"But, you know what?” Bette asked, her voice brightening.  It was clear she had hit upon an idea.  “I won’t go out there, and will stay back here, give the team some suggestions about what they’ll need to do, if the thought of my going out on another mission will be really distressing to you, baby.”

Tina was taken aback, and didn’t respond immediately.

Bette plunged forward, “Your call, Tina.  I won’t do anything further, without your support.  You’ve been so good about all this, as it is, so I don’t want to push things past reasonable limits.”

“Baby…,” Tina started, tearing up about Bette’s loving gesture and willingness to listen to her about this one.

“I’m serious, T,” Bette said soothingly, “As you said, we’re married now.  We need to make decisions that affect us, together.  I know we barely consulted each other before I headed out here and I really regret that we didn’t take the time to discuss all the angles much.  Things happened pretty quickly.”

Tina smiled, knowing full well that she would end up supporting Bette going out on another mission, if that’s what would be required.  Wild horses couldn’t keep Bette from doing what she thought was right.

Instead Tina thought she should try to communicate both her concern and her confidence in Bette.  She reflected that at some point in their relationship, things had become strained, painful, even, because they hadn’t communicated with each other about what the other was going through.  So, Tina thought that, while she didn’t want Bette to think the blonde was standing in the way of what Bette, in her nature, was inclined to do, she did want the brunette to keep a few things uppermost in her mind, as she decided what to do.  Tina had considered that a subtle way would be through a story from the early days of their getting together.

“Bette, do you remember what we talked about a few years ago, out in the beach one evening, down by my old apartment in LA?  Soon after we’d met?”

She could hear Bette’s smile in her response, “I remember how close we were getting, even just as friends, at that point.  But…which part, T?  We talked about different things, as we sat on the beach that evening.  And I think we were both a little buzzed by the wine we drank during “family night,” so I may not remember everything clearly….”