The Florencia Lozano Homepage - Fan Fiction
Chapter 19
<<<“Yes...everything is different, Todd. I’m getting married in 5 days.”>>>
Todd stood perfectly still, staring at the glittering ring on her slender finger, a diamond solitaire flanked by two rare, yellow diamonds on a platinum band. Her words had the omnipotent impact of a wrecking ball and they demolished him. In an instant, something that seemed so solid started falling apart...everything was suddenly crumbling into fragments.
“His name is Paul Adams and...uh...we met about six months ago...right after you left me for Blair.”
“I never left you for Blair,” he said in a strained voice, under his breath, barely able to speak.
Tea shook her head, struggling to make sense.
“No...not you, well...not really you...the other Todd...Gemini,” she said, feeling confused. “You’ve been away a long time, Todd. You...well, Gemini, has been in love with Blair for many years now. I don’t think I was even a factor in your life...I mean, his life.”
“Gemini was brainwashed to want Blair and a family...apparently that served their agenda. Why are you punishing me for something I had nothing to do with, Tea?”
“You think I’m punishing you? You think it’s that simple?”
“YES! You’re not marrying this guy! YOU’RE MINE! I been sitting in that fucking cell, going out of my fucking mind for three years, Tea, and all I wanted was to come back to you. Don’t tell me I can’t have that! DON’T YOU DARE TELL ME THAT, TEA!” he shouted furiously.
Tea shook her head.
“It gets more complicated. Todd...you and Blair, you have, she said, looking away in anguish, “you have another child.”
Todd walked over to her.
“What did you just say?”
“You have a son, a son you adore. His name is Jack.”
Todd shook his head, his long hair falling in his face.
“I have one kid with Blair, that’s Starr! If Blair has another kid it sure as hell isn’t mine. It has nothing to do with us!”
Tea rubbed her temples, the events of the last few days taking their toll on her fraying sanity.
“If Gemini was a perfect genetic alter, than Jack is as much your son as he could possibly be, don’t you understand? If you get tested...he’ll be yours. And what are you going to tell Starr, that your clone has been loving her all these years? That her greatest wish, that of having both her parents together, has been some bizarre experiment proposed by a madman...and that you don’t want her mother, or her brother? You’ve been professing your love to Blair to anyone who’ll listen and Starr believes it too. Don’t you see what’s at stake here, Todd? You have no idea how complicated this has gotten.”
Todd sat down, staring at the floor.
“This doesn’t matter...it doesn’t matter. I’ll fix it when I get back to Llanview,” he said.
“Fix it? How, Todd? Whatever evidence existed about Gemini has just burned down to the ground. And are you prepared to tell the world that your...clone...has been living your life the last three years? The press would hound you forever...you’re life and you’re family’s life would become a three ring circus! Is that what you want?”
“NO! I don’t know...I have to think about it. Look, it doesn’t matter if anyone else believes me. You’re all that matters...only you.”
“I do believe you, God help me, I do. But...we’re not the same people we were three years ago, Todd. You’ve built a life with Blair.”
Todd shot up.
“I HAVEN’T BUILT A LIFE WITH BLAIR! THAT WASN’T ME! THAT FUCKING PSYCHOTIC FREAK BUILT A LIFE WITH BLAIR, NOT ME! Tea...come on, this doesn’t change anything between us.”
“How can you say that? You devastated me...or, Gemini devastated me when he chose to be with Blair. I won’t set myself up for that kind of pain again, Todd. I can’t. I’d rather die than feel that heartache again.”
He walked over and pulled her to him desperately, shaking her roughly.
“Tea...I love you. I didn’t choose Blair over you, not ever. Other people...people with some fucked up agenda made that happen. You’re getting all mixed up here, don’t you get it?”
Tea pulled away.
“No! Don’t you see? If Gemini was a replica of you, then maybe you’ll always wind up leaving me for Blair. Maybe she’s whom you really want. Maybe...just maybe you’re genetically predisposed to always hurt me, to always leave me...for her,” she cried irrationally.
Todd ran his hands through his long hair, shaking his head in frustration.
“Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? You’re making me crazy, Tea! I...don’t...love...Blair! Hell, I don’t even like Blair! I haven’t for years, not since I’ve been with you...you know that.”
“I don’t know anything anymore. I use to think what was between us was the most real thing that ever existed...and then, it all just...disappeared.”
“Tea, look, I know I was a jerk when we took off, but...we had a fight, that’s all. I just felt out of control, like you had all this power over me and it scared me. I was scared of feeling like I do with you...so gutted and, you know, exposed. You know that. You know me! When I went back to Llanview...I knew we’d be together again. I was just giving you some time to cool off, that’s all...then, all this shit happened...”
“I now that! I know that now, but...all this DID happen! Everything’s different now.”
“NO! No, no, no! Nothing’s changed. I love you...you love me...don’t tell me that’s changed. YOU LOOK ME IN THE EYE AND TELL ME THAT’S CHANGED, TEA!”
Tea turned away from him.
“You have a family to go back to, you have TWO kids with Blair...and I promised a good man who loves me that I’d be at the church to marry him in a few days. We’ve both moved on, Todd. And...I don’t think we can go back in time,” she cried, wiping her eyes.
“This is ridiculous! This conversation is ridiculous. MY LIFE WAS ROBBED FROM ME...I WANT IT BACK!”
Tea turned and looked up at his devastated face.
“There are other things you’ll have to deal with when you get back, Todd. Sam Rappaport was killed.”
Todd’s eyes narrowed, filling quickly with tears.
“What? Sam’s dead?” he said, in a shocked whisper.
“Lindsay, in some jealous rage, shot him by accident, thinking he was someone else. I don’t know all the details. I’m so sorry, querido...I know he was like a father to you,” she said, walking over and taking his hand in hers.
“And...there’s more.”
“More? What more? What else have I lost, Tea?” he asked, despondently.
“As you know, you’re father, Victor Lord, was alive and he changed his will, leaving everything to a man named Mitch Laurence, including your trust fund and Vicki’s fortune, The Banner, Llanfair, The Sun...everything. Although, I promise you I’ll look into the legality of this, I don’t think it will hold up in court but, it could take a while.”
Todd pulled his hand out of hers and walked slowly around the room in a daze.
“I’m so sorry, Todd.”
He looked over at her.
“Why did you come here? How did you know I was here?”
Tea laughed a little.
“Surreal, really. Would you believe, I kept dreaming you were calling to me? I haven’t slept in months. When you disappeared from Llanview recently, I hired this computer genius I know named Ivan Dexter to do a search and he tracked you...well, he tracked Gemini to this place. So...here I am.”
“Why? Why would you bail on your beloved fiance`, just before your wedding, to help me?”
Tea looked up at him with uncertainty, afraid to answer a question she’d been too afraid to ask herself.
“I..I don’t know...I just...needed to do this. I still care about you.”
“You CARE about me? You risked your life because you CARE about me? YOU LOVE ME...THAT’S WHY YOU’RE HERE! JUST SAY IT, TEA! YOU LOVE ME.”
Tea refused to answer, shaking her head.
“I’m marrying, Paul, Todd. That won’t change.”
Todd closed his eyes, his face a painful grimace.
“And please tell me what that was that just happened between us a little while ago? What was that, Tea...A CONSOLATION PRIZE? A PITY FUCK? HA? LET’S GIVE POOR TODD A PITY FUCK BEFORE I CRUSH HIM LIKE A BUG...”
Tea buried her face in her hands.
“I don’t know. That wasn’t suppose to happen.”
He walked over to her.
“That’s always going to happen...as long as we’re alive that’s going to happen! You’re going to marry this guy and you’ll be miserable because you want me! And I’ll be miserable wanting you! Is that what you want? Are you insane, Tea? HAS THE WHOLE FUCKING WORLD GONE INSANE WHILE I WAS AWAY?”
“No. It’s just moved on without you.”
Todd glared at her, his eyes filled with rage and dejection. Picking up his sneakers, he slipped them on, then turned and walked out the door, slamming it loudly.
2003 Copyright by Trog
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