"Okay..." Tina whispered. "I’m about fifteen minutes away...is that too soon?" Tina hesitated, her heart pounding with anticipation, knowing Bette’s mind must be going a mile a minute trying to comprehend this middle of the night phone call.

"Of course not...please...just come."

And, just like that a sense of calm came over Tina, knowing she had made the right decision.

"Okay," she repeated her earlier response.

"And, Bette?"

"Yeah?" Bette also whispered her response. It was only one word, but it floated through the phone with such reverence.

"Thank you."

Bette closed her eyes and scrunched her face, trying to keep her tears at bay. Willing her voice not to crack, she managed to sound stronger than she felt. "You don’t need to thank me T. Just drive safe, and I will see you soon."

Nodding her head, Tina smiled into the phone. "Okay...bye."

"Bye T," Bette whispered.

After pushing the OFF button on her cell phone, Bette stared at the ceiling, the phone cradled in her hand, not moving a muscle. She wondered what had really happened between Tina and Henry to make her pack up and leave him in the middle of the night. Did he make some smart ass remark about hers and Tina’s relationship? Did he say something about Angelica’s heritage? Feeling herself getting angry Bette took in a deep breath, and then let it out slowly, trying to calm down her rapid heartbeat. Just the thought that he said or did anything to upset Tina made her blood pressure rise...even though she knew she had no right to feel that way, as she had been the cause of so much of Tina’s pain in the past. But, that was in the past, and during the last six months without Tina, Bette had learned a great deal about herself, and how she related to others....especially how she related to the woman she will forever love.

Bette was jerked out of her thoughts with the realization she had only moments before Tina and their daughter...oh God....their beautiful daughter would be coming home. Jumping out of bed, she quickly moved into the bathroom to brush her teeth and comb her hair, and then made her way into the guest bedroom, where Tina’s bed and Angel’s crib were still set up. Her sharp eyes scanned the room, making sure everything was clean and still in its proper place. It had been too painful during the last six months for her to actually go into the room knowing her little girl was no longer sleeping in there, but Sonia the woman who had cleaned their home for years, still dutifully dusted every week.

She quickly turned on the soft light of the bedside lamp, wanting to make the room inviting. Then satisfied that everything was ready for company, her next stop was the kitchen. She didn’t know what kind of emotional shape Tina was in, or how physically tired she would be, so she put on the kettle to make some soothing Sleepytime herbal tea. This particular brand of tea had always been one of Tina’s favorites for calming the tensions of the day, and helped her relax enough to sleep.

Just as Bette had finished turning on some low light in the livingroom, there was a soft knock on the door. With her heart nearly in her throat, she silently glided across the room...and with one more deep breath, opened the door.

"Hey," Tina whispered with a soft smile, a sleeping Angelica resting on one shoulder, and two overnight bags hanging off the other...one for mother, and one for daughter.

Wanting to just stand there and breath in their presence for a moment, Bette instead quickly moved forward to relieve Tina of the bags.

"Here, let me take those," she murmured quietly, not wanting to wake Angelica.

"Thank you," Tina whispered back.

The two women stood in the doorway just staring at each other...Bette, still holding the overnight bags mid air as if she was going to hand them to someone...and Tina still smiling, only now with a soft blush raising on her cheeks...the color causing Bette’s throat to dry up.

The seconds ticked by, neither woman saying a word, each just taking in the sight of the other, when all of a sudden there was the sound of a whistle...low at first, but you could tell it was gaining momentum.

"Oh shit!" Bette’s eyes widened in panic as she unceremoniously dropped the bags and sprinted towards the kitchen, knowing the soon to be shrill whistle would wake the baby. Grabbing the hot pad that was next to the stove, she swept the kettle off the burner with one hand, and turned the flame off with the other.

"Well, that was smooth," she muttered to herself.