This bastard wasn't gonna ruin their lives from the grave.

*****

Two Days Later
The Sun

Todd hangs up the phone, a deep, frustrated sigh escaping his lips. Frustration....the word didn't even seem to cover what he was feeling. Frustrated at a local police department that seemed intent on punishing the victim. Frustrated at himself for listening too closely to his doubts and not being what Téa needed right now.

It was an amazing tug of war inside him. One side pulling him to his usual comfort zone, that of believing betrayal and deception in his life. The other side, pulling him towards trust. Not only his trust in her, but believing and understanding in her trust in him. Tug...tug.

That had been Téa on the phone, calling to inform him she wasn't coming into work. He had seen her once since she had left two days before. He had stopped by Carlotta's on his way home from the paper. It was weird, it was almost as if he had been drawn there. He could barely entertain the idea of going 'home', to a 'home' where she wasn't. He had walked up the small path when he saw her, staring out the window. Her head leaning against the glass. Staring at...nothing. Had struck him immediately, her blank stare...her hopelessness. Scared him really. He had always counted on her light, her fire, her hope. It kept him going, it kept him breathing. What would happen to him, to her, to them, without her hope, her fire?

His nervous energy gets the better of him, and he stands up and walks quickly out of his office.

"Lou!" he barks.

"Yes, Mr. Manning?" she calls back, in her typically calm voice. After years with her enigmatic boss, she knew exactly how to deal with him, a fact that Todd greatly appreciated though he would never admit it.

"Briggs check in?"

"No, Mr. Manning. Shall I put him through as soon as he does?"

"Yeah," he grumbles, impatient as all hell. He leans back against the wall outside his office, lightly banging his fist against it. It was an awful feeling, like his life was getting away from him. The doubt that had firmly planted itself in the pit of his stomach. The tugging back and forth between trust and betrayal. He's about to head back into his office when his eyes fall on the sliver of light coming through the slightly open door to Téa's office.

Her empty office.

Tug...tug.

He slowly pushes himself away from the wall, taking measured steps towards her office. The trust side of the rope tugging him back towards his own office, the deception side pulling him towards hers. And as it always seemed to happen when faced with a betrayal, the planted see grew into a full blown deception. He at once felt anger, and felt sick. Because he knew by not trusting her, he was letting her down, failing her. But he just couldn't stop himself from going into her office.

He pushes the door open, hearing it creak as her desk comes into view. His eyes quickly survey the room as he walks over to her desk. It smelled like her perfume, her office did. Made him angry at her and miss her like crazy all at the same time.

He sits down at her desk, a slight grin tugging at the corner of his mouth at the yellow stickie notes all over her blotter. She was just like him in that way, throwing herself into work to avoid anything painful.

Painful. He was realizing how it was almost physically painful to doubt her, when he wanted so badly to believe in her. To trust her. But trust never did come easy to Todd Manning, and as he pulled open the top drawer of her desk, he realized morbidly that unfortunately now was no exception.

He flips through the file folders, running his hand through her drawer organizer, looking for anything abnormal, anything different. He lifted out the stack of folders, setting it on her desk. He rifles through some loose pages, finally lifting up the leather portfolio and glancing underneath.

Almost immediately, his blood runs cold. He reaches in and pulls out the photo, seeing the angular face of John Sykes staring back at him.

"Damn," he mutters.

He leans back in her chair, his chest constricting at the thought of her betrayal. Strange, though. Even holding the picture...something just didn't fit.

Tug...tug.

Tugging him back towards trusting her, even with apparent damning evidence in his hand. Reminded him of another time, long ago now.

"How could you even think that I could do that to you?"

"I don’t know..... saw you in a bed with him in a motel?"

"You said you’d trust me. If you meant it, trust me."

His eyes fall on the picture of them on her desk, from their second wedding.

"Look, Delgado, I.... I want to trust you. I do trust you..... but you’re making a fool out of me. Ok, fine. You go ahead. You make a fool out of me."

He gazes at her smiling face in the photograph. She had been a beautiful bride, had taken his breath away. She had trusted him. Trusted him when he claimed to have DID, trusted him to give her the life she deserved. And he had made a fool out of her, even if it wasn't intentional. And yet, now...she was willing to take a chance on him again, to put her trust in him again, to risk being made a fool of again.

He thinks back to the jail cell, their conversation about trust. Turns out, he had been right to trust her that night. The so called bum had turned out to be her brother.

"..Ok, fine. You go ahead. You make a fool out of me."

Tug...tug.

His eyes move back to the picture of Sykes in his hand. His kneejerk reaction was to believe in the betrayal. But her smiling, trusting eyes watching him from their wedding picture, and his memories of her pulling him to trust her once before, tugged at him. Tugged at him to trust her, to at least let her explain.

He reaches out and runs his thumb along her face, her smile as captivating in a still photograph as it was when she was right in front of him. He stands up, shoving the picture of Sykes in his pocket, and quickly replaces the items in her desk drawer. He feels the now familiar tugging inside him, feeling as if she's tugging him towards her, towards trusting her, from her picture.

"Okay Delgado. I'm gonna let you make a fool outta me," he mumbles, and walks quickly out of her office.

To go to her.

To Be Continued....