Tina and Bette were both sleeping sounding, their bodies exhausted from the previous days activities. First, they had walked for hours in the rain, then after coming back to Tina’s apartment, they had spent hours making love, just the way they both liked it best…soft and sensuous, gentle and loving. There had certainly been times in the past when one or the other wanted to have *****, rather than making love. There was something very primal…animalistic about just *****…no foreplay, just *****…but last night was not about that. Last night was a time for them to show each other physically everything they felt for the other in their hearts, but couldn’t express in words. And they had both done just that, first in the bathtub, then in Tina’s bedroom. During the wee hours of the morning, they had finally collapsed into each others arms, completely sated, and fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.

Tina was dreaming. She was dreaming that she and Bette and their little girl Mary, are celebrating Mary’s third birthday. All their friends are there…Shane, Alice, Dana, Marina, Jenny, and most importantly, Kit. They are all in the back yard with hats and balloons and lots of presents. Of course, what did you expect with so many devoted “Aunts?” At one point during the opening of gifts, Tina looks over at her wife, their little girl, and all their loving friends…and knows…this is her destiny. This is were she belongs. There is no other fork in the road for her. An incredible sense of peace comes over her in the dream. It’s the oddest thing. Tina can feel herself in the dream, but is also watching the dream from up above. She realizes at that moment that she is watching the exact same thing that Bette was watching from above in her own dream…In a moment of panic, Tina quickly looks around…waiting for Candace to walk over and take Bette into her arms…but then remembers, that in this dream, Candace doesn’t exist. This dream is about Bette, Tina, Mary, and their family of friends. In her sleep, Tina reaches over and wraps her body around Bette’s, waking Bette in the process. Bette can see by the look on Tina’s sleeping face, that she must be dreaming about something wonderful, so she pulls her in as close as she can, smiles, and then allows herself to drift back to sleep.

When Tina woke late into the morning, she felt totally refreshed, her body feeling relaxed and rested. She suppressed the urge to giggle, because somehow, while they were sleeping they had managed to wrap themselves around each other as tight as possible…arms and legs intertwined so tight, she couldn’t believe they had actually slept that way without waking up. She tried to extricate herself from Bette’s arms, but couldn’t without waking her up. Tina smiled at that thought…and slowly started moving her body away from Bette. Bette immediately sensed the beginning of the separation of bodies and woke up. As she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Tina’s smiling face…and then she burst into tears.

Confused…not understanding Bette’s reaction, Tina moved right back into the spot she had started to vacate a few seconds earlier. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

Bette was trying to get control of herself, trying to calm her breathing. “God Tina, I don’t know! I think my body has just taken over. I feel like I have no control.”

Tina gently outlined Bette’s eyebrow with her finger. “Baby, I think that between you finally lowering your emotional walls, and then all the physical releases last night, that the dam has broken. All those feelings you have been shelving your whole life are rushing out, fighting for their freedom.”

Bette had managed to stop the majority of the flow of tears. “Well, that’s just great! How am I supposed to function, if I am going to burst into tears at any given moment? People are going to think I’m crazy” Bette scowled at Tina realizing the opening she just gave her, “…and don’t you make any smart ***** remarks!”

Tina giggled. “Baby, I would never take advantage of you like that. Besides, that would be just way too easy.”

Tina’s face got suddenly serious and she looked at Bette, her eyes instantly turning ***** and smoldering. “Well Baby…your body is obviously craving for a release, both through tears, and through…Tina didn’t finish her sentence because she had lowered her mouth onto Bette’s nipple, and at the same time, opened Bette with her fingers and began to caress her………..totally taken by surprise, Bette’s body exploded immediately…leaving her panting…her heart feeling like it was going to jump out of her chest. She didn’t say anything for a moment, trying to regain some control over any part of her body, then pulled Tina to her, whispering through her tears, “I love you, I love you, I love you…”

~ ~ ~

It was time for Bette to go back to LA. Work was waiting…along with their home. Bette couldn’t wait to get back and prepare their home for Tina’s return. She stopped what she was doing for a moment and smiled. Tina was coming home…to her…to their house. She was so excited, she had been bouncing off the walls of Tina’s apartment, waiting for it to be time to go. She was leaving first, then Tina was following in a couple of days. There was less than two weeks of shooting left on the show, and Tina was confident that Sandi could handle anything else that might come up. If not, there was always fax machines, e-mail, telephones…etc.

They were standing in Tina’s bedroom, making one last sweep of the room to make sure Bette had everything. Tina looked over at Bette, seeing her standing there smiling. “What are you thinking about?”

Bette’s eyes filled with tears, but as she was getting a little more comfortable with them being there constantly, she didn’t bother to wipe them away. “You…us…being together in our home. Oh God Tina…I’m so excited, I can hardly wait!”

Tina couldn’t help but laugh at the pure happiness on Bette’s face. She looked like a kid who had just walked into a candy store for the first time. “I know…I am too.”

Bette wanted Tina to know how happy she was, but that she didn’t just think everything was going to go back to normal. “Listen T. I want you to know, that as soon as I get back into town, I will get a name of a therapist and make an appointment. I know I need professional help to guide me through this releasing process.” Bette looked down for a minute, and then back up with a hopeful look on her face. “I was wondering if you would like to go see someone with me as well. You were right that day in the park when you said that we have the same issues, just six months later. I mean, I know that we have resolved some of those things these last couple of days, but there is so much more we need to explore in order to make this relationship absolutely incredible…as I know it can be.” She hesitated for a moment. “Will you think about that?”

Tina reached out and laid her hand on Bette’s face. “I don’t have to think about it. I will be right there beside you, cause this…” Tina pointed at Bette and then herself, “is way too important to not take care of. I think we both have learned that these six months apart.”

Bette brought her hand up and laid it over the hand Tina had been caressing her face with. She gently rubbed Tina’s ring finger. “T…I was wondering…I mean you don’t have to if you don’t want to, but…well, I thought that maybe…” Bette softly blew out a breath and closed her eyes for a moment. “Well…would you consider wearing my ring again?” Bette looked into Tina’s eyes, and then was horrified as a thought came into her head. “Oh God T…you didn’t throw it away did you?!”

Tina lowered her forehead onto Bette’s and closed her eyes. When she lifted her head, her face was glowing with love. “No Bette. I could never throw away the symbol of our love…of our commitment to each other. I almost left it for you to do with it what you wanted, but in the end…I couldn’t. I needed it close to me.” Tina walked over to her dresser, and opened the top drawer, pulling out a small black ring box. She walked back over to Bette, and looked down at Bette’s empty left hand. “What about you Bette? What did you do with your ring?”

Bette walked over to her purse, pulled out her wallet, and walked back to Tina, smiling. “Remember when I brought you the daisy petal?” Tina smiled at the memory of pulling that last petal off and hearing Bette say, ‘She loves me.’ “Well, I saw you put the petal in the change pocket of your wallet, and it made me smile. It warmed my heart Tina that you would choose that place to keep the petal, because that is where my ring has been for the last six months. Even when I was with Candace, I couldn’t let go of it…needed it to be close. I know that may sound weird, but it brought me comfort, just knowing it was there.”

The two women looked at each other, and both silently nodded at the same time. Bette was the first to move. She took the ring box from Tina, opening it and removing the ring. Tossing the box on the bed, she reached over and took Tina’s hand in hers. “Tina, you are my love…my destiny. I will never question that again, and promise you that I will spend the rest of my life working toward being worthy of the unconditional love you offer me. From the moment I met you, my heart was no longer my own. It has been, and always will be…ours.” She gently slid the ring onto Tina’s finger, it automatically nestling itself into its rightful place…like it had never been taken off.

Tina closed her eyes, feeling the ring circling her finger, feeling the love it represented…so grateful at that moment…remembering how she had felt two short months ago…thinking that Bette was lost to her forever. She slowly opened her eyes, smiling at her life partner. Taking the ring out of Bette’s change pocket, she threw the wallet on the bed and reached out for Bette’s hand. Looking into those beautiful brown eyes, seeing the pure love that was shining back at her, she slid the ring on Bette’s finger. “Bette, you are the person I dreamt about as I was growing up. You are my soul mate, the one I want to spend my life with…have children with. You are my destiny, and I will spend my life loving you with all that I am. From the moment I met you, my heart was no longer my own. It has been, and always will be…ours.”

TBC