Summary: Set after Kate comes back at the end of episode 2x02, while Betty and Ivan are having awkward tea.
Disclaimer: I kinda wish I had written Betty, she's the most adorable character ever to exist on television. But I didn't. It all belongs to the canadian show Bomb Girls.
Betty couldn't believe her eyes when she turned her head towards the living room entrance. There she was, hesitantly walking into the room.
"Kate." – She thought, forgetting she had a teapot on her hands and forcing Ivan to get hold of his cup when both items collided.
She got up as if she was in a trance towards her friend, trying to say something but for some reason words failed her.
"I was out there thinking I had no family left, but then I realized that I did." – Kate said, slowly diminishing the gap between them.
Kate's smile while saying this melted Betty's heart, and she automatically smiled back.
Kate took this as a 'welcome back' sign and gained the required confidence to close the gap and embrace Betty. She saw Ivan staring at them with a curious look but quickly averted her eyes and buried her face more into Betty's neck, caressing her back. Betty was almost in tears as Kate hugged her more strongly by crossing her hands on Betty's lower back. They stayed like that for almost half a minute, enjoying each other's warmth until their heard a gentle cough and a chair being dragged on the floor.
Ivan was standing and getting his coat, Kate noticed. She didn't want to relinquish the feeling that was being held by Betty this way, but soon remembered she was the one who interrupted Betty and Ivan's evening. She slowly broke the embrace and stepped back, still holding her gaze with Betty, who decided to keep their hands connected for a few seconds before letting go.
"I should be going, it's getting late." – Ivan said, placing his hand on Betty's back and giving her a kiss on her right cheek.
Betty nodded, giving him a look that said "Thanks for understanding". Before leaving, Ivan glanced at Kate and made an almost-imperceptible goodbye nod.
"I'm sorry I interrupted your evening with Ivan, Betty." – Kate said, as a way to respond to Ivan's coldness towards her.
"Nonsense, Kate. You have no idea how relieved I am that you're back…I mean…it's for good this time, isn't it?" - She asked, her eyes showing a hint of uncertainty.
Kate couldn't understand why Betty still cared for her.
She thought that if she left again, Betty wouldn't mind so much because her father wasn't around anymore and she wasn't in danger. Also, why would she want her around now that she had a boy to care for? She had a complete life and Kate was an accessory.
Ivan.
He's just a fling, Betty had said in the locker room of VicMu. What did she mean by that? That her heart wasn't in it? She instantly remembered the kiss at Tangiers and Betty's 'I love you'. Did she truly mean that then? If she did…she doesn't know, clearly.
But then she remembered the plea Betty did…the look on her face as she asked if Kate would be home afterwards… The look Betty made still burned in her mind, how hurt she looked when Kate shook her head as a response to her question.
So she made a decision, she would go back to the boarding house and start over, if Betty still wanted her in some way. The hug was a proof that something was still there between them. Something deeper than friendship, because when she was hugged by Gladys it didn't feel so intense. And she wanted to explore why…
Why the hug felt so good. She felt whole for some seconds, and the mere possibility of feeling like that again was tempting.
"Kate?" – Betty asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Yes. I'm back home for good." She said, with a hint of a smile. It felt marvelous uttering those words.
Betty's grin grew wider and Kate felt her heart flutter. This always happened whenever Betty directed her a grin. Kate wondered if whenever she smiled at Betty it did the same effect on her.
"I will take care of getting your room back right now. You've lived here before it shouldn't be hard...Wait- you got your money?"
Kate nodded, and followed Kate downstairs.
After taking care of getting her room back, Kate and Betty went back to Betty's room. The girl who was on Kate's old room still had a couple days left of renting, so she had to stay with Betty again this night and the next.
While they were changing into their night gowns, Kate said:
"I'll sleep on the chair this time."
Betty shook her head.
"Not a chance. You sleep on the bed." – Her tone showed she wouldn't change her mind easily.
"Betty, I remember what it is to work at VicMu, standing all day long. I couldn't imagine how harsh it would be to sleep two nights in a row on a chair and having to work the next day…"
"You're not sleeping on the chair." – Betty insisted, with a determined expression.
"I'll take the living room's couch then. Gladys slept there and was all right with it. You need to sleep on the bed, Betty."
Betty didn't like the idea of Kate sleeping on a place where everybody could see her. It felt as if she'd be completed unprotected.
"Not a good idea Kate…what if people notice your scars and start making questions?" – She thought that was a good way to keep her from sleeping in the living room, since Kate was very self-conscious about them – with good reason.
Kate hesitated for a moment, figured Betty was right and then said, looking somewhat fondly at her:
"You're not letting me sleep anywhere but the bed are you?"
Betty nodded with a hint of a smile, while her eyebrows rose a little bit, as a way of saying: "You finally got there, heh?"
"We share it then." She proposed, not breaking eye contact because she wanted to register Betty's reaction.
She stopped was she was doing for a quick moment (buttoning her gown) and babbled:
"Well hum, not sure we fit comfortably on it." – She said with a nervous cough at the end.
"Don't be silly, we both and Gladys fit in it yesterday, remember?" – She pointed out, smiling.
She noticed Betty's nervousness but didn't understand it. They were friends. They've shared a bed before.
Then she had a flashback of her shoving Betty away, after the kiss. And calling her disgusting. She winced at the memory. She figured the hug they shared would put that in the past, but apparently that wasn't enough.
"It'll be fine Betty; I don't mind sharing a bed with you." – She said, looking at Betty with the same expression as when she called her family.
Betty relaxed a little bit and said, clearly defeated:
"Fine. But I'd like to let you know that my snoring prevails." – And she raised the bed cover and begun laying down on the right side of the bed.
Kate followed her, smiling.
"I don't mind." She muttered when they were both under the covers.
Sure enough, they both fit, but they couldn't move much without touching each other, so Betty lay with her back to Kate and tried to move as little as possible.
Kate lay facing the ceiling, and eventually turned the light off. She turned her head to Betty's side and could still distinguish her blonde hair, since a thin line of moonlight brightened the room.
She lay like that for a few minutes, looking at the back of Betty's head.
How could she have ever accused Betty of being disgusting? She was so broken about her father's reappearance…his speeches came back and carved her mind, saying everything about that moment by the piano was wrong. But was it? The more she thinks about it less wrong she thinks it was.
Betty had always been chivalrous towards Kate, and a stand-up friend. And even after all that Kate told her she still came back for her and saved her from her father's claws, slept on a chair so she could have the bed, put on a good word for her so she could have her old room back…endless things! Kate felt that the disgusting one was herself, for shoving Betty off the way she did. But she would make for it, and that's one of the reasons that made her come back to the boarding house that evening.
She gathered all the courage she could muster and slowly turned to Betty's side. She hesitantly placed her right arm over Betty, who apparently was still awake because she shifted a little bit as a response to Betty's movements.
Then everything that happened afterwards was in silence because no words were needed. Betty turned on her back so she was the one facing the ceiling now, enabling Kate to embrace her more comfortably and Betty's right arm went below Kate's head, and Betty snuggled more into Kate after that.
Betty, who was wearing a huge, goofy grin, took more than an hour to fall asleep, because she wanted to treasure that moment as long as possible. And thank god that she did, otherwise she wouldn't have heard Kate muttering the words: "I really like you, Betty."
"I really like you too, Kate." She answered, feeling like she could have some hope left afterall.