| IN SICKNESS BY TIMA |
CHAPTER 95 |
Tea: If touching me is such an unpleasant task, you don't have to.
Todd: I'll suffer through it, like I always do.
[They both recline their bodies next to each other. Tea lies on her back. Todd lies on his side, facing her. He reaches down her body and lifts up the bottom of her nightgown. His hand quickly finds her expanding stomach and begins to gently rub her bare skin.]
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[For several minutes, Tea and Todd have been lying together in the downstairs bedroom of their home, after Tea's horrifying nightmare of a man murdering everyone she loves.]
Todd: Tea, are you almost asleep?
Tea: No.
Todd: I've been wondering something. What if it was my father?
Tea: What was your father?
Todd: The guy in your nightmare.
Tea: How could it be your father?
Todd: He's been invading my dreams for years. Maybe he decided to branch out and start hitting yours.
Tea: That's not possible. I have no idea what he looks like. I've never even seen a picture of him.
Todd: Exactly. What if you saw a picture of him now and it turned out to be the same guy?
Tea: That would be really creepy.
Todd: He was a creepy guy.
Tea: I don't want to talk about my nightmare anymore. I just want to forget about it.
Todd: Can you do that?
Tea: I'm trying. I'm putting all of my focus on your hand.
Todd: What about my hand?
Tea: The way it feels right now. I love it when you rub my stomach.
Todd: There's so much more of it to rub now than there was when we first started this bedtime ritual.
Tea: Can't you wait for the fat jokes until I'm really huge?
Todd: I've been waiting months for you to finally put enough weight on. Now that your belly's bulging, I think you should let me have some fun after the hell you put me through back when I had to force you to eat. I hated that.
Tea: You were so wonderful when I was sick.
Todd: I don't want to talk about that.
Tea: It's okay to talk about it. It's an important part of our past.
Todd: Yeah, well, let's leave it in the past.
Tea: We had some good times together during my illness, despite the difficulties.
Todd: Let's talk about your nightmare instead.
Tea: I'd rather not.
Todd: I think you should go back to having nightmares where I have three heads instead of that stuff you were dreaming about tonight.
Tea: You had three hands, not three heads. And, believe me, if I could choose my dreams, I'd much prefer a mutated husband to a...
Todd: Dead one?
Tea: Don't say that.
Todd: I think I know why you were dreaming I had three hands.
Tea: Why?
Todd: Because, you secretly wish I really did have three hands. One could rub your belly. One could rub your feet.
Tea: What about the third one?
Todd: Erogenous zones.
Tea: In that case, I think you should have four.
Todd: Well, I have one right now that is completely at your disposal. Where would you like it?
Tea: Really? Anywhere I want?
Todd: I feel guilty.
Tea: For what?
Todd: I think you caught the nightmare disease from me.
Tea: I don't think it's contagious.
Todd: Maybe it is.
Tea: Were you plagued with nightmares when you were a little boy, too?
Todd: When I was a kid, I had to deal with a nightmare every day. He made me call him Dad. And, yeah, I'd say he was a plague.
Tea: Is that offer still on the table?
Todd: What offer?
Tea: The use of your hand.
Todd: Where do you want it first?
Tea: My back.
Todd: I'm offering to touch you anywhere on your body and you choose your back? I guess you're finally through the horny phase of your pregnancy.
Tea: No such luck, Querido. You will begin with my back...my lower back. You will then proceed up to my shoulders and neck. You will then...
Todd (interrupting her): Full body, huh?
Tea: Do you think you can handle that?
Todd: I'm only doing this because you claim to have had a nightmare.
Tea: You think I made it up just to get a massage from you?
Todd: I wouldn't put it passed you. You are sneaky.
Tea: I learned from the master.
Todd: If I'm the master, why am I not the one about to get a sensual massage?
Tea: Sensual? I like the sound of that. And, I would be more than happy to return the favor after you finish my massage.
Todd: When I finish, you're falling asleep. No arguments.
Tea: Fine. I'll spend all day tomorrow massaging and pampering you.
Todd: You don't have to. I'm not into that kind of stuff, the way you are.
Tea: I think you'd enjoy it.
Todd: I'm not into that, either.
Tea: Enjoyment?
Todd: I've never really been good with that. I'll just give you enjoyment. I think I might be almost able to handle that.
Tea: Do you enjoy giving me enjoyment?
Todd: I enjoy watching you sleep. Let's get this touching thing out of the way so I can have the one enjoyment I allow myself.
Tea: You have more enjoyments than that.
Todd: Right now, I just want to take care of you and make you feel okay again. I could do that when you were sick, right? I could make you feel okay even when you felt like hell?
Tea: You've always been very good at that.
Todd: Let me try now.
Tea: Okay, but I want you to go slow. I want to prolong this.
Todd: Because you're afraid to fall asleep again?
Tea: That's only part of the reason.
Todd: What's the other part?
Tea: I love the way it feels when you touch me.
Todd: You're the only woman on the planet who feels that way.
Tea: I'm the only woman on the planet that I want you to touch, the way that I want you to touch me right now.
Todd: You don't want to share me with other women?
Tea: Do you want to share me with other men?
Todd: Good point. So, how are we going to do this?
Tea: I could sit in front of you and after you finish my back, I could lean against you while you massage my front.
Todd: I don't know if I can handle that much weight pressing against me. You might crush me.
Tea: Every fat joke you make adds another ten minutes to my massage.
Todd: Since when is that the rule?
Tea: Since now.
Todd: That's not fair. You're making the rules up as you go along.
Tea: If you make the joke, you'll pay the price.
Todd: Can't we negotiate?
Tea: No.
Todd: Are you sure?
Tea: What did you have in mind?
Todd: Every fat joke I make...
Tea: Yes?
Todd: ...you can exchange for one kiss.
Tea: Two kisses.
Todd: You're a tough negotiator, Delgado.
Tea: I'm a lawyer, remember?
Todd: I never forget. Why do you think I'm still here, suffering through this?
Tea: For my lawyer skills?
Todd: I can't think of another reason. Can you?
Tea: My cooking?
Todd: Don't you mean Carlotta's cooking?
Tea: Hey! I've cooked.
Todd: You've thawed. I don't think it counts as cooking if you don't make it yourself.
Tea: I did...that one time.
Todd: You mean the time you forgot to put noodles in the lasagna?
Tea: It was a different kind of lasagna.
Todd: Yeah...the wrong kind.
Tea: Fine. I'll never cook again.
Todd: Good.
Tea: You can be the cook in the family.
Todd: I think all of our stomachs will be safer if we keep letting Carlotta bring tons of food every time she comes up here.
Tea: I feel guilty about that.
Todd: I don't.
Tea: I don't want her to burden herself so much.
Todd: Burden? I've given her so much cash, she should be able to afford to open up another diner pretty soon.
Tea: She puts all that money into the program you encouraged her to start when I was sick.
Todd: That program wasn't my idea.
Tea: You didn't suggest that she start a program to supply meals to families when one of the members is seriously ill, to help lessen their burden during their difficult time?
Todd: I definitely didn't suggest that. That doesn't sound at all like something I would suggest.
Tea: I was there, Todd. I remember.
Todd: Well, I don't...and I never will.
Tea: Why do you always want to hide your generous nature?
Todd: That's easy. It's because I don't have one.
Tea: I don't feel like debating with you about this anymore.
Todd: Good.
Tea: I know that you have a tremendous capacity for generosity and right now I want you to show it by massaging away all of the bad feelings left over from my nightmare.
Todd: I want it noted that I'm not doing this to be generous.
Tea: Okay, give me your explanation. Why are you?
Todd: I think I can cop a feel.
[Tea laughs as she sits up and playfully pushes at his body.]
Todd: You think I'm kidding?
Tea: Actually, I hope you're not.
Todd: Oh, really?
[Tea and Todd reposition themselves on the bed so that Todd is sitting with his back against the wall the bed is next to and Tea is sitting in front of him. Todd touches her for a moment through the material of her nightgown.]
Todd: I can't work like this.
Tea: What's wrong?
Todd: I don't like the way this feels.
Tea: Do you want to stop?
[Todd leans his chest against her back and whispers in her ear.]
Todd: I want to strip you and touch your bare skin...all of your skin. You have so much more of it now than you used to.
Tea: That was a fat joke, mister. You owe me two kisses. Pay up.
Todd: Stand up, first.
[Tea moves to the edge of the bed and Todd pushes on her back, helping her stand up.]
Tea: I am still able to stand on my own, you know?
Todd: I thought with all that extra weight you're lugging around, you might need some help.
Tea: Now you owe me four kisses.
Todd: I was being generous. I thought that's what you wanted.
Tea: I want you to kiss me.
Todd: Tea...
[Todd stands up in front of her and brings his body against hers. He brings his mouth tantalizingly close to hers.]
Todd: You could gain a ton and you'd still be the most beautiful woman to me.
[Tea smiles at him. Todd smiles back.]
Todd: Do I get to strip you now?
Tea: Is that why you said that?
Todd: Why else?
Tea: I love you, Todd. I think my nightmare just reinforced for me how much I need you, how much I can't imagine living without you.
[Todd's smile disappears, replaced with an extremely serious gaze.]
Todd: You'll never have to, Delgado. This will never be easy but, I swear to you, it will always be. If everything wasn't so screwed up inside me, I would make love to you right now.
Tea: You still can...with your touch.
[Todd leans into her and places a gentle kiss on her lips. As it ends, he reaches for the material of her nightgown and pulls it over her body. He leaves her underwear on and takes her hand, as they return to the bed.
He intends to spend hours, if necessary, physically sharing his loving touch with her, until her nightmare of losing him is a faded memory that no longer haunts her.]
to be continued...
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