"No?" Blayne did not understand.

"I'm not going," Gabrielle said as she faced Blayne and dared her to challenge her. "No."

"You're upset. I will come back tomor…

"Didn't you hear what I said! No!" Gabrielle yelled.

Elena got up and went to her daughter's side.

"Get out!" Gabriella demanded.

Blayne stood up and challenged her with her eyes. Suddenly Blayne smiled. "I will come back. And you won't be able to say no to me… again." Blayne let the double untundra float between them. When she saw the shock of understanding register in Gabriella's eyes she knew she had won.



* * *

Blayne walked into her penthouse in Boston a few hours later and went straight into her office. She had a dinner meeting to get ready for. She had taken the shuttle from Princeton, New Jersey to Boston, Massachusetts. Blayne had a full schedule and had planned other meetings around her visit to Gabriella Matheson. She had factored in the possibility that there might be some reservations on Gabriella's part. What had completely thrown her for a loop was Gabriella herself; never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined what had happened between them. She still could not bring herself to believe it. Blayne then called her office and instructed her secretary to reschedule all her appointments for the next few days. She would fly back to Princeton first thing in the morning. Gabriella Matheson had suddenly become her number one priority.



* * *

The children were already asleep when Gabriella spoke to Joseph on the phone. Joseph was away on business and would be back in a few days. He had asked the usual questions; they just seemed to be polite strangers these days unless they were arguing. She had said nothing to him about what had happened that day. After all, she told herself, it was family business. At that moment she realized that her marriage was over. It had slowly but surely died.

Gabriella walked around the house in the dark dazed. She remembered how in the beginning she had put so much of herself into making it a home. What a disappointment her marriage had been. Even in the beginning she should have known.

From almost the first day of their marriage something slowly began to dissolve between them. It was like as if after the moment she gave herself to Joseph something inside her rejected him. It wasn't something that she could put her finger on but it was there and it grew and grew until she could hardly breathe.

In retrospect, she realized that she had bestowed qualities on Joseph that he had never possessed. She had always seen more than there had been. Gabriella had to admit feeling a great sadness. The truth was that she had been more in love with love than with Joseph.

They had both been so young. He was handsome and outgoing. Joseph had been attentive and romantic in the beginning until it slowly started to dissipate.

After the first two years she began to see the cracks. They slowly but surely began to live their own lives. They had actually separated twice within that following year. She would leave and he would call her parents who in turn would advise her to return to her husband. In the end she would eventually buckle in and go back. The last time she realized she would not leave again unless it was going to be final. Just thinking that last thought should have made her situation more than clear.

So many times after that she had wanted to leave but had not. It was better that she stayed for the children's sake, she told herself. The children had been the reason she had not changed anything. Her father would tell her over and over again. A child needs their father, Leila. Don't take their father away from them. Joseph is a good husband to you. He is a good provider. In the end she would always give in. Only now did she realize that she had stayed out of some sense of guilt because of her father. Is that how he had seen things through his eyes? Did he use the same argument with her mother? Did he know about her?

Gabriella's tormented mind cried out. She walked towards her studio. There she would find peace. She had always poured her passion into her art. She sculpted with all the emotions that filled her and somehow needed to get out. She had never found another human being to share that place deep inside her that she and she alone ever entered. In her work Gabriella lived and loved. In the sculptured shapes of clay lay her life with a promise but still unfinished.

A critic had said that her creations were created of something raw and a sensuality that begged to be born. After that particular critique her work was highly sought after. So naturally Gabriella went into her studio and began to mold the clay and invision its outcome. Her hands took on a life of their own and the clay suddenly came alive.



* * *

"How did it go?" A voice said on the phone.

"Hello and good evening to you too, Arthur," Blayne replied sarcastically.

"How did it go, Blayne?"

"What did you expect? She didn't take it well that's for sure." Blayne sat down on the bed.

"Will she come?" He tried to hide the anxiety in his voice.

Blayne took in a deep breath. "She said she wants nothing to do with you Arthur. That's how things stand right now." Blayne ran her fingers through her hair. "I will go back tomorrow to discuss it with her again."

"Blayne, I…I would like to see her before…" The silence became palatable between them.

"I don't think I handled things well, Arthur…perhaps…"

"If anyone can do this it's you," Arthur said reassuringly.

"We...kind of clashed. Perhaps Chaz or Diana can talk to…"

"No, you are the one. Blayne, you can make someone in the desert want to buy sand," Arthur said humorously.

"Arthur, it's just that…this is not business and she is your daughter." Blayne justified her reluctance.

"Emphasize the idea of family. From her file I can see she values that. Appeal to her obligation, she is an only child. She might want to get to know her other siblings."

"Arthur, I don't know…"

"Advise her like a sister..."

"I am not her sister!"

Arthur said nothing for a moment. Blayne had surprised him with her declaration. She was usually so in control of things; this type of outburst was out of character for her.

"You are as much my daughter as she and Diana are, Blayne."

Blayne remained silent. How could she tell him she believed him if the thought of Gabriella…

"Blayne…?"

"I'll try again tomorrow, Arthur."

"Good, I knew I could count on you. Well, keep me appraised, goodnight Blayne."

"Goodnight father," Blayne said to appease his ruffled feathers. Arthur had been a father to her. She owed him this. Somehow she would make Gabriella go to him.

After terminating the call Blayne sat down and just stared in front of her. What had possessed her to kiss Gabriella? She had always been so careful about hiding who and what she was. How could she have just done such an utterly irresponsible thing? And now she had to go back and somehow make this woman go and see someone who had literally abandoned her. Arthur was dying and he had asked this of her.

o_O

Blayne reasoned that in the past she had often come upon people who had not wanted to see things her way and she had always known how to deal with them. She would make Gabriella Matheson see things her way. Everyone has a weak spot, Blayne had learned from Arthur; and Blayne always found it. But, this was different. Gabriella was Arthur's daughter. And whether she wanted to admit it or not Blayne had kissed her. Why? Why had she done something as insane as that?

Neither woman found much sleep that night and when they did all they found was the haunting memory of one kiss playing itself over and over again.



* * *

Gabriella woke up late, therefore her morning started off wrong. The children missed the school bus so she had to drive them to school. The phone was ringing when she walked into the house. She ran to pick it up but the line was dead by then.

"Shit!"

She walked back and closed the front door. The phone began to ring again.

"Hello?"

"Leila?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Where were you?"

"The kids missed the bus. I took them to school."

"Are you okay?"

"I…I'm okay, Mama." Gabriella tried to control her emotions.

"Can you come over for lunch?"

"No…I'm working on a piece and I…um, I need to work on it," Gabriella needed the distance.

"All right Leila, I'll call you later then," Elena said sadly.

"Mama…."

The doorbell rang and Gabriella walked over to answer it while talking to her mother on the cordless phone.

"Mama, I just need to think…." She opened the door and came face to face with Blayne. Gabriella's mouth opened slightly in surprise. She could feel her pulse quicken almost immediately. Gabriella heard her mother call her name over and over again.

"Leila? Leila? Are you all right?"

Blayne walked right in past her.

"Um…yes, mama, I'm okay. I'll call you later." Gabriella terminated the call turning towards Blayne and leaving the front door open.

"Please go, we have nothing else to discuss. I'm not going anywhere!"

Blayne turned quickly and was immediately in front of her. She reached out and Gabriella audibly gasped as she felt herself being pushed against the door. Apparently Blayne's intent was to close the door but they were now standing in very close proximity of one another.