The case of the missing baby

Disappearing babies, guilty confessions, and compassionate endings were just a few of the twists and turns in an exciting week where even the best-laid plans hit snags and forced several to put on their sleuthing hats to dig for the truth.

The other day, I had to have some blood work done, but due to "thready veins," it took forever. Apparently, I drip blood -- slowly -- which requires a lot of needle wiggling and endless minutes of waiting as my vein reluctantly filled three vials. Did I mention that I absolutely, positively, and utterly detest needles? To keep myself from freaking out and crawling out of my own skin, I distracted myself from the harpoon being plunged into the crook of my arm with a mental game of what if.

My what if for that particular torture session was, what if I visited Port Charles? I knew I had a column to write, so this seemed like a productive use of my time.

The first thing I decided I'd do is stop by Maxie's place to shake some sense into her and, if necessary, slap her upside the head, because it's clear as the Ice Princess diamond that Maxie is with Spinelli for all the wrong reasons. I know she loves him, but even by her own admission, she has a deep-seated desire to give Georgie the life Maxie missed out on when Frisco gallivanted off to play international spy and save the world.

I just don't see Maxie loving Spinelli the way a woman should love a man when she intends to spend the rest of her life with him. I have to agree with Ellie -- Maxie chose Spinelli by default because Maxie's first choice took himself out of the running.

I appreciate that Maxie will always love Spinelli and that they share a special bond because of their daughter and their long history -- much of it dysfunctional -- but Spinelli no longer fits with Maxie. They have each outgrown the other and are simply better people apart than they are with each other.

I saw a glimmer of the Spinelli I liked best during his brief scenes with Ellie -- who looks positively radiant with her shorter hair. Ellie is the one who Spinelli belongs with because Ellie calms him and keeps him centered so he doesn't feel the need to constantly make grand gestures to prove his love. Maxie just makes Spinelli neurotic and manipulative.

Nathan has a similar positive effect on Maxie. She is simply a more enjoyable person with Nathan. She's mature and confident and at times even seems levelheaded. She's still fun and quirky, just not annoyingly so. Nathan encourages Maxie to be independent and has a far greater respect for her boundaries than Spinelli ever has.

I hope Spinelli sees the light before it's too late and patches things up with Ellie, even if it means he will once again disappear back to Oregon with her.

I think, on some level, Spinelli knows that Maxie agreed to work things out with him for the wrong reasons, which is why he tried to spin -- pardon the pun -- things by telling Ellie that Maxie had picked him over Nathan. The fact that Maxie corrected Spinelli should have been a huge warning flag to Spinelli that she hasn't made peace with her decision.

Another stop I'd like to make is at Metro Court Restaurant where all the juicy stuff happens, like people plotting investigations, blabbing openly about secrets, and making all manner of confessions.

I'm honestly surprised that Julian doesn't have a table reserved at the place for one of his reporters. Then again, it's probably wise that he doesn't, or they might have overheard Julian's niece having an attack of conscience and confiding that she and Morgan had drugged Michael with some sort of Roofie-like drug that makes a person appear ten times drunker than they are.

Julian was not shocked that neither Kiki nor Morgan realized that what they were doing was completely illegal and considered assault. The only reason I can buy that is because both Kiki and Morgan are complete morons.

However, I do concede that Kiki is the slightly less moronic of the two, which is why I think she has regrets and realizes that perhaps Avery was better off with Michael. At the very least, Avery wouldn't have been in a position to be abducted from the hospital.

I don't think it was Michael who took his sister, even if he was under the influence of the tainted allergy medication. The pills make him too volatile and have him stumbling around like a drunken elephant in a china shop, so not only would he not have had the foresight to turn off all the cameras before staggering into Avery's hospital room, but people would have notice an unsteady man tromping through the hospital with a baby.

My money is on Nina. She is behaving way too sketchy, despite her adamant denials of involvement. Her explanation for her defensive behavior when Franco made a similar observation was completely plausible but somehow rang hollow. It's true that most people would be annoyed and a little frazzled if they were falsely accused by everyone, including those closest to them, of a crime they didn't commit, but we have seen Nina disappear for stretches at a time with no real evidence of what she was doing.

Nina has proven herself to be crazy like a fox, so I don't trust her.

Then again, Liesl could have been onto something by suggesting that it was Silas who whisked the baby away -- although, it's hard to imagine that Silas would deliberately put his daughter through that kind of anxiety and stress. However, something seems off with Silas -- like there is more going on than meets the eye. If he thought that taking Avery was for the greater good, I can see him doing it. After all, Avery would never truly be in any danger, since Silas would die before letting any harm come to the baby.

As heartwrenching as it was to watch Ava say goodbye to Silas, I just can't believe that he really injected her with a deadly cocktail of medication to end her pain. My gut tells me he knocked her out to do a bone marrow transplant with Avery, or he put Ava in a coma to buy himself time to develop some kind of experimental treatment that could save her life.

Either way, I just don't think this is the end for Ava.

Frankly, I hope Ava does get a second chance at life, especially now that she's had her epiphany and regrets some of the choices she made. If the writers can give Sonny, Franco, Nina, and Carlos Get out of Jail Free cards, then surely they can come up with a way for Ava to walk the streets again as a free woman.

Whether Ava lives or dies, I do want custody of Avery to revert back to Michael. I knew Michael loved Avery, but this whole ordeal has erased any doubt in my mind that he truly wants what's best for his sister and to keep her safe.

I think Michael was spot-on when he suggested that Morgan didn't truly love Avery but instead viewed her as a prize to be returned to Sonny. Morgan proved that to me when Kiki told him that Avery could have been seriously injured or killed because of what they did to Michael, and Morgan essentially said it had been worth the risk, since it gave them the ammunition they needed to get Avery away from Michael.

I find it rather interesting that Michael is the only person who appears to be beside himself with worry and fear about Avery, while everyone else just seems mildly concerned. Granted, the medication is messing with Michael, but he's genuinely distraught, whereas Sonny was almost blas about the whole thing. Maybe it's because Sonny has been through this before, but my jaw dropped when he calmly told Morgan that it was possible one of his enemies abducted the baby.

Why is Duke calmly chatting with Lucy over breakfast about the kidnapping and theorizing that Michael took the baby rather than overseeing an extensive search of the city for his boss's missing daughter? And why isn't Carly glued to Sonny's side instead of trying to "focus on other things" like getting the goods on Hayden?

By the way, I'm not sure what's taking Spinelli so long to unearth the truth about Hayden, since, to my knowledge, Hayden lived a rather ordinary life before meeting Ric. Couldn't Spinelli pay Beechers Corners a visit to talk to some people who actually know Hayden and her husband? It's not like Beechers Corners is clear across the country. It's just a couple of towns over, so at best, it's a day ride away.

Also, a quick search of legal records should have at least unearthed that Hayden was divorced from her husband.

I've gotten to watch Hayden in action for a few weeks now, and I have to say that I'm not all that impressed. She's not a fun bad girl as I had hoped. She appears to guzzle Champagne morning, noon, and night, and when she's not doing that, she's propositioning men right and left. She comes off as desperate and slutty.

I get why Nikolas is drawn to Hayden. He hates himself right now because he knows he's betraying everyone close to him, so he's wallowing in the gutter to punish himself. Plus, he wants to find out who is bankrolling Hayden and if that person knows that Jake is really Jason Morgan.

Honestly, I'm surprised it took Carly this long to figure out that Ric is behind this scheme. He's the only person who has anything to gain by Jake being married and the money to make it happen. I can't wait for Carly to call him out in front of Liz, even though I'm certain Liz will defend Ric until she sees the proof. And there is irrefutable proof that Hayden lied because Spinelli managed to snap a picture of Hayden and Pete shaking hands at the close of Friday's show.

Is there some kind of magnetic force field under Patrick's couch that sucks in all metal objects? It would be nice to think that we will finally get the big Jason reveal we've been waiting ages for, but something tells me that Jake finding the ring won't be it. It was a great cliffhanger, but it reeked of red herring.

It's really hard to feel sorry for Ric when Pete keeps popping up to extort more money from him. I would have expected Ric to vet his accomplices a little better when he concocted his scheme, so he kind of deserves to be blackmailed for plucking Pete off the street.

I like the spark of chemistry building between Michael and Sabrina. I really think she can be good for him, especially since she's the only person not writing him off as a drunk like his father, A.J. Even Carly seems ready to believe that Michael suddenly morphed into an alcoholic, which is quite sad.

Speaking of Michael, Monica's absence is glaring right now. Not only did she have a brush with alcoholism, but her husband and son were both addicts. Monica loves and cherishes Michael, so it makes no sense that she's not around.

Felix checks on Sabrina after Michael knocked over Avery's stroller in Metro Court's lobby Felix

: "I saw the clip of him knocking over the stroller."Sabrina: "You did?"Felix: [Chuckles] "The whole world's seen it, Bri."Sabrina: [Sighing] "Oh, God."Felix: "That thing went viral faster than Lucy's last wardrobe malfunction at the Nurses Ball."

Scott wonders how Franco and Nina can afford to stay in a suite at Metro CourtScott: "Well, now, Nina's assets are tied up, and, uh, I didn't know that you were rolling in dough."Franco: "Oh, yeah, you know, I-I-I spent a lot of time in the Shadybrook arts-and-crafts room, and I sold a bunch of stuff online. It's -- yeah."Scott: "You don't say."Franco: "I do. Uh, yeah. Alleged-serial-killer dream catchers, like hotcakes. And the, you know, pot holders with the little googly eyes."

Michael is disappointed by his family's lack of supportMichael: "No. You know what would help me? My family supporting me instead of -- instead of looking out for themselves. Is that possible?"Tracy: "Ooh, with this group, anything's possible."Ned: "Mother, now is not the time."Michael: [Sighs]Tracy:" Really? What's going on?"Michael: "Ned is trying to take over as CEO."Tracy: "And here I thought you were the chosen one. Oh, please, don't stop on my account. Let the coup continue."

Nina catches Liesl off-guard with an observation about Liesl's feelings for FrancoLiesl: "The man is a genius, a creature of rare sensitivity who needs protection from those who would exploit him."Nina: "It seems like you have feelings for this tortured artist."Liesl: "What is this gefasel you speak?"Nina: "Oh, I'm right. You totally have a crush on Franco, and you're upset that I live with him. You want to be his muse."Liesl: [Scoffs] "Sie bitte. That is absurd. I only have eyes for my beloved Cesar Faison."

Take care and happy viewing,Liz Masters

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