"You are such a man." Alison retorted. "I thought you were just bi."

Gabriel frowned, then turned to Bette. "What are you doing here, anyway? I thought it goes without saying that when Tina leaves LA you don't follow."

Bette shook her head. "I've already made that mistake once. I've already waited too long to follow her."

"So you're here to stay?" Gabriel asked blankly.

Bette opened her mouth to answer, then shut it again. She didn't really know.

Alison sighed, seeing Bette's hesitation. "Let's go over this: ten years ago she gave up her family, her life as she knew it, and a perfectly fine boyfriend to be with you. Just recently she decided to take a job that forces her to be bicoastal, she can accept in a split second, she even decided to move back to LA. But when you're asked to change your life for her, you don't know? I think I was right about you."

"Ally." Gabriel said warningly.

"Gabe. Come on." Alison goaded. "We both know Tina's insane, and her little habit of selective hearing and memory isn't really helping us here."

"Sure, but this is really between the two of them," Gabe motioned to Bette.

"Hey, are you here to take part in TK's pity party, or are you here to back me up?"

Gabriel sighed. "Back you up."

"Good. Now sit still and have my back." Alison turned back to Bette. "Why can't you just move here?"

"I have a life in LA. It's not that easy for me to just leave." Bette argued.

"It's not supposed to be easy. It's about doing what's right. She did it once, why can't you?" Alison snapped. "She's laid her heart on the line already, and still it's not enough for you. She can't ask you, Bette, haven't you figured that out?"

Bette stared at her, bewildered that this stranger would yell at her, as well as know so much about her and Tina. "Why can't she?"

"Because she doesn't want to give you the chance to say no." Gabriel said, when Alison stalked off in frustration.

"I'm not going to---" Bette sighed. "I can't say no to her."

"That's kind of the point." Gabriel said gently, sitting down on the couch beside Bette. "When she lost your kid, when you were busy with your art showing: you think she shut down on you, but do you have any idea how many times she wanted to ask you to stay? To just be with her?"

"But she never did!" Bette protested.

"Because she knew you would have, but hated her for it." Gabriel told her.

"I would never hate her." Bette shook her head.

"Come on, Porter. She's been there. She knows the thrill of work. You thrive on that. And with the way that showing was going? If she'd asked you to stay with her, your mind wouldn't be there. If anything went wrong, you'd blame her for keeping you away from the office." Alison berated her. "She was scared of losing you, Bette. She was scared of needing you and realizing she'd lost you."

"But if--"

"So she's here. And right now, you're here." Gabriel glanced at Alison, then focused on Bette.

"The two of you are forever, but you'll have to figure out what that means for you." Alison told her.

"You have to ask yourself, what do you really want?" Gabriel asked.

"We know what Tina wants, but she keeps her saftey net here." Alison continued.

Bette lowered her gaze, refusing to meet either of Tina's sidekicks in the eye. "I don't know if..."

"Bette, piece of advice?" Alison said softly.

"What?" Bette continued to look down at her hands.

"We work in film development. We look at hundreds of scripts at a time. Few ever get made. You know why?"

"No."

"Because scripts are just words. You have to see past the words, see what they're trying to convey, the reader has to see what the words are meant to show. Words and reality can take on completely different contexts." Alison patted her shoulder. "We love Tina, and we know you love her too. And we would love to see her happy, but you're the only one capable of really doing that."

Bette looked at them both, then back down at her hands, one of which continued to hold onto Tina's ring.

"You know, you two can play at words for the rest of your lives," Gabriel said quietly. "But she doesn't trust a lot of words anymore."

Bette glanced at him.