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THE LONGEST WEEK

PART ONE

late afternoon in Llanview, about four months later...

Knock, knock, knock...

Todd comes down the stairs of the penthouse, jumping over the last three steps. He sprints over to the door and throws it open...

...to find Blair, with her sunglasses still on, covering her typically lukewarm face. Kelly stands behind her, also looking vaguely annoyed. Starr stands a few feet below them, beaming up at her dad, holding Fred the magic frog. Todd stands back and lets them in. Starr runs in and starts jumping all over the place as Blair breezes past Todd, carrying a small suitcase. Kelly walks in, content to stand in the foyer. Todd cocks an eyebrow at her, then follows Blair, making a bit of a face behind her back...she whirls around, and he quickly puts on an innocent look.

She takes her shades off, revealing somewhat puffy eyes. He does a quick take...then his face softens a little, realizing she's been crying. He shifts around, hands in his pockets.

"Jeez, Blair...it's only a couple of months."

She sighs, as Starr walks over to her and hugs her leg. Blair smiles down at her, stroking her hair. She squats down to be at eye-level with her.

"Oh, sweetie...I am gonna miss you SO much."

Starr smiles wistfully. "I'll miss you too. But I'll call you, and send you pictures..."

She turns to her dad. "...we're gonna take LOTS of pictures, right, Daddy?"

Todd grins. "Tons."

Blair smirks at him, then looks back at Starr. "Well, you'd BETTER."

She sniffles, then hugs Starr tightly, giving her a loud, smacking kiss on the cheek.

"Okay, then...you be good now. I love you."

Starr pulls away, playing with her mom's long blond hair. "I will. I love you too."

They look at each other knowingly...then smile as they both bring a hand up to flamboyantly toss their hair back in unison, a secret signal between them. Todd cracks up watching them...then Blair stands up, plants one more kiss on Starr's head, and puts her shades back on.

She walks past Todd and Kelly as she tosses her purse over her shoulder. Todd points at Starr, then points upstairs. She nods and goes running up the stairs, waving to Kelly.

"Bye, Kelly! Have a good summer!"

Kelly smiles, waving back. "Bye Starr, I will...you too!"

She watches her disappear into the second floor, then follows Todd over to the door, leaning on the doorsill. Blair turns around to face him as he leans on the open door...she hesitates a little, then speaks quietly.

"Well...I'm gonna miss her somethin' awful, but...I know she's gonna have a blast, out there in the middle of nowhere with y'all. Just...uh...make sure she..."

"...calls you. She will, don't worry."

She nods, sniffling again and folding her arms. "I guess you'll be keeping tabs on us while you're out there frolicking in the woods?"

Todd makes a face. "Well, DUH, it's MY paper. I mean, it didn't go bankrupt with you clowns running it, but you got damned close, selling out to Asa..."

"...that wasn't ME...it was MAX...and HER," Blair says, pointing at Kelly, who gapes as she points right back at Blair.

"Yeah, well, if YOU weren't such a control freak, Max wouldn't have sold out, and *I* wouldn't have fired you!"

Blair gets in Kelly's face. "I HAD to be a control freak...'cause YOU had NO idea what you were doing!!"

Kelly prepares to fire back as Todd gets between them, slicing through the air with his hands.

"SHUT UP!!!"

They both stop, and look at him. He sighs, frustrated, running a hand through his hair.

"Now you listen to ME, BOTH of ya. I'm ALLOWING you two run the Sun... 'cause believe it or not, you guys actually work pretty well together when you're not at each other's throats. But I'll know about EVERYTHING that happens...so I don't care WHAT you do outside the building...but you keep your stupid little catfights outta MY office. If I even SUSPECT that kinda crap is going on, you're out on your butts. CLEAR?"

Blair tips her shades down, looking over them at Kelly, who runs her tongue along the inside of her cheek, then pushes past Blair, out the door.

"Right. Later, Todd."

Blair looks Todd up and down. She cocks her head defiantly, her tone icy now.

"And YOU...you're LUCKY I was in a good mood when this request came up. I didn't have to agree to this, you know."

He glances off to the side for a second, shaking his head. "Yeah, I KNOW. You bring it up every time I see her."

She takes a step forward, pointing at him. "Don't even THINK of disappearing with her."

He makes a face, unimpressed...then swats her finger out of the way. She shakes her head at him as she backs up slowly.

"Hmm. See you in August," she says curtly, walking away.

Todd watches her for a second, then slams the door. Blair and Kelly both jump, then make faces at each other while they wait for the elevator.

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

Later that night, Todd sits in Starr's room, packing her toys in a box as she comes in from the bathroom. He stops her, lifting her face up.

"Teeth," he says simply. She shows off her just-brushed smile. He looks, then nods, and she shuffles over to the bed, climbing in.

"Daddy, why did we have to drive so long just to find tacos? And why did you have to get so many? I only had one, and I'm full."

Todd walks over, lifting the blanket for her as she lies down. She turns on her back, awaiting answers.

"They're for Tee, remember? Yeah, and sorry about the drive, but Tee doesn't want just ANY tacos. They have to be Taco Bell tacos, so I gotta drive halfway to New York just to find 'em."

She grabs Fred off the pillow and clutches him as he pulls the blanket up around her. Then he sits down on the edge of the bed.

"Ohhhh...is she gonna eat ALL of 'em?"

"Well, no, some of 'em are mine. Listen..all your toys are in that box. You'd better go through it in the morning, make sure I didn't forget anything."

She nods, then grins. "I can't wait to take the plane ride. That'll be fun."

He nods back. She looks at him questioningly. "Will I like Mon...tana, Daddy?"

He smiles at her. "Well...it's really pretty there. *I* like it. Tee likes it."

She smiles back. "Then I'LL like it. Are we bringing the tent to play camp?"

"I got a tent already, a bigger one."

"Oh. Okay," she says, turning on her side, still facing him. Todd leans down and kisses her.

"Night, Shorty."

She yawns, closing her eyes. "Ohhhh...hmmm. Night."

He gets up and walks over to the door when she looks up at him. "Daddy?"

"What?"

"Can I see the picture of the babies again?"

"Right now?"

"Yeah...pleeeeeease...."

He hesitates, teasingly...then sighs. "Hold on."

He walks out...she sits up, excited, watching the empty doorway. He comes back in with a piece of thick paper. He sits down on the bed and holds it out...she grabs it, looking at it and smiling.

Todd grins at her. "You've seen this like fifty times already, Starr. Stop stalling."

She giggles. "Nuh-UH, only like ten times. I just wanna see..."

She turns the sonogram printout all around, making faces. "...but...I still don't SEE them. How do YOU know it's two babies?"

Todd turns around, so that he's next to her, looking at the sonogram. He makes a face, not really sure what HE'S seeing, either.

"Well, *I* don't really know, but you gotta remember...they're like...not quite done, you know? So they don't really LOOK like babies yet. But the doctor knows all this stuff...she's the one that drew the circles. That's her job, you know, to see stuff like this that we can't..."

Starr looks up at him. "...and to take care of them...and Tee."

"Exactly," he says, snatching it out of her hand. "Now you've seen it, so no more stalling. We gotta be up early."

"But...I wanna see Tee..."

"You'll see her tomorrow, now..." he gets up, gesturing for her to lie down. She sighs, then plops back down.

He bends down, nuzzling her nose as he pulls the blanket up around her.

"Sleep tight, Shorty."

"Night."

He walks over to the door, turning back to look as she nestles into the pillow with Fred, closing her eyes. Todd turns off the light, leaving just the night-light on by her bed. He watches her for another second, then closes the door quietly.

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

Todd hears the sound of keys in the door a little while later. He tosses some papers aside as he gets up from the couch and runs over to the door, opening it.

"Oh, hey..." Tea says, surprised. She smiles at him tiredly, then grabs onto her crutches and hauls herself in.

He takes her keys out of the door as he closes it, then watches his wife as she stops in the inner doorway, holding onto the doorsill as she pulls her arms up off the crutches, grabbing them and leaning them up against the wall. She starts to inch forward...Todd walks up beside her, taking her right arm and putting it around his shoulders. She smiles, a little embarrassed at having to lean on him, even after months of doing this very same thing.

"So how was PT?" he asks quietly, as they move toward the couch, slowly.

"Oh, it was good...my arm feels SO much better. I'm so glad I don't have to wear that sling anymore...it was driving me nuts."

She grabs onto his hand as she turns herself around, lowering herself down on the couch slowly. He picks up the papers strewn about as she settles in, adjusting her leg brace. Then she blows the bangs up off her face, knocking on the hard fiberglass.

"Now if I could just lose THIS thing."

"Least it's not a cast."

She falls back against the cushion. "Well, yeah...ohhhh, man," she sighs, noticing all the papers.

"What's all this?"

He gathers them all into a neat pile. "Stuff about the house I gotta look over on the plane," he replies, using the papers as a fan on her.

"Oh..." She closes her eyes, feeling some cool air. "...oooh. I like THAT."

He grins as he watches her relaxing, the air from his makeshift fan blowing some loose strands of hair around her face. She tips her head, lifting her shoulder-length hair up, trying to get some of the air on her neck. She speaks calmly, softly, eyes still closed.

"Mmmmm...oh, is Starr here?"

"Yeah, she's sleepin' now..." he says, turning toward her, still fanning as he switches arms.

"...she's so funny. She made me go get the picture again..."

Tea smiles, eyes still closed. He cracks up.

"...and she goes, well 'how do YOU know there's two babies there?' Little wisenheimer."

Tea giggles, opening her eyes and looking at him. "Ooooh...she's got ATTITUDE. Well...honestly, I can't see much of anything in those sonograms...guess they won't be recognizable for a little while yet."

"My arm's getting tired. Can I stop now?"

She laughs. "Oh! Sorry, yeah. Thanks."

Suddenly, her eyes widen, and she gasps. "Did you get them?"

He scoots closer to her. "Delgado, do you have ANY idea where the NEAREST Taco Bell is around here?"

She shrugs. "Yeah..." She starts to crack up, blinking innocently. "...a few miles up the turnpike."

He does a take. "A FEW? What, are you KIDDING me? I had to drive halfway to friggin' Manhattan! Shorty thought I was nuts."

"Didya tell her they were for me?"

"Yeah, now she thinks you're a pig, 'cause I bought like twenty of 'em."

Tea busts out laughing, obnoxiously. She covers her mouth to keep it down, remembering Starr's sleeping upstairs. She settles down, then lightly touches his chin, playing with his goatee.

"Well, I'm sorry you had to drive so far. I dunno what to tell ya...my hormones are pretty demanding..."

Then she sits up straight, clapping her hands together excitedly. "...so LET'S EAT!!"

He moves in closer, getting right in her face. "Not so fast. I have a few conditions before I release the tacos."

She looks at him questioningly, waiting...he bumps her nose with his, lowering his voice seductively.

"Since I'm not gonna see you for a whole week...I had this idea."

She grins. "UH-oh..."

He grins back, devilishly...then starts whispering into her ear. She blinks, listening...then her eyes widen and her mouth drops. She pulls back, pushing him away, looking at him like she's never seen him before. He raises an eyebrow at her, daring her to accept. She folds her arms, unable to keep from smiling, as she thinks it over...

...then she clears her throat. "Uh...well...I'm gonna HAVE TO eat first, you DO understand THAT."

He gets up off the couch, holding his hands out. "That mean you're up to the challenge?"

She smiles up at him. "Oh, absolutely," she replies, grabbing his hands as he pulls her up.

They look at each other for a moment...then Todd scoops her up into his arms, carefully. Tea wraps her arms around his neck, giggling as he carries her up the stairs.