As the ladies strolled through the park, they couldn't help but smile at each other. Marissa broke the silence. "Okay, question?" Bianca turned and looked quizzically at Marissa, as she continued. "You said Kendall knew first? What did you mean? What did she know, if we just figured this out?" Bianca smiled wider as she giggled. "Aah, well…you remember the music box?" Marissa looked at Bianca like she was ridiculous and Bianca nodded. "Of course you do! Anyway…I bought it for you, and I showed it to Kendall. I was telling her about why I chose it for you, and how I had searched for it. It was painfully evident to her, at that point, that I was madly in love with you."

Marissa gestured to a spot under a tree and they started unpacking their lunch. She smiled at Bianca. Bianca continued. "I was completely in denial and would not admit it. She understood why I was so against it, but insisted that I had to take the chance. I still wasn't completely sold on confessing my undying love, but I knew I wanted you to have that box."

Marissa poured some wine into their glasses and asked "I knew you had been feeling this way for some time, but that would have been for over two whole months?" Bianca nodded, not raising her eyes as she sipped from her glass. "Yes…maybe even longer than that." Marissa's mouth was a little agape. "Wow! I was feeling so much that day. I had no idea what those feelings meant. I think back to that day in the park, with the snow…I think I even felt something then. I just was scared, maybe? But I have never had this experience. But you...Why were you so scared? What did you mean by Kendall 'understood why you were against it'?"

Bianca took a nibble of a piece of cheese and her face grew thoughtful. She fed a grape to Marissa and then smiled as Marissa wrapped her lips around a fingertip. "I am sorry, Bianca. If I am asking too much.."

"No." Bianca interrupted. "It's not too much. I want to talk about our feelings. You know about my relationship with Reese ending, but you don't really know about my history with other women." Marissa leaned on her side and laid her head in her hand. "Tell me. I would love to know about you. I mean, from the source…not from gossip or the tabloids." Bianca cleared her throat and said "Well, my first girlfriend, or crush… or whatever...it all seems so trivial now. Anyway, she was Sarah and it was while I was in rehab."

"You were in rehab?" Marissa exclaimed. "Not for drugs or anything, but one story at a time, Love" Bianca said with a chuckle and continued. "So Sarah was gay, but she was also very scared. She was afraid of what people thought, of what her parents thought, of what society and friends thought. She denied me, and she tried to live a lie that almost killed her. She broke my heart in the process." Marissa stroked Bianca's hair tenderly.

Bianca kissed Marissa's palm and continued "I would like to say it got better from there, but later I met Frankie." Marissa looked puzzled. "Frankie?" Bianca grinned and replied. "David's cousin…your 2nd cousin…I guess? 'Mary Frances Stone'…but God help you if you called her that." She laughed and then the flash of memories seemed to cause a twinge in Bianca's eyes that Marissa noticed. "She hurt you too?"

Bianca seemed to be lost somewhere, if only for an instant, and then snapped back to the present. "No…no she was…umm…murdered." Marissa eyes flashed with horror. "Umm…It's another one of those long stories that can wait. She was special. She was broken, but strong and misunderstood, but I understood and she understood me. She was taken way too soon. Our last moments were spent fighting." She let out an exasperated gasp at the realization. "Over JR, no less. It was horrible and I honestly don't know if I ever got over that…just pushed it down."

Marissa sat up and positioned herself closer to Bianca, placing her hand over her lover's for reassurance to continue. "Oh, Bianca…that is so much for a teenager to process. You amaze me, more and more every day. To be in love is rough as a teen, but to suffer loss on top of that. How did you make it through that?"

I had my Mom, for what that is worth." Bianca replied with a chuckle. "Of course, Uncle Jack…and Leo…Gosh, Leo was my rock." Noticing Marissa's expression, she explained (Again, with a laugh) "Yet again, one of your relatives...your Uncle Leo Du Pres. He was David's half-brother and Greenlee's husband…and the first true best friend I think I ever had." She laughed much harder as Marissa took in the beautiful sight with awe. "He was so great. You would have loved him. He was fun and he looked after me like a little sister. My mom tried to 'set us up', but she had no idea how supportive he would become to my coming out. He was really there for so much and my very best friend, well…until Maggie came along…after she heard about Frankie's death."

"Okay so, Maggie I know of." Marissa sat up and said. "You guys were best friends and roommates and inseparable and then ended up lovers…right?" Bianca nodded. "But you said she came after Frankie's death? They were connected?" When Bianca answered "Twins", Marissa's eyes nearly popped clean out of her skull. "Are you kidding me? Another member of my warped family tree? Oh, Bianca!"

Bianca started to laugh, Marissa looked horrified, but all Bianca could do was laugh at the absurdity of it all. "Yes, Mary Margaret Stone. My best friend, my prom date, my roommate, my college buddy…you name it. We got through the loss of Frankie together, I watched her get abused by her boyfriend and we did this dance of 'will we/won't we' for years. I had been in a relationship with an older woman, named Lena, somewhere in the middle of the flirtation and the birth of Miranda. Lena had also lied, and made some mistakes, but we worked it out. She also caused a lot of conflict between Maggie and I. Gosh…another long story. Anyway, Lena and I didn't work out in the end. Between that and the rape and Miranda's birth, well…Maggie was just wonderful. She was practically Miranda's other Mom. We took the plunge when she decided to leave with me for Paris. We were there for a while and then over time, she cheated…and left."

"In her defense, she tried to come back. She said she was sorry, but she was the most important person in my life. She wasn't 'new' like Reese, or complicated like Lena. She was my very best friend, for years. We felt the devastation of losing Frankie. She was there through every second of my healing from my rape. She was even attacked, by Michael, while trying to help me. She was there when I thought I had lost Miranda and helped me to raise her. I mean, how could you just cheat on someone like that? I just couldn't give her the forgiveness she was seeking. I couldn't and so we couldn't be."

Marissa's head was spinning. She knew what JR had shared about the time AJ and Miranda were born, and all that she was hearing from Bianca now. It was all making Marissa feel physically ill. My family, the women, and even my father, have done nothing but hurt this woman. This woman I love so very much. Almost every horrible experience in her life has come from someone with my blood in their veins. Bianca noticed the expression on Marissa's face and found it hard to read. "What is it?" she asked. "What is wrong? You don't have to be sad, I am not. All of those 'footsteps' led me to you."

"How do you do that?" Marissa asked, stroking Bianca's face with the back of her hand. "How in the world do you take heartbreak and tragedy and just flip them into something positive? Rape turns into new life. Pain turns into the selfless helping of others. Years of heartbreak at the hands of my family and you manage to comfort me with a positive spin. You are so incredible." Marissa lifted Bianca's chin with her finger as she leaned in for a kiss.

After the kiss parted, the girls drifted back into reality and scanned the area. "We have got to be more careful." Bianca laughed. "I just can't help forgetting everything when I am with you." Marissa nuzzled her nose against Bianca's and sat up, grabbing another piece of fruit. "I feel the same way. I am going to spend my life showing you how much I love you. I am going to break this cycle of hurt that the Hayward/Carey line is apparently so good at causing."

"Oh Honey." Bianca whispered. "Of course, I don't plan on you ever getting away, but don't carry around some burden. The fact that they were 'your' family is irrelevant. Each of those people made choices for themselves. They made individual mistakes that sometimes cost me my heart. There were good things too. Leo for example…he never hurt me. He was so compassionate and caring, ask anyone. David…David of all people used to care for me. Hell, he was almost my stepfather." Both women shuddered at that thought, and what that would have meant in the present. "He, and Maggie, were the only people I had to help me through my pregnancy with Miranda, at first. And Babe…your sister…for all that she did wrong, Miranda wouldn't have even come into this world without her help."

Marissa took a look of surprise and asked "Really? Babe…she helped deliver Miranda? I had no idea. I mean…JR has told me the story of the switch and the lies and cover-up…but he never said anything about that."

"Well, JR isn't always 'Mr. Positive' is he, now?" Bianca giggled in reply.

"Truer words were never spoken." Marissa sighed. Bianca continued. "I want to love you, and you to love me…without hanging on to the past. Your family is not you, Marissa. Not with these events or anything else that comes to light in the future. You realize what that ideology means…the notion that you are pre-determined to hurt me, because of relation? You realize what that would spell out for Miranda…for Gabby…for Ian? No…No…the mistakes are at the hands of the individual, not the whole. Please let that burden go…for me…for us."

Marissa was crying now. The thoughts of the 'Cambias' children racing through her mind. Beautiful, sweet children that she had come to adore. My AJ…to think of him becoming his father, or Adam…or even making the mistakes of Babe or David. No…No, AJ is pure and sweet and good, and I believe there is a better future for him. And now I see one for me too!

"I love you, Bianca!" Marissa exclaimed, and with a quick glance over her shoulder, she clasped her hand around the back of Bianca's neck and pulled her in for a deep kiss. Bianca moaned at the feel of the soft lips, the force and strength in Marissa's hand, the heat rising between them as every inch of their bodies tingled to life. As they broke apart for air, both women regained their outward composure, but the lust could be clearly read in their eyes. They returned to their lunch and enjoyed their wine.

Bianca said "I love you too, M! You have already made me so much happier than I have been." Marissa squeezed her hand. "Okay, now it's your turn, Marissa. Tell me about your sordid past." Bianca raised a quizzical eyebrow as she took a sip of wine. As Marissa's eyes widened, and a blush claimed her cheeks…she took a bite of cheese and sighed. Oh boy…