IMPOSTER - PART SIXTEEN

PREVIOUSLY
"My God, Tea, what have you done to me?" His long hair fell forward against her shoulders and several tears slid slowly down his face and across his scar as his entire body shook against her. She held onto him and pressed her body into his large frame, whispering soft, comforting words in Spanish while caressing his silky hair. She knew instinctively that he was finally releasing the unfathomable well of hurt stored away inside of him. It's time, my love. You've been lonely for so long. Let it go!

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He buried his head in her shoulder as he had done the day he had first touched her lips with his. Nothing in his life had prepared him for the raw release of pain, which overtook him at this moment. He hadn't really known just how deep his internal scars were because he had chosen to cover them up with his swaggering attitude of indifference. That she should see him like this in his naked emotion was almost more than he could bear, but he couldn't seem to back away from her this time. She was touching him, but the old wounds weren't open and gaping as they had been before. Her lilting voice speaking soothingly to him had an effect similar to small drops of cool water over burning flesh. His eyes squeezed shut as he let the sensation of something so good pass over him.
The world outside of the car had faded into a misty background for both of them. There were no interruptions or distractions to separate them or cause any turmoil between them. For once, they were holding on to each other and not letting go.

"Well, now what?" Sam Rappaport groaned as Viki's car continued to travel down the road searching for the missing Lamborghini. It was obvious that the Lamborghini was long gone, and Viki pursed her lips in another determined look as she pulled the Continental off to the side of the main road.
"It's time to call in Sykes, Viki," Sam said finally as Viki sat silently and pondered her next move.
"Sykes, Smykes! That man irritates me! We don't know yet if it's Pete or Todd in that car and whether or not he even has Tea with him!"
Sam's face went another shade of ashy white as he listened to her. "Viki! I didn't even think! What if Pete did something to her and left her there...at the cabin?"
Viki shook her head sagely and said, "Actually, I really think she's with him, Sam, but we can go back and check the cabin. I just wish I knew who was with her now! If Todd would only contact me...wait...the car phone!" She paused and looked directly at him with bright, excited eyes. "Do we dare risk it, Sam?"
Sam brushed his hands nervously over his curly white-blonde hair and looked apprehensively at the woman who loved Todd like a son. "If it's Pete in there with her, it could make him even more violent. I don't know, Viki...I just don't know."

John Sykes looked at his Rolex watch with eyes smoldering with a mixture of disgust and frustration. There had been no word on Manning and his wife, and he hated the fact that he was having to deal once again with Llanview's most infamous citizen. I should have done anything I could to keep that maniac under lock and key! This is all I need to have a man with psychotic tendencies loose on the community! If I ever find that bastard, he's going to wish he never crossed the line in my jurisdiction!
A call came into his office over the intercom. "Commissioner Sykes? Marshall Howard here. We're over at Viki Carpenter's home as you requested. There's been no sign of Manning, but I have to tell you...Mrs. Carpenter is not at home."
Sykes expression changed to a more sour one as he finished with the call from one of his detectives who was staking out Llanfair in case Todd Manning should show up there. So Viki Carpenter isn't at home. Viki Carpenter -- the loyal sister of Todd Manning! She had volunteered almost no information on the supposed whereabouts of her brother and yet she was now missing. There was another person that he was interested in questioning again, too -- someone who would also be very protective of his client -- Sam Rappaport.

With his body crushing into hers, Tea's graceful hands continued to smooth out his hair. This feel so good, querido! I can feel your heart beating against mine. Where are you now? Are you far away or are you coming back to me? I wish I could take it all away -- every lousy thing anyone ever did to you.
The warmth of her body radiated against his flesh, and his mind seemed to flip back and forth from the supreme pleasure of her next to him and what was happening inside him. A little boy's voice kept echoing in his head, and with a shock of insight, he realized it was his own. It was a voice filled with happiness and youthful exuberance -- one that he hadn't heard in years. "I'm going to build my own world some day and everyone will be happy in it." He remembered those words now because he was finally remembering back to a time shrouded by other horrible memories -- a time before Peter Manning had begun a pattern of abuse against an innocent child. A face floated in his memory, and he saw his own young, innocent face with all his childish hopes and dreams reflected there.
"Todd!" her voice seemed to be calling to him from within a mist of past images moving through his consciousness -- hazy, blurred forms of people who had been pivotal in his life. He recognized her voice right away as the one, real solace in his memory. It had been his only link back to the time when he was trusting and unscathed by the cold, harsh reality of his existence. "Mommy!" his young voice called out to the pure, sweet voice speaking his name with love and affection. This sudden break back into his innocent childhood flooded his emotions, and he sensed something powerful was about to hit him. This memory had been the only, small piece of security he had ever really had in his life and he had clung to it fiercely as a hidden place in his mind where he could be safe -- with her.
Tea held onto him quietly as she felt him move away from her in his thoughts to somewhere else. I'll wait for you to come back to me, Todd. This is your private sanctum where you've gone before. Maybe someday you'll share this with me as you shared your hellish boyhood that night in your room. The first steps of your new life will be difficult, but I'm not going anywhere, and I'll help you begin again.
Todd's mind seemed to ricochet off the swirl of other images that bombarded his thoughts, but these other segments of his life began to fade and lose their hold on him. Their presence in his memory began to weaken and recede, and another presence moved forward pushing out the others. It was a new, beautiful presence that he longed to be with him and part of him forever -- his wife, Tea.
His eyes slowly opened and his mouth parted as the world around him and the person holding him materialized once again. A surge of complete peace and contentment shot through him, and he lifted his head to look at the woman who had unlocked the door to the lonely, dark dungeon he had placed himself in . Every bastion he had built around his heart began crumbling and collapsed -- freeing him at last from the walls of resistance so carefully constructed against her onslaught of love for him. Nothing was holding him back and no force could stop the barrage of feelings that were starting to pour out of him.
Tea's heart leaped within her as she saw the lost soul of the man she had sacrificed her entire life for emerge from somewhere deep within him. She gasped out loud as his eyes met hers -- blazing with a new awareness and an unrestrained passion that would not be extinguished. Her gasp was silenced by his lips, which took hers into his without any hesitation, and a desire that has been unleashed at last. His mouth opened fully to cover hers in a kiss she would always remember -- a full, rich, passionate one tinged with mystery and the unknown. Her body went limp against him as the magnitude of the force of his need for her overpowered her and weakened any resolve she had left in her body.
"Tea..Tea....Tea!"he uttered her name repeatedly under his ragged breath as the current of his passion swept over him and washed him under wave after wave of urgent feeling. His lips sought out every curve of her mouth and her soft, round cheeks and drove headlong down her white throat -- lingering at the hollow of her neck. From somewhere in his consciousness, he realized that he was taking control of her and he needed to wait for an answer to an unspoken question.
Nothing had prepared Tea for what she was feeling at this moment. All her wishes and dreams for them suddenly burst free in her mind, and she finally saw the future she had been trying to find in all the darkness surrounding him. What she had been seeking her entire life was a haven for her aching need for security and protection. She had tried to bulldoze him into unthawing his frozen heart and revealing his hidden feelings for her. All the frustration and anger with his tortured, reclusive soul had incited her to fight him and doubt him, but it was her long journey into his darkness that had finally strengthened her enough to deal with this tragic man. Even her own experience with Pete had been a way to know him, as no one else had ever been able to. Pete had controlled the events in his life that were seeking to destroy him, but the alter had gone too far and created a more damaging world for Todd than he could ever imagine.
Nothing is lost, Todd. Everything is for a reason. I know that now. I see why we had to be separated from each other, but that's over now.
His face moved up an inch from hers with extreme effort and his eyes searched the doe-like eyes on the beautiful, flushed face of his wife. I want you to decide, Tea. This is for you...and us...but I don't want you to have any doubt in your mind.
She knew what he was thinking when she saw the unspoken question in his eyes. There was no longer any facade to break through with him. Every silent movement of his face was communicating to her the depth of his love, and she had only one answer for him. Her slender fingers combed through his lustrous, falling strands of hair and angled back toward his neck as she forcefully pulled his face and lips toward hers -- letting him know that she assented to everything that he wanted with a heated fervor that matched his own.

Viki Carpenter's steely, gray-blue eyes gazed out into the tranquility of the surrounding rural countryside. What do I do? Do I leave you to your own devices as I have in the past? I know this is your life, but there's another life at stake here. I believe that you've conquered him, Todd...I feel that in my soul. But I can't desert you...or her. I know how very much she means to you, and I will do everything to keep her safe for you.
Sam bit his lower lip as he saw Viki pick up the car phone and dial the number. This is her decision. She's his sister and somehow she knows him better than any of us. I've got to let her do this. Dear Lord, I hope it's going to be all right. It has to be!

The car phone in the Lamborghini rang insistently against the hollow stillness of its luxurious interior -- an interior that no longer had any occupants.

~ TO BE CONTINUED ~ ~