TITLE: MERRY CHRISTMAS, I COULD CARE LESS (A Kane Christmas Carol)

Author: Misty Flores

Email: mistiec_flores@yahoo.com

GENRE: All My Children
Pairing: Bianca/Maggie, Maggie/Lena
Rating: Mature

TEASER: Maggie, the former love-of-her-life, the one who Bianca had wanted to marry, the one that had cheated on her and ruined everything, the one Bianca was still desperately in love with (and becoming increasingly bitter about it), was currently in an expensive suite with her daughter and her live-in lover, Bianca's ex of all people, having a perfectly cozy romantic evening. Merry F-king Christmas.

PART III. THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT

Now, being prepared for almost anything, he was not by any means prepared for nothing. - Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

The private plane hummed with the low buzz of a machine in flight.

Beyond that, the cabin was silent.

Mouth closed, breathing through her nose, Bianca Montgomery's posture was rigid and perfect. Her palms were sweaty, and her eyes darted from corner to corner of private cabin.

She was waiting for the next ghost, but ten minutes had passed, and there was nothing.

She wasn't ready to be alone with her thoughts. To be alone would mean reflection, and the memories she had been shown now haunted her.

She had had an eventful life, she knew that. Bianca had experienced more in her young years than most people had in a life time, and from it, she had not emerged unscathed.

She blamed her past for her present, but Bianca had forgotten how easily the past could be rewritten.

It was a hard lesson to re-learn, as she remembered the friendly conversation with Babe Chandler had earlier that morning. To consider the ease and affection they both carried to each other, and remember the acute pain that ripped through her when she was forced to revisit the moment of Miranda's birth…

Bianca didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to think about Maggie. Every stage of their relationship had rife with complication, and it didn't make it easier to remember the fierce emotion that had accompanied falling in love, falling into lust, falling forever from grace.

To face the present with the past shoved so firmly in her face was a frightening prospect, and yet, Bianca wanted it to happen, because right now, in face of everything, she couldn't be alone.

If there was still a question of whether or not this was a hallucination, it didn't matter. Bianca's body, the heated flush over taking it and the way her chest rose and fell with breathless pants, told her that it was very real, at the very least, to her.

And still, there was nothing.

Fingers tightening over her seat, Bianca made a determined resolution to calm herself. Time had evolved her into a bit of a control freak, but the chaotic nature of the life of a Kane had given her at least a mechanism to cope.

Closing her eyes, Bianca pushed out a harsh breath through her mouth, and with her nostrils, sucked in another lungful of air.

It calmed the dizziness somewhat, but it did nothing to assuage her own panic when her eyes opened and she found herself staring into the face of Greenlee.

With an undignified yelp, Bianca nearly topped over the other side of the plush cabin chair.

The feel of fingers wrapping around her wrist, holding her steady, was almost too much for her already rattled spirit to bear.

"Relax, Binky," came the familiar acerbic voice.

"Greenlee," she managed, yanking her hand back from the incarnation of her older sisters on again, off again best friend. "You're the ghost of Christmas Present?"

"Surprised?" Greenlee returned flatly. "Me too. But picking these out can be a tricky thing. You see, if I came to you in the representation of Leo or Maggie or Kendall or something really close to you'd spend more time confusing the ghost with the actual person than doing this ridiculous soul searching that you're going to be doing."

"Not a fan of your work?" Bianca couldn't help but ask, still shaky but slowly recovering.

Greenlee shrugged, crossing her arms and tossing her brown streaked hair over her haltered shoulder. "Why would I be? Instead of partying on Christmas I'm taking complete assholes and forcing them to visit their families and friends who all hate them." She paused, considering the idea. "Actually, now that I think about it, there is a reason I do like this work."

Bianca's eyes narrowed in sudden offense. "Then why don't we do it?"

The ghostly incarnation of Greenlee offered a smug smile in response. "Are you really in that big of a rush?"

Licking her lips, Bianca glanced at her hands, entwining her fingers. "Not really, but I want to get this over with."

The soft, melodic tune of 'Angels We Have Heard On High', in the haunting voice of Josh Groban, suddenly floated around her, and alarmed, Bianca's head shot up.

She shouldn't have been as surprised as she was, when she discovered they were no longer sitting in the private cabin, but on the couch in Kendall and Zach's living room in Pine Valley. It was dark, but there was a hint of sunrise from the window, and an enormous group of gifts were piled around an immense tree, exaggeratingly decadent in expensive decoration.

With a labored sigh, Bianca offered Greenlee a questioning glance. The ghost just shrugged again, reaching for the intricate coffee table to pluck a mint from a candy dish settled up on it.

"You said you wanted to get this over with."

"We're in Kendall and Zach's place," Bianca breathed, trying to make sure she understood. "In the present, right?"

Chewing, Greenlee only nodded, taking a moment to swallow before grinning. "Wow, they said you were smart, but you sure catch on quick, doncha?"

"Sarcasm is a little more than I can take right now," Bianca immediately replied.

Greenlee shot her a speculative look. "Fine," she said after a minute, replacing the top of the candy dish. "Same rules apply," she reminded her, "As far as these people know, we don't exist. So don't go around screaming at them or waiving at them or trying to get them to hear you. Honestly, all it does is make people look stupid and judging by your life well… you don't want any more logs on the fire."

"Did you just call me stupid?"

Popping another mint in her mouth, Greenlee preferred only to smile demurely, before a noise from the hallway alerted her to the sudden presence of her sister, in a silk robe, stepping into the darkened living room.

Bianca's mouth immediately broke into an affectionate smile, as she laid eyes upon her sister, watching as the famous Ms. Hart-Slater studied the tree, bending down to rearrange the pile just so, presumably for Spike and Ian's benefit.

"Christmas Day," Greenlee surmised. "The kids always get up at the crack of dawn to check out the booty."

"Zach and Kendall spoil them rotten," Bianca agreed. "It's a lost cause. This Christmas seems to be no different."

"Too bad the only gift Kendall really wants is to have a Christmas scandal free," Greenlee noted somberly, as Kendall's expression hardened as she came to the coffee table, and noted the tabloid splashed with images of the Kane family, avoiding the flashing bulbs like vampires avoided holy water.

Bianca kept quiet as Kendall settled down beside her, but the idea that her sister, so obviously upset and being so close and still unable to help, hurt her.

"I'll be in Pine Valley in a few hours," she whispered, more to herself than anyone else. "I can help Kendall handle it." Glancing over her shoulder, she discovered Greenlee with a curiously blank expression on her face. "What? I'm not all selfish."

"I didn't say you were," Greenlee twittered, and then shot a glance to the hallway, where Zach Slater appeared, in a t-shirt and sweats: casual at it's finest.

"What are you doing?" he asked his wife, and Kendall met his eyes with a searching glance, before she shrugged and tossed the magazine back on the coffee table, silk robe rubbing against Bianca's sleeve as she stood up.

"Nothing," she admitted. "Brooding."

"Brooding about what?"

"What else?" Kendall asked, resigned and defeated. "My mother. This whole… scandal. Do you know I was putting Ian to bed and he asked me why his grandmother couldn't just grow up?"

"He's a smart kid."

"Oh, Zach, it's getting ridiculous," Kendall grumbled, and Bianca readily agreed, as her sister sank into the arms of her beloved husband, cheek pressed against his broad chest. "She's not getting any younger. The world can't stop for her everytime she has yet another panic attack about her age. And you know? It wouldn't kill her to refer to my kids as her 'grandchildren'."

"Ain't that the truth," Greenlee muttered, eyes on her cuticles.

"Your mother marches to her own drummer," Zach agreed, but gave Kendall a squeeze. "She'll come around."

"When?" Kendall sputtered. "I mean, it's bad enough she's turning us in circles but she's making Bianca think she has to do it to Miranda too."

"What?" The sudden mention of her forced Bianca to suddenly straighten her posture, lean forward.

"Mmm…" Greenlee piped up, in the middle of the another chocolate. "This is getting good."

"It's not as bad as all that."

"It's not?" Shaking her head, Kendall sighed. "Zach, she picks up her kid and drags her to Pine Valley every time Mother so much as sneezes. I'm beginning to think Miranda has some sort of Pavlov's dog reaction to Pine Valley. She hates it here because everytime she comes it's because some sort of tragedy has befell it."

"Makes for an interesting stay," he agreed. "But I thought you said Bianca was leaving her with Maggie this time."

Kendall sighed, arms around Zach's waist as she looked up into his eyes. "I did. Maggie and Lena, specifically."

"See?" he said, as if that was that. "Then she'll be fine."

"Maybe you didn't hear me. Maggie and Lena."

"I heard you just fine."

"So you think there's no issue with the fact that Miranda is spending Christmas with Bianca's two exes, who are now committed to each other?"

Bianca's eyes floated to the ground.

"As long as Bianca's okay with that, why wouldn't it be?"

"I don't think she is, Zach." Kendall let go, arms crossed as she glanced at the fire place. "Listening to her talk about Maggie these past few months… I'm beginning to think she's just not over her."

It was weird, to here Kendall speaking to Zach without censors, and a little humiliating too. Bianca bit her bottom lip, but kept her mouth shut, feeling the eyes of Greenlee watching carefully for any break in expression.

"Well, whatever there is between them, it's refreshing to see Bianca put Miranda's feelings over her own."

"What does that mean?" Kendall's defensive tone mimicked Bianca's own feelings on Zach's sudden statement.

Hands slipping into the pocket of his sweats, Zach shrugged. "I never agreed with Bianca's decision to keep Miranda away from Maggie. You know that."

"She cheated on her!" Kendall spurted, but it wasn't the best argument to give, considering Kendall's own bouts of infidelity. The look on Kendall's face told Bianca she agreed. "And don't," she began, before Zach could come back from that. "You know as well as I do that there were extenuating circumstances in our situation."

To his credit, Zach's brown eyes only took in the suddenly fidgety Kendall, and moved on. "She made a mistake," he said flatly. "And whose to know what the circumstances were? No one bothered to ask."

"Zach-"

"You and your mother were perfectly happy to hang Maggie out to try without letting her give any explanation to what happened. You just took Bianca's version of the events and ran with them."

"She's my sister, Zach!"

"And she's blind when it comes to any opinion of her own. Didn't you tell me it took months before she saw Babe for what she was, and that was only when she was confronted with the truth? When she insisted on pushing Zoe into Fusion because she was determined to be in love with her?"

"She's naïve," Kendall snapped.

"She's over thirty," Zach retorted right back. "We're past naïve."

"So what, I was supposed to take the side of her cheating lover?"

"People make mistakes," he growled, voice harder now. "It happens. And the Kane family has proven themselves more than willing to forgive for graver crimes."

"Maggie is not Miranda's mother."

"Just like Spike isn't my son?"

Kendall hissed, suddenly stung. "That's not fair, and you know it. We're married, Zach. We've been married for years."

"And if we weren't, and when we weren't, I still thought of him as my kid. Miranda obviously thought there was some sort of connection to Maggie if she sought her out, and if Bianca is finally willing to put her pride aside and let Miranda have a connection with a person she thinks of as another mother, then I'm for supporting it. Bianca needs to think about her own kid, and not treat her mother like one."

Liquid eyes blazed, and Bianca, frozen and heart in her throat, was fairly certain Kendall was going to lay into Zach for the tirade.

But shoulders slumped, and Kendall merely closed her mouth and shook her head, releasing a sudden push of breath through her nostrils.

"You're right," Kendall breathed. "God, Zach. You're right. She focuses so much on other people problems she doesn't see her own. You know, when I heard she and Maggie were talking again, I was actually hopeful? Maybe, they'd work it out."

"Even if she cheated once before."

"Until Maggie cheated, Bianca had never been so happy," Kendall admitted. "She loved her, Zach. And Maggie… she loved her too. I thought my little sister had found it: true love. Someone that would never hurt her again."

"That's a lot of pressure to put on one messed up little girl."

"Maybe," Kendall agreed. "But Maggie loves Miranda, and from what Bianca told me… she's grown up. I thought maybe she'd see something in Bianca and…"

"And what?"

"And I wouldn't feel so sorry for her." At the admission, and expression of misery overtook Kendall's face. "It never occurred to me that Maggie would have moved on. And I look at Bianca now… I love her so much Zach, but… she's never going to find that again. Not with who she is. She doesn't trust anyone, and when she does it's always the wrong people. She's so desperate to be loved and needed that she gets pulled in twenty different directions, and she doesn't even notice Miranda beginning to resent her for it. What kind of messed up planet is this is Bianca's turning into the next Erica Kane and I've become the stable one?"

Bianca couldn't hear anymore. Her chest had tightened to the point of suffocation, and the anger that began to bubble up was frightening.

"Get me out of here," she gritted to the Greenlee ghost, hand reaching out and latching onto ghost's wrist, fingers clamping tight.

"OW!" The Greenlee ghost exclaimed, and yanked away from her grip, rubbing her wrist with her free hand. "Hey, listen! It's never a picnic to really hear what people think of you, but it's not an excuse to abuse the ghost, okay?"

"I've heard enough."

Greenlee stared at her, obviously ready to go on some diatribe about life being what you make it and the past defining one's present.

Bianca wasn't in the mood. "Now."

"Fine," the ghost answered, and snapped her fingers.

The living room floated away, only to be replaced with a different one. The fabric Bianca was sitting on now was a modern black leather, and smells of cinnamon and strawberries wafted from candles set on a pristine black coffee table.

Bianca had only been here a couple times. Discomfort with the situation the area presented was enough incentive to keep her discussions with her ex regulated to over the phone and the office.

Still, there was no way to forget the apartment, in all it's edgy adult glory.

"What?" Greenlee asked, at the scathing look thrown her way. "You had to know we would have shown up here eventually."

Here, of course, was Maggie and Lena's apartment, where the unmistakable sounds of Miranda's laughter drew her eye to the center of the cozy living room.

What she saw caused an actual ache inside of her.

Miranda, seated on the floor, played with a little black puppy, who squeaked in anticipation of the toy Miranda was dangling in the air. Seated beside her, legs curled under her, was Maggie, and her ex wore a smile that spoke of pure adoration for both child and puppy.

"She likes you," came the accented voice, which of course, belonged to Lena, who leaned into the doorway from the kitchen, still dressed in her expensively tailored slacks, but her shirt unbuttoned at the collar. Bianca noticed the flash of a smile between Maggie and Lena, and ignored the jealous jerk inside of her, in favor of returning her attention to her daughter.

"I thought she might," Maggie mused, and Miranda grinned, her happy toothy ten-year-old grin that Bianca hadn't seen in a while.

"She s licking me!" Miranda complained, but giggled as she set it, clutching the furry little mutt with both hands and falling back to the floor. "Is she really mine?"

"Of course she is," Maggie said, kneeling on her knees as she leaned over and rescued her from the overly affectionate puppy. "But she's going to have to stay here."

Miranda's expression faltered slightly. "Yeah, Mom said we couldn't have dogs. Erica's allergic."

At the casual mention of her Grandmother, Maggie's smile faltered. "You're not bummed that you're going to be spending Christmas here, are you? Instead of with your family?"

"Nah…" Miranda's eyes were reserved for the puppy. "I don't like all the cameras, and Auntie Kendall promised to come for New Years. And it's boring in Pine Valley."

"Boring?" Lena asked, coming forward and settling on the couch, engaging in the conversation. "I don't remember any visit to Pine Valley being boring."

Miranda frowned. "It's always the same. The only cool thing about it is hanging out with Spike and Ian, but I can do that when they come here." She paused, and sharp little eyes suddenly focused on Maggie. "Besides, you said that we were family too, right?"

The sudden insecurity in Miranda's voice seemed to affect everyone in the room. Maggie's reaction was immediate. "Absolutely," she said firmly, fingers reaching over to brush an errant bang off of Miranda's forehead. "Always and forever."

That seemed to assuage Miranda somewhat, as she glanced down at the dog and then looked up at Lena. "You used to work for my dad."

The hidden accusation behind the statement formed an uncertain glance between Maggie and Lena. "I did yes," Lena answered matter-of-factly. "For a short while."

"So you knew him."

"Sure, she knew him," Bianca found herself muttering. "She was sleeping with him while trying to take over my mother's company."

"But you're not bitter, right?" Greenlee added dryly.

Lena, obviously, didn't hear this exchange. Instead she pressed her palms to her lips and after another glance at Maggie, smiled as sincerely as she could to Bianca's daughter. "No, to be honest, I did not know him. Not like I thought I did. But I was a different person then."

Miranda continued to eye her, and suddenly nervous, Bianca sucked in an anxious breath.

"Lena, I think the cookies might be ready," Maggie said suddenly, interrupting any follow up that Miranda might have had. "Would you mind checking on them? Miranda and I are all tainted with doggie."

"Of course," Lena answered immediately, looking grateful for the reprieve.

"Were you and Lena friends when you and Mom were together?" Miranda asked, as soon as Lena had left the room.

Fingers buried in the puppy's fur, Maggie's smile tightened. "No. But we were civil, for the sake of your mother."

"Because you loved Mom," Miranda continued.

Her daughter was trying so desperately to understand her origins. It seemed unfair that Maggie was the one forced to face it with her.

"Yes," Maggie agreed quietly. "I loved your Mom very much."

Miranda studied the carpet, rubbing the shaggy threads with her palms. "So if you loved my mom so much, why did you two break up?"

It was a conversation Bianca had never had with Miranda, because Miranda had never asked. Now, once again, she had gone to Maggie for the answers she had never given.

Maggie, looked small and frail, struggling with the response she could give to the little girl looking at her with the big brown eyes.

"I… umm…" She settled, Indian style, looking like a college kid in her scrubs and her t-shirt. "We were very young, Miranda. And … it was complicated."

"How could it be complicated if you loved Mom so much?"

God… kids were so direct.

"Well… the truth is… I made a mistake, Miranda." Maggie smiled painfully. "I had just gotten out of a really horrible relationship and things moved really fast for me and your Mom. I was very young and very stupid."

In the hallway, Lena returned, quietly leaning against the arch, listening, a calm, passive expression on her face.

"Mom said you left us." The tone was accusatory, angry, and Maggie seemed taken back by both the phrasing and the emotion behind it.

"Miranda… that's not what happened."

"It's your fault, isn't it?" Miranda's eyes were suddenly welling up with tears, and the ten year old scrambled to her feet. "It's your fault that you and Mom aren't together. You messed it up."

"Miranda."

"I hate you." Turning on her heel, the little girl sped for the hallway, and a moment later, a bedroom door slammed.

Still on the floor, Maggie looked stricken.

"Maggie." Bianca was already on her feet, ready to move to her side, when the Ghost's hand caught her bicep, forcing her to keep still.

"You're not really here, remember?" reminded Greenlee, and before Bianca could argue with her, Lena had already crossed the living room, kneeling beside her lover.

"Do you want me to talk to her?" Lena whispered, broad palm spread across Maggie's back, rubbing in slow circles.

Wiping silently at the tears that slipped down her cheek, Maggie shook her head, gaze distant.

"No," she managed. "I don’t think she trusts you much either, right now."

"She's just angry, Maggie."

"She's got every reason to be," Maggie answered, glancing up to meet Lena's stare. "She thinks I left her. That I just abandoned her."

"If she truly thought that she wouldn't have sought you out."

Maggie's eyes narrowed in contemplation. "You don't think Bianca would tell her that, do you? That I left them both?"

"Is that what Bianca thinks?"

"I remember she thought it," Maggie grudgingly admitted. "When I went after her to Pine Valley… it was the reason she wouldn't let me see Miranda."

Bianca's already shaky nerves didn't settle when Lena pressed a kiss against Maggie's forehead, clasped her palms together and helped the younger girl up.

"The cookies are cooling," she said simply. "I'll get them ready on the platter, and then you bring her out, so she can set up the milk and plate in front of the fire place."

With a grateful smile, Maggie squeezed her lover's hand and then moved down the hallway.

"Is it true?" Greenlee asked, in the silence that followed. "Did she really abandon you both?"

Bianca had spent years convincing herself that she did.

Eyes stinging, suddenly shamed, Bianca's mouth twitched. "No," she finally admitted, watching as Lena put her hands on her waist, and after a moment, headed toward the kitchen. "I told her not to contact me or Miranda until I was ready. I left for Pine Valley as soon as I caught them. I didn't want to hear an explanation."

"So you ran," Greenlee mused. "Isn't that what Maggie used to do?"

"Well, I learned from the best," she snapped airily.

"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter," Greenlee concluded. "I mean, it's not like Miranda was really Maggie's kid, was she? She's not the father."

No… Miranda's father was a murdering rapist. Maggie was the sweet, supportive partner who went with her to ultrasounds, and after they moved together to Paris, spend day and night with Miranda while Bianca learned the ropes at Cambias.

"Come on," Greenlee said, and tugged on Bianca's hand, following Maggie as they moved.

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