MI AMADO - PART SEVEN

"now me broken by my master
Teach thee on child of love hereafter
Am I wrong?
Have I run too far to get home
Have I gone?
And left you here alone
If I would, could you?" Alice In Chains

-Next Morning - 9am-

Shuffling into the courtroom, Todd could feel the rooms collective eyes upon him. Refusing to hang his head in guilt, Todd held his head up defiantly. Walking towards Sam and his seat at the defense table, Todd looked out into the seats of the court room. All the Buchanan's sat behind the prosecution along with Kelly and Cassie. Half of Llanview seemed to be crushed into the seats following the Buchanan clan.
Viki and Jessica sat in the first two seats behind the defense table. Jessica seemed to sit up straighter in her seat as Todd approached. Glancing over at her Todd let a small, weak smile sneak across his face. Jessica smiled wearily back at him and then glanced over at her father as he sat beside Bo on the prosecutions side. Just behind Viki sat Carlotta and, to Todd's amazement, Mel. Todd looked over at Sam in bafflement but he only shrugged in response.
"Todd, I'm sorry I didn't get over to the jail this morning to brief you but I was running late-" Sam started to say but was distracted as the doors of the courtroom swung open quickly.
Blair seemed to burst into the room and then slowed as she saw that all eyes were turned in her direction.
"Leave it to Blair to make an entrance" Todd muttered as he looked back at his ex-wife
Adjusting her posture and flipping her hair over her shoulder, Blair looked over at the Buchanan clan who stared back at her evenly. Cassie scooted over on the bench to make room for Blair to sit down beside her and Kevin. Blair's gaze swung over to Todd who stood motionless in front of his chair, his body only slightly turned in her direction. Todd only glanced up at her with an almost fragile look.
Taking in a sharp breath of air, Blair looked awkwardly back at Todd and then at Sam. Not glancing back at the Buchanans, Blair moved swiftly to the front of the courtroom and jostled past Viki and Jessica to sit directly behind Sam.
"What is she doing?" Cassie said to Kevin in disgust.
"Going to sit with her own kind I suppose" Kevin snarled, sending a heated glare in the direction of the defense table.
"All rise, the honourable judge John T. Carlson presiding" the bailiff said before Todd could sit down. Shifting to look at the judge, Todd stood with his hands awkwardly in front of him. Todd and Sam watched as a short grey haired man walked out of the judges chambers and seated himself behind the bench.
"Be Seated" the judge said curtly and then nodded at Hank to begin.
"Your Honour, Defense Counsel and the DA's office have agreed upon suitable terms for Todd Manning's bail" Hank said quickly. Todd's head jerked up and he looked over at Sam with a confused look on his face.
"I thought you said that I probably wouldn't get bail" Todd said quietly to Sam.
"That's what I was trying to explain to you when you came in here. You'll get bail but-" Sam started to explain hurriedly but was cut off by the booming voice of Asa.
"What!? This is an outrage!" Asa bellowed as he leapt up from his seat. "Asa!" Renee said, standing and putting her hand on his back. "No! I won't have this psychopath tearing out of here just to torture MY family again! He's a maniac! He tried to kill me! Never mind what he did to poor Kevin!" Asa ranted.
Todd turned slightly and looked over his shoulder at Kevin who sat behind Asa. A ghost of a grin floated across Todd's face before Sam elbowed him.
"Don't" Sam said firmly in Todd's ear.
Looking straight ahead again, Todd continued to wear the smug look. "Ah, where's your sense of fun?" Todd remarked as Asa continued to yell at Hank and the judge.
"Enough! I will not have outbursts in my courtroom!" the judge said, banging his gavel repeatedly. When Renee was able to finally pull Asa back down into his chair and Hank continued.
"The DA's office is willing to release Todd Manning into the supervisory care of Sam Rappaport under the conditions that he wear an ankle detection bracelet and he should have no contact with Asa, Nora or Bo Buchanan" Hank said and then paused.
"Todd, there's something I gotta tell you about your conditions of bail" Sam said quickly.
"What?" Todd asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked over at Sam.
"It is also a provision of his bail that he should have no contact with prosecution witness, Tea Delgado-Manning" Hank said slowly as he looked over at Todd.
A silence flooded over the courtroom and Viki shook her head lightly in dismay. "What!?" Todd spat looking over at Sam and then at Hank.
"Todd, don't-" Sam started but Todd cut in.
"I'm not allowed to have contact with my own wife! " Todd shouted, leaping out of his seat and knocking his chair over in the process.
"Mr. Manning" The judge warned.
"They can't make her testify against me!" Todd bellowed jabbing a finger in Hank's direction.
"Mr. Manning!" the judge said more firmly.
"She's the prosecutions key witness and until she is able to tell us otherwise we will be expecting her to testify. The DA's office doesn't want the witness to be tainted by any undue influence from the defendant" Hank said as he glared over at Todd through the corner of his eye.
"Undue influence! She's my god damn wife!" Todd growled loudly as he seemed to start to twist up in his own anger.
"Mr. Manning!" the judge shouted again, this time banging his gavel.
"Boomer!" Sam said in a quiet firm voice as he reached out and grabbed Todd's sleeve. "You're gonna blow this" Sam said heatedly when Todd finally looked back at him.
Jerking his sleeve out of Sam's grip, Todd moved back to his chair, pulled it upright and angrily sat down.
"Just for that outburst alone I should deny your bail" the judge said as he leaned forward in his chair. Todd's jaw seemed to tighten and he avoided the judges stare. "But, if the DA's office thinks that you can be released on bail with these conditions I'm not going to deny it" the judge said, raising his head to look back at the whole courtroom. "Bail is set at $500,00o" the judge said clearly. "Court is adjurned" the judge added as the sound of his gavel echoed through the silent courtroom.
"How can they do this!? This is ludicrous!" Cassie stated, standing up slowly as people stared to file out of the courtroom.
"And you-" Kevin started to say, leering at Blair who stood gingerly in the aisle beside Carlotta and Jessica.
"How can you sit over there and support a man that held you and 14 other people hostage" Kevin said, stepping past Cassie and out into the aisle to face Blair.
Blair gave Kevin a half-questioning look and then turned to look at the whole Buchanan clan. "You know, you Buchanans are so self-righteous" Blair said antagonistically. "You'd love to see my little girls father strung up for getting the truth out of you people when nobody else could or would" Blair snapped, going into full confrontational mode. "And you seem to forget that it was one of your own that killed that Georgie Phillips girl and then let another of your own take the fall for it" Blair said, looking in Bo and Nora's direction.
" It was in self-defense Blair" Nora piped up.
"Oh" Blair scoffed, looking at them in mock surprise. "And what Todd did wasn't?
When you-" Blair started to say, looking directly at Asa, "tried to pin Georgie's murder on Todd and he did what he did to protect himself, is that not self-defense?" Blair snapped glaring at Asa and then back at Nora and Bo.
"Come on, Blair" Sam said, moving up behind her and putting his hand on her back.
"What it was, was hostage taking-" Nora started to say but was cut off when Todd pushed past her.
"Why are you trying to talk sense to these people?" Todd asked as he slowly walked in front of Sam. "They're senseless" he added, glaring over at Kevin.
"You're not going to get away with this Todd. Just because you managed to wrangle bail for yourself doesn't mean that you're not going to end up in Statesville" Kevin said, as Todd moved around him. "And when I get back from Chicago, I'm going to splash your face all across the front page of The Banner" Kevin said, turning to watch Todd leave. "It'll say: 'NewsFlash: True Tidbits from Terrible Todd's childhood Terrorism" Kevin said with a laugh as he mocked The Sun's headline format.
"Hey, I got a newsflash for yah Kevie" Todd said, stopping and turning back to look at Kevin and Cassie.
"Its in Limerick form, so pay attention" Todd said clearing his throat and straightening his posture
"There once was a nurse named Barbara, who let Kevie stick his little thing were he oughtn't " Todd said motioning to Kevin's pants " His Fiancee was a whiner so he made Bebe swear to be silent...Until terrible Todd caught them and then spilled the whole enchilada" Todd said as tiny grin pulled at his mouth. " Ok, well, it doesn't really rhyme but I think you get the point" Todd said as a mocking grin drifted across his face.
As he turned and walked out of the courtroom, Todd saw Cassie's jaw drop. Smirking to himself, Todd strolled out of the courtroom.
"What is he talking about Kevin?" Cassie said in a shaky voice as she turned to look at Kevin.
Kevin's mouth worked but no sound came out. "He-he's not-" Kevin sputtered.
"Oh, how the mighty have fallen" Blair breathed as she moved by Kevin with Sam following close behind.
Moving along behind Sam, Viki gave Kevin a solemn look as her cell phone went off.
"Hello?" Viki said with a sigh as she moved over towards Sam and Blair.
"How did you get Hank and the DA's office to agree to any bail at all? Last time I checked Todd was on on there most wanted felons list" Blair said, jerking her thumb at her ex who stood with his hands shoved in his pockets awkwardly.
Todd scratched his head and started to walk over to the coffee vending machine.
"I pulled some strings over that the DA's office, called in some favours that put pressure on Hank to work with me on a bail agreement" Sam said as he watched Viki approach. A look of confusion and bewilderment seemed to form across her face as she pressed her cell phone to her ear.
"What?" Sam asked, suddenly concerned as he watched Viki lower the phone from her ear.
"That was the hospital" Viki said slowly.
"They said they tried to get through to you on your cell phone but got no response" she added, dropping her phone back into her purse
."So what's going on? Is Téa okay?" Sam asked and then turned around suddenly to look for Todd.
"Todd, did you hear-" Sam started to say but saw that the lobby of the courtroom was empty except for him, Blair and Viki.
"Todd?" Sam asked as he looked around before turning to Blair.
"Where'd he go?" Sam asked.
"He was over by the coffee machine a minute ago" Blair said with a shrug.
Sighing, Sam turned back to Viki. "What did the hospital say?" he asked.
Viki paused for a moment after clearing her throat. "Téa's awake" Viki answered in a soft tone.
"What? That's great news!" Sam said, taking a step back. "I have to go find Todd and tell him" he added as he picked his briefcase up.
"Yes, you had better" Viki answered with a nod. "Considering the nurse has asked me to come down there" Viki said, looking at Blair and then back to Sam.
"Why?" Sam asked with a shake of his head.
"It seems that Téa has awoken a little distraught. The nurse said that Téa is demanding to speak to Todd. She is even refusing to see her own brother, who's here by the way, until she gets to see Todd" Viki explained.
"What's wrong with her?" Blair asked in her usual unsubtle manner.
"I think that she may still suffering from shock from the accident. It's possible that she just needs to see his face just to know that he's still breathing" Viki clarified. "Or-" Viki started, "Maybe she wants to tear a strip off him for the whole lodge incident" Sam jumped in, completing Viki's thought.
"It's possible but I'd put my bets on the former" Viki said with a small smile.
"But you heard what the judge said, Todd can't go anywhere near her or he violates his bail agreement" Sam remarked.
"Sam, since when has anything as trivial as the law stopped Todd from doing exactly what he wants to do?" Blair asked, putting her hand on Sam's arm and giving him a questioning look.

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Todd pressed his back against the lime green hospital corridor as he watched a nurse walk by in the adjoining hallway. Oblivious to his presence, she flipped through her medical chart as she walked down the hall. Peeking around the corner, Todd watched as the nurse faded out of sight. Todd carefully scanned the hallway for anymore hospital personnel. Glimpsing around the corner Todd could clearly see Téa's 4th floor hospital room door just across the hall. Stepping slowly into the corridor, he effortlessly moved across the hall and pushed through Téa's hospital room door.
The curtains of the room were open and light seemed to wash over the room making everything look as if it were in a whitish tint. Todd walked slowly toward the blue hospital curtain that divided Téa's bed area from the rest of the room. Tentatively pulling his fingers around the edge of the curtain, Todd tried to prepare himself to see Téa's battered figure again. His stomach turned at the thought of the ventilator tube that had been sticking out of her mouth the last time he had seen her. Taking a jagged breath he pulled back the curtain quickly. The bed lay empty before him. In the whitewash of the room it looked to have been stripped of all its sheets; new linens sat folded in the middle of it.
Reeling around, Todd's mind raced as he rushed out into the hallway. In his own panic, Todd disregarded the idea of keeping his presence in the hospital a secret.
"Hey!" he said, grabbing a candystriper as she was walking by him with a cart full of patient lunches
She looked up at Todd's distraught and nearly angry features first with questioning and then with mild alarm.
"Where's my wife?" Todd spat at the confused candystriper. "Téa Delgado-Manning" Todd added, motioning back to the room he had just come out of. "She's supposed to be in his room" Todd growled at the bewildered candystriper.
She looked back at Todd baffled and shook her head. "I have no-" she started to say but stopped as another nurse approached.
"What's the problem here?" the nurse asked, glancing at Todd's hand that was still clutched around the candystripers forearm. Realizing that he was still holding onto the girl, Todd dropped his hand and looked at the nurse impatiently.
"M-my wife, last time I was here she was in that room and now there is nobody in that room" Todd stammered, getting progressively annoyed with the lack of answers he was getting.
"Oh" the nurse said clumsily, looking at the candystriper out of the corner of her eye.
"What?" Todd barked as he could sense the tension grow between the two women.
The nurse shook her head slowly. "Someone should have called you" she said.
"Why?" Todd thundered as he felt the panic start to twist him up inside.
"I-I'm gonna go get Mrs. Manning's doctor" the nurse said starting to back down the hallway.
"No! You tell me what's going on right now!" Todd growled, suddenly snapping under the weight of his hysteria.
"Its proper procedure that a doctor come and-" the nurse started to say but Todd cut in.
"No, no, she's not-" Todd started to say but then suddenly turned, grabbing the lunch cart, he flipped it on its side in the storm of his own rage.
"Hey!" the nurse nearly shouted as Todd careened around in her direction again. Todd looked at the nurse's perplexed and fearful expression. Feeling the breath start to catch in his throat, Todd grabbed at his hair and stared in heated absence at the floor.
"I gotta get out of here" Todd muttered, his feelings tearing at his insides. "I gotta get out of here" he said again, this time turning and moving like a hurricane down the hall.
The candystriper turned to the nurse in amazement. "Nurse Jenson, I think he thinks that she's dead" she said, looking down at her upturned cart. "Why didn't you just tell him that she was moved out of ICU?" the candystriper asked, shaking her head.
"The hospital has been informed that he is not to see her" the nurse said with a sigh. "I'm supposed to call hospital security if he shows up, which is what I was going to do when I told him I had to go get her doctor" the nurse explained as she watched the candystriper hunch down to begin cleaning up the mess made by Todd.
"Which is what I'm going to do right now" the nurse said, glancing at the candystriper.
"I'll call that janitor to come and help you" she added before turning on her heel and heading down the hall towards the nurses' station.

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Téa sat sombrely in a wheelchair waiting for one of the nurses to come and help her into her new hospital bed. Feeling as if she had been trapped in a haze since she had awoken the night before, Téa shifted uncomfortably.
Everything seemed colorless and empty to her, even as she looked around at all the cards and flowers she had received. One bouquet in particular stood out from the rest; peach roses that stood on the nightstand right beside her bed. The hospital staff said that they must have lost the card somehow in the shuffle between rooms but Téa already knew that there was never one.
"Hey" a voice said from behind and Téa's head twisted around quickly in anticipation of Todd's appearance.
Téa's brother, Del, walked through the doorway holding a small bouquet of flowers in his hands.
"Hey" Téa responded coolly.
"They told me that you didn't want any visitors, including me, which right away I knew couldn't be true. So I snuck by hospital security to bring you these" Del said, cracking a smile as he held the flowers out to Téa.
"I didn't want to see anybody" Téa muttered, turning her head away from Del. "But thank you for the flowers" she added, staring off into space.
Del gave Téa a worried look and turned to try and make space for the flowers he had bought her on the nightstand.
"No!" Tea gasped as she saw Del try to move the peach roses. "Uumm, just put them over there" she added, calming her voice as she motioned to Del's flowers and then to the other side of the nightstand.
"What's wrong chiquita?" Del asked.
Téa swallowed heavily and then held her hand up. "Help me into bed" she said, pulling her head up but still not looking at Del. Taking her hand, Del helped Téa to her feet slowly. Wincing only slightly, Téa was forced put some weight on her battered bones in order to manoeuvre herself into the bed.
"You're doing a lot better than I thought you would chiquita" Del said as he helped her sit on the bed. "There was sometime there when we didn't expect you to make it" Del continued as Téa shrugged out of his grasp.
"Yeah" Téa said stiffly. "I've been thrown out a second story window, you should have known better than to think that a little car accident would put me out of commission" Téa added almost stoically.
"It wasn't just a little car accident" Del expressed, stepping back as Téa pulled the sheets back on her bed and crawled underneath them.
"I don't want to talk about that Del" Téa replied, rolling over on her side so she didn't have to face him.
"I've heard a lot of rumours" Del proceeded, brushing the top of Téa's covers with his fingertips as he walked around to the opposite side of the bed.
Téa groaned and turned on her back to stare up at the ceiling.
"Like your husband tried to off you to save his own bacon" Del continued, leaning forward into her gaze.
"There just that Del, rumours and pure speculation" she said finally, looking him squarely in the eye.
"You sound like a lawyer Téa" Del said with a shake of his head.
"I am a lawyer" Téa shot back, obviously getting annoyed.
"Yes, but you sound like a lawyer defending her client and not a like a wife defending her husband" Del stated sitting down beside her on the bed.
"I was there Del!" Téa nearly shouted, her frustration getting the better of her. "I know exactly what happened" she stated, calming her voice slightly as she realized how loud she had become.
"OK, OK, I'm not going to get you all riled up," Del said, putting his hands up in the air in mock surrender.
"I'm not riled up, I am simply stating the facts" Téa said firmly.
"I haven't heard any cold hard facts as of yet Tea. All I've heard so far are defensive remarks" Del answered as Téa gave him a fiery glance. When Téa responded by rolling over onto her other side, Del got to his feet once again.
"What is it with you and this guy anyway?" Del asked, walking towards the foot of her bed. "He's mean, he's cruel, he's vengeful" Del started. "Not to mention rude and arrogant. He has no respect for you or anybody else for that matter" he added. Téa felt tears start to sting her eyes as she listened to her brother revile Todd.
"Who are you to judge, eh?" Téa said, reaching over to her nightstand and tearing a Kleenex from the box.
Téa swore at herself inwardly for the constant flux of emotions she seemed to be having since she awoke the night before. The nurses had explained it away as her post-traumatic stress but the shifting moods never ceased to annoy her.
"I'm your brother, that's who" Del declared, a hint of anger spiking in his voice.
"Well, brother" Téa said, sniffing and pulling herself into a sitting position. "You don't know anything about Todd, or me and Todd for that matter" Téa said, sniffing back more tears.
"Téa" Del said, laying his hand on her arm in an attempt to comfort her. "I don't mean to upset you but how many more times am I going to have to come down here to hold vigil by your bedside because you've been hurt or injured by, or because of, your husband" Del explained.
"Its funny you should say that" Téa remarked, shaking the hand she clutched her Kleenex with at Del. " I don't remember you being here the last time I was at 'deaths door'" Téa said, making quotation marks with her fingers.
Silence fell between them as Del got up and fenced around her bedside.
"You weren't here, but you know who was?" Téa said, blotting her eyes as new tears started to form. "My mean, cruel, vengeful husband, Todd" Téa said, looking Del straight in the eye. "He was the only one that sat by my bedside when I got thrown out that window. I know because when I was unconscious-" Téa started to say but then stopped and closed her eyes. The recollection of the sound of Todd's voice flooded through her, almost bringing a smile to her face. It felt like it had been ages since she had heard the tone of his voice or seen sharpness of his cheekbones or felt her fingers in his hair. "I could hear his voice, it was like an echo but I could hear it" Téa said, seeming to get caught up in the memory of Todd's voice spiralling in her mind. Téa squeezed her eyes shut in remembrance of the words that he said to her the night Blair had pushed her out the palace window.
"I need you.... your mind...your ideas, your advice"
Swallowing heavily, Téa opened her eyes once again. "He was the only one" Téa reaffirmed, looking down at the sheets as Del stood with his arms crossed over his chest at the foot of her bed. "Where were you and Jose when I needed you, eh?" Téa asked furiously, trying desperately to hold back more tears. Del started to open his mouth to answer but Téa motioned for him to be silent. "Don't!" she said. "I don't want to hear it" Téa added as she slouched in her bed once again.
Rolling over onto her side once more, she felt herself become swallowed up by her memories of Todd and Starr. Laying there silently, Téa listened as Del sighed and quietly walked out of the room. With the impression of Todd's voice embedded firmly in her mind, Téa slowly shut her eyes. Oddly familiar words resonated between her ears as she drifted off to sleep.
. "And you gave me...this feeling"

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Invading the downstairs lobby of the hospital, Todd blindly and haphazardly bumped and careened through the swarms of people milling around. "Ouch! Watch it!" one women shouted as Todd nearly knocked her over. Ignoring her cry, Todd continued to rampage toward the glass front doors. His stomach twisted up in knots as Téa's final words to him fluttered through his mind.
"Look! I have big bruises on my arms from where you grabbed me!"
As he walked, the whole room seemed to tilt out of balance. The dizziness that had plagued him since the night of the car accident hit him once more causing Todd to stumble slightly. Regaining his balance,Todd refocused on getting out of the hospital before the image of Téa pulled out the seam in his quickly eroding emotions. As he advanced to the glass doors, Todd saw a familiar figure approach rapidly. Recognising Kevin's short build, Todd hastily redirected himself toward the nearest place of hiding. Stepping behind the corner towards the hospital bathrooms, Todd watched as Kevin and Barbara Graham came walking through the glass doors. Stopping suddenly, Kevin began to rifle through his pockets as Barbara walked directly towards Todd. Pulling back further out of sight, Todd could barely see Barbara picking up the receiver of the pay phone that stood just around the corner from him.
"Got it" Kevin muttered as he moved over toward Barbara and took the phone from her hand.
As Kevin punched in the numbers, Todd carefully manoeuvred to a better position to listen.
"Hi" Kevin said into the receiver as he glanced up at Barbara who instantly smiled in his direction. Ignoring her, Kevin leaned back against the wall. "American Airlines?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah, I wanted to confirm my reservation for the two o'clock flight to Chicago" Kevin said stiffly. "Uh..Kevin Buchanan" he added, crumpling up the piece of paper in his hand.
"Great, thanks" Kevin finished and then hung up the phone.
"Got this written down" Kevin asked Barbara as he gestured to the crippled piece of paper.
"Yeah, its in my address book" he answered quickly. "OK, you go say good-bye to David and I'm gonna go see if I can find my mother. She's supposed to be checking on Téa or something" Kevin said as he tossed the paper towards the garbage and then walked off before Barbara could answer.
"Oh..ok" Barbara said awkwardly and then took off towards the elevator.
Todd peeked out from behind the corner slowly, making sure the coast was clear. Seeing that Kevin and Barbara were out of eye shot, Todd quickly swooped down and grabbed the crumpled piece of paper off the chipped marble floor. Unfolding it rapidly and reading the contents, Todd felt his jaw tighten as a familiar street address greeted him on the surface of the paper.

4840 N Marine Drive
Chicago, IL 60640

Mi Amado 7b