A piece of the past...

Dannie was with her friends at Art District, including Troy and Dean's band, Anon. Though she enjoyed the music, she was not enjoying Troy's obvious fascination toward Nikki, Dean's cousin and the band's new vocalist. He was almost throwing himself at her it was getting annoying. George seemed to have a problem and had been drinking nonstop but didn't want to go home. Jackie was executing some crazy plans of her Dannie didn't want to be a part of.

She finally decided she'd go home and when not one of her friends wanted to come back to the apartment with her, she stood up saying, "Fine. I'll go."

Troy immediately stood up as well and she stared at him. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"I'll take you home," he answered.

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am," he uttered, already fishing for his keys.

"No, I'll go home alone. I can manage."

"He's taking you, Dannie. Period. Or you'll stay here until we're all ready to go home," Jackie pointed out firmly.

Dannie assessed the situation. With Jackie wanting to have more time with Dean and George with her mysterious problem, no one was going home in a few hours. She sighed. "Fine. Faster, Brady."

"Yes, teacher Danica," Troy said, bowing and throwing his arm sideways as she passed by.

"Stop that! What the hell is wrong with you?" She wasn't sure why she was more annoyed at him than usual.

"Hey, I'm doing you a big favor here," Troy said as they walked away from the group and toward Tata.

Dannie did not answer.

"Why are you pissed?" he asked once they started driving back to the apartment.

"I'm not. Who told you I am?"

"It's pretty obvious, Danica," he jested.

"It's nothing. And you should know that I could have taken myself home. You didn't have to take me. I know you were busy."

"Busy with what?"

"Nikki. Be careful, Brady, she's Dean's cousin."

"Hey, I am just fond of her, that's all."

"You are fond of a lot of women."

"Yeah, except you. You're such a spoiler."

She did not answer. Yeah, why was she even spoiling everyone's fun? She stole Troy a look and mentally shook her head. After their years of friendship, was she falling for Troy Brady?

No, it can't be, she thought. And if she'd ever fall for him, it would have to be her own little secret.

PRESENT DAY

"I'll come with you," he uttered without hesitation.

"What?"

"I'll go with you. I can't allow you to face that woman alone, Danica."

"Troy, I'll do it alone. This is my issue to face."

"Who said you have to face it alone?"

"Me." She said it so firmly that Troy did not bother to push her.

"But you'll call or text if you need anything, right?" he asked, his voice full of apprehension.

"Yes, I will. I have to go to sleep. You should too."

"Okay. Good night, Danica."

"'Night, Troy."

She stayed outside the apartment for a while just staring at nothing in particular, reassuring herself that she could handle it on her own. Just this once, she'd try to face her fears alone. She'd face her and say what was on her mind.

Her phone beeped a message.

Troy: Text or call if you need anything. I mean it, Danica.

Dannie smiled, got up and walked back inside the apartment.

*****

She didn't tell Jackie or George. Her newlywed friend was going away for her honeymoon and she didn't want her worrying over her. And Jackie talked a lot whenever she was nervous or upset and Dannie wanted her confrontation with her mother to be a secret.

George hugged both of her friends goodbye, a bit longer and tighter than last time, before she went away with Jordan.

After they left the airport, Jackie wanted to spend the day with her but she said she had somewhere else to go.

"Where?" her friend asked suspiciously.

Dannie just shrugged.

"You're going with Troy again, are you?"

"Maybe," she replied.

"Dannie, tell me one thing...are you going out with him? Have you made up your mind?"

She shook her head. "No, not yet. But I will soon. Just call Dean and tell him to pick you up or something. I need Toto."

Dean arrived at Calea to pick Jackie up and the couple left Dannie with Toto. Dannie took a deep breath and sighed. She knew where the woman lived. The problem was that she had not been to that place for a very long time.

*****

The place looked very familiar yet different altogether. The street and the houses had somehow changed, but the smell and the air around triggered a lot of memories from her past.

The house looked a bit better though. She must have done some fixing since she came back, Dannie thought. She had heard that her father had been home before he died years ago. She barely had any reaction when the sisters relayed the news. She knew her mother was living alone now, but why couldn't she care?

She squared her shoulders and knocked.

She heard something scramble inside and before she knew it, the door opened.

The shock on her mother's face was apparent.

For the first time in many years, Dannie was face to face with the woman. She saw the traces of years in prison and stress in her mother's face. She was almost taken aback at how old she looked up close. Her eyes had gotten deeper, her eyelids more droopy; the lines around her mouth and eyes were more visible now. She could see some strands of gray hair peeking out of the woman's neatly tied hair.

"I came to tell you something," she said in a low voice.

The woman started to cry and stepped aside. "Come in," her mother said.

Dannie looked at her from head to foot. She was not doing well, but she looked healthy. Her beauty had been abused in the years she was away. She was wearing a simple yet clean black shirt over a green long skirt that reached her knees. Her slippers were getting thin and her nails looked like it had met a handful of bad nippers. Her eyes left her mother and to the darkness inside the house. She didn't need light to know where things were inside. She clasped her hands together and shook her head. Her feet took a step back as she said, "No. I'll stay here. I just came by to say something."

She could choose to step inside and learn more about how her mother had been and how prison had changed her, but at that moment Dannie didn't have any desire to talk about the woman's life after the trial.

"I have a lot to say to you. You don't know how much I wanted to tell you—"

"That you're sorry?" Dannie asked, cutting her off.

A tear fell from her mother's eye as she nodded her head. "Yes. Yes, I want to say sorry for everything I have done to you. I realized that I have ruined your life in a way."

"In a way?" Dannie incredulously asked. She stopped and took a deep breath to control herself. "Yes, you can say that you have ruined my life in a way. No, I think you have not really ruined my life because it turned out to be good. You actually just ruined me," she uttered, clasping her hands tighter together. "In a way," she added.

The woman's lips began to shake. She did not make a move to wipe her tears either as she kept her gaze on the ground.

"But I don't want to talk about that," Dannie said, breaking the silence. "I came by to tell you that for years I have been struggling with myself. I thought that it was necessary that I forgive you because that's what God had taught me. I thought that it would be easy. But it is not." She could feel her own tears coming and her words quickened. "So, after struggling with myself, I finally accepted the fact that for me to be able to go on with my life without my past haunting me is to embrace the fact that I may never be able to learn to forgive you. But I will try in my own way, in my own pace and time." Her mother looked at her with hope in her eyes. "I can't promise I will forget about everything though, because that has been very hard and I have not been successful on that." She paused to catch her breath. "I also came to tell you that I don't want to see you again." This time, her tears fell from her eyes. She shook her head as she spoke, "Because every time I see you, I remember everything like they were just yesterday. I remember how you turned a blind eye when your own husband had been abusing your child. I can still hear the ding of the elevator of that hotel as clearly as I hear my own voice right now. I still smell the perfume you forced me to wear during those visits and every time I encounter that scent, I still sweat and have a panic attack. And I still remember my sister's innocent face when we gave her away." Her shoulders started to shake and she took a step back from her mother when the woman tried to reach out. Dannie was getting breathless as she fought the urge to cry harder. "She never knew what was going on. I wasn't even able to say goodbye to my own sister."

Dannie unclasped her hands and wiped her tears with them. She squared her shoulders once more and looked at her mother's eyes. "I hope you understand why I don't want to see you. I am not closing my doors, but I am not opening them wide either. I need time and while I try to forgive you, I wish that you can live your life the right way, but away from me. Live your life thinking I am trying to find it in my heart to forgive you. I hope that time comes and when it does, you'll be the first to know. For now, just let me heal and let me be."

She looked at her mother for a long time, trying to find a reason for her to change her words, but none came. Dannie believed she had made the right decision and if she didn't, she was willing to pay the price later.

"I'll get going now," she uttered more gently and walked away.

"I'll be waiting," her mother said softly behind her. She just nodded without turning her head, her feet still taking her further away from the place she had vowed never to return to years before. Yet she had returned. And maybe, in the future, she'd find her way back and when that would happen it would be with an open heart.

*****

My Dannie baby had been quietly crying by herself for almost an hour now. She had driven me away from the stinky neighborhood with hands shaking. She had been holding it in, I guess, because the moment she stopped and parked me inside the old airport, the tears came. It was not a very loud cry, you know.

It was quiet and in my opinion, it was more a cry of relief that finally, she was able to do what she had been avoiding to do. I only wished she talked as much as Jackie did because I so wanted to know what she told that woman.

She did not even say a word and I was dying to know what had transpired. But then, it would be between her and that woman. I was just so proud of my baby that she was finally able to do it, you know. And I think that single thing she did made the rest of the things she was about to do easier.

After some time of just staring at the empty airport, Dannie baby was finally able to smile.

Too proud of yourself, eh? I asked her. Well, you should, baby. You should be!

She appeared to be thinking about something for a while, her eyes dreamy and her smile just freaking fixated on her face.

What are you thinking now?

In response, she grabbed her phone and dialed a number.

Troy freaking Brady. Yeah, right. Who did I expect? God?

She sniffed and cleared her throat as she waited for the line to connect.

"Hello? Danica, where are you? Are you okay?" were Troy's first words.

The smile on her lips grew wider. Oh holy gas. I think I know what's going to happen next. "I'm fine. Where are you?"

"What?" He seemed taken aback. Why was she asking where he was anyway, right? "I'm on a shoot."

"Where?"

"The BREDCO port," Troy answered. "We're just wrapping up a few things. Give me ten minutes and I'll—"

"No. I'm coming. Wait for me," Dannie baby cut in. She disconnected before Troy could say anything and started my engine.

Dannie, baby, please think about it for a few more days, will you? I mean, I am not really sure what you are up to, but I have this mechanical inkling and it is always right. So, before you do or say anything, sleep on it first. Can't you do that?"

But she was not hearing me. Just like Jackie or Georgie in the past, she was not listening to me.

As she sped us toward BREDCO port, I coiuldnt help but give a mechanical sigh.

I just hope that Troy Brady is ready, Dannie baby, because in a matter of minutes he is going to go really crazy.

Holy Volks, I like how that rhymed!