The Shadows Fall: Chapter 2 (adult)

He walked in, threw his jacket on the chair and went right back to work.  Out came the tablet, and furiously, he touch-screened his way into oblivion.  She came out from the kitchen and greeted him.

"Hi,"  she leaned over and kissed him.

"Hi," he said, pulling the tablet out of her view.

"Okay, what's the big secret?  I wish Jack never bought you that thing!"

"Eh, nothin'"

"You know I don't have patience."

"No, you don't," he agreed, still not giving.

"Come on Todd!"

"No, we had an agreement.  You get to keep secrets about parts of the wedding and so do I.  You have your stuff to plan, I have mine.  Isn't that in the spirit of our new and improved, totally revitalized, equal and TeamManning relationship?"

She plopped on the couch and folded her arms over her chest.  "Well, you get the good stuff, like where, and how, and honeymoon.  What do I get?"

"You get clothes, shoes, jewelry, tuxedos, guests, food, entertainment.  I mean come on, what do you want?"

"Everything!" she reached over to tickle him and he placed the tablet upside down on the couch and fought her off.  Within moments, her hands were not tickling anymore, and moved across his manly chest to go around his shoulders as they fell into a kiss.

"Again?"  Sam said from the stairs.  "I keep thinking it's safe."

Both of them laughed.  "Hi, Little Man, come here!"  she said, opening her arms.  "Don't jump on Mommy, okay?"  He jumped onto the couch instead, and hugged his mother.  Todd looked over and ruffled his hair.

"Will I get to hold the baby?"

"Yes," she jumped in, "you will, but we will have to teach you how to be careful with him."

"Him?  Is it a boy?"  Sam asked.

"We're not sure.  But, I call him 'him.'  Todd calls him 'her.'"  she smiled, pushing his little glasses up on his nose.

"I'll call it 'it' until it gets here, that way I don't get confused."

"All right, that sounds fine, sweetie."  She said, hugging his shoulders.

He looked to Todd.  "So, what do I call you?  Jack said you're his Dad, and I'm his brother, so..."

"What do you want to call me?  It better not be 'late for dinner' or something."

"I don't know.  I like you a real lot."

"I like you a real lot, too."

"I mean, you saved my life.  You're a good man."

Todd was touched, "Of course I saved your life.  Could I let something happen to you?  You're the best."

"And, you gave me the cool Spiderman stuff."  He thought a minute, "Are you really Spiderman?"

Todd shifted him to his own lap.  "No, I'm not.  Is that okay?"

"Yeah.  That's okay.  If you were Spiderman, you would have to leave us all the time to go and fight crime.  I like it better when you're here."

"I like it better, too."

"So, then, is it okay if I call you Dad?"

Blair covered her mouth for a moment, and watched the scene unfold.  Todd did get water in his eyes, but moved forward in the conversation without hesitation.  "Of course you can, if you want to.  Does that mean I can call you Son?"

"Yeah.  Or Sam,"  he put his little arms around Todd and hugged his neck.

Todd looked at Blair over Sam's small shoulder.  She mouthed, "I love you."

Todd closed his eyes, relishing the moment.  It was everything he'd wanted and prayed for, this passing minute that flew by.  He'd learned that moments counted more than he ever knew before, and he began logging them, in his mind.  Habit from the time he was apart from them, he recorded every seemingly-menial moment that he spent with them.  It was some kind of protection, in case...in case he should ever be separated from them again, though he vowed to die first.  Every moment counted, especially the small ones.  He still was not sure how he had called up entire days when being held captive, and used them to keep himself from dissolving as a human being.  He also knew that in this minute, he could let go of Sam and then see him driving off in a new car the next.  He moved his hand to Blair's belly, and she covered his hand with hers, knowing exactly what it all meant to him.

Sam suddenly jumped out of the hug and onto the floor, running toward the stairs.  "I have to go and play soldiers!  Wanna come?"  He did not look back.

Todd could barely get his answer out before Sam was out of sight.  "Working on something, but I'll play later and whip your little butt."

"Okay!  I'll get Grandma!"  The yell was quite a bit in the distance by then as he disappeared on the second level.

He looked back to his fiance.  "You're still not getting the tablet.  Just sayin.' "

She ignored him.  "Sam's pretty busy up there.  Starr's at Hope's preschool party.  Jack's at school, we hope.  What do you want to do?"  In the last sentence, her voice went breathy.

He leaned in to kiss her, putting one hand behind her head to hold her toward him.  Her hands moved from his shoulders to his stomach and lower to his waist, where she unbuckled his belt, and slid her hand over his crotch first, and feeling him stiff and ready for her, slipped her fingers below the waistband, just grazing the moistened top of him, making him pull her even closer.

Ending the kiss, he took her hand and lead her to the staircase, going back quickly for the tablet he left on the couch.

They spent the rest of the day in their bedroom, making love, whispering to each other, laughing and experiencing some sadness over the loss of time.  She took note that there were very few times now, since everything that happened, that making love with him did not bring him to some level of emotion that warranted tears; sometimes just welling in his eyes, other times streaming down his face as if unnoticed by him as he touched her and moved inside her and pleasured her.  She was sure that eventually, it would stop happening, but at the same time, something in her didn't want it to.  It was the most open and intimate he had ever been with her, and she knew, because of this, that they would never be apart again willingly.

Lazying over his chest and inspecting his musculature, she had constant reminders of what he had endured.  The marks on his wrists were light brown now, but there.  All of his cuts and lacerations were healed over, but again, there.  Something in her jumped every time she ran her hand over the scar behind his right shoulder, as she was there when he received it, and couldn't help but remember its origin.  He was totally unable to recall the incident.  He had made her tell him, exactly what happened, to fill in the gaps for him, but could never bring up the memory.  "I was in my safe place,"  he'd say.  She was grateful for that.  He didn't need another torture remembrance to add to the slew of cuts, peels and burns.

She became conscious of his breathing, which had fallen into his 'sleep mode,' as she called it.  She loved watching him sleep, when he was not victimized by night sweats or terror-dreams.  On occasion, he still would wake in a cold sweat, or call her name in desperation during sleep, but the terror was short lived and fading.  He was healing.

She reached her hand over his body to the other side of the sheets and felt around for the tablet.  Just as she was reaching it's edge, he grabbed her wrist.  "No."

"Oh why!?"  she whined.  "You said you were going to give me everything I've ever wanted."

"Go ahead and take it then."

"Huh?"

"Go ahead.  Take it."

She did, and opening it, saw it had an encrypted password that only he knew.  "Now, mind your beeswax Mrs. To-Be-Manning."

"Oh!" she said in her Lucille Ball fed-up tone, and put it back, then putting her head back onto his torso and snuggling there.

He stroked her hair absentmindedly.  "What do you want to know?"

"Really?" she propped her head on her own arm looking into his face.

"Sure."

"Where is it?"

"Someplace."

"How will I know how many guests to have if I don't know what place it is?"

"I'll tell you.  Occupancy 109.  State Assessor's Office.  We don't even know that many people who would want to come to our wedding.  Us two?  It's like watching Hannibal Lecter and Lizzie Borden."

She gave up, instead working her way down his chest with her lips, and focusing on his abdomen, and then lower, running her tongue along the length of him and circling the tip.  He closed his eyes and sighed, rubbing his hands through her hair.  "If you're going down there, babe, swing that backside of yours this way," he used a corny, country accent, and she laughed, obliging.

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