July 1960

Elsa sighed loudly as someone knocked firmly on her dressing room door. Pulling herself up off her chaise lounge and leaning across to place her glass down on the silver tray in front of the mirror of her dressing table, she strode over to the door and pulled it open with a scowl fixed on her face. When she saw her husband on the other side, the scowl deepened. Turning and stalking back to her seat, she dropped down and lit a cigarette, not bothering to look at him.

"What?" She snapped.

"There's someone asking to see you." Michael informed her, just as bluntly.

"Who is it? I am not in the mood for visitors."

"A young woman. She said to tell you it's Greta, but wouldn't tell me anything else about who she is or what she wants."

Elsa's expression changed at once, much to her husband's surprise. As her eyes softened and a hopeful smile turned up the corners of her lips, she looked past him with the expectation of setting her eyes on her daughter. She was immensely disappointed to realise that the corridor was completely deserted. Furrowing her eyebrows, she turned back to Michael questioningly.

"Where is she?"

"She's at the house. Apparently she just turned up and demanded to speak to you. Marie said she was incredibly determined and quite rude."

Elsa laughed fondly at the thought of a run-in between her daughter and the housekeeper. "I do not doubt that she was."

"Who is she?"

"Someone from my past… someone very important." Elsa informed him in a dismissive tone, gathering her things and sweeping past him without a second glance.

Hurrying her chauffer, she sat in the back of her car impatiently, drumming her fingers on the seat beside her. It seemed as though the traffic was being purposefully slow and that all the traffic signals were against them. Snapping at her driver, Elsa insisted that he take a different route and hurried up.

When, finally, they drew up outside the large house that she now called home – a far cry from the tent she used to consider her home – Elsa hurried out of the car and let herself inside. She quickly handed Marie her scarf and bag and was informed that the younger woman was outside. Nodding sharply, the woman walked quickly through the house and out onto the terrace.

Greta was lying on one of the loungers beside the pool, a large floppy hat on her head, shading her face from the sun. Elsa leant in the doorway, watching her daughter for a moment. The younger woman apparently had no idea she was being observed; her eyes were closed and she was smiling slightly as she enjoyed the feeling of the summer sun on her skin.

"Can I offer you a drink?" Elsa asked after a moment of observation.

"No, thank you." Greta replied lazily, not opening her eyes. "I wondered when you were going to speak."

"You look like you are enjoying yourself." Her mother said with a shrug, moving to sit on the other lounger. "I did not want to disturb you."

Turning her gaze on the other woman, Greta pulled herself into a seated position and swung her legs off the sunbed to face her. "Where is Pepper?"

"Pepper?" Elsa laughed, evidently confused by the question. "Why?"

"I want to bring her home. She belongs with her family, not some sister who dumped her at an orphanage and clearly does not care about her."

Elsa hesitated for a moment before sighing. She stood and walked inside. Greta watched as she scribbled something on a piece of paper and came back out onto the terrace. "Here is the address. I do not know if they still live there, but this is where I took Pepper."

"Thank you."

"How is your reading coming on?" Elsa asked, tilting her head to one side to appraise her daughter carefully.

"Very well, thank you. You were right; I should not have been so quick to give up."

"And how is everyone else?"

A shadow passed over Greta's face that Elsa didn't understand, but the young woman simply smiled blandly at her. "Everyone is fine. Things are going well."

"Are you still in Florida?"

"Yes."

"Still performing?"

Greta shook her head. "No… the show is over. We are trying to live normal lives, as far as it is possible. That is why it has taken me so long to ask for the address for Pepper… we wanted to make sure she had a home to come back to before we went in search of her."

"I do miss you all, you know." Her mother said softly, biting her lip.

"Me too." Greta replied, tears burning hot in her eyes. Then she forced a smile onto her face and looked around. "You have done well for yourself, Mother. I am pleased for you. You finally got everything you always wanted."

Wrapping her arms around herself, Elsa nodded. "Thank you."

"Your husband seems nice… Michael, is it?"

"Mmm…" The older woman wrinkled her nose, clearly not agreeing.

"You never brought us out here to be on your television show, though." Greta reminded her with a wry smile.

Elsa had the good grace to look remorseful. "I am sorry, it just never…"

Her daughter dismissed her excuses with a wave of her hand. "It is alright. I do not think any of us would have wanted to be thrown into the limelight like that anyway."

"What do you do, now?"

"I am a secretary at a doctor's office." Greta said with a smile. "A slightly different occupation to when you last saw me."

"Just a little." Elsa agreed with a chuckle. "Are you happy?"

Greta considered her for a moment and then sent her mother a small smile. "I suppose so, although… I miss… I miss that life and…" She shrugged. "Things are just very different now."

"Why have you not visited me before?" The older woman asked, as though dreading the answer. "I often thought about coming to visit you, but I… I was not sure about the welcome I would receive."

"Things have been difficult. I will not deny that I was angry with you for a long time, especially for selling the show to Dandy Mott. That was a horrific time for all of us… we could not work with him, so we all quit." Greta considered telling her mother about what had happened, but decided against it. She did not want to relive her biggest nightmare and telling Elsa would serve no purpose, other than upsetting them both. It was highly unlikely that the older woman would ever find out what had happened that day. "Starting again was hard, but now everything seems to be going well for us."

"I am glad to hear that."

"I did come to Hollywood once before."

"You did?" Elsa asked in surprise. "When?"

"Not long after you came here... a couple of months, maybe? We had just left the show and started our new lives and I decided to come and see you… things were not going great and we had no idea what we could do, so I thought…" She smiled wryly. "I got as far as your dressing room door and some woman asked me what I was doing there. I told her I wanted to see you and she basically threw me out. 'Elsa Mars does not do meet and greets or sign autographs.'" She mimicked her mother's former assistant. "I waited around and watched you leave… you looked happy, so I just left."

"Greta, mein liebling… if you had told her who you were… if you had stopped me when you saw me…"

"It was too late, Elsa. It is too late. There are some things that just… cannot be undone."

"Do not say that…" Taking a breath and squeezing her eyes closed, Elsa held back the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes. "How long are you planning to stay, liebchen? Will you have dinner with me?"

"I have to go soon. Jimmy is waiting for me."

"Jimmy is here?" Elsa asked with a hopeful smile.

"Yes… and the twins." Greta informed her. "They, especially Bette, wanted to see Hollywood." She smiled gently. "They are pregnant, can you believe it? They are expecting their first child."

Elsa beamed. "That is wonderful news."

"Jimmy is so excited at the thought of being a father." Her daughter told her. Then, glancing at her watch she sighed. "I must go, they will be waiting."

"So soon?"

"I am sorry." As she headed for the door, leaving her mother staring after her, Greta hesitated and then turned back, meeting Elsa's eyes. "I really am pleased that things worked out for you. I do love you, Mother, you know that, right?"

Then she was gone. Elsa ran a hand tiredly over her face and dropped back down to sit on the lounger, memories running through her mind and taking her back to the April day, a little more than seven years previously, when she'd last seen the young woman. She wondered whether their paths would ever cross again, hoping against hope that they would.

November 1966

Pepper's sister and her husband had moved many times, all over the country, since they had lived at the address Elsa had given her daughter. It took Greta just over six years to track them down. Each time she discovered a lead and thought that, at last, she had managed to find Pepper, she was informed that they had moved. Finally Greta came face-to-face with Rita on the porch of her house in a small sleepy town in Nevada. She blinked unsteadily at the blonde who was regarding her with an expression of disgust, the smell of alcohol easily identifiable.

"Who are you?" Rita demanded, peering at Greta. "What do you want?"

"I want to see Pepper." The blonde informed her bluntly. "I'm a friend of hers."

The older woman snorted. "Pepper? Why would you be friends with Pepper?"

"Can I see her?"

"She ain't here." Rita slurred, leaning against the doorframe. "She murdered my baby! They put her in some mental home."

Greta frowned. "Pepper wouldn't hurt anyone, let alone a baby."

Snorting, the other woman shook her head. "Shows how much you know, blondie. She snipped off my precious baby's ears and drowned him in his bath tub."

"No…"

"It's true… stupid dumb creature… she ruined my life."

"Where is she?" Greta demanded angrily, unable to believe what she was being told. She needed to see Pepper for herself. "Tell me!"

"Briarcliff Mental Institution in Massachusetts."

Turning on her heels, Greta made her way down the path towards her car. She had just reached it and unlocked the door, when she heard a shout from the house and turned to look at the woman who was still leaning unsteadily in her doorway.

"I hope she's rotting in that place!"

Clenching her fists, Greta felt her blood boiling and she was unable to keep the disgust off her face. Sliding into the driver's seat, she banged the steering wheel furiously; angry with her mother for leaving Pepper with that woman in the first place, angry with Rita for whatever she'd done to Pepper and angry with herself for leaving it so long before deciding to track Pepper down.

Sending another scowl towards the house, she suddenly had an idea and a smile spread slowly over her features. Kicking the car engine into life, she drove away along the street, thinking hard.

"I know where Pepper is." Greta said into the receiver of the motel telephone as soon as her call was answered, turning her back to the reception desk and lowering her voice so that she would not be overheard.

"You saw her?" Jimmy demanded hopefully.

The blonde shook her head, although she knew he couldn't see her. "No, she's in an asylum up in Massachusetts."

"What?"

"Her sister gave me some scheiße about Pepper killing a baby. I didn't believe her for a second. Pepper wouldn't hurt anyone."

"No way!" Jimmy agreed vehemently. "What's your plan?"

"I'm going to get her out, obviously."

"Well, yeah…" He agreed slowly. "I kinda meant how are you going to make Pepper's sister pay for hurting one of ours…"

Greta smiled and glanced around to make sure she wasn't been listened to. "Don't worry about that. It's already taken care of." She glanced over her shoulder towards the reception desk. The man behind the counter was watching a news report detailing a house fire in a nearby town that had claimed the lives of the two residents. "They've paid for what they've done."

"And you're in the clear?"

"Of course." She agreed shrugging.

"Elsa would be so proud."

Laughing softly, the young woman nodded in agreement. "I believe she would. I'm going to drive up to Massachusetts and get Pepper out of that place. Then I will bring her home. Hopefully we'll see you inside a week."

"Be careful." Jimmy urged her gently.

"I always am."

"Dot and Bette and the kids are sending their love."

Greta smiled fondly. "Tell them I miss them and that Aunt Pepper and I will see them soon."

Hanging up the handset, the young woman squeezed her eyes closed and breathed deeply for a couple of moments, before walking out of the reception area and up to the room she had rented for the night. She would get a few hours sleep before getting on the road and heading east. The quicker she managed to reach Massachusetts the happier she would be. Greta hated the thought of Pepper rotting away in some institution, locked away from the world that owed her so much.

Greta was up and checking out at first light the next morning, deflecting questions from the man behind the reception desk and striding out into the parking lot. Pulling out onto the highway, she made up her mind to drive until it was dark before even thinking about finding somewhere to get a few hours sleep.

It was late evening on her third day of driving when Greta pulled up outside a dark, imposing building that was signposted as Briarcliff Mental Institution. Her stomach churned at the thought that Pepper had spent so many years confined in such a place. Reluctantly, she drove away to find a motel, deciding that it would be better to enter the building and demand Pepper's release in the morning.

A/N: This is the penultimate chapter! Yup, just one more to go!

Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading, following, favouriting and reviewing. I'm so glad you seem to have been enjoying it!

x