PREVIOUSLY

Viki: I was wrong that night, but I was very upset at the time and lashed out.

Todd: You? You lash out? That's my thing.

Viki: You know I do, and it isn't just your 'thing'. After all, killing our father was a bit of lashing out, too, wasn't it?

Todd: Ok, so we're both rotten.

Viki: (Laughs.) Neither of us are. (Takes his hand and looks in his eyes.) Look, I know you're feeling pretty badly right now between the upset stomach and the headache and whatever else. You really will be ok, Todd. We're all here for you, all you have to do is let us in.

Todd: That's all? (Takes his hand away.) I can't.

Viki: (Takes his hand again and looks at him looking away.) You have.

Todd: (Looks at her, his gaze locking onto her eyes.)

[Scene ends.]

**************************************************************************************************

[Scene: Sam's house and then office building, same time. Press mob scene. Music: Peter Gabriel: "Shock The Monkey".]

[Camera work is cramped and claustrophobic, closeups of crowds of reporters like a cloud following Sam everywhere.] Sam has to flee his home, barely getting to his car, surrounded by a cloud of reporters hounding him. Some of RJ's men hold the reporters back, Sam escapes. He stops to buy The Sun and The Banner at a newsstand, tucks them into his attache'. Camera cuts to: Then he is struggling to get into his office's building, rushes for an elevator, and finds reporters piling into it with him, continuing to harrass him, asking him questions about his involvement with Todd, Tea, Nora, Matthew and Bo, Will, everything. He refuses to say anything, managing to remain completely silent the whole ride up, staring ahead. He gets up to his office and is greeted by reporters who had taken the stairs, and is very grateful to see Building Security herding the reporters back off the property and threatening to arrest them all as trespassers. He locks himself in the outer office, and then retreats into the inner office and locks himself in there. He looks shaken and in shock. He sits down heavily in his desk chair and after a pause opens his attache' case and extracts a copy each of The Banner and The Sun and lays them on his desk. He looks from one to the other and back and forth, looking very stunned.]

[Scene: Todd's Sun office, some 20 minutes or so later.]

Tea: Are you all right, Todd?

Todd: No.

Viki: I'll go get us some lunch. Anything special you'd like? I was thinking of fish chowder, actually. Todd suggested it.

Todd: AAAAAAAAAA!!!!!! Viki!

Viki: (Laughs at Todd.) Todd is adamantly against chowder of any kind, especially fish chowder --

Todd: Yuck! Tentacles! Fish heads!

Viki: (Grinning:) But I was thinking some soup, sandwiches, and maybe salad, and things to drink. Just a light lunch for all of us. Any requests?

Todd: Almost anything but tuna.

Viki: (Giggles at Todd.) You're really on a tear about fish in your food, aren't you?

Todd: (Mutters darkly:) Tentacles..... fins.... suckers.....

Viki: Scales, oh my. I know. (Smiles at him.)

Tea: What are you two talking about?

Todd: Nevermind. My sister at least understands me.

Tea: (Sharply, looking right at him:) Todd.

Todd: Go get your food, Viki. I'm not eating. (Lays down on the couch on his back carefully, his hand on his forehead and over his eyes. He doesn't look well.)

Tea: Whatever looks good. I like pickles with sandwiches. Maybe get one big green salad and some bowls of soup and those little packets or tiny cups of a couple of dressings. Todd? How's chicken noodle soup sound to you?

Todd: In the abstract?

Tea: How's it sound?

Todd: In the abstract, fine.

Tea: But will you eat it?

Todd: (Grumbling:) If I have to.

Tea: You're going to make this very difficult, aren't you?

Todd: That's the idea.

Viki: Ok, I'll do my best. I gather gooey is right out for you, Todd?

Todd: And tentacles. No tentacles.

Viki: Extra tentacles, right.

Todd: AAAAAAA! (Whips his hand away to stare up at Viki.) Viki, what're trying to do to me?!

Viki: (Laughs at him again.) All right. Back soon. (Leaves.)

Todd: (Puts his hand over his eyes again and lies very still, his other hand across his belly almost protectively.)

Tea: Tentacles? Fins?

Todd: (Growls:) Nevermind. Leave me alone.

Tea: I willnot. We're having lunch together, whether you like it or not.

Todd: (Mutters:) Whatever.

Tea: (Leans over him, very carefully putting her hand lightly on his belly, kisses his mouth gently, nuzzling his lips a moment. He responds, gingerly, his fingers grasp her hand lightly. Before she stands again, she strokes his belly soothingly, looking into his eyes, his hand now on his forehead. He seems to relax a little, eyes closing.)

[Scene ends.]

[Scene: Sun Offices. Several minutes later.]

Viki: (Carrying a bag and a tray of food. To Tea:) Ok. I hope this will meet with my brother's approval.

Tea: (Taking the bag from Viki and looking for a place to set up.) I'm quite sure it will, Viki, even with Mr. Fussy, here.

Todd: (Still lying on the couch, his hand over his eyes.) I'm not fussy. I just don't feel good.

Tea: You're fussy.

Todd: I'll eat almost anything, and you know it. I just don't feel well.

Viki: How about a picnic?

Tea: Where?

Viki: In the middle of the room. How's that, Todd?

Todd: I don't care.

Viki: Come and sit up. Join us for lunch like a civilized person.

Todd: I'm not civilized. "Civilized" is for sissies.

Tea: (Looking at him:) Todd......

Todd: Whaaat?

Tea: Come and sit with us. You can eat with your hands, well, except the noodle soup.

Todd: I'll drink from the bowl. (Slowly sitting up and leaning against the couch back. He looks tired and ill.)

Tea: You would. (Busy now with the food.)

Viki: (Looks up at Todd:) You could pretend you're in Japan, where that's completely normal.

Todd: Japan. You know, I've never been there? They eat raw fish. Ick.

Viki: I have. It's a very different world there. They drink their soup from the bowl, no spoons.

Todd: You're not going make me be all proper, Sis?

Viki: Not on my account. Look, you don't feel well, and if this makes it easier, I really don't mind. Do you, Tea?

Tea: No. In fact, I think I'll try it, too.

Todd: (Smiles at her openly and looks in her eyes.) Really?

Tea: (Smiles back and looks in his eyes.) Remember the dinner we had here that night? Just us? Remember the baked potato?

Todd: (Laughs.) Yes.

Viki: (Watches them, looking from one to the other.) Should I be hearing about this?

Tea: (Looks at Viki.) We had a very nice dinner here one night and we learned some important things about each other. Should I tell her, Todd?

Todd: It's private.

Tea: Ok. Just that we did become closer that night because of a little thing called a candle-light dinner. It was really quite sweet.

Viki: You arranged it, Todd?

Todd: Yes, and that's enough about that, Viki.

Tea: Let's eat. (Takes out items and containers and arranges them on the floor neatly. All the plasticware and napkins are laid out with them.) There. Come sit next to me, Todd.

Todd: No, I'll stay here.

Tea: Come down to our level, then.

Todd: (Slowly slips down to the floor, leaning against the couch.) Happy?

Tea: (Looks at him.) Yes. What do we have here? (Opens a container, looking.) Ah, green salad.

[Viki and Tea begin setting up plates of food.]

Tea: Here, Todd. What kind of dressing?

Todd: I don't care.

Tea: Plain?

Todd: Whatever.

Viki: Too gooey? Too slimey?

Todd: Yeah. (Accepts plate from Tea, sets it between his legs on the floor. Starts nibbling on salad greens with his fingers, playing at eating like either an animal or a small child, as he munches on greens and moves them into his mouth as he chews with the action of chewing, sort of like a cow or goat. He looks to see if they've noticed. Neither of them notice. Realizing that, he stops this and begins popping bits of salad into his mouth and eating more neatly with his fingers.)

Tea: (Opening containers.) Ah, noodle soup. Here. Careful, it's hot.

Todd: (Stops eating salad. Takes soup, blows on it. Takes a tentative sip.) It's ok.

Tea: (Places a wrapped sandwich on his plate.)

Todd: (Sets the soup down next to the plate on the floor, opens wrapper, opens sandwich to see what it is, closes sandwich and sets it back down.)

Tea: Is that ok?

Todd: No fishies, yeah.

Tea: Ok. Eat something.

Todd: Yes, Mom. (Goes back to sipping his soup from his bowl.)

[They all eat in silence for a little while. Scene shifts to several minutes later, fading it out and then in again.]

Todd: (Has finished about half a sandwich and all his soup and a little more salad. Looks intently at a point on the floor in the distance to his left, and near his desk.) Oh, look!

Tea: (Looking at the same rough spot.) What?

Todd: Ants! Well, one.

Viki: Todd.....

Todd: Gotcha! (Grins at Tea, sidelong.)

Tea: (Looks at him.) If it were a real ant, this would be a real picnic, you mean?

Todd: (Looks at her.) You got it.

Viki: (Rolls eyes.)

Tea: (Shoots Todd alook.)

Todd: (Giggles happily to himself.)

[They look at him.]

Todd: Whaaat?

Tea: Nothing.

Todd: I got you, didn't I? A picnic with no ants isn't a real picnic, right?

Tea: It's real enough without ants.

Todd: It's in my office, on the floor of my office. What kind of picnic is that?

Tea: It's no less a picnic than when we camped out in that tent in the livingroom with Starr.

Todd: All right. So we're having a picnic.

Viki: That's better. Now eat something before the bees find it.

Todd: (Giggles. Picks at some food on his plate, putting bits of sandwich into his mouth that he tears off as he continues to giggle quietly.)

Tea: (Grins at Todd. Nibbles at her food with more interest than he is.)

Todd: I still don't feel well, but this is kind of fun. Thanks, Sis.

Viki: Anytime.

[Scene ends.]

[Scene: Penthouse livingroom. Todd and Tea arrive.]

Tea: Are you glad we walked back from your office after lunch? How do you feel?

Todd: It's ok. I feel ok. Not great. (Crosses to middle of room, fidgets a little.)

Tea: (Following him in, closing the door and tossing her keys on his desk.) Querido?

Todd: Si? (Turns to face her. Smiles a little shyly at her.)

Tea: (Smiles at him sweetly.) You're learning my language.

Todd: Remember those stupid hats we got at The Bayberry Inn?

Tea: That was ages ago.

Todd: I think we still have them somewhere.

Tea: And?

Todd: I remember commenting in Spanish to Del that my hat was very very stupid.

Tea: (Crosses her arms.) Ok, then, say it.

Todd: Ok... Let's see..... Ummm.... "Mio sombrero es muy, muy stupido." Yeah. Did I get it right?

Tea: (Smiling coyly while suppressing a giggle:) Si. It's not 'Mio', it's 'Mi', anyway. You've been practicing, haven't you?

Todd: A little. Trying to remember what I'd said to Del.

Tea: Now, can you tell me what Asa said to you that made you feel so ill?

Todd: (Makes a face at her.) Pest. (Sighs heavily.) We argued.

Tea: You wouldn't talk about it at lunch with Viki and I.....

Todd: (Sighs heavily. Sits in chair by the stairs.)

Tea: (Stands in front of him, arms crossed.) This was pretty major, wasn't it?

Todd: (Briefly makes sad, distressed face.) He said a lot of things, a lot of very personal things. Normally he really doesn't bother me, but the things he said today.... were..... (Heavy sigh.) Not now, ok? (Crosses to couch and flops down on it. Tea follows him and sits next to him.)

Tea: I need to know, Todd. If he comes after you with more of this and it goes into the public eye, you have to be ready to slough it off. At least in public. No violence in front of the cameras, you know? He'll use it to crucify you in public.

Todd: This was so bad, Tea, I don't know --

Tea: You'll have to learn to keep it together in public about this, ok?

Todd: I don't know. He made some comments about what I said in court last fall -- look, Tom had to say it, I would -- I couldn't,not in front of all my enemies. I wish he hadn't said it, but it's now a matter of public record what happened.

Tea: I know you're ashamed about it.

Todd: Yeah, well, I'm still in shock that Tom just told everyone like that. Like he didn't care how it would affect us all. I had to tell Asa I wasn't faking when he had been, like Blair's piece says. Even she now believes me. The implications of that are kind of frightening. I've always wondered if Pete didn't goad Tom into it or something, and that headache says to me Pete may have. It's like Pete wanted to humiliate me in front of everyone.

Tea: Can you tell me about the headache?

Todd: Not much to say, really. It hurt like hell. I could barely think. Breathing hurt. Thinking hurt. They were arguing, back and forth, back and forth. Pete wanted to punch Asa's lights out during and tear my office up after. Tom wanted it all to just stop, and they were arguing while Asa and I were arguing, but I kept my cool. It was hard to hear Asa and hard to think clearly for myself. I didn't hit Asa, you saw my office is no worse than usual. That weak little moron Tom was in tears by the end of it, although now I can't say I blame him, but I didn't cry or scream. I kept them all in check, but it gave me such a headache I almost threw up in Viki's lap.

Tea: No wonder we had to work so hard to get you to eat. I'm sorry. You wouldn't talk about it until you decided it was just time to come home. There's no shame in being sick, Todd.

Todd: (Before he could counter that -- )

Tea: (A light goes off:) Oh, he didn't......

Todd: He did. Even that. So I never got sick. If I threw up, I made sure he was out of earshot and sight and I kept it neat.

Tea: Or -- ?

Todd: He'd beat me and make me clean it up if there was a mess. Here I am weak and sick, and he'd make me do that. I could have a fever of 105F and convulsions, and he'd make me do that.

Tea: No wonder you had a hard time telling me you had been throwing up. I'm so sorry, Todd. Please try to tell me, ok? Nothing bad will happen from me if you tell me you're not feeling well, no matter the cause.

Todd: I don't know, Delgado.

Tea: I will take care of you if you're not feeling well. I know it matters to you, I remember what you said when you'd gone into the river after Mami's necklace for me and I thought you'd drowned.

Todd: What part?

Tea: When I made you go to the hospital to be checked over because you were soaked through with cold icky Llantano River water and I was sure you'd catch pneumonia as I watched you freezing and shivering on that dock.

Todd: (Remembering a moment:) I said, "Good old Tea."

Tea: That's the moment I mean, querido.

Todd: I hate hospitals.

Tea: I know. But I'd hate to lose you again, so I made sure I got you there to be sure you were gonna be ok. Your lips were turning blue. You were dripping all over me. You were like ice and soaked through. It was cold out.

Todd: I'm ok.

Tea: (Nodding at him.) I'm so glad you're back, Todd. Did you know I found some things you had written that you left here?

Todd: No. My journal?

Tea: Yes.

Todd: You didn't read it?!

Tea: Parts of it. It was very painful at the time to find things you had written, so I never read all of it. I was so angry at you, and I missed you so much. When I started, I didn't believe you had ever loved me. When I finally did read what I did, my heart broke for what we had lost. For sending you away when you'd tried so hard to get us to listen to you that night.

Todd: (Quietly:) What did you read?

Tea: How much you loved me then. How afraid you were to risk your own heart and let me close, especially at the beginning. When you realized you'd already done it, and how hard you still fought against it because you thought you'd hurt me if we got too close to each other. How you longed to touch me and to run your hands along my body and tell me how much you loved me and how much you desired me, some of which Rod did say to me, some of which you did do. Some of those moments came back to me as I read what you had written, and when I was finally alone with the papers I cried more than once with missing you so much, missing your touch, the sound of your breathing, even the swish of your coat in the wind. Everything.

Todd: How much more did you read of my private stuff? No one was ever supposed to see that stuff. I should've burned it!

Tea: I started seeing differences in the..... voice... you used. It began to dawn on me that maybe the DID really was real all along and I'd misjudged you. I read some of them again after you got back and it just confirmed it, but I still had to find out from you if it was real.

Todd: (Sadly:) It is.

Tea: (Quietly:) I know. I still love you.

Todd: (Quietly:) Did you date while I was gone?

Tea: (Sadly:) Yes. Only because I was on the rebound, or I thought I was. I was still so in love with you even during that .....escapade,disaster -- everyone around me spent months cutting you down to me. I didn't want to admit even to myself how deeply I still love you, even I was cutting you down to them. I look back and I'm very angry at some of them for that because they were so wrong about you where it counted the most to me, and I'm mad at myself because I couldn't even admit my love for you to myself. Some of them even pushed me towards him. Ugh. Like Viki.

Todd: Viki?!

Tea: Viki.

Todd: (Angrily:) Why? I wanted her to take care of you, and this was how?

Tea: Maybe she thought she was looking after me. You were gone, I was alone. I don't know, you'll have to ask your sister. Did you ask her to watch over me? We didn't see much of each other while you were away, and I'm not sure why, really. Maybe I reminded her of you and how we'd all failed you in letting you go like that, or maybe it hurt too much. Anyway, she pushed me towards this guy that Carlotta was pushing me towards.

Todd: (Edgy:) Towards who?

Tea: Promise not to get mad, ok?

Todd: (More insistent:) Who?

Tea: (Can't look at him. Almost a whisper:) Sykes.

Todd: (Shouts in disgust:) Tea!!

Tea: (Shudders.) He is a slithey toad, let me tell you.

Todd: You got that right. How could you?! He was sniffing around you during the hostage thing right in front of me! How do you expect me to believe you didn't just have him lined up all along, waiting for me to leave? I asked you if you did.

Tea: (Waits for him to stop.) And I found him repellent then, if you recall. I still don't know just what possessed me to go out with him even once, but he was persistent. He offered what I stupidly viewed as safety, what I thought I wanted after you. But he was obssessed with me, he'd been stalking me from the start. Eeeeww.

Todd: He didn't hurt you?!

Tea: No, not physically, no.

Todd: Ok... Did you...?

Tea: Uuuuh.....

Todd: And then with ME??

Tea: Many months after the fact, Todd! He never had my heart, I wouldn't let him touch that. You've had that all along. Once he'd bedded his quarry, it seemed he lost interest, after another flare-up of rank possessiveness that I rebuffed.

Todd: Now I really feel ill. Were you polishing his machine recently, or what?!

Tea: Months, Todd! Months ago! Listen! At least we used protection! God knows, I wouldn't want his child. Have we? No. So far we've been lucky. Todd, everyone was putting you down to me for months, Sykes put a lot of pressure on me to sign Annulment papers to end our marriage.

Todd: (Looks upset and angry. Starts pacing the room.)

Tea: (Warily:) I signed them, Todd.

Todd: (Stops to turn to her.) You did what?!

Tea: (More confident:) I signed them.

Todd: We're not married?!

Tea: Todd, listen! I did sign them, ok? I let everyone believe what I told Sykes, that I was going to file them the next morning or whenever it was --

Todd: (Gets in her face:) GET OUT!

Tea: I WILL NOT!

Todd: You-you've had all your fun now, now get out, Delgado!

Tea: Todd, you're not listening!

Todd: You're damn right I'm not listening! You betrayed me!

Tea: And you didn't betray me by leaving??

Todd: I-you sent me away! You-you didn't listen to me, you didn'twantto listen to me!

Tea: Because I wasn't listening toyou! Because I thoughtyou'd betrayed me, and thatyouwere lying to me! Just like you're thinking I've done now! Only it wasn't you.

Todd: (Sits again, hard, next to her.) I'm-uh-I'm... sorry. Continue. Please. (Seems shaken, searches her face for her eyes.)

Tea: That's much better... I know I just scared you, I'm sorry... I didn't file the papers, Todd. I didn't. We're still married. We could burn them with your father's lighter if you want.

Todd: But then that also means what I thought it means, that thing with that cop, that was still adultery! That's a betrayal.

Tea: Ok. You're right. He never had my heart, Todd. He never could. He never will. You do, Todd. You're the first man I've ever given my heart to --

Todd: What about Andrew? You said you loved Andrew --

Tea: Carlotta asked me, too. I thought I did, I wanted it to be true, but all through it I knew it wasn't. I wanted you but I thought you didn't want me. You wouldn't touch me. I didn't understand. I thought it meant you didn't love me, and I wanted your love so badly. What about Andrew, huh? Who did I come back to, huh? Who did I crack over the head with that vase, huh? I came back to you, Todd. Not Andrew. To you. That oughtta count for something, but maybe it doesn't with you, you know? Maybe it doesn't.

Todd: (Hesitantly, quietly:) It does, Tea. It does... Why did you have to polish his machine, though? I thought you were patient.

Tea: "Polish his machine"? Todd, the only person whose machine I want to -- NO. (Getting irritable:) The only guy whose clockI want to clean right now, damnit, is yours.

Todd: (Looks startled.)

Tea: (Softening:) Look. I'm sorry, but you need to know this, ok? ..... I am notpolishing that -- that -- CREEP'S "machine", Todd! Not anymore. I am enormously happy not to be. And he's kinky, too, and liked to talk about it in public to me. I'm sure you were justdyingto hear that, I'm sorry. Bug-eyed andkinky, looming over me like some sort of a huge cantilevered masthead mascot gone horribly wrong. Like on a ship? Only ugly. He even looms above furniture menacingly. He wheezes. I don't know what I was thinking.

Todd: (Watches her intently, not moving.)

Tea: (Concerned:) Ok?

Todd: (Nods, impassive expression.)

Tea: I thought I'd managed to inject some humour there. Oh, well. (Sighs. Continues:) Ok. He picked a fight over my immersion in my work to the exclusion of some imagined "Us" (makes quote signs with fingers), and he broke up with me. At first I was shocked, another painful failure! When I calmed down and decided to just let him go, I saw so clearly how much I missed your friendship and how deeply I missed being with you. Then I remembered, too, that this guy spent over a year stalking me, even right in front of my husband, where you could see him doing this! Then I got mad.

Todd: (Brightens:) So you shot him and buried the body in the park, right?

Tea: Noooo!

Todd: That's what I would've done......

Tea: (Snorts, trying not to grin too broadly with delight at the prospect.) I spoke to Hank about it, and he and Bo talked it over. They talked Sykes into a transfer to the other end of the state. Then he moved to New Jersey and took a job there in some police department there. We really haven't heard from him since. Short of killing him, this seemed my best option. (Grins at him.) Tropical fish. (Groans.) He had these stupid tropical fish. He had me help him name them. Ewww. I don't think I like tropical fish now at all, no matter how pretty.

Todd: It's really a dead issue with you?

Tea: What do you think, Manning?

Todd: I'm still digesting all this information.

Tea: Todd, it's been over since long before you returned to us, believe me. I haven't given him another thought, except when I've had to explain myself about it to someone..... We're NOT getting fish. Not unless we're feeding them to Moose.

Todd: I dunno, he's got that eating disorder. Maybe we could try him on fresh fish.... Why did you wait to tell me all this? Sykes's such a slug, I always wanted to just pour salt on him and watch him melt, writhing in the dirt.

Tea: (Smiles wickedly at him.) There's an idea...... Why ever tell you this, actually? Except, I'm trying to get you to be honest with me. I couldn't keep this secret forever, sooner or later someone else would drop this on you like a bombshell and I didn't want you hurt by hearing it from someone with an axe to grind. I'm surprised no one's said anything before now.

Todd: Good old Tea. Now you're protecting me from getting hurt by something you've done. It would have killed me if I'd heard it before now, but now it's just eating at me. I'd've ripped your lungs out if I'd heard it from someone else.

Tea: If you need to say something to me about it, I can take it. In a lot of ways this was worse than what I did to you with Andrew, but it taught me the same fundamental lesson.

Todd: Which was?

Tea: You're really being calm about this.

Todd: Less than you think.

Tea: Oh..... It's much more comforting when you're yelling, or throwing a chair.

Todd: I could......

Tea: No, thank you... I learned that it's you I love. I can't get away from you. It seems all roads from my heart lead straight to you, and no one else.

Todd: Mine, too. I didn't know it at the time, but I came back for you.

Tea: We really are two of a kind.

Todd: (Grinning at her:) Yep, Delgado.

Tea: Can you tell me? A little?

Todd: You're not gonna let go of this, are you?

Tea: No. You know I never do.

Todd: (Tries to gather himself by breathing deeply a few times.) Ok. One of the worst was him saying, "Bend over, Manning, 'cos here I come. When I get through with you, there won't be anything left," after threatening to take The Sun. Then he was asking me if I'd enjoyed what Peter did to me...

Tea: Oh. My. God... That's beyond the pale even for Asa. That was downright cruel. Vicious. No wonder you felt sick to your stomach and couldn't eat. No wonder the guys were at war in your head!

Todd: (Pained, an effort:) No more.

Tea: (Takes his hand in hers.) No more. But, I'm going after Asa with everything we've got. That old bastard's going down, Todd. And we're going to do it. We'll find a way.

[Scene ends.]