Even as she immersed herself in the delicious task of pleasing her beloved, Helena could not manage to suppress her thoughts. Lara’s soft cries brought her back into the moment and she redoubled her efforts, replacing her tongue with her fingers and adjusting herself so that she could study Lara’s features as she surrendered to her bliss. The unknown and the uncontrollable were already hard at work in her subconscious, however, and Helena’s only thought haunted her.

“Dear Lord, what if this turns out to be the end of us?” She gathered a still trembling Lara and held her tightly.

Bette was still seething when she pulled next to Tina’s car. She’d replayed the confrontation with Kit endlessly during the drive home. She had no intention of letting this nonsense back into her life or her daughter’s. End of discussion.

“Are you coming Mama B?” Angelica reached out to knock on the window from Tina’s hip, startling her from her reverie. Tina immediately saw Bette’s horrible mood, despite her forced smile and guessed its cause.

“How bad?”

“She says it was a one time slip when she heard that Dana and Alice lost the baby,” Bette took Baby A from Tina’s arms, “and she made herself vomit immediately. Supposedly she’s doing ninety meetings in ninety days.”

“You don’t believe her?”

“I don’t know,” Bette snapped, “and right now I don’t fucking care.”

Reacting to her Mama B’s dour mood, Angelica promptly burst into tears, triggering a deeper level of misery in Bette’s psyche. Everything in her wanted to wreak a vengeance on Kit that she would never forget.

When the call finally came Beth seriously considered letting it go to voicemail. At the last possible moment she relented, but couldn’t bring herself to speak. Shane heard her breathing through the Bluetooth and hesitated.

“I don’t know why I’m such an asshole,” she finally said. “I can only imagine what you’re thinking and I deserve for you to hate me too.”

“I think you might have at least told me you were still in love with Carmen,” Beth hissed. “I put in enough time to at least earn that courtesy.”

“I’m not!” Shane’s protest was sharp and genuine. “I’m in love with you. Only you.” She was again met with silence. “Beth, I want to tell you everything that happened, but I’m on my way for Alice and Dana’s to take care of Dave and the house. Will you please meet me there?” More silence. “Please…” Shane was unaccustomed to begging. And Beth knew it.

Sharon was determined to help her girls. For the time being, there wasn’t much she could do for Dana, whose pain medication had again knocked her out. She turned her attentions to Alice, whom she found curled into a chair at Dana’s side, weeping silently as she watched over her wife. Wordlessly she pulled Alice to her feet, wrapped her in a protective hug and guided her to empty bed next to Dana. She pulled Al’s shoes off and tucked her in, kissing her tear stained cheek.

“I promise that I won’t let anything happen to either of you,” whispered Sharon. “I’ll be here when you both wake up.” She held Alice’s hand until she finally surrendered to her exhaustion. Moving the chair between the two beds, Sharon Fairbanks stood her post, protecting her daughters as they gathered the strength to weather the next wave of the dark storm that was poised to destroy them.