Selena Davis Becomes a Mother
Selena Davis (jail bird, former hooker, and waitress extraordinaire) had an interesting life. She came on canvas as Abby’s (Abby Bloom Bauer) jail friend, helping keep her safe there. Abby invited her into the Bauers’ lives. Selena was very pro-Abby and as an extension to that she was Team Michelle in the Dresse-Messe fight thinking she understood Drew and telling her to back off. Selena came into town with a secret – she had given up a daughter taken from her and when her rights were terminated, the girl was put up for a closed adoption. Eventually she discovered that she and Drew had the same photo of Drew as a baby and realized Drew was her daughter. Selena immediately became Team Drew, but kept secret that she was her mother, instead faking information to make it so Drew thought a dead friend of Selena’s was her mother instead. That evolved into a huge complicated story which ended up with Drew realizing Selena was her mother, that Max Nickerson wasn’t her biological brother after all (she adopted him anyway), and that Ben Warren was her father. They were working to be more of a family when Ben Warren was killed.
Selena Hearts Alone
Selena had an ongoing romantic relationship with Buzz Cooper and it was pretty well established Selena as a more mature version of Nadine. Selena helped Buzz take care of Coop and Rocky after Jenna died and stayed in a romantic relationship with Buzz after the kids were sent to live with Jenna’s family in the UK.
Next Selena’s backstory got a rewrite. Blake, in a totally idiotic decision, skipped over all the great romantic stories in Springfield, including the Rassie couple that she had spent a LOT of time researching already and Manny which is the best story ever, in order to write about Selena’s story with Miguel Santos. The book was published as Hearts Alone under Blake’s pen name Darlena LaCrosse. Blake found out that Selena (who had previously extensively interacted with the Santos family without a shred of recognition including knowing Carmen’s son who had previously been named after Miguel) had her backstory reset to have a second secret child, this time by Miguel Santos. This second child was also a son also named Miguel Santos, Jr. (That was his name at birth although we don’t know if he changed it. I would think he would have because otherwise Mick would have hit on spots with the same name for example I know there is a woman who has my same name in Germany because I run into her name when I do all sorts of stuff. Also, I have an uncle who named his kid my brother’s name when he was born later and we run into that all the time.)
Miguel, Jr. On Screen, On Canvas
We had two on screen connections with Selena’s son. Selena called him to warn him when she skipped town, without looking up a number so she had it memorized or at least programmed in her phone because he picked up directly, it wasn’t through a secretary or anything. Later while Gus Aitoro tries to get Danny convicted of Carmen’s murder, Danny remembers one time when he went to the Cubs game with his father (which was traditionally Danny and Papa only) and another boy showed up. Danny figures out it was probably this Miguel Jr. although his dad didn’t tell Danny who he was. Gus kept dropping Cubs references so until his backstory came out Danny thought Gus was this Miguel. That was a red herring, but Danny was probably correct that it was Miguel, Jr. at the game that day.
Did Gus Really Know Who He Was?
Harley Cooper and Gus Aitoro, 2004
This first suggestion that Gus was Miguel, Jr., was during Danny’s trial for Carmen’s murder when they were trying to figure why Gus had a grudge against him. Danny thought maybe Gus was Miguel, Jr. to be out to get him. It was found out that instead Gus’s father was a police officer in Chicago who was killed by the Santos family (which had nothing to do with Danny, but Gus just wanted revenge, even though we later learned that Gus’s sister had already killed Ray and Tony’s father so eye for an eye requirement met).
During Danny’s trial was not the last time the suggestion came up. It was discovered that Gus was adopted by the parents who raised him. When Danny was working at the Tower Club it came up that Danny and Gus were both allergic to peanuts. They actually did a blood test to see if Danny and Gus were related that came back negative. This really is unfortunate because the strongest relationship that Gus had on the show for most of his run was with Danny. At that point in their relationship they both actually seemed a little sorry that it wasn’t true. It would be especially interesting because Gus had gone after the entire Santos family because they were related by blood or marriage. To find himself on that list (especially earlier on) would have had FAR more impact than the story they actually wrote.
Gus a Spaulding
It turned out that Alex (who had 2 children torn away from her as babies and so knew the pain it caused so even if she had done it she would have fessed up later) had paid a member of the staff that Alan had slept with and impregnated to leave without telling Alan. She had the baby and gave it up for adoption. Alan thought she’d dumped him and didn’t know about the pregnancy. When the possibility came up, Alan and Gus tracked down the woman who was a nun and confirmed that they were indeed Gus’s biological parents.
It would be much more interesting for Gus to have been a Santos than a Spaulding and fans kept hoping they were leaning that way. However, despite the fact the story leaned that way more than once it never happened. I, for one, am sorry they didn’t go. I think there would have been a lot of emotion. Seriously the only time the Spaulding connection effected storyline seriously was in service to the ridiculous Alex was a drug dealer storyline. And that Alan lived with Gus and Harley for a short while.
So What About Miguel?
While Manny was still on canvas periodically Miguel, Jr. would get a mention. Normally the suggestion was that he was maybe Gus until they did the test, but after the blood test the possibility was gone (or not this IS a soap town). So what we know he was a lawyer (a successful lawyer according to Selena) and that whether she raised him or not, Miguel, Jr. was aware that Selena Davis was his mother and that Miguel Santos, Sr. was his father. He probably knew Miguel because that probably WAS Miguel, Jr. at the game with Danny, but whether the two Miguels had an on-going relationship or if this was a one time thing is unclear. Most likely he would have taken another name, as I mentioned earlier, the older he got the more a Miguel Santos, Jr. would have stood out and he realized that the Santos family was a potential threat.
Selena is able to dial his number without looking it up, but was never shown on camera calling him at any other time. He also didn’t hang up on her, so they must have either had a semi-positive relationship or at least an understanding she’d only call if there was an emergency. So did they talk off screen? What did he think of his mother? He certainly didn’t help her get out of jail or to find Drew. I don’t think she even told Drew about him. Actually I don’t think she told Drew about any of this. What did he know about his father? Did he have any interest in meeting his half-siblings? Did he resent his mother AND Carmen, his mother OR Carmen for getting his father killed? Did he resent Selena losing the trust fund Miguel had set up for him? Having the real Miguel, Jr. (if it couldn’t be Gus, sigh) would have been a very interesting story development. There really were so many ways they could have gone with the character. It would have been an interesting path to go down. In my never humble opinion, I think no matter what way they’d taken Miguel, Jr. having him be Gus or not, would have been a lot more interesting than the drug smuggling or deep, dark, best forgotten amnesia year stories. So let us raise a toast to the unknown Miguel, Jr. Who knows maybe he’s out in undeveloped, shadowy clouds around the never written edges of Springfield, sharing a drink with Michelle’s other half-brother, Claire’s son who was mentioned once in passing and never again.
Robansuefarm is the handle of one of Manny and Guiding Light‘s biggest fans following in her family’s footsteps of Guiding Light fandom since 1939. This blog is an effort to make it easy to find Guiding Light and especially Manny online. Check back here for her blog, find fanfic previews and fake WSPR newscasts on her YouTube, find podcasts that look back to old shows and audios of her fanfics on Blog Talk Radio, and finally follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
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