The Way Back: Chapter 41

Morning finally came, and Blair woke, lying on her soulmate's chest, with his large beautiful hand on the small of her back.  Uncertain as to whether she had put his arm over her or not during the night, she sat up, hopeful.  "Todd?  Please say you're all right."  There was some early light in the room.  The hallways were quiet.  She accidentally pulled too hard on the cuff, and injured the skin on her wrist.  She rubbed the area, wincing.

He did not respond.  He was staring at the ceiling, but didn't appear restless or in pain.  His expression was blank.  To her, he resembled an angel; his hair was longer than she remembered, and a strand hung across his eyes.  She gently removed it.  His beard was growing in.  He was breathtaking, even like this.  She ran her fingers over his mouth.  "Please come back to me, my love."

He did not move.  She began to talk to him again, this time more about the future, the baby, the plans she was making in her head for their lives.  Abruptly, she remembered the ring, which was tucked inside a small secret pocket in the lace vest she was wearing over her clothes.  She took it out and held it in her hand as to hide it from the cameras, wherever they were, and pressed it into his palm so that he could feel it.  His fingers did not move, or close around it, so she closed them for him, believing he might know what it was.  Then, she put it back where it was and whispered to him, "Your father's ring" so that she could not be heard.  She then lay her head on him, with her ear to his heart, and one hand above his head chained to the bed, and the other tracing patterns on his muscular chest.  "I know you're alive.  I hear your heart.  As long as it is beating, we have hope.  You said as long as you were alive I'd have to deal with you, remember that?"

***

"Come in."  John said, as Tea and her husband entered his office.  "It's nice and early.  What brings you two in to see me today?"

"I remembered things.  I wrote them down so I wouldn't forget them.  I remember my father's face."  He handed John a drawing.  John's expression was one of recognition and puzzlement.  He looked at Tea.  "Do you see any familiarity in this drawing?"

"I do.  I'm pretty sure it's coincidental, but I do."

He looked back to the man who's wrists were still bandaged.  "Thank you.  Is there anything else?"

"Yes.  I know where I would meet him, to talk.  I can bring you there."

Again, John looked to Tea.  "This might lead us to where Blair and Manning are being held."

She nodded, taking her husband's arm.  "I'm proud of him.  It was hard, but he remembered."

"You two stay here, while I make a couple of phone calls."  He left them in his office.

She turned to her husband.  "I meant what I said.  I am proud of you."

"I wish I could remember more, but it will come."

Don't rush it, you may get more than you bargained for.  Concerned for the memories that he had not yet accessed, she shushed him.  "Now, let's be grateful for what you've been able to do.  You'll be a hero, you know that?"

"A hero?"

"Yes.  If you help find Todd and Blair, if you help rescue them, if you help bring these men down, you will be a hero.  You had a choice.  You could have stayed silent and been your father's son, and continued to assist him in whatever plan he is carrying out, or you could have stood up to him, as you did.  That's gallant.  You're my hero.  You always were, but now, even more."

"I want to be.  I want to be your hero, and your everything, as you are to me."

"Well, too late."  She kissed him gently.  He lost his hand in her hair, and pulled back from the kiss, smiling.  "Can you do this?"

"Yes."

"What if...what if it brings up more memories.  Painful ones?"

"I'm ready for that.  It's nothing compared to what Todd's endured, according to Blair and Ray.  I'm ready.  The memories don't scare me.  I want to know who I am, no matter how hard it is."

John returned.  "I did a quick check on the person that drawing resembles.  Seems he has gone off the radar.  Not in prison, not anywhere anyone can report."

"Oh my God," Tea said, covering her mouth in surprise.

"Ray Martino is going with us.  In case we need him at the scene, if Todd is located.  Or...if anyone else needs him."  

Tea eyed John, understanding.  "All right.  I might need a wheelchair, though."

"You're not coming," both men said.

Tea was about to argue, when her husband reminded her about her daughter.  "She needs you.  She just lost her uncle and found him dead.  She shouldn't be alone.  It may take us some time.  I'll be fine with John and Ray along."

She agreed, and called Shaun to pick her up.  "Be careful," she said kissing him.  "I want my hero back home for dinner this evening." He smiled after her as she got her crutches and went to meet Shaun in the lobby.

John looked at him.  "Are you sure you are able to do this?"

"Face my father?  Face my demons?  Face who I am?  How can I not?"  They departed to meet Ray at the warehouse on the docks described by The Impostor from his dream.

***

 

The music was still playing, the cellos still stringing, the violins still sounding.  He was still in her arms, hand in the small of her back, gold balloons still falling, yet the floor never filled up.  The string ensemble began to play "My One and Only Love," and he still clung to her.  Suddenly, she stopped and pulled away.  "I'm having our baby, Todd.  You have to go back."

Confused, he held her hands to his chest.  "I know you are having my baby.  You're having Starr.  You're pregnant with her.  I know."

"No, Todd. You have to go back and face the real world.  You can't stay here forever.  You know that.  It made it easier for you, for a long time, but now, I need you out there."  She pointed to a blue-white glow coming from one of the arches. 

"I'm not going, Blair.  I always stay here.  This is where I go to be with you.  To get away,"  he stopped, choking up, and fear passed over his brow and then assuaged.  "The music goes on and on.  Nothing ends.  You hold me close, and everything is okay.  I can't go.  I can't leave you."

"You won't leave me, my love.  You won't.  Things will change, and they will be hard, but you'll be with me.  You won't be in this place, forever with the same memories.  You'll make new ones.  If you stay here, you'll never see our baby born."

He became saddened.  She continued, touching his face.  "I love you.  I love you so much that sometimes I couldn't see straight.  I love you so much that sometimes I want to run and hide too, so nothing can change it.  But then, I won't have the new adventures set out for us.  You must go, my love.  You must go, my husband.  Come back to me.  Please come back to me."  He turned away from her and faced the archway.  His hair, much longer than he remembered, blew in the breeze freely.  He turned over his shoulder to look at her.  She was young, so angelic, but she was fading.  He could still see her outline, and for some reason, her voice became louder than he remembered, but her image was becoming more faint.  The light still glinted off her gown, jewelry and hair. 

Turning back away from her, the archway with the blue-white glow was closer than he recalled.  Standing by it, he attempted to look through.  Seeing nothing, he listened to her calling him.  "Todd?  Todd?  Come back to us.  We're going to have another baby, Todd.  We're going to love each other and our baby and our children.  Please, Todd.  Don't leave us, again.  Come back to me."

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