Let Lips Do What Hands Do

By: Sammy Richardson

A Jodi/Bette *Jodette* fan fiction; The L Word

Rated: M for Mature Content; Language and Sexual Explicitness

Chapter 1: My Muse

Jodi Lerner, possessing a mastery in arts, was in her work studio that sunny and calm California evening. She sat on an impromptu bench as she looked at hunks of metal. She was trying to devise a way of going about making it all into her latest sculpture her newest masterpiece. The last one she had worked on had taken her over two months, and she was proud of it, too. It was so elaborate and well thought out. However, now it was time to start anew.

Chewing on her bottom lip a bit, she tilted her head in thought. Long and abundant strands of blonde curls fell along with her head as ideas formed within her mind. What to do? What to do? She did not see the door being opened and shut.

She was so intensely focused on the hunks of metal, which to the average person would mean nothing. And yet, when Jodi looked at these metallic heaps, she saw nothing but limitless possibilities and endless potential. She felt as though what it could make had the ability to change the world.

It was not until she smelled the invigorating aroma of Bette's signature perfume that she noticed someone was in the room. Snapping out of her inner head space, she turned her head to see the magnificent brunette, her hair in luxurious curls and her skin illuminated by the setting sun of which the west coast possessed.

"Hello Bette!" She signed emphatically. "How are you? I did not expect to see you tonight!"

She stood up from the bench she was perched on and smiled oh so brightly, her teeth shining as she did so. It seemed that the more she saw the dean of the University of California, the more happy and contented she would become. Bette smiled as she looked into the crystal blue eyes that Jodi was so blessed with. It was as if every time she looked in them, she became more and more entranced, as if every encounter she drew her further and further into her. Bette was more than happy to take note of the fact that she was doing what she absolutely loved, creating art, making it into whatever she so desired. It was a passion that never seemed to die.

"I had to work a little later than I had planned." She signed to her deaf lover in explanation. "I assumed you were here late as well. If I'm bothering you in your creative process, I can go."

She really did not wish to be bothersome, the cause of her colleague and lover's loss of focus, and train of thought. Bette understood, more so than most, about how artists work and to be the cause of someone, especially Jodi, losing their idea or concept… it would kill her inside. Disturbing her was one of the furthest things from her mind. Jodi instantly shook her head, rejecting the idea of Bette leaving right then and there. She went over to Bette and gently touched her cheek, but only for a moment.

"No, please stay." The professor of the arts spoke as she signed, begging the Dean. "I was just trying to come up with something to make, but I am having a bit of trouble with it. Perhaps you can be my muse."

Talking for Jodi was an act which seldom occurred most of the time, but for some reason with Bette she liked to speak. Finding her voice, per say. She justified it as just trying to help Bette understand American Sign Language better, but she knew it was because of the fact that she cared for her oh so deeply.

"You usually are." She confessed in a rather sheepish manner, letting out a nervous chuckle afterward.

Bette could not help but to allow her radiant and toothy smile to paint her face like renaissance artists in Rome, making life-altering artwork on canvases. It was that one smile that let Jodi know just how content she had truly made her.

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to get in the way." Bette replied, her smile softening as she did so when Jodi dismissed her thought of leaving once more.

The brunette then turned away from her colleague, still not one hundred percent used to having to make special accommodations when it came to how she stood whilst speaking with the artist.

"It's just sometimes with you, I never know if I'm interrupting something or if you like my company… I do not want to impede on your work, being a pest is not my intention." Bette trailed off, pacing around the room a bit and waving her hands as she talked; she still did not pay attention to the fact that Jodi could not hear her.

Jodi tried her hardest to make out what she was saying. Had she been signing? Was that why she was moving her hands almost sporadically? Her brows furrowed rather intensely upon realizing that her hands were not in fact making signs at all, but instead moved randomly, making no sense whatsoever. With that, Jodi quickly rushed over to Bette and chuckled softly before looking at her, having them face each other.

"Sorry, did you say something? Please, Bette, tell me what it is you said." Jodi pleaded in American Sign Language, her hands moving swiftly and softly all at the same time.

A gentle smile remained on her face as she reached over and tenderly cupped her face within her skillful and precious, all too vital hands. Bette let out a breath of a laugh before moving her face so that she could kiss Jodi's right hand.

"I was rambling on about the possibility of my being here distracting you; I wouldn't want that to happen. You work is very important," Bette signed in returned, allowing Jodi to know only part of what she had said while pacing.

Smiling as she looked into Jodi's eyes yet again, those eyes of which she would never lose the drive to just gaze into for hours. Her attraction to Jodi border-lined on pathetic; how could she feel so strongly for someone like this, like she once had with Tina, oh so long ago. But that felt like a century ago, and she was younger then. So, what made now even more intense? And it had been that, too. So much more intense…

"What is it you are working on?" Bette asked, quickly changing the subject in an attempt to distract herself from her colleague's beauty.

Jodi just shook her head softly, reassuringly as she took a hold of Bette's hands.

"So are you, Bette. You are important, more important than that, actually. And you have no idea just how much you mean to me when it comes to my work." She signed, gesturing towards the metal heap a few feet away, the same heap she had stared at, as if trying to mentally picture what it could be, what it truly was. "And I am still trying to come up with an idea, my dear Bette. You may be able to help me with that."

She caressed Bette's hands with her thumbs gently and brought them to her lips, kissing them gingerly.

"Sit with me, please." She spoke, her voice ringing out and yet she would never know what it sounded like. "You can help me work wonders, you know?"

"You make me out to be some sort of muse, which I know I am not." Bette signed with a bit of a scoff.

She did not really believe that Jodi could actually draw inspiration from her, though she could not keep that smile on her face from fading away when she took a seat beside her colleague and newfound lover. Looking upon the older sculpture she had been creating for quite some time, Bette truly had no idea of in what way she could possibly be of any help towards the artist savant.

"I procure art; I am no artist… how exactly am I supposed to help?" Bette asked, looking into Jodi's eyes as she signed.

Jodi huffed a breath; feeling slightly exasperated by Bette but still loved her for it, and shook her head. She found Bette to be adorable and slightly stubborn; okay she was really stubborn… at least, at times. The young and rebellious artist turned on the impromptu bench and cupped the procurer of art's face in her hands.

"Have you not been listening to me?" Jodi asked, inching herself closer to Bette. "No, you're not a muse. You are my muse!"

Jodi leaded in slowly and figured it better to let her lips do what hands do, and allowed them to do the talking for a change. The kiss continued for several seconds before she pulled away and signed to Bette.

"You need only inspire me, Bette." She replied, leaning in again before her for the second time.

She could feel Bette pulling away and she smiled to her, biting her bottom lip slightly as she did so.

"Mm, you have a point there." Bette chuckled, using her hands to convey her words before cupping Jodi's face within her hands.

Returning her kiss for a moment, she smiled brightly upon pulling away again. There was a question burning away at her mind.

"How may I inspire you, then?" The brunette asked, truly unsure of what she could do to help her colleague with her work.

Jodi, watching Bette's hands carefully as she signed, simply shook her head, for she need not do anything, not really, and Jodi told Bette this.

"You don't have to do anything… except, that is, for be here. I find myself utterly inspired when I am in your presence. You light up my world, Bette, and you don't even try, nor do you even know you do it. You just do it, because that a part of your charm. I love how you have been such an influence on my life, and you are so blissfully unaware." Jodi said, her hands signing while her lips spoke. "Be here, with me… that is all you have to do."

"Well then…" Bette said in a sexually snarky manner as she began to expertly kick off her heels, smiling. "Here is where I will stay, with you."