BETTE: You and Susan were closeted.

SYDNEY: Perhaps, but people believed what they wanted to believe and they accepted us for whatever they convinced themselves we were.

BETTE: No, they accepted you for whatever they wanted you to be…it was their comfort zone they were working in, not yours.

SYDNEY: (shaking her head dismissively) There’s certainly truth to that, but what you need to understand is that the straight world was my comfort zone as well. (Syd stops to reflect.)  I knew the rules•knew how to play the game.  In your world I’m aimless and floundering.

BETTE: Syd, how’re you really doing since you returned from India?

SYDNEY: (sarcastically) I’m fine, great, super-fantastic.

BETTE: Save the rhetoric for someone who doesn’t know you and might believe the fluff.  We’ve all noticed that you’ve changed since you’re retuned from India•more introverted, serious, and reserved.  Like you’re mind is somewhere else.

Syd reflects for a moment.

SYDNEY: I appreciate your concern, but right now I’d like to be invisible for awhile and not "observed" by everyone.  I just feel….(Syd hesitates, her eyes tearing slightly) Did you ever feel that somewhere between the "stuff" we collect, the people we surround ourselves with and the things we busy ourselves with….somewhere in between all of that is us?  Or in this case me?

BETTE: And who are you?

SYDNEY: For years I was a partner, Susan’s "better half" both personally and professionally.  I lived in a straight world, was a respected doctor•now with no profession, no Susan, I’m just not certain how to be me anymore….hell, I’m not certain if I ever knew how to be me.

BETTE: You’re just feeling down, you are a bright, beautiful and accomplished woman.

SYDNEY: Maybe that’s just it. I’ve spent my entire life as a human doing instead of a human being.  I invested in my career, not my life•we make choices when we know we can’t have it all.  My personal legacy is so tied to my profession•no family, few friends.

BETTE: Success is often judged by what we had to sacrifice in order to achieve it.

SYDNEY:  I know it’s time to move on•the question is to where and when?  (smiling sadly) I miss my younger days when I was fearless and always right.(Syd sits back in her chair and reflects) As a doctor they teach us to say (faking a stuffy accent) "I’m sorry for your loss."  But those words are shallow.  I had a professor who told me that you can’t be a good doctor until you’ve killed a patient.  But my God Bette•did it have to be Susan?  The human heart breaks when you realize that you cannot help the person you love.  In my case that was a professional failure as well as well as a personal one.