Todd knew better then to go after her. If anyone saw them together the way they had been here, he might get arrested, and then he'd have less chance of seeing her than he did now.

Todd sighed and buried his face in his hands, hoping that a trace of her perfume or shampoo lingered on his palms. To his relief, it did. He breathed in her warm scent deeply, and it gave him a modicum of comfort from the sting of her walking away from him again.

Todd slowly exited the vast conference room where they'd had their chance encounter. To his relief, there was a side exit on this abandoned hotel floor accessing the street that he hadn't noticed before. He was thankful he wouldn't have to lay eyes on anybody else while he exited the building.

He stepped out of the hotel into the freezing February night. He sighed a visible breath into the frigid air and then inhaled, closing his eyes in relief as the fresh, icy air filled his lungs.

His limo was on a deserted street right around the corner. The headlights and engine came on at the same time as William, his driver, saw him coming. Todd was glad Tea had insisted on taking the limo to the ball tonight. This way he could just focus on Marty on the way home and not have to worry about driving through party traffic.

Todd quickly stepped into the back of his spacious limo and shut the door. He tapped briskly on the panel separating the driver and passenger sections. "William, let's go straight home, please," he called.

"Sure thing, Mr. Manning," his chauffer answered affably.

As William promptly pulled the limo out onto the busy city street, Todd pulled out his PDA and composed a text message to Tea. Luckily, she was staying right here at the hotel, so he didn't have to worry that he was leaving her stranded anywhere.

New Message to: Tea

11:02 P.M.

Not feeling well and it's getting late – had to leave. Have a bellboy walk you upstairs to your suite.

Todd waited a minute and then signed off with,

Thanks for getting me out of the house.

He pressed "Send". Not two minutes later, his phone buzzed loudly.

New Message from: Tea

Typical! Goodnight, Todd. We WILL talk soon.

Todd snorted in appreciation. Leave it to Tea to make a future intended conversation sound like a threat. He was glad she didn't hate him. If he ever wanted to have visitation with the kids, he needed her on his side.

Todd leaned back against his limo's black leather seat. As the minutes passed, the bright lights of Llanview's business district faded and the car started to drive through quiet streets lined with birch trees and polite family homes.

It would be at least fifteen minutes before they reached his and Marty's house. Jackson Hill Road was right on the edge of Llanview, and its quiet privacy was the reason Todd had chosen the place to begin with.

Fifteen more minutes to sit and dream of what Marty had said, and the way she'd said it.

Maybe Todd was delusional. Marty would almost certainly say he was, and she didn't even remember all of her psychiatric training yet.

But if almost dying for her had only made him love her more, what was he supposed to think after she'd grabbed him, hugged him and kissed the breath from his body?

She'd told him it was just bravado that made her kiss him, and that she'd only been trying to prove she wasn't afraid of him. Maybe she even believed that.

But it wasn't the whole story. Not by a long shot.

If she'd only been trying to show him she didn't care about him; that he didn't scare her, she would have pushed him away when he'd kissed her back. She'd had plenty of opportunity.

And when he'd begged her to tell him she loved him, she'd said, "I won't," not "I don't".

He had to hold onto that. If he didn't – if he gave up hope – Todd knew that would really be the end for him.

Hell of a Valentine's Day this had been. Almost as eventful as New Year's Eve was – only better, because Marty had claimed him as her own with her lips, even if she didn't acknowledge that yet.

She would.

Todd didn't care if it took six weeks, six months, a year - and it didn't matter.

Because he knew now he'd never, ever be able to let her go.

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." – Shawshank Redemption

THE END