"I guess," Bette shrugged again, averting her gaze.

Tina smiled, and kissed the brunette’s cheek. "I know how to cheer you up."

Bette brightened, and beamed at her. "Can we be quiet?"

Tina laughed. "We can try. Of course, we’ll be helping pay for our kids’ therapy, so what’s the harm."

Bette grinned at her.

"I was thinking more you can have your lecture in a few days."

"Not tomorrow?"

"She’s still reeling from the accident, and the relief that Terry’s okay. Give her another day."

Bette nodded. She’s learned to trust Tina’s judgment on these things.

"Oh," Tina winced. "The hospital staff knows her by name."

"No."

"Oh, yes. The doctor. I’m beginning to worry that they think I’m a bad mother, or something."

"T, you’re a great mother. She’s an accident-aholic, what can we do," Bette assured her.

Tina sat down on a chair, and frowned at Bette. "Are we doing something wrong, though?"

"I don’t know how someone called ‘Angel’ can cause so much destruction in her wake." Bette noted, joining her wife at the tbale . "Computers crashing, appliances breaking down, fires, and now a car… It’s like waiting for the ten plagues by the Angel of Destruction."

"You’ve figured out Terry was driving, right?"

"Yeah," Bette glanced at her. "So what was her excuse? Formula One fantasy, daydreaming, worrying about the meeting with lawyers…"

"They were rushing back to school." Tina said, then quickly covered Bette’s mouth with her hand as Bette’s face twisted in a look of fury once upon a time reserved for Franklin at the CAC.

Bette’s scream of disapproval disappeared as Tina’s hand kept her mouth shut, and she let Tina’s slow shake of her head soothe that fury. Once Tina was sure the flash of fury had passed, Tina took her hand away.

Bette frowned, and took hold of Tina’s hand. "Having given birth to her, I think you should know that I will kill her."

"Is Angie in trouble?" Katie asked, joining her mothers at the table, and sitting on the chair nearest to Tina.

"A lot." Tina smiled at Katie. "Any homework, baby?"

"Nope." Katie snuggled close to her mother.

"Did you learn anything today?"

"Mars is the red planet and comes after Earth from the Sun." Katie told her.

"And is a candy bar," Angelica said, joining them. She looked at her mothers. "Turns out there’s a dance in a few weeks. I was wondering how long I’ll be grounded."

Bette glanced at her, then at Tina, then back at Angelica. "I was thinking until you’re thirty, but it looks like you’ll have grandchildren by the time you’re not grounded anymore."

"What?" Angelica frowned. "Mom!"

"Baby, you should be happy you’re not going to be home schooled, after your actions on why you’re grounded in the first place." Tina told her.

Angelica turned to Bette, except that wasn’t exactly going to help her case. "So, thirty, huh?"

"Years, Angel. Thirty years." Bette told her.

"But I’ll be old! That’s ancient!" Angelica wailed, then froze and smiled sweetly at her parents. "Not that you two are old, or anything."

Bette and Tina exchanged glances.

"You have a tower we can lock her up in?" Tina asked her wife.

"Or a dungeon," Katie piped in.

"I’m sure Aunt Alice or Aunt Kit would have something to say," Angelica mumbled.

"Oh, to afford boarding school…" Bette mused.

Angelica pouted, then saw the smirk on her sister’s face. "What?"

"In some cultures parents get to choose which child they want to keep when the children reach certain ages." Katie told her family.

"Well, I came first, so you’ll have to go." Angelica said, which was answered with Katie sticking out her tongue at her.

Tina turned to Bette. "Did I really say I wanted children all those years ago?"

tbc