The necklace Tea was wearing slides slowly down her chest as it comes off. She closes her eyes, feeling the warmth of him right there next to her. His hand brushes the side of her face, and she takes a quick breath in. She feels his hair on her shoulder, then his breath, and finally, his lips...barely making contact with her skin at the base of her neck. She lets out the breath she's been holding in. Closing his eyes, he nuzzles her neck, the tip of his nose and mouth sliding upward toward the back of her ear. Her breathing slows, and her parted lips close, curving up into a beautiful, contented smile. He opens his eyes and sees his wife from this unique angle that's all his own. She opens her eyes, feeling any and all anxiety melting away, and being replaced with the peacefulness of knowing that, after all they've been through, they're exactly where they want to be. Slowly, she turns her head to gaze into the eyes of the one person who truly makes her happy...

..and he's gone. She's alone, sitting on the huge bed in the cabana. The only sound is the rustling of the crinolines under her wedding gown, and...a crackling. She turns in all directions, calling for him repeate dly, but the sound doesn't come out. Finally, she notices the smell...of something burning.

She whirls around and sees, in the corner, the flames growing as they eat away at the flowers and everything else in its way. The smoke gets thicker, and she starts for the door, holding her breath. She pulls ...it won't open. She turns the knob again and pulls with all her strength. It's stuck. She takes a quick breath in and coughs. She covers her mouth and drops to the floor. She gets as low to the ground as she can and bangs on the door, trying to call for help. Her voice is still gone. The fire spreads, feeding off of what little oxygen is left in the room...within seconds, she's surrounded by searing heat and smoke. She takes short, shallow breaths, but the smoke still gets inside, coating her lungs. She starts to cry as she coughs. Her eyelids get heavier...as she loses consciousness, she calls for him again...

"Todd...Todd..." Tea tosses about in bed, coughing and twisting herself up in the blankets and pillows.

Her eyes flutter open. "Todd..."

She sits up suddenly, trying to catch her breath. As she slowly awakens, she realizes that she's in her hotel room. She sits there for a moment, breathing fast and heavy, but breathing. She closes her eyes and slaps her hands to her face, feeling the tear tracks. She listens...she's alone ...in that silence that only comes when it's very, very late...or very, very early. Still covering her face, she pulls her knees in and pushes herself up against the headboard. Finally, she opens her eyes and lets her hands drop slightly, looking around as if she expects someone is watching her. But there's no one.

She feels the urge to cry rising up from the gut and taking over her brain. No longer able to control the emotions she's been bottling up for months, and realizing that it's going to happen no matter what she does, she lets the tears come, this time completely awake and aware. It starts quietly, but builds quickly into the longest, most painful crying she's ever done. She grabs for anything... pulling pillows and blankets around her, trying to muffle the sounds. Disappearing into her fortress of bedding, she stays there, until the crying has completely drained her of energy, and she falls into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Tea's hand appears from inside the mountain of blankets and pillows. She pulls the blanket covering her face away slowly and peeks out, blinking. It's still dark. She looks over to the clock on the night stand.

5:58 AM...her alarm goes off in half an hour. She sighs, nestling in the bed, still exhausted. She gazes off, and starts to recall the events of the past evening. Suddenly, she sits up, completely awake, and remembering...

She gets out of bed, dragging half of it with her as she turns off the alarm and walks over to the desk where her purse is. She digs inside and pulls out the key. She stares at it, her mind racing all over again, and closes the key into a tight fist. Before she even realizes it, she's on the other side of the room, throwing on a pair of sweats and putting her sneakers on. She grabs her coat, keys and purse...and stops, realizing she doesn't have the locker key. She looks around and finally spots it on the desk, where she left it. She sighs, and picks it up, examining it carefully. She shakes her head.

"What am I doing..."

She closes her eyes tightly, as if to try to get an answer from somewhere. She opens them to find only the key. A million thoughts run through her head. Should she be doing this? What if he's playing her now...as it seemed he was playing her all along? Is he pulling her strings, like Sykes told her he was? And does she really want to go down this road again?

Tea stares at the key and tries to reconcile her conflicting feelings. No, of course she doesn't want to go through this again...IF that's what it is. But she's not so sure. She starts to get angry at herself, and angry at him, all over again. Why should she even deal with this stupid key? Why can't he just come out and say what he means? Why should HIS inability to properly express himself give him an excuse to play games?

She thinks, and thinks. But the anger soon gives way to apprehension. Underneath all the hurt she feels, is some little part of her...little, but loud...telling her it's no game...that Todd is trying to tell her something important...in his own strange way, because the words won't come.

The voices inside her quiet down, and she is left to decide. She closes her hand around the key again. Finally, she whispers to him, there in the room by herself.

"Don't make me sorry I did this."