Hello everyone, so the last chapter was a bit sad and emotional, and some of you may have been upset by it and that's okay :). I just wanted to remind you that this story isn't over yet but we're not exactly out of the woods yet either. I want to thank anyone who has reviewed, followed, or favorited, it really means the world to me. Here is chapter nineteen, it has a bit of a different format but you'll understand why. I apologize in advance for an grammatical errors. I hope you enjoy.

Sunday, March 13th 1983 (one day after)

Maura

Maura woke up the next day under the impression that last night's events were nothing but a horrible dream. She got out of bed and immediately ran to the guest room to wake Gia. When she arrived, she saw that the room was empty. Maura figured that her nanny must be in the kitchen and ran down the steps. Reality set in when she saw her mother sitting at the kitchen table grading a stack of papers.

"Good morning sweetheart, why don't you grab a croissant and some fruit from the counter and join me," her mother offered with a warm smile.

Memories of the previous night came flooding back to the six year old and her eyes watered as she was overcome with emotions. She let out an audible sigh of sadness and ran back upstairs to her room.

Constance tried calling after her but was honestly at a loss as to how to comfort her daughter, as she had never showed her these emotions before.

Maura quickly changed into warmer clothes and put on her outerwear. She grabbed her stethoscope from her desk and put it around her neck. The she ran back down the steps and out the front door.

"Maura," Constance called out after her daughter.

It was a little bit colder than the previous day, and the snow on the front yard was hard ice. Although she was careful, Maura slipped a few times while making her way towards the area where she and Gia had made their snow angels. Maura wiped away her tears with her bare hands because her blood spattered gloves were now soaking in bleach. She lay down on top of the spot where Gia made her angel, put the earbuds of the stethoscope in her ears, and the chest piece up to her heart. Maura could have sworn she could hear her heart breaking.

Constance watched her daughter from the window as she lay still in the same spot for several hours until it was dark. At that time, Constance called her inside, and Maura ignored her, returning to her room.

/

Gia

"Get up, G," Gia heard a voice say as she she watched the person walk over to the window and open the curtains letting the sunlight in the once dark room.

"Valerie?"

"Yeah it's me, G and it's almost two, you need to get up."

"What are you doing here?"

"Your friend called," she gestured towards Hope who was standing in the doorway.

Gia looked at Hope as if to ask, "Why would you do that?"

"Have you come here to gloat," Gia asked her former best friend.

Valerie hated that her Gia thought of her this way.

"No Gia, I came here to help... And apologize... I shouldn't have reacted the way I did on your birthday.

Hope left the room, because she felt the two needed to work this out alone.

Valerie continued. "I love you, I should have told you that first, but after I kissed you, I felt that you were upset with me."

"You surprised me... but I wasn't upset with you, I love you too, but I'm not quite sure that it's in that way, but I'm also not saying that it isn't. I'm sorry if what I'm saying is confusing."

"You don't need to apologize G, I just want you back in my life, no matter what form it takes."

The two friends hugged.

"I want you to come back to Rhode Island with me, the director of the art program at my school is looking for an apprentice. The job doesn't pay much but I'll support you and I think it would be good for you to get back into making art."

"That sounds good, but I don't want to leave Hope."

"We actually talked about it when she called last night and she agrees with me, we both want what's best for you. If you don't like it, Hope said you can come back and live with her while you look for a new job."

Gia sighed. "Maybe it is best that I leave Boston."

"Okay it's settled then, both Hope and I will help you move this week."

/

Friday, March 18th 1983 (six days after)

Maura

Constance watched her daughter get off of the bus. Maura had told her mother on Tuesday that she no longer wanted to be picked up and preferred to take the bus home. She watched the girl stop short as she noticed that all the snow had melted on the grass. For the past four days Maura had ritual, when she would get off of the bus she would lie in Gia's angel spot until dark listening to her heart through the stethoscope, which she wore all day long, even in school. On Wednesday, Maura's principal called Constance to tell her that Maura was violating the uniform code by wearing it, but Constance came to her daughter's defense saying that such a rule was no where in the student handbook and the principal conceded.

Maura walked over to the spot on the wet grass and knelt down and cried, it was bad enough that she had lost Gia, but now the things that reminded her of her nanny were now disappearing too. Constance had enough, she hated to see her daughter in so much pain. If making her happy meant getting Gia back, then she was more than fine with swallowing her pride to do so.

Constance walked outside and approached her daughter slowly. She put her hand on Maura shoulder. "You have dance practice tonight dear."

Maura wiped the tears from her eyes, "I know." It was the most she said to her mother in the past six days. She got up and ran inside to get changed.

Constance had a plan, she'd drop Maura off at practice and go to Gia's and ask her to come back.

/

Gia

Over the past six days, Gia, with the help of her friends, had packed all of her belongings which fit into two car loads one in hers and one in Valerie's.

Gia stood in her now bare apartment with both of her friends. She approached Hope.

The doctor sighed and looked at her friend teary eyed. "I'm going to miss you, Gianna."

"I'm going to miss you too, Doc," she said as she hugged her friend. "But remember, I'll be back in two weeks for your birthday."

Hope smiled. "You better be."

"Okay, well I better get going, I want to get a good night sleep before I start tomorrow."

She hugged Hope one more time.

"Okay G, we will finish up here, I'll see you in a few hours," Valerie responded.

A few moments after Gia pulled away, another car pulled up and took the spot.

Hope and Valerie watched as well dressed woman got out of the car while glancing at a piece of paper.

She approached them. "Excuse me, does a Gia Sparks live here?"

"Not anymore," Valerie responded, "How do you know her?"

Constance felt defeated, her plan to fix what she had broken was now destroyed. "Never mind, I shouldn't have come here." She turned to leave.

Valerie looked at Hope and shrugged.

/

Maura

On the drive back to Maura's dance studio, Constance felt lost, she wasn't able to get Gia back and wondered if her daughter would ever be able to forgive her for what she had done. When she arrived, she sat in the parking lot for a few moments replaying the last words that Gia had said to her over and over in her head. She decided to take Gia's advice seriously, and make a conscious effort to be a better mother.

She entered the dance studio to watch the end of her Maura's practice. Constance arrived just in time as her daughter was practicing her solo. The mother was overcome by her daughter's grace and beauty as she danced, she had become so talented, and Constance had missed out on it.

When Maura exited the dance floor she saw that her mother was crying. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing dear, you looked so beautiful in there," Constance replied.

"Thank you, mother."

On the drive home Maura opened up a little bit more. "I know you talked to Miss Bouchard about wearing my stethoscope at school, they stopped bothering me about it, thank you."

"I know it means a lot to you to be able to wear it, dear."

When they got home, Maura stayed downstairs instead of going to her room.

Constance took this as a step forward, and she took a chance to help it along. "Would you like to help me make dinner?"

"Okay, what are you going to make?"

"What would you like sweetheart?"

Maura was a bit hesitant in her response. "Pancakes?"

"For dinner?" Constance stopped herself. "Sure, Maura if that's what you want then that's what we shall have."

"When you have breakfast for dinner, it's called Brinner," Maura informed her mother.

"Brinner, how clever," Constance responded. "It's been a while since I have made pancakes though, so I am going to need your help."

"Don't worry, mom, I'll show you how."

Constance was happy to hear the word "mom" as it felt better than hearing the word "mother" which had always felt so formal. She knew that this was only the beginning of starting the journey to getting her daughter back, but she was determined to be the best mom she could be.

/

Gia

Gia arrived in Rhode Island three hours after she had left, the trip shouldn't have taken so long but she had left during rush hour, while the traffic was at it's peak. After she unloaded her car, she was exhausted, she plopped down on the couch and turned on the television. After a few moments it had finally set in that she had left Boston and what that had meant. She began to cry, as she reached in her coat pocket for a tissue, she pulled out the ticket to Maura's recital that was happening in two weeks, the same weekend as Hope's birthday. She remembered her promise to Maura that she'd go. Gia knew in her mind that Maura considered her to be a "promise breaker," and she vowed that this was one promise she wouldn't break.

Reviews are certainly welcome. Be well and have a splendid day.