Light on her feet she went to the bathroom.  Closing the door to trap the artificial glow, she then washed her face and brushed her teeth. 

It was very late and the effects of the alcohol were beginning to fade.  Mentally checking her list of to-dos she reminded herself to adjust the alarm, allowing a twenty minute reprieve from her usual start.

With the house again in darkness and relying instead on memorized surroundings she worked her way back to the living room to reach her phone.  The text message she sent Kit was short.  They’d had their share of rocky times but still they came through for one another.  The more steady hand ready to counsel.  A shoulder to lean on.  A presence felt.

Thank you.  We’ll see you soon.

Turning her cell off she retraced her steps then turned left, stopping to hover over Angelica’s small frame. 

“I love you,” Bette whispered tenderly as she pulled the blanket over her chest.  Laying her hand on the baby she felt the child’s heartbeat against her palm.  She trembled perceptibly.  In joy.  With contentment. 

Again she divulged, “I love you so much.”  Her words were unqualified and pure.  

Working her way to the master bedroom, she slipped into the bed as quietly as possible.  Sitting  with controlled movements, she then reached to adjust the clock.  Unhurriedly, she lay her head on the waiting pillow.

Tina was resting on her side, facing Bette.  Her breathing was even and presumably asleep.  But then she spoke.  Her voice a touch stronger than the quiet tones of their earlier exchange, “Baby?” 

“She’s fine Tina.  I just checked on her.”  Bette answered routinely then whispered the earlier instruction.  “Go back to sleep.”

Bette felt Tina’s hand lay flat on her stomach signaling her intent to converse.

“May I ask you something Bette?” an alert Tina inquired.

Bette raised herself slightly and turned, the sound of the sateen sheet under her head magnified in the quiet darkness.  Curious yet definitive, “Of course,” she replied.

Tina encroached on the space occupied by her partner.  Close enough to share a pillow while her lower half pressed against Bette’s side.  “Do you feel safe with me?”

“What?”  Bette asked with innocent confusion. 

“Do you know how much…”  Tina paused.  Her mind drifted back to the overheard conversation.

“Earlier,” Tina acknowledged,  “ I heard you and Kit talking.” 

“Oh.”  Bette swallowed.  Not knowing all of what Tina heard she deflected, “It wasn’t anything really.  We were just…I was just talking.”

“Okay,” her partner soothed.   Tina moved her hand up to Bette’s face.  Using her fingertips she pushed back the loose hairs she knew fell across Bette’s forehead.  Pressing her palm gently against Bette she cupped the face of the woman who lay next to her.  Who lay claim to her heart. 

“I feel so safe in your arms.”  Tina stated with passion.  “I can’t imagine being with anyone else.”

She let the minutes come and go.  Letting the calm darkness of the night saturate with her message.  “Do you?”  Her voice hitched, “Do you feel safe in mine?”

Bette’s brow wrinkled, then said out loud what her heart knew.  “I want to be with you forever.”   She finished in silence, ‘I won’t let go until you tell me to.’

Tilting her head forward, the blonde kissed her lover.  Bette moved closer, pressing the length of their bodies against one another.  They caressed lightly and each sensed the emotional closeness.

“T,” she queried softly.  The brunette inched back, having felt a tear on Tina’s skin.  Moving her right hand upward, she brushed the wetness away with the pad of her thumb. 

Just then Tina invited humbly, “Ask me.”

Words and actions would be their guides.  Knowing she neglected to answer when a kneeling Bette posed a question what seemed like ages ago.  Wanting to address the questions she heard hours earlier.  Knowing her partner needed to hear the truth.  There was no other person who would fill her as this woman had.  Still did.  Needing and wanting no one else.

Bette’s heart skipped a beat.  Tonight, suffused with the faint glow of the clock that read the early hour she felt it wholly.  The answer that eluded her as she swam in unwarranted ambiguity. 

While in Tina’s embrace and although the answer was now entirely apparent, she asked.

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