The Florencia Lozano Homepage - Fan Fiction
| REACHING OUT BY TIMA |
CHAPTER 5 |
PREVIOUSLY:
Tea: So, you still have an aversion to beautiful things?
Todd: Not all beautiful things.
Tea: Really? What beautiful things do you enjoy?
Todd: The ones that have dark hair, an in-your-face attitude, and the ability to stomach me.
[Todd steps behind Tea and slowly pushes the wheelchair carrying his beautiful, smiling ex-wife as she directs him toward the courtyard.]
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chapter 5:
[Minutes later, the ex-spouses are in the rehabilitation clinic's outdoor courtyard. Tea is laughing. Todd is smiling.]
Tea: How do you do it?
Todd: What?
Tea: Make me laugh when I'm miserable.
Todd: You're always miserable when you're around me.
Tea: Not always.
[There is an awkward silence for several moments.]
Tea: Are you hungry? Thirsty?
Todd: I'm not here for the refreshments.
Tea: Why are you here?
Todd: You called me, remember?
Tea: But, you claimed you never received my messages.
Todd: I didn't.
Tea: Then, my calling you is irrelevant. You came for some other reason. Why?
Todd: Briggs was worried about you.
Tea: So, you're here allaying Mr. Briggs' fears?
Todd: I have no interest in laying Briggs. He's not my type at all.
Tea: I take it you won't be answering my question, at least not seriously.
Todd: Ask me something that I'll want to answer.
Tea: How is Starr? It's been so long. I bet she's a lot taller than the last time I saw her.
Todd: Yeah, she's not as short as she was.
Tea: But, she's still your Shorty, isn't she?
[Todd looks away, a pained expression on his face.]
Tea (concerned): She is okay, isn't she? She's not sick?
[Todd returns his gaze to her eyes.]
Todd: No. She's fine. Medically, she's fine.
Tea: Is it something else?
Todd: It's nothing. Are you sure you're supposed to be out here?
Tea: I'm not a prisoner. I am allowed to leave the building.
Todd: Do you want to get out of here all together? We could go do whatever people do when they come to Puerto Rico.
Tea: I wouldn't mind showing you around...someday.
Todd: Why not today?
Tea: I'm not up for it, just yet. Maybe the next time you come, if there is a next time.
Todd: Are you telling me to leave?
Tea: No, of course not. I just assume that you need to get back, to your newspaper, your daughter, your...whatever.
Todd (smiling): You really are jealous, aren't you?
Tea: It isn't any of my business anymore, what you do, or with whom.
Todd: There is currently no whom that I'm doing anything with, except you. I don't need to go back right now. No one will miss me if I stick around here, bothering you, for a while.
Tea: Starr would.
Todd: She's not really too happy with me right now.
Tea: Why?
Todd: She was kind of counting on things working out with...
Tea: With her mother? She wanted her parents back together?
Todd: I guess...kind of...but, only enough to kill for it.
Tea: So, she's really disappointed, huh?
Todd: Yeah. She was really hoping Max would bite the big one.
Tea: You were joking about that, weren't you?
Todd: Nope.
Tea: Starr tried to kill Max? Max Holden? Little Starr? Sweet little Starr tried to kill Max Holden?
Todd: She's changed a little since you left town, I guess.
Tea: If she's trying to murder people, I would say so. Was she placed in a juvenile facility?
Todd: No.
Tea: They didn't prosecute her as an adult, did they?
Todd: No. She's better at getting away with attempted murder than her folks are.
Tea: She's in therapy at least, right?
Todd: No.
Tea: Well, the courts, or social services, must have gotten involved somehow.
Todd: No.
Tea: This is all a really bad joke, isn't it?
Todd: I wouldn't joke about this. You know that.
Tea (confused): How...
Todd: Maybe she got the idea from Blair.
Tea: Blair told her to murder Max?
Todd: No, but maybe Starr was just copying her.
Tea: Wait. Blair tried to murder Max, too?
Todd: Yep.
Tea: Is he still alive?
Todd: Unfortunately.
Tea: I'd say it's very fortunate, since if he did die your daughter, not to mention, your...whatever she is to you...could both be in serious trouble.
Todd: Oh, Blair is definitely in tons of trouble. Yeah, see, she made the mistake of trusting me after she shot her husband in the back.
Tea: She shot him? Did Starr shoot him, too.
Todd: Piranhas.
Tea: Piranhas?
Todd: In his bathtub. That was probably the one time in his life that Max was glad his wee little one didn't get feasted on.
Tea (shaking her head in disbelief): This is all just a bad joke.
Todd: I was thinking about it on the way here and it seems a lot more bizarre when you list it out and try to explain it to someone who wasn't there.
Tea: It seemed normal while it was going on?
Todd: Actually, yeah, in a bizarre way, it kind of did.
Tea: Todd...
Todd: Don't look at me like that. It's not like I wanted my kid to turn out as screwed up as I am.
Tea: Well, at least you recognize there's a problem here. Go home and take care of your daughter...really take care of her.
Todd: It's better if I'm here.
Tea: Not if your daughter needs you.
Todd: She doesn't need me.
Tea: It sounds to me like she does.
Todd: It's not like it was before, back when we were in this...whatever...together. Ever since I've been back in Llanview without you, everything's been really screwed up.
Tea: Well, go home and unscrew it. Todd, I was there. I remember when she was young and all that you wanted for her was to grow up happy, and loved. That man that I knew would be appalled at himself if he stood around and did nothing while his daughter spun out of control.
Todd: That's just it. I didn't stand around doing nothing. I was cheering her on.
Tea: You encouraged her to murder Max?
Todd: No, of course not.
Tea: Well, I'm glad to hear that.
Todd: I did encourage some of her other stuff.
Tea: Like what?
Todd: You know, little stuff. Blackmailing her teachers...
Tea: What?
Todd: She's hardly ever in school. You don't want her to flunk out, do you? She either has to blackmail, or bribe, if she wants decent grades.
Tea: Or, she could go to school, like she's required to by law.
Todd: Laws...you know, they always have loopholes.
Tea: Yes, and they're so easy to slip through when you grease the passageway with cash.
Todd: So, you understand?
Tea: No, I don't understand. You wanted better for Starr than what you had. What happened to the man I fell in love with?
Todd: If things had worked out between us...
Tea: You're blaming me?
Todd: No, but if they had, none of this would have happened.
Tea: Which means you are blaming me.
Todd: Well, it is your fault for not coming back, like you should have.
Tea: It sounds like it was a good thing that I didn't. I would have found you doing...whatever...with your ex-wife...your other ex-wife.
Todd: Well, I'm sure you've been doing some...whatever...with somebody else, too, haven't you?
Tea: As a matter of fact.
[Todd looks away, hurt that she tried to move on after him, despite the fact that he tried to move on after her.]
Tea: I'm sorry.
Todd: Don't be. It's not like I care.
Tea: I think maybe you do. Maybe I do, too. I wish I didn't. I wish that...
[Todd turns his face back in her direction, searching her eyes, needing to know what her feelings are for him now.]
Todd: What do you wish?
Tea: That it hadn't happened.
[Todd knows instantly that Tea is referring to the plane crash.]
Todd: This guy...this great guy who owns your heart now, was he on that flight, too?
[It's Tea's turn to look away, trying to hide from the pain, and the guilt, she feels.]
Todd: I'm sorry, Tea. That's rough.
[It takes more than a minute for Tea to steady her emotions enough to chance looking at Todd again.]
Tea: It...
Todd: It's okay. You don't have to talk about it. We don't have to talk about anything. We'll just sit out here and not talk. I'm good at not talking.
Tea: Don't I know it.
[Several minutes pass without either person speaking.]
Todd: Are you cold?
Tea: I'm fine.
Todd: Are you sure?
Tea: I'm positive.
Todd: Are you sure I won't get into trouble for having you out here like this. I don't want them to ban me from seeing you.
Tea: I decide who sees me, no one else.
Todd: Have you decided yet if I get to stay?
Tea: You need to be with Starr.
Todd: I think she was better off when I wasn't around.
Tea: That can't be true. Despite whatever bizarre things that are going on back there, I know that you love your daughter and I know that she needs you.
Todd: Does anyone need you?
[Tea's eyes tear up at the question.]
Todd: You got any kids?
Tea: No.
Todd: You should have kids, Tea. You should find someone that you love that you can have kids with.
Tea: I thought I had.
Todd: Well, maybe, someday...with someone else...
Tea: I thought that. When things didn't work out between us, I thought that.
Todd: And, you did find someone, right? I bet he was a great guy, not at all like that last loser you got hooked up with. Maybe someday, when your heart heals, you'll find the perfect guy for you. You know there are tons of guys out there that want someone just like you, that want the whole thing...house, kids, settling down...
Tea: All but the one man I really wanted that with.
[Todd searches her eyes, trying to figure out if she means what he thinks she means.]
to be continued...
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