A TEARDROP IN AN OCEAN - PART SEVEN

PREVIOUSLY

They stared at each other, feeling each others thoughts and emotions. Contempt and pride mirrored their own, they were one half of each other but were incredibly different. This is why they fit, this is why they linked. They completed each other. Silently, the two did the only thing they knew how: Todd and Tea began a mission. The mission that would forever change everything they called their own.

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Todd and Tea Manning sit rigidly in Todd's sleek, black sports car. The tension emanating from the air is like a tight, compressed ballooning of cased water threatening to burst forth. Tea is searching her mind desperately for some sort of haven. She is fighting to maintain some sort of semblance of calm and her strength and determination was winning out. These eroding whisperings of true reality grasp at straws in her mind. It screams hideously "Starr is dead! Starr is dead!" but Tea struggles to keep the cries at bay. If she allows even a whimper of doubt to enter her mind, all sanity will break lose.

Reflex crooks her head to the side, her eyes finding her husband's. She catches her breath, both fascinated and terrified at the anger that burns there. Todd is aware of her worried eyes but refuses to look. Quietly, she soothes "I understand, Todd. Your anger is the only thing that keeps you from breaking down. These wall -- these walls are the only thing that wills your breath. It's the only thing that keeps you from letting go in a chain of suicidal vestiges. I know this," she admits, her eyes scouring her hands for some sort of mercy. Connecting herself with him once again, Tea's voice rises as she says "I am this. And God only knows it's all we'll ever know."

Todd turns his head with a slow, calculated movement. His eyes betray his emotionless expression and wail of drowning. He was drowning and this eddying current was rapidly pulling him under. Only the haunt of her being would render him afloat. Dismissing his feelings, he acknowledges dully "Why you doing this to me, Delgado? Huh? Why don't you just cry of cower in a corner or scream in agony? Why do you have to take away the only thing I have left?"

Aghast, Tea leans back in the cushioned pillowing of her seat. She is unable to answer his question. It reminds her of - don't say it! She closed her eyes, relishing the blackness that promises oblivion. Her lips part as she almost inaudibly whispers "Because I don't want to die." She opens her eyes, revealing two sets of moist emotions. Her eyes seek his as she continues with "You knew that already though, didn't you? Come on, Todd," Tea urges, leaning forward again, her entire being pleading with him. "Don't fight it. Just….just trust me, okay?"

Silence once again claims the two soul mates, engaging in their skin, eating away like a cancer. Todd turns away, gruffly stabbing his keys into the ignition as he coldly replies "No. No, dammit, I can't trust you-I'll never trust you. You should've known that. Starr wouldn't be like…like…like this!" He slams his hand down on the steering wheel, causing an involuntary jump from Tea.

Tiredly, she falls back and groans inwardly. Throwing her hands up, she suppresses a scream of frustration. "Okay, Todd," she challenges, "why don't you? Go ahead. Don't trust me. But, how about this." Calculatingly, she places the outside of her hand against his face. She strokes the soft tenderness, desiring the feel of skin against skin. Todd contiguously stiffens and jerks his head away. Coquettishly, Tea tilts her head to the side as she ponders "Why don't you? Wouldn't it be easier is you wouldn't?" She grabs his face angrily, forcing his eyes on her own. She watched his eyes fall on her lips as she whispers weepingly "If you couldn't?"

Todd roughly pulls himself away from the turmoil that she causes him. Grasping her hands tightly, furtively, he violently pushes her down, his body hovering over hers. He reads the fear that immediately grips her features. Shaking her head, she disbeleivingly murmurs "You wouldn't…"

"Wouldn't I?" he questions, smirking as he runs his palm down her face suggestively. "Are you sure you know me? Could you ever trust me?"

"You know I do!" She cries angrily, a pleading passion biting at her veins. She ignores his trailing finger moving lower and lower down her neckline. His pervasion sickens her, yet sparks a surprised yearning. But not like this, she concludes. Never like this.

Hesitantly, she reached up and touched lock of his hair, stealing his eyes once more. "Don't do this - to yourself or me! Just …just. . believe in us and in what we've always wanted. Let go, querido. Don't kill us."

Todd regards her suspiciously, not sure what to expect. Slowly, a new light arises and the flame of Todd and Tea returns again. He sees her, her naked soul, her bare thoughts. And he knows. She is his life raft, and without her, he's sure to drown. He lifts his eyes, trembling at the emotions that run through him He calls her name, desperate for her and all she is. "Tea…" he whispers. "I-''

Suddenly, a loud ringing pierces the air. Simultaneously, Todd and Tea incline their heads towards the disruption. Tea swallows as she realizes what's happening. This is it. This is the beginning.

TO BE CONTINUED