The Florencia Lozano Homepage - Fan Fiction
| ONE LAST TIME BY TIMA |
CHAPTERS 52 - 54 |
ONE LAST TIME
chapter 52:
[Minutes later...
Todd and Tea return to his office and find Charlie Briggs holding their daughter as he sings a silly song to her.]
Todd (to Briggs): Get out!
[Tea approaches Briggs and takes her daughter from him. As he leaves the office, Briggs smiles, assuming that the little girl he was briefly baby-sitting must be Todd's daughter, as well as Tea's.
Todd waits until Briggs has left the office and closed the door behind him before he speaks.]
Todd: He knows.
Tea: Do you want this to be a secret?
Todd: She probably does.
Tea: She doesn't care about your past, or your reputation in this town.
Todd: She will...someday.
Tea: Right now, she just wants you to hold her and love her.
Todd: I can't...not here.
Tea: We could go to your penthouse. You can hold her for the first time in private.
Todd: I thought I made it clear that I won't screw up her life by being any part of it.
Tea: I think you want to be a part of her life.
Todd: If you go back to the penthouse with me, you're never leaving again. You know that, right?
Tea: My life isn't here in Llanview. It also isn't with you.
Todd: If you're going back to Simon, I won't stand in your way.
Tea: I don't have any intention of being with Simon. I won't be with anyone just because of Valencia.
Todd: Don't you love her enough to screw up your own life for her?
Tea: I love her enough to set a better example for her than the one that was set for me when I was a little girl.
Todd: Your mom didn't love your dad?
Tea: She left him.
Todd: You leave me all the time. Are you saying you never loved me?
Tea: We can't do this. We can't continue playing these games anymore.
Todd: I'm not playing. If you come back to me, I'll hold her, like you want me to.
Tea: I don't want you to hold her because that's what I want. I want you to do it because that's what you want. I also don't want to be with you just because you're scared, or because you're settling.
Todd: You're the one who would be settling.
Tea: Never again!
Todd: So, now you admit it?
Tea: I settled when I was with Simon.
Todd: You settled when you were with me.
Tea: I loved you. A part of me always will.
Todd: Which part?
Tea: The part that will never keep you from your daughter.
Todd: What about the part that wanted to live with me? Is that part gone forever?
Tea: Valencia is my priority now.
Todd: This could be good for her.
Tea: It would be a disaster for her. She deserves better than the constant confusion of the emotional roller coaster we always put each other through whenever we try to have a relationship.
Todd: Stop walking out the door all the time.
Tea: Can you honestly state that you'll never again try to push me out of your life?
Todd: Honestly, Tea...I don't want to do this here.
[Tea places Valencia into her stroller.]
Tea: We're ready to go.
Todd: Home?
Tea: To your home, not mine.
Todd: It could be yours. It could all be yours.
[Todd walks passed Tea and out of his office. She quickly follows as she pushes their daughter's stroller.
As they make their way toward the elevator, Tea notices a smiling Charlie Briggs.]
Tea: Thank you, Mr. Briggs, for watching my daughter.
Briggs: It was my pleasure. She's a cutie. What's her name?
Tea: Valencia.
Todd: Valencia Delgado Manning. I want an article in the next edition announcing to the world that I've got another kid. And, put some quotes in about how happy and proud I am, or whatever junk normal people put into that kind of thing.
Briggs: Will you be including a photograph?
Tea: I happen to have a few.
[Tea reaches into her large purse and retrieves a thick packet of photographs. She browses through them for a moment until finding her favorite one. She shows it to Todd before handing it to Briggs.]
Briggs: Where should I send this when we're done with it?
Tea: I have my own copy. Just leave it on Todd's desk when you're done.
Briggs: I'll put it in a frame so Mr. Manning will have his newest daughter with him while he works.
Todd: Stop kissing up. I'm not paying you more money. I'll be out of town for a few days so you'll be taking over the paper until I get back.
Briggs: Where are you going?
Todd: Is that any of your business?
Briggs: What if I need to get in touch with you?
Todd: Don't!
[Todd walks away.]
Tea: Thank you, Mr. Briggs. It's wonderful to see you again.
Briggs: You have no idea how glad I am to see you...both of you.
Tea: Todd's been impossible lately?
Briggs: Every time I think he can't get more impossible, he surprises me.
Tea: I understand...believe me.
Todd (bellowing): Delgado? You coming?
[Tea resumes pushing her daughter's stroller toward the elevator.]
Tea: I'm glad to see you're in such a hurry to bond with your daughter.
Todd: We can do that bonding thing tonight, but tomorrow I'll need you to be my lawyer again.
Tea: Why? What did you do this time?
Todd: Why do you always think I've done something?
Tea: Because, usually you have.
Todd: All I need you to do is get me a quick divorce.
Tea: Is that all you expect me to do? Because, we're not getting back together and we're certainly not getting married again.
Todd: Did I say anything about us getting married?
[The elevator arrives. Todd steps aside and allows Tea to enter with the stroller first. As he enters, he pushes the button for the parking garage.]
Todd: We can't get married until this divorce is out of the way.
Tea: We're not getting married. That's final!
Todd: You'll marry me.
Tea: No, I won't.
Todd: Don't worry. I'll let you seduce me one last time while I'm still a married man. I know how much you liked that the last time. Is it too soon for you to get knocked up again?
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ONE LAST TIME
chapter 53:
[As they enter the penthouse, Tea is still arguing against Todd's assumption that they'll resume their relationship.]
Tea: Do you hear me?
Todd: I've been hearing you the whole way here.
Tea: You would have had a reprieve, if you hadn't been so chauvinistic about insisting that you drive all of us.
Todd: Driving the family around is a guy thing. How is that chauvinistic?
Tea: We're not a family...not in the traditional sense, and we never will be.
Todd: Blah, blah, blah.
Tea: I'm serious.
Todd: So am I. You're coming with me tomorrow. I'll get a quickie divorce. We'll get a quickie marriage. It will be our first trip as a family. Valencia's okay taking a plane, right?
Tea: She's not leaving the ground.
Todd: You want to leave her here with Carlotta?
Tea: She'll be going home with me. If you want to get a divorce, go ahead. Just understand that there will be no marriage in our future.
Todd: You want to just shack up?
Tea: I'm not living with you. I'm not marrying you. I'm not having a relationship with you. Is that understood?
Todd: Why not? Come on, Tea, give me a good reason. And, none of that you need to be an independent woman lame excuse stuff you've been babbling about all the way here. Give me a real reason.
Tea: We are here so that you can spend time with your daughter. That's all. Speaking of which, you haven't even held her yet.
Todd: I'll hold her and then I'll go pack for our trip.
Tea: We're not getting married!
Todd: You don't need to yell.
Tea: I feel that I do. You seem to be deaf in one ear and unable to hear anything I say, except what you want to hear.
[Tea takes a deep breath and tries to calm down.]
Tea: I'll go upstairs so you and Valencia can have a few minutes alone.
Todd: You don't have to go.
Tea: Yes, I do. Trust me.
[Tea rushes upstairs. Todd leans down and for the first time reaches his hands out toward his daughter, as he removes her from her stroller.
He holds her delicately in his arms as he moves across the living room toward the large window.]
Todd: In case you haven't figured it out yet, your mom has the smallest bladder of anyone, ever. Hers is probably smaller than yours. But, even if she didn't need to use the john, she would have split anyway. She wants us to do that bonding thing. She thinks that if she just leaves us alone for a few minutes and I hold you, I'll melt into a puddle like she did when she first held you. After the agony you probably put her through, I bet she was thrilled to finally have you out. I'm sorry I wasn't there when you popped out. I only seem to be around for the births of kids that aren't mine. But, I'll be around from now on, until you figure out you hate me and tell me to get lost. Your sister did that. She used to look at me the same way you are right now, but she doesn't anymore. Maybe if I take you and your mom far away from here it will take longer for you to figure out I'm scum. Your mom already figured that out, but she seems okay with me anyway. It's just going to be you, me and her for a while, at least until Starr, that's your sister, decides to forgive me for screwing everything up for her. But, you don't have to worry about that. Delgado won't let me screw everything up for you. When she first told me about you, and she was pushing me to be your dad, I was worried that she wasn't protecting you from me, like she should. But, maybe she's right. Maybe I can do this without screwing everything up this time. Don't ever tell her I said she might be right. I don't want her thinking she won.
Tea: I would say the winner is our daughter.
[Todd turns toward the voice of his ex-wife.]
Todd: Eavesdropping, Delgado?
[Todd watches intently as Tea descends the staircase.]
Tea: If I wanted to eavesdrop, I would have stayed upstairs and done so.
Todd: You're not going to be a very good mom if you don't eavesdrop.
Tea: I plan on having an open, honest relationship with our daughter.
Todd: Until she's old enough to start doing stuff behind our backs.
Tea: You, standing there, holding our daughter, is a very beautiful picture.
Todd: One you could see every day, if you'd stop being stubborn.
Tea: I need to be stubborn about this. The choices we make affect more than just the two of us. We need to do what's best for our daughter.
Todd: If you think having me around is best for her, why isn't it best for you?
Tea: Maybe it is. But, our trying to have a relationship again wouldn't be best for her.
Todd: Why not?
Tea: It never works.
Todd: That's not my fault.
Tea: Yes, it is. It's my fault, too. Maybe neither of us is capable of sustaining that kind of relationship. But, our relationship with our daughter will be different.
Todd: I couldn't do that sustaining thing with Starr.
Tea: You'll get your relationship back on track.
Todd: Even if I did, I'd just screw it up again.
[Todd approaches Tea and hands the baby to her.]
Tea: You can hold her longer. We don't have to leave right away.
[Todd returns to the window, turning his back on Tea and Valencia as he stares out the window.]
Tea: Todd...
[Tea walks closer to him.]
Tea: Everything will be okay.
[Todd turns and finds her at his side. He looks down at his daughter and then back into Tea's eyes.]
Tea: It will be. We'll make this work. No fighting over custody, okay? Right now, she needs to be with me. When I stop breast feeding, she can spend more time here with you. Just promise me that you'll never take her away from me.
[Todd's heart aches at the pain he sees in her eyes. He knows that he caused her that pain with his actions in the past, even though his previous attempts to keep his children away from their mother wasn't directed at her. He understands the fear he sees in her eyes. It amazes him even more that she came to him after learning that he was the baby's father and told him the truth. She could have protected herself by keeping him from knowing about his daughter, but she didn't. She's sharing the most important person in her life with him, despite knowing the potential danger that always lurks inside him.
Todd fully turns his body toward her.]
Todd: You'll never regret this. I'll get it right this time. I'll make both of you proud of me.
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ONE LAST TIME
chapter 54:
Tea: We already are proud of you.
Todd: Don't start lying to me now.
Tea: I'm not lying. I am proud of you. I know how difficult it was for you to risk your heart again.
Todd: What makes you think I'm risking anything?
Tea: Because, I know you, my friend.
Todd: That's what you really want...just to be friends?
Tea: What I want is irrelevant.
Todd: Not to me.
Tea: It was in the past.
[The hurt look on Todd's face as he returns his gaze to the view, affects Tea. It affects her so much, she feels the need to flee before her heart leads her to do something she knows she'll later regret.]
Tea: We should go.
[As Tea leaves his side, Todd turns toward her and watches as she places their daughter in her stroller.]
Tea: I'll bring Valencia back next week for another visit. What day would be good for you?
Todd: You don't have to leave town.
Tea: I don't live here anymore, remember?
Todd: If Carlotta kicked you out, you can stay here. Even if she didn't, you can stay here. I'll even let you seduce me again.
Tea: We can't play these games with each other anymore.
Todd: What games? I'm offering you what you want.
Tea: What I want is for our daughter to grow up feeling secure.
Todd: There's no such thing.
Tea: There will be for her. It may be too late for us, but it's not too late for her. She won't grow up so terrified of abandonment that she can never allow herself to fully risk her heart with anyone. Not my daughter. She will grow up secure in our love for her, because we'll never leave her. We'll make certain that neither of us ever has a reason to leave. Love won't be terrifying for her. It won't be painful.
Todd: You're dreaming.
Tea: Maybe. But, in my dreams, she'll come to me one day and tell me that she's in love and that she feels loved in return. She'll have a beautiful smile on her face from the joy she feels. I'll sacrifice everything to have that moment with my daughter.
Todd: What if you give up everything you want and she still ends up miserable?
Tea: That won't happen.
Todd: You're using her to run away from what we have.
Tea: We don't have anything. We came together for a moment and we created her. I'll always be grateful for our time together for that. But, I want more for her than the on-again, off-again mess we called a relationship. I want to raise her without any of the baggage holding her down that has always held both of us down. I don't want her to grow up the way we did. I don't want her to expect abandonment. I don't want her to push away love because she learned at an early age how painful love can be.
Todd: That's exactly what you're doing.
Tea: I don't want her to ever feel this pain, loneliness and longing for love that we both know we'll never have. Do you?
Todd: No.
Tea: Good! We agree. We'll be friendly ex-spouses sharing the responsibility of raising our daughter. Nothing more.
Todd: It won't work. You can't keep your hands off me.
Tea: I'll have to resist the temptation.
Todd: So, you are tempted?
Tea: I finally found a desire stronger than my desire to be loved by you. A lifetime of our daughter's happiness is worth more to me than a few moments pretending that I'll ever be anything more than a temporary distraction for you. We need to leave now. I'll bring her back next week, I promise. I'll call in a couple of days and we'll make the arrangements for our next visit.
[Tea confidently pushes the stroller to the door and exits the penthouse. It isn't until she enters the elevator moments later that she finally allows her protective walls to crumble as the tears begin to flow down her cheeks.
Hours later...
At Carlotta's house, Tea is sleeping when she suddenly awakens in a panic. Her heart races at the realization that someone other than her daughter is sharing the darkened bedroom with her.
Tea sits up in bed and begins a stream of curses in Spanish.]
Todd: Calm down. It's just me.
Tea: I know exactly who it is, that's why I'm so angry.
Todd: What did I do?
Tea: You broke in here, for one thing.
Todd: It's not my fault Carlotta's cop kid never cared enough to make it harder to get in here.
Tea: Why are you here?
Todd: I wasn't stealing the kid.
[Tea takes a few deep breaths, trying to calm her anger.]
Tea: I didn't think that.
Todd: Sure, you did.
Tea: I didn't. But, I need you to respect my decision.
Todd: I didn't come here to tell you you're acting like an idiot.
Tea: Why did you come?
Todd: This is how I spend my nights.
Tea: You haven't watched me sleep in months.
Todd: You've got a big ego thinking I came to watch you.
Tea: You came to watch the baby?
Todd: I watched Starr. If I don't watch Valencia, what will she think?
Tea: That she has a normal father?
Todd: Watching your kid sleep is abnormal?
Tea: It is when you do it every night, all night long, especially when you have to break into someone's home to do it.
Todd: Valencia's not calling me names in some other language. She's okay with this.
Tea: Only because she's asleep. If you wake her, she'll be crying at you.
Todd: I'm good at making sure that people don't know when I'm watching them.
Tea: I wouldn't brag about that, if I were you.
Todd: Why not? It's the one thing I'm good at.
Tea: We're going home in the morning. Will I need to install one of those cameras in her room that allows you to watch her over the internet, to keep you from following us?
Todd: I won't have to follow you. I'll be the one doing the driving.
Tea: I told you earlier...
Todd: I know what you told me. Now, I'm telling you how we're really doing this.
to be continued...
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2002 COPYRIGHT BY TIMA
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