“That freaked both of us “ Tina said smiling “The coffee and the being gay and the never being late” Tina stopped and held her hand to her mouth. She was finding that controlling her emotions was not easy. She was terrified about Bette’s illness and needed to see the brunette to reassure herself that she was going to be okay. That whole business about complications was something that worried her – what if Bette did have hearing problems or something much more severe .Tina rubbed her face.

“How are you feeling ?”

“I feel sick “ Tina admitted “I keep going over this morning and last night in my head to see if there was anything I could have done – if there was anything that I could have done to make a difference. She was tired – that’s all “

“There is no point in beating yourself up sweetie “

“I know – its just that I cannot get over the fact that it was James who spotted what was happening”

“Her symptoms had got worse by then Tina – that’s what you said isn’t it ?”

“Yes “ Tina sighed “ She was just tired – she wouldn’t get out of bed and when I came back from having a shower she was still curled up with the duvet wrapped round her. I half thought she was trying to get me to go over to her so she could ambush me and pull me back into bed. God – why didn’t I realise it was more serious ?”

“Because you had no reason to think that it was serious Tina. We all wake up tired now and again and as she had just come back from Europe its reasonable for you to assume that she was still suffering from a bit of that. When we flew back from Sydney, Australia – Hannah didn’t have any problems with jetlag for about three days then she just fell asleep on the sofa and slept for 14 hours. Everyone is different”

“I know but “ Tina said “I just cannot get it out of my head “

Elizabeth took Tina’s hand “What matters is that James got her to hospital and they are doing everything they can for her  – that’s what matters Tina- that she gets well”