STOLEN CHANCES - PART TWELVE

PREVIOUSLY

Tea gives Michelle an odd look before allowing the sobs to turn into laughter. The last thing she expected from her meeting with Michelle was to be laughing.

"I take it everything is cool between us, Tea."

"Yeah. Everything is cool," Tea says, smiling back at Michelle. "I think everything is going to be fine."

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". . . And that is a day in the life of a newspaper. Any questions?" Briggs asks a bored Ryan, as they return to Todd's office. Ryan looks to Todd, his eyes pleading to be rescued from any further subjection to the ins and outs of newspaper publication. Todd sees that Ryan has heard more than enough from Briggs, and chuckles to himself before speaking up to rescue his son.

"I don't think he has any questions, Briggs. You guys were gone long enough for you to have covered everything. . ."

"And then some," Ryan mutters under his breath, interrupting Todd's sentence. Todd hears him and is barely able to keep an amused grin from spreading across his face. He manages to get rid of Briggs just before bursting into laughter.

"So, you got a tour of the whole place?" Todd says, still laughing at Ryan's comment.

"I was just looking for the snack machine when Mr. Briggs found me wandering. For some reason, he decided to give me his own personal tour, stopping along the way to tell me about things like 'layouts' and 'crappers' "

"What? Oh, you mean 'croppers'. It's a little tool to. . ." Todd stops midsentence when he notices the grimace on Ryan's face. "Never mind. I'm sure you've heard enough of this from Briggs. At least you can tell your mom you had an educational experience." They both start laughing at the thought of telling Michelle about how the failed search for a snack turned into an unsolicited tour of the Sun. They're laughing so hard, they don't notice the figure slip into the door to watch them. Todd finally looks up when he hears the figures clear it's voice.

"Is this a private joke, or are you guys going to let me in on what's so funny?" Tea says, as she walks into the room, closing the door behind her.

"Tea," Todd says, surprised to see her. It's been awhile. They never seemed to be home at the same time very often in the past few weeks. And when they were there together, he could see that she was having a hard time adjusting to the news about Michelle and Ryan. He didn't want to push her, so he just left her alone to deal with it in her own way.

But she had come to him today. She was standing there in front of him looking more beautiful than he'd ever remembered her being. And all he could think about was how he wanted to run over to her, take her into his arms, and give her a kiss for every minute they'd been apart.

But she acts first. She slowly walks over to where he's standing and throws her arms around him, holding on to him tightly. They pull apart and just look at each other. Without a word, they both know how much each missed the other. She tries to utter an apology, but he covers her lips with his own and kisses her instead. The two almost get lost in the moment, when Todd remembers his son standing on the other side of the room. He looks over to see Ryan smiling at them.

"Sorry about that, kid. This visit was about to get even more educational for you," he says with a wink in Ryan's direction. "Why don't you come over here and meet my wife. Tea, this is a new little friend of mine, Ryan Westlake. Ryan, this is my wife, Tea."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ryan," Tea says, shaking the little boys hand. Her eyes meet Ryan's eyes, and she's unnerved slightly to see that they belong to Todd. The resemblance between Todd and Ryan is uncanny, yet unmistakeable. She forces herself to speak to prevent herself from staring at the little boy.

"So, what have you two been up to? It sounded like you were having a lot of fun when I came in,"Tea says, sitting down on the couch.

"Not much. Just guy stuff," Todd replied, throwing a slight smirk to Ryan.

"We had so much fun today, Tea," Ryan told her, sitting down next to her. "I almost had to spend the whole day with my mom's boring assistant, but we ran into Todd at the park this morning, and he let me hang out with him today. We played soccer, and then . . ."

"Soccer? Todd, you played soccer?" Tea asked, completely shocked at the thought of her husband kicking a ball around in the park.

"Yeah, and he was great. You should have seen him."

"Should have seen him do what?" The group is startled at yet another voice coming from the doorway. They all look up in time to see Michelle walk in.

"Mom!" Ryan exclaims, as he excitedly runs over to his mother. "Thank you so much for letting me hang with Todd today."

"So, you had fun?" she asks and the boy emphatically nods his head. "Todd, I hope he wasn't any trouble. I know what a handful he can be sometimes."

"Not at all, Michelle. Ryan and I had a great time. And we're, what was that word, Ryan? Homies? That's it. We're homies now. He's welcome with us anytime. Isn't that right, Tea?" he says, looking over to Tea not entirely sure what to expect from her. She just nods in agreement.

Todd is worried about her silence. He was afraid that things were about to get ugly between the mothers of two of his children. Tea rises from the couch, and walks over towards Michelle, furthering Todd's anxiousness. 'Please God', he silently prays quickly, 'as much as I would love to have two women fighting over me, I don't want it to be these two. And I don't want it to be now.'

"Tea. We meet again. How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling pretty pregnant today. Why? How do I look?"

"You're looking pretty pregnant, too," she says with a laugh. Tea starts giggling too and Todd's mouth drops wide open. Both the women see his reaction and are thoroughly amused at his obvious fear of the two women getting into a fight over him. They turn back to each other to finish their conversation.

"Are you pretty much set up with the maternity clothes yet?" Michelle asks after they've settled down from their attack of the giggles.

"Not really. I kind of put it off for awhile. But last week, I just kind of exploded. I don't think I can avoid the maternity clothes anymore."

"That's perfect. How about we hit the shops together? Viki Carpenter is throwing a little get together to introduce me into Llanview society and I have nothing to wear."

"That sounds good. Just call me, okay? That'll give the boys another chance for a play date," Tea says, looking at her husband, trying to hold back a smile when she sees that he's not exactly amused at the women's teasing.

"We need to be leaving. Ryan, why don't you thank Mr. and Mrs. Manning before we go."

"Thanks a lot," he says before running over to Todd. He throws he arms around a stunned Todd and gives him a big hug. It only lasts for a quick second, but the sensation of the little boy in his arms last a lot longer. Ryan runs back over to his mother and waves good bye on their way out of the door.

The door closes and Tea looks at her husband to see how he's doing. He hates not being with his kids. It only reminds him of the neglectful, hateful father he was forced to grow up with. Tea walks over to Todd, but he turns away, refusing to let her see him cry. Instead, she wraps her arms around him from behind, holding him until he has the strength to face her again.

"I hate it when they have to leave. It's bad enough only seeing Starr for one weekend a month. But, I only had a few short hours with a son I just found out existed. It just doesn't seem fair." Todd's voice is low and sad. No longer can Tea hear the lilting laughs echoing through the hallways as father and son joked and played together. She only heard Todd sinking further and further into a lonely abyss, dangerously close to never being able to resurface.

"Todd, there's so much sadness in you still. I hate to see you this way. I know you want time to spend with Ryan, getting to know him and making up for all of the lost time. But I think that you need to take things slowly with Ryan. He's just a little boy. From what Michelle tells me, he's never had a father figure. You two seemed to have gotten along today, but I still wouldn't push him. You should just enjoy the time you get to spend together."

Todd lets out a sigh. Tea was right. She's always right. He's learned over the past year that patience really is a virtue. Too many times he's gotten himself in trouble trying to rush into action. He needed to put aside his own feelings and attempt to be a good friend to Ryan and hope that in time he can become a good father to him too.

"Once again, Tea, you are right. I had a wonderful time with my son today. I'm grateful for that. My daugher is coming to visit this weekend. I'm grateful for that too. And most of all, I have a loving and beautiful wife to slap some sense into me every once in a while when I need it most." He leans over to kiss her lightly. "I'm grateful for that too."

Todd takes Tea's hand and leads her over to the couch in the middle of his office. He sits down behind her and allows her to lean back against his chest.

"There. That's better. You look at lot more comfortable. Remember that the doctor said you needed plenty of rest, Tea. And from the way things sounded today in here with Michelle, it seems like you had a pretty busy day," Todd says to his wife sarcastically. This time she cannot contain her laughter.

"You really should have seen your face, Todd, when Michelle and I started talking about going shopping. The look was priceless. I know you thought we were going to be fighting over you. Sorry, Querido. That's not going to happen."

"I know. But it was actually an interesting thought," he says, joining in her laughter. "How did this come about anyway? I didn't even know you two had spoken."

"I ran into her earlier today at the diner and we had a little chat."

"About what?", Todd asks, curious to find out what the women said about him.

"Not much. Just girl stuff," she says with a sly grin. "I'm just kidding, Todd. We just talked. And came to an understanding. I was worried that she was going to be a threat to me. But she's nice. I actually like her. You have excellent taste in women, Todd."

"Yeah, but the best is right here in my arms. I love you, Tea. And I love you too, little guy," he says, rubbing Tea's stomach. A second later, he jerks his hand away. "What was that? Did the baby just kick?" he asked, a look of amazement covering his face.

"I think so. This is the first time he's done that. I guess he's trying to say that he loves you too. Just like his mommy does."

Tea closes her eyes and lays her hands next to Todd's. They sit there in each other's arms, watching the sun set while they enjoy feeling the evidence of their love come to life inside of Tea with each kick.

TO BE CONTINUED