This woke Bette from her light sleep and she watched in silence as Tina was writing on something, she wasn’t sure what, she closed her eyes when Tina turned back to her, bent over and softly rubbed her nose over hers and kept them closed until she felt the warm single tear that landed on her cheek as Tina pulled away.

Bette forced herself to watch the one thing that she had wanted Tina to avoid seeing, the wavering steps as your heart was being ripped from your chest, she counted each step that would bring her world crashing down around her.

At step eight Tina paused and Bette forget how to breath, she was sure Tina just whispered something, what exactly she didn’t hear.

At step nine she was gone, gone from her bed, gone from her room, gone from her life, for how long she didn’t know, all she did know that it wouldn’t be forever, it couldn’t be forever, her eyes where drawn to the bedside cabinet and she picked up the torn picture that Tina had left.  She flipped it over and read what Tina had written.

Sleep eluded her for the remainder of the night as the letters F.L.F and every possible meaning of those letters swirled around her mind.

Chapter 9

LA 2029

“We really should go back in there T..”  

“Soon, lets give Al a few more minutes to make Peabody leave”  Tina snuggled closer to Bette on the lounger and rested her head on her chest.

Bette simply shook her head, they had agreed to disagree over their choice of friends years ago although Bette had been a lot more tolerable of Al than Tina had been of Helena.

“T… you have invited her to whatever you have up your sleeve for my birthday next weekend haven’t you”

“Oops…..you said you didn’t want a big fuss and you just wanted family” Tina was pleased Bette couldn’t see her grinning.

“Tina you know exactly who I meant when I said family….so are you telling me Al isn’t included in your plans”

“Well she wasn’t but Alice said she wouldn’t come if Great Al wasn’t coming so I didn’t have a choice and if I invited Al then I had to invite…”