The Way Back: Chapter 37

Jack and Starr helped Blair into the penthouse, and promised to help her settle in and stay with her until Todd came home.  "It won't be long, Mom."  Jack said, "the guy's strong."

Blair realized her son was beaming with pride.  "He is?"

"Yep.  Look at everything he has been through.  He comes back fighting, every time."

"I guess he does, doesn't he?" she agreed.

Starr went to her mother.  "Mom, sit back and relax right here.  We don't want anything to happen to that baby or you.  Dad would be really mad at us, right Jack?"  Starr assured.

"Right!  He'd be furious.  He'll be happy about that baby."  Jack said.

Blair broke down.  The kids wanted to join in, but Jack steadied Starr and shot her a look back.  "Be strong,"  he mouthed to her.  Jack sat by his mother.  "Mom, it's going to be all right."

"I don't know.  I don't know,"  she whispered through tears.  

Jack, put an arm around her shoulders.  "Come on, Mom.  He's always come through for you.  Even if it took time."

"I'm sorry, Jack, Starr.  I just keep thinking how he's never been able to enjoy one of my pregnancies.  We lost our first baby.  Then, he was in Ireland presumed dead when Starr was born.  I lied to him about you, Jack.  I know he was wrong, but he did it because I kept it from him that you were his.  His self-hate got the best of him.  And now, he may never see...."

"No, Mom, he'll be here.  He will."  Starr sat on the other side of her.  "He promised me, remember?  He promised me he wouldn't leave us again.  So, if it's possible for him to get here, he will, and I know it's possible."

"Oh, what would I do without you two?"  She hugged both of them close.

"Starr,  I miss your brother and Hope.  Do you think that you and Jack can go and get them?  You can bring them here, and then when he gets home..." her voice broke.

"I can go get them, but you can't be alone, Mom.  Really.  We're not leaving you."

"I'm fine, Starr," the doorbell rang.  "Get the door, sweetie."

Starr opened the door to see Tea, on crutches, in front of her.  "T!  How did you get here?"

"Shaun dropped me.  I can get around don't you worry.  I have to talk to your mother."

"Hi Tea, these two won't let me out of their sights.  I guess they don't realize that we strong women can come back from just about anything.  So sorry about Tomas, again."

"Thanks.  I really need to talk to you."

Blair thought aloud, "Maybe you two can go get the kids while I talk with Tea?  I am sure she can babysit me?" Jack and Starr didn't see anything wrong with that plan, and hurried out the door to retrieve the kids.

After seeing her children leave together, she said, "What's up, Tea?  You holding up all right?"

"I am.  It's hard but, I am.  Are you?"

"Yes, I think so."  She fought the urge to break down.  "I'm here.  I'm alive."

"I'm glad."  Tea lowered herself, with the help of the crutches, to the sofa next to Blair.  "I have to talk to you about something, Blair."

"All right, what about?"

"First, your condition.  Are you all right?"

"I'm okay, I guess."

"I heard that you were drugged?"

"Yes, I guess I was."  She looked at Tea, who, over the years had been the closest of her friends as well as the top of her enemies.  "Tea, I'm pregnant."

Tea reached for her hand, and tears fell from both of them.  "I'm happy for you, if you are happy.  I am.  I'm not here to attack you Blair, though I am pretty positive of a couple of things."

Blair stopped and listened, "All right."  She was not sure what she would hear, and prepared herself for the worst.

Tea surprised her, "I know the man you're living with is Todd Manning."

Blair couldn't stop her mouth from hanging open.  "You do?"

"Yes.  I do.  I know he is.  And I know the man I love, the love of my life, is not."

"But," Blair said.  "Tea, how did you..."

"That doesn't matter anymore.  I love him, that's it."

"All right, and I love Todd, and that's it."

"I know.  And he loves you, Blair," she brushed a tear from beneath her own eye.  "he always has."  Blair said nothing, but held back her tears and nodded. "And, there's something more."  Tea was cryptic.

"What is it?"

"I have to be honest, I was so certain that Todd killed my brother.  So sure."

"He didn't Tea, he was here, with me.  He's not a murderer."

"As I said, at first I really thought he was.  But then, the more I thought about it and saw things happen around me, I realized it was not probably true."

"It's not.  To be honest, he doesn't even have the emotional strength to have done this."  Tea nodded.  Blair continued, "So, what's the rest?  I can tell there is more."

"There is.  Blair, my husband, something is wrong."

"Like?"

"He took off on me about a day ago.  I thought I had gotten through to him.  He left, without warning.  He doesn't do that, because he knows what it does to me.  And he did.  The thing is, when he came back 24 hours later, he was, he was strange.  It was like he didn't remember what happened between us last.  He insisted he was Todd Manning."

Blair put a hand to her hip.  "He's been doing that for the last eight years, Tea.  No shock there."

"But, I gave him the out.  I told him I didn't care.  I told him it didn't matter to me, that whoever he was, I loved him.  Instead of giving in and trusting me, he just kept saying he was Todd."

"I'm not following you.  To me, this is just what he has done for a long time now, probably habit.  I'm not sure where you're headed."

"I think you will be," she swallowed, "so, when he comes back, we had a reunion of sorts.  And, when he took his shirt off while we were making love, I saw marks on him that I can't make heads or tails of."

Blair became instantly alarmed, "Oh my God.  What marks?"

"I am not sure how to explain it, and he claimed he didn't know how they got there.  They were burns, like cuffs on his arms."

Blair thought she might be sick, and the next thing she knew, her head was between her knees, and Tea was telling her to breathe deeply.  She could feel Tea's hand on her back, rubbing her in large circles, and Blair did everything she could not to lose her breakfast on the black custom hardwood floor.  Finally, she sat up.  "Tea, oh God.  Todd has those.  They were part of...they were something they did to torture him."

Tea scrambled to her crutches.  "I have to go.  I don't know what this is about, but I have to help him, Blair."  Her tears were flowing, and she stood on one foot, adjusting the crutches.  

Blair stood to help her, and immediately got lightheaded.  "Be careful!"  Tea admonished.  Both were crying, and Tea said, "Look at the two of us?"

"I know," Blair said.  She went to the phone, "Let me call Shaun."  After hanging up, she said, "Tea, bring him to Mountainview.  There's a therapist there, Ray Martino.  He's worked with Todd since I met him.  He knows everything about this, maybe he can help you."

"Thank you," Tea said, hugging Blair with caution as not to fall off her crutches.

Shaun came to the door.  "All set?"

Blair spoke up, "Shaun, will you take good care of this lady?"

"You know I will."  And they departed.  

Blair quickly went back to the sofa and grabbed her purse, causing it to spill to the ground.  Items went everywhere.  As she got on the floor to collect the objects, she spied two things that caught her attention above all of the others.  One was the deflated gold balloon she had left intentionally under the couch for him to find some sunny day, or in the evening when the sun was setting.  She held it to her chest and cried openly.  Her sobs echoed through the empty penthouse as her fears took over.  The second item she held in her hand and squeezed into her palm.  The ring.  She forgot, with all of the mess, that she had it in her possession.  In her grief, she grasped it tightly, until it likely would leave a mark on her palm.  

When she opened her hand at last, she noticed that the ring had unexpectedly opened.  The top piece was ajar, and something small, black and plastic was now in her palm as well.  She recognized it as similar to the little micro cards that Jack put into his Ipod.  "This could help us find him," she said aloud, and scrambled to her feet.  "I've got to get this to John."  She quickly scribbled a note to Starr and Jack:

Hey you two, I had to run something to John McBain's office.  Be back shortly.  A lot to tell you.  Mom.

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