Collision Course – 4.01

            A sunny late morning in West Hollywood.  The sun is beaming down on the quiet street, there isn’t a cloud in the sky, and the moving trucks are all in high gear on a suburban street.  At Jenny’s house, Max and his new girlfriend are moving out his belongings, there is no one there to help them, no is Jenny there to say a pleasant good-bye.    

            Next door, at what was once Bette & Tina’s house, Tina is moving out her things.  Having bought a house a few blocks away.  There would be no reconciliation, only two people raising a child separately. 

            Next door to Bette’s, a new couple are moving into the neighborhood, from Canada.  A seasoned lawyer and an art professor, with their two young children, Gus, who is eight, and JR who is a rambunctious four years old.

            Lindsay keeps casting looks at the road, waiting for the green corvette to appear, carrying the one man she’s ever loved, and the boy by that man.  Gus and Brian.  They’d always been Wendy and Peter, and finally, Peter had grown up in the last two years, but his sexy mischievousness hadn’t been wiped clean. 

            “Where is JR?” yelled Melanie from the steps of their new home.  A small home, but a wonderful beginning to another fresh start.  Mel had been having trouble getting her legal licenses in Canada, and then a wonderful thing had happened.  Lindsey had gotten a job offer at a California art institute.  A distraught Michael, JR’s father, had bulked slightly about his daughter being moved, yet again.  Then Brian had announced that he too, was moving to California, to pursue a business venture.  Brian had been in LA for a few months now, almost a year.

            “In the house,” answered Lindsey, peeking her head out from the back of the U-Haul.  She cast another look at the street, wondering where Brian, Justin and Gus were.    Through a series of unfortunate events, Brian had discovered that he had a half sister when Gus had been diagnosed with leukemia six months after they’d moved to Canada.  His sister, Samantha Vance, had offered Brian a shot at being one of LA’s hottest, wealthiest ad execs.  Brian had taken it.

            “Where in the house?”  asked Mel, throwing her hands up in the air, then leaning back with one hand on her hip.  A usual pose for Mel, waiting for Lindsey to answer her.

            Lindsey sighed, Melanie was such a hot head at times.  They both trudged off into the house, in search of their daughter, JR.

Inside the house formally called Bette and Tina’s, Shane, Jenny, Tina, Alice and Bette were slowly packing the U-Haul with Tina’s things. 

            “I never realized how much stuff I had,” smiled Tina shyly.  Bette shrugged.  Thinking that she didn’t have ENOUGH stuff to fill the house.  Or her heart.  At least things were looking better, the adoption was going through in two days.  Angelica, who was skittering along kitchen in her walker, would soon be her legal daughter.

            “Did the closing on the house go well?” asked Bette.  Pushing another box into the living room, where Shane would more than likely pick it up, and deposit it into the U-Haul.

            “Yeah, it did.  All signed and sealed.”

            “Where do you want me to bring this?” asked Alice, who was holding the smallest box in the room, pretending it weight a ton instead of three pounds.  The blonde’s hair was limp, her eyes had lost their light, and she was still in moping mode.

            Tina gave Bette a look, rolling her dark eyes, making Bette snicker behind a cupped hand.  Their friends theatrics were becoming legendary, crying jags on air, hitting on every woman in the room, then blowing them all off. 

            “Um, in the U-Haul is good,” smiled Tina.

            “Right, the U-Haul,” muttered Alice.

            “She’s not doing to good, since Lara left, is she?” asked Tina.

            “No,” answered Bette.  Looking down at her hands, thinking she too, wasn’t doing very well.  Sleepless night, hot temper, and her new job was going to drive her to the brink of utter madness.

            “She misses her,” said Jenny from behind a door, walking into the living room, “But she certainly won’t tell Lara that her moving to New York was a bad idea.  She won’t tell her that she loves her,” added Jenny.

            “Unbelievable,” sighed Shane.  “We shouldn’t be meddling.”

            “Hmmm, maybe if we’d meddled, you wouldn’t have left the love of your life at the alter,” reminded Jenny with a knowing look.  The room went silent for a long moment.

            “Ouch,” muttered Tina.

            “Double ouch,” agreed Bette.

            The room was quiet again, Shane decided to start pulling more boxes out into the U-Haul.  Sulking off into the driveway, and trudging up the ramp to deposit the box in the almost filled U-Haul.

            Bette turned to Jenny, who shrugged as if she hadn’t done anything wrong, “That was rather harsh.”

            “No, it wasn’t.  She stood up the woman she loves at the alter.  I love Shane, but that was harsh.  Reminding her that she was a bitch is a good thing, keeps her in line,” rebutted Jenny.

            “She has a point,” nodded Helena, who was just walking into the house, holding a dark eyed child in her arms.  “Has someone lost this adorable child?”

            “Great, we’ve only been here five hours, and we’ve lost something, and that something is JR!  Where the fuck is Brian?” ranted Mel.  Lindsay sighed, grabbing the phone and started to dial 911.  If something went wrong, blame it on Brian, that had always been Mel’s MO.

            “Wait, hold on.  Let’s go down the street, and look around for her?” said Melanie, pacing the room, hands on her hips. 

            “Right,” said Lindsey, moving to the door, yanking it open to reveal a beautiful woman with blazing blue eyes, holding a giggling Jenny Rebecca.

            “Oh my god!” said Melanie.  Snatching JR from Helena as if Helena were going to give her a contagious disease.

            “I found her in the moving truck next door.  Seems she must have mistaken it for her house.  An easy mistake to be made, hello, I’m Helena Peabody,” said Helena, extending a hand to Lindsey.  The blonde took it, smiling, releasing her hand with a wink.

            “This is my wife, Melanie Markus, Mel, this is Helena Peabody, I’m Lindsey Peterson.” trying to get Mel’s attention to the very nice woman who’d just rescued their child.

            “Yeah, hi.”

            “Preoccupied, isn’t she?  I’ll leave you to it, welcome to the neighborhood,” offered Helena with her trademark smile.

            “You live around here?” asked Lindsey, instantly taken by the alluring accent.

            “No, not really.  I’m staying on a friend’s couch at the moment.  I’m in between homes,” said Helena.

            “Peabody, Peabody, as in Peabody Enterprises?” asked Mel, her interest now peeked.