"Okay baby, hold your foot up so I can put your shin guard on."

Four and a half year old Angelica obediently lifted her right leg while hanging onto her mother’s shoulder for support. "Do I have to wear them? They always fall down," Angelica whined, not really understanding the need for the big hard pads that were practically as long as her legs. She didn’t necessarily like the game of soccer, she just wanted to run up and down the field with her friends, and if she got close enough to kick the ball, great...but it wasn’t why she was playing. She just liked being with her friends, laughing and having fun. But, both her mom and her mama told her it was good for her to learn how to play as part of a team, that it would instill discipline. She didn’t quite understand the concept of discipline yet...she just liked the running and laughing part....oh and wearing clothes like she saw the grown-ups wearing on TV, only with her name on the back...that was really cool too!

"There’s mama!" The excited little girl almost fell as she tried to run towards Bette, with Tina still holding onto her leg. Laughing, Tina steadied her over anxious daughter. "Hold on for a sec."

Angelica wiggled in anticipation while Tina tried to get the shin guard in place with a now uncooperative child.

"Okay, go on." She smiled as she watched Angelica run full speed into the open arms of her other mother.

"Mama!!"

"Whoa!" Bette nearly lost her footing due to the force of nature slamming into her body. "Hey Cinderella!! What’s the rush?"

"Mama," Angelica leaned back in her mother’s arms and braced herself by pushing off from Bette’s shoulders. "Please, my name is not Cinderella!"

"It’s not?" Bette looked confused, as it was just four days ago when she received the stern talking to from her four year old...wait, her four and a half year old (can’t forget that all important half) daughter, telling her to please respect her decision, and that she now wanted to be called Cinderella.

"But, I thought..."

"I want to be called Shirley!" Angelica gushed out at her mother.

"Shirley?" Bette asked, now completely perplexed.

"Shirley!" Angelica reiterated, emphasizing her point with a big nod that had her tilting her head all the way back, and then so far forward she hit her chin on her chest.

Squeezing her adorable daughter, Bette lowered her to the ground, and then held out her hand, while bowing. "Well, how do you do Miss Shirley, my name is Bette Porter," Bette peaked a look at Angelica’s smiling face. "Isn’t it?"

Angelica giggled and nodded her head up and down really fast. Then, putting on her "proper" face, said, "So nice to meet you Miss Porter." The two started laughing at their own antics, not noticing the beautiful blonde who was watching them with a smile on her face, and total adoration in her eyes.

Angelica reached out her hand, and putting on her best English accent said, "Come Miss Porter. I’ll show you where to stand to watch the game."

"Why thank you Miss Shirley," Bette replied, dutifully following her daughter.

After depositing her mama in just the right spot on the sidelines, Angelica gave her another big hug, waved to Tina, and then ran out onto the field with her friends.

"Hey," Tina smiled as she stepped up beside Bette.

"Hi Tina," Bette said, giving Tina a polite smile. Looking back out onto the field, "so...Shirley huh?"

Letting out a small chuckle. "What can I say, there was a Shirley Temple marathon on last night."

"Oh God," Bette moaned. "Please don’t tell me she wants to be a movie start now!"

The two women exchanged a warm smile. The love they had for Angelica was the only thing they thought they shared any more, but it was the one thing that came so natural to them both.

"Naw. She was more interested in pretending I was wounded in a war. She had me wrapped up in bandages and pushed me around the house, using the computer chair, as a wheelchair."

Bette laughed at the image, and then tried not to notice Tina watching her. And, Tina was watching. She watched as her ex partner’s eyes sparkled and her breasts slightly jiggled from the movement caused by the beautiful sound of her laughter. However, she knew all the love she felt for Bette was reflected in her eyes, so not wanting to make Bette uncomfortable, she looked out to the field, waving as Angelica ran by.

Although she had looked away, Bette still felt Tina’s eyes on her, and still struggled with her bodies traitoress reaction. She couldn’t give in to those feelings...couldn’t allow herself to love Tina again. She just wasn’t willing to take the chance that she would be hurt again...that Tina might change her mind again, and want to go back to being with a man. She just couldn’t. She had worked so had to get to where she was today. She just couldn’t....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Four years earlier when Tina had left her to be with Henry, she was devastated on so many different levels.

Her heart broke because she had lost the love of her life.

Her heart broke because of the cold, premeditated way in which, at that time, she believed that Tina had systematically destroyed their relationship, and with it Bette’s self esteem. By the time the dust had settled, Tina was happily ensconced with Henry, while Bette was desperately trying to dig herself out from the pile of rubble that had once been her heart. Bette started an intense therapy program hoping to find her way back to her true self. Trying to not only feel, but to know deep down that she was a worthy and loving person, and could be a loyal and loving partner. All the while, she frustratingly wondering how she could still be in love with a woman who would do the cold hearted things that Tina had done.

Her heart broke because she had lost her chance to be in Angelica’s life every day and night.

Her heart broke because Tina’s return to men had been done with such feverish passion, it had devastated her to her core. She believed that if Tina felt that much passion for a man...felt the need to be with one so intensely she would do something so horrific as to fuck him in the bedroom she had shared with her for eight years, then that bedroom and what she had experienced there during those eight years had clearly meant absolutely nothing to Tina.