Her soul mate had been stomped on by the only person that she had ever truly trusted.  Bette understood why Tina had left so quickly.  Without a word to any of her friends, Tina had disappeared into the night.  At first, after she had gotten herself together, Bette felt like she should go after Tina, try to get her back.  She searched and searched, but she never came close to finding her. 

As much as it terrified Bette, this void in her life left her feeling empty.  It was at this time that Bette decided to have Chrissy.  After losing their son, Bette realized just how much she wanted to be a mother, just how important it was to her to have the opportunity to raise a child, and love it with all her heart. 

At first, she thought she would use a donor which had features that resembled Tina’s, a little reminder of the lover that she had lost, a reminder that she could love with all of her heart. Then, she had another idea.  She realized that if she used a white donor, there would be a 50% chance that the child would resemble Tina.  Then it finally hit her, if she used a white, or a black donor, she would always have a 50% chance of having a child like the one she and Tina envisioned when they created their son.  With that in mind, Bette called up her friend Marcus Allenwood, and after promising to show some of his work in her gallery, he gladly gave Bette another sperm donation. 

Bette worked with Dr. Wilson, and to her surprise, the insemination took after the first try.  Bette was absolutely stunned.  After all the problems she and Tina had trying to get pregnant, she assumed that it would take months, maybe even years for her to have the opportunity to have a child.  She felt sad that she would be going through this amazing experience without the love of her life.  She finally understood Tina’s jubilation after learning that she was pregnant.  She understood how difficult it was for Tina to hold the news inside her.  She felt sorrow for missing out on so much of the pregnancy of their lost son.

It had been two years since her life fell apart, and Bette was finally feeling like life was looking better.  She was going to have a child, someone to share all of her love with. 

Nine months later, Bette was blessed with a beautiful daughter.  Just as she and Tina had envisioned, she was a caramel skinned beauty.  She looked just like her mother, right down to her deep black eyes.  In Bette’s mind, there was no other name she could even consider giving her daughter.  Christina Porter’s life began that day.  The first time Bette looked into her daughter’s eyes, she felt home. 

As her professional life continued to flourish throughout her daughter’s childhood, Bette’s personal life remained unfulfilled.  It literally took Bette years to even consider sleeping with another woman.  Finally, one night while away on a business trip, Bette took the plunge.  She went out to a bar in San Francisco and took a beautiful brunette to bed.  She had been out of practice for years but that did not hinder her.  She still had her Porter charm.  The experience with the nameless brunette left her feeling unfulfilled and lonely.  Bette continued to have these trysts while away on business, she refused to involve other women in Chrissy’s precious life. 

As the years passed, Chrissy became interested in her mother’s lack of a social life.  She saw all of her other aunts dating and being in stable relationships and she felt bad for her mother, missing that sense of companionship that she saw between her aunts Dana and Alice.  Chrissy once asked her mother why she didn’t have a partner.  Bette craftily avoided the subject for a long time, always giving Chrissy good excuses, or side-stepping the conversation all together.  Eventually, Chrissy became more and more concerned with her mother’s lack of a social life.  She voiced her concerns to her mother who took them to heart. 

Bette didn’t want her daughter to think that she was lonely and missing something in her life.  At this point, Bette decided to put herself out there again.  She started dating, but every woman that she met reminded her of how they could not compare with Tina.  It was like they had this huge ghost as their competition and none of them stood a chance against Bette’s memory of Tina. 

Many women attempted to win the affections of the beautiful Bette Porter.  They were willing to deal with the baggage if they had a chance to be with her.  Bette tried with all her might, but no woman ever lasted longer than a month.  She still refused to introduce any of them to Chrissy, but her daughter was content to know that her mother was dating, and having a life beyond being her mother. 

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

Mother and daughter strolled into the Planet, once Chrissy saw Charlie, she ran to meet her cousin.  Bette casually followed her daughter, just as always, the dark-haired beauty caught the attention of all those who visited The Planet that morning. 

Although she was dressed casually in her dark blue 7 jeans and cream-colored silk camisole with embroidered embellishments.  She was still stunning to all who saw her.  The years had been friendly to Ms. Porter.  After all the exercising and chasing after her daughter, she certainly had aged well.

Alice greeted her friend…“Hey there Porter…didn’t expect to see you here today…”

“Hey Alice, Dana”…Turning to Charlie… “Hey there little man…and yes Alice, coming to The Planet today was not high on my list of things to do today but someone had to say goodbye to her little cousin…thanks for roping me into this by the way”…Bette added cheekily…

Everyone knew that today was Bette’s dark day.  No one was stupid enough to ask questions, at least not yet…  They all just sat back and dealt with their surly friend.  Over the years, Chrissy had come to notice the change in her mother’s demeanor.  Her usually happy mother became somber and detached from the world, as though she were reliving a sad nightmare that would never leave her thoughts.  In an attempt to pacify her daughter’s questions, Bette attempted to put on a happy front for her beautiful 10 year old. 

“How are you doing today Bette?”

Dana chastised her partner, “Al…”

Bette was grateful for Dana’s interruption.  She did not want to discuss her feelings with her friends…“Listen to your better half Alice...drop it.”

“Geez Bette, I was just being considerate of your feelings.”

“No Al, you were prying…”

“God Bette…It has been way to long, you have to let it go…”

Chrissy turned her attention from Charlie, “What has been to long mom?”

Bette shot Alice a death glare… “Nothing sweetie…your auntie Alice doesn’t know what she is talking about.  Don’t pay any attention to her.”

Chrissy knew that there was more to the story than her mother was willing to share.  She understood that there was something in her mother’s past which made her very sad but every time she tried to get any information from her mother, she would hit a brick wall.  She resorted to picking up bits and pieces from conversations she overheard between her mother and her aunts.  Still, Chrissy truly had no idea what bothered her mother so badly. 

“Alright…so, when are you leaving for your trip?”

“I leave tomorrow for New York.  I am there for 5 days and then I go over seas.  I am hitting London, Paris, Rome, and Florence, then I am going to be in Boston for 4 days before I come home…but, then again… you already knew that, since I already gave you my itinerary.”

“Yea, yea, yea…your schedule isn’t the most important thing going on in my life…”

Bette smirked, grateful for the change in conversation…“You could’ve fooled me…”

Pressing forward, Alice was on a mission that Bette was still unaware of…“Are you excited for New York?”

Bette didn’t really know how to answer her friend…“Umm…yea sure Alice.  New York is always fun.  Good art, good shopping…”

Chrissy was still half-heartedly paying attention to her mother’s conversation with her aunt.  Whenever the topic of shopping came up, Chrissy got excited “Hey mom…are you going to get me some good clothes while you are on vacation?”

“Yes sweetie…remember, we already talked about this.  I will be sure to pick out some really cute clothes for you if you promise to be good at camp.”

“Oh yea… I forgot about that little deal.” Chrissy cringed her forehead as though she were in deep thought, then she smiled brightly at her mother… “Ok, I think I can still do that…”

Bette smiled at her daughter’s antics…“That’s my girl!” Bette was grateful that her daughter could still make her smile, even on this depressing day. 

Although Alice was nervous about what was exploding from her mouth, she couldn’t help but say what was on her mind…“Anyways…Bette…rumor on the streets is…there is a hot blonde movie exec residing in Manhattan…”

Bette’s demeanor changed abruptly from the happiness she found in her daughter to the pain of her lost love.  She hadn’t heard of Tina in all these years.  None of her friends had ever had the gall to even mention her name or rumors of her whereabouts.  She was overcome with a myriad of feelings: confusion, love, loss, fear, sadness, and anger. 

Dana immediately kicked her partner’s shin, giving her a glare that meant Alice would be spending a few uncomfortable nights on the couch again.