Bette
was in a deep sleep and was lulled out of it by a faint buzzing noise.  She lazily blinked her eyes open and shut a
few times and realized the noise that was waking her up was Tina snoring.  She smiled to herself.  As she settled more into an awake state, she
realized that Tina had positioned herself on her side, in the hospital bed and
had her arm protectively over Bette. 
Tina’s head was resting on Bette’s shoulder and her arm was around  Bette’s stomach with her hand tucked securely
under Bette’s waist.

Bette
did not want to move or disturb Tina. 
She looked so peaceful. Upon closer inspection, Bette realized that Tina
looked so exhausted.  She had been
through the ringer with this situation and Bette was bursting with love and
appreciation of her girlfriend.  Bette
realized what a strong woman Tina was. She stood up to Jodie, she stayed with
Bette day and night, she stood up to Aaron at work to stay by Bette’s side and
she organized everything in their life. 
In the past, Bette always thought that Tina was so fragile, but she was
realizing that she was the strongest woman she ever met. This was such a
revelation and a good feeling for Bette. 
It meant that she did not have to always have to be the strong one. 

Through
the unfortunate events of the accident, Bette had to be vulnerable and
relinquish control.  It was terribly hard
for her to do, but it re-balanced  her
relationship with Tina.  The new balance
was good for both of them.  The current
chain of events seemed to re-establish trust between the two and level the
playing field. As Bette was pensively thinking about her relationship with
Tina, the iphone on the table by the bed indicated a text message or email had
arrived.  Bette’s cell phone was lost or
destroyed in the car accident, so they were both sharing Tina’s at the
moment.  Bette carefully and quietly
reached over for the phone.  She looked
at the phone that indicated a missed call, a text and an email. 

Bette
hoped that everything was ok. Her first thought was Kit with Angie.  When she went to the text messages, she saw
HENRY. Her heart felt like it went up into her throat.  She wanted to respect Tina’s privacy, but she
could not help herself; she clicked on the text message and it said : TRYING 2
REACH U. NEED TO C U. SENT EMAIL.