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Nightmares
By Megs
October 30, 2017
It was unusually quiet tonight in the Emergency Room of Pine Valley Hospital. Chief of Staff, Mary Margaret Stone sat in her office tapping an unknown beat on her desk with her pen. The tune had been stuck in her head for the last two weeks. She knew that it was from her past, far older than her ten year old waiting for her at home. So old in fact that when she started to hum it not even her first, second and third year interns didn't recognize it.
Sighing, Maggie looked up from her desk. The room was clouded in shadow. She had her lamp desk on, its artificial light being the only illumination in the room. The room wasn't large. Maggie never expected it to be.
It was perfect.
It fit her desk and a small couch in the corner away from the window. A couch she had spent many late night shifts, much like this one, snoozing on. Yes, her couch and she had become good friends. She spent enough time lying on it for it to become more fully acquainted with her body then some of her lovers. So, that was why she had pulled money from her own pocket to get the couch. It had been worth it.
No more of the back aches she had originally suffered from when she moved into the office and had slept on the couch left over from David's time as Chief of Staff. That couch had probably been around since Joe Martin had been Chief. Well, it had left the building when she took this office. No way was she sleeping on some old ratty couch that had a spring that poked her right in the spine no matter which way she laid on it.
When she moved to another office, which one day she hoped she would, because it meant a promotion, she was taking her couch. It was hers after all and it was comfortable and one of her best friends. Even if it was an inanimate piece of furniture, it was still one of the best friends she had.
After all, being a single mother of two girls and the Chief of Staff as well as the lead pediatric surgeon of this hospital, she didn't have much time for real friends. Not that she would change it. She wouldn't. Her life, was right where she wanted it. In it's prime. She had her dream jobs. A mother and a doctor. There really wasn't anything missing in her life.
That is, unless you asked Greenlee or Jamie. Those two seemed intent on forcing her to realize the things she didn't have instead of on what she did have. Like a family, a few good friends, including her couch, and two beautiful little girls that were growing up into beautiful teenagers.
Oh, god. Teenagers. Please, not yet. She's not even thirteen yet. Five more months! Then another three years before the peanut is thirteen. Maggie rubs her head in sympathy for her poor head for the upcoming future. She is sure to be riddled with headache after headache with one teenager and a preteen. After all, in only five months her twelve year old would finally reach the milestone of teenagehood. Thirteen, her baby girl was going to be thirteen.
"Don't you mean my baby girl?"
Maggie's body stiffens as the hairs on the back of her neck stand erect. A cool night breeze slipped in through the formally closed window that now was creaked open behind her. The sudden chill in the room made her breath turn to white smoke as she releases her gasp.
The light of her desk lamp flickered as she slowly turned her head towards the voice that she should not be hearing.
"Bianca…?" Maggie asks as she turns in her chair to see a figure in the corner of the room shrouded in darkness.
The tall lithe figure takes several steps out from the shadow of the corner and Maggie can just make out Bianca's profile.
"So, you remember the name of the woman whose children you stole!" The infliction behind the words makes Maggie's blood run cold.
This is impossible!
Her heart begins to hammer jack against her ribcage, her muscles reflexively tightening in their preparation for the flight of her instinctual flight or fight instinct. It's impossible!
"You're…my god…" Maggie pushes her chair back and she rushes towards the door to her office. Only to stop short when Bianca stands before the door, her back to the door as her hand plays with the knob, twisting it from right to left, the screech of the metal tickling Maggie's ears.
She told Maintenance a week ago that the door knob needed to be oiled.
The thought of calling up John from Maintenance to fix her still squeaking door knob is forgotten as she realizes quickly who is making the door knob turn to and fro sending shivers down Maggie's back. The sound like nails on a chalk board.
"Where do you think you're going?" The anger in Bianca's voice was something Maggie was used to, once upon a time. A time long ago. A time when Bianca still insisted they could never be more then friends again because she cheated on her and ruined their family. Eight years ago to be exact. When they fought passionately, once again, about Maggie's role in Miranda's life and how that role as second mother did not extend to being Bianca's partner. Maggie had lost that right that privilege and she had never forgotten.
She'd never forgotten the tears that had fallen from Bianca's eyes as she stormed out of Maggie's Parisian apartment that late Fall evening to the airport with her ex-wife, Reese Williams. Bianca had left Miranda in Maggie's care as the two women returned to the states for some unknown reason. Maggie had offered to take care of Miranda as the trip was only meant to last a few days and she and Bianca had long since decided she would remain a part of Miranda's life. Even as Reese insisted Maggie be cut from Miranda's life. Thankfully Maggie's continued presence in Miranda's life was the one subject Bianca did not give into because Reese pushed.
Maggie never understood how Bianca could so easily forgive Reese, Lena, and Babe, but not her. It was something she wondered about often. Especially now, knowing that Bianca's heart could never again be hers because she was dead. Or, she was supposed to be dead.
That late Fall evening, the one when she and Bianca fought and Bianca rushed away to travel with Reese had been the last night of Bianca's life. The plane had crashed. But the crash hadn't killed Bianca. Reese had. At least, that's what had been assumed.
They'd found evidence that Bianca had been dead before the crash had even happened. Blood, coagulated blood—blood from someone whose heart was no longer beating—matching Bianca's DNA had been found throughout the plane. Then there was the slit throat of the pilot, which had obviously not been caused by the crash to take into account.
Police had surmised that Reese had killed Bianca who fought back, trying to stop her ex-wife from crashing the plane and killing them all, only to be killed by a blow to the head after being stabbed in the neck. They'd found the bodies, barely recognizable from the explosion the plane made on impact, and Bianca had been buried here in Pine Valley next to her grandmother.
So, the fact that Bianca, in the flesh and blood, stood before her was impossible. Because Bianca Montgomery was dead. Maggie had attended her funeral. Had watched as her casket was lowered into the ground and cursed herself for allowing Bianca to leave with Reese that night in Paris when she knew, knew, something had been terribly wrong.
"You should have stopped me." Bianca said as she stopped playing with the door knob, her eyes practically glowing in the dark as they slowly tracked up from Maggie's quivering hands to her eyes. "You never should have let me leave with her that night. You knew something was wrong, but you did nothing!" Bianca wailed as she surged forward.
Maggie gasped suddenly stuck between Bianca's body and her desk. Maggie heard the distinct sound of breaking wood and looked down, not moving her head an inch just allowing her eyes to seek out the sight of Bianca's fingers literally digging into the wooden surface of her desk.
Eyes widening and heart racing Maggie snapped her attention back to the woman pinning her to her desk.
"This is impossible!" Maggie whispered voice thick with fear as she looked into the golden hued eyes of her former lover.
"Is it?" Bianca asked with a smirk. "You say this every time…" Bianca tisked.
Maggie pushed back against her desk, willing to crawl backwards and fall on her ass if it meant getting away from the woman standing in front of her. This woman, this thing, was not Bianca. It couldn't be. There was something dark, devious, and dead that left Maggie quaking in her own skin. She always did.
"This is just a nightmare…" Maggie insisted as she closed her eyes.
Bianca's cheek rested against her own, her cool lips pressing against her ear as she spoke.
"How long will it take for you to believe that this is real? Another year?" Bianca asks against Maggie's ear, her breath cold and stale.
Bianca brushes her hand down across Maggie's left cheek as her own cheek rests comfortably against her right. Her fingernails slowly traced a bath down Maggie's warm skin. Her own flesh cool to the touch even if it left a fire in its wake wherever it touched Maggie.
"God…" Maggie breathed, her fingernails biting into the wooden surface of her desk as Bianca stepped forward to stand between her legs.
Bianca's bare thigh moving between Maggie's legs pressing into her firmly, causing Maggie's hips to buck against her. Bianca's eyes, gold in color, alive with passion and fire that her body no longer contained as Maggie's hands moved from the desk to her waist, pulling her closer. Giving in to her need, her desire, her wanton wish to have Bianca between her legs once again making her cry out into the night a passion on Bianca had ever fully ignited in her.
"Maggie…" Cool breath whispered against her ear as Maggie thrust against the strong thigh that pushed up against her harder with each jut of her hips. "…you are mine." Gasping as her sex shook with release Maggie's eyes snapped open.
"Wow…are you okay?" Maggie looked up from where her head rested against her arm, bent forward at her desk, caught catching a few zzz's.
"Jamie?" Maggie asked, her voice horse.
She cleared it and shook her head, trying to clear her mind of the images of Bianca's body pushing her up against her desk, the sensation of cold breath ghosting across her neck right before sharp incisors bit into the tender flesh. It was always the same. For the past three years. For seven days a year, the week before Halloween her dreams were plagued with images of her ex-girlfriend. Her murdered, dead and buried girlfriend.
"Are you okay?" Jamie asked again, concerned. This time of year always took a toll on Maggie. The anniversary of Bianca's death, her murder, always a rough time for his friend.
"Ye..yeah, just a little disoriented."
Jamie's eyes narrowed as he sat on the edge of Maggie's desk. "Another dream?" He knew about her dreams. She had sought his council after she'd had the first few ones three years ago. They were always the same. Bianca was alive but dead and hunting her.
Maggie only nodded her head as she ran her hand through her hair, her eyes unconsciously looking behind her to make sure her window was closed and locked.
Except Maggie had stopped running, or trying to fight her off. At least at first. Maggie would explain in great detail how Bianca would show up, at work or in her own home or at the girls school while she was alone. That she would try and corner her, make her give in, submit to her. Admit to things that weren't true. At first, Maggie fought her tooth and nail. She ran, and ran but she could never get away. It only took one touch, one simple touch of cold dead skin for her to give in, to submit and allow herself the pleasure of Bianca's touch once again. Even if it was after death.
Last year it was the same. Bianca cornered Maggie and she fought back. Tried to get away but they always ended up meeting each other in a passionate embrace that was sometimes hard and rough, soft and gentle, fast and furious, or timid and uncertain. Now, for the past five nights Maggie didn't run. She didn't even try and escape, not as fervently as she used to because she wanted Bianca. Wanted her touch and wanted her low temperature to help stem off her burning desire that could only be sated by a woman long dead.
It worried Jamie that Maggie stopped fighting Bianca in her dreams, fearing it was a subconscious decision to give up on life and join Bianca in death. But Maggie always insisted she would never do anything to harm herself. To take away her own life. Not when she had Miranda and Gabrielle to think about.
"What happened?" Jamie asked, touching Maggie's shoulder hoping to offer his dear friend comfort.
"I…" Maggie shook her head before hiding her face in her hands. "I didn't even fight her off. I didn't even…she just…she was there. She told me that I stole Miranda and Gabrielle. I told her that it was impossible, that her being here in this office was impossible. She mocked me, saying I told her that every time. God…" Maggie breathed and felt tears fall from her eyes. "It was so real Jamie. So real…why are they always so real?" Maggie looked up to Jamie, eyes shining, looking for answers he couldn't give her.
Jamie frowned, "I don't know Maggie. I don't know…"
The only comfort the two doctors had was that tomorrow night would be the last night. The dreams always stopped on the 31st. The anniversary of Bianca's death. All Hallows Eve. Halloween. Jamie just hoped for Maggie's sake that she could suffer through one more nightmare without losing the semblance of sanity she still held onto with a dying grip.
October 31, 2017
Dusk was approaching.
Soon her prey would emerge from the sanctuary of her home at exactly 4:30. Just like she did every Halloween, just like all of the parents and children did on Halloween here in Pine Valley. It was time to trick or treat for an hour and a half before the kids and their parents walked or drove to Pine Valley Memorial Park where the high schools ran a haunted house to raise money for the basketball teams. It was always the same and the huntress suspected it would forever remain the same.
So although tonight seemed plain, common, uneventful. It would not be.
For tonight was the night.
After years of stalking her prey tonight was the night. After tonight she would no longer have to wait in the shadows and watch from behind a crowd. She would have what she had come for three years before.
Maggie would be hers. Like she was always meant to be.
No one would stop her.
Not some brown nosing best friend doctors or cosmetic drama queens or her sire.
Tonight, Maggie would be hers once again and the thrill of having Maggie as hers again nearly brought her unbeating heart back to life.
Waiting and watching like she had done for the last three years she observed as her prey exited the sanctity of her home, two small children flanking her on either side as she locked the door. Foolish woman, no lock could stop her. Still, she remained in the shadows and allowed herself a moment of reminiscence. The sight of the two smiling girls, both bouncing with their excitement brought with it painful reminders. Their blood called out to her for through their veins ran her blood.
They were her babies. Her daughters from another life. A life she no longer could live. But soon, soon everything would change and she would have everything she wanted once again. She would have her lover, her mate, and she would have her children, their children.
Watching as the three figures walked down the block where they were met by another familiar woman, tall with curly hair, whose blood sang out to her and three smaller children then her daughters. Two boys dressed as dead zombie pirates and a young girl happily twirling in a pink princess dress.
Then her eyes fell onto the lithe figure of her desired mate and she salivated in anticipation for tonight. Her hunger driving her to nearly walk right up to the human female dressed as, a doctor with a lab coat and mad scientist goggles how boring. Yet she refrained, knowing that giving in to a newborns desire to feed and expose themselves was childish and could get her killed—for real.
Instead she watched, her dark jeans and black overcoat hiding her in the growing shadow of night.
"Soon…"
Maggie spun her head and perched her chin on her shoulder as she looked behind her. The familiar shiver coursing through her. Someone was watching her. She could feel it.
A cold shiver ran down her spine again, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on edge. With one last curious glance over her shoulder only to see several other groups of children and teenagers running around in costumes from house to house she turned back around. She pulled her lab coat around her tighter for good measure to keep out the chill of the night.
Maggie quickly located one blue and red Super Girl cape and a black clothed ninja with a fake sword tucked away in a cheap plastic sheath strapped to her back in the group of the approaching children. Both her Ninja and Super Girl looking thrilled with the booty they'd collected from Mr. Reynolds.
"Momma look what we got!" Gabrielle exclaimed as she made it to Maggie's side and showed her the light up lollipop.
Somehow, Maggie just knew, that lollipop would be the last piece of candy eaten, Gabrielle far too fascinated with how it lit up when she pressed the button to actually eat it right away. First she'd have to wear out the light. Then she'd eat it. While Miranda, though intrigued with the candy would eat it right away, enjoying the fact that her mouth would glow as she ate it if she held the button down.
"That's pretty neat, Elle."
"Gabby! Gabby!" Gabrielle turned to see a girl in a Bridezilla costume jumping up and down and waving at her as she pulled on her mother's hand and pointed in their general direction.
"That's Amy, can I go say hi?" Gabrielle asked already alive with energy and she hadn't even started to eat her candy yet.
Maggie knew that she was going to be a handful tonight but with a smile she ran her hand through the perfectly brushed back dark brown locks and nodded her head.
"Go on…"
"Thanks!" And off she ran met halfway by her friend whom Maggie recognized from her soccer team. Looking up Maggie waved to Amy's mother as she remained on the other side of the block talking with a group of parents.
Kendall snorted and rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath a few choice words that were unsuitable for small children's ears about Mrs. Rennet, Amy's mother.
Miranda's eyes widened as she looked up at her aunt Kendall before her eyes moved to Maggie who was glowering at the taller woman beside her. "Kendall!"
Kendall shook her head as if snapping out of a trance and noticed that Miranda and Bianca, Kendall's five year old daughter, stood beside Maggie slightly terrified of Kendall's behavior.
"I'm sorry girls, she just makes me angry." Kendall apologized and Miranda and Bianca both took the apology to heart before Miranda looked up at Maggie.
"Mags can I go across the street now?" Miranda asked hopefully. Where Gabrielle called Maggie, Momma as she had hardly known Bianca or Reese, Miranda called her Mags. It was better than the names the girl had originally called her after Bianca's death.
Bianca II perked up as she stood beside her older cousin. "Can I go, please?"
Miranda looked down with a forced smile, obviously wanting to go across the street where her own friends were. But taking a deep breath she nodded her head and her smile slowly became genuine as Bianca jumped up and down excitedly.
"Can we, Mags, can we please…?"
Maggie felt her breath catch, like it often did when she looked into Bianca's eyes, almost the exact shade of brown as the woman she was named after. "Sure…Miranda just make sure to hold her hand and keep an eye on her. We'll be right over once Spike and Ian have finished on this block."
Miranda nodded and took a hold of Bianca's hand before she stepped off the curb, careful to look both ways before she led them across the street. Maggie's eyes on them until they stepped up onto the other curb and they were met by the group Miranda had apparently been trying to escape into.
Maggie felt a chill flow down her spine again and she visibly shivered with its intensity.
"You okay?"
"Was that genuine concern I just heard?" Maggie asked giving Kendall a smirk as the older woman rolled her eyes before looking for her own three little ones.
"Spike, Ian, stop throwing rocks at each other!" Kendall called out as she caught sight of her older children delightedly trying to harm each other by throwing rocks right at each other's heads. The last thing they needed was for Spike's hearing aid to break, again.
"Yes, it was. Surprising, I know. But hell, you're as pale as a ghost and have been since we met up. The kids are starting to worry…" Kendall pointed out, sadly none of the kids were even paying any attention to them.
Maggie chuckled, "Right…the kids." She looked up to see Kendall's cheeks flush, just a little. Deciding to take pity on the woman she shrugged her shoulders, broadening her smile. "Pretty good make up huh?" It was a lame try and by the look Kendall gave her before she rolled her eyes and looked away, it had fallen just as flat.
Kendall rolled her eyes and snorted, "I know for a fact that you're not that good at applying makeup, so what's up?" Kendall pressed, truly concerned for the woman that her sister had left custody of her children to.
Kendall, although still furious with her sister at the time of her death had been on the road to fixing her broken relationship with the younger woman when that bitch Reese killed her. Took her from her children and herself. The pain of losing Bianca without telling her how much she loved her little sister had been shattering. The anger that filled her when it was revealed that Maggie had been left custody of Miranda had nearly made her implode.
That anger still simmered inside her but she had taken Maggie to court and lost. Badly.
Besides, seeing Miranda and Gabrielle now, she couldn't fault Maggie on how she raised them. She had even readily consented to move to Pine Valley so the girls could be around family even after she'd beaten her in court. It had been a gracious move and one that Kendall never forgot. Maggie never said anything but Kendall knew how hard it was for her to move back to Pine Valley but she never faltered. She remained strong and said she was doing what was best for Miranda and Gabrielle. Kendall agreed. Maggie was doing what was best for them but that didn't mean it was what was best for her.
It wasn't an easy feet taking on a single parent role for two little girls whose mother had been murdered by their other mother. Hell, Kendall still wasn't over it, but Gabrielle and Miranda were thriving. They each had gone through their rebellion stages early and now, well now they were happy. Or as happy as they could be and Kendall knew she owed that to Maggie.
Maggie sighed, her arms still securely wrapped around her chest as she and Kendall walked down the block, following after Spike, Ian, and Gabrielle. Both Kendall and her eyes looked occasionally across the street to keep an eye on Miranda and Bianca.
"I've been having the nightmares again."
Kendall stopped walking, watching as Maggie continued to walk slowly after the kids who were standing in front of Mrs. Reid's house waiting for the woman to open the door and offer them candy they did not need any more of. She was stiff, her moves sluggish and her shoulders although tensed sagged with a resolute stance of defeat. Picking up her pace to catch up to the woman she looked sideways at her. Unsurprised to see that the circles under Maggie's eyes were not made by makeup but from her lack of a full nights' sleep.
"Have you talked to Jamie?" Kendall asked, sure that Maggie would have confided in Dr. James Martin already and wasn't surprised as Maggie nodded her head once. "And…"
"And I'm tired Kendall…" Maggie informed her voice void of the fight or frustration she used to hold when talking about these nightmares. It seemed as if she accepted the fact that she'd have these dreams, these nightmares for the rest of her life. "…I'm just so tired…" Maggie whispered softly as a tear fell from her eye and she wiped it away quickly as Super Girl and two male pirates rushed up to stand in front of her.
Kendall watched as Maggie's entire demeanor changed. Her eyes brightening as she kneeled down to talk to the three youngsters about the candy they'd gotten. Kendall knew of Jamie and Greenlee's fears, of Maggie's concealed depression coming through clearly in these dreams, but she also knew that their fear was unfounded. Maggie was too madly in love with Gabrielle and Miranda to do anything to hurt herself. Kendall was sure of it.
"So, whose ready to go to the haunted house?" Maggie asked her voice alight with eager excitement that the three cousins fed off of immediately.
"I am, I am!" They all cried as they jumped up and down around Maggie in a semicircle.
"Alright, then off we go…" Maggie led the way calling behind her to Kendall "…your in charge of the other two."
Kendall forced a smile as she saluted and watched worriedly as Maggie walked away.
Stone Residence
"Thanks momma…today was awesome!" Gabrielle exclaimed from her bed, already snuggly tucked in with a blanket up to her chin and the nightlight of a witch on a broom on in the corner.
"You're welcome sweets. Now off to sleep, you have school in the morning…" Maggie gently reminded.
"Aww…man…" Gabrielle pouted but wiggled around in her bed and closed her eyes. "Happy Halloween…" She whispered already drifting off.
Maggie smiled and flicked off the light, closing the door slowly after her. "Happy Halloween…"
Turning to check in on Miranda Maggie smiled when she saw Miranda already curled up in her bed, covers hanging off the bed with her limply hanging arm, gently snoring. Maggie moved into the room and righted the twelve year old and covered her with her comforter.
"Happy Halloween, munchie…" Maggie whispered as she kissed Miranda's temple and left the room content that both her girls were tucked in and good for the evening barring any emergencies.
Running her hand through her hair Maggie sighed as she moved through the house turning off the lights. She was ready to sleep for days but dreaded the thought of even closing her eyes. Halloween was the worst. It had been since news made it to her that Bianca's plane had crashed. Any hope she might have felt at Bianca's survival of the crash had been viciously murdered, just like Bianca, when Jackson told her Bianca had been dead before the plane had even crashed.
"No…" Maggie shook her head refusing to think about Bianca and the argument the two had the night she left with Reese to the States, a surprise journey for the two separated lovers. Turning off the last light in the kitchen Maggie turned and made her way up the stairs towards her bedroom, the mother of all yawns escaping her as she reached the top step.
"God, if you can hear me, please just for tonight…let me sleep without dreaming."
Laughter, cold and hollow echoed through the dark hallway. Maggie froze, her breath catching as her muscles tensed. Turning around slowly Maggie watched as from the shadows down the hall before Miranda and Gabrielle's rooms emerged the silhouette of the woman who plagued her nightmares.
"Bianca…" Maggie looked to the closed doors and felt adrenaline surge through her.
This wasn't a dream. It was impossible. She hadn't even gone to bed yet. There had been no time to fall asleep between waking up this morning, work, and taking the girls trick or treating.
Bianca smirked, the tips of her enlarged canine teeth resting above her bottom lip. "I'm not here for them…" Bianca assured as she moved away from the closed doors where she could hear her progeny sleeping peacefully.
"This is impossible…" Maggie croaked as she stepped away from the approaching figure.
Tears loomed in her eyes as she was forced back against the wall of the hallway forcefully. Bianca's body pushing against her own and holding her in place even as she tried to find leverage and push away.
Bianca slowly leaned forward, brushing her nose through Maggie's hair as her lips sought out Maggie's ear. "You always say that…" Bianca teased as she nipped at Maggie's ear and watched delightedly as Maggie's body responded to her close proximity, like it always did.
"Please…" Maggie begged, unsure what she was begging for anymore.
"Yes…" Bianca whispered trailing her hand down Maggie's arm relishing in the risen goose bumps left in her touches wake.
Maggie shook her head, against her will her body responding to Bianca's touch. It always did. Biting her own lip to keep from sobbing she fisted her hands and felt her nails bite into the flesh of her palm as she closed her eyes and allowed her tears to fall.
Tears!? Bianca recoiled as if slapped, the harsh tangy scent of salty tears like a physical blow. Tears…there were not supposed to be tears.
Maggie opened her eyes, her body suddenly aware of the chill in the room now that Bianca's body no longer pressed firmly against hers, rising her own body temperature. With her heart hammering Maggie didn't wait. She took off down the hallway, grateful for the reprieve she had been given to escape. Running towards the girls room, her intent to wake them and flee present foremost. Her idea, her hope of escaping unscathed by the creature behind her lost when her wrist was caught from behind and tugged.
Tugged hard enough to nearly pull her arm out of her socket as she was spun around and forced into the arms of her ex-lover. Her dead ex-lover.
Maggie tried; she always tried to run. She never got far. Ever.
It was the thrill in the game, Bianca was sure. Maggie liked being chased. Almost as much as Bianca liked to give chase. She knew that Maggie liked being cornered, stuck between her body and a hard place before being fucked till she saw stars. She knew from past experiences, three consecutive years of experiences.
Maggie always gave in, always.
It never failed.
With the simplest of touches too.
That first night Bianca visited her had been the hardest. Maggie had been terrified. Frightened that her nightmare had come to life and Bianca was there to seek revenge. Maggie thought she sought revenge for Maggie being the one to see her babies grow into beautiful women. Revenge, was the farthest thing from her mind when she visited Maggie.
It had taken her long into the night, far longer than she had time to spare, to convince Maggie she was not there to take revenge. Not really. She was there for something only Maggie could give her now. That something was warmth.
Maggie made her feel warm. Where she was cursed to be cold for the rest of eternity, Maggie made her blood boil and her skin feel warmth as if shone upon by the shining summer sun. Reese explained to it to her that first night after her rebirth through the depths of death. Although they could travel in the sun, they could not feel it's warmth. They were creatures of the night, cold and calculating and powerful and Bianca was hers for eternity.
Except, Bianca didn't want to be Reese's for eternity. She didn't want to be Reese's for any amount of time. It had taken time, a great deal of time, but after she had learned everything she needed to from Reese she had disposed of her sire.
Breaking the bond that naturally formed between them had been hard, far harder than Bianca had expected it to be. It was only with thoughts of her stolen life, the stolen future where she would have watched her daughter's grow and make their own ways in life, that she had been able to break the bond. Reese had never seen it coming she had trusted her so.
She had been foolish to trust her. Just like she had been foolish to trust in Reese to begin with. Still, it made her feel a small form of relief to know that her actions for the past two years of her life had not been of her own accord. Reese's control over her strong even then.
Bianca had asked, before she burned Reese and gave her a true death, why she had chosen to turn her so early. Reese's original plan had been to turn her much later on. Reese had simply answered with one word, Maggie.
Maggie.
Maggie Stone had been Reese's deciding factor.
Reese saw the connection that Bianca had with Maggie, even then, and saw it as a threat for it was a threat. Bianca's connection to Maggie was only second to the connection Bianca had to her children. It was a connection that even Reese's powerful glamor abilities hadn't been able to top.
It was a connection that Bianca felt intensely even now, one that surpassed death. One that she would ensure continued to surpass death because Bianca had no intentions of living for an eternity without Maggie by her side.
"No…" Maggie pushed her palms against Bianca's chest trying to break out from Bianca's grip. Her attempts weak, even to herself.
Bianca shook her head, unwilling to let go. "I know you want me…" Bianca challenged as she tapped her forehead with one long fingernail. "…I can hear your thoughts Maggie. You can't hide your desires from me."
You want to join me…Maggie heard whispered inside her own mind.
This seemed to spur Maggie on and she shoved, with strength Bianca was surprised she still possessed and broke free from her hold. "No!"
Maggie stepped back, her chest heaving as she squared her shoulders and faced Bianca. "What am I thinking now?" Maggie challenged Bianca, stealing her nerves and forcing her hands to stop shaking as Bianca's eyes raked ravenously over her body, judging her. Testing her will power.
Maggie hoped, prayed, that she passed inspection.
Bianca smirked and Maggie felt a cold chill rush down her spine, hairs erect in her sudden terror. Bianca flicked her tongue out and ran it over her incisors. Maggie's blood pressure rose and she felt faint.
Fuck…Maggie felt her knees buckle and cringed as she hit the ground hard. Even kneeling and forced to look up at Bianca, Maggie continued to glare, refused to give in. She knew, in the deepest parts of herself, that she could not give up here, she could not fold to Bianca's will no matter how much she wanted to.
Bianca held her gaze and snarled, a demonic growl emanating from her chest.
The phone rang, Maggie's eyes flicked towards the phone behind her on the side table for only a split second. When she snapped her eyes back towards the hallway in front of her she was surprised to find it empty.
Bianca was gone.
Looking around the immediate area Maggie sighed with relief. No one was standing before her. She let her chin sink to her chest as she tried to steady her racing heart. Pushing up with one hand and forcing her wobbling legs to hold her weight as she moved to answer the phone.
Sure, for the first time that she was insane. Truly and completely insane. She promised herself that in the morning she would make an appointment with Dr. Schafer at Oak Haven for a psych evaluation.
"Hello…?" Maggie cleared her throat and smiled when Jamie's voice came over the line.
"Just wanted to call and make sure you were okay. You take the pills I gave you?" He asked, hoping she had. They'd help her sleep. Sleep without dreaming they both hoped.
"The pills…" Maggie remembered taking the pills before she left the kitchen. "Jamie…can the pills…are there any side effects?"
Jamie thought about it for a moment, "Yeah, some. Why? Are you alright!?" He asked his voice laced with worry.
"No, no, I just…are hallucinations…"
"I'm coming over!" Jamie insisted at the mere mention of hallucinations, although in some rare and extreme cases reports of hallucinations were reported after taking the pills.
"No…no, I'm fine." Maggie assured happy to know she might not have lost her mind, just taken pills that didn't sit well with her brain chemistry.
"Maggie…" Jamie tried but was brushed off quickly.
"I'm going to bed anyway, Jamie. I'm tired as hell and need a good ten hours of sleep."
He looked at his watch and chuckled, "I think you'll have to settle for seven."
"Seven will do. Anyway, goodnight Jamie."
"Goodnight, Maggie. You call me if you need me. Anytime…"
Maggie smiled, as she held the phone with both hands and pressed it against her ear. "I will." She promised and she would.
"Alright, bye, Mags."
"Night, James." Maggie waited until she heard the dial tone before she placed the receiving back on the cradle. Leaning with both hands on the small side table she bent forward and laughed at herself. "Of course it was a hallucination…"
Smiling Maggie looked up into the mirror and saw her reflection staring back at her. Her eyes underscored by dark prominent circles and her skin grey and slightly flushed. Taking a deep breath she turned back towards the hallway. Ready to sleep away her troubles once and for all. Seeing her dead vampirean lover. Ha! What a crock!
Maggie's steps halted suddenly by the body blocking her path. Eyes wide and muscles tight she arched her neck up slightly and saw the golden hued eyes of Bianca Montgomery staring right at her.
Maggie wanted to scream, she wanted to force all the air in her lungs out in one loud terror filled scream, but a hand over her mouth and a quiet "shh…" kept her silent. Her scream swallowed back down as Bianca leaned down until their foreheads were touching and Maggie was forced to look into her inhumanly colored eyes.
"Hallucination huh?" Bianca asked, taking a moment to breath in Maggie's earthly scent and fear. "I'm not here to hurt you…" Bianca soothed, running her hand down Maggie's cheek.
An act that once brought comfort now only disturbed Maggie on many levels.
"If I remove my hand, do you promise not to scream?"
Maggie's eyes narrowed and Bianca sighed, "I'd hate for you to wake the children." The threat…although completely false…was evident in her tone and sobered Maggie immediately.
I promise…
Bianca thrilled, removed her hand and looked Maggie from head to toe. A small smile forming as she took in her former lover.
Maggie closed her eyes as Bianca's fingertips slowly slid down her cheek across her neck to slip down to her collarbone a lone finger tracing a path down into the valley between her breasts. Her heart felt as if it would burst forth from her ribcage as she sucked in a large gasp of air. No, this was not a hallucination. It couldn't be. But that meant…
"I've waited, you know…" Bianca explained, her head tilting to the side as she watched her finger trail beneath the cut of Maggie's shirt. "…waited three long years…" A sharp fingernail cutting the fabric away its tip scraping against flushed skin. She could hear Maggie's heart and smell her fear but just beneath the rush of Maggie's blood and the sweet stench of fear dripping off of Maggie's skin laid the doctor's arousal.
Maggie bit the inside of her lip to keep from moaning or screaming, she wasn't sure which, as the sound of tearing cotton reached her ears. Shooting a look down at her chest she watched as Bianca's fingernail that seemed to grow on its own accord continued to slip down her chest as it cut away at the fabric of her night shirt.
"What do you want…?" Maggie finally asked, finding her voice just as Bianca's nail cut through the bottom seam of her shirt. The chill of the night air blew against her newly revealed flesh as the shirt opened and fell to either of her sides as if an open spring jacket.
Bianca looked up, slowly dragging her eyes away from the Christmas present she'd been dying to unwrap for far too long. Unconsciously licking her lips she met Maggie's eyes, smiling without malice or a hidden agenda. "I want you, Maggie." Bianca stepped closer slipping her hands beneath the tails of Maggie's ruined shirt to grab onto Maggie's hips. "I want you to join me."
"Join you?" Maggie asked hardly able to keep herself from panting as Bianca brushed her nose over her own, sniffing her. "Bianca…" Maggie tried to sound objective, she really did but even as Bianca leaned down and nipped at her neck with her sharp teeth, she could hardly form Bianca's name, forget trying to sound authoritative.
"Yes…" Bianca purred; her body alive with her thirst. Her hunger to break the skin of Maggie's neck and devour her driving her towards madness. It was a wonder she could be so close, feel the life blood that flowed just beneath her fangs and remain strong. Just a slight increase in pressure: that is all it would take.
Then…oh then ambrosia would be hers!
Maggie's blood, the nectar of life that sustained Maggie's existence would be hers, all hers to swallow and twirl around in her mouth like the finest tasting wine. And just like the wine she would savor it. Savor each and every drop, her body humming with pleasure and vigor as the very life drained from the woman in her arms and rushed into her salivating mouth.
God, yes, it would be so easy.
Maggie felt light headed with desire. Her heart had yet to stop racing as Bianca began to suck at her neck. There was no pain, just pleasure and although she feared Bianca would press her fangs down harder she didn't push her away. Instead, she grabbed at Bianca's hips and pulled her closer, tilting her neck to the side allowing Bianca better access. God, how she wanted Bianca to bite her, it was a desire she could hardly contain. The feel of Bianca's cool skin against the inferno that had become her own skin was a heavenly relief.
I've waited for years for you, Maggie. Join me.
God, did Maggie want to. She wanted to join Bianca. It had been a growing wish to be able to join the woman in her arms for the last three years. The last three years where she was haunted by the woman pressing into her, running her tongue along her pulse point moaning at the heat of her body. But she knew, somewhere deep within herself, that she couldn't leave. Not yet.
"The girls…" Maggie whispered her voice a dark timber with a hormonally tuned husk.
Bianca opened her eyes, her fangs literally just above the throbbing vein in Maggie's neck. She had been sure Maggie was about to give in. she could hear in the doctor's mind how she dreamed of joining her. But now…there was a larger voice. The voice pressed sense and responsibility into Maggie's mind. And drove from it the passionate haze of desire that had clouded her usually adept mind. Bianca wanted to growl, wanted to press Maggie up against the wall behind them and sink her teeth into Maggie's neck regardless of what the other woman wanted. But she wouldn't.
She wasn't like Reese. She wouldn't force this change on anyone. Especially not on the woman who was turning her down, although Bianca knew she wanted nothing more than to be with her, because she needed to keep to her word and take care of her children. Children she missed and longed to hold in her arms again. Children she knew needed Maggie. But what about her? She needed Maggie as well and for once she wanted to be selfish. She wanted to take what she wanted and damn the consequences.
"I can't…Bianca." Maggie opened her eyes and turned her head, taking her offered neck away from her former lover. "I love you…" Maggie whispered, her hand coming up to caress Bianca's cheek. Her caress, unlike Bianca's held a great depth of emotions: sorrow, sympathy, compassion, and comfort. "…I've always loved you and I always will." It was an oath, a promise to love Bianca for the rest of her life, her short human, mortal life. "But I can't go with you…" Maggie felt her heart constrict painfully as the tears coming from Bianca's closed eyes, her head bowed. The tears were not of watery salt but oxidized red blood. Maggie wrapped her arm around Bianca's neck and held her close. Somehow knowing, this was it. Her worst nightmare; she was about to lose Bianca—again.
Bianca leaned her forehead against Maggie's shoulder and released her hold on the doctor. Their only contact now of her forehead against Maggie's barely clothed shoulder and Maggie's forearm wrapped around the back of her neck.
This was it. Her worst nightmare: An eternity spent alone without Maggie. An eternity lived without love and without her children, without a reason to go on.
"I love you, Maggie. Not even death could stop me from loving you." Bianca whispered opening her eyes, her ears twitching altering her to movement. Bianca leaned forward and placed one last lingering kiss to Maggie's neck before pulling back to look into Maggie's beautiful brown eyes. Bianca touched her lips to Maggie's a ghost of a kiss, a gentle goodbye.
"Maggie…?"
Maggie's hand fell from Bianca's shoulder and her eyes darted to the opening door to her left. When she looked back Bianca was gone. Bringing her hand up to her lips she touched them gently before pulling her ruined shirt together and looking towards Miranda's open bedroom door.
Miranda stuck her head out into the hallway and saw Maggie standing by the end of the hall, by the phone with…no. Miranda rubbed at her eyes and when she did Maggie was alone, pulling her shirt together and moving towards her.
"Hey, there Mimo. What's wrong?" Maggie asked, running her hand through Miranda's bangs as she held her shirt closed with her other hand.
"I…I couldn't sleep." Miranda admitted. "Mags, what happened to your shirt?"
"Oh…" Maggie looked at her shirt and then into Miranda's curious eyes, eyes as deep and soulful as her mother's used to be. "I caught it on a nail. Ripped it…" Maggie lied and waited a beat. Miranda seemed to accept this answer. "…why don't I grab a robe and we get you some chamomile tea and you tell me why you can't sleep, okay?"
Miranda nodded her head and pressed up against Maggie's side, turning back when they made it to the top of the stairwell to look down the hallway. She watched as a shadow, with a profile that looked identical to that of her mother, disappeared before looking at Maggie and then down the stairs.
October 29, 2035
Miranda gasped as she shot up from her prone position. A fine sheen of sweat covering her body. Her mouth parched as she felt a cold wind blow against the heated skin of her back.
Another year. Another dream. It never failed. Ever since Maggie died, she'd have these dreams. Every year for three days she would dream of her mother coming back to visit Maggie, beg her to join her in everlasting dead existence. She would dream about the nights she found Maggie standing alone in the hallway, find Maggie sitting in the family room out of breath and dazed, hear Maggie shriek and the loud thuds that sounded as if someone was being pushed into the wall or to the floor. It always seemed to happen the week before Halloween. Always, like clockwork much like her own dreams.
Her Aunt Kendall and Uncle Jamie told her stories now that she was old enough. She after all was a grown woman of 30 and had her own children now.
Her Aunt and Uncle told her stories about Maggie. They told her all about how Maggie dreamt of her mother, of Bianca Montgomery for years. Of the nightmares she suffered through after her mother's death. Nightmares where her mother came back looking to have Maggie join her in death, join her in living life as the undead. They told her how they were afraid for Maggie, afraid of what she might do if the dreams didn't stop, if she didn't stop letting her mother's ghost haunt her. When Maggie died, just last year the private jet Miranda had sent to pick her up to bring her to New York for her twin girls' first Halloween, crashing after suffering from extreme turbulance her Uncle Jamie said that now Maggie finally could be happy. That she could finally be with Bianca once more.
Miranda knew, from Maggie herself, of the guilt she felt for being the one to live, for being the one that let Bianca walk away even when she knew something wasn't right. Miranda knew how Maggie had wished she had stopped Bianca from getting on the plane with Reese. How fitting it was that she would die in a plane crash as well. At least they knew she hadn't been murdered before the plane crashed.
Miranda didn't know what she would have done without Maggie. Maggie was the only reason she and Gabrielle had lives, relatively normal lives.
Maggie was their rock. Maggie was their foundation, comforter, provider, guardian and the woman that held them when they cried for the mother they had lost. She was the one to stand and applaud for them as they graduated high school and college and walk them both down the aisle. She was the mother that they never thought they'd have again. She might not have given birth to either of them, but she gave them life. Lives they could be proud of. She guided them through the trials, tribulations, and joys of life with a gentle hand.
Gabrielle was studying to be a doctor. She wanted to follow in Maggie's footsteps. Miranda knew she would make Maggie and their mother proud.
Miranda, well she was the mother of two twin girls and wife to Adam Chandler III and the CEO of Cambias Industries. And she missed her best friend, her mom, she missed Maggie. She missed hearing her voice and Maggie's laughter at one of her own stupid jokes that were actually funny, even though Miranda would never have admitted it out loud. She missed the woman that left but came back and stayed through it all.
Miranda threw the blankets that had pooled on her thighs off and swung her legs off the bed. Her bare feet meeting the cold surface of the wooden floor of her bedroom. Her head whipped from side to side, searching her bedroom for something, for someone. Someone was watching her. She could feel it. Moving to the open window Miranda closed it, wondering if Adam had opened if when he came in to bed.
Miranda looked out over the dark expanse of land over the Chandler estate and shivered. She wrapped her arms around herself to keep the chill out. A fog blew across the dying grass and around the surrounding trees. Tomorrow would certainly be a beastly day, Miranda surmised.
Light footfalls made their way to her, "Baby, is everything okay? Was it another nightmare?"
Miranda looked behind her and felt a hand press against the small of her back. Miranda leaned back into Adam's arms and looked out the window for only a moment more before she tilted her head to the side and smiled at her husband.
"Yes…" Miranda admitted as Adam moved to wrap his arms around her shoulders. He placed a kiss to her shoulder. She looked to him and smiled, kissing his lips softly. "But, everything's fine…"
"Are you sure?" Adam asked, looking from Miranda's hazel eyes out towards the window.
Miranda nodded her head and pecked Adam's nose. "Positive…"
"Alright, well…" Adam pulled Miranda back towards their bed and down to the mattress. "…come back to bed."
Miranda chuckled and laid down, snuggling up against Adam's side, placing her hand to rest over his beating heart. Smiling to herself she closed her eyes and fell asleep. Sure that this time, her dreams wouldn't be plagued with nightmares but of a love that truly would never die.
Just beyond the closed window two shrouded figures pressed intimately together kept watch over their child before as the wind blew the fog across the earth they disappeared, together at last.
Gabrielle shivered as she closed the window to her apartment. Sure that she had closed and locked it before she'd gone to bed. Shrugging, she went to move back to bed and snuggle back into the warmth of her covers but stopped. The sight of two silhouettes walking away amidst the fog caught her attention. The builds of the tall muscular one beside the petite shadow familiar, too familiar. The two turned back towards the window and Gabrielle felt her heart flutter wildly against her chest.
"Momma…mom…"
The two looked up, Gabrielle was sure looking right at her, before they turned to look at each other and walked away.
With a small smile Gabrielle placed a kiss to her fingertips and pressed them against the glass, a simple goodbye, until next time. Turning away she moved back to her bed and snuggled into the warmth of it.
"Mmh…you okay?" Came a groggy voice from beside her.
Gabrielle turned towards the voice of her roommate who'd taken to sleeping with her every night of this week to try and help keep the nightmares away. Sighing, Gabrielle wondered if she would ever be able to tell Kate how she felt. Forgoing the thought of it, sure that her straight best friend would never accept her advances she slipped into the warmth of Kate's strong arms and closed her eyes. She was happy to be just what they were now friends, roommates, and two struggling residents at Pine Valley Hospital.
"I'm fine now…." She assured.
Kate wrapped an arm around the back of Gabrielle's neck and pulled the younger girl closer to her. "Good…now go to sleep."
One day soon, Gabrielle knew, she'd see her Momma again. And maybe if she was lucky Maggie would make sure to bring along her mother.
Until then though, she'd wait.
Life was worth living to the full extent.
The End