“I know. I’m sorry too. But I don’t like this, Tina.” Bette impatiently pushed Tina upright and turned to face her. “I don’t like how you refuse to tell me things and then act like I’m the bad guy when you get caught. I don’t like not even being given the chance to react in one way or another.”

“I know,” Tina said, shamefaced. “I would hate it if you treated me that way.” Tears welled up in Tina’s eyes again, and she hated herself right then for being so weak. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I just don’t want to lose you, Bette.”

Bette wrapped her arms around Tina and let her cry, rubbing her back slowly. “I know baby. But you’re not going to lose me, not ever again. You have to start trusting me, and you have to start communicating.”

Tina pulled away and wiped her eyes on the backs of her hands. “You’re right, you’re right. I just couldn’t find the right time to talk to you about it, and you were always so opposed to hiring any help at all, even though it was the most practical thing!”

“Tina-“

“And this afternoon when Helena suggested that maybe you didn’t want a nanny because you were afraid of the temptation, I-“

“Wait, what? Helena said what?”

Tina poured out the entire story, stopping to answer Bette’s questions. She told Bette about the people she had interviewed before and the three interviews she did today. She explained why Helena was there and the near-disaster they had with Ms. Epstein. She told Bette about each of the candidates and Bette agreed to be there and help Tina make the decision on whom to hire.

Tina was mentally kicking herself, wishing she had told Bette about all this before. Would she ever learn? Something was still nagging at her, though.

“Bette… Why is it that every time I suggested we hire a nanny, you were so opposed to the idea and refused to even entertain the idea? I’m not saying I was right to do all this without your input, but you do understand why I felt like I had to, don’t you?” Tina wanted to get to the truth.

“Yes,” Bette said with a sigh. “You weren’t far wrong earlier when you said that I wanted to do it all myself, but that’s not really it. I just… I don’t want to entrust our children to a stranger. You know it’s not easy for me to trust new people, period. Trusting our babies with them…” Bette shook her head. “I don’t know, it’s going to be tough. I’m going to have to have a lot more information about each of them before we even think about actually hiring anyone.”

“Fair enough,” Tina said, relieved. She was more than happy to delegate Bette her half of the responsibility in this. She’d make a far better interviewer than Helena at the very least. She snuggled closer to Bette, comfortable in the silence between them. Another crisis averted. Until tomorrow, anyway, she thought with a sleepy smile.

“One thing, though,” Bette said in the lull. “I don’t want you ever thinking that anyone could take me away from you. You and Angelica and this baby are all that I want.”

Tina squeezed her hand. “I know.”                                                          

Bette placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “Good.”

“Come on,” she said, puling Tina to her feet. “Let’s call it a day.”

Tina gratefully allowed Bette to lead her upstairs to the bedroom. “Fine with me; I’m wrecked. I’m so happy this day is over,” she said with a yawn.

Bette looked at her over her shoulder. “It’s not quite over yet, T.”

“No?”

“No,” Bette said, a familiar twinkle in her eye. “I thought we could end it the way we started it, actually.”

Tina smiled her assent. For only the second time that day, she had nothing to complain about.