“Bette had dinner with Helena last night, and look… Still alive.” Alice piped up through a chuckle, wrapping her arm around her room mate to give the Brit woman’s midsection a squeeze with one arm. Helena didn’t have anything to say yet but felt under scrutiny as Kit stopped pouring the coffee she had sitting in front of her in order to turn and gaze at the pair.

               “I haven’t seen Bette yet, she still alive too?” The dark skinned woman asked, her colored red lips curling into a grin.

               “She’s safe and sound and maybe two pounds heavier,” Helena replied once she had found her voice, her bright eyes cast down at Alice still stuck to her side. “Since someone didn’t tell me they were working late, I had a massive meal prepared… Bette stopped by so I invited her for dinner.”

               “And that sounds an awful lot like an explanation, nothing you need to explain to me Sugar.” Kit hummed through her grin as the fair English woman on the other side of the counter was left to wonder what Bette’s older sister was playing at. Few more words were exchanged before the room mates left in order to get to work on time. The car ride was quiet and the friends enjoyed the company of each other before the long work day ahead. Unknown to Helena, Alice was proud of her for trying to set things right. She could see how amazing and how generous Helena Peabody could be if she wanted to be. In truth, at the wedding, they all had. After Dana had passed and her apartment was left to feel like a big empty void Helena came in making the place feel a bit more like home again. The blond woman behind the wheel took a moment to look away from the road and over at the woman in the passenger seat.

               “All teasing aside,” Alice said as they pulled up to where Helena would be getting out, in front of her office building. “I think that you and Bette should set something up, have like a day or something, go out for coffee… You guys might feel a bit better.”

               “I’ll think about it Al, but I don’t want her to think I’m up to any funny business,” Stated Helena as she leaned over and pressed a quick peck to Alice’s cheek before getting out of the car. “You know how she can get, on edge.”

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               As she stood in the elevator with her coffee Helena couldn’t shake the thought of how she could call Bette without it seeming fishy. She felt as though everything she did, or anything she could do, might be taken like an attack. When Winnie had left the message on the phone, that Helena wouldn’t be given the right to her children, a piece of the monster she could be simply died. It made Helena’s stomach churn something sickly and she knew she could imagine almost exactly what Bette was feeling. She felt stupid for not thinking of it last night and for not asking how she was holding up. The night prior was filled with talk of art and industry, Peggy, and various other things but family just never came up. She thought about giving it a few days, see how things went and if Bette hadn’t taken the next step then she would and give her a ring. It seemed like the right way to go about things.