And then she got a shake of the head from each, who both turned to the television, and looked around for the remote.

“It’s the law: pizza and TV just go together,” Angelica explained when Bette lifted her brow. “Right, Mom?”

Tina chuckled and felt the remote behind her. “Right.” She reached into the couch just as Bette distracted herself with the curtains in the kitchen. The last thing she wanted Angelica to see was her staring at her mother’s impeccable derriere.

It wasn’t long after they’d finished eating that Angelica and Tina had both fallen asleep – Angelica’s head on her mother’s shoulder.

Bette took the opportunity to take a picture, which she would later hang in the hall, across from the crumpled papers of wedding vows they’d hung up next to their room. Then she woke Angelica, and then, when she was all alone with Tina, she woke her up, too. Helping Tina to their room and taking the opportunity to kiss her, even as Tina was still half-asleep.

“Stop it,” Tina whispered, trying not to laugh as Bette went in for her neck. “Have mercy – I’m too tired …”

“For this?” Bette moaned quietly, just the way Tina liked. And she teased Tina’s abdomen as she listened to her purr just as tenderly.

“Ooh … yeah … for that.”

Bette slipped her hand into Tina’s pants, and cupped her sex. “Or this?”

She was always tempted to laugh at the quick turnaround in Tina’s decision with such a graceful temptation. She liked the widened eyes, and the desire she could see there. She liked the way Tina would breathe, and the shaky way she would try to deny it all, even as obviously as she needed it.

And when Tina had said she’d had a rough week, she’d been understating it. She’d lost a teacher due to a deadly vehicle collision just last weekend, and there was another student caught with drugs just two days ago that was pressing on the entire school’s reputation.

Tina felt as though her work life was falling apart with all the responsibility laid on her shoulders, glad that Bette had stood up for her that evening. Glad that she didn’t have to pretend she was alright with Bette. She could hold her close, and let go.