"Mommy!" Miranda called out in the darkness.

Then she felt arms around her holding her, rocking her.

"It's okay. It's Marissa. I've got you. You're going to be okay."

"Mommy! I want mommy!" she sobbed, pushing out of Marissa's grasp

"Okay." said Marissa, her voice still soothing and calm. "Let's go find her." she said, her arms still holding Miranda despite her struggles, and helping her from the bed.

At the same time Gabby made a huge groan and the light turned on by AJ's bed.

"Is she okay?" he asked, looking at his birthday twin with concern in his eyes.

"She's had a bad dream." said Marissa pulling the sniffling Miranda to her side. "You go back to sleep." A cranky looking Gabby was also sitting up in bed now as well. "Both of you… Try and get back to sleep."

As soon as they stepped through into Marissa and Bianca's room Miranda ran to her mommy. Bianca was sitting at the edge of the bed, just about to get up. Instead she collapsed back with the weight of her daughter's embrace and held onto her tightly.

"I don't want him to hurt you." Miranda sobbed, her arms wrapped tightly around her mommy's waist. "I don't want him to hurt you!"

"No one's hurting me." said Bianca, kissing the top of her daughter's head and looking over to Marissa with worried eyes. "Can you tell me what you were dreaming about?" she asked.

"He was hurting you!"

"Who was hurting me?"

Miranda's answer came in a very quiet, uneasy voice.

"Daddy…"

Bianca let out a horrified sigh. Where had this come from?

"Angel, that man can't hurt us anymore." she said softly.

Marissa seemed to sense at once that this was a moment that Bianca needed alone with her daughter.

"I'll make sure the rest of the tribe go back to sleep." she said, stepping close to place a sweet kiss on Bianca's worried lips and another on the top of Miranda's head.

Bianca nodded and gave her a grateful smile as her girlfriend stepped back through into the adjoining room. Her smile widening slightly as Marissa's voice drifted through as the door closed.

"Back to bed, little madam!"

…

Bianca turned her attention back to her eldest child who still clung tightly to her as if she was afraid to let go.

"Tell me about the dream." she asked quietly.

Miranda sniffed back a few sobs and looked up at her with her soft brown eyes full of tears.

"Daddy was hurting you and you were screaming and… and he said it was all my fault."

"Oh baby." sighed Bianca rocking the child in her arms. "That was just a dream."

"But he did hurt you."

"Yes he did." said Bianca.

She had tried to be as honest as she could to eldest daughter about her origins, she didn't want her finding out the way Kendal had. She always knew when Miranda got older she would have more questions; she had just hoped that there would have been a few more years before she'd have to have this conversation.

"But it was my fault." Miranda sobbed.

"That was the dream talking." said Bianca firmly. "It is not your fault what your father did to me, just as it isn't aunt Kendal's fault what her father did to our mom, or AJ's fault that his father hurt Marissa the way he did or me!"

"Did he hurt you like Momma Reese did?" Miranda asked nervously.

Bianca was confused for a second, wondering how Miranda could confuse rape with her messy divorce and then she remembered that Miranda had witnessed the forced kiss. She also remembered how clingy she was after the event.

"Momma Reese didn't mean to hurt me." said Bianca. "She was desperate to show me something and we can all do silly thing when we are desperate can't we. The man who was your father hurt me in a very different way. Reese kissed me like that because..." Bianca paused as she searched for a reason, "…because she wanted to show me she still cared about me. The man who was your father cared only about was himself. He didn't know what love was. The only thing that made him happy was another person's pain."

Bianca sighed as she tried to find a way to explain this.

"You know when you were a baby I turned what happened into a fairy tale." she said, thinking back. "That might be the best way to help you understand."

…

There was once an evil dragon who came and terrorised a kingdom far far away. He destroyed towns and stole cattle and caused nothing but pain and grief wherever he went.

The kingdom was in despair as the dragon took control. Then one day the people drew together plans to trap the dragon and banish him so that he could never hurt anyone again. But the trap failed and when the dragon got free he was very angry. He decided to punish the kingdom by going after their much loved princess.

That dark and stormy night he found the princess alone in her castle and hurt her cruelly by tearing out a part of her soul. The dragon left to return to his rampage of terror leaving the princess wounded and weeping. But what the dragon didn't know was when he was hurting her he had also given the princess a most beautiful treasure; a treasure that had the power to heal all the damage he had done.

When the dragon realised what he had left behind he decided he wanted the treasure for himself, he didn't care how much it would hurt the princess to take it. But the treasure also made the princess brave, and she knew she had to protect it with all her might. So when he came to attack her once again and take the treasure the princess took a weapon and vanquished the dragon.

With the dragon dead the kingdom and the treasure were safe and everyone celebrated.

…

"And you were the princess," Miranda asked. "And I'm the treasure?"

Bianca nodded.

"When the man who was your father … when he died it is true he left me the greatest gift in the world… and that was you Miranda. You are my little miracle. I think I've lost count of the number of times you have saved my life."

"Do I look like him?" Miranda asked her head still resting against her mother's chest as she stared across the room at their reflection in the dressing table mirror. "I heard Maggie say I look like him."

Bianca sighed, remembering the conversation on the museum. At the time she thought Miranda was far enough away not to hear them.

"Then you must have also heard me say that you looked like you."

Miranda slowly nodded her head.

"But I don't want to be like him." she said sniffing back more tears.

"And you never will." said Bianca her voice full of conviction. "Because you already understand something that… that your daddy never did. You understand love. You value honesty and kindness and friendship. You are a million times wiser and a million times braver than that man ever was," Bianca kissed her daughter's brow, "And you still have so much growing up still to do! How you came into this world doesn't change who you are! And who you are is beautiful! You are your own special person, my little angel and I couldn't love you more if I tried"

"But how… How did he…?" Miranda asked a waver in her voice as she was unsure how to finish the question.

Bianca panicked and her mouth went dry as Miranda struggled with her words. She had rehearsed it in her head a hundred times over, what she would say if Miranda ever asked for the real details, but she had always pictured her daughter as a teenager. She still felt too young…

Miranda gave Bianca a confused frown as she finally found a way to phrase her question.

"How did you make me if he didn't know about love?" she asked.

Now Bianca was just as confused.

"I don't know what you mean?" she asked.

"Well don't you make babies out of love? You and Reese made Gabby out of love… AJ said his daddy and other mommy made him out of love. If my daddy didn't love you how did he make me?"

Bianca sighed, this was an easier question to answer… it would be a lie but it would still be an answer.

"I made you." said Bianca. "He …um…gave me the seed, but it was my love that made you grow. My love was more than enough to make my perfect, beautiful, baby girl all by itself. I love you, my angel, and I always will!"

She pulled Miranda closer to her chest as her daughter relaxed in her arms at last, the little white lie enough to settle her troubled mind.

Bianca also relaxed, the conversation she had long been dreading was postponed for now.

…