PREVIOUSLY

Viki: Do you ever sleep?

Todd: No.

Tea: Yes.

Viki: Whatever.

Tea: We'll be there.

Todd: You really want this, Starr?

Starr: Yes, Daddy.

Todd: Ok.

Viki: Then you can find out what it takes to look after a pony or horse.

[Scene ends.]

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

[Scene: Max's livingroom. Evening.]

Max: You know, I had dinner tonight with Tina.

Blair: (Trying to be cool about this:) Just what did my conniving ex-sister-in-law want with you?

Max: Now, Blair, she says it was innocent.

Blair: And you believed her?

Max: No, but she was well-behaved throughout the meal, and she did treat. She made it very clear she wanted nothing more than to be friends with me again --

Blair: You sound like you believe her, Max. You're smarter than that, after what she put you through years ago over Al.

Max: I know, I'm not an idiot. She did treat, and she seemed sincere in wanting to be friends, so so far that's what we have to work with.

Blair: She's up to something.

Max: Mannings always are.

[Scene ends.]

[Scene: PH2 livingroom, next morning.]

Todd: (Drinking coffee at his desk as he reads The Banner.)

Tea: (Comes downstairs and sees him.) You drink a lot of coffee to be this human, don't you?

Todd: (Not looking up:) Gallons.

Tea: No wonder I get the shakes around you.

Todd: (Looks at her:) You don't!

Tea: Gotcha! No, I don't.

Todd: (Sneers at her and sips his coffee, looking at her.)

Tina: (Comes downstairs.) Hi. Guess what I did yesterday?

Todd: Don't tell me, I don't wanna know. Just tell me if it's gonna get me in trouble.

Tina: I don't see why it would.

Tea: Should I be hearing this?

Tina: Maybe not.

Todd: It's gonna get me in trouble, I just know it. Tina --

Tina: It really shouldn't affect you.

Todd: Fine. Spill. Let me be the judge.

Tina: I had dinner with Max.

Todd: YOU WHAT?

Tina: Now, Todd...

Todd: Please tell me you haven't gone to the Bukey side.

Tina: I haven't gone to the Bukey side.

Todd: Right.

Tina: No, really, Todd.

Todd: Then why did you have dinner with my enemy? You know he's tight with Renee Divine? You know, Asa's wife?

Tina: Still?

Tea: Yeah. He caused us no end of trouble last year.

Todd: He blackmailed me, and he used Starr to do it.

Tina: Oh. Well... this is to butter him up.

Todd: How?

Tina: Tea are you sure you want to be hearing this? You said you didn't want to know what I was planning because you're a lawyer.

Tea: I'll get some coffee. (Heads off to the kitchen.)

Tina: Ok...

Todd: And?

Tina: (Makes sure Tea's at least out of sight.) The plan is this: if I can get in good enough with Max, I can rattle my ex-sister-in-law's cage at will.

Todd: I knew it, this is going to get me in trouble. I don't wanna know any more. I have to be able to claim I don't know anything about this if I get in trouble for it.

Tina: Fair enough. I won't tell you details, since I have to play this by ear, anyway.

Todd: Just don't keep me informed, even though I want to know... Rattle away, Sis. (Smirks at her his "Todd the Bastard" trademark smirk.)

Tea: (Re-emerges from kitchen.) Done?

Tina: Yeah.

Todd: Yeah. She's not supposed to tell either of us what she's doing.

Tea: Good. We can claim we didn't know a thing.

Tina: It was my idea in the first place as it is.

Todd: Sis know?

Tina: Not a word.

Tea: She won't like this.

Tina: You'd be surprised.

Todd: I thought you knew Viki better than that.

Tea: If you guys think she won't be too mad...

Tina: It doesn't matter. This will work. Blair hates me.

Tea: Blair hates me too, hates me so much she put me out a window at The Palace one night.

Todd: (Winces. Looking away, quietly:) Yeah. Yeah, she did.

Tea: I almost died.

Todd: (Gets up and walks away.)

Tina: Todd?

Todd: (Keeps walking until he's climbing the stairs.)

Tea: Tina...

Tina: He's upset.

Tea: (Quietly to Tina.) He nearly lost me that night. I think it was the first time he realized that he cared about me, and just as he feared I might die.

Tina: Oh. I didn't realize it had been that bad. No wonder he left the room. I should go talk to him.

Tea: Tina, no. If he's going to talk about this with you he will, don't push him. If he's hurting, often the best thing is to give him some room to calm down.

Tina: Or plot.

Tea: True. But he's not going anywhere, and he's probably gone in to wake Starr. I should go get dressed for work. Excuse me.

Tina: (Nods.)

[Scene ends.]

[Scene: PH2 upstairs hallway, moments later. Tea, heading toward the MBR, stops when she sees Starr's door open. She pauses to observe as Todd, sitting next to Starr on her bed, gently strokes her back to wake her up. He speaks gently to her, but is firm that it's time for her to wake up and start getting ready. Finally Starr rolls over and he stands up to let her get out of her bed. He says a few more words to urge her on and then turns and leaves the room. He meets Tea in the hall, a little sheepish at being observed.]

Tea: (Quietly:) Hey, Todd...

Todd: What'd you tell her after I left?

Tea: Just the bare bones about the window and Blair. That that was probably the night you realized you love me and it was clear it had been a very painful time for you.

Todd: She still downstairs?

Tea: Yeah. I told her you need some space about this.

Todd: (Evades the truth, his expression toward the camera gives him away, face bland and casual toward Tea, voice low and even:) No, I realized it was time to wake Shorty. (Turns and leans into Starr's room.) Shorty, out of bed now.

Starr: Awww, Daddy!

Todd: Do I have to come drag you out of bed?

Starr: No. I'm up, Daddy.

Todd: Go get ready, sweetie. (Turns back towards Tea.)

Tea: (Briefly kisses his mouth.) Don't worry about this for now. I'll give you and Starr some time to get her ready while I get ready for work.

Todd: (Nods.) Ok. (Goes into Starr's room, scoops her up as she protests, and deposits her in the bathroom across the hall.) Brush your teeth. (Turns and enters the hallway again.)

Starr: I can do it myself!

Tea: (From inside the MBR, before Todd can say it:) Starr...

Starr: Sorry. (Turns the water on to fill her cup and reaches for her toothbrush once that's done. Camera cuts away, but she can be heard in a moment for a moment brushing her teeth.)

[Cut to: MBR. About 5 minutes seem to have elapsed now.]

Todd: (Brushing his hair out at the mirror, watching himself and stealing glances at Tea as she gets dressed. Smiles a little to himself watching her.)

Tea: You gonna hog that mirror?

Todd: No. (Finishes, turns around as he sets brush next to him on dresser, as he leans against his dresser to watch her.)

Tea: (Seductively playful:) Like what you see?

Todd: (Grins.) Wouldn't be here if I didn't.

Tea: (Crosses to dresser to put on her make-up.)

Todd: (Grabs her and holds her close, kissing her neck and nuzzling his cheek against hers, his eyes closed.) You smell good.

Tea: (Smiling:) Thanks. You do, too.

Todd: That's for girls.

Tea: That's for my husband. I like how you smell.

Todd: (Kisses her mouth.) I like how you feel.

Tea: You feel wonderful against me, too, but we need to get going. (Kisses him.)

Starr: Dad? (Holds up a couple suits of clothes for approval:) What should I wear?

Todd: (Turns and looks in the hall at the selections.) Whatever you want.

Starr: I can't decide.

Tea: Whatever goes with your bathing suit, how's that?

Starr: Can you help me choose, Tee? (Scowls at Todd:) Daddy's useless for this.

Todd: Hey, I am not useless.

Starr: I wanted you to decide.

Todd: I want you to learn to decide. You gotta admit you're usually pretty good about this girl stuff.

Starr: Tee's better at it. Tee's a girl.

Tea: She's got you there, Todd.

Todd: True. All I know how to do is dress in one colour at a time, usually.

Tea: Yeah, all black, with a white shirt.

Todd: Well, it works, doesn't it?

Tea: (Grins at him:) Very nicely.

Todd: (Dodges the flirting.) I'll be downstairs. Don't be late.

[Starr and Tea go into Starr's room, Todd goes downstairs. Scene ends as he approaches the camera to pass it.]

[Scene: PH2 livingroom, empty. Midday, phone rings, answering machine picks it up.]

Antonio: Tea, 'Tonio. Short list: I'll be at my mom's as of tonight (Nora wants me on the custody case), Del is heading your way (I don't know why), Jose' got picked up three nights ago on suspicion of battery, released on bail pending the usual court stuff. He's ok. That's all for now. See you tonight at my mom's. (Phone hangs up, answering machine shuts off.)

[Scene ends.]

[Scene: Carlotta's house, kitchen. Afternoon, same day.]

Delmonico Delgado: (Knocks on door.)

Carlotta: (Opens door:) Del! Hi! How are you? It's been so long!

Del: I was on a long assignment.

Carlotta: Too bad, you missed your sister's wedding. Come in.

Del: So I heard. To that animal again.

Carlotta: (Closes the door and follows him to the kitchen table, motioning him to sit as he talks.) Well, he isn't my choice for Tea-ita, but nobody's been able to shake her loose from him, not even Todd.

Del: He doesn't love her?!

Carlotta: Oh, Del, that's the saddest part. I believe he's just as much in love with Tea as she is with him. I don't think I'll ever understand it.

Del: He's never struck me as capable of such feelings.

Carlotta: Well, he is. I am shocked when I see it, because I usually can't stand him, but he is so totally, totally smitten it's unmistakable. I still don't approve of it, or of him.

Del: Has he hurt Tea?

Carlotta: Yes.

Del: I once told him I'd kill him if he did.

Carlotta: I bet he laughed at you.

Del: That's the weird thing.

Carlotta: Oh?

Del: He told me to do it if he did hurt Tea.

Carlotta: Well, he seems to have always had a deathwish.

Del: Why?

Carlotta: I don't know too much about him, but apparently he was brutally abused most of his life, so maybe that's why.

Del: Interesting.

Carlotta: When I think of him as a small boy, being beaten or worse, I just cringe. It doesn't excuse the things he did later that we know about in the least.

Del: I was a little worried you'd gone soft on him.

Carlotta: Tea loves him, Del, despite the fact that we can't stand him and that we think he's an animal. She sees good in him, and I have seen tiny glimmers of good in him, too, since he's been back. A few years ago, he also set up a trust fund to cover my son Eli's medical bills, and even though Eli remains so independent and I hardly ever see him, he is healthy. He takes his medications when he's supposed to and he's calmed down a lot. There's no way I could afford Eli's AIDS drugs on my own, and he would be dead now without Todd. He didn't have to help us, didn't have to help Eli. They don't get along at all, but Todd has said more than once that because Eli is a child and he's ill, someone has to make sure he can have the care he needs. Since I don't have the money, and insurance wouldn't cover it, Todd came forward.

Del: No ulterior motives?

Carlotta: None. Todd has a rule that no matter what children are to be protected. It's one of the very few things we agree on, but I don't have to like him.

Del: What a strange guy. He always has an angle, though.

Carlotta: This has been one case where he didn't.

Del: I just find that very hard to believe. He's gotta have an angle.

[Scene ends.]

[Scene: PH2 livingroom, evening same day. Todd and Tea are sitting on the couch, he is massaging her feet in his lap.]

Tea: Did you date much?

Todd: Before you?

Tea: Yeah.

Todd: Define "to date".

Tea: I dunno. Go to events together, see someone steadily, I dunno.

Todd: That's not much help. You gotta do better. I really don't know what it is to "date" for real. I used to think I did.

Tea: So, no?

Todd: Not really.

Tea: You were never in love with anyone before me?

Todd: (Pauses, thinking, deciding what to say.) Umm.....

Tea: What?

Todd: Shut up, I'm trying to think this through.

Tea: Were you in love with Rebecca?

Todd: (Stares at her a moment. Thinks a moment. Blinks a few times.) I guess... Yeah. Yeah, I guess I must've been.

Tea: Did she hurt you?

Todd: [Flashback:]

[Statesville Prison] Ray Martino, Todd's prison therapist, decided to do a one-on-one session with Todd after he had been on the cellblock at night seeing someone else, when Todd had had a screaming nightmare in his cell and Ray overheard him screaming. Ray tried to get him to talk about it, but Todd refused. He then set up the session. The nightmare had ended with Rebecca going to be with Powell, who escorted her out of Todd's cell, and Marty (also in the dream) telling Todd they would always only have each other and handcuffing Todd's wrist to hers, at which point Todd had woken up screaming "No!" repeatedly and this had been what Ray heard. When Ray did get him in for the session, Ray tried to get Todd to talk about the women in his life and Todd told Ray how all of his teachers had hated him, because he didn't even try at school. (He hadn't tried to study when Marty had tutored him in Calculus in College, either.) In the session:)

Todd: ...tell you what I think about women?

Ray: Yeah.

Todd: Why?

Ray: You're gonna have to trust me, Todd.

Todd: What if I don't trust you?

Ray: Then you don't. And, I leave.

Todd: (Long pause while Todd looks at him.) What do you want to know?

Ray: Why don't you tell me about the women you knew growing up? Besides your mother, that is.

Todd: Like who?

Ray: Teachers?

Todd: Teachers? Yeah, they were all over me.

Ray: How?

Todd: I was lazy. They hated that. The guy teachers, you know, they didn't care. Did whatever I wanted.

Ray: And, got away with that...

Todd: Yeah, sometimes. Or, sometimes I didn't. Either way, I didn't care much.

Ray: What other women did you know?

Todd: We had a whole revolving door of nannies and housekeepers. No one special. Except the one my dad was sleeping with for three months before he canned her. Cindy. I think that's what her name was. God. I don't even know why I remember that. Anyway, you know, there was always a low rent girlfriend around with my dad. The only thing that was different about this one was that she worked for us.

Ray: So, you met your father's mistresses?

Todd: Yeah...what? It's not like he had to hide them. He had a new one every couple of months.

Ray: How'd you feel about that?

Todd: I don't know. It didn't matter to me.

Ray: Not at all?

Todd: No. They were nothing. It's like they weren't even people. They were just something of my dad's.

Ray: Didn't you get to know any of them?

Todd: Oh, yeah, sure. Some of them would pretend to like me to try and impress my dad.

Ray: Did it?

Todd: Are you kidding? If they knew him any better, they would have known that they'd stick around a lot longer if they said that they hated me. The smarter ones figured that out.

Ray: What do you mean, the smarter ones?

Todd: I..I remember this one time. There's this one girl... well, she started talking to me, right? You know, about school and sports and stuff. And I bought it! I thought it was real. And then later, I heard her laughing at my father's impersonation of me crying the night before because I'd had a nightmare about my mom. She got a big kick out of me being jerk enough to cry. I should have figured it out right then.

Ray: Wait...figured what out?

Todd: Women! They're fake.

Ray: All of 'em?

Todd: Yea...pretty much. I mean, they want what they want, and you want what you want, and you can't win. I mean you can't ever satisfy them.... They're all pretty much users. Users and liars.

Ray: And your mother wasn't like that.

Todd: No, not at all.

Ray: Was she the only woman you knew who wasn't after something?

Todd: No...there was one other. Just one. And she cared about me... she showed me...she still cares. The thing I can't figure out is, why? [Scene ends.]

[Later Rebecca and Powell show up at the prison, and decide it would be best if Rebecca told Todd about their engagement without Powell being in the room. She felt it would hurt Todd less. Rebecca enters the visiting room alone, while Powell waits in the adjoining waiting room, unseen.]

Todd: Rebecca! (He has the sweetest expression on his face...one of wonder and happiness that she has come to see him.)

Rebecca: Todd. Hello.

Todd: Oh man, what a great surprise. [Fade out]

[Scene: Moments later in the small prison visiting room:]

Todd: So, what about graduation? Did you go? Did you see the Seniors?

Rebecca: Yeah. It was really nice.

Todd: Well, I hope you're just, you know, taking it easy for awhile.

Rebecca: Well, life gets complicated... even when you try not to let it.

Todd: You look great.

Rebecca: Thanks. So do you.

Todd: So, tell me what's going on. Tell me about your life.

Rebecca: What about you? Is everything okay?

Todd: I'm doing OK. I didn't mean to scare you with the letter I wrote when I was going to kill myself.

Rebecca: I know you hadn't meant to scare me.

Todd: You are so easy to be with! I swear, Rebecca, you're the one person in the whole wide world, that I feel comfortable talking with...

Rebecca: Todd I have something to tell you. And it's not going change how I feel about you, believe me.

Todd: It's about Powell.

Rebecca: Yes.

Todd: He came to see me.

Rebecca: I know.

Todd: He's all ticked off that you keep comin' to see me. He doesn't understand us... you know, what we have.

Rebecca: Well, he understands now.

Todd: Really? ... Listen, Rebecca, I don't mean to put any pressure on you, but you comin' to see me here is the only thing I have to look forward to.

Rebecca: And you have to believe that what I'm about to tell you isn't going to change that!

Todd: What is it?

Rebecca: Powell and I got engaged last night.

(Todd goes into shock as he sits there, and he stares at the ring on her finger.)

Rebecca: Todd?

Todd: (Tries to recover himself:) It's kinda soon... I mean, you guys have only been going out a couple of months...

Rebecca: I love him, Todd. I want to spend the rest of my life with him. I hope someday that you can be happy for me...or at least understand.

Todd: (Controlled, trying to sound casual:) You oughta go, now.

Rebecca: Alright... I meant what I said! It doesn't change the way I feel about you. I care about you very much, and if I can help at all...if you'll let me, I'll be there for you. (She gets up and walks to the door and then she exits.)

Todd: (Follows her with his eyes, then gets up and looks out the little window in the door, and watches as she puts her arms around Powell. He is devastated by what he sees and what Rebecca had just told him but he tries to mask it over on his face. He goes back to the visiting room table and sits down again, cold, but shaken and stoney. When the guard tries to escort him out and back to his cell, Todd won't move from his chair, so the guards call Ray.)

Ray: Todd? Heard you had a visitor. Well, the guard is ready to take you back to your cell now.

Todd: (Controlled:) I'm not going anywhere.

Ray: Todd, please.

Guard: He's not worth the trouble, Ray.

Ray: Just give me a minute with him, ok?

Guard: You guys want to help me take Mr. Manning back to his suite? He's not in the mood today.

Ray: Do this, Todd. Please, do this. You've got to pick your battles. This is not one of them.

Todd: I'm not goin' anywhere...You... (In handcuffs, Todd slowly turns as he also quickly rises to his feet, jumping up to attack Ray. Todd wants to get in trouble. He lunges for Ray, a guard grabs an enraged Todd off of Ray, and they slam Todd down a bit too roughly face down against the table, leaning him over the edge of the small table and holding him roughly by his long hair, as Ray tries to "protect" Todd from the guards, standing between them as best he can and trying to push them off of Todd.)

Ray: No, Tommy! Don't do it! Don't do it! Don't do it! Look, it's okay. It's okay. (Ray rushes to Todd's side and tries to reassure him:) Don't worry, Todd. It's okay.

Todd: (Suddenly crying and sobbing hard:) It's NOT! It's not! It's not ok! It's never gonna be ok again! (The guards slacken their hold on him and Ray watches Todd protectively. Todd seems to be feeling utterly hopeless as he cries against the tabletop.)

(He gets a very upset look on his face as he thinks about this. He blinks a few more times, his eyes wet, looks at Tea as if he's a little disoriented.) What did you ask me?

Tea: Wow, where did yougo? She did hurt you, didn't she?

Todd: Who?

Tea: Rebecca. Rebecca did hurt you, didn't she? I can see it on your face.

Todd: (With some difficulty, anguished, quietly, holding Tea's feet in his hands:) She tore my heart out. She left me for Powell, that wimp. He turned out to be a real psycho, too.

Tea: OUCH.

Todd: I lost it when she told me, right after she left the room. I saw them together, and it hit me like a truck. I was still serving time for Marty, and I wouldn't leave the visiting room. I couldn't. She -- oh god. (Quietly:) I-I just... wanted her to love me. I didn't... want her to leave... (Takes a laboured breath.) Stop, ok?

Tea: You're shaking again. I'm sorry. I understand things a little better, at least I think so.

Todd: How could you? (Pushes her feet off his lap gently and stands up, running his hands through his hair.)

Tea: I think you shut down a long time before Blair hurt you, and when you met her you were just barely starting to crawl out of your protective shell. Am I right so far?

Todd: Yeah. (Starts to pace the room.) Blair and me, we were best friends for a while at first. I thought I knew what to do with girls, but chicks, you know they didn't see the same thing. I was a Big Man On Campus in College, star football player, and all the girls were after me. They all thought I was the sexiest thing alive, I swear. I thought I had it ALL. I thought I had it made. I had sex with a few of them, and thought I knew what I was doing. Most of them just blew me off. And then Carol Swift said no, and I kept right on going until I had raped her. I didn't have a clue what rape really was, despite what my old man had done to me. No clue at all. (Has crossed to the back of his desk chair and leans on it, staring into space as he talks.) I didn't have a clue what chicks were like, what they wanted. (Pacing again.) And then there was Marty. (Turns to Tea:) All I wanted was sex. (Turns from her to pace again.) There was Marty, just as lonely and sad as I was, only she wore it on her skin like a billboard. She asked me to stay and hold her or talk to her or something that night after I finally got in her pants, and I just freaked out completely. I got outta there fast. I was angry and I was scared. The next time I had anything even vaguely resembling what I called sex with her then was the rape. I don't think I touched her again until then... And then there was Rebecca... good, sweet Rebecca...

Tea: Did you love her?

Todd: Who? Marty? You sick?

Tea: Rebecca.

Todd: I think Rebecca was my first. It wasn't a really mature love, it was what I guess would be called "First Love", if that makes any sense. I fell so hard once I fell.

Tea: The kind you have when you fall in love for the first time and it's all new and wonderful, and it's not a "puppy love", like little kids have?

Todd: Yeah, like that. The kind you have when you're in college.

Tea: And then it ended badly.

Todd: So badly I hardly ever talk about it. I think this is the first time since those days I've told anyone about it. I don't even think about it.

Tea: So, when Blair betrayed you that last big time, you retreated even more?

Todd: Nobody would ever hurt me again.

Tea: And then you met me.

Todd: And you -- you -- how could I resist you? You're beautiful, and strong, and stood up to me, and saw who I am and what I and-and what I've done and you took me on anyway. I did my best to keep safe and keep you safe from me, I did, but you were always in my face and not scared of me. You help me be not so afraid of myself, and just not so afraid of everything.

Tea: Yet you've always lived life like it was a dare.

Todd: How else could I live? My old man tried to kill me most days, life had to be an act of defiance just to get through the next hour, so of course I live life on a dare! Besides it's boring if you don't.

Tea: Was it just shutting down?

Todd: More.

Tea: Fear?

Todd: I'm not afraid of anything.

Tea: I think you live in fear of being hurt.

Todd: You're being really blunt. (A look of discomfort crosses his face.)

Tea: I just saw that look on your face and I've known you too long not to have this figured out at least partially. You're scared of being hurt, not physically, emotionally.

Todd: I don't care about feelings, Delgado.

Tea: Oh, yes you do, Manning. You've had your heart ripped out of your body just like I have, only for you it was much worse than I can imagine from my own experiences alone.

Todd: Nobody can.

Tea: Unlike you, I had a family that I felt I could count on when things got bad. You had a father who you say kept trying to kill you, and your mami? She left you with him! If that doesn't break a little boy's heart, I don't know what would.

Todd: She did... And when she sent me back to him, she broke it all over again ...and I let her!

Tea: You had no choice but to go back, you were a little boy then. You loved your mother.

Todd: Why didn't I run? Why didn't I fight harder to stay?

Tea: I bet you did fight it. I bet you wouldn't let go of her until she had to pry you loose and send you off. You were a little boy.

Todd: (Growls angrily:) I was no little boy when Rebecca left me to rot in prison!

Tea: No, but you were young and in many ways still very inexperienced. You've said so yourself about some things. You're still learning what it is to love someone, and you've never quite mastered what it is to love yourself.

Todd: Don't get all sappy on me.

Tea: I'm not. It's all true, though. Mmmm...

Todd: Whatever. Like this?

Tea: Mhm. Is this all why you wouldn't make love to me for so long?

Todd: (Mumbling:) Most of why, yeah.

Tea: I have no intention of hurting you, ok?

Todd: But I could still hurt you. I threw you out of here that night into the snow because you wouldn't take no for an answer. It really freaked me out that you would do that to me, and I got angry and upset and overwhelmed, and the best I could do was to throw you out of here. Trying not to hurt you only ended up hurting you.

Tea: I was also in the wrong that night. I'm sorry.

Todd: It's not your fault.

Tea: Oh, it is, Todd. I had been thinking for so long that you were avoiding me sexually, that you just didn't love me enough or even at all. So, I tried to seduce you. To make you want me, or cause you to at least act as if you did. It was stupid and dangerous and cruel. I was totally clueless that what I was doing would hurt and frighten you so badly, and it took me months and months to begin to see what I had done. I don't think it really hit me until I saw it in your journal. You wrote about how you cried in the front doorway, or rather tried not to just break down about it because it hurt too much to throw me out like that, and you were so confused by it. I still regret that night.

Todd: I didn't know what else to do to keep you safe. I wanted you that night, wanted to be with you, but I knew damn well I couldn't handle myself. I knew I'd lose control and it could get very ugly. Instead, it just got very ugly. A lose-lose situation.

Tea: I haven't done it since, either.

Todd: Sometimes I like it when you make overtures, you know? I'm getting more comfortable with all this, but I doubt it'll ever be easy for me.

Tea: We'll deal with it as it happens, ok?

Todd: What if it's more than you can handle?

Tea: I've been in over my head before with you, and we've crossed more than one burning lake together. We'll just have to keep right on doing it. I know you'll stop if I say to.

Todd: You think I will?

Tea: You have.

Todd: You think I'm worth this?

Tea: Never doubted it.

Todd: Wow.

Tea: What?

Todd: It never ceases to amaze me. You never cease to amaze me. I don't think I'm worth it but you do. What's wrong with this picture?

Tea: You are. Because you really are worth all this.

Todd: I don't deserve this.

Tea: You deserve to be loved, and I love you.

Todd: I don't deserve you.

Tea: You're stuck with me anyway, Manning.

[Scene ends.]

TO BE CONTINUED