PREVIOUSLY

"Max, what am I going to do?"

"Nothing much for now. Just wait. And you need to stay out of Tea's face. The last thing you need are any more violent incidents they can use against you. But what we can do in the meanwhile is find out about this doctor in New York. Something doesn't seem quite right to me."

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Tea tosses and turns in bed, unable to get into a comfortable position. No matter what she tried, she couldn't get to sleep. She thought that once she came home from the hospital, she would be able to get some rest, but something was still wrong.

She finally gets out of the bed and grabs her robe, throwing it over her shoulders and not even bothering to tie it. She was tired, but also irritated because she couldn't get to sleep. She walks down the stairs, headed for the kitchen. Maybe a midnight snack was what she needed.

She stands in the kitchen with her head in the refrigerator, looking for a snack. She grabs several containers of leftovers before deciding that she just wanted a glass of water. On her way out of the kitchen, she runs into Todd, almost dropping the glass when he startled her.

"Oh, Todd. You scared me. What are you doing up?"

"You know I don't sleep, Delgado. What about you?" he asks with a look of serious concern. "You're supposed to be resting. You know what the doctor said. Until your next appointment, you're supposed to spend most of your time in the bed."

"I know what he said," she snaps at him. "I'm tired of that bed. I can't sleep in it," she complains with a little pout on her face.

"What are you talking about, Tea? You never had any trouble in that bed before. What's wrong with it now?"

"The bed's fine, I guess," she relents. "But I was having trouble sleeping before I went to the hospital. I think that night that Blair was here was the last good night's sleep that I had. And those times when you were right next to me in the hospital, I slept well too. I guess you're like my big old teddy bear," she says with a little laugh.

"Maybe I am," he says with a serious look on his face. "Come with me." He grabs her hand and pulls her up the stairs. They walk until they reach his bedroom.

"What are we doing in here Todd? This is your room."

"I know this is my room. But, this is the last place you had a decent night's sleep. And you have to get rest, Tea. So, we're going to try what we did that night and maybe you'll get to sleep."

"Are we going to try everything we did that night?" She asks with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

She remembers that night vividly. It was the first time they kissed. A sweet, simple kiss that surprised and scared them both, but at the same time was comforting. She thinks on to the next day, when they shared another kiss. This one less innocent than the first. She almost blushes when thinking about the unexpected display of passion from Todd. Apparently Todd is thinking about the same thing and she starts to laugh when she notices that his cheeks are turning red.

"Calm down, Todd," she says, still laughing. "I'm not going to try to seduce you or anything. Besides, I think it's really sweet that you'd offer your bed to me just so that I can sleep." She reaches up and turns his face so that she can kiss him on his cheek. She lets her lips linger for a moment on his face before turning to walk to the bed. Before she can get away, he grabs her arm and pulls her back to him.

They stare intently at each other for a few seconds before falling into a passionate kiss. He runs his hands through her thick hair and she glides her fingertips up his back. They move towards the bed and he gently falls back, allowing her to fall on top of him. Their lips never lose contact and their hands start to roam as they roll across the bed. He reaches down and feels the bulge at her midsection. He breaks the embrace for a second and looks at her. He kisses her belly and smiles. She smiles back at him and tangles his silky hair around her fingers. They both fall asleep happy and content in each others arms. There was no need to rush into anything. They were happy to take things slow.

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Blair wanders aimlessly around Max's house. She was so bored. He's been on that computer all day and hasn't paid any attention at all to her. Besides, she had her own problems that she needed him to help her with. Like what Todd was planning on doing next. She didn't know why he went to talk to the judge presiding over the custody case and it made her nervous.

"Max," she yells. "I'm bored. What have you been doing on that computer all day? I think we need to be focusing on me, and not your little cyberbuddies."

"If you just have to know, I am focusing on you. Or how I can help you," he says, finally looking up from the screen. "I've been doing a little research into that doctor listed on Tea's chart. Remember when I said I had a funny feeling about the whole thing? It seems that the doctor works in a clinic in New York City. A fertility clinic."

"Fertility clinic? So, Todd and Tea planned this pregnancy," Blair surmises.

"They more than planned it," Max interjects. "I hacked into the mainframe of the clinic and found out some interesting information. There weren't any names attached to the records, but I did find something that could match Todd and Tea. About 4 months ago, a wealthy couple from Pennsylvania goes to the clinic. It seems they were anxious to have a child and with the right about of money, they got one. This is where things get kind of odd. It wasn't just an invitro fertilization that most married couples go there for. They had an anonymous donor."

"So, assuming this couple that you're reading about is Todd and Tea, then the baby isn't Todd's. It belongs to some anonymous donor?"

"Oh, there's hardly any assumption necessary. Get this. The couple was very picky about the donor. They searched the database for hours until they came up with a donor with a specific traits and characteristics. They found a donor that matched Todd, from the blood type to the long brown hair. I'm pretty sure this couple is Todd and Tea." He looks over at Blair to see what she's thinking. But for the moment, her eyes are just wide in amazement.

"Tea was artificially inseminated. The baby isn't even Todd's. They haven't even slept together! Do you know that if word of this got out, then their case would literally fall apart, right before their eyes. I could have Starr by the end of the month," she exclaims.

"What do you plan on doing?" he asks, starting to worry about what she would do. "We don't really have any concrete proof, so we can't even go to the judge with this."

"I know we can't go to the judge with this, Max. The judge wouldn't even listen to this without having Todd and Tea present. And then, they would have time to prepare a bunch of lies and turn everything around to make it look like my fault. No, I have something much more effective in mind."

"What?" he asks, although he wasn't really sure he wanted to know. Blair had two kinds of ideas - the ones that backfired on her and the ones that were dangerously successful. This sounded like the latter. He actually started to feel sorry for Todd and Tea. Looking at Blair, he could tell that she had something malicious up her sleeves.

"We won't have to tell the judge anything. But what we can do is make sure the judge finds out about it anyway."

"And how are we going to do that?" Max is still dreading what she had planned.

"I was supposed to have a visit with Starr this weekend that got postponed. Because of Tea's little hospital stay, Todd's decided to take them on a trip. So, they're going to be out of town for the rest of this week. All I have to do is send the story to Charlie Briggs anonymously while Todd's away."

"It's just the sort of slimy garbage that the Sun looks for," Max interrupts. "The plan is brilliant Blair. I must admit," he says with an adoring smile. "But, there's no way Briggs will print the story if we put names in it. But, without the names, nobody will know that the story is about Todd and Tea."

"Give me a minute. I was just getting to that part of the plan," she says with an evil smirk. "Once the galleys are set and ready to go to print, we'll just sneak into the building one night and change a few things, making sure everywhere it says 'the wealthy Pennsylvania couple' we make it say 'Todd and Tea Manning'. By the time it's out to print, it'll be too late for anyone to do anything about it."

"And Todd won't have anyone to sue. Because it'll be his paper," Max muses. "Blair, your foul little mind never ceases to amaze me. When do you plan on doing this?"

"I say we try to do this by the end of the week. Let's give Todd a welcome home headline that he won't be able to miss."

TO BE CONTINUED...