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 Thirty-One

You say I'm aggressive, too possessive
It's too soon, too much
You want to wait around, slow it down, but I'm burnin' up
What can I do to get through to you, I know that you're the one
'Cause there's no controllin' this emotion, it's bigger than us

You don't know what love is
If you think that I can fight this feeling
Keep my true heart from revealing
Everything inside
You don't know what love is
If you hear me say you're mine forever
Feel our two hearts beat together
And think you can resist
You don't know what love is

-- Lonestar, You Don't Know What Love Is

--

"Where is she?"

Maggie Stone, somehow cute despite the fact she was hobbling and swinging her way toward her like a cripple, wore a red face, and haunted, dark features.

Rarely, had a little woman other than Erica Kane looked so supremely pissed off.

Greenlee absorbed the image, shaken slightly out of her shock at Maggie's abrupt entrance, when Maggie wobbled even closer.

"Greenlee."

"Maggie," she replied, purposely breezy, hanging up the phone and making a show of checking her watch. "You're early."

"You're full of shit." Free hand slammed against her counter, Maggie seemed livid. "I should have known better than to think you had no ulterior motives."

Greenlee leaned back, taking the moment to consider the situation. "I'm not sure I follow you. Having a rough day?"

"You call me out of the blue, under the pretense of having lunch, the same day I find out Bianca has been telling everyone and their mother about us-"

"Again, failing to see how I'm at fault here," she replied glibly, somewhat amused. Maggie was a smart one, she'd give her little lesbian cousin credit for that.

"Where is Bianca?" Maggie snapped, enunciating the words. "Marian said she'd be here. Was this your big plan? Pull a Kendall redux and make me see her?"

"You're giving me an awful lot of credit for caring about what the hell you're talking about," Greenlee replied dryly.

"Dammit, Greenlee!" Maggie straightened to her full tiny height, agitated beyond reason now. "Just tell me where she is!"

"She's on the roof," said someone else. Greenlee arched her neck, discovered both Reggie and Danielle now in hallway leading to the roof elevator.

Both looked distinctly uncomfortable.

Caught in her lie, or rather, her complete evasion of the question, Greenlee had no choice but to simply shrug at Maggie's intense glare.

Little Maggie turned on her heel, tottering away like a really mad Keebler elf.

Somehow, Greenlee doubted it was the mood Bianca was ready or hoping for.

"Well..." she said into the departing silence, locking eyes with her brother."That's not a great start."

--

It was easier to get angry.

Maggie wanted easy. She wanted simple. It seemed so long that she had battled with hard and complicated and always kept losing, kept getting sucked back into sticky emotion and entanglements that refused to die, refused to let her go. The harder she kept trying to free herself, it seemed, the deeper she was sucked in.

It was happening again. A few days of quiet, barely a week of solitude, hardly enough time to get herself put back together, her feet back on the ground, and suddenly, her world was tilted and slammed and it was ALWAYS ABOUT BIANCA.

Maggie was pissed. Pissed at herself. Pissed at Bianca. Pissed at everything and everyone, because nothing about this was simple and easy, and it was only getting worse.

The anger had her humming with anxiety, hot blood coursing through her veins, and she waited with breathless impatience as the elevator kept going, slowly, taking it's time, until the barely there jolt and the ding.

The doors whooshed opened, and livid, Maggie began to search out Bianca, found her almost immediately.

And completely lost all comprehension.

She was surrounded by roses. They covered the rooftop, all dark, deep red or pristine white, a small forest that landscaped the cement room. In the midst of it, Bianca stood, hair curled and falling around her shoulders, wisping around her face thanks to a light breeze, wearing a beautifully simple red halter top.

Caught unawares, Bianca held a rose in her hands, frozen like the muse of a gorgeous scenic masterpiece.

It was like she had just stepped out of Dorothy's house, and into the magical land of Oz.

Maggie lost her strength and her anger. Clutching onto the doorway, she realized she was dizzy, and opened her mouth to inhale deeply, breathing in air and the unmistakably fresh perfume of flowers.

Half turned, Bianca locked eyes with hers. "Maggie."

Maggie's hand instinctively tightened on the wood, weak-kneed.

Breathless, she couldn't shout. Couldn't scream. Couldn't demand. Instead, her question came out like a plea, a beaten soldier begging for respite.

"Bianca," she managed, tone trembling with sudden emotion. "What do you think you're doing?"

Bianca simply stared, taking her in, and Maggie couldn't keep looking, couldn't keep drinking in the vivid colors, the sea of roses, the magnetic pull of the woman who had become an endless source of frustration and heartache.

She closed her eyes against all of it.

But she could feel her - in the unmistakable surge that rose within her, when her eyes opened and she discovered Bianca only a foot away.

Without a word, Bianca pressed the rose she held into her own hand. While Maggie watched with an open mouth and unsteady breath, Bianca clasped hands over her one free palm and brought it to her lips, feather soft kisses laid upon her fingers.

"Bianca..." she begged, unsure what she was begging for, what she meant, if she wanted to get away from her or come that much closer.

When Bianca inched forward, she couldn't move back. As it was, she was pressed up against the coldness of the closed elevators door, trapped against them and the soft, feminine form of Bianca Montgomery.

Bianca's gaze was dark, intense, and Maggie was frozen with sudden awe at the beauty of her friend, so captivated what happened next was almost a surprise, despite her achingly aware of every single movement.

With a slow, seductive smile, Bianca lowered her head, until hot breath warmed upon her lips, and Maggie felt the soft press of a deliberate, sensual kiss.

Helpless, her eyes closed, and her mouth opened, inviting Bianca to sweep inside, lay claim to her soul and her desire.

With a groan, she tilted her head and kissed her more deeply still, in this world of roses and Bianca, where everything else suddenly ceased to exist.

--

"I've never been a God father."

Aiden said it with severe seriousness, forehead wrinkled in thought. Anna smiled fondly at the sight, as Aiden's large hands smoothed in agitation around each other, while he contemplated the idea.

"I'm sure it's not that hard," she said drolly, smiling silently.

"It's a big responsibility," he told both mother and daughter, shifting in his chair as he grabbed hold of his straw, carefully tearing off the end of one side of the wrapper. "One that Maggie takes seriously."

"Well, what about you?" Robin asked, crossing eyes with her mother when Aiden began to systematically squish the wrapper down over the straw, bunching it up toward the bottom.

"I care very much for Miranda," he told them both, inspecting his smooshed wrapper, and then pressing down again for good measure.

"That's great," Robin agreed, small smile darting onto her lips when he carefully removed the straw and left the smooshed wrapper on the table.

Aiden flashed them a charming smile, and promptly dunked his straw into his water, closing the tip off with his finger, removing it almost immediately.

"Aiden?" Anna asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

"Hmm?" he asked, tongue in the corner of his mouth, eyeing the wrapper.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" Robin finally asked for the two of them.

"Maggie taught me," he said simply, and then proceeded to drop a small bit of water onto the wrapper. Immediately, the wrapper absorbed the moisture, expanding and curling away. He smiled widely. "See? A worm!"

Robin looked dumbstruck, and Anna felt herself explode immediately into a burst of laughter, covering her mouth in apology when he lifted an irate eyebrow.

"Splendid!" she said, as sincerely as she could. He grinned happily, looking down at his worm, exceedingly proud.

"Maggie didn't think I could do it right," he told them, and then pulled out his phone, rising from the table. "She's not going to believe it."

Her smile tightened, and Anna swallowed a little harder as he excused himself, dialing numbers as he moved to a spot outside with better reception.

She waited a moment, in the silence that followed, to deliberately take a drink of her water, watching as Robin poked at the now soaked wrapper.

"Have you ever seen him act like this?"

Anna took another demure sip of water, tone low and unassuming. "Not in a while."

Robin gave her a long look, before glancing down at the table top, smoothing a finger down her fork.

"He's happy," she said crisply. "Maggie's friend has her baby back, and now he and Maggie can move on."

Anna paused, studying her daughter with sudden concern. "Is that what he told you?"

Robin shrugged, palming the arch of her neck. "He didn't really have to, did he?" Anna frowned, mouth pursing. "Mom?" Robin's eyes were dark. "What is it you're not telling me?"

"How do you mean?" she asked, purposely casual.

"It means that you know something - that you're not telling me," she repeated, irritation tainting her voice. Anna said nothing. "It's about that Bianca girl, isn't it?"

She closed her eyes, suddenly tired. "Robin."

"No!" Lowering her tone, her daughter leaned forward, whispering furiously. "I'm the last person in the world to judge someone by what they are, you know that." Anna felt a twinge of sorrow, lingering on her HIV positive baby girl. "But from what I've seen and heard, Bianca has been entangled with Maggie and Aiden since they got together, and not in a good way."

"Robin, she's Maggie's best friend," Anna replied dryly. "At times her only friend."

"And that's not all she was." Anna jerked back, locking eyes with her suddenly angered daughter. "Mother, I'm not stupid. Okay? You walked in on what I did. You saw how Bianca reacted to what I was saying."

"And that gave you a legitimate right to say it?" she snapped. Robin shut her mouth, glanced away. "What will happen or is happening is something the three of them need to work out for themselves, Robin, or it will never end. It's none of my business, and it's none of yours."

"The hell it's not." Robin's jaw hardened, her words were tight. "Aiden is my cousin, Mother. He loves Maggie, and as far as I can tell, Maggie loves him too. He's your nephew, Mom. Would you really take Bianca's side over his?"

Anna sighed raggedly, smoothing fingers along her temple, massaging lightly.

--

Hot lips slanted over hers, releasing a low breathless sigh that made her shudder, pressed against steel doors and a warm body, overtaking her senses, too quickly for her mind to react.

She felt like she was drowning, unable to do anything but feel, shudder and bury fingers into silky soft hair, holding on tightly.

At first, the buzz and ringing against her side was just noise, filtered just past her incoherence. But it kept coming, kept vibrating in her pocket, and it was just enough, to understand, really understand, what it was she was doing.

Fingers tightened reflexively with the panicked jump of her heart, clasping hair roughly and jerking back, releasing Maggie from a maddening trap.

"What are you doing?" she breathed, inches from a face dazed with lust, bee stung lips swollen with her passion.

"Maggie...Maggie, I love you-" The words were a tantalizing whisper, and Maggie licked her lips, Bianca's body still pressed against her, holding her still. That face lowered again, and Maggie felt like suddenly sobbing.

"No," she snapped unsteadily, holding Bianca still. "NO!" Ducking under, she nearly lurched forward, tangling her leg with her cast, as Bianca caught her, holding her steady. "Stop touching me-"

"Okay-"

"I mean it!" Steadying herself, she shoved at Bianca's hands, looking at her friend with wide, hurt eyes. With a hiss, she realized she was still holding onto Bianca's flower, pricking herself on a thorn. She dropped it. The wound stung. "What are you doing?"

Bianca was breathing hard, and her hands were out, looking at her like she was some sort of wild animal she needed to calm down. "Maggie, Maggie stop freaking out, okay?" Maggie laughed bitterly. "Maggie, I love you, okay? And you love me, I know you do-"

"Oh, really?" she shook her head, jerky and out of control.

"Yes, really," Bianca replied, tone firm. "The way you just kissed me-"

"I didn't have much of a choice, Bianca." Bianca tried once again to step forward, and just the action caused a surge of panic. "STOP!"

"Okay..." Bianca immediately froze, tone soft and gentle. "Okay, I'm not moving, Maggie. But I'm not backing down, either."

--

"Maggie, it's Aiden. I know you're having lunch with Greenlee, but I just wanted to tell you - I've mastered the worm." He grinned in spite of himself, flushing in embarrassment at his childishness. "I'll be home soon." He hesitated for a second. "I love you."

Flipping his phone closed, Aiden took in an unsteady breath, pushing back into the restaurant and glancing toward the bar.

A beautiful woman smiled at him, tilting a fine manicured palm in his direction, motioning him forward.

Kendall Hart.

Aiden arched an eyebrow, appreciating Kendall, as always, for her beauty and her fire. Coming forward, he greeted her with a smile, arching back to spy on Robin and Anna, speaking animatedly to each other.

"It's the big hero," Kendall said, offering him a beer.

"Little early in the morning for that, isn't it?" he asked. Quirking an eyebrow, Kendall only stared at him. Rolling his eyes with amusement, he finally took it, tipping the bitter liquid into his mouth. "Thank you."

Kendall nodded, curly hair bouncing over her shoulders, elbows tipping on the counter, eyeing him. "Actually it's me who should be thanking you."

"Really?" he asked, wiping the condensation off the bottle in distraction. "Why's that?"

"Well, you gave my baby sister back her little girl." Kendall's smile sparkled. "And you gave us both back our hearts. That's a lot."

Aiden felt a small glimmer of humble pride slip through him. "I remember what you two went through, Kendall," he told her simply. "I'm just glad Maggie and I had a chance to help."

Kendall's eyes flashed with a different emotion, and Aiden found his own smile stalling,

"So where is the little wifey?" Kendall cracked, straightening some, edging closer. Aiden noted her palm, as it rested on his forearm, and his eyes narrowed.

"Maggie is having lunch with Greenlee," he said carefully. "Where's Ethan, Kendall?"

She glanced up, startled, mouth dissolving into a slow smile. "I wouldn't know," she said evenly. "We're not really together, you know."

"Hmm..." He straightened, drinking down the beer. "Does he know that?"

"Yes..." Kendall glanced down at the bar, fidgeting slightly. "You know, Aiden... What you did -" Hazel eyes locked with his. "You proved there's still good guys out there."

There was a lilt in her tone, a flirtatious quality he remembered all too well. Kendall's cat eyes were liquid pools of sensuality, and the warm, content feeling in his stomach quickly began to harden to tense steel.

"What are you doing, Kendall?" he asked frankly.

"Nothing," she answered straightening. "Nothing at all. Just... working together recently, it got me thinking... about how we used to be."

His hand clasped over the beer bottle, holding on tightly. "And how was that, Kendall?"

"I think you know." Her voice had lowered a full octave, and Aiden winced when he felt the prickles of desire inside of him. The emotion shook him, and he rolled his shoulders, backing off from the bar.

"You're wasting your time, Kendall," he told her crisply, unwrapping his hand from Kendall's bottle and turning on his heel, moving away.

"Is it because of Maggie?" The words made him stop, close his eyes and take in a frustrated breath. "I'm not sure she's worth this newfound chastity, Aiden." Jerking his head, Aiden glared at her. "Your little girlfriend isn't as faithful as you think."

She wanted him to turn around. She wanted him to demand she tell him about the barbs she stuck inside him.

Aiden trembled, clamped his mouth shut and inhaled.

With all his strength, he walked away from her.

--

Maggie was scared and blindsided. Bianca knew that would happen.

She bit her bottom lip, careful to keep her movements slow, not giving the agitated Maggie any reason to bolt.

"God, I was so stupid..." Maggie breathed, looking like a frightened deer. "You asking me and Aiden to be Miranda's godparents, that wasn't about Miranda, it was about this, wasn't it? Proving something?"

She let out an unsteady sigh. "Maggie-"

"Proving that I can't stay away from you?"

"No, Maggie, that's not what it was."

"And you got Greenlee to help you?" Maggie's eyes were wide, brilliant with moisture, unshed tears evidence of her distraught. Bianca kept her place, beseeching Maggie with a loving, gentle look. "GOD, Bianca."

"Maggie, I didn't know how else I could get you to listen to me-"

"You won't, Bianca." Her words were snapped, edged in ice. "I won't listen to you. I won't listen to this."

"Maggie, you can't run away from me anymore." Her tone was louder now, more in control, and her frightened Maggie only shook her head, blind to anything but her own fear. Bianca saw it, and as her heart broke and her eyes closed in frustration, she finally understood how hard this was going to be. "Maggie, I love you -"

"Bullshit, Bianca-"

"Why is that so hard for you to believe!"

"Oh, and it's so easy for you, right?" Maggie nearly spit out her words, glancing around at the sea of roses. "You buy out a few florists shops, you trick me into getting up here, and then you lay one on me, and that's going to change everything. That's going to erase what happened-"

"That's not what I was trying to do-"

"Then what the hell were you trying to do!" Maggie snapped. "You don't get it. I'm WITH Aiden. I CHOSE Aiden. Aiden LOVES ME."

Maggie sounded so desperate, so scared. Bianca shuddered in frustration, wanting to suddenly wrapped her arms around the fragile soul and hold her so tightly.

Quietly, she whispered, "I love you too, Maggie."

"Stop it."

"And you love me."

"Stop it."

"It's the truth."

"It's the truth you want to hear," Maggie jerked a finger in her direction, frustrated angry movements. "You're so locked into what you think and what you want to be true you can't process what's really there. Just like with Lena. Just like with Babe-"

Maggie's accusation struck an unexpected place, an open wound that hadn't quite healed. She winced, sucking in a soft gasp in retaliation.

"You're not Lena, and you're not BABE," Bianca snapped. "Maggie, I know you feel for me what I'm feeling for you right now."

Her Maggie issued a cold, bitter laugh. "You're not really close, Bianca." Already, Maggie was moving, around her. On instinct, Bianca reached out, grabbed hold of her.

"Maggie, No," she whispered, forehead pressed against Maggie's head, whispering into her ear. "Please, don't go back to him."

"Let me go." Maggie's words were breathed, barely spoken.

"Maggie, I love you."

Maggie froze, head down, body stiff. "Let me go."

It was all she was going to hear from her, now. Bianca closed her eyes, breathed her in for another second, and then did as she asked.

She let her go.

Maggie jerked out of the loosened grasp, wiping at her nose with the back of her palm.

In the ensuing quiet, Bianca found her voice. "I know I've hurt you. I know you don't believe me. And I know I look desperate and mean right now, Maggie. I know I don't deserve your forgiveness. I know all that." Maggie's dark eyes lifted, met hers in hesitant uncertainty. "But it doesn't change the truth: we love each other, Maggie. I'm sorry, but I have to fight for that before we lose our chance yet again."

Maggie didn't say a word, but Bianca didn't really expect her to. Moving back, Bianca pressed the button for the elevator, and waited the agonizing minutes it took for it to open. Stepping aside, she left the path clear.

Hobbling, Maggie walked away from her.

--

Kendall stepped into Fusion, kneading into her own neck, arching it to try to rid it of the kinks, suddenly exhausted.

She had forgotten how much effort it took not to care. Bianca had softened her almost to a fault, and eyes falling upon her sometimes best friend, sometimes mortal enemy, she discovered the irony in the fact that it was for Bianca that she was bringing it back.

"Well?"

Sipping from a Styrofoam cup, Greenlee turned away from some mock ads. Her partner wore no smile.

"She came in here like a bitch on wheels," she heard solemnly, "And left like a dog with its tail between her legs."

Kendall pressed her mouth together, considering the visual. "Are you feeling bad?"

"Me? Morality? Please." Greenlee settled into her chair, making a point of tossing her hair uncaringly. "As cliché as it sounds, I do believe alls fair in love and war."

Kendall couldn't help a small chortle. "I think you and I have proved that more than once."

Locking glances, they shared a mutual nod, shared memories of more than one fight over their shared lover.

"And how'd it go with you?" Greenlee asked after a bit. "Sink in the first bits of doubt? Mojo still going strong?"

"Oh me?" she repeated, mocked bravado dripping through her tone. "Of course! Seeds planted." She sank down into a chair next to her friend, thumbing the worn leather idly. "But he really loves her, Greenlee."

"We already knew that." Greenlee's tone didn't have any of her characteristic snark.

Kendall shrugged wearily.

"And I don't?" The strong, quiet voice interjected in their midst directed their attention to the hallway leading to the rooftop elevator. Bianca wore a drawn, tense face, and her luminous brown eyes were brilliantly moist.

"No, baby sister," Kendall answered carefully. "That's not what we're saying."

Bianca frowned, closed her eyes and dug her hands into her pockets. "You can feel bad," she told them both. "What we're doing - it's pretty despicable."

"That's no reason to feel bad," Greenlee said immediately. "Kendall and I don't go a day without being despicable."

Kendall couldn't fight her small smile. "It is part of our charm." Bianca's head was lowered, her stare on the floor. "Bianca?" she began hesitantly. "We can stop."

"No." Eyes lifting, Bianca breathed in sharply, as if preparing herself. "We can't stop it now. I won't stop it now. Not after what happened up there."

Turning on her heel, Bianca grabbed her blazer and shrugged it on, offering a small wave and leaving them both.

Mystified, Kendall turned to Greenlee. "What happened up there?"

Her friend shook her head slowly. "She wouldn't say."

Kendall let out an unsteady breath. "Well," she began, louder, firmer. "The gauntlet's thrown. The battle's on. Nothing can stop us now."

"If you start singing Jefferson Starship," Greenlee said snidely, "I'm going to thwap you."

--

Maggie couldn't account for the time between leaving Bianca's rooftop and making it home.

She had passed it in a daze, coming to life only when she sank down on her couch, to discover herself trembling.

Biting her palm, Maggie sucked in her sobs, held them tightly inside her, willing herself not to think of Bianca, her departing words, or the nightmare that was upon her now.

Every skeleton in her closet was now open and vivid. Her mind was torn between the look on Aiden's face when he would find out, and Bianca's earnest professions of love, spilling into her like liquid, her mind and heart absorbing them like a sponge.

She didn't move for a while, until the door lock jiggled and two laughing women entered, a silent man between them.

The look that passed between them was strange and full of meaning, and it only took a glance to Anna, to push Robin out of the room, leaving her alone with the man she had committed herself to.

Aiden looked at her with intense scrutiny, staring into her face for answers to the questions, and Maggie, tired, had no strength to begin.

Sinking down on the couch beside her, he stared straight ahead, jaw clenched, pulse pounding underneath his skin.

"Kendall said something to me," he offered suddenly, in a dark, dirty voice. "And I swore I wouldn't listen to her. But it's sparked inside me, Maggie, and I can't help but wonder."

She closed her eyes, pressed her palm against her forehead, aching, as she sat beside her lover like they were strangers.

"Is there something you need to tell me, Maggie?"

Dark, haunting eyes regarded her, and Maggie bit her lip, eyes drifting shut, exhaling.

She owed him the truth. She had no idea what it was.

Too quiet for too long, Maggie felt the shift of weight on her couch, and her eyes opened to discover Aiden grabbing his keys, jerking open the door, and leaving her.

Alone, Maggie did the only thing she could. Burying her head into her palms, she began to sob silently, bleeding from her indecision, her exasperation, and her exhaustion.

End chapter