Disclaimer: I do not own All My Children, its dialogue, storylines or any of its characters.

Chapter 18

"You sleeping on the job, doctor?" Anna asked with a dry throat.

Maggie dropped the fist her head was resting on and blinked steadily. She stretched side to side for a few moments to stretch out her torso. In truth, she was awake. She could not sleep when Anna was lying in a hospital bed. It could not hurt to wake up a little though. She could feel blood rush into the part of her face she was lying on and her clothes were probably crumpled but at least she could be there for Anna.

"I'd never fall asleep on the job," Maggie said.

"Right," Anna teased with a scoff or an attempted one before she ended up in a coughing fit. Maggie looked around briefly for some water and began to leave to get a nurse when Anna's fingers firmly latched on to Maggie's hand.

Maggie looked at Anna's hands wrapped around hers and smiled at the strength that Anna was already rallying before frowning at the handcuffs that were latched around Anna's wrists. Maggie sat back down and gently wrapped both her hands around one of Anna's.

"I'd never fall asleep on you," Maggie responded with a charming grin.

Anna nodded, moving her head as little as possible. She whispered, "I know that. I know that."

Maggie felt Anna's grip tighten and Maggie sensed Anna was trying to comfort her as much as herself by proving what she could do already. It had been a long night.

"So, what's going on in the world, Stone?" Anna asked with eyes just as piercing as ever.

Maggie felt weakened by those eyes and she did not want to upset Anna in her current hospitalized state. Still, she could not lie to her. "There's a lot of stuff going on but we're going to fix it. I swear we're going to fix it."

Anna nodded and seemed to get what Maggie was not saying. Everyone was convinced that Anna attacked Erica on a drug induced high. Stranger things have happened in Pine Valley but Maggie was not about to let this happen to Anna's reputation. If the Bennetts were looking for a fight, Maggie was going to give them one.

"What the hell were you thinking, mother?" David yelled in Vanessa's face before he turned on his heel and walked over to face the wall. It pained him too much to so much as look at her. If she could look in his eyes and tell a lie, there was no point in looking at her anyway.

Vanessa did not so much as blink at his outburst or at the outburst of his family members that had railed against her since they arrived back home. "I was taking care of business."

"And you call taking care of business attacking Anna Devane?" Frankie asked from her position of leaning against the kitchen counter with her arms crossed. She tried to never have her arms crossed once she heard it was a defensive gesture. However, in this instance she felt like being a little defensive.

"Would you quit being sarcastic, Frankie?" David snapped.

Frankie dropped her arms and pushed herself away from the counter, indignant at the accusation. "Who was being sarcastic?" Frankie looked around and found unsympathetic eyes gazing back at her.

Finally, Leo lightly grabbed her shoulder and said, "Frankie, let's just try to keep quiet until everyone is completely calm."

"No chance of that happening anytime soon," Gwen said, with ever watchful eyes looking at the vein bulging in David's neck.

"You know, I am pretty damn tired of all of you questioning me since we got back to this devil town," Vanessa growled, pointing her finger accusingly at all of them. "I did this for us. I do everything for us. For this family. We're the only family that matters. You used to know that."

Trey silently moved around the kitchen and poured scotch straight into a crystal tumbler. The alcohol came from three different mini bottles from a mini bar at the Valley Inn that he stole but the point was just to take the edge off. He presented the glass to his mother who sniffed at the offering with indifference. He placed it on the counter next to her and turned away without looking back, knowing she was going to pick it up the second she proved she did not need it.

"Anna was wandering around the apartment while I was there. I couldn't just let her ruin everything we worked for. So, I took a bad situation and made it better. Our plan was to frame Anna for everything. What better way to frame her than to make her look like a bigger convict than the rest of us? Don't yell at me for drugging her. Thank me for leaving her alive," Vanessa drawled before growling the last part at David's back. No one said anything for awhile. Nothing felt appropriate.

"So, what now?" Trey asked softly. Still no one said anything or looked at one another. Gwen turned her eyes to Frankie.

"Oh, I'm allowed to talk now?" Frankie muttered sullenly when she noticed her mother's eyes on her.

"Frankie," Gwen shrieked making Frankie jump involuntarily.

Frankie was not afraid of her mother anymore. She had no reason to be afraid. She knew that. She told herself that all the time. She did not know why she jumped but this time she told herself it certainly did not mean anything.

She cleared her throat. "It was just as good as we expected. People are blaming Anna like crazy. Probably even more now with the drug thing."

"Kendall told me she's worried that Anna actually did it," Trey said with a click of his tongue. "Anna and Erica have never gotten along. Erica will probably be suspicious too when she's up and at 'em."

Vanessa smiled and raised her arms in the air as if she was waiting for applause in the name of her victory. "Thank you, thank you. Thank you for supporting me."

Leo shrugged in an attempt to loosen his tense shoulders. He was unsure whether to scream at the insanity or keep playing along. "Well, congratulations. You got Anna. Anna is out of the picture. You win. Now what? Care to let us in on what's next?"

"Careful son," Vanessa slurred as she raised the glass back to her lips while the group idly wondered when she started drinking this night. They also wondered if this was first sign of what was supposed to be their best laid plans, falling to ruins.

"We are being careful," Trey said quickly. When his family fought, things tended to take a turn for the worse. He had to move quickly to keep the peace for everyone's sake. "We just want to know what's going to happen."

"Well," Vanessa said as she eyed what was left in her glass and shook it in the air for Trey to refill. "For starters, one of you will have to play dead."

"You got first shift?" Zach asked as he opened the front door. Bianca nodded as he stepped aside and let Bianca pass through the threshold.

Bianca immediately rushed to the Slater livingroom where the sleeping bags and cribs were lined up. Bianca turned back to Zach and whispered, "any problems?"

Zach merely pointed to one of the sleeping bags where Miranda instantly cried out, "Mommy!"

A crying Miranda rushed into Bianca's arms, tripping over her soft pink sleeping bag as she did so. Her mother was there to catch her as always. Bianca pressed a kiss to Miranda's forehead and began to rub the tears out of her daughter's eyes.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Bianca asked tenderly as she looked into the tiny eyes that were peering into hers.

"I had a nightmare about your mom," Miranda sobbed.

"Oh honey," Bianca soothed as she pulled the small girl into a tight hug and rested her chin on the top of Miranda's head. She rubbed firm circles on Miranda's back as the girl felt free to cry her eyes out. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"She was hurt and she went away and never came back," Miranda sobbed.

Bianca pressed another kiss on Miranda's head before pulling away and looking her straight in the eyes. She took in the quivering chin that her daughter seemed to inherit from her and steeled herself with the genes that her mother gave her.

"Honey, she is fine. She's not going anywhere," Bianca assured the little girl who looked back at her with hopeful eyes.

"Really?" Miranda asked as she sniffed her red nose. Bianca was sorry to leave her daughter crying for so long and wrapped her back in her arms.

"Really. She won't leave you for anything or anybody. She loves you that much. She's already getting better. We can probably even visit her tomorrow," Bianca assured, intent on keeping the promise no matter what ridiculous thing happened next to their family.

"Okay," Miranda whispered as she cuddled into her mother's warmth.

Bianca smiled as Miranda seemed to calm a little more. "Okay."

Zach kneeled next to them with a supportive smile. "You campers gonna head home?"

Bianca and Miranda looked to each other, trying to telepathically have a conversation. It seemed to work as she swivelled her head back towards Zach. "No, everyone's already asleep and it's good to be with family. We'll just sit tight tonight while we wait for news about mom."

Zach nodded in understanding. "I'll find you a sleeping bag."

"Thank you," Bianca whispered with a sleepy smile as Zach left in search of a sleeping bag.

Bianca crawled toward Miranda's sleeping bag and helped tuck her into it, the way she did not get to earlier in the night. Once Miranda settled in, Bianca laid down next to her as she waited for Zach to return. Her eyes closed which she told herself was just for a moment but she knew it was probably not. She felt Miranda push her hand in Bianca's and Bianca closed her hand around all the tiny digits and placed a kiss on her daughter's hand without opening her eyes.

Things were quiet and still for a moment and just when Bianca was sure Miranda was asleep, the little girl spoke. "Mommy, is everything going to be okay?"

And for the first time since her daughter was born Bianca lied to her. "Of course, sweetheart."

Angie came into the hospital room and checked the patient's chart. Only someone like Erica Kane could get her own hospital room and four guards at her door. Angie would usually let a nurse check on patient's vitals every couple of hours but Angie needed to look at something other than Anna Devane in handcuffs and all the victims of violent crime that were brought in. All were either stable or dead. All that was left for Angie to do was to look at them and do paperwork that made her relive the sights she had seen. Checking Erica's vitals was a nice break.

"Angie, we have doctor-patient confidentiality, right?" A hollow voice asked.

Angie took a moment to look at the shocking white sterilized walls of the meticulously organized room and the two dozen odd flower arrangements hung around before settling on the tiny body on the bed. She could not believe it. The heart monitor did not so much as accelerate or skip a beat.

"Erica, how are you awake?" Angie said as she replaced the chart in its original position and went to check Erica's vitals herself.

"It's the Kane woman in me," Erica said seriously and Angie had to restrain the urge to laugh. Anywhere else in the world that statement would mean nothing but in Pine Valley, Kane meant survivor. Angie had to respect them for that. "Angie, I need to say something out loud and I have to make sure it stays confidential."

Erica should have been utterly exhausted but she was holding it together to say something. Angie was not sure she wanted to carry a secret that important but she could not turn down a woman in crisis.

"Yes, Erica. What is it?" Angie asked as she felt Erica's steady pulse.

"I just wanted to say out loud," Erica began before pausing to draw in a breath. "I am going to kill Vanessa Bennett. Maybe not directly but she is going to die."

Angie almost smiled at the declaration. There was the Kane spirit. "Your secret dies with me."