THE CONTRACT - PART SIX

PREVIOUSLY

"So, you're in there, little baby," she starts. "I'm your mommy. And that guy who was just here is going to be your daddy. And he's going to be a great one. I can tell that he cares already. Despite what he thinks he wants, he's starting to care about us." She leans her head back and smiles. This is going to be the beginning of an interesting journey. A journey she never expected to take with a man like Todd. Nevertheless, she was ready for the adventure. Who knows where the road is going to take them, but she had a feeling it's going to be someplace wonderful.

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Todd sits in his big chair listening to Briggs give his presentation of new story ideas for the Sun. At least, he was trying to listen. His lunch seemed to have his attention at the moment. Briggs stopped mid speech when he noticed Todd's sudden fascination with his shrimp fried rice.

"Hey Briggs. Do you know what this is?" Todd asks, holding up a grain of rice.

"It looks like your lunch, Boss," Briggs answers the obvious question with a confused look on his face. He wasn't sure if Todd meant it as a trick question or if he was serious. "Some rice must have spilled from your chinese food. I can have maintenance up here in two minutes to clean it up for you."

"Don't get all hyper, Briggs. I know it's rice. But that's not what I was talking about." Todd holds the grain of rice up again. "It's so tiny. Hard to believe it even exists."

"You're confusing me now, Mr. Manning. What is that rice supposed to be?"

"Did you know that this is the size of a baby six weeks after conception. Just a little something I just read. I thought it was interesting," he says quickly after Briggs gives him a strange look. Nobody was supposed to know about the baby yet, Tea's orders.

"Well, if that'll be all, I'm going to get these galleys down to the production team," Briggs says after shaking his head. Sometimes he didn't know what to think of Todd Manning. This was one of those days he didn't even feel like trying. "I just needed your final approval."

Briggs walks out the door without Todd even noticing. The rice still had his total attention. But after awhile, Todd starts to feel as if someone's still in the room with him. He looks towards the door and sees Tea standing there.

"So, this is where you've been hiding out for the past month and a half," she says when she sees that she finally has his attention.

"I haven't been hiding. There's just been a lot of work to do around here." He stares at her for a few seconds, suddenly realizing how much he'd missed seeing her. That thought embarrasses him, and he looks away, trying to catch his breath. He wasn't sure whether his shortness of breath was due to her sudden appearance giving him a bit of a fright, or another reason. He didn't know how to explain his heart skipping a beat whenever she walked into a room anymore. He didn't want to explain it, much less think about it. She was right. He had been running. He just didn't know from what.

"So, how have you been," he says when his mind can once again formulate coherent sentences. "I hear that the first few weeks of pregnancy can be kind of rough. Nausea. Frequent urination. Sore bre- Well, you get my drift," he says, embarrassed again at almost having mentioned her 'breasts'.

"Todd? What in the world have you been reading? It sounds like you got that sentence right out of a textbook. Nausea? Frequent urination?" She looks at him with an amused grin and laughs a little when he pulls out a stack of baby and pregnancy books from his desk drawer.

"But I'll tell you one thing. Those books make it seem so simple. A little morning sickness here. A few more trips to the bathroom a day. But there's more to it than that. Believe me," she says.

"Oh, I believe you," he says with a chuckle. "I haven't been gone THAT much. You do a lot of puking, Delgado." He looks at her, realizing what he just said and gets suddenly concerned. "You sure you're okay, though?"

"I'm fine, Todd. Everything is as it should be. Thanks for asking," she says, smiling at him. "You know, Todd," she continues, "It's alright that you're concerned about me. I know it's hard for you to accept the fact that you're human. And humans occassionally have feelings for each other. We're friends now, remember? And friends care about each other."

"But Tea, you really don't know me. I really don't know me, so how can you know me? You don't know what I'm capable of."

"I know that you're really trying. I can see it in the way you try to protect me and take care of me."

"What do you mean, Delgado? I haven't been around much in the past month."

"You haven't been around? Or you haven't let me see you be around? Don't think I haven't noticed the little things you've done, Todd. Like leaving a wastebasket by my bed just in case I get sick during the night. That's very thoughtful of you."

"We can't have you puking all over the place, now can we," he says wryly, but with a hint of underlying softness in his voice.

"And you know what else I can see? I can see that you do these things for me, but you don't want me to know that you're doing them for me. You don't want me to know that you want to take care of me. You get scared, and then you push me away."

"You can see all that, huh? Pretty perceptive of you, Delgado. But if you can see all of that, then you should be able to see that I'm a rotten person. And I'm bound to hurt you one day. I push you away so that I won't do that. Tea, the last thing I want to do is hurt you."

"Todd, the more you try to push me away, the more you're going to hurt me in the long run. But let's not even think of the long run. Let's just take things one day at a time. Deal?" She holds her hand out, waiting on him to shake it.

He looks at her for a minute. Deep into her eyes and notices that there's no fear. Her eyes danced with nothing but joy, hope, and the possibility of all that the future appears to hold. He decides to follow her courageous lead and takes her hand. "Deal. One day at a time."

TO BE CONTINUED