EAD 2016- Five (or Six) Sides of Ted Baxter (That Weren't Immediately Apparent)
EAD 2016 Masterpost
Five (or Six) Sides of Ted Baxter (That Weren't Immediately Apparent) -Snippet, Unbetaed
Fandom: The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Pairing/Character: Ted Baxter/Georgette Franklin,
Warings: None in this Snippet
Summary: Like Murray said, the worst thing about Ted was how much you liked the guy.
Rhoda
They’re all at Mary’s apartment, and again it’s an awkward party. Ted looks around and everyone is having boring stiff conversations. Even Mary looks bored. Unfortunately Georgette was called in to work for an annual inventory and couldn’t come be his date. Ted sighs wistfully. She could brighten up this party in a heartbeat. Just like how much she brightened up his life. Another sigh escapes him.
“That’s some sighing you’re doing, Ted. Are you sure you’re not,” Rhoda stopped before giving a sigh herself. “What’s the point? This party is dragging everyone down. I can’t even be my witty vivacious self.”
Ted turned to Rhoda and just gave her a look. She stood there, next to him, sipping on what he believed to be her third glass of wine. She was wearing one of those form fitting dress that was showing off her figure. It was a great figure but Ted couldn’t understand why she was even talking to him.
“Rhoda.” Ted began but then stopped to look around to see if anyone was paying attention. No one was. Everyone was focused on their drink or their dull conversational partner. Mary’s party curse struck again.
“What Ted? Come on spit it out. Even what you say now is better than listening to nothing.”
Ted knew he deserved that but still. Oh well. “Rhoda, why are you even talking to me?”
Rhoda jerked in surprise. “What do you mean?” She demanded intently.
Ted looked around again but everyone looked even more drained and tired. “You know, Rhoda. Since our date…” Ted trailed off.
Rhoda again startled. “Ted, seriously? It was just a date.”
“I know but…”
“And you’re dating Georgette right now. My friend. So yeah I’m not going to ignore you because we went out on a date.”
Ted paused but really, this needed to be addressed. “Rhoda. It was not just a date. It was a lousy date. The food was lousy, the whole evening was lousy and worse of all, I was lousy.”
A look of confusion crossed Rhoda’s face but she turned to him fully. “Ted. I was just a date.”
Ted couldn’t help but frown at her. “Rhoda. No it wasn’t. It was an awful date and I treated you like a floozy.”
“Ted. Seriously. It was just a date. What are you trying to imply? Jeez. Come on Ted. Really. No hard feelings. It wasn’t even a bad date in my opinion. There just wasn’t any spark, you know?”
Ted couldn’t help but be really bothered by this. There were rules about how you treat women, ladies. Even with women’s lib, a guy still had rules to follow and Ted hadn’t even been nice to Rhoda. It’s not to say Ted was awful to her, but he was awful to her. How Rhoda could even stand to be in the room with him was a mystery. His mother taught him better. He took his bad mood out on her, Lou’s yelling ringing in his ears all through dinner, and treated her poorly. Ted hadn’t cared about being kind and thoughtful to Rhoda, like his mother taught him, he was just mean to her. …And she didn’t think it was a bad date?
“Rhoda. I was awful, just awful to you the entire evening. And then when it was over, I still went for a kiss. I didn’t even apologize afterwards. No, I said something about your looks and then left. Rhoda, I was rotten to you. And I didn’t even say sorry the day after. How can you stand talking to me?”
Confusion met with bewilderment and Rhoda just stared at Ted as he continued. “And you say it wasn’t a bad date? Rhoda. I’ve been abominable to people in the past but not on dates. But I was to you. I mean, I was too cowardly to talk to you after and say sorry. And then I met Georgette and she is your friend and I know that if she knew how I treated you she’d be so disappointed so I’ve been avoiding you, till I had the guts to talk to you but you don’t think it was a bad date? Rhoda? It was a bad date. A very bad date.”
Ted looked away, not able to look at that awful, almost vulnerable expression on her face. Both hands seemed to be clutching her wine glass and her usual happy mood was gone. Still, Mary’s partygoers just kept to themselves, drinking. Probably would stay until Mary’s booze ran out. It just seemed like one of those evenings.
“You haven’t yet.” Rhoda’s voice drew back Ted’s attention. She seemed to have recovered a bit but still seemed smaller than usual.
“What?”
“You haven’t yet apologized,” Rhoda replied, quietly but pointedly.
Ted gulped. He owed it to her. Had for months and months. He took a big breath and slowly released it. Ted looked her fully in the face and said, “I’m sorry Rhoda. I really am. I was a rotten date and a rotten person. I should have cancelled our date. I hope you can forgive me but I will understand if you can’t.” And Ted continued to look her fully in the face, even when Rhoda didn’t say anything.
The silence lingered just a bit until Rhoda gave a wobbly-sort of smile. “Thanks Ted. I’ve never been given an apology for a man misbehaving before.”
She looked like she needed a hug. Ted knew if Georgette was here, she’d be able to cheer Rhoda right up, and give her the comfort Rhoda needed. But Georgette wasn’t here. So he’d have to do it.
Making sure not to set closer to her in case Rhoda thought he was coming on to her, he slowly laid a hand on her arm, and gave it a pat. “Rhoda, it that wasn’t a bad date in your experience. You should have gotten many many apologies before this.”
And before his eyes, her eyes started to water. Rhoda, the strong sharp-tongued amazing woman that he’d liked, even when her sharp tongue was pointed his way, was tearing up. Ted looked around for help. But Mary was party-cursed like everyone else and had been drinking quietly by Lou and Murray by the dining table and wouldn’t be any help. Luckily they were near the door, so he led Rhoda to the door and quietly pushed her out, checked to see if anyone saw them, and closed the door behind him quietly as possible. Ted could start to hear sniffles even before he turned around. Still wishing Georgette was here, he turned and carefully led her up the stairs to her apartment before carefully gathering Rhoda up in his arms, treating her like he would a sister, all the ready to back up if Rhoda said so.
She didn’t. Instead she turned and started to cry into his new suit jacket. He didn’t mind the tears or the makeup. He deserved this. He was rotten to this wonderful gal and this was what he had been avoiding.
“There there. Rhoda. There there. I’m really sorry Rhoda. There there.” He patted her on the back and just tried to talk as soothingly as possible. “There there.”
“I’m not crying because of you!” Rhoda finally responded, lifting her head and scowling at him.
Ted quickly dropped his arms and tried to step back but Rhoda keep a firm grip on his suit jacket.
“Well, not just you.” Rhoda gave him a slight shove before looking for some Kleenex. She went and sat heavily on her bed.
Ted not know what to do, just stood there till he knew whether to stay or go. He might just leave his coat at Mary’s and pick it up later.
“Oh, just sit down.” Rhoda patted the bed next to her.
Not at all understanding what was going on, Ted sat on her bed as far away from her as possible. He just looked at his hands and then picked at some lint at his knees.
Rhoda blew her nose and dried the tears, and then blew her nose again. No more sniffling, Ted thanked God for that at least. Rhoda sighed. “I’m sorry.”
Ted turned to her, “What? No. This is my fault. I’m the one that’s sorry.”
“Oh shut up Ted.” Came Rhoda’s response. Ted quickly shut his mouth. Rhoda looked at him and just glared. “Why did you have to bring this up Ted? Why? Couldn’t let me laugh it off?”
Ted couldn’t help but protest. “Laugh off? How is that a good response to a rotten suitor?”
“Well it’s MY response Ted. Okay Ted. Get it? It’s how I deal with crappy dates. And yes, for your information, our date wasn’t even in the top twenty of the worst dates I had. So yeah. I was laughing it off. It’s what I do. And then you had to go and apologize.”
Ted couldn’t help but try to imagine a worse date than theirs, let alone nineteen of them. With no apologies? But mother always said… Oh.
“Maybe you should have different dates.”
“What do you mean by that Ted? You better not be saying what I think you’re saying!” Rhoda voice came quick and fierce.
It was good to hear her voice be strong once more, even if it was directed at him. “No! I was not trying to say that. Or at least I wasn’t trying to say what you think you thought I was saying. I just meant, maybe you should be dating different men. Men you don’t treat you badly.”
“You mean men, not like you?” Rhoda’s voice said icily.
“Yes! Men not like me.” Ted knew if anyone from work heard him say that they’d be shocked but seriously. Ted looked directly into Rhoda’s eyes again. “Don’t date losers like me.”
That seemed to stump Rhoda, but just briefly. “Ted. I can’t believe I heard you just say that. You’re not a loser.”
Ted just shook his head at her denial. “Yes I am. You knew it when I asked you out and you still said yes. Why did you ever say yes?”
“Ted you’re not a loser. Georgette wouldn’t date a loser.” It was ridiculous but Rhoda seemed to be trying to comfort Ted. After all that.
“Georgette is dating a loser. Me. I know that. She knows that. Everyone knows that. But just because Georgette decided to go with me doesn’t mean you still didn’t go on a date with me, knowing I was a loser. And it seems you’ve had many dates with losers so you should recognize my loser-hood with your experience.” Ted knew his lot in life. He knew it made him insecure and foolish but if Georgette was going to go with him, he’d do his best to keep her in his life. She made him happy.
They both feel silent and Rhoda didn’t seem to think of a way to counter Ted’s points. Finally, Ted looked at his watch and got up from Rhoda’s bed. Before he left he turned to her again and said, “You shouldn’t waste yourself on someone like me. A loser. Consider raising your standards a bit, okay? You deserve to be treated great. You’re beautiful Rhoda. You’re funny and smart and have so much talent.” He looked at the fern garden besides her bed. “Maybe have different dates. Okay?” Ted just wanted to get out of there and go home. Maybe call Georgette up and see if she wanted to talk about her day.
As he was going to open the door, Rhoda called out his name. Ted turned and there was Rhoda standing there, behind him. Before he could turn fully, Rhoda wrapped her arms around him and gave him a big hug. “Georgette wouldn’t date a loser Ted.” Rhoda offered as she let go. Ted just gave a shrug and finally left.
He shrugged all down the first set of stairs to the landing in front of Mary’s apartment. Just thinking about going inside, death by dull was the phrase that came to mind. He could withstand leaving his coat behind. Maybe he could go pick up Georgette from work. Or maybe she’d let him come over and play with her kitten. Ted couldn’t help but smile and hasten his steps. Death by dull wouldn’t happen to him, not with Georgette around.
Five (or Six) Sides of Ted Baxter (That Weren't Immediately Apparent) -Snippet, Unbetaed
Fandom: The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Pairing/Character: Ted Baxter/Georgette Franklin,
Warings: None in this Snippet
Summary: Like Murray said, the worst thing about Ted was how much you liked the guy.
Rhoda
They’re all at Mary’s apartment, and again it’s an awkward party. Ted looks around and everyone is having boring stiff conversations. Even Mary looks bored. Unfortunately Georgette was called in to work for an annual inventory and couldn’t come be his date. Ted sighs wistfully. She could brighten up this party in a heartbeat. Just like how much she brightened up his life. Another sigh escapes him.
“That’s some sighing you’re doing, Ted. Are you sure you’re not,” Rhoda stopped before giving a sigh herself. “What’s the point? This party is dragging everyone down. I can’t even be my witty vivacious self.”
Ted turned to Rhoda and just gave her a look. She stood there, next to him, sipping on what he believed to be her third glass of wine. She was wearing one of those form fitting dress that was showing off her figure. It was a great figure but Ted couldn’t understand why she was even talking to him.
“Rhoda.” Ted began but then stopped to look around to see if anyone was paying attention. No one was. Everyone was focused on their drink or their dull conversational partner. Mary’s party curse struck again.
“What Ted? Come on spit it out. Even what you say now is better than listening to nothing.”
Ted knew he deserved that but still. Oh well. “Rhoda, why are you even talking to me?”
Rhoda jerked in surprise. “What do you mean?” She demanded intently.
Ted looked around again but everyone looked even more drained and tired. “You know, Rhoda. Since our date…” Ted trailed off.
Rhoda again startled. “Ted, seriously? It was just a date.”
“I know but…”
“And you’re dating Georgette right now. My friend. So yeah I’m not going to ignore you because we went out on a date.”
Ted paused but really, this needed to be addressed. “Rhoda. It was not just a date. It was a lousy date. The food was lousy, the whole evening was lousy and worse of all, I was lousy.”
A look of confusion crossed Rhoda’s face but she turned to him fully. “Ted. I was just a date.”
Ted couldn’t help but frown at her. “Rhoda. No it wasn’t. It was an awful date and I treated you like a floozy.”
“Ted. Seriously. It was just a date. What are you trying to imply? Jeez. Come on Ted. Really. No hard feelings. It wasn’t even a bad date in my opinion. There just wasn’t any spark, you know?”
Ted couldn’t help but be really bothered by this. There were rules about how you treat women, ladies. Even with women’s lib, a guy still had rules to follow and Ted hadn’t even been nice to Rhoda. It’s not to say Ted was awful to her, but he was awful to her. How Rhoda could even stand to be in the room with him was a mystery. His mother taught him better. He took his bad mood out on her, Lou’s yelling ringing in his ears all through dinner, and treated her poorly. Ted hadn’t cared about being kind and thoughtful to Rhoda, like his mother taught him, he was just mean to her. …And she didn’t think it was a bad date?
“Rhoda. I was awful, just awful to you the entire evening. And then when it was over, I still went for a kiss. I didn’t even apologize afterwards. No, I said something about your looks and then left. Rhoda, I was rotten to you. And I didn’t even say sorry the day after. How can you stand talking to me?”
Confusion met with bewilderment and Rhoda just stared at Ted as he continued. “And you say it wasn’t a bad date? Rhoda. I’ve been abominable to people in the past but not on dates. But I was to you. I mean, I was too cowardly to talk to you after and say sorry. And then I met Georgette and she is your friend and I know that if she knew how I treated you she’d be so disappointed so I’ve been avoiding you, till I had the guts to talk to you but you don’t think it was a bad date? Rhoda? It was a bad date. A very bad date.”
Ted looked away, not able to look at that awful, almost vulnerable expression on her face. Both hands seemed to be clutching her wine glass and her usual happy mood was gone. Still, Mary’s partygoers just kept to themselves, drinking. Probably would stay until Mary’s booze ran out. It just seemed like one of those evenings.
“You haven’t yet.” Rhoda’s voice drew back Ted’s attention. She seemed to have recovered a bit but still seemed smaller than usual.
“What?”
“You haven’t yet apologized,” Rhoda replied, quietly but pointedly.
Ted gulped. He owed it to her. Had for months and months. He took a big breath and slowly released it. Ted looked her fully in the face and said, “I’m sorry Rhoda. I really am. I was a rotten date and a rotten person. I should have cancelled our date. I hope you can forgive me but I will understand if you can’t.” And Ted continued to look her fully in the face, even when Rhoda didn’t say anything.
The silence lingered just a bit until Rhoda gave a wobbly-sort of smile. “Thanks Ted. I’ve never been given an apology for a man misbehaving before.”
She looked like she needed a hug. Ted knew if Georgette was here, she’d be able to cheer Rhoda right up, and give her the comfort Rhoda needed. But Georgette wasn’t here. So he’d have to do it.
Making sure not to set closer to her in case Rhoda thought he was coming on to her, he slowly laid a hand on her arm, and gave it a pat. “Rhoda, it that wasn’t a bad date in your experience. You should have gotten many many apologies before this.”
And before his eyes, her eyes started to water. Rhoda, the strong sharp-tongued amazing woman that he’d liked, even when her sharp tongue was pointed his way, was tearing up. Ted looked around for help. But Mary was party-cursed like everyone else and had been drinking quietly by Lou and Murray by the dining table and wouldn’t be any help. Luckily they were near the door, so he led Rhoda to the door and quietly pushed her out, checked to see if anyone saw them, and closed the door behind him quietly as possible. Ted could start to hear sniffles even before he turned around. Still wishing Georgette was here, he turned and carefully led her up the stairs to her apartment before carefully gathering Rhoda up in his arms, treating her like he would a sister, all the ready to back up if Rhoda said so.
She didn’t. Instead she turned and started to cry into his new suit jacket. He didn’t mind the tears or the makeup. He deserved this. He was rotten to this wonderful gal and this was what he had been avoiding.
“There there. Rhoda. There there. I’m really sorry Rhoda. There there.” He patted her on the back and just tried to talk as soothingly as possible. “There there.”
“I’m not crying because of you!” Rhoda finally responded, lifting her head and scowling at him.
Ted quickly dropped his arms and tried to step back but Rhoda keep a firm grip on his suit jacket.
“Well, not just you.” Rhoda gave him a slight shove before looking for some Kleenex. She went and sat heavily on her bed.
Ted not know what to do, just stood there till he knew whether to stay or go. He might just leave his coat at Mary’s and pick it up later.
“Oh, just sit down.” Rhoda patted the bed next to her.
Not at all understanding what was going on, Ted sat on her bed as far away from her as possible. He just looked at his hands and then picked at some lint at his knees.
Rhoda blew her nose and dried the tears, and then blew her nose again. No more sniffling, Ted thanked God for that at least. Rhoda sighed. “I’m sorry.”
Ted turned to her, “What? No. This is my fault. I’m the one that’s sorry.”
“Oh shut up Ted.” Came Rhoda’s response. Ted quickly shut his mouth. Rhoda looked at him and just glared. “Why did you have to bring this up Ted? Why? Couldn’t let me laugh it off?”
Ted couldn’t help but protest. “Laugh off? How is that a good response to a rotten suitor?”
“Well it’s MY response Ted. Okay Ted. Get it? It’s how I deal with crappy dates. And yes, for your information, our date wasn’t even in the top twenty of the worst dates I had. So yeah. I was laughing it off. It’s what I do. And then you had to go and apologize.”
Ted couldn’t help but try to imagine a worse date than theirs, let alone nineteen of them. With no apologies? But mother always said… Oh.
“Maybe you should have different dates.”
“What do you mean by that Ted? You better not be saying what I think you’re saying!” Rhoda voice came quick and fierce.
It was good to hear her voice be strong once more, even if it was directed at him. “No! I was not trying to say that. Or at least I wasn’t trying to say what you think you thought I was saying. I just meant, maybe you should be dating different men. Men you don’t treat you badly.”
“You mean men, not like you?” Rhoda’s voice said icily.
“Yes! Men not like me.” Ted knew if anyone from work heard him say that they’d be shocked but seriously. Ted looked directly into Rhoda’s eyes again. “Don’t date losers like me.”
That seemed to stump Rhoda, but just briefly. “Ted. I can’t believe I heard you just say that. You’re not a loser.”
Ted just shook his head at her denial. “Yes I am. You knew it when I asked you out and you still said yes. Why did you ever say yes?”
“Ted you’re not a loser. Georgette wouldn’t date a loser.” It was ridiculous but Rhoda seemed to be trying to comfort Ted. After all that.
“Georgette is dating a loser. Me. I know that. She knows that. Everyone knows that. But just because Georgette decided to go with me doesn’t mean you still didn’t go on a date with me, knowing I was a loser. And it seems you’ve had many dates with losers so you should recognize my loser-hood with your experience.” Ted knew his lot in life. He knew it made him insecure and foolish but if Georgette was going to go with him, he’d do his best to keep her in his life. She made him happy.
They both feel silent and Rhoda didn’t seem to think of a way to counter Ted’s points. Finally, Ted looked at his watch and got up from Rhoda’s bed. Before he left he turned to her again and said, “You shouldn’t waste yourself on someone like me. A loser. Consider raising your standards a bit, okay? You deserve to be treated great. You’re beautiful Rhoda. You’re funny and smart and have so much talent.” He looked at the fern garden besides her bed. “Maybe have different dates. Okay?” Ted just wanted to get out of there and go home. Maybe call Georgette up and see if she wanted to talk about her day.
As he was going to open the door, Rhoda called out his name. Ted turned and there was Rhoda standing there, behind him. Before he could turn fully, Rhoda wrapped her arms around him and gave him a big hug. “Georgette wouldn’t date a loser Ted.” Rhoda offered as she let go. Ted just gave a shrug and finally left.
He shrugged all down the first set of stairs to the landing in front of Mary’s apartment. Just thinking about going inside, death by dull was the phrase that came to mind. He could withstand leaving his coat behind. Maybe he could go pick up Georgette from work. Or maybe she’d let him come over and play with her kitten. Ted couldn’t help but smile and hasten his steps. Death by dull wouldn’t happen to him, not with Georgette around.