Nothing to Write Home About: Bad Habit

I play a good game
But not as good as you
I can be a little cold
But you can be so cruel
-- The Pretenders - Human

The woman who had taken their baby, had been hired to kill Bianca, lay slumped on the floor, unconscious, ten inches from Maggie.

Just her presence made the whole van claustrophobic, as Maggie gripped the bench with her fingers, couldn't seem to stop staring down at the passive figure.

She was pretty, which was surprising. Somehow Maggie had expected a woman capable of such monstrosities to be older, harder, uglier. But the woman caked in mud had chocolate, silken skin. Her hair was a mass of curly ringlets, like Kendall's, but coarser, and her face was all big eyes and bee stung lips.

Maggie felt like she had been in a cage with a sleeping lioness.

She shuddered, pushing back against the side of the rocking van, eyes darting around it: Bianca, sitting still, eyes narrowed in a hateful glare, unable to tear her eyes away from the form. Lena, who, as always had her eyes on Bianca. Maggie ignored the wrench of the knot in her stomach, forcing herself away from Lena and to the front of the van. Marina, with her darting black eyes and shifty smile, settled against the seat as if it were a throne, a gun lazily cradled in her palm, watching over her charge.

Sydney and Shane were barely distinguishable in the front, except from the glimpse that Maggie had seen of Sydney before they had shut the door and moved around, she was ridiculously glad she hadn't let her use the Prada.

No one was talking, and Maggie found herself wondering oddly why she wasn't relieved. This was the person who had taken Miranda. This was the woman who knew exactly where Miranda was, and how to get to her.

She was in their hands, and somehow, Maggie knew that they were getting closer to the end.

And still, she was frightened, fighting her panic and fear. She felt small, sitting on that bench, driving back with their captive.

Looking at the eyelashes fluttering, the slumbering killer inches beside her, Maggie felt no relief.

It was dark on their corner, and stepping out into the crisp air, Bianca wrapped arms around her chest and considered the street. She couldn't look at it the same anymore. The secluded, exclusive neighborhood, now quiet with it's residents asleep, used to be a haven.

Now, her eyes darted back and forth, pondering shadows with fragile, shallow breaths, and Bianca felt a curious hardening in her heart.

Maybe it was a survival instinct, as her blood pounded in her ears and her chest ached, her soul strung tight - knowledge killing her slowly inside.

Sydney, Marina and Shane, the strangers who had come into her life only hours before, now seemed like permanent fixtures in her life, silent guardians, who transferred the body of the killer, HER killer, into her flat, a flat that had before held such hope and love for her and Maggie and Miranda.

This wasn't her home anymore.

"Bianca?" She lowered her gaze onto Maggie, now standing beside her, wearing the same worried, nervous expression she always wore. "Are you okay?"

Bianca sucked in her breath, let it out slowly, and looked back over the building. "I will be," she said methodically. "I will be when we get Miranda back."

That was her light, her path out of the dark tunnel of despair. It was what she clung to.

If it didn't happen-

NO. No. It wasn't an option. There was no other ending. She couldn't even begin to conceive it.

They put her in the chair, Anna's muscled body heavy against Shane's lighter one, and she grunted with perspiration, shifting her into place, holding her still while Marina made short work of strapping her in.

"God," Maggie breathed, coming forward to regard her, lower lip bitten down by her teeth. "You guys really don't get out much, do you?"

Shane found her mouth pulling into a reluctant smile. "Believe it or not? We don't do this as often as we have. Usually I'm more a computers and hair kinda girl."

Maggie chuckled grimly, a somber expression taking over her fading smile. "She looks... different."

"From what?"

"From what I expected, maybe," Maggie whispered. She cleared her throat, giving a self-conscious shrug of her shoulders. "I should stop being surprised at whose capable of being a monster, I guess."

The words sank in, resonated within her, as Shane glanced toward Marina, noted her unreadable expression.

"Yeah."

Fingers slipped about her wrist, and suddenly Sydney led her forward, away from the others.

"I don't want you in here."

Irritation caused a frown, Shane shaking her head ever so slightly. "Excuse me?"

"They can't be in here when I do this," Sydney said, voice lower, more firm.

And even then, somehow, Montgomery managed to overhear. "NO."

Both woman shifted, looked toward the young mother. Bianca stood, eyes glittering with resolve, mouth set in an angry line.

"Bianca-"

"No," she said again. "This woman tried to kill me. She took my daughter. I deserve to be here while-"

"While what?" Sydney interrupted, brushing past Shane to take her in. "While we skin her? While we draw blood? While we run knives along her body, make her scream? Is that what you want?"

Bianca didn't falter. "Yes."

"No," Sydney replied. "No."

"It is her right," Lena interrupted, coming forward to stand by her ex-lover. "What this woman has done-"

"It's not your choice."

"The hell it isn't," Bianca snapped.

"Bianca - no." Shane blinked, surprised when little Maggie stepped up, turning to face her. "Bianca, this isn't you-"

"This is about MIRANDA, Maggie," Bianca replied.

"And you're still her mother," Maggie continued.

"Stop." Waving her fingers, Sydney shook her head slightly, halting the conversation when Bianca's steely gaze came back to her. "We're not dealing with some helpless vendor, Bianca. Anna Esponiza is a world class terrorist, number seven on the Most Wanted List. For years she has evaded every foreign power, and do you know how? Because she's GOOD. She knows how to take weaknesses, exploit them. She can take one look at someone and know immediately what to do to win. If she sees you, she'll use you, she'll use your love for your daughter against you, and then we'll have NOTHING. This isn't a game, Bianca. Anna knows there's no possible way we'll kill her or hand her over to the police while she has that baby."

She still had the advantage. Sydney knew it, Marina knew it, and now, so did the entire room.

Impressively, Bianca's eyes never wavered from the full on glare Sydney was throwing her way. Bianca hadn't exactly been rational when she decided she wanted to be in on the whole unpleasant business of extracting information from her kidnapper, but Shane was surprised when she realized she could understand it.

But Bianca's hate was consuming her, and Shane knew that the minute that it happened, Anna would take it and run, like their own personal devil.

"There is a way," Marina said, breaking into the conversation like a casual observer, resting her palm on Anna's still shoulder like it was a perch.

Everyone stared, unsure what she meant, until she flicked a finger to the video camera positioned on top.

Right. Shane blew out her breath, unsure how she had missed that she had even been holding it in.

"You'd let them watch," Sydney said, in a disappointed, disbelieving tone.

"You said yourself, we cannot shield from this kind of pain," Marina said easily. "And you know as well as I do that we are wasting time arguing."

When Sydney glanced at her for affirmation, she grimaced, shifted, and finally just shrugged.

"Whatever," she managed, slumping against the wall.

Hands on her hips, her partner was going through a battle, glaring hard at the floor, before she looked up again, and strode directly to her, grabbing her forearm and whispering in her ear, lips fluttering against her skin.

"If it makes you even THINK about wincing," she said softly, "Pull the plug. Please."

Shane didn't know if she could make that promise, but she did, as she felt Sydney press her forehead against her shoulder for the briefest of seconds, a small moment of intimacy.

Then Sydney lifted her head, turned away and didn't look back.

Sydney remembered the day Vaughn crossed the line she had come so close to crossing now. She had been at his side, pleading with him, frozen in a real nightmare, watching as Vaughn poured acid on the legs of a tormentor, a man who had done so much worse to her, to her sister, to so many people she cared about. She had argued with him, been horrified at what she had done, and even now, she could still smell the acrid burning flesh, hear the sizzle.

She had been the one that held Vaughn back from murdering his duplicitous ex-wife Lauren, the woman who later would kidnap Marina, the woman who was responsible for the cold-blooded execution of Yelena Derevko, a beautiful baker with a soft smile and a carefree heart, who gave up her freedom as Elena to attempt to save her niece from Rambaldi's curse. Lauren, the woman she convinced him to let go, to forget, was the woman she later tracked down and caught, the woman who she had every intention of causing as much pain as she had caused her. More.

Shane had stopped her, funnily enough, by telling Sydney's mommy and daddy on her. It was when she had nearly killed Shane in her anger that Sydney realized what she almost become.

Now, she stood on that precipice yet again, in the room with Anna and her cousin, locked in a battle for a baby's soul.

Marina wore a familiar mask of indifference, a picture of her mother, stripped down to tight black pants and a sleeveless black tanktop, hair a mussed tangle of black waves cascading over her shoulders.

It was almost ridiculous that Marina had dressed for the occasion.

Anna was already coming to, and Sydney allowed it, settled comfortably on a wooden table, legs crossed primly at the ankles, watching as her old "friend" opened her eyes, raised her head.

She had been in Anna's place more than once, could taste the bile on her tongue, could feel the nausea coursing through her, fogging her mind. She knew the stiffness that caused small tingles of pain spiking through her lead arms. Tiny prickles in a cascade of pain as the arms struggled to come to life.

She knew all of it, and as Anna's dim eyes finally fell on her, focused and widened in recognition, she waited.

Anna broke into a grin and her shoulders suddenly shook in morbid laughter. Anna understood.

"You've been looking forward to this," she purred.

Sydney's mouth pulled into a reluctant smirk. "Since the day I found out."

"God." Maggie shook her head slightly, breaking the silent pall that had been cast over the group huddled in the small panic room, in front of the camera. "It's like having dinner with Hannibal."

Goosebumps had broken out over her skin, and she rubbed palms absently against them, a shudder rolling against her spine.

Maggie knew she was protective of Bianca, to a state of hysterical blindness. She had stood up to Kendall, to Lena, and even the great Erica Kane herself to shield Bianca from pain. She had exasperated Bianca with her willingness to keep the world from her, and Maggie still couldn't help it. It wasn't what you would expect from a person as small in stature as Maggie, but she had known long enough that she loved Bianca like she had ever loved no one else, and watching Bianca continually hurt drove deeper inside her heart than if it had been her sitting in that chair.

Still, she had no idea how to help Bianca now, and that indecision was killing her, because Bianca was unreachable, staring daggers into the screen as if she could kill her by sight alone.

Gazing at the darkness in Bianca's eyes, Maggie wondered if maybe she could.

Anna watched with a predator's eyes, and she made a quick study of the room, of Sydney and then her gaze lingered on Marina. Her vision dragged down over Marina's body, took her time taking her in.

She smiled. "I haven't met your cousin," she said. "Aren't you going to introduce us, Sydney?"

Marina quirked an eyebrow, blinked slowly, seductively, before she wordlessly drifted off the table, maneuver around her, until she was out of Anna's sight, her presence merely a ghost now.

Anna found herself struggling not to look back, and the desire surprised her, amused her, almost.

Now, Sydney stood in front of her, wearing that pissed off frown she always wore in Anna's presence, self righteous and patriotic and oh so very pathetic.

"You can make this easy or hard," Sydney told her simply. "We know you have the baby. We just want her back."

Anna fought her smile, clucking her tongue. "Oh, come now, Sydney," she said disapprovingly. "You know it's not nearly that simple. I have a job to do. If I don't do it, not only is my reputation ruined, but my life wouldn't mean anything."

Sydney narrowed her eyes, chin rising. "You've already screwed up, Anna. We caught you."

"But you don't have your baby," Anna mused. "Cute little thing, Sydney. Quite beautiful, for a child of a rapist."

"Oh, BITCH," Maggie whispered, heart jumpstarting, unconsciously lunging for Bianca when her friend suddenly tried to bolt for the door. "NO, Bianca-"

"She can't-"

"She won't," Shane said firmly. "She's just trying to fuck with Sydney, all right? Let it go."

Sydney's eyes were darker than she remembered. "Your life or the baby's Anna. I'm not in the mood to play nice."

Anna grinned, showing her gleaming white teeth. "Good - you're horrible at playing nice. Forgive me, Sydney, but it's either you or returning to my contractors and explaining that the job was not done. I hope you consider this a compliment, but I think you're slightly more humane."

Sydney didn't move. "You didn't hear about Lauren, did you?"

Ah... Lauren.

"I heard about her," she confirmed, shifting in her binds. "I heard it was horrible, what was done to her. I also heard it was your mommy who take care of that for you. And correct if I'm wrong, but isn't your mother unreachable?" Sydney said nothing, and Anna smiled, continuing. "Oh, Sydney. Have you considered maybe this baby would be better off with me? I'm not intending to harm her. She's simply a tool. And she's nearly made me maternal. She'd grow up with such rich experiences. Her mother is as good as dead as it is. Whether I do it or not there's a contract on that poor girl's head."

"I'm protecting her," Sydney said tensely.

"Yes, you did so well protecting your fiancé. Protecting Nadia. Protecting Yelena-"

The saw the fist coming, had a moment to briefly brace herself before it slammed into her face, cracking her face to the side. She was ready for the pain, worked her way through it with laughter, shaking her head as she took in Sydney's murderous gaze.

"Sore spot?"

"Do you want to make this harder?" Sydney asked, voice a deadly whisper.

Anna considered that. "I want you to kill me, Sydney. Kill me, just like you want to. Forget the baby. It means nothing. It's a Cambias - they're cursed. Kill me and do away with that nagging conscious that seems to be bleeding out of you."

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!"

The tense moment was broken, and Anna found herself momentarily startled when a familiar brunette burst into the room, hands reaching for her.

She was stopped, a foot away from her, by another woman, skinner, shaggier.

Anna blinked, watching the scene, recognizing the woman. Sydney's partner.

"Woat, wait-"

"What the hell!?"

"She just bolted!" Shane exclaimed. "I couldn't stop her!"

Bianca Montgomery was a sight to behold in her anger, and Anna found herself admiring the view.

"A mother's concern," Anna said drolly. "Lovely, isn't it? Don't worry, Bianca. Your daughter is in good hands. She'll never know that her mother is murderer, her father is a rapist-"

"OH, YOU ASS-"

And yet another came at her, the small blonde, such murder on her face, it broke the spell on Bianca, and suddenly there were two of them holding Maggie back, keeping her away from Anna.

Watching the scuffle, taking in another woman, one who rubbed at Bianca's shoulders, kneaded into them, with affection and desperate love. Anna recognized her immediately, her intel had been impeccable: Michael's corporate spy. Lena. Bianca's EX-GIRLFRIEND, Lena. Anna considered it, head tilting, eyes shifting from her to Bianca's partner, who struggled hard to get to her.

"MAGGIE! What the fuck are you doing?"

"Someone has to shut her up!"

"And someone has a mother complex where there shouldn't be one," Anna retorted.

That only pissed the little one more off, and Anna found herself laughing, chest rising and falling, at the circus before her, women holding women back, a cacophony of voices and desperation.

"This is your version of torture, Sydney?" she asked. "No wonder you mother had to do it for you."

One got loose, Sydney's partner, and suddenly she was pelted again, harder, drawing blood now. She licked at the stinging wound, blinked the tears of pain out of her eyes, to discover Sydney holding her partner in a bear hug, lips against Shane's ear, hold intimate and gentle.

"Relax," she could barely make out. "It's okay. Don't let her see you like this."

Anna felt absurdly like she was in a movie theater, grin widening at the scene before her. Sydney holding onto her still struggling partner like a lover, TWO women holding back little Maggie from getting to her.

It was just all so very interesting, and honestly, almost worth getting caught.

"Don't you think you two should have a better hold on your dogs?" she drawled. "Get them under control."

Anna quirked an eyebrow, and almost smiled when she got her reaction. The women let go of their guardians, and she braced herself, ready for what was coming.

Marina was almost disturbed that she found this as funny as she did.

In her position directly behind Anna, she noted the scene, corner of her mouth tilting up, hidden by her palm pressed against the side of it, watching the way Anna would.

She stopped being amused when she began to be disturbed. It was too obvious, Shane and Sydney, Lena, Maggie and Bianca, so much emotion and exhaustion flitting through them that their hearts were on their sleeves, there fore the world to see.

There for ANNA to see.

Over the voices, she heard Lena calling her name, struggling now, voice a desperate tilt, as Shane and Bianca let go of their charges.

"STOP THIS," Lena snapped. "She won't be any good to us DEAD."

Without another word, she reached forward, hooked her ankle into the bottom rung of Anna's chair, and rolled Anna just out of reach, directly between her legs.

What she did stunned them all, Shane and Maggie nearly tipping over from their momentum.

Marina wore a dangerous smirk, absurdly gentle as she draped an arm around Anna's neck, settling the bound woman against her in an intimate embrace, chin resting against Anna's shoulder, cheek brushing against a soft cheek.

"Enough of this," she said slowly, delicately. Sydney's eyes were wide, her surprise obvious, but Marina ignored her now, ignored them all, in favor of the beautiful, beaten face inches from her own. "You've had your fun, Anna," she said softly, lips tracing the lobe of Anna's right ear, breathing hot air against the sensitive skin, finger gentle against her lush lips. "Now we get down to business. You've angered them, and you're coming quite close to angering me. I am not like them, Anna." Anna craned her neck, studied Marina's expression, and Marina smiled. "I run in your circles, Anna. I have no patriotism inside of me. I am as capable of enjoying this as you are."

And to prove her point, she moved her finger, tilting Anna's chin up, and buried her mouth in Anna's for a passionate, coppery kiss.

Anna kissed back, soft moan torn from her throat as Marina explored her mouth lazily, eyes fluttering closed as she sucked Anna's tongue into her mouth, tasted her blood. It ended with a gentle part, Anna's eyes half-lidded in lust, and Marina smiled, breath mingling against hers.

"How do you want to play this game, Anna?" she whispered, brushing her lips against hers in the process. "Think of this logically. There is no more time for sides. If does not have to be this difficult. If the organization that hired you finds out you did not complete your job, you're in for more pain than any of us will give you. And if you do not give back that baby, that is exactly what we'll do. We'll give you back, we'll make this public, and everyone will know." Anna didn't move, and Marina pressed her smile against her cheek, an intimate embrace. "If you give us the baby, we'll help you. We'll make it seem like you did your job. You'll be free. Bianca will live, the baby will be back. Everyone wins."

"Marina, what the hell are you doing?"

"Shh," she said, ignoring Sydney, eyes only on Anna. "If the child dies, Anna - I will not kill you. I will do what I want to you, take you in every way imaginable, and then I will give you back. I doubt your employers would be nearly as hospitable."

She pulled back, arms still wrapped loosely around Anna, waiting for her response.

The killer in her arms considered her words, and when she blew out an uneasy breath, Marina's lips pressed into a cruel smile. When Anna met her eyes again, she knew the understanding had been made.

"I want into those vaults," Anna said crisply. "I get what I came for, or else they'll just keep coming. I need the baby for that. She's yours as I soon as I get in."

Marina quirked an eyebrow, turned toward Sydney.

Her cousin was shaken, and in her eyes was disgust that Marina had never seen before. But she nodded, stiffly.

Anna grinned, and when she turned back to Marina, she looked as content as a cat who had just taken a mouse. "How should we seal this?" she asked, eyes already on Marina's mouth.

Marina obliged her, leaning in for a languid kiss, deepening the kiss when Anna groaned, mouth moving against hers hungrily.

They parted, Marina licking the wetness against her mouth, and Anna shuddered in arousal. "That felt wonderful," she murmured, straightening against Marina. "In fact, I think our tormented young mother could use this form of therapy."

Marina couldn't help the sharp inhalation, dread now dropping in her stomach as Bianca took a step back in surprise, all eyes on her.

"What?"

In her arms, Anna dealt her final blow. "A kiss for the mother - on this deal." She scanned the room, and Marina swallowed hard, willing Lena and Maggie to get away from Bianca now, seeing where this was going because she was trained to spot the weaknesses and this was Lucifer's deal she had made.

But the others didn't know how to play Anna's game, and they had dealt their cards on the table too quickly, too easily. Marina couldn't stop it, and she pressed her closed mouth against Anna's shoulder, eyes closing in bitter recrimination.

But Anna was ecstatic, mouth widening in delicious glee, when she said, "Make your choice, young mother. Kiss your real lover to get your child back." Anna's smile was malicious. "The Corporate Spy or your Guard Dog. Choose. Now."