"This is not a good time," Dimitri said sharply.

"Why not? Erica's not here," Anton said.

"Erica went to get a bottle for Sasha. She'll be right back," Dimitri said. "And that's not the point."

"She's my SISTER," Kendall said, her voice taking on an imploring quality that Dimitri had heard far too many times already since Kendall came to town.

"Kendall, Erica just gave birth. She's…" Dimitri paused. He wasn't sure he could or even should convey to Kendall that Erica was on a hormonal roller coaster at the moment.

"This is not appropriate," He finished. He was trying to stay calm on the outside, but inside, he was both irritated and frustrated. Sasha didn't sleep much the night before, and they'd spent the night trading off bottle feedings and walking back and forth across the bedroom holding the baby. They were both operating on only a few hours of sleep spread out over the past few days. Add to that Erica's postpartum hormones and her anxiety over being a mother again, and he was already feeling stressed. Putting Kendall in the mix…

Dimitri glared at Kendall, wishing he could kick her out of Wildwind altogether. Had it not been for Anton, he'd have thrown Kendall out months ago. Why couldn't she wait before showing up here and demanding to see Sasha? Why couldn't she give them some peace?

"I'm not here to kidnap her or hurt her, Dimitri! I just want to meet her. I want to see her little face. I won't even ask to hold her. She's my sister as much as Bianca is," Kendall said as she moved closer to Anton and the baby.

"Come on Dimitri, what's the harm?" Anton asked.

"Dimitri, I went ahead and made a few extra…"

Dimitri groaned inwardly when he heard his wife's voice. Erica stopped short at the sight of Kendall standing in the living room beside Anton and Sasha.

Erica clutched the baby's bottle tightly as she rushed to Dimitri's side.

"Get out!" She gasped at Kendall.

"I have a right to be here!" Kendall insisted.

"You have NO right! Get away from my daughter!" Erica demanded.

Dimitri quickly took Sasha back from Anton and stood with the baby to calm her.

"I'm your daughter too!" Kendall retorted. "I know you don't like to admit it. I know you'd rather pretend I don't exist. I'm nothing to you – you'd pay more attention to something stuck to the bottom of your shoe – but that baby IS my sister. Nothing you can ever do or say changes that, and I have a right to know her."

Dimitri could see by the way Erica's body tensed, by the way she gripped the baby's bottle in her hands and by the way her hands trembled ever so slightly that Erica was doing her best to rein in her emotions and maintain control. He feared she was fighting a losing battle.

"A right? You have NO right!" Erica exploded. "Bianca was your sister too, but that didn't stop you from leaving her alone with the monster who RAPED me, with the disgusting piece of filth who would have done the same to her!"

"I didn't leave her alone! She showed up there entirely on her own, looking for me!" Kendall blew back defensively.

"And why was he here in Pine Valley? Because YOU found him. YOU brought him back here. YOU made it possible for him to go after my little girl! All because YOU refused to believe me when I told you what a sick bastard he was! YOU couldn't accept the truth!" Erica's voice rose with every word, and Sasha, apparently picking up on the tension in the room or perhaps realizing that her bottle was close by but still out of reach, started crying.

"I got Bianca away from him! She is my sister, and I would never want anyone to hurt her!" Kendall said in defense. "Would YOU want to accept that you're the result of something that horrific?"

Erica threw up her hands in exasperation at that, dropping the bottle in the process. "I TOLD YOU, Kendall! I told you what happened. I didn't want to tell you because I knew it would hurt you, but you demanded to know the truth! And regardless of whatever fairy tale he spun for you about that night, I was FOURTEEN! He was a grown man, and it was my 14th birthday. Even if I'd consented – and believe me, I fought with everything I had in me – it still would have been rape because I was a CHILD!"

"Look, Kendall made mistakes. She made some really, really big ones," Anton conceded. "But you're family. You and Sasha and Bianca – you're the only family Kendall has."

"No," Erica said stubbornly with a shake of her head. "Kendall's PARENTS are Alice and Bill Hart. They raised her. Kendall is related to me by crime, and that's it."

Dimitri had seen Kendall react to reminders of her conception before, and as much as he often despised the young woman before him, he knew that Erica's choice of words cut her deeply. He and Erica had both bent over backwards to open their lives to Kendall when they discovered who she really was, and they'd made every attempt to make her a part of their family, but Dimitri knew Erica was incapable of giving Kendall what she really wanted: a mother's unconditional love, the same love she gave freely to Bianca and now to Sasha as well.

Tears welled in Kendall's eyes at Erica's statement.

"I know you hate me," She said quietly to her mother, "But this is my sister. You can't deny me a relationship with my sisters."

"I can and I will," Erica said in a deadly serious voice, one that left no room for objection. "Stay away from my baby."

"Anton, Kendall, this is not a good time. Please, go," Dimitri said, gesturing toward the doorway.

Erica reached for her newborn daughter then and cradled the baby protectively against her. She turned her back on Kendall as she attempted to calm an increasingly frantic Sasha.

"Shhh… Mommy's right here. It's okay sweetheart."

"This isn't over, Erica," Kendall said sharply.

"Yes, it is. Go!" Dimitri snapped. Anton shrugged apologetically at Dimitri as he took Kendall by the arm and led her from the room. Erica never turned around to acknowledge them before they left.