Téa walks in the open front door.
"Todd?" she calls.
Todd walks into the now cleaned up living room.
"Hey Delgado."
Téa grins. "You cleaned..for me?"
"Yeah..whatever. What'd you bring..I'm starved."
"Some of Carlotta's tacos....I tried to stay away from anything you might have to use utensils with," she grins wickedly.
"You're funny....so ...did Carlotta know who they were for?"
"I told her."
Todd shakes his head. "She must have been thrilled."
"What Carlotta or anyone else thinks doesn't matter," Téa says matter of factly, walking towards the kitchen. Todd follows her, a small smile on his face. Téa sets the bag on the counter and begins to unpack it.
"So...aren't you gonna ask me about therapy?"
Téa turns to face him. "Well..I didn't want to push...I figured you'd tell me if you want to."
"Do you want me to?"
"Do you want to?"
"Oh..this is gonna get us far," he grins, "The doc was okay....looked like he belonged in a hippie commune...long hair, sandals, that whole peace, love and happiness thing."
"Oh, you two should get along great," Téa replies, her eyes gleaming wickedly.
"He seems alright...we didn't really talk much."
"Are you gonna go back?"
Todd pauses, looking at her. "Yeah...I guess..what the hell right?"
Téa smiles, and begins placing the food on plates for them. Todd watches silently, his eyes suddenly travelling to her left hand, her ringless left hand. It had bothered him that she didn't wear her ring, even though he understood why.
"Uh...so Delgado...you said you tore up the annulment papers, right?" he begins nervously.
"Yeah."
"So...we're still married."
Téa looks at him questioningly, not sure what he's driving at.
"Yeah," she replies.
"You don't wear your ring," he says quietly.
Téa looks down at her left hand. She had wondered if he noticed. She had certainly noticed that he still wore his.
"I still have it....from when you sent it to me...I just....I just haven't put it back on," she says, looking down.
"I understand."
Téa looks up at him, in shock. "You do?"
"Yeah. Look, I know how much I hurt you....I can understand why you wouldn't want to wear it. Not that I like it," he pauses, a slight grin on his face. It disappears, and he locks eyes with hers as he continues. "But I want you to wear it again....I can understand if you don't want to now, but I hope someday you will...and when you put it back on...I'll know what that means," he finishes, his eyes never leaving hers.
Téa is caught up in his eyes, his words. In her heart, she wants to put that ring back on...but she is still so scared of rushing things....she feels the need to hold a little back....to protect herself...just for now.
Todd finally breaks the moment. "No pressure, though," he says, his eyes gleaming wickedly.
Téa smiles, "Todd..it's not.."
"Delgado..you don't have to explain, okay? Look, at this point...I'm glad you're at least speaking to me..let alone hanging out with me...all I'm saying is that someday I want to look at your left hand and see your ring there."
Téa walks over to him, staring intently into his eyes.
"Okay," she says softly.

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

After finishing up dinner, Todd and Téa go outside to enjoy the late summer evening. Todd hands her a cold beer and sits down next to her on the steps.
"You know....if I can eat most of that salsa food with my hands, I may become a fan for life," Todd says, taking a drink from his beer.
Téa giggles, "I knew I could get you to like Spanish food."
"So...are you doing anything this Saturday?"
"No, why?"
"Well, I want to bring Shorty up here, show her around...but I'm sure Blair's gonna give me hell...I thought maybe she'd go for it if you're here."
Téa almost chokes on her beer. "You're kidding, right? If anything, my being here would assure that Blair wouldn't let Starr come here."
"I don't know...I mean..Blair doesn't want me to be alone with her..cause she's afraid I'll leave town...but she knows you wouldn't go anywhere with me right now...and she let you see Shorty while I was gone."
"That's only because Starr asked."
"Yeah...but she may go for it....I really want Starr to see this place. So...will you come up?"
"Yeah..you can give it a shot..but I still don't think Blair will go for it."
"We'll see..I'm sure Kevin will be there listing reasons not to let me see my kid....jerk."
Téa smiles, "Probably, but Blair knows ultimately that you're a good father...and I know they're dating..but I think she's strong enough not to let Kevin influence her in that area."
"I hope you're right."
Téa sighs and leans back against the porch railing, enjoying the warm breeze. Todd glances at her, noticing the slight smile on her face...enjoying just being with her.
"So, Todd....now that you're back for good, what are you going to do with yourself?"
"Huh?"
"Well...therapy won't keep you occupied all the time...and you're certainly gonna get bored sitting up here alone."
"Delgado, I got a paper to run."
Téa looks at him incredulously. "The Sun?"
"Yeah," Todd replies, enjoying her reaction.
"In case you've forgotten, you gave the Sun to Kelly, Max, and Blair...which by the way..I still don't understand. And Max sold his shares to Asa...they fired Blair...so Asa is pretty much running things."
"Yeah...maybe for now..but he doesn't own it."
"What?"
"He doesn't...neither does Kelly or Blair...they don't own any part of that paper."
Téa shakes her head, not understanding. "Todd, you gave it to them."
"Sure looked like that, didn't it," he says, grinning wickedly.
"Okay, Todd...if Kelly, Blair, or Asa don't own the Sun..then pray tell, who does?"
Todd grins at her. "You do."

*****

NEAR YOU ALWAYS 22

"Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"I own the Sun?" Téa asks incredulously.
"Yup."
"How?"
"I have my ways," Todd replies, his eyes gleaming. He catches the look on her face. "Don't worry, it's legal." He takes a swig of his beer, thoroughly enjoying having shocked her.
"But you gave it to Blair, Max, and Kelly," Téa says, still confused.
"They thought so, huh? I needed someone to run it while I was gone, but you don't actually think I would seriously give it to them do you?"
"Okay, explain."
Todd leans back against the porch. "Remember the tape? Stupid question, I guess. Well, Kelly, Max, and Blair were blackmailing me, you know, for the Sun. But I didn't exactly want to give my paper to them. I mean, I knew what would probably happen, my paper would get screwed somehow. So, I had a paper drawn up that gave ownership of the Sun to you after we got married. See, I figured, even if Kelly, Max, and Blair were running the paper, they'd really only be babysitting. Of course, I was hoping I wouldn't have to give it up at all. Signing it over to you was sort of a precaution, also, I knew it would be safe with you. And, I knew it would probably be a lot easier to get back from you," he grins.
"And what makes you think that?" Téa grins back.
"The way I see it...it's a win win situation Delgado. Either you give it back to me and I get my paper back. Or...I get to battle you for it...which could be fun," he says mischeviously.
Téa rolls her eyes and smiles. "Whatever. But why didn't you tell me instead of giving those three the paper?"
"Come on Téa, after everything that went down, would you have taken it?"
Téa looks down. "Probably not."
"Besides, it was my little revenge on Kelly, Max, and Blair. Kelly and Blair would have to work together, and Max would be in the middle of Cramer Hell. I didn't expect Holden to sell out to Asa, although I probably should have. And I definitely didn't think Blair would get fired and Asa would be pretty much running my paper."
"Well, Blair's doing okay at the Banner, although I was kind of surprised she didn't put up more of a fight. And, hey, she's working with her boyfriend now," Téa says, rolling her eyes again. "But Asa certainly has made the Sun unrecognizable."
"No joke," he says, looking intently at her. "So, Delgado, do I get my paper back?"
Téa grins. "You know, I should probably make this really difficult for you."
"Actually," Todd says, "I have a deal for you."
Téa locks eyes with him quickly. "I don't want your money," she says sharply.
"I know...I know...this doesn't have anything to do with money...well not directly anyway."
"Okay," Téa says slowly.
"I want you to come work at the Sun."
Téa laughs. "Todd, I'm a lawyer, not a newsperson."
"I know....I want you to be a lawyer."
"Todd, I already have a job."
"Yeah...but even you said you're not all that crazy about it. Come on Delgado..you're on the wrong side of the law...you're a defense attorney...a good one...that's what you should be doing...and you know it."
Téa considers his words, knowing he is right. Todd sees her mind working quickly, and keeps pushing.
"Look....I'll give you an office at the Sun....you can start your own practice...defend anyone you want. The Sun will be like...like one of your clients. Me, too, of course," he adds grinning. He moves closer to her and tilts her face up to look at his. "Come on....you're way too sneaky and underhanded to be in the DA's office. And I mean that in the best possible way."
Téa grins. She has to admit to herself it is an attractive offer, and she had been thinking about getting back to being a defense attorney. She stands up and walks a little ways out onto the front lawn.
"Look Delgado...I know what you're thinking...there's a catch...he's trying to suck me back in...but there's no catch...well aside from you giving me the paper back," he says.
Téa turns around to face him. "Todd..it's ...it's a really sweet offer. But I don't know. I'll give you the paper back regardless...I know how much it means to you. I just..."
Todd cuts her off. "I know....if you work at the Sun...we'll see each other a lot. That's it, right?" he asks, staring intently at her.
"No...no that's not it...really."
"Delgado.. I'm not trying to trap you here. The truth is I need a good lawyer, not just for me but for my paper. Someone I can trust with it...cause it's for Shorty one day."
Téa sighs. It did sound good to her....really good. And the prospect of seeing more of Todd didn't necessarily disappoint her...as much as she hated to admit it.
"I'll think about it, okay?"
"Okay...but you might as well just take it cause I'm gonna win anyway," he says, grinning.
"But I will give you the paper back, on one condition."
Todd suddenly looks nervous. "What?"
"I get to be there when you tell Asa," Téa replies.
Todd smiles. "You got it."
They both stand there, feeling suddenly awkward. Todd steps closer to her, his eyes dropping to her lips. Téa's breath catches in her throat. Todd starts to lean his head forward, then stops.
"Uh...Delgado...is this okay?"
"What?"
Todd rolls his eyes, slightly embarrassed. "To kiss you, is it okay?"
Téa smiles. "Since when do you ask?"
"Well....you know...I don't want to screw things up...so I figure I better watch my step," he responds, grinning.
"You didn't ask last night," she says, smiling devilishly.
"Oh...yeah...well it was the middle of the night...you know....and .....oh whatever," he replies, frustrated.
"It's okay," Téa says softly.
Todd looks at her, her words registering. He steps closer to her, checking her eyes...then her mouth. He slowly leans down and covers her mouth with his. He places his hand in her hair, holding her close to him. Téa responds, sliding her hands up his chest. They slowly break apart, staring into each other's eyes....the bond that had been stretched to the limit in the past months slowly beginning to strengthen again.
Todd drops his hand from her hair and takes her hand in his.
"So, Delgado, how about a round of Moneyhungry?"
Téa smiles. "Oh..you in the mood to get whipped up on, Manning?"
They walk back into the house, teasing back and forth, holding hands.