Tina was on her back, eyeing the ceiling, the wine in her glass almost gone.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Bette asked, with some concern.

“Nothing…nothing, Bette.  I just wish you’d called me about your plans tonight.”

“Well, they’re not really “plans,” T.  Just something special for us, tonight.”

Tina sat up, and leaned back on her arms.  “To celebrate what, exactly?”

Bette wasn’t sure what it was.  Whether it was her tone, or just how she phrased the question, or her body language, or just everything combined.  But something told her that suggesting a vacation, even for just a few days, in far-away Dubai could set Tina off tonight.

She was on edge about something, and Bette wasn’t sure what it was.

They looked at each other for a few minutes longer, then Bette offered her a small smile, and turned to head back to the kitchen.  She began to put the things back in the fridge, and tossed the ice in the bowl intended to keep the caviar cool, down the drain.

She poured herself another glass of wine, and headed to the guest bedroom, which they had converted into a home office.  Before getting there, she dropped by their media room, locating the sound system, which piped music all throughout the  apartment, and switched it off.

Bette went into the guest bedroom, and shut the door.  She’d fallen asleep there two nights ago, and would probably end up sleeping there again tonight.  It was becoming a habit, she knew, but she also instinctively realized that Tina wasn’t looking for her to sleep in their bedroom either.

As Bette turned to leave, Tina drained the last of the wine on the glass, and fell back to bed.  It was true, what she told Bette.  She really was tired.  She needed sleep, rest.  Although the work at Film Features was going well, almost too well, maybe.  She felt like she was hitting a wall.

All the emotional stress she had gone through in Paris after Bette left, then the high of reuniting with her, moving with her to New York, and being immediately swept up in various productions at Film Features, had combined to wear her down.  She was worn out.  She needed a vacation.  They needed a vacation.  But Bette just seemed so excited about the work with George, and she appeared to be doing really well in it.  Tina thought, “It wouldn’t be fair to ask her to drop things all of a sudden to go somewhere, unplug, and just get away.”