*****

September 1995
Three days later, 2:00 AM
Greenwich Village

The city air was just beginning to get that fall crisp to it. Felt good to Todd Manning, as he sat on a bench in fairly deserted Washington Square Park. Probably not the brightest move in the word, sitting there alone in the middle of the night, but fuck it, what did he have to lose? He'd already lost everything.

Today had been particularly depressing. During his wanderings he had passed a baby store. Just over a year ago...he never would have even dreamed of going into some chick baby store. But today, he found himself drawn into it. The tiny clothes, the little toys. Imagining holding his son, rolling a tiny little ball to him. He was torturing himself, really. Making himself hurt, making himself pay for making the dumbass mistake of believing in Blair, and for allowing himself to believe.

Shaking himself out of his reverie, he stands up and begins walking out of the park. Not wanting to go back to his small, dark, lonely apartment, he decides to slip into one of the many bars on the edge of the NYU campus. It was almost liberating for him, watching the college students. Pretending he was one of them, not a care in the fuckin' world. Living an alternate college life than he had experienced.

He strolls in, the darkness of the bar making his arrogant stride seem even moreso. He pushes back his hair with his hand and sits down at the bar, ordering a double scotch, three rocks. The loud pulsing music feels good. The booming bass is like a hammer, beating the pain out of him, momentarily washing it away. Making him feel just like anyone else, for once in his miserable fuckin' life.

He takes a swig of his drink, glancing around the smoky bar. Typical college bar. Frat boys and sorority chicks looking to get laid. Looking to screw each other over and make each other's lives miserable in exchange for a few moments of physical pleasure. Whatever...wasn't worth it, he knew that now. Wasn't fuckin' worth it.

"Pint of Bass," he hears a woman's voice say loudly next to him. He glances over in her direction.

"Hey, if it isn't the coffee chick."

She turns towards him, slightly startled. Recovering, she smiles flirtatiously. "Hey, if it isn't the rich guy!"

"Aren't you supposed to be serving coffee with an attitude to the masses of hyper college students?"

"Contrary to popular belief, I do actually get a night off once in a while."

The bartender slides her drink towards her. Téa looks at him questioningly, waiting to see how much she owes him. The bartender smiles, sleaze written all over his face.

"On the house, sweetheart," he says, his eyes roaming appreciatively over her tight burgundy top.

Téa flashes him a thousand watt smile. "Thank you," she replies, giving him the tried and true 'fuck me' eyes. He smiles, then walks down the other end of the bar. As soon as he turns his back, Téa's smile disappears and she rolls her eyes.

"Good thing bartenders think with their dicks, otherwise I might actually have to start paying for drinks," she says dryly, taking a large gulp of her beer. Todd, in mid sip, sputters slightly at her remark.

"Classy lady," he replies, wiping his mouth with back of his hand, a hint of a grin on his face.

"Oh please, it's okay for guys to wax poetic about the various parts of a woman's anatomy, but the minute a woman so much as mentions a man's "unmentionables", she's low class. The double standard is unbelievable," she replies, sitting down in the stool next to Todd.

"Sit down, why don't you?" he says sarcastically.

"Thanks I will," she shoots back, grinning at him.

He shakes his head, slightly amused at her forwardness. "So..uhh..," he pauses for a second, "Delgado, right? Why in hell do you wanna be a lawyer?"

"Delgado? Do you always address women by their last name you charmer you?"

"Yeah, well, I don't remember your first name," he says bluntly.

"It's Téa."

"Whatever. So, why a lawyer?"

"Why not?"

"Typical woman. Answer a question with a question."

"Typical man, complaining about us typical women," she replies, grinning at him. She scoots her bar stool a little closer to him so they wouldn't have to yell so loud over the music. "By the way, I know why your name sounded familiar to me the other night."

"Finally found that rich guy database huh?"

"Cute. No, I heard it in one of my law classes. Your rape trial was a big topic," she says, taking a drink of her beer. Todd's face turns cold. He turns his head, staring at her icily.

"You're awfully non-chalant about bringing up a former crime to a rapist," he says slowly, a hint of anger in his voice.

Téa just shrugs. "Well it's not like it's not a matter of public record. If you don't wanna talk about, fine with me."

Todd's expressions becomes muddled with confusion at her reaction. "Wait, you're sitting in a bar, in the middle of the night, having a drink with a convicted rapist, bringing up the crime itself, and you're not the least bit nervous?"

"Should I be?"

Todd looks her up and down, his face changing expression yet again, this time an eerie anger clouding his face. "Maybe."

Téa just shakes her head at him. "I just told you I wasn't scared, so WHY are you trying to scare me?"

"Maybe I'm not trying, maybe I'm just letting you in on the truth."

"Truth? Look, I may not know you from Adam, but I'm a pretty good judge of character, and I also trust my gut. You've come into the coffeehouse in the middle of the night and stayed for a long time. There were times when you and I were the only ones in there. If you were gonna hurt me, you've already had plenty of opportunities. Besides, you went to jail, paid for your crime, right? You deserve a second chance as much as the next guy," she says matter of factly.

The music fills the silence between them as Todd takes in her words. He takes a swig of scotch, glancing at her, then back to his drink. She was confusing the living daylights out of him. Wasn't this the part where she ran screaming from the room? He turns fully towards her as a thought occurs to him.

"Oh I get it. Even a rapist can be a catch when he's loaded."

"Wow, you barely know me and already have such a low opinion of me. For once in my life, I can honestly say that my fear or lack thereof of you has nothing to do with your money. And by they way, don't flatter yourself. I'm not trying to 'catch' you. I'm being honest. Like I told you the other night, pretenses and games are nothing but a waste of time."

He eyes her closely, watching her face. Not that he was a fucking expert on people telling him the truth, but she seemed fairly sincere. Wasn't like he wasn't gonna be careful though, he had been 'trapped' and screwed over enough to last him 10 lifetimes. But what the hell, they were just talking right? And as much as he was playing the angry loner, part of him had to admit it felt okay to actually have a conversation with someone. Took his mind off his lousy fuckin' life.

He nods slightly at her, taking another drink of scotch. "So, how did the esteemed Todd Manning make it into law school?"

"Actually it wasn't so much you as it was your lawyer."

Todd's face darkens. "Oh really?"

"Yeah, it was my ethics class. The case was fairly current at the time, and my professor brought it up. Seems like your lawyer pretty much tanked the case on you."

"No kidding."

"So, we had lots of debates over whether she did the right thing, you know, morally, ethically, all that crap."

He leans closer to her, one elbow resting on the bar, his face deadly serious. "And which side were you on?"

Téa just shakes her head at his attempt to intimdate her. Not to be outdone, she leans closer to him, looking him right in the eyes. "I think that if you want to defend lily white do-gooders, you should stay away from the defense side of the law."

Todd raises his eyebrows, impressed despite himself at her fearlessness. "Good answer."

"Well, I'm not trying to impress you or anything, it's honestly what I believe. Not that I excuse what you did, at all. I mean, rape is a reprehensible crime," she pauses, eyeing him closely, noticing the twinge of revulsion in his features. She figured he'd be the self punishing type. Just something about him. "But," she continues, "everyone deserves representation. And your lawyer, regardless of personal feelings, is supposed to give you the best representation possible."

"When you gonna be done with school?"

"December."

"Good. I'll keep you in mind the next time I need a lawyer."

"You won't be sorry."

"Haven't even passed the bar yet and already a full blown lawyer's ego."

"What can I say, I'm good."

Todd smirks. "Yeah, I'll bet you are."