Erica was waiting patiently in the hall. Waiting for either Griffin or David to appear to tell her how Bianca and Marissa were doing. She knew she was taking a big risk just being here after Bianca's words last night, but how could she stay away when her baby girl needed her?

Griffin stepped out of the guest room where he had been treating Bianca and gave Erica an uncomfortable smile.

"She wants to talk to you." he said.

"And how is she?" Erica asked.

"She'll need to come in for an X-ray. I told her I'd come and collect her for her appointment."

"Thank you." said Erica.

Griffin's smile twisted with wry humour.

"Don't thank me yet. Like I said, she wants to talk to you."

…

Bianca was sitting stiffly up in bed when Erica entered.

"Bianca…" Erica began do say but Bianca was quicker.

"Why are you here?" she said fiercely. "I told you to leave us be. I told you never to come back and then suddenly you are here with the kids bringing breakfast! What give you the right?"

"I'm here to help." said Erica. "You need someone to take care of you right now."

"Marissa will take care of me. We'll take care of each other!"

"Right now you need someone to take care of you both. Griffin said you might have to go to hospital?"

"Just for an X-ray."

"Then someone will have to stay with Marissa. She's still very weak."

"And that person has to be you does it?"

"Everyone else is working."

"Then I'll get a nurse." said Bianca abruptly.

"Please Bianca let me do this. I want to make it up to you. This is me making it up to you both! I hate to see you upset like this. I know you didn't mean those words you said last night. And as much as you want to lay this all on me; this isn't really about me is it? You were scared and upset from the fall."

Bianca looked incredulous.

"Because of your actions the woman I love almost died! How is this not about you?"

"I said I'm sorry!"

"Yeah, you said." said Bianca in a dry tone. Then she leaned forward angrily in her bed. "How can you not understand how much you hurt me?! You tried to break us apart! You tried to take away one of the… the… the only good things I have left!"

"Baby." gasped Erica; even through her daughter's angry words she could see that this went so much deeper.

"I'm not a baby." Bianca said through gritted teeth.

Erica sat at the edge of the bed, ignoring her daughter's temper.

"You'll always be my baby." she said. "No one knows you like I do, Bianca. Talk to me please."

"I am talking. Only you're incapable of listening!"

"No, really talk to me." said Erica again. "I know you want to be strong. I know after what has happened to you. What has had happened to both of us in the past…"

Bianca gasped and looked heavenward.

"God, this isn't about Michael. Everything in my life isn't about that… that bastard!"

"I know, I know that baby… but you hate to be weak and helpless. You hate to lose control. I know that. And now…" Erica gestured to her daughter now trapped in a bed until her injuries healed.

"And now I am weak. Now I have no control. It doesn't take a genius to recognise that, mother!"

"But it takes strength to get past it."

"What do you want me say, that my disability upsets me sometimes..?"

"It's a start." said Erica. "Bianca… sweetheart… You know how I feel about you."

"Oh I know." said Bianca her voice still hard. "I've read your autobiography, remember. No one else has 'challenged' you, 'mind, body and soul' like I have! Well I'm challenging you again. I don't want you interfering in my life any more. Face it, my whole life, all you've ever wanted to do was control me!"

"That's not true. I just want you to know you're not alone, let me help you."

"No I'm not alone! I have Marissa and my girls and AJ and… and Kendall and… and Reggie… and Krystal… and Uncle Jack… and… and Griff … and Opal… and so many more."

Erica let Bianca's words wash over her. Of course her daughter wasn't alone. Her daughter had managed to develop a skill Erica had always found hard to grasp, finding friendship and love and keeping it.

"I know." Erica said eventually. "But you have me too. I just want to help get you through this. You and me… and everyone who loves you! I didn't know how to help you before. I admit, I thought maybe Marissa was who was holding you back but I can see… I know… you're running scared all on your own!"

Bianca's laugh grew a sarcastic tinge. Erica's words had clearly hit a nerve.

"You're wrong there, mother." she said swatting her legs under the bedcovers. "Clearly I'm not running anywhere and I doubt I ever will again!"

Erica risked reaching out to take her daughter's hand, Bianca didn't pull back.

"I know a little of what you are feeling." insisted Erica. "What it's like to be hurting and being overcome with fear and the need to hide away! I do. After the car crash a few years back when I thought the scars in my face would never heal, I thought my life was over."

"Only this isn't really something you can hide with a mask!" said Bianca.

"And yet you still wear one." said Erica, still pushing to get Bianca to let her in. "You still try and convince the world everything is fine. You of all people should recognise the need to acknowledge your illness. If you can't do that you can't get better. You know that… after your anorexia… The first step was to admit to yourself that you were ill."

"So this is an intervention for my own good?"

"No, this is a mother reaching out to her daughter. You're just so angry… and so sad these days. I never feel more helpless when I see you giving up like this. It breaks my heart. Bianca, you are breaking my heart."

"I've not given up." said Bianca. "I'm just having a bad day. It's allowed.

"Really?" said Erica. "So you've never felt like this before. You've never gotten mad and lashed out when you didn't mean it?"

"Mom, what do you want from me?"

"I want you to forgive me. I want you to let me help you. I want you to be happy… I just want you to heal."

"I'm not going to heal." said Bianca, her barriers finally breaking down under the sheer force of her mother's persistence. "This is it! This is all I get! I can't just will it away. I can't just pretend that it hasn't happened…"

Erica put an arm around her daughter's shoulder.

"You have faced so many challenges in your life. This is no different. When you were born and I held you in my arms. You were perfect. You're still perfect. It's a leg; it's just a leg, what about the rest of you, hmm?" asked Erica stroking the hair back from her daughter's face. "You're my beautiful girl."

"And she'll always be beautiful!" said a voice from the doorway.

Erica and Bianca looked up and saw Marissa standing there. They had no way of knowing how long she'd been listening.

"You have so much courage and you have your father's heart." insisted Erica, still talking to Bianca as she gave Marissa an apologetic smile. "You have a woman and a family who loves you and has stood by you through all of this. And will keep standing by you; I see that now."

"I'm not dying, mom, and I'm not having a breakdown. What do you want me to say?"

"You just have to say the words." said Marissa, her eyes never leaving Bianca's as she crossed to the bed using the wall to steady herself.

"What words?"

"You know what words. The words you couldn't say last night!"

Bianca closed her eyes briefly before meeting Marissa gaze again. Erica realised she had missed something, there was something clearly going on unspoken, between the two women; suddenly felt like an intruder.

"I'm sorry." Bianca eventually. "I'm sorry I find it hard to say how much I need you. I'm sorry for when I'm too proud to ask for help. But I do need you. I need you to be there when I'm feeling low. I need you to forgive me if I lose my temper. I need you to tell me to slow down when I push myself too hard. I need you always!" Bianca had tears in her eyes as she spoke. "I can't lose you."

Marissa smiled back.

"You can have all of that and more." she said. She had got to the bed now and Bianca reached out, drawing her in to take Erica's place beside her. Soon Marissa was holding Bianca in her arms.

"And I want to be able to give you just as much in return," Bianca said quietly, resting her head on Marissa's chest. "But if I can't… I need you to know just how much I love you!"

Marissa sighed.

"Hey! And I love you… and I will never stop loving you; even when you are feeling sorry for yourself, or are being as stubborn as a mule or as ornery as a toad or you get so weepy you stain the front of my shirt…"

Bianca quickly sat back and wiped her tears and found a smile. She couldn't help responding to Marissa's affectionate tease.

"Sorry."

"Hey I wasn't complaining." said Marissa pulling her close again.

Bianca snuggled into Marissa's embrace and turned to Erica.

"Maybe I need you as well, sometimes." she said to her mother. Although there was still an edge to it, her tone was softer than before. "You can stay. But I'm still mad at you. You're not forgiven."

…