Angel went from cranky to happy as they went to the bedroom. Dana turned the television on to the Tennis Channel and found an ATP US Open series match. When Alice came in five minutes later, she found a very contented Angelica listening with interest as Dana gave her a running commentary on the forms of the players and the rules of the game.

"Watch this guy…he’s tossing too high. See that? His first service percentage has got to be really low." Dana took Angel’s arm through the motions of a proper toss. Angelica gurgled, much to Dana’s delight. "Okay, look, I know the scoring thing doesn’t make sense at first. It took me awhile too. Don’t worry, I’ll keep explaining until you get it."

Alice fell in love with Dana all over again on the spot. She flashed on Dana giving Angel lessons in a few years and said a silent prayer, pleading with the Gods to let her vision become reality.

"Here’s her bottle," she said softly. Dana started to hand Angel over. "No, baby, look at her. She’s happy for the first time in hours. Give her the bottle." She climbed onto the bed and snuggled up to them as Dana fed Angelica. When she’d agreed to take care of Angel, this is what Alice had pictured, only in reverse. She was too exhausted to think anymore and drifted off, along with Dana and the baby.

"So it turns out, Baby A is fascinated with all things Dana," Alice told Carmen and Shane the next morning. They brought coffee and muffins at ten, prepared to rescue them, expecting the place to be a wreck and the baby out-of-control.

Instead they found Dana and Angelica reading the California section of The Los Angeles Times together while Alice worked on her latest article. All were freshly showered and the house was spotless. The couple was speechless as they sipped their coffee and listened to Al and Dane rave about the baby.

"Once I realized that she likes me, it was a whole new world," Dana beamed.

"It seems that anytime she gets upset, it’s because Dana is too far away," added Alice. "Dane’s like her live-action sleepy puppy."

"Uh-huh." Carmen had no idea what that meant.

"I think it was the breast milk that sealed the deal." Dana said. It was the first time since the mastectomy that she didn’t give a second thought to saying breast in any context.

"Mmm, I dunno. She was all over you before that. I think it’s because you’re pretty much on the same napping schedule."

"That’s not true…"

"I was kidding," Alice said as she shook her head to indicate that she hadn’t been. "Seriously, you sold yourself short. You’re a natural with kids."

"Really baby? You think? Well, this one maybe."

"This is way too strange," intoned Shane. "Yesterday was hell incarnate and today, they’re the fucking Stepford dykes."

"We heard that, you know," chided Alice. "How ’bout I get you some milk to go with that muffin?"

Carmen, Dana and Angel chuckled.

"Don’t be gross," Shane said, catching on.

"We’ve got a play date to get to," Dana changed the subject. "You guys want to come?"

And so the day went. In spite of everything, the unlikely soul mates made a great parenting team. Alice saw to it that they kept to the schedule and Dana made sure that she was always in close proximity to Angelica. When Bette and Tina got home some twelve hours later, they found their daughter snuggled safely between Alice and Dana, who were lost in their patented private banter, looking for all the world like the family they might someday become.