(part 31 by Smiles)

"Arabella?" Todd called out again, holding his breath. The air left his lungs with a giant whoosh as he realized that it was not Arabella, but that little hellion niece of Tea's, Roseanne.

Roseanne cocked one eyebrow and gave Todd a sly smile. " I heard you were back in town. Long time, no see, Todd."

Todd grunted non-comittally.

"What did you call me just then? Arabella? Mistake me for someone else, or is one of your personalities hallucinating?"

Roseanne's smug grin faded as Todd turned and looked her in the eye. "I'm not hallucinating, little miss thing. Just a little tired and confused. Speaking of tired and confused, how's married life treating you?"

It was Todd's turn to grin as Roseanne's eyes filled with tears. Todd had heard all about Roseanne's little deception and wasn't surprised about the price she was paying for it now. She deserved everything she got. Todd knew how it felt to be tricked into marriage. Even if she was kin to Tea, she was as different from Tea as night is from day. He felt no compassion for her.

Roseanne glared at Todd and said, "You haven't changed a bit have you, Todd?"

"Actually, I have changed. I no longer have the time or patience for kid's games. Get outta my way. I've got places to be."

Todd pushed past Roseanne and continued to the edge of the docks. He turned around and yelled at Roseanne's retreating back, "Hey, Rosie girl. Tell Tea I need to see her. We've got some things we need to get straight between us."

Roseanne was too far away to hear, so he yelled a little louder. "Do you hear me, Roseanne? Tell Delgado we need to talk!"

Roseanne didn't respond, and Todd turned back toward the water.

"If you've got something to say, why don't you just spit it out, Todd?" Todd whirled around. The voice was unmistakable. Tea stood in front of him, hand on hips.

'It's now or never,' Todd thought to himself.

(to be continued)

(part 32 by Missin)

"Where did you come from? Lurking around the docks was a game you played while we were married, and you snuck around to play with Andrew," Todd said with arrogance.

"Oh! Is this what you wanted to talk to me about, Todd? My past, and the hell you made for me? Because if it is, forget it. I'm not playing that game with you anymore."

Tea turned to walk away.

"Look, Delgado. I don't want to fight."

"Funny,” Tea said. “That's all you ever want to do."

"Not anymore. I'm trying to get on with my so-called life. And there are things I have to settle. Things with you, with Blair... stuff!"

“Stuff? What stuff do we have to settle? It was all settled 15 months ago. And what stuff do you and Blair have to settle?" Tea asked smugly.

"Well, for one, Starr. And... and... that stuff has nothing to do with you anyway."

"I disagree, Todd. You and your 'stuff' with Blair have always been something I had to deal with. Or are you forgetting that I went out a window because of that 'stuff?'"

"Nevermind. This isn't working the way I wanted it to."

Todd turned and walked away. Then turned back and said...eerily, "I haven't forgotten anything you've done, Delgado."

Then he walked toward the water.

"What's that supposed to mean, Todd? Todd??”

(to be continued)

(part 33 by RogerLuvr)

Todd continued walking away. Téa continued to yell after him. She took off her shoe and threw it at him. She missed.

"Damn you, Todd! Why do I let you do this to me time after time?!" she yelled.

Todd stopped and picked up the shoe; he turned to her and said, "You have a nasty habit of throwing things. Your habit almost killed you that night in the Cabana."

She caught up to him and ripped her shoe out of his hand. "You mean our wedding night? The night I found out that you lied to everyone in Llanview? The night we were on the bed, about to make love and then the truth came out? How dare you say you remember everything I have done to you!?" she said with a annoying laugh.

"Téa, there is so much you don't know about me. Things you don't want to know." His voice became louder. "You think I haven't thought about all the people I have hurt or used in my life?! You think I am some heartless bastard?! Well!?"

Téa stood there speechless as Todd yelled at her. Tears filled her eyes as her ex-husband let loose and opened up more.

"I...I don't know why I do half the shit I do. I just act without thinking. It's like I don't know what is real half the time. The only thing I know is real in my life is Starr. And I am so afraid I will mess her up, just like my old man did! When I came home from being 'dead,' I didn't want to see her. Viki made me hold her." Todd closed his eyes remembering the first time he held his daughter. "The way she smelled, the way her eyes looked right into my soul. She wasn't afraid of me. To her I wasn't a monster. I was nothing but her Daddy. And you know what, Delgado? That is the only time, the ONLY time I have felt love like that in my whole sorry life. And you were always asking me to 'love' you. Don't you get it? I can't! The closest I came to that feeling was with Blair, then she left me. Everyone I ever thought I 'loved' left me."

(to be continued)

(part 34 by VTW)

Tea glanced coldly at her ex-husband. “Well, Todd, if everybody you love leaves, then you have no one to blame but yourself. All you know how to do is lie and manipulate.”

Todd shook his head in disgust. “And you never had faith in me, Delgado. You never even let me explain what the hell I was going through that night-our wedding night. You called me a rapist and drew your own conclusions.”

Tea was incensed. “You’re joking right? I never had any faith in you? Please. That’s nothing but a bunch of bullshit, Todd. I never stopped having faith in you, until you lied to me yet again.”

“I wasn’t lying, Goddammit!” He shouted. His voice reverberated in the air like a gunshot blast.

Tea stepped back a little. “What are you saying to me?”

Todd took a deep breath and tried to calm down. “In the beginning, yeah, I was trying to think of anything I could to prevent myself from spending three centuries in jail. But then…I don’t know… it seemed that these people in my head were really there and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop them from taking over.”

He ran his fingers through his hair and paced around the docks restlessly. “I was scared and fucked up, and I had no one I could turn to, not even you.”

“You could have turned to me, Todd,” Tea cried. “For god’s sake why didn’t you just tell me?”

He looked at her tiredly. “Because I didn’t have enough faith or trust in you, Delgado,” he said simply. “I guess that’s what it all boils down to. I couldn’t trust you not to turn on me.” He laughed bitterly. “And that’s what you wound up doing anyway.”

Tea scrubbed back tears. “So why are you telling me this now, after all this time?”

Todd shrugged his shoulders. “I really don’t know why. I guess I wanted you to know I’m not the heartless bastard that you think I am.” He walked to her and stopped inches from her face.

“On our wedding night I was fully prepared to make love to you, Tea. I was so into it, and so into you,” he whispered. “I wish I could have, I would have made you happy.” He stared at her for a beat and cupped her face in his hands.

He kissed her mouth lightly and then her forehead. “I’m sorry for any pain I caused you, Delgado. I truly am,” he whispered. “I hope some day you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”

He stepped back from her. “Goodnight.” He turned and walked down the docks quietly.

Tea stood rooted to the ground. She put a trembling hand to her mouth and wondered for the umpteenth time how it was that Todd managed to curl himself around her heart and her soul…again.

****************************

Todd let himself into his house and dropped his keys on the coffee table. He rotated his neck and flopped down on the sofa. He really needed to get some work done on the house. The kitchen cabinets needed to be varnished and painted. And there was a ton of stuff to be done in the rest of the house as well.

His cell phone rang and he reached in his coat pocket and grabbed it.

“Yeah?”

“Todd, is that you?”

Todd grinned. “Well who else is it gonna be, Blair? The Easter bunny?”

“Ha Ha, Todd. You really should go on Lettermen, you know that? You’d knock ‘em dead,” Blair said drolly.

Todd settled back against the couch and smirked. “I’m sure you didn’t call just to be a little smartass, didja? What’s up?”

“Well, I thought that tonight might be a good night to take me and Starr out to dinner. That is if you’re not too busy.”

Todd smiled lazily and stared at the ceiling. “I might be able to swing that.” He mentally dismissed the salami sandwich and beer he was going to wolf down. “If you ask me nicely,” he added.

Blair snickered. “Pretty please m’lord?” She joked with saccharine sweetness.

“Get tarted up wench, and get my little wench in something frilly and cute, too. I’ll pick you up in a half an hour. Don’t keep me waiting.” He punched off the phone before she had a chance to respond or argue.

He sprang off the couch with newfound energy. He couldn’t wait to see Shorty. And Blair was always fun to torture and tease. He headed for the shower whisteling happily. The evening was beginning to look up.

**********************

The three of them sat in a cozy booth at a little Cajun place Todd discovered an hour out of Llanview. The jukebox belted out the best Cajun bayou music they’d ever heard. A huge pile of crawfish sat in the middle of the table, and Todd and Blair were digging into them with an appetite. Starr was munching happily on fried catfish and french fries. The place was crowded and loud, and it was the most fun any of them had in a long while.

Todd watched in amusement as Blair split the shell off the crawfish with her thumbs and tipped the succulent meat in her mouth.

“I would have never believed the great Blair Holden, sucking down crawfish like they were going out of style. How many does that make now? Fifteen…twenty…?”

Blair smiled and pulled the head off a crawfish and tossed it on the platter of shells. “Twelve, thank you very much. God, these are fantastic. Where did you ever find this place?”

Todd took a long swallow of frosty beer. “I was antique hunting, and I just happened upon it.”

“Whoa, wait a minute. You were antique hunting?” Blair asked in astonishment.

Todd hunched his shoulders defensively. “Yeah, I was. So? What of it?” he mumbled. He stuffed a crawfish in his mouth and concentrated on his plate.

Blair hid a tiny smile. “Nothing, nothing…don’t get your boxers in a bunch. I was just a little surprised. Pleasantly so,” she added.

Todd glanced up at her and gauged her reaction. “Humpf,” he grumbled.

“Daddy? Would you dance with me?” Starr asked sweetly. The music was jumping and she was bouncing her tiny butt in her seat happily.

Todd grinned at her. “I’d love to. Come on Shorty, let’s bust a move.”

He pulled out her chair and swept her up in his arms. He moved into the thick crowd and set her down. He expertly danced with his tiny daughter, making sure that no one trampled on her.

Blair sat at the table with tears in her eyes. Father and daughter looked exactly alike, and the sight was so beautiful that it hurt. She couldn’t remember when she had a better time with Todd.

She smiled and scooted her chair out. She walked into the crowd and sidled up to Todd and Starr. “Can anyone join in this dance?” she yelled.

“Yes, Mommy, yes! Dance with us!” Starr shouted excitedly.

Todd glanced at Blair coolly. “Think you can keep up?” he challenged.

Blair ran her tongue over her full lips. “Oh yes indeed, I can,” she said silkily.

She moved in time to the beat and pressed her body up against Todd’s fleetingly. Todd lightly put a hand on her waist and danced sensually to the pulsing French music. He drilled her with a smoky look and kept the eye contact going until Blair blushed delicately. He was getting aroused, and the way Blair was staring at him, he knew that she was turned on herself.

The music ended all too soon, and he took a step back. “I think it’s time we start heading back,” he said a little breathlessly. He wasn’t about to get into a situation that could backfire on him.

Blair tipped her head to the side. Todd was like a different person. He was both shy and confidant, and it was sexy as hell. She glanced down at Starr.

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Starr will probably fall asleep the second she gets into the car.”

“I’m not sleepy, Mommy,” Starr said with a yawn.

Todd chuckled and swept her up in his arms. “Come on, honey. Time to go.”

***************************

Todd carried a sound asleep Starr into her bedroom and gently laid her on her bed. He took off her shoes and pulled a quilt over her.

“Goodnight, my angel,” he whispered. He kissed her soft little cheek and quietly left her room.

Blair was waiting for him in the living room. “Did she go down okay?”

Todd nodded. “Yeah, she was wiped out. She won’t wake up till the morning. All that dancing,” he said with a light little laugh.

The silence stretched on awkwardly for a bit.

Todd ran his hands through his hair. “Where’s Max?”

Blair looked at him. “Not here. I asked him for a separation. He moved out today.”

“Oh. Well, I…uh...I’m sorry.” Todd cleared his throat nervously and looked around. Blair nodded and said nothing.

Like an invisible string they moved toward each other simultaneously.

Todd’s breath was coming in hard, shaky, gusts. “What the hell am I doing?” he whispered.

Blair cupped his face and brushed her lips against his. “Todd,” she moaned with need.

Todd clenched his jaw and jerked her to him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her passionately. He moved his hands all over her back and then lower until they found her soft bottom.

He tilted it up and rubbed his erection against her crotch. “God Blair,” he groaned roughly. He buried his face into the side of her neck and breathed in her smell.

Blair trembled and held on to him tightly. “I never stopped loving you. Never. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t deny you anything, Todd,” she whispered softly. “You do believe that, don’t you?”

He nodded and pressed his forehead against hers. He did know it. They might have been at odds and fought fiercely, but she was the mother of his child, and he knew when it came right down to it he could always count on her to be in his corner.

“Yeah, I know it,” he murmured. He scooped her up and deposited her on the couch. He stretched out on top of her and kissed her softly on her eyelids, nose, and then finally her mouth.

Blair wrapped her legs around him, trapping him within her slim thighs. “I had forgotten how good you feel. And how you make me feel…safe and protected.”

He looked into her eyes and smiled. “I’m glad. From now on you can count on me, Blair. I know I’ve been a lousy parent, but I promise you that it’ll never happen again.”

She put a finger to his lips. “Hush now, that’s not true at all. You have always been an excellent father to Starr, Todd. She adores you as much as you worship her.”

“I do worship her. I’d die for her in a heartbeat. But that’s not what I meant. I’ve been absent a lot of the time in Starr’s life. And that’s wrong, and I have to face that painful fact and rectify it. I plan on being there for Shorty…now and forever.”

Blair smiled through her tears. “You’ve changed. I can see it in your eyes. You’re a different person and yet the same. I like it, Todd. I like a lot.”

She kissed him on his mouth and trailed feathery kisses down his jaw line and onto the side of his neck.

Todd moaned and unbuttoned the first three buttons of her blouse. He kissed the warm, exposed flesh of her breasts with infinite care. He rubbed his chin back and forth over them and let his breath fan over her like a caress.

He sighed with regret and eased up off of her, taking her with him. He wasn’t ready to break the contact with her yet. He pulled her on his lap and held her for a while.

“It wouldn’t be right if we made love tonight, baby,” he whispered.

Blair nodded. “I know. But I want to so badly.”

Todd laughed a little. “I know the feeling, trust me. You’re a sexy, desirable woman, Blair. You always have been. And right now I’m so hard I can’t even think straight.” He sighed deeply. “I’m just starting to get my life together again and when we do make love I want to know that it’s clean and right. Do you understand that?” he said seriously.

“I do, Todd.” She took a shaky breath. “And it’s ‘when,’ not ‘if’ we make love?” she asked emotionally.

Todd brushed a lock of her golden hair behind her ear. “I think so, Blair. I don’t know what’s going to happen between us, but I’m willing to explore and find out. Is that fair enough?”

She smiled softly. “Yes, it’s fair enough.”

Todd glanced at his watch. “I should leave now while I still can,” he said regretfully.

Blair laughed a little. “I guess that’s a good idea.” She rose and offered her hand to him. He placed his hand in hers and stood up.

They walked to the door together with their pinky fingers linked.

Blair looked up at him. “Thank you for the nicest evening I’ve had in a long time. I loved it, Todd, and I know Starr did, too.”

Todd grinned lopsidedly. “Shorty’s quite a dancer.”

Blair giggled. “I can see we are gonna have to lock her up when she’s sixteen. The boys will be calling.”

They both laughed a fell silent.

Todd leaned down and kissed her mouth then opened up her blouse and kissed her on her heart. “Goodnight, Blair,” he whispered, soft as mist.

Blair briefly closed her eyes. “Goodnight, Todd.”

She watched him walk to his car with a soft smile on her face, hopeful for the first time in years.

***************************

Todd let himself in his house with a light heart. He felt normal, and he felt well. For him, that was a miracle.

He hadn’t turned on a light, and the living room was bathed in moonlight. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a shadowy figure glide by. Then the smell hit him. He breathed it in. Jasmine.

“Arabella?” he whispered.

(to be continued)

(part 35 by Em)

“Who the hell is Arabella?” Tea asked in the darkness.

Stunned, Todd quickly flipped on the living room light.

“Tea, I…How did you know I lived here? Where did…? Have you been following me?” He was completely flustered.

“Do you think I have nothing better to do with my time than to follow you around, Todd?” she asked snippily. She took a deep breath to settle her nerves. This was not how she expected this to go. “I was at the courthouse and noticed a request for an upgrade to an historic building with your name on it. It was all very innocent,” she admitted.

“Okay, but that doesn’t explain why you’re here now,” he said cautiously.

“I’ll admit, I was curious. I wanted to see what you were doing with an old house. It’s quite beautiful,” she stated, looking around at the paneling. “Who did all this work?”

“I did,” he pronounced proudly with a satisfied grin on his face.

Tea’s eyes grew large. “You? I didn’t realize you knew one end of a hammer from the other, Todd.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Delgado.” His tone was suddenly serious.

“I’m finding that out,” she spoke quietly. “I’ve been thinking about what you said to me earlier this evening. I’ve been thinking about it a lot.”

“And what did you decide?”

“Nothing…yet,” she sighed as she started pacing around the room.

She looked as though she was trying to build up her courage or convince herself of something. Suddenly, she stopped mid-stride and turned to Todd with a determined look on her face. She strode up to him confidently and placed a gentle, but firm kiss on his lips. He was still rather worked up from his visit with Blair earlier, and he responded to her soft lips.

When they broke the kiss, they stared deeply into each other’s eyes. Both were too stunned to speak. A light blush tinged their faces.

Finally, Tea came to her senses enough to question, “Who the hell is Arabella?”

(to be continued)