"Daddy!"
Todd bends down and picks up his beautiful daughter. "Hey Shorty," he says, smiling.
Starr eagerly wraps her arms around her father's neck. "I missed you, Daddy."
Todd gently kisses her forehead, "I missed you too, Shorty."
Blair looks on. The nagging thought that Todd would try take Starr away from her again swirls in her brain.
Todd glances at her. "Thanks for bringing her by, Blair," he says.
"Well, she missed you a lot."
"You know, Viki's here, I mean if you have stuff to do."
Blair laughs, "You don't think I'm leaving, do you?" she pauses and walks closer to Todd, and continues in a whisper so Starr doesn't here. "If you do, then you are even crazier than you are pretending to be."
Todd looks at her angrily. He considers explaining...but why bother? Blair always saw only the worst in him. Let her believe what she wants to believe.
"Whatever," he replies, and turns his attention back to Starr. Blair, however, decides she does not want to let the subject drop.
"So, looks like you got the little woman to fall for your act again...I swear I sometimes wonder if Tea has a brain in that head."
Todd throws her a scathing look. He turns back to Starr and smiles. "Hey Shorty, your Aunt Viki is in the kitchen...why don't you go say hello?" Starr jumps up and races to see her aunt.
He slowly walks towards Blair. "Don't talk about Delgado like that...especially in front of Shorty."
"Tea's not her mother, I am," Blair shoots back.
"Tea is my wife and her stepmother and that is NOT going to change, Blair. Starr loves Delgado. And Tea is a great stepmother to her. You know she has no great love for you either, but she NEVER says anything bad about you in front of Starr and never lets Starr forget who her mother is. You can hate Tea...but don't let it affect Shorty."
Blair is silent. She does not like Tea at all...but if she were to let herself admit it...she knew Tea was good with Starr...and Starr did love her.
"Fine," she says icily.
Unknown to both Todd and Blair, Tea had walked in just in time to hear this exchange. It made her happy to hear Todd standing up to Blair on her behalf.
"Am I interrupting something?" she asks.
Todd and Blair both whirl around and look at her. Todd's angry face softens somewhat when he sees Tea.
"No, Delgado, nothing at all." He walks over to her. "I thought you were bringing your grandmother."
"Oh, well..Del is coming into town tonight...she wanted to wait for him."
Todd grins wryly, "Del, huh? Another member of my fan club."
Blair and Tea look at each other. "Hello, Blair," she says, controlling her anger for this woman.
"Tea."
"Tee!"
Starr comes running into the room and heads straight for Tea. Tea smiles at her stepdaughter and picks her up.
"Angelita!!" she kisses Starr's cheek. "You must be happy to see Daddy again."
Starr smiles, "Yeah...it worked Tee!"
Tea looks confused. "What worked, sweetie?"
"Well..I told Fred that you and me missed Daddy..and Fred told him so Daddy came home."
Tea smiles and hugs Starr close. "Starr...you make sure when you go home you give Fred a big kiss for me and tell him I said thank you."
Blair watches Starr and Tea with a twinge of jealousy. It irked her to no end that they had such a close relationship.
Meanwhile, Todd looks at the living picture of the two most precious things in his life...and thinks to himself that soon...he, Tea and Starr will be the family he always wanted them to be.

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

"Yeah?"
"Well?"
The man stumbled nervously, "Ah..sir..nothing yet...still working on it."
"I am getting impatient....Jose Delgado must not be allowed to testify...I don't care how you silence him...just do it."
Miguel Coronado hung up the phone. This was taking too long. He wasn't going to let a lowlife like Jose Delgado destroy everything he had built.

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

Llanfair....that night

It is a nightmare his twisted psyche had endured before...ever since last summer. A little boy sits on the stairs in his large home...and watches terrified as his father repeatedly hits his mother. He feels powerless...he can't stop him....he watches and listens in anguish as his mother yells in protest and pain....

The scene changes....a garden shed...he is grown up....he is looking at her...the one ...the love of his life...she is screaming at him...angry...screaming at him to rape her like he had the others....the rage comes and his fist connects with her beautiful face...sending her body flying across the room....so much like his father had done to his mother....

He is devastated...he walks over to her still form....and bends down....the tears close to spilling over...his hands shaking....

"Tea..." he whispers....
"Wake up....."
"Please...Delgado"
He is getting frantic...she isn't moving....he gently lifts her so her head is cradled in his lap...his stomach feeling sick at the bruise that is now forming on her forehead...his tears spilling onto her cheeks....terror rips through him as he realizes....she's not breathing.

"Delgado!" he screams...."NO! NO!!"

He rocks her....screaming in anguish...his arms tightening around her lifeless form....

Todd awakens from his tortured sleep...his own moans of terror ringing in his ears...sweat running down his face...his breathing ragged.
His eyes immediately search out Tea's picture...
She's alive, I know she is...
Without thinking, he jumps out of bed and races downstairs. He grabs Viki's keys and rushes out...he needs to see her....

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

The Palace

Tea is sleeping soundly after what has been a long day. A sudden knock on the door awakens her...but she turns over...thinking it is her imagination.

The knocking becomes louder and more insistent...Tea sits up...a pit forming in her stomach...
What's going on...
She gets up and puts on her long burgundy silk robe, and quickly goes to answer the door.
"Who is it?"
"Delgado..." Todd says, his voice shaking.
Tea throws open the door and is visibly shocked by the sight that greets her. Todd is completely disheveled...his hair damp from sweat..a look of panic, terror and confusion on his face.
"Todd? What is it?" she asks softly. He walks in and she closes the door behind him.
Todd turns to look at her. For the first time...he doesn't think of the consequences...of Rodd or Pete...he wordlessly walks over to Tea and wraps his arms around her.
Tea is surprised...she has no idea what is going on.
Todd tightens his grip around her. He lifts his head slightly and tenderly brushes his lips against her forehead...the same spot his fist had so viciously connected with.
Tea feels this and holds him closer. She hears his choked whispers between his tender kisses to her forehead.
"I'm sorry....I'm sorry."