"I’ll be in my room." Angelica declared before running off to her room, quickly followed by her younger sister, leaving their parents at the front door.

"Dinner’s in ten!" Tina called after the two mini-Bettes.

Bette followed Tina into the kitchen, and stood aside as Tina resumed kitchen duties. Two minutes of complete silence, she grinned and declared, "I miss this."

Tina turned to her. "Missed what, babe?"

"This. Some quiet. You and me."

Tina grinned back. She glanced at the direction of the upstairs bedrooms of their children. "I miss being sixteen years younger."

"When did she become such a handful," Bette mused, taking out a bottle of water, pouring Tina a glass and keeping the bottle to herself. "Or, for that matter, how."

Tina lifted an eyebrow. "I take it the lecture went well?"

"If me talking and her on the brink of crying before I even said anything can be called ‘well’." Bette admitted.

"I think she built it up so big in her head that she was expecting the worst," Tina told her. "What did you say?"

"Things about responsibility, honesty…" Bette closed her eyes, shaking her head. "They hit a tree because they were avoiding a cat."

"That could’ve been a dog," Tina agreed.

"T, there was yelling, and pleading, and ranting, and raving, and I think I even mentioned that it’s her recklessness that’s the reason why she doesn’t have a dog…" Bette sighed. "I couldn’t help but bring up painful memories for her."

"I’m sure that no matter what, it was still better that she expected."

"How can you say that?"

"We’re not exactly queens of understatement, babe." Tina said softly, coming closer to her wife. "We both have a flair for the dramatic. I think Angelica’s got that in spades."

Bette groaned. "I feel so bad."

"That much energy?"

"Guilt. She looks so sad when you yell at her."

"Someone has to do it," Tina said gently, running her fingers through Bette’s hair. "Did she do that wide-eyed poor-me Porter routine?"

"I resent that." Bette said.

"But you know it’s true."

"Well, it certainly worked with you," Bette joked.

Tina, who had previously been talking to the doctor about Terry, stood out in the hallway while Katie and Terry talked about their favorite TV programs. She was loitering by the elevator when it opened to reveal two of the three most important people in her life.

Bette had one arm around Angelica’s shoulder, trying to give comfort, but since she was the reason behind the forlorn expression, the teenager did not return the sentiment. Angelica hung her head, and her walk was steady, slow. She was looking for sympathy, Tina could tell, and she wanted to give it, but she knew that if she gave it she would ruin what Bette’s lecture was supposed to have impart.

She lifted her head, and Tina saw that her baby’s eyes shone with unshed tears. Clearly she’d already cried, but had been holding back the second wave while with her other mother. Seeing Tina, she visibly brightened.

"Mommy," Angelica said, running straight to her mother, and wrapped her arms around her mom.

Tina glanced at Bette, who shrugged helplessly.

Angelica huddled closer to Tina, her mom’s arm around her shoulders. Bette and Tina exchanged amused glances at Angelica acting out, which Bette had to admit was both endearing and increasingly annoying.

"So," Bette began.

Angelica tightened her hold on Tina.

"Baby, why don’t you go inside. Terry’ll like to see you." Tina told Angelica, grinning at Bette, as both women found Angelica’s flair for the dramatic mildly amusing.

"Okay," Angelica stated, stepping away from Tina and going to her best friend’s hospital room.

"I hate being the bad guy," Bette muttered. She glared at Tina. "Why are you the good cop?"

"Because I’m the one who had to give birth to that one." Tina said flatly, wrapping her arms around her wife. "Did she cry?"

"Rivers," Bette replied in the affirmative. "I think she got it from you."

"I don’t know, babe, you’ve got the drama thing down pretty well." Tina joked, stepping back and sliding her right hand to hold Bette’s. "Angel seemed downtrodden."

"Angel learned not to disobey her mother." Bette replied.

Tina smiled. "Sure she did."

Tina stood beside Victoria Mayhew’s hospital bed, and studied the girl she had come to consider almost a daughter. Katie, having gotten impatient while waiting for Terry to wake from her nap, had gone with the good Dr. Petersen for a personal tour of the hospital.

Angelica had met Terry in third grade, and sharing a class project, and since then had been inseparable. Tina had to admit, she and Bette had been worried about Terry’s influence on their little girl, after all, with Terry’s parents constantly away, she had more freedom and independence than what Bette and Tina were willing to allow Angelica. Oddly enough, it had been Dana who had asked, in her vague but strangely logical inquiry, if maybe Terry was looking for parental figures in Bette and Tina. People who would actually put a leash on her. That with the way Bette and Tina kept watch on their daughter, by association they would also be looking after Terry.

In a way, she and Bette had acted as lighthouses for different people in their lives. Alice and her insane ways. Kit, back when she’d been an alcoholic. For Shane. Dana. Sometimes, too often, to each other. Guiding people back to shore, when all seemed lost.

Tina allowed herself the smallest of smiles, thinking of her wife and children, all resembling each other, even when Bette’s genes actually were not present. If she was ever going to be part of a nature vs. nurture debate, Bette, Angelica and Katie were going to be her proof to the side of nurture.

To think none of this could have been possible if all those wrong turns — and there had been plenty — had been dead ends.

But, hell, there were always U-turns, right?

"Mrs.KP," Terry greeted, her voice cutting into Tina’s introspection.

Tina looked up, and smiled at the girl. "Hi, Ter. How’re you feeling?"

"Like I’ve been hit by a tree," Terry smiled back at her. "Still here, huh?"

"Somebody has to," Tina returned, brushing back Terry’s jet-black hair from her face. "You had us going there, Victoria."

"I try," Terry grinned. "How’s Angie?"

"Better. The arm’s not as bad as we thought."

It’s actually been a while, hasn’t it, Tina? Tina asked herself, as she stood outside the school, waiting for her younger daughter to step out of the school building.

She felt guilty that she spent less time with Katie than she’d had back when Angelica was the same age, but thanks to the wonders of not-Attachment Parenting, she made sure that the time she did spend with Katie was just as good.

Tina looked up, and saw her little girl several feet away, smiling at her. She smiled back, and walked up to the girl. "Hi."

"Hi." Katie returned, smiling up at her. She handed Tina her bag, and took her mom’s free hand. "Is everything okay?"

"Angelica’s lecture." Tina told her.

"I could’ve taken the bus."

"I know, but," Tina bent down, and swept the girl up, carrying her in her arms. "Geez, you’ve gotten heavy."

"I can walk."

"I know you can," Tina grinned at the girl. "But this is nice, don’t you think?"

"Yeah," Katie agreed, wrapping her arms around her mother’s neck.

"How was school today?" Tina inquired.

Katie shrugged her reply. "Mom?"

"Hmm?"

"Can we go see Terry?"

"I don’t see why not," Tina replied. "Do you have homework, honey?"

"Math." Quickly followed by, "yuck."

"Yuck," Tina agreed.

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Do you love Angelica more than me?"

"What?" Tina asked, setting Katie down on the hood of her car while she retrieved her keys.

"It’s okay if you do." Katie said quickly.

"Well, I don’t." Tina said frankly. "Honey, she just… she demands more attention, that’s all. I guess I just keep forgetting you’re still so young."

"You took a whole day off last week just to be with her." Katie reminded.

"Well, sure, but if you give me a reason to, I’d take time off for you, too." Tina replied, placing her hands on either side of the girl.

"You tell her more secrets."

"Honey, don’t think that. Angel and I just have been through more together. We’ve spent more time together." Tina told her daughter. "You know, when she moves out and goes to college, you and me? We’ll spend a lot of time together and you’ll get sick and tired of me, too."

"So," Bette Porter began, taking a seat behind her desk, and looking at the teenager in front of her. "How was school today?"

Angelica looked at her, as if wondering what the best answer to that would be.

Bette sat patiently. If Angelica thought staying quiet was buying her time, she was in for some serious disappointment. "Want to hear about my day?"

Angelica hesitated. Was that a trick question?

"I too learned a lot of things today." Bette continued. "Like how trees and fences within private property is liable for damage."

Here we go. Angelica closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them.

Nope, MaBe’s still there.

And unfortunately she seems to have chosen today to give her staff the afternoon off, as evidenced by the lack of living souls outside this office.

Which was shrinking by the minute, taken over the force of nature that was Bette Porter.

Angelica silently wished for her mommy.

"Trees," Bette continued evenly, leaning back in her chair, "turn out to be expensive, even though it did not cause any harm or damage to anyone or anything."

Angelica jumped when her MaBe hit her hand on the table.

"How did a car barely a year old decide to come in contact with a tree?" Bette asked.

Angelica hesitated.

"How did a car that my wife and I gave to our darling daughter with very specific instructions and rules end up crashing into a tree and reaching into the thousands in damages?" Bette continued. "How did my daughter, who promised to love and cherish the car, end up handing her best friend the keys when she was specifically told that this was not allowed? How, Angelica Kennard-Porter, did you manage to break all previous records on misdemeanors and misbehavior for a Kennard or a Porter in one afternoon?"

Angelica glanced away.

"Look at me."

Angelica lowered her gaze, not ready to look at her mom. What was it about Bette Porter that made her feel even more guilty than she already was?

"Angelica."

"I’m sorry."

"Look at me."

Angelica scrounged up all her energy and willpower to look at her mom.