Bette looked puzzled.

“Sometimes you just know, Bette.  You know that fate has thrown something in your path and you can choose to see it or you can turn away.  I was lucky enough to see it that time…I could have just as easily fucked it up, and…”

“And…what?”

“And we probably wouldn’t be here.”

“What makes you think I would have given up that easily?  Don’t you think I would have made you see?  I’m the one who took the initiative, after all.  I knew you were straight…and I kissed you anyway.  Surely that says something…”

“That you hit on straight girls…?”  Tina laughed teasingly.

Bette frowned.  “That I took a chance on you.”

“Well, that sounds good, but…”

“But what?”

“Well, what’s the worst that could have happened?  It wasn’t that big a risk…for you.”

“It  was!”  Bette said seriously.  “I have always steered clear of straight girls Tina, and you know it.” 

“So why’d you do it?”

“Fate threw me into your path…I didn’t know what hit me,” she smiled, tracing one of Tina’s eyebrows with her thumb.

Bette stopped speaking for a moment and let that thought sink in.  She’d never really considered it precisely that way.  Tina touched her cheek then cupped it tenderly, seeing the realization reach Bette’s eyes.

Bette continued.  “I was compelled to kiss you that first time, in the gallery.”

“Compelled…”

“Uh-huh.  Did you leave the earring on purpose?”

“I don’t know.”

Bette looked skeptical.

“Really.  I’ve thought about it a thousand times and I just don’t have the answer.  If I did, it was not conscious.  But I think it’s possible that my unconscious mind knew what I thought I might be feeling for you.  That’s all I can say.  It’s a mystery.”

“A mystery…”  Bette echoed.

“When did you know that you were in love with me?”  Tina asked unexpectedly.

“The first time we made love,” Bette answered honestly.

Tina laughed, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, please!”

“Tina!  I’m serious,” Bette looked hurt but really wasn’t.  She knew it sounded like a line. 

Tina’s face sobered in an effort to listen to Bette’s explanation.

“We fit,” Bette said simply.  When we lay together, we fit.”  Her voice trailed off, remembering the way it felt to have Tina in her arms the first time.  She had been overwhelmed by her feelings.  She couldn’t name them then, she was so scared. The feeling was so strong it was almost painful, like an ache in her heart and stomach and center.  She ached and tingled everywhere at once.  It was so excruciatingly intense it brought tears to her eyes.  And when Tina looked at her after experiencing her first orgasm with a woman, Bette knew her life had changed forever.  Knew it with everything in her soul. 

She shared those thoughts with Tina and waited for her response.

“Well, I felt like I had just made love for the first time in my life,” Tina recalled with a broad smile.  “And I really had.  It was so beautiful…and complete.  I had never had such an emotional response to sex before.  It was so…well… complete is all I can say.  I don’t know if you can understand, but I felt like I lived a lifetime in those moments, you know?”   She searched Bette’s eyes and continued,

“It was like I experienced every possible emotion during the course of that orgasm.  I’m not explaining it well,” she stammered, putting her hand to her heart without thinking.  “It moved me so deeply.   I was speechless.”

“I was so scared because you didn’t say anything for the longest time…”

“I couldn’t find the words, I couldn’t find my voice.”

“So I just held you – and I knew.  It came to me in the silence that was between us.  I loved you.”

A tear trickled down Tina’s cheek.

“That’s the best anniversary present I’ve ever received,” she said quietly brushing Bette’s lips with her own.  “I love it when you talk to me, Bette.”

“I always talk to you, baby.”

“Not like this…”

“Well, I will.  I will,” Bette promised, kissing her nose.

“Thank you, baby.”

“For what?” 

Tina smiled happily. “For showing me the light.”

“T….”

TBC