“Tina, don’t do this.  We can work it out.  We’ll find her.”

Tina started to talk but was cut off by Henry.

“Thanks Alice, but I think we can take care of this.”  He turned to the desk clerk. “We’ll be in our room, please have the police come up when they get here.”

Henry started to lead Tina away but not before Alice grabbed Tina and spun her around.

“Tina, listen to me.  We’ll find her.  Don’t get the cops involved.”

Henry tried to interject but was greeted by Alice’s hand in his face.

“Don’t even start with me.  You think just because you play house with Tina that you have a say so in her life or the life of her child.  Bette is just as much her mother as Tina is.  If your “white picket fence, Lilly white” ass can’t handle that, I suggest you get the hell out now.”

Henry appeared stunned.  Tina stared at Alice but said nothing.

“Tina, Bette is her mother.  Nothing is going to happen to her.  Don’t make this into something it doesn’t have to be,” Alice pleaded.

Tina stared at Alice with a heartbroken look on her face, before breaking down in tears again.  Henry led her away.

Hotel Bar – Vancouver

Helena was sitting at the bar, a drink in front of her and her mind racing.  After her mothers revelation that she was being cut off, the security blanket that she had always known was now gone.  She slowly traced the rim of the glass with her finger.  She picked up the glass to take a drink when she heard Alice’s voice behind her.  She turned to see Alice and Lara sitting at a table in the corner of the bar.

“This is such shit,” Alice said as she flopped herself down on a chair. 

Lara sat opposite from Alice and grabbed her hand.

“There is really nothing we can do.  Tina is her mother and we have to live with what she decides.”

A disgusted look filled Alice’s face.

“Bette is just as much her mother as Tina is!”

Helena picked up her drink and walked over to the table and sat down.

“Alice, what’s going on?  I heard something about Tina, Bette, and the baby.”

Before Alice could respond, Lara interjected.

“Bette took off with Angelica.  No one knows where she is and she won’t answer her cell.  Tina called the cops.”

“It just isn’t fair.  Bette is her mother too,” Alice complained.

Helena wasn’t listening.  All of a sudden, she had total clarity of thought.  She knew what she had to do.

“Alice, dear, can I borrow your cell phone for a minute, mine has no charge.”

Alice reached in her purse, pulled out the phone, and handed it to Helena.

Before Lara or Alice could say anything, Helena picked up the phone and left the table.  She walked out into the lobby in front of the bar and started looking through Alice’s phone. 

“Come on, it has to be here,” Helena said. “Here we go.”

Helena pushed a few more buttons and then intently listened for an answer.  The line picked up but there was no immediate acknowledgement.

“Bette, I know you’re there.  Bette, it’s Helena, can you hear me?”

A faint voice came through the phone, a voice that had been crying.

“I guess I really screwed up this time huh?” Bette said between her tears.

Helena smiled slightly.  She had been here before.

“No Bette, you didn’t.  Where are you?”

Helena heard rustling on the other end.  Bette was looking around.

“Looks like I’m near Surrey,” Bette said, although not very convincing.

Helena started walking back into the bar.

“Bette, stop right where you are, I’m coming.  I’ll call you from the car.”

Before Bette could protest, Helena hung up.  She looked at the phone, took a pen out of her purse and wrote the number on her hand.  She approached the table and handed Alice her phone.

“Thanks Alice.  Sorry for my atrocious manners, but I have to be off.  I remembered an appointment I needed to get to.  Thanks again.”

Before Alice and Lara knew what happened, Helena was out the front door of the hotel lobby and into the cold night.