Challenge Fic: The Arrangement (All My Children, Bianca/Maggie)
Title: The Arrangement
Author/artist: Misty Flores
LJ name: random_flores
Fandom: All My Children
Pairing/characters: Bianca/Maggie
Type of art (if relevant): just a splash - not exactly the challenge sort
Playing card activity: Bathtub Love
Playing card URL (will be supplied): http://invisible-cities.net/images/gsc/femslash/02.jpg
Rating: Hard R - maybe NC-17
Summary: Paris is for Lovers - a year after Maggie and Bianca get there, they finally figure that out.
Notes: New fandom, Smut. All for kattiya's challenge.
Challenge: Get a sex card, write a fic or a splash based on the sex card. What I got? A choice: femme, het, slash. Deigning to be different, I ended up going for the femme. Bathtub sex. Let's get started, shall we? A het card was also chosen, but I figured it would be better to post one than both at the same time.
Link to Splash (since it's not terribly work safe): http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v497/mistiec/arrangementsplash.jpg
--
Paris is great for lovers; not really good friends.
-- Maggie to Bianca
Bianca Montgomery knew that some people thought it odd, the way she settled in Paris and domesticity so easily. Too easily, a few of her employees thought,
Bianca understood exactly why it was considered weird. People came to Paris to experience the extraordinary, not to crave normalcy, certainly not to fade into the crowd.
She was in her early twenties, the head of a company, the mother of a child, the sorta partner of a beautiful woman; things that came together for her peers much later in life.
The truth was, Bianca felt forty. So much had happened to her in Pine Valley, Paris' relaxed ambivalence to drama was a like a balm soothing her wounds.
At first, Paris hadn't been a breath of fresh air; it had been a huge, overwhelming gulp. There were things that needed to be done, last minute arrangements that had to happen. Maggie needed to figure out what to do with herself, and Bianca had meetings, employees, a company to manage and figure out.
It hadn't been easy - the French employees weren't exactly receptive to a young American girl coming into their lives and ordering them around, and Bianca more than once found herself pausing, taking in a gasp to calm herself, and remind herself she was Erica Kane's daughter.
It had taken a year for her and Maggie to settle in with Miranda, a year to figure out where each was going and what it meant in relation to each other. In all honesty, Bianca had been glad that Maggie's hesitation had once again taken hold, that there was so much AGAIN that Maggie didn't know, because Bianca really hadn't had the energy to worry about it.
To simply have Maggie with her here, without trying to define why and how she fit into her life so easily, was what she needed; what they needed.
She had never been more grateful for Maggie's support during her 'settling in' period.
A year later, she was settled, her control and her authority were undistributed, and Bianca's gulp finally became what she came to Paris for: a breath of normalcy.
No drama. No questions. While Paris would never be Pine Valley, Paris was becoming home.
--
Charisse was a consultant; beautiful, smart, fiercely loyal, and very capable of having a mean streak.
Bianca was grateful for that mean streak, because while Bianca was a Kane, she also had a harder time with being a complete bitch, even if the situation called for it.
"You're too nice for this job," Charisse told her, putting the phone down in the cradle, smirking as she slid back into her chair, eyebrow arching.
Shrugging, Bianca only shook her head. "Good cop, Bad cop," she explained, and when Charisse gave her a questioning look, she elaborated. "If you continue to be unpleasant with the vendors, then they can continue to want to work directly with me. And if negotiations hit a snag, all I have to do is remind them that you directly handle the work, and they REALLY don't want to have to deal with you," Bianca added solemnly.
Charisse's mouth pulled into a reluctant frown. "I see. My reputation is mired for the sake of the company."
"Does it bother you?"
"Not at all. I'm just annoyed I didn't think of it first. Playing nice has never been my forte."
Bianca winked. "Play to everyone's strengths. That's what makes this company what it is."
Charisse thought about that, and a brilliant smile spread on her lips. "In that case, Miss Strategist, I think we should celebrate. Drinks? My treat."
Bianca angled her head, narrowing her eyes at the pretty consultant. "I thought that was discouraged."
"I'm a bad seed. I want to spent this evening in the company of a lovely and intelligent woman."
Something about the tone, and the look she gave her as she said it struck a chord in Bianca. Sitting back, she found herself musing, "You're flirting with me."
"Is that all right?"
Bianca's throat went dry, caught between the shimmer in Charisse's smile and the sudden vision of Maggie, waiting at home.
Her intercom beep, distracting her, and it came as a bit of a relief.
"Ms. Montgomery," chirped the heavily accented voice, "Ms. Stone on line one."
Bianca glanced at the blinking message. Leaning forward, she held up a finger to Charisse, halting the conversation. "Thanks, Maria." Releasing the intercom button, she grabbed the phone, curling it into her ear. "Hey! How's my baby girl!'
"I'm fine! Covered in baby food apple sauce, but-"
"I meant Miranda," Bianca interrupted, eyes rolling in amusement.
"You mean your world doesn't revolve around me? When the hell did that happen?"
"You did call me for a reason?" Bianca asked.
"Yep, yep. I did. Are you free for lunch? Because Miranda and I are feeling itchy for a good walk, and I think it might be fun to swing by so she could see her mommy."
Bianca glanced at her watch. "Well-"
"I could grab McDonalds!"
"McDonalds!" Bianca chuckled at the thought. "You're in Paris, Maggie!"
"Exactly. Where else am I'm going to find a place with good French Fries? You know, for a French city? Fries? Not so French."
When Bianca smiled despite herself, Charisse twisted in her chair. She made a motion to go, but Bianca only shook her head, keeping her in her seat.
"Sweetie, I can't. I'm working straight through. We've got this negotiation happening-"
"Oh."
"But maybe I can cut out early-"
"No! It's fine. Don’t do that! ..." Maggie drifted away, and at first Bianca thought she had lost her, until she winced when a "MIRANDA?! GET AWAY FROM THAT!"
Bianca blinked. "What?"
"Nothing. She found my tampons- this was easier when she hadn't learned to walk - I gotta go-"
"Go."
"Bye."
"I'll see you tonight-"
"Right. Bye. MIRANDA-"
The line clicked off, and Bianca grinned, putting the phone back in it's cradle, suddenly taken to an image of Maggie and Miranda, fighting over tampons.
"Your girlfriend?"
Bianca blinked and discovered Charisse, now standing, glancing at a picture of Miranda and Maggie, standing in front of the Eiffel tower.
Bianca hesitated, thought of the answer. She and Maggie lived together. They raised her child together. She came home to Maggie every night. She loved Maggie.
Maggie was her partner in every sense; except for one, teeny, tiny, detail.
In the last year, there had never been time to bring up the 'are we lovers or not' card, and now, Bianca still had no idea how to answer the question that always came; how to define Maggie in her life.
"My best friend," Bianca finally settled for. "When I came to Paris she came with me."
Surprise flitted over Charisse's features. "That is quite a friend, to uproot her entire life for you."
Bianca laughed, an odd chuckle that was almost strained. "She's not your average friend. She's...
"Special."
Bianca smiled slowly. "She's very special to me."
Charisse regarded the picture. "She's lovely." Bianca nodded. "I apologize," Charisse said suddenly, putting the picture back in it's place. "I wouldn't have asked had I known-"
"It's okay." Bianca stood, smoothing down the designer suit she wore, tugging at the sleeves. "I mean - technically, I don't know if I have a girlfriend, but everyone just assumes that Maggie is."
"And that's allright with you."
Bianca considered that, fingers tugging at a loose lock of dark hair, sliding it behind her ear. "I don't know how else to define it. I'm very committed to Maggie."
"But you don't have sex."
Bianca blinked, taken by surprise at the frankness of Charisse' interruption.
"There's more to a relationship than sex."
"Honey, without sex there IS no relationship." Bianca flushed, turned away. "I'm sorry. I was out of line."
"I think you might have been," Bianca snapped.
A moment of awkward silence, and Charisse took the hint.
"Maybe I should just go."
Bianca smiled tightly, arms stiffly crossed against her chest.
"I'm sorry," Charisse said again.
Bianca watched her leave.
--
When they first got to Paris, it just seemed easier for Maggie to move in with her and Miranda than to try to find her a place to crash at the last minute.
Back then, their relationship was just a big question of 'what if', and living together, separate bedrooms not withstanding, was something that was easy and natural and non indicative of any sort of romantic undertone.
Bianca had promised to never pressure Maggie for anything romantic - she knew Maggie was unsure, and back then, it had been enough, to have Maggie with her, to love Maggie and have Maggie love her, to pull Maggie into her arms, and then pull away when she felt the need to do anything more.
There hadn't been time to worry about living in a perpetual state of horniness. To share her life with someone and know that at any moment it COULD turn into something more was worth the wait.
Bianca had been waiting for a year, and Maggie seemed fine with the current arrangement.
Nothing was going to change anytime soon, and Bianca's sexuality was beginning to overwhelm her in complaint.
Bianca was beautiful in Paris. There was more than one lesbian in Paris.
Bianca had been hit on repeatedly, and each time, she had turned them down.
Nowadays, she went home to Maggie and their celibate friendship and found herself struggling to understand WHY she kept turning them down.
In the face of her stilted relationship with her beautiful consultant, Bianca wondered if it was as silly as it looked to Charisse, waiting for something that would never happen.
She pushed into her house, found it filled with music, loud, obnoxious French disco that Maggie and Miranda both had fallen in love with.
"Hello?"
Bianca shifted the bags in her arms, shrugging her jacket down her shoulders. "It's me! I'm home!'
"Hey!"
Turning the corner, came the light of her world, a little baby who tottered and teetered, Miranda's smile a burst of sunshine.
"Mama!"
Bianca's happiness nearly broke her, as she dropped her bags and caught the child in her arms seconds before Miranda could trip on her wobbly feet, gathering her to her with a nearly suffocating embrace. "Hi, baby. I missed you." Pressing her lips against Miranda's sticky cheek, she breathed her in. "Did you miss me?"
"I know I did." Glancing over Miranda's brown head, Bianca discovered Maggie, leaning into the doorframe, a welcoming smile on her face.
"Hey," Bianca said. Her nose wrinkled in reaction to a particular stench. "What's that smell?'
"Ah..." Maggie flushed. "That would be the result of my great adventure in... er... barbequing. I was going to surprise you with American French Fries and a burger, and I ended up with... black stuff."
Bianca laughed in spite of herself. "Oh, Maggie-"
"I know! I know!" Maggie sighed. "So much for a great career in the culinary arts."
Bianca shook her head, setting Miranda against her hips. "Then you're lucky I made a quick stop before coming home."
Maggie quirked an eyebrow, unsure, until Bianca motioned with her head at the bags on the floor.
"McDonalds?" Maggie squealed, rushing forward to gather them together. "Oh my God!"
Bianca grinned, Maggie's bright smile a suddenly burst into her cloud of doubt.
Reaching a hand into one of the bags, Maggie produced a fry, biting into it. "Yum. Do you have any idea how much I love you?"
Bianca's heart sputtered, but she recovered, nodding. "I have a rough idea."
Maggie sighed blissfully, pulling out another and holding it to Bianca's lips.
It was an intimate gesture, and Bianca took it delicately between her lips, chewing slowly as Maggie's content expression warmed her.
"Here." Wiping off a grain of salt from Bianca's lips, Maggie finger brushed against her mouth.
Maggie's eyes were bright and shining, and Bianca ached suddenly.
It would be so easy, so natural, to kiss Maggie's smile, taste it against hers.
Shuddering, she got herself under control, clutching Miranda tighter, coughing back her composure. "What do you say we eat this on the table like a civilized family?"
The bags crinkled under Maggie's grip. "Sure! Okay! I set the table anyway, before the whole big disaster in the kitchen."
"Just how bad is it?"
"I would stay out of there until I have a chance to clean it."
Maggie's kitchen explorations were reason enough Bianca wanted to hire a maid. Maggie wouldn't hear of it. When Bianca had first broached the subject, she had told her she was already going stir crazy, hearing from the medical schools and trying to transfer her credits, learning French...
"So did you talk to that guy?" Bianca asked, pushing Miranda into the baby chair, strapping her in.
"What guy?" Maggie asked. Already she had taken a few fries, plucked off the harder ends and placed a couple in Miranda's chubby fingers.
"The guy from the school," Bianca clarified.
"Oh..." Maggie flushed, settling into her chair, pulling out the burgers, deliberately intent on setting out the food. "Not exactly."
Bianca paused, studied her friend. "Maggie..."
"I just didn't-"
"He'll help you," Bianca interrupted. "Cambius makes a big donation every year to the school-"
"I just don't feel comfortable getting into one of the top medical programs in the country just because of you, B," Maggie said, eyes on the placemat.
Bianca sighed. "Maggie, you know I don't mind."
"I know." Maggie continued to stare at her food, before glancing up, eyes darker than before. "And I know I should, I mean, I'm not doing much of anything here but taking care of Miranda-"
Bianca glanced at her daughter, happily pounding her fries into mush.
"- But sometimes I just... I think that's all I want to be doing." Maggie blushed, running fingers through her hair. "I know I didn't think things through when I came here, but just being here with her and you, that just seems like... enough."
Enough. Bianca found herself smiling ruefully.
"I'd rather she be with you than anyone else," she admitted. "You can always go back to school. Whenever you want. I don't want you to feel like I'm pressuring you-"
"You never pressure me." Maggie's smile was hesitant. "I'm grateful for that."
Bianca was handed her burger, and carefully, she unwrapped it, spreading out the tinfoil.
"I love you," Maggie said suddenly. "You know that, right?"
Bianca glanced up, caught Maggie's intense stare, odd smile.
What Maggie was trying to say, Bianca understood.
No pressure. Because Bianca loved her - no pressure.
"Of course I do," she reassured her. "I love you, too."
Her heart beat wildly, and her hands shook unexpectedly.
--
"Hi."
Bianca glanced up, turning the tap, and found Charisse in the bathroom, half in, half out of the public bathroom.
"Hi," she responded, shaking her head in the sink before reaching for a towel.
"Look, I just... I just wanted to apologize again for yesterday. What I said was inappropriate-"
"Charisse, it's okay." Feeling tired, Bianca just straightened, leaning her hip against the sink. "I reacted badly. You just happened to touch upon the one thing in my life that isn't clearly defined. It's a sore spot."
Charisse took that in, stepped into the bathroom, letting the door close behind her. "Would you like to talk about it?"
Bianca smiled ruefully. "Not to a perfect stranger."
Charisse grinned. "Touche."
Coming forward, Bianca watched as Charisse washed her hands, delicately smoothed damp hands over her hair. She wore Enchantment perfume.
Bianca's throat closed unexpectedly, and she hit her lip, arms crossed, considering her attraction.
"Charisse," she said suddenly, stopping the other woman from leaving. Hand on the door, Charisse glanced at her.
"Yes?"
"Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?"
It was a startling request, but the stunning brunette regained her composure after a moment of staring.
"I'd like that very much," she said softly.
Bianca smiled. "Me too."
Charisse nodded, and pushed her way out of the bathroom.
Left there, Bianca considered this, and found her heart tightening inside of her.
Her eyes closed, and she sighed.
--
"We're visiting!"
Bianca glanced up, eyes widening with surprise, mouth pulling into a smile.
"HEY!"
Maggie grinned, holding her baby in her arms, kicking Bianca's office door closed behind her. "Look! It's MOMMY!"
Bianca laughed, pushing out of her chair and gathering Miranda in her arms, taking advantage of the closeness to kiss Maggie's cheek. "What are you two doing here? Not that I mind!"
"Oh, we were in the neighborhood," Maggie said, grinning gleefully - flushed and windblown from her walk outside. "And we got an urge to see you. I hope it's okay. Your assistant looked ready to murder me when I just walked right by her."
"Oh, she knows you two can interrupt me anytime," Bianca said dismissively, attention on her child, as Miranda gurgled and laughed, clapping her hands for her mother. "Hi, sweetie! Hello!"
Maggie grinned, smoothing a hand against Bianca's back, squeezing and letting go. "So any chance of you getting out of here earlier than usual?"
"Why?" Bianca asked immediately.
"Well... I got a babysitter," Maggie said immediately, eyes dancing with mischief. "And I have reservations. I figured you deserve a night on the town. And we need to celebrate my new job!"
Bianca blinked. "You got a job?"
"Just a waitress," Maggie made a face. "But my French is getting better, and I can work nights to take care of little Miranda-"
"Maggie..." Bianca turned, setting Miranda on the floor, holding onto one chubby little hand, mouth pulling into a frown. "You don't have to do that."
"I have to do something!" Maggie sighed. "I don't always want you to buy everything for me-"
"I can afford it."
Maggie's frustration was palpable, and Bianca saw it when her friend wiped her palms against her jeans. "I know you can - but that doesn't mean you should have to. I mean it's not like we're..."
Bianca blinked, glanced down.
"I mean - I don't - it just doesn’t feel right - even if we were..."
An awkward stumble into the obvious, and Bianca concentrated on her baby, than her constricting heart.
"That doesn't matter to me," Bianca said softly. "You came here to be with me - if you take a job at night we'll never see each other."
Miranda bobbed on her knees, bright eyes on them both. "Mama!"
Maggie settled on the floor, opened her arms, and Bianca let Miranda go, watched her daughter teeter into them.
"We can talk about it at dinner tonight," Maggie said after a moment, fusing with Miranda's jumper.
Oh, God.
Bianca didn't answer, found herself suddenly feeling something that was new, odd - as she looked down at Maggie and her baby.
It didn't feel good. It felt... it felt...
Maggie looked up, caught her stricken expression. "What is it?"
Bianca had promised once, to always be honest with Maggie.
"I'm busy tonight," she said softly. "There's this consultant-"
"A woman?" Maggie asked.
Bianca couldn't look at her for a second. "Yes." Maggie was silent, and Bianca found herself stammering, "It's just dinner."
"Like a date?"
Bianca licked her lips, shrugged. "Would it bother you if it was?"
Maggie looked lost, on the floor, Miranda in her arms. "I don't know."
She didn't know.
Bianca smiled at the repetitive words. "I just um..."
"Ms. Montgomery, Charisse on line one."
Bianca, stuck on Maggie's hurt stare, couldn't answer it. Leaning over, she tapped the intercom. "Take a message and hold my calls, please."
"Of course."
She clicked off the button.
"I think you should go," Maggie said, a hard swallow bobbing her throat. "I mean it's not like, you and I have-"
"Maggie."
"No! I can watch Miranda and you can go out with this woman-"
"Maggie, don't get upset!'
"I'm not upset!" Maggie snapped, shifting Miranda in her arms, eyes cold.
Bianca licked her lips, took a moment to let Maggie calm herself, and settled on the floor beside her. "Listen to me, okay? Please, just listen. I don't know what we are."
"Bianca-"
"What I do know," Bianca said softly, "Is that I'm totally, completely committed to you."
Maggie nearly glared at her. "Oh, really?"
"I just think that maybe... look - before, us getting together was all just a matter of horrible timing. I mean, I fell for you and you weren't in love with me, and then you fell for me and there was Lena, and then Jonathan and now there's none of that, and still..."
Maggie's eyes were on Miranda. "This isn't enough for you?"
"I would pressure you into anything you don't want, Maggie. As far as I'm concerned you're the person who'll be with me the rest of my life - but I want to have sex."
Maggie shuddered. "Bianca, you know that I-"
"I know." Bianca smiled, careful as she swept her fingers across Maggie's face, taken in by her friend's beauty. "And that's why I think this arrangement will work."
Maggie laughed, a dirty sound that seared into Bianca's soul. "Okay."
"I won't do this if you're not okay with it."
"What right do I have to keep you from it?" Maggie whispered, and when she turned her head, Bianca discovered tears in her eyes. "I'm not your girlfriend. I'm just your friend."
And suddenly her own were stinging. "You are so much more to me than that. You're my family here. You and Miranda-"
"But you need to get laid."
Bianca just stared, closed her eyes, and shook her head bitterly. "Maggie... You don't understand."
"Do it." She opened her eyes.
"What?"
"Do it," Maggie repeated. "I want you to. You're right. I can't give you everything you want, and it's not fair. To either of us. A relationship needs that sort of intimacy to survive. Look what happened with you and Lena."
Bianca's heart weighted down further. "Maggie-"
"No. I promised that I wouldn't hurt you. With me going back and forth and back and forth... You waited for me a year to say something, and I never did."
Bianca bit her lip, and suddenly found her heart burst in panic when Maggie rose to her knees, pulled Miranda in her arms. "I gotta go-"
"Maggie, please don't run," she said softly.
"I don't know how to do anything else," Maggie managed. "Please, just... go, okay? I'm okay with it. I'll be at home with Miranda-"
"I don't want you to-"
"Bianca!" Maggie shook her head, tears gleaming like jewels on her cheek. "I love you. Please, just do it, and promise me you'll come home after it."
Bianca licked her lips, heart hammering so loudly against her chest, blood beating into her ears.
"I'll come home," she whispered.
Maggie looked at her, tested her sincerity with a glance, and finally swallowed, nodded, turning and exiting her office.
--
Bianca came home at eight thirty.
Dropping her keys on the mantle, she shrugged out of her jacket, the doggie bag of left over went on the coffee table.
The house was quiet, dark, and Bianca stood, glancing around the living room, aided by the small streaks of moonlight that filtered in through the curtains.
"Maggie?"
Her tone was low, an effort not to wake Miranda, and there was no response.
Bianca moved quickly, turning into the dining room, flipping on the light.
The sight of Maggie sitting at the table was unexpected, and Bianca nearly yelped, hand to her chest, blinking to adjust to the light as Maggie stared up at her.
Her expression was unreadable.
"Maggie?"
"Did you kiss her?"
Bianca glanced down at her hands, considered the question.
"Yes," she answered. Maggie flinched at it, and Bianca shook her head, nearly cursed herself at causing that. "But that's all. I kissed her, and... and then I said I had to come home."
Maggie's surprise was noticeable. "Why did you do that?"
Bianca found herself chuckling, a grim laugh that escaped at the impossible nature of the situation. "Because I'm in love with you, Maggie. Because I couldn't kiss her without thinking about you. Because it felt like cheating."
Maggie stared at her, large wide eyes.
"Bianca, I said I was okay with it."
Bianca fell into the chair beside her. "Really?" she said dryly. "Because you look like hell, Maggie."
Maggie closed her eyes, shuddered once. "Okay, it was killing me."
Bianca smiled bitterly. "I know. I'm sorry."
"This isn't your fault," Maggie said softly. "I mean - you've done nothing but be there for me, since Jonathon, and I've never even showed you how much that means to me-"
"I wouldn't ever want you to make love to me or kiss me just because you feel like you OWE it, Maggie," Bianca said firmly, incredulous irritation staining her voice. "You show me every day. Here. With Miranda. I wouldn’t have made it this year, without you. I was just stupid. I mean- this is the best thing I'm ever going to have, and I hurt you just because I was horny."
"Bianca."
"No... I just..." she reached for Maggie's hand, wrapped it in hers, drawing it into her lap. "Listen to me. What we have is fine. It's all I need. I don't want anything other what we have. I'm committed to this. I'm committed to this."
Maggie's eyes were shining bright with emotion, and Bianca, overcome with love, pressed her mouth against Maggie's fingertips, breathing into her skin.
"I love you so much," Maggie whispered.
Bianca felt herself tremble with her own emotion, but couldn't hold Maggie. Not right now. Too overwhelmed, she would want more.
Instead, she held tightly to Maggie's hand, squeezing it. "I love you too," she managed. "I do, Maggie."
Surprise exploded into her senses when Maggie lurched into her arms, embraced her.
Bianca sucked in her breath, and then just held her, buried into Maggie's arms, the way she had done a hundred times, would do for the rest of her life.
Maggie's touch burned, a soft sweep of lips against her jaw, her cheek, and suddenly, before Bianca understood, settling into her mouth.
It was automatic, to shift her hold and plunder Maggie's mouth, sweep her lips against Maggie's, sink her tongue inside, deep and wet.
And then she remembered - her delayed reaction coming fast, an instinct, jerking away from Maggie's embrace. "Maggie!"
Startled, Maggie's eyes were half-lidded, her lips were swollen, and she never looked so sexy in her life.
"What?" Maggie whispered. "What? Isn't this what you wanted?"
Oh, God.
Bianca shook her head, tears suddenly stinging in her eyes. "Not like this! You don't have to do this! I told you, Maggie!"
Pushing Maggie away, Bianca stood, shaking her head and leaving Maggie there with her desperation.
--
Bianca's blue blood demanded a love of baths, and it was where she retreated now.
She was meticulous about her baths, her salts, her oils and her scents, because she understood that when done correctly, it was a myriad of perfection, a melody of beautiful things that released her tension, her worries, left her emotions naked and glistening, scrubbed clean.
She closed her eyes, settled into the scented liquid, scalding cooled down to a delicious heat.
In her mind, Maggie's face haunted her.
Bianca's heart was aching now, threatening to betray her in her haven, and she wondered now, about the bruising Maggie had given her.
Maggie was so afraid of losing her, she would do anything to keep her, including something she didn't want.
Bianca had seen it before, hadn't understood what it meant, the first time Maggie had kissed her impulsively, after being told that Bianca would go away.
Fear of losing Bianca had always prompted Maggie into these things, and every kiss they had shared had ended in some sort of disaster - Maggie taking it back, Maggie freaking out, and this time - it had been Bianca's turn to freak out.
Just how strong was she? Was she able to maintain her love for Maggie and continue to hold herself back?
She couldn't be with anyone else and be with Maggie - that had been made clear already by the failed arrangement.
And now - there was a kiss and in that, a reminder just how attracted to Maggie she really was.
A burst of condensation and a blast of cold opened her eyes, and there was Maggie, closing the bathroom door behind her.
"I'm sorry," Maggie said stiffly. "I don't like you to disturb you in here, but there are things I need to say."
Bianca studied her, trapped now in her haven, unable to move because Maggie had her cornered, settling against the tub to look into Bianca's face.
"How messed up are we?" she began, and Bianca had to smile at the flat statement, a reluctant grin that disappeared just as quickly.
"It's pretty bad," she admitted.
Maggie smiled ruefully, dipping her hand into Bianca's bubbles, blowing them off her palm. She was silent a moment, as if processing what she wanted to say.
"I just wanted to tell you," she began, "to thank you, for your willingness to wait for me. You promised to never pressure and you didn't, and all this time, it's just been completely selfish of me, because I've been ignoring-"
"Maggie," Bianca interrupted softly, sifting in the water, reaching for her towel.
"Don't-" Maggie said, stopping her assent with a palm, keeping her shoulders below water. "You're not moving until you hear me out."
"I'm naked," Bianca reminded her, voice hard.
Maggie glanced down at the bubble covered water.
"Is that what's bothering you?"
"Slightly."
Maggie considered that. "All right," she said. "I'll even it up."
Bianca's mouth fell open when her friend suddenly stood, tugging on her sleeves, taught stomach revealed when Maggie pulled up, kicking off her shoes.
"What are you doing?"
"Getting naked," Maggie said simply.
"Maggie-"
"Shut up," Maggie said sharply, now free of her shirt, reaching behind her, biting on her lower lip, and Bianca found herself groaning when Maggie's bra came loose, straps falling over her shoulders, breasts spilling free.
"Oh, God-"
"Hold on, not done-" Maggie was now shimmying her pants down her hips, leaning forward to do so, causing her breasts to shake with the movement.
Bianca found herself rapidly coming closer to panic. "Maggie, I'm begging you-"
"What?" Maggie was disturbingly unfazed, standing in front of her wearing only a thong and socks.
Bianca closed her eyes, the water suddenly scorching. "Oh, God-"
"Relax, I'm done."
Bianca did NOT want to look and see what that meant. She found herself shifting in the water, clamping her thighs together, thanking GOD for the mountain of bubbles that hid her nakedness.
"Bianca. Be a big girl and open your eyes."
"I’m not gonna!" Bianca snapped. "This is... this is... You're crazy!"
"Bianca."
"At least put on a towel!"
"Fine. I will - but only because I'm kinda cold." Bianca's palms were clamped against her face, and it was only when Maggie said, "Okay, towel's on, you can look, you prude," that her fingers split and she peered.
Maggie wore a towel loosely slung over her body, and she was sitting on the edge of the tub, watching her with barely contained irritation.
"No boobies showing," she said airily. "I promise."
Bianca let out a shuddering sigh, bringing down her hands.
"Now," Maggie said, clapping her hands together and glancing up. "Where was I?"
"You're insane."
Maggie looked down at her, and smiled, a wicked grin that Bianca had come to know very well. "Are you going to listen to me?"
"Well, I don't think I have much of a choice," Bianca said, arms crossed over her breasts, legs crossed, one over the other.
"Here's the thing: you and I seem to go into circles. I mean, you fall for me, and then I'm all straight, then I fall for you, and you're with Lena, and then you fall for me again, and there's Jonathon-"
"Maggie-"
"No, you're listening," Maggie reminded her. "Or I drop the towel."
Bianca glared.
"And then we came here, and suddenly the timing thing... it seemed right. And nothing happened, and for a while I understood why. We were both so busy, and I have to admit, I was... I was a little relieved." Maggie considered that. "Because I love you so much, that if I couldn't bear the thought of it NOT happening just because you're a woman."
Bianca swallowed, but said nothing. Maggie was lost in thought now, dripping her hand into Bianca's water.
"Truth is, Bianca - I was happy. Before all this- I was. I happy with the way things were, and that's wrong. I realized that today."
"Maggie, it's okay. We can just keep going-"
"No!" Maggie interrupted. "We can't. All right? We can't. The only reason nothing has happened is because I'm SCARED. But do you know what's more frightening? Losing you."
"You won't-"
"I will," Maggie said. "Because you'll find someone who can give that all to you and I'm going to hate them, because I'm going to realize that that's what I wanted. That it was stupid to be so scared because the only place I've ever been safe is with you. And God help me, Bianca - but I want to be with you so badly. I want to help you raise Miranda, and I love you so much."
Bianca's heart ached, her arms warred with her mind, to keep from pulling Maggie into her, but she was blocked by bubbles and water and her own nakedness.
"I love you, Maggie," she whispered. "You won't lose me."
Maggie's gaze was searing. "Then make love to me."
Bianca nearly choked, her throat closing in on her. "What?!" she sputtered.
"I mean it," Maggie said softly. "I want you to. I want to."
"Maggie-"
"Do you think I'm not attracted to you?" Maggie asked simply. "I am. I think you're the most beautiful woman in the world. And it doesn't matter if I'm gay or straight - I'm still going to be attracted to you. My love isn't about labels. It's about you. I'm never going to find someone as amazing as you no matter how hard I try. What I am doesn't matter. What matters is how in love with you I am."
Bianca was lost; broken. Her eyes closed against the frankness in Maggie's gaze, and in an effort to gain some sense of bearing, she lowered herself into the water, coming up for air and found herself only dizzier.
She looked at Maggie, took her in.
The towel fell, and Bianca didn't look away as it pooled around Maggie's waist. Instead, she stared, suddenly hungry, eyes feasting on the pale flesh, the slope of her neck, the curve of her breasts, the erect darkness of her nipples.
She took in a shuddering breath, and kept looking, further down, to the apex of Maggie's thighs.
She found herself gasping with want, and to control herself, she met Maggie's gaze. In it, she gave her answer.
Maggie's smile was nearly a smirk, as she stepped into Bianca's tub, into her haven, sinking into the water, coming level with Bianca.
A moment of looking, and then Bianca found herself smiling back, reaching forward to take her hand, smoothing fingers over delicate arms, and over naked shoulders, fanning against Maggie's jaw, thumb swirling against her lush lips.
"My God," she whispered, and Maggie laughed, a short, nervous burst of air that made Bianca smile, until she tugged lightly, and Maggie followed her lead, coming closer, until their mouths were centimeters apart.
The kiss was sweet, gentle. Maggie's lips were firm, and when Bianca moaned into them, Maggie sighed, tilting her face, settling deeper into it, palm coming up to slide wet fingertips against Bianca's cheek, take hold and kiss her harder.
Bianca found herself skidding in the water, slippery against the porcelain of the tub, Maggie sucking the wetness from Bianca's lips, until Bianca's head threatened to explode. She released Maggie's mouth with a hiss, kept her close as she sucked in a lung full of air.
Maggie smiled, and Bianca grinned back. "Good?"
"Stop talking."
Bianca giggled, and Maggie kissed her again, harder now, wetter, pushing until Bianca lost herself, slipped into the water, and nearly floated in it. Maggie's breasts teased her own, and Bianca jerked in reaction, fingers holding hard onto Maggie's waist, holding her to her in the water.
"God," Maggie whispered against her lips, and then buried her mouth into Bianca's neck, licking at the wetness she found here, hands roaming everywhere now, curling into Bianca's bottom, until she settled between Bianca's thighs, and arched.
"Oh my GOD!" Bianca jerked against the thrust, the spark of heat spiking down her neck.
Maggie caught her lips with hers, swirling circles around her tongue with her own.
"Mmm-" Bianca managed, nearly skidding once more. "You're going to have to let me get my bearings, unless you want me to drown!"
Maggie rolled her eyes, but pulled, slipping in the water herself with a shriek, and Bianca found herself laughing, shifting over, until she was kissing Maggie again, pressing her against the porcelain.
"Tell me what you want," she whispered, kissing Maggie lightly, knuckles rubbing idly against the sides of her breasts, feeling Maggie's pant in reaction.
"You," Maggie said, laughing against her mouth, flicking her tongue out against her lips. "God you're so soft."
"You have me," Bianca joked, "You'll have to be a little more specific."
Maggie's smile stilled, and Bianca was still, as Maggie palmed her cheeks, studied her intensely, smoothing back the wet dark mane.
Her answer was a kiss, opening her mouth against Bianca's for a wet kiss, and suddenly arching back when Bianca found her nipples.
"Oh," Maggie managed, and Bianca smiled, wrapping legs around her waist, and balancing Maggie against the porcelain, skimming her collar bone with her lips, tasting the wet drops, nudging aside bubbles.
There was a drop of water pooling against Maggie's left breast, and Bianca closed her mouth over it, sucking it off the tip, and taking Maggie's nipple with it.
She shuddered under the attention, fingers tangling into Bianca's dripping locks, thighs squeezing hard against Bianca's waist.
"Oh my God," Maggie whispered, and Bianca smoothed her hand between Maggie's breasts, palming the skin, worrying the nipple with her lips as she shimmied free of Maggie's harsh grip enough to push her palm against Maggie's sex.
"FUCK."
Bianca found herself laughing against Maggie's wet skin, heart bursting with joy, body bursting with lust, and she had MISSED this.
The touch and feel of physical love, Maggie's body arching against hers, Bianca's fingers slithering against the wetness of Maggie's groin, finding the nub that drove her crazy and sliding her thumb across it.
"Oh, my God," Maggie jerked above her.
Maggie slid down, and suddenly she was kissing Bianca, thrusting hard against her, wordless sounds slipping against Bianca's mouth as Maggie kissed her relentlessly, panting hard, throwing arms around Bianca's shoulder and closing her eyes. Forehead to forehead, Bianca held her, struggled with an arm around Maggie's waist to keep her from slipping away in the water, burying herself deeper into Maggie, thrusting hard, wrist flexing.
She came, and Bianca felt it - nearly came herself just from feeling, the slippery soapy softness of Maggie, Maggie's lips sloppily trying find hers as she fell apart in her arms - it was the hottest thing Bianca had ever seen or experienced.
"I want to go down on you so bad," Bianca whispered against her, and Maggie's eyes fluttered open, stared at her in shock, and suddenly they were both laughing, holding onto each other, struggling to keep from drifting away with water and emotion.
"You'll drown," Maggie pointed out.
"Maybe it would be worth it," Bianca retorted.
Maggie grinned, but only shook her head, kissing Bianca again. "No - I want to touch you. Is that okay?"
Bianca smiled. "It's more than okay."
Maggie's fingers were gentle against her lips, and Bianca swirled her tongue against her thumb, sucking her in for a second before she clasped Maggie's hand in hers, and directed it, smoothing over breasts and spreading her legs, until she gasped, Maggie's fingers woven with hers, fingering her, tentative and exploratory.
She fought for control, eyes frozen to Maggie's face, watching the myriad of expression that crossed over her face, until Maggie's fingers flickered against her own, and she closed her eyes, jerked her head back.
"Faster," she managed, letting her fingers go to grasp the side of the tub, arch her hips into Maggie's fingers. "Faster-"
Maggie sucked on the side of her neck, sending a thrill against her, one that exploded when she heard against her cheek, "I want to see you come."
And that was all that did it - just the words - Maggie's need to see this, and she was gone, blindly biting and sucking Maggie's wet skin, plastered against her as Maggie took her with her fingers.
--
The bath was slowly losing it's warmth, and still, Bianca couldn't be bothered to be moved.
Maggie lay against her, fingers skimming the water for the rapidly dissipating bubbles.
"So I have a question."
Bianca quirked an eyebrow. "What?"
"Why the HELL didn't we do that before?"
Bianca just shook her head in amusement, kissing Maggie back when the other woman pressed her mouth against her.
"I don't know."
"Well - at least we finally got the timing right," Maggie admitted, settling back against her.
Bianca laughed in spite of herself. "I'd say so."
"Bianca?"
"Hmm."
"You known how much I love you, right?"
Bianca opened her eyes, and took in the person lying against her. Maggie was the same Maggie as before. Bright-eyed and chirpy - stubborn and naïve - silly and intelligent.
Her partner and friend, and now, her lover.
Heart full, Bianca could never define her happiness, but it was tangible. It was there. All this time, Maggie so afraid of losing her, and it was Bianca who had been the frightened one - the one afraid of pushing boundaries, of losing Maggie completely.
Heart swelled with love, Bianca smiled. "I have a rough idea."
FIN
Author/artist: Misty Flores
LJ name: random_flores
Fandom: All My Children
Pairing/characters: Bianca/Maggie
Type of art (if relevant): just a splash - not exactly the challenge sort
Playing card activity: Bathtub Love
Playing card URL (will be supplied): http://invisible-cities.net/images/gsc/femslash/02.jpg
Rating: Hard R - maybe NC-17
Summary: Paris is for Lovers - a year after Maggie and Bianca get there, they finally figure that out.
Notes: New fandom, Smut. All for kattiya's challenge.
Challenge: Get a sex card, write a fic or a splash based on the sex card. What I got? A choice: femme, het, slash. Deigning to be different, I ended up going for the femme. Bathtub sex. Let's get started, shall we? A het card was also chosen, but I figured it would be better to post one than both at the same time.
Link to Splash (since it's not terribly work safe): http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v497/mistiec/arrangementsplash.jpg
--
Paris is great for lovers; not really good friends.
-- Maggie to Bianca
Bianca Montgomery knew that some people thought it odd, the way she settled in Paris and domesticity so easily. Too easily, a few of her employees thought,
Bianca understood exactly why it was considered weird. People came to Paris to experience the extraordinary, not to crave normalcy, certainly not to fade into the crowd.
She was in her early twenties, the head of a company, the mother of a child, the sorta partner of a beautiful woman; things that came together for her peers much later in life.
The truth was, Bianca felt forty. So much had happened to her in Pine Valley, Paris' relaxed ambivalence to drama was a like a balm soothing her wounds.
At first, Paris hadn't been a breath of fresh air; it had been a huge, overwhelming gulp. There were things that needed to be done, last minute arrangements that had to happen. Maggie needed to figure out what to do with herself, and Bianca had meetings, employees, a company to manage and figure out.
It hadn't been easy - the French employees weren't exactly receptive to a young American girl coming into their lives and ordering them around, and Bianca more than once found herself pausing, taking in a gasp to calm herself, and remind herself she was Erica Kane's daughter.
It had taken a year for her and Maggie to settle in with Miranda, a year to figure out where each was going and what it meant in relation to each other. In all honesty, Bianca had been glad that Maggie's hesitation had once again taken hold, that there was so much AGAIN that Maggie didn't know, because Bianca really hadn't had the energy to worry about it.
To simply have Maggie with her here, without trying to define why and how she fit into her life so easily, was what she needed; what they needed.
She had never been more grateful for Maggie's support during her 'settling in' period.
A year later, she was settled, her control and her authority were undistributed, and Bianca's gulp finally became what she came to Paris for: a breath of normalcy.
No drama. No questions. While Paris would never be Pine Valley, Paris was becoming home.
--
Charisse was a consultant; beautiful, smart, fiercely loyal, and very capable of having a mean streak.
Bianca was grateful for that mean streak, because while Bianca was a Kane, she also had a harder time with being a complete bitch, even if the situation called for it.
"You're too nice for this job," Charisse told her, putting the phone down in the cradle, smirking as she slid back into her chair, eyebrow arching.
Shrugging, Bianca only shook her head. "Good cop, Bad cop," she explained, and when Charisse gave her a questioning look, she elaborated. "If you continue to be unpleasant with the vendors, then they can continue to want to work directly with me. And if negotiations hit a snag, all I have to do is remind them that you directly handle the work, and they REALLY don't want to have to deal with you," Bianca added solemnly.
Charisse's mouth pulled into a reluctant frown. "I see. My reputation is mired for the sake of the company."
"Does it bother you?"
"Not at all. I'm just annoyed I didn't think of it first. Playing nice has never been my forte."
Bianca winked. "Play to everyone's strengths. That's what makes this company what it is."
Charisse thought about that, and a brilliant smile spread on her lips. "In that case, Miss Strategist, I think we should celebrate. Drinks? My treat."
Bianca angled her head, narrowing her eyes at the pretty consultant. "I thought that was discouraged."
"I'm a bad seed. I want to spent this evening in the company of a lovely and intelligent woman."
Something about the tone, and the look she gave her as she said it struck a chord in Bianca. Sitting back, she found herself musing, "You're flirting with me."
"Is that all right?"
Bianca's throat went dry, caught between the shimmer in Charisse's smile and the sudden vision of Maggie, waiting at home.
Her intercom beep, distracting her, and it came as a bit of a relief.
"Ms. Montgomery," chirped the heavily accented voice, "Ms. Stone on line one."
Bianca glanced at the blinking message. Leaning forward, she held up a finger to Charisse, halting the conversation. "Thanks, Maria." Releasing the intercom button, she grabbed the phone, curling it into her ear. "Hey! How's my baby girl!'
"I'm fine! Covered in baby food apple sauce, but-"
"I meant Miranda," Bianca interrupted, eyes rolling in amusement.
"You mean your world doesn't revolve around me? When the hell did that happen?"
"You did call me for a reason?" Bianca asked.
"Yep, yep. I did. Are you free for lunch? Because Miranda and I are feeling itchy for a good walk, and I think it might be fun to swing by so she could see her mommy."
Bianca glanced at her watch. "Well-"
"I could grab McDonalds!"
"McDonalds!" Bianca chuckled at the thought. "You're in Paris, Maggie!"
"Exactly. Where else am I'm going to find a place with good French Fries? You know, for a French city? Fries? Not so French."
When Bianca smiled despite herself, Charisse twisted in her chair. She made a motion to go, but Bianca only shook her head, keeping her in her seat.
"Sweetie, I can't. I'm working straight through. We've got this negotiation happening-"
"Oh."
"But maybe I can cut out early-"
"No! It's fine. Don’t do that! ..." Maggie drifted away, and at first Bianca thought she had lost her, until she winced when a "MIRANDA?! GET AWAY FROM THAT!"
Bianca blinked. "What?"
"Nothing. She found my tampons- this was easier when she hadn't learned to walk - I gotta go-"
"Go."
"Bye."
"I'll see you tonight-"
"Right. Bye. MIRANDA-"
The line clicked off, and Bianca grinned, putting the phone back in it's cradle, suddenly taken to an image of Maggie and Miranda, fighting over tampons.
"Your girlfriend?"
Bianca blinked and discovered Charisse, now standing, glancing at a picture of Miranda and Maggie, standing in front of the Eiffel tower.
Bianca hesitated, thought of the answer. She and Maggie lived together. They raised her child together. She came home to Maggie every night. She loved Maggie.
Maggie was her partner in every sense; except for one, teeny, tiny, detail.
In the last year, there had never been time to bring up the 'are we lovers or not' card, and now, Bianca still had no idea how to answer the question that always came; how to define Maggie in her life.
"My best friend," Bianca finally settled for. "When I came to Paris she came with me."
Surprise flitted over Charisse's features. "That is quite a friend, to uproot her entire life for you."
Bianca laughed, an odd chuckle that was almost strained. "She's not your average friend. She's...
"Special."
Bianca smiled slowly. "She's very special to me."
Charisse regarded the picture. "She's lovely." Bianca nodded. "I apologize," Charisse said suddenly, putting the picture back in it's place. "I wouldn't have asked had I known-"
"It's okay." Bianca stood, smoothing down the designer suit she wore, tugging at the sleeves. "I mean - technically, I don't know if I have a girlfriend, but everyone just assumes that Maggie is."
"And that's allright with you."
Bianca considered that, fingers tugging at a loose lock of dark hair, sliding it behind her ear. "I don't know how else to define it. I'm very committed to Maggie."
"But you don't have sex."
Bianca blinked, taken by surprise at the frankness of Charisse' interruption.
"There's more to a relationship than sex."
"Honey, without sex there IS no relationship." Bianca flushed, turned away. "I'm sorry. I was out of line."
"I think you might have been," Bianca snapped.
A moment of awkward silence, and Charisse took the hint.
"Maybe I should just go."
Bianca smiled tightly, arms stiffly crossed against her chest.
"I'm sorry," Charisse said again.
Bianca watched her leave.
--
When they first got to Paris, it just seemed easier for Maggie to move in with her and Miranda than to try to find her a place to crash at the last minute.
Back then, their relationship was just a big question of 'what if', and living together, separate bedrooms not withstanding, was something that was easy and natural and non indicative of any sort of romantic undertone.
Bianca had promised to never pressure Maggie for anything romantic - she knew Maggie was unsure, and back then, it had been enough, to have Maggie with her, to love Maggie and have Maggie love her, to pull Maggie into her arms, and then pull away when she felt the need to do anything more.
There hadn't been time to worry about living in a perpetual state of horniness. To share her life with someone and know that at any moment it COULD turn into something more was worth the wait.
Bianca had been waiting for a year, and Maggie seemed fine with the current arrangement.
Nothing was going to change anytime soon, and Bianca's sexuality was beginning to overwhelm her in complaint.
Bianca was beautiful in Paris. There was more than one lesbian in Paris.
Bianca had been hit on repeatedly, and each time, she had turned them down.
Nowadays, she went home to Maggie and their celibate friendship and found herself struggling to understand WHY she kept turning them down.
In the face of her stilted relationship with her beautiful consultant, Bianca wondered if it was as silly as it looked to Charisse, waiting for something that would never happen.
She pushed into her house, found it filled with music, loud, obnoxious French disco that Maggie and Miranda both had fallen in love with.
"Hello?"
Bianca shifted the bags in her arms, shrugging her jacket down her shoulders. "It's me! I'm home!'
"Hey!"
Turning the corner, came the light of her world, a little baby who tottered and teetered, Miranda's smile a burst of sunshine.
"Mama!"
Bianca's happiness nearly broke her, as she dropped her bags and caught the child in her arms seconds before Miranda could trip on her wobbly feet, gathering her to her with a nearly suffocating embrace. "Hi, baby. I missed you." Pressing her lips against Miranda's sticky cheek, she breathed her in. "Did you miss me?"
"I know I did." Glancing over Miranda's brown head, Bianca discovered Maggie, leaning into the doorframe, a welcoming smile on her face.
"Hey," Bianca said. Her nose wrinkled in reaction to a particular stench. "What's that smell?'
"Ah..." Maggie flushed. "That would be the result of my great adventure in... er... barbequing. I was going to surprise you with American French Fries and a burger, and I ended up with... black stuff."
Bianca laughed in spite of herself. "Oh, Maggie-"
"I know! I know!" Maggie sighed. "So much for a great career in the culinary arts."
Bianca shook her head, setting Miranda against her hips. "Then you're lucky I made a quick stop before coming home."
Maggie quirked an eyebrow, unsure, until Bianca motioned with her head at the bags on the floor.
"McDonalds?" Maggie squealed, rushing forward to gather them together. "Oh my God!"
Bianca grinned, Maggie's bright smile a suddenly burst into her cloud of doubt.
Reaching a hand into one of the bags, Maggie produced a fry, biting into it. "Yum. Do you have any idea how much I love you?"
Bianca's heart sputtered, but she recovered, nodding. "I have a rough idea."
Maggie sighed blissfully, pulling out another and holding it to Bianca's lips.
It was an intimate gesture, and Bianca took it delicately between her lips, chewing slowly as Maggie's content expression warmed her.
"Here." Wiping off a grain of salt from Bianca's lips, Maggie finger brushed against her mouth.
Maggie's eyes were bright and shining, and Bianca ached suddenly.
It would be so easy, so natural, to kiss Maggie's smile, taste it against hers.
Shuddering, she got herself under control, clutching Miranda tighter, coughing back her composure. "What do you say we eat this on the table like a civilized family?"
The bags crinkled under Maggie's grip. "Sure! Okay! I set the table anyway, before the whole big disaster in the kitchen."
"Just how bad is it?"
"I would stay out of there until I have a chance to clean it."
Maggie's kitchen explorations were reason enough Bianca wanted to hire a maid. Maggie wouldn't hear of it. When Bianca had first broached the subject, she had told her she was already going stir crazy, hearing from the medical schools and trying to transfer her credits, learning French...
"So did you talk to that guy?" Bianca asked, pushing Miranda into the baby chair, strapping her in.
"What guy?" Maggie asked. Already she had taken a few fries, plucked off the harder ends and placed a couple in Miranda's chubby fingers.
"The guy from the school," Bianca clarified.
"Oh..." Maggie flushed, settling into her chair, pulling out the burgers, deliberately intent on setting out the food. "Not exactly."
Bianca paused, studied her friend. "Maggie..."
"I just didn't-"
"He'll help you," Bianca interrupted. "Cambius makes a big donation every year to the school-"
"I just don't feel comfortable getting into one of the top medical programs in the country just because of you, B," Maggie said, eyes on the placemat.
Bianca sighed. "Maggie, you know I don't mind."
"I know." Maggie continued to stare at her food, before glancing up, eyes darker than before. "And I know I should, I mean, I'm not doing much of anything here but taking care of Miranda-"
Bianca glanced at her daughter, happily pounding her fries into mush.
"- But sometimes I just... I think that's all I want to be doing." Maggie blushed, running fingers through her hair. "I know I didn't think things through when I came here, but just being here with her and you, that just seems like... enough."
Enough. Bianca found herself smiling ruefully.
"I'd rather she be with you than anyone else," she admitted. "You can always go back to school. Whenever you want. I don't want you to feel like I'm pressuring you-"
"You never pressure me." Maggie's smile was hesitant. "I'm grateful for that."
Bianca was handed her burger, and carefully, she unwrapped it, spreading out the tinfoil.
"I love you," Maggie said suddenly. "You know that, right?"
Bianca glanced up, caught Maggie's intense stare, odd smile.
What Maggie was trying to say, Bianca understood.
No pressure. Because Bianca loved her - no pressure.
"Of course I do," she reassured her. "I love you, too."
Her heart beat wildly, and her hands shook unexpectedly.
--
"Hi."
Bianca glanced up, turning the tap, and found Charisse in the bathroom, half in, half out of the public bathroom.
"Hi," she responded, shaking her head in the sink before reaching for a towel.
"Look, I just... I just wanted to apologize again for yesterday. What I said was inappropriate-"
"Charisse, it's okay." Feeling tired, Bianca just straightened, leaning her hip against the sink. "I reacted badly. You just happened to touch upon the one thing in my life that isn't clearly defined. It's a sore spot."
Charisse took that in, stepped into the bathroom, letting the door close behind her. "Would you like to talk about it?"
Bianca smiled ruefully. "Not to a perfect stranger."
Charisse grinned. "Touche."
Coming forward, Bianca watched as Charisse washed her hands, delicately smoothed damp hands over her hair. She wore Enchantment perfume.
Bianca's throat closed unexpectedly, and she hit her lip, arms crossed, considering her attraction.
"Charisse," she said suddenly, stopping the other woman from leaving. Hand on the door, Charisse glanced at her.
"Yes?"
"Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?"
It was a startling request, but the stunning brunette regained her composure after a moment of staring.
"I'd like that very much," she said softly.
Bianca smiled. "Me too."
Charisse nodded, and pushed her way out of the bathroom.
Left there, Bianca considered this, and found her heart tightening inside of her.
Her eyes closed, and she sighed.
--
"We're visiting!"
Bianca glanced up, eyes widening with surprise, mouth pulling into a smile.
"HEY!"
Maggie grinned, holding her baby in her arms, kicking Bianca's office door closed behind her. "Look! It's MOMMY!"
Bianca laughed, pushing out of her chair and gathering Miranda in her arms, taking advantage of the closeness to kiss Maggie's cheek. "What are you two doing here? Not that I mind!"
"Oh, we were in the neighborhood," Maggie said, grinning gleefully - flushed and windblown from her walk outside. "And we got an urge to see you. I hope it's okay. Your assistant looked ready to murder me when I just walked right by her."
"Oh, she knows you two can interrupt me anytime," Bianca said dismissively, attention on her child, as Miranda gurgled and laughed, clapping her hands for her mother. "Hi, sweetie! Hello!"
Maggie grinned, smoothing a hand against Bianca's back, squeezing and letting go. "So any chance of you getting out of here earlier than usual?"
"Why?" Bianca asked immediately.
"Well... I got a babysitter," Maggie said immediately, eyes dancing with mischief. "And I have reservations. I figured you deserve a night on the town. And we need to celebrate my new job!"
Bianca blinked. "You got a job?"
"Just a waitress," Maggie made a face. "But my French is getting better, and I can work nights to take care of little Miranda-"
"Maggie..." Bianca turned, setting Miranda on the floor, holding onto one chubby little hand, mouth pulling into a frown. "You don't have to do that."
"I have to do something!" Maggie sighed. "I don't always want you to buy everything for me-"
"I can afford it."
Maggie's frustration was palpable, and Bianca saw it when her friend wiped her palms against her jeans. "I know you can - but that doesn't mean you should have to. I mean it's not like we're..."
Bianca blinked, glanced down.
"I mean - I don't - it just doesn’t feel right - even if we were..."
An awkward stumble into the obvious, and Bianca concentrated on her baby, than her constricting heart.
"That doesn't matter to me," Bianca said softly. "You came here to be with me - if you take a job at night we'll never see each other."
Miranda bobbed on her knees, bright eyes on them both. "Mama!"
Maggie settled on the floor, opened her arms, and Bianca let Miranda go, watched her daughter teeter into them.
"We can talk about it at dinner tonight," Maggie said after a moment, fusing with Miranda's jumper.
Oh, God.
Bianca didn't answer, found herself suddenly feeling something that was new, odd - as she looked down at Maggie and her baby.
It didn't feel good. It felt... it felt...
Maggie looked up, caught her stricken expression. "What is it?"
Bianca had promised once, to always be honest with Maggie.
"I'm busy tonight," she said softly. "There's this consultant-"
"A woman?" Maggie asked.
Bianca couldn't look at her for a second. "Yes." Maggie was silent, and Bianca found herself stammering, "It's just dinner."
"Like a date?"
Bianca licked her lips, shrugged. "Would it bother you if it was?"
Maggie looked lost, on the floor, Miranda in her arms. "I don't know."
She didn't know.
Bianca smiled at the repetitive words. "I just um..."
"Ms. Montgomery, Charisse on line one."
Bianca, stuck on Maggie's hurt stare, couldn't answer it. Leaning over, she tapped the intercom. "Take a message and hold my calls, please."
"Of course."
She clicked off the button.
"I think you should go," Maggie said, a hard swallow bobbing her throat. "I mean it's not like, you and I have-"
"Maggie."
"No! I can watch Miranda and you can go out with this woman-"
"Maggie, don't get upset!'
"I'm not upset!" Maggie snapped, shifting Miranda in her arms, eyes cold.
Bianca licked her lips, took a moment to let Maggie calm herself, and settled on the floor beside her. "Listen to me, okay? Please, just listen. I don't know what we are."
"Bianca-"
"What I do know," Bianca said softly, "Is that I'm totally, completely committed to you."
Maggie nearly glared at her. "Oh, really?"
"I just think that maybe... look - before, us getting together was all just a matter of horrible timing. I mean, I fell for you and you weren't in love with me, and then you fell for me and there was Lena, and then Jonathan and now there's none of that, and still..."
Maggie's eyes were on Miranda. "This isn't enough for you?"
"I would pressure you into anything you don't want, Maggie. As far as I'm concerned you're the person who'll be with me the rest of my life - but I want to have sex."
Maggie shuddered. "Bianca, you know that I-"
"I know." Bianca smiled, careful as she swept her fingers across Maggie's face, taken in by her friend's beauty. "And that's why I think this arrangement will work."
Maggie laughed, a dirty sound that seared into Bianca's soul. "Okay."
"I won't do this if you're not okay with it."
"What right do I have to keep you from it?" Maggie whispered, and when she turned her head, Bianca discovered tears in her eyes. "I'm not your girlfriend. I'm just your friend."
And suddenly her own were stinging. "You are so much more to me than that. You're my family here. You and Miranda-"
"But you need to get laid."
Bianca just stared, closed her eyes, and shook her head bitterly. "Maggie... You don't understand."
"Do it." She opened her eyes.
"What?"
"Do it," Maggie repeated. "I want you to. You're right. I can't give you everything you want, and it's not fair. To either of us. A relationship needs that sort of intimacy to survive. Look what happened with you and Lena."
Bianca's heart weighted down further. "Maggie-"
"No. I promised that I wouldn't hurt you. With me going back and forth and back and forth... You waited for me a year to say something, and I never did."
Bianca bit her lip, and suddenly found her heart burst in panic when Maggie rose to her knees, pulled Miranda in her arms. "I gotta go-"
"Maggie, please don't run," she said softly.
"I don't know how to do anything else," Maggie managed. "Please, just... go, okay? I'm okay with it. I'll be at home with Miranda-"
"I don't want you to-"
"Bianca!" Maggie shook her head, tears gleaming like jewels on her cheek. "I love you. Please, just do it, and promise me you'll come home after it."
Bianca licked her lips, heart hammering so loudly against her chest, blood beating into her ears.
"I'll come home," she whispered.
Maggie looked at her, tested her sincerity with a glance, and finally swallowed, nodded, turning and exiting her office.
--
Bianca came home at eight thirty.
Dropping her keys on the mantle, she shrugged out of her jacket, the doggie bag of left over went on the coffee table.
The house was quiet, dark, and Bianca stood, glancing around the living room, aided by the small streaks of moonlight that filtered in through the curtains.
"Maggie?"
Her tone was low, an effort not to wake Miranda, and there was no response.
Bianca moved quickly, turning into the dining room, flipping on the light.
The sight of Maggie sitting at the table was unexpected, and Bianca nearly yelped, hand to her chest, blinking to adjust to the light as Maggie stared up at her.
Her expression was unreadable.
"Maggie?"
"Did you kiss her?"
Bianca glanced down at her hands, considered the question.
"Yes," she answered. Maggie flinched at it, and Bianca shook her head, nearly cursed herself at causing that. "But that's all. I kissed her, and... and then I said I had to come home."
Maggie's surprise was noticeable. "Why did you do that?"
Bianca found herself chuckling, a grim laugh that escaped at the impossible nature of the situation. "Because I'm in love with you, Maggie. Because I couldn't kiss her without thinking about you. Because it felt like cheating."
Maggie stared at her, large wide eyes.
"Bianca, I said I was okay with it."
Bianca fell into the chair beside her. "Really?" she said dryly. "Because you look like hell, Maggie."
Maggie closed her eyes, shuddered once. "Okay, it was killing me."
Bianca smiled bitterly. "I know. I'm sorry."
"This isn't your fault," Maggie said softly. "I mean - you've done nothing but be there for me, since Jonathon, and I've never even showed you how much that means to me-"
"I wouldn't ever want you to make love to me or kiss me just because you feel like you OWE it, Maggie," Bianca said firmly, incredulous irritation staining her voice. "You show me every day. Here. With Miranda. I wouldn’t have made it this year, without you. I was just stupid. I mean- this is the best thing I'm ever going to have, and I hurt you just because I was horny."
"Bianca."
"No... I just..." she reached for Maggie's hand, wrapped it in hers, drawing it into her lap. "Listen to me. What we have is fine. It's all I need. I don't want anything other what we have. I'm committed to this. I'm committed to this."
Maggie's eyes were shining bright with emotion, and Bianca, overcome with love, pressed her mouth against Maggie's fingertips, breathing into her skin.
"I love you so much," Maggie whispered.
Bianca felt herself tremble with her own emotion, but couldn't hold Maggie. Not right now. Too overwhelmed, she would want more.
Instead, she held tightly to Maggie's hand, squeezing it. "I love you too," she managed. "I do, Maggie."
Surprise exploded into her senses when Maggie lurched into her arms, embraced her.
Bianca sucked in her breath, and then just held her, buried into Maggie's arms, the way she had done a hundred times, would do for the rest of her life.
Maggie's touch burned, a soft sweep of lips against her jaw, her cheek, and suddenly, before Bianca understood, settling into her mouth.
It was automatic, to shift her hold and plunder Maggie's mouth, sweep her lips against Maggie's, sink her tongue inside, deep and wet.
And then she remembered - her delayed reaction coming fast, an instinct, jerking away from Maggie's embrace. "Maggie!"
Startled, Maggie's eyes were half-lidded, her lips were swollen, and she never looked so sexy in her life.
"What?" Maggie whispered. "What? Isn't this what you wanted?"
Oh, God.
Bianca shook her head, tears suddenly stinging in her eyes. "Not like this! You don't have to do this! I told you, Maggie!"
Pushing Maggie away, Bianca stood, shaking her head and leaving Maggie there with her desperation.
--
Bianca's blue blood demanded a love of baths, and it was where she retreated now.
She was meticulous about her baths, her salts, her oils and her scents, because she understood that when done correctly, it was a myriad of perfection, a melody of beautiful things that released her tension, her worries, left her emotions naked and glistening, scrubbed clean.
She closed her eyes, settled into the scented liquid, scalding cooled down to a delicious heat.
In her mind, Maggie's face haunted her.
Bianca's heart was aching now, threatening to betray her in her haven, and she wondered now, about the bruising Maggie had given her.
Maggie was so afraid of losing her, she would do anything to keep her, including something she didn't want.
Bianca had seen it before, hadn't understood what it meant, the first time Maggie had kissed her impulsively, after being told that Bianca would go away.
Fear of losing Bianca had always prompted Maggie into these things, and every kiss they had shared had ended in some sort of disaster - Maggie taking it back, Maggie freaking out, and this time - it had been Bianca's turn to freak out.
Just how strong was she? Was she able to maintain her love for Maggie and continue to hold herself back?
She couldn't be with anyone else and be with Maggie - that had been made clear already by the failed arrangement.
And now - there was a kiss and in that, a reminder just how attracted to Maggie she really was.
A burst of condensation and a blast of cold opened her eyes, and there was Maggie, closing the bathroom door behind her.
"I'm sorry," Maggie said stiffly. "I don't like you to disturb you in here, but there are things I need to say."
Bianca studied her, trapped now in her haven, unable to move because Maggie had her cornered, settling against the tub to look into Bianca's face.
"How messed up are we?" she began, and Bianca had to smile at the flat statement, a reluctant grin that disappeared just as quickly.
"It's pretty bad," she admitted.
Maggie smiled ruefully, dipping her hand into Bianca's bubbles, blowing them off her palm. She was silent a moment, as if processing what she wanted to say.
"I just wanted to tell you," she began, "to thank you, for your willingness to wait for me. You promised to never pressure and you didn't, and all this time, it's just been completely selfish of me, because I've been ignoring-"
"Maggie," Bianca interrupted softly, sifting in the water, reaching for her towel.
"Don't-" Maggie said, stopping her assent with a palm, keeping her shoulders below water. "You're not moving until you hear me out."
"I'm naked," Bianca reminded her, voice hard.
Maggie glanced down at the bubble covered water.
"Is that what's bothering you?"
"Slightly."
Maggie considered that. "All right," she said. "I'll even it up."
Bianca's mouth fell open when her friend suddenly stood, tugging on her sleeves, taught stomach revealed when Maggie pulled up, kicking off her shoes.
"What are you doing?"
"Getting naked," Maggie said simply.
"Maggie-"
"Shut up," Maggie said sharply, now free of her shirt, reaching behind her, biting on her lower lip, and Bianca found herself groaning when Maggie's bra came loose, straps falling over her shoulders, breasts spilling free.
"Oh, God-"
"Hold on, not done-" Maggie was now shimmying her pants down her hips, leaning forward to do so, causing her breasts to shake with the movement.
Bianca found herself rapidly coming closer to panic. "Maggie, I'm begging you-"
"What?" Maggie was disturbingly unfazed, standing in front of her wearing only a thong and socks.
Bianca closed her eyes, the water suddenly scorching. "Oh, God-"
"Relax, I'm done."
Bianca did NOT want to look and see what that meant. She found herself shifting in the water, clamping her thighs together, thanking GOD for the mountain of bubbles that hid her nakedness.
"Bianca. Be a big girl and open your eyes."
"I’m not gonna!" Bianca snapped. "This is... this is... You're crazy!"
"Bianca."
"At least put on a towel!"
"Fine. I will - but only because I'm kinda cold." Bianca's palms were clamped against her face, and it was only when Maggie said, "Okay, towel's on, you can look, you prude," that her fingers split and she peered.
Maggie wore a towel loosely slung over her body, and she was sitting on the edge of the tub, watching her with barely contained irritation.
"No boobies showing," she said airily. "I promise."
Bianca let out a shuddering sigh, bringing down her hands.
"Now," Maggie said, clapping her hands together and glancing up. "Where was I?"
"You're insane."
Maggie looked down at her, and smiled, a wicked grin that Bianca had come to know very well. "Are you going to listen to me?"
"Well, I don't think I have much of a choice," Bianca said, arms crossed over her breasts, legs crossed, one over the other.
"Here's the thing: you and I seem to go into circles. I mean, you fall for me, and then I'm all straight, then I fall for you, and you're with Lena, and then you fall for me again, and there's Jonathon-"
"Maggie-"
"No, you're listening," Maggie reminded her. "Or I drop the towel."
Bianca glared.
"And then we came here, and suddenly the timing thing... it seemed right. And nothing happened, and for a while I understood why. We were both so busy, and I have to admit, I was... I was a little relieved." Maggie considered that. "Because I love you so much, that if I couldn't bear the thought of it NOT happening just because you're a woman."
Bianca swallowed, but said nothing. Maggie was lost in thought now, dripping her hand into Bianca's water.
"Truth is, Bianca - I was happy. Before all this- I was. I happy with the way things were, and that's wrong. I realized that today."
"Maggie, it's okay. We can just keep going-"
"No!" Maggie interrupted. "We can't. All right? We can't. The only reason nothing has happened is because I'm SCARED. But do you know what's more frightening? Losing you."
"You won't-"
"I will," Maggie said. "Because you'll find someone who can give that all to you and I'm going to hate them, because I'm going to realize that that's what I wanted. That it was stupid to be so scared because the only place I've ever been safe is with you. And God help me, Bianca - but I want to be with you so badly. I want to help you raise Miranda, and I love you so much."
Bianca's heart ached, her arms warred with her mind, to keep from pulling Maggie into her, but she was blocked by bubbles and water and her own nakedness.
"I love you, Maggie," she whispered. "You won't lose me."
Maggie's gaze was searing. "Then make love to me."
Bianca nearly choked, her throat closing in on her. "What?!" she sputtered.
"I mean it," Maggie said softly. "I want you to. I want to."
"Maggie-"
"Do you think I'm not attracted to you?" Maggie asked simply. "I am. I think you're the most beautiful woman in the world. And it doesn't matter if I'm gay or straight - I'm still going to be attracted to you. My love isn't about labels. It's about you. I'm never going to find someone as amazing as you no matter how hard I try. What I am doesn't matter. What matters is how in love with you I am."
Bianca was lost; broken. Her eyes closed against the frankness in Maggie's gaze, and in an effort to gain some sense of bearing, she lowered herself into the water, coming up for air and found herself only dizzier.
She looked at Maggie, took her in.
The towel fell, and Bianca didn't look away as it pooled around Maggie's waist. Instead, she stared, suddenly hungry, eyes feasting on the pale flesh, the slope of her neck, the curve of her breasts, the erect darkness of her nipples.
She took in a shuddering breath, and kept looking, further down, to the apex of Maggie's thighs.
She found herself gasping with want, and to control herself, she met Maggie's gaze. In it, she gave her answer.
Maggie's smile was nearly a smirk, as she stepped into Bianca's tub, into her haven, sinking into the water, coming level with Bianca.
A moment of looking, and then Bianca found herself smiling back, reaching forward to take her hand, smoothing fingers over delicate arms, and over naked shoulders, fanning against Maggie's jaw, thumb swirling against her lush lips.
"My God," she whispered, and Maggie laughed, a short, nervous burst of air that made Bianca smile, until she tugged lightly, and Maggie followed her lead, coming closer, until their mouths were centimeters apart.
The kiss was sweet, gentle. Maggie's lips were firm, and when Bianca moaned into them, Maggie sighed, tilting her face, settling deeper into it, palm coming up to slide wet fingertips against Bianca's cheek, take hold and kiss her harder.
Bianca found herself skidding in the water, slippery against the porcelain of the tub, Maggie sucking the wetness from Bianca's lips, until Bianca's head threatened to explode. She released Maggie's mouth with a hiss, kept her close as she sucked in a lung full of air.
Maggie smiled, and Bianca grinned back. "Good?"
"Stop talking."
Bianca giggled, and Maggie kissed her again, harder now, wetter, pushing until Bianca lost herself, slipped into the water, and nearly floated in it. Maggie's breasts teased her own, and Bianca jerked in reaction, fingers holding hard onto Maggie's waist, holding her to her in the water.
"God," Maggie whispered against her lips, and then buried her mouth into Bianca's neck, licking at the wetness she found here, hands roaming everywhere now, curling into Bianca's bottom, until she settled between Bianca's thighs, and arched.
"Oh my GOD!" Bianca jerked against the thrust, the spark of heat spiking down her neck.
Maggie caught her lips with hers, swirling circles around her tongue with her own.
"Mmm-" Bianca managed, nearly skidding once more. "You're going to have to let me get my bearings, unless you want me to drown!"
Maggie rolled her eyes, but pulled, slipping in the water herself with a shriek, and Bianca found herself laughing, shifting over, until she was kissing Maggie again, pressing her against the porcelain.
"Tell me what you want," she whispered, kissing Maggie lightly, knuckles rubbing idly against the sides of her breasts, feeling Maggie's pant in reaction.
"You," Maggie said, laughing against her mouth, flicking her tongue out against her lips. "God you're so soft."
"You have me," Bianca joked, "You'll have to be a little more specific."
Maggie's smile stilled, and Bianca was still, as Maggie palmed her cheeks, studied her intensely, smoothing back the wet dark mane.
Her answer was a kiss, opening her mouth against Bianca's for a wet kiss, and suddenly arching back when Bianca found her nipples.
"Oh," Maggie managed, and Bianca smiled, wrapping legs around her waist, and balancing Maggie against the porcelain, skimming her collar bone with her lips, tasting the wet drops, nudging aside bubbles.
There was a drop of water pooling against Maggie's left breast, and Bianca closed her mouth over it, sucking it off the tip, and taking Maggie's nipple with it.
She shuddered under the attention, fingers tangling into Bianca's dripping locks, thighs squeezing hard against Bianca's waist.
"Oh my God," Maggie whispered, and Bianca smoothed her hand between Maggie's breasts, palming the skin, worrying the nipple with her lips as she shimmied free of Maggie's harsh grip enough to push her palm against Maggie's sex.
"FUCK."
Bianca found herself laughing against Maggie's wet skin, heart bursting with joy, body bursting with lust, and she had MISSED this.
The touch and feel of physical love, Maggie's body arching against hers, Bianca's fingers slithering against the wetness of Maggie's groin, finding the nub that drove her crazy and sliding her thumb across it.
"Oh, my God," Maggie jerked above her.
Maggie slid down, and suddenly she was kissing Bianca, thrusting hard against her, wordless sounds slipping against Bianca's mouth as Maggie kissed her relentlessly, panting hard, throwing arms around Bianca's shoulder and closing her eyes. Forehead to forehead, Bianca held her, struggled with an arm around Maggie's waist to keep her from slipping away in the water, burying herself deeper into Maggie, thrusting hard, wrist flexing.
She came, and Bianca felt it - nearly came herself just from feeling, the slippery soapy softness of Maggie, Maggie's lips sloppily trying find hers as she fell apart in her arms - it was the hottest thing Bianca had ever seen or experienced.
"I want to go down on you so bad," Bianca whispered against her, and Maggie's eyes fluttered open, stared at her in shock, and suddenly they were both laughing, holding onto each other, struggling to keep from drifting away with water and emotion.
"You'll drown," Maggie pointed out.
"Maybe it would be worth it," Bianca retorted.
Maggie grinned, but only shook her head, kissing Bianca again. "No - I want to touch you. Is that okay?"
Bianca smiled. "It's more than okay."
Maggie's fingers were gentle against her lips, and Bianca swirled her tongue against her thumb, sucking her in for a second before she clasped Maggie's hand in hers, and directed it, smoothing over breasts and spreading her legs, until she gasped, Maggie's fingers woven with hers, fingering her, tentative and exploratory.
She fought for control, eyes frozen to Maggie's face, watching the myriad of expression that crossed over her face, until Maggie's fingers flickered against her own, and she closed her eyes, jerked her head back.
"Faster," she managed, letting her fingers go to grasp the side of the tub, arch her hips into Maggie's fingers. "Faster-"
Maggie sucked on the side of her neck, sending a thrill against her, one that exploded when she heard against her cheek, "I want to see you come."
And that was all that did it - just the words - Maggie's need to see this, and she was gone, blindly biting and sucking Maggie's wet skin, plastered against her as Maggie took her with her fingers.
--
The bath was slowly losing it's warmth, and still, Bianca couldn't be bothered to be moved.
Maggie lay against her, fingers skimming the water for the rapidly dissipating bubbles.
"So I have a question."
Bianca quirked an eyebrow. "What?"
"Why the HELL didn't we do that before?"
Bianca just shook her head in amusement, kissing Maggie back when the other woman pressed her mouth against her.
"I don't know."
"Well - at least we finally got the timing right," Maggie admitted, settling back against her.
Bianca laughed in spite of herself. "I'd say so."
"Bianca?"
"Hmm."
"You known how much I love you, right?"
Bianca opened her eyes, and took in the person lying against her. Maggie was the same Maggie as before. Bright-eyed and chirpy - stubborn and naïve - silly and intelligent.
Her partner and friend, and now, her lover.
Heart full, Bianca could never define her happiness, but it was tangible. It was there. All this time, Maggie so afraid of losing her, and it was Bianca who had been the frightened one - the one afraid of pushing boundaries, of losing Maggie completely.
Heart swelled with love, Bianca smiled. "I have a rough idea."
FIN