TINA-  "Sure."  (Bette disappears to the bedroom with Angelica.) 

(Bette puts Angelica down and covers her with one of the blankets she used to use when Tina and Angelica were still living with her.  She sits on the side of the bed and leans down to kiss Angelica on her forehead.

BETTE-  (Whispering)  "I love you."  (She strokes her forehead and continues to do so until Angelica gives in to the sleep awaiting her.)  "I love you."  (She slowly walks back to the hallway and approaches the kitchen.  She stops short of entering the kitchen where everyone else was making tea, coffee and some finger food.  She leans up against the wall and watches them.  Her eyes rest on Tina.  She looks so familiar to her now, as she sees Tina interact with the others in the kitchentheir kitchen.  She shakes her head.  She doesn't understand why she almost lost her.  She knows, she can put two and two together, but she just can't believe that detours derailed such a lovea love she had not known before or since.  Tina looks different, different from the past few monthsshe looks familiar, Bette realizes, because she looks like the woman she loved so intensely once and the woman she loved for several years thereafter.  She had changed in these recent months and year or so, but there she wasthe one she was in love withstill.  This was the woman she betrayed, this was the woman who gave birth to her angel, this was the woman who then betrayed her, who pushed her away, the woman who she stayed up nights worshiping with her eyes while her heart languished at how far away she was from her.  This was the was the woman who had left her and this was the woman who came back to her and led her back to her better self.  Bette walked into the kitchen.

The friends talked quietly and drank their beverages.  They sat comfortably together, and sat in some silence, pondering the day's events.  They had gone through so much this past day, so there wasn't too much jocularitythere was a quiet contentment, a peace.  Bette and Tina had been sitting on the couch, a couple of feet away from one another, never touching.  From the moment they came back into the house they hadn't touched.  But all through the evening they both noticed each other and inconspicuously reveled in the presence they each sensed, felt, and yearned to embrace.

The end of the evening had arrived, sooner than most nights when they held court in this houseit had been a long and difficult day.  They were all exhausted.  It was decided that Kit would sleep in the spare bedroom, Shane and Alice would sleep on spare cots on the floor.  Shane was just next door, but it was an unspoken rule for the evening- somehow they all needed to be together.  Tina would take the couch and Bette retreated to her bedroom.  She knew that it wasn't the right time for Tina to sleep in her bed, even if Bette insisted on sleeping on the couch, so it was never even brought up.  They all retired to a long awaited slumber.

In the early morning hours, Bette was stirring.  She opened her eyes and looked up to find Tina sitting on the edge of the bed looking at her and smiling.  Bette thought she must have been having a dreama fantasywaking up and finding Tina looking at her with a loving smile was a fantasy oasis in the nightmare of her recent life.  Her entire body felt Tina's presence.  She remembered her talk with Shane.  And she thought now how it was Tina's hand she wanted to hold onto and jump off that cliffand jump into the rest of her life with the love of her life.)

BETTE-  "Hey, are you ok?"

TINA-  "I'm fine.  I didn't want to wake you, but I have to go.  I've got some things to take care of.  Will you take care of Angelica today?  I'll be by later in the evening.  I have to go into work today too."

BETTE-  "Ok.  Wow, it's 6 am?  I'm surprised either of us is awake so early after last night."

TINA-  "Well, it was a long day, but we all got to sleep pretty early.  I'll see you later."  (She leaves.  Bette lay there, turning her head to look out the window.  She stared out into space.  She felt like she had run a marathon and finally got to the finish line.  There was still a long road ahead, she knew that, but she wouldn't be on it alone anymore.  She eventually got up and found Kit already in the kitchen making breakfast and coffee.  The others were slowly roused from their slumber by the smells and mild noises.  Alice and Shane got freshened up and had some coffee.  They each kissed Bette and Kit and went off to face their respective days.)

KIT-  "You know, I haven't seen you so relaxed in ages.  Last night after we came in from the storm, and I'm not just talking about the weather, everyone could just tell that you were both 'together'.  I don't remember the last time I saw you both so happy, your faces so calm, your eyes smiling.  It was like an afterglow of a non-sexual sort.  I'm so happy for you babysis.  But"

BETTE-  "BUT?"

KIT-  "You EVER endanger this relationship, EVER AGAIN, and I will disown you, after I beat you to a pulp.  Do you understand me?  Am I making myself clear?"

BETTE-  "Yessss, mamma"

KIT-  "It's not over yet, you know that right?  Yesterday was probably the easy partwell, maybe not THAT easy, but you know what I mean."

BETTE-  "I know.  But no, it wasn't THAT easy.  It's weird, it was like we were on totally different planes, like we were talking about the same thing and yet different things altogether."

KIT-  "When did it start to make sense?"

BETTE-  "It didn't.  The talking didn't, in the sense that it didn't go further than my brain.  Then she told me she loved me and started walking out.  I was so upset and angry and confused up until that point.  I felt the walls closing in, like I couldn't breathe.  But when she said goodbye and started walking away, it's like then, at the moment, we had truly started communicating.  Up to that point, we were bickering it seemed in different tongueswe said an awful lot we hadn't before.  But when I saw her walking away, when I saw that I was losing her, I suddenly woke up from the voices in my head that were murmuring about all the other stuff, and I saw her and I felt her and felt what was deep inside of me.  She had walked away from me so many times these past months, but this timeI guess somehow I knew this was a point of no return, a point somehow more final that the rest.  Up until then, I didn't know what to do.  I was so confused."

KIT-  "When we saw Tina come out of the house we just diedwe thought it meant it was over.  And then there you wereyou came running out."

BETTE-  "You know it still wasn't quite over when I came out.  There was a final, difficult stretch."

KIT-  "Oh I knowI knowwe were standing there waiting with baited breath."

BETTE-  "You guys are crazy.  Had you all come with Tina?"

KIT-  "Well, Alice came to the hospital to pick us up.  But the plan was that we'd drive to your place.  Tina said she was going to go talk to you and the deal was that at some point she'd let us knoweither she was gonna stay the night, or she'd come out and Alice would drive us all home.  Shane met us in front of your house.