March 26th
As Bianca and Maggie walked back through the various rooms of the penthouse to the kitchen, Maggie continued shaking her head at the arrival of their old roommate, Portia. Bianca smiled and looked at her shorter friend, "Shaking your head won't make her disappear."

"I can hope, can't I?"

"Yes, hope is always a good thing. Never lose hope." Bianca whispered more to herself than to her friend. As they entered the kitchen, she walked over to the butcher's block and picked up the knife she had set down when she first heard the elevator. As she began chopping carrots again, Maggie asked what she could do to help. "Well, you could peel the potatoes. I'm running a bit behind due to all the unpacking I did earlier."

Maggie retrieved a peeler from the drawer and took the pan of spuds over to the sink to wash them. She asked her friend with a chuckle, "I just realized something…why are you going all out for dinner tonight? Roast with carrots and potatoes, a salad….is today a holiday I don't know about?"

"There's ice cream in the freezer to boot."

Maggie put down the potato in her hand and ran to the freezer, flinging it open "Rocky Road? Alright…cough it up…is this an apology for bringing freaky eyes into the apartment?"

Bianca smiled, looking down at her chopping. "No…it's….oh you're going to call me a sap for this! I just know it!" she said in exasperation.

Maggie walked back to the sink and laughed as she shook the excess water off the last of the potatoes. She turned and walked back to the butcher block to peel them. "I won't call you a sap…I promise. Now tell me what this is all about!"

Bianca looked up and stared at her friend, trying to gauge if her promise was legit. "Well….it's our one month anniversary!" she finally said with glee. She saw a puzzled look cross her friend's face, so she quickly added, "Of moving here I mean! We have been living in Paris for a month now, and I thought we deserved a special meal for that!"

Maggie grinned and bit her lower lip as she looked back down at the potatoes.

The taller girl rolled her eyes to stare at the ceiling. "Go ahead, you know you want to say it."

The blonde girl smiled even broader, releasing her lower lip "No. No…I said I wouldn't call you anything, and I am a woman of my word…..plus…I would be a hypocrite if I made fun of the idea when I think it is really sweet you thought of it."

Both girls smiled and continued their food preparation in silence. Bianca walked over to the counter and opened a bottle of red wine and poured a glass for each of them. After handing a glass to Maggie they focused on their food prep amidst some idle chatting.

"At long last…" thought Bianca, "things almost feel normal…settled." She stared across the butcher's block at her friend, who was chattering away about Miranda in the park that day giggling and laughing. And she basked in the happiness her daughter brought Maggie. The simple fact that Miranda had such a healing, soothing effect on the petite girl brought her endless happiness.

"I think we're going to be alright." she thought "The bad times are behind us…we really are going to be alright….and of course, I probably just doomed us to some horrible event." She sighed and took a large gulp of her wine.

February 26th
With a full day of shopping under their belts, a light meal at a café, Bianca Montgomery and Maggie Stone plopped down on the two couches that faced each other in the living room of Bianca's penthouse apartment. They were surrounded by their piles of packages from the day, like a modern day version of a pirate's treasure. Miranda was sound asleep in her stroller, so they had decided it was best to leave her in it for the time being.

Just as Maggie was about to give up in the fight she was waging against her eyelids, Bianca spoke up. "We had better separate these out so you can head over to the suite." She leaned forward and started separating the packages into two piles.

Maggie groaned. "Ugh….I forgot all about that." She leaned over and joined in the splitting up of the purchases.

Bianca was bent over, but occasionally she would steal a look at Maggie to try to gauge her reaction to moving into the hotel….nothing…she couldn't read a thing. Her own feelings were mixed, but she felt it was the best for both of them. "No press…let's just say she'll have her freedom. "Bianca thought to herself, trying to cut out her use of the word "pressure".

After all the bags were split up the girls sat back in the couches again. "So….now what?" asked Maggie.

"Well, Patrick ran to get something for me from the office, as soon as he gets back we'll all head over and get you settled." Maggie was still expressionless, so Bianca continued "I think I'll go clean up Miranda while we wait for Patrick to get back." She silently rose, walked over to the very groggy child and removed her from the stroller to take her up to the nursery.

Maggie smiled a broad smile at Miranda when she caught the still half-asleep child looking in her direction. "Born of evil, but yet, so perfect" she thought to herself. She watched the Montgomery women ascend the stairs and disappear from sight.

She got up and walked out onto the terrace, giving the cool evening air a chance to reenergize her. Her eyes were riveted to the Eiffel Tower as the lights were starting to come on for the evening. She stood there, leaning against the railing pondering her current status in life. "I'm here…in Paris…with Bianca…is it really the smart move to stay at the suite? Sure, it will give me the freedom to do as I please, but is freedom what I really want?"

Maggie leaned further forward on the railing and placed her face in her hands. "Why can't I just tell Bianca I don't want to go? I came to Paris to be here with her and Miranda, not sitting in some hotel suite all by myself….but what if this is what she wants? Maybe she doesn't want me here after all…maybe…." Maggie stood back up to her full height and steeled her expression. "There you go again…every single time something good starts to happen with Bianca you start questioning it. This was the plan…stick with the plan for now….and hope Bianca really can read your mind."

She huffed in frustration and walked back into the apartment. "Face it Stone, you have no idea what you want. And even when you do think you know, you don't know what to do about it."

Just as she was about to fall back onto the couch, the buzzer rang, signaling Patrick was at the front door wanting to come up. Maggie walked over and pushed the button Bianca had shown her earlier to let him in. She propped the front door open and walked back into the living room to yell up to Bianca just as she saw her coming back down the stairs with Miranda in a fresh set of clothes.

"Patrick is back." She informed her.

"I heard the buzzer. Great timing." Bianca said as she placed Miranda back in her stroller.

Just then Patrick rapped lightly on the door to signal he was entering. He stepped into the living room and nodded to both ladies. "Ms. Montgomery, I apologize it took me so long. The item you requested is in the car, and I took the liberty of stopping by the hotel to make sure everything was ready for Ms. Stone's arrival."

"Thank you Patrick." Bianca said with a smile. "Could you help us down with Maggie's packages, and we will be on our way."

Patrick responded in the affirmative and began picking up the pile of Maggie's purchases.

The drive was an incredibly short one, as the George V hotel was just across the Seine River from Bianca's apartment. The limo pulled up and bellmen appeared from all sides to open the doors for the ladies. Patrick looked none-to-pleased, but he just made sure it was he who removed Miranda from her car seat.

After all the packages were removed from the car, the party made their way to the 7th floor to enter the suite reserved for use by the Cambias Corporation. When Bianca, Maggie and Miranda entered the room, they were immediately greeted by the hotel manager who had come up to make sure the room was all in readiness. He had taken the initiative to have a fruit platter brought up to the room as a welcoming gesture, along with a bottle of Cristal champagne.

As Bianca conversed with the manager in French, Maggie wandered about her new "home". It was done up in the style of the English countryside, and while she loved the king sized canopied bed, everything else was far more than she felt she needed. Since she was living by herself, she didn't see a need for an 8 person dining room table. And the pink marble bathroom was just a bit too much for her tastes. How could she complain though? Not many people get to stay for free in a Four Seasons Hotel.

Bianca finally was thanking and discretely shooing everyone out of the suite, and stopped Patrick to tell him she would be down in a little while. Once they were all out, she closed the door, exhaled in exasperation and went to find Maggie. She was sitting down at the dining room table popping some of the melon balls that had been left in the welcome package into her mouth.

"Where's the Munchkin?" Maggie asked.

"Asleep in her stroller, she's had a full day." responded Bianca. "So what do you think of it?" she asked, gesturing around the room.

"It's bigger than my last two apartments combined."

"Well, they are expecting a business man to stay here and entertain. Not just you by your lonesome." Bianca said with a grin.

Maggie just continued staring at the fruit platter and chomping on melon balls, showing no real expression.

Bianca began to sense some tension and pulled out the chair next to Maggie and sat down "Ok…fess up. What's bugging you?"

"Nothing. Why does something have to be bugging me?" Maggie said leaning back in the chair with an annoyed look.

"Because you've gone all quiet on me, which, usually means something is eating at you. So cough it up Stone."

"Seriously, nothing is bugging me. I'm just tired." Maggie looked around the table. "Here….let's have some of this, I'll show you I'm not in a bad mood." She grabbed the bottle of Cristal that had been left and opened it, pouring a glass for each girl. She handed one to Bianca and said a simple, "Welcome to my new home." as they clinked their glasses.

Bianca took a sip, but stared over the top of the glass at her friend the whole time, trying to read her face. Something was not right, but she knew that if Maggie didn't want you to know, you wouldn't discover it no matter how hard you tried. She sighed and drank deeply of the bubbly beverage.

"Wow…someone seems to like this stuff!" Maggie said, moving to pour another glass for Bianca.

The taller girl gladly accepted the refill and began to only sip this time. "So different than the first time the two of us shared champagne." she thought to herself, but quickly vanquished that unpleasant memory with another sip of her drink.

She was still more concerned with the present. Maggie continued to stare straight ahead and wasn't even glancing at Bianca. She finally decided to break the tension "Oh…" she said grabbing her purse and digging through it. "I need to give you what Patrick went to get. Here you go…I went ahead and got you set up with a cell phone so you could get in touch with me easily. My cell is number one on your speed dial."

The corners of Maggie's mouth finally curled up in a hint of a smile. "Seems a little assuming of you…how do you know I don't have someone else I would want in my top spot?"

"There she is….my Maggie." thought Bianca. "Well, we can always change it if you want, but who would you put there?" she asked out loud.

"You never know." Was Maggie's reply in a mischievous voice while taking another sip of her drink.

"Well you think on it, while I on the other hand think I need to get a certain little girl home to her bed." Bianca said as she pushed back from the table.

A lump rose in Maggie's throat. "Read my mind Bianca…come on, read my mind." she thought. She watched as Bianca walked the short distance to the stroller and bent over to adjust the blanket around Miranda for retuning to the nippy February Paris air.

"Oh…hold on a minute!" she said, and she ran off to the bathroom and closed the door.

Bianca wasn't sure what she was up to, but she sat back down for a moment while she waited. "I don't want to leave her here blast it! But if I ask her to stay at the apartment full time I feel like I will be…..don't even think it….just let this flow naturally. She will say something when she is ready."

She looked up as she heard the bathroom door click open and saw Maggie walking out in a terry cloth robe provided by the hotel. Hugged to her chest were the clothes she had borrowed the previous evening. She emptied one of the shopping bags from the day and tossed the loaned clothes into the bag. "Here you go. Not sure when I will see you, so I thought I had better give these back."

"What do you mean, 'Not sure when you will see me'? Aren't you coming over tomorrow?"

"Well….I don't know if you have plans or something. I don't want to assume I can just come over."

"You really are thick sometimes, you know that? I have no clue where you would get the idea you aren't coming over." Bianca said with a laugh. "I guess you were wrong earlier about me being able to read your mind huh?"

Maggie looked down at the floor and shoved her hands in the pockets of the robe. "Yeah…I guess I was."

Bianca just shook her head in disbelief. "What time do you want Patrick to pick you up?"

"Oh….I have no idea really…I think I'll just take a cab tomorrow if that's ok. I don't want him waiting around on me."

"Why don't we aim for about 11 or so, and we can have a late breakfast together, ok? And that way Patrick will know a time. No need for you to take a cab." Bianca said as she rose from the chair again and strode over to Miranda.

Maggie walked towards the door to open it for the Mother and daughter. As they got to where they were face to face, Bianca turned and looked at Maggie. They stood there just staring at each other for a moment. "Well?" Bianca asked.

The petite girl stared back at her "'Well' what?"

"I thought I was under 'future Dr. Stone's orders' for a daily hug. And I do believe my prescription has not been filled today." She said with a smirk.

"Oh…yeah…I forgot." Maggie said as she leaned in for what was distinctly not nearly as an enthusiastic hug as the night before. She quickly pulled back and stared at Bianca again.

Bianca could tell that something was bugging Maggie still, but she felt it best to not push it anymore tonight. "Well..alright….I guess I'll see you in the morning….have a good nights sleep. And if you need anything, don't hesitate to call me." she said as she pushed the stroller into the hall.

Maggie was slowly closing the door behind her. "I will, I promise. And I'll see you around 11." With that, she closed the door. She leaned her head against the wood and closed her eyes. "I thought things would be so much easier here…away from all the distractions, all the problems….but it appears that I really am my own worst enemy." she mumbled to herself. She stood back up to the straight position, heaved a deep sigh and turned to go take a shower.

Out in the hall, Bianca pushed the button for the elevator and, mumbled to herself, "Doesn't seem to matter where we go….this is never going to be easy."