"A week?" Bette said incredulously.

"I bring you here for a reason," God said, "walk in there, you need to see what’s happening today."

Bette walked into the hospital and saw Tina sitting beside her bed caressing her arm and speaking softly.

"Listen," God said urging Bette forward.

Bette walked towards the bed until she could hear Tina.

"Oh Bette, the doctors said there’s a good chance you can hear me," Tina said, "so I wanna tell you something. This is hard for me because I’ve been denying it and pretending it didn’t happen for years."

Bette leaned forward anxiously.

"Remember how I told you that you were the first woman I ever slept with?" Tina said, "well you weren’t."

Bette backed away in surprise, "what?"

"The first woman I was ever with was my sister," Tina said.

Bette’s eyes widened, "WHAT?"

"Hear her out," God urged gently.

Tina started crying as she looked at the bedridden Bette, "I was 12 and she was 16. She told me that everyone was doing it and she was my older sister, I trusted her. She took advantage of me for two years, and when I wanted to stop she blackmailed me."

"That fucking bitch!" Bette shouted angrily.

Tina wiped her tears and said, "I was only 14 I didn’t understand. So she went off to Texas, got married, and got all high and mighty Christian. She disowned me and condemned me to Hell and told my parents I was the one who pursued her."

"What! And they believed her? That’s bullshit!" Bette cried.

"They trusted her," God said gently, "and so did Tina. That’s why she denied to herself and everyone. She’s ashamed of herself even though it wasn’t her fault."

"I’m sorry for not telling you," Tina said crying again, "I hope it doesn’t disgust you."

"It doesn’t! It doesn’t!" Bette said.

"I love you," Tina said kissing Bette’s forehead, "gotta pick up Angie from school."

Bette turned towards God who was holding the door open for her. "And what do I do with this information? Help my Tina, and what about this Tina? Who’s gonna help her?"

"That’s what’s hard about this decision, you can’t help everyone," God said. "Your friend had the same dilemma while choosing."

Bette froze, "what? Friend? One of my friends went through this?"

"She chose your world not this one," God said with a smile showing that His little ‘slip’ wasn’t quite an accident.

"W-who was it?"

"Well, who in this world died suddenly without a reasonable explanation?"

Bette gasped, "Jenny!"

God smiled, "I knew I made you very smart."

"That’s why she was taking Dana to Mammograms," Bette said, "she knew! Does she know who I really am?"

God smiled, "I made her smart too."

Bette’s eyes snapped open and she shot up in bed breathing heavily.

"Mmm," Tina groaned rubbing her sleepy eyes, "baby you okay? You had a nightmare again?"

Bette looked over at Tina who was giving her a worried look. "I was thinking about something one of my friends told me," Bette lied, "she was telling me how she was coming to terms with the fact that she was raped as a child."

"Oh my God," Tina said, "who?"

"You don’t know her," Bette said shaking her head. "Anyways the point is that she’s stronger because she admitted it to herself and others. It was something that wasn’t her fault and she kept blaming herself ya know."

Tina looked thoughtful.

"You know, if you ever had something like that hidden inside you, I would want you to admit it," Bette said, "my friend is much happier with all that pain off her chest."

"She is?" Tina said.

"Yes, and of course I don’t judge, I understand," Bette said, "she trusted me."

Tina took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. Bette knew she was pondering so she watched her in silence until Tina finally spoke, "Bette, there’s something I have to tell you."

TBC