ONLY YOU - ONE LAST DANCE

PREVIOUSLY

Her strategy was good, and she could run with the case she had, but she had a feeling deep down that it wasn’t going to be enough. Not without the proof she needed, and someone had done an excellent job of burying it. She believed him. And if she couldn’t pull off a miracle, an innocent man was going to jail.

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ONE LAST DANCE

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I went out for a ride to go
Across a great divide
but I ended up at home instead
- Semisonic, "California"

..a vampire or a victim/ it depends on who's around..
- U2, "Stay"

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Chicago. Four months ago.

Bang! Bang!
The door opens, and a face peers cautiously out. "Hello?"
"Hey, I'm, I used to live here. A long time ago. And I was wondering if I could have a look around the place. I won't be long."
The older man looks the visitor over - he looks unstable, unhealthy, like a drunk or a junkie. A tall man, dark clothes, unsteady on his porch steps. Sunken eyes, almost crazed with sleeplessness and desperation. He is frightening to see. "No, I'm afraid not. Goodbye-" He tries to shut the door in his face.
Is not quick enough. The visitor shoves his arm in the doorway, seeming not to feel the door slam on it, forces the door back open. "Look, I just want to see my old house, okay? Lemme in."
"Get off my porch or I'll call the police! Out!" This time he gets the door shut.
The man kicks the door viscously and yells, "Old buzzard! I could get in if I want!" He has serious thoughts about breaking the door, but stops. He's probably calling the police now, dammit. Oh well. He can't stop him from looking around outside, for now.
He circles the building slowly, expressionless. It looks different. They must have fixed it up. The paint no longer cracks, the windows are whole, the yard is cared for. But if he looks at it just right, he can see the house he grew up in.
He's visited his father's grave before, but it's not the same. A grave is nothing, that's not where he is. He's here. In this house. The man glares at it, as though he could burn it with his eyes. Burn it to the ground.
"Well, here I am. You see me? You always said I'd come back here.. It's been awhile, but I'm back… I never could do things how you wanted. I did everything, but it was never enough. You'd never let me win. Well, I give up. I GIVE UP. You were right, I'll never be anything. I FOUGHT you, I tried to have a good life, but you were right. You win. I'm just like you."
He turns his back on the place and walks away, his own words ringing in his ears, merging with words from the past.
You'll never amount to anything…
I will not be like my father. I won't…
I'm just like you…

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Todd shakes himself out of a memory, his face impassive. He stares out of the bus window, watching Llanview pass him by. Not much longer. Few days, tops. Then.. Well, he didn't quite know what he was going to do after that, but he wasn't going to think about that right then. He had business to take care of.
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"What are you doing, Max?"
"Oh, a little light reading." Max was paging through his contract, the one Todd had left behind for them.
"Are you looking at that again? What are you looking for?" Blair was pondering the next day's headline. Go with the robbery, or the sex scandal? Definitely the sex scandal. This is The Sun, after all.
"The catch." He stopped suddenly.
"Quit looking a gift horse in the mouth, and look at this headline."
"Anything from Todd Manning's got some strings attached…"
"Is that note still freaking you out? Don't worry about it, he's just trying to scare you."
Todd stood in the doorway. "Is it working?"
Blair picked up the notebook on her desk and hurled it at him. "Todd! Who let you in here?"
"My faithful former employees, Blair."
"More like fear of bodily harm. What are you doing here?"
Max did not look up from the contract, his brow furrowed. "It says here, in little teeny tiny print, that if circulation should drop below %75 of the levels at the time of the contract, the paper will be removed from its current owners and bestowed upon the former, reversing the contract."
Blair clamored over his shoulder. "How did that get in there, I never saw that!"
Todd smiled viscously. "Noone reads the fine print anymore."
Max dropped it on the desk. "This can't be legal."
"Sure it is. I gave my paper to you screw-ups in good faith. My family legacy, for you to take good care of, and what do you do? You fight with each other, you mess up, you let sales fall. I can't have that, now can I?"
"It's a temporary drop, Todd!" That was Blair. "It's a slow period, it'll pick right back up."
"Slow period? During the biggest story on the East Coast right here in town?" His smile got wider. "It's too bad the jailbait author and his lawyer are only talking to the Banner…"
"Dammit!" Blair slammed her fist into the desk. "Her again!"
"Watch it. You're going to dent my desk. Hey, I do have a heart, y'know. I may decide to keep you three on as employees.."
Max folded his arms over his chest. "We haven't dropped to that level yet. It's still not your paper."
"It will be." Todd looks with satisfaction at the two of them, then turns to leave. "Take good care of my paper, you two. I will be coming back to collect."
"We can't let him do this, Max…" Blair shakes her head at her ex-husband's exit. "We have to stop him."
"We will." Max's eyes, usually charming and good-humored, grew hard and cold. "He made the mistake of coming back to Llanview. And he's going to regret it."
Blair stared back at him, a cunning passion in her eyes. "And so will Tea."

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Todd stalked out of his old office, and wandered the streets of downtown Llanview for some time, consumed with dark thoughts. A hidden smile of triumph touched his face. It'll be mine again. Whenever I want it. Just as soon as I figure out what to do.. Now he had those three running scared, which meant that they were even more likely to screw up. Especially since those three in particular could never agree on anything. But, of course, he didn't want them crashing and burning his paper before he was ready to collect on it. So they could be the caretakers of his paper, for now. And if he never made it back to Llanview again.. at least he had a guarantee that it would be viable long enough for Starr to inherit it. Even if Blair and Holden did get tired of the newspaper business, neither of them would give him the satisfaction of their giving up.
It was late in the day, the sun had just finished setting, and it was growing depressingly dark. Nowhere to go. Todd suddenly wanted a drink, and decided that Rodi's shouldn't be too crowded yet, and it was close by. Hopefully he wouldn't run into anyone. He bypassed the sign announcing the dance contest, but realized as he went in the door that he had made a mistake. The place was full of people.
Immediately after he walked into the club, he saw her. Tea.
There was a sea of people there that night, dancing in the space cleared out for the contest. Couples, dancing teams, kids bouncing around for fun and contestants preparing to compete. But he saw only her, in a short black dress, her chestnut hair streaming around her shoulders and framing her flushed and smiling face. She looked like she was having a good time. He stood in the doorway, frozen to the spot, watching her as she danced.
"That's Tea Delgado," RJ was telling a patron. "She's not competing, she's one of the judges. They've been trying to get her to dance all night. Lovely, lovely lady, isn't she?" Ordinarily Todd would have wanted to slug these guys for ogling his woman, but he barely heard them. He couldn't take his eyes off her.
It was as though his world was narrowed to this one sight, a tunnel vision focusing entirely on her. He held his breath. She spun and slid across the dance floor, and her short black dress flowed around her, outlining her slim figure. Lovely, sensual, dangerous, beautiful.
He'd done this before, once. But she had come home to him. She wouldn't be coming to him now. That fact caught in his throat. He had tried hard to keep her out of his mind, but the sight of her hit him hard. Oh god, he missed her so much..
The music streamed through the room; an electronic swirl of strings layered over a tango beat. It pounded in his blood as he watched her, mesmerized by her every move, every gesture. She was smiling, laughing with the dance, with the music. If he had been listening to the words, this is what he would have heard:

I’m a fountain of blood
In the shape of a girl
You’re a bird on the brim
Hypnotized by the whirl
Drink me, make me feel real
Wet your beak in my stream
Game we’re playing is life
Love’s a two-way dream..

I can’t stay here, he told himself. Someone’s going to see me. And yet he did not, could not move from the spot. He had not been so close to her since just after their wedding night, so long ago. He stared hard at her, as though memorizing the moment. Another mental portrait of her, for the long road ahead. Oh Tea.. would you have danced this way with me?

I'm a path of cinders
Burning under your feet
You're the one who walks me
I'm your one-way street..
I’m a whisper in water
A secret for you to hear
You’re the one who grows distant
When I beckon you near..

She spun from one dancing partner to another, young Christian, a blond Rodi’s regular whose name he couldn’t remember, another man he didn’t recognize. "Will you look at that," a man nearby said. "One helluva sexy woman, is she here with someone?" "Yeah, whose girl is that? I’ll fight him for her!" No, he thought. She doesn't belong to anyone. Not now. Not ever. Her gaze lingered not on one man but on any and all, tantalizing each who approached her, eyes promising secret pleasures, only to move on to the next. She was the one in control; this was her favorite game.
Todd could never tire of watching, and would gladly have stood forever drinking in the sight of her. But the dance ended, and she retired from the dance floor to sit again at the judges table. Alright, now you definitely have to get out of here. Go! He took one long and final look at her, and walked out of the room, his heart pounding in his chest. Tomorrow, he decided. After tomorrow, I'll be gone.

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Tea sank into her chair behind the judges table, amid a mix of smiles and scowls from her fellow judges, catching her breath. "I'm glad you talked me into this, Roseanne. It's been awhile since I've-"
"Had fun?" Roseanne was adjusting her dress behind her. "How's this look? It's about time you started getting out there again. Now don't forget to remember the little people, sitting behind your big judge's table."
"Like you and Christian? When's your turn?"
"Up next. Wish me luck!"
"Buena suerte, Rosie!" she called after her. She laughed and waved to Christian, who was giving her a hopeful thumbs-up signal. Nice try, you'll have to earn your prize like everyone else! Now get over there and impress me! He made a face at her and dashed off.
She felt good. A bit tired, but cheered and excited. It felt like moving on. After having her life on pause the last few months, with this case coming up, and getting out on the town again, she felt like coming back to life. A nice feeling. Her life was her own once again, and she was moving steadily forward, leaving the past, and all the baggage with it, behind.

End Part 8
next: The Play