Title: A Little Respect
Author: Misty Flores

Teaser: Pursuing a relationship with Aiden after discovering Bianca in bed with Babe, Maggie begins to question even her own self worth when she finds herself delving deeper into a baby kidnapping mystery, and an intense love triangle.

PART SIX

In your world I have no meaning

Though I'm trying hard to understand

And it's my heart that's breaking

Down this long distance line tonight

I ain't missing you at all

-- Missing You, John Waite

--

"Maggie, it's Bianca. I haven't heard from you the past few days, and I don't know if that's intentional or not, but... I'm worried. Please call me. I miss you."

Bianca's parting words stayed with her, as Maggie held the phone to her ear, eyes closing against the emotion, the stupid hope that jerked into her chest at just the words.

She sighed raggedly, making a show of pulling the phone down, staring at the lit digits, and methodically, pressing seven, forcing herself to delete the message.

She would drive herself crazy listening to it over and over again if she kept it on her phone, and Maggie was determined to make this visit not about her and her hopeless feelings, but about Anna.

Someone was choking. Her eyes lifted to the door, mouth parting in surprise and concern, as she let the phone fall back on her little cot, quickly moving towards the door, opening it fast, padding on bare feet to Anna's bathroom.

She knocked with her knuckles gently, hearing the hoarse heaves. "Anna?" Pushing into it, she discovered her beautiful Anna, kneeling over the toilet bowl, struggling to hold her hair back.

Maggie's eyes stung unexpectedly, and tenderly, she knelt down beside her, pulling the sticky bangs away from Anna's sweaty face, murmuring a soothing, "Okay, I'm here," to her friend, bunching the thinning hair in one hand, running her other palm gently up and down Anna's back. Anna's hair used to be glamorous - long and thick and healthy.

Maggie's sadness didn't reach her face. She kept it buried inside of her, instead holding Anna as the former police chief dealt with the side affects of the radiation that kept her alive - vomiting into the toilet bowl.

The door opened again, and Maggie glanced up to lock eyes with Aiden, standing there in a t-shirt and boxer shorts. She smiled sadly, and turned her attention back to Anna.

Anna crumpled against the toilet bowl, tears brilliant on her cheeks. "I'm sorry," she said, burst into a bitter kind of laughter. "I didn't meant to wake you-"

"Oh, please," Maggie said softly, already helping her move back. Aiden brushed up behind her, gathering Anna in his much stronger arms and lifting her easily, cradling her against his chest.

"Come on, beautiful," he said, brushing his mouth along Anna's brow. Maggie stayed on the floor, connecting his meaningful look with a small smile, and as he took Anna back to bed, she let out a heartbroken sigh, taking a moment just to breathe, before she reached over and flushed Anna's sickness down the toilet.

The chemotherapy and cancer had taken its toll on Maggie's hero, and Maggie had noticed the very first day they arrived in New York, Anna seemed almost shamed because of it.

But Maggie caught glimpses of the Anna that would never change - the regal bearing, noble kindness, honest wisdom in those kind dark eyes. Now, more than ever, Maggie aspired to be like her - who else would have this strength?

Bianca.

The traitorous thought had come to it before she could stop it, and Maggie indulged the thought, for just a moment. Bianca had been through hell and worse, and she had survived.

Here, all Maggie had was a broken heart, and it was all she could do to keep it buried inside of her, pushing down her feelings every time they threatened to jackknife themselves back into her mentality.

"Maggie."

She blinked, looked up and discovered Aiden staring down at her. And she was still sitting on the floor.

"Oh."

Smiling awkwardly at her ridiculous behavior, Maggie tried to scramble to her feet, found it much easier when Aiden's strong palm wrapped around her wrist and lifted her easily to her feet.

Everything was easier with Aiden.

"Thanks," she said breathlessly. "She okay?"

"Tired," he said, emotion flitting across his face. "But I think she can make it through the night."

Maggie shuddered, suddenly rubbing fingers over her arms, hugging them into her. "God, Aiden..."

Strong arms pulled her in, and she allowed it, sighing into his embrace, cheek resting against his firm chest, feeling the muscles contract underneath.

"She'll be better tomorrow," he murmured. Maggie felt the soft pressure of a kiss against her crown.

Another moment, and she pulled back, arms locked loosely around his waist. "Thank you for bringing me here."

He smiled back. "Thank you for coming with me. It means a lot to her that you came, Maggie."

His eyes were dark, affectionate. Maggie's wave of intense feeling couldn't be helped, and she looked away, breaking the stare. "I'm a little tired," she said softly, stepping back, hands falling to her sides. "I'm going to get some sleep."

Head down, she moved around Aiden, walking fast back to her small little cot in Anna's guest room.

Sinking down, she closed her eyes, until something hard and cold seeped into her bare thigh. Fumbling a bit, she discovered her cell phone, blinking at her tauntingly.

Before all this, she would have called Bianca, cried into the phone and listened to Bianca speak to her soothingly, telling her how much she loved her and it would be okay.

With a wordless shake of her head, she turned it off.

--

Silken skin smoothed under her fingertips, and Maggie never tired of her exploration. No matter how well she knew this flesh, she could never tire of touching it, feeling it flex and shift underneath her touch.

Hips fit together, as she twisted, slipping a thigh between Bianca's, calves rubbing against calves, as her palm settled on Bianca's waist, and Maggie dropped a kiss on Bianca's collar bone, before burrowing into Bianca's neck and inhaling the sweet scent of her friend that was so entirely familiar.

Bianca giggled beneath her, slender fingers scratching lightly at her scalp, keeping her there. Maggie grinned into her skin, scraped her teeth lightly along the pulsing vein, a testament to Bianca's heartbeat, Bianca's arousal, shifting deeper into Bianca's arms until the top of her thigh pushed lightly against Bianca's heat.

Bianca moaned, arching up to rub against her, and Maggie shuddered, clutching Bianca into a desperate hug.

"I missed you," she murmured into the soft sweetness of Bianca's shoulder - her safe place.

A moment, and then Bianca stilled beneath her, fingertips closing in her hair, pulling back with a small force, until Maggie was looking into soft, beautifully full brown eyes, a perfect face.

"I missed you, too," Bianca said frankly. "I love you, Maggie. I'm so sorry-"

"It's okay," Maggie whispered. "It's okay." She shifted up, holding Bianca's face still with fingers on her cheek, pressing a light kiss against Bianca's lips, before she felt the smile tilt into her mouth, and it deepened.

"I miss you."

Maggie's eyes opened with a breathless sigh.

She was curled into her pillow, hands tangled together beneath her cheek, thighs clamped shut.

Vivid dreams gave way to stark reality, and Maggie closed her eyes, squeezed them shut tightly.

She twisted on the cot, turning the other way, once again willing Bianca's parting words, and her reaction to them.

I miss you.

--

"I have to admit, I haven't been the best hostess."

Glancing up from her coffee, Maggie fought the roll of her eyes, instead meeting Anna's self deprecating smirk with an over-exaggerated shake of her head.

"You've been the perfect hostess," she corrected, rubbing her fingers into Anna's shoulders, massaging lightly. "It's our fault for surprising you."

"Oh, please," Anna said demurely, a genuine smile floating onto her face. "Opening the door to you and Aiden, bar none, has been the best surprise I've gotten all year."

Maggie's smile faltered, frozen at the implication - Anna's battle with cancer. A lingering wish to reverse time floated through her - to somehow enable herself to be here with Anna when Anna found out about the tumor in her breast.

"All right!" a thundering voice announced, as Aiden poked around her, taking her cup of tea from her and gulping from it.

"Excuse you!" she said, laughing as he batted away her hand, chugging another mouthful with a bitter grimace and setting it down. "Get your own!"

"You've made better," he told Anna, pointing at her. Anna shrugged. "I'm off to pick up Robin! Be back in a few-" He squeezed the top of Maggie's head, ignoring her snort, and pecked Anna dutifully on the cheek.

"Thank you, Aiden!" Anna called out after him. Maggie stared mournfully at her now empty cup.

"More tea?" she asked, shoving out of her chair and heading for the counter.

Anna smiled widely. "No thank you," she said, palms curled around her own steaming cup. "I had no idea you and Aiden were so close."

Maggie's hand suddenly trembled, and she struggled for a half a second, and with an exhale, steadied her hold on the teapot, pouring the steaming liquid into her cup.

"Oh..." she said raggedly. "We weren't really." Placing down the pot, she headed back to the table, settling back down. "Not until recently." Maggie stared into the off-brown liquid, swishing it slightly. "We've got more in common than we realized."

"I'm glad to hear it," Anna said. "I've worried about you, Maggie - since I've been gone." Maggie's eyes shot up to meet hers. "It's silly, I know," Anna said dismissively. "You have Bianca and David, but - I still worry. You mean a lot to me, Maggie."

Maggie forced herself to hear her meaning, not just Anna's careless use of Bianca. "You mean a lot to me, too, Anna. I've missed you so much. I don't know my right from my left half the time."

Anna shot up an eyebrow in response. "Well I hate to break it to you," she said, leaning forward in a conspiring manner. "But it doesn't get much better."

Maggie grinned. "Great! Thanks!"

They shared a short burst of laughter, Anna smiling at her happily. "How is Bianca?" she asked unexpectedly.

Maggie's smile froze. "What?"

"Well, you haven't really mentioned her since you've been here -" Maggie's eyes quickly averted, her eyes suddenly back on her cup. "Maggie?"

"Yeah?" she asked shortly.

"Did something happen?" Anna's tone had changed, obviously picking up on Maggie's sudden turmoil, but Maggie had succeeded so well this week, in locking up Bianca and everything that came with.

Maggie managed a painful smile. "No, Bianca's great," she said painfully. "Just dandy."

"Oh, Maggie..." Maggie couldn't help looking up, and saw a brilliant sadness jeweled in Anna's eyes. "You two haven't fallen out?"

Maggie sucked in her pain in her chest. "No, we're still friends," she said rigidly. "We're always going to be friends ."

Anna processed that, with her wise eyes and her keen observation, and Maggie felt the tears blink into her eyes before she could help it, certain that Anna could somehow see into her broken heart. She kept quiet, focused on stirring the tea, breaking the gaze, and this time, Anna didn't interrupt her.

She stayed with her, drinking her tea, and let Maggie alone, sitting beside her and dropping the subject entirely, making some overly casual comment about the heat.

Maggie loved her for it.

--

"Hi. It's me. I haven't seen you much, and I stopped by your place, but no one seems to know where you are. I almost thought about calling Aiden to find you but Tad says he's out of town. Anyway - I really wish you'd call me and just tell me what's going on. I'm moving into Greenlee's old place, so you won't have to be tripping over me anymore or attacking you on the couch in my sleep - I'd love a moving buddy. Maggie... I'd really like to talk. Please call me."

--

Robin and Maggie talked like they had known each other forever. The two young women sat at the kitchen table, giving each other impromptu manicures, chatting about Clive Owen and his undebateable hotness.

The sight of her daughter and Maggie engaging so openly and warmly touched Robin's heart, creasing a smile on her face as she settled on the couch next to her nephew, one palm affectionately spreading over his arm.

He was also staring at the scene, a small smile playing on his lips.

"I'm sorry to see you both go," she said quietly.

Aiden's head tilted, catching her smile with one of his own, taking another sip of his beer. "I don't want to leave," he said honestly. "But Maggie has school and I've got work -"

"I understand," she said assuredly, patting his hand.

He squeezed it, dragging his eyes back to the girls - or rather, to Maggie.

Anna considered the look on his face, the small smile playing on his perfect lips.

Her smile faltered, an odd feeling developing in the pit of her stomach.

"Aiden," she said, voice low. "Aiden." He looked back. "I love her like a daughter, Aiden, but I'm begging you to please be careful."

He blinked, confused for a couple seconds, before she glanced meaningfully back to Maggie.

Caught, Aiden squeezed his bottle tightly, shifting in his seat. "Anna-"

"She's already in love, Aiden," she said softly. "Desperately, painfully in love - that kind of emotion doesn't just dissipate in a week."

Aiden's eyes narrowed. "She told you."

"She didn't have to."

Aiden kept his gaze on his beer bottle, stubbornly sorting out her thoughts. "Bianca had her chance, Anna. She broke Maggie's heart."

"And you're going to pick up the pieces, mend her, make her whole, is that it?" Aiden didn't look at her. "You can't save Maggie - she's not a helpless damsel and you're not her knight, Aiden."

"We mend each other," he said stubbornly, voice a furious whisper. "You've seen us together, Anna. You see how easy it is - how wonderful she is - the way I feel-"

"Yes," she said firmly. "I've seen it - and I would be delighted if somehow I could welcome Maggie into my family through you rather than David. But that doesn't change the fact that she loves Bianca. That she's hiding that fear inside of her. Aiden, do you want to be her rebound? Her desperate attempt to bury feelings that can't be buried?"

"You don't understand."

"You're wrong, I do," she said. "But I'm also seeing this a little more objectively than you. Maggie is a wonderful girl, I can understand your feelings, and there's little I can do to stop you." Aiden's shoulders rolled, obviously disturbed. "But Aiden, I don't want you to hurt again, by falling for yet another woman whose heart has already been claimed."

His eyes were full of kept emotion, and Anna swallowed, hoping that somehow some of what she said made sense.

"Oy! What are you two gossiping about over there!" Robin said, glaring at them both. "Trading secrets we can't be a part of?"

Maggie laughed. "Anna! Cut it out! You're up!" She wiggled a nail polish. "I'm thinking sexy red." Her eyes connected with Aiden, and her grin widened. "And then it's your turn."

He snorted. "Right - I think I'll be watching football over here-"

"Oh, come on!" she whined, and he shook his head, already up as she came at him, brandishing the make up threateningly. "Robin, help!"

Her daughter was up in a flash, until they were both giggling and wrestling with Aiden on the couch, trying to keep his hand out, Maggie almost in his lap as she struggled to paint on his fingers.

Anna lowered her eyes to her tea cup, taking a demure sip.

There was a happy carelessness in the room, and yet, she couldn't shake the feeling of dread.

The heart wants what it wants , she reminded herself, as Aiden buried fingers into Maggie's taught tummy and caused her to screech, falling further into his lap as Robin tried to swipe the polish on his nail and painting a red stripe on his thumb instead.

Anna stared at the scene, and wished hard for a happy ending, praying she was wrong, that this perfect scene with happiness and laughter would be the end for them all - their own family, with Maggie a part of it.

But Maggie's haunted face earlier that morning lingered with her, and Anna had the sneaking suspicion, there was somewhere else Maggie would have rather been.

--

"It's me. Maggie, I'm really worried. Please call me. Kendall's freaking out, she almost has herself believing she shot Ryan, and Greenlee and Ryan's brother aren't making it any better. Bess is still missing... Maggie, I really need to talk to you. Please call me. Please."

--

They stopped at a motel halfway back, this dingy place where Maggie was trying hard to not to touch anything, and the television got a fuzzy HBO and a really porny Cinemax. Only one bed, but Aiden had dismissed it, saying gallantly he'd take the floor, and rapidly went about setting one of the pillows and sheets down.

She used one of the rough, threadbare towels and took a shower, standing in the scalding water, letting it drench over her, numb her skin with the hot sensation of beads massaging into her skin.

Raising her face to the spout, she let it flow over her face, opening her mouth to suck in a mouthful of water, breathing raggedly.

Back to Pine Valley. Back to Bianca. Maggie's heart constricted, and she grasped the tiles with her hands, a cold contrast to the water enveloping her.

How long could she avoid her? How long could she get away from Bianca before she heard the words, before she heard Bianca try to explain everything that happened, when the real truth was just so easy?

Bianca didn't want her.

She turned the rusty knob with effort, water drifting to a trickle. Rubbing with a towel, she dried herself off - reached for the lotion, desperate, focused movements.

Maggie had run away - to Robin, but because running away was a habit Bianca had broken, Maggie was coming back.

She had never been so frightened in her life.

Taking in a ragged breath, she dressed in a tank top and shorts, rubbing through her wet hair as she opened the door, to find Aiden lounging on the bed, already dressed for bed, in a wife beater and those boxers.

Taking him in, Maggie smiled. Aiden made it easier. Aiden made her forget.

He glanced at her, grinned with his perfect white teeth.

"Watcha watching?" she chirped, hopping on with him, bouncing slightly.

"Underworld," he said mechanically. "Repeat airings - why the hell does the bloody vampire Kraven speak with an American accent if the rest are all British and he's a thousand years old?"

Maggie glanced at the screen. "You're not supposed to ask that. You're supposed to focus on Kate Beckinsale in skin tight latex, shooting big guns! Aren't you a man? Where's your hormones!"

His brow furrowed, obviously confused, and Maggie felt her mouth pulling into another grin - she hadn't smiled this much in a long time.

"Aiden... Thank you. Thank you so much."

He shifted, looking at her curiously. "What for?"

"For this-" she said. "For Anna. And Robin, and escape. For family."

"Maggie, it was hardly work," he said dryly, a smirk creeping up on his face, dark eyes dancing. "You're beautiful, fun and sexy, Maggie. You proved it."

She heard the words, echoed back at her, and when he caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers, looked at her with a dark smoldering stare, she believed him.

She leaned down, stared down at his lips, and determinedly, pressed her mouth to his in a gentle kiss.

When she pulled back, his smile was gone, and his eyes had darkened considerably. She waited, breathless anticipation creating delicious desire.

Slowly, carefully, he reached up, large palm wrapping around her neck, leading her down again, and the next kiss was deeper, her mouth opening against his, a buried moan ripping from her throat.

She drank him in, sucking on his tongue, tangling it with hers as he maneuvered her like a toy, until his heavy masculine body covered her tiny frame, and they were kissing more deeply still.

His arms were hairy, his legs were rough with coarse hair, and she indulged in contrast, felt the rasp of the shadow of his beard against her cheek, the hardening erection grinding against her groin, felt easily through their flimsy shorts.

He wasn't soft and feminine, and he didn't smell of Enchantment perfume. His hair was short and prickly, not soft and long, and she ran her hands over the back of it, feeling it tickle against her palm. Aiden was everything Bianca wasn't, pushed Bianca far away, and Maggie needed that. She needed it so desperately if she was going to survive in Pine Valley.

She had big brown eyes and a beautiful soul and it was enough to stave her.

Aiden's hands were broad, big, not tiny, and when he spread them over her stomach, dancing underneath her tanktop, they nearly covered it. She kissed him harder, rocking into him, scratching at his back, pulling at his tank top, needing to see, to taste his broad, male chest.

He was everything Bianca wasn't, and he made it easy to forget.

Maggie wanted so badly to forget.

--

"Hi! It's Maggie. I'm in class or just screening. Leave a message, and maybe I'll get back to you!"

Bianca lowered the phone and didn't bother. Maggie was obviously getting her calls and not returning them.

She closed her eyes, wrapped her fingers hard around the phone and squeezed. Alone in her new apartment, surrounded by boxes, Bianca found herself remembering moving in with Maggie - it seemed ages ago, and Maggie's horrified reaction to Portia.

"Honestly? She freaks me out!"

A small, affectionate smile lingered on her face, reminiscent of the one she had given her that date. It seemed so long ago.

Bianca's chest ached with tension, and she leaned back, rubbed at it with her palm, putting down the ice cream with the chocolate sauce that Maggie loved so much, unable to sleep, thanks to the living ghosts that haunted her, the screaming crying of a child.

Bianca considered calling Babe, Kendall, but they were locked in their own tension.

Bianca sighed, closing her eyes, suddenly desperately missing Maggie. "Maggie," she whispered. "Where are you?"

end chapter