Lara: Yeah.

Carmen reaches out and takes Lara’s hands, pulling her closer.

Carmen: Look….no matter what happens…or what has happened….we’ve made a strong bond.  And I don’t wanna risk losing that.

Lara: …Me neither.

Carmen: Okay then…

Lara: ….I’m still concerned, though.

Carmen: …I know.

Carmen wraps her arms around Lara’s waist, just as the night before.

Carmen: …I know…

Lara wraps her arms around Carmen’s shoulders, just as the night before.  

Carmen: …Your tense.

Lara closes her eyes.  Carmen turns her head toward Lara, her head having rested for the moment on Lara’s right shoulder.  She can tell that her mind is being pressured with something.  She wants to comfort and relax her anyway she can.  She inches towards Lara’s right cheek.

Carmen: What’s wrong…?

Lara: ….I’m not used to this.

Carmen and Lara now lock eyes and eyes, still in their embrace.

Carmen: Used to what…?

Lara: This…

Carmen: …Talk to me.

Lara: This…I’m not used to feeling this….close with anyone.  With Alice and with you…and this whole…group.

Carmen looks on, interested in more.

Lara: I used to be close with my family, but…that ended once I came out.  They said I was going against Jesus.

Carmen: Shit.

Lara: The only time I’ve ever felt this close to anyone was…

Lara’s voice trails off.  She can’t bring herself to say it.

Carmen: ..Dana?

Lara nods.

Carmen: That sucks about your family…but…we’re each other’s family now.

Lara grins as a lump hits her throat.  Her eyes close.  Carmen places her lips close to Lara’s right ear.

Carmen: No matter what.

She wants to comfort and console Lara anyway she can.  Lara buries her head against Carmen’s right shoulder.  They hold each other in the moment, their eyes closed.  The peace is soon interrupted as both of their backs feel a hand placed against them.

Helena: Carmen’s right.

Lara and Carmen look over to Helena, who had the presence of mind to put on a robe.

Helena: We are each other’s family now.

Helena takes both friends into her own arms as peace is made between them.  

Helena: Now then…we need to put some clothes on.

All three share in a laugh.

In Leigh’s bedroom at her apartment however, something else was made earlier with Leigh, Dax, Uta and Gabby.  Gabby, fully dressed and about to head off for work, kisses each of her girlfriends before leaving.  This is the time in which Uta’s body shuts down almost completely to rest.  Dax and Leigh both have the day off as they each caress Uta and occassionally each other’s hands.  Their exchange of smiles back and forth tells the story as Uta sleeps between them.  Any tension that was there before is gone now.

There is also no tension, but only celebration at The Planet.

Tina: Yep.  We’re getting engaged, too.

Alice: Wow!  That’s awesome, guys.

Shane: That’s pretty cool.

Everyone almost on instinct turn and look at Jenny and Marina.

Marina: I don’t think we are ready for that.

Jenny: We’ll just watch you all.

Jenny smiles as she gives both Bette and Tina a hug before getting to work on her waitressing job.

Kit: You know what?  I think with all of us as tight as we are…we should have this here.

Shane: At The Planet?

Alice: Yeah!  That could work…

Tina: That’s great, but…we gotta lay down a ground rule right now.

Kit: What’s that?

Bette: No one’s allowed to ditch at the altar.

Alice: Yeah, Shane.

Alice nudges Shane, who just looks down.

Shane: I know…it was a mistake.

Angelica’s only concerned with drinking from her sippie cup.  The rest of this is a bore.

Alice: Okay….so when do we do this?  And really, I think Lara and Carmen should be on the decision here.

Shane: I agree.

Kit: How ’bout this?  Right now, me and Angus are makin’ calls on bringin’ in some different bands for a music festival here at The Planet, tryin’ to raise some money for breast cancer research.

Bette: How’s that coming along?

Kit: We’re workin’ on gettin’ ten different artists in here.  So far we got some good ones, but we’re still workin’ on it.  Right now though we got a week before the show.

Tina: I’m sure it’ll be great, Kit.

Kit: Yeah…after that…yall can get married here.  It’ll make fur a fun weekend and we don’t have fo freeze our butts off, either.

Bette: Tee?

Tina: Sounds good to me.  Al, Shane?

Alice and Shane look at each other, then at Bette and Tina.

Alice: Like I said, we should ask Lara and Carmen, just to see what they wanna do.

Shane nods.

Bette: That’s fine.

At that time, Helena, Lara and Carmen enter.  They make their way to the table with the group of friends and the news and ideas are soon shared with them.

They are each other’s family.