And there she was.

The vision.

The tall, slender frame.

The eyes.

The rich brown orbs that saw beyond the mix of wispy tans and striking greenish browns of Tina’s lonesome eyes, and into the soul of the woman now rooted to the shining tile floor in the baggage claim area of LAX.

Those eyes.

The enchanting dark pools that seemed ever present in her every waking hour and found her at night in every dream. Those eyes locked on hers and Tina Kennard finally exhaled. The anxiety she’d felt for the past three hours began to melt away, replaced by an overwhelming need to get to Bette. To embrace the woman slowly descending that metal staircase.

And so it was that Miss Tina Kennard went from standing on the glossy tile floor in the baggage claim area at LAX, to standing on that descending set of metallic stairs with her arms wrapped around her lover’s waist. Witnesses would say she ran over four grown men, two women, and a baby in a stroller in her haste to ascend the descending escalator. But the young blonde would have sworn on a stack of bibles that she had no recollection of doing so. And she would have been telling the absolute truth. For Tina Kennard knew not how she reached Bette Porter, but standing there on the shining glossy tiles, she had known only one thing: She had to have the young dark-haired woman in her arms.

In most cinematic love-stories, at the moment when two estranged lovers are reunited, there is a pause before the lovers embrace. In most stories, it’s a man and a woman that gaze lovingly at each other before moving in tenderly for that much anticipated embrace. For our purposes, let’s substitute that man with a beautiful woman and imagine that cinematic climatic moment when those two longing lovers pause, studying each other intently, each woman filled with a trembling anticipation so palpable it makes you lick your lips and widen your eyes to keep from blinking. Because you know that if you blink, you may just miss that miraculous moment at which the two lovers finally connect. You’ll miss the subtle touches of love as their eyes bat at each other; their lips tremble and their eyes crinkle and uncrinkle, mist and then shine with unshed tears.