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 SIXTEEN
You made me think that I could
Need you
You weaved your magic spell
And I believed you
-- Heartbreaker, Dolly Parton
Thoughts began to sift, fall into place. Like a child with a puzzle, Maggie's mind sudden flew, mental digits fitting round pegs into round holes.
"Maggie?"
Jerked from her whirling thoughts, Maggie glanced up, discovered herself once again the center of attention, as all three Kane woman stared at her with some sort of ambivalent concern.
"Are you all right?"
She stayed quiet for a second, twitching in her seat, for a moment just trying to remember how to breathe. She must have looked like an idiot, with her mouth hanging open and her eyes so wide she could have just been electrocuted.
"I'm fine," she said, mouth creasing into a wide, odd grin. "I'm fine! I just... I have to go-" Bolting up, she nodded to them all.
"Maggie!" Bianca's tone made her pause, nearly stumbling on her feet when her best friend moved away from her mother and her sister, striding to catch up to her. "I think that we should-"
Blood was rushing through her ears, and Maggie swallowed hard, ignoring every other impulse that came with her and Bianca's convoluted weird relationship. There was no time to think of anything else right now but what she had learned.
"I can't," she said shortly. "Not right now - I'm sorry, Binks- we can finish this later-"
"Well maybe we don't have to."
Again, she stopped short. Knocked out of her focus, Maggie laid eyes on Bianca, saw a closed, furious expression, a cold look.
Bianca was mad at her.
Maggie just pursed her lips, and shook her head, not giving Bianca the satisfaction of caring.
There was too much else at stake.
"Whatever," she said finally, rolling her eyes and waving her goodbye, heading for the door.
Dismissing Bianca was something she hadn't done in years. She remembered distinctly when she made a point of it, even ignoring the twinge in her heart as she had done so - at the Fusion Launch party.
She remembered the experience minutely, pushing Henry ahead of her, swallowing down the curious lump in her throat and ducking her head, unable to keep the image of Bianca laughing and smiling out of her head the entire night.
Now, she dismissed Bianca for reasons other than uncertain fear and irrational jealousy.
While both seemed to reside almost permanently inside her, Maggie found her motivation slightly more noble.
Even so, her head threatened to explode, and when she collapsed against Bianca's closed door, she realized she was heated, trembling.
Exhausted, fragile and overwhelmed, Maggie found herself reacting to the truth in the oddest way.
Unable to control herself, she sank to the floor, slapped palms against her mouth, and cried.
--
At Bess' christening, Bianca had told her she had been so obsessed with her own pain she hadn't realized the impact of Miranda's death on Kendall's.
An unexpected spike of pain had erupted inside Maggie that day, jabbed into her heart, as she fought to control her emotion, telling Bianca through an aching voice and tears behind her eyes that Kendall wasn't the only one who grieved for Miranda.
Maggie remembered the sonogram - it haunted her, stayed with her, her first glimpse of Bianca's baby girl. The wonder. The joy. The absolutely breathtaking experience of standing next to Bianca and looking on the life she was creating in that womb.
It had been her and Bianca's secret at her. Her and Bianca's dream.
Maggie had never been so excited, so happy, as those moments when she would close her eyes and dream of the future: Lamaze classes, baby books, Bianca and Maggie in Paris, and Bianca had been such a beautiful pregnant lady.
Maggie had never tired of rubbing her palm along Bianca's bump, chattering to Miranda, heart full of affection as Bianca looked down at her, tolerating Maggie's gossipy demeanor with a demure smile.
Maggie had loved Miranda as much as she had loved Bianca.
Dreams had erupted into nightmares, and Maggie had lost Bianca, lost Miranda, before she had ever had either of them.
In reality, there was no real reason to grieve as much as she did for Miranda. She wasn't the sister. She wasn't the girlfriend. She was the best friend, and drifting further every day. She had no right to feel the loss as much as she did. She knew that.
But Maggie had grieved. She had cried into her pillow, and in Lena's arms. She had made love to Jamie so furiously and harder than ever before, and then collapsed against his chest in sobs, until she put the pain and tears away and hidden them in the same place she hid her grief for the sister she never really knew.
They were there, paired together, Miranda and Frankie.
In that hallway, muffling her sobs desperately, drowned out thankfully, by the Kane women's argument, the pain became real again, and relief mingled with grief, as Maggie bit down hard on her hand and tried to compose herself.
Her poor sore heart couldn't take the emotion, and so Maggie let it bleed for the little girl she had lost and found again.
The phone began to buzz in her jacket, vibrating against her ribs, and Maggie wiped at her tears, sucking in a silent sob as she dug for her cell phone. Flipping it open, she took in the color with a slight jump in her chest, and pushed against the floor, rising shakily to her feet as she held it to her ear.
Sucking in a ragged breath, she pushed the elevator button, and answered with a low, delicate, "Hello?"
"Maggie. It's me. I have something terribly important-"
"I know," she said flatly, sniffing, rubbing her sleeve along her nose. "Aiden, Bess is Miranda."
--
She had lost her temper, and she regretted it.
But her mother and Kendall ganging up on her wasn't putting her in the best of moods, and Maggie had confused her, scared her, thrown her completely off an already tentatively sane state.
Maggie was living with Aiden. Which meant she had asked him to move in after Bianca had left her, after their kiss.
Bianca didn't know what to think about it - she had no idea what it even meant.
She had lost control, and Maggie had kissed her back. Had it meant something to her? Was it just a lost throwback to months before, when Maggie had done the same thing? Planted a kiss on her and then told her it meant nothing, that she was taking things too far, putting too much meaning into something that was nothing, while Maggie went and banged a guy, any guy?
Bianca's headache was pulsing, and she wrapped a pillow in her arms, holding it to her chest.
But since then, Maggie had told her she loved her. Maggie had told her that she thought about Bianca, and their kiss, and she wanted to do it again.
And Maggie was living with Aiden now, and Bianca had so much in her head and in her heart-
Maybe she was just lonely. Maybe that's what it was. Missing Lena. Missing that physical comfort. Missing putting her head in Maggie's lap, feeling Maggie's fingers etching across her scalp, bringing little prickles of energy.
Maggie and her weren't as close - life had taken them in different directions, and now Babe was gone, and Maggie was living with Aiden, and maybe Bianca was just confused.
Her eyes shut tight and she curled the pillow deeper into her chest, buried her face in it.
She wanted to talk to Maggie. She wanted to run to her apartment, bang down the door and demand Maggie tell her that it meant something. That Maggie needed her.
But there were complications, and breathing in her pillow, Bianca suddenly felt Miranda's little body, a sudden day dream, breathed into reality.
She jerked her head up, swallowed hard, and shook herself.
Bess. Bess needed her. Bess and Babe needed her, and that was her priority. Her cellphone rang, and Bianca looked at it, watching it ring.
After a couple more insistent beeps, she reached over, glancing at the Caller ID.
Lena.
Bianca wasn't in the mood for another fight. Another round of the same conversation.
She let it ring.
--
They sat quietly in BJ's. Maggie had a cheeseburger on her plate and some seasoned waffle fries, a meal that normally she could gulp down and then run off at the gym.
She had barely touched it.
In front of her, Aiden fumbled with the straw wrapper, not bothering to even try to create a worm, that habit broken by their shared discovery.
Putting the information together had broken Maggie further, as she began to realize, with every single piece of this, just how far, how long, this deception had gone. Just who was involved. Just how far people she had loved had gone to hide this.
Her family. Her friends.
"I'm sorry, Maggie."
Grimacing, Maggie lowered her hands from her chin, locking eyes with her boyfriend to offer a half-hearted shrug.
"I don't know how I can look at him or Jamie again," she said slowly. "They knew, Aiden. They knew. David, who helped Bianca... who was with Bianca when..."
She choked on her words, eyes closing, trying to contain her sudden anger, the betrayal giving rise to nausea.
Aiden's palm covered hers and squeezed, offering his support. "Maggie, I know it's hard - but we have to stay clear headed."
"I can't," she mumbled, jerking out of his grasp. "I can't. I just think of what David must have done, what Jamie did - and... God. How could I be so stupid? Why didn't I see this?"
"Because no one would ever keep a mother from her baby, not any honest person," he said slowly. "Not anyone with any guts or decency."
"God," she said, slamming her hand down, eyes flashing suddenly. "That bitch paraded her in front of Bianca, made her her GODMOTHER, of all things! What a fucking bitch-"
"Maggie!"
"I'll kill her that baby stealing bitch. I will."
He said nothing, and Maggie was glad. She fed into her hate, thinking of every instance, every minute, that lying skank cousin of hers looked at her with those trembling lips, that 'kicked puppy' look she had gotten so good at.
She pressed her palms back to her face, taking in a shuddering breath, sucking in the air to fill her lungs, trying to rush blood into her brain, bring her back.
"I just keep thinking, Aiden. I keep thinking of Bianca, of hearing her scream when she found out about Miranda - something died in her that day, and it kept killing her. Every day, every night - she bled for her baby, and that bitch who called her her best friend, she waltzed around, played the martyr. The hero."
"I know." Maggie shuddered. After a moment, she heard, "What do you want to do?"
Maggie swallowed, lowered her hands, and let out a haggard breath. "The first instinct I have is to run to Bianca. Tell her the truth. Run over to JR's and take that baby and put her right back into Bianca's arms."
"Maggie, I would like nothing more," Aiden said, leaning over with his muscled frame, lowering his tone. "But would she believe you?"
"Why wouldn't she?" The question fell onto it's own sword, and Maggie knew the answer even as the words came out. "Of course she wouldn't," she said slowly. "She's obsessed with Babe. She thinks she's the second coming. She couldn't believe Babe would be capable of this. We'd have to club it into her face, and even then, she'd hate me forever, just for suggesting it."
Aiden frowned, and Maggie shook her head, bitterly resigned. "And if we tell Erica?"
"I'm even scared of that," Maggie said, "Would she believe me? I don't have any proof. And Erica wouldn't keep quiet about this. It's not in her. She'd run to Bianca and then to Adam Chandler, and all hell would break loose." Maggie shook her head resolutely. "I'm not going to do that to Bianca, not until we have proof. I'm not going to give her hope and then just... screw it up. When that baby gets back to her mother, I want there to be absolute certainty. I don't want Bianca to lose her ever again."
"Then I suggest we gather proof," he said, after a beat.
"Like what? A DNA test?" Maggie said, "Tad Martin said at the christening that he did one, and Bess was Miranda."
"I know what Tad said," he said calmly. "And not that I don't trust him, he's an honorable man. But I'd rather do one myself."
"You don't think Tad would-"
"No," he said firmly. "Not Tad. He's a decent, good man."
Maggie blew out her breath. "Okay. Well, that brings up the next question. How the hell are we going to do that? It's not like I can ask Bianca for a sample of her blood. And the Chandler's hate me. If I show up wanting to stick a syringe into Bess Chandler they'll kick me out, get me arrested, and get me expelled."
Aiden frowned. "We'll figure it out," he said methodically. "And in the meantime... we'll gather our proof."
Maggie nodded. "Yeah... At least we know the truth now. We know it, Aiden. It's only a matter of time before that little girl is back in Bianca's arms where she belongs."
She looked down at her fries, heart bruised, but beating now more fiercely than ever.
She was at a crossroads, she knew that. David was her savior. Her cousin. He paid her way through college, he gave her support and a hero. Jamie had been her lover. Her friend. He had been there for her as she cried about Miranda, he had been there when she whispered about her helplessness to help Bianca, about Bianca's pain.
She had no idea who they were now.
And she wondered how the hell she could look at either of them, ever again.
"I have to go to Financial Aid," she mumbled. Aiden glanced up at her, obviously confused at the random statement. Witch a twitch of her lips, she explained. "There's no way in hell I'm taking David's money now."
Their eyes locked, and in his, she detected a glimmer of something. But she only smiled half heartedly, and picked at her fries.
--
Bianca felt alive.
She clutched her phone in her fingers, and every time Babe spoke, she had to stop herself from closing her eyes in relief, thankful, so thankful, that she could hear her voice again. They spoke in rushed conversation, but she was still thankful for it, mind off Maggie now, focused completely on Babe, Bess, and their plight.
"So is everything okay now?"
Bianca chuckled bitterly, shaking her head, "No. Things pretty much couldn't be worse. I mean, J.R. fed me that horrible lie about Bess being Miranda -- I mean, really. It's -- it's sick. That man is so full of hate and he just wants everyone to be just like him. He tried to use that lie to make me turn against you."
There was an odd pause, then Babe began haltingly, "Bianca, nothing in my letter to you was a lie."
"I know!" she said immediately. "I know. That's what makes this whole thing so ridiculous. I don't know. Babe, I've made some mistakes in my life, and sometimes I'm a little late to clue in," she continued, thinking of Maggie suddenly, "but at least I know who to trust, who to believe in -- you, my best friend, certainly not J.R."
Again, Babe waited a moment, clearing her throat suddenly. "No, I just -- I just hate that J.R. came in between us. You have no idea what you mean to me."
Bianca smiled, heart jumping inside of her. "Yes, I do -- exactly what you mean to me. You said it yourself not long after we met -- best friends forever. It's still true. Nothing J.R. says can change that."
It was true. Babe, Bianca could count on. Babe needed her and loved her, and didn't come with confusing feelings that made her chest tighten. Babe and Bess were her devotion.
Because she loved that little girl. She loved that little girl, and as much as she didn't want to think of it, she knew part of the reason was it helped slightly to fill the void, the space in her heart that had died when Miranda had been taken from her.
The conversation continued, and she listened breathlessly, trying once again to understand Babe's motivations, Babe's emotion so clear in that phone, like she was in the room with her.
"Bianca, I have to see you. I have to take what I've got coming to me. Even if you have to yell at me or slap me, I --"
"Wait a minute," she breathed, eyes narrowing, head shaking in complete bewilderment, "Why would you say that? Why would I want to do that?"
"I just -- I just -- I want to be worthy of all the -- the love and the kindness that you've shown me. But the tricky part is, is I may lose your friendship in the process." Again, Bianca didn't understand. Didn't Babe get it? That would never happen. But she didn't get a chance to respond, because Babe continued fiercely, "Look, I -- Bianca, I know that I have asked a lot of you, but I have to ask you something else.
"Name it."
"Bring J.R. and Bess with you."
The request was so out of left field Bianca had to repeat it, to try and process it. "J.R. and... and... Bess? I don't know if I-" Suddenly her mind shifted, clicked into place, and once again, her heart jumped into her throat. "Oh, my God, Babe. Are you still planning to kidnap your baby!"
"I don't want you to worry about that."
Bianca blinked, eyes suddenly brimming with unshed tears. "Well, I'm not really the point here, Babe."
"Bianca, you are way in this even if you don't know it. And that's why I want you to be there looking straight in my eyes when I make things right. And Bess has to be there, too."
Bianca's heart was beating so fast she had to take in a deep breath to try and calm it. Clutching the phone harder, she swallowed down her trepidation, eyes closing for a brief moment, considering ever so briefly of what she was agreeing to.
"Whatever you're planning," she began haltingly, "Is it -- is it for the sake of Bess and her happiness?"
"It's going to be the happiest day of her babyhood. And she's going to spread the joy everywhere."
It was the certainty of Babe's voice that swung her, and Bianca nodded, even though Babe couldn't see her. "Is it pointless for me to ask what your plan is?"
"Look, if you can get J.R. and Bess down to that benefit concert, everything is going to become crystal clear to you. You're going to be going to Florida, too, right?"
Bianca smiled breathlessly. "Yes, of course. It's -- it's a concert for my daughter. I'll be there. You know, I need these things more than ever to feel close to Miranda."
"You'll feel her," Babe promised. "She'll be close." Bianca sucked in her breath, and believed her.
--
It was ridiculous to study for a Chem final when her thoughts were flying every which way.
Maggie found herself stuck in an odd conundrum. She was obsessed with Bianca, but for once, it wasn't just because of her unrequited love, but because of a certain truth that only she and Aiden knew. They were sitting on a landmine, and she was aching to slam her foot down on it, explode the precarious lies that had been woven, one on top of the other, and expose the ugly and beautiful truth.
Giving up, Maggie shoved aside her big book and slid over her planner, studying the dates in big black ink.
She circled the Thanksgiving weekend, and etched into it: In NY w/ Anna.
They had made plans months ago, her and Aiden, and Maggie stared hard at the date, wondering if she should feel guilty at all, for not wanting to go now - not with everything going down here.
A few days after Thanksgiving, just shy of a week, was another mark, she had made a long time ago.
MIMO IN FLORIDA.
Her code for the Miranda Center's Fundraising Concert, taking place in Florida.
She had made plans to go, she remembered that, to be there for Bianca and David had offered to pay her way, something she had tried to turn down.
There was an X through it. Maggie had done that a week after the casino incident. Cancelled her flight. Given David back his money.
She was supposed to share Bianca's hotel room.
Her eyes flicked between the dates to the empty boxes, and suddenly, she felt a small slice of pain.
Taking her red pen, Maggie carefully circled the day before, taking her time. Biting onto her lower lip, she wrote another word.
Frankie.
Like she would ever forget.
She must have lost herself, because it wasn't until the door nearly collapsed for all the thudding, that Maggie blinked herself out of her memories, to glare at her unknown intruder.
"Okay, coming!" she said, pushing off her desk, rounding the couch to head for the door. The door only banged harder. "Hold your horses!" she barked.
"Maggie?"
She reached for the door knob, twisting it and swinging it open. "WHAT!"
Kendall Hart was rubbing at her wrist, eyes narrowed. "What the hell took you so long!" she snapped. "I hurt my hand!"
Maggie blinked, frozen in disbelief as Kendall paraded past her, turning on her heel to glare at her like she was on a runway. "Nice to see you too. Come in, please."
Kendall just waved her hand at her. "Fine. Hello, Maggie - we done?"
"No, we're not done-"
"My sister has gone kookoo for the blonde. It's your turn to beat some sense into her."
Maggie blinked, confused, shutting the door behind her before crossing her arms. "I'm so lost, Kendall it's not even funny."
"Bianca? You were there during that sickening Babe is the saint of all things holy speech!" Kendall said, hands on her hips. "Well, now Babe's gotten to her again, and I've talked J.R. into doing something, and honestly? I'm pretty sure now that it's not the greatest idea."
Maggie rubbed at her temple with her fingers. "Kendall? Start again? Slowly."
"Listen, idiot! I need you to talk to Bianca - and get it out of her! She and Babe are cooking up something insanely stupid, and she's not listening to me!"
Maggie blinked. "And she'd listen to me!"
"She's your best friend."
"Uh, no." Maggie rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she moved around Kendall, heading for her desk. "Isn't that Babe?"
"Babe is a lying tramp."
"Oh, thank God," Maggie muttered under her breath. "Finally, something we agree on."
"Maggie, you have to talk to my sister. She'll listen to you."
Maggie had already turned the corner past Passiville and was in Bitter Junction. "I don't think she would, Kendall, okay?"
"Don't play coy with me, Maggie Stone." Maggie turned, arching an eyebrow as Kendall strode up to her, pointing a finger in her face. "It's obvious you've got something going on with my sister. USE it."
Maggie blinked, mouth suddenly agape. "Uh-What! There's nothing going on!"
"Please. I was there when you came to see her, remember?"
"Please yourself!" she sputtered. "I'm with Aiden!" The panic was quickly surfacing, and she shook her head immediately.
"What are you on!" Kendall said, eyebrow arching. "I'm not trying to pin a big gay rainbow on you, Maggie - but as far as I can tell you're the only one who's been able to knock Bianca out of her Babe induced high for more than a minute. I need you to get it out of her!"
Maggie was still confused, panic dying down to just plain confusion. "Get WHAT out of her? What did you do!"
Kendall sighed, rubbing at her neck as she turned to Maggie and shrugged. "I might have convinced J.R. to take Bess with him to Florida."
"So?"
Kendall looked almost ashamed. "So I have the sneaking suspicion that maybe Babe asked Bianca to ask me to ask J.R."
The telephone game. Maggie considered the statement, felt it resonate inside her, until it hit a fever pitch and she suddenly breathed with widening eyes, "Oh, God."
"Uhuh."
"You can't let them go!"
"I can't stop them now! I don't even know what's going on!"
"They're going to kidnap Miranda!"
The word dropped like a bomb, and it left them both quiet, regarding each other, Kendall's eyes alight with confusion and anger. "Bess," she enunciated, as if seething that her presumed dead niece was even brought up.
Maggie didn't care. Her head was ringing and her heart was beating furiously. "Kendall, we have to stop them."
"Yes, I know. Why are you freaking out!"
"Because if we let Bianca do this, then it's going to be the worst mistake of her life."
"Why are you so cryptic?"
Maggie was breathless, her throat was dry, but she couldn't keep it from Kendall. Not now.
"Kendall," she whispered, coming forward to take her best friend's sister in her hands, squeezing tight. "Kendall, I'm sorry I have to spring this on you, but you have to listen. You can't let Bianca take that baby to Florida and hand her over to Babe."
"Well, she's not exactly listening to me, Maggie-"
"You have to promise me."
"What's going on!" Kendall jerked out of her grip, eyes flashing with bewilderment and irritation.
It was now or never.
"Kendall, that baby? The baby that Bianca would die for? That baby that she's so willing to steal from J.R. to give to Babe? That's her baby. That's Miranda."
end chapter
Coming Soon
Maggie tries to talk some sense into Bianca, with really bad results. Aiden and Maggie recruit Kendall and Anita in Operation Illegal DNA Test. Thanksgiving in New York provides some surprising advice from Anna.