PREVIOUSLY

Rachel: We kept each other going through some of the worst stuff at times, but mostly even we didn't talk about it much amongst ourselves. Some of us really were ok, some had a better life because of the divorce when their Moms remarried and there were more kids and stuff, but some of us just couldn't talk about it because it still hurt. I wanted Dad at all those firsts, you know? And he'd moved away, eventually to here. I went to College and he came to see me sometimes there, but it wasn't the same as having known him well for all those lost years. I know Dad loves me, but it's not the same as having had him there, you know? Hearing that every day. Seeing it. Look at River.

Nora: But his parents still live in the same town.

Rachel: And he hears from each of them almost every day how much they both love him and that none of what happened is his fault.

Nora: And you want that for Matthew?

Rachel: And for Starr. All kids deserve to know that.

[Scene ends.]

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

[Scene cuts fron Nora's house to: Todd and Tea on the couch at the

Penthouse again.]

Todd: Do you want to sleep here?

Tea: (Tiredly:) Mmm?

Todd: You look exhausted.

Tea: Yeah, I'm a bit tired.

Todd: You're lying.

Tea: No, I'm enjoying the foot rub.

Todd: You don't sleep when I don't sleep, do you?

Tea: You slept well last night.

Todd: I did. You stayed... You didn't sleep much, did you?

Tea: Not much, no. Sometimes I sleep. You know I come home some days and take a nap. I'm fine.

Todd: No, you're not. I bet even Carlotta's been giving you a hard time about this.

Tea: She's mentioned it, but not for a while.

Todd: I see the way she watches you when we're in the diner.

Tea: She watches all her kids like that, you know that.

Todd: No, she watches you extra carefully when we're there together.

Tea: I'm fine, Todd. Really.

Todd: No. I'm taking you to bed.

Tea: Oh, that sounds wonderful.

Todd: What? No, I'm putting you to bed.

Tea: I liked the first version much better.

Todd: (Puts her feet down, stands up and reaches out to her to lift her off the couch in his arms.) I'm putting you to bed, Delgado. I'm taking care of you for once. (He lifts her up.)

Tea: I like being carried. (Puts her head down against his left shoulder, one arm around his neck, the other around his back.)

Todd: (Carries her upstairs in his arms.)

[Scene fades.]

[Scene: Walking towards Llanfair, after dark, same evening.]

Jessica: Do you think Roseanne will really leave us alone?

Cris: She said she was thinking of following Will to New York.

Jessica: Thinking of and doing are not the same things.

Cris: True. But some things she says she's thinking about means she's decided to do it and is still working out how to pull it off. She's most dangerous when she's thinking.

Jessica: She's dangerous, period.

Cris: And pushy. I'd forgotten just how pushy she could be when we were kids, you know?

Jessica: But now you remember?

Cris: Now I know for sure why I kept my distance once she'd moved away after her Mami died.

Jessica: She never saw that.

Cris: Apparently not. I seem to have been her lifeline for years. Maybe holding onto me kept her just sane enough to keep going. I wish I knew.

Jessica: You give her too much credit in the sanity department, Cris.

Cris: Well, maybe...

Jessica: No, trust me. You do, really.

Cris: Has she done something?

Jessica: Not really, not anything you don't already know about, but I don't trust her.

Cris: I stopped trusting her sometime last year when she wouldn't stop messing with me and kept going after you every chance she got. She always seems just on the edge of an actual physical attack.

Jessica: Yes, which is why I don't trust her. And her silly Voodoo tricks, like with that doll she had when she first arrived and the one she put pins in so my life would be wrecked one way or another.

Cris: She believes in that stuff.

Jessica: Well, I don't. I know it requires the other person to believe in it to work, except for the use of drugs and poisons which brings it to a whole other realm at that point. It doesn't work unless you're part of that culture, where everyone around you believes in it and re-inforces it as a real thing. So, I just think she's a bizarre little creep who's after you and wants to hurt me to get to you.

Cris: That sums it up well, I think. She wasn't always like this.

Jessica: Probably not, but she's like this now and I want her gone. She can't join Will soon enough.

Cris: Has he done something?

Jessica: What he hasn't done is grow up.

Cris: Mmm... Yeah. I've enjoyed playing sports with him, he plays well and he usually doesn't complain when things don't go his way, but in other things...

Jessica: He whines, Cris. He whines. He's so much like Lindsay it's almost scary.

Cris: Come to think of it, you've got a point, there...

Jessica: Are you ok with my Mom about the seperate rooms the other night?

Cris: I didn't have a choice, but we've waited this long, I can't say she's wrong.

Jessica: I guess not.

Cris: Are you ok with it?

Jessica: Yeah, because we said we'd wait. It's just that I don't like her bossing me around about it.

Cris: Do you still want to get married?

Jessica: (Smiling, her dimples showing as always, her eyes bright. She turns to him and looks him in the eyes:) Yes!

Cris: You're 18 now, we could marry whenever we wanted to.

Jessica: (Resumes walking with him.) Well, I don't want to just rush into it. We have to make sure our families are ok with it. They may still think we're too young.

Cris: Do you think Roseanne will cause us problems about it?

Jessica: Probably.

Cris: Well, not to change the subject, but how is Nora?

Jessica: Aunt Nora seems to be ok, and my cousin Matthew is just thriving. Have you seen him in the last week?

Cris: No, I haven't seen him in a couple months. He must be getting big now.

Jessica: He's growing like a little weed, and he's so sweet I could just eat him up. The one I'm concerned about is Uncle Bo. He's not doing as well.

Cris: I guess we should drop by and see them more often.

Jessica: I was going to go to lunch with he and Rachel soon, actually. Maybe we could all go together?

Cris: I'd like that. Rachel and Tea are very close and I don't really know Rachel very well.

Jessica: (Grins at Cris:) Ok, then it's a date, then.

Cris: What do you see our life like once we're married?

Jessica: A place of our own, eventually our own house that we'd fix up just the way we want it to be.

Cris: Do you still want kids?

Jessica: Not right away.

Cris: How will we live?

Jessica: I'd work, I'd find a journalism job someplace, maybe at the family paper. If I worked at The Banner we could stay here.

Cris: What about Art School?

Jessica: Good point. I guess we'll just have to work that out.

Cris: I won't accept handouts from anyone.

Jessica: We might need financial help in the very beginning. I have some money, too --

Cris: We're not living off your inheritance!

Jessica: We may have to use some of it to make ends meet.

Cris: That's for later, for our kids.

Jessica: It's for us. This was set aside for me to use, I'm one of the kids someone else set this aside for. If I need to use it, I'll use it. Your artwork isn't going to make money for a long time, and until it does we'll need money to live and pay our bills. (They arrive at the door to Llanfair and sit near the door on a bench.) I can provide us a safety net.

Cris: I can't provide for you what you have here.

Jessica: No, and I'm not expecting you to. I'm not expecting to be able to buy my own version of my grandfather's house, this place (gesturing at Llanfair and the grounds). This took a very long time to accumulate and I haven't been around nearly long enough to put something like this together on my own. I don't expect this from you, from our life.

Cris: And you're ok with this?

Jessica: As long as I have you, I could live in a grass shack and not really care that it isn't here.

Cris: We may have to.

Jessica: I'm hoping we can afford a wooden one, with a grass roof at least. (She giggles at him. He smiles at her.)

[Scene ends.]

[Scene: PH2 MBR. A few minutes later, same evening.]

Todd: (Sets Tea on the bed carefully.)

Tea: (Settling down on the bed, laying back.) Talk to me?

Todd: We've been talking all night. You need your beauty rest.

Tea: So do you.

Todd: I'll be ok.

Tea: No, I want you to get some rest, too, or I won't be able to.

Todd: I think you will. I'll sit with you. I'll stay until you're asleep.

Tea: Could you hold me?

Todd: I'm not lying down with you, Delgado.

Tea: Ok. (Sits up and puts her arms out to him.)

Todd: (Balks a moment.)

Tea: Todd... (drops her arms.)

Todd: (Quietly:) What?

Tea: Why are you pulling away? You don't want to touch me?

Todd: What if I do?

Tea: I asked you to.

Todd: No, I mean... I mean more.

Tea: What if you do?

Todd: May-maybe I'm not ready, but I want to?

Tea: I'm glad you want to. It's good you're able to tell me what you want. I'm glad you're taking this as slowly as you need to.

Todd: I keep hearing you in the cabana that day.

Tea: Which day? We spent a lot of different days in that cabana.

Todd: (Irritably:) That damncabana...

Tea: Which time? Come sit?

Todd: (Sighs resignedly.) You'll make me sit so I may as well cut to the chase, right?

Tea: You could panic and leave, like you usually do.

Todd: I said I'd stay with you and help you get to sleep.

Tea: Then sit down next to me.

Todd: (Slowly sits, looking anxious.) When... when I threw you out so I could talk to Sam.

Tea: The day you were on the run and you found me in my bathing suit?

Todd: Yeah. I wanted to touch you then. I wanted to make love to you then, to hold you and tell you how much I love you and how much I wanted you back and how I wanted to turn back time. I wanted to tell you how much I desire you and-and-and... all that mushy stuff. All-all that love junk.

Tea: What stopped you?

Todd: That Bukey rookie cop.

Tea: What really stopped you? You said I betrayed you, and that betrayed you to Drew on the other side of the door.

Todd: You were leaving me.

Tea: Because you wouldn't touch me, and because you were also on the run after the garden shed and everything. I know what I said that day, I know. I felt it was all over between us, felt it had to be over or I wouldn't get through it. I know I wanted you, but I knew I couldn't have you.

Todd: (He looks away from her, at the floor.) Like now.

Tea: Not like now. I have you here, right here now. You carried me up those stairs and over the threshold of your room with such care. I know you love me very deeply, I know you don't really have the words for it, but I want you to keep trying to tell me and keep trying to show me. That's enough for me right now. We've made love, and I enjoy making love with you so much, but I also enjoy just being with you and being close like this.

Todd: Even when we fight?

Tea: Even then, you jerk.

Todd: See, 'cos I gotta tell you sometimes you're really scary, but I like that you're straight with me. You keep me straight with you. I like it when you get all in my face and call me on things. I-I kinda like it when you grab me by my clothes and yank me around the room screaming in my face, 'cos you know then I know how much you really do care. I mean, you're willing to do that, to get so close I can count all your teeth as you scream in my face but you don't let me go, you hold me close and scream the truth at me. You're not always right, but I listen to you 'cos I want to know what you have to say, 'cos you're smart and 'cos I know you'll be straight with me even if I don't wanna hear it. You're relentless.

Tea: You like that?

Todd: It's ok. I know you do it 'cos you care so much. You don't see me peeling you off me when you do it, right?

Tea: No. I do it because you're so damn frustrating. Sometimes a little manhandling is the only way to get through to you.

Todd: What can I tell you? I'm a sensitive guy.

Tea: As sensitive as a blind raging bull.

Todd: Hey...

Tea: It's true. Sometimes you have the sensitivity of a mack truck. I know it's usually just an act to keep people at bay, but sometimes you really just don't see anyone else when you do it and only later will it hit you that you just screwed up something you wanted very much.

Todd: You still want me here?

Tea: Yes. I always want you here. You may think things are better for all of us when you're away from us, but they're worse.

Todd: Still want me to do the hugging thing?

Tea: (Yawns, nodding, covering her mouth.) Yes.

Todd: Ok. (Looks in her eyes intently:) How do you want this?

Tea: (Puts her arms up again and wraps herself around him, her head on his shoulder.)

Todd: (He hugs her to him, putting his chin on her shoulder, as she does the same.) Better?

Tea: Much.

Todd: (He tightens his grip on her.) You gonna sleep now?

Tea: Maybe.

Todd: I'm only doing this so you'll sleep.

Tea: I'll try. It just feels so good to be this close I don't want to miss it.

Todd: (Closes his eyes and sighs deeply against her. He caresses her.) I'm not going anywhere for a while.

Tea: (Yawning:) Good.

Todd: (More quietly:) I'm right here.

Tea: (Snuggles her head closer against his shoulder and closes her eyes. Her breathing soon slows.)

Todd: (Notices her relaxing, strokes her back gently. He begins to rock them together gently.) Delgado, I promise I'll try never to hurt you. I know I promised you that before but this time I'm really working on it. I said once that it's so dark inside me, and it is, except when you and Shorty are around. I promise to try never to hurt either of you, just promise me you won't leave me. I won't leave you.

Tea: (Has fallen asleep, her body is limp in Todd's arms.)

Todd: (Lays her down carefully on the bed again, and climbs in next to her on the other side by crossing over her carefully. He lays down and pulls her to him, snuggling her against him so he can hold her close again with her head against his shoulder and his hand in her hair. He tries to close his eyes and rest but he can't, so he adjusts her more closely against him, kisses her hair, and stares at the ceiling in the dark.)

[Scene ends.]

[Scene: Morning, PH2 MBR.]

Tea: (Rolls over, away from a sleeping Todd and slowly begins to groggily wake and look around. She sees Todd asleep and smiles broadly. She strokes his face gently and watches the steady rise and fall of his chest as he sleeps. She settles back down against him and is about to close her eyes when the alarm clock sounds. She gets up enough to turn it off as he panics.)

Todd: (Sits bolt upright, in a panic and looks around for Tea.) God! Tea are you trying to kill me?

Tea: (Laughs lightly.) It's just my alarm. You can go back to sleep.

Todd: I wasn't sleeping. (Makes a face.) Blecch. I gotta go brush my teeth. Tastes like stale roadkill. (Goes into the MBR bathroom and can be heard brushing his teeth and so on.)

Tea: (Listens to his efforts, a soft smile on her face.)

Todd: (Returns.)

Tea: Come sit again.

Todd: Nope. I think I'm wired for sound now.

Tea: You were sound asleep?

Todd: I dunno. You tell me. Was I?

Tea: Do you remember what sound asleep feels like?

Todd: Death?

Tea: Oh...

Todd: (Rummaging around the room as he talks distractedly, collecting clothing out of drawers and the closet, grabbing a towel from a pile someone had folded.) Yeah. I lose time. I don't like that... I think I need a shower. (Tosses clothes onto bed, takes towel into bathroom and shuts the door.)

Tea: (Makes a face.) Ok... (Makes an "oh well, and??" kind of face at the bathroom door and leans back in bed to rest some more as the shower water starts up. She snuggles under the covers and falls asleep.)

[Scene ends.]

[Scene: Llanfair kitchen, same morning.]

Jessica: (Entering and approaching Viki:) Mom?

Viki: (Cooking at the stove.) Yes, Jessie?

Jessica: What would you say if Cris and I were to announce our Engagement soon?

Viki: (Turns to Jessie:) You're serious?

Jessie: Very. Look, Mom, we're not kids anymore. I'm 18 now and we could do anything we want now.

Viki: I'm well aware that my little girl has graduated High School and is now 18. You have no idea how that ages me.

Jessie: Yeah, well, we're serious.

Viki: Have you spoken to your father about this?

Jessie: Not yet, I wanted to talk with you first. He'll probably have a fit.

Viki: He might surprise you.

Jessie: He surprised me when he left us.

Viki: Well, he wanted to go, he felt it was time.

Jessie: I wish he hadn't. I kind of need my Dad right now.

Viki: Will Todd or your brothers do?

Jessie: I guess.

Viki: You miss him a lot, don't you?

Jessie: Yeah.

Viki: Tell him that when you talk to him.

Jessie: I guess he thinks we're better off without him or something, but if he thinks that he's wrong. We need our Dad. I think Joey misses him especially.

Viki: Is there something wrong?

Jessie: I don't know. He just says he misses Dad. I guess he misses being able to talk to him when he wants to. I know I do. I actually, don't laugh Mom, (giggling a little nervously) but I actually miss him singing "The Yellow Rose Of Texas" to me at night off-key.

Viki: Yep, you're your Daddy's little girl, alright.

Jessie: Yeah. I am. I guess I really am. I miss that.

[Scene ends.]

[Scene: Mill House, same morning.]

Kevin: (In the livingroom, calling up the stairwell:) Duke! C'mon, Dukey!

Duke: (Calls unseen:) I wish you wouldn't call me that!

Kevin: (Laughs to himself.) What should I call you, son?

Duke: (Shouting, angry, still unseen:) Just call me 'DUKE', Dad!

Kevin: (Smirks to himself.) Ok, I'll call you "Duke, Dad", then.

Duke: (Coming downstairs and appearing in the doorway.) Daaaaad!

Kevin: (Cackles to himself.) Yesss??

Duke: (Groans loudly.)

Kevin: (Laughs.)

Duke: (Very irritated.) Daaaaad!

Kevin: If I didn't love you so much would I play with you like this?

Duke: (Almost alarmed.) Daaaaad!

Kevin: I'm so glad to have you here, you know that? I do miss you when you're with your Mom.

Duke: You're really embarassing me, Dad.

Kevin: Wait until you hit your teens. Then I'll really embarass you.

Duke: You wouldn't...

Kevin: All parents do.

Duke: (Sarcastic:) Something to look forward to. Yay.

Kevin: (Laughs.) Ok, got everything?

Duke: Yeah.

Kevin: Ok, let's get you to camp. You'll see your cousins there.

Duke: Jess wants to pick me up after camp, can she?

Kevin: I'll check with her about it and if it's ok then she'll pick you up.

Duke: And if it's not?

Kevin: I'll embarass you.

Duke: SEND CASSIE! For God's sake, Dad.

Kevin: (Laughs.) I really enjoy harrassing you. Just to have you here to harrass at all is wonder and joy enough.

Duke: I'm glad you're enjoying this. Can we go?

Kevin: Yep. (Moves to the front door. Duke yanks it open and ends up waiting out on the front entryway outside, not very patiently. Kevin calls out:) Cassie, we're going now, I'll see you at The Banner in a little while!

Duke: (Rolls his eyes.)

Cassie: (Calls back:) Ok! Love you!

Duke: (Rolls his eyes again, shakes his head looking skyward, and sort of bounces and fidgets impatiently, then looking at Kevin he sticks his tongue out in disgust at the exchange. He makes an impatient face as soon as Kevin begins to turn towards him.)

Kevin: (Calls back:) Love you, too! (Goes through the door and closes it behind him.)

[Scene ends.]

[Scene: Kevin's car, moments later.]

Kevin: Ok, Duke.

Duke: What?

Kevin: Other than my harassing you, what's with the attitude?

Duke: What attitude?

Kevin: You know what attitude, honey.

Duke: Why are you so... so... sticky around me?

Kevin: I love you and I've missed you. Look, I don't know how to do this Dad stuff, ok?

Duke: Oh.

Kevin: No, I don't. I mean, I'm a big brother to two people but that's not the same as being responsible for your life and your happiness, safety, growth. I want to be able to be playful with you, like a real Dad. Sometimes it just goes to my head what I have in you and what I'm missing. I want to make it up to you is all.

Duke: Well, you can't.

Kevin: (A hurt look crosses his face. Swallows this.) They treat you ok at your Mom's?

Duke: I guess...

Kevin: Are you happy here so far?

Duke: I guess...

Kevin: Are you homesick?

Duke: I guess...

Kevin: Do you want to talk to me about what's bothering you?

Duke: I don't even know you, why should I tell you stuff?

Kevin: Because I'm you're Dad.

Duke: You're not my Dad, not my day-to-day Dad.

Kevin: No, I haven't been. I'm trying to be that now.

Duke: Can we just go to camp now?

Kevin: (Sighs.) Ok. But I'm not done with you about this, ok?

Duke: (Looks out of his car window, sullen.) Whatever...

Kevin: (Sigh, blowing the hair off his forehead as he starts the car up and they pull out.)

[Scene ends.]

TO BE CONTINUED