Blayne looked up and her eyes expressed the pain she feared to voice.

"This was not your fault. We will figure something out." Gabriella said compassionately. She felt guilty enough about Blayne already without laying this on her as well.

"I will try and get her away from everyone after breakfast. Diana tends to act out when she is confused." Blayne said and stared at Gabriella for a moment. "I need to know that you will be here if …"

"There will be no if…we have to fix this." Gabriella said nervously. "Joseph will take my children away from me Blayne. There can be no ifs."

"No, there can't can there?" Blayne said sadly and walked over and sat next to Diana.

Little was said by any of the three women over breakfast. Gabriella kept looking at Diana but Blayne seemed depressed and didn't look at her.

When breakfast was finished Gabriella noticed when Diana and Blayne walked out together. She took a deep breath and began to breathe easier.



* * *

"I thought I knew you." Diana said softly as she was pealing the petals off a flower she had just plucked from the garden.

"You do know me." Blayne said sadly.

Diana looked up to meet her sister's eyes. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Blayne took a few steps away and ran her fingers through her hair before she sat down on a bench near by.

"Tell you what that Gabriella and I…? That's not exactly something that …" Blayne just trailed off.

"Yes that and the fact that you are obviously interested in women." Diana said as she sat down next to her. "Why didn't you trust me? I know that I'm not exactly what you would want in a sister but, I would have kept your secret Blayne."

Blayne turned towards Diana and saw the hurt in her eyes. "You are the only sister I have and the only one I would want. I didn't tell you because there was nothing to tell." Blayne took a deep breath. "I mean, I …yes, I have been attracted to women on and off in the past but nothing ever came of it." Blayne stood up nervously. "With Gabriella it was something I just couldn't…."

"You just couldn't what? Did she?"

"No!" Blayne turned towards her sister. "I mean, I am the one that…" Blayne just couldn't find the right words.

Diana waited patiently.

"I couldn't stay away from her." Blayne said as she lowered her head. "I didn't give her a chance to think and I don't think I even gave her a chance to take a deep breath. I need her Diana."

Diana stared at her usually controlled sister and saw the same thing she had seen that day that she found Blayne crying on the floor in her room. Diana saw the desperation clearly in Blayne's demeanor and she could hear it in her voice.

"That day!" Diana said suddenly.

Blayne looked at her now with tear filled eyes.

"That day that you were so upset and I found you….that day you and her?"

Blayne nodded. "I love her Diana. I need her so much I have no power to stop myself. All she has to do is call and I go running." Blayne said shamefully.

"Does she love you?"

"I don't know. She says she does. I think she does." Blayne voiced the insecurities that tormented her soul. "I don't think she really knows."

"Blayne you have to walk away from this. It can't end well, you must see that." Diana was the voice of reason that she didn't want to hear or recognize.

"I can't." Blayne said softly and in resignation as she got up. "Will you keep our secret?" Blayne looked towards her sister and waited patiently for an answer.

Diana saw Blayne differently now. She saw the strain that was visible in the usually confident semblance. She also saw the stress and the need for understanding in Blayne's eyes. Blayne had always been there no matter what; she couldn't just bail out on her now.

Diana nodded and Blayne visibly relaxed.

"Thank you."



* * *

Blayne walked back into the house and Gabriella's eye immediately connected with hers. Blayne nodded and Gabriella smiled and turned to continue speaking with Abigail. Diana noticed the whole silent communication and saw her sister walk slowly out of the room. Blayne walked as if she had the weight of the world in her shoulders and Diana frowned.

Diana walked over to Gabriella when she saw that Abigail had gone to speak with Joseph and Elle.

"I don't like what you're doing." Diana said to Gabriella point blank.

Gabriella's shin stuck out. "This is not your concern Diana. Blayne and I are both adults."

"You will end up destroying her and she will let you because she loves you." Diana said angrily.

"I love her too. I don't want to hurt her." Gabriella insisted.

"Do you? Do you love her Gabriella?"

"Yes I do." Gabriella confirmed.

"Then leave her alone."

"I can't." Gabriella said softly as she looked down.

Diana took a deep breath. "People thought that just because Blayne was so sure of herself and so smart that she had no feelings to hurt. When she was in high school she was the valedictorian, at college she excelled in everything. Her intelligence has always separated her from people. They all saw her as just a highly developed thing that could brilliantly solve any solution, and usually did, with no feelings to hurt. But I saw her disappointments when she failed the limits she set for herself. I was the one that would sneak in her room and hear her cry herself to sleep." Diana looked at Gabriella and saw the tears building in her eyes and then she said the thing that she knew would strike the last blow home. "And I held her as she sobbed that day when you were here last. What did you say to her that day Gabriella? Did you use her and just walk away?"

Gabriella's lips trembled and Diana realized that that was exactly what must have happened.

"You are the only person that can really hurt her; I can see that." Diana tried to appeal to the woman she thought her sister to be. "You have reached inside her. Blayne is the best of us. She is better than all of us put together. She is something fine and noble; they don't make them like her any more. You have obviously taken something precious from her by making her your lover. Will you leave your husband for her Gabriella? or will you just keep her around as your whore?" Diana saw the shock register in Gabriella's eyes. "Don't kill her spirit; she will never recover from that."

Gabriella took a step back and away from Diana. She covered her mouth at the horror that the words had made clear to her. Diana had voiced the truth and all she could do was walk away. She couldn't even be angry because ultimately she had to recognize that Diana was right. She had used Blayne without any thought. All she had thought about was her need not Blayne's. Suddenly the room made her feel closed in and she fled very much the same way Blayne had only minutes earlier.



* * *

Gabriella instinctively knew where Blayne would be. She opened the door to the library and saw the woman she was looking for deep in thought standing by the window looking over the lawn. Gabriella walked up behind her and put her hands through Blayne's arms and around her stomach and pulled her to her taking in a deep breath. Blayne's body recognized her immediately and simply allowed herself to just lean back and feel the woman she loved envelop her in the intimate embrace.

"How I needed to feel your arms around me my love." Blayne said breathlessly as she wrapped her arms around Gabriella's. "Gabriella, I love you. God how I love you."

Gabriella kissed the side of Blayne's face. "As I love you."

"What are we going to do? I can't let you go." The desperation began to come through in Blayne's voice.

"We have to be careful. No one can suspect."

Blayne turned around suddenly and searched Gabriella's face. "How long do you think we can get away with this?" She asked in disbelief.

"No one can know Blayne. I can't risk loosing my children. You know this." Gabriella insisted as well.

"I don't want that. But you have to see that this… this is not enough. When will we see each other again in a week? A month? Two months?"

"I don't know." Gabriella turned her back to her.

"Don't you want to see me?" Blayne could hear how pitiful she must sound.

Gabriella turned around to face her again. "You know I do. Surely you know how I feel? I love you. I love you, I do."

"Not enough to stay with me." Blayne said angrily.

"I want to be but I can't."

"Can you honestly tell me that this arrangement is enough for you?" Blayne waited.

"For now it must be."

"For now?"

"Yes, for now."

"And when will it change?"

"I don't know." Gabriella answered in exasperation.

"What am I to you Gabriella?"

"What do you mean?"

"What am I?"

"You are the one I love."

"The one you fuck." Blayne stated coldly.

"Yes, fine the one I fuck!" The minute she said the words she regret it.

Blayne left the room before Gabriella could speak. "No, you are my love." Gabriella whispered to herself as she began to cry in earnest.



* * *

Arthur saw as Blayne ran out of the library like the very devil was chasing her. He turned towards the library and went inside. Instinctively he knew that Gabriella would be there.

He walked in and saw Gabriella crying. Arthur walked up to her and touched her shoulder gently. She turned to him with tears running down her beautiful face. The understanding and sadness she saw in his eyes was more than she could take, and the walls that kept her controlled emotions confined fell apart.