"No," she says quietly.

***********

He regards her for a second, that old defiance he had completely fallen in love with resurfacing. He had missed that about her. But as much as he had missed it, protecting her, protecting him, was more important. He silently turns his head away from her, staring straight ahead. Knowing he had to get her to leave. And knowing he had to hurt her to do it.

All of the emotion leaves his face as he stares straight ahead. He slowly slides down the archway to the floor. Hugging his knees to his chest, he tries to shut down his heart to her now....so that he could save her heart for the future.

"So, Delgado," he begins, his bitter, hard voice hiding his pain, "how many guys you screw since I've been gone?"

Téa gasps, both at his tone and his words. Her shoulders slump slightly, but her eyes never leave his profile. She should have expected this. He was testing her.

"I mean, I figure I wasn't out of town five seconds before you started lining 'em up. You go running back to the Reverend, huh? Or maybe...maybe it was that Sykes guy...he sure was looking to make his move while I was still there."

Téa refuses to let him hurt her. She knows what he is doing...he's done it before...lash out at her when he gets angry....scared. And normally, Téa may have begun to fight back...to break through. But there was part of her that felt like she deserved his anger. The mere mention of Sykes' name conjures up memories she'd rather forget, causing a wave of massive guilt to wash over her. All this time Todd had needed her, and she felt like his hateful words were punishment...for waiting so long. Even though she knew, technically, she hadn't done anything wrong. They weren't married, Todd had left her, she had the right to sleep with whoever she wanted. So then why did it make her feel so awful?

Todd hears nothing but silence, except for the occasional sniffle. He wants to look at her. But he's afraid. He can't look at her. He couldn't look at her now and say these things to her when all he wanted to do was let her wrap her arms around him and comfort him like she had the first night Starr had stayed with Blair. But he couldn't. There was too much danger. To both of them. He knocks his head lightly back against the archway and continues.

"Bet you had it all Delgado...huh? My money...and able to run around with any guy you want....just like you always wanted," he finishes bitterly. Swallowing hard. Because he knew it wasn't true. She had loved him. And he loves her. In what was left of his rational mind, he knew that even if she had slept with another guy in his absence, she really hadn't done anything wrong. He had abandoned her, when he knew that her greatest fear was being left behind. But, in his mind's eye, he could only see another man kissing her, touching her, stroking the long brown hair that he fantasized about stroking during the long sleepless nights away from her. And it hurt him. A pain that he used, to fuel his anger....to protect her.

Téa watches him wordlessly, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. But in its own twisted way, it felt good. It was washing away some of her guilt, hearing his words, his punishment. The guilt she had carried about him, the guilt she had carried about her past....

After a few minutes of silence, Téa wipes at her eyes.

"Are you finished?" she asks softly.

Todd is almost stunned to hear her voice pierce through his thoughts. She was still here. Slowly, he turns his head, and sees her walking slowly towards him. His eyes follow her as she kneels down next to him.

Téa watches his face as she moves closer, judging his reactions. She sees the anger fighting with something else....a subtle softness that seemed to creep into his features as she moved closer, despite himself.

"I'm not perfect, Todd. But you knew that going in. And you can sit there and be angry at me and feel betrayed, and you can say any hateful thing you want, but I'm NOT leaving. I didn't come all this way to find you to walk out on you now."

Todd's eyes soften as she speaks. The look of longing in his eyes reaches out and grabs Téa's heart.

"You should go," he whispers raggedly.

"I probably should, but I'm not going to."

"Téa, you don't want this. You think you do...but you don't. I'm trying, for once to do the right thing here. I'm gone, Téa. I'm dead. There's nothing for you to save," he says, his voice flat and lifeless. A tone that frightens Téa to her very core.

"You're wrong, Todd. You're very much alive. And I need you," she pauses, swallowing hard. "I didn't even realize how much until you weren't there. You once told me that maybe we could walk across a burning lake and save each other. Maybe this is our burning lake Todd....you and me and all our problems and our pasts....and maybe...just maybe...we can save each other."

She watches as Todd's eyes mist over, his face still basically expressionless except for the softness in his eyes. Téa breaks her stare into Todd's eyes when she feels something on her hand. She looks down and sees Todd's fingers tentatively covering her own. She closes her eyes, feeling relief that maybe she had reached him, if only temporarily. She flips her hand over and wraps her fingers around his, squeezing them. Looking up, she catches his eyes again. They stare silently at each other as they both wonder about the long road ahead....

To be continued...