“I’m not taking any chances. Kit is gonna bite our heads off if she finds out…”

“Yeah and I’d like to keep my head too. Thank you very much.” Bette smiled weakly at them.

“Sit tight, princess. We are taking you to the castle…” Alice kissed her forehead after putting her seatbelt on for her.

“Thank you…”

“Just be ok, sweetie. That’s all we want now…” Shane started the car as Alice called Kit.

“Damn it…” Alice hung up a few minutes later with obvious frustration.

“What’s wrong?”

“Kit’s fucking phone is not right! I got voice mail like five times!”

“Try her house, Al. She’s probably asleep and turned her cell off…”

“Yeah, ok.”

–

Back in Kit’s apartment, the two figures were huddled up together in a tight embrace. They held each other for a while, just reveling in the human touch. The phone rang but Kit remained still. After a while, it stopped. Kit released from the embrace and walked over to the phone. She disconnected the cable, wanting no more interruptions. She needed to tell Tina about Bette’s situation… She walked over to Tina and noted her questioning look.

“I need to tell you something.”

“Bette…”

“She’s pregnant.” A gasp. She couldn’t begin to imagine.

“From the…” Unable to finish her sentence, Tina just left the sentence hanging. Kit nodded a little, telling her what she suspected.

“She’s keeping it…” The baby. She couldn’t call it that, not yet. Maybe not ever. It wasn’t a miracle of life. It was a lifetime of evidence to what happened that day…

“Oh my God…” With her hands cupping her mouth, her muffled reply echoed Kit’s sentiments as well.

–

“Fuck! I can’t get through!” Alice threw her phone on the dashboard.

“It’s ok, Al. I’m fine. We can go back now… I feel a lot better now…” Bette’s weak voice didn’t manage to deliver the most convincing excuse.

“No. We’re almost there. Worst case, I’ll just drive to Kit’s after I drop you guys off…” Shane’s voice was laced with fear. Bette chuckled at her reply, finding it so utterly hilarious that Kit was so terrifying to all three of them. Bette was a little afraid of Kit not letting her live in her house alone after finding her so weak just after a few weeks of moving back.

“We’re such a bunch of pussies…” Bette said the first thing that came into her mind. The three of them laughed so hard that Shane had to struggle to control her movements. Her hands were navigating the steering wheel and they really didn’t need another accident.

–

“You know… She cared. Bette. She really cared…” Kit was of course referring to Tina’s earlier words. The blonde just listened intently at what seems like a confession of a sort. The older woman looked on trance and went on to explain herself.

“We found her floating in the pool on night.” Kit looked into her eyes, giving more conviction in her words.

“She was drunk, I think. Shane called me later on explaining how she saw Bette, just floating on the water.”

“I tried to get her to talk afterwards. It was after you left. The first time…” Both women’s lips quivered in remembrance.

“She told me it was a misunderstanding. She was just cooling off from the beers… But Shane-“ A sob caught in Kit’s throat. Tina moved over to her and held her.

“Shane said it looked like she was… Like she was…” Her teary red and swollen eyes found Tina’s.

“Like she tried to drown herself…” They cried together. Tears were running out and headaches were throbbing harder than ever.

“She cared… She cared, Tina…” The blonde kissed Kit’s hair, gently soothing the distraught woman in her arms.