(Outside the house, Alice, who had driven Tina there with Kit, is sitting in the Mini Cooper, with Shane in the back seat making sure Angelica was comfortable in the car seat.  They are sitting there, in the car, in the rain, waiting for the outcome.  They were parked out front but down the street, hoping that they wouldn't be a quick get away for Tinathey wanted to give her every opportunity if she walked out to think about what she was doing.)

ALICE-  "I don't think I can wait any longer, this is getting nerve wrecking."

KIT-  "Alice she just went in."

SHANE-  "How will we know if they decide to talk all night?  How long are we supposed to wait?"

ALICE-  "Well let's hope this one is an all-nighter.  Remember, if she comes out any time soon it won't exactly be a good sign.  Anyway, she said she'd let us know one way or another.  If she's staying for hours, she'll call on the cell.  So no news right now ain't quite good news."

KIT-  "I can't believe this is happening."

ALICE-  "They're so stubborn.  And right now they're not on the same wavelengthit's like they're at cross-purposes.  Frig, she said she's still in love with her for crying out loud.  You'd think that would resurrect Porterthe Porter we knew and loved."

(Back in the house, the intensity was rising. For each of them it was like they couldn't move forward and couldn't take a step back. They couldn't really look far into their eyes at that distance, but they kept looking.  They were paralyzed by the sight of one another.  They were frozenby fear, by something bigger than the minutes and seconds passing as they created this barren space between them that became like a 'no man's land', a last mile.  The upper hand was somehow still Tina's, and the first and last shot in this duel to the last belonged to her as well, though she didn't quite yet know it.)

TINA-  (She looked a little worn, her hair a little messy, her clothing a little dirty.  There was a bandage affixed to the back of her head, near her neck.  Her face was clean, her eyes were alert but there was something different about them now.  There was no frigidity in them.  They didn't reflect anger or agitation.  They didn't show fear, but that emotion was in her and it didn't reside solely within Tina.

Bette's hair was still glistening with moisture.  She was emotionally exhausted.  She was now in quite possibly the most emotionally taxing context than she's been in a long time.  All she could see was Tinathose eyesshe needed to get closer to them but feared them.  The fact that she had opened them again was a Godsend to Bette.  If she had lost her, Bette would surely, she thought, have lost herself.  But really she was now facing the fear that she had lost her in any event...would that have the same effect?  Would she then lose herself?  Or was that just meant to be?  Bette hadn't felt anything up to this pointjust cognitive shock.  She was numb otherwise.) 

BETTE-  (The first word came out first as a whispershe had to repeat it as her voice found itself)  "Whatwhat are you doing here?  Are you ok?"

TINA-  (She shakes her head)  "No."  (Bette feels fear.)

BETTE-  "Where's Angelica?  With Alice?"  (Tina nods.)  "I'm waiting for Kit.  She should be here any minute"  (Suddenly, she realizes that if Tina is there then Kit isn't coming)  "OhI guess she would have been hereshe was with you at the hospital."  (Tina nods.  Tina slowly takes a step forward.  Bette, almost without thinking, takes a step back into the nightstand near the bed but she maintains her composure.  Tina stops moving forward.) 

TINA-  "I'm not going to attack you."  (She smirks.)

BETTE-  "I know, I'm sorryI..."

TINA-  "I shouldn't have done that.  That was uncalled for, lunging at you like that earlier this evening.  I don't know what came over me.  I was freaking out when Angelica"

BETTE-  "I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to hurt you.  I would never"

TINA-  "I know."

BETTE- "I lost it when I thought I would lose her.  I wasn't thinking straight.  I panicked.  I'm sorry, I had no right.  I'm sorry."

TINA-  "You brought her back.  You came to that decision on your own."

BETTE-  "I'm really sorry, I"

TINA-  "I know."

BETTE-  "I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you.  Never.  I had no idea my arm was going to make full contact like that.  I'm sorry, I should have been more careful.  I'm so sorry"

TINA-  "I know.  I know.  I know."

BETTE-  (Tina seems almost annoyed with her refrain.)  "Are you ok?  I wouldn't have forgiven myself if anything had happened to youyou don't know how sorry I am."

TINA-  "I DO know."

BETTE-  (She doesn't know what to think and is fearful.  She's trying to stay calm and speaks to Tina in as mild a tone as she can muster)  "Then why are you here?  What else do you want?  What else could you want now?"  (Bette is afraid there's a purpose to this visit that will demolish her already beleaguered soul.)

TINA-  "I"

BETTE-  "If this about Angelica, please let the lawyers handle it.  I can't do this, I especially can't do this with you NOW."

TINA-  "It's not about"

BETTE-  (She's not really listening and interrupts)  "I love her."  (She looks at Tina like she is making a last stand on that issue, an issue on which she knew very well Tina had all the control as the birth mother, so all the posturing in the world would be pointless.  Bette's voice seems to highten and strengthen but it hangs by a thread)  "She means the world to me.  She is everything."

TINA-  "I know, you said all that before.  I could never and would never question your love for her.  You must know that, somewhere in there, deep down, in that complex mind of yours, in that luminous yet tortured soul."

BETTE-  (She's being pushed and now her numbness is giving way to what's underneath.