Arms crossed, body tightly coiled as if braced to withstand a falling blow, Todd Manning stands at his Penthouse’s towering windows staring down at the streets of Llanview, trying to come to terms with the nightmare that passes for his life. His gorgeous hazel eyes hold not a hint of hope only an endless sea of pain shading them a dark, murky gray. This tormented man, who normally scoffs at the mere suggestion of a ‘God who listens,’ is close to praying to him for a miracle. With a harsh, bitter bark, Todd spouts off to the empty room at large, “When it comes to sinners like me, you’ve been quite the miser in the miracle department.” The long and painful journey of his life, what Todd muses is ‘God’s sadistic idea of penance for my sins,’ consists of these seemingly, endless series of nightmares he cannot escape no matter how hard he tries. Blair’s earlier ultimatum rings in his ears, “you either trust me when I tell you I’m carrying your baby or we’re through, Todd, I can’t live like this anymore.” Todd only wishes his and their problems could be so easily solved simply by trusting her word. What Blair fails to grasp is it’s himself he can no longer trust…

The night is dark as his mood, and the clock on the mantles strikes 10 PM. Out of the blue, a knock on the Penthouse door interrupts his brooding. A black scowl on his face, Todd stalks across and whips open the door with a menacing growl, “get the hell away from…” mid-stream Todd’s voice fades to a harsh, emotion-packed whisper, “from…. me…”

Tea Marisa Delgado, formerly known as Mrs. Manning, stands outside his front door. Her shoulders, poised in that all too familiar “backbone of steel” posture, are also braced as if to withstand a falling blow. Her dark, mysterious yet curiously vulnerable eyes belie the strength in her voice as she responds, “What, no hello, first? Skipping the pleasantries and getting right to where we left off, Todd? How typical.”

Sputtering in shock, Todd can only stammer, “Tea, what… what….” Unable to form a complete sentence, he stalks away from the doorway, striving to regain control of his spiraling emotions. With his back to this maddening woman, Todd momentarily resists the urge to fall back into their own pattern of picking up a fight exactly where they left off, no matter the time or distance apart. However, old habits die hard, as Todd bites back, “Tea, way I remember it we left off with YOU screaming THAT at ME!”

Tea winces but also resists the urge to give an inch as she crosses the threshold and follows him into the living room of her former home. “Todd, believe me, I’m NOT here to rehash our past. But I do need to talk to you, it’s important or I think you know I wouldn’t ever cross your doorstep again…. especially not since… you and B….” her voice trails unable to say aloud the words that have haunted her since she finally read Roseanne’s letter, ‘Todd and Blair are re-married and expecting a baby.’

Todd finally whips around and faces the one woman in the world that has always had the power to drive him completely over the edge. ‘Why does she come back now of all times, why now’ is the litany repeating inside his head. ‘I’m barely holding on as is….’

Todd clamps down tightly on his sorely tested self-control, and snipes, “not since what?” With intent to wound he smirks, “not since what, Tea? I got over you, and re-married Blair?”

Surprisingly the crushing blow doesn’t elicit the response Todd expects, “Well, that’s just the problem, Todd, your marriage to Blair isn’t legal. I came to tell you, we’re still technically married,” Tea shoots back defiantly.

The silence in the room is deafening as Todd cannot believe his ears. Before he can respond Blair’s bitter shriek of fury fills the room as she races down the spiral staircase, “Tea, I don’t know what kind of sick April Fool’s joke you’re playing but Todd and I ARE married. I’m the wife carrying his child NOT you!” Blair adds with a hateful sneer, “not that you ever stood a chance of that so get the hell out of MY home and leave MY husband alone for once!”

There has always been something about Blair that evokes the meanest side of Tea to emerge so she bites back, “Congratulations, Blair, on YOUR pregnancy… but seems I heard there’s some doubt over the father?…” Her voice trails off as from the corner of her eyes she catches Todd’s grimace. For Blair that insult is the last straw, she lunges for Tea’s face to land her every ready slap across the face of anyone who dares to push her too far.

Todd might have once allowed these two woman to duke it but Blair is pregnant regardless of who’s the real father, and she shouldn’t be stressed by this confrontation. Tea for her part looks too ready to rumble for his comfort level.

Pulling Blair back into his arms, Todd drags her away and tries to calm her, “Blair, Blair, enough, you shouldn’t be getting all upset like this. Calm down, will you, for the b… baby’s sakes if nothing else.” Sniffling, tears cascading down her cheeks, his wife or at least he thinks she’s his wife, looks ready to fall apart.

Leading Blair to one of Penthouse living room chairs, he sits her down, pats her trembling hands somewhat reassuringly and then reluctantly but with some resolve in his eyes and voice, turns back to Tea, “Spill, Tea, what do you mean, we’re still married?”

Releasing a shade of her pent up tension, Tea sighs quietly, and explains, “I didn’t come here to cause trouble for you, Todd….” with a side-glance at a still furious Blair, Tea finishes, “nor you, Blair, honestly. I came back to fix the mess I left behind. I never got around to filing those annulment papers, Todd… not before we left…” and again words fail her.

Blair chimes in, “You’re lying. I saw you with RJ and you were all over him. You hated Todd and wanted nothing to do with him. That was months before Todd came back and stupidly took you away. You had plenty of time to file.”

With a glare of her own, Tea shoots back, “My reasons then were my own, Blair, nevertheless, I’m back to correct that” biting her lip almost bloody, she completes her sentence, “mistake. I just came here tonight to inform you while I’m in town I WILL file the papers so you two can legally re-marry again.”

As if the issue is settled, Tea turns to face Todd fully intending to say goodbye, once and for all. However, nothing has ever been that cut and dried between them. Their eyes meet and the old familiar unspoken communication re-sparks the emotional ties that bind these two souls. Swallowing back any sign of weakness, for a moment Tea searches those windows to his soul for a hint of his true feelings. Alas, she is saddened and disappointed to find him STILL hiding behind that dark wall of solid steel denial…

Breaking eye contact, like a night creature seeking to avoid the harsh light of day upon his face, Todd mumbles, “Yeah, whatever,” and turns away to slump a bit against the Penthouse mantle.

Offering comfort to this infuriating man is one habit Tea has vowed to break. In a voice shaking with conviction, she pronounces, “I will have a copy of the final decree delivered to you as soon as I file.” With a last glance at the man she lost yet still desperately loves, Tea murmurs quietly, “Goodbye, Todd… I hope you and B…” but the hypocritical well-wishes catch in her throat midstream. Without a backward glance, Tea turns and makes her way to the open door. In the doorway, she pauses for a moment as if held there by a tangible hand pulling her back. With a weary, resigned look she shakes off the feeling, walks out and carefully shuts the door behind her.

Tea Delgado Manning had survived the dreaded yet conversely anticipated confrontation with some shred of dignity and self-respect intact. The same could not be said of the individuals behind that closed door who were frozen in a silence so profound neither could muster the courage to make eye contract.