A bad dream and a good dream.

Frankie had given Bianca something to make her sleep. She protested but he insisted she needed to rest. She had endured the police exam stoically, waiting for the moment it was over and Marissa would be back in the room; her radiant smile, the only thing capable of chasing away the dreadful images swimming around in Bianca's head. Now, as she felt sleep overtake her, all she had was the darkness behind her eyes.

…

The thunder rumbled around her as a storm raged outside her dark room. Every time the lighting flashed she could see a face watching her from the shadows. Sometimes it was Michael, sometimes it was Ricky, sometimes it was JR, sometimes it was all three; but always the figures moved closer and closer with every streak of lightening. Bianca felt the terror in her chest but she couldn't move. She was back in her hospital bed paralysed and helpless and dreading every rumble of thunder and every flash of light. She closed her eyes tight hoping if she couldn't see them they couldn't move.

Behind her closed eyes the thunder crash sounded louder than before and the lighting burned white through her eyelids and she knew they were still moving around the room. She could hear their breathing; she could almost smell them. They could be touching her right now and she would never know. They could be doing things to her paralysed body and she couldn't stop them. Bianca didn't want to know what she would see if she opened her eyes, but somehow she felt compelled to do so.

Her breath ragged, her heart pounding, Bianca slowly opened her eyes. Images flashed through her mind of Michael leering at her, Ricky scowling, JRs fist flying towards her face, but when she opened her eyes there was nothing there. The room was dark and silent. There was no sense of movement, no sound of breaths on the dark. She was alone. But there was a smell, metallic and coying, it was familiar but she couldn't place it. Just then the thunder crashed and a streak of lighting lit the room.

Bianca screamed, plunged into her chest was a huge bloody knife…

…

Bianca woke with a chocking scream, her heart racing in her chest. The images of her nightmare burnt into her memory. She grabbed at the blade she imaged still piercing her chest but there was nothing there.

Even as she fought to stay awake the sedative pulled her back into sleep. Bianca sobbing great tears as she didn't want to be plunged back into a nightmare.

…

Bianca was in darkness again but this time there was no storm and no thunder. Just darkness and a faint heartbeat. The sound was almost visible in the black, like a silver thread leading off into a distant maze. Bianca felt compelled to follow it. Follow the pulse through the twists and turns of the labyrinth. Bianca could feel something behind her cruel and menacing but the shiny thread drew her onwards. Gradually Bianca became aware of a new sound; the peal of children's laughter. It appeared to her as a thick green ribbon, wrapping itself around the shimmering heartbeat that was pulling her away from the hostile presence behind her. New sounds joined the thread. Faraway music, like a radio not quite in tune, crackled like electric current, the rustle of wind through the leaves ran like a blue wave along it's length, the distant splash of water clung like a mist to the cord of sound that drew Bianca on.

As the sounds grew louder the thread grew brighter, the walls of the labyrinth now glowing in it's presence. It was becoming almost too bright to see. As Bianca turned the next corner the sound struck like a wall, the light so blinding she shielded her eyes with her hands. As she squinted through her fingers Bianca watched as the maze around her changed. The green ribbon of children's laughter turned into a broad grassy lawn, the blue wave of rustling leaves, a bright sunny sky and the silver thread of heartbeat leading straight to Marissa, who was smiling brightly, as she set out a picnic blanket under the shade of a tall maple tree.

Bianca knew where she was, this was the picnic in the park, all those weeks before the shooting.

Bianca moved forward to kneel beside Marissa and take her hand. Miranda, Gabby and AJ were laughing in the background, racing around the trees playing chase, the radio was playing quietly by the picnic basket. This was the perfect moment when Bianca had finally found the courage to say out loud to Marissa the three little words that were etched into her heart.

"I love you."

…

Bianca smiled in her sleep; lost in the happy moment. There were no more nightmares, no more restless dreams. She had found her peace. She didn't stir until morning.