Okay rather long chapter this time. Hope you enjoy. Be warned this story is going to hold far more angst then there should be by the final 20 chapters. (which is a while away) Still...hope you enjoy.
Part 25
Bianca looked at the kids and saw their scared and worried faces. "Mom, will be okay." She said trying to catch her breath. She walked over to Emily and Melissa and knelt down in front of Melissa who was sitting on the couch, still crying. "It's okay, baby." She said as she tried to calm her youngest child down.
Melissa looked up from where she had hid her face in the couch pillow, her eyes and face red and her nose running. She hiccupped as her chin quivered and she opened her arms for Bianca to pick her up.
Bianca pulled Melissa into her arms and stood up and looked at everyone else. She knew she had to tell the kids what happened to Maggie. She just wanted to wait for Miranda and everyone else to get there. She turned her head and kissed Melissa's head. "Mommy, will be okay." She said rocking Melissa in her arms.
"Bad man hurt her." Melissa cried into Bianca's shoulder and wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and little tighter not wanting to let go.
"I know, sweetie." Bianca said and saw Miranda and Kate run into the house from the sliding glass doors.
"What happened?" Miranda asked, her eyes red from crying for two different reasons, Kate was right beside her leaning forward, her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. The cops had made them park four blocks away and to keep up with Miranda she had to run as faster then she even knew was possible. JR was right behind them, and so was Anna but Anna was the only one not out of breath, but a little disheveled.
"Grandma..." Melissa cried and looked over to her grandma Anna and opened her arms her Anna to take her.
Anna walked over to the little girl and looked into Bianca's eyes and got the permission she was looking for, before she lifted the little girl into her arms and rubbed her back. She walked away with Melissa to the other corner of the room humming to the little girl as she bounced her, immediately calming her and slowly putting her to sleep. It was just a power that only Anna, Maggie and Greenlee seemed to posses for Melissa and it was one that was coming in handy at the moment.
"Okay..." Bianca said but not to anyone in particular. "Everyone please sit down."
Miranda looked around before grabbing hold of Kate's hand and pulling her into the kitchen and thankfully JR followed them. They each grabbed a chair and came back into the living room. JR sat down in the chair he brought and Kendall sat in the chair Kate brought in and the extra seat was for Bianca. Miranda and Kate walked over to the armchair in the living room across from the couch, where Emily, Chris and Spike were already sitting. Adam and Frankie each sat on one of the arms of the couch each turned looking at Bianca to start.
They were all waiting anxiously to hear what happened. Well most of them were, the only three that knew what happened were Kendall, Bianca and Anna had gotten the information from Derrick before coming into the house.
Miranda took hold of Kate's hand and covered it with both of her own...her nerves completely shot from the day she was having and just needing the comfort Kate's presence and touch brought.
"Okay..." Bianca started. "First I want to say this...mom is going to be okay..." She said as she looked at her children. "...and there's no easy way to say this so I'm just going to say it." She said pausing for a moment. "Mom was mugged tonight when she got home."
"She was mugged?" Spike asked looking at his aunt and then his mother and saw the confirmation in her eyes. "That's like the first fucken time a muggings happened here in two years and it happens to her! That's bullshit!" Spike said very calmly, scaring a few of the people in the room, if only because of the look on is face and the anger in his eyes.
If they were scared of Spike's look Christian's ran miles around his and then some. JR's came just as close but no cigar...Christian's beat his by a mile.
"Who...why would...I mean...she was five feet from the door...wasn't she! How can something like that happen!?" Emily asked trying to comprehend why all this stuff happened to their family. Not that she'd wish this on any other family its just she wished there could be a reprieve at some point in her life time.
"Why'd she go to the hospital? Why'd she have to go by ambulance?" Frankie asked his eyes and face blank of any emotion. He was just so confused and lost at the moment.
"From what your aunt Kendall and Derrick told me, the mugger hurt mom badly and she was having trouble breathing. I don't know the extent of her injuries because we haven't heard yet from Greenlee or the hospital." Bianca said as she looked to Kendall and over at Anna for help.
Anna looked at Adam and nodded her head toward herself and the young man stood up and came over to her and took Melissa right out of her arms, he knew what the 'head nudge' meant when a parent was holding a slumbering child. Anna smiled and ran her hand through Adam's hair and walked over to Bianca.
"Word came in...to Derrick moments after you and Kendall came inside. Maggie's in surgery." Anna said and watched the reaction of the kids and knew that she just had to continue and be blunt with the kids because it was what they needed right now. She knew that from experience. "It seems the mugger broke two of her ribs and one of them punctured her lung, and her trachea was bruised when...during the mugging." Anna said and looked down, ran her hand through her hair. Nothing could ever be simple in this town, and this family could never catch a break. "That's all we know for right now."
"You saying she's in surgery..." Miranda said nodding her head, and then covered her mouth with one hand. "...that was blood they were sampling outside." Miranda gasped and then heaved and ran toward the bathroom.
What Anna just told everyone, was news to Bianca and she was just as shocked and everyone else to hear how badly Maggie was hurt and was in surgery. She looked at Anna with a worried look as Kendall stood up to go check on Miranda but Kate said she would go check on her.
"I got this one." Kate said as she held up her hand to Kendall and then walked toward the bathroom.
Kendall nodded her head and sat back down in her chair, putting her head in her hands. Kendall shook her head and her shoulders started to shake. JR saw this and moved over to his friend and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"Kendall...its okay." JR said trying to comfort the woman only to find she was laughing.
Kendall was laughing! Frankie watched as his aunt just laughed...she was just laughing. She was laughing so hard tears were falling from her eyes. Frankie stood up and just looked at his aunt, how could she be laughing? How could she be laughing at this!?
How could anyone laugh at what had just happened, what had happened today and in the past few years? Why did anyone get to laugh about it least of all his aunt? Why couldn't he be the one laughing? Not that he wanted to because it was a mocary to everything they had gone through. All the pain...it was making fun of the real and immense pain they all felt.
"How could you be laughing!" Frankie asked two silent tears falling down his cheeks. "How can you laugh at this? At something like this... it wasn't two hours ago that you were on the porch with momma laughing and having a beer and talking about the old days! Now she's in the hospital on the operating table! HOW COULD YOU BE LAUGHING!?" Frankie yelled and then ran up the stairs slamming his bedroom door closed and locking it.
Kendall slowly started to stop laughing but her tears still continued and this time when she leaned her head forward and her shoulder started to shake it was because of her crying, not her laughter.
"Frankie..." Bianca called out to her son as she stood up to go after him.
"Don't bother." Christian said as he stood up and looked at the stairs and moved toward the door that looked to hold a closet but actually was the elevator that his mothers had put in for him to use while in the wheel chair.
He knew he could go up and down stairs but right now...he was too tired to even try. The hum of the elevator moving up was the only noise in the room, once it stopped and the clang of metal crutches no longer echoed in the room Emily stood up to speak.
"Its just not fair." Emily said in a hushed whisper. "She passed us in the car and asked if we wanted to maybe go get some ice cream." Emily said looking down as the tears fell. "Maybe if we had said yes this wouldn't have happened."
Adam moved over to his friend and wrapped his arms around her shoulders and sat down with her on the couch and let her cry into his shoulder. He hated how this was all turning out...everything was supposed to be getting better for his cousins...his friends, his family. Guess it never could go right for them.
Bianca hated the fact that she couldn't make her children feel better at that moment. She saw Anna in the kitchen getting her a drink so she walked in to talk to her. "Anna..." She said quietly as she walked over to her. "Did you hear anything else?"
"There's nothing else to tell." Anna said as she turned to look at Bianca, knowing that JR had followed the young woman in with her. She had heard two pairs of footsteps following her not one. "Greenlee said she'd call when all was okay." Anna said and looked down at the ground. "They haven't caught him yet. IF that's what you were asking."
"Do you know who it was that mugged Maggie?" JR asked as he looked at Anna.
"No...Derrick thinks its part of the spree that's been going on with tourists lately. The guy just mugs random people...only reason they think its the same guy is because he always gets them right outside their homes or hotel rooms."
"What can I do to help?" JR asked. "I can get my investigators on this, this second, if need be."
Anna looked at Bianca and then to Jr. "That won't be necessary...I've already sent out a few agents of my own." Anna said looking at JR. "But thank you for the offer."
JR nodded then walked out of the kitchen to talk to Kendall. As he did, Bianca and Anna both looked at one another.
"Kendall...?" JR asked softly as he ran his hand up and down her back, she was still crying.
"I just...we were having fun...we were talking and drinking and laughing and then this...right here in front of my eyes. I saw it...I saw her look...I watched the guy smile and I could do nothing." Kendall said to herself as her tears continued to fall.
"I'm here... what happened? Where are the kids...?" Erica asked as she rushed into the house with Jack and Lily behind her.
"My mom was mugged." Emily said still crying from where she was sitting on the couch with Adam. "She's in surgery."
Erica looked around and saw Bianca walk out of the room, and she brought her hand to her heart, slowly calming down as she closed her eyes. IT wasn't Bianca...that meant it was...Oh no.
"Maggie...? What happened?" Erica asked stepping forward actually worried.
"You think we'll think you really care?" Miranda asked as she walked out of the bathroom with Kate right behind her, holding her back from actually going after her grandmother.
"Maggie was mugged right outside of the door." Bianca said to her mother as she and Anna walked out of the kitchen. "We still do not know who did it and Maggie is in surgery right now. The bastard really hurt her. She has broken ribs and a punctured lung and God knows what else."
"So...why don't you just leave?" Miranda asked as she looked at her grandmother.
"We don't need you here telling us how much she deserved it. She didn't and doesn't..." Chris said as he stood at the top of the stairs and looked down at his grandmother.
"You two stop talking to your grandmother like that right now." Jack said in a warning tone to Chris and Miranda. "We know you have a right to be angry but you two do not have the right to take it out on your grandmother."
"Why not?" Emily asked as she stood up. "Ever since mom and momma split up all she's done is hit mom when she's down. She hasn't let up on her...why can't we just repay the favor?" Emily asked as she looked at her grandfather. "Don't say you haven't seen it because you'd be lying and I'd rather not deal with lies on top of everything."
Bianca couldn't take it anymore. "Everyone, STOP IT!" She said loudly. "Just stop! This is not helping." She then looked at her mother, Jack, and Lily. "We don't know any new information yet. Once we hear something, I can let you know, or Kendall can. But can you just go?" She said not really asking.
"Yeah, just go." Kendall said helping her sister as she looked at her mother. "The kids can't take anything else. And shouldn't have to."
"Right...so why don't you all just go?" Chris asked as he looked down from the stairs. "See...we've learned how to coop and deal without you...all of you, because you haven't been here for us for a long time."
Emily looked up at her brother and then looked at the group standing at the door, and knew that he wasn't just talking to their grandparents and aunt Lily but to Kendall and Bianca as well.
Bianca turned to Anna and mouthed 'help me' to her. She didn't want to leave her children.
"What do you want me to do?" Anna asked eyeing Bianca.
JR looked around the group and actually was proud of the kids. They were actually acting just like the adults had been acting and now that they were seeing it with their own eyes, that it was being done to them they wanted it to stop...but wouldn't stop themselves. It true... the Montgomery side of the family had basically ignored Emily, Chris and Melissa because they were Maggie's children not Bianca's. They were Maggie's blood not Bianca's so they weren't their blood. Or at least that's how it seemed.
"Forget it." Bianca mouthed to Anna then turned back to everyone else. "I am going to the hospital." She said as she picked up her stuff that was next to the chair she was sitting in. "Do you kids want to come with me?" She asked looking at her children.
"Bianca...that's not a good idea!" Anna said as she stepped forward. "I suggest that, Jack you take Erica and Lily home. And Bianca you stay here with the kids. They shouldn't have to be at the hospital." Anna said trying to rationalize with everyone. The last place any of the kids needed to be was at the hospital and neither did Bianca.
Jack looked at Anna and nodded. "Erica, Lily, lets go." He said trying to get them to leave without a fuss. Erica opened her mouth shocked and appalled that Jack was going to make her leave.
"Erica lets go." Jack said more forcefully.
Erica looked at Jack and then around the house. She looked down...this was payback for all she'd done to Maggie, how she'd worked against her trying to turn the kids against her...she knew it was true but she didn't care until now. It didn't affect her until now, because in the end before now it was about getting Bianca her kids... making sure that Maggie could no longer hurt her daughter or her grandkids.
Once Jack got Erica and Lily out of the house, Bianca turned to Anna and pulled her to the other side of the room and out of earshot from everyone else. "Anna, I can't just sit here doing nothing when Maggie is in the hospital fighting for her life." She said in a hushed tone.
"What is it that you think you can do for her at the hospital?" Anna asked trying to put some sense into Bianca. "She's in surgery you won't be able to see her till she's out and she won't come out till another two hours."
"I can just be there." Bianca said. "It's obvious the kids do not want me here. Do you think they'd still feel the same way if they knew...they hate me and I don't blame them."
"Bianca...what would come of you telling them? Making them live in fear? Have them looking around their shoulders every moment. You and I agreed that this was the best way to handle things. For them not to know." Anna said and by the look on Bianca's face she knew what the brunette was going to bring up.
"Look how good it's done to them now." Bianca said looking at Anna. "Alex is dead...and now Maggie...she's in the hospital."
"What good has it done them, Bianca? What good has it ever done them?" Anna asked. "They've been in car accidents...hurt hospitalized...if they knew...what good would it do them?"
"But they'd know I don't hate them." Bianca said running her hand through her hair.
Anna watched as Bianca started to pace. It was like watching a caged panther. They were in the corner of the living room; there was only the two walls and her standing between Bianca and the rest of the house, while there was a window behind her, teasing her with images of the outside world that she just couldn't get to. A loved one out there that she couldn't be with because she was trying to protect her and look what it had done for her and the rest of her loved ones so far? It had kept them alive.
"Look what its done...it's kept them safe. This is the first incident since the car accident. The one that took your sons legs from him..." Anna said and watched as Bianca stopped pacing and looked at her. "...they love you...and I know you love them. I've watched you love them from afar...from where you need to be."
"I do love them." Bianca said with a quivering chin. "How much more can they take...because of me?"
"They can take it...they can get through this just like you and Maggie. Because of you and Maggie they can get through this! Because they're your kids...yours and Maggie's sons and daughters they'll be able to get through this and because of them...you'll be able to make it through this!" Anna said as she took a few steps forward and tapped her hand on Bianca's shoulder as she spoke...softly so the rest on the other side of the room couldn't hear her.
"I miss them." Bianca whispered and looked at Anna.
"They're right there..!" Anna said pointing her finger behind them...turning away from Bianca to look at Emily, Chris and Melissa.
Anna was shoved forward and the sound of glass breaking filled the room and everyone held their breath. It wasn't uncommon in the house to hear glass breaking. They were used to hearing glass break and a loud thud, of the rock that had been thrown through the window. The family had gotten used to it...but always tensed when it happened.
This time...they all tensed for another reason...because Anna had screamed and the thud was louder then a rock...and it resonated through the house causing them all to slowly turn. Anna turning as she was shoved by the almost dead weight of something or rather someone and the shear pain that ran through her body starting at her arm.
Emily and Miranda slowly turned their heads around...as if knowing nothing was okay, knowing that they were about to see a horrific sight and because they were time seemed to slow as they turned. When they were both completely turned they both screamed and fell back. Emily fell onto the couch on top of Adam and Miranda fell into Kate's arms.
Kendall and JR had rushed in from the kitchen when they heard the glass break, JR already on the phone with the cops once again, knowing what had happened and letting the police know so they could put it on the long list of records but when they came into the living room and saw the broken window they followed the broken glass to the ground where they saw Anna turning Bianca around, blood seeping from her chest...the bullet had gone right through Bianca and hit Anna in the arm.
"Call an ambulance! Bianca's been shot!" Anna screamed as she turned Bianca on her side...trying to do anything she could for the bleeding but also to allow the woman to breath. Bianca was unconscious but still alive. Anna made sure, and checked Bianca's pulse and was relived to find a pulse but it was weak...very weak.
"Get an ambulance here now...Bianca Montgomery's been shot!" JR said into the phone and dropped it to the floor and ran into the living room and went straight over to Anna, pulling off his shirt as he kneeled down in front of her. If you learned anything from this family...it was how to stop bleeding.
Kendall rushed over to where Kate was struggling to put Miranda down on the ground. Chris was already out of the room, and in the elevator with his screaming three-year-old sister.
"Get the kids in the elevator!" Anna yelled to Kendall, knowing if bullets were going to be flying around the kids would be safest in the elevator, which could take them to the cellar where there were no windows and they'd be safest.
Adam nodded his head at his step-grandmother's order and lifted Emily into his arms and rushed her toward the elevator.
Frankie who had been in his room, with a locked door had heard the glass breaking and had come out of his room to see what had happened. What he saw was utter and total ciaos. His eyes moved around the living room to where everyone was trying to get to the elevator, Kate and Kendall carrying Miranda to the elevator and Adam carrying Emily. He didn't know why but as his eyes moved through the living room looking for the broken window, he knew he'd find his eyes fell on his uncle JR holding a red cloth a cloth against his mothers back...and his grandma Anna holding another red cloth against his mothers chest, then... his eyes fully took in the sight.
"MOM!" Frankie yelled and ran down the stairs his scream echoing through the house, just as the door was knocked down and all hell really did break loss.
TBC….