Fan Fiction
This story has been set to a rating of PG-13. Age verification is required to proceed.
The Real Tibette Watch Gen Q – Episode 8
Login to add story to favorites
(10 votes, average: 4.90 out of 5)You need to be a registered member to rate this post.
Loading ...
‘You can also thank me for what caused it, if you like,’ Bette said in a mock-sulk.
‘Aww . . .’ Tina cooed, drawing close to her wife. ‘Thank you, baby.’ Bette was wearing a black tank, so Tina kissed her bare shoulder and then leaned her chin there. ‘Is it really okay?’
‘It’ll be fine.’ Bette flexed her hand. ‘Pretty cool injury.’
Tina squeezed Bette’s waist affectionately and was just about to kiss her when her phone got a text. She took it out of the pocket of her jeans and looked.
‘Shit. Alan’s been delayed. Says he’ll call me after ten.’
Bette set her mouth in a line of clear forbearance. Tina looked at the floor. And then, gradually, both pairs of eyes gravitated towards the wine rack . . .
***
‘Well, I’m proud of us,’ said Tina a little later, pouring two cups of camomile tea as Bette got the show up on the screen.
‘We are paragons, all right,’ Bette murmured.
Solly was in between them, his paws neatly folded over the edge of the sofa. On the coffee table sat a bowl of popcorn and Tina’s MacBook with the Skype screen open. If her boss called during the show, she’d take it along to her study.
‘Ah, and look!’ Tina said a few minutes later. ‘A parable about the demon drink!’
On-screen, Finley and Sophie were leaving the local jail, where Finley had spent the night after getting busted on a DUI. Sophie, as usual, was looking for ways to establish that none of this was her fault. Tina remarked that this was all so dumb.
‘So many issues . . .’ added Bette.
She slouched down and put her feet up on the edge of the table. Tina reached out and ran her fingers through Bette’s curls. A beat and then: ‘You ever wonder what our relationship looks like from the outside?’
Bette gave her an alarmed look, then said no. ‘Why?’
‘No reason – ooh, look, here comes Fake Bette!’
Dani and Fake Bette walked along, looking very sharply suited and booted, and Dani told Bette, ominously, how much she meant to her. Fake Bette said it was mutual, but then her attention was grabbed by something in the CAC building towards which they were headed: a huge sign in the foyer – Nùñez Wing.
Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Thank you for the chapter!
Yeah, my voice also will get to interruption about what Bette’s answer on Tina question. And frankly – after all this her obssesion about Pippa (witch including their kiss during the protest in next episode) – i’m not sure anymore about her.
About eastern eggs – it’s part JB’s speach in Pants about first love?
Witing what 209 brings to us and what real Bette and Tina would think about that :)
Hi Zhenya! Thank you for reading and commenting, as ever. :-)
I think at this stage we have to assume some kind of Tibette ending but my concern is that it’s too little, too late to either be convincing/satisfying or to save the fandom. It’s sad to see so many jumping ship because they’re exhausted or heartbroken with the whole sorry mess.
You are of course right about the easter egg, lol
Hope I can come up with something for next week!
Take care
Largo
Hey Largo,
I was hesitant to continue reading your story because last week I decided not to watch GQ anymore. I simply can’t invest in something so unbelievable anymore, that everything Tibette stood for has been destroyed, how they made the characters of both Tina and Bette into something so unbelievable. I’m done with it and will stick with the version as we know Tibette after the end of the OG.
But I love it too much to read how Real Bette and Tina watch Fake Bette and Fake Tina and the rest of GQ and see the glimpses of how they live their lives with their three kids.
Keep going like this!
Hi Bibi! Thanks so much for reading and commenting, especially as you’re not watching the show any more. I totally understand why you’ve made that decision. It’s very tough at times, especially when we’re made to wait so long for proper interaction between B&T (assuming we *will* get proper interaction….)
When I started this series of recaps I decided to go back to OG too, so I understand that decision. Gen Q has been a wrong from the outset in the decisions they made about Tibette and Kit. Better writers could have made the circumstances work without doing what they did. It’s really sad.
Thank you for encouraging me to continue with this story world I’ve made. I do like the family I’ve created. It was fun to give them younger kids – and of course Solly. Writing fluff is a great antidote to Gen Q and probably the main reason I’m not quite as despondent as I might otherwise be.
Take care, and thank you again
Largo
Good thing we have our fan fiction, right?
It is. Writing these has honestly made me happier, as I get to spend hours wandering around a happy family home with these two :-)
Thanks for posting I far prefer your storyline than the Show and in my mind they really are Fake TiBette.
SG
So agree!
Thanks, Billy :-)
Thanks, SG! I keep going to and fro regarding the show. If we get a Tibette reunion and it’s done well, I can forgive a lot – but I don’t see how it can be done well in the time they have left? So at the moment, I’m inclining towards not accepting Gen Q as canon at all. And yet there’s always the temptation, as Billy has done, and as I did with S1, to try and take every bit of garbage thrown at them and still have them come on on top. As writers, that’s quite a challenge but it’s tempting.
Let’s see what Ep9 brings!
Take care
Largo
Hi Largo,
‘Waves’ coming your way today from across the pond!!
What a great chapter – insightful & a bit puzzling also. I have a feeling that the GQ show is bothering Tina more than she is letting on. Not that she’s not happy with her life & Bette & the kids, but something simmering under the surface. Hope I’m wrong!!
Besides my own personal vote for you to be the new LEAD WRITER for a possible GQ3, you have my vote too to add Solly to the show. He would be sooooo much better than that mutt Shane has/had ???? Actually Solly conveys more emotions than half the newbie cast in GQ!!! That’s pretty sad. Gotta love Solly – love to that he adores Tina!!!!
Poor Bette & motherhood – it was so much easier with just Angie & now with 3 & them all growing up faster than Bette can comprehend or accept. But she loves every minute of it & probably wouldn’t trade this time for anything. These memories will fuel many a wistful evening when they all leave the nest & its just her & Tina as empty nesters.
Another moment of joy – the side story about brushing teeth. Bette can’t get anything past their perceptive kids!!!
Hopefully Tina’s work challenge will work out well – that showrunner needed to go just like MLR!!!
Thank you so much for this slice of what & how a real Tibette family looks like & functions. Gives me strength fo the next 2 episodes that will no doubt be stressful & full of angst.
I hope you DO realize you will need to continue with this story after episode 10 airs!! We NEED this joy in our Tibette lives & to carry us through to a possible GQ3. Maybe consider a check in every once in a while or turn it into a regular story that gets updates more often!!!
Seriously, think about it – you know the fans love this story & your writing.
Two days to go – keep the faith!!
Hey Collins, old pal! *waves back*
Thanks so much for reading and commenting on this chapter, when you’re writing your own stories too. I am behind on my reading and will try to catch up soon!
There’s no great mystery to Tina being upset by the show. It’s just that she and Bette view TV differently. For Tina there’s always an extra layer of knowing how she would have made the show better if she’d been producing it, and she brings a screenwriting eye to it. But maybe she’s also a little protective of Bette at times – not always, but if she sees something that simply doesn’t track, that can upset her. But she’s fine.
Thank you for enjoying Solly. I love him too, and the way he loves Tina. I need to have more fun with that, I think! And yes, poor Bette and her wee boy growing up, lol. Never easy, is it? But I love their having younger kids. One of the clear advantages of only accepting TLW as canon.
I would love to continue with this story world, and probably will, and thank you for encouraging me to do so! You are a great supporter. :-) I hope that, whatever happens on Gen Q, writers like you will also continue to post here and that Tibette fans will continue to come here for comfort and entertainment. The ratings for the show are really poor, but maybe there is a S3 guaranteed? If not, I can’t see it being renewed. :-(
Meanwhile, here’s to having Tina back at least! And to light at the end of the tunnel! KTF indeed!
Take care and thank again, my friend
Largo
Largo
Lawdd U make me laugh so hard I choke!!! Tibette Fkd’d so hard Bette hurt her wrist!!!
“You can thank me for what caused it, If you like, “Bette said in a mock-sulk. “Aww. . . . Thank You baby”. Is it really okay? “It’ll be fine”. Bette flexed her hand. “PRETTY COOL INJURY”. Lawdd!!
These two tryna make up for lost time AND put something in the memory bank for when family-time doesnt allow for their secret get-a-ways!! They have an uncanny ability to think the same thought at the same time.
Like when Tina is waiting for her boss to call. “Bette set her mouth in a line of clear forbearance. Tina looked at the floor. And then, gradually, both pair of eyes gravitated towards the wine rack . . . . They were fixin’ to change their “prohibition of drinking wine” during the week, I suspect MOSTLT bc when one of ‘em gets a little tipsy around each other, they want to jump each other’s bones, like right NOW!! HeHeHe
Anyway, as GenQ plods along with it’s schizophrenic story lines, and we TiBetters are trying to make sense of ANYTHING in the Bette & Tina lives is that Bette is saying to Pippa what she wants to say to Tina. “U’re the most beautiful woman I have ever seen” . . . . “You can trust me, I will protect you” . . . . Her art means “everything” to me” , etc. FakeBette admitted to FakeShane when they were talking last season that “she misses the “kind” of love she had with Tina”
Right now, FakeBette has been projecting all her admiration of this new friendship/loveship on Pippa because it reminds her of when she was head-over-heels in love with Tina. Pipp has the advantage that she is a bonfires Artist and completely understands FBette’s passion for what art can do for people.
Bottom line, the intimacies that Tina has shared with Bette, and the friendships she had/has with Dana, Kit, Alice & Shane cannot be replaced no matter how green she thinks the grass is on the other side. Memories she is missing out with Angelica are by HER CHOICE.
I dont know if FBette will answer her question, “R U still in love with me?”. Because as you say. “Being with FTina, for FBette, is being able to experience past, PRESENT, and future simultaneously. She DOESN’T have that with anyone else”.
Haha, Dumplin – yes, I had to make sense of an earlier comment about their sex life not being quite as red hot as in previous years, so the epic session at the hotel had to be paid for!! It was fun imagining what fib they’d tell the kids, lol
The wine thing, I almost went the other way on, and had them drinking, but it didn’t feel right. That was part of why they have the ‘pagan rite’ at all. It’s a time and space where EVERYTHING is unleashed – sex, booze, pot, nude tv-watching – all the things they could do any time and place they wanted before parenthood. So I thought no, put the cork back in the bottle!
I love your theory about Bette projecting the loss of Tina’s love onto Pippa. I’ve not seen that theory anywhere else, but it’s one way of explaining why she’s so over the top with her. The whole ‘adored since college’ story makes no sense in canon, as we know – Allen Barnes, hello???? – but even on its own terms there’s something out of whack about Bette’s attitude to Pippa, and it’s difficult not to see it as a projection of SOMETHING, maybe Tina, or maybe Bette’s reckoning with her racial identity. Either way, I don’t think she’s seeing Pippa as she really is. You can’t build a successful long-term relationship on adulation, from either side.
Anyway, here’s to getting to the business end of this wretched S2! I think it’s obvious we’re heading for a Tibette cliffhanger, but I guess that’s at least something, if the show gets canned. I’m sad, though, for the cast and for us, the fans. The producers and showrunner will one day, I hope, have the humility to admit they made some very poor decisions. Letting the meta show be more important than the actual show was the key one – and even then they got it wrong. The Tibette elastic has snapped for so many people. :-(
Thanks, Dumplin! I love your comments and appreciate you reading my wee stories :-)
Take care and keep rooting for Tibette!
Largo
I’m waiting for how Bette eventually gets LiL Sasha to desire brushing her teeth! Maybe switch hands and try to get her to follow suit???
Bette is realizing that she is, like Angie, in a place where she needs to explore & celebrate her black heritage. And Pippa has more life experience in that part of life. She also hasn’t walked in the upperclass of society like Bette has and can show Bette that there is more than one way to influence people with her passion.
Bette is learning to “fess up” quickly AND apologize. Pipp has listened and accepted Bette. She showing her that “she has her back” and I think Bette will flourish.
Agree that Bette definitely has on her rose-colored glasses and has put Pippa on a pedestal. Right now, they are both experiencing the rush from working together and having some success.
Thanks for the chat, Dumplin! I agree with what you say about Pippa. I really kind of lowkey hate how great Pippa is??? I feel like they’ve overdone this to the point where she’s a bit unicorn-y (not as much of a unicorn as Gigi, but almost).
Anyway, not long to go now, thankfully! :-)
Looking 4ward to the end of GenQ.
Clip for upcoming E10 of Tina bashing Bette is like when I had a root canal by a dentist who refused to inject enough pain killer to numb the tooth. Tears rolling down my face as they kept asking if I was “okay”!!!!
I confessed on your previous story that I’m not watching GQ2 (and didn’t watch GQ1). The only thing I have been able to bear (barely) are the previews on YouTube. And most of those are just enough to reinforce my decision. :-\ GQ2-Tina has gotten even weirder. GQ2-Bette is barely likeable. Pippa seems to humanize her and restore a bit of a moral compass. So, bizarrely, I find that I’m going to feel bad for Pippa if she gets dumped for a Tibette reunion. I don’t think that even actors as good as JB and LH can salvage what the writers have done to the original Tibette. I get that conflict keeps stories moving and keeps viewers tuning in. But these writers seem determined to reinforce every stereotype and trope about lesbian relationships. How original. Thanks for tending the Tibette of our battered dreams. I truly don’t care if the series sees another season. I don’t trust what they’d do with it, even if Bette and Tina have some kind of (inevitably destructive) reunion at the end of this season. I’ll just come back here to read you and the other writers who keep the original flame. ;)
Hi slntrdr! Good to hear from you again and apologies for not replying sooner. Been a mad week at work. :-/
Completely agree with you about how they’ve managed Pippa and Bette. The best description I’ve heard of this (and I stole it for my Ep9 story) is that the show has made me almost embarrassed to want Tibette to reunite. I find it hard to believe this is what they meant to do – I think it’s just the usual incompetence – but there we are.
Like you, I am tending towards rejecting Gen Q as canon altogether. I think it’s the divorce that does it. I just don’t think it’s credible and they’ve made virtually not effort to explain it, which makes it impossible to divine whose fault it was or why it happened, which means we can’t really know how to feel about them.
Anyway, not long to go now! Thank you so much for reading and commenting. I hope you enjoy the new story.
largo
I almost think that’s their intention – to make old fans put off at the prospect of a Tibette reunion. At least they haven’t (yet) killed one of them off with an out-of-the-blue drug addiction, like poor Kit. Anyway, yes, enjoyed the new installment. :)
hmm, you have to wonder? I doubt JB and LuH would be consciously on board with such a strategy, but (whisper it) I don’t think they’re quite as smart/influential/selfless as some fans think.
100% agree about the outrage that is Kit. Unforgivable.