Installment Four:

A Stranger Comes Home

Part 4

Maggie felt it bubble from deep within her and couldn't stop it as it left her, full, loud, rich and right. The laughter did bring with it tears but this time Maggie didn't mind them so much.

"Maggie…!" Echoed through the open area.

Maggie snapped her head towards the call, "Bianca…"

Bianca rounded another corner in her attempt to find her missing friend. The rain had finally stopped and with a quick swipe of her hand Bianca pushed away her wayward locks.

"Maggie…!" Bianca called out as she leaned heavily against the side of a crypt for a moment. She just needed a moment to collect herself.

Bianca panted, out of breath, and freezing. Her clothes thoroughly soaked through.

"Maggie…" Bianca whispered as she bent over in an attempt to catch her breath.

Looking around the area, Bianca was happy to see the fog had been washed away by the storm and she could see further in front of her then before.

After taking a few moments Bianca pulled herself up to her full height and looked at Frankie's gravestone. Bianca sighed and looked up towards the clearing sky. "I could use a little help…"

"Bianca…?"

Bianca looked to her right and just above the hedge line she saw matted down brown locks.

"Thanks…" Bianca whispered as she moved to cut across the alcove towards where she saw who she hoped was Maggie.

"You know…" Bianca started as she rounded the last corner and walked into the small clearing where Maggie was, apparently trying to see over the hedges in search of her. "…you are one hard person to find."

Maggie stopped her 360 spins and turned to see Bianca standing before her at the entrance to the cubed off section. Maggie took a moment to look Bianca over. The younger woman was soaked down to the bone and her teeth were chattering even as she smiled. The smile and shine in her eyes showing her deep seated relief.

"I didn't know I was being looked for." Maggie smiled softly, hoping the reprieve from Bianca's attitude from earlier would last.

Bianca frowned as she watched Maggie shift from one foot to the other, nervous, her voice timid as if afraid to say something to provoke a sleeping lion. Perhaps, Bianca could concede, she had been the lioness that Maggie had been poking for the last several times. Lionesses were fierce when it came to their cubs and Bianca wasn't afraid to admit she had feared what Maggie would want her to do with her pregnancy.

It was why she had pushed Maggie away until today. Bianca had needed to make the decision about her pregnancy by herself. She couldn't weigh in the factors about Maggie and what Maggie may or may not want. Not now that Maggie had an even greater personal interest in her decision.

"I'm so..sorry about before. About the last fe..few days…" Bianca apologized as she rubbed at her arms trying to garner some heat from the friction. It did little as the long sleeves of her sweater were drenched.

Maggie listened to Bianca's chattering teeth and wished she could offer the younger girl something to keep her warm.

"Bianca…yo..you…" Maggie finally felt the chill that had consumed Bianca make its way to her.

"Co..cold?" Bianca asked laughing softly.

"Y..yea…" Maggie nodded her head as she rubbed at her muddy arms and moved over to Bianca.

Bianca looked at the headstone Maggie stepped away from and turned back to Maggie. The gravestone before the both of them held marks Bianca hadn't seen upon its surface the last time she was here. Bianca looked closely at Maggie and then around them. There was a broken tree limb that rested in pieces before the gravestone, and the indentation of Maggie's body in the saturated dirt before the grave as well as Maggie's bloody hands between her thumb and forefinger. There was a shattered branch surrounding the back of the headstone as well. Bianca looked back up at Maggie and knew there was little room for interpretation.

Both water and mud are dripping from Maggie, Bianca notices. Her white t-shirt was thankfully covered in mud leaving enough room for Bianca's imagination to not travel as far as it could. Though the idea of Maggie mug wrestling just happened to enter her mind without her consent.

"So…did you win?" Bianca asks as Maggie stands in front of her with the cutest puzzled expression upon her face.

"Huh?" Maggie asks as she looks at Bianca and then towards the gravestone Bianca indicated with a simple head gesture.

Maggie chuckles nervously as she looks at Michael's headstone. Did she win?

Maggie looks to Bianca and back at the scarred headstone. A moment ago, Maggie was sure she did win, but with her self-realization and understanding Maggie also understood that she didn't have Bianca's heart. Not the way she wanted, anyway.

"I think I did." Maggie finally admits nodding her head slowly as she turns back to look at Bianca. "I think I did…."

Bianca smiled and went to take Maggie's hand.

"What the hell are you two doing!"

Maggie and Bianca turn to see Kendall standing before them, harried and furious.

"Are the both of you crazy! I mean…you…" Kendall took a good look at Maggie and her eyebrows rose with her confusion. "…what did you do? Get into a mud wrestling contest with the dead?"

Maggie chuckles and shook her head, somehow Kendall was right and wrong and the absurdity of it made Maggie break out into laughter. "Yeah…you could say that."

Kendall watching Maggie smile and laugh over her act of insanity just shook her head and stepped up to Bianca. "Here…" Kendall wrapped a blanket around Bianca's shoulders and rubbed at her younger sister's arms seeing her chattering teeth. "We should get you back to the penthouse."

"Yeah…" Maggie snapped back to the present and looked at Bianca's blue lips, sure her own were the same shade. "I'll um…let Kendall take you home. You should rest and I'll…I'll call you later." Maggie nodded her head to herself coming to a decision regarding the young woman before her.

"But…Maggie…" Bianca tried as Maggie walked by her and Kendall.

"I have to get cleaned up anyway…I mean…" Maggie gestured down to herself. "Can't exactly go out and party the way I look right now…" Maggie chuckled at herself and pulled her arms tighter around herself as she dared to meet Bianca's eyes. "Just, you know, promise to take my call…?"

"Of course…" Bianca promised as Maggie gave her another small (tentative) smile, looked down, and walked away from her again.

Bianca sighed. Apparently it wasn't going to be as easy as she had hoped to earn Maggie's trust.

"You ready…?" Kendall asked as she looked away from the direction Maggie had just walked in to examine Bianca.

"Yes…" Bianca let Kendall lead her from the cemetery for the second time, this time assured that Maggie was not in harm's way and Maggie was going to call her. Maggie wasn't lost to her…not completely.

For now…Bianca sighed.

For now that was all Bianca could be grateful for.

-Valley Inn-

Maggie stepped out of her car and smiled as Matthew, a young man about her age who'd been taking care of her car since Sunday, came up to her.

"Woo…what happened to you?" Matthew asked amused and concerned.

Maggie laughed as she looked down at herself. "Got into a fight with a dead man."

"Oh…" Matthew nodded his head like this wasn't the first time a woman covered in mud had told him she had just fought a dead person.

Maggie touched Matthew's forearm gently as she stepped up to him. "Calm down, I got caught in the storm. Fell into the mud."

Matthew visibly relaxed and Maggie walked passed him into the service entrance. The only entrance to the hotel that wasn't swarmed by photographers and reporters looking for any dirt on her they could find. Today, with her person visibly covered in dirt, Maggie was grateful that Stacy had already cleared it with the Valley Inn staff, that she enter and exit the hotel through this corridor.

"Hey, Matt…" Maggie turned as she continued to walk backwards towards the doors.

"Yea…?" Matthew turned and caught a pair of flying keys and laughed.

"Take care of my baby, will ya? No scratches…?"

"Sure, but your 'baby' could do with a new paint job…" Matthew called out to Maggie's departing figure.

Maggie chuckled as she made her way up the stairs. Why not? She could afford to give her car a nice paint job. But first…a long hot shower and then a phone call.

Maggie smiled, Bianca promised to pick up the phone. All wasn't lost.

Maggie made her way up to her room. The elevator out of the question and with the energy bubbling in her, Maggie didn't mind the five flights of stairs today.

With a skip in her step Maggie turned the corner towards her room and froze lined up all along the floor stood reporters waiting by the elevators. Looking both ways and noticing none of them by the door to her room, Maggie quickly took out her key and unlocked her door. The sound of her door unlocking must have caught the attention of the vultures because just as she opened the door flashes and cries for her to stop echoed down the hallway.

"Shit…" Maggie hurriedly closed the door and locked it. Maggie took a deep breath and pulled out her father's cellphone. "Stacy…its Maggie. Someone leaked my room. The press is camped outside my door."

"I'll call security for you."

"No, it's alright. I can do that I just wanted to…"

"Maggie, please. This is what you pay me to do. Let me handle it, okay?"

Maggie moved into the bathroom and sat down on the edge of the sink.

"Okay. I just, I'm not helpless…" She insisted, because she wasn't. At least not when it concerned herself and matters of her personal security. Sadly, with everything that had been happening the last two weeks, Maggie knew just how helpless she could be and she hated it.

Stacy's laughter rang through the phone, "Trust me, I know you're not."

"That better not be sarcasm…" Both women smirked.

"Sarcasm…me? Never…"

Maggie calmed down as she leaned her head back against the mirror behind her. "I'm off to take a shower."

"Get caught in the storm?" Stacy asked curious, wondering what she would have to deal with if the press got any shots of her employer while soaking wet.

"Yep…"

"Well then, get yourself dried off and I'll take care of the wolves."

"Thanks."

"Not a problem. I'll talk to you tomorrow and definitely see you on Thursday."

Maggie cringed at the reminder, Thursday the day she'd have to deal with Erica Kane, the Fusion Four, and Adam Chandler, all at the same time. "Yipee…"

"Goodbye, Ms. Bennett."

Maggie waited for the line to die off before she hung up as well. Turning to look at herself over her shoulder in the mirror she sat before and Maggie frowned.

"You certainly don't look like a billionaire…the last of your family…"

Taking a deep breath Maggie jumped off the edge of the sink and turned on the shower. Maggie jumped into the stall with her clothes still on. All the ideas she had allowed herself to think about, with her and Bianca raising Bianca's child together, disappeared instantly as the levity of Bianca's decision finally sank in again.

The last of her family…

The last Cambias.

The heiress leaned her head against the tile of the wall and allowed the sound of running water to drown out her sobs. It was better to let it all out now because this was the last moment she would allow herself to grieve.

Maggie had always understood it was Bianca's decision, and she was going to support Bianca no matter what, that was how it was going to be.

So, pulling herself together Maggie pulled off her clothing and allowed the steaming water to wash off the grime of the day.

-Kane Penthouse-

The chill that had encased Bianca had slowly dissipated as she sat in Kendall's car, the heat turned on full and directly solely on her. Kendall had even offered a hand to hold as they drove home. Bianca looked at her older sister and down at their joined hands before she looked at her own hand that rested protectively on her stomach. Bianca wondered, now, in the silence as she and Kendall drove back to her home, had she made the right decision? Keeping this child?

With the panic of losing Maggie, of Maggie running away and then of Maggie being hurt as she stood caught in the storm, Bianca hadn't had much time to consider the decision she had made. The consequences of her decision began to sink in as she looked at her sister and realized the pain Kendall felt for the way she was conceived.

Bianca opened the penthouse door and let Kendall in as Erica rushed out from a hallway towards the two women.

"Thank god…" Erica whispered to herself as she rushed over to Bianca and wrapped her arms around her daughter for only a moment. With a shriek she pulled away from her drenched child.

"What in the world…?"

"I got caught in the storm…" Bianca supplied as she kept the blanket that Kendall had given her wrapped tightly around her shoulders.

"Here, let me take that from you." Erica ushered Bianca into the penthouse without acknowledging Kendall's presence. "I'll go put together a warm bath for you." With this Erica rushed off leaving the two sisters alone.

Bianca looked over at Kendall and noticed how uptight her older sister had become as Erica continued to ignore her. "I'll just go…" Kendall moved to the door and gave Bianca a soft smile. "Call me later?"

"I will…Kendall…" Bianca called and Kendall stopped at the door, only turning to look at her over her shoulder. "Thank you."

Kendall's smile brightened just a little and she nodded her head. "Anytime…"

The door closed behind Kendall and Bianca turned to watch as her mother rushed back into the room after presumably making Bianca a bath. "Oh…I see she's gone."

Bianca sighed as she looked at Erica and back at the closed door. "You know, it's not fair."

"What isn't fair, dear?" Erica asked as she pulled Bianca towards Bianca's bedroom and the full en-suite connected to it.

Bianca pulled her arm from Erica's grasp and looked pointedly at her mother. "The way you treat Kendall isn't fair!"

"Bianca, this isn't the time to…"

"When will be the time, mother? When will it be the right time to talk about how horridly you're treating her?"

Erica sighed and shook her head sadly at Bianca, as if there was something Bianca was missing and was wrong to question her about the way she was treating her own daughter. "How can you just ignore what she's done?"

Bianca sighed and ran her hand through her wet hair. What Kendall has done…marrying Michael. Or possibly marrying Michael. "We don't even know if it's true…"

"And if it isn't true? What about how she's used it to take advantage of us…"

"Us?" Bianca asked confused. "What are you talking about mother?"

"Kendall has used this…this situation to her advantage. She has used it to wheedle herself into your life, into your heart. It's wrong!"

"Mom…" Bianca shook her head, it was almost useless. "Kendall has only tried to help."

"No, she's…it's just…you don't understand." Erica shook her head and looked down for a moment. No one Erica knew could understand her pain.

"I don't understand what…? What don't I understand, mom?" Bianca pleaded gently as she touched Erica's shoulder.

"I trusted her, once. I've given her chances. She's…she's taken advantage of them all, proved herself to be just as ruthless as…"

"As who? As her father?" Bianca pushed. "Is that why you won't let her in again? Because you can't stop comparing her to him? Mom, that's not fair. It's not fair to judge Kendall for what he did." And it's not fair to make Maggie think you're judging her for Michael's actions either.

"Bianca…" Erica looked up ashamed at the tears that fell. "…honey…you just don't understand."

Bianca shook her head and closed her eyes tightly for a moment. Yes, she did understand. She did know what it was like to blame the child for their father's actions and she had almost let herself condemn her child for them.

Erica was right. Bianca couldn't understand what Erica was feeling because she loved the child growing inside of her, no matter the way he or she was conceived.

"Yes, mom, I do." Bianca whispered.

Erica looked up, eyes wide and horror written clearly across her face. "Bianca…are you trying to tell me…to tell me that you're…you're…" Erica could hardly think the word without feeling sick.

"Pregnant…?" Bianca offered and watched as Erica paled and leaned away from her for just a moment before she stepped forward.

"It's okay…" Erica assured as she held onto Bianca's hands tightly. "We can fix this. There are ways now that weren't available to me. I can make an appointment…" Erica stopped her rambling for a moment to compose herself and try a different tactic as Bianca's current horrified expression told her she was going about this the wrong way. "I just want to save you the pain, Bianca."

Bianca closed her eyes and bit the inside of her lip to keep from sobbing. Erica would never understand. Erica could never be told.

"I…I had an appointment." Bianca offered as she opened her eyes and met her mother's eyes.

Erica's eyes widened as she hurriedly pulled Bianca into her arms and held her tightly. So that was where Bianca had snuck off to. Erica felt her heart constrict, Bianca had gone by herself.

"Oh my darling, you should have told me…I would have gone with you…you…you made the right decision, Bianca." Erica whispered into her daughter's ear as she ran her hands through Bianca's hair soothingly.

Bianca let her head rest on Erica's shoulder as she cried. Yes, she had made the right decision, for herself and no one else. Now, she wondered how she would go about protecting the child growing inside of her from the world and its cruelty without the support of her mother.

End Part Four