**Tina’s Kitchen**

As she finished with adding the last ingredients for the french toast and placed the first 2 slices into the heated frying pan Bette was pulled back to the moment as she heard a sound at the kitchen door. Tina stood framed in the doorway and the look on her face broke Bette’s heart. It was obvious to her what Tina had thought when she had woken up and Bette had been gone. Instead of the anger that would be her normal response to the implicit insult in the thought, Bette felt only pain for T that she would think that their love last night was only temporary. It just reinforced to Bette that they both had ‘ghosts’ that would haunt them for some time to come. As Bette set down the bowl she held, turned and walked toward Tina with arms outstretched; Tina walked on shaky legs to meet her somewhere in the middle of the kitchen. Several silent moments passed as Bette enfolded Tina in her arms, gently holding T’s head against her chest.

Finally, Tina pulling back slightly, leaned up and kissed Bette gently on the lips. Tina had known the second Bette turned and saw her face that she had instantly known what she tried so hard to hide.

Tina’s voice quavered slightly as she spoke, " I’m so sorry Bette I just…"

Pulling her close again quietly Bette spoke into Tina’s curls, "Its ok baby. I know what you thought. It’s not true I’m still here and I’m not leaving again. We are both going to face these things so lets just make a choice to be honest with each other about them so we can get through them together ok."

Nodding because that was all she could manage at the moment Tina pulled Bette closer for a few seconds and then withdrew from her arms and looked over greedily at the bowl that sat abandoned on the counter.

"I can see that my surprise is ruined just by the look on your face" Bette laughed

The rich tones of Bette’s laugh pushed the final edges of darkness out and Tina found herself laughing too as she responded, " Definitely! The cat was out of the bag the moment the bread hit the frying pan. There is only one thing that smells that delicious in this world other than you babe."