Till We Meet Again | A Bette-Tina Beginning Chapter 31

“I’m so scared, I don’t know what to do. And I don’t want you to think less of me due to certain things I may have done in the past.”

Bette stepped on the gas, driving at 80 mph in the rain as she thought back to all the subtle clues that Tina might have dropped in the past few weeks of their relationship. Hindsight was 20/20, she could actually see now that Tina had been keeping something from her, something that was bothering her immensely. She silently berated herself for being so dense and self-involved, so self-centered that she had not realized that Tina might be in some sort of trouble that didn’t necessarily involve being in love with Bette Porter. Or was it precisely why she was in a precarious situation? Bette accelerated to 100 mph, determined to reach Tina. The edge of desperation in her voice and her jittery nerves at times attested to the fact that the blonde was fearful of something, but also fiercely protective enough to fight it on her own.

“I don’t want anything to ever happen to you. I won’t let anything happen to you…”

And now something could happen to Tina, her mind screamed, her insides threatening to turn out. Bette gripped the steering wheel tightly as she approached her destination, her knuckles turning white. She turned a corner too fast, the car skidding on two wheels, almost flipping over but she maintained control of it.

“It’s not about trusting you T … I trust us … Our love. I know that even if we can sometimes be wrong, that our actions on some level are wrong, our love is without a shadow of a doubt, pure and untainted.”

Peabody Mansion, New York

Tina had her back to the wall; with every passing minute, she grew more forlorn and dejected. She had gone through the mansion meticulously looking for anything that would incriminate Helena.

They had taken the risk and found nothing tangible, nothing that could put Helena behind bars or in a mental ward for the next 50 years.

The search was not completely futile—Tina had uncovered and obtained evidence that pointed towards her own ‘affair’ with Bette, several DVDs of Alice that were without a shred of doubt, quite interesting to say the least.

What puzzled Tina the most was the absence of paintings, specifically those by Bette. She had found none, which did not make sense. Had Helena destroyed them? No, she wouldn’t dare, would she? Money mattered little to the maniacal Peabody but then she had implied that Bette may become a case of posthumous success. Tina cringed, pondering over the possibilities, growing increasingly angry.

Helena had tried and succeeded in destroying Bette. Tina had had time to process the attempted murder, to channel her anger in a productive manner. But this new revelation—that Helena had not even spared Bette’s reputation and hard-work—infuriated her completely. She had really wanted to hurt Helena tonight, stopped only by James unexpectedly slipping ketamine into her drink and then Bette almost causing her a panic attack before alleviating her fears.

It was around 11. James should be here by now after dropping Bette at her place. Tina checked her phone, puzzled that she had received no messages from him. To her dismay, her phone battery had died.

Of course, it had not been charged since Bette had had it all evening. Shit!

Landline! All the ‘detective’ work these past few weeks had certainly sharpened her reaction speed. She inched her way to the nearest phone in the Entertainment room and picked up the handset from the machine, only to realize that she did not have his number memorized. Seems like those cognitive skills were still quite blunt—she could almost hear Bette make a joke at her expense, and that made her smile fondly, her inside warming up instantly.

She dialed the one number that she had memorized, that she could never forget even if she tried to. The phone went straight to voicemail. Tina grew more alarmed. Why had James not called or arrived at the mansion? Was Bette safe and sound at her place? What if something had happened to them?

A familiar tantalizing voice broke into her thoughts, causing a shiver to run down her spine.

“Hi, this is Bette Porter. Please leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
P.S. Don’t hold your breathe.”

Tina giggled at the voice message in spite of herself. She could see the subtle changes in Bette daily—she was much more gentle and patient nowadays, less arrogant and unkind, even accommodating at times. But her snarky sense of humor was intact. She suspected that she was seeing Bette evolving back into the person she was before that horrific accident, only wiser and more understanding. With each passing day, Tina discovered yet another side of her complex and intricate lover, and her love grew beyond every fathomable measure. She did not know how long she could keep it hidden from the world.

“Baby, please leave a message on my home phone when you get this. My cell is dead, and I’m really worried about you and James. Thank you for being so wonderful tonight. I love you. Call me please.
P.S. You make me breathless so no need to hold my breathe.”

Committing herself to checking-up on Bette later tonight, Tina replaced the headset. It was then that she noticed the answering machine blinking with a new message. Curious, she decided to go ahead and play it, something telling her that it was probably not just a telemarketer …

A familiar authoritative voice crooned out of the machine, berating Helena.

“Hello, Helena darling. This is your mummy, the one you complain about to your psychiatrist quite frequently I imagine…That is if you still have one after the last one filed a lawsuit against you for sexual harassment. By the way, I am in town for business, staying at the Marriot Marquis, in the Presidential suite. So, once you get a break from your philandering, do drop-in to see me – We have some business as well concerning the Peabody Collection. And no, I don’t want to come to the mansion to meet your latest unpleasant taste in everything denigrating to women. A key will be left for you at the front desk…”

She listened with rapt attention and quickly erased the message. The wheels were turning in her head. She knew what she had to do. Tina had no idea what would happen when Helena came to her senses. She did not want to play this game of pretense any longer. In fact, she could no longer continue to stay around Helena without seriously thinking about hurting her, actually hurting her.

She would only have tonight. They would only have this night…

At the Planet, Los Angeles

“We have a really special guest in the house tonight, international tennis star, Ms. Dana Fairbanks!”

Dana coughed up her drink into the glass, and looked around frantically for a place to hide as she was put under the spotlight. She would much rather crawl into a hole and die. Next to her, Alice hooted and hollered, scampering around and raising a cheer. Yep, hiding was not an option with Alice around. She grinned nervously and blushed, as she got up and waved at everyone, while nudging Alice to quiet down.

Alice … who had turned her life upside-down.

Alice … who made those grueling early morning training sessions so much more fun just by her mere presence.

Alice … who brought out her goofy and jovial side so much more than anyone ever had.

Alice … She would tell her tonight for sure, tell her how she really felt.

She composed herself as she walked up to the stage and took the mic.

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Peabody Mansion, New York

“Helena Fucking Peabody, open the goddamn gate.”

Not subtle. Certainly not clever. But Bette was too far gone to really care about the consequences of her actions. She only had Tina on her mind, only needed to see her and make sure her love was not harmed.

She briefly considered backing up and trying to ram the car through the gates. Wait, it belonged to Tina. Nevermind. Bette bit down on her lip, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, considering her options. Climb the gate? Not in her tight dress, not in this weather and not with this knee.

She pushed the buzzer again and opened her mouth to deliver some more profanities but then she saw someone familiar walking, no running, towards the gates. Her heart skipped several beats, her mouth went dry even as relief poured through her veins.

Tina!!

She opened the door and hobbled out of the car, the rain pelting and pouring down on her. It was a long dismal storm but nothing like the storm of emotions coursing through her body.

Tina ran up to the gates pushing and pulling it open with all her might. Giving up, she simply climbed over it, landed on both feet and scrambled towards what seemed like Bette in the headlights. Remembering to be careful and not fling herself at Bette least she lost her footing, Tina wrapped her arms around Bette, clinging to her for life.

The torrent of questions in her mind could give stiff competition to the downpour.

“Thank god you are alright. I was worried. Where is James? Why are you here? Actually no, don’t answer. First, we need to get out of here.”

“No.” Her expression was stoic. It worried Tina and she stopped short, drawing back to search Bette, who stood in the downpour staring at the mansion, for some sign of what was going on in her head.

“What is it babe?”

Bette tore her eyes from the mansion.

“Is it true?” Her voice was quiet, too quiet. It reminded Tina of the eye before the worst part of a storm.

“Is…Is what true?” She genuinely did not know what Bette was insinuating.

Bette puffed out her cheeks, steeling herself. She tried to find a way to ask the question so that it stung less. But there was no other way. She had to come to terms with reality.

“Helena. Is she in love with Alice? And how on earth are you involved?” She stared at Tina, awaiting a reply, her face glistened with rain and maybe tears.

SHIT! She knows about Alice and Helena. No, there is no Alice and Helena. There is just Helena being plain demented.


Double SHIT! I need to come clean with her.


CRAP, that is what I feel like right now.

Tina tried reason with Bette, hoping she could grasp that this was not the best time or place for such a conversation. Her teeth chattered from the cold and she wrapped her arms around herself, her shirt now clinging to her skin and showing off her curves.

“Babe, can we please get out of this rain? I don’t want either one of us catching a chill. And we really should not be having this conversation on the driveway of that delusional megalomaniac. I promise I’ll explain everything on the way. Just get back in the car please.”

“Answer the question FIRST.” She stepped towards Tina, almost threateningly.

“No, get in the car FIRST.” Tina stood her ground. She could be equally defiant.

Less than a feet apart, the two lovers faced off, each resolute, each in denial. Someone had to make a move, break the impasse. It was Tina.

She put her hand swiftly around Bette’s neck and pulled her head down for a scorching kiss. Caught unawares, Bette did not have a planned response as Tina ignited the embers into flames, combing her hands through the tangled wet mass of curls and pulling her closer.

Tina usually kissed gently and cautiously. But this was not ‘usually.’ It was not a peck or a kiss of dismissal—it flared white-hot passion between the two souls.

She tasted of sweet wine. The pleasure that Tina was giving her vanquished any resistance. Scratch that. She had no resistance to Tina. Her lips parted immediately and she felt jolts of pleasure running down to her toes. She gasped and whimpered and the blonde swallowed those small passionate cries as she feasted on Bette, suckling her tongue with her hot mouth, teasing the sensitive flesh with swirling caresses that would turn hard and probing with need one second, and tender in the next. In turn, Bette took hold of her hips and brought her closer, any distance between their bodies unwanted and unforgivable.

Tina slowly backed and eased Bette onto the front hood of the Alfa Romeo, not breaking the kiss, continuing her assault on her lover’s god forsaken lips. The heated frenzy of their kiss drove away the chilly downpour.

They were both panting when Tina released her lips. No one knew how much time had passed. It seemed like an eternity but it was not enough.

“That was just a trailer. Ready to get out of here?” she declared breathlessly, her body quivering to match a trembling Bette, not out of cold but out of desire.

Bette could only swallow hard and nod.

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