“So there I was, on a floor, unconscious because I thought that I had just seen a ghost. And she fainted too because she only knew me as a face on the painting and thought that I was dead for 120 years. Thank God, Alicia was there.”

When Bette finished telling the story she realized that it was already dark. They spent hours talking, laughing and crying and Bette felt finally relaxed for the first time since leaving Tina.

“When Daniel is getting back?”

“Should be soon,” Christina noticed panicked look on Bette’s face and smiled, taking her hand. “Oh my dear Elizabeth, don’t worry. We’ll do whatever you want to do but would you like to hear my opinion?”

“Which is?”

“Nobody’s going to believe the story you’ve told me. I can hardly believe it myself but it would be an enormous waste of time for you to come all the way back from the future and not to see anyone, especially your beloved sister. You can just tell them that you were away because you feared for your life.”

Bette sighed. Except for seeing Christina and getting a closure, Bette didn’t really have a plan. Though she thought really hard, her decision to go back was mostly based on her emotions and not on the rational thinking.

“You are absolutely right. Let’s go with your suggestion. I escaped the killers and Alicia took me far away. Now that the danger is over, I came back to let everyone know that I’m alive and well. And in a few months I’ll leave again because I built a new life somewhere else. Are you okay with this?” Christina looked at her with uncertainty and Bette shrugged. “I don’t want you to lie for me.”

“Little white lie won’t hurt if there are good intentions behind it. Besides, your family will be so excited that you are alive that they won’t care about anything else, I guarantee,” Christina smiled and they began working on a plan to explain Bette’s sudden reappearance.

“By the way, come with me. I want to show you something,” Christina said after they were done. They walked into Christina’s study room and Bette gasped in surprise. All her unfinished paintings were lined up against the wall.

“What’s this? How did you get it?”

“Your mother thought that maybe I could finish them or at least preserve them. But I couldn’t bring myself to even attempts to add anything to your paintings.”

“Oh my God, I can’t believe you have them.”

“Why are you so surprised?”

“Well, Tina and I have found them in the future, still unfinished and I was always wondering how they ended up where.”

“Maybe you can use your time here to finish them…for Tina.”

Bette’s face lightened up at the thought because she was a perfectionist and couldn’t stand to leave anything undone. But she also saw it as a chance to let Tina know somehow that she was okay. Something that Alice said once popped in Bette’s mind. It was about changing the course of the events in the past that affect the future. Bette didn’t want to do anything drastic but she knew that finishing her paintings that were already in Tina’s position in the future wouldn’t change anything about their lives or feelings.

“And I can even include some kind of a message to her…that I’m okay and I love her,” Bette looked so happy at the idea that Christina couldn’t help but feel a little bit jealous.

“This Tina sounds like an amazing woman,” she said, hoping that Bette knew that she really was okay with the situation and her jealousy was a natural thing.

“Yes, she is.”

TBC….