After a few more moments of silence, Tina stated… “I am not really sure where to begin…”

“When did you get here?”

“Last night…although I must admit, I did not know where my new house would be.”

“How could you not know?”

“Well, I was very busy, getting things ready for the move, I saw the house in some pictures and I was pleased with it so Annie took care of all the transactions for me.”

“Annie…yes, I think I have met her…so…did she tell you that she met me?”

“Not exactly…”

“What does that mean?”

“Well, she told me that she met one of the neighbors…who has a daughter, she told me your name was Bev.”

Bette laughed… “Ok, so when did you know that I still lived here?”

“About an hour ago….when I met your daughter…she is beautiful by the way.”

“Thank you.  I love her so much.”

“I can see that…”

“Lizzy…she is gorgeous as well.”

Tina smiled…“She is my angel…how did you know?”

“Well…as you said, she has your eyes and your smile…but I have seen her before…”

Tina was confused… “What…what do you mean?”

Bette took a deep breath…“Years ago…when we first found out that you were pregnant…before we knew the baby was a boy, I had a dream…it was…it was of her.  After we found out that we were having a boy, I always thought the dream was very odd…now I finally understand it.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“There were lots of things we didn’t tell each other Tina…That was just one of the many.”

“Yea…” They both sat there, engulfed by the horrific memories of their demise. 

Bette, not wanting to spoil the moment anymore continued with her questioning… “So, why here Tina…why now?”

“Promotion…you know, better job, more pay, more time with Lizzy…it was a win-win situation.”

Bette smirked…“And you got to come back to California…where were you ?”

“New York”

“Ah so Alice was right.”

“Huh?” Tina waited for Bette to continue…

“About 6 weeks ago, Alice started talking about some hot blonde movie exec in New York…I told her to shove it.”

Tina chuckled…“Well…Alice was right, although I am not too sure about the hot part…Chrissy said that she and Dana are together and that they have a son.”

“Yea…great isn’t it?  They are really good together.  They make a nice family.”

“Yea…a nice family.” Tina uttered softly

“I think I already know the answer to this question, but I am going to ask it anyway…You used Marcus’s sperm, didn’t you?”

Tina took a deep breath…“It is a long story but in the end, yes…I did use his sperm.”

“So did I…”

Trying to lighten the mood, Tina joked… “Well, it looks like Lizzy is finally getting that sister she always asked for…my body thanks you…”

Bette burst out laughing.  She could not control her emotions anymore.  They had been up and down and everywhere in between.  Her laughter was contagious and soon Tina was in hysterics as well.  “Tina this is fucking crazy…’

As their laughter faded, Tina asked…“Oh God, why does everything have to be so fucking complicated?”

Bette grabbed Tina’s hand, and took a deep breath… “Because it’s us.”

“What are we going to do?  Once they find out that they are actually sisters…they aren’t going to want to be separated…I mean, look at them already.”

“I know, I could tell Chrissy was forming a bond with her when I talked with her on the phone…They already love each other so much.”

“It is so hard to grasp.  First, realizing that I moved into the old neighborhood, then finding out that you still live here and then to top it off, not only is your daughter my daughter’s best friend…but she is also her sister.”

“Hey…at least you have had some time to process this... It is all hitting me at once.”  Bette looked down at her hands which were nervously wrapped tight in a ball. 

“I know Bette… I am sorry.  I thought that if I was ever going to see you, well…this is not how I wanted it to happen…trust me.”

Bette looked up… “You wanted to see me?”

Now it was Tina’s turn to look down sheepishly… “I don’t know…yes…I guess so.”

“I thought you would always hate me…”

Tina looked up into Bette’s eyes…“Hate you?  No…hurt, upset…maybe. Bette, it has been so long.  There are so many things that we left unsaid.  So many questions unanswered.”

“We have a lot to talk about don’t we?”

“Well, if we want to get a long for the sake of our daughters, I think we are going to have to go through it.”

“Yea, I guess so…But…Can we save that joyous conversation for a little later?  I have a few things to digest first.”

Tina smiled lightly… “I think that is a good idea…so…what should we tell the girls?”

“I don’t think I want to get into specifics with them just now…especially because we haven’t even talked about them yet.”

“I agree…it really doesn’t concern them anyways…Maybe we should just say that you and I used to be a couple and that after we broke up, we both decided to have a baby and inadvertently, we used the same donor and so they are sisters?”

“Yea…ok…obviously, they are going to have questions…If they ask something too personal, we can just tell them that we aren’t ready to answer that question and we will get back to them.”

“Ok, that sounds fair.”

Bette gets up from the step and holds her hand out to Tina to help her up.  Once Tina gets to her feet, Bette steps back…

“It really is great to see you Tina…You look…Bette glances over Tina’s body… Really great!”

Tina smiled as a slight blush ran to her cheeks and once again, she reached for Bette’s hand… “You don’t look so bad yourself…” Tina said with a wink.

Bette laughed…“Ready to go in there?”

“What and face the inquisition?”

Bette grinned…“Something like that.”

Bette and Tina walked hand in hand up the stairs and to the front door, finding comforth and strength in their tight grasp, both women unsure of the course their impending conversation with their daughters would take. 

TBC…