A very big thank you to babs who went to all
the trouble to transcribe these scenes.....*S*

******************************************************************************************************

In Tea's Bedroom........

( This scene takes place after Tea returns home from the hospital after Blair pushes
her out the window.....)

In her darkened bedroom, Tea is tossing and turning in her bed ( and what a beautiful
sleigh bed! ). Todd pokes his head in the door, looks in, then turns to leave...

Tea: Answer me something.

Todd: I didn't think you were awake.

Tea: ( turns on the light and sits up ) Would you have stopped to look in if you did?

Todd: Is that your question?

Tea: No. You and Blair got married..

. Todd: That's not a question.

Tea: It's coming...You married because you obviously loved each other. Starr is evidence of
that...So why is it like pulling teeth for you to as much admit that you have feelings for Blair,
let alone admit how important they still are to you?

Todd: It's too bad you weren't asleep.

Tea: I'm serious, Todd.. I want an answer.

Todd: Look, the last thing I need right now is the third degree from some
horizontal ambulance chaser. ( starts to leave )

Tea: Oh, that's your response to every question, no matter what....you don't need anything
from anyone...well, I don't buy that for a second, Todd.

Todd: Have a nice night. ( leaves the room )

Tea: (calling after Todd) You practically had a meltdown today when Blair told you she was
quitting her job at The Sun. ( Todd returns ) I wouldn't exactly
call that the "hallmark of detachment".

Todd: What do you want from me?

Tea: Like I said, I want an answer....Why are you so afraid to own up to what's inside you?
Is it because someone might find out you're actually human after all?

******************************************************************************************************

Todd: ( fidgetting while standing at the foot of the bed ) I'm not in the mood to be playing
twenty questions, let alone twenty answers.

Tea: All I want is one.

Todd: Boy, when you get on something, you don't let go, do you?

Tea: I'm in good company there.

Todd: Look, I know that it bugs you that I lost it when Blair left today, but that's no reason
for you to be lying in the dark obsessing about it

Tea: Isn't that what you do?

Todd: No. What happened today is history. Blair is history. I won't lose it like that again.
You'll see.

Tea: Would you sit down for a second?( motions to the bed )

Todd: What, you gonna tell me a story?( sits in the chair and puts his feet up on the bed )

Tea: No . I'm tired of stories...... I'm not mad that you still care about Blair. In fact,
it's....it's reassuring. It let's me know that you really are human.

Todd: Yeah? Wait until the next full moon.

Tea: ( exasperated ) Does every word out of your mouth always have to be negative?
Do you know that you are not genetically incapable of being happy?

Todd: Being human is one thing; being happy is pushing it......
Besides, what does it matter to you?

Tea: It matters to me because when you walk around in a cold rage, everyone around
you gets frostbite, especially me. You are damned hard to live with.

Todd: I would think that the 5 million dollars that I'm giving you ought to make it a
little easier.

Tea: It's just a waste.

Todd: What the money is a waste?

Tea: No, your attitude....you act like you don't deserve to be happy and that does bug me...
because I happen to like you, you jerk.

Todd:( glares at Tea ) DON"T.

***************************************************************************************************

Tea: ( picks up pillow and holds it in front of her ) Oh, it's
wonderful when you get all warm and fuzzy like that.

Todd: ( stands ) Look, I'm not kidding around. Liking me is stupid... it's like playing
golf in a lightning storm.

Tea: That's probably true since you're roughly as sociable as a wounded
buffalo most of the time.. but you've also got the ultimate irreverent
sense of humor, you're a wizard with kids and animals, and you are
as smart as hell.. I just like that; ergo, I like you.

Todd: You don't know me.

Tea: Well, who's fault is that?

Todd: Look.. we were just supposed to get married,okay.... nobody said anything about
liking one another.

Tea: Oh, well, sorry to disappoint you.

Todd: Whatever.( starts to leave )

Tea: Where are you going?

Todd: I'm tired of this blabbing.

Tea: We're in the middle of a conversation.

Todd: No, we were. And the next time I want analysis, I'll call a shrink. ( leaves )

Tea: (yells after Todd) Don't you walk out on me!!... I can not stand that!!.....
Ohhh...( punches pillows )

Todd: ( re-enters and stands at the foot of the bed ) Why is that? Because that's what
your mother did?

Tea: Why do you say that?

Todd: Well, Mama Delgado did that to little Tea, isn't that right?

Tea: ( defensively )You're not my mother.

Todd: Your mother got angry and she split .You never saw her again, isn't that how the
story goes?

Tea: Yes.

Todd: I know all about that.

**********************************************************************************************************

Tea: Your mother left too?

Todd: Yep.

Tea: What happened?

Todd: Woke up one morning and she was gone.

Tea: I know that one.

Todd Yeah...( sits on the end of the bed )..Kept thinking it was my fault. that I wasn't worth
sticking around for, but later I figured out my adoptive father, Peter Manning,
had done a real number on my mom.

Tea: He was violent?

Todd: He was a bastard.......And she split first chance she got.

Tea: Let me guess...he never forgave her.

Todd: No. She was the one who left. Left me behind with Peter the.... well, Peter the
not-so-great.

Tea: Did he hurt you?

Todd: He disciplined me......He would stand over me... well, ready to beat me for whatever
I did or didn't do... and I kept hearing the words over and over again in my head........
"He hates me... He hates me."

Tea: Did you ever see your mother again?

Todd: Yeah...one summer. I found out where she was hiding . She was in a little cabin
by a stream in the woods. Took me 20 hours to hitch from
the camp I was in.

Tea: How old were you?

Todd: 10.

Tea: 10 years old and you were hitch-hiking by yourself???

Todd: Nobody would rent me a car.

Tea: (incredulous gasp)

Todd: We spent six days together. (slight smile)

Tea: And you heard the whole story?

Todd: Yeah, I heard all the stories. Like the one that she had been writing to me since the
day she left, only my father had been hiding the letters.

Tea: Oh my God........well, at least you found out it wasn't your fault...
she did love you.

Todd: Yeah......a lot of good it did me. She chickened out and sent me back after six
lousy days.......but it's not all bad news, you know... I did
get to watch Peter die.

Tea: (leans toward Todd, speaks softly) You have to let go of this.......

Todd: No....No, I will never let go of this. Peter Manning is my role model
for how not to be a father, and I will never, ever treat Shorty the way he
treated me.....It's going to be like night and day.

Tea: It already is.

Todd: She's never going to feel like she's a joke, or a mistake, or like she's dirt.
I'm going to tell her how special she is...that little girl is always
going to know how much her father loves her

Tea: That's another story we have in common.

Todd: What's that supposed to mean?

Tea: I feel this....this push in me to take all the pain I had as a kid and turn it into
something really sweet for Starr, something safe.

Todd: Yeah?

Tea: Yeah. It....it all makes sense to me now. That day the guy with the gun was here, he was
ready to come after Starr, and I was ready to die before I would
let him come up those stairs.

Todd: You were great.

Tea: So were you... and for the same reasons. You're not going to become your father,
the tyrant, and I'm not going to become my mother, who'd abandon her
little girl when the going got rough.... We're on the same path together, Todd.

Todd: So that's what you think, huh?

****************************************************************************************************

Tea: What are you thinking about?

Todd: Well, life sucks and then you die...

Tea: Ohhhh.

Todd: Well, it's true.

Tea: Beat it, Mr. Optimism.

Todd: Hmmm.... This is how you treat someone you like..
(Stands up and stays at the end of the bed)....Ahem.. Well, I guess I should
give you something on the plus side. That little chat we had felt pretty good..
I mean the subject sucked, but I kind of dug it. So I guess it's OK,
if you have to like me, it's all right.

Tea: Gee, thanks.

Todd: I'm going to warn you though......that junk I went through with Blair
before we broke up..

Tea: Oh, the Love junk?

Todd: Yeah, that was a King Kong-sized mistake and I'll never make another one like it.
Because I'll never be sucker enough to open up to somebody
like that again, you got that?

Tea: Relax, I don't like you that much....Get going.....out! (Throws pillow at Todd)

Todd: Gotcha.(leaves Tea's room)

Todd walks into the hall, turns off the light, and looks back towards Tea's room
contemplatively................