A/N: Again, I have to thank you all for the great reviews! I really do appreciate them and more importantly, all of you for reading! It's time for a little drama. This chapter picks up a few days after the last one. Hope you enjoy it!

/

Marissa stood in the doorway of the family room watching Bianca. The brunette was settled on the sofa reading something on her laptop, unaware of being observed. If truth be told, the redhead loved to watch her girlfriend particularly in these unguarded moments. Bianca could sometimes be self-conscious about how she looked, never thinking she was as beautiful as her mother. To Marissa though, her girlfriend had it all wrong. Erica had nothing on her youngest daughter. Yes, she was a beautiful woman. That was something that had been documented in countless magazines time and time again. In Marissa's mind, Erica, however, paled in comparison to Bianca. Some might argue that Marissa was biased, clouded by her love for her girlfriend, but she honestly didn't believe that was the case. Even before their relationship changed, back when they were simply best friends and no more than that, Marissa felt this to be true. The saying 'beauty is only skin deep' didn't apply to Bianca. Her beauty went beyond that. Her beauty was defined by her heart and her soul, and it radiated from her. It was captivating. So much so that sometimes, Marissa just seemed to have a hard time taking her eyes off of Bianca.

Since the kids were in bed, they finally had some alone time tonight, and the redhead had every intention of taking advantage of that. Marissa inched closer to see what had her girlfriend so completely engrossed. Bianca had seemed a little distracted all evening, and the redhead was curious as to why. Marissa had a feeling that whatever had her girlfriend's attention at this particular moment might hold the answer to that question. Her curiosity finally got the best of her, and Marissa snuck up behind Bianca, unable to resist any longer.

"Whatcha reading?"

Bianca was so startled that she'd jumped. She turned and saw Marissa laughing. "Rissa, you scared the hell out of me! You have to stop doing that."

"Sorry, I just couldn't resist. You always give me a hard time about zoning out and going into lawyer mode. You were giving me a run for my money just now."

The brunette pulled Marissa down next to her. "I love it when you go into lawyer mode. You scrunch your eyebrows and get this little crease in between them which I find completely irresistible." Bianca smiled brightly as she kissed the aforementioned spot.

Marissa sighed happily and grinned. "Okay, I get it now. It's like what you were just doing. It's kind of hot too."

Bianca laughed and gave her a lingering kiss. "Yeah, come to think of it, you are kind of hot when you're like that." The brunette began to trail kisses down her girlfriend's neck.

Marissa moaned softly, before she somehow managed to find the strength to pull herself back. "Stop distracting me and answer the question. What were you reading?"

"I thought you liked my distractions." Bianca grinned wickedly.

"Oh no, I love your distractions, trust me on that, but you've had something on your mind all evening. I want to know what's going on. So, I need you to answer the question." Marissa glanced at what Bianca had pulled up on her laptop. "Pine Valley University Course Catalog? Are you interested in taking some classes?"

"No, no, not really. I was just browsing. It's nothing." Bianca moved to close the laptop, but Marissa was quicker, sensing there was more going on, and pulled the laptop out of her girlfriend's reach.

Marissa scrolled through the site and found what Bianca had been reading. "I don't think so. Psychology classes, huh? Are you looking to try and finally figure out our families? Between what we have on both sides of our family, there's enough there for an entire course and textbook." The redhead smirked.

Bianca laughed. "I can't argue with you there. I was just curious."

Marissa wasn't buying that excuse. She knew there was more going on, and she wasn't going to let it go. "What's going on? I'm getting the feeling there's something more than mere curiosity going on here."

"It's nothing, really. I just …"

"Bianca."

The brunette saw the determined look in Marissa's eyes and knew she wasn't going to let the topic rest. Suck it up, Montgomery. I might as well tell her. I know I will eventually anyway, and Marissa, well, she won't judge me or laugh at me. I know that all too well. There's no reason to be afraid. I can tell her anything. "Okay, I was just checking to see what new courses they were offering, and yeah, I was thinking about maybe taking something, after I talked with you of course and if you thought it was all right."

"Really? I think that's great. What got you thinking about that?"

"We have a new volunteer at the Center who is also doing an internship for her bachelor's degree in psychology. She's been talking about the classes she's been taking and some of the new treatments and schools of thought, and it sounded kind of interesting and just got me thinking."

Marissa nodded. She knew exactly what Bianca was talking about. Her girlfriend was always interested in improving herself, even if it wasn't needed, and coming up with new ways to improve the Miranda Center. "So, how long have you wanted to go back to school and take some classes?"

"I thought about it for a little while, but you know, now that I really think about it, there's too much going on around here to do it."

"Why do you say that? We can always make the time for you to do this if you really want."

"Rissa, it's too much. We have three kids. I have a full time job and so do you. I can't ask you to rearrange everything so I can go back to school. Plus, we're building a new home which we'll be moving into soon. That means packing up this place and getting things ready at the new place. We also have the holidays coming up, and someone is dead set on having our families over for Christmas. How I let you talk me into that is beyond me. So, there's too much going on right now. There literally is just no time."

"First, you didn't ask me to rearrange anything. I'm kind of volunteering to evaluate the situation, to see what needs to be done. We can figure things out. You should know by now that when we put our minds together, nothing is impossible. Second, the fall semester is already started so you're looking at the spring semester at the earliest. That means you wouldn't start class until after the holidays, and by that time, we'll be moved and settled into our new home. And before you bring up the kids and someone being with them after school, we can find someone to watch them for a couple of hours after they get out of school. Maybe, we can work something out with Susan. The kids love her, and she has a pretty flexible schedule." Marissa paused briefly. "You know, when you think about it, it makes sense. You're investing in yourself and your work at the Center."

"Yeah, that's true." Bianca gazed at her girlfriend. "There's still one thing we haven't talked about, and it's kind of big. Well actually, it's starts out little and then gets big."

Marissa knew instantly what her girlfriend was referring to. "Yeah, I know, us adding to our family."

"Yeah, the plan is to start trying to have a baby next year. I don't want to put that on hold just so I can take a class. It's too important to you and too important to me. And if you think I'm not going to be there with you every step of the way …"

"Oh no, I don't want to put that on hold either. I know you want to be there, and I want you there every single step of the way. I'm going to need you there. As you well know, there's a lot involved with us having a baby though. If I get pregnant …"

Bianca took Marissa's hands in her's. "Don't you mean when you get pregnant? Because this is going to happen, got it?"

Marissa smiled and nodded. "I got it, and you're right. When I get pregnant, we don't know how long that will take to happen, and when it does happen, there's still a lot of time before baby Tasker-Montgomery makes his or her appearance. The last time I checked, it takes nine months to carry a baby to term. As for all of the appointments we'll have, those can be made around our schedules whatever they happen to be at the time. So, I don't see why you can't take a class while all of that's going on."

The redhead could tell that Bianca was weighing everything she had just said and was wavering on her resistance when she made her final push. "There's really nothing to lose. You take one class just to get your feet wet again. See how it feels. We'll work everything else out from there. Besides, I saw the way your eyes lit up when you mentioned learning about new theories and treatments and schools of thought. You really want to do this."

Bianca shook her head slightly in disbelief. Marissa really did know her so well. "I kinda do. Are you sure you're okay with this? It's going to make things even more hectic around here."

"Of course, I am. If it makes you happy, I'm all for it." Marissa grinned and gave Bianca a quick kiss. "Maybe, you'll want to finish up your master's degree, and after that, you could think about getting your doctorate. My mom always wanted me to meet a doctor and settle down." The redhead smirked.

Bianca laughed. "You are amazing, you know that?"

"So, I've been told by you many times." Marissa grinned.

"If it's all right with you, I think I'll pass on the doctorate. Sorry to disappoint you on that."

"That's okay on you not becoming a doctor, I guess. I'll get over it. Maybe, one of the kids will want to be a doctor. I could work with that as long as they don't go the mad scientist route like David." Marissa gave a fake shiver and chuckled.

Bianca laughed. "I'd rather them not go that route myself. You have to admit that he's a brilliant doctor. It's just that …"

Marissa made a face. "It's just that he seems to have a huge problem with the morals and ethics side of his chosen profession. I'm painfully aware of that."

"Hey, you're not at all like him in that regard. Remember, you're like your mom and dad, and AJ is an awful lot like you. It's that whole nature versus nurture thing. In the case of our family, nurture seems to be winning. Don't ever doubt that."

"Thank you. It seems that I'm not the only one amazing around here. You've been there for me too many times to count especially during that whole mess with JR. Me supporting you going back to school is nothing compared to that."

"Rissa, there's no place else I would've been. You don't owe me anything for that. We're a package deal."

"Yeah, we are. I'm not doing this because I think I owe you for anything. I'm doing this because it makes you happy, and I'll do anything for that, just like I know you would do the same for me." Marissa gave her a quick kiss. "So, what are we looking at course wise for you?"

Bianca sighed happily. "I'm not sure. I was trying to figure that out."

Marissa handed her back the laptop, and they browsed the courses being offered for the next semester. Bianca found a couple that she thought sounded interesting and worth following up on.

"You know, I was serious before about you finishing up your master's if you wanted."

"Yeah, I know. I'm just not sure what all that would entail, how many of my existing credit hours I'd be able to apply towards it."

"Well, I have the perfect solution for that. Call the psychology department at PVU tomorrow morning and ask. They can look up your transcript and see what you need and answer any questions you might have."

"Gee, why didn't I think of that?" Bianca smirked.

"I don't know. You must be slipping. It's a good thing you have me around."

"It's a very good thing."

Bianca leaned in closer but stopped short when Marissa got up.

"Hey, where are you going?"

Marissa grinned at her girlfriend wickedly as she made her way slowly up the stairs. "Oh, I'm going up to our bedroom. I was just thinking that if you wanted to distract me some more that it might be better behind a closed door where there's less chance of the kids interrupting us and us scarring them for life. What do you think?"

Bianca cleared her throat and gave Marissa a brilliant smile as she bounded up the stairs behind her. "Have I ever told you that I really love how you think?"

/

The next morning, Bianca contacted both the admissions office and psychology department at Pine Valley University with both agreeing to email her information later that day. She had to admit that she was getting a little excited about the prospect of taking a course or two at PVU, and having Marissa's support and encouragement was making this all that much better. With that taken care of, she settled in for a day of work.

Sometime later, there was a knock on her door. "Bianca, Chief Hubbard is on the line for you."

"Thanks, Jan." The brunette picked up the phone. "Hi, Jesse. What can I do for you?"

"Hello, Bianca. It's more like what I can do for you. I thought I'd give you a more complete update on the break-in if you're interested."

"Of course, I am."

"Good. Would you mind coming down to the station?"

"I can do that. When?"

"Whenever is convenient for you."

"Let me check my calendar." Bianca pulled up her calendar on her laptop. "I could be there in an hour. Does that work for you?"

"That's perfect. I'll see you in an hour."

Bianca went back to work reviewing the latest report from the Center's newest branch in New York City. Construction was going well and should be completed on time later this year. Maybe, if things continued on schedule and she could find someone to watch the kids, her and Marissa could sneak away for a long weekend when they held the grand opening of it. Thirty minutes later, she wrapped up what she was working on. Bianca knew Marissa was in a meeting with a new client. She decided to send her girlfriend a quick text to let her know where she would be in case she looked for her later.

Rissa, I had a call from Jesse. He wants to give me an update on the break-in. I'll be at the police station if you need me. Love you, B.

"Jan, I'm heading down to the police station for a meeting with Chief Hubbard. I'm not sure how long I'll be. If you need me for anything, just give me a call."

"Will do, Bianca."

/

Bianca walked into the Pine Valley Police Department and spotted Officer Monroe. "Hi, Brot."

The officer looked up and smiled. "Hi, Bianca. How are you today?"

"I'm good. How are you, and how's Natalia?"

"We're both good. How about Marissa and the kids?"

"Never better. Is Jesse around? He wanted to see me about the break-in."

Brot nodded and got up. "He's in his office and said to have you go back as soon as you got here. I'll take you there now."

Bianca waved him off. "You don't need to escort me to his office. I know the way. Thanks."

The brunette made her way down the hallway to the chief's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"Hey, Jesse."

"Bianca, come on in and have a seat." He glanced down at the file on his desk and waited until the brunette was settled before starting again. "When I saw you at the school fair, I told you about making an arrest. I discussed the case with the district attorney, and he agreed that I could give you more details. We arrested Samantha Robinson and have charged her with breaking and entering along with vandalism and a few other misdemeanors."

"You mentioned she was a minor when we talked. How old is she?"

"She's 15 years old."

Bianca was shocked at the age of the girl. "Have you located her parents?"

Jesse sighed. "Well, we have and we haven't. Her parents died last year while she was away on an overnight field trip for school. It was carbon monoxide poisoning due to a faulty line with a gas stove. The police were called to investigate when neither one showed up at their respective jobs. She arrived home just as the coroner was removing them."

"Oh my god, that's awful. Where's she been living? Who's been taking care of her? Does she have any other family? What about counseling? Has she gotten any?"

Jesse knew Bianca would be throwing countless questions his way. "She has an aunt who we've been told lives in upstate New York. We're still trying to locate her. Apparently, there was some sort of falling out in the family. From what we've been able to determine, she doesn't know about her brother and his wife passing away yet. And that's pretty much it in the way of family. Up until her parents' deaths, Samantha was a straight A student and really involved in school. After they died and since they couldn't locate any family members, she was put in foster care. Her grades started to suffer, and she became withdrawn. It doesn't look like she received any counseling, and I'm not sure why. She might've fallen through the cracks. She ran away from the foster home six months ago. We're really not sure why. She was placed back with them and ran away again. For the last three months, it looks like that she's been living on the street. We have gotten some reports that she started hanging out with a pretty rough crowd around that time. They happened to be wanted for questioning in several other break-ins, and we think they are the ones really behind what happened at the Miranda Center. We can't prove it, however, because of the quality of the video surveillance you had at the time of the break-in."

Bianca shook her head. She hadn't even met her, but the brunette's heart was breaking for the girl. "Has she said why they did this? Has she said anything about the others? Where do you have her now?"

"No, she's still not talking. We have no idea why they broke in. We're moving her to juvenile detention in a little while since a space finally opened up. If we can't locate the others, she's going to be the one to take all of the heat for this."

Bianca took all of this in. From what Jesse was telling her, this girl was bright and had a loving home until tragedy struck and took it all away from her in the blink of an eye. To suffer that kind of loss and then receive no support to deal with it was unconscionable and added to the girl's suffering. The story stuck with her, reminding her of others, and she needed to do something to help this girl. She knew she had promised Marissa that she would try not to get involved any more than she already was, but after hearing all of this from Jesse, Bianca just couldn't help herself. Surely, Marissa would understand. "Do you think maybe I could see her, talk to her? Maybe, I could get her to talk to me, open up."

Jesse studied the younger woman for a minute. It never ceased to amaze him that the woman before him was the youngest daughter of Erica Kane. He liked Erica well enough. She had her moments, and he remembered her helping his best friend Jenny many years ago. For the most part though, Erica was a force to be reckoned with, and if she had been in Bianca's shoes at this particular moment, he couldn't help but think that she'd be wanting the girl's hide. She definitely wouldn't be offering to help someone who she had felt wronged her. He had met Samantha, talked with her as much as she would allow and knew the girl was scared. He had a feeling it was a case of falling in with the wrong crowd and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If possible, he wanted to help her. If anyone could get through to her, it would be the woman in front of him. That was partially why he called her down to his office today. It was worth a try. "If you're willing to try, I'm open to it. I'll take you to the interrogation room we're holding her in until social services gets here."

The pair got up and headed down the hallway. Jesse opened the door, and Bianca followed him inside. The brunette saw the girl huddled in a corner of the room. Her head shot up when the door opened. She was blonde, petite, looked young for her age and scared to death. She began nervously chewing on her nails and eyed the adults suspiciously.

"Samantha Robinson, I'd like you to meet Bianca Montgomery. She is the founder and head of the Miranda Center, the place you and your friends broke into and trashed."

Bianca studied the girl for a few minutes. "Jesse, could we have a few minutes alone?"

"I don't know about that, Bianca. I don't feel right about leaving you alone with her. Your family along with most of Pine Valley would kill me if something happened to you."

"I'll be okay, and you'll just be on the other side of the door if I need you. Please."

Jesse sighed. He looked at the girl. He didn't think she would do anything to hurt Bianca. "All right, but I'll just be on the other side." He shot the girl a warning look. "I'm just outside. Anything happens to her, and there will be hell to pay. I'm throwing you back in a cell. This time, it will be with the other prisoners, no special treatment. I don't even want you looking at her wrong. Do you understand me?"

The girl's eyes widened, not doubting the chief's threat for one minute, and nodded.

Jesse left the room while Bianca took a seat. "Hi, Samantha. Would you like to have a seat?"

"What do you want?"

"I just want to talk. Is that okay with you?"

The girl slowly got up and sat across the table from Bianca. There was something about the woman. She seemed nice and reminded her of her mother. "What about?"

"You're in quite a bit of trouble. I was hoping I could help you, if you let me."

"You really know him?"

"Who? Oh, you mean Chief Hubbard? I do, and we're friends. He's a good guy, and someone you'd want on your side."

"Why do you want to help me?"

"I don't know. You remind me of some people I know, and that's what we do at the Miranda Center."

The girl got uneasy hearing Bianca mention the Center again. "What do you mean?"

"The Miranda Center's main purpose is to help women and children. Many of those that come to us have been abused in one way or another. We offer them a safe place to stay and help them get back on their feet. We offer counseling, training and other skills. Mainly, we let them know that they are not alone, that someone is there for them, to help them. They just need to ask."

"That's what it does? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Like Jesse said, I founded it and run it. I should know."

"Why?"

"Why did I start it? Let's just say that I had my reasons. Samantha, you didn't know what we did there, did you?"

The girl shook her head, feeling even more miserable about what she and the others had done now. "No, we didn't know. And I go by Sam."

"Okay, Sam. You said we didn't know. Who are the others?"

"No, I can't tell you that. I won't tell you that. They'll know I talked."

Bianca could tell the girl was frightened of her so called friends, and she wasn't going to give up their names easily. The brunette decided to let the topic drop for the moment. "Why did you do it, Sam?"

The guilt of what she had done was starting to get to the girl. The woman in front of her was being so nice, trying to help her, and she wasn't quite sure what to think about it. She should be yelling at her and wanting to see her punished, but she wasn't doing any of that. No one had been this nice to her since her parents had died. "I don't know."

"I think you do. There has to be a reason. I just want to know why."

"We needed money, and someone said that place kept some there. When we didn't find any, a couple of them got mad."

"So, they decided to trash the place and steal some things."

"Yeah, I guess."

"I see. If you tell the police who else was there, they might be able to reduce some of the charges against you."

"I'm not a rat. I'm not saying anything else. I'm done talking now. I want you to leave."

Bianca looked at the girl. She was shutting down and not going to give her anything else. "Okay, I'll go. If you want to talk, the police and social services both know how to get in touch with me." As the brunette closed the door, she heard a soft "I'm sorry" being whispered from the girl. Bianca knew that she had to help this girl. There was one more thing she could try, one person she could reach out to for help. "Jesse, is there any way you can delay social services from taking her to juvenile detention right now?"

"I should be able to do that. What do you have in mind?"

"I think Sam is in need of a good lawyer, and I have the perfect one in mind." I have a feeling she's not going to like it too much at first, and I just hope I can talk her into helping.

"Okay, let me see what I can do about keeping her a while longer. I'll let you make your call."

Bianca took a deep breath and dialed Marissa's number.

"Hey, you!"

"Hey, yourself."

"How did it go with Jesse?"

"It went pretty well. I'm still down at the police station. I could use your help with something. Do you have some time right now?"

"Actually, I do. I just finished up a meeting. I'm all yours."

"And I am lucky that you are. Could you come down to the station?"

"Sure, I can be there in a few minutes. Love you."

"Love you too." Before Bianca could say anything else, Marissa had disconnected the call.