..Ms Kennard just stood there, one eyebrow in the air. But then it seemed she couldn’t stop herself. "Bette – calm down. We’re obviously not together, since we both have separate caddies. And it’s not like it’s very crowded in here now, is it?" she smiled gently.

.."No," Bette admitted hesitantly.

.."Well then, I don’t see the problem."

..But Bette didn’t hear those words. She couldn’t hear any sound at all. Her world had stopped. All she could do was stare, stare at the box ms Kennard was holding. She couldn’t believe it, her mind barely registered the words. The letters were blurry, dancing in front of her, mocking her. The see-through plastic seemed to mock her as well, confirming what was inside. A pregnancy test. It didn’t mean she actually was pregnant, but she might be, and that meant that she and her boyfriend were trying for babies, which meant they were getting serious and the small inch of hope that she had gained from the near-kiss at the restaurant was gone. Everything was gone. Everything went black. The ground hit her hard.

 ######################

..Tina had been surprised to see Bette at the supermarket – what were the odds with LA being so immense and the supermarkets being so numerous? The same section, at the same time? 

..She didn’t have long to think about it, as Bette began rambling. She always seemed to do that when she was nervous and Tina thought it was kind of cute. She didn’t really think about Bette seeing what she was looking for. 

..When Bette fainted, Tina immediately dragged her up and fished her cellphone out of her pocket. She was too panicky to even consider asking one of the people who worked there if they could help. 

###################### 

..In the following time, Bette’s world was vague. She felt sleepy, as if her limbs were made of lead. She heard voiced, saw the shape of the living room, registered that she was being fed. She felt like she could sleep for the rest of her life. The light was out most of the time and she dreamt a lot. She saw some faces that looked familiar, but she couldn’t place them.

..Bette was lying on the couch in the living room, as she always preferred when she was feeling ill. They had first brought her to the hospital and given her the advice to rest a lot, along with some drugs to calm down. She was clearly overstressed. Only she knew why. Kit had come home as soon as she had heard that her baby sis had been submitted to the hospital – she said she had never been so relieved in her life when she heard that Bette was going to be okay.