Yes, one forgotten of late but there was no question.  For her, it was still…forever.

The entreaty that followed pierced the heavy mood that threatened to suffocate the women facing one another.  “I hope…I don’t mean to leave forever but maybe we need time apart.” 

The fact that it reached this point, prompting her lover to succumb to offering this action was beyond supposition.  It should have never…never reached this desperate moment. Granted, an interlude would perhaps offer temporary relief.  But Tina knew that even in its flawed and disarrayed state, their union being supplanted by enforced distance would in no way ever present as the answer. 

Time apart.  Even an ephemeral one was thoroughly unacceptable.  She could not and would not fathom imposing physical distance between them.  If anything, it would compound the emptiness they had inadvertently nurtured. 

The irony was not lost on Tina.  The idea of being ‘apart’ was the very reason why Bette proposed leaving.  They had been drifting separately for some time now.  Not just in terms of overt presence.  Rather, in more meaningful respects contradicting the notion of sharing their lives with each other. 

Not anymore.  The miracle of their bond was worthy of the impending struggle to sustain it. 

Yet concurrently, she was aware any attempt made would have to be vigilant of the tenuous circumstance the evening presented.  It merited careful approach. 

In that moment, surrounded by fear and doubt, it was clear what Tina needed to do.  Unquestionably.  Unfalteringly. 

Complicated in its simplicity…reclaim her lover. 

Her advance was muffled by the short distraught intakes of breath from her besieged partner. Without actually seeing, Bette alternated between studying the lines of the cool hardwood floor beneath her feet and those that creased her palms. 

Quietly but assuredly, a soft stroke cradled Bette’s chin and urged her to look past the haze of ambiguity that blurred her view into the eyes of the person she cherished entirely.  The woman who reciprocated the wonder of that connection which tonight faced potential collapse.

Tina’s ultimate intention was to fully halt the looming departure and make her partner see they needed to be together to face the trial confronting them.  That right now, mind and body, she was present to do so.  All the while, hoping the disposition of woman she caressed lightly ran in parallel.

Decidedly, the foremost step was an affirmation of unmatched closeness.  So a single request followed. 

“Bette.”  The plea to be heard, though whispered was strikingly potent.

“Be with me …” she stopped short of completing her thought.  Only the ambient noise from a clock’s ticking in the neighboring room and an engine’s hum outside impressed upon the powerful weight of the moment.

For an instant, Tina hesitated though she knew the continuing phrase had to be spoken.  Wanting to recognize the truth in the previously gestured distance.  Conveying an appreciation and understanding of the expressed desperation in her partner’s suggested resolution.  Of her willingness to admit she could not alleviate the situation on her own.

After all, she knew it too.  Even though she was feared the risk of it becoming reality by articulating the entreaty, what had been a growing void between them had to be recognized.  Accepted. 

It begged to be uttered so as to be challenged.  Spoken in order to be defied. So she pressed on, hoping they were strong enough to withstand the millstone of their present.

“Make love to me,” she restated.

Then spoke the rest,  “…before you leave.”