The Only Gift That I Need by Misty Flores

Fandom: All My Children
Pairing/characters: Bianca/Maggie
Rating: Hard R - maybe NC-17Playing card URL (will be supplied): http://invisible-cities.net/images/gsc/femslash/02.jpg

Summary: Bianca's plans for a perfect first Christmas in Paris with Maggie are thwarted a surprise visit home, and the return of some old ghosts.

CHAPTERS

Exhaustion, coupled with a head ache: add nausea, and a rock the size of a boulder sitting in an empty stomach.

Sitting by herself in the large kitchen, she was determinedly barefoot, hoping the cold tile across her sensitive skin would somehow help the coffee in waking her up, figure out how to get out of the most intense forthcoming awkward situation.

Twin glasses of water were filled and placed on the wooden dining table. Besides that, two packets of the french alka seltzer were thrown. Grabbing one for herself, she took the nearest glass and dropped two tablets in, watching them fizz. Leaning her face until it was just over the glass, she faintly felt the condensation of the popping bubbles.

Despite this, her mind refused to work. Instead, it kept replaying the catastrophic event of the night before, coming out of left field, when the night of female bonding turned into Disclosure.

Her brain threatened to shatter in her skull as she tried to put the pieces together, of her girlfriend's ex girlfriend who suddenly decided to hit on HER, for whatever reason.

In retrospect, it really wasn't that bad. Lena was drunk. She was tipsy. Alcohol was always a reliable throw back. And it was really just one kiss. A New Years Kiss. Nothing else happened. If anything, it could have been a funny story she could relate to Bianca somehow.

"Hey, Binks! Funny story! Lena was really drunk and tried to kiss my cheek and accidentally got my mouth! HA!"

Then again, who said Bianca had to know at ALL? It could have been innocent. Lena was homeless. Maggie, out of the goodness of her heart, and thinking of Bianca, offered her a place to sleep. They sat, they watched television, they went to bed. Lena went on her way, never to be seen again.

Groaning, Maggie's head fell onto the table top, cool firm wood against the hot fevered flesh.

"Well, you look about as good as I feel." Lifting her head up, Maggie discovered Lena, in her wrinkled blue shirt, rubbing at her short hair, bangs now going every which way. Behind her, padded Noel. Glancing down uneasily at her new best friend, Lena grimaced. "Is that for me?"

Shoving the glass forward, Maggie bit her lip, now uneasy on top of everything else.

Coming closer, Lena's slender digits took hold of the glass, carefully ripping open the package and dropping in the tablets, watching them dissolve. Maggie swallowed, glancing down at the table.

"Maggie." Glancing up, she discovered Lena staring at her hesitantly. "We didn't..."

Lena plopped into the opposite stool, burying her hand into her hair, eyes drifting closed. "I'm sorry."

Maggie stared at the little bubbles making their way up her glass. "You were drunk."

"I still knew what I was doing," Lena muttered, offering a weak smile. There was an uncomfortable beat, before Lena continued, "Maggie, if I had known that you and Bianca-"

"Forget it." For some reason, strangely apologetic Lena was not something she wanted to think about. Nor did she really want to consider the way Lena was looking at her, with dark, naked eyes, and that weird vulnerable stare. Pushing out a determined breath, she put down her glass. "What I need to know from you, is if you're going to tell Bianca."

Head jerking up, Lena looked almost confused. Mouth curling up, Lena almost stuttered, palm pressing against her cheek. "What?" When Maggie arched an eyebrow meaningfully, Lena only shook her head. "Maggie, Bianca and I haven't spoken in over a year."

The telephone rang, shooting a tense wave up her spine, and Maggie closed her eyes, bracing herself, as Lena, as if by moving she could rid herself of the awkward moment, plucked it from its base.

Opening her eyes, Maggie discovered the ringing phone held out to her. With a sigh, she took it. "It's Bianca."

Straightening, Lena nodded, stepping away from the counter. "I'm going to place a call to my assistant, see if a flight has opened up."

Watching her go, Maggie bit her bottom lip, sucking in a quick breath of air to gain some confidence, before she pressed the correct button. "You know this is just flagrant disregard for the rules."

"Heeeey." Bianca's voice sounded chipper and amazing. Swallowing down the lump in her throat, Maggie pressed her hand against her face, fighting and failing her urge to smile at hearing that voice. "I figured since the last time we didn't really TALK..."

The sultry annotation cause a shiver down Maggie's spine, remembering in detail the conversation that had taken place, with sighs and whispers and the phantom touch of a lover far away.

It was both maddening and exhilarating, to hear Bianca's voice, the way it dipped and fell, sultry and deep with longing, sounding somehow different on the phone, and yet, the same.

"How was your New Years?" Bianca asked, politely curious, though Maggie suspected that she would assume it wasn't anything like it had actually turned out.

"Oh, you know..." Blowing out a noisy breath, Maggie lifted her head to the hallway, dimly hearing the faint purr of the Lena's accented voice fading in and out, in her native tongue, obviously on the phone with her assistant. "Life's always an adventure here in Paris."

"I'm sure. After dropping Anna off, you went home and studied until you couldn't, drank wine on the couch with Noel, didn't you?"

There. It wasn't lying, exactly. It was just excluding certain facts. Certain Polish facts.

"So how was your New Years?" she asked, rushing into the next sentence, palm against her face, miserably trying to evade any amount of probing for the details. "Partying with Kendall at the Valley Inn?"

"Not exactly." She could hear an audible sigh. "Honestly, it was pretty miserable. This place is nuts, Maggie. You know how my mother freaked out at me, and Zach and his promises, and I just... I was thinking about you."

"I finally had to get up and find Myrtle and look for Zach and Kendall to try and stop anything I did before it just got worse."

"Did you?" She asked, automatically, as her eyes lifted and connected with Lena's, who looked apologetic as she bit at her bottom lip, motioning for her forgotten glass. Maggie narrowed her eyes, but shoved it in her direction.

"Yeah. I left Miranda with Adelle and went over to the casino, and of course Zach and Kendall decided it would be a great time to play a joke on me-"

Catching the glass, Lena nodded her thanks, phone still tilted on her ear, when suddenly she sputtered something in her Polish language, making Maggie's eyes widen and Lena immediately wince.

"TV," Maggie said immediately, spine ramrod straight, glaring at her girlfriend's ex, who again shook her head and mouthed a 'sorry'. "One of those foreign things they love to show. Hold on, lemme turn it down-" Putting down the phone, she grabbed hold of Lena's arm and dragged her toward the entrance.

"Sorry!" Lena whispered again, and Maggie just shook her head, slamming the door shut.

Heading back to the phone, she closed her hand around it and forced herself to take yet another deep breath, before bringing it up to her ear.

"BACK!" she said, some what chipper. "So Zach and Kendall played a trick on you!"

No. Not at all. In fact, she was pretty sure that her heart was beating at super human speed.

"Actually, I kind of have a hangover," she admitted, trying hard to ignore the banging in her head. "I- kinda caught up in the wine."

"Oh, baby, I'm sorry!" Bianca seemed genuinely concerned. "Do you want me to let you go?"

"No, no-" Maggie said immediately, voice lowered, glancing up at the closed door. "Of course not. Just tell me about your day. In an indoor voice."

"Indoor voice," Bianca repeated, a smile in her voice. "Right, okay. Any particular type of indoor voice? Living room or Bedroom?"

Despite her apprehension, she couldn't quite help her groan, feeling Bianca dissolve into chuckles. "Not how I meant it, lady." Her girlfriend's laugh was infectious, and she felt her mouth pull into a reluctant smile. "Seriously, what happened to your crazy sister? Did she finally hook up with the big bad wolf?"

"Zach's acting like a tamed puppy, Maggie," Bianca answered, genuine joy in her voice. "And Kendall's so happy. They're really together. They admitted it, and they're in love."

"It really is," Bianca answered. "And Kendall... she's happy. I've never seen her this... beautiful. She's... glowing."

"Like her sister," Maggie teased, her voice calm and gentle, trying hard to override the fact that her brain was threatening to explode.

"Well, being madly in love has it's perks," Bianca answered, a beat later. "Considering how gorgeous it makes you."

The mock indignation only made Bianca giggle, and Maggie felt her shoulders relax, the muscles slowly unbunching themselves from their tense knots, reminded again just how in love she was.

"So anything else happen? No run-ins with Myrtle? No death sentences from Erica? Nobody came back from the dead, did they? Cause I couldn't handle that again."

She heard an audible rush of breath, and then some sort of movement, as if Bianca were settling herself down. "Actually... I ran into Babe this morning."

The tension that had been flooding away from her body suddenly jerked back into place, so quickly it was painful, like a spike to her heart, knocking the breath out of her, and by default, her glass.

"Yeah," she managed, a hot flush of emotion coloring her cheeks, reaching for the towels. "Sorry, just dropped something."

"Go ahead," she managed, swallowing hard. "You ran into Babe?" God, even saying the name hurt, as her thoughts immediately came upon an image of Babe and Bianca, a picture packed away for safe keeping, sitting in Bianca's drawer. "I hope you kicked her in the shins."

"Maggie," came the quiet response, in that reprimanding tone that just made her roll her eyes, suddenly that much more irritated. "I told you. I was trying to let go of that." Not answering, Maggie chewed her bottom lip, rubbing at the spill. "We actually had a good talk."

"You talked?" Maggie repeated, head lifting, hand stilling. "Bianca, you shouldn't be HAVING good 'talks' with her!"

"Look, I'm not saying I volunteered to go for ice cream, okay Maggie?" Bianca sounded irritated too, and Maggie sighed loudly. "But I'm not going to wish fire and brimstone come down and swallow her whole! That kind of hate is ugly, and I can't do it. Not when I'm a mother to Miranda."

"There is a happy medium, you know," Maggie snapped. "It's called telling that bitch to shut the fuck up and walking away."

There was a tired sigh. "I won't ever forget that. Don’t remind me because I remember that every single minute of every day." Maggie shook her head, shut her eyes in frustration. "But there is a lot of history with Babe. As much as there was hate, there was love too-"

"I'm just trying to- Maggie, I know who she is, okay? But it's not like she's not paying for it-"

"Oh, someone stole her baby and pretended to be her best friend for months on end?"

"She's alone, Maggie! Her and Jamie broke up and now she's playing some twisted seduction game with JR-"

"Maggie, it was nothing. She wanted me to tell her to give up Kendall's shares to Fusion, and I just couldn't, and then she just some stupid comment about how maybe it was worth it if I could-"

Maggie was nearly shaking. "Stop right there, so it's not enough that she stole your baby. Now, you had the opportunity to save your pregnant sister from a very stressful next few months, and to top it all off-"

"Screw Kendall!" Maggie snapped, suddenly seething. "You know what? It's fucking perfect. The fucking perfect end to a fucking perfect New Years Eve."

"No, it's really good! It wouldn't BE New Years if I didn't have to deal with BOTH your exes!"

And suddenly, she just didn’t care anymore. Dropping her hand to the counter, she smacked it in defeat. "Lena's here."

"Lena," she repeated, enunciating the name. "LENA. The Polish Fox, Lena! Lena, your ex life-partner, LENA. She's here. In the house. In fact, she spent the night." The door swung open, Lena blinking, obviously confused, in the middle of buttoning her cuff. "And if you say her name often enough, she shows up. Hi Lena!"

"It's fine," she said, dreadfully chipper. "Wanna say hi to Bianca?" She held out the phone, so furious her hands were shaking.

"You know... I..." Lena looked down at the phone, and colored slightly. "I'm going to finish getting dressed..." Taking one step, then another, Lena backed out of the door.

Jutting her lower lip out, Maggie sucked in her air through her teeth, and lifted the phone to her ear. "She says hi."

"Maggie..." The voice had gone cold, nearly dangerous. "Why is Lena there and why did she spend the night, and why is she GETTING DRESSED."

It was so hard to get a hold of herself, but something in her girlfriend's voice seemed to get her there. Heart pounding, furiously feverish, Maggie rubbed hard at her chest, then at her nape of her neck, trying to scratch the angry itch out of her.

"Allright," she managed, voice somehow just a little quieter, less manic. "It's not what you think. I'm sorry."

"I found Lena outside of the airport. There was this huge storm and it had cancelled a lot of flights and her's was one of them, and I knew that you wouldn't just leave her out there, so..."

"Yeah. We drank some wine and... talked. It wasn't that bad, considering, you know... it's Lena."

Bianca blew out an audible breath, a natural sigh of relief. "Maggie, you really scared me."

Maggie's laugh came out like a nervous whinny. "Well, that's not all that happened."

"Okay, I didn't know what to say to her! Okay? So... we drank a lot of wine and watched some television and we talked, and... I didn't really tell her that we were together."

"She kissed me." She heard a sudden rush of air. "Bianca, nothing else happened! I pushed her away, I told her that we were together-"

"She was drunk, Bianca!" Maggie answered, quick and to the point. "She had no idea we were together, and it just happened."

"Bianca, it's fine. She knows we're together now, and she said that she never would have-"

"SHE KISSED YOU!?" Apparently her girlfriend was having a little trouble getting past that fact. Maggie felt absurdly like ducking behind the counter.

"You bring a woman home, OUR home, not just any woman, LENA. Do you remember who Lena is?"

Her eyes closed in sudden frustration. "I have a vague recollection, yes," she answered, tongue clicking against her teeth.

"The woman made a career out of seducing people, Maggie. And you invite her into our home! Knowing what she's capable of!"

"Bianca..." Bianca's manic rant floored her. Maggie suddenly found herself at a loss for words. "WHAT?"

"Oh, yeah, this is perfect, THANKS, Maggie! It's been a real treat, learning my ex-girlfriend tried to get it on with you."

She was overwhelmed. "Bianca," she began, licking the dryness from her lips. "Lena was drunk, okay? She wasn't out to - get you. She had no clue we were together."

"Because, I FELT BAD," Maggie snapped. "Because I had a moment of mental retardation when I remembered what it was like to LOVE you and know that you had moved on."

"There won't be a next time..." Bianca sucked in a rush of air. "And she's still there?!"

Maggie's posture went limp. She was exhausted, nauseous, and in literal pain. "Why are you acting like this? I already told you, nothing happened. We were drunk."

"Obviously something more than that happened if you didn't want to tell me, Maggie."

"And I shouldn’t?! You let Lena, LENA, spend the night. After she HIT ON YOU."

"SHE WAS DRUNK!" Her voice was a shout, and it made her wince, smacking at her head. "And you know what? I don't recall BABE having the same excuse!"

"Oh MY GOD," Maggie rushed. "It was NEW YEARS. SHE WAS DRUNK- GOD!" Stomping her feet, Maggie winced at the ringing in her head. "When the hell did we switch places?! Why the hell am I defending her!" Burying fingers into her dark hair, Maggie shuddered.

"Oh, okay!" Maggie shook her head, laughing now in bitter ridicule. "So, now it's about me! Before it's about hurting you, but, now it's about seducing me away from you? That's rich, Bianca. Next, you're going to tell me she's out to get Kendall through me through you."

"I look like shit," Maggie snapped through clenched teeth. "Because I didn't sleep a wink last night freaked out that my girlfriend would over react. Thank God all that time wasn't wasted."

"What?" she snapped. "I can't take it here? NO, if we're going to fight, Bianca. Let's get good and dirty! You're obviously not censoring yourself! And you know what?" she blinked, too furious to care. "Even if Lena was trying to seduce me, what on earth would make you think that she actually could?"

"Tell me, Bianca, when Babe was coming onto you, were you the least bit tempted?"

It was the question that had haunted her for months, and now, it was said, and even now, Maggie wasn't sure if she was ready for the answer. Sick and tired and somehow fragile, her heart sunk lower with every beat that ticked by, as she heard what sounded like attempts at words, odd sounds, as if whatever Bianca had to say, she couldn’t quite get it out.

"I understand, Bianca, that you cared enough to bring a picture of her all the way to Paris and hide it from me. Even after what she did."

"I'll see you when you get back, Bianca. Whenever that is." She cut off the call, no longer able to keep it going. As she pressed her hand against her mouth, trying hard to keep from falling apart, she noticed the door opening, and locked eyes with the apologetic, beautiful figure, an intense, sad expression painted across the slender features.