In My Daughter's Eyes

AN: This story is written from Todd's point of view.

I held Tea's hand as we walked into the apartment to find Dani. My hands were sweating and I could feel my heart thumping against my chest in rapid succession. I was pretty certain that I was on the brink of a panic attack.

Tea had told Dani that I was her father and I was frightened that she would never accept me. Tea and I was on my way to see her and talk to her. I had to find a way to tell her about my criminal past before she found out in some other way.

"Dani," Tea called out as we entered the apartment, but there was nothing but silence to answer us.

I looked around the room and paused when I saw the article that was up on the screen. It was an old article from the rape trial. "She knows..." I gasped out. I wanted to be the one to explain to her what I had done and why. I thought that if I had explained it then I could find a way to make her understand that I wasn't that same man any longer.

"We have to find her."

"I know, I'm going to call Matthew. Maybe he knows where she is."

My phone rang and I picked it up when I realized that it was Starr.

"Dad, Dani's here. She's really upset and wants to spend the night with Cole and me. I just didn't want you or Tea to worry about where she is."

"Okay Starr, I'll tell Tea, I love you," I whispered as I breathed a sigh of relief as I hung up the phone.

"Tea, that was Starr. Dani's with her."

"Thank god, let's go. We need to talk this through as a family," Tea said as she grabbed my hand and led me towards the exit.

XOXOXOXO

"Are you sure about this Tea, maybe we should give Dani time to deal with all of this," I stated as I walked up the stairs to Starr's apartment. I felt as if I was walking the Green Mile. It was as if every step led me closer to my destruction.

"We have to at least try and talk to her about this tonight," Tea said as she squeezed my hand for encouragement with one hand and knocked on Starr's door with the other one.

"Tea, dad, maybe this isn't such a good time," Starr said as she opened the front door.

"Dani, I know that you're upset and confused, but we need to talk about this," Tea said as she spotted our daughter sitting on the couch.

Tea and I walked into the living room as Starr shut the door.

"There's nothing that I want to talk to you about and certainly not with him," she shouted as she glared at me.

"Dani...please give Todd a chance, he's not the same man that you've read about. I know that this is really hard for you, but there's another side to him," Tea pleaded as tears spilled down her cheeks.

"Tea's right Danny. It was hard for me when I found out what our father did to Cole's mom, but eventually I came to realize that there's just as many good things about him then there are bad, and he really has changed since then."

"I know that you're just trying to help, but it's different for you Starr. I know exactly what he did to Marty, because I lived it."

"What?" I gasped out. This couldn't be happening...maybe this was just a bad dream that I was waking up from, only I knew I never would. I stared into my daughter's eyes and saw the same pain, hatred and anger that I had often seen in Marty's eyes.

"I know exactly how it feels to be pinned to a bed, and have something pushed down your throat so that you can't scream for help. I know what it's like to feel weak and powerless as some asshole forces himself into you and invades your soul and body with his disgusting presence."

"What are you trying to say Dani?" Tea said as she took a step closer to our daughter.

"I'm trying to say that I know exactly what Todd put Marty through, because I've been there. I was raped," Dani confessed as she burst into tears.

XOXOXO

"I was raped," Dani confessed as she burst into tears.

I felt sick as my worst fears were confirmed. Some sick bastard had stolen her innocence the way I stole Marty's. How would she ever be able to look at me with anything but hatred and disgust?

"Why didn't you tell me?" Tea asked as she wrapped her arms around Dani.

"Why would I, when you've made a career out of defending bastards just like him?" Dani asked as she pulled away from her. "How could you love Todd given his disgusting history with Marty? How could you defend him even after he forced Marty to fall in love with him and he raped her all over again?"

"I know that you don't want to believe this, but the good in Todd outweighs the bad. Please Dani...I know that if you give him a chance you'll come to love him just as much as I do."

"I will never love him. I can't even stand being in the same room with him. You disgust me," Dani said as she turned and glared at me.

"Who hurt you Dani?" I asked. I needed a name so that I could find him and torture him the way that he tortured my daughter.

"Why? Do you want to congratulate him for a job well done?"

"No, he needs to pay for what he did to you," I said softly as I cringed against her hateful accusation. "You need to press charges against him so that he never hurts anybody else again.

"Isn't that a bit hypocritical of you considering that you never paid for what you did to Marty. Well don't worry Todd, Spencer will never be able to hurt anybody else again."

"What do you mean? What happened to him?" Tea asked.

"He tried to rape me again and my friend Tommy hit him over the head with a fire poker. He's in a coma and there's very little chance that he'll ever wake up again," Dani explained.

"Good," I said.

"I can't talk about this anymore and especially not with him," Dani shouted as she ran into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

"I think that you should go dad," Starr stated.

"Yeah, I know. Are you going to come with me Tea?"

"I want to stay with Dani...she needs me."

"I know, take care of our daughter," I said as I gave her a hug and walked out of the apartment.