Fan Fiction
This story has been set to a rating of PG-13. Age verification is required to proceed.
“…the eternal rocks beneath…” Ch. 38
Login to add story to favorites
(33 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)You need to be a registered member to rate this post.
Loading ...
“But…”
“And furthermore, Tina will not kill herself, not if I can help it. She loves life, Bette. She loves you and Kit and that little Frankie and her cooking. She won’t do that and neither will you. It is not an option. Do you hear me? Not an option! I will not allow it, by god!” Helena yelled.
Bette wouldn’t stop crying and now Helena was getting worried. She fingered her cell phone, thought she ought to call Kit, but certainly not Jodi. Jodi was part of the mess in Bette’s head, she knew. But before she dialed, she thought she’d try one more tactic.
Helena knelt down and took Bette’s hands. “And even if you were at all similar to those characters,” she continued. “Don’t you see how disastrous it is for you or anyone of us to think of love as being the assimilation of one soul into another? You are not the other half of Tina’s soul, Bette, and she is not yours. You are not a half a woman. You are a whole woman and so is Tina.”
“But I can’t live without her and I can’t live with her!” Bette cried.
“Oh my darling,” Helena said with sympathy. “You are suffering under the common delusion brought on by watching too much Life Time television, listing too often to popular music and buying into the soap opera vision of love. Real love is nothing like these trite depictions.” She tapped on the book still in Bette’s hands.
Bette continued to cry, shaking her head.
“You’re scared,” Helena continued. “I understand that. But she’s getting help; she’s trying to make her life whole again.”
“Whole,” Bette repeated.
“Yes, whole. And that doesn’t happen by finding some magical love. You can’t find it in a relationship with anyone other than yourself, and that is what she’s trying to do,” Helena explained. Then she touched Bette’s damp cheek. “That is what you must do as well, my dear.”
“How?” Bette asked. “Each time I think I’m there, everything falls apart again. And now she’s going to be gone and Jodi will be gone and I have no one. So all I know to do is to follow her to London, but my sister says it won’t work, that I’ll prevent her from healing and then…” Bette held her hands out, “We’ll be right back where we started. She’ll be crazy, I’ll be crazy…life will be hell, I know it.”
“No, no, listen to me,” Helena said. “Darling, do you remember what you told Tina the night I came to bail you two out of jail? Remember how you told her to stick up to Kate?”
Bette nodded.
“You are on the right track, my love. You only need to take your own advice,” Helena comforted. “Maybe you are as ill as Tina, I don’t see it, but maybe you are. So do what you told her to do…turn around and be there for you.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. You have the strength, I’ve seen it. Be there for yourself as you were for China Buckley, as you were for Tina when she was a young girl. Make yourself whole first, Bette. Let Tina do the same.” Helena smiled then and laughed a little. “And I can promise you when the two of you are ready, when the world is ready, two of the most beautiful woman I have ever known can come together and, by god, will the two of you ever be a force to be reckoned with. I know it.”
Bette wiped her eyes and nose. “I won’t destroy her like Cathy destroyed Heathcliff?”
Helena shook her head. “No.” Then she added, “But only if you manage to do the work on yourself first, my dear. Promise me that. Promise me you’ll take your fellowship, enroll in college, but not in London. Then paint, heal, and grow whole. Can you promise me that? Isn’t Tina worth it? Aren’t you worth it?”
Bette closed her eyes, flashes of her terrible nightmare looming behind her lids. “I gotta find a way into the forest and back out again. That’s the only way,” she whispered.
Helena didn’t know what Bette meant, but she agreed with her all the same. “That’s right. The only way.”
TBC
Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
“Oh for the love of the Queen and all that is sacred under King George’s bonnet!” Haha…my favorite Helenaism ever!!
Is this FINALLY ever going to come? I wonder….Love this story!
Dyke DRAMA, seriously sad, sappy pop music, Lifetime Movie Channel, one very large, very strong Bloody Mary…. I’m in! Thanks for the post, a great read as always!
I felt Bette’s anguish while she was on that Ferris wheel with Frankie. Bette’s just going to have to hold out hope and believe that it will be as Helena says, that she and Tina will have the strength to make themselves whole. It’s even more time apart but at least they’ll have a common and concurrent goal, and maybe they’ll come out on the other side happier (and older!) people.
Someone’s going to have to let Frankie in on the news about Tina going away… it’s going to break her heart for the time being. Maybe they can draft Helena in for that? ;)
Thanks for this instalment, BenMac. On to the next! (I’m dreading that there aren’t many chapters of this story left, are there?)
You know I love your stories(Helium !!!!!),but this is too much drama.Please fix this.
My God I need a cigarette, or a drink, anything! lol
I feel so deeply for Bette. She tries so hard to be there for Tina, all the while she has to fight her own demons. I can understand her fear of not being able to stand it if Tina’s not going to make it. But THANK GOD for Helena; she’s right, they need to be ‘whole’ in order to fully enjoy their being together. It’s wrong to think about the ‘she completes me’ thing… they need to work their ows things out, once they found out how to do so, they will finally be two completed souls merged together. Stronger than ever.
I love your references to ‘Wuthering Heights’, one my favorite books ever and that one is my favorite line! I think the whole book can be enclosed in that single piece. When you wrote about Bette walking alone, holding the book, with her staring off into space, I immediately thought about Cathy. I loved the image you’ve been able to capture! But I also love the fact that, unlike Emily, there’s still a glimmer of hope for the two lovers in your story, a thing we aren’t able to find among the endless angst we read in her book. Actually, I can’t help but think that the Bette and Tina that once looked like ‘Heathcliff and Catherine’ are slowly turning into ‘Cathy and Hareton’.
Yeah, I hope this makes sense.
I can’t wait to read the next one!
Thank you, again.
Your devoted fan,
M
great post, you go Helena, loved her advice, she sounding like Peggy’s daughter. looking forward to next week-when you post again
Thank God for Helena and her good sense! Poor Bette is just overwhelmed by all the drama and emotion of the trial, the death of her father and Tina’s illness. She truly is a drowning woman. I am glad that Jodie is leaving because Bette will have to stand on her own feet. Grow up Bette! I can’t believe that she would refer to her mother knowing that she was a emotionally immature. Get your own act together because I believe that Tina wants to live her life. Now cut all drama! Get your degree and look after Frankie. There, I ‘m done with my rant. Thanks for update, BenMac. Waiting for the next post.
I dont know for sure what i can say more than what the others already said.
I agree with Helana, they need to be whole before they can start their relationship.
I’m glad Tina takes that step and it will be good for Bette to start as well her road to happiness. And it’s a good thing Jodi will move out of the picture.
I’ll wait patienly for the next update.
I am amazed how every chapter is better than the last! Thank you over and over again!
Best part of this chapter is reading that Jodi will be moving on and leaving the country especially after adding more burdens to Bette’s already heavy heart in making her proposal that Bette go with her.
Bette seems to be losing it as much as Tina so she better worry more about her own recovery. I feel bad for her because she obviously doesn’t have the financial resources to get professional help and she might rely on Kit who in my opinion is a total idiot. She’s owned up to her incompetence in treating Tina but now she needs to find another line of work. Please don’t allow her to mess with Bette’s head any more than she already has. Maybe Bette can trade her scholarship money for a stay at Dr. Bailey’s rehab center.
As far as I can tell Dr. Bailey seems to be the only competent mental health professional in Tina’s corner. Hopefully since she agrees this London facility will provide what Tina needs to at least learn to cope and function in the long-term with her mental illness, have healthy relationships and take hold of her demons without any setbacks it will be worth the investment. I also hope that Bette has the good sense not to follow Tina to London. Maybe she should consider going back to Athens Georgia and hanging out with Marcus for a while. It will do her good to get away from the family drama and Kit’s influence.
Frankie is another concern. Tina and the family need to figure out a way to explain Tina’s leaving without it feeling like abandonment. Frankie’s attachment and emulating Tina to the degree that she does already feels unhealthy and if she doesn’t truly understand why Tina has to go away she might act out.
Thanks for the story.
I loved this long chapter.
although there was no relief, and even more painful and deeply sometimes in the story.
Tina made the right decision, and I trust that the London treatment will be successful, I just hope she does not preclude Bette in her life.
Kit might meant at the time and she did what thought was right, but it caused huge damage to Tina’s development and should therefore bear the brunt .
I was really scared when Bette was a nightmare and after a mini- breakdown on the beach. hoping to bring her back, and thank God that Helen was there (and not Jodie, I am know that she really helped Bette, but now it’s time to go further, because she will only increase Bette uncertainty, and will not be alone fight )
Helena was just amazing like the way think Bette and Tina’s relationship. she sees them both to the individual’s needs and can only heal by themselves, can achieve alone.
I really liked what Frankie said the giant wheel, she don’t know what Bette said she knew reassurance her, Bette’s need a child’s wisdom, was there.
I’m looking forward to the next chapter.
but please, no more drama! :)
this chapter was very sad but so good and I agree they need to be apart so they can come back stronger pps
This is the most b powerful story on Lesfan omg the emotional ride you’ll taken us on and its still happening Shit! I never read any fiction this close to reality, I love this! But please its time to give them a break and some happy endings a person can only take so much, now we’re at the end here hopefully..We need Alpha Bette and Tina stronger than ever back and Tibette in full blossom!
Just so you know BenMac, I don’t feel the need for this story to end soon and I am enjoying my weekly drama. I’ll be much sadder when it ends. An exceptional update again…you just keep them coming it’s amazing to me. Can’t wait until next Saturday!!!!
I can only concur with what has already been commented on. Except I do have one serious concern about the cure for cancer, I hope that this was just literary license at work in the form of fictional writing about the medical field, because if there is any truth to this then the medical field has really done a disservice to it’s patients and the world at large.
BenMac,
Another strong chapter in this epic. I know it is winding down and like others have commented, I will be sad to see the end of this story. I hope you have another storyline waiting in the shadows when this one is done. I look forward to your weekly updates and to discovering what drama our ladies are getting into. Thanks for sharing your awesome talent with us.
I to am not in any hurry for this story to end. I have loved if from your first sentence. I love a heart retching love story. Well done.
Where is the deer now that we need one? So, we have another year of this story, following Tina abroad and Bette to her studies. Right? And then they can get together. But slowly. Which should probably take another few months. Right? (wishful thinking).
Just sad! Help is on the way! PPS
I love this story. The characters are drawn with such detail, I feel like I know them.
Bette and Tina are both so distraught, thank goodness Helena has a logical way to look at all that is happening. What a wonderful friend they both have in her. I’m looking forward to the healing.
Thanks for posting.
I love this story. Your writing is amazing and you keep.me wanting more. This is the 1st time ive posted anything. I cant wait for the next chapter. PPS
Hi BenMac… :-) thank you! Thank you! Thank you!! :-) I really really appreciate your generous sharing! The story is amazing, the writing is captivating, and most of all, your story is so deep and meaningful as it’s not just simple story, but it also makes me think and wondering and analyzing the possibilities because the flow from beginning until now.. Are so neatly connected. What’s on the head, sometimes not supporting what’s on the heart. Time to tidy everything up before they can start their life journey together. So looking forward to next update. :-) thanks again…. ^^,
This is so sad