”Aw, c’mon, Bert. That’s sweet, but short-term. We’re here to talk final separation. The last hurrah!”

“What?” Bette speaks up surprised at what she’s heard. She tries to catch Tina’s eyes but the blonde avoids her gaze. Before she can say anymore Bert jumps in and Joyce counteracts.

“This wasn’t a marriage.”

“It wasn’t? Well, let’s see, we’ve got… a house, cars, vacations, love, commitment, a promise to be true? … a baby that was lost.” This time it’s Tina who searches out Bette’s eyes but she looks away on the verge of tears as Joyce continues. “A trust that was broken. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a marriage to me.” She addresses her next question to Bette. “Does that sound like a marriage to you?”

“It was.” Bette answers readily as Bert admonishes her to keep quiet. But she can’t stand it anymore. She looks directly at Tina. “It’s a – it’s a marriage that I don’t wanna have end.”

“Yeah, well, it’s a little late for that.” Joyce chuckles. “So let’s get back to the business at hand: the equitable division of funds.”

Suddenly Bette gets up and walks over to Tina. She kneels in front of her wife and tosses up her hands. “How many times do I have to say I’m sorry?”

“Here we go.” Joyce can be heard in the background but Bette ignores her as she continues to plead with Tina. “I am. Please don’t do this to us. This is not who we are.” Bette leans closer trying to get Tina to look at her but she’s not having any luck.

“Tina. We can fix this. Tina. Do you still love me?” Tina hesitates but looks as though she’s about to speak when Bette persists. “ Do you? Do you still love me?” Tina looks down and wrings her hands in her lap, hoping not to bring attention to the baby bump. She’s wearing a loose fitting man’s style shirt but if Bette wasn’t so distracted she would have noticed. “Don’t do this. Don’t destroy us.”

Finally Joyce has had enough of the drama playing out in front of her. In her head she mocked Bette ‘I cheated on you; feel sorry for me; I’m in pain’. She’d seen and heard it all a thousand time, but Bette’s performance was one of the best. She thought to herself that Meryl Streep couldn’t have done it any better. She would tell Tina the same thing that she’d told all her other clients caught in this type of situation. She’d instruct her not to have any contact with Bette until they got everything settled. She could see Tina’s resolve wearing down and if she didn’t step in Bette would get what she wanted and not what Tina needed.