Bette’s eyebrows were knitted in concentration, as she sought to recall the event Tina was describing.  Then her eyes lit with recognition.

“Oh, yes, yes of course! The night we had dinner at that Japanese place in the lower east side, and we stopped at a drug store to get tests. Several of them, because you wanted to be sure!"

“But… they all came out negative, right?”

Tina turned to face Bette, and drew a deep breath in, then blew out.

She held Bette’s hands lightly in hers. 

“The Monday after you’d left,” she began carefully, “Two days after that awful talk we had on the bridge that Saturday…”

Bette was patient, but had a confused look in her face.  Something important here, as Tina is being really careful.

“Liz called me early in the morning.  She asked us to come in.”

“Why, T?”

“Well, the previous Wednesday, I’d had a meeting in Union Square, and decided to walk the few blocks to her clinic.  I was thinking of just checking whether we still had enough of ..um…Marcus’ sperm on ice, for another try.”

“Anyway, while there, I asked if she could give me a pregnancy test.  I was thinking I had nothing to lose, and if the tests showed the same result as the one that the tests we bought in the store showed, then we would have known that already.”

She drew another breath.

“Well… when I showed up at the clinic, after Liz had called to ask us to come by, Liz showed me tests that said we were…pregnant.”

Bette drew a sharp breath.  One hand move to her chest area below her throat, as if to try to still a rapidly beating heart.  Her other hand clutched Tina’s hand tightly.  Tina covered it warmly between her hands.

“Pregnant?  You…we…were pregnant?”

“T…”

Tina smiled, brought the hand she was holding to her lips, and she kissed it as tears of joy tracked down her face.

Bette drew her in for a tight hug.

“That’s why you said you hadn’t touched a drink for 10 months.  And why Kit and everyone else kept checking in on you.  And maybe part of the reason why you said you were a mess during the first appointment with Dan. Wow. Pregnant,”  Bette was saying, repeatedly.  Like Tina, she was tearing up.

“We have a girl, Bette.  Beautiful.  Looks like you.”

Bette released Tina, then held her at arms’ length, carefully, as if she was afraid Tina would break suddenly if she put too much pressure on her now.

Tina continued, “Her name’s Angelica.  And she’s just like her name.  An angel.  Our angel.”