PREVIOUSLY

Todd: (Leans his head against hers and keeps crying.)

Tea: (Reaches around and holds his face, a protective gesture.)

[Camera pans back to show them huddled together. Todd's sobbing is quite audible and can be heard and seen for about 30 seconds before the scene change.]

[Scene ends]

*****

[Scene: Buchanan Mansion, Asa's Study two days later.]

Asa: Where is Manning?

Max: Nobody seems to know. (Grins.) Maybe he's had another breakdown?

Asa: Wouldn't that be helpful? This time we might even get The Sun back. I have an idea.

Max: Better yet: maybe he's dead? For real this time?

Bo: (Enters Asa's study.) Pa? Tina's back in town. Hi, Max.

Max: She is? Interesting.

Asa: I wonder what scheme she's up to?

Bo: Maybe because her brother's back in town.

Max: (Looks dissapointed.) I had hoped.....

Asa: Didn't we all?

Bo: You can't kill Manning. Even I've tried. He refuses to die.

Asa: (Venomously:) That snake.

Bo: (Quietly:) The Restraining Order's expired, Pa.

Asa: And I think I know how to get The Sun back. Here's what I'm setting up.......

[Scene ends.]

[Scene: Penthouse. Starr Manning's bedroom, the next day.]

Starr: (Clutching Fred The Magic Frog:) Daddy?

Todd: Yes, sweetie?

Starr: (Squeezing Fred tight against her chest:) Was I bad? Is that why you keep leaving me?

Todd: (Concerned and loving:) Oh, Starr..... C'mere. (They sit in the rocking chair together.) No, you're not bad. I am.

Starr: (In Todd's lap.) No, Daddy! You're good!

Todd: (Quietly, looking at her:) I left you again, sweetheart. It's ok if you're mad at me for that. I was very mad and very sad when my Mom left me. I stayed mad at her a very long time. I thought I'd been so bad she had to leave.

Starr: (Glares at Todd, still clutching Fred:) I'm not mad at you, Daddy.

Todd: (Looks in her face:) It looks like you are to me, and you know what? It really is ok to be mad at me for leaving you.

Starr: (Wide-eyed:) It is?

Todd: (Reassuringly:) Yes. It's ok to be mad because I ran off and left you. (Stroking her face, quietly:) I'm so sorry I left you, I was trying to protect you and keep you safe from me.

Starr: (Surprised:) Why, Daddy? You're good, Daddy.

Todd: (A little sad:) I'm not as good as you think I am, but I'm trying to be a good Daddy to you. Better than my Daddy.

Starr: (Curious:) What was your Daddy like?

Todd: (Gently, keeping his emotions in check:) Very, very mean. He yelled an awful lot at me and my Mom.

Starr: (Directly:) Sometimes you yell, too.

Todd: Not at you. (Hugs her close.)

Starr: (A little sadly:) At Mommy.

Todd: (Nods.) Blair and I don't get along, that's why we don't live together anymore.

Starr: (Sadly:) Yeah.....

Todd: (Hugs her and kisses her hair.) Sometimes we yell at each other and we're not very nice to each other, but the one thing we agree on is we both want the best little girl in the world to grow up happy and we want to do everything we can to see that you do.

Starr: (Looking intently at Todd:) Daddy?

Todd: (Looking in Starr's eyes:) Yes?

Starr: (Concerned curiosity:) Did your Daddy scare you?

Todd: (Honestly:) Yes. Do I scare you?

Starr: (Nodding:) Sometimes.

Todd: (Upset:) Oh. I don't mean to. I don't ever want to scare you. If I scare you, tell me, ok?

Starr: Ok. (Thinks, then:) Did your Daddy hurt you?

Todd: (A little surprised and concerned:) Yes, Starr. My Daddy hurt me a lot. That's why I try so hard to keep you safe. I want you to be happy and know how much I love you. Sometimes I go away because I'm afraid of hurting you with my problems. Please, don't ever think it's because of something you've done, it's not so. I love you so much I don't even have words to tell you how much.

Starr: (Snuggling against Todd and hugging him:) I love you, too, Daddy. You're the best Daddy in the whole world. You can do anything.

Todd: (Holds her close, teary.)

[Scene ends.]

[Scene: Llanfair. Bo rings doorbell, Viki answers. It is a day later, mid-morning.]

Bo: Viki, I'm looking for Todd.

Viki: (Warily:) Why, so you can cause him more trouble?

Bo: (Contrite:) No. I think I owe him an apology.

Viki: (Softening a little:) For what?

Bo: (Calmly:) Beating him up.

Viki: (Slightly sarcastic:) That's not like you. You must be ill.

Bo: (Only a little amused:) Very funny, Viki. I think I misjudged him on some points, something I rarely do with your brother, and it was wrong of me to beat him up over them. That was extreme even for me in regards to Todd.

Viki: What about Jessica's graduation party?

Bo: (Conceding:) Ok. But that time he did fight back, this time he wasn't fighting at all.

Viki: What brought about this change of heart in regards to my brother?

Bo: I dunno, Viki, he just seems different, and he never defended himself while I was hitting him. That's not like him; he's a bully, a scrapper.

Viki: (A little concerned now:) I know. That's really not like him. This isn't even like you.

Bo: (A little defensively:) I'm not without compassion, Viki, even for Todd. It's really gnawed at me since that night, although I haven't said anything to anyone before now. There's really no one I could've said any of this to, you know? This is purely personal, it doesn't affect business.

Viki: I see. Don't expect to win any brownie points with Todd for this apology. Business and personal have never really been seperate in your family, and he's not going to trust you.

Bo: (Nods.) This isn't a truce, either, just an apology. He wouldn't agree to a truce with me, anyway, and we all know it. I grossly overstepped. He never touched me. It erases none of our history, either. I keep seeing him fall in the courtroom out cold, his eyes open and fixed, seeing nothing, and then his not fighting me at the Club when I went after him. Something's not right with your brother, Viki, never has been right, but there seems to really be something wrong with Todd now.

Viki: You knew what Peter Manning was like, how he treated Todd.

Bo: (Nods.) I keep thinking of Drew and how it could just as easily have been Drew and his stepfather and I might never have been the wiser the whole time. Todd is really ill, isn't he?

Viki: Yes. He wasn't faking, even though that tape led us all to believe he had been. He really is ill. On the mends and not made of glass. He's still very much himself.

Bo: I remember back when he had kidnapped Rebecca. I had caught up with him at his mother's cabin and had him pinned down face down over the edge of a couch, and was cuffing his hands behind his back. He was screaming his lungs out, screaming at me to get off of him, but it was like it wasn't me he was screaming at. He was hysterical, and seemed to be completely panicked, more than usual when he's been cuffed. He wasn't defiant, he was terrified. And then it passed and he was combative as usual. I never figured it out, but it's stuck with me all this time. It was jus' -- It was this ungodly, terrified screaming.

Viki: I hadn't heard about that. You're rarely, if ever, at all sympathetic to Todd. What brings this on?

Bo: He was frantic. It seemed to come from some Special Hell for him. Do you think he was remembering something? I've always wondered about it.

Viki: It's very possible. There's something called State-Dependent Learning. We all do it, it's what allows you to do violent police work or EMTs to do a rescue without having to think about it until it's over. It's why the panic comes after the task and not during it.

Bo: I know. It's why we train so hard.

Viki: Well, then you know about triggers, too. When that siren goes off all their training starts to flood in and their fears are held at bay as the EMTs board the ambulance. Police are the same, firefighters, too. When you have to use your gun, this is what comes into play. There are cues, triggers, that set the training in motion without thought. Even reporters chasing a dangerous story. Mel thrives on it, Dorian hates it.

Bo: I've felt that happening, yes. You just react.

Viki: You know some of my brother's history. He could easily have been triggered into a memory and gone into a panic then, terrified of having that same thing happening again.

Bo: You think? I was behind him, holding his arms behind his back and he was pinned down, bent over from the wai-- oh no. (a little defensive:) I didn't have a choice. I was the arresting officer, I had to cuff him.

Viki: I realize that.

Bo: He was quite shaken. I think I see why if what he said last fall in court was true, but this was standard procedure and he knew that.

Viki: I know that. I have no doubt it was true. Can you see that he was terribly frightened then? That he had run out of fear? He was sure he was going to be killed even if he turned himself in.

Bo: I do understand that, but he had also kidnapped Rebecca. He has a long history of violence and he knew to expect this. Viki, thanks for talking with me about all this. I know that last time we talked was a lot less pleasant and it was also about Todd. I'm sorry.

Viki: Apology accepted, Bo. Please understand that Todd is my brother, and I will stick up for him.

Bo: I know. I understand. Considering who he is, that's either crazy, or commendable.

Viki: Both, by turns. (Smiles at Bo.) He's a handful and very hard to be with.

Bo: I won't argue with that. I'll try to track him down between tasks.

Viki: No fighting.

Bo: Not from me, no. (Leaves.)

[Scene ends.]

[The Sun, Office of The Publisher. Next day.]

Tina: Hello, little brother.

Todd: Oh no, not you again, Sis. What do you want?

Tina: Nice to see you, too, Todd. You're looking well.

Todd: You're looking...... well...... Why are you here? Out of money?

Tina: No, the children and I are doing all right.

Todd: Where are the little tykes?

Tina: They're at Viki's. We're here for another short visit. They were asking for you.

Todd: You making a habit of this?

Tina: Maybe. They're not so little anymore.

Todd: (Softening:) I know. Thank you. I would like to see them. How long will you be here?

Tina: Just a few days, like last time. We were here just to see you last time.

Todd: Why would anyone want to travel to see me? Especially you.

Tina: Relatives do that.

Todd: I wouldn't know. Never had any, growing up.

Tina: I know.... Maybe things would have been different for you. For us. (Pause.)

Todd: (Seems far away, off in space.)

Tina: Viki is having --

Todd: (Attention sharpens at the sound of Viki's name, and he looks at Tina, alertly.)

Tina: -- a dinner in about a week at her house, and she and the children would like you to come. They would also like to see Starr.

Todd: I'll have to clear that with Blair.

Tina: I said I'd tell you, since I wanted to see you.

Todd: Why??

Tina: Because you're my brother. I wanted to see for myself how you were doing.

Todd: You've seen how I am.

Tea: You seem much the same. I'll let you get back to work. (Turns and leaves.)

Todd: (A little baffled:) Bye. (After Tina leaves, to himself:) What does she want this time? Probably money. I got the inheritance. (Goes back to work.) She can't like me. (Makes a face.)

[Scene ends.]