Sykes is on the phone at his desk, taking notes about something. RJ studies his body language and mannerisms from across the room. He makes a face, realizing there's nothing really different about him. In fact...he seems downright calm, mellow...not at all like a guy who just lost a girl he has the serious hots for to the town nut.

RJ chews on his lip, eyes narrow. Something is definitely WRONG with this picture. He sighs, shaking his head and walking away. He goes up the stairs to Hank's office and knocks.

"Yeah..."

RJ walks in to see Hank on the phone. Hank sees him and gestures for him to shut the door.

"Sorry, what? Oh...yeah...yeah, I don't see why not. Right...okay, fax it over to me and I'll look it over. Yeah, great...thanks. Bye."

Hank hangs up as RJ sits down. "What are you doing here?"

"Can't I drop in on my own brother?"

Hank raises an eyebrow. "Oh, sure...you do that SO often. I know how much you LUUUUV the PD."

RJ shrugs. "Well...I have to admit...I wanted to check Sykes out myself. But you're right...he's... he's..."

Hank shrugs back. "I know, I TOLD ya. Whatever it is, he's REAL good at hiding it."

Just then, the intercom buzzes. Hank looks down. "Yeah?"

"There's a call for you, Hank."

Hank looks at the phone strangely. "You gonna tell me who it is, or do I have to guess?"

"Uh...they don't want to give their name...they said it's important though."

Hank lets out a tired breath. "Put it through."

The secretary hangs up and the phone rings. He picks up. "This better be good, whoever you are."

A woman's laugh on the other end. "You know, you say that an AWFUL lot."

He sits up, signaling RJ, who leans forward. "Well, well, well...if it isn't my runaway employee."

Back in her room, Tea pulls her legs under her and sits indian style on her bed, bundled up in a robe, rubbing her wet hair.

"Hey, boss...thought I'd check in and see how Jeff is dealing with Mount Paperwork."

"Well, he isn't too happy with you right now. But I think he'll live. You alright?"

"It's been a little weird, but...yeah."

Just then, Hank's secretary pokes her head in. Hank and RJ look up.

"Uh, Hank...you wanted me to remind you about that twelve o'clock."

Hank nods. "Well, good...listen, I gotta run."

"Oh, okay...listen...thanks again, Hank."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, save it...here's RJ."

They hear Tea laughing as he hands the phone to RJ and gets up. He grabs his coat, waves at RJ and heads out. RJ waits until the door's closed, then gets on the phone.

"Well...'bout time you called."

"Sorry...I ended up passing out early."

"You okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"How's the kook?"

She giggles, despite herself, then puts on a sugary, lovey voice.

"Aw, well...you know my honeybunch...I told him the militia thing, and he wanted me to tell you...and I quote...BITE ME."

RJ holds the phone away for a second, grinning. "Ah, yes...nice to know SOME things just don't change."

They both laugh, then it gets quiet. Finally, Tea's voice drops.

"Been keeping an eye on John?"

He sighs. "Well, as best we can, Hank and I. But...he's not doing ANYTHING."

A pause. "That's good...I guess..."

RJ switches ears, turning and checking the door. "Actually...I don't think it is. He's up to something, I know it...Hank thinks so, too. I mean, the guy's acting like NOTHING happened. That's just... wrong."

He hears her sigh on the other end. "Well, look...we're keeping tabs on him, believe me. You know I'll call if I find out anything."

"Yeah, yeah...I know you will. I guess I just won't worry about it."

"Exactly. Just take care of yourself and your...uh...WHATEVER."

Tea giggles. "I will." Then she pauses.

"You're so good to me, RJ...thanks."

He smiles, a little sad. "I'll talk to you later."

"Bye," she says softly, and hangs up. She sits there a moment, rubbing her wet head and thinking about Sykes...and whether or not she should tell Todd about him.

She sighs. God, I REALLY don't want to do that...I don't EVEN want to go there right now. He'd probably flip on me.

She gets up, walking over to the window. Leaning against the trim, she rubs her arms as she looks out over the front of the house and the woods.

She chews on her lip and thinks. Maybe I should ask the doctor...

Just then, there's a knock on the door. She pulls her robe tighter around her as she walks over, and opens the door to find Joely standing there.

"Good morning," she says pleasantly.

Tea smiles. "Hi...I was just thinking of you, actually."

Joely steps back, pointing at herself. "Really? Hmmm. Weird how that works."

Tea laughs, leaning against the doorsill. "So. Uh...what do I do now?"

"Well...I'd like you to come down to my office. I'm thinking I should probably brief you on Todd's therapy, familiarize you with it, before you start sitting in on the sessions."

She nods. "Oh...okay. Uh...actually, doctor..."

"Oh, just call me Joely."

"Okay...well...there's something I need to tell Todd about, but...I'm wondering if maybe I should tell YOU first."

Joely's eyes get wider. "Ah...does this have to do with the ticket you never got?"

Tea points at her. "Exactly."

Joely takes a quick look around, then leans in, voice lower. "Does this have to do with another man?"

Tea shrinks back for a second, then nods, reluctantly. Joely nods slowly, biting her lip, deep in thought. Then she seems to snap out of it, and pats her legs.

"Well, sounds like we have a lot to talk about. I'll see you downstairs, then."

Tea nods. "Yes, yes...I'll be down as soon as I can."

Joely starts to walk away. Tea goes to shut the door, then snaps back. "Oh...uh...Joely..."

She turns around. Tea hangs on the door. "D-do you know where Todd is now?"

Joely thinks a moment. "Hmmm. Well, I don't usually see him until session time, but my guess is he's probably out walking. He seems to like to do that a lot...I think it soothes him. There's tons of trails to explore around here."

Tea nods. "Okay. I'll be down in just a bit."

Joely heads back down the stairs as Tea shuts the door. She leans on the door for a second, then walks back over to the window, looking around to see if she can see him. But she doesn't. She goes to the dresser, pulls out some clothes and gets dressed in a hurry. She grabs the towel on the bed and rubs her head with it one more time before heading out the door and down the stairs.

She sprints over to the office, then slows down as she enters. She hears noises...Todd's voice...no... wait...

She pokes her head in, in the direction the sound is coming from. On the other side of the room, she sees Joely sitting in front of a monitor, with a remote control. Tea clears her throat, and Joely looks up. She waves Tea over.

"Oh...could you close the door?"

"Sure." Tea reaches behind her and pulls the door shut. She walks over to Joely, who points out the seat next to her in front of the monitor. Tea sits down...their faces reflect the light of the television. She gazes at the picture, staticky and bouncing in pause mode...and her eyes widen. Joely looks at her sympathetically, turning to her.

"I wasn't sure about showing you this at first...but, the more I think about it...and after seeing the two of you together yesterday...I think it's something you need to see."

Tea's eyes are still glued to the monitor. Her voice lowers to a whisper. "I-is that...Todd?"

Joely nods, glancing back at the monitor as she hits play. "This is a hospital in upstate New York, where he checked himself into...and this was what he was like when the doctors called me in. When I first came to see him, Pete was the alter who appeared most often. Well, actually it was more like Pete took over, which is why I think Todd checked HIMSELF in."

She pauses to gauge Tea's reaction. Tea sits silently listening, eyes glued to the scary images she's seeing...Todd, looking very beaten up...pacing, ranting, lashing out...a tempest of fury and pain.

"Pete is still Todd's biggest problem, and will continue to be, I think...but he's nowhere near this aggressive now. It was rather frightening though...Pete tried to kill Todd several times. We ended up having to keep him under twenty-four hour watch."

Tea looks at Joely, scared and confused. "You mean he tried to kill himself."

Joely shakes her head. "Well, no, not really. And that's what you must understand, Tea."

She turns to face Tea, who pulls her eyes away from the monitor to look at Joely.

"See...the thing is, when Todd's DID flared up again, he WAS NOT AWARE that he was actually sick."

Tea's brow furrows. "You mean he didn't KNOW he had it?"

Joely nods. "That's exactly what I mean. But the problem, of course, came when he decided to 'fake' an illness...that he actually has."

Tea's face is filled with confusion. "I...I don't understand. How could he NOT know?"

"Well, in my opinion, he probably suspected something was wrong with him years ago, and just never thought to check it out, or just didn't want to admit it. But the thing about DID is, Tea...the whole reason the alters are there is to handle the parts of Todd's life that he CANNOT deal with...even now. The abuse he suffered was so horrible for him as a child...when the brain experiences severe trauma like that, it will sometimes shut off, OR SEPARATE, parts of the brain to deal with it...parts that operate independently of the conscious mind."

Tea nods slowly, trying to comprehend. She looks down.

Joely sighs. "What I'm trying to say, Tea, is that since the alters are somewhat autonomous, even though they are part of him...they may have made their presence known LONG ago, and Todd wouldn't remember."

After a moment, Tea looks back up, eyes wide. Suddenly things seem to make sense now...things that didn't before.

"You know...actually...I...I remember times when Todd's alters seemed fake... and I thought he was lying to me. Then there were other times when they were so real...and I thought he was really sick," she says, shaking her head.

She pauses, and Joely looks at her sympathetically. "I never knew what the hell was going on."

"Well, the thing is, Tea...you were right. Whether or not he KNEW he was ill, the fact is that he WAS deliberately trying to deceive you. So he must still deal with the consequences of breaking your trust. But I'm just trying to get you to understand what ACTUALLY happened...so you can make a judgement as to where to go now, knowing all the facts."

Tea bites her lip, nodding. There's a silence as Joely gets up and takes the tape out of the VCR. She turns the monitor off and sits back down.

"What I've tried to do is get the alters to tell me what happened to him as a child...it's difficult, to say the least. My main goal now is to get them to work with each other, and to try to coax them into integration that way. It's a slow, slow, process...it may take years to do, and even then, some of them may still remain."

"How do you do that?"

Joely shrugs. "I just talk to them, mostly, and try to keep Todd, and the rest of them, aware of what the others are doing. Sometimes it's necessary for me to go back to his childhood, which can be a little scary, because that's when Pete usually comes out. But, so far, it's been going well. Even Pete seems to be somewhat more subdued lately. Oh...yes...just so you know, sometimes I will use hypnotherapy, if I feel it's necessary."

Tea gives her a questioning look. "Does that really work?"

"Well, it's a tool, that's all. I certainly don't accept everything he tells me under hypnosis as being a hundred percent accurate, since it's a different state of consciousness. But sometimes it's the only way to get him to tell me things about his childhood without agitating him."

She pauses, folding her hands in her lap. "So. I usually meet Todd in the afternoon. Think you'll be okay with it?"

Tea takes a deep breath. "Um...yeah...yeah, I guess so."

"Good. Now...what's this you wanted to ask me about?"

Tea opens her mouth, taken aback. "Uh...well..."

Joely lowers her voice. "Are you seeing someone else back home?"

Tea sighs. "N-no...well...no. I mean, here's the thing. There's this guy that was really after me once Todd left. I snubbed him at first, but he kinda wore me down. We went out ONE time."

She holds up one finger. "Just that one time, and I made it perfectly clear that I wanted to go slowly. I thought I was handling it well, and he seemed really decent. But...I misjudged him."

Joely sits, listening intently. She nods, encouraging Tea to continue.

"See, Todd didn't take the direct route with me that he took with Viki. My ticket never just came in the mail. At Christmas, I received a KEY from him...then had to find out what it opened. I asked my... 'friend' to help me, since he's a cop. Well, he helped me alright...he told me the key opened a locker at the bus station. I went and opened it up...no ticket. Of course, I didn't KNOW that there even WAS a ticket in the first place. I didn't find out until Viki called me."

Joely puts a hand to her mouth, rubbing her chin. "Hmmmm."

"It would seem that my pal TOOK the ticket. He TRIED to keep me from getting here...and he KNOWS I'm here now."

"Do you believe he's dangerous?"

Tea shrugs meekly. "I guess...I think he COULD be. I AM a little worried about it...but I think I'm MORE worried about what this will do to Todd. We've always had problems where trust is concerned. I...I don't want to...I don't know...set him back."

Joely nods, leaning in closer to her. "I understand...and it's good that you have the sense to think about things before you do them. As for Todd, well...I don't know. He is still quite skittish...but I don't know that that will ever really pass. I'm not a marriage counselor, Tea...and I can't tell you what to do. The only advice I have is this...do what your heart tells you."

Tea looks at her strangely. "That's not terribly clinical."

Joely smiles. "No, it's not. But it's sound advice. Your heart has already made the decision for you. Your past experience made you question it, and you listened to it, which is smart. But...ultimately, it's your heart that knows what's best...especially when it comes to Todd."

Unable to stop it, Tea's eyes fill up. Her voice cracks. "Is it?" Joely's eyes look like they might tear up too. Before they can, she reaches behind her for the tissue box and hands it to Tea, who grabs a couple and wipes her eyes. They share a short silence, then Joely gets up.

"Trust yourself, Tea...and Todd...well...he might surprise you."

Tea gets up slowly, handing the tissue box back to her. Joely smiles, and rubs her arm.

"I don't mean to rush you out, but I have a patient coming in now. I'll see you this afternoon."

Tea smiles, then turns and heads for the door. As she gets there, she turns back around.

"Oh, Joely..."

She looks up at her as she walks to her desk.

"Thanks."

They share a smile full of surprisingly deep understanding, then Tea turns and walks out.