100th Chapter! - I thought I would celebrate with a moment of Minx family happiness complete with fairy tale. I hope it's isn't too corny.
*I must apologise for the late post, this ended up a lot more of an epic than I first imagined.*
…
Marissa peered cautiously round the door to Bianca's room. She had prepared herself for the bruises on Bianca's face, but in the morning light they didn't seem as bad as she remembered.
"Morning." said Marissa with a smile, when she saw Bianca's features light up as she appeared.
"Morning." said Bianca, her voice still a little hoarse. "Have you been here all night?"
"Kendall and I couldn't bear to go home and leave you here alone. Not after everything. She will be in in a minute; Opal brought up the kids and they are still putting the finishing touches on your get-better project."
"More pictures?"
"No, not this time. Between us we didn't have enough pens or paper, so instead you are getting a get-better story."
Bianca's brow furrowed slightly.
"What kind of story?"
"I'm not really sure." admitted Marissa. "They wouldn't let me help. Apparently it's going to be my surprise as well. But everyone else was pitching in."
"Everyone?"
"Opal, your Uncle Jackson, Caleb, Liza, Adam, even David and Frankie were offering suggestions, there is a lot of people in the waiting room worried about you."
"Adam?" asked Bianca, her brow furrowed deeper in confusion. "Why isn't he with JR?"
"He brought AJ up to see me. We talked briefly, he's worried about how JR has affected his grandson and he wants me to have full custody. He and Liza were going over the legal details, sadly I don't understand that stuff as well as I used to."
"You have custody of AJ!" gasped Bianca, sitting up suddenly in bed, a big smile on her face. She regretted it instantly, when her split lip began to bleed again. "Ow!"
"Careful." said Marissa, taking a seat by the side of the bed, grabbing a tissue to dab the blood from her girlfriend's lip. This she did with a contemplative slowness as she caught herself remembering the softness of those lips and the exquisite taste of Bianca's kisses, what seemed like a life ago.
Bianca clearly noticed the expression on Marissa's face which only made her smile more.
"You really need to stop doing that." said Marissa with a frown.
"But I'm so happy for you. It's so wonderful for you and AJ."
"Yes, it is." said Marissa, reaching out to take Bianca's hands. "But we are here for you, not me."
"I'm okay, Frankie was just being overly cautious. I ache, I've a sore throat but it's mostly bruises. In fact David thought I could be out of this hospital by the end of the day."
"But what JR did to you…" said Marissa looking guiltily down to her lap.
Bianca gripped tightly to Marissa's hands and waited until her girlfriend could meet her eyes before she continued.
"What JR did doesn't change anything. It doesn't change the way I feel about you and it doesn't change the fact that we belong together. There is nothing he can do about that." said Bianca seriously, but then she got a mischievous glint in her eye as she continued. "He certainly made it a memorable first date, just not in the way I'd hoped."
Marissa shook her head at Bianca's dark humour, but she found a smile as well.
"Then we shall have to make our second date extra special." said Marissa, sensing Bianca didn't really want to talk about JR.
"Yes we will," said Bianca as her thumb traced a sensual pattern on the sensitive skin on the back of Marissa's hands. "And the third and the fourth…"
Looking down at Bianca's leisurely caress, Marissa noticed the bruises and scabs on the backs of her girlfriend's hands. It broke her heart what JR had done, but her sorrow was over whelmed by a much stronger emotion. How could Bianca go through all this and still be so strong; she was in awe of her.
Marissa drew Bianca's hands to her lips and placed a kiss on every one of her injured knuckles.
"I love you." she said with a sigh. "It's crazy; I just love you so much."
…
There was a knock at the door and Kendall's head poked in.
"Are you ready for more visitors?" she asked.
"Mm," said Bianca playfully, "That would depend on who they are."
"It's me… It's us…" called a chorus of children's voices as Gabby, Miranda, Spike and AJ stepped in passed Kendall.
"Not quite the full bunch." said Kendall, following them into the room. "But Ian fell asleep on Opal's lap so I thought it best to let him be."
Marissa turned round from where she sat so close to Bianca's side on the bed. The children's happy smiles wavered slightly at the sight of Bianca's bruised face, AJs especially, but they all hurried forward to clamber onto the bed.
"I hear you've written me a story." said Bianca as she pulled Gabby into a more comfortable position on her lap.
"We wanted to do pictures…" began AJ.
"…but we didn't have the right pens or paper." finished Miranda.
"And it's for you too, mom." added AJ. "Because we didn't really give you all the get-better pictures like we did for Bianca."
"We want to help fix your memory." said Miranda, giving AJ a supportive nod. "And make you better too."
"That's lovely, thank you." said Marissa, wrapping her arms around the two birthday-twins and giving them a hug.
"We wrote a really good stor-wee." said Gabby excited at seeing her mother.
"Well then I can't wait to hear it." said Bianca giving her youngest a playful tickle.
"I think Aunt Kendall should tell it." said Miranda.
"But kid's it's your story." said Kendall, still stood in the doorway. She had obviously intended to give them a moment alone.
"Yeah but you'll tell it better." insisted Miranda.
AJ nodded.
"Come on mommy!" cried Spike.
"Yes come on Kendall!" said Bianca.
"Come on." said Marissa joining in the tease.
"Okay, okay." said Kendall, taking a seat on the last empty space on the bed.
"Are you all sitting comfortably..?" she asked, in her best storytelling tones.
There was a brief moment of fidgeting as everyone squashed up around Bianca so they could turn and look at Kendall; Marissa pulled Spike up onto her lap to make room. And then everyone nodded.
"…then I'll begin."
…
Once upon a time there were two kingdoms. One was ruled by a beautiful Queen, the other by a powerful Emperor. It just so happens that on one glorious summer morning they both had a child born on the same day at the exact same hour. The Queen had a daughter, a princess of rare beauty and the Emperor a son of great strength. Something as momentous as this does not go unnoticed. So on their sixteenth birthday a fairy godmother was despatched with a gift for their birthday present. But as with all magical gifts there was also a price. She presented them both with a beautiful, shimmering glass heart. The princess and the Emperor's son were instructed to take care of these gifts and on their 21st birthday, the best keeper of the heart would receive an even greater reward.
The Emperor's son at once had a great vault built within the palace, and there on a marble plinth, he locked his heart safely away behind impenetrable doors.
The princess loved her heart so much she had it made into a necklace and wore it on a chain around her neck for all the world to see. The princess was generous and she knew that something this wonderful had to be shared. So when she fell in love, she would share her necklace with her beloved to symbolise the sharing of her own heart. Sadly her loves did not care for the glass heart as they should, some were forgetful and lost it, but the princess always managed to somehow find it again; others were clumsy and broke it, but the princess ever determined would find all the pieces and painstakingly fix them back together.
At last the princess found someone she was sure would take good care of her heart. Someone she could love forever. By then her heart was worn and cracked and battered, no longer the brilliant jewel that she had been presented with on her sixteenth birthday. This did not mean she loved it any less and she was sure her new love would feel the same. When she offered the heart to her beloved they did not see its worth and carelessly threw it away. This time her heart was well a truly lost. This time the heart could not be found.
Now the Emperor's son was the opposite of the princess's generosity. He hid his heart away so only he could gaze upon it. He surrounded it with beautiful things. The vault was filled with precious jewels, great mounds of gold and silver, rare furs, exquisite paintings; all their beauty reflecting off the facets of his heart made it even more magnificent. He was determined to make his heart the most beautiful thing in the world.
,,,
It is interesting to know that fairy godmothers don't just present gifts to Royal children. Sometimes they will pick a child of a deserving family and give them a destiny of their very own.
In the Emperor's Kingdom a blacksmith had a beautiful daughter, born with hair of fiery red. She was born on the same summer's day as the princess and the Emperor's son and at her birth the fairy godmother gave the child a gift. The blacksmith's daughter was given a smile, a truly magical smile so warm and radiant it could make flowers bloom and the sun shine.
Now the Emperor's son heard about the blacksmith's daughter. He wondered how much more beautiful his heart would look with her radiant smile reflected in it. He sent his guards out to capture her and bring her to his palace.
The Blacksmith's daughter was sat by the side of road, removing a large pebble that had lodged in her shoe, when the guards closed in around her and dragged her off to the palace. She didn't even have time to drop the worn stone still clasped in her fist.
The Emperor's son made great preparations for her arrival. In his vault he had made for her a little golden house with a silver bed, emerald covered walls, sapphire studded ceiling and giant diamonds for door knobs. But there were also ebony bars on the windows and a large unpickable lock on the jewel encrusted door. It had taken one hundred jewellers over a year to build the Emperor's son this lavish prison.
And so it was that the Blacksmith's daughter found herself locked within the Emperor's son's gilded cage. But not before the palace servant's had scrubbed her clean, doused her in perfume and dressed her in an elaborate silk and velvet gown and delicate embroidered slippers; for the blacksmith's daughter was to be as beautiful as everything else in the vault. Her own clothes were burnt. All she had left of the outside world was the pebble from her shoe still clutched in her hand.
When the Emperor's son arrived to view the new treasure in his vault he was horrified to see that the Blacksmith's daughter was crying.
"I command you to smile." He ordered. But the young maiden could not, she was too sad and homesick.
"If you do not smile I will send my guards to evict your father and burn down his forge."
This just made the blacksmith's daughter sadder still and although she tried to smile for her father's sake she could not stop from crying. The Emperor's son was horrified by her ugly tears and ordered the windows of the golden house be boarded up so her unsightly tears could not reflect upon his precious heart. And so they would remain until the Blacksmith's daughter smiled again.
Trapped in the dark the Blacksmith's daughter cried harder still. But the she began to notice it wasn't as dark as it first appear, there was a soft red glow emanating from her palm. As she looked down she saw the water worn pebble gave off a soft warm glow that seemed to radiate love. To the blacksmith's daughter, this magical stone became the most beautiful thing in this vault of treasures.
,,,
The princess was devastated at the loss of her glass heart. It was a few weeks away from her 21st birthday and she had lost the Fairy Godmother's wonderful gift. She was not worried about the greater reward – she just missed her precious heart, sad that she could no longer share it with her people. Then she remembered that the Emperor's son had a heart of his own locked away in his vault. She decided to travel to the Emperor's kingdom and ask if she might share his heart with the world in place of her own.
Passing a forest glade she came upon an old man sobbing. She climbed from her horse and went to ask what made him so sad. The man told her of the Emperor's guards stealing his child and then burning down his home and destroying his livelihood. He was the blacksmith. He knew where his daughter was held prisoner but the blacksmith was afraid the Emperor's son meant to kill him if he ever came to the palace. He told the Princess that the Emperor's son had sent out a decree. Anyone who could make the blacksmith's daughter smile before his 21st birthday would be rewarded with a treasure of their choosing from his magnificent vault. The princess wondered if this was a way of getting the glass heart as her very own. Feeling sorry for the old man the princess told him that she was travelling to the palace and that she would make sure that his daughter was safe. As a thank you the blacksmith whispered in her ear the one thing that would make his daughter smile again.
When the princess arrived at the Emperor's palace she found the gates barred and a large notice on the door announcing that only those accepting the challenge could enter the palace. The princess sought an audience with the Emperor's son, but he would not allow her to even look at his precious heart. He told her the only way she would be allowed to set foot in his vault was to undertake the challenge, failure would mean her death.The princess agreed. She was not alone, the palace courtyard was surrounded by, princes and noblemen, jesters and fools, chefs and poets all determined to win a treasure from the Emperor's son's vault.
One by one candidates were led into the vault. They were forbidden to bring in props or tools with them from the outside for the Emperor's son feared they might contaminate the vault with ugliness. This left many hopefuls lost, how could a juggler entertain her without his clubs, how could a baker delight her without his delicious cakes, how could a musician serenade her without his instrument. One by one the candidates entered and failed. The price of failure was death, for only the Emperor's son could view his vault of beauty and so they were thrown into the moat from the highest tower.
The princess nervously took her place in the queue. She would keep her promise to the blacksmith and find his daughter and then claim the glass heart as her own, for she believe most strongly that something as wonderful as the fairy godmother's gift should be shared.
As the Princess was led into the vault her breath caught in her throat. The room glittered with precious metal and gems, but that was not what took her breath away. In a silver throne sat a sad and yet beautiful young woman; the Blacksmith#s daughter.
"Well then princess, make her smile." ordered the Emperor's son.
The princess took a deep breath and remembering the blacksmiths advice began to sing their special song.
…
"Let me!" cried Gabby interrupting Kendall's flow. "I want to sing it!"
"Okay." said Kendall with a smile, quite happy not to be singing.
Gabby turned around on her mother's lap and began to sing…
"Gotta crawl, gotta crawl, gotta crawl,
To the ugly bug ball,
To the ball, to the ball…"
"That's not the song!" cried AJ.
"Yes it is." said Gabby determinedly, "It always makes Ma-wissa smile. See!"
Marissa was indeed smiling. So was Bianca and Kendall, or they were at least failing to keep a straight face. Miranda and AJ however were a little annoyed at Gabby for getting the song wrong.
"That's not mommy's special song." cried AJ.
"But Gabby was right." said Marissa, trying to cheer up her son. "It does make me smile."
It took a moment for Kendall to find her serious face again so she could continue the story.
…
So the princess sang 'The Ugly Bug Ball." to the Blacksmith's daughter, her voice sweet and beautiful. The Blacksmith's daughter knew the song and felt her heart lift at the sound of it, remembering her home and her father and for the first time in a long time a smile appeared on her lips. The Emperor's son was not prepared for how dazzling it would be in his treasure-filled vault. Every surface seemed to glint and gleam a million times brighter. He turned towards his heart, the effect the smile had on it was incredible.
"Is that the not the most beautiful thing in creation!" cried the Emperor's son.
"Indeed it is." replied the princess, but she was not looking at the heart but at the beautiful smile on the young woman's lips.
But the Blacksmith's daughter's smile did not stay, when the princess ended her song the blacksmith's daughter was sad again; once more worried for her father and her freedom.
"Sing again!" the Emperor's son commanded the princess.
"No." replied the princess. "The bargain was to make her smile, if I succeeded I could choose to take a treasure from your vault."
"No," cried the Emperor's son, stamping his foot. "Make her smile again."
But the princess folded her arms and held her ground.
"Fine I will keep my promise but only if you make her smile one more time." He said. "Tomorrow as you know is my 21st Birthday. The Fairy Godmother will arrive to judge who has been the best keeper of their heart. If she smiles once more when the fairy arrives, showing her how beautifully I have kept my gift, you may choose a treasure of your own from my vault."
"Any treasure?"
"Any you choose."
The princess agreed. Sadly she watched the poor blacksmith's daughter be locked into her golden house before the emperor's son escorted her to rooms within the castle.
The next day was their 21st birthday and the fairy godmother arrived to judge the gifts she had bestowed on the princess and the Emperor's son. He was to go first. He led to the fairy godmother to his vault where his heart stood in pride of place. The blacksmith's daughter was sat upon the silver throne and guiltily, but keeping her promise, the princess began to sing the song taught to her by the blacksmith. Her voice was so sweet and tender the blacksmith's daughter could only smile. Once more it's magical radiance lit the room.
"That is indeed a most beautiful heart." said the fairy godmother.
"Then I have won!" crowed the Emperor's son.
"Not yet." said the fairy, "For the heart is not yours to claim. You have promised the princess the choice of any treasure from your vault. If she chooses the heart it will no longer belong to you."
The Emperor's son went white when he realised he had been tricked of his reward.
The princess looked at the heart glistening in the light of a million jewels. She had come to claim it but the more she stared at it the more she knew she did not want it. In this vault its beauty was borrowed from the treasures around it. Her own battered heart had been a million time more beautiful to her.
Besides she was taken by a much greater treasure held in the vault.
"The treasure I choose is the blacksmith's daughter." said the princess giving the sad young woman a warm smile.
The Emperor's son smirked, believeing he had won.
"Fine take her." he said dismissively. "She is free to go."
A smile appeared on the blacksmiths daughter more magical than any before.
"Thank you." she sighed, getting up from the throne and taking the princess by the hand.
The fairy godmother turned to the princess.
"Now I must judge your heart." she said.
The princess looked down at her feet, suddenly ashamed.
"I do not have it." she admitted. "It was lost."
"Nonsense." said the fairy godmother. "I believe you have found it a very good keeper indeed."
She turned with a smile to the blacksmiths daughter.
"I don't have it." the young maiden gasped.
"Then what is that in your hand?"
The Blacksmith's daughter opened her fist where she held tight to the pebble from her shoe. Only now it had become a heart shaped jewel, brilliant and beautiful, but a beauty that glowed from within, not stolen from its surroundings. She turned to the princess amazed.
"This is your heart?"
The princess stared at it for a moment, she recognised it as her own glass heart, but it was like new, no longer patched and battered.
"It is." she said, looking up to meet the red head's eyes.
"It's beautiful." said the blacksmith's daughter, gracing the princess with her most stunning smile.
"So are you." sighed the princess as she basked in the luminous smile.
"So as the best keeper of this heart you must choose your reward." The fairy godmother said addressing the Blacksmith's daughter.
The young maiden could not draw her eyes away from the princess and the love she could feel emanating from the heart in her palm.
"I have everything I will ever need." she sighed.
"But I must give you something." insisted the fairy godmother.
"Now just one minute." cried the Emperor's son. "If she does not want the reward then I demand it." He waved his hand around the vault, "How have I not been a better keeper of my heart!"
The fairy godmother sighed,
"And what would wish for your reward."
The Emperor's son smiled.
"I would wish to always be surrounded by beauty."
"Very well." said the fairy godmother. With a flash of her wand the Emperor's son found himself locked inside the golden house he had built for the blacksmith's daughter.
The princess and the blacksmith's daughter left the vault hand in hand as the Emperor's son cried to be released. Behind them the fairy godmother began pulling the vault door closed, locking him inside.
The Blacksmith's daughter turned back to the fairy godmother,
"Don't leave him in there forever." she said, "Only until his lesson is learnt."
The fairy godmother nodded; maybe she would come back in a thousand years and find out if he was still the same selfish fool.
The fairy vanished in a cloud of glitter, her task done. She left the princess and the blacksmith's daughter to gaze lovingly into each other's eyes.
…
"And then they kissed." cried Miranda.
"Yeah, they kissed." said AJ.
"They kissed lots and lots." said Gabby bouncing excitedly.
"And lived happily ever after." finished Spike.
"Of course they did." said Kendall, taking her son off of Marissa's lap now that the story was over.
"Thank you; that was a really wonderful story. I can't believe you just made that up in the waiting room." said Bianca amazed.
"Yes, thank you." said Marissa.
"You were the blacksmith's daughter." said Miranda, "And mommy was the princess."
AJ sniffed and looked angry,
"And we made daddy the rotten Emperor's son." He said.
Marissa put a comforting hand on her son's back.
"Well I hope we can have a happy ending like that."
"And do you feel better?" asked Miranda with a hopeful smile.
"I feel much better." said Bianca.
"So do I." said Marissa quickly, giving Bianca a grin.
"I said about the diamond doorknobs." said Gabby loudly, not wanting to be forgotten,
"And you picked Marissa's special song." said Bianca wrapping her arms around her youngest daughter.
Gabby nodded and looked back at her mommy, she placed a podgy hand on the bruise on Bianca's cheek which made her wince.
"Mommy do you need magic kisses?" Gabby asked.
Bianca nodded and her youngest daughter swooped in and planted a kiss on her nose.
Miranda gave a grin and kissed her mother's nose too.
"Please stop getting hurt." she said.
"I'll try my best." Bianca said stroking the cheek of her eldest daughter. "You are amazing you know that, Angel."
Miranda's smile almost doubled in size.
"I love you mommy."
"Come on AJ, magic kisses!" cried Gabby.
AJ looked uncomfortable. He was obviously feeling bad that it was his father that put Bianca into this hospital bed.
"I'm sorry my daddy…" he began.
"Shhh." whispered Bianca, "None of that, Buddy. I don't blame you, I would never blame you."
At the use of his nickname, AJ perked up enough to flash her a small smile, before he hugged her and quickly kissed the tip of her nose.
"My turn I guess to give you a magic kiss." said Marissa.
With a wide grin Marissa leant in and placed a gentle kiss on the undamaged corner of Bianca's mouth. Bianca sighed softly at the tender, delicious caress against her lips.
"No!" cried Gabby. "That's not w-ight!"
Marissa and Bianca looked back at the little girl tugging at Marissa's arm.
"You have to kiss her nose."
"Oh, I'm sorry." said Marissa, suitable admonished.
"I did it wrong." she said teasingly to Bianca before dutifully placing a kiss at the end of her girlfriend's nose.
Bianca couldn't help smiling even though it hurt her bruised cheek.
"Well now you know." said Bianca playfully before she found herself getting lost starring at Marissa's smiling lips. "And they were right about your smile it really is beautiful."
"They were right about your heart as well." said Marissa. "And I swear I will keep it safe for all of time."
Not caring if Gabby was going to tell her off again; Marissa leant in to place a delicate kiss in Bianca's lips.
…