(Tina was in the lounge area at the hotel with Angelica. She held her lightly by the hand as she looked at some San Francisco pamphlets. She had had an initial meeting and it went well. The rest would happen tomorrow. She gazed at the various photos and information as Angelica seemed to be pulling in another direction. Tina was focused on the pamphlet she had in hand at that moment and just held Angie’s hand a little more snuggly. But suddenly Angelica was inspired to pull away with far more determination, and as she broke away from Tina’s grasp and started running, Tina turned…)

TINA- “Angelica…” (She moves to run after her but in the instant her eyes follow the energetic bundle of a girl, Tina’s vision stops abruptly at Angelica’s destination as she views Angelica being swooped up by Bette into her arms. Tina’s body freezes and her chest almost seizes.)

BETTE- (Warmly grasping Angelica…) “Hey Boo. Oh I love you.” (Angelica starts a conversation with Bette but apart from the sheer joy of feeling her daughter’s body in her arms, she doesn’t hear a word, while her periphery vision beckons to her concentration…a certain figure in the distance consumes her attention. Bette doesn’t look. Tina slowly walks over. She swallows to regain her voice.)

TINA- “What are you doing here?”

BETTE- (Holding Angelica and swaying with her a bit…) “I could ask you the same question.”

TINA- “I don’t understand…you’re here not by coincidence?”

BETTE- “Nope. I didn’t tell you I was going on a trip did I?”

TINA- “Then what are you doing here?”

BETTE- (Bette comes closer to her with Angelica so they’re closer together in this relatively public area.) “Maybe you should answer that first, particularly since I certainly had no idea…not from you at least…that you and my daughter would be going to San Francisco.”

TINA- “What?!”

BETTE- “Do you want to tell me what’s going on? Do you think maybe since my daughter’s life will be affected you should perhaps share your plans…let me in on it just a bit?”

TINA- “I told you we were going out of town Bette, so I don’t see what you’re getting at and I certainly don’t understand why you would follow us here. This is crazy.”

BETTE- “What’s crazy is your behaviour. I can’t believe you. How could you do this Tina?”

TINA- “What are you talking about?”

BETTE- “Do you really think I would have tortured Alice into just telling me you’re in San Francisco? She told me everything.” (Their respective sets of eyes dart across and into each other’s gaze.)

TINA- “Then you must also know that this is none of your concern, because it won’t affect….”

BETTE- “The custody arrangements…I know!”

TINA- “Look…I’m not doing this…not here.” (Tina moves in to take Angelica.) “Come up to the room.” (Tina walks, Bette follows. Tina preoccupies herself with Angelica, as Angelica preoccupies herself with Bette by continuing her smiles and her ongoing conversation with the irate yet gorgeous woman of a mother. As they reach the door, Tina hands Angelica to Bette. With the door unlocked, the estranged members of the small family enter. Tina drops her purse on a chair. A woman appears from the other room.) “Hi Myrrdin.”

MYRRDIN- “Hello ma’am.” (Bette looks perplexed.)

TINA- “Would you please take Angelica for an outing? I’m not sure for how long. I’ll call you on the cell phone.”

MYRRDIN- “Yes ma’am, my pleasure.” (Myrrdin picks up Angelica, who seems very happy to join her…and out they go, while Bette looks on, somewhat disenchanted.)

BETTE- “Who the hec is that? Angelica didn’t even flinch.”

TINA- “She helps take care of Helena’s kids. I needed help during the trip, so Helena had her come along. She’s been a lot of help these past months.” (Tina is moving around a bit as Bette’s eyes follow her.)

BETTE- (Bette’s countenance changes.) “I can’t believe you would take such a step without consulting me.”

TINA- “You came all the way to San Francisco to lecture me on this? What STEP Bette? This is about MY career, MY life, MY choice. You love San Francisco anyway…it never occurred to me you’d have any issue with Angelica being here while she’s with me. But I really don’t see how this concerns you. You know even better than I do, given Joyce’s role, that the custody agreement…”

BETTE- “Why the fuck does everyone keep repeating that to me!!!!”

TINA- “What?”

BETTE- “Nothing. Never mind….Tina…I don’t care what the agreement says or how much of your right it might be to do one thing or another. All I know, and anyone with two cents of a brain would know, that taking such a step warrants you consulting me. How could you do this?” (Her voice slowly intensifies with every passing sentence.) “It didn’t occur to you to meet up with me for half an hour to keep me in the loop? It didn’t occur to you to pick up the phone and say ‘hey Bette, look I’m thinking of making this move and I want to talk to you about it’? Common decency didn’t prevail upon you? Renewed friendship didn’t so much as give you a hint? Re-found trust and family, divided though we are, didn’t compel you to share this with me?” (Sarcastically…) “Oh but of course not…after all, you told Alice…and let’s not forget Helena…and yes, the entire Peabody family, oh and the gang at the Planet…why on earth tell Bette? It’s not like Angelica’s OTHER mother would need to know…no no…after all, Alice…or Helena…or Shane could fill her in…does Shane know? Ya…Shane…oh and there’s…well now let’s see…half of West Hollywood…yeah! So why tell Bette? Why bother?!”

TINA- “We had an understanding Bette and I’m fulfilling it.”

BETTE- “Will everyone please stop citing that damned agreement to me!”

TINA- “I’m not talking about the agreement.”

BETTE- “What? You’re not…”

TINA- “Well the agreement is pretty clear on this and you know it is…I’m not affecting your access to Angelica at all and you forced Joyce, kicking and screaming, to give up some of the usual restrictions.”

BETTE- “Apparently I’m the stupidest client she’s ever had.”

TINA- “Just listen!” (Bette furrows her eyebrows.) “I WANT you to see her. And thank goodness I’ll have the means to get her to you like always, and I WANT her to have you in her life as much as possible. That’s important to me. Son of gun Bette, do you really think I would jeopardize that? After all we’ve been through? After all the renewed trust and friendship that we struggled to restore all this time?” (Bette just looks at her.) “But NO, I’m not JUST talking about the custody agreement. I’m talking about what is between us and what’s been implicitly agreed to…between us.” (She motions with her hand back and forth, between them.)

BETTE- (Referring to her thought process…) “You lost me.”

TINA- (Referring to something totally different.) “Yeah no shit.”

BETTE- “What?”

TINA- “BETTE…listen to me.” (They’re standing in front of one another. Tina is trying desperately to explain and yet not go into certain ‘places’ she feels there’s no use in going…) “I think it’s pretty clear that we need to be in each other’s lives…we share Angelica, and she’s a bond like no other. I think we both know that but we also both know that the past is behind us and we have our lives to live. I think you…I think we both understand that and that we need to do what we have to…to…we need to move on. I think you need to…you have…you have a future with Jodie and I accept that, just like I expect you to let me live my life. We need to give each other…we can’t…Bette it’s been really… really nice this past while between us…maybe too uhm…well…I don’t want to ruin our friendship and what we have as a family. It’s been a little intense and…I…Bette I…” (She feels the tension mount in her throat…) “I need to let you go and I want to …I need to get on with my life but I don’t know if I…if we…I need to…” (She’s not quite able to explain everything…) “I just can’t do this anymore…”

BETTE- (Her heart has fallen a degree…) “Do what?”

TINA- (She doesn’t want to explain her actual thoughts further…) “Please Bette…just let me get on with my life.”

BETTE- (She feels herself being stoic and cold…) “What are you talking about? You can do whatever you want. You’re the one who ‘moved on’ all those months ago. I’m not stopping you and I’ve totally moved on. It’s Angelica that concerns me…I told you that. I think it’s awful you would make such a change in her life without consulting me. I thought our renewed trust and friendship and ‘understanding’ would explain that. I shouldn’t need an agreement brokered by Joyce Wyshnia or anyone else in order to ensure that. Our life together…I mean our years together and our child, not to mention what we’ve been through this last year, which includes my lapse in judgment during the Whistler stay, should be enough to ensure it. This past while you lead me to believe that you trusted me again… as a mother…and that we could be friends and that we could be in each other’s lives as friends. Now you go off half-cocked without including me in a fundamental issue involving Angelica and you react like I’m surprised. How could I be anything BUT surprised. I…”

TINA- (She feels her emotions and mind divide.) “Bette please…I don’t want to be in your life anymore.” (Bette feels a sudden weight burdening her body as she feels herself numbing…on the inside…) “I can’t do this anymore. Why are you making this so difficult? I’m giving you everything…you can comfortably live your life, have Angelica as a part of it as much as you like, and share your life with whomever you choose…let me now live MY life…the way I want.”

BETTE- “You can live your life the way you want in LA.”

TINA- “I don’t want to live my life there and the way I want to live it Bette is by moving away from there and living here. I like it here. You always loved it here so you should understand my choice…”

BETTE- “Don’t lecture me, please. I’m leaving. I’ll have Joyce deal with this. She’ll be in touch with your lawyer.”

TINA- “What?!!! Bette wait a minute…”

BETTE- “WHAT? WHAT TINA? WAIT FOR WHAT?”

TINA- “I didn’t do this to hurt anyone Bette, I did this to…”

BETTE- “Oh it’s clear why you did this…you just decided to hec with moral obligations and friendship, not to mention that you don’t want any part of my life anymore and off you go…with our daughter. “

TINA- “No Bette, I didn’t mean it that way. I never expected you would react this way…I’m giving you everything you want. I thought this would make it easier…for both of us. I didn’t do this to insult you or disrespect you or hurt you…”

BETTE- “Easier? EASIER? No, you just figured there’s no legal obligation, so you’ll just do whatever you like. Easier for YOU. Did you plan it this way Tina? Did you know exactly what you were doing when I didn’t give you a difficult time with the agreement? There I was doing penance again for my mistake…giving you leeway to make up for having messed up by taking her in the night. I’m really paying for that now aren’t I? Like I paid for…” (She stops and breathes deeply…) “Is this what you were planning all along? Did you just pretend that LA was where you wanted to stay before we formalized everything, so I’d have no idea this was coming? Were you lying to me that day you told me that you wanted US to make every important decision in Angelica’s life?”

TINA- “NO, of course not.”

BETTE- “Oh, you just woke up one morning and decided that…what was it you said? Get on with your life? And screwing me over by changing where Angelica lives most of the time without so much as passing it by me didn’t seem odd…that’s great Tina. Just great.”

TINA- “No no Bette…I did it because I thought it was the right thing to do.”

BETTE- “The RIGHT thing? Undermining me like that…are you serious?”

TINA- “No Bette…”

BETTE- “Oh, ok, screwing me over wasn’t the reason, it was just to ‘get on with your life’…and this, you somehow thought, was the RIGHT thing…ok…maybe I’ll ask Alice or Helena to explain it to me, since they probably got the unabridged version of your reasoning in any event! Get on with your life Tina?”

TINA- “Yes, and let you get on with yours.”

BETTE- “Right, by depriving me the role I value most…as a full parent to Angelica.”

TINA- “No by depriving me…” (She’s growing tired…) “I needed to stop…Bette we mended our friendship and things were going well and…I guess it was…maybe I was just sensing the…”

BETTE- “What! What Tina? What on earth were you sensing? And you were depriving yourself? You know I think you’re making less sense than Alice, and she’s totally losing it.”

TINA- “I needed to stop…”

BETTE- “Yeah I know, needed to stop being in my life or me being in yours…or goodness know what…I’m outa here. I expect to see Angelica at the usual time, and if you have any decency or any respect left for me and my relationship with Angelica you won’t finalize your future…your ‘life’ here in San Francisco. Goodbye, and please kiss Angelica for me. Whatever you needed to stop you’ve succeeded in stopping our friendship…and our family.” (Only then does Bette relinquish the two feet distance to Tina and begin to walk towards the door.)

TINA- (She stares at Bette’s departing form, and as Bette places her hand on the door, Tina’s voice escapes it’s cognitive barriers…) “I…needed to stop…” (Bette stops as she opens the door, with Tina’s voice growing weary and her tears on the verge of laying her insides bare…) “…stop the pain of still loving you and not having you…” (Bette’s heart is gripped and she looks upwards as her throat fights the obstacle of her emotions fighting to get through. She almost cannot believe what she has heard. Tina stands motionless as Bette turns her face slightly towards the side as though she’s considering facing Tina…but she can’t…she can’t bear the sounds of what she has heard, feeling as though she wants to run from the words, run from the exposed heart that for so long had closed its doors…run from the one thing her heart and soul desired most and that after all this time suddenly reared itself and called out to her…after all this time…after all that pain…after all she had done and not done…suddenly there it was. Even if she had wanted to speak she could not. Bette knew not the right words nor the right thoughts nor even what actions to take. She shook her head slowly, and in the moment when all thought and sense held no relevant place in the face of sheer feeling and emotion, she did the last thing she ever wanted and walked out, closing the door behind her. Tina couldn’t find a breathe to exhale or a thought to hold onto…she froze and stood as a mere witness to her own quiet sobs.

Bette didn’t stop once she exited the room. She walked briskly, her body tense with an inexplicable sensation. She reached the elevator but walked to the side where a window was positioned. Her hand touched the wall next to it and she leaned forward looking out the window and closed her eyes. Bette shook her head. Her now reddened eyes then exposed themselves, finding little solace in the view beyond the glass of the window. She then sees her recent life flashing before her eyes…Jodie’s words…”There’s only one person Bette who truly holds your heart and who can really ever share that bed…and you and I both know it’s not me.” … “But I’m not the ‘one’ either…am I?” (Bette shakes her head again and she thinks of Alice…) “Stop lying to me Porter. I saw the way you’ve been looking at her this past while…the way she looks at you…you can cut the intensity with a knife.”… “…all I’ll have left is your sorry ass to look at when you’ve realized the opportunity you’ve lost and everything that you have lost.” And then Tina’s sad and seemingly odd declarations take up the space within Bette’s mind… “I think we both understand … that we need to do what we have to… we need to move on.”… “I don’t want to be in your life anymore”… “I thought this would make it easier…for both of us.”… “I needed to stop…”…”I can’t do this anymore…” … “…stop the pain of still loving you and not having you…” … “…stop the pain of still loving you and not having you…”

And then Bette raises her head… “I can’t take this anymore either T…” She takes a hold of herself and makes an about face. She stares at the door she shut behind her a few moments ago. This, she thought to herself, could not have been a point of no return, and if it was, she would forcibly reclaim it. Bette headed back towards the door, but half way there Myrrdin appears and approaches the door. She had come from the other side of the floor, having used the other elevator bank. She doesn’t see Bette as Bette is stopped dead in her tracks and as she watches the nanny enter the room and close the door.)