'm thinking about what's best for you," her boyfriend's voice was firm and his eyes protective. Willow smiled, her aching heart soothed slightly by the love Chase held for her.

"How did I get so lucky to have you?" Willow asked.

Chase smiled softly. "I ask myself the same question."

Holding his hand out to her, Chase said, "Come on. Let's get our hot chocolate and watch the skaters."

"Okay," Willow accepted his hand with hers and went to enjoy her day with the man she loves.

★★★

Nina sat in her office, doing paperwork and figuring out events for Crimson's next issue. She loved her job, she did, but sometimes it was more trouble than it was worth.

A knock sounded at the door and, without looking up from her work, she called out, "Come in!"

The door opened. "Is this a bad time?"

The redhead instantly looked up, paperwork forgotten. "Willow!" Her face brightened instantly when she saw her daughter standing in the doorway. "No, of course this isn't a bad time! Come in!"

"Are you sure?" Willow asked, closing Nina's office door behind her. "You look pretty busy."

Nina pushed aside what was on her desk to give Willow her full attention. "I was, but I always have time for you."

Willow smiled. "If you say so," she said, sitting down in the chair in front of the older woman's desk.

"So, to what do I owe this pleasant visit?" Nina asked, smiling at her little girl.

Willow's tentative smile fell from her face and she looked down, nervously interlocking her fingers.

Nina instantly became concerned. "Hey, what's wrong?" She asked, reaching out and gently touching her laced hands. She didn't know what happened with Willow since she last saw her, but she didn't like the despondent look on her daughter's face. If someone hurt her…

'Calm down, Nina. Let Willow talk,' a voice that sounded suspiciously like Silas chimed into her head. She took a deep, calming breath and waited.

After a few more moments of silence, Willow finally spoke, "It's…it's Aaron."

Nina tilted her head. "What about Aaron? Is he alright?"

Willow nodded. "Yes, he's fine, it's just that…Michael still wants me to be part of his life."

Nina's concern for her daughter grew. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" She asked.

An anguished expression came over Willow's face. "I don't know. Maybe, but maybe not. I don't know what the right answer is," distress was heavy in her voice, her face pinched with confusion and pain.

Nina soothingly rubbed Willow's hands. "Talk through it," she gently encouraged. "Tell me what happened today."

Willow sighed. "Well, it started with the park. I was thinking about my…" she swallowed dryly. "I was thinking about Wiley and I watched a little boy drop his hot chocolate. He looked so upset and so disappointed that I couldn't help myself. I got up and suggested we get a new one together. Then the boy's father comes over and takes him away. I saw the look on his face. He was trying to be nice, but it was obvious that he didn't want his son anywhere near the crazy lady who's always crying or staring blankly in the park." Willow finally unlaced her fingers, pulling the hand that wasn't being held by Nina to wipe at a few stray traitor tears.

Nina's heart panged at the young woman's grief. She knew what it was like to grieve for the lost opportunity of motherhood. She never got to feel her babies kick inside her or watch her belly swelling as the months passed or hear her daughters cry before being placed into her arms. She ached every day for that.

When Willow regained her composure, she continued: "Then I started remembering what Michael told me last night. He said that I deserved to have a place in Aaron's life, that he needed me, and I…I want to agree so badly, but…"

"...But you don't know if it would be good for you," Nina finished, tightening her hold on Willow's hand when she nodded, staring down at the surface of Nina's desk.

The office was silent for a few moments while the women gathered their thoughts. Finally, Nina opened her mouth. "Willow, I know what you're going through. I went through that grief with the babies my mother stole from me and that feeling of uncertainty with Charlotte," the redhead watched as her daughter's eyes rose to meet hers.

"Really?" Willow asked softly.

"Yes. When I met Valentin and he introduced Charlotte to me, I felt the same way you did. I was reluctant to be a mother to such a young girl when I really didn't know where I stood with her father. Adding in the fact that we found out that Lulu was her biological mother and the mother she grew up with only carried her, I felt that reluctance grow because I didn't want things to fail with Valentin and have her lose a mother all over again, but we started bonding and I came to love that little girl like my own, and she loves me, too. I would never replace Lulu because she is Charlotte's mother, but I promised to always be in her life and it is the best decision I ever made. Well," Nina smiled at her. "the best decision other than making peace with you and being your friend." The word friend was like ash in her mouth knowing that Willow was one of the babies that had been stolen from her while she was in that coma, but the smile on Willow's face and her subsequent laugh made it taste just a bit sweeter.

Unfortunately, the smile didn't last for very long, and Willow's melancholic mood returned. "That may have worked for you, Nina, but you were never led to believe that Charlotte was your daughter only to find out that your real daughter was dead." God, how she despised saying those words, but unlike the two years she spent believing that Aaron was Wiley, they weren't lies.

"You're right. My circumstances were different, but the feelings were the same. I never stopped being a mother, even when my mother lied to me and told me that I miscarried in my coma. I remembered finding out about my pregnancy and how I felt. I knew that I was going to have a baby. I also never stopped being a mother when Charlotte and I bonded. Willow, honey," Nina reached her other hand out to grip Willow's so that both sets of fingers were clasped. "You never stopped being a mother when you gave birth to Wiley and you never stopped being a mother even when finding out the truth about Aaron and Wiley. You still love them both and if you want to still be in Aaron's life and give him that maternal figure he's lacking, then by all means, stay. It is, and always will be, your choice."

Willow was silent as Nina finished her speech. Before Chase, no one ever told her that something was her choice. It was always things she had to do. She had to keep moving all her life because her mother wanted to find spirituality. She had to join Dawn of Day and be "rescued" by Shiloh. She had to stay away from Aaron when he was still Wiley because Brad didn't want the secret to come out…

"Thank you, Nina," Willow whispered.

"For what?"

"For being there for me. You've given me a lot to think about."

Nina's smile lit up her entire face. "I'm glad. I'll always be here for you, Willow," she said warmly.

This time, the joyful smile didn't immediately drop. It stayed on her lips because of Nina. This was the Nina who fought for what she believed in. This was the Nina whose generosity was limitless to those she loved. This was the Nina Sasha loved. Willow could actually love this Nina.

'I wish Nina was my mother and not Harmony.'

Chapter Text

So many thoughts filled her mind as Willow entered the courthouse, allowing her feet to lead her to the room in which Nelle's arraignment would be taking place. She thought of her little boy who had been used as a prop by her when he died shortly after he was born. She thought of Aaron, Michael's little boy, who still suffers because his mother is a manipulative witch who only wants to make things difficult for his family. She thought of all of the pain Nelle's caused since she brought her special brand of crazy to Port Charles, and she wanted to see her punished for it. She wanted to watch the woman who hurt her friend and disrespected her dead newborn be sent to Pentonville, hopefully for the rest of her miserable life.

'If there's any justice in the world, that bitch will be behind bars by the end of the day,' apparently, Maternal Willow was feeling vicious today.

'We said the same thing about Shiloh and look at what happened,' Sad Willow chimed in.

Rational Willow took her opportunity to speak up: 'You know that that was different. Shiloh hid behind a charming face and had dozens of people who were willing to step up and defend him. Nelle screams crazy and nearly everyone in Port Charles wants to watch her get what she deserves again.'

"Shut up," Willow muttered. She really wished that those other personalities of hers had a mute button.

"Willow?"

Willow's head rose, her eyes meeting Nina's familiar blue.

Nina was smiling at her, dressed in a long, button-up coat concealing another of her beautiful Crimson dresses. From what Willow could see, the fashion CEO opted for a green one today. On her feet were a set of heels in the same color.

"Nina? What are you doing here?" Willow asked, walking towards her.

"I came to give you some moral support. I know that you want to support Michael and his family and watch Nelle be sent back to Pentonville. I know that his mother is here and later on he will be, but I wanted to be with you, too," Nina answered.

Willow nodded and it was then that she noticed an older woman standing beside Nina. She appeared to be somewhere in her 50's or 60's with long, wavy reddish brown hair and blue eyes. She wore the same black button-up coat, though from Willow's point of view, the woman seemed to enjoy flashier colors as her heels and her dress were a bright red, nearly the same color as the magazine Nina owned.

"Hello," Willow spoke, staring at the woman.

"Oh!" Nina flushed a bit as she realized that she never introduced the pair. "Willow, this is my aunt, Liesl Obrecht. Aunt Liesl, this is my d—" she cut herself off before she could finish the word. Willow didn't know that she was her daughter yet, let alone that she was even adopted! "Dear friend, Willow Tait. She was Charlotte's teacher."

Willow furrowed her brows. What was with the interruption? Was she really going to say dear?

'Now that is suspicious,' Rational Willow commented. Willow was inclined to agree with her.

Obrecht smiled warmly at Willow. "Hello, Willow!" She greeted the younger brunette in her heavy German accent. "It is so nice to finally meet you! Nina has been singing your praises since you have formed your friendship!"

Nina heaved an exasperated sigh while Willow blushed a little. "Thank you—" now she was the one to trail off. She wasn't sure what to call Nina's aunt.

"Liesl is fine, dear."

"Okay. Thank you, Liesl. It's nice to meet you, too."

"Are you ready to watch Nelle's arraignment, Willow?" Nina asked.

Obrecht's eyes darkened and her smile fell, ice replacing the warmth on her face. "Nelle," she hissed. "Diese Hündin."

Nina looked at her. "Aunt Liesl," she warned.

"Yes, yes," Obrecht waved off her niece's rebuke. "I know, keep the peace, don't cause a scene, and whatnot."

Willow smiled while Nina groaned.

"Let's go," Nina said, and the three women walked into the courtroom to hear the tail end of Nelle's conversation with Carly Corinthos, Michael's mother and Aaron's grandmother.

"Put Aaron first for once," Carly was saying as Willow, Nina, and Obrecht approached.

"Well, that's exactly what I'm doing by fighting to stay with my son," Nelle told the older blonde standing before her. Her eyes sparked when she caught sight of Willow. "After all, we wouldn't even be in this mess had another woman not given up her child. I'm not going to make things worse by repeating her mistakes," though her voice was cordial to the untrained ear, those who knew of Nelle's history could hear the sinister undertones. Going for Willow's weak spot was just another tactic for causing more trouble.

Her comments earned poisonous glares from Carly, Nina, and Obrecht. Willow just scoffed, her eyes rolling to focus on the ground. The audacity of this woman never ceases to amaze her.

"Hündin," Obrecht muttered. Nina didn't bother to admonish her this time. Nelle deserved far worse than just "bitch" as an insult for throwing her grandson back in her daughter's face.

Carly turned to face Willow. "I'm so sorry that you had to hear that," she told her, gazing at the grieving mother with sympathy.

"It's fine," Willow said coolly. "From what I understand, she's a narcissist and a sociopath. I'm sure she can't help herself."

Nelle scoffed, shooting Willow a sarcastic smile.

"You know, this is just an arraignment. You don't have to be here," Carly told her.

"I had to see Nelle get sent back to Pentonville with my own eyes."

Nelle's eyebrows rose to her hairline at Willow's reply. "Looks like Snow White isn't as pure as everyone thinks," she commented.

"Purer than you, Evil Queen," Willow returned the blonde's jab with one of her own, eyes boring into Nelle's with equal scorn.

From beside Willow, Nina and Obrecht beamed with pride. Their girl was a fighter and it showed with each and every interaction with Nelle.

Michael stepped inside the courtroom, having finally arrived. "Hey," he said, catching the attention of everyone present. "How are you doing?" He placed a comforting hand on Willow's shoulder, staring at his friend in concern. It meant so much for her to be there, supporting them, but it wasn't easy for her. He couldn't imagine what was going through her head now that she was in the same room with the woman who let her believe her son was alive all these months.

"I'm fine, but we should talk later," Willow reassured him, earning a nod from the Quartermaine heir.

"Michael," Nelle stepped closer to where the group congregated, her face curious and, dare Willow say it, even concerned. "How is our son? Did you tell him I love him?"

Her question resulted in several eyerolls from Carly, Willow, and Nina, another muttered German curse from Obrecht, and an exasperated sigh from Michael.

Ignoring Nelle, Michael spoke to Willow, "Listen, about last night…"

He was interrupted by the bailiff: "All rise! This court is now in session, the honorable Judge Pierce presiding."

"You may be seated," Judge Pierce said as he got situated.

Michael, Carly, Nina, Obrecht, and Willow all settled into one side of the court while Nelle and her lawyer did the same. Willow recognized her lawyer. It was Zahra Amir, the same bitch who represented Shiloh when they thought Aaron was Wiley and he was suing her for custody. Since the revelation and his arrest for sexual assault and exploitation, the bastard had been imprisoned in Pentonville. Willow hoped that he stayed there for the rest of his life. Death was too good for him; the psychotic rapist deserved to rot in confinement.

Willow was startled when she felt a hand rest on her own. Looking to her right she saw Nina, staring at her in concern. Glancing down at her lap, she noticed that her knuckles were white from how tightly she was clenching them. She relaxed her fist, stretching out her fingers and allowing Nina to hold them.

Returning her gaze to the older woman, Willow offered her a smile, one that Nina wholeheartedly matched.

Judge Pierce's voice drew Willow's attention as he began: "The matter of the people vs. Nelle Benson…on the charges of assault and possession of forged documents, how do you plea?"

"Not guilty, Your Honor."

"Noted. Now to the matter of bail."

"Your Honor, the people move that bail be denied altogether," the prosecuting attorney stated as she rose from her seat. "The defendant was apprehended attempting to break parole by leaving the country with a stolen baby after assaulting the caregiver. Given that she's charged with possession of forged passports for her and the child, she's clearly a flight risk."

"Miss Amir. Thoughts?"

"We agree that bail should not be an issue, Your Honor. Motion to dismiss all charges."

Willow's hatred for this woman flared and she clenched her fingers tightly around Nina's. How dare she??? It was bad enough that she represented Shiloh and tried to get him rights to a baby that wasn't his! Now she wanted to acquit Nelle?!

Willow shared an angered, disbelieving look with Michael before his eyes moved to stare stoically ahead at the defendant's table as Zahra began to stand, no doubt looking to inflict more pain.

"Your Honor, my client is charged based on the accusation made by one woman, a woman whose accusation is riddled with inconsistencies."

"Swine," Obrecht muttered while Nina only growled at the attorney's claim that her daughter was lying about being attacked.

"Are you saying that Miss Tait's unreliable due to a head injury caused by the defendant?" The prosecutor asked, incredulity causing her voice to pitch. "That's some landmark victim blaming."

"The simple truth is there was no forced entry," Zahra replied. "The alleged victim allowed the defendant into her home."

Willow angrily shook her head. She knew exactly who Nelle was and what she did. She never would have let her into her home, especially when there were children involved.

"Not according to the victim's statement in which she states she tried to close the door but was unable to do so," the other female lawyer protested, walking up to the judge's bench.

"Well, can the prosecution provide proof that substantiates the assault charge?" Judge Pierce asked.

"Absolutely," the prosecutor confirmed as she strode over to her table and picked up a folder. "We have Miss Tait's medical records from the night in question."

"That confirms she had a concussion, but not how," Zahra said.

"We have a witness statement from Michael Corinthos."

"Who bonded with the child while my client anguished in jail."

"For murdering her former fiancé and attempting to kill Mr. Corinthos!"

"Crimes to which she pled no contest."

"Which is tantamount to a conviction, and to crimes she took responsibility for during her first parole hearing."

Willow sighed, placing her free hand on her forehead. The lobbying between the attorneys was beginning to give her whiplash. Or maybe that was a lingering side effect from the concussion she suffered when she "allowed the defendant into her home."

'Bitch,' Rational Willow hissed.

"What else you got?" Judge Pierce inquired.

"A statement from Detective Harrison Chase," Willow watched Nelle roll her eyes and flip her hands at that name.

"Who is the alleged victim's boyfriend and whose apartment the alleged crime happened in. The conflicts of interest abound, Your Honor," Zahra claimed.

"The assault charge is dismissed without prejudice. You are free to refile should the evidence present itself," Judge Pierce ruled, much to the outrage of those present on Willow's side.

"Unfähiger Narr," Obrecht growled, eyes flashing. Her great-niece was attacked and the judge was actually choosing to dismiss that?! Nelle's defense attorney was pulling arguments out of her ass, while the prosecution had proof!

Nina's jaw set and she was the one clenching Willow's hand this time. Her daughter had been injured when that psycho forced her way into Chase's apartment! Self-control was the only thing preventing her from flying out of her seat and attacking Nelle, her lawyer, and this idiot judge for neglecting the fact that Willow had a concussion and had to spend the night in the hospital!

Willow felt Nina's tight grip on her hand and heard Obrecht's growl. She didn't know why exactly they were reacting so strongly to the judge dismissing her assault, but it touched her all the same. When you had her in your corner, Nina Reeves was a protective and formidable woman who would do anything she could for those she loved, and it was obvious to her that Liesl Obrecht was the same.

'It must run in their family,' she thought.

"Speaking of presenting, the prosecution has failed to hand over the so-called forged travel documents for the defense's examination," Zahra pointed out.

"And why is that?" Judge Pierce questioned, staring at the other female lawyer and Robert Scorpio, the latter having been a distinguished WSB agent and spy before becoming a district attorney himself.

"There's been a mix up, Your Honor," Robert claimed as he stood from his seat at the prosecution table.

"The PCPD evidence room seems to have misplaced the documents," the female prosecutor confirmed Robert's statement as they stood side by side.

"The charge is possession of forged documents, is it not?" Judge Pierce asked.

The female prosecutor nodded. "It is, Your Honor, and further evidence of attempted abduction."

"And the PCPD isn't in possession of these allegedly forged documents?"

Willow felt sick to her stomach. She knew by the judge's tone, as well as by his earlier dismissal of the assault charge, that Nelle could very well walk out of here with her freedom, freedom that she didn't deserve.

"Your Honor, the evidence was logged in per regulations, but not in its assigned bin when I arrived to check on it this morning. I'm certain it can be located," the female prosecutor was rather confident in her answer, but Willow felt like she was fighting a battle that's already been lost.

All of her fears were confirmed by the judge's response: "Well, get back to me when it does. Until then: no evidence, no charges. The motion to dismiss is granted. I need a recess." With a resounding bang of his gavel, court was adjourned.

Willow could barely hear the cries of outrage from Nina and Obrecht or the conversation between Robert and Carly or even the little celebration between Nelle and her lawyer. Instead, she rose from her seat and rushed out of the room, finding that the sickness in her stomach had risen to a roiling nausea. She managed to locate the bathroom and fell to her knees just as her meager breakfast from that morning escaped from her throat and into the toilet bowl. As she retched, several memories slammed against her head.

Willow had just incapacitated Nelle when she heard Wiley's cries. "Wiley!" She rushed to his playpen and smiled down at her baby when she felt something hit the back of her head. She collapsed to the floor of Chase's apartment, blacking out completely just as she saw Nelle pick up the baby and slip out of the door.

"Wiley isn't your son. Nelle and Michael are his birth parents."

"Brad placed Wiley in a crib and when he came back to check on him a short time later, he wasn't breathing. Brad tried to do infant CPR, but the baby was unresponsive."

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. NO, NOOO."

"No, no, no," Willow was mumbling. She felt two sets of hands on her, one pulling her hair back and one rubbing her back and shoulders in an attempt to soothe her.

"Willow. Willow, honey, it's me. It's Nina. Aunt Liesl and I are with you. You're going to be fine."

"No," Willow rasped. "No, I'm not going to be fine. Nelle got acquitted. Nothing is going to be fine."

She was free. That baby-stealing, heartless bitch was actually free!

"Ich werde diese Schlampe in Stücke reißen."

Willow dry heaved a few times before she rose her head, barely noticing Nina reach over and flush the toilet. She slumped into herself. Nelle going back to Pentonville to pay for what she did to Aaron, to Michael, to Wiley was really the only kind of hope she had to cope with this hell she found herself in. Now that that was gone, what hope did she have?

She felt warm hands on her face as they lifted her head. In seconds, she was gazing into Nina's eyes. She felt Obrecht at her back, smoothing down her hair.

"I know where your head is at right now, and I'm telling you that you can't let yourself go to that place," Nina was gentle but firm in her approach. "Nelle got acquitted, yes, that is true. It's unfair and it's a serious miscarriage of justice on the court's part, but it is not the end. You still have us and one of these days, Nelle will pay for her crimes, I promise you that."

"How can you possibly promise that? She's been getting away with everything for years. She killed her former fiancé, almost ruined Chase's career, and she tried to kill Michael! And that's not even considering all her other crimes, including switching my—" Willow felt bile rising in her throat at the reminder of what happened to her baby boy, but she swallowed it down. It was bitter and left a bad taste in her mouth, but so did remembering Wiley's short, short life.

"Willow," this time Obrecht caught her attention, moving from behind her to kneel by her side. "Meine Nichte is correct. Justice will be swift for Nelle. It may not have been today, but it will happen. Until it does, we will support you. You are family to us now, Willow, and that is what family does."

Willow closed her eyes. You are family to us now. It reminded her so much of Michael with his words you will always have a place in my family, but it felt different somehow coming from Obrecht.

Willow nodded, gathering herself before opening her eyes. "Okay," she said. "Okay, I'm ready."

Nina and Obrecht helped Willow up off of the tiled floor and led her out of the bathroom. They weren't physically supporting her, but they stood on either side of her. As they returned to the court lobby, they heard Nelle speaking to Michael and Carly.

"I have been unjustly kept from my child long enough and I am filing for full, sole custody."

"You can't be serious," Willow let out a disbelieving laugh.

"Excuse me?" Nelle turned to face Willow, her brows raised in offense.

Willow walked closer, her gaze trained on Nelle. "You killed your former fiancé by letting him drown when you knew he couldn't swim, tried to drive your son's grandmother crazy before he was born, tried to kill your son's father in a car crash, and then after giving birth, you switched my dead baby with your own so that you could further torture Michael and his family by letting them grieve a child that was still alive! You think the court will grant a psychotic bitch full, sole custody of an innocent child?" She was calm, but the venom in her voice was enough to clue anyone in to the rage building within.

Nelle smirked at her. "If you haven't noticed," she began in a falsely diplomatic tone. "I was acquitted on those charges. I'm a free woman, and since I am, I want my son. I belong with him, and he belongs with me."

The voices inside of Willow's head roared with fury and she stepped closer, glaring hatefully at the blonde. "Aaron belongs with his father and you belong in Hell," her voice was a hard whisper.

Nelle's smirk only widened. She loved watching Snow White, this perfect, morally self-righteous woman who represented everything she wanted but didn't have, lose control. The rage on Willow's face was priceless, her furious words sweet, sweet music to Nelle's ears. She was going to have so much fun learning what made Willow Tait tick.

"I'll see you in court," Nelle directed towards Michael, throwing him and Willow a victorious grin before exiting the courthouse.

Willow closed her eyes. She had to do something to help protect Aaron. She couldn't protect Wiley from anyone: not Shiloh, not Nelle, not even Death. Despite her best efforts, her little boy was out of her reach and not in the safety of people who love him. She won't repeat the same failure with Aaron.

Chapter Text

"I don't even know why I'm here," Willow claimed as she sat across from Kevin Collins in his office, the very same Kevin Collins who was married to Mayor Laura Spencer, the lead psychiatrist at General Hospital, and the identical twin brother of Ryan Chamberlain, a psychopath who had recently murdered Kiki Jerome.

"You don't?" Kevin asked, raising an eyebrow.

Willow picked at a loose thread at the hem of her shirt, delaying her response. "I mean…" she shook her head. "I came here because Chase recommended you, but I don't see why. I have a therapist."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Willow, but didn't you only have one session with this therapist before you stopped going to them?" Kevin gently inquired.

Although it wasn't his intention, Willow felt like a misbehaving teenager being chastised by her parent. It's true. She didn't return for another session after her initial one. She hadn't even wanted to go to the first, but considering the emotional trauma she had suffered alongside the physical trauma, the doctor treating her couldn't let her leave the hospital without a mental health evaluation. Said mental health evaluation led to her therapy session, but she didn't like it at all. In fact, had it not been for Chase's insistence, she wouldn't have even gone to this session with Dr. Collins.

"No," Willow finally replied. "No, you're right. I never went back after that first session."

"Was there a particular reason for that?"

Willow shifted in her seat. "I wasn't comfortable," she answered.

Kevin noted how she couldn't sit still. Her hands were constantly interlocking, too, and she couldn't hold his gaze for longer than a few seconds. "Willow, did your therapist happen to be male?"

Her head shot up, surprise instantly filling her eyes. "How did you know?"

Kevin smiled gently. "Because you're reacting to me the same way that I'm inferring you reacted to him," he told her.

"I don't understand."

"Your body language is very uneasy. You keep fidgeting in your seat, your hands are either interlocking or playing with something to keep them busy, such as the loose thread on your shirt. The only talking you've done is when you're answering with the bare minimum after I've asked you a question and you can't seem to look me in the eye for longer than a few seconds. I've also noticed that before you speak, you have to stop yourself, as if you're thinking about your answer; it doesn't seem to come naturally. Does all of that sound familiar to you?"

Willow contemplated Kevin's words. It did sound familiar, actually. The therapist she had been required to see was nice, but she couldn't relax around him like she could with Chase or even Michael. She didn't know why, but with certain exceptions, interacting with the opposite sex was a daunting, even terrifying, thought.

And as she remembered that first session, every quirk that Kevin noticed was true. She did fidget with that therapist. Her hands always moved because she didn't know what to do with them. She couldn't muster the strength to look him in the eye, nor was she willing to speak any more than she had to. It was awful, but she couldn't stop her reactions.

Finally, she sighed. "So what do I do now?" She asked, feeling more than a little hopeless.

That gentle smile never left his face as he reached out for the notepad and pen he kept on his desk. As he opened it and began writing something, he told her, "I'm not the only psychiatrist at General Hospital, Willow. There are colleagues of mine here who are all very talented and professional. I believe this one will be able to give you the best help." He tore off the slip of paper and handed it to her.

Looking at it, Willow saw a name, phone number, office hours, and an email address.

"Dr. Lainey Winters?" Willow read aloud.

"She's very good at what she does and because she is a female, I believe you will have a better chance of opening up to her than you did with me and your first therapist."

Willow looked curiously at him. "What makes you think that?"

Kevin leaned back in his seat. His smile never once faltered. "Women tend to relate better to each other, whether they have the same experiences or not. I have the utmost confidence that you will be able to enjoy your conversations with Dr. Winters," he explained.

Willow nodded. "Thank you, Dr. Collins," she said as she rose from her chair.

"You're welcome, Willow."

As Willow exited Kevin's office, she looked down at the slip of paper. For once the voices in her head were silent, taking in the information with her. She knew that they wouldn't go away whether or not she spoke to Dr. Winters. They weren't just little voices, they were parts of herself and that couldn't be erased. Talking to someone, however, helps. Although that someone has usually just been Chase or Nina.

Sighing, Willow pocketed the paper in her jeans pocket and walked towards the elevator so she could go to Chase's apartment.

★★★

She was greeted by Chase as soon as she stepped through the door, using the spare key he had given her.

"Hey!" Chase smiled that big, beautiful smile she loved seeing on him. "How was your session with Dr. Collins?"

"It was okay," she answered slowly. "He gave me contact information for another psychiatrist, though."

Chase frowned, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why would he do that?" He asked.

Willow had been unbuttoning her coat during their exchange and once all of the buttons were undone, she hung it onto the hook of the coat rack that stood next to the door. Walking over to the couch, she sat beside her boyfriend. "He noticed that I was uncomfortable during our session. Apparently, I had these little quirks that made him realize that I needed to talk to a female therapist so I can open up more during sessions," she explained.

"What quirks?"

"Inability to sit still, constantly using my hands to keep busy, avoiding eye contact, unwilling to speak first, only giving the basics when asked questions, and thinking first about what to say instead of letting it come out," Willow listed.

Chase gave a thoughtful hum as he spotted the slip of paper that she removed from her pocket after she took her seat on the couch. "And he gave you that?" He asked, motioning towards the paper with his hand.

Willow nodded.

It was silent for several moments, both of them lost in thought, before Chase spoke, "Are you going to schedule an appointment with her?"

Willow didn't answer him, but he knew she heard. He waited patiently until she answered softly, "I don't know."

Chase gently turned Willow to face him. "I know that you're scared to really open up to someone," he began, his voice gentle. "But you have gone through so many terrible things and it's eating away at you. On good days, you put on a smile and act like you're fine while you stay up all night, afraid to fall asleep. On bad days, I see how red your eyes are when you've cried, how terrified you are when you have a nightmare about your time in Dawn of Day, the devastation when you realize that the past few weeks haven't been a horrible dream…you need to talk to someone, Willow."

"I do," she protested. 

Chase was shaking his head before she finished. "Someone other than Nina, Michael, Sasha, and I. We're more than happy to be your shoulders to cry on, but we don't have the experience that a therapist does. I love you so much, Willow. I don't want you to be tortured for the rest of your life," as the words fell from his lips, his hand came up to rest on her cheek, caressing her soft skin as he stared into her eyes.

"I love you, Chase," Willow whispered, nuzzling into his hand before pressing a grateful, loving kiss to his fingertips. She didn't know where she'd be if Harrison Chase had never entered her life.

Chase smiled, leaning forward and kissing her forehead before pulling away. "I'm going to go make us some dinner. Please…call this Dr. Winters that Dr. Collins referred to you," his words were encouraging but not demanding. Although he knew that this would help with her mental state, it was ultimately her choice.

Willow watched as he rose from the couch and walked to the kitchen so he could prepare their food.

A heavy sigh escaped Willow's lips as she once again looked at the slip of paper with Lainey Winters' contact information printed out. Part of her wanted to rip up the paper and forget about it. She knew that not everyone who tried to get into her head was going to abuse and manipulate her, but her time in Dawn of Day under Shiloh's mercy made her wary of everyone. Shiloh always wanted something from her: her pledge, her loyalty, her body…

Eyes clenched shut, Willow bit her lip so hard she tasted blood. Shiloh took so much from her, his sick cult took so much from her, her own mother took so much from her. She didn't want them to take any more.

Her mind made up, she retrieved her phone from her other pocket and typed the number on the paper before lifting it to her ear, listening to the dial tone as she waited for an answer.

"Hello?"

"Dr. Lainey Winters? My name is Willow Tait. Dr. Kevin Collins referred you to me. He thinks you can help me, so I'd like to set up an appointment with you."

Chapter Text

TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter mentions sensitive subjects such as rape, emotional manipulation, drugging of non-consenting individuals, infant death, cults, and so on. If you feel that you cannot handle these subjects, do not read past this note.

Willow stood before Dr. Lainey Winters' office door, just staring at the black, blocky letters printed on the window. Once again she felt that fear, that uncertainty, of going into someone's office and having that someone get into her head. The only difference was that this time, it was her choice to make the appointment and to attend it. The first therapist was the hospital's orders. Dr. Collins was to make Chase happy. But Dr. Winters…

Dr. Winters was entirely her choice.

That thought made her take a deep breath before slowly releasing it. Steeling her resolve, the brunette opened the door. "Dr. Winters?" She called out.

An African American woman looked up from her desk. She had shoulder-length black hair and her eyes reminded her of the fresh coffee beans you'd scoop out to place into a grinder. She wore a black women's suit with a white collar. There was a small notepad sitting before her, ready for their session.

She smiled, standing up from her desk. "You must be Willow Tait," she stated.

Willow nodded.

"Come in, Ms. Tait."

Willow closed the door behind her and sat in the chair across from Dr. Winters, settling into it as the older woman reclaimed her own seat.

"Okay," Dr. Winters began. "Let's start with the standard question: why have you decided to come see me?"

"Well, Dr. Winters—"

"Please, call me Lainey."

"Lainey. I came to see you because Dr. Collins referred me to you when I had my appointment with him."

"And why did he refer you to me?"

"He thought that I would be more open with a female therapist."

"Why is that?"

"Because I was nervous around him and the therapist that my doctor made me see before I left the hospital."

"Willow, why did the doctor make you see a therapist?"

Willow paused. For a minute her tongue felt heavy, her mouth dry. A lump grew in her throat as pain laced her chest. She could still see him, her little baby, so small and so beautiful. She could still feel the weight of him in her arms, against her breast, as she held him for the first and only time after his birth.

"I…" she swallowed past the lump, her eyes stinging. "I saw him after…after I was told that my baby had died."

Lainey gave her a sympathetic look, but didn't interrupt.

"I, um, I had a baby boy almost two years ago, but I couldn't keep him. I gave him up for adoption to two loving fathers. I thought that everything would be fine, that he would grow up to have a normal and happy life, but what I didn't know was that after one of his adoptive fathers brought him home and got him settled down, he stopped breathing. My baby was alive and then…and then he wasn't," tears dripped from Willow's eyes before she could stop them, wet tracks trailing down her pale face.

Lainey pulled out a box of tissues from her desk and wordlessly slid them over to her.

"Thank you," Willow said thickly, dabbing her face dry before blowing her nose.

"Your hospitalization and therapy was within the last few weeks," Lainey spoke gently, trying not to upset the young woman any more than she already was. "When did you discover that your child had passed?"

This was the point in which she shut down with her first therapist and then with Dr. Collins, where she refused to answer anything else. With Lainey Winters…she found that she didn't want to. In fact, she wanted to continue her story.

"That's the most disturbing part," Willow claimed, balling up the used tissue and throwing it into the trash bin that was located near Lainey's desk. "I didn't even find out that my son was dead until recently. The adoptive father who found him in his crib started to take him to the hospital after infant CPR didn't work. On the way there, he ran into another woman who had just given birth to her own son. This woman is a textbook sociopath and she wanted to punish my friend, the father of her son, for figuring out her lies and not wanting her to get away with them, so she switched the babies. She came to the hospital with my son, claiming that it was hers who died from all the stress my friend put her under, and my friend's son was with my son's adoptive fathers, masquerading under the name they chose for him. My boyfriend—he's a detective—found out the truth at the same time my friend, his family, and the other adoptive father and he went to the hospital to tell me. I got a concussion fighting the biological mother to save who I thought was my baby, and when I woke up…he told me. I thought it was some horrible nightmare, that somehow he was making a mistake, but everything made so much sense: how obsessed the biological mother was with a child who wasn't supposed to be hers, how the adoptive father who was in on the switch never felt comfortable around me, especially when I was near the baby…it was all too logical to be coincidental." Willow had to grab another tissue to wipe away the new wave of tears that came with reliving one of the worst moments of her life—if not, the very worst.

Lainey stared at the young woman with sympathy. "I can't imagine how awful that's been for you," she said softly.

Willow gave a quick, watery laugh, but it was entirely without humor. "Yeah, it's been hell," she replied. "All I can think about is my son and how I couldn't recognize the baby I thought was mine really wasn't. I felt like such a horrible mother."

There were a few moments of silence before Lainey broke it, "You said earlier that you couldn't keep your son. Why is that?"

That familiar lump settled into Willow's throat again, flashbacks of Shiloh and Dawn of Day assaulting her mind. For a minute she felt stifled, like she couldn't speak or even breathe, but once again willed herself to push past that barrier. "My childhood wasn't…stable," she began, looking up at Lainey.

"Go on."

"My mother always felt unfulfilled in some way. I don't know how…she was a wife and mother who had a family that loved her. She was always looking for the next group that could give her the spirituality that she desired," Willow's bitter, mocking tone made Lainey raise her brows, but she stayed silent, allowing the brunette to continue.

"We never stayed in one place for very long. It could be a week or a month or even a year, if Mom really liked the group. My dad and I got tired of moving all the time, especially when it disrupted his job at the time or my schooling. I would need more than two hands and feet to tell you just how many times I had to restart the same grade or say goodbye to the few friends I made. Eventually, I just chose to be a loner and not pay attention in class because I knew that we weren't going to be in the area for long. I'm sure you can guess how isolated that made me feel," Willow looked up from the used tissue she still held in her hand, her eyes locking with Lainey's.

"Did you or your father ever speak to her about how you felt?" Lainey asked.

Willow nodded. "We did…several times, actually, but it always fell on deaf ears with her. We wanted stability, a place we could call our own, but she never listened. I don't think she really cared. Dad still loved her, though, and I was still a child. He didn't want to leave her or leave me with her, so we had no choice but to stay and let her do what she wanted."

"Did you ever feel safe with your mother?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes she was a stranger."

"Can you tell me what was the worst situation she put you in?"

Lainey's office fell into silence for just a few moments before Willow spoke: "My parents and I joined Dawn of Day in 2014. I was 21 and still incredibly sheltered because of all the different groups Mom made us join. At first they seemed nice, if a bit strange. Mom was the happiest with this group and we actually settled down as if it was our own. For a while I thought that everything was finally going to be okay, that we would be a family with all of these supportive, friendly people, but I was so, so wrong.

"What I didn't realize until it was too late was that Dawn of Day was actually a sick cult masquerading as a healing group for those who feel lost. Everyone was so nice because that's what manipulated people into thinking that they were safe, that they finally had people who understood them. They brainwashed people into believing in their cause when they only wanted to take things from them. They caused people to become distant with those who loved them, convinced them that their family and friends were trying to impede their spiritual progress and make them stay in the dark. Anyone who came into contact with them were molded into these mindless little minions who were totally compliant with their leader."

"Is that what happened with your mother?" Lainey asked softly.

Willow bit her lip, tears falling from her eyes as those painful memories resurfaced. "Yes," she whispered. "Before we joined Dawn of Day, her name was Lorraine Miller. Afterwards, Lorraine disappeared and Harmony took her place."

Lainey leaned forward in her seat, folding her hands atop the desk. "When you say that Lorraine disappeared and Harmony took her place, what exactly do you mean?" She had a feeling what Willow was trying to say, but her job was to help this young woman open up and release the pain she's carried. Asking her what lawyers would call "leading questions" was part of the process.

"She became absorbed in Dawn of Day," Willow explained. "She spent less of her time with Dad and I and more with the other cult members. She was obsessed with their leader and started having an affair. She wasn't my mother or my father's wife. Instead, she became this terrible person who openly cheated on her husband and ignored her daughter. Well…at least until she wanted something from me."

Lainey frowned. At least until she wanted something from me. That sentence put her on edge. Carefully, she sent another inquiry towards Willow: "What did she want from you?"

This time the silence was longer, tenser. Willow felt more tears slide down her cheeks. "She wanted me to be part of what their leader called his Trust," the raw pain in her eyes made Lainey's heart pang for the girl.

"Trust?" Lainey echoed.

Willow nodded, sniffling as she took more tissues out of the box before her. "It's this inner circle of their leader's—Shiloh was his name. Whenever a member got inducted into this Trust, it was thought to be the highest honor and a whole ceremony would take place. It was supposed to make you feel special that Shiloh valued you enough to be part of his Trust, but it was a lie just like everything else.

"The first thing that Shiloh has you do is record your deepest, darkest secret so he can keep it. He claims that it's so that bond of trust can be established on both sides, but in reality it's just a way for him to have leverage on you if you decide to leave the cult. It's his way to ensure that all of his sick little secrets are safe because he has yours.

"Then he has one of the older Trust members take you into another room and give you this special tea. He tells you it's so your mind can be at rest in order to have a full experience, but…" Willow trailed off as her throat closed from fresh tears.

Lainey waited until Willow could continue before she prompted in that same soft tone, "What is the tea really for, Willow?"

Voice shaking and the tears coming faster, Willow answered, "It's so you can't fight him when he brands and then rapes you." With that, she leaned forward, covering her face with her hands as she sobs into them, the memories of feeling that dizzy blackness, the needle carving into her skin, Shiloh on and inside of her taking a stranglehold on her. For a minute she couldn't breathe, couldn't speak. All she could feel was that same helplessness as Shiloh did what he wanted to her body and the realization that her mother didn't protect her.

Lainey watched Willow break down, her own heart hurting for her. This poor woman had been through so much already in her short life, and so much of it was caused by her own mother.

Ten minutes passed before Willow could calm down enough to speak coherently. When she did, she whispered, "Three years later, when I was 24, shortly after discovering that my father had been killed because he wanted to leave with me, I found out I was pregnant after he raped me again. I knew that I couldn't raise a child with him or with anyone in that cult, so I escaped, changed my name from Kali Miller to Willow Tait, and then I spent my entire pregnancy preparing to give my son up for adoption. I made it a closed adoption so that, if Shiloh ever found out about my pregnancy, the documents would be sealed from him. Even if he used his connections to find them, it wouldn't be easy for him. I wanted to keep my son, I really did, but his father was a monster, his grandmother never protected me and wouldn't have protected him against Shiloh's influence, and everyone else were just mindless sheep. That place was poison and my son was just an innocent baby; I couldn't let Shiloh get his hands on him and make him the same as him, maybe even worse. I thought that I was protecting him."

"You were protecting him, Willow. You thought of your son's welfare and happiness and found the strength to leave a place that took so much from you. I can't imagine how horrible that was for you, but you got out. You left and kept your son safe," Lainey told her.

Willow shook her head. "I didn't keep him safe," she protested. "He died."

"That had nothing to do with your capabilities as a mother," Lainey said firmly. "Your son died from SIDS. It can affect any child of any parentage in any circumstance. There was nothing that could have been done and you couldn't have saved him."

It may sound harsh from an outside perspective, but it was the truth. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome was a terrible occurrence that had no true prevention. Willow was not responsible for what happened to her son any more than she was for being victimized in this Dawn of Day cult.

"My brain knows that," Willow said. "But my heart doesn't."

"Willow, have you ever heard of exposure therapy?"

The seemingly random question caught Willow by surprise. "No," she answered, staring curiously at Lainey. "What is it?"

Lainey adjusted in her seat, crossing her legs at the knee. "Exposure therapy is where you introduce the patient to the stimulus that causes them anxiety, but it's done in ways so that the patient doesn't feel like they're in danger. For example…say that you're afraid of a dog because of a bad past experience, but you want to move past that because you either want to have a dog of your own or you care about someone who has a dog and you don't want that fact to keep you from having a relationship with them. Therapists would start you off by looking at pictures, then videos, and then, when you've made significant progress, actually meeting the dog in person. Now, not every patient reacts well to being exposed to the stimulus; some have been known to regress to that same anxious place they were previously in, but many find that slowly confronting their fears in ways that make them comfortable have allowed them to overcome them. Patients often have this therapy so they can retake some form of control over their lives."

Willow contemplated that. A form of therapy that would help her overcome her fears by exposing her to them?

"I don't know how to feel about that," she murmured.

"Willow, I think your greatest fear is Shiloh," Lainey said.

"You're right."

"Your greatest fear is Shiloh, but you also fear your mother and your son."

Willow frowned. "My son?" She echoed.

Lainey nodded. "You feel that you failed as a mother, so you're reluctant to open yourself emotionally again to a child you thought had been your son for the better part of two years. I'm also inferring that you haven't visited your son in a while?"

Willow felt ashamed of herself, though it wasn't Lainey's intention, as she admitted, "Not for a few weeks, no."

Once again, Lainey nodded, her expression full of sympathy and understanding. "You need to visit him, Willow. Grief is a process and fear is definitely part of that. I think you may find it beneficial for you to visit your son at his grave and just stay there for awhile. You don't have to talk or do anything, just sit there. You never got the chance to bond with him the way you wanted, and that lost opportunity has made you afraid, not only of his memory but also of any future interaction with children, and I would also be correct in saying that you don't want to let fear stop you from being around children, wouldn't I?"

Willow nodded, thinking of her old teaching job. Even though she was working in the nursing program at GH at the moment, teaching was where her heart was. She loved children, but she couldn't bear the thought of being near them right now, no matter the age.

"Start with that first step, and then we can discuss the second step in your next appointment. Alright?"

"Alright."

Moments later, Willow left Lainey's office with an appointment slip, set for the following week at the same time.

As she headed towards the elevator to exit the hospital, she found that a weight had been lifted off of her chest. Talking to Lainey actually made her feel something other than that crushing grief or aching numbness since the baby switch reveal. She didn't think she could ever truly be fixed, but this session with her did make her feel like she could cope.

Soon, Willow found herself at the cemetery. Getting out of her car, she began heading for her son's grave when a familiar voice broke the silence:

"Hello, my sweet grandson."

Willow slowly approached her son's headstone, freezing in her spot when she recognized the woman kneeling on the ground, unaware of the younger woman's presence.

It was Harmony. Her mother.

Chapter Text

"Hello, my sweet grandson," Harmony greeted quietly, reaching out to touch Wiley's name on his headstone. Her dark eyes were soft with love and grief.

"Mom," Willow whispered, rooted in place as she watched her mother visit her son.

Completely unaware of her audience, Harmony withdrew her hand and lowered it into her lap. "I feel terrible that this is the first time I've visited you," she said. "I know that your mother has, but I haven't, and I'm sorry for that."

'Just that?' Willow acerbically thought.

"Actually, not visiting you isn't the only thing I'm sorry for."

Willow tilted her head a bit, watching her mother. She couldn't see her face from this angle, but judging by her solemn tone, she inferred that the older woman was frowning. Normally she would have left by now, but she felt compelled to stay and listen to what Harmony had to say to her baby.

"I have a lot to be sorry for, so much that I don't really know where to start."

Willow leaned against a nearby tree, still silent.

Harmony took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Staring at the little headstone, her innocent grandson who was taken from everyone who loved him too soon, she began: "I'm sorry that I made my family move so often to suit my own needs. I was selfish and I hurt my daughter and my husband for something that I could have found by myself. I didn't have to move from place to place and group to group, I wanted to, and in doing so, I destroyed routines. I made it difficult for Douglas to hold a job, I made it impossible for Willow to have real, lasting friendships…" Harmony felt tears creeping into her eyes at her family's unhappiness. She took a moment to compose herself before continuing, "I never listened to them when they expressed their unhappiness and it made everything so much worse. I wish I could take all of that back.

"I'm sorry for what I did to Douglas. I loved your grandfather, I truly did, but I allowed my compulsive need to join something blind me to what was really important. Not only did I ignore him, I neglected him. I acted as if he didn't exist and then when we joined Dawn of Day, I broke my marriage vows to him. I promised to always love him, to cherish him and stay faithful to him, and I broke those vows. I ruined my marriage for a man who only cared about power and I was too ignorant and too stupid to realize it. And to make it worse…I contributed to his death. When he wanted to leave with Willow, I told Shiloh, your father and the leader of Dawn of Day. I saw Douglas' attempted defection as a betrayal and I wanted Shiloh to rectify it. I never thought that he would kill him, but when I discovered his plans, I didn't stop him. I didn't warn Douglas, I just let it happen. I allowed you to lose your grandfather, I allowed Willow to lose her father, and I allowed myself to lose the love of my life, and it has haunted me ever since."

Throat closing with grief and guilt, Harmony removed a handkerchief from her coat pocket and gently wiped away the tears that escaped her eyes, soft sniffles coming from her as she did.

Willow watched her mother's back. She was surprised; she never knew her mother to ever lose control of her emotions. Even before Dawn of Day, when she was still Lorraine and not Shiloh's follower or his mistress, she was always so distant. She couldn't remember a time where she ever witnessed her mother cry or get angry. She was so cold, like her entire being would shatter if she had to show even the slightest hint of what she felt on the inside. To hear her be so vulnerable, to know that she was crying so openly like this…it stunned her.

Finally regaining control of herself, Harmony returned her handkerchief to her coat pocket and came to the final part of this impromptu confession: "But nothing disgusts me more than how I treated your mother."

Willow couldn't help but perk up at that. Was her mother finally going to take responsibility for what she'd done to her?

"She was my miracle baby," Harmony started. "I had three children before her, but I lost them all. Two ended in miscarriages and the third died soon after she was born."

Willow's lips pursed, her eyes softening as sympathy flooded her body. She never knew that her mother lost children before her. It doesn't excuse what she did, but she could understand now why she would be so cold. Losing a baby is one of the worst things that could happen to a woman.

'After all,' she thought, eyes traveling to the little headstone. 'I should know.'

Harmony's voice recaptured her attention. "When she was born, I'd lost my third child, a little girl named Destiny. It devastated me, especially since it was difficult for me to carry to term. I wanted to be a mother so badly, but each pregnancy was one failure after another and I began to wonder if something was wrong with me.

"But then she came, and I was so happy. I knew the moment she was placed into my arms that I would do anything to keep her safe, but I didn't do that. I did the opposite. I made her miserable and lonely during her childhood and then I put her into harm's way when she became an adult.

"I knew that Shiloh was obsessed with your mother. The way he looked at her…it was disgusting, but I was so desperate to be part of his inner circle that I did what he wanted me to do. I brought her into a situation where she could not give her consent. I was supposed to protect her, but all I did was harm her." Tears slid down Harmony's cheeks again as she thought back to that night, where she watched her daughter succumb to the drugged tea before being branded. Something deep down told her that what she was assisting with was wrong, but she ignored it. She watched Shiloh mark her daughter with a needle and then she watched him carry her into another room.

Willow's expression was still carefully blank, but the pain and anger swirled within her chest at the memories her mother's words were conjuring. She hated Harmony so much for allowing that monster to use her for his own twisted pleasures.

"Your mother was entrusted to me to give her a good life, and I failed her over and over again. I never gave her a stable childhood, I let her be abused by your father, I chose him over my husband and caused his death, but that's nothing compared to how I've lied to her for years. I'm so sorry for being such a horrible mother and an even worse grandmother, but I will work every day to try to atone for my mistakes."

Willow frowned, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Why was Harmony talking like that? Entrusted to her? Lied to her for years? What?

Harmony leaned over to gently kiss the headstone, her lips lingering on the cold marble for several seconds before pulling away. "I love you, Wiley," she murmured, finally standing from her position and turning to exit the cemetery only to freeze when she noticed Willow.

"Willow," Harmony breathed.

Willow stared stonily back at her. "Mom," she said flatly.

For a moment Harmony couldn't speak, only gape at her, her eyes wide with panic. "How…" She cleared her throat. "How much of that did you hear?"

That question sent all of the alarms in her head flaring red. She was right; her mother was hiding something from her. And from that stricken expression on her face, it was something big.

"All of it."

Harmony blanched. "Willow…" Her voice trailed off, mouth suddenly going dry as terror gripped her heart. This wasn't the way she wanted to tell her!

"What did you mean when you said that you lied to me? You never once said anything about being pregnant with me, only that I was born and that I was entrusted to you. Tell me the truth, Mom," Willow demanded, glaring at her as she stepped forward.

Harmony swallowed. This was it. This was the moment where she lost her daughter forever.

"Okay, Willow," she began. "Before I tell you, I want you to know that you have always been my daughter and I have always loved you."

Willow stared at her. Her words made her flinch internally, but she crossed her arms over her chest and kept her expression carefully composed. She was silent, expectant.

Heart pounding and dread gnawing at her stomach, Harmony finally said the five words that she spent twenty-seven years withholding:

"I'm not your biological mother."

Chapter Text

Sitting behind her desk in her Crimson office, Nina thought about her daughters, her third of the heart locket dangling between her fingers.

She had been pregnant with twins, but she hadn't known that before she slipped into a coma because of her mother. Her pregnancy hadn't been far enough along for her to know what her child's gender was, let alone that she was carrying two.

But she had been carrying two children. Two baby girls. Because of her mother, Nina had been robbed of the joy of experiencing pregnancy and had remained comatose while her daughters were stolen from her and given up for adoption.

One of her daughters was still unknown to her. Nina thought about her every day, always wondering if she took after Silas or her Aunt Liesl or if she was blonde like Nina herself or her grandmother, Madeline. She agonized over if she was happy, if she had a good family, a good life…she even wondered about her missing daughter's name. She ached inside knowing that one of her babies remained missing.

The only thing that comforted her was the fact that, while the identity of one of her daughters was a mystery, the identity of the other one was not.

Willow Tait was her daughter. The young woman she had scorned two years ago was one of those beautiful baby girls who had been torn from her womb and given to people who didn't deserve her. It infuriated her to know that she's been mistreated her entire life. If her mother had never been so greedy, if she had just let her be happy instead of trying to control everything, then her daughter would have been raised by parents who loved her and had a happy childhood. She'd have known her twin sister.

Nina couldn't forgive her mother for taking her daughters from her and making Willow suffer.

"Damn you, Mother," Nina murmured, tears of anger and grief pooling in her eyes as her fingers tightened around the broken heart. It was poetic, she mused, that her mother chose to cut a heart necklace into three parts, one for Nina and two for her grandchildren. It was fitting, in a twisted sense, that Madeline broke a piece of jewelry just as she had broken the family Nina made with Silas.

Willow, her little girl who reminded her so much of her father and her Aunt Liesl, didn't even know that she had been adopted. There was a bond between them now, and Nina could see it in Willow's eyes that she felt their connection just as much as Nina herself did. There was a chance that, subconsciously, Willow recognized her as her mother, that she's been receptive to their newfound friendship because somewhere, on a primal level, she knew who they really were to each other.

Realistically, though, Nina knew that consciously, Willow knew nothing about her adoption or that she was her biological mother. Realistically, Willow still believed that Douglas and Lorraine (Nina felt the same rage towards Harmony that she felt towards her mother just by thinking the woman's name) Miller were her parents and that Nina was just a good friend who had had a change of heart from her previous dislike of her. There's no way that Willow would suspect anything less than what she's known her entire life.

Still, Nina couldn't help but hope…

Sighing heavily, Nina leaned forward in her chair, bringing her hands together and resting her forehead against them, her necklace hanging like a rosary during prayer.

"I need to tell her," she whispered into the silence of the room. "I need to tell Willow she's my daughter, but how?"

She couldn't spring it on her, especially when she was still so emotionally vulnerable, but Nina didn't think she could contain the truth any longer, not when that bitch Nelle was free and making her daughter miserable just by walking around town. She was tired of just watching from the sidelines as a friend. She wanted to be up close. She wanted to be her mother.

"Maybe if I visit her at Chase's apartment," Nina murmured. "Have us sit down and talk."

But would her boyfriend's apartment really be the best place to have that discussion? It would be better than, say, the Metro Court or Kelly's, but given that Willow had been assaulted in Chase's apartment, Nina wasn't sure it would be wise to possibly bring another uncomfortable situation into it.

'Better there than you being a coward and not telling her at all.'

"Not you again," Nina muttered, irritation lacing her voice as the side of her she labeled as Vindictive Nina, the part of her that manipulated everyone when she awoke from her coma and wanted nothing but to cause chaos, reared her ugly head again.

'Yes, me again,' Vindictive Nina smugly replied. 'Did you miss me?'

"Oh yes," Nina said sarcastically. "I've missed you just like I miss being in a coma for over twenty years."

Vindictive Nina chuckled. 'You know you need to tell Willow the truth. She could find out some other way and then you'd run the risk of your only known daughter hating you.'

"Shut up."

'You know I'm right.'

"I said shut up!" Nina snapped, her voice rising an octave.

'Take it easy,' Vindictive Nina warned gleefully. 'If your employees start hearing their boss talk to herself, they're going to think that you've gone crazy…again.'

Nina took in a deep breath, bringing the fist still clasping her necklace up to her forehead, closing her eyes in a desperate attempt to calm her nerves. Slowly exhaling the breath, she acknowledged that Vindictive Nina was right for once.

Willow deserved to know the truth about her parentage, and she didn't want anyone else to tell her.

"I'll go to Chase's apartment and tell her. To hell with Crimson," Nina said, her eyes hard with steely determination.

'That's the spirit!'

Nina ignored the other side of her and focused on Willow. She wouldn't let anyone or anything stop her. She would tell Willow everything.

"Mommy's coming, Willow."

Chapter Text

"I'm not your biological mother."

Flummoxed, Willow stared at Harmony. The words echoed in her head.

"I'm not your biological mother."

"I'm not your biological mother."

"I'm not your biological mother."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Willow breathed, stepping closer to her mother. "What do you mean you're not my biological mother???"

Harmony winced, pain and guilt flooding her eyes, her expression pinched with regret that her daughter overheard something she deserved to know from the beginning. "It's true, Willow," her shameful whisper was a scream in the otherwise empty cemetery. "I raised you and I've loved you for years, but I was never pregnant with you and I never gave birth to you."

"How?" Willow snapped. "How am I with you, then, if you're not my real mother?"

"You were born on June 15, 1993," Harmony began. "I actually gave birth that day, but it wasn't to you. It was to a baby girl named Destiny. Throughout my marriage to your father, I had fertility issues. I lost two babies: one within the first trimester and the second was a late miscarriage; it happened at the beginning of my sixth month."

Harmony took in a deep, shuddering breath and despite her anger and confusion, Willow felt a pang of sympathy. Child loss was a horrible thing to experience for anyone, and knowing that her mother—the woman who'd raised her, rather—experienced it three times made her empathetic.

"When I gave birth to Destiny, I was so happy. I carried her to term and my labor was long, but it was successful and I had my beautiful little girl in my arms. She was so sweet and healthy, or…we thought she was healthy…

"The next morning, when Douglas came back to the hospital and we asked to see Destiny, the nurse came back with terrible news. She told us that our baby girl had died overnight. From what they weren't sure, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that our child was dead. My doctor told me that because of my previous miscarriages and the difficult labor, my body had been put through too much trauma and she advised me not to become pregnant again or there could be a lot of ill health effects for myself or my baby or both of us.

"My heart was absolutely shattered. I felt as if I was cursed. I wanted a baby more than anything and I would be so close to living out my dream of being a mother, but it was just one bitter failure after the next."

"How did that end with me?" Willow asked. Her voice was soft but hard at the same time. Watching the way Harmony brushed tears from her cheeks made her heart pang. It was hell for Willow to know that her baby died shortly after his birth, but her mother—or, rather, the woman who raised her—losing three babies in nearly rapid succession…she wasn't sure if she could survive that.

The smile that crossed Harmony's face in response to her daughter's question was melancholic yet tinged with joy. "The day we were about to check out of the hospital was the second worst of our lives because we were going home empty-handed and the nursery we'd painted for Destiny was going to remain uninhabitable…I remember dragging it out. At least when I was at the hospital, I wouldn't have to face an unoccupied crib. Eventually, though, we had to leave.

"As we were making our way to the exit, a woman came up to us. A blonde woman. She looked like a socialite with her designer clothes and jewelry, but what captured my attention was the baby she was holding."

"Me," Willow murmured, her arms crossing at her chest as her face twisted with a thoughtful expression.

Harmony nodded, utter joy in her smile now. "Yes," she confirmed. "You."

"Who was the blonde woman?" The brunette asked.

"Your grandmother."

"Wait," Willow shook her head. "I don't understand. If this woman is my grandmother, then why was she at that hospital with me? Why wasn't I with my mother? Did she not want me?" Her chest tightened at the thought. Her adoptive mother tossed her aside for a cult…if her birth mother didn't want her, then what hope did she have for any kind of functional family relationship?

"No," Harmony said quickly. "No, Willow, your mother did want you, but shortly after giving birth, she fell into a coma. Your grandmother told Douglas and I that complications happened during your mother's labor and they didn't know when or if she was going to wake up. Because of that, your grandmother wanted you to be given to another couple who could take care of you."

Willow's eyebrows furrowed. "That doesn't make any sense," she claimed, shaking her head. "If my mother was in a coma, then why couldn't my grandmother take care of me instead? Where was my father?" There were so many things about Harmony's explanation that bothered her, but nothing was more puzzling than being given up to two strangers if she still had relatives nearby who could take her instead.

'There's something wrong with this,' she thought.

'Maybe Harmony is lying to us again,' Rational Willow suggested.

'It wouldn't be the first time,' Sad Willow added despondently.

'That may be true,' Maternal Willow interjected. 'But look at her face. One thing that parents find difficult, impossible even, lying about is their children, especially mothers who've lost them. This is the most open we've seen her and it's because she's talking about us and her dead daughter.'

All of her personalities brought up good points, Willow mused. Harmony was being truthful with her, for the most part, but it was possible that she could still be lying about some things if her mother had been in a coma and her grandmother chose to give Willow away instead of taking responsibility for her.

"I don't know why your grandmother chose to give you away," Harmony was saying, unknowingly recapturing the young woman's divided attention. "She didn't tell me the reason and I'm assuming that your father wasn't in the picture one way or the other, I'm guessing he died before your birth. All I know is that your grandmother couldn't care for her children and that she needed to give them to good families who would raise them in loving homes."

Children?

"Children?" Willow echoed, her arms dropping from her chest in surprise. "I have a sibling?"

Harmony nodded. "Yes. You have a twin sister who was also given up for adoption. She was given to another couple further away, though."

"Who's my mother?" Willow asked.

Harmony bit her lip. That was the question she hated the most. She did her research at one point and discovered that Nina Reeves was her daughter's birth mother and that the woman who had given Willow to her was Madeline, Nina's mother. She wasn't very happy about her findings, however; she didn't have the best opinion about Nina and she knew that the feeling was mutual with how close Nina and Willow have gotten recently.

"Nina Reeves," she finally answered.

Willow's eyes widened, her mouth dropping open in shock. Nina Reeves, the woman she fought with for such a long time when she was Charlotte's teacher, the one who had scorned her and questioned her abilities as a teacher, was her biological mother!

'That's why she tapered off so quickly when she was introducing us to her aunt!' Rational Willow exclaimed. 'She was going to call us her daughter but didn't because we didn't know then!'

"Now we do," Willow whispered.

"What?" Harmony asked, staring at her in confusion.

"I need to see Nina," Willow said. "Thank you. I'm glad that you told me the truth."

And with that, she left Harmony behind, standing motionless before her baby's headstone, intent on confronting Nina about their newfound connection.

Chapter Text

After ruminating over how and when she would tell Willow that the younger woman was one of her twin daughters (as well as her mental tête-à-tête with Vindictive Nina), Nina had risen from her Crimson desk and was making her way around it when the door opened to reveal her daughter on the other side.

Her daughter, who was staring at her with an expression she couldn't quite decipher.

"Willow?" Nina asked. "Are you alright?"

Willow was silent for a minute, just gazing upon the woman who she now knew to be her biological mother.

She had so many problems with Nina before. She'd criticized Nina's parenting style with Charlotte, believing that her enabling behavior was doing more harm than good to the girl and Nina had, on multiple accounts, tried to sabotage her job and get her fired all while questioning her abilities as a teacher. She'd even insulted her for not being able to raise her own child, which had both hurt her and alerted Shiloh to the fact that she had been pregnant when she left Dawn of Day, beginning a chain of events that lead to her discovery that her son had been dead all this time.

Willow couldn't blame her for that, though. She had insulted Charlotte and Nina first in her panic to escape the situation and Nina hadn't known that Shiloh was eavesdropping on their conversation, nor was she aware that the baby she gave up was his.

Despite all of that, she was grateful for Nina. The older woman stayed by her side during her grief, her biggest supporter other than Chase (not to say that Michael and Sasha didn't support her because they did; it was just painful for her to accept their support at times because then she would have to see Aaron and she wasn't ready for that). It felt good to be able to see Nina at Kelly's or on the street and not have to worry about another round of verbal abuse. It made her so happy to finally make peace with the Crimson CEO that she never really gave her change of heart much thought other than chalking it up to Nina having lost her children as well.

She knew better now, though. She knew that Nina's friendship was more than just a woman realizing that it's pointless to continue such a petty feud. She knew that it was a mother trying to make amends with the daughter she wronged and while she still had so many feelings about her new discovery, Willow found the idea of being connected to Nina in such an intimate way very appealing.

"Willow?" Nina's concerned voice pulled the brunette from her reverie and back to the present.

"Hi," Willow said.

'Hi? Couldn't you do better than just hi? This is our mother!' Maternal Willow incredulously complained. The motherly personality wasn't quite as rude or demanding as Rational Willow could be, but lately the former had been agitated, first with Willow's decision to stay away from Aaron for the time being, then with the results of Nelle's arraignment, and now with the conversation with Harmony in the cemetery.

'A hi is just fine in this situation!' Rational Willow snapped. 'Do you expect her to just yell out "mommy" and hug her like in some fairytale?!'

'Quiet,' Willow admonished, and the two clashing personalities fell silent.

Nina smiled at her, unaware of the mental conversation. "I was on my way to see you," she said.

Willow perked up. "You were?" She asked.

Nina nodded. "I needed to tell you something. Something I've known for awhile," she answered, playing with her hands as anxiety gripped her again.

Willow bit her lip, staring at the older woman—her mother—with interest. Was she going to tell her what she had just found out from Harmony? And if she was…how long did she know?

"Wait, Nina," Willow said, stepping forward. "I think I know what you want to tell me."

Nina stared at her. "You do?" Her query was tinged with confusion.

"I was adopted," Willow began. "And you were going to tell me that you're my biological mother. Right?"

Nina's eyes widened and she froze in shock. "How…" She swallowed past the lump in her throat. "How did you know that?"

Willow sighed and took off her coat, moving to sit in the chair across from Nina's desk, watching the redheaded woman do the same. "I had my first therapy session with Dr. Winters today," she began. "I told her about everything—my son, my experiences with Shiloh and Dawn of Day, my relationship with Harmony. She told me about this form of therapy called exposure therapy. Apparently it's when you're afraid of something, but you confront it bit by bit until you're strong enough to really face it."

Nina nodded, looking puzzled but allowed Willow to continue, wanting to know how this factored into her discovering her true parentage.

"She told me that one of the things that I was afraid of was my son. I didn't have time to properly mourn him and I've been doubting my capabilities as a mother because of that and being pregnant while I was in a cult, so I went to his grave to visit him, and I…I saw Harmony," Willow watched the way Nina tensed at her adoptive mother's name, the anger in her eyes touching Willow. It was obvious to the brunette that Nina really hated Harmony for everything she's told her about her during their time in Dawn of Day.

"I heard Harmony talk to my son's tombstone, unaware that I was right behind her. She apologized for everything: Shiloh, her involvement with Dawn of Day, not being able to be a good grandmother to him, not being a good wife, not taking care of me the way she should have…everything. After I revealed myself was when she told me the truth."

"The whole truth?" Nina asked softly.

Willow nodded. "The whole truth," she confirmed in a voice as soft as her birth mother's.

"And how are…how are you coping with this?"

"It's a shock and I'm not happy that Harmony kept this from me, but…I'm happy that you're my mother."

"Really?" Nina whispered, staring into her daughter's eyes.

Willow nodded, her lips lifting upward into a smile. "Yes," she said. "Ever since we made peace, you've always been here for me. You've listened to me, protected me, supported me during this entire crazy situation I've found myself in. I appreciate it so much and…well, Nina…you're the mother I always wanted growing up." Admitting all of this made her feel so exposed, but unlike with Shiloh and Harmony, it felt good. It wasn't intrusive nor was it being manipulated out of her. With Nina, with her mother, it felt natural. She hadn't felt so free or expressive with a family member since her father,—adoptive father, really—Douglas.

Nina's eyes misted with unshed tears, her throat tightening with the emotions her daughter's speech evoked. "You don't know how much that means to me," she whispered.

"I think I have an idea," Willow replied as her hand moved to the front of her shirt, reaching in and pulling out one-third of the heart necklace she'd received at birth.

The tears that Nina had been withholding fell freely once her eyes landed on Willow's portion of the necklace. Slowly uncurling the clenched fist that still held her part, Nina held it out, watching with excitement as her daughter reached out with her own piece, carefully touching the two thirds so it became half of one necklace.

"Now it just needs the third," Willow murmured.

"Yes," her mother nodded. "And we can worry about that later. Right now…right now I want to spend time with you…not as my friend, but as my daughter. My little girl."

Willow smiled, tears silently falling from her own eyes. "I want the same thing with you. I want to know Nina Reeves as my real mom."

Nina couldn't stand it anymore. Dropping her necklace onto her desk with a clatter while Willow's fell against her throat, the redhead hurriedly rounded her desk, her only thought now was holding Willow, of pulling her baby as close to her as humanly possible. Given that Willow was standing as she did, the brunette had the same idea.

"When I found out I was pregnant with you and your sister," she began emotionally, her arms wrapped around the young woman's waist and her chin resting on her shoulder. "I was so happy. I always wanted children and growing up with the mother I had, it was a nightmare. I never felt like she truly loved me—my father, yes; my brother, maybe—but me? No. I was her daughter, her first child, and that's supposed to create a special bond between a mother and that child, but it didn't. She was cold and distant and always busy with work. She never had time for me and it hurt. I swore to myself that I would never be that way with my own children. I swore that I would never make them feel like I did growing up.

"After your father and I got married and I found out that I was expecting, I was so excited. I could see every bit of our future together—shopping trips, lunch dates, movie days, everything—and life was so much brighter. Being a mother was something I'd always wanted and finally I got to have that chance."

Nina sniffled, her tears falling faster now. She could feel Willow soothingly rubbing her back, knowing that the tragic part of the story was coming.

"But then my father passed away," Nina shuddered. "He left everything to me and my mother," she spat the word as if it was poisoned. "Decided that she was going to control my life. She tried to poison you, Willow, and your sister. She gave me an opioid overdose to induce a miscarriage—or kill me, I don't know which she preferred—so that she would be able to get my inheritance. It didn't kill either of you, thank God, but it put me into a coma for over twenty years, making it impossible for me to raise you in a loving home. She took that opportunity away from me."

Willow closed her eyes, the agony in her mother's voice breaking her already cracked heart, resting her chin on her shoulder and hugging her tightly. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"Don't be," Nina sniffled, pulling away and holding Willow's face gently between her hands. Her eyes were still shining with tears, but the love in them was stronger than her grief. "You're here with me now and I am going to do everything in my power to have the relationship with you that my mother stole from me. I'm still going to be searching for your sister because I want both of my babies with me, but you are with me now. I have a second chance at motherhood and I'll be damned if I waste it."

'Hmm. I guess not all of your fire got rehabilitated out of you,' Vindictive Nina commented. It wasn't quite praise, but it was by far better than the insults.

'This is more like what I imagined,' Maternal Willow sighed blissfully.

Mother and daughter ignored the voices in their heads, choosing instead to focus on one another and building their bond as parent and child.

★★★

"Chase!" Willow called as she entered Chase's apartment.

"Hey, baby!" Chase greeted, giving his girlfriend a soft kiss on the lips as he met her at the door. "How did your first session with Dr. Winters go?"

"It went fine," she answered. "Believe it or not, it was enlightening and I feel a bit better after going to her."

"That's amazing," he said, smiling that beautiful, bright smile she loves so much on him.

"I, uh, I also went to Wiley's grave."

Instantly Chase's smile disappeared and he stared at her in concern. Gently running his hands up and down her arms, he asked softly, "How did that go?"

Willow couldn't help but smile. Chase was the sweetest man she'd ever met. Loving, protective, helpful…he was everything she wished for growing up in Dawn of Day, everything that Shiloh wasn't and could never be. In another life, maybe he could have been Wiley's father and the three of them could be living a perfect life as a happy family.

"I didn't get to talk to him. Harmony was there and she had some interesting news."

Furrowing his brows, Chase stared at the woman he loved. "Interesting news?" He repeated. "What interesting news?"

Willow grabbed both of his hands and led her boyfriend to the couch, where they both sat together. Still clasping her fingers with his, Willow tucked her leg beneath her body and took one deep breath before taking the plunge: "I was adopted and my biological mother is here in Port Charles."

Chase's mouth dropped open, his eyes widening in shock. For several minutes he was struck silent, unable to make even a sound. When he regained his composure, he cleared his throat. "Who did she tell you is your biological mother?" He asked.

Willow's smile grew. "Nina Reeves," she answered.

It was almost amusing to see her boyfriend's eyes bug out the way they did when he heard that name. He knew as well as anyone else just how much she hated Nina when she first came to town and how that hatred was reciprocated. Just because the pair were much closer in the past months didn't erase the hostility.

"Wow," Chase breathed. "I wasn't expecting that."

Willow laughed. "Tell me about it. If someone told me two years ago that Nina Reeves was my mother and we'd be close, I would have called them crazy. But that's how it is now. Nina Reeves is my biological mother."

"And are you…happy…about that?" Chase's query was valid.

A decisive nod of her head followed his question. "I am," she firmly replied. "I finally get to have a mother who will protect and love me, not use me for her own needs."

That blinding smile returned, his beautiful eyes lighting up once again. "I'm so happy for you, Willow," Chase said, leaning forward and framing her face once again with his hands as he pulled her into another loving kiss.

For the first time in years, Willow finally felt the pieces falling into place in her life instead of crumbling around her, and it felt so, so good.

Chapter Text

"I'm glad that we made time to have dinner together," Sasha said as she and Willow approached the door to Charlie's Pub, a restaurant owned and managed by Julian Jerome following his exit from the mob.

"Me too," Willow replied, smiling at her best friend. "We have a lot to talk about."

"Oh? Is an engagement between you and Chase going to be one of those things to talk about?" Sasha teased, a wide smile of her own covering her face when a red blush painted Willow's cheeks.

"Maybe…just as long as we can talk about yours and Michael's," Willow countered, watching in satisfaction as Sasha's own face darkened with a blush just as red as hers.

"Let's just eat," Sasha huffed, playfully shoving a laughing Willow's shoulder.

Her laughter was cut short when she opened the door and saw Nelle sitting there on her phone, a plate of half-eaten food positioned before her. Nelle looked up to see Willow and Sasha in the doorway and her face changed; it appeared annoyed and even exasperated.

'As if she has anything to be exasperated about,' Rational Willow scoffed. 'We're the ones being forced to see this bitch walking free around town instead of rotting behind bars like she should be after everything she's done.'

Staring at Nelle, Willow felt that familiar rage simmering beneath her skin. This woman was responsible for using her child in a twisted scheme and allowing him to be buried under a name that wasn't his, for nearly destroying the man she loved and his career because of her lies, and for nearly murdering her friend and the father of Nelle's own child in a car accident that Nelle herself rigged all so she could take everything in his will that he'd left to her in their marriage, a marriage that didn't even occur because Michael was smart and used the same disappearing ink on their marriage certificate that Nelle used in a fake letter from Michael's dead brother Morgan in her quest to make his mother go insane, thus making their marriage null and void and proving Nelle's malicious intentions.

This woman had a laundry list of crimes attached to her name and yet she was a free woman because all of them were dismissed either without sufficient evidence or because Nelle "wasn't in her right mind" at the time, so she couldn't be fairly prosecuted.

It made Willow furious and all she wanted was to just leap right across that room and beat that bitch's face in to the point where no one could recognize it.

'That's my girl!' Rational Willow cheered in her head.

'You know that she can't do that, though,' Sad Willow scolded, but her plaintive tone made it difficult to take her seriously. 'She'd be the one looking like the crazy villain.'

'I know,' Rational Willow replied, annoyed that her melancholic counterpart was telling her something that she already knew. 'That doesn't mean that I can't appreciate her backbone and wanting to teach Nelle a lesson for everything she's done since she darkened on the Corinthos family's doorstep.'

Neither Sad Willow nor Maternal Willow disagreed with her statement.

'No disagreements? Good. Now quit ruining my buzz!'

'You don't have to be so rude about it…' Sad Willow mumbled before she slinked off back to her corner.

'That was mean. You know she's sensitive,' Maternal Willow's reproach was more effective, but Rational Willow was still undaunted.

Willow wished that her personalities would shut up. Sometimes it was hard to think with those three constantly arguing and offering up their unwanted opinions. They did have one good part, though, and that was their hatred of Nelle.

Willow looked over at Sasha, who held the same expression on her face as she also returned Nelle's gaze. Her best friend turned to her and asked, "should we go somewhere else?"

Willow looked back at Nelle, contemplating that question. They could go somewhere else and have a peaceful time without seeing the blonde troublemaker's face, but she wanted to be better than that. She didn't want to give Nelle any more power over her than what she already had.

"No," Willow answered with confidence. "We won't let Nelle chase us out of here. We won't give her that much power."

"You're right," Sasha agreed in the same tone. "We won't give her that satisfaction."

With that, Sasha closed the door to Charlie's Pub and the two women walked over to an empty table, where they sat and made themselves comfortable.

"I'm glad that we could get together," Sasha commented, sharing a smile with Willow as they took off their coats and hung them over the backs of their chairs. "How are you doing?"

"I'm coping," Willow said. "It helps that I'm meeting with a therapist that I like and having the support system that I do."

Sasha nodded in understanding. "How are you and Nina?" She asked. Willow had informed her a little while ago that Nina was her biological mother and Sasha was thrilled for them both; the guilt of tricking Nina the way that she did still weighed heavily on her, even if Nina had forgiven and rekindled a friendship with her.

Willow's smile was brighter now. "It's been amazing," she said happily. "It's been an adjustment, of course. I never even knew that I was adopted, let alone that Nina was my biological mother, but we get along well and at this point, I'm very lucky to have her."

"She feels the same way about you," the lighter brunette replied, sliding forward so her elbows were on the table and her hands were resting beneath her chin.

It felt nice finally having good things to say about Nina. Although Sasha was always very neutral and supportive on both sides, Willow knew that it was tiring for her friend to constantly hear insults and criticisms being thrown whenever either woman spoke to her about each other. She was glad that Nina's change of heart and their family connection could bring about more pleasant conversations. 

"So," Willow spoke after they put in their drink orders to the waitress who had just come and gone from their table. "Give me some juicy gossip. Or, if you'd prefer, tell me about Deception." She'd been in her bubble of grief for so long that she missed the outside world and desperately wanted to know what was happening, especially if such news helped keep her distracted.

Sasha suddenly got this blush on her face. "Well," she said rather bashfully, completely unlike the spunky girl Willow had come to love since she moved to Port Charles. "I do have a couple of pieces of juicy gossip for you."

"Oh?" Willow's eyebrows rose and she leaned forward in eager interest. "Tell me."

"The first piece that I have for you is that Michael and I have been talking about marriage."

Willow's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open before she could stop it. "I…wow," she stuttered after a few moments of stunned silence. "I mean, I know I commented earlier about an engagement between you and Michael, but I was kidding…how did this come about?"

The blush faded a bit from Sasha's cheeks and she gave a long sigh. "Well," she began as she took a sip of her glass of water that the waitress had just set down in front of her. "You may already know this, but family courts tend to be pretty traditional. It may be hard to convince a judge to bar Nelle from Aaron's life, but if Michael has a wife and a mother figure to Aaron…" She trailed off nervously.

"You could end up being Aaron's mom," Willow finished for her. Her hands shook a bit as she took a long gulp of the glass of red wine on her side of the table. Thoughts of the past two years, of loving Aaron as her own, of thinking that she was his mother assaulted her mind and for a few seconds her vision went white. She couldn't believe that this was happening; it felt like her baby was being taken away from her again…

Rational Willow suddenly shouted so loudly into her ear that it was like a wave of cold water splashing over her face: 'AARON IS NOT YOUR BABY!!!! I KNOW THAT YOU FEEL LIKE HE IS BECAUSE YOU WERE LIED TO, BUT HE'S NOT YOURS!!! IF SASHA BECOMES HIS MOM, BE HAPPY FOR BOTH OF THEM, NOT POSSESSIVE LIKE YOU OWN HIM!!!'

The words were harsh, but they did the trick. She snapped out of her haze just in time to hear Sasha continue, her voice shaky and nervous, "It's freaking me out a bit. Michael and I are in love, but we only moved in together because of Nelle and raising a child wasn't even on my radar a month ago. It's all happening so fast."

"I thought that things were going well between you and Michael."

"They are. We're so compatible and I…I love him so much and I know that he loves me. It's wonderful knowing that I'll see him every day."

"Then it's…Aaron you're having problems with?"

"No. Oh, God, no! I love that little guy and seeing him lights up my entire day. I just have a hard time thinking of myself as a mom, although…I think I'm going to have to reconcile those feelings very soon…"

Willow's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"That's the other bit of juicy gossip," Sasha told her with a tentative smile. "I think I'm pregnant."

Willow's eyes widened and for a few long minutes she was rendered speechless. "You're pregnant?" She whisper-yelled, looking around to ensure that no one heard her before her eyes met Sasha's again.

"I think I am," Sasha corrected her. "I'm a month late and I've been feeling really sick lately."

"Does Michael know? Have you taken a test?"

"No to both. I don't want to tell Michael yet until I'm sure. I have a test hidden in my purse, but I haven't taken it yet."

"Why? This is huge!"

"I know and that's why I haven't taken it," she sighed and took another sip of her water. "Like I said…I have a hard time thinking of myself as a mom and it's one thing to be a stepmother to a child that's not mine but to have one of my own? Somehow that's scarier."

"Do you want me to pass along a piece of advice from myself to you?"

"Yes, please."

"You're going to be scared and you're going to think that being a mother is the most difficult thing in the world, and it is," Willow began. "You're lucky in the sense that the father of your child is a good, kind man who will do anything and everything for the people he loves. He will never walk away and he will never let anyone hurt you. Michael will love you and that baby if it exists, but that's not my advice, that's just something that we already know about him. My advice…find out as soon as possible. I didn't find out until I was almost at the end of my first trimester, which didn't leave me much time to get my things together and plan for my son before I started showing; I only just managed to escape Dawn of Day before I started growing a bump. But you…you and Michael can figure things out for your baby and get things going so you can be as ready and as comfortable as possible. And…"

Her throat tightened a bit and for a minute she didn't continue. But she owed it to herself, to her son, to Sasha, and now to the possible child that Sasha could or could not be carrying right now, so she took in a deep breath and blew it out softly to calm her nerves. Then, she finished: "Don't do what I did, Sasha. Don't give up on your child because you're scared of what could happen if you kept him or her."

Instantly, Sasha's face softened as sympathy filled her eyes and she reached out, taking Willow's hand in her own and gently squeezing it in comfort. "You didn't give up on Wiley, Willow," she said. "You did the best thing you could for him given your situation. It wasn't safe being in Dawn of Day and you weren't in the right place mentally to raise a child."

Willow shook her head softly, using her free hand to wipe away the tears that fell. "It doesn't feel like it," she murmured. "It feels like I failed him."

"You did not fail him," Sasha said fiercely. "You saved him. Shiloh and Harmony and Dawn of Day were poison. They would have caused so much damage to Wiley, but you got out and you got him out. You refused to let him be born or raised into that house of horrors and you gave him up for adoption because you didn't want anyone to know where he was. You. Saved. Him."

Willow looked up from the table to meet Sasha's impassioned gaze. The other woman was determined for Willow to hear her, and she could see that she believed in every word she just said in her need to comfort and reassure her friend. She didn't want Willow to believe for one second that she gave up on her child, and from the looks of it, she wasn't taking no for an answer.

'And she has doubts about being a mother,' she thought affectionately, a small smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.

Before she could say or do anything, however, Nelle's voice broke into their little bubble:

"I'm definitely going to have to change his name. I don't know what Michael was thinking, naming him Aaron. I mean, it's nice, but not that nice, and Jonah is a bit morbid now. What I do like, though, is the name William."

A red haze suddenly fell over Willow's eyes and pure fury radiated from her. 'That bitch,' she thought as she rose from her seat and stormed over to where Nelle sat at the bar, speaking with Julian Jerome. She could hear Sasha also get up and follow her, her concerned and curious eyes burning holes in the back of Willow's head.

"I'm sorry, what?" Willow asked, gaining Nelle's attention.

"William is much classier than Aaron," Nelle laughed.

"But Aaron is the name that he knows now," Willow protested, incredulous that Nelle could be so selfish. "Michael gave it to him."

"He'll adjust. After all, he adjusted to it from Wiley." The flippant way she disregarded the topic and the taunting tone of her voice when she said her deceased son's name made Willow's blood boil.

"Aaron is a person," Willow snapped, that fiery protective side of her rearing once again for a child that wasn't hers. "You can't just take away his name—"

"Oh my God," Nelle groaned. "I am so sick of you and your self-righteousness. I will raise him however the hell I please, he's my son, and no matter what you believe in all of your delusions, please remember that your son is dead and to stay the hell away from mine." With that, the blonde turned back to face the bar.

Her breathing shortening from rage and grief and her eyes pricking with tears at the reminder that her baby was gone, Willow grabbed Nelle's shoulder and turned her around to deliver a harsh, stinging slap to her cheek, a slap that rang sharply throughout the busy bar. It even caught a few of the patrons' attention as well as made Sasha gasp in surprise and Julian gape in shock.

Nelle gasped and she touched her burning cheek with her fingers, wincing slightly at the now tender flesh. She leveled a glare at Willow, but upon seeing the devastated look in the brunette's eyes, she couldn't find it in herself to retaliate. For some reason, she found herself almost…regretting…what she just said. It was a ridiculous thought, having remorse for anything that she said to this perfect Snow White figure constantly interfering in hers and her son's lives, but she did. Maybe it was because she was the cause of her pain by coming up with the plan to switch Willow's dead newborn with her living boy, but the blonde acknowledged that throwing the child back in her face wasn't the best move….

She quickly squashed that feeling as she stood up and growled, "You're going to pay for that. I'm going to have you arrested for assault."

"Go ahead," Willow growled. "At least now you'll know what'll happen when you throw the dead baby you used in your evil scheme in my face!"

"You did have that coming," Julian commented.

"Shut up!" Nelle whipped around to glare at Julian. "And I'm not paying a dime for that dinner!"

Nelle then stormed over to retrieve her coat and purse when she spotted Sasha standing there, smiling proudly as she watched the spectacle. Furious, she directed her thunderous footsteps towards her.

"Do you have something you need to say?" Nelle demanded with a growl, leveling a glare towards Sasha that was quite possibly even nastier than the glare she gave Willow.

Sasha shrugged her shoulders. "Encore?" She said simply. "You deserve more than just a slap in the face."

"Oh, I do?" Nelle challenged. "Well, listen to this: you are nothing more than a tramp hopping around the mansion until Michael's sick of you." She knew that her emotions were getting the better of her, letting these women know that they got to her, but at this point she couldn't help herself. She hated both of them for what they took from her.

Sasha scoffed. "Well, at least I'm welcome in the house. I don't see anyone there packing me up to go live with the boats."

"Shouldn't you be leaving?" Willow asked icily, coming up to stand beside Sasha, her arms folded.

"Oh, did I say I was leaving? Actually, I'm not going anywhere, so get used to it!" With that, she returned to her seat, trying to regain her composure while the two friends reoccupied their table.

"I'm totally jealous," Sasha said gleefully as they both settled into their seats. "How did it feel to slap Nelle in the face?"

"Extremely satisfying, especially when she brought up my son."

Sasha nodded. "I feel so bad for Michael," she said. "Having that woman as the mother of your child is a nightmare, and now he has this brutal custody battle looming…I just wish that there was something I could do." The thought of her boyfriend and his innocent little boy having to deal with Nelle distressed her more than she thought, she could even feel herself becoming a bit queasy from it. Although…that could also be possible morning sickness…

"It kinda seems that there is," Willow claimed with a smile.

Sasha instantly knew what she was referring to. "You mean marrying Michael?" She asked, a coy smile lifting her own lips. "Really?"

"I mean, I wouldn't want you to jump into something you're not ready for, but what if you were and you just didn't know it? You love him, he loves you, you might be having a baby…it could end up being perfect timing after all."

Before Sasha could reply, Julian came up to their table.

"Evening, ladies," he said.

"Evening," they chorused, curiosity (and a little bit of disdain on Willow's part, she had to admit, for the way that he treated her back when they thought that Michael's son was hers; she knew that he was just trying to protect his son and son-in-law from Shiloh and the possibility that she could take him back, but he could have been more civil to her) lacing their voices. Why was Julian Jerome coming up to them?

"I just wanted to offer my condolences to you, Willow, as well as my congratulations. Nelle is a nuisance and I know I shouldn't be saying this as a business owner, but watching you slap her made my night, so…" He handed them two menus. "Order whatever you'd like. Dinner's on me tonight as a thank you for giving Nelle what she deserved."

"Oh," Willow was blindsided. Of all things she could have expected from Julian, praise was certainly not it. "Uh, thank you."

The man just nodded and walked away.

Willow and Sasha faced each other again. "That was unexpected," the brunette commented.

Sasha's smile was so wide Willow thought her face would crack. "I guess it just goes to show you just how much Nelle's disliked in this town and that you're a godsend for putting her in her place," she said.

Willow laughed and couldn't help but agree before the two women opened their menus. The rest of their dinner passed by without a hitch; it was just a pair of best friends enjoying one another's company and after the hell she'd been through, it was the best thing—save for her growing relationship with Nina and her romance with Chase—that could have ever come her way.

Chapter Text

Harmony sat at the bar of Kelly's, nursing a black coffee as she thought about how much of a mess her life has become.

She lost her way of life for years when she got brainwashed by Dawn of Day.

She lost her husband, the one and only love of her life, because she tried too hard to be part of Shiloh's Inner Circle, because she had stupidly fallen in love with that monster and wanted to be his closest confidante.

She lost her grandson because her daughter didn't trust her enough to keep him safe when she was pregnant with him, and then she lost him again when he died from SIDS shortly after birth.

And now…

Now she's lost her daughter. Their relationship was already strained because she allowed Willow to be drugged, branded, and then raped by Shiloh in his sick initiation ritual, but when she'd learned that she wasn't her biological mother and that she'd been lied to for years…she saw a rage and a grief in Willow she'd never seen before. She knew that it was only Willow's self-control and respect for her son's grave that her daughter didn't attack her right there after finally being told the truth.

She wouldn't be surprised if Willow went no contact with her after that and after everything she'd done to her, she'd deserve it.

Heaving a miserable sigh, she sunk her head further down, nearly resting her forehead against the warm lip of her coffee cup.

"If you keep leaning into your coffee cup, you might burn yourself."

Harmony's head jerked up in shock at the voice and turned it to see Ava Jerome (Ava Cassadine at this point since she'd married the newly resurrected Nikolas Cassadine; she really didn't care to hear any details of how that was possible) staring at her, her purse clutched in her hand.

"What are you doing here?" Harmony asked.

Ava rose an eyebrow. "I'm here to get a coffee. However, unlike you, I intend to drink it and not swim in it." With that, she placed her order before returning her attention to the despondent woman.

Harmony looked so pathetically downtrodden that she actually felt some sympathy for the woman. She never particularly cared for her when she learned about Shiloh and Dawn of Day and what she forced her daughter Willow to endure during their time in that sick cult.

Ava wasn't a saint by any means, but she would have gladly let the whole world burn before she ever sold her daughters to be permanently marked and sexually assaulted by a predator.

But now…staring at Harmony's disheveled appearance and how the brunette kept her head down in shame…well, it made her think that maybe she'd been punished enough…

With that in mind, Ava asked her, "Do you need someone to talk to?"

This time, when Harmony looked up, she held her head in place, mouth open and eyes wide in surprise. "W-What?"

"Do. You. Need. Someone. To. Talk. To?"

For a few moments Harmony could only gape like a fish, unable to speak. Eventually, she managed to stammer, "What…why…" She swallowed to moisten her dry throat before trying again. "Why would you want to talk to me?"

"Well, for one: I know what it's like to be a pariah, to have people hate you for things that you've done," Ava began, thanking the kid at the counter who'd just set her coffee down in front of her before taking a sip. She relished in the familiar warmth and taste of caffeine for just a few moments before returning it to its place beside her and boring her eyes into Harmony's once again. "Second: Your actions towards your daughter are deplorable, but you do love her. I know what that's like…having a child you love so much only to lose them because of your own actions…it's unbearable and the person who tortures you the most is yourself."

Harmony stared at Ava, noticing the way that the blonde seemed more forlorn towards the end of her little speech. "Have you been through this before?" She asked tentatively. She didn't want to test the waters too much, but it was nice having someone talk to her instead of glare at or insult her for her association with Shiloh and Dawn of Day.

Ava took another drink from her cup, suddenly wishing that she had something much stronger within her reach. Kiki's name was rarely spoken around her unless it was herself talking to Avery about her loving big sister; it was too painful for her otherwise, but Harmony had asked a question and she did ask her first if she wanted to talk.

"My oldest daughter," Ava began, the dull clink of the ceramic mug once again being placed onto the countertop a roar in her ears. "We didn't always get along. In fact, we had many problems."

'That's an understatement,' she ignored the voice that sounded suspiciously like her firstborn. Ever since Kiki's death, it appeared more often, telling her everything that she did wrong in her life. She supposed that it was part of her penance, the other part being her daughter's passing itself.

"We loved each other deeply, but we hurt each other, too. We wouldn't mean to most of the times, but sometimes…on my side…sometimes the pain would be a result from a vindictive action. Many times we wouldn't speak and we'd only be civil if we had to be around each other for something that we couldn't avoid. The last argument we'd been in, I said some very hurtful things to her and I didn't want her to be there to see her little sister off for her first day at kindergarten. It was the last time we spoke," Ava explained. The words chipped away at her heart and she could feel her eyes sting with tears, but she managed to restrain them. She wouldn't cry. She wouldn't.

"What happened?" Harmony asked softly, carefully. She could tell by the other woman's face that nothing good came after her last conversation with her daughter.

"She was murdered," the tears fell down her cheeks now and she didn't bother to wipe them away. "She was stabbed by a man who pretended to be someone I could trust, someone I thought I could have loved. My precious little girl died alone, scared, and in pain, and the bastard who killed her told me that she was calling for me the entire time, but I didn't come. My daughter wanted her mother in her last moments and I failed her just like I always did."

Grabbing several napkins from a nearby canister, Ava dabbed at the water trickling almost endlessly from her eyes, silent sobs shaking her shoulders as she allowed herself a few minutes to grieve and collect herself.

Harmony watched her in sympathy. She wanted to comfort Ava, but she didn't know if it would be well-received, so she waited, giving her all the time in the world for her to process her emotions.

When Ava finally regained her composure, she rolled the wet napkins into a ball in her fist and sniffled once before she looked up at Harmony. "So I know," her voice was very rough. "I know what it's like to make mistake after mistake with your child and not be able to fix it. My daughter is gone and I can never make it up to her, but yours, your Willow…you can make amends with her."

Before Harmony could open her mouth, a voice rang out with furious intensity:

"She's not her Willow. She never has been. She's mine."

Ava and Harmony whipped around to see Nina Reeves standing beside them. The Crimson CEO looked just as prim and proper as she always did, but there was a wild anger in her eyes as she regarded the two women she held nothing but disdain for.

"What are you doing here?" Ava asked, showing her distaste for the redhead.

"Getting the lunch I ordered from here. It's a public restaurant, Ava," Nina sniped.

Ava rolled her eyes. "Well, hurry up and get your food so you can leave."

"I will, but I have something I need to say to Harmony first," Nina replied, her hateful gaze returning to the brunette.

Harmony shrunk a bit from the anger that Nina was exuding. She knew that nothing good could come from whatever Nina was about to say.

"How dare you keep calling Willow your daughter after everything you've done to her," Nina began, her fists clenched and her teeth gritted as her tone grew colder, so cold that if she could turn to Harmony into ice with only her words, the other woman would be a sculpture in seconds. "You let Shiloh drug, brand, and rape her because you knew that he wanted her and that if you let him have her, you would be included in his circle. You pimped Willow out just so you could have your turn with him. And then you try to recruit her and lead her back to that hell house they all live in like mindless sheep. Willow ran away from that place because she wasn't safe, because you failed her, because you broke your promise to always take care of her and put her first and you have the audacity to sit here and want her back in your life? I'm here to tell you that that is not going to happen!"

"What business is this of yours?" Ava demanded, jumping in when she saw Harmony flinch with each venomous sentence spewing from Nina's mouth, the tears making tracks down her face as the devastation in her eyes deepened. "Who are you to tell Harmony what she can and can not hope for with her own daughter?"

"Willow is not Harmony's daughter!" Nina whisper-yelled, glaring daggers at Ava. "She's mine!"

Ava blinked in surprise and looked at Harmony. "Is that true?" She inquired. "Willow is Nina's daughter?"

Harmony sighed and nodded. "It's true. Willow was given to my husband and I when she was a newborn. Nina is her birth mother."

"Given to you," Nina scoffed. "She was stolen from me by my mother along with her twin sister."

"Oh?" Ava said. "She was stolen from you, huh? Just like how you stole Avery from me after cutting her out of my womb?"

If Nina could make Harmony into an ice sculpture with her words, she would make Ava a pile of ashes with her fiery stare. "I was out of my mind with grief and anger over being in a coma for over twenty years. My mother was a greedy, selfish bitch who sold my daughter when I wasn't awake to stop her," she hissed. She knew that what she did when Avery was born was wrong, but it wasn't fair to compare her insanity at the time with Madeline's sound thinking. Nina just wanted her life back and the children she was robbed of; Madeline wanted to take it just so she could have her inheritance.

"I meant what I said," Nina told Harmony, grabbing the bag of food that had just been passed to her. "You don't deserve to know Willow or be in her life after the way you let her be used and abused by a sexual predator. You uprooted her entire life just so that you could have some twisted self-fulfillment and she doesn't want anything to do with you. Stay away from my daughter or you'll have me to deal with and I promise you…when I deal with you, it won't be pretty." With that, she left the diner, her heels clicking behind her.

Despite the easy chatter of the diner being ample background noise, the air was still and silent between the two women sitting at the counter, both reeling from the confrontation with Nina.

"She's right," Harmony finally said, her voice thick with the tears that were still flowing.

"Oh, please. That woman is never right about anything," Ava said, trying to reassure her.

Harmony shook her head. "No. She is. Biological mother or not, I was supposed to protect my daughter and I didn't. I put her in danger and traumatized her. It would take a miracle for her to forgive me and want me to be in her life again."

Ava looked down, Harmony's words reaching deep into her soul. She thought of Kiki. Would Kiki have eventually forgiven her for their last conversation? She had been angry at her for sleeping with Griffin Munro, her boyfriend at the time, but really, how was it any different than when she slept with Morgan several times during each of their relationship attempts? Kiki never meant to hurt her and she tried to tell her, but she had been locked in that trial between her and that sexual predator Dr. Bensch, who had made inappropriate advances on her while she worked under him as an intern. Getting justice for herself and the other young women victimized by him was more important than telling her about a one night stand that she'd instantly regretted.

But Ava hadn't seen that at the time. All she felt was hurt and rage, knowing that her daughter had sex with her boyfriend. And in typical Ava Jerome fashion, she'd lashed out and deepened the rift that formed in their relationship. Kiki never knew how much her mother loved her; in fact, at the time of her murder, Ava doubted if Kiki knew that she loved her at all.

Now that thought was as unbearable as knowing that she was buried underground in a coffin.

Ava cleared her throat. "Harmony," she waited until Harmony's teary eyes met hers. "I don't care what Nina says. She's not all-knowing or even in a sound state of mind most of the time. You raised Willow and loved her as her own. She may not want to forgive you now, but I wouldn't give up hope."

"You wouldn't?"

"No. Willow is alive and she lives in the same town. As long as she is, there's always hope."

Harmony smiled. It was a watery smile, but a genuine one nonetheless. "Thank you, Ava," she said. 

"You're welcome."

The two sat there, drinking their coffees and wondering if this one conversation was on its way into becoming a friendship. They found that they quite liked that idea; it was always nice to have at least one friend.