Bette was making sure that things at Tasha and Alice ‘s place were ok before she left to meet them at the airport. She was glad for the distraction. It took her mind off of worrying about Tina’s reaction for a while.

On her way there, she wondered what shape her friend was in. She was scared and grateful at the same time. She parked the car and walked to the gate to greet them. As they exited the plane, Bette saw them. She was a little taken aback by the way Alice looked. Her face was gaunt but what broke her heart the most was the light and mischief in Alice eyes was gone. They were now vacant devoid of anything, it was like she was looking straight through you.

Bette noticed that Alice still had a slight limp.

“Hey AL ” said Bette.

She wanted to hug her but she knew that at this point the only physical contact that she could handle was for a person to touch the tips of her fingers.

“Hey Bette” said Alice .

Bette wanted to cry. She was so happy to hear Alice say her name. She looked up to see Tasha struggling with the bags. She took two and headed toward the car.

“How was the flight?” asked Bette.

“It was long. Alice slept the whole way. I slept for a little bit” said Tasha.

“Well let me tell you about the new place. You’re going to be living next door to me. The place is pretty big, furnished. I figured you would want to do your own rooms. It has two bedrooms. I was not sure if you were going to share. But you can do whatever you want. I also got a light system that you can adjust in each room. The doc said you don’t like bright lights right now”

When they arrived they got a tour of the place so Alice would feel more comfortable. Two hours after they got home Alice was asleep.

“Tasha, I am amazed at how good you are with her” said Bette.

“It is no big deal. I wanted to say to you that your relationship with Alice must be something else for her to let lay with her while she fell asleep. There are a few things I wanted to go over with you about Alice . The girl she was when she left is dead, gone. We have a chance to help who she is now. She is non verbal by choice and necessity at this point I think but she does speak through body language. Right now she doesn’t like to be touched or people to be in her personal space, when she gets really agitate she starts to hum. Alice has to have a book with her”