And so it was…

Tina didn’t return home with Bette, as intended. She was summoned to New York to proof a couple scripts and take meetings with studio exec’s for most of the following week. Bette, on the other hand, boarded a plane the following morning, and headed for the west coast. Alice and Dana…well, they were no where to be found when Bette and Tina reached the Porter Estate that evening. They arrived home to find an empty liquor cabinet, a ransacked pool house, and a very emotionally distraught Thomas.

They showed up in LA a week later.

Dana called Bette the minute she got home, and asked if they could meet for lunch the following day. Bette was more than happy to—with the condition that Dana return every stitch of her clothing.

Dana reluctantly agreed.

Bette arrived early and took a seat out on the patio. She tried calling Tina, but the call went to voice mail. Seeing Marina pointing Dana toward the table, she slipped the phone into her bag and stood to greet her. “Hey, you, I’m so happy you called me.”

“Hey, yourself. Yeah, I figured, we haven’t had a one on one in a while, so, it was time.” Dana kissed Bette on the cheek and took a seat. “And I’m not going to even ask what the two of you were doing while Tina and I searched hopelessly for you both,” Bette said, without taking her smiling eyes from the menu. “Well good, because I’m not telling.”

Bette laughed, “So what’s up? What is new in the life of Dana Fairbanks?” Dana shut the menu and placing it on the table, said, “Actually, Bette, I was kind of hoping that you’d talk to Alice for me, if…you wouldn’t mind.”

“And what will I be talking to Alice about this time?” Dana ordered an iced tea when she saw the waitress coming. “Well, for starters, she’s been spending a lot of time on Hollywood Boulevard interviewing homeless kids, at night…”

“Hollywood Boulevard?”

“So, I’m not just being dramatic, I mean, you see my concern—and don’t get me wrong, I’m all for Alice advancing her career.” Bette relaxed into her chair when the drinks hit the table. “Well, that’s very true, I mean she’s been trying to break free from lipstick and women’s issues in general for the longest time…”