At the end of the ten days they were closer than ever.  Bette swelled with their child each day and grew ever more beautiful.  What they didn’t know at that time was that this level of beauty would continue to increase over the years even as the grey hairs took over.  Bette glowed from being fired from within.  Tina grew in their love as well.  She became more confident and became a full fledged Alpha to the point that those who did not know them before thought she was the alpha in their relationship. 

 By the time they arrived back in LA there were no barriers between them. 

“What the fuuuu?” Alice exclaimed, mindful of Angie as they came through the door to their house.  Shane and Kit turned to see what caused this particular reaction and while not as verbal as Alice wondered the same thing.  It didn’t seem possible that the two women who stood before them could have ever fallen deeper in love but one glance told them that it was indeed the case.

Angelica only seeing her mothers squealed in delight and launched herself into their waiting arms.  They hugged and kissed her and another piece fell into place.  Watching them greet their daughter and close ranks invisibly made the rest of their family blink.  While each member of their family understood that they held a special place there was this new understanding that everything had shifted and rightly so.

“Bette you are pregnant, pregnant” Shane marveled.

“Yeah” Bette met Tina’s shining eyes.  “My baby’s daddy and my wife do good work.”

Alice sensed that there was a double message there but she could not figure out what it was.  Kit and Shane knew that Tina was one and the same and knew how to hold their water. 

“So this cousin of yours came through big time” Alice remarked. 

“What?” Tina answered distracted. 

“Your cousin” Alice repeated.

“My cousin what?”  Tina was perplexed and distracted by their daughter. 

“The donor?”

“Donor?”  Tina frowned. What donor?  “Oh you mean the sperm donor?”

“What other donor would we be talking about?” Alice huffed glancing at Shane and Kit for support.  She narrowed her eyes as she noted that her usual back up were studiously avoiding meeting her gaze.  “Alright, what the F is going on?”                                    

“Alice watch your language” Bette admonished.

Alice kept quiet seeing Bette was seriously getting annoyed.  She was a journalist, she would get to the bottom of this if it was the last thing that she did.   

The lesbian community of WeHo was even more overcome by the sight of a pregnant Bette Porter-Kennard than the Provincetown community where they were strangers.  Bette had always engendered a certain following of women who fantasized that one day they would be the one to capture the elusive beauty. 

Those who dwelt in reality understood that Tina had indeed captured her and that they could not be better matched than with one another.  Tina watched as Bette made her way through the crowd at The Planet the unmistakable looks of desire and appreciation had risen to a new level.  She idly wondered how it was that she was the lucky woman to claim Bette’s heart.  Bette caught her eye and the gleam of pleasure that appeared in the ebony depths made her catch her breath. 

“Did you see that?” Helena asked Cindy who sat with her at a nearby table. 

“I don’t think there is a woman, man or person here tonight who is not glued to the show that those two put on without even knowing it.”

Tina rose and kissed Bette softly in greeting her hand instinctively caressing her belly and the babe within.