The Florencia Lozano Homepage - Fan Fiction
| ONE LAST TIME BY TIMA |
CHAPTER 76 |
ONE LAST TIME
chapter 76:
[Tea places the baby carrier down on the coffee table. She leaves their slumbering daughter and approaches her ex-husband.]
Tea: Will you try?
Todd: I suck at this. You knew that.
Tea: Neither of us has ever had a lasting relationship.
Todd: Our relationship has lasted for years.
Tea: We've been apart more than we've been together.
Todd: You never stopped giving a damn about me.
Tea: Did you stop?
Todd: I never gave a damn about me to begin with.
Tea: Did you stop caring about me? Did you ever start?
Todd: It's too late at night for all this talking torture.
Tea: It's morning, remember?
Todd: I haven't slept yet so it's still night.
Tea: I thought you never sleep?
Todd: I don't. It's just, when I'm around you, you always make me want to lose consciousness.
Tea: I exhaust you?
Todd: Better than anyone ever has.
Tea: You exhaust me, too. Minutes ago, upstairs, I was all set to fall asleep again, in your arms. You wouldn't allow me that comfort. Why is that?
Todd: I didn't think it would be comfortable for you. People sleep better when I'm not around.
Tea: Not this person.
Todd: Are you staying?
Tea: I want to, but I need to feel close to you.
Todd: I think I'm ready to do it again.
Tea: I'm not. I want to curl up in bed with you and sleep together, that's all.
Todd: Did I hurt you? Don't give me that look. You just popped a kid out. I don't know when it's okay for you to do that again.
Tea: We made love yesterday, remember?
Todd: Your grandmother's apartment...a steamy bathroom...a hard door... I seem to recall something about that.
Tea: I'm fine.
Todd: Are you staying?
Tea: Tell me how you feel about me.
Todd: Not in front of our kid. I don't want her thinking her old man's a wimp.
[Tea returns to where their daughter sleeps. She smiles as she watches the little girl their love created.]
Tea: We both need to be strong...for her.
Todd: If you're going to start saying all that junk again about how we can't be together because it would screw her up...forget about it! We're together. End of story!
[Tea removes Valencia from her comfortable, temporary bed. Valencia cries softly in response, until Tea hands their daughter to Todd. Within seconds, in her father's secure embrace, Valencia returns to sleep.]
Tea: This isn't the end of our story, Todd. This a new beginning...for all of us.
Todd: You're staying, right?
Tea: We're staying. That means you have to stay, too.
Todd: I have a newspaper to run.
Tea: Do they need you down there right now?
[Todd looks down at his daughter. The peaceful, trusting expression on her face as she sleeps in his arms melts his heart.]
Todd: No fair using our kid to get what you want.
Tea: What I want is for Valencia to grow up surrounded by love. I want her to witness the best parts of love.
Todd: There are best parts? I thought it all sucked.
Tea: I don't want her to believe that. Do you?
Todd: It does suck. You know that.
Tea: I'm not asking you to be overly demonstrative, but I don't want it to be secretive, either. I want her to know that we love each other, that when we created her, it was with love in our hearts.
Todd: Do you also want her to know that you seduced me while I was married to someone else and you were shacking up with some loser? Do you want her to know the truth about that part of it, too?
Tea: Correction -- I did not seduce you! But, you're right, some of the details it may be wise for us to avoid.
Todd: In other words, we should lie our asses off.
Tea: I'm not ashamed of what we did, no matter what the circumstances were. I can't say I'm proud of our timing, but I'm not ashamed. If we hadn't had that moment, we wouldn't have Valencia with us now.
Todd: All the junk in the past that you had to get through is worth it now?
Tea: Absolutely. Not just because we have her, but also because we have each other.
Todd: You were on your way out the door again a few minutes ago.
Tea: Because you were in the process of running out the door yourself. I know this is scary for you. I'm scared, too. I feel more vulnerable than I ever have before. We need to stop running. We need to start taking comfort in each other. Will you allow that? Will you allow us to be a family?
Todd: If I do, will you give up everything for me?
Tea: I have in the past.
Todd: What about now?
Tea: I know Llanview isn't the right place for us, but I can't disappear completely this time. I want my family, especially my grandmother, to be an important part of Valencia's life.
Todd: Okay, I'll spend time with that old lady, and even that flaky niece of yours, but I draw the line at Del.
Tea: What's wrong with my brother?
Todd: We don't have time for me to give you the whole list.
Tea: I'm not asking you to give up your sister. I don't think I should have to give up my brother.
Todd: I'm willing to give up my nephew, Kevin.
Tea: Such sacrifices, Todd!
Todd: Seriously, Tea. I want to go somewhere that no one knows I'm scum.
Tea: You're not scum, Querido.
Todd: I don't want her to end up hating my guts like Starr does. We have to find a place where the only eyes she'll ever see looking at me will be yours. We'll fool her into thinking I'm a decent person.
Tea: No deception will be necessary. She'll know exactly how wonderful you are from the kind of papi you'll be with her.
Todd: We're both giving up everything, right? Do we have a deal?
Tea: We don't have to give up everything.
Todd: All I need is you and my kids.
Tea: What about Starr?
Todd: We'll pick her up on the way.
Tea: On the way to where?
Todd: First, we're going to that country you sent me to the last time you sent me to get a quickie divorce. Then, we're getting a quickie marriage, anywhere in the world that you want to get hitched. Then, we go to Texas and get my kid away from Kevin and Kelly. After we've deprogrammed her, we'll go wherever you've always wanted to go.
Tea: What if Starr doesn't want to come with us?
Todd: She hates school way more than she hates me. As long as she knows she doesn't have to learn anything, she'll want to come with us.
Tea: She needs an education.
Todd: I need my family.
Tea: What about us?
Todd: You're part of our family. I thought that was clear.
Tea: How do you feel about me?
Todd: Not that again.
Tea: Yes, that again. I need you to keep reminding me, with your words and with your actions.
Todd: What about your words? What about your actions?
Tea: I won't give up my entire family for you. I won't give up my career forever. I will, however, agree to move somewhere that we can start over again without the past haunting us.
Todd: It always haunts me.
Tea: It haunts me, too, except when I'm in your arms.
Todd: You really think it's a good idea to trust each other?
Tea: I love you. I need to believe that this time we'll be strong enough to not sabotage what we both need.
Todd: You counted wrong.
Tea: Valencia needs two parents who aren't afraid to express their love, for each other, as well as for her.
Todd: You have to be a complete idiot to love anyone. I guess I always have been an idiot when it comes to you. I love you, Delgado.
[Todd looks down at his daughter, still safely encased in his arms.]
Todd: I love you, too. Now that I've said it, I don't have to say any of that junk again until you have a kid.
Tea: We both need to hear it...a lot.
Todd: You really want to put me through hell, don't you?
Tea: I want to tell you every day how I feel about you. I want to make you feel loved and adored, just the way you deserve to feel.
Todd: Like I said...hell!
[Tea laughs and kisses her exasperating lover on the cheek. Todd returns Valencia to her baby carrier and they bring her upstairs with them.
The next day, after an emotional farewell with the few Llanview residents they care about, Tea and Todd set out on an adventure with their daughter, their future uncertain, except for the love they know they'll share.]
THE END.
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2004 COPYRIGHT BY TIMA
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