Bianca groaned as she opened her eyes. The room was dark and quiet and at some point the covers had been tucked in around her. She had fallen asleep, and the most surprising part was waking up to find herself alone. Where was Marissa? How long had she been sleeping?

Bianca became aware of voices; two not so careful whispers coming from the direction of the door.

"See she's sleeping? Sometimes grownups need a nap time too!"

"Why?"

"Because she was very sick and sometimes sleeping makes you better."

"Oh."

"But I'm not sleeping anymore." said Bianca recognising the voices of Gabby and her little friend Ayesha.

She sat up pulling the covers around herself.

"How long have you been home sweetie?" she asked

"Not long." said Gabby, climbing into the bed to give her mommy a cuddle while Ayesha watched from the side-lines. "Momma 'Rissa's making dinner. Its pasta but I told her I don't like pasta. Will you tell her mommy so I won't have to eat it?"

"Now you know you at least have to try it." said Bianca.

Gabby just pulled a face.

Bianca gave a big yawn.

"If it's almost dinner time I think it might be a good idea if I got up and dressed, don't you? I can't be lazing in bed all day."

"Okay mommy." said Gabby.

"Why don't you go play with your best friend? Have you shown her your bedroom?"

"Yeah," said Gabby, then her eyes lit up as she got an idea. "I'm gonna go downstairs and tell everyone you're awake!

"You do that." said Bianca.

She smiled at Gabby as her daughter hurried out of the room Ayesha close behind her.

…

Now she was showered and dressed Bianca made her way downstairs. She heard voices coming from the Parlour. But on further investigation discovered it was very loud voices coming from the den.

She peaked in to find Reggie on the couch with AJ and Miranda playing a computer game. Gabby and Ayesha were watching the game with interest, cheering the animated cars on as the raced around the track.

"Who's winning?" Bianca asked; she had to raise her voice to be heard over the cheering and the music from the game.

"Guess." said Reggie, grinning when he saw her. He gave AJ a nudge when he spoke and the little boy gave a cry of protest as his car swerved off the track.

Miranda grinned too at the sight of her mom. She paused the game to Reggie and AJs consternation and leaped off the couch to give her mommy a hug.

Bianca bent down to kiss the top of her head.

"Did you have fun at school?"

"We did dancing in the hall… Mom, can I have dancing lessons?"

"I thought you told me ballet was boring."

"Not ballet…" said Miranda, "Jazz… I want to do Jazz dancing. Haley was telling me and Emma and we both want to go. Emma is asking her daddy tonight… the lessons are in Wednesday after school…"

Miranda looked up hopefully.

"I don't see why not." said Bianca. "Why don't we talk about it later, when we don't have guests?"

"Thanks mom." cried Miranda, wrapping her arms tighter around Bianca's legs in a grateful hug.

"So Reggie." said Bianca, "I guess I owe you a conversation."

"Well, my answer is a yes," said Reggie, "I have warned Muriel I might be handing in my resignation at the Miranda Centre. I hope all we have to do is finalise the details."

"Why are you leaving the Miranda centre?" asked AJ.

"Because he is coming to work here. I've asked him to be your new Mr Nanny."

"Cool!" cried Miranda.

"Yay. That is awesome!" exclaimed AJ, giving Reggie a high five.

"I think they approve." said Bianca with a laugh. "We can talk the details over after dinner. You are staying right?"

"That was the plan. Marissa invited us."

"Excellent."

"Mom, when is dinner, I'm starving!" moaned Miranda.

"Tell you what. You three get back to your game and I will go and find out."

…

Bianca wandered through to the kitchen. She stood in the doorway and listened in as Marissa was talking to Camilla and they were both laughing.

"I wish I could wangle a day in bed with my boyfriend." said Camilla with a snort of laughter.

"It wasn't like that." protested Marissa.

"Sure." said Camilla disbelievingly. "Well something you did certainly wore her out."

Bianca took her cue.

"Are you taking my name in vain?" she asked.

"Ah sleeping beauty awakens." said Camilla giving her a grin. "How are you feeling?"

"Quite rested, thanks." said Bianca grinning back.

Marissa gave her gave a wide smile.

"I thought I should let you sleep. We didn't do a very good job of making sure you didn't overdo it today did we."

"Well I'm awake now. What did I miss?"

"Reggie and Camilla brought the kids back. Reggie is playing with AJ and Miranda in the den. Not sure where Gabby and Ayesha wandered off to?"

"After waking me up… They are now acting as cheering section for Mario Karts." said Bianca.

"Oh…" said Marissa, "I told them to leave you be."

"Well I'm glad they didn't." said Bianca. "I had enough of staying in bed all day after all that time in hospital."

"It was that terrible?" Marissa asked with a grin on her lips.

"Some parts were more than wonderful…" sighed Bianca, "But I needed to get up… I have been sent by the kids to find out how long until dinner."

"Not long... I hope you like pasta bolognaise."

"I love it, especially if I'm not the cook. Gabby isn't a fan. But she will eat the sauce if there is lots of cheese." said Bianca.

"I invited Reggie and Camilla to join us and then we can talk about the pool house and the job offer."

"I know." said Bianca. "I feel awful though, I was supposed to see Reggie today at work and I completely forgot."

"Honey." said Marissa stepping closer. "You are just out of hospital after a horrific ordeal. You are supposed to be resting and healing. You can't remember everything."

"No," said Bianca giving her a cheeky grin while taking a step closer herself, "Especially when I have you around to distract me."

They stared at each other for a long moment until Camilla gave a cough to remind them of her presence.

"You two are impossible." she said with a laugh. "Come on Marissa, when will dinner be ready, I'm starving?"

…

"A perfect end to another perfect day." said Bianca climbing into bed beside Marissa. The kids were all tucked up their own beds tonight.

Marissa snuggled in besides Bianca, nuzzling her neck.

"It's nice to have the bed all to ourselves." she sighed.

Bianca bit back a giggle.

"We had it to ourselves all day as well." she snorted.

"True." said Marissa with a sigh as she curled in even closer.

Bianca could tell she was dozing off beside her and she bent down to kiss the top of her head.

"I love you, sleepy head." She whispered.

"I'm not sleepy." protested Marissa, although she proved herself a liar with a great big yawn.

"Somehow I'm not convinced." said Bianca.

"No, it's still early, we should talk for a bit." said Marissa. "I'm glad everything is sorted out with Camilla and Reggie."

"Yeah, we're going to miss him at the centre." said Bianca, "I'll put an advert in tomorrow."

Marissa lifted her head from Bianca's shoulder to look her in the eye and poked her with a finger.

"You are not going to work. You need to stay rested."

"You think sitting at a desk and writing e-mails is going to be less strenuous than what we got up to this afternoon."

Marissa bit her lips guiltily.

"Possibly not."

"Besides," said Bianca, "I have a big fund raiser to organise."

Marisa snuggled back against Bianca's shoulder.

"You were serious about that."

"Oh yeah!"

"Just so I can wear that dress."

"Well that isn't my only motivation… but it is defiantly one of the main ones." said Bianca with teasing smile on her lips.

"You're encourage-able." said Marissa giving Bianca's side another poke.

"And you're beautiful." Bianca replied.

Marissa sighed happily and cuddled closer to Bianca. She closed her eyes feeling sleep begin to overtake her. Then there was a soft knock on the door.

The door pushed open and Gabby padded in with her teddy in her arms.

"Honey, what's wrong." asked Bianca, sitting up and pulling out of Marissa's embrace, much to her girlfriend's disappointment.

"Can I sleep with you?" the youngest Montgomery asked.

"But you are a big girl now with you own room and your own bed."

Gabby stood in the middle of the bedroom, a pout on her lips.

Bianca rolled over, reaching for her crutches from the floor beside the bed.

"Come on back to bed." she said,

"I can go." said Marissa, although she was still snuggled in the pillows.

"That's fine, you need your rest." said Bianca getting up from the bed.

"Come on Angel," said Bianca shooing her daughter from the room, "I promise to sit with you until you fall asleep."

…

Gabby took a long time to settle. Instead she wanted to chat about Ayesha and Reggie and why pasta isn't that bad… Gabby had eaten her pasta without complaint because it was Ayesha's favourite.

But eventually the talking stopped, and then the wriggling stopped and then soft, even breaths escaped her daughter's lips as she drifted off to sleep.

Her work done Bianca came back to bed. Marissa was sleeping soundly as she eased herself under the covers beside her.

She found herself watching her sleep; captivated by the beauty of Marissa's soft features as she was lost in her dreams.

"I do love you more." she whispered. "How can I not…"

…