Bette shook the blonde’s protestations aside, and held Tina’s chin lightly, then gave her a long, deep kiss.  She whispered huskily, as she drew away from the kiss, “I promise to stay closer to home, and for longer stretches, from now on, T.”

She drew her in for an embrace, “After all that you’ve told me about how badly our being apart affected you, and now that we have a baby to raise together,  I know I’ve got to make changes in that area. If George and I work together again, I’ll make it clear that he’ll need other people to do all that travelling.”

They drew apart from the embrace simultaneously.  Bette asked, “Okay, if not dinner, then how about walking back to the hotel, instead of taking a cab?  The weather’s still nice…and as the lights come on, perhaps a nice stroll back could be, ummmm, romantic?," ending with a slow wink.

Tina leaned in for a kiss, which Bette obliged.  “Mmmm… I really do miss our kisses, Bette,” Tina said softly as they drew apart.  Bette looked back at her with a half-smile.

“One of the thousand things I’ve missed,” Tina continued, with a sigh.

“A thousand, huh?,” Bette teased;  she hooked her arm around Tina’s as they turned to walk towards the hotel.  “What are the nine hundred and ninety nine other things that you’ve missed about us, then?”

Tina grinned back at her, as she hugged Bette’s arm linked around hers closer to her frame, “I’ll tell you mine, (pause), if you tell me yours!”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

An hour later, Tina was letting the driver of the car service into the suite, while Bette headed into the bathroom to shower and change.

“Thanks very much for doing all this,” Tina was saying as she and the driver looked over the list of things that he had written down.  They checked off the items from the hotel, including her suitcase, and the food and other preparations from the chef of the restaurant, with whom Tina had become friends with during her last stay.  They went through the items that the florist had prepared.  “Mademoiselle, I also asked one of the waiters from the restaurant downstairs to bring up plates, glasses, and other things that I thought you would need for your, um, dinner?”