After failed election, Tina's news of marriage, loss of employment and all the disappointment it brought to her, Bette Porter had another sower pill to swallow… Tina and Carrie were moving to LA and now it was time for Bette and Tina to make new custody agreement for Angie. Carrie, as a lawyer, made draft that was more into Tina's favor. She wanted Angie to be with them during the week and to spend weekends with Bette. Angie was now in school that was closer to Tina's place and they saw it as a logical thing for Angie to live with them. Bette felt betrayed that Tina just presented her with papers to sign without talking about it first. She didn't make decisions about Angie without talking to Tina about them and this felt like Tina was doing the exact opposite from everything they agreed on when hey got the divorce.

''I can't believe you are doing this Tina.''

''I am not doing anything Bette. It's normal to have agreement in writing.''

''Yes, it is. But it is also normal to sit and talk before putting anything in writing… Three of us should have sat down and talked. Our daughter deserves seat at the table when we are talking about her life and future. She chose to come here with me. She has right to choose how to divide her time and make her own life situation bearable.''

Carrie rolled her eyes at Bette.

''Tina is her mother… She has her best interest in heart.''

''I beg your pardon! I am her mother too.''

''But she gave birth to her.''

Bette turned to Tina and gave her a look will you handle this, or you want me to handle this bitch?

''Carrie, please… Bette is Angie's mother as much as I am… That is not the question…It never was.''

''Fine, I was just saying…''

''Babe, please, let me handle this with Bette… Ok?''

''Ok.''

Carrie took a seat on the sofa and waited for her fiancée to finish talking to her ex-wife.

''What do you suggest?''

''I suggest we call Angie and ask her what she wants to do…''

Angie was not happy either. She did not really like Carrie and she didn't want to live with them. Bette called her to come and she joined them soon.

''Please, stop fighting! I can't stand it anymore mom. You used to handle things with much more grace and patience. What happened?!''

Bette and Angie knew the answer, Carrie happened, but none of them wanted to say it out loud. There was enough tension even without saying those words. Bette turned to Angie and apologized. Tina did the same. Bette told her that they must change custody agreement and asked her what she wanted to do.

''I want to stay with you… I can go to mama T's on weekends…''

Tina was a bit disappointed. She believed she would choose to live with her and Carrie. They got a nice house, she would have entire basement as her space… She was sure she would pick them.

''Are you sure Angie?''

''Yes, I want to stay with mama B. This is my home…''

Bette noticed that Tina was sad and maybe a little disappointed.

''Ok… Fine… If that is what you want.''

''Mom, you know you can always come here and you said you would get me a car. I can come and visit during the week… ''

''Ok… We will handle those things… I am sure your mom will be ok with you coming to our place.''

Bette nodded.

''Angie can come and visit or stay the night whenever she wants. You are her mom Tina… You are not some stranger. She is our child and whenever she needs you, she can go to you or you can come to her… I would never be in a way of that.''

Tina was glad they managed to make an agreement and that Angie was happy with this new arrangement.

''I love you moms.''

''We love you too Angie.''

Bette smiled and nodded. That was one thing she and Tina would always agree on. They loved their baby girl more than anything. Angie hugged them and got her phone out.

''Mom, can I go to Jordi's? School is out and we have no homework and stuff…''

Bette was not stupid. She knew her daughter was either having sex with her girlfriend or things were about to go into that direction.

''Are her parents at home?''

Angie was about to say yes, but when she saw the way Bette looked at her she caved.

''No, they are not.''

''Will there be some party?''

''No, you know Jordi… She is not really a social butterfly.''

''So, it will be just you and your girlfriend?''

''Pretty much.''

''Oh… Ok…''

Angie blushed…

''Mom.''

''Come here honey…''

Bette hugged her and Angie went to call Jordi to come and pick her up. Tina was not sure if that was good idea.

''Are you sure you should have let her go?''

''Yes, I am… If I said no, we would be soon facing with her sneaking out of the house and telling lies where she goes or what she does. Remember what we did when we were her age. I would rather have her being honest to me and being safe, than doing what we did at her age because we couldn't talk to our mothers or dads.''

Tina knew what Bette was talking about. They both sneaked out of the house and did a lot of stupid things. And to be honest, both she and Bette were part of the activities that could have costed them their lives. Angie came down with her overnight bag and kissed her moms.

''Jordi is almost here… See you tomorrow.''

She kissed Bette and then moved to Tina. Tina hugged her and told her she loved her and Angie smiled at her.

''Love you to mama.''

''Take care and call me tomorrow for lunch. Don't forget.''

''I will not. You repeated it to me ten times.''

''Maybe you can bring Jordi.''

''I don't think it's time for lunch with a girlfriend.''

'"Oh, so she is your girlfriend?''

''Yes, she is…And two of you are being very nosy…''

Bette laughed at that comment and Tina shook her head.

''She got that from you Bette. She never shares.''

''She is private person.''

''And we are her mothers.''

Angie stood by Bette and put her arm around her mother.

''More reasons to keep her secrets and girlfriend away.''

Bette just laughed at their daughter's comment. And Tina just looked at two of them and realized one more time how Angie was spitting image of her mother when it came to sharing and so many other things.

''I hate two of you.''

''We know.''

Angie left the house and they watched her enter Jordi's car. Tina turned to Bette.

''How do you know she is not lying that she is going to Jordi's hose and staying there?''

Bette lifted her phone.

''I have tracking app…''

Tina started laughing.

''So, that is the trick.''

''Of course… I am not that stupid to thrust a teenager.''

''You are the worst!''

''Maybe, but Angie has no idea mama always knows where she is.''

They got back in and went back to the table to talk about some more things they had to make adjustments about. Wedding was in two weeks and they wanted Angie to be part of it and they also wanted her to join them in Europe for two weeks in the middle of August. Bette had to sign permission slips for Angie to travel alone and also travel with Tina.

''Sure, do you have all the paperwork ready?''

''It's ready, but can't be filed until we are married and all the legal change of my name and documents is done.''

''Ok, when you have that, you send me to sign…''

''Good…''

There was awkward silence. Bette was avoiding looking at Tina and Tina couldn't make herself to finally ask the question.

''Will you come to the wedding?''

That was a question Bette had no right answer to. She didn't want to watch Tina get married to someone else and she also didn't want the gossip mill to be focused on her absence and guess that she can't watch Tina marry someone else and that she was heartbroken...

''Tina… Are you sure that is a good idea? It would be awkward. I am your ex-wife. I shouldn't be there. You are starting a new chapter of your life. You don't need me there. You will have your new wife and your new friends and family there. I don't belong at that event.''

''Come on Bette. We were together for such a long time… You are part of my family Bette… You are Angelica's other mom and you will always be my family. I don't care what others would say and when it comes to my family, you know I don't have much left.''

''I know, but I am your ex-wife. It would be too much. I don't think Carrie would be comfortable either with me there.''

Tina left an envelope on the table.

''If you change your mind. You can bring a plus one too.''

''Ok...''

Before that conversation could go further someone was at Bette's door. She got up to answer and she was surprised to see very nicely dressed Dani standing there. She looked sad, nervous and Bette had no idea what brought her to her house. She wondered if something went wrong with the wedding, of it she argued with Sophie. After a moment she also noticed absence of her engagement ring and no wedding ring.

''Dany? Aren't you supposed to be in Hawaii on your honeymoon?''

''No, there was no wedding…''

''What?''

'' Can I come in?''

Bette moved from the door and let her in. She was surprised to see Tina and Carrie in Bette's house.

''You remember my ex-wife Tina and this is her finance Carrie.''

Tina just nodded and smiled and Carrie was looking between Bette and Dani trying to figure out what was going on there.

'' I am sorry. I can come some other time if this is not the right time for you….''

''It's ok… Why are you here? How can I help you?''

''I needed someone to talk to… out of my and Sophie's circle of friends.''

Bette offered her to take a seat on the sofa and Tina went to the door to walk Carrie out. She had some late meeting for the job she was taking in the law firm that worked with hers in NY. After she got back to the house Tina went to the kitchen to make some more coffee. Soon she returned with coffee for everyone. Dani and Bette thanked her and took a sip. Tina was not sure if she should stay.

''Do you want me to leave you alone?''

''No, it's ok… Maybe someone else's prospective would shed some light to the situation I don't really understand.''

''Ok.''

Tina took a seat across from them in a chair and waited for Dani to say what happened. Bette was the one to ask the obvious question.

''What happened? Last time I saw you, you were heading to Hawaii to get married. So, what changed?''

''She didn't show up at the airport.''

Bette felt bad for her. She remembered how happy Dani was for the wedding and few days with Sophie far from LA, from election mess from everything.

'' I was sure that after the election our lives would go back to normal. There would be no late night calls, no below the belt blows from the opposite side we had to handle… nothing but me and her. I was even thinking about applying for a job at the place she suggested. Some nonprofit organization that was in desperate need for good PR. She heard for it from Alice after they finished the show and she told me about it. She hated when I worked for my dad. I earned a lot, had god connections then, but she hated my dad and what he stood for. She came from a different family. Her dad left when her sister was born, her mom was a single mom who really fought hard to keep the family afloat. Her grandma and mom sacrificed a lot for two of them and worked a lot of low income jobs to keep the food on the table. I on the other hand came from different family. I had both parents, until my mom died. I do have two more siblings, but I am baby of the family and most importantly, I am my dad's baby. He and I… We share a very special bond Sophie could never understand.''

''Why?''

''Because she never had a dad… And I never had to be without mine. When my mom died… My brother and sister were at college… They were older, they were busy with their lives…Dad and I were home alone at that time…He was all I had… and I was all he had.''

''I am sorry to hear that.''

''He had expectations from me. I was supposed to be his pride and joy…and then I came home one day…''

Dani smiled and kept talking.

'' I think I was sixteen and I came out to him. That was first shock he got from me.''

''Wow! You did it pretty early…''

''I guess it was clear to me from the start who I was. I never had to experiment with boys to realize I liked girls.''

Bette smiled at her.

''I think your generation is lucky that you have so much more freedom than us and so much more information than we had. I feel sorry we didn't have resources you have now. If I had half of what you have, I would have figured it out much before I did.''

''I think we are lucky, but it still sucks to come out. Not just to parents, but to everyone.''

''I agree.''

There was moment of silence. Like both Bette and Dani were remembering their coming out path. Tina was curious to hear what happened next.

''And then?''

''And second blow was dating Sophie. He somehow put my sexuality behind him and we never spoke of it. He never asked about my dating life… And during the senior year of college, I started dating Sophie and it turned pretty serious from the start. I was a player, but when I started dating her, my player days were over. I was invested in that relationship and I promised to myself that I would not break her heart like I did to some girls before her. We were living together for two years and I could feel that she was ready for more. And I felt like I could commit to her without having any doubts or questions if I am doing the right thing. She was someone I loved, so any commitment was sort of given. So, in past four months, I started working for you, left my dad's company and asked Sophie to marry me. I believed I was on the right path. Then downfall started… Ever since I asked her to marry me, we couldn't see eye to eye about anything.''

Tina got involved into conversation. She could relate to the wedding things.

''Weddings could be stressful… Sometimes it's a real test for the relationship to find a compromise and make both sides happy with a choice.''

Dani looked at Bette and Tina.

''Did you disagree about everything when it came to yours?''

Tina and Bette looked at each other and Bette answered.

''For us… Hmm… It was different. First, we were much older from you and Sophie. And before we even got to the moment to get married, there was so much history behind us. We had so many hurdles before we could even think of getting married. We had our issues, breakups, fights, a lot of negative feelings, blame to put on each other… and it took time for us to get to the place where we could be in a good place to parent and be there for each other as former partners and parents of the same child. We dated other people after Angie was born and there were some adjustments even there. We didn't see eye to eye at that time and it was messy.''

Dani listened to Bette tell their story and she was not sure if she would endure all that for Sophie. Then Tina spoke.

''And then when we finally got back together and got our shit together we had to think what was best for our family… Marriage was not legal in all states, so we couldn't get married in LA. We had to carefully plan our lives around where we could get married, where we could adopt the second baby.''

Dani looked at them in surprise. She had no idea they had more kids. Bette resolved that mystery for her.

''In the end, birth mom gave up and kept the baby…. But we had been carefully planning every step of our lives…And in all those years together, we somehow grew to know what we wanted from a wedding.''

Tina took some more of her coffee and laughed.

''In many things we did together, it was not that much about knowing what we want, as much as it was about knowing what we didn't want.''

Bette smiled and nodded.

''We never wanted a big wedding. We never believed it was our thing. We always were too private and boring in a way. So, we did it our way… We got married in botanical gardens with just our friends and Angie. After that we went to a restaurant and had dinner together… There were not more than ten of us and it was amazing because it was what we wanted. We were always happier in our small bubble than in the crowd surrounded by too many people.''

Dani looked at Tina and remembered she was getting married again.

''And what will you do now?''

''Now we are having big wedding. It's important to Carrie to have all the friends and family there, so we are doing it like that.''

''How many people?''

''About two hundred.''

''That is not going to be small wedding.''

''Definitely not, but her family is big and there are some people form her firm, my company…and we somehow go to that number.''

''I think that if my dad had anything to do with our wedding, we would end up with a number like that or even more.''

That spiked Tina's interest.

''He was not part of the wedding?''

''Me and my dad are complicated… He loves me very much, but I don't think he ever got to the point of accepting me and Sophie. He called he my friend, he made horrible prenup… And the day before we were supposed to leave, he told me she came from the broken home and she will bail when it gets to hard…''

Some of the things Dani said hit home for Bette and Tina. Tina could never forget how Melvin never really accepted them as a couple and how until the last day he called Ms. Kennard.

''It pains me that he was right… She did bail. I sat at that airport and waited for hours for her to come… At least to explain why we were not on that flight to Hawaii. But it didn't happen. She called me three days later, after I left million messages and said I will call police because I am getting scared something might have happened. Not even her family said anything about where she was.''

Bette was surprised to hear that. She was under impression that Dani and Sophie were good.

''I am sorry.''

'' I am not… I've learned she was sleeping with someone else.''

''What?''

Dani had very sad and sower smile.

''You know what is fucked up?''

''What?''

''All the time she was complaining about me working for you and acting all jealous and saying that we have a thing… ''

''What?''

''Well, your friend Alice spilled the beans that you are not stranger to illicit affairs, and we all saw what happened with Felicity… ''

Bette just narrowed her eyes and gave Dani a look.

''So, in Sophie's head you were trying to get me to bed and I was all for it…because of who I was before I started dating her. Yes, I had my moments in college when I was seeing a few girls at the same time, but I never crossed the line since we started dating. I would never.''

''She thinks we are involved?''

''She thinks I like you. She called you my school girl crush…''

Tina could see that vibe around Dani and Bette. Dani was somehow…smitten by the other woman… Impressed by all that Bette Porter was…and Tina could understand it. That's how she fell in love with the other woman. But after that phase when she was fascinated and enchanted with the other woman, came reality check when she realized Bette Porter was just as human as everyone else and she had unimaginable baggage.

''She really doesn't like me. I never really talked to her. How did she grow to dislike me that much?''

''She was jealous… I spent a lot of time with you or working on something election related and she felt left behind…''

''I am sorry if I was responsible for the end of your relationship.''

''You are just a tip of the iceberg Bette… Just an excuse…''

''So, what are the real issues?''

''Do you still have that whiskey?''

Bette smirked.

''Yes, I do…''

She got up to pour them some and turned to Tina to ask if she wanted some too. Tina thanked her and said she would stick to coffee in case she has to pick up Carrie.

Tina watched two of them. She noticed that there was something between them and she was not sure if other two women were aware of it. She felt sting of jealousy…

''She gave me a lot of shit about you. She couldn't understand that I needed some space and some time to process how I feel about issues with my dad… She didn't understand that I don't function like she does. I need my space to put things in order in my head… And she kept nagging and insisting we talk about fucking everything that happens in our lives…''

''So, she didn't understand that you need time to process before you say how you feel?''

''NO! She wants to talk about things that just happened. I didn't have time to wrap my mind around what happened with my dad and she already wanted to talk about it.''

Tina just snorted. Bette and Dani looked at her. Dani expected her to say something and Bette gave her a warning look to be careful what she says.

''You are disregarding her feelings. Her feelings were hurt by your father and you only think about your feelings in all this. From what I understood, she never got proper respect from your dad… He treated her as someone less worthy… I am not sure if it is because of her sexuality or not being born in a family like yours… I am still not sure about that, but the bottom line is that your dad treats her like crap and all you can think of are your feelings?''

''I did think of her feelings. I told my dad we are not having prenup and that I chose her to be my wife and that she deserves respect.''

''And what did he do?''

''He said she will screw me over… He said she will leave when things get hard. And I defended her. I wanted to believe we could break that pattern. I wanted to believe we would be the ones to have good marriage and grow old together… And what hurts me the most was that he was right. She left, she left without saying anything.''

''I think you screwed over yourself… before she did anything…''

''How?''

''You dismissed her feelings in so many occasions, you make her feel worthless and make her feel like only your feelings matter in that relationship.''

Bette took some of her whiskey.

''Are we talking about Dani and Sophie or us Tina?''

''I don't know anymore… I see so many similarities.''

''Really? You want to go there now?''

Tina pulled herself together and bit her tongue for the millionth time with Bette. Now it was not about them, but about Dani and her girlfriend.

''I am sorry Dani. This is not about me and Bette and issues we still haven't finished discussing. I am sorry… You need someone to listen, not to be part of their issues… Please continue…''

Bette was grateful for Tina backing down. Now it was about Dani.

''She was sleeping with her best friend… When we were working late on your campaign, when I was making arrangements for Hawaii, she was fucking Finley.''

Bette didn't expect that. She was really surprised.

''Blond, short hair?…lived with Shane?''

''Yes, that one.''

''Wow! That was unexpected.''

''Yes, it was… Especially after all the shit she gave me about us…''

''Well, what will you do now?''

''I am in a process of moving. I got an apartment not too far away from here…''

''You were lucky to find it so fast.''

''It's mine…''

''Oh, that changes things.''

''Yes, it does… I didn't want to use it since it was from my dad… Sophie didn't want to live there and the couple living there moved out a week before it all happened, so it sort of all turned out well.''

''I am glad.''

''AND, I have three job interviews tomorrow.''

''I am glad to hear that. Who are you meeting?''

''Well, one is for job in Washington, other is with CAC and third is my dad if all else fails.''

''CAC?''

''My dad knows someone there… And they are in desperate need of good PR.''

''I agree… They have been for years.''

''You really made that place amazing.''

''Thank you, that was years ago…''

''Provocations were last exhibition I went to with my mom before she died.''

''Really? How old were you?''

''Eleven…''

''You were really a kid…''

''Yes, but I never forgot that day… I even remember seeing you there.''

''What?''

''Yes, you were standing in the corner talking to some people from the gallery. I recognized them now and board members.''

''They wanted my head for that exhibition.''

''I know they let you go, but I think it was their loss… You gave that place something that made it different and more special than other galleries or institutes…''

''Thank you.''

She was about to leave Bette's house when she turned back.

''I really think you should think about coming back to the art world… It's been pretty dull without you…and that is what you love the most. Maybe politics is not your way to change the world… Maybe art is?''

With that Dani left and Bette stood at the door watching her leave and thinking about what she just said. She closed the door and came back to the living room. Tina was just sitting there in silence and watching Bette collect the cups.

''What?''

''Her ex is right… She has a thing for you… And from what I see, she is not the only one with a thing.''

''Nothing happened Tina…''

''Yet…''