ONLY YOU - MEANT TO BE

PREVIOUSLY

He didn’t say anything, just stared off in the direction Tea had just disappeared to. No, that didn’t go very well, he thought, numb. "I’ll come see you tomorrow, Starr," he said quietly. Then he too was gone.

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Listen here:
Some things are meant to be...
- Katharine Whalen, of SNZ, "Meant To Be"

Matthew Eagan sat in court and watched his life being ripped to shreds. The prosecution’s case had dragged on for some time, and now was the *really* fun part. They had gone through the physical evidence from the scene; now they were dissecting his personal life, showing what a terrible person he was, looking for a motive. It’s surprising how many people are willing to turn on you if the circumstances are right. Friends who had described him glowingly to the press in better times, now painted him as a villian. Matt was learning that friendships formed among chasers of notoriety are more in convenience than loyalty - they’d pick the spotlight over you any day. Enjoy your brief fame, my friends. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. He was especially hurt by the words of his long-time friend and partner Evan, who had come to LA with him. They had not parted on the best of terms, but still, with all of their history Matt had not expected such a bitter betrayal. Which made it particularly satisfying when Tea ripped his guts out on the stand.

"So, Mr. Reynolds, you’re saying that the defendant, Mr. Eagan, while in your acquaintance was secretive, nervous, and untrustworthy, is that accurate?" Tea said casually to the witness, smiling knowingly. He indicated that this was so. "Well then, I’m just a little bit confused.. Could you help me clear this up? You see, it says right here in this interview you gave to the LA Times 2 years ago, that Mr. Matthew Eagan, the same defendant, is the most straightforward and open person you’ve ever met.. Well that doesn’t sound like what you just said at all.. Could you explain that to me?" He squirmed a little, and tried to explain that sometimes when talking to the press, one tends to stretch things one way or another, to fit the story. "In other words," she broke in, "you were lying." "Yes- I mean, no. I mean.. Perhaps, in a way, you could say that." "But you’re not lying now." "No." "Alright Mr. Reynolds, we’ll just forget all about that quote - there’s something else I’m a little confused about.." She then brought out all of the little ‘favors’ that Evan had wheedled out of Matt while they had lived together. Including the time he had entrusted Matt with his latest manuscript and asked him to get it to an editor while he was out of the state. "For someone who was so very untrustworthy, you depended on him for a lot of things.. You seemed to have a lot of faith in him, but that doesn’t make any sense considering you just told us that he was, what did you say? Shifty and trecherous? Would you like to explain THAT to me, Mr. Reynolds?" Evan coughed to hide his discomfort, and admitted that perhaps he had been a little harsh in his description. He was completely unnerved by her intensity, and his credibility was out the window. Mission accomplished.

Matthew was a little unnerved by her intensity as well. Tea was really digging in to her cross examinations today, insisting upon doing them all herself instead of leaving them to another member of her team. She was on edge. He tried to ask her about it when the court was recessed for lunch.

"This is a crucial part of the case, Matt. I have to be on the ball today. Focused." She didn’t quite look at him. Something was really bothering her; she kept turning around to look into gallery, as though she were looking for someone.. "C’mon, let’s go get something to eat." She snapped her briefcase shut and they left the courtroom.

As the guards were leading him into the antechamber where he could get the junk they were calling food in this place, he saw his lawyer being approached by a man. She clearly did not want to be approached, and clearly not by this man in particular. "Hey," Matt said to his guards, but they had already noticed.

"Get the hell away from me," she was saying to the stranger as they approached.

"Is this man bothering you, ma’am?" One of the guards took hold of the intruder roughly, who did not struggle. He only looked at Tea, and the intensity Matt had seen earlier in Tea’s gaze was matched in this man’s eyes when he looked at her. She stared back, as though searching for something.. Then she sighed and told the guard to let him go. "Take Mr. Eagan into the chamber. Matt, I’ll be in in a minute." He protested, but soon the neanderthals in uniform had hustled him away from the scene he really wanted to watch.

They dumped him in the room and took up posts by the door. Matt wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of throwing a fit, but he did allow himself to sulk. After trying for so long to find a way to connect with Tea, on a personal level, here was his one chance to see another side of her. Only she was out there, with that guy, and he was trapped in here.. Yeah, Matt, how dare your murder trial interfere with your personal life.. Focus on what’s important, forget about her.. But he couldn’t, that was just the problem. There were probably dumber things to do than develop a crush on someone in the middle of the fight of your life, but he had already done most of those things too. Ha. The truth was, his feelings for his lawyer were the only thing he had to hold onto these days.. and the hope that maybe she could pull off a miracle.

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"Look Delgado, I just have to say one thing to you, and then you won’t have to listen to me talk ever again."

She slammed her briefcase on the ground with a satisfying crash. "I don’t have to listen to you now! I only made him let you go so I could have the chance to tell you myself. Get out." She glared at him for a moment before turning away.

"Delgado.. Tea.." Todd bent down as she suddenly started frantically going through the papers on the floor; her briefcase had fallen open. "Look.. We’re still married here, so.. we have to at least -"

"No Todd, we’re not." She siezed a piece of paper from the stack, what she had been looking for, and shoved it into his hands. An annullment.

"What.. why didn’t you tell me.."

"I didn’t exactly have your mailing address." She stood back up.

"Just listen for one second, just one thing I-"

"No. That pretty much sums it up. We’re done. Don’t you see Todd, there’s nothing left to say. Whatever there may once have been here, is gone. GONE. You destroyed it. There’s nothing left, there is no second chance, there is no magic words that will make everything better, there is just you going back to wherever it is that you came from, and staying OUT of my life. Do you understand me? You, get out of this building, get out of my life, get out of my sight. If I ever see you again, I won’t be calling off the guards. Do you understand me, Mr. Manning?"

His face hardened into an angry mask, one that Tea would have recognized as a cover for a deep hurt if she hadn’t been wearing a similiar one herself. "Yes," he said quietly, looking down at the paper crumpled in his fist. She went in that little room, and he heard the door lock behind her.

He stumbled down the hall, his chest tight, without seeing or sensing anything around him. He uncrumpled the paper. Her signature, with that familiar curly-loop thing she did with the D in her name, at the bottom. The legal trickery that severed her from him forever. This marriage is null and void. Their wedding, a real wedding, the light shining in her eyes that night, null and void. It was all gone. It was never his.

He saw this coming, of course he did. Todd never expected her to greet him with anything but anger, this was Tea after all, and even when they were living together she always let him have it when he deserved it. He should have known better, but he just couldn't resist trying. He couldn't leave things the way they were, but she wasn't even going to let him get a word in edgewise. This comfirmed all his worst fears.. If she couldn't believe in him anymore, how could he? Just as he expected, but it hurt. A lot.

Matt didn’t have to wait long for her to appear. Fairly soon, Tea marched inside and tossed her briefcase on the table, and slammed into her chair. Matt stared at her in surprise, but she didn’t see him. She sat glaring into the distance, in the grip of a rage of biblical proportions. Hell hath no fury.. "Remind me not to piss you off," he said quietly.

Tea took a deep breath and leaned her head into her hands. Calm, girl, calm.. Are you going to let that man get the better of you? Along with the fury: release. A weight had lifted itself from her shoulders. She was free. He had no power over her, no longer would he be able to hold her back. All the time he was gone, she had moved forward, leaving him behind.. but she was afraid, afraid that if she saw him again, at the slightest provocation she would fall right back into his arms.. But she didn't! Of course she didn't, it was over between them, and he finally knew it too. For the first time since she had fallen for him, she felt that her life was once again her own.. after two years of flying out of control, she was back in charge. Tea sighed and breathed in deeply, allowing her anger to abate.

After a time, Matt couldn’t resist an inquiry. "That was him, wasn’t it?"

"Him who?" Tea replied, trying to sound calm and collected.

"The guy you’re all broken up about."

"Ha. I’m not.. broken up. I’m, bouncing back."

"Okay, rebounding. And he’s what you’re bounding from."

"Yes, yes, okay, yes, that was him. That.. wacko, is my former husband. Don’t hold it against me, okay?" She and Matt shared a slightly strained smile. "Now, where is that lunch? I’ll be right back, okay Matt? I’m on a quest for food.. Suddenly I am starving.." She jumped up and vanished through the door.

Geez Tea, can’t you quit moving for a SECOND? Matt slumped in his chair, then put his head down on the table. He was having a realization of his own. That was not just any look, the way those two had been looking at each other back there. That was serious. The way Tea had been acting lately, so funny, so intense, obviously because of this guy. It was a side of her that he had never seen before, a side she obviously kept hidden. Except from her old love. Yes, it all made sense now, the way she came on so strong yet hadn’t given him a second look. He never had a chance.

End Part 10
Next: So Cruel