Disclaimers: I own nothing. Bianca, Maggie, David and whoever bears a name that is from AMC and possibly other shows belong to ABC. I am simply using the characters to create some havoc and fun here in my imagination.

Author's Notes:

1. This story takes place in a somewhat alternate universe. I am rewriting some of the character history to fit the confines of this story as well as to fit the space and time it is set in. I might borrow some aspects from the show here and there but all in all, this is the AMC and BAM that exists in my mind.

2. While I'm trying to follow the canon AMC has written and eventually, also from GH, I've twisted some history and as the story unfolds you will see what I am talking about.

3. We're about 6-7 years into the future. Bianca, Maggie and Miranda are still living in Paris, as a family.

Prologue

Life couldn't be any better; you have almost everything you've ever wanted to achieve. Family, friends and most of all a happiness that fills the voids of your heart you thought could never be filled. Just when you thought life couldn't get any better, when you thought that maybe luck was finally on your side, it all changes, like the flip of a switch.

What happens when you learn that your whole life has been nothing but lies? What do you do then? How do you deal? Do you seek out the truth? Do you turn away those who are close to you because you feel like you've been betrayed?

Do you turn your back on everyone who has ever been connected to you, especially those who are closest to you in your life?

Sometimes, those same connections run even deeper than you think. Blood is thicker than water, question is, how thick? The truth is out there... waiting to be found.

His name is David Hayward. Her name is Maggie Stone.

And somewhere lies...

The Missing Link: A Search For the Truth

-BIANCA-

I like to say and think that I lived a normal life as a child, but the reality is that I really didn't have one. I was constantly being shuttled between spending time with my mother here in Pine Valley and my father and step-family in Seattle. I could have sworn that some summers, I didn't know which way was up or even forgot what coast I was on. Let alone that, the time zones were what drove me crazy. Three hours ahead here, three hours behind there, it definitely was not the best way to grow up. As a child, I yearned for stability; I hated having to go back and forth, and not knowing where I'd be spending my summer vacations, Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. It wasn't easy… but yes, that was my childhood in a nutshell.

The reality of it all was that I spent a good part of my life growing up in Seattle and living with my father. My mother had lost custody of me when I was still young. I never truly understood the real reason of why that had happened but at least I got to see her every once in a while. Sure, they were visits here and there, yet it was good to know I still had a mother. On the flipside though, the one positive in living with my father growing up was that I got to be 'Daddy's Little Girl.'

I remember how he would plan all these father/daughter days with me. We would go to the park on Sunday afternoons and feed the ducks. He taught me how to ride my bike and fly a kite. My father and I went camping every summer, just him and me and I will never forget how we'd just stare at the stars and he'd tell me to make a wish with the hope that one day it would come true. Year after year I made my wish but had yet to see it fulfilled. It never would come true but that's another story in and of itself.

There was double flick Friday nights that we always enjoyed together. What amazed me so much about him was how even after a long day or week at work, my father always managed to find time to spend with me. It didn't matter how tired he was, all that mattered was that we got to have our time together. My father was everything to me, he was my hero.

Yes, I am going to be honest and say that I wish I had spent more time with my mother growing up, but somehow I think my living with my father happened for a reason. To me, I also saw it as a blessing. I cherished every moment with him and never once took it for granted. And it would always be like that even until after he died, when I was just 16. It had felt like my whole world had fallen apart that night. I truly never felt so alone until those moments after it happened. To this day I still miss him and sometimes I feel his presence around me, like he is now my guardian angel.

And so, life had to go on. With that, my mother had suggested that I move back to Pine Valley and live with her. She wanted to give our relationship a chance; she wanted to forge a bond like what I had with my dad when I was a young girl growing up. I know it's wrong to say that it's too little, too late because of everything, so I choose not to say that. Instead, I convinced myself that everything is worth a shot. I mean, I never got the chance to know my mother except for the fact that she is Erica Kane. And well, she never got to know me so it was time that my relationship with my mother grow and nurture.

Life does go on and so I packed my bags and moved back to Pine Valley. Some people say that everything has a reason and I believe that. Change is good. Little did I know how much my life would change when that time finally came and I set foot in Pine Valley again for the first time in years.

-David-

"Make me proud son."

Those were words that my father said to me as I grew up. He wanted me to make him proud, to be the success that he couldn't be. What my father wanted for me was to have a life where I strived for the best and for happiness. Albeit it was ironic though how my life wasn't full of happiness or fun. I may have had a father who loved and adored me but I also had a mother whose love was conditional at times. I guess considering myself one of the lucky ones is an understatement. My parents never divorced and sometimes I tend to think that they stayed together for my sake. Maybe it was a good decision in their eyes but in my own eyes it wasn't. But who was I to say anything? As long as I had my father, Charles Hayward in my life, I would be content.

I grew up wanting to be like him. I looked up to him and one day I even told myself that when I would become a father and have my own children, I wanted to be the same kind of role model he was to me. I promised myself that I'd shower my kids with love and show them that it was never conditional. I would pass onto them what my father taught me. I remember how my friends envied me for the kind of life I had. Well, to be honest, that was the one fact I never understood. What was there to be envious about? I mean, if they only knew that I didn't have the happy life that they thought I had. It was nothing like that, nothing of the sort. Maybe to them it seemed like that but in reality I wished that my father would leave my mother and take me along with him.

Who knows, maybe they envied me because of him. They wanted their dads to be just like mine. The one who went to every game and cheered for you in the stands and always said that no matter if you win or lose, it's how you played the game that counted. They wanted the father who went to every spelling, math and science bee. He was the man who stayed up late at night to help you finish your science project and taught that as long as you try, success is never out of reach.

And I did succeed, but it wasn't without heartache. You see, my father killed himself before I graduated high school. It had been a crazy night and least of all, my mother didn't make it any better. Worse yet, she was the reason he killed himself. I knew he was in pain because of her but I never knew that she could drive him to that brink. To this day, I have never forgiven her for that his suicide. That horror filled night is forever etched in my memory.

I have managed to put that all behind me and move on but there are still days when I still feel all the hurt from that night. Yet, like I said, life went on and I moved on too. I still strived for success and managed to achieve it. I became that doctor that he wanted me to become. I never did give up and today it has led me to become one of the most prominent cardiologists in the country.

Yes, I made it and in the process I gained some newfound family too. Just when I thought that I had no one left in my life since my father had died, I find out that I have a half brother. Leo sort of just fell into my life, a man of strength, courage and love. Leo's got a big heart just like my father. I still find it hard to believe though, that he sprung from my mother's loins. I mean, we don't share the same father but we share the same slimy mother. I guess the whole conditional love gene skipped a generation. I consider Leo to be one of the blessings in my life and I'm still thankful to have him around today.

And then, there was Maggie Stone. My dear, sweet innocent younger cousin Maggie, well at least in my eyes she was innocent. I never knew she existed until just two years ago. Okay, maybe I did know but I simply forgot. But still, had I known she existed, maybe I could have saved her from the troubled childhood she had. I had learned that she grew up having to endure heartache day in and day out, having a mother who too was conditional with love. Her father, well she still has never told me much about him. I don't press her for details though, simply because I know she'll open up to me when she is ready to.

I guess there's a part of me that wishes that I had protected her. But that's all in the past and I can't focus on that. It's time to look forward. Maggie is in my life now and that's how it always will be. To me, Maggie is the other blessing in my life.

Life turned out to be great for me so far. I may have lost my father but I gained a brother and a cousin. Yet, in achieving success and reconstituting what I feel is family again, it still feels like that I have a closer connection out there somewhere. I don't know what it is but occasionally it is a feeling that I get. Perhaps there is still a missing link out there that I don't know about? Could there be something out there in front of my eyes that I'm still not seeing?

-Maggie-

Green Bay… Minneapolis… Kansas City… Chicago… New York City… Pine Valley.

You could say I'm a traveler, but in reality I'm not. Truth is, I've been running from place to place, searching for a new life, a place to call home. Stability. Running is all I've ever known and growing up, it's all I wanted to do. My childhood wasn't exactly the roses, dollhouse and white picket fence kind of deal. It was nowhere near that, not even close. The whole family thing, well that was kind of non-existent. I had a twin sister, Frankie and we were really close growing up. If anything, we protected each other from any danger that came our way as kids. My father, William Stone… he skipped out on us when we were two, leaving my mother to take care of us. I guess he didn't feel like being a father, or maybe he didn't want to deal with my mother. I wish I could choose one of those answers, but I'm going to opt for a mix of both.

My mother spent most of her life with her best friend, liquor. It was all she knew and I swear, some days I wondered if she even remembered Frankie and me, her own daughters. Often times, she did but then again she was also drunk and we'd only be acknowledged when one of us did something to tick her off. It was during those times I feared her the most, not knowing whether or not her drunkenness would lead to verbal or physical abuse. Frankie and I, we had to grow up fast, learning how to live and fend for ourselves because of our lack of guidance.

Lack of love on the other hand, was a whole different story.

I grew up in the worst part of town, commonly coined with the phrase, "the wrong side of the tracks." The house I lived in with my mom and sister, it had peeling paint and during the winter, my sister and I would bundle ourselves under the only blanket we had because of the lack of heat in the house. Our furniture was worn out, the springs sometimes poking me in the rear if I sat down in the wrong place. My clothes, as well as my sister's came from Goodwill because we could never afford anything new. Not once did anything ever fit right, never having the right size shirt or jeans or anything. Our shoes, they had holes in them. I still remember the days Frankie and I walked home from school in the rain, our socks were soaked from all the puddles we encountered. It wasn't the greatest feeling in the world but we learned how to deal with it the best way we could.

I've been poor my entire life and it would haunt me later on as I got older. I guess with the kind of childhood I had, building walls and a tough exterior became my specialty because I was never open with my feelings and always had a yearning to have control of situations. Love was a foreign concept in my house, never once expressed in any way, shape or form. There were those rare moments when I'd see my mom holding Frankie close, actually giving her a smidge of love and care. Then again, it was only when she was sober… moments that were few and far between.

So where did it leave me? It left me with a guarded attitude and no one to turn to. I don't remember how old I was but there finally came a time when I got so fed up with everything that I just packed up and left. And that's when it all began, the running, my search for stability and a place to call home. I wanted to leave it all behind, start anew… hoping that maybe, just maybe I'd find my own way and someone who would love me. And in return would teach me how to love.

I felt bad leaving Frankie behind, but she knew it was something I had to do. We made a pact though, promising to reunite somewhere along the way but sadly, it wasn't meant to be. The last I'd heard from her was shortly after she left our mother. It was the very last time we ever made contact… I was in New York and she somehow made it to some small no-name town called, Pine Valley. And then, she was murdered.

Eventually, I made my way to Pine Valley, where I ended up putting down some roots. I reconnected with some relatives; two cousins I never knew I had (or possibly never remembered) and a crazy aunt. David and Leo, they were brothers and the sons of my crazy Aunt Vanessa. Luckily the craziness skipped a generation rendering the two of them to be remotely close to normal. Then again, I don't know how to define normal these days considering the kind of life I've had.

David and Leo became like brothers to me, always lending some guidance and an ear to listen whenever I needed one. Out of the two of them, I adored Leo the most since I related to him on a closer level than I did with David. David was more of the fatherly type while Leo was the boyish one, always searching out a challenge. At the end of the day, I was always grateful to have them in my life knowing there were at least two family members who knew was it meant to have family.

Pine Valley became home to me after a while as I began to meet new people and discover aspects about myself that I never put much thought to. People have often said that things happen for a reason and maybe I was meant to find my way to Pine Valley. Life did change for me as well as around me as I came to call the town home and I can say part of it was for the better and at times, somewhat confusing. Yet, little by little, I managed to find my way and have my heart lead me to the one person I'd grow to love more than life itself.

Love…

Family…

Stability…

Until one day, my world was shattered…

Change one thing… It changes everything…