"The problem isn't that you're not enough for me, Bette." Julia corrected. "The problem's that I'm not enough for you."

"I asked--"

"Marriage. Yeah. I caught that." Julia cut in. "But marriage isn't going to fix something that's a given, Bette."

"I would've liked to try."

"And, what? What am I supposed to do while you're trying? I'm there, Bette. You're everything to me. You're the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last when I go to sleep. Thinking of you never fails to make my heart skip a beat." Julia told her. "And I can't..."

"Can't what?"

Julia looked at her. "I can't wait."

"Julia--"

"I can't wait, Bette, because it won't ever happen." Julia said gently.

Bette shook her head. "That's not---"

"This isn't working." Julia said decisively.

"What?" Bette asked, alarmed.

Julia looked at her. "You're never going to get there, Bette."

"I can try." Bette insisted. "Jules, please. Please let me try."

"And the effort will be amazing." Julia said sadly. "But you're holding back. I can tell. And you're never going to get there. I just don't know why."

Bette sat down on a nearby bench. "I can't give you everything, Jules. I don't think I can, for anyone."

"Do you know why?"

Bette glanced at her. With a look of defeat, Bette began her confession. "Because I've been there. I felt that way, a long time ago. Those kinds of feelings, something that's... something that fills you up inside, that's as real as the blood inside. When it falls apart, there's nothing left."

"Bette--"

"When they're gone, it destroys the world you live in. It destroys you." Bette glanced at Julia. "It's intoxicating when it's good. But I barely survived the bad. I don't want to go through that again."

"And I'm not worth the risk." Julia guessed.

Bette's defeated look did not need an accompanying verbal agreement.

The silence hung in the air between them. The earlier tension, the fight... both gave way to the sadness and defeat that both women felt.

Bette finally lifted her gaze, and looked at Julia. "If she loves me the way you think she does, then why isn't she here?"

"Why is it so important to you that she's here?"

"If she loved me at all, she'd be here." Bette said quietly.

"What, you're waiting for her to stake her claim and decide Helena's not worth it and you're the one she really wants?" Julia guessed.

"Yes. No." Bette looked at Julia, annoyed. "In any capacity. To support me, to stop me: If she really loved me? She would be here."

Bette laughed scornfully. "So the one you call the love of my fucking life? Gave me up for work."

"I asked her not to come."

"Don't start."

"No, I really did."

Bette took a moment, processing that statement, before looking up at the woman she loved and was currently breaking up with her. "Why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Julia asked. "We just fought about it."

Bette frowned. "She's my best friend, and your friend. She wouldn't have stopped the wedding."

"And you really think you could've married me if she was here?" Julia pressed. "Knowing she was in the crowd, watching you swear your life to me? You could've done it?"

"Julia, don't--"