Bette closed the door behind them and finally both women could relax. They were home, and they were together. Finally, the brunette had been able to fulfill her pledge to bring her girl home, and it was the sweetest feeling in the world. The tension seemed to be visibly removed from the blonde as she returned to a place where she felt completely safe.
"Thank you for bringing me home" Tina said with a soft smile.
"It's my pleasure T. It didn't feel like home without you"
"I never want to be away from you again"
Although it was an impossible suggestion, the brunette understood that her lover was going to need a lot of reassurance over the coming weeks, and she was the one to provide it.
"I won't let you baby" she soothed.
"Do you think we could go and sit out by the pool? I haven't been outside in what feels like forever"
"Of course we can. I was just gonna make a cup of tea, would you like one?"
"Yeah, that'd be great"
The blonde stood nervously in the middle of the living room as she watched her girlfriend walk towards the kitchen.
Turning back, the brunette noticed the look on her lover's face and smiled reassuringly at her "You think you could give me a hand?"
Tina nodded gratefully and followed the brunette into the kitchen. Bette had understood that the blonde really didn't want to be left alone, but not wanting to make her feel like she was being babied, she found her own reasons to keep them together. The blonde didn't believe for a second that Bette needed her help, but she was grateful to her girlfriend for pretending for her sake.
Once the tea was ready they walked out into the backyard and chose the lounger in the best sunspot. The brunette sat with her back propped up and her legs apart so that Tina could sit between them and lie back against her.
"You make me feel safe" the blonde whispered.
"That's 'cause you are baby. No-one gets to my girl without dealing with me"
"I just….I can't believe my own family would do that to me? Aren't families meant to protect you?"
Bette's eyebrows raised. It was the first time she'd heard the blonde speak so openly about her abduction.
"Yeah, they are T. But sometimes people are so full of hate, that they let it cloud everything else in their life. It consumes them until all they're driven by is hate. And that hate makes them feel they're justified in such horrendous actions"
"They won't let him go will they?" the blonde asked, the panic evident in her voice.
The brunette knew that she was talking about her father, and the fact that he was the one she was focused on showed her who had been responsible for much of what had happened over the past days.
"No baby. The feds have him. That's a big deal. He took you across state lines, they won't be letting him go"
"What if he manages to persuade them over to his way of thinking about me? What if they agree with him?"
"Hey" the brunette said softly, putting down her cup of tea and wrapping her arms round the blonde's waist "that's not gonna happen baby. The feds are good people, and they're gonna make sure he goes away for a long time"
They lay together on the lounger for an hour or so until Bette's stomach began audibly rumbling.
"Umm T? Much as I never want to get up, I think my stomach's telling me it needs feeding"
The blonde whimpered and wriggled back against her girlfriend.
"You know sandwiches always taste better when you make them" Bette tried.
"Now you're just being silly"
"I swear T. Everything you make just tastes that little bit better than when I do it"
The blonde sat up, rolling her eyes "It's a line, but seeing as you cared enough to try it, I suppose I can fix you a sandwich"
They went inside and true to her word, Tina made lunch for them both. They ate at the dining table and the brunette cleared away the plates when they were done, of course under the blonde's watchful gaze. Just as they were walking back through to the living room, they heard a knock on the front door. The blonde's head snapped to the brunette instantly in fear.
"It's ok honey. You stay right here and I'll go see who it is. And I promise, I'll keep the chain on until I know who's there"
Tina nodded nervously, but didn't stop the brunette from leaving her side. As promised, Bette slid back the latch but left on the chain as she pulled the door ajar. Once she'd seen that it was Captain Williams on the doorstep, she opened the door fully.
"Captain Williams, come in"
"Miss Porter" Tasha nodded politely.
"What can we do for you?"
"I'm actually here to see Miss Kennard"
"Hi" Tina said quietly as she approached the other two women "are you here to take my statement?"
"If that's ok with you" Tasha said kindly.
"Yeah…I guess I have to do it sometime"
"We can take it at your pace, I promise"
The blonde nodded "Can Bette stay with me? I….I want her to know everything, and I don't really want to have to tell it all twice"
"Of course, but I'm going to have to ask you not to interrupt Miss Porter"
"No problem. I just want to be there for Tina. Shall we sit down?" Bette asked, leading the three of them into the living room.
"Thank you" Tasha replied.
Bette and Tina sat side by side on the sofa while Tasha took the chair. It wasn't going to be easy for the blonde to relive everything that she'd been through, but she knew she had to do it to make sure of convictions for those that had hurt her, and having the brunette by her side made it an easier task to bear.
Bette listened on in silence as her girlfriend took them both through her abduction. It was Henry who had grabbed Tina from outside the Planet that day, and her father had been driving. It turned out that they had dropped Henry at his house before her father had transported her in his locked vehicle all the way to North Carolina. He lived alone in his bachelor pad so there had been no-one to notice the new addition to the household. Every day when he'd left for work he'd left his daughter in the care of his good friend, a fellow Christian who held similar beliefs to John.
For the first few days there had been no violence. However, when it became clear that Tina wasn't going to comply with his demands to marry Henry willingly, he had begun striking her. It started with a slap here and there but became more forceful with hits to the torso.
When Bette heard this she squeezed the blonde's hand reassuringly, trying to control her own anger that was building against the man.
Tina continued by telling them how finally when John had realised that no amount of preaching or physical persuasion was going to change his daughter's mind, he had resorted to making threats against Bette. He had told her that Henry and his friends were watching her house, and one of them had a firearms license. When he told her that her precious Bette would be dead if she didn't agree to the wedding, she felt she had no choice but to go along with it.
It was only once they had to got to the registry office that she had found the courage to ask for her mother. She had hoped that Jackie would be able to get in touch with Bette, not realising that her girlfriend was several steps ahead of her. It was only when they got to the ceremony that Tina had discovered that her sister had been involved in the plan.
Tasha stopped the blonde when she reached the point in her story when Bette and Shane had entered. As Bette would be required to give her own statement, she couldn't be in the room when her girlfriend told her version of events.
After a comforting hug from the brunette, Tina agreed to be left alone with Tasha to go through the final events of the previous day. This part of her statement was perhaps less detailed from this as she was desperate to get through it so she could be back with her girlfriend. But Tasha didn't push her as she knew she'd be able to get more details from the rest of the witnesses.
When she was finished Tina sighed deeply.
"Thank you for taking the time to tell me that Miss Kennard"
"Please, you can call me Tina"
"Ok Tina. Well I appreciate that that can't have been easy for you"
"Can Bette come back in now?"
"Of course"
Tina went out to the garden and called her girlfriend back in. They walked back to the sofa hand in hand.
"Do you want my statement now?"
"I can take it now. Or if that's been too much for today, I can always come back another time"
"I'd rather get this all over with if that's ok"
Tasha nodded understandingly.
"Is it ok if Tina stays here? I mean, you heard her side of it already" Bette asked.
"I suppose that'd be ok"
Tasha took down Bette's statement and finally put away her tape recorder and notepad.
"Ok, well before I go, I just wanted to give you both an update on what's going on with the suspects. Mr Young and Miss Kennard have both made full confessions and their stories seem to corroborate what you ladies have told me. We're liaising with the police in North Carolina and they've picked up the man who was helping your father. His name is Zachariah Moore. Right now he's not talking from what you've told us they should have enough to charge him"
"And what about my father?"
"He's still in federal custody. The latest position was he is denying everything. But you don't have to worry, he won't be getting bail with the gravity of the charges against him"
Tina sighed in relief and leant her body against her lover's.
"That's great news" Bette spoke for both of them.
"Well I should probably leave you two alone, but I'll be in touch with any developments" Tasha said, getting to her feet.
Bette and Tina walked her to the door, and just as she was seeing the Captain out, the brunette spoke again.
"Can we expect to be seeing you with Alice sometime?"
Tasha blushed and didn't respond, just giving them a nervous wave before making her way back to her patrol car.
"What was that all about?" Tina asked as they shut the door.
"Seems Captain Williams and Alice took a bit of a shining to each other"
"Oh really?" the blonde grinned "Well at least something good came out of all of this"
Later that evening they were getting ready for bed. Bette was standing in front of the wardrobe, unsure what she was supposed to be wearing. She felt a hand on her arm and found the blonde by her side, smiling shyly.
"You don't need pyjamas"
"T…"
"I just want to sleep babe if that's ok. But I want to feel close to you"
"That's more than ok baby"
Bette smiled in relief. She hadn't wanted things to change when her lover came back, but she wasn't quite sure where she stood in terms of getting close to the blonde.
"Will you undress me?" Tina asked, biting her lip.
The brunette sighed. She loved nothing more than undressing her lover, and she was finally getting the chance to do it again. She gently removed her clothes until the blonde was standing naked before her.
"God T….I missed this"
"Can I….?"
Bette swallowed and nodded. Although she knew that she wouldn't have the chance to love her girlfriend in the way that she was aching to tonight, the thought of being so close to her again gave her a familiar warm feeling that she hadn't experienced since they had been separated.
The blonde carefully stripped the brunette and once she had finished, she stepped forward and embraced her lover. Both women sighed at the feeling of their naked bodies pressing together. It was Tina who leant up first and pressed her lips to the brunette's, kissing her tenderly as their hands caressed one another's bodies.
"T…" Bette breathed, rapidly losing control of herself.
"I'm sorry babe, I know I shouldn't start anything that I'm not going to finish. Soon baby though, I promise"
"You know I'll wait for you"
"I know. And I love you for that"
"Shall we get in bed?"
Tina nodded enthusiastically and the brunette pulled back the covers before both of them climbed in. They immediately sought out one another's bodies and intertwined their limbs in the centre of the bed. They lay on their sides and the blonde tucked her head under her lover's chin.
"I think this is what I missed the most" she said quietly.
"Me too" Bette confessed.
"Thank you for saving me"
The brunette kissed her forehead "Night night T"
"Night babe"
As she felt the blonde drift off to sleep, Bette tried to pull her closer.
"You may not realise it yet baby, but you saved me"