In 1998, Abigail Blume was in prison for killing the man who raped her. While there, she befriended Selena Davis, a fellow inmate serving time for prostitution. No stranger to prison life, Selena took Abby under her wing and protected her during her time there. Abby returned the favor when both of them were released. Abby helped Selena find a job and a place to live in Springfield. Soon, Selena began working as a waitress for The Fifth Street Diner and forged a close friendship with the diner's owner, Buzz Cooper, and his wife, Jenna. Selena was determined to rebuild her life and that included searching for the one thing that had been taken from her years ago--her daughter.

While working as a prostitute, Selena became pregnant by one of her clients. With other people making the decisions for her, she was forced to give her child away. Now, years later, she was determined to find her daughter and make up for all of the lost time. Selena enlisted the help and Buzz's daughter, Harley to help her. In the meantime, she went to work at Millennium, a nightclub owned by Drew Jacobs, the spoiled daughter of a famous record producer. Drew was a brat to work for, but Selena needed the extra money to fund her search. Later, Selena was shocked to discover that Drew was actually her daughter! Selena wanted more than anything to tell Drew the truth, but held back when she realized that Drew didn't know that she had been adopted. Her adoptive parents had both passed away without ever telling her. Painfully, Selena decided to let her daughter hang onto the memories of her beloved family and chose to be a part of her life as a friend. In addition to being Drew's friend, Selena also served as a support system for Buzz after he lost Jenna in a car accident. The two became close friends, with Selena eventually confiding in him about Drew. Buzz promised to keep her secret and watched as his friend loved her child in secret.

Then one day, while helping her go through some memorabilia, Drew's best friend, Michelle Santos, found papers indicating that Drew had been adopted. A distraught Drew refused to believe the evidence, but was forced to concede when her other friend, Jesse Blue, located an old family friend that confirmed the adoption. Still not aware of her identity, Drew sought comfort in Selena. After some time, Drew wanted to thank her for her help so she went to Selena's apartment to look for something that Selena might want as a gift. While looking around, she discovered a box filled with evidence that Selena was her mother! Drew's initial reaction was anger. She felt betrayed by Selena--not able to understand how she could lie to her all of this time. After a while, however, she was able to forgive and accept her mother into her life. Selena was finally living the life she wanted. She had her daughter and was slowly, but surely, beginning to build a romantic relationship with Buzz. Unfortunately, life would not be a happily ever-after.

Soon after, Selena revealed that Drew's father was attorney Ben Warren. Selena remembered Ben as a troubled teenager who was cruelly set up by his friends into visiting the hooker Selena for her services. Selena took pity on the boy and the result was Drew. In the midst of all of this, Pilar Santos was determined to get rid, Ben, her mother's lover, any way that she could and devised a plan that would cause him to fall down a flight of steps at her house. What she didn't anticipate was a visit from Selena. While waiting to see Ben, Selena became impatient and went to look for him. She began to walk down the stairs, hitting the one that Pilar had loosened and fell to the bottom. Selena woke to find herself paralyzed from the waist down.

In the weeks following the accident, Selena leaned on the shoulders of her friends and family. She wanted nothing more than to be able to walk down the aisle at her daughter's wedding to Jesse and was willing to do whatever it took to accomplish that. Selena suffered a minor setback when she received the devastating news that Ben had been murdered, but turned that into even more motivation. She wanted to be strong enough to comfort Drew as she grieved over the loss of the father she had just found. On Christmas Eve, Selena's determination paid off. She celebrated the holiday and her daughter's birthday by walking for the first time since the accident. Not long afterwards, she and Buzz made love and planned a future together.

Months later, Selena's life was in turmoil when she started discussing her past with Blake Marler. While discussing her past, Selena made a startling confession: she was once Miguel Santos's lover and had bore his son! She also revealed that she was responsible for Miguel's death since she was the one who told his wife, Carmen, about the affair. Terrified that the Santos family would seek retribution for Miguel's death, Selena ran away from Springfield.