Gabby was developing a bit of a cough but Bianca hoped the fresh air and change of scenery at the house would make things better. The meeting with Maggie had gone just horribly. Reese was sure Maggie had something up her sleeve that she wasn't letting on to. Despite all of Bianca's efforts to convince her it didn't matter, Reese just wouldn't let it go. It'd been three whole weeks since things finally got out in the y open; they'd been in the house for all of a week; things were supposed to be getting better. They couldn't let a single day pass without some sort of meaningless argument, today was no different.

"Even if I wanted to, I already signed a contract to do the job. I can't just back out now." Reese fumed. She, along with Bianca and the kids, was trying to put up the Christmas decorations and show a little holiday spirit. It wasn't helping; Miranda could tell something was wrong; she tried to distract Gabby by making silly faces.

"So I tell you that the woman responsible for driving us apart all this time is going to be working right next to you, and you don't even bat an eyelash. Nice to see you, ya know practicing what you preach." Bianca snapped passively.

Reese was busy trying to untangle some beads, but she wasn't having the best luck with it. She just kept pulling at them in frustration and probably making it worse, but it was too difficult to focus or get anything right with Bianca throwing out accusations right and left at her.

"You know what, you're right. I don't care how I got the job. All that matters is that I got the job. I'm not skipping out. It'll be a cold day in hell before I let Maggie Stone get to me, cause that's exactly what she wants."

Bianca tried really hard to understand what Reese was saying to her, but it didn't make much sense. Why did she care so much about the job? Wasn't she the same person that almost left Bianca because she wasn't putting their family first? This was not like Reese at all.

"So, this job is more important to you than protecting our daughter!" Bianca accused. Reese was astonished. If it hadn't been for the kids, she would have walked off and left Bianca to think about what she just said.

"Bianca, this job IS how I'm protecting our daughter." Reese tried to explain.

"Maggie, she thinks that now I'm just going to take you and the girls and go crawl in a hole some place. Then she can keep doing whatever she wants, she can keep tormenting us and there won't be anyone to stop her." Reese paused to make sure she was getting through to Bianca.

"I don't care how I got the job or why I got the job. Thank goodness though, because now, I'll be damned if I ever let that woman out of my sight."

This seemed to shut Bianca up. She hadn't even thought of using the hospital situation to their advantage. All this time she spent arguing with Reese and trying to convince her to quit the job, Reese was trying to protect them. She felt like a complete idiot, but she wasn't willing to admit she was wrong. They continued decorating the house in silence and pretending like everything was ok, but they'd already said enough. It took Miranda to draw them out of their calm haze, the little girl just wanted her parents to be happy again.

"Mommy, can I put the angel on the tree this time?" she asked innocently.

Miranda was holding the Christmas angel her great-uncle Jack had given her a few Christmases ago. Bianca could hardly believe Miranda was such a big girl now. Part of her wanted her daughter to stay young forever, she wasn't exactly prepared for Miranda as a teenager, especially if Reese was right about her being Erica 2.0. Reese picked the little girl up while Bianca helped her secure the angel to the top of the tree. After setting Miranda down and diming the lights they all stepped back to view the tree they'd just decorated. Gabby giggled at the sight of all the sparkling ornaments and lights, which made everyone else giggle as well.

"Can we open the apple cider now?" Miranda begged. She just didn't want to leave her parents any time to start arguing again.

###

Maggie rushed out of the OR completely exhilarated. She'd been treating a little girl, named Stephanie, with stomach cancer for the past year. Her previous doctor advised that she be put on medical leave and taken home to die, but thanks to Maggie Stephanie was making a complete turnaround. She was on her way to her office to make a few phone calls when she spotted Reese headed in her direction.

"About before…" Maggie started, but Reese waved her off. She greeted Maggie with an apologetic smile.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry about before, I overreacted." Reese explained.

Maggie wasn't sure what to think about this. She didn't trust Reese for a second, but she needed to control her reaction.

"Are you kidding, I should be apologizing to you. I should have told you about me and Bianca, but you were so nervous about the meeting, I didn't want it to effect you."

Reese couldn't believe her ears. Maggie actually managed to spin their entire conversation in a way that made her look like a considerate and thoughtful person instead of the lying manipulative schemer she really was.

"I've been meaning to ask you" Maggie continued. "Did you get a chance to uh see that specialist at St. Christopher's?" she finished in an attempt to change the subject. They actually had, but Reese wasn't going to let Maggie know about it.

"Uh, you know what, I'd love to talk to you about it over lunch" Reese offered.

It was like playing tug-a-war, there was so much unspoken tension in the verbal exchange between these two women. Still, neither of them was willing to relent.

"Uh, I've got a few phone calls to make. But, after that I'd love to meet you for lunch." Maggie stated.

Once in her office Maggie pulled out her business phone and looked up the number to Dr. Lauren at St. Christopher's Mercy.

"Hello Jean?"

"Yes, Maggie is that you?" Dr. Lauren answered back in his thick provincial accent.

"Jean listen, sorry about calling you so late on this, but I wanted to let you know I referred a friend of mine to you." Maggie explained.

"it was not a problem, I assume you mean the couple with the little girl. She'd been seeing Dr. Charles over here, no?" Jean was curious as to how the couple had heard of him.

"yes, so you got a chance to look at her then?" Maggie inquired.

There was silence on the other end of the line. Maggie wondered if Jean had stepped away, or if the connection was lost.

"I did Maggie. I took a few tests as well, but it doesn't look good." He finally spoke up.

"Well were you able to extract a tissue sample?" Maggie couldn't help her professional curiosity.

"I'm sorry Maggie I've already said too much, I don't want to say for sure until I get the test results. But it looks like…"

"It looks like what?" Maggie pleaded.

"Just make sure your friend stays in touch" Jean finished before making his excuses and hanging up.

Maggie didn't need Jean to tell her what was going on, she knew it the minute she looked at Gabrielle,; she was just hoping to be wrong. She slammed the phone down and slouched in her chair resting her head on her desk. In her line of work you had to take any small victory you could because there were too many losses to count, and way too many sad stories every day. Picking up the phone she made one last phone call.