Darlin' I can't explain
Where did we lose our way
Girl, it's drivin' me insane
And I know I just need one more chance
To prove my love to you
And if you come back to me
I'll guarantee
That I'll never let you go

Can we go back to the days our love was strong
Can you tell me how a perfect love goes wrong
Can somebody tell me how to get things back
The way they used to be
Oh God give me a reason
I'm down on bended knee
I'll never walk again until you come back to me
I'm down on bended knee
-On Bended Knee, Boyz II Men

Miranda toddled across the room to her mother. "Mommy?" she stopped at the couch. "Go to park? Go snow?"

Bianca smiled at the child. "You want to go play in the snow?" Miranda nodded. "Okay, let's get you dressed and we'll go the park."

"Yay!" Miranda jumped up and down. She tugged at Bianca's hand, leading her towards the staircase. Just as they were about the climb the steps, she stopped and looked up, "Maggie go too?"

A small sigh escaped from Bianca. Taking the little girl into her arms, she smiled slightly. Make no mistake about it; now that Maggie was in town, Miranda would be persistent in asking about her, wondering when they would be reunited as a family unit once again.

"We'll see, honey. Okay?"

"Otay."

--

Maggie strolled through the streets of Pine Valley, reacquainting herself with the surroundings. As she walked, she noticed the changes, not that there were many since departing almost two years ago. A majority of them were subtle, like a new sign or awning for one of the storefronts, a new lamppost here, another traffic light there. Subtle.

She found herself turning into Pine Valley Park, following the path in front of her. Figuring how she had nothing else to do, a walk in one of her favorite places would ease her mind somewhat, as she waited for the moment when Bianca would be ready to talk to her. As she walked further down the path, she heard a familiar sound, one of a child laughing. Nearing its origin, Maggie came to realize it was Miranda, giggling like any other two year old would as she frolicked in the snow.

Maggie stood in the near distance for a moment, a smile curling her lips as she observed the child. Her heart warmed at the sight, reminded of days when she used to take Miranda to the park where they would feed the ducks or sometimes play with the dogs that were running freely. She began to wonder if they'd ever have that opportunity again, to spend time with one another like before.

Without realizing it, a tear managed to escape from Maggie's eye. So completely enamored by Miranda's joy, she failed to hear the tiny voice that was calling out her name.

"Maggie! Maggie! Maggie!" came a shout that was barreling closer and closer.

Maggie was quickly brought back to the present, the tiny voice registering in her mind. She bent down and spread her arms open as a small body launched itself into them. "Hi Miranda," Maggie wrapped her arms around her. "Having fun?"

Miranda nodded, "Play, too?"

"Miranda! I thought told you to… Oh, Maggie," Bianca stopped mid-sentence.

Maggie released her embrace on the little girl and looked into her eyes. "What did we tell you about wandering away?"

Miranda shuffled her hands together and stared at the ground. "No run?"

"Yes, sweetie."

"Sowwy," she replied.

Maggie fixed Miranda's hat and gloves. "You don't have to say sorry to me, honey. But you should say it to Mommy, go on," she said, glancing up at Bianca.

Miranda stepped closer to Bianca and looked up. "Sowwy, Mommy. I no do it again."

Bianca bent down on her knees, so she was eye level with her daughter. "Come here, sweetheart," pulling Miranda into her arms. "Just don't wander away, okay?"

"Otay," Miranda pressed a kiss to her mother's cheek. Glancing at Maggie then her mother, her tiny forehead furrowed as though she were about to ask a question. "Mommy?"

"Yes?"

"We go home now? Go Paris? Maggie no go 'way no more. Go home now?" Miranda's eyes filled with hope. She gave Maggie those same eyes, waiting for an answer.

Before Bianca could respond, Maggie spoke. "You know what, sweetie, not yet. I mean don't you want to get to know your cousin Spike a bit more?" she looked at Bianca, hoping the brunette would follow her lead.

"Not yet, Miranda. But I promise, we will go home." Bianca replied. Standing up, she guided Miranda over to one of the benches and sat down.

Not quite understanding what her mother said, Miranda still nodded. "Wanna play more?"

"Okay, you can play for a little while longer. Maggie and I will be sitting right here." Bianca said, watching Miranda scurry after a small bird that had landed on the ground. She sat back and sighed, once again not making any eye contact with Maggie.

Maggie watched Bianca for a moment, somewhat annoyed, both at herself and at her. If there were to be any chance of working out their relationship, Bianca needed to be open to talking. At the present moment in time, that wasn't the case. But she wasn't about to give up, not now, not ever.

"Bianca, please hear me out, okay? I came here for a reason," Maggie started speaking, regardless of whether or not Bianca chose to look at her. "And that reason is you. I know what I did was unforgivable. But I want us to work this out. If there's any way we're going to salvage what's left of our relationship, we need to sit down and talk."

Bianca closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Finally, for the first time in days, she turned her head and met Maggie's gaze. "Fine, we'll talk. But not here, not in front of Miranda," glancing at the child. "I'll come by your hotel room tonight and we'll talk there."

"Okay," Maggie nodded, feeling somewhat relieved in a way. It was yet another step on their journey back to one another. Not wanting to crowd Bianca or pressure her, she got up. "I'm going to go."

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I want to give you your space. Like you said, we can talk about everything, tonight. Give the munchkin a kiss for me."

Bianca nodded. "Alright. Um, Maggie?"

"Yes?" Maggie looked back.

"I've missed you," smiling slightly as she pushed some hair behind her ear.

Maggie's heart warmed at the words, somewhat overwhelmed at how such a simple phrase resonated so much feeling inside of her. Giving Bianca her patented crooked Stone smile, she held her gaze.

"I've missed you, too."

--

Anna walked down the street, keeping a firm hold of Duke's leash. She stopped in front of a bakery, her eyes drawn toward the tantalizing treats in the window. Tempted to go inside and purchase a sweet confection or two, her craving was brought to a halt upon hearing the Duke growl.

"Hey now, you know I don't like it when you do that," she spoke, not bothering to see why the golden retriever was suddenly grumpy. "Come on, stop it."

"I'm sorry, I guess he doesn't like me," a voice responded.

Anna immediately recognized the voice. "Cecelia," she said, her tone becoming stern. "Well, then I guess he's got good reason not to like you, considering what you did to Bianca and Maggie."

"I…"

"Oh, please spare me the excuses. Maggie may have gone a bit soft on you, but not me," glaring at the younger woman. She tugged Duke's leash slightly, causing the canine to take a few steps back. "Pardon my language, but you, my dear, are a bitch. How can you live with yourself going around tanking people's relationships?"

"Excuse me, but I did not tank Maggie's relationship," Cecelia said nonchalantly.

Anna quirked an eyebrow, "But you had every intention to. It's why you chose to shove Maggie's infidelity in Bianca's face, right? You purposely wanted Bianca to find out, so they'd break up and you'd finally have Maggie," she smirked, followed by a cunning laugh. "But I guess the joke's on you. Maggie didn't come crawling back to your bed, did she? Serves you right."

Cecelia swallowed the lump in her throat. "Well, Maggie and I said goodbye. She ordered me out of her life and I plan on doing honoring her request."

"Oh, you most definitely will, especially if I'm around," Anna stared intently into Cecelia's eyes. "You will never go near her, never contact her, you understand me?"

"Yes."

"And if you do. If you dare to defy me," sarcastically laughing under her breath, "Well, let's not go there. I'd hate to see what would happen, if you choose to live dangerously and test me. Secret agents have a way of making people disappear you know. So, do you understand me?"

Cecelia nodded, trying not to let her fear show. "Yeah. Yes, I do."

"Good. And you'll listen, if you know what's good for you."

--

Maggie checked her watch, realizing half the afternoon had gone by without her noticing. As she continued to stroll the streets of Pine Valley, her curiosity peaked at a something to her left. Recognizing it to be the building that housed the Fusion office, she couldn't help but notice the ground floor and its bright windows. She walked closer to it, reading the name on the door.

"ConFusion?" she said. "Huh, that's original."

She read the hours and checked her watch again. "Well, I guess I'm a bit early for Happy Hour."

"Maggie?" came a low voice from behind.

Maggie froze in place, unsure if she was hearing things. Slowly turning around, her instincts were confirmed, finding herself standing face to face with Jonathan Lavery.

"Maggie, Um, wow. I had no idea you were in town," Jonathan blew a warm breath into his hands, trying to fight the chill around them.

"Yeah, I got in a few days ago," her tone was stiff, though she too, felt the cold air surrounding them. "I, umm… I have something I needed to take care of."

"Listen, why don't you come inside for a bit? It's really cold out here and I need to oversee the staff setting up for tonight," Jonathan said, stepping in front of Maggie and unlocking the entrance to ConFusion. Holding the door open, he motioned for her to step inside. Suddenly noticing the hesitancy in her eyes, he knew the reason why. "I understand if you're not to keen on being around me, especially after everything I did."

"Yeah, no kidding," Maggie muttered.

"But you look like you could use a moment to maybe sit down or something. It's warm inside and I'll leave you alone, if you'd like me to."

"Fine, fine. I'll come in."

"Good. You won't be disappointed with this place."

"Yeah, whatever." Maggie stepped through the doors of ConFusion, her jaw dropping at the lavish décor before her. "Wow."

"Cool, huh?" Jonathan smiled. "But I can't take any of the credit. It all goes to the girls of Fusion. Have a seat," he pointed to one of the stools at the bar. "Do you want anything to drink?"

"No thanks," Maggie declined. A memory flashed in her mind, recalling the day she'd gotten the news of the kidnappings and mountain explosion. A shiver went down her spine thinking about it, the horrifying details still etched in her brain. Looking up at Jonathan, it only caused her to wonder what kind of difference a year made.

Jonathan eyed the blonde curiously. He could tell Maggie was in deep thought, surmising from the look on her face. And although, he had made amends with almost everyone he inflicted hurt on, before him was the woman he hurt the most.

"Maggie, I…"

"Save it. If you're expecting forgiveness, think again. I will never forgive you. Not in a million years."

"I just wanted to apologize. If things had been different, I never would have hit you-."

"Yeah? Well, they weren't different, were they? Save your apologies because I don't care. I got over it and I got over you and far as I'm concerned, you were just a bad nightmare."

Jonathan dug a hand into his pocket, the other he raked through his short blonde hair. "Okay, I deserved that."

Maggie rolled her eyes in disgust. "Oh, will you just stop it?" she retorted. "I can't believe you got off scot-free after everything. I should have pressed charges when I had the chance, maybe if I did, all the craziness wouldn't have happened."

"Look, I'm a better person now." Jonathan felt the need to defend himself.

"You can say that all you want, make everyone believe it, but I sure as hell, won't. In my eyes, you'll always be the man who practically wrecked my life," Maggie stared at him head on. The look on her face spoke courage and determination.

Jonathan stood, amazed at Maggie's attitude. She was definitely not the same Maggie Stone who left Pine Valley nearly two years ago. "I see living in Paris gave you quite an edge."

"You bet it did," Maggie's gaze fell. She licked her lips and bit down on the bottom one. "When I left this town, my life was pretty much in pieces. I was a mess. And thank God, Bianca was there to help put me back together."

"Well, it seems like she did a good job."

"Yeah, she did."

While Jonathan and Maggie chatted at the bar, a figure lurked in the background. Intrigued at what she was seeing, she chose not to make her presence known. Instead, she remained in the shadows and listened intently. Something about the conversation she was eavesdropping on made her curious, leaving her to wonder why Maggie Stone would be talking to Jonathan Lavery in the first place.

"So, you and Bianca, huh?" Jonathan asked.

Maggie nodded. "Yeah, me and Bianca." She pulled her coat sleeve up and looked at her watch. "I should go."

"Alright," Jonathan walked around the bar and ushered Maggie to the door. "It was nice seeing you, Maggie. Um, take care of yourself."

"I wish I could say the same to you, extend the same sentiment, but I'm sure you understand why I can't," she said, buttoning up her coat. Pulling her gloves on, she patted him on the arm. "But, I guess it's only fair for me to tell you to take care, also. So, um… yeah. Good-bye, Jonathan."

"Good-bye, Maggie."

--

Bianca and Kendall walked out of the nursery, pulling the door closed behind them. Stopping at the couch, Bianca reached for her coat and slipped it on. She picked up her gloves and put them in her pockets, heaving a nervous sigh while doing so.

"Thanks again for taking Miranda, tonight" Bianca said, pulling the zipper of her coat.

Kendall smiled. "It's no problem at all. I love having Mimo over."

"Well, I guess I should get going. Maggie's expecting me," Bianca took a deep breath. Suddenly, she found herself unable to move. "Kendall?"

"Yeah Binks?" noticing the apprehension on her little sister's face. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I guess I didn't expect to feel like this, you know?"

"Nervous?"

"Something like that."

Kendall stepped forward and enveloped Bianca in a warm, reassuring hug. "It'll work out. The fact that you agreed to talk to her is the first step."

"I know," she replied, holding onto Kendall for a few more seconds before finally letting go. She pulled away, nodding confidently. "I'll be fine."

"Yes, you will. And when you come back, if you need me. I'll be here."

"Thanks Kendall," Bianca opened the door and walked out.

Kendall closed the door behind her sister peered through the curtains. Watching Bianca get into her car and drive away, she tried to project some good, positive thoughts to her.

"Maggie Stone, you'd better not mess this up."

--

"Is there anything else you need, Ms Stone?"

"No, this is good, thanks," Maggie replied. She reached into her pocket and pulled out some money, handing it to the BJ's delivery boy. "Sorry it isn't much. Most of my cash consists of Euro and I don't think you can do much with that."

"It's okay," he tipped his cap and walked away.

Maggie carried the food to the table and began removing it from the bag. She took a moment and inhaled the succulent scent of her favorite dish. Setting it on the table, she made sure it was securely covered, not wanting to let any of its goodness escape before Bianca arrived. After taking out the rest of the food and placing it on the table, she glanced at the clock.

Out of nowhere, a feeling of nervousness came over her. Maggie stood up and started pacing the room. Looking at the feast she prepared, she then noticed how there was no ice for their drinks. She grabbed the ice bucket from the table by the door and rushed out in search of the icemaker.

Bianca stood inside the elevator, watching the floors change number one by one. She tapped her foot softly hoping the apprehension she felt would dissipate. For a second, it did as the elevator doors opened and she stepped out into the hallway. She walked down the corridor, reading the room numbers. Luckily for her, the search for Maggie's room ended quickly when she came face to face with her girlfriend.

"Hi," Bianca said, taking the initiative to speak first.

"Hi. You're, um… early," Maggie bit the inside of her cheek. She had a feeling something like this would happen. After all, Bianca wasn't the queen of punctuality for nothing. Often times, she constituted early as being on time, chalking it up to the businesswoman in her. "I was just getting some ice," reaching into her back pocket and pulling out her keycard. She slipped it into the slot, pushing the door open. "After you."

Bianca walked inside, immediately recognizing the smell wafting around the room. She turned to Maggie, raising an eyebrow. "Are those what I think they are?"

Maggie gave her a lopsided smile. "I figured you might be hungry. So I went ahead and ordered some food. If it's okay with you, that is."

"Oh, it's fine." Bianca replied. She took off her coat and draped it over one of the empty chairs in the room. Sitting down on the couch, she watched Maggie drop some ice into two glasses. "So, how was the rest of your day?"

"Fine," Maggie twisted the cap open, pouring some soda for both of them. "And yours?"

"Fine, too. Miranda and I didn't stay at the park for much longer after you left."

"Oh?"

"She needed her afternoon nap and you know how fussy she can be sometimes about that."

Maggie joined the brunette on the couch, handing her the glass of soda. "Yeah, I do." She lifted the cover off the food on the table, revealing an appetizing plate of nachos. "Help yourself."

Bianca leaned forward, her fingers delicately pulling out tortilla chip covered in cheese. "Mmm… I think I will."

"What do you say, we enjoy this scrumptious meal before doing anything else. Deal?"

"Deal."

They spent the next hour savoring nachos and chili cheese fries. Needless to say, by the time the food was finished, their stomachs were filled BJ's goodness. Sipping their sodas, they sat quietly on opposite ends of the couch, lost in thought.

"Those were great, thanks," Bianca said, eyeing the empty plate. "Let me help you get this all together so it can be tossed."

"No, it's okay, I got it," Maggie moved off the couch and gathered everything, stuffing the contents into a garbage bag by the door. She went back and took a seat next to the brunette, unable to hide the grin on her face.

Bianca cast a weird look. "What?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Just um, some leftover cheese at the corner of your mouth. I got it," Maggie leaned over, her fingers caressing Bianca's soft cheek. Unintentionally, she let her hand linger for a few seconds, not even realizing it. When the sensation finally registered, she pulled back, silently scolding herself for getting too close.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," she managed to find her voice.

"It's okay," Bianca murmured demurely, her eyelashes lowering slightly. Her breath caught in her throat as she was instantly transported back to when Maggie fed her BJ's pancakes before Miranda was born. The way Maggie had caressed her cheek as she wiped away some non-existent butter. "I guess I'm just messy," she whispered in a teasing voice.

"Not really. You never were to me," Maggie replied, just as softly, finding herself lost in Bianca's deep brown eyes. She shifted her body on the couch, leaning closer to Bianca, inches away from her face still gazing into the pools of dark brown. Hand cupping the other woman's cheek, their lips met for a gentle kiss, one neither of them fought.

Bianca closed her eyes and reveled in this moment of closeness, something she hadn't felt in weeks. And although her first instinct was to fight this intimate contact, she chose to surrender, to feel, to let her emotions run free. Her mind was telling her to resist, but her heart told her otherwise, to simply live in the moment and hold onto it, for however long she could. It was the battle she constantly fought, not knowing who or what to listen to. For now though, she chose her heart and even though it as broken, the part that loved Maggie remained intact.

Mutually pulling away after a long moment, they remained close, foreheads pressed together. Maggie kept her hand on Bianca's face, her fingers lightly caressing her cheek.

"God, I've missed you," she whispered achingly, closing her eyes once more as she leaned in to kiss her again, "so much."

Bianca placed her palm on top of Maggie's. "I've missed you, too," she breathed deeply, completely taken by this moment of intimacy. "But-."

"Shh," Maggie pressed her finger to Bianca's lips. "I love you, you know that?"

Taking Maggie's hand in hers, she kissed it. "I know."

"Do you still love me?"

"Of course I do, Maggie."

"Then say it to me, say the words."

"I love you," Bianca's voice trailed, her downcast gaze speaking volumes.

Maggie pulled her hand back, she knew that look. While it was one of pure sincerity, she could tell Bianca had something else to say. "But what? You can tell me," she asked with pleading eyes. "You can talk to me. It's why we're both here."

"I love you, Maggie. But you can't just kiss the hurt away. It doesn't fix everything."

"I know that, I'm not dumb."

"I never said you were," Bianca replied. She sighed deeply, raking a hand through her hair. "I just want to know why you're here."

Instinctively, Maggie became defensive. "I'm here because of what you said. That when I was ready to come back to our relationship, you'd be waiting for me in Pine Valley. You said that, remember?"

"Yeah. But lot of time has passed and I've been here by myself with nothing to do but think."

"And where has all this thinking gotten you?"

"I don't know," Bianca shrugged, exhaling a frustrated breath. "Somewhere. Nowhere. I just don't know. I look around me and all I see are relationships falling apart; my mother and Uncle Jack, Babe and JR. Everywhere I look, it's lies and secrets."

Maggie was silent for a moment. "I made a mistake, Bianca. One I can never take back but will always be sorry for. I didn't lie to you and I was never going to keep it a secret. We're not your mom and Jack and we most certainly aren't Babe and JR. We can work this out, Bianca. I know we can."

"Saying it and doing it are two different things, Maggie. Just because you're sorry for what you've done doesn't automatically guarantee us a fairy-tale happy ending," Bianca reasoned. She could tell her words weren't what Maggie was expecting to hear, but it was the truth. "I want us to work this out, too." Tears flooded her eyes, "God, Maggie, I love you so much but I don't even know where to begin or how to make sense of all of this."

"I've spent the last two months trying to do the same," Maggie muttered sadly.

"And where has it gotten you?" Bianca asked, wiping the moisture from her eyes.

"Here, sitting in front of you right now. Me, telling the woman who means most to me in this world, how much I love her and that I need her in my life."

"I need you in my life too, Maggie."

Maggie moved off the couch and knelt down in front of the brunette. "Then let's work this out, Bianca! My God, do you know what you mean to me? You and Miranda? I don't just need you in my life, you ARE my life. I don't know what I would do without you. Please, Bianca. Come back to Paris with me. Come back home," she was starting to plead and didn't want to put that kind of pressure on Bianca, but just couldn't stop herself. She took a deep, shuddery breath. "Please, Bianca. Don't give up on us. Just give me a chance."

Tears streamed down Bianca's cheeks as she looked down at Maggie, the other half her soul, broken and lost, just like she was. She reached out her hand, her thumb wiping away the teardrops on Maggie's face. "Come here," patting the spot next to her. "I'm not giving up on us. I never said I was going to. We've been through so much that I refuse to throw away what we have. I know you're hurting, because I am too, more than you can ever imagine."

"Talk to me, Bianca. Just tell me. I can take it, no matter how painful it is to hear," Maggie knew she was making a dangerous request, one that was liable to cut deeper than she expected, but in order to get past everything that happened, they needed to be open with each other.

"I need you to understand the pain I've been feeling in my heart all these weeks. And how I love you so much that it killed me every time I started imagining you with someone else," Bianca calmly explained, opening her shattered heart so Maggie could comprehend the depth of her hurt. "There were nights when I kept asking myself, 'Was it my fault? Why did you turn to someone else? What did I say? What didn't I say? What didn't I do?' Those questions kept circling around in my head."

Maggie bit down on her lip, not knowing how to reply. She simply listened as the tears filled her eyes once again. Her heart aching as she listened to every word. Her betrayal had left Bianca feeling broken.

"I thought by leaving Paris, I could leave you behind, too. That if I didn't have to see you, maybe I could put my imagination on hold and not have to imagine you in somebody else's arms," Bianca shook her head slightly. "Surprise, surprise. I couldn't get you out of my head. Whenever I was alone, I thought about you constantly."

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," Maggie took hold of Bianca's hand.

Bianca tried to smile, only succeeding halfway. "I know you are. I just had to get that out."

"So, where do we go from here?"

"We work at putting us, you and me, back together."

"How do we do that? Tell me, Bianca, because I'll do whatever you ask me to."

"Well… we go slowly. We can't just go back to the way things were. This isn't a band-aid fix."

"I know that, Bianca," Maggie retorted defensively. After a moment, she sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You know, even if we spend the rest of our lives together, this is always going to be here, what I did to you. I think it kills me more than anything…"

Bianca attempted a gentle smile through her tears. "I know, sweetie."

A sob burst from Maggie's chest. "I'll never be able to apologize enough. I can't make it go away… I can't change what I did to you, to us. And I'm so afraid of losing you." She fell back against the couch, tears flowing freely from her eyes.

"You're not going to lose me," Bianca assured. She slid close to Maggie, smoothing down her hair. "We just need to take this step by step, rebuild the trust we once had."

"Okay," Maggie nodded. Feeling somewhat hopeful, she figured her next request wasn't too much to ask for. "Bianca?"

"Yeah?"

"I've missed having you in my arms. Is it okay, if I hold you?"

Without any hesitation at all, Bianca shifted across the couch and rested her body against her girlfriend's. She smiled, embraced in her lover's arms again. It was something she dreamed of during their time apart, finding solace in Maggie's touch. "This feels good."

"Yeah, it does," Maggie smiled. She ran her fingers through Bianca's chestnut colored hair, inhaling the sweet scent of her shampoo.

They would remain like that for the next hour, chatting mostly about Miranda and her little adventures in town. During the conversation, small bouts of silence set in, reminding them of the journey ahead, but knowing they had each other kept them reassured.

Maggie continued to stroke Bianca's hair, resting her cheek against her head. "You know, I'm glad you here with me right now. It really puts everything in perspective for me again, especially now that I finally kicked Cecelia out of my life."

Bianca's body stiffened, moving out of Maggie's arms. "Excuse me? Finally kicked her out of your life?" She shook her head, leaning down to put on her shoes. "I should've known," muttering under her breath. "I should have known."

Maggie felt like a deer caught in headlights. She frantically tried to reach for Bianca, stop her from overreacting so she could explain. "Bianca, it's not what you're thinking."

"No, it's not?" the brunette turned around, an unmistakable anger evident in her eyes. She got up, grabbing her coat and purse. "What? Cecelia couldn't give you what you wanted so you came crawling back to me? God, Maggie, I'm not gullible."

"Bianca, no! You're not letting me explain," the blonde jumped up from the couch. She followed Bianca to the door, trying to block her way. "Please."

"I can't be here. I need to go."

"No, I'm not letting you."

"Maggie, get out of my way," Bianca clenched her teeth, tears threatening to fall. "Please, just let me go."

Not wanting this to escalate any further, Maggie willingly stepped aside. Bianca opened the door, shaking her head as she walked past Maggie into the hallway. She looked at her one last time before heading down the corridor.

Feeling defeated, Maggie watched as Bianca stepped into the elevator. They locked eyes for a moment, wondering how they were able to get so close only to have another rift tear them apart again.

"Bianca, I love you. Remember that," Maggie said, her final plea as she watched the doors close.

She headed back into her hotel room, slamming the door shut behind her, leaning against it as she slid down to the floor. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she curled up into a ball as sobs racked her small frame while trying not to fly into a million pieces.

The elevator doors opened in the Valley Inn lobby, Bianca rushed past some patrons, doing her best to keep her composure. She fumbled with her car keys, dropping them a couple of times while trying to get the door to open. Succeeding, she got inside and threw her purse onto the passenger side seat. Angrily falling back in her chair, she grabbed hold of the steering wheel so tight her knuckles turned white from lack of circulation. Finally letting all of her anger out, she took a deep breath. Exhaling slowly, she began to cry, her heart still broken as it was before.

Unbeknownst to either of them, a petite woman was standing out in the hallway, privy to their loud exchange. Neither woman saw her standing there when the door opened, but she was there, watching Bianca storm out and Maggie being abandoned like a sinking ship at sea.

She approached Maggie's door, hearing the woman's small sobs coming from the other side. Compelled to offer some comfort, she held back. There was something she needed to do first before taking it upon herself to meddle in the girls' relationship.

Walking the opposite way, she knocked on another door, hoping he was there. "Josh? Josh? It's Erica, please open the door. I need a favor."

The door finally opened, Josh standing in front of her, wearing a confused look. "If you're here for some mother-son bonding, I'm really not in the mood."

Erica ignored his comment and entered the room. "Actually, that's not why I'm here. I came to give Jeff a piece of my mind and as I was leaving, I noticed Bianca was here too. It wasn't a pretty sight."

"Oh God, what the hell did that Maggie chick do now?"

"You, be quiet." Erica flipped open her cell phone and held it to her ear. "Kendall, it's Mom. It's about Bianca… and well, Maggie. I think I'm going to need your help."

-end chapter-