Bette sat behind the desk in her new office and looked around. She looked over at the window across the room and sighed. She was both nervous and excited about her new position, but ready to get to work.


“Dean Porter?” The young woman peered into Bette’s office.


“Yes?” Bette shifted her attention to the woman standing in the doorway.


“I’m Kate, your new assistant. I just wanted to introduce myself and check in to see if there is anything that I can do to help you get settled.”


Bette smiled. “Thank you, Kate. So far I’m managing fine without too much assistance. But I would like to have a look over my schedule for the next week.”


“Sure, Dean Porter. I’ll get that for you.” Kate turned around, then stopped. “And Dean Porter? Welcome. We’ve heard a lot about you and are glad that you’re here.”


“Thank you, Kate.” Bette watched the young woman walk away and again looked around the office. ‘The place could use a little livening up.’ She thought. Bette stood up and walked across the room. She began to visualize what pieces of her art collection would look good on the walls of her office. Walking back to her desk and sitting down, she looks at the pictures of Angelica and Tina that are already occupying space on her desk. As she smiles and gently brushes her hand against the picture, Kate reappears in the doorway.


“I have your tentative schedule, Dean Porter. You have several meetings over the next few days with both faculty and artists scheduled to show at the museum. There are also several conference calls scheduled in order to get a jump on the winter show and begin to outline the museum’s direction in the spring.” Kate placed the papers in front of Bette.


“So, tell me, Kate,” Bette said as she reviewed the schedule, “how long have you been with the Art Department?” Bette was curious, because Kate looked as if she were barely out of college herself.


“I’ve been with the department for almost four years now. I have worked for the Associate Dean before his departure and also worked as a member of the museum staff. I was thinking of pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts somewhere in the future, but I really just love being part of this department for the time being.” Kate slightly blushed. “Plus, I really want to learn everything about art from you that I can. You’re almost a legend in the art world, Ms. Porter.”


Bette smiled. “Well, thank you, Kate. I do have a great passion for art. I don’t know about being a legend, though.”


“You are known for fighting for the arts when the conservative know-it-alls try to limit what can be shown. You are known for pushing the envelope and making people think outside of the box. There aren’t many women that have reached the level of success in the art world that you have.”


Laughing, Bette looked up at the young woman. “Well, I just want to get settled in here and get started before we start turning the art world on its ear. Let’s just work to put our college and museum on the map. How about that?”


“Sounds, great, Dean Porter. Is there anything that I can get for you or do right now?”


“I think that I have everything I need right here. I see that you have my login and password listed here, so I’ll start to get acquainted with the system. I will need to insure that my scheduled is cleared by 5 on Friday, so keep that in mind. I want to get all that I can done before that.” Bette looked over at Tina’s picture. “Everything else will have to wait until Monday.”


Kate turned to exit the office. “Oh, and Kate?” Bette called out.


“Yes?”


“Please, call me Bette.”


“Okay Dean Por…uh, I mean, Bette.”

———————————————-

After several hours of phone calls and emails, Bette looked up from her computer. ‘I wonder what T is doing right now?’ She picked up the phone and dialed Tina’s office at Peabody Shaolin.


“Tina Kennard.”


“Bette Porter here, Tina Kennard.” Bette grinned at her reply.


“Hey babe. How’s the first day of school?” Tina laughed.


“So far, so good. I was just wondering how you were doing back at work.”


“I’m fine. Just reading through scripts and putting out fires. Plus, dealing with Helena right now is not exactly fun. Now that Peggy has cut her off financially, she no longer has her position here. And, Peggy expects her to actually work.” Tina laughed.


“Well, it will be good for Helena to actually earn a living.” Bette replied.


“Yeah, but I have to put up with her while she clears out her office.”


“You can handle Helena with no problem, T.”


Tina smiled at the sound of Bette using her nickname. “I’ll do my best. Anyway, enough about Helena. How are things at your new office?”


Bette leaned back in her chair. “The office definitely needs to lose some stuffiness, and hearing myself called ‘Dean Porter’ is a little unsettling. But other than that, its good. I’m really excited about the possibilities of this position. I know that it’s not as high powered as being the Director of the CAC, but I think that it will give me the opportunity to have this school make a mark in the art world.”


“So, how long do you think you’ll be at work today?” Tina waved off her assistant’s attempt to interrupt her.


“Just until five, I suspect. I have a full day of meetings tomorrow, and I haven’t even gotten to the museum yet. But I want to be home to spend time with you and Angelica. Maybe I should be asking you the same question. I know that the studio requires a lot of your time and attention.”


Tina smiled. “Well, not today. I want to cook you dinner to celebrate your first day at school, Dean Porter.”


“Argh, don’t you start with the Dean Porter business.”


“Just teasing, babe. I’ve gotta go before Linda has a stroke over whatever she’s trying to get my attention about. See you at home?”


“See you at home.”


As Bette hung up the phone, she looked over at the picture of Tina. She felt so comfortable talking to her, something that had been missing all of these months. But Bette still felt afraid of completely opening herself up to Tina. After all that Tina did over the past few months, it was almost an involuntary reaction to protect herself from being hurt again. She knew that Tina meant it when she said that she would not hurt Bette again. But the need to protect herself was still there. Sighing, Bette looked down at the list of numbers that she had created. She had heard of several of the therapists listed on the sheet of paper. ‘Well, Porter, just get it over with.’ Bette thought. Sighing, she picked up the phone and dialed the first listing.


———————————————–

Tina watched Linda exit her office. She looked over at the picture of Bette that was placed on her desk. Smiling, she started to think about her grocery list for dinner when the telephone rang.


“Tina Kennard.”


“Hey there, stranger. I’m offended that you didn’t call me when you got back. How am I to keep up with you crazy women if you don’t call?”


“Hey, Alice. How are you doing?”


“The more important question is how are you doing? Kit told me that you found Bette and you’re both back home.”


“We are, and we are working out some things.” Tina knew that her statement was not going to be enough to satisfy Alice’s curiosity.


“Okay, what does that mean? Are you two together? Are you not? Do you want to be together?”


“Slow down, Alice. I can only answer one question at a time. We are living together in the house and working on finding our way back to being together. As a couple.”


“Wow. So, TK, does that mean that you’re back on the home team? Or you’re trying more and more to be like me every day. Hetero, Homo, or Bi? Boys, girls or girls and boys?”


“Girls, Alice. Actually, just one, and you know who that is.”


“Yeah, I’ve heard of her somewhere. So, do you really think you can work it out?” Alice knew how hurt Bette must have been when Tina started dating men again.


“I’m going to do everything in my power to make it work out, Alice. I love Bette, and I know she loves me. I just have to wait for her to get past my mistakes.”


“She will, Tina. I know that she will. Anyway, back to me. When can I see my lovely earth child? Her earth mother misses her.”


Tina laughed. Alice’s avoidance of the godmother/godchild reference always cracked her up. “Soon, earth mother. Maybe over the weekend.”


“Okay, good enough. I can’t wait to see both you and Bette, you know. I missed having you guys around.”


Tina sighed. She knew that Alice was no where near getting over Dana’s death. “We’ll have to have some quality time together, Alice. I promise.”


“Alright then. Talk to you later, TK.”


“‘Bye, Alice.”

———————————————-


“T, dinner was terrific. You didn’t have to go through all this trouble for me.” Bette placed the last of the dishes in the rack.


“It was no problem. I wanted to celebrate your first day back at work.” Tina scooped Angelica off the floor. “Do you want to give her a bath, or should I?”


“As much as I want to, I’ll let you handle the little one tonight. I’ve got some things to review before my meetings tomorrow.” Bette walked over to her family, and kissed Angelica. “Good night, boo. Mommy loves you.”


“MaBe, bye!” Angelica grabbed Bette’s cheeks and planted a wet kiss on her face.


Laughing, Tina disappears to give Angelica a bath. Bette sits on the couch, and begins to look through her notes from work. She stops to grab her reading glasses, then resumes perusing the paper. ‘I’ve got to get to know the faculty as well as the staff at the museum.’ Bette looks up as she hears Angelica squeal in delight in the other room. Smiling, she takes off her glasses and sits back on the couch. ‘This is what a family should be like. Almost. I hope that Tina and I can get things worked out.’ Sighing, she puts her glasses on and resumes reading.


Tina emerges from the bedroom after some time. She stops and watches Bette intensely engulfed in her work. ‘I missed this. I missed seeing her so into her work.’


Bette feels Tina’s presence in the room, and looks up. “Hey. Boo get to sleep okay?”


“She was out almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.” Tina walks to the kitchen. “Can I get you something? Tea, water?”


“Wine.” Bette replied. “That would be great.”


Tina returns to the couch with a bottle of red wine and two glasses. “Do you have a lot to do tonight?” As much as she liked seeing Bette at work, she hoped that they would have some quiet time before bed.


“No. I’m just trying to familiarize myself with the staff and the things that were going on before this semester. I have a lot of people to meet and I want to know a little bit about their work before I do.” Bette takes the wine glass from Tina and takes a sip. “I just want to hit the ground running so that the department can transition smoothly.” Bette stacks her papers and puts them aside. “I’m done for tonight. I can review things again in the morning before my first meeting.”


Tina leans back onto the couch and looks at Bette.


“What?” Bette asks.


“Nothing. It’s just that you seem happy. I hope that this position will make you happy.” Tina took a sip of wine.


“I think that it will. It’s different from anything that I have done before, but there are also a lot of similarities to my past work. Especially with a museum to coordinate.” Bette smiled at Tina. “Enough about that. How did things go with you after we talked?”


Tina exhaled. “Well, enough, I guess. I felt bad while Helena was there. I know that she loved working at the studio. She seemed so sad.”


“I would have thought that Peggy would have at least let Helena keep her job.” Bette took another sip of wine.


“Well, when she said that Helena had to stand on her own, I guess that included finding her own job. I don’t think that Helena has ever worked outside of Peabody Enterprises, so this will definitely be a first.”


Bette grinned. “That should be interesting.” Bette looked at Tina curiously. “So, who will be in charge of things with Helena gone?”


Tina sat up and placed her wine glass on the table. “I wanted to talk to you about that. I think that Peggy may offer the position to me.”


“Wow. That’s a big step, Tina.”


“I know. And with everything going on here, I’m not sure that accepting is a good idea.” Tina looked over at Bette. “I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize what we’re trying to do, babe. If you think that it will be too much, then I will decline if I get the offer.”


Bette put down her wine glass. “But T, isn’t that what you wanted when you were working at Alphaville? To one day be in charge of a studio?”


Tina clasped her hands together and rested her arms on her knees. “Yes. But that was before we had a family to consider. Things are different now.” Tina looked at Bette. “We are different now.”


“I know that there’s a lot for us to work on, but I don’t want that to stand in the way of your dreams. I think that we can work this out. Plus, if you are the studio head, you won’t be traveling as much, right?”


“True. The person that replaces me will be mobile. I will be in the office more than I will be traveling around.” Tina looked at Bette. “You think I should take it, don’t you?”


Bette smiled. “Yes I do. It’s something that you’ve always wanted, and it would secure Angelica’s future with the change in salary.”


“Bette, I’m not worried about money anymore. That was something that drove a wedge between us, and I’m sorry for that.”


“I just think that we have to consider Angelica’s future.” Bette picked up her glass and took a sip. “I’m not making as much as I did at the CAC…”


“None of that matters baby. I don’t care who makes what.” Tina was concerned that Bette would resent not being the top earner in the family. “I hope that it’s not a problem for you.”


“It’s not, T. As long as our family is taken care of, I’m happy.”


Tina exhaled. “Okay then. If Peggy offers me the position, I’ll take it.”


They both sat quietly for a moment. Bette looked over at Tina. “I made a therapy appointment today.”


Tina smiled slightly. “You did?”


“When I said that I’d try therapy again, I meant it. I found a woman who is very experienced in lesbian and gay clients, so I set an appointment with her.” Bette grinned at Tina. “Did you think that I wouldn’t do this?”


Tina looked at Bette. “Well, I guess I thought that you wouldn’t do it as soon as possible. I figured that you would do it eventually. Maybe.”


“Well, it’s done. I will see her on early Friday afternoon. Hopefully it will go well.”


“I’m sure it will. Oh, I forgot to tell you. I talked to Alice today.”


Bette smiled. “How is she doing? And how much trouble am I in with her?”


“She’s okay, I guess. I think that she’s still missing Dana terribly.”


Bette sat her wine glass on the table. “I still can’t believe that she’s gone.”


Tina reached over and touched Bette’s arm. “I know. I think that we should try to spend some time with Alice. I told her that maybe we could get together this weekend. With Shane who knows where, Alice needs us for support.”


Bette turned and looked at Tina. “You’re right, T. We’ll hang out this weekend. It’ll probably be good for all of us.”


“Bette, do you think Shane will come back?”


Bette thought for a moment. “Yes, she’ll be back. She wouldn’t abandon her family, and that’s what we are. I know that she was really upset when things were bad between us, but hopefully she can come home and get her life together.”


Tina looked at Bette. “So, how are we doing?”


“I think that we are doing well so far. One day at a time, right?”


Tina smiled at Bette. “Right. One day at a time.”