Alice walked down the stairs, bleary-eyed, hair sticking up in several different direction and the pattern from the comforter emblazoned on her cheek. She was on a search for her glasses which she'd misplaced somewhere in Helena's home. She could, of course, put in her contacts, but her eyes felt tired and a little sore after wearing them for too long and staying up too late the night before. Helena was still sleeping, so it was still fairly early, but Alice hoped to cook breakfast for everyone, since it was Saturday and no one would be rushing off although they were meeting with Bette, Tina and Angelica later that morning.

She could hear the children giggling somewhere and smiled affectionately.

Helena told her when the children were infants, their cribs were placed in the bedroom with she and Winnie, and there were times when she and Winnie would quietly talk, waking one or both of the children inadvertently. And the children would poke their heads over and glance curiously toward the bed and she and Winnie would pretend to be asleep and the children would generally lay down and hum and coo to themselves. Helena found this endlessly endearing and she would laugh and go to them instantly, bringing them to the bed.

And even now Wilson and Jun Ying generally entertained themselves if they woke up before their mother, although that was fairly rare because Helena was the kind of mother who woke up at the crack of dawn and had breakfast waiting for the children when they woke up and was ready for a full day of playing games and running around. But Helena had been extra hard lately, even by her standards and Alice knew Helena was tired.

Alice stumbled toward the living room and was about to take another step when she heard the children simultaneously released anguished wails of "MR. LAMB!" as they ran into view and scampered towards her.
Wilson slid to his knees and glided across the floor, grabbing some white, lumpy object from the floor where Alice was about to step causing Alice to lose her balance and unceremoniously fall to the ground, landing on her butt.

"You almost stepped on Mr. Lamb!" Jun Ying said accusingly, her hands on her hips.

"Yeah!" Wilson exclaimed.

Alice tilted her head to the side to look at the white object in Wilson's hand, unsure if she was actually dreaming this or if her eyesight was just really screwed up now. 'Am I legally blind now?' she wondered to herself. She reached for the object in Wilson's hand. "May I?" she asked, giving him a charming smile and tugging on it lightly.

Wilson looked at her suspiciously but relinquished his hold on the object.

Alice brought the exalted Mr. Lamb very close to her face to examine him and realized he was merely a stuffed sock. There were two buttons for his eyes and a little black 'x' for his mouth. He also had ears and arms and there was stuffing attached to its head and body creating the illusion that this was, in fact, a lamb. As much as the stuffed sock resembled a lamb--as much as a sock could resemble a lamb, it was ultimately just a sock and though she has heard about the illustrious Mr. Lamb on numerous occasions, she has yet to make his acquaintance. She shook his arm very seriously. "I'm very sorry I almost stepped on you, Mr. Lamb," she said very somberly, though she was trying not to laugh. She'd clearly ruffled the kids' feathers, and she wanted to smooth that out. And she thought it was hilarious the children's favorite toy, the one they fought over, was ultimately just a stuffed sock. She could not believe this was the right toy.

Wilson and Jun Ying laughed, clearly appeased now.

"Mommy made it for us," Wilson explained, and Alice realized exactly why Mr. Lamb was the most revered of all the toys Wilson and Jun Ying had. Wilson snatched the toy out of Alice's hands, and gave her a suspicious glance before he ran down the hallway. "Ha ha, Jun! I have Mr. Lamb and you can't have him ever again!" he called out as he ran away from her.

Jun Ying released a cry of outrage and chased her brother down the hall. "We're supposed to play with him together, you stinky cheese man!"

"I'm not a stinky cheese man, you are!"

"I'm not a man!" Jun Ying shrieked.

Helena walked down the stairs, heard her children fighting over Mr. Lamb once again and saw Alice still sitting on her butt, looking perplexed. She walked to Alice and crouched down to kiss the top of Alice's head. "You almost stepped on Mr. Lamb, didn't you?" she asked knowingly, clearly indicating she'd almost done the same on many occasions. She smoothed Alice's hair and grinned at her. It had to happen sometime. She didn't like that Mr. Lamb was just lying around on the floor, however, because it meant someone could trip over it and fall and she knew she would have to talk to her children about in a moment.

Alice looked befuddled. "I was just looking for my glasses."

"They're in the kitchen, darling."

"Oh," Alice said. "Thanks." She paused. "Your kids are really weird."

Helena laughed. "Go collect your glasses, darling," she whispered, nuzzling Alice's ear. Then she grinned and stood to her feet to walk down the hallway where Wilson and Jun Ying were standing, engaged in a tug-of-war over Mr. Lamb ready to chide them for leaving their toy around where someone could trip over it and for fighting over it once again.

The moment Helena appeared and cleared her throat, Wilson and Jun Ying looked at her. "Hi, Mommy," they said sheepishly, Mr. Lamb falling to the floor. They ran to her and hugged her around the waist. "Sorry Mommy," they chorused.

Helena smiled wryly and them and lightly squeezed each of their noses before she walked to Mr. Lamb and picked him up. "No Mr. Lamb for either of you for a week," she said, doling out the usual punishment. She had no idea how Mr. Lamb became their favorite toy and she has offered to make another one just like it to prevent the many battles for Mr. Lamb, but apparently, it just would not be the same. "And please don't leave your toys lying around, babies. Someone could have tripped over it and fallen. People get hurt that way." She said, a little sternly, though she ruffled their hair, letting them know she was not angry, she just wanted them to know. "And you need to apologize to Alice for making her fall," she said

"Okay, mommy," they said.

By the time Helena walked into the kitchen with Wilson and Jun Ying wrapped around her legs, Alice was in the kitchen now wearing her glasses. Alice had turned on the stereo and was now bouncing around the kitchen to a mix CD. "Catch me now I'm falling," Alice sang along.

"Hi Alice!" Wilson and Jun Ying chirped as they entered into to kitchen, disembarking from their mother's legs once they arrived.

She grinned at them. "Now you say 'hello,'" she teased.

Jun Ying and Wilson grinned and ducked their heads. "We're sorry we made you fall," they said together, looking up at Alice shyly.

"Did it hurt?" Jun Ying asked.

Wilson looked at Alice with serious eyes. "Yeah, did it hurt?" he asked anxiously.

Alice laughed gently at their earnest expressions. They really were so like their mother that way. "It didn't hurt," she assured. "But just remember what your mom says about leaving your toys around, okay?"

Wilson and Jun Ying nodded and then grinned at her.

"Your hair looks funny," Wilson commented.

"Yeah," Jun Ying agreed.

"Babies," Helena called out with a mixture of warning and humor because she didn't want them to grow up thinking it was all right to comment on other people's appearances in a way that may hurt feelings.

Alice grinned "You think my hair looks funny, huh?" she asked. It was not the first time they made fun of her for her bed head. She ruffled their hair. "Well, now your hair looks funny, too!" she exclaimed nasally, laughing when they immediately tried to smooth out their hair.

Alice glanced at Helena who gazed at her for a moment, and then chuckled, shaking her head.

"Hey," Alice called out. "Just because your hair always looks perfect…" Alice trailed off and leapt toward Helena, giving the other woman a noogie. "Noogie!" she called out, laughing as Helena squealed and tried to squirm away.

Finally, Alice giggled and kissed the side of Helena's head. "I think your hair is pretty," she drawled softly. "I'm going to go make breakfast, you go hang out with the kids?"

"I'll help," Helena offered softly.

Alice grinned. "Learn to relax, or I won't defend you the next time Lulu calls you 'Ma.'"

Helena looked ready to protest but she grudgingly walked to the table and sat, grinning, at the kitchen table with the children. Releasing a playful little shriek, Helena grabbed Mr. Lamb and held him up to her face, wiggling him around, and talking in a funny voice, making the children nearly double over with laughter as they interacted with 'Mr. Lamb.'

Helena glanced at Alice to see how the blonde was coming along with breakfast and decided she would help the blonde despite her protestations. Helena stood next to Alice at the stove and took a spatula, flipping the pancakes as Alice took care of the potato, mushroom and green onion hash in the other fry pan. Alice and Helena exchanged smiles. Alice reached across Helena to grab the salt and pepper shakers but paused when the next song came on.

She stared at Helena for a moment and then wrapped her arms around Helena's waist, drawing her close, smiling when Helena placed her arms on her shoulders and they swayed to the song.

Wilson was about to protest the song because he thought the singer, whom his mother told him was Irma Thomas, had a weird voice, but when he turned around to express his dissatisfaction, he saw his mother and Alice with their arms around each other, dancing. Wilson grinned lopsidedly, and punched Jun Ying in the shoulder to get her attention. Jun Ying was currently reading about the exploits of one Junie B. Jones and was aggrieved to have her brother rudely interrupt her. She turned to him with a fierce scowl ready to scold him when he brought his index finger to his lips and pointed toward the stove. Jun Ying turned to see what her brother wanted to show her and turned just in time to see Alice spin her mother around. Jun Ying giggled and brother and sister shared a grin as they turned in their chairs, rising to their knees and resting their chins on the backs of the chairs as they watched their mother and Alice dance. Then they turned around and Wilson resumed drawing his picture and Jun Ying returned to her book and by the time their mother and Alice brought over plates of food to the table, pushing each other and giggling as they did so, Wilson and Jun Ying grinned knowingly at their mother.

Their knowing, slightly mischievous smiles momentarily disconcerted Helena and she wondered if they'd done something naughty or if she should expect some practical joke to come to fruition at any moment. They were both in a practical joke phase, influenced by the same classmate with an unfortunate surname. Helena glanced down at her seat, fully expecting to see some kind of whoopy cushion. Alice did the same and they each sat down at their seats eyeing the children with suspicious amusement.

Alice gently tickled the ribs of the child sitting closest to her, which, on this particular day happened to be Jun Ying.

Jun Ying giggled and slapped at Alice's hands.

"Do you kids have a hand buzzer hidden away somewhere?" Alice asked, laughing.

Jun Ying and Wilson shook their heads and Alice and Helena shared a smile before they shrugged and began eating breakfast.

After breakfast, Helena set the dishes into the sink and Alice sent to children upstairs to get dressed, reminding them to get a sweater.

She was a little nervous, as she and Helena were taking the children to meet with Tina, Bette and Angelica at the La Brea Tar Pits. She hoped the day would go better than their previous attempt at bonding. The children missed a field trip to the La Brea Tar Pits when Winnie took them to New York and Helena has tried to arrange a day to take them for over a month, but something kept coming up and they finally arranged a day and invited Tina and Bette along, who accepted. Alice hoped Helena wouldn't come to regret that choice.

But Alice was happy Tina and Bette were making another effort--it seemed like their first real gesture of support and Alice couldn't help but be hopeful that the day would go well--or at the very least, it wouldn't conclude with her hurling a beverage at Bette. She wasn't a fortune teller, so she couldn't see the future, of course, but she had her hopes.

Alice grinned as the kids bounced around them. She slid her arm around Helena's waist and they walked a few feet in front of Tina and Bette who were lagging behind, clearly a little bored.

Jun Ying gave a tiny shriek and Wilson grabbed onto Alice's pants leg.

"Stop!" he yelled.

Alice and Helena froze in place.

"Did someone bring Mr. Lamb?" Alice asked, perplexed, grinning at the playful glare Helena directed her way.

"You were about to step on a spider," Jun Ying said plaintively.

Alice and Helena looked down and saw the rather large Daddy Long Legs crawling around the ground near Helena's feet.

Helena shrieked and leaped backwards, and hid behind Alice, clinging onto the blonde.

The children looked at her in amusement, clearly accustomed to Helena's fear of spiders.

Wilson chased the spider away as Jun Ying rubbed Helena's lower back comfortingly.

"It's okay, mommy," Jun Ying said, grinning up at her mother. "We'll protect you from the spiders."

Helena blushed darkly, a little embarrassed to have her arachnophobia made so public, but she hugged her daughter fiercely. "I know, darling," she whispered into her daughter's hair as she kissed the top of Jun Ying's head. "I know."

--------------

Alice did not think the La Brea Tar Pits was a particularly interesting place, but Wilson and Jun Ying seemed to be enjoying themselves and they'd missed the class field trip to the fossil locality because of Winnie's stunt in taking the children.

Wilson ran up to the wooly mammoth statue and pointed at it, gleefully yelling, "you're extinct, wooly mammoth!" which prompted Jun Ying to ask why he seemed so inordinately pleased.

Alice and Helena looked at him, also curious to the answer.

Wilson shrugged. "It's big," he said simply, stretching his arms as far as he could.

Alice and Helena exchanged a look at the non-explanation and shrugged. Laughing, Alice picked up Wilson, making him laugh as she swung him around before lifting him up so he could touch the statute's tusks. Helena watched them for a moment, smiling softly at the sight of her son laughing in Alice's arms before she picked up Jun Ying so Jun Ying could do the same.

After another hour, Helena sensed that Tina and Bette were restless and bored as Angelica could not appreciate the La Brea Tar Pits the way Wilson and Jun Ying did, and suggested they eat lunch at one of the many restaurants in the nearby Miracle Mile.

They were seated at a bustling Italian restaurant with mediocre food, though they had fairly good pizza. Alice loved the restaurant not for the food, but because it was a good location to people watch. The kids wanted pizza for lunch anyway, and the restaurant was close.

Once they were seated and the beverage orders taken, the table descended into semi-awkward silence which Bette and Tina tried to disguise by taking care of Angelica who began to fuss as Helena and Alice also tried to disguise their discomfort by fussing over Wilson and Jun Ying.

"I'll take them to the bathroom," Alice said, rising to her feet.

"Darling, it's all right," Helena protested. "I'll--"

Wilson and Jun Ying sighed with mild exasperation. They looked at one another and sighed once again before Jun Ying finally spoke. "Mommy, Alice," she said, sounding as though she were doing her best to maintain her patience.

"You always do this," Wilson piped in.

"And you always take us together," Jun Ying added.

"And we're seven, we're old enough to go to the bathroom ourselves."

"No, you're not," Alice and Helena said at the same time, exchanging grins when they did so. They'd each read the same article about another child being attacked in a restroom and were too paranoid at the thought to let Wilson and Jun Ying go inside a public restroom unaccompanied.

"Let's go," Alice said, gesturing with her head toward the restroom as she smiled at Helena.

Helena took Wilson's hand as Alice took Jun Ying's and then the two women linked hands as they all walked to the restroom together.

Bette watched them and sighed, turning to Tina and rolling her eyes. She blew out a breath. "Fine," she said grudgingly. "I think they're going to stay together, too," she said with another sigh. She didn't want to think Helena would be a permanent fixture in her life, but Alice was her friend and it's not as though Bette had an abundance of friends--most people, at least the ones with half a brain, could figure out soon enough that she was an asshole. Bette could admit it to herself, too. There weren't that many people in the world that saw past the Bette Porter façade she presented to the world to the asshole lurking beneath. And there were even fewer people who could care enough to see past the asshole--those who did were close friends and good to her in spite of the fact that Bette knew she could be selfish and blind to their needs. She didn't want to lose any of those kinds of friends and Alice was definitely the person who was the most willing to look past people's faults. Bette wished Helena and Alice would just break-up--she didn't trust Helena at all, but she wasn't blind to Alice's affections for Helena and she knew now that the harder she pushed Alice, the more Alice balked. Alice balked so rarely--she usually gave in, and Bette genuinely thought if she pushed hard enough, Alice would dump Helena for the sake of their friendship. Bette could see now she was wrong. Helena was Alice's non-negotiable and Bette Porter knew when to give in. She hated doing it, but she knew when it was time.

It was time.

Which is why when Helena, Alice and the children arrived back at the table, Bette tried to start a conversation. Granted, it wasn't the best opener, but she didn't mean to ruffle Helena's feathers.

"Oh, their clothes are mismatched," Bette commented, smiling at Wilson and Jun Ying though she directed the comment to Helena and Alice. She'd only just noticed because she admittedly wasn't paying attention to anyone until this moment. She thought it was a little odd, she'd assumed Wilson and Jun Ying Peabody would be perfectly dressed, just like their mother since Helena Peabody was clearly someone who was into appearances.

Helena's eyes narrowed as she looked at Bette suspiciously, "Wilson and Jun Ying pick out their own clothing," she informed Bette, not liking the way Bette spoke of the children as though they weren't even there. Her eyes softened when she glanced at her children to ask, "don't you, babies?" She smiled adoringly at them and they nodded eagerly, giving her sunny smiles.

"Like Tacky!" Wilson and Jun Ying said in unison.

"What?" Tina and Bette asked, appearing confused.

Alice laughed. "Tacky the penguin," she explained. "The star of one of their favorite books. Tacky the penguin wears Hawaiian shirts and the rest of the penguins wear their boring tuxedo colors." Alice grinned. "It's a good book, right guys?" she asked the children.

They nodded in the affirmative.

Helena watched Alice interact with her children and smiled softly. The blonde was so good with them. "They choose their own clothes," Helena said, moving forward with the conversation. "It lets them have their individuality as people."

Bette thought the children were a little young for that. "That's good in theory," she said, ready to launch into her plans when raising Helena.

"In theory?" Helena repeated. "There is nothing--"

Alice and Tina exchanged panicked glances, each of them familiar with Helena's ferocious protectiveness of her children and her natural defensiveness when Wilson and Jun Ying were the subject. They also knew Bette and Bette tended to have strong opinions on everything--this was clearly just a difference of opinion between two strong personalities, but since those two strong personalities were possessed by Bette Porter and Helena Peabody--people with an inimical history, it had to potential to turn into something really explosive.

"Uhm, hey, Pretty," Alice said, touching Helena's knee, sensing Helena was ready to pounce verbally, because this was about her kids, "I think I left something in the bathroom, will you come with me?"

Helena's severe expression softened as she smiled at Alice and followed the blonde back toward the restrooms without comment.

Not wanting to launch a potential argument with Bette, Tina instead chose to focus her attention on Jun Ying and Wilson.

"It's been along time since I've seen you guys!" she exclaimed. "How are you guys doing?"

Wilson and Jun Ying launched into simultaneous updates on their lives, sometimes talking over one another and other times talking about things in tandem, as they completed each others' sentences. They spoke earnestly and gestured wildly and acted out their various stories with Wilson asking for a pen so he could demonstrate something. Tina passed him a pen from her purse and he drew a remarkably detailed drawing of a fight near a merry-go-round at a public park which he and Jun Ying had witnessed the day before until their mother and Alice shielded their eyes and carried them away to another part of the park. Wilson and Jun Ying acted out the fight playfully and discretely, taking care not to making any dramatic movements which might accidentally knock into another person.

Tina watched them with interest, smiling indulgently and thinking she and Bette would definitely have to have another child. Bette took the napkin from Wilson and examined it closely.

"Wilson," she said softly.

He turned to look at her, "yes?" he asked, his eyes wide and questioning.

"Did they teach you to draw like this in school?" she asked, the drawing was quite good in her opinion for a child his age. If Wilson and Jun Ying's school had an art teacher who could teach like that, she would definitely have to consider sending Angelica to the charter school she'd once so disdained because the technique was quite good.

"Wilson's just good!" Jun Ying piped in grinning at her brother and elbowing him in the sides.

Wilson ducked his head and blushed. "Mrs. Davenport is a good teacher," he said.

Alice and Helena arrived back at the table, each woman a little more disheveled than when she left. Alice was grinning and Helena was blushing.

"Bette was just saying how good Wilson's drawing is," Tina commented softly, hoping to smooth over whatever residual negativity resided at the table. She could tell from Bette's tone that Bette didn't mean anything by the mismatched clothing remark--it was just a passing comment.

Helena slung her arm around Wilson and kissed his cheek, gently tickling his ribs as she did so. She grinned proudly. "His art teacher says he has natural talent," she said, beaming at both Tina and Bette. "I'm looking into private art lessons. I sent the children to an after school art class, but the teacher there told me I should look into private lessons for Wilson."

She thought it was ironic that she who wasn't especially invested in the creative arts though she could appreciate them had two children who had a natural inclination for creative endeavors. Wilson gravitated more towards drawing and painting whereas Jun Ying gravitated towards music and though each child shared his or her sibling's enjoyment of their creative passions, each child definitely showed promise in differing creative endeavors. Helena liked the idea of exposing them both to many different things, and so both the children were enrolled in various art classes, music lessons and soccer practice. In a few years, she was thinking of sending them both to Chinese language school, because she did want Jun Ying to have a link to her ethnic background and because knowing a second language would definitely be an asset in the future. And Wilson liked to do things with his sister. She wasn't going to force the issue, but she thought the exposure couldn't hurt.

"That's a good idea," Bette said. "I know a few private art teachers who are quite good. I'll email you the names. Is your email address still the same?"

"Yes," Helena said, barely able to disguise her surprise. "Thank-you. I would appreciate that." It was true that she would--though she didn't care for Bette personally or even professionally, because Bette routinely displayed supremely unprofessionally behavior at the CAC, Helena would never dispute that Bette Porter knew her shit when it came to art.

Alice and Tina exchanged relieved grins.

Bette peaked over at the children who'd lost interest in the conversation. Jun Ying was quietly tapping various objects on the table with a spoon, checking to see what kind of sounds they made and Wilson was drawing another picture on the extra napkins Alice asked the waiter to bring.

Bette looked at Wilson's drawing and gently grasped his small hand and began guiding it across the napkin. "When you hold it this way," Bette explained quietly, "and you move it this way," she continued, "it comes out like…this," she said, tapping the napkin.

Wilson grinned at her. "Cool," he breathed quietly. He grinned again at Bette who smiled back before turning to his sister. "Hey, Jun. Look at this."

Jun Ying set down her spoon and looked at the picture. "Cool!" she exclaimed.

The two children put their heads together and Wilson passed Jun Ying the pen so she, too, could give the new art technique a try.

The adults watched the children before looking back at one another, shifting awkwardly for a moment until Alice spoke, hoping she could prolong the newfound good mood of the table. Obviously awkwardness was better than outright hostility, but she was hoping to move beyond the awkwardness, too, and Tina and Bette both seemed so sincere in wanting this to work out, too, that Alice just wanted everything to go well. She knew Helena would want the day to work out well and Alice was happy because this was the real gesture of Tina/Bette joint support.

"So, guys," Alice said, addressing Tina and Bette, as she slung her arm around Helena's shoulders. "How's the whole parenting thing going? Getting easier?" she asked, smiling.

Bette and Tina exchanged a smile.

"It is," Tina said, nodding. She looked at Helena. "You were right," she said softly.

Helena tensed slightly. "Oh?" she asked, a little warily because she was always a little wary of Tina now. She tried to mask her discomfort. "I'm right about quite a number of things," she said, "aren't I, darling?" she asked with mock superiority, kissing Alice on the cheek, causing the blond to lightly whap Helena on the shoulder. Helena laughed and then refocused her attention on Tina, smiling sincerely. "What was I right about, Tina?" she asked softly.

"That it would get easier as it gets closer to her first birthday, remember that day at Alice's apartment when you cooked for us? It really made me feel better."

Helena searched her memory and remembered the occasion to which Tina referred. "Ah," she said. She smiled. "I'm glad."

Bette felt her jealousy surge--she wasn't aware of the day they were alluding to and she hated being out of the loop. It was ridiculous, really, because what did she have to be jealous about? But she was--things were getting better, Angelica was sleeping longer and at least things with the baby were getting less stressful which meant the tension in her relationship with Tina was diminishing as well. But things were still tense--they still argued frequently and she still felt a disconnect from Tina and it just didn't help to hear Tina spent time with Alice and Helena without her and some point in the past and that Helena made Tina feel better--something Bette felt she could no longer do. And she felt like an insufficient parent, and Helena Peabody, someone she loathed, turned out to be a Super Parent to the point where she had to wonder if Winnie was lying the day she showed up unannounced at Bette's home. That day, Winnie said she was the one who wanted to be a mother and Helena was barely involved with the children. Bette could privately admit she thought now that Winnie was lying and the woman had just tried to manipulate her into wreaking havoc on Helena's life because havoc in Helena's life would give Winnie smug satisfaction. Bette just hated that Helena could do something better. So when it came to the subject of parenting, Bette became more defensive than usual, because it was one of the few things in her life she felt she was deficient at.

"I don't think we found it that hard to begin with," Bette found herself saying, smiling smugly to regain a little sense of pride and control. She immediately regretted it when Alice's face fell--the blonde clearly expecting an eruption and Tina lightly but pointedly kicked Bette's foot under the table. Helena's expression was impassive.

The table became quiet and then Helena glanced at her children, and beamed proudly at them before speaking. "Parenting is a…" she paused as she searched for the right words to articulate her thoughts, her expression becoming dreamy as she thought of the children at various stages of their young lives and the joy they brought into her life. "It's a remarkable experience," she said softly, smiling at her children and reaching out to ruffle their hair, just wanting some contact with them. "But it was quite hard for me," she said her voice gentle. "You must be a wonder parent then, Bette."

Alice could recognize the tiny note of angry in Helena's otherwise gentle voice, but Bette didn't seem to notice the sarcasm and merely smiled superciliously.

"It's worth it," Bette said in a tone usually reserved for people who were conceding points, not agreeing on the same thing.

"It is," Helena agreed.

Alice blew out a breath, relieved that an argument was diverted. The day definitely had potential.

--------------

A few hours later, Helena and Alice returned to Alice's apartment with the children in tow, the blonde promising to get out the children's favorite ice cream. It struck Alice as strange that now her apartment was kid-friendly. Her apartment and refrigerator was decorated with pictures Wilson and Jun Ying had drawn for her, but now there were an assortment of the children's left-behind jackets and sweaters, toys and books decorating her apartment. She even had spare extra-soft, children's-sized toothbrushes in her bathroom, although they remained unopened because the children had yet to have an occasion to use them--she just bought them on a whim at the drug store. Not to mention the fact she kept the children's favorite snacks and a bottle of their multi-vitamins in her kitchen. She thought the whole thing would freak her out more, but it felt so natural and Alice realized how much and how badly she really wanted all of it.

Their relationship was still so new and despite all the lesbian U-Haul jokes she used to tell, Alice found herself wanting to live with Helena. They already spent all their spare time together so it was like they were living together anyway. She wanted to do it, but she knew that she would have to be the one to move in with Helena and she didn't want to broach the subject too soon and possibly scare Helena off. Not that she really thought Helena would be scared off, since she was sure they were both in it for the long haul, but she didn't want to broach the subject of living together too soon. And though she did want to live with Helena, she did think it was too soon. Still, it was something to look forward to and she didn't mind taking it slowly because she genuinely did feel it would all work out the way she wanted it to work out.

Despite the sugar from the ice cream and the M&M candy toppings (which Helena eyed with disapproval and then grudgingly allowed a child-sized handful to top each bowl of ice cream), Wilson and Jun Ying soon nodded off while watching the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast on DVD.

Alice and Helena carried the children to her bed and then the two women walked back into the living room, and sat on the couch, leaning into one another as they watched the rest of the movie together with casual interest.

"I loved this movie," Helena admitted softly, ducking her head shyly. "Even before I had children, though I was fifteen years old when it came out. I loved Angela Lansbury."

Alice grinned at her. "I loved it, too. I watched it in the theatre and I'm not embarrassed to admit it. I can't believe the kids fell asleep watching this. They love this movie, they say all the lines with the characters."

Helena chuckled. "Yes, my children are so mysterious that way," she said dryly.

Alice lightly slapped Helena's shoulder. "Dork," she teased. Then her expression became slightly more serious. "I know I asked you about this already but were you really okay with today? I thought it went pretty well, but I just wanted to check in with you."

Helena smiled, touched by Alice's eager solicitousness. Alice checked in with her constantly throughout the day to make sure she was okay with everything and to ensure Helena was not overly insulted by anything Tina or Bette said. Although there were a few tense moments through the day, Helena thought the day went better than anyone had any right to hope for and she was glad for Alice's sake that it was possible for her to spend a day with Bette Porter and not have the day end with someone getting her eyes scratched out.

Once the movie ended, they shut off the television and ended up in front of it, laying on their stomachs on the carpet reading through various books on Alice's bookshelves. Occasionally one woman would stop to read out loud a passage she found particularly interesting.

Helena laughed as she read through Haruki Murakami's Sputnik Sweetheart. "I'll be honest, and say I do not enjoy his writings as much as you do, darling," she said. "But this is my favorite passage of this book," Helena said, holding it up. "'Wait a second, she said, then paused significantly,'" Helena read, grinning widely as she did so, because this was indeed her favorite passage in the book she liked best by Murakami, "Do you mean to tell me that when you're having sex with a girl you imagine cucumbers in a fridge on a summer afternoon?"

Alice rested her chin in her hands as she smiled at Helena.

"'Not all the time, I said,'" Helena's voice deepened instinctively as she read this because at this point, the speaker in the book was male--a habit she developed from years of reading to her children. Helena continued to read. "'But sometimes.'" Helena laughed at this and then continued to read. "'I guess,'" she said, her voice deepening again, which made Alice's face break into a smile. Helena laughed again. "'Suimre frowned and then shook her head a couple of times,'" Helena read with a grin. "'You're a lot weirder than you look,'" Helena finished reading and then beamed at Alice as she laughed heartily, actually slapping the floor with her palm in the process.

This continued onward and Alice thought again of how much she enjoyed doing the little things with Helena, things like reading together and reading to one another. Something she particularly enjoyed was going to a Barnes and Noble or Borders book store with Helena and then having Helena read to her out loud through various sex manuals. The children were always either at soccer practice, a music or art lesson or with Lulu at these times. Alice loved the way Helena would gamely read from a how-to guide on anal sex geared for gay men without any kind of embarrassment. Alice thought the sound of refined Helena Peabody reading about lube's essential role in anal sex was an aural treat for anyone. Alice loved that Helena was unself-conscious at least about things like that. Helena was tactile and emotionally-open and though Helena embarrassed easily when she was complimented about being a good person or good mother, Helena genuinely was the most unself-conscious person Alice knew--and she loved that.

Eventually they found themselves looking through Alice's photographs, which Alice allowed despite embarrassing photographic evidence of her teenaged awkward years and a few lamentable decisions in hair style. They moved in reverse chronological order until they came to a shoebox full of Alice's old photographs from college.

"I keep thinking I'll put these into an album, but I lose interest," Alice admitted, passing Helena a few photos.

Many of the pictures were in front of landmarks around NYU and the city itself and Helena and Alice reminisced about their college days spent in the same crowded city. They were so close to one another, in proximity anyway and each woman found herself wishing once again they could have met back then.

"I see you dyed your hair here," Helena commented, looking at a photograph of Alice with her guitar on stage with her college band. Helena lovingly touched Alice's image in the photograph. She smiled. "I wanted to dye my hair blond," Helena revealed. "But I felt it was too drastic and my mother would have had a fit." She reached out and brushed away a stray lock of hair away from Alice's face. "You look so adorable as a brunette, darling," she said, wishing she could keep the picture. Alice still looked like Alice, of course, but the Alice in the photograph was nineteen years old, twenty at the oldest and Helena just found that adorable. And there was just something about Alice with a guitar that appealed to her endlessly.

"Nah, that's my natural hair color," Alice said. "I dyed my hair blonde on a whim my junior year of college and I guess I just kind of stuck with it." She was a little amused that although Helena was privy to Alice's innermost secrets, Helena still didn't know what Alice's natural hair color was--it made sense since Alice had been blonde for ten years and Helena had heretofore never seen any pictures of Alice with dark hair. And it's not like Alice would talk about it since she had no reason to, but it still struck Alice as a little weird.

Helena froze, suddenly remembering what a psychic once told her--it felt like so long ago, that she would fall in love with a bisexual brunette creative person who drove a blue car. At the time, she dismissed it entirely, but then she wished that the prediction was about Alice--except Alice wasn't a brunette and that made Helena forget about the psychic's prediction since what she wanted was a relationship, that big, epic love with Alice. Now she realized Alice was a natural brunette and the psychic's words came back to her full force.

"Helena? Are you okay?" Alice asked, her eyebrows knitting together in concern at the sudden change. She reaching forward and cupped Helena's cheek in her hand.

"You're a brunette," Helena whispered softly.

"Yeah," Alice said quietly. "I am," she said, wondering what could have caused such an abrupt change. She tried to lighten things. "What? Does that change your mind about me? You only go for blondes?" she teased.

Helena seemed to break out of her stupor and grinned at Alice. "Silly thing," she said, moving her head forward to press her lips against Alice's. She ducked her head. "I have a story for you."

Alice grinned at her. "I'm listening," she said, cozying up to her girlfriend, remaining that way until the children re-emerged from the bedroom for dinner.

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