A/N: Thank you for the great reviews. They are truly appreciated. This takes place shortly after the confrontation involving the girls at Krystal's. I wanted to add a little more to it.

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Bianca stood in the doorway of her daughters' bedroom watching them sleep. She was relieved to see the peaceful looks on their faces. Last night had been much better for all of them than the night before. A shiver went through her when Bianca thought of the other day. She still didn't understand what her ex had hoped to accomplish or what she was thinking. All she knew was that girls had been frightened by the entire incident, and if truth be told, so was she. After getting the girls home, they had talked about what happened and turned in early. They had stayed in her room that night, and she was glad they did. It had been a fitful night. There had been some bad dreams, but Bianca was able to comfort them and get them back to sleep. As she watched them sleep, she had gotten a text from Marissa. The redhead had been worried and was checking to make sure everyone was okay. Bianca checked the time. It was late, but she decided to call Marissa. She needed to talk to someone. No, she wasn't being completely honest. She needed to talk to Marissa.

AJ had stayed in his mother's room that night as well. He was doing okay but had been shaken up by what had happened. Bianca was going to let her go, but Marissa wouldn't have it. She had somehow gotten her to open up, and once she started talking, Bianca was able to release the anger and fear that she had kept in check all day, hidden from her daughters. Marissa had been nothing short of a rock throughout the entire night. She had listened and provided comfort. From what Kendall had told her, she knew that the redhead had been furious, but not once had she let Bianca hear that anger. She could have reminded Bianca that she had warned her that something bad might happen, but she didn't do that either. That wasn't in Marissa's nature. She had simply been there for her when Bianca needed her the most. They had talked until the early hours of the morning, hanging up just before dawn.

Bianca was able to get a couple hours of sleep before the girls woke up. She had decided to keep them home, and the three spent the day watching movies, playing games, reading and just being together. It was exactly what they all needed. As the day wore on, it was decided that they would go to the zoo the next day. The girls had asked if Marissa and AJ could come with them. Bianca had thought that was great idea and called to invite them. After checking with AJ, Marissa had accepted, and they made plans to meet at Wildwind and drive together.

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Bianca couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather for today for their zoo adventure. The temperature was in the low 70's with an occasional gentle breeze. The sky was a brilliant blue and white puffy clouds dotted the sky every so often. The weather seemed to reflect the change in mood from the other day. The girls had slept soundly last night. This morning they woke up excited about seeing Marissa and AJ and their trip to the zoo.

Once they got there, AJ and Miranda darted from exhibit to exhibit. Gabby wasn't too sure about the larger animals so she was content to stay with Bianca and Marissa. She walked between both of them holding their hands and skipping along with them. When they got to the monkeys, her curiosity won out, and she ran to join the two older children.

Bianca spotted Kendall and her sons walking towards them and waved. She and Marissa sat on a nearby bench while Kendall kept an eye on the children.

"You know, Miranda and Gabby think you're kind of awesome. I gotta say that I do too."

Marissa had a confused look on her face. "Me, awesome? What are you talking about?"

"What you did the other day."

"Bianca, I only did what any lawyer would've done."

The brunette shook her head. "That's not the impression I got from Kendall."

"Your sister exaggerates sometimes."

"True, but not this time according to Krystal. Kendall told me exactly what you did and what you said to both Reese and her lawyer. You could've gotten into serious trouble for that."

"The two of them have big mouths." Marissa muttered.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't want you to worry about me, like you are now. I was the least of your worries. The girls came first."

Bianca nodded. "Would you tell me now? Please?"

Marissa sighed. "I'm afraid I wasn't very professional at the end there, especially with Reese. I'm sorry if I overstepped. I let my emotions get the better of me when I saw she was calling him. What they had tried to pull really started to hit me. I was damned if I wasn't going to give her a piece of my mind. She had to know that she wasn't going to get away with hurting you and the girls. Not then. Not ever."

The redhead tried to play it off some, but Bianca could see the anger in Marissa's eyes and put her hand on her shoulder. "Thank you. You didn't overstep, not by a long shot. You were protecting my daughters and me. I just wish that you would've been a little more careful for yourself. We're talking about your career."

"I don't give a damn about my career when it comes to keeping Miranda, Gabby and you safe. Given the chance, I would probably do exactly the same thing."

Bianca smiled. "See, awesome!"

Marissa rolled her eyes. "Oh please! Stop it!"

"There's something else I need to ask you about. Why didn't you tell me you had an early court date yesterday? I wouldn't have kept you up talking all night."

"How did you find out about that? Wait. Caleb told you, didn't he?"

"Yes, he did. You should've had said something."

"Isn't there anyone in this town that can keep their mouth shut? It was no big deal. I was able to hand the case over to someone else. Look, Bianca, you needed to talk, and I needed and wanted to be there for you. I didn't do anything you wouldn't have done for me."

The two women continued to look into each other's eyes. They seemed to be drawn there by some unknown force. They were jolted back to reality by Kendall.

"Move over, Red. Binx, you're up with the kids. I need a break."

"Huh? Okay, I'm on my way."

As Bianca walked away, the same thoughts went through both her and Marissa's minds. What the hell just happened? Don't think about it! You are just friends! Just as quickly as the thoughts occurred, they were pushed into the back of their minds.

"Is everything okay, Marissa?" Kendall asked.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine. I'll go help Bianca with the kids."

"Uh, I was hoping we could talk a little."

"You know, I'm not sure if I'm talking to you."

"What'd I do?"

"You told your sister about my conversation with Reese. I would've preferred if she hadn't known about that."

"Okay. Will you give me a couple minutes?"

"Hmmm. I have a pretty good idea of how the Kane women operate. I really don't have a choice, do I? Go ahead."

"First, I didn't get the chance to say it the other day, but thank you for taking care of my nieces, for keeping them safe, and thank you for watching out for my sister, for having her back."

"There was no way in hell that those girls were going anywhere. I wasn't going to let anyone do something like that to Bianca. You don't need to thank me, Kendall. Anyone would do what I did in that situation."

"Yeah, I did need to thank you. Second, a conversation? Is that what you would call what you had with Reese? I always thought a conversation required more than one person doing the talking. What you had? It sounded pretty one-sided to me. Not that I'm criticizing, because I'm not. You handled that far better than either my mom or I would have. Which reminds me, mom wanted me to thank you for her as well and to tell you that she was impressed."

Marissa just stared in shock at Kendall for a few minutes before she managed to speak. "Erica? You told Erica, and she was impressed? Is that all she said?"

"Yeah, she was very impressed, and actually, no, that wasn't all she said. She had quite a few choice words about Reese and her lawyer."

The redhead smirked. "I can only imagine what she had to say about them. Remind me to not get on Erica's bad side."

"It was extremely, shall we say, colorful, and that's a good call about not getting on her bad side. Now, back to my sister. Why didn't you want her to know about what you said to Reese?"

"I knew she would worry about what might happen to me. She had too much to deal with. I didn't want to add to the list."

"You know how this place is with secrets. If I didn't tell her, someone else would have. As for her not worrying about someone she cares about, you know that's not going to happen. Bianca always has and always will put everyone else before herself. It's who she is. That being said, the reverse is not always true. There haven't been too many people that have done the same for her. They take her for granted, and she ends up getting hurt. I can't even begin to tell you how that makes me feel. What I'd like to do to them for hurting her. So, you're wrong when you say anyone would do what you did. They wouldn't. They haven't. When someone does what you did for her, she deserves to know."

"Well, those people are complete idiots. I don't get it. I don't understand how anyone could hurt her, could take her for granted. She is the most caring and giving person I've ever known. She's amazing." As Marissa watched Bianca and the kids, a smile lit across her face. "She does a pretty good monkey impression too!"

"That she does!" Kendall turned from her sister to Marissa and studied the redhead. "So, how are things with JR? Is there any chance of the two of you getting back together?"

Marissa rolled her eyes. "Not a snowball's chance in hell. I'll do my best to get along with him for AJ's sake, but that's it. Why do you ask?"

"No reason. I'm just curious."

The kids ran over to them followed by Bianca. "The kids told me they're starving."

"Starving, huh?" Marissa laughed. "Well, we can't that. I guess we have to feed them. Let's go."

Spike and Ian pulled Kendall off the bench. "Come on, Mom!"

Bianca watched as her sister walked ahead and looked at Marissa. The two followed behind AJ and the girls. "Everything okay with the two of you?"

"Yeah, everything's fine."

"What were the two of you talking about?"

"If you must know, we were talking about you. We both agree that you're a natural at acting like a monkey!" Marissa smirked.

"Cute! Thanks! I appreciate that!" Bianca laughed.

"You're welcome! We talked about a couple of things. She asked me about JR, and if there was a chance of us getting back together."

"That's odd. Did she say why she was asking?"

"I thought it was odd too. She just said she was curious."

"What did you tell her?"

"That there was a snowball's chance in hell of that happening. Why are you asking?"

"I'm just checking to see if I need to enforce a clause in this legal agreement I have about knocking sense into someone." Bianca smirked.

Marissa laughed. "You know, I'm starting to question how smart it was of me to give that to you. You seem to be enjoying the smacking me part a little too much!"