ONLY YOU - A PROFESSIONAL INTEREST

PREVIOUSLY

"No there's nothing you can do. Not anymore." Todd turned and walked out of the bar. Sam sat back down and stared disconsolately at his drink. He considered going up after the young man, but he knew that there was nothing he could say. Any approximation of closeness between them had been broken by Todd's deception, and Sam was not ready to try again; he knew that it wouldn't do any good. If there had ever been a time when he could have reached Todd, that time was past. Maybe it was too late for anyone to reach him. Todd may have come back to Llanview, but he had not returned to his life. He was like a ghost haunting the remnants of his old life, not yet prepared to live it. But there was nothing Sam or anyone else could do for him now. He was going to have to find his way back on his own.

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A Professional Interest....

All you need is love.
Love is all you need.
-The Beatles

Tea and Matthew sat at the conference table in silence. She was pouring over a law book, and he was reading the paper she had smuggled in to him. She really didn’t have to come here to do this work, Matt knew, and he appreciated the gesture. She kept him updated on all of the developments in his case, whether he would understand them or not, and kept him company on these long nights before trial. This little room in the basement of the prison came equipped with a table, two chairs, and not much else, and was awfully cold. It was still better than his cell, but Tea didn’t have to put up with such conditions and he was very grateful for her efforts.

He watched her covertly, out of the corner of his eye. Her hair was loosening from its knot above her head, and spilled loosely about her face. She was lovely. Different from the women he knew in LA, who would hang on his every word and cater to his every whim. What was it about her?

He stretched in his chair, and stood up. "Just stretching my legs," he grinned as he saw the guards outside the room start at his movement. "I’m surprised it doesn’t set of an alarm every time I make a move." He made a face at Tea, who smiled and went back to her work. He paced about the room. He wasn’t quite sure at first how to play it around her; the Most Eligible Bachelor routine wasn’t going to work on her, and neither was the Mr. Literary Genius routine. He had discovered to his dismay that she had never read his books. Sure, she was duly impressed by his reputation and fame, he could tell. She had oozed charm, gone overboard with the complements when she first approached him to accept her as his lawyer.. But she was playing it all business since their first meeting, and none of his usual tricks were going to change her mind. So he had dropped his routines, and to his surprise, they had gotten on splendidly ever since. He had never been just himself with a woman since he had published his first book years ago, and it was.. refreshing. Special. She was a special lady.

He sat back down at the table; she didn’t even look up. "Okay, what’s it going to take to get your attention? Maybe if I turn myself into a law book..."

She looked up, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry, Matt. I get awfully wrapped up in my cases, ask anybody. I don’t mean to neglect you.."

"Oh no, Tea, you’ve been a real angel coming in here and all. You’re above and beyond in the lawyerly call of duty, believe me. I just miss having a real, non-legal conversation now and then.."

"Alright, sure," she said, pushing her books aside. "What do you want to talk about?"

"You." He made out like it was a joke, but he was serious. "C’mon, tell me about life on the outside. I’ll live vicariously through you."

"Ha ha. You know very well what I’m doing all the time, Mr. Eagan. Saving your butt!"

"But what about the rest of the time, what do you do in your time off? Have fun? Visit friends? Go dancing? Ice skate? Archery? Knit?" He had her laughing, this is good. He could never get her to reveal very much about herself, she had a strange reluctance to talk about her life. Maybe now...

She leaned forward and winked conspiratorially. "Y’know what? I have no life. I eat, sleep, and breathe your case. You should be glad, too, because that’s what’s going to get you out of here."

"If you say so, Boss."

"Hey, I like the sound of that." One of the guards approached the door and informed them that Matt would have to return to his cell in ten minutes, then left the room.

"So, what’s a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this, on a Saturday night?" She chuckled and set out to organize the mass of papers scattered across the table. "I’m serious. Why aren’t you out on the town, or something? No boyfriend?"

"Nobody special."

"No handsome princes banging on your door?"

"Prince Charming is indisposed, at the moment," she said wryly.

"So how about, um, Knave Amusing, in the meantime?" He smiled hopefully at her, then continued quickly, "I mean, I am getting out of here straight away after all, like you said, and I’m mostly tolerable, tolerably interesting, and interestingly amusing, at least according to my old girlfriends. And I am, well, interested. What do you think?"

"Of course you’re interested, I’m the only woman you’ve seen much of in months. Just wait, when you’re out of jail, and back to your fast-track hot-young-novelist life, you can have all of those glamorous Hollywood women."

"I don’t think I’ll be riding the fast track anytime soon. A murder indictment will do wonders for your reputation."

"Of course you will. You’ll be even more famous when you beat this, and your next book will sell even more than your others. Just you wait."

"Maybe so, but the Hollywood game is what got me into this trouble in the first place. And you’re much more interesting than any of those women. No really, I mean it," he insists as she shakes her head. "You’re a great girl, Tea. I’d really like us to give it a try. It could be fun."

"Oh, Matt... It’s not that I’m not, interested, but.. I’m not. I can’t be getting involved with my clients."

"Okay, you’re fired."

"I mean, I’m just coming out of a breakup. My marriage broke up, and I’m still a little gun-shy I guess. I’m not ready for a relationship right now."

"Who’s talking about a relationship? I was thinking dinner, a date, maybe more if all goes well..."

"Sorry Matt, I like you entirely too much to subject you to my disastrous love life. My.." she looked down. "My heart can’t take losing someone else."

"Your heart? You’re kidding right?" He sits on the table in front of her. "I didn’t think you were the sentimental type. I’m surprised."

"I’m not." She looked away.

"Oh good, you were scaring me for a minute. I thought you were going to go into some spiel about true love, ‘The One,’ all that crap they told us when we were kids. The luckiest you can be, I figure, is if you can find somebody tolerable enough to put up with for the long haul, who can stand you enough to put up with you back. Maybe you’ll have some fun together, maybe it doesn’t work out, no biggie, you had a good time. None of that true love b.s." He really is surprised - she hadn’t seemed like the type to pull this "follow your heart" junk. She seemed like someone out for a good time or two, none of this serious stuff. She was way too sensible, and smart, for that stuff.

Tea stares at him for a long time, then looks away. In a faraway voice she says, "I used to think that way. I guess I changed my mind..." For a moment, he could see beyond her front, which he was beginning to see for a front, and saw a deep sadness, loneliness.

"You really got trampled on, didn’t you?"

She seems to shake herself, pulls herself back together. "I guess you could say that. I prefer to think of it as a momentary setback. In a few months, I’ll look back and laugh, and it won’t even matter anymore."

He paused, looking at her. "You don’t really believe that, do you?"

"I will. I have to." She broke his gaze, and swept her papers into her briefcase. "I’d better go before your keepers throw me out. You take care, Matt. I’ll see you in court."

"Hey, Tea!" He calls after her as she heads out the door. She looks back. "We could at least have dinner. Victory, y’know. For when you get me out of here."

She smiles back at him. "Alright. We’ll celebrate, once I win this case." With that, she turned on her heel and walked out of the jail.

Matt was uncustomarily silent as they lead him back to his cell, thinking about their conversation. Well, that’s something, at least. Now all we have to do is win.

End part 5
Next: Push