Title: Deal with the Devil
Fandom: All My Children
Pairing: Frankie/Bianca
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.
Summary: Based off the last few months of AMC (I didn't watch, but I heard about Leo's return, etc.) Bianca confronts David, and ends up making a deal with the devil.
Note: Let me know what you think! Feedback makes my dreams come true.
Bianca should have never trusted David.
That was blatantly obvious when she hunted him down to find out just what exactly was going on with him, her mother, and every other crazy thing that was going on in Pine Valley. If something bad was happening, it was either because of Dr. Death or JR, and JR was too busy being drunk and trying to ruin his son's life to do anything this despicable. So, Bianca left Miranda and Gabrielle in Marissa's capable hands and searched for the man she once saw as family and trusted with her life and the life of her child.
It still disgusted her how he stole her baby and kept Miranda from her for so long.
"David!" Bianca called out, storming into a small evil lair of a room.
The man in question spun around, surprised to see her, "Bianca? What...what are you doing here?"
Bianca frowned as he blocked the cot he was fiddling over from view, "I am here to find out what it is you have done this time."
David blinked and shook his head, "I haven't done anything."
Bianca scoffed, "You always do something. What are you planning? Haven't you done enough to everyone? Hurt enough people?"
David crossed his arms, "Why are you here, Bianca? If you don't even know, and I'm sure you don't, then I suggest you leave. This could be considered trespassing."
"I know exactly why I'm here!" Bianca stepped further into the room. "You are here planning something terrible, just like always. Well, I'm not going to let you."
His eyebrows rose, irritating Bianca even more, "You're not?"
"No." Bianca glared at him, "I am telling you right now, stop it. Stop whatever you are doing, or Ryan will be here to stop you himself." She snorted, "Your own daughter even knows that you are up to something evil."
David's eyes darkened, "My daughter...who you know so well, right Bianca?"
"I know her very well."
David smirked, "So I've heard. Does she know why you're here?"
Bianca lifted her chin defiantly, "Of course she does. We don't lie to each other, David, unlike you."
David clicked his tongue, "Now Bianca, we've known each other long enough to know why you are really here. Why you came running in here without your precious fellow citizens."
Bianca pursed her lips, "To tell you to stay away from my family. Stay away from Marissa."
David had a devilish glint in his eye, "Is it really to tell me that? To tell me to stay away from Marissa...who, might I add, is my own daughter? Or...is it because you hope you might see someone here."
Bianca shifted uneasily, "Stay away from us, David."
She spun around on her heels, ignoring the flash of emotion his words spurred in her, but she paused as he shouted out, "How long has it been? Ten years? I thought you would have forgotten her by now."
Bianca froze.
David lazily strolled up to her, "It's not like you ever speak about her. I was certain you didn't remember my cousin. No one else seems to."
Bianca bit her lip, her bottom lip beginning to tremble. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, forcing herself to remain calm. He didn't know what he was talking about. He was just rambling about nothing.
"I mean, I knew her less than anyone when she was here. Only stepped in when we had to plan her funeral together. No one else would help you with that, would they? I never even met her. But you...you knew her very well, didn't you Bianca? Loved her even." He hovered behind her like the devil offering the world for her soul, "Well, at least I thought you had. Clearly, I was wrong."
"Stop it." Bianca whispered, her teeth sinking into her quivering lip painfully.
"I guess I can't blame you. It was so long ago. And you were only a teenager. Not like you find true love when you're a teenager, right?"
"Stop." Bianca ground out, her arms unconsciously wrapping around her body protectively.
"It's not like she died because of you."
Bianca whirled around so fast David stumbled back a step in shock, "Shut up!" Her voice shook and she stabbed a finger at him, "Shut up, David! You don't know what you're talking about."
David held up his hands, "Perhaps. But, whether I do or don't...you're with Marissa now, aren't you? You love her. She loves you. Not like it matters if you could see...her...again."
Bianca's hand faltered, "You have her?" David had her? How? How could he have her? She was gone. Dead. For ten years. "You can't. She's...she's buried." Her brown eyes glazed over as she pictured the spot, "Near the tall oak tree. So...so she'd be able to see the changing colors of the leaves in the fall." Bianca had picked out the spot herself. When she saw it, she just knew the older girl would have loved it.
"So, you do remember her."
Bianca reached out and weakly grabbed his shirt, "How?" She had heard in a fervent whisper that David had a secret project...a project where he had the power to bring people back. But...it had to be a lie. Even David wasn't that much of a god, though he liked to believe he was. Right?
David's face softened, "Would you like to see her, Bianca?"
Did she? It had been so long. So much had happened. The tomboy had been out of her thoughts for years. But, sometimes late at night, she would find herself caught up in dreams. Dreams where she was a happy laughing seventeen year old enamored with a charming vagabond.
She didn't even know she nodded until David had her sitting on a chair, a needle in her arm and some chemical shooting into her veins. She didn't know anything until she blinked open her eyes and found herself spread out on the floor.
As her eyes slowly blinked open, Bianca mentally berated herself. Once again she had been fooled into trusting David - the devil. He'd knocked her out with some drug and escaped before she could stop him.
What a fool she had been.
Slowly climbing to her feet, she clenched her jaw. She hated that man. She would never listen to him again. She would go tell Ryan what happened, and then go home to Marissa and the kids. Maybe they could go to Krystal's and have some dinner. Krystal would like to know what her ex had been up to as well.
As she brushed off her clothes and smoothed out the wrinkles, a warmth infused her. It crept up her spine like a comforting hand.
She hadn't felt that in a long time.
Not since...
Breath catching in her chest, Bianca turned around.
Her eyes landed on the white cot that David had been standing over. A cot with a body on it. Bianca's feet began to move, her body taking over as her mind fought to figure out what was going on. What was this? Who was on there?
Her feet slammed to a stop as she saw the face on the slumbering body.
Her hand flew to her mouth, and her eyes watered. No. It wasn't true. It wasn't.
It couldn't be.
Oh god.
"F-Frankie?"
There, on the cot, was a girl she hadn't seen in ten years. Her dark blonde hair was tied in a simple ponytail, her face clear in the light. Eyelashes flickered, and hazel orbs, so full of love, appeared like a miracle. The blonde licked her dry lips and peered up at her, "Bianca'la?"
Bianca choked out a sob, "Oh my god."
Frankie blinked and wiped at her eyes, "Hey. W-What's going on?"
"You're dead." Bianca shook her head. She staggered back a step and her voice cracked, "You're dead."
Frankie frowned, "Don't feel dead." She rubbed at her face, "Did your mom hit me with her hot rod again?"
This wasn't real. It couldn't be. But...she was right there. Frankie was right there. Alive and talking. "Frankie."
"Yeah?" Frankie propped herself up on an elbow, "Why are ya looking at me like I'm crazy or something?" She glanced around, "And why am I...wherever the hell here is? What's going on?"
"You were killed. I saw your body. I buried you."
Frankie's eyebrow ticked up, and Bianca couldn't help bit notice how similar it was to David's, or how it brought back memories of joking conversations and laughter, "Nice to see you dream of good things with me. Here I was hoping for sexy dreams...you dream of me being dead."
"It wasn't a dream." And oh god only Frankie would say something like that to her.
Frankie shrugged, "But, I'm not dead."
She wasn't. Oh god, she wasn't. Bianca stumbled to the side of the bed, crashing to her knees. She cupped that winsome face in her palms, the skin smooth and filled with life, "You're here. You're really here."
"Miss me?"
Bianca kissed her.
She didn't care what this meant. Didn't care that it had been ten years. That she was with someone else. All she cared about was that Frankie was right there. Alive. That with the simplest of touches, her heart was soaring like it only ever did with the grifter. That sparks flew and fireworks exploded and by god this was what love was supposed to feel like. What it only ever felt like with her.
Frankie kissed her back, accepting each hungry desperate touch and offering comfort and love in return. Her hand tangled in Bianca's hair, cupping the back of her head and pulling her closer.
"Frankie." Bianca whimpered, tears trailing down her cheeks.
"Hey, hey." Frankie caught each droplet with her lips, smoothing her mouth over wet flesh, "Why're ya crying? You know I can't stand when you cry."
This only caused Bianca to sob harder, "I love you."
"I know." Frankie peered at her with a crooked self-conscious grin, "I...uh...you know I care about you...I...want to be with you."
Laughter bubbled up and mixed with tears, "I forgot how hard it is for you to tell me how you feel."
Frankie eyed her like she was crazy but shrugged, "Yeah, well, I'm trying. Ain't like I had all that much practice." Her gaze grew tender, "But...you do know, right? How I feel about you? That I...I really really like you, Bianca. I," she inhaled deeply, "love you."
She must be in heaven, because the burst of emotion that struck her would have been impossible to feel anywhere else.
Frankie ducked her head, lowering her eyes as Bianca caressed her face, "You...uh...look different."
"It's been ten years since we saw each other." Bianca breathed out. How could it be that with one look, Frankie could make her feel like she was seventeen again, sneaking over to Opal's to spend time with the girl she adored?
"Ten years?" Frankie's eyes narrowed, "What?"
"You were gone, Frankie. We thought you were dead for ten years." Bianca explained. Her eyes roamed that face. Memorizing. Remembering. She forgot about that little crooked tooth Frankie had. It was so cute when she smiled.
"Ten years? Gone?"
"Yeah, but it doesn't matter. It's over. You're here. I found you."
Frankie carefully pulled back, and Bianca felt a pang in her chest as her hands dropped to the bed. Frankie rolled over and to her feet. She swiftly stood up, ripping the sheet that had been her blanket off. Bianca bolted to her feet and rushed over to her as the blonde wobbled, "Careful!"
"I'm fine." Frankie shot her a smirk, "Don't feel like I've been dead for ten years. See, I can move and everything." Her smirk dropped and she grew serious, "I would never leave you for that long. You know that, right?"
Bianca nodded.
"And, I don't know what's going on or anything." She looked around, "I don't even know where I am. What is this place? Was I some kind of Frankenstein experiment?" Her words were meant in jest, but Bianca could hear the quiver of fear in them.
"You're here with me. That's all that matters." Bianca embraced her, holding her close. She forgot how perfectly Frankie fit against her. "You're here."
Frankie hugged her back, "And you still love hugs."
Bianca bit her lip. She did.
They stood there, basking in the embrace, but after a few minutes, Frankie untangled herself from the hold. She shoved her hands in the pockets of the baggy dark cargo pants she was wearing, her loose dark t-shirt rumpled and worn. She stepped back and hunched her shoulders, "So, if it's been ten years...do anything interesting while I've been gone?"
Bianca watched her, transfixed by her movements. God, she was so Frankie. The hunched shoulders. The clothes. The nervous yet adorable energy.
"Bianca? You still with me?" Frankie tilted her head, "You just got here, don't space out on me now."
"No, I'm here." Bianca shook herself out of her thoughts. "I'm here."
"Cool. So...how've you been?"
The question was so casual yet there was so much behind it. "I missed you."
"Missed you, too." Frankie rolled her eyes at herself, "You always make me sound like such a sap."
"You're not a sap, and it's cute." Bianca automatically replied, the two of them having this exchange more than once when they were together.
"Whatever." Frankie began to pace around, "So, how's Pine Valley? How's your mom? Still proud mama bear?" She rubbed the back of her neck, "You guys aren't still fighting, are ya?"
"No, we're not." Bianca followed her, "We're fine. Everyone is fine."
"Good. You shouldn't fight with your mom. You guys really care about each other, ya know." Frankie rested her hand on the back of her neck. "If I've been gone for ten years...um...did anyone...I have a...I know I never told you, I was gonna but...my family..."
"Your twin Maggie." Bianca interrupted her rambling.
Frankie gulped, "You know about her?"
"Yeah...we met." Bianca nearly rolled her eyes at herself.
Frankie took this in, "Oh."
"She came here after hearing about your...death."
"She did? Why?"
"Because she loves you."
Frankie smiled in disbelief, "Maggie? Nah, she...we're not like that."
Bianca stepped up to her and touched her arm, "You two might not have been close, but she loves you, Frankie."
Frankie shrugged uncomfortably, "Whatever. She's not...here...is she?"
Truthfully, Bianca wasn't quite sure where she was. Last she heard, she was moving to London with her new girlfriend. "No, she's not."
"Ok."
"If you want to talk with her, I can find out."
"No," Frankie shook her head "that's ok. It's...not now. Maybe later, but..."
"You're not ready."
Frankie shrugged.
Bianca traced her hand down Frankie's arm and linked their hands together, "That's ok. I'll be here when you are, and I'll help you." She rubbed the pad of her thumb soothingly against the back of Frankie's hand, "I'll always be here for you."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," Bianca smiled at her, "because I love you."
Frankie tugged her close so their bodies were pressed together, "I love you, too."
Their lips met.
Bianca groggily blinked her eyes open, her head pounding and her throat parched. She was spread out on the floor of the tiny room David had set up into a make-shift hospital ward. Licking her dry lips, she pressed a hand to her head and slowly climbed to her feet. What happened?
Frankie.
Frankie was alive and there.
Her eyes widened and she whirled around.
The cot was empty, the imprint of a long gone body still indented in the pillow and mattress.
Her heart sank.
She hated David.