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

Tea stops outside of Sam's office and takes a deep breath. So far everything is okay. Todd had filled Viki in on their deal. She had promised to keep silent about Todd being in Llanview and to help in anyway she could. She had also offered to lend Todd and Tea her cabin. This would give Todd more freedom to roam around, as well as give them a quiet place to work without any distractions. Now she just had to tell Sam. Todd had agreed to tell Sam, but only if Tea made him promise not to tell Blair. The less people that knew he was here the better. Besides, Todd did not exactly trust Blair very much, and wasn't sure what she would do with the information. Tea opened the door to Sam's office and walked in.

"Hey, have fun last night?" Tea asked, smiling.
"Yeah, thanks. I tried to call you earlier, but your phone was busy," Sam replied.
"Oh, is something wrong?"
"No, I, uh was just worried, you know, you seemed kinda depressed yesterday."
"Yeah, well, I'm much better today," Tea said, unable to contain her happiness.
Sam looked at her, not believing that this sparkling woman standing in front of him was the same woman who only 24 hours earlier had not been able to crack a smile.
"What's up?" Sam asked.
"Actually, I sort of have some bad news. It turns out I'm not going to be able to help you with the case. Something has come up."
Sam looked at her anxiously. "Are you okay, is something wrong?"
Tea smiled, "No Sam, everything is fine."
Sam continued to stare at Tea's smiling face. She hasn't looked this happy since.....
All at once, it hit him. "Tea, did you hear from Todd?"
The smile that lit up her face was all the answer he needed.
"Well, where is he, is he okay?"
"Right about now, he is probably eating room service in our suite at the Palace," she replied.
"He's HERE?"
"Yeah, he showed up yesterday, completely out of the blue. Sam, look, I know this is asking a lot, but do you think you could keep this from Blair, at least for now? I mean, the less people that know, the better." Tea looked at Sam, who was mulling this over.
"Well, I don't like keeping things from her Tea. But I guess it probably is best for Todd. So what are you gonna do?"
Tea drew a deep breath. "Todd wants me to run away with him. I've managed to convince him to stick around for a week and see if we can figure out a way to fix this so he can stay in Llanview, with me and Starr. That's another reason I'm here. I need all the files from Todd's case, including all the police records and files from when he was arrested for seeing Starr."
"Sure, no problem, but Tea, I don't know how you're going to get him out of this one. If there is anything else I can do, let me know."

***********

The playground of the elementary school was filled with running children. A lone figure stood back, well hidden behind both his disguise and the trees. His eyes focused on one beautiful little blond haired girl, running and smiling with her friends. Todd's heart ached, being this close to her and not being able to talk to her or hold her.
"Shorty, I hope Delgado can pull this off," he says quietly, " then you, me, and T, we'll be a family, just like I promised you."

***********

Todd and Tea unpack the car and begin to get settled in at the cabin. Tea is unpacking groceries when Todd comes in and sits on the counter.
"I saw Shorty today."
Tea whirls around and looks at him. "YOU WHAT????"
"Relax, she didn't see me, and she wouldn't have recognized me if she had. I just needed to she she was ok."
Tea looks at him, seeing the pain on his face. "I can only imagine how much you've missed her. She misses you, too, terribly."
"Do you see her much?"
Tea gives a little laugh. "You know, Blair has actually been pretty decent about letting me see her. I try and see her a couple of times a week, as much as I can. Seeing Starr really helped me through these months without you," she finishes quietly.
Todd walks up behind her and slides his arms around her waist. He says softly, "Thank you for looking out for her."
Tea turns to him, their faces only inches apart. "You don't have to thank me. You and Starr are my family, and I will always look out for both of you."
She reaches up and gently kisses Todd. He pulls her closer, and kisses her back, each second becoming more and more passionate.
Tea reluctantly pulls away. "Listen, buddy, as much as I love where this is going, we have a lot of work to do."
Todd pulls her back, "Cmon Delgado..."
Tea smiles at him, but gently pushes him away. "Later, Manning. Now we have to work on saving our family."
She walks into the living room and begins to unpack all the files.
Todd follows, a beer in each hand.
He hands her one. "One is your cut off Delgado. You've got work to do," he says with a wicked grin.
She takes the beer and begins reading through the stacks of files. Todd is watching her contently. Right now, it is enough for him to just look at her, after the months of wishing he could see her.
About 20 minutes pass, when Todd and Tea are startled by the slamming of a car door, followed by voices. They stare at each other, and Todd wordlessly grabs his coat and runs into the bedroom.
Tea begins to straighten up when she hears the door open. She looks up, shocked to see Kevin and Cassie.
Kevin is shocked as well. "Tea? What are you doing here?"
Tea is fumbling around for an explanation. "Oh, uh..your mother didn't tell you? You see, I uh, I have a big case coming up, and she told me to use the cabin so I could have some peace and quiet. I didn't know you were coming." Please let them believe that!
Cassie replies, "Oh, well, Viki didn't know we were coming. It was sort of a spur of the moment thing."
Cassie and Tea continue talking, oblivious to Kevin wandering around the room. He glances at the coffee table and notices the name on the files Tea has been working on.
Oh no, he thinks. I've got to get home and tell Grandpa!
Kevin quickly walks over to Cassie. "Well, Tea, we'll leave you to your work."
Tea is stunned that they are leaving so quickly, so easily. "I can leave if you want..." she says weakly.
Kevin gives her a tight smile. "No, absolutely not. We didn't have plans, like Cassie said, it was a spur of the moment thing. Let's go Cassie." Kevin walks out the door, followed by a very confused Cassie.
As soon as Todd hears the car pull away, he walks out of the bedroom.
"I can't believe you used to go out with that jerk."
Tea rolls her eyes at him. "Ancient history, and I mean really ancient. I don't think he suspected anything though."
Todd looks at her, "Of course he didn't suspect anything, my nephew is a moron."
Tea just smiles. "Whatever. Let's get back to work."
She sits down and busies herself reading Todd's statement to the police on the day he was arrested. It had all happened so fast that she had never really gotten to talk to him about what had happened before he got sent away.
After she is done, she dejectedly throws it back on the table. "Well, that certainly won't help."
Todd picks up the paper and begins reading it. He gets a sick feeling in his stomach as he reads. Tea looks at him, and notices the frightened look on his face.
"Todd, what is it?"
He lowers the page and looks at her.
"Tea, I didn't say this."