A/N: I'm back! Sorry for the delay in posting. Work pretty much kicked my ass this week, but I got through it. Thanks as always for the reviews! They are greatly appreciated! This chapter picks up about a week later from the last one. Hope you enjoy it!

/

Marissa stood at the kitchen counter waiting for the coffee maker to finish brewing. She really needed the caffeine this morning because she was tired, but it was a happy kind of tired. She had been up late last night. Actually, Bianca and her both had been up late last night, and whatever amount of tiredness she felt this morning was totally worth it. She couldn't help the grin that spread across her face as she remembered last night. My god, Bianca is incredible. Soft arms encircling her from behind brought her from her reverie, and she sighed happily.

"Good morning, beautiful." Bianca whispered softly in her ear before her lips trailed their way down Marissa's neck.

"Good morning, yourself. How'd you sleep?"

Bianca rested her chin on Marissa's shoulder and smiled. "Well, when I actually got to sleep, I slept pretty well. I'm a little tired this morning though. How about you?"

"The same, but it was totally worth it." Marissa laughed.

"Yeah, it definitely was. You're up and dressed early. What do have planned at work for today?"

"I have a busy day ahead of me. I'm meeting with several clients, and Joanna's bringing her sister in to meet with me today."

"Really? That's good to hear. Do you think she's ready to leave her husband?"

"I'm not sure. I hope so for her sake. From what Joanna's told me, Colleen is pretty reluctant and still hasn't said exactly what's going on there. She's not quite ready to open up to her yet, but she at least wants to talk. Joanna is taking that as a good sign. I hope she's right."

"I hope so too. The whole situation is so sad especially since there's a child involved."

"From what Joanna's told me, Colleen wants to keep her family together, but there comes a point when you can't, when you have to put your physical and emotional safety and that of your child above that idealized version of a family."

"You're right. We both know that all too well."

"Yeah, we do, unfortunately. You know, I've learned something from my past experiences over these many years."

"You have, have you? And what, pray tell, would that be, Rissa?"

"Sometimes, you have to kiss a hell of a lot of frogs before you strike the mother lode like I did with you."

"You think you struck the mother lode with me, huh?"

Marissa turned and placed her arms around Bianca's neck and gave her a brilliant smile. "Oh, I don't think it. I know it, as sure as I'm standing here. You, Bianca Christine Montgomery, are most definitely the mother lode!"

Bianca rewarded her girlfriend with the goofy grin she loved so much. "Well, I'm not the only one because you, Marissa Lynn Tasker, are most assuredly one too! You make me feel like I'm the luckiest woman in the world."

The distance between them was closed as both women moved as one towards each other for a loving kiss.

"Mom! Bianca! I can't find one of my shoes!" AJ called from upstairs.

The couple sighed as they separated, a knowing smile crossing both of their faces.

"I'll go help AJ and check on how the girls are doing. They were both almost ready. I need to finish getting ready myself." Bianca smiled and gave Marissa a quick kiss.

"And I'll get breakfast ready."

Several minutes later, Bianca returned downstairs with all three children trailing behind her. Marissa served up breakfast, and the family settled down to eat, chatting about the day ahead for each of them.

"Aren't you meeting with the administrator of the New York safe house today, B?"

"Yeah, I am. It's really starting to come together there again after all the delays we've had. Oh, Rissa, don't forget we're meeting mom for lunch today."

"I remember. We're meeting her at noon at the Yacht Club. Don't worry. I won't be late. I wouldn't think of making your mom wait." Marissa grinned.

"Thank you. I think she just really wants to catch up with us like she said last week. She hasn't been able to spend much time at all with us since she's been on her tour."

"Erica also wants to check up on us. Don't deny it. You know she does." Marissa added with a smirk.

Bianca rolled her eyes. "You're right. She does, but she doesn't mean anything bad by it. She really does like you."

"I get why she's doing it, and I'm not offended by it at all. You're her daughter, her little girl. She loves you and just wants to make sure you're happy. She's just being a mom."

Bianca quirked an eyebrow. "Seriously? Just being a mom?"

Marissa chuckled. "Okay, maybe she's being a mom on steroids, but you get what I mean. To be honest with you, I like her too. I know she has her moments, but there's something about her that I just can't help but like. Now, I'm not saying Erica and I are going to be BFF's and hang out, but I do like spending time with her every now and then."

Bianca laughed. "Wow, I'm trying to picture you and my mom being BFF's! It's quite the visual!"

"I'm sure it is. Kendall would love it. Seriously though, Erica's been nothing but great with AJ and me. She's made us feel like family, and she gave us a lot of help and support when we needed it a while ago. That meant a lot to me. It still does, and I won't ever forget it."

"Mom can be a handful and a half sometimes, but she's definitely someone you want on your side. When she gives you her support, she gives it to you 110%."

"So I found out. If anything, I only really have one complaint about her. She has this habit of showing up at my office unannounced. She really seems to get a charge out of trying to catch people off guard."

"Yeah, mom does like that. You are a bit of a challenge to her though because you're pretty quick on your feet, and she hasn't been able to catch you off balance yet. So, I have this feeling that she's going to keep making unannounced visits to you."

"Great. That gives me something to look forward to." Marissa smirked. "I think I can handle it though. I'll just remember that your mom and I actually have something in common. We have a common goal or purpose, if you will."

"You do, huh? Can to share what that is?"

"I'd be happy to. It's you and the girls, making sure you're happy and taken care of. I really can't find any fault with her thinking on that point."

Bianca gave a contented sigh. "Well, you're doing a great job so you have nothing to worry about with my mom." She turned to her daughters. "What do you think, girls? Is Marissa doing a great job or what?"

Miranda and Gabby both grinned. "Yep! She sure is!"

Marissa smiled. "Thank you, ladies."

"Bianca's doing a great job too, mom!" AJ grinned.

"Thank you, AJ."

"She sure is, buddy. She sure is." Marissa smiled and gently ruffled her son's hair. "Okay, time to break this up. We need to get going."

"She's right. Grab your stuff, guys. Marissa's taking you to school today."

Bianca gave each child a hug and kiss goodbye before they headed to the family room to get their backpacks. While the brunette was saying goodbye to the kids, Marissa quickly loaded the dishwasher. With that task completed, the couple walked into the family room together. Marissa gathered her things before turning to Bianca and giving her a quick kiss.

"I'll see you at the Yacht Club at noon. I love you."

"I love you too." Bianca smiled as she watched her family head to Marissa's car. After watching them drive away, she gathered her things together and headed out.

/

Marissa's office phone rang with the caller id indicating it was the receptionist. The redhead glanced at the clock on her desk. It was time for her next appointment. She'd been so busy that the morning had flown by. After this meeting was over, she would be heading out to meet Bianca and Erica for lunch. "Hi, Elaine."

"Hi, Marissa. Ms. Gallagher and Ms. Brennan are here for you. Would you like me to send them back?"

"Yes, please do. Thanks."

A few minutes later, there was a knock on her office door. Marissa opened the door and greeted her friend. "Hi, Joanna."

"Hi, Marissa. This is my sister Colleen Brennan. Colleen, this is Marissa Tasker."

"Hello, Ms. Tasker."

The redhead gave a comforting smile and offered her hand to the woman to shake. "It's Marissa. Please come in and have a seat." Marissa closed the door as the women settled in. As she made her way to her side of the desk, she studied the sisters briefly. Both were brunette. Joanna was slightly taller than her sister. Marissa knew from talking with her friend that Colleen was three years older, but the redhead would've guessed the difference was greater than that. The older woman looked gaunt and had dark circles under her eyes, and they held a haunted look in them. "Would either of you like something to drink?"

Joanna nodded. "I'll just have some water, Marissa. Thanks."

"Mrs. Brennan, could I get you something?"

"Water is fine. Thank you, and you can call me Colleen."

Marissa smiled and walked to the counter. She retrieved a bottle of water from the small refrigerator and filled two glasses of water. The redhead handed a glass to each of the sisters before taking her seat. She took out a pen and a clean legal pad. "We can start whenever you're ready, Colleen."

The older brunette cleared her throat. "I'm not sure what my sister has told you."

"All Joanna has told me is that she's worried about you and your son. His name's Will, right?"

The woman smiled and nodded. "Yeah, it is, and he's everything to me. He's as smart as a whip and will start kindergarten next year. I don't know how I'll handle that."

Marissa had been weighing how much of her own story she should share. She knew that Joanna had most likely told her sister some of her story already. She normally preferred to keep her personal life just that, personal, but she realized there were exceptions to the rule sometimes where her clients were concerned. This was one of those times. If Colleen was in an abusive relationship, Marissa hoped her story could help the woman see that there was a way out and there was life after a broken relationship. She nodded. "I know what you mean."

"You have children?"

"I do. I have three of them with my partner. Our youngest will be going to kindergarten next year too. I'm not looking forward to it at all. She's growing up so fast, and I really don't want to think about it sometimes."

"Joanna tells me that both of you are divorced."

"We are. Neither one of us had very much luck in any of our previous relationships, to say the very least. I won't speak for Bianca, but my relationship with my ex-husband was not a very healthy one. It got pretty ugly at the end. The decision to file for divorce was made after too many sleepless nights to count. I had made a commitment, and I honestly believed that I would be married to him for the rest of my life. I didn't want to give up without giving everything that I had. I came to that point, however, when I realized it wasn't enough, and that no matter how hard I tried, our relationship wasn't going to work. It wasn't good for either of us, and it especially wasn't good for our son. I know how hard it is to make the decision to end a marriage, and it's one that I want my clients to carefully consider and not make lightly."

Colleen nodded. "I just don't know. I don't want to be alone, and my son deserves to have a real family, a real home."

Marissa shook her head at Joanna when she saw that her friend was getting ready to speak. The redhead could tell Colleen was feeling her out, almost testing her and the waters. "I know. I won't lie to you. It's hard. Sometimes though, you have to make that hard decision because it's the right one to make, the only one you really can make, not just for you but for your son. Like I said before, it wasn't healthy for AJ to see us fighting all the time. None of us were happy, him most of all. For the longest time, I thought I was doing the right thing by staying and giving him the family that I thought he needed and wanted. I was wrong, and that wasn't easy to admit. What AJ and I both deserved was to be happy, and we weren't. We tend to have a set idea of a 'real' family is. I know that I did, at least. It was a mother, a father and children, and I bought into it and tried like hell to make my life fit that picture that perfect ideal. That's only one kind of family though. You can also have one with just a single parent, two mothers or two fathers or any other number of configurations. You don't have to be related by blood to be family. That's just part of it, part of the makeup if you will. I don't believe it's the most important part or what defines it. To me, what truly defines a family is the love, trust and faith that is shared along with the belief that someone's always going to have your back and would never do anything that would purposefully hurt you. And a home is someplace safe, where your family can be nurtured and know without question that they're loved. It's the one place you can go to when the world comes crashing down around you. When I realized all of that, my thinking changed on that ideal, I knew what I needed to do, not only for my son but for me as well."

"How did you do it? How did you manage? You were alone."

"That's the thing. I really wasn't alone. I had my son, and I had some amazing friends to help me, to let me lean on them so I could get through the rough parts. I concentrated on making the best home that I possibly could for my son and myself, and I let people help me. You have a pretty good support system yourself, starting with your sister."

Colleen nodded and looked at her sister. "Joanna's great. I just don't know that I can do it, that I can leave, that I should leave. My husband really is a good guy. We've been together since high school. He's just had some rough times lately, since he lost his job, and I know I'm not the easiest person to live with. I do a lot of things to make him … upset sometimes, to irritate him. I can't really blame him when he loses his temper because of something I've done, something that's my fault."

"He's not just losing his temper, Colleen. It's way more than that, and you know it. I've seen the bruises. I'm worried about you and Will and what else Robert might do to you."

"Joanna, we've been over this, and I've told you what happened. I lost my balance and bumped into a few things. That's it. You know how much of a klutz I am. I would never let anything happen to Will."

"You're …"

Marissa broke into the conversation between the sisters. She knew Joanna desperately wanted to help her sister, but confronting her like this right now wasn't going to help. She could tell the woman was still in a state of denial, and until she made the decision that what was happening was wrong, no one would be able to change her mind. The redhead had seen this before with clients. "Colleen, there was a reason you came here today. What was it?"

The older brunette took a deep breath. "I told Joanna that I would talk to you and hear what you have to say. She's been going on and on about it. I thought if I agreed that she would let it go."

"Okay, I understand. This is a decision you have to make. Do you have any questions that I could answer for you from a legal standpoint?" Marissa could tell that the woman was weighing things in her mind.

Colleen thought for a minute. "I wouldn't even know where to start."

"Well, there are different reasons or grounds for divorce. The most common is irreconcilable differences which covers a whole range of things. It's kind of a catch all. Other grounds include adultery, bigamy and cruel and barbarous treatment which endangers the life or health of the injured and innocent spouse, better known as cruelty and covers both physical and emotional abuse. If it's used, it's best to have documented evidence if at all possible. That would include pictures and witness statements. If a client uses that, I always advise taking out an order of protection. There have been extreme cases where I advise other steps for their protection. When that happens, I work with the Miranda Center."

"I've heard of that place."

"They do excellent work with helping women and children that are in abusive relationships. The staff is above reproach, and they don't judge anyone. They offer support and counseling among many other services. They also have safe houses. The location of which are kept private and only a few select people know where they are."

"I know this is a big law firm. I'm guessing your fee must be pretty expensive."

Marissa knew the most important question was still unasked and had a feeling it would be soon. "I'm an associate so I don't command the fees that the partners do. Besides, I didn't become a lawyer for the money. I wanted to help people, and I still do. There are some here who believe that's pretty idealistic, but I don't pay attention them. Yes, I have to make money for the firm. I can also take cases at reduced rates or pro bono though. If the situation arises where a potential client doesn't have the funds, I go to the partners and discuss it with them. They haven't turned me down yet when I've done that."

"Wh, what about custody? You said your divorce got ugly. Was it because of your ex-husband fighting you over custody of your son?"

There it is. Marissa didn't want to get into specifics on that issue because it was still a slightly touchy subject to her even all these months later. The thought of losing her son was unbearable. Nightmares plagued her almost nightly during the custody battle for AJ. The only other time she had experienced night terrors on that scale was when she remembered the day her parents died. Both events still invaded her peaceful slumber every now and then. When that happened, Bianca was always there to hold her, to comfort and assure her that she was there and that everything was and would be alright.

"In a majority of divorces, mothers are still seen as the primary care giver and granted primary custody. Now, while that has changed some recently, it still pretty much holds true. Usually, it's the custody issue that is the greatest source of contention in divorces. It was in mine. In the extreme cases, one parent will try to portray the other one as unfit. When that happens, they can go to great lengths to try and prove it. Just because they make those threats though doesn't mean that they'll be successful. There are a lot of resources at my disposal here to fight those threats. I've used them in the past and will continue to use them. I'm not afraid to fight for my clients."

Colleen let the lawyers words sink in. She couldn't bear it if she lost her son, and what she heard did reassure her some. She continued to ask questions, and Marissa answered each one in a straightforward and honest manner while taking notes throughout the discussion. Joanna had told her about some of the redhead's background but not everything because there were some things that she didn't know even though they were friends. Her sister knew Marissa's divorce a couple of years ago had been contentious and a subsequent custody fight earlier this year had been even more so. Some of it was public record because it had involved JR Chandler, and the Chandlers had a lot of money and power and not just in Pine Valley. You don't get into a fight with a family that powerful and not have some of the ugly details splashed on the front page of every tabloid and all over the internet. Marissa had somehow managed to come through it relatively unscathed from what she could tell. She had been successful in retaining custody of her son, and she had this look about her that gave every indication that she had found true happiness in her new life. It offered Colleen a glimmer of hope, but she just wasn't sure. She had built up so many walls and had so much of her identity defined as Robert's wife. She remembered him as he had been at the beginning of their life together. He had been so sweet and loving. She couldn't help but think and hope that just maybe she could help him find his way back to his former self. She checked her watch and stood up to leave. "I need to go. I have to get back to work. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me. You've given me a lot to think about. I just don't know that I can leave him, give up on our marriage right now."

Marissa rose and shook Colleen's hand. "I understand. It's your decision. You have to do what's best for you and your son. Here's my card. If you change your mind or if you just to talk, give me a call. I'll do my best to answer any questions you might have or help in any way that I can."

"Thank you. I appreciate it. I really do. I'll meet you outside, Joanna."

Her sister nodded and waited until the door had closed behind the older woman. "I'm sorry, Marissa. I feel like this was a big waste of time. I just don't know why she won't leave him, why she won't admit what's going on."

"She's scared and embarrassed. It's hard for some to admit a relationship isn't working out, that there is abuse. Your sister hasn't gotten to that point where she can admit that yet. Don't push her. Be there for her. She's going to need you. For what it's worth, I don't think today was a waste of time."

"You don't?"

"No. Colleen stayed and listened and asked a lot of questions. That tells me she's considering taking that step, and it's a huge one. Like I told her, I'm here if she changes her mind or wants to talk. I'm here for you too."

Joanna smiled. "I know and thanks, for everything. I'll be there for her, every step of the way. I better go and let you get back to work."

"You're welcome. Actually, I'll walk out with you. I'm meeting Bianca and her mom for lunch at the Yacht Club."

"Lunch with Erica Kane? You're a brave woman, Marissa. Judging from the smile on your face when you just mention her name though, I'm going to assume that Bianca's doing good, and that lunch with Ms. Kane is a small price to pay."

Marissa laughed as they walked down the hall. "Erica's not that bad once you get to know her. She's nothing like what the tabloids say, at least not in my experience. And you couldn't be more right in your assumption. Bianca is definitely worth whatever trouble or inconvenience I have to deal with or whatever price there is to pay. I couldn't be luckier or happier. Now, I just have to make sure I'm not late. Erica doesn't like to be kept waiting."