General Hospital (GH) recap for Monday, January 16, reveals that Curtis Ashford (Donnell Turner) warned Portia Robinson (Brook Kerr) to tread lightly when it came to Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali). If Portia tried to keep Trina away from Spencer Cassadine (Nicholas Chavez), then she could end up pushing her straight into Spencer’s arms.
Portia saw that Curtis was right, but Marcus Taggert (Réal Andrews) didn’t agree once he arrived and got updates on the situation.
Taggert insisted that Curtis wasn’t Trina’s father and acted like he had a responsibility as a parent to keep his daughter out of danger.
Once Taggert left, Curtis told Portia that he’d keep his parenting advice to himself until they had a child of their own.
At Sonny Corinthos’ (Maurice Benard) penthouse, Spencer invited Diane Miller (Carolyn Hennesy) in and wondered about the possibility of a sibling gaining custody of a newborn.
Diane realized Nikolas Cassadine (Marcus Coloma) was the father of Esme Prince’s (Avery Pohl) baby and warned about all the challenges Spencer would face.
Diane also felt the judge would hear Spencer’s anger and wonder about his motive, but Spencer said priority was keeping his little brother or sister away from dangerous parents.
Spencer also suggested boosting their odds by acting like he was the father, but Diane warned that she wouldn’t be party to fraud if Spencer expected a DNA test would prove otherwise.
Although this case was a long shot, Diane agreed to take it if Spencer was serious.
That said, Diane warned about a custody battle like this causing a raging wildfire within his family.
In the GH chapel, Nikolas reassured Elizabeth Baldwin (Rebecca Herbst) about the police not finding anything at Wyndemere, but he was concerned about the leverage Victor Cassadine (Charles Shaughnessy) kept.
Fortunately, Nikolas felt confident that Victor didn’t know Liz was involved.
As for Esme, Liz didn’t think she would recover her missing memories anytime soon.
Nikolas suggested a blank slate could be a blessing, but Liz hinted about how difficult it was not being able to access the past.
That led to Liz opening up about her parents and their memory sabotage.
In Esme’s hospital room, she woke up startled when she saw Laura Collins (Genie Francis) there with her.
Although Laura hoped for answers, Esme still couldn’t remember anything.
Laura admitted she was the mayor and the grandmother of the baby Esme was carrying, which led to some confusion since she also said Spencer was her grandson.
For clarification, Laura showed Esme pictures of Nikolas and Spencer on her phone.
Esme said the younger one was the guy who came to visit her and hoped he was the father since he was so kind.
When Laura asked if Nikolas had dropped by to see her, Esme said not yet – though she suggested she wouldn’t mind if he was as nice as Laura and Spencer had been.
Dante Falconeri (Dominic Zamprogna) interrupted to show Esme a photo of the ornament that was found on her, but it didn’t look familiar.
Although Dante urged Esme to call him if anything came back to her, she asked why she’d help the police build a case against who she used to be.
Afterward, Dante privately told Laura that they were pivoting away from Esme in the hook investigation, but she’d still be charged with the rest.
Laura knew it’d be tricky to prosecute a woman who couldn’t remember her own crimes.
Meanwhile, Willow Tait (Katelyn MacMullen) ordered Nina Reeves (Cynthia Watros) to leave her room, but Nina insisted Willow’s life might depend on her.
Willow suggested Nina had a savior complex, but Michael Corinthos (Chad Duell) said Willow needed to listen to what Nina had to say.
Nina admitted Willow was her daughter, so Willow thought she’d lost her mind.
Once Nina explained and got Michael to back her up, Willow reeled over Nelle Benson (Chloe Lanier) being her twin sister.
After Nina expressed hope for putting the past to rest and building a new relationship, Willow asked Michael to give them a few minutes alone.
Although Nina remained hopeful about a fresh start, Willow insisted their blood tie didn’t change anything.
Regardless, Nina still wanted to save Willow, so Willow wondered what Nina wanted in return if she was indeed a bone marrow donor match.
Nina asked if Willow thought she came there to emotionally blackmail her, but Willow didn’t know what to believe anymore.
After Nina vowed to get tested, she assured Willow that if she had the power to save her daughter’s life, then nothing would stop her.
Dante also spoke to Sonny, Carly Spencer (Laura Wright) and Drew Cain (Cameron Mathison) about seeing Nina in Willow’s GH room.
While Dante went to get tested as a potential bone marrow donor, Carly admitted to Sonny that Nina was Willow’s mother.
Sonny fumed once he learned Harmony Miller (Inga Cadranel) told Carly before her death, which meant Carly had known for months.
After Sonny asked Drew if he knew the truth, Drew made it clear that he would’ve told sooner if he’d been in the loop.
Sonny felt this was about Carly’s vendetta and didn’t buy her claims of trying to protect Willow.
Once Sonny said this was about getting back at Nina, Michael appeared and shut down the confrontation.
Sonny stepped aside with Michael and agreed to make Willow the priority right now.
Back with Carly, she talked to Drew about how Michael avoided her eyes.
Carly hoped Willow would get more time now that the truth was out and thanked Drew for not making her feel worse.
In Willow’s hospital room again, she cried to Michael over why her birth mother had to be Nina of all people.
As for Nina, she met up with Sonny and accepted his comforting hug since Willow still wanted nothing to do with her.
General Hospital spoilers say Nina and Willow’s relationship will continue to be messy, but there’s hope for their bond moving forward.
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