A/N: Theme's of suicide and thoughts of it, in this one. So just keep that in mind before you read (This one isn't overly dramatic, but the next one will be).

Hope you like! Or if you don't, you'll tell me.

Chapter 11

Pine Valley was beautiful from up high. All it's lights were on display, gleam and twinkling in the night sky.

She'd never been up here before. The roof of Pine Valley Hospital. It was surpassingly easy to get to. She'd take the elevator to the last for, and on her way down a corridor, she'd seen an exit for the roof. An unlocked door allowed her unrestricted access.

If she looked far enough, she could see Enchantment off in the distance. The Valley Inn was close enough that she could make out the windows to each room. And Memorial Park was to her left.

The ground was below her. Concrete and trash bins. Pine Valley Hospital was only seven stores, so it wasn't overly high. Still though, if she jumped, she probably wouldn't wake up.

It wasn't an altogether terrible thought. It would save her from pain that was about to be unleashed on her soul.

Bianca was in labor.

She was bringing that monsters baby into the world, three floors below.

The entire town was coming and going, offering their support and spreading their joy.

She didn't understand how they did it. How they all acted like this child was the second coming. Like its birth was somehow going to take away all the pain; make it all okay.

Jackson had insisted she come. Sit with the rest of the family. Act like she cared. Like she was soon to be a doting and loving grandmother, who couldn't wait to hold the child. Plaster on smiles and greet the good folks of Pine Valley with phony pleasantries.

She had no intention of waiting. She wasn't even going to look at it if she didn't have to and she surely wasn't going to hold it.

Bianca didn't know what she was doing. Couldn't understand what having the bastard's child in the world meant. She had no idea what she was going to feel when she looked into that child's eyes. The pain. The shame. The guilt. It was going to stare back at her with such force, it would take her breath away.

And she was going to hate the child.

Hate what it stood for. What it meant. What it's every breath brought back to her mind.

It was never going to end. She was never going to stop seeing Michael Cambias. That child would always be there to remind her of the horror she had suffered.

Why didn't Bianca listen? Why didn't the town listen? Why did every one minimize her feelings and say that she was being dramatic?

None of them knew what Bianca was going to face. But she did.

And one day, when Bianca couldn't stand the sight of her child she'd willingly brought into the world, she would be the first one there to help her ease themselves of the situation.

She was pacing the length of the roof, stopping every few minutes to peer over the edge. She let her toes hang off just slightly, keeping her heel firmly planted. If she just leaned forward slightly, she wouldn't have to think about any of this any longer.

_

"I've looked all over," Ryan shook his head as he informed Jack, "I can't find her."

"No one saw her leave," Jack reminded him. The hospital's closed circuit cameras had confirmed it. "She has to be here."

"Has anyone paged David?" Greenlee wondered, "Maybe she's with him."

Jack shook his head. "He just went in to see Bianca; said he hadn't seen Erica since we first brought Bianca in."

Kendall and Maggie were with Bianca, acting as her birthing coaches and were unware that Erica had fled, and they hoped that meant Bianca was unware as well. David had promised not to mention anything when he'd gone to check on Bianca.

"Where else could she be?" Ryan wondered, catching sight of Myrtle and Opal approaching them.

"We had every empty room searched and she isn't in them," Opal said, shaking her head. "I don't understand where she could have gone."

"I'm starting to worry," Myrtle said through a shaky breath, "She hasn't been herself for months and now this disappearing act. You don't think…"

Tad came barreling down the hallway, "We found he," He huffed, trying to catch his breath long enough to form words. He'd run down three flights of stairs, unwilling to wait for an elevator. He didn't think they had time to wait.

"Thank god," Jack breathed, "Where is she?"

"On the roof," Tad pushed out, chest still heaving. "Palmer is trying to talk to her, but she wasn't responding to us, and she's really close the edge…"

"What?" Ryan asked, eyes wide as Jack made his way to the elevator.

Tad shook his head. "Palmer is worried…."

"She's not thinking about that!" Jack warned as he paced near the elevator doors.

"I think we need to get up there and figure out how to get her down," Tad told them, pointedly. There needed to be some urgency to their movements, as Palmer hadn't even been to get Erica's attention. Jack and Ryan got onto the elevator seconds later. All he could do was hope that it was enough to talk some sense into her. "Mama, wait here, please," Tad asked of her, "I'll have Jack come get either of you if we needed. I think the less audience we have for this, the better."

"Tad if she's…" Myrtle started, but she choked on the words. The thought alone was almost too much to bare.

"I don't know what's she's doing. Or what is going on in that gorgeous mind of hers, but Jack and Palmer can talk to her. I'm going to let Dad and the hospital know. If Hayward comes out, you might want to send him up. I think she's going to need a doctor and he knows her case."

They nodded, moving in to hold one another as Tad headed for the stairs.

They were supposed to be waiting for life to begin, yet here they were, having to pray that life wasn't going to end on the same night.

To be continued