Dance with the Devil: Chapter 50

Steve Webber emerged from the room with a smile on his face.  “It appears the drugs are clearing his system.  While Mr. Lord is still a bit groggy, I see no reason why he shouldn’t make a full recovery,” he informed the family.  “You can go in to see him whenever you like.”

Todd and Tina looked at each other, but neither moved.  Then Todd turned to Blair.  “Look could you?  Viki’s not here yet, the kids are back at the house and quite frankly, neither of us have the best relationship with him.”

Blair nodded and headed into the room.  He was lying in the bed but his eyes were open and a smirk was on his face.  “Go ahead, I know you want to say it,” he told her.

“Say what?” she asked, though she suspected she knew what he was talking about.

“‘I told you so, Victor.  I told you to get a body guard.’  Well, you were right,” he said.  “God, how long have I been out of it?”

“You’ve been missing since last August.  We thought you were dead.  Had the funeral and all.   Hell, there was even a murder trial,” she told him. 

From the hallway, Todd listened in when he heard Victor say, “Yeah, I heard about that.”

Blair looked perplexed.  “How did you hear about that?”  She turned to see Todd outside.  He wheeled himself in and Blair felt a chill down her spine.

Victor saw his brother come in.  “It really is…true?” It almost sounded like a question.  “How did I know you were shot?”

“I told you…the other night,” Todd said.

Victor closed his eye and remembered something.  “We were at Llanfair…I asked why Blair shot you…and you said…”

“…I said ‘Why does everyone think it was Blair who shot me?’” Todd answered, throwing a look towards his fiancée.

Blair glanced between the two of them.  “Okay, you two are starting to scare me with…whatever this is.”

“Well, you were scaring me with you and Tea being buddy buddy,” Todd replied.  At the mention of his other ex-wife, Todd turned to Victor.  “If you remember about me telling you I was shot, then you know about…” His voice trailed off.

“Tea and the baby,” Victor’s eyes closed as he fought to remain calm.  He knew he was still too weak to do anything and, by the look of it, Todd was already in bad shape.  “Blair, I need to talk to him alone.”

Blair looked at Todd, but he nodded to her as well.  “Alright, but I’ll be getting hospital security if it’s needed.”  She gave Todd a peck on the cheek on the way out.

“Go ahead, lay into me if you want,”  Todd said as he moved closer to the bed.  He made sure he was at arm’s length, just in case Victor was more recovered than he appeared. 

“No, I won’t.  At least, not yet,” Victor said.  “Where’s Viki? I thought for sure she’d be here.”

“She’s heading up with Danie.  They had to get back to Llanview but Natalie called her, so she should be here shortly,” Todd explained, than flashed him a smile.  “While your waiting for her, I’ll go get Tina, if you want.”

“What, Tina?  Viki forgave her?  I need to have a talk with her.  After all the crap Tina pulled the last time she was in town, Viki swore she’d kicked Tina permanently to the curb,” Victor groaned.

“Well, considering the collective crap my two baby brothers have pulled, she saw a way to forgive me one little transgression,” came Tina’s voice.  She walked into the room, an overly perky smile on her face. 

“‘One little transgression?’  You let Tess lock Natalie in the basement and she and that husband of hers nearly died!” Victor exclaimed.

“Um, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you let Tess run around town without letting Viki know?  And do not get me started on the whole Marty situation our niece‘s alter was holding over you for your silence!” Todd shot back.

At that, the three started squabbling until a loud whistle was heard.  Tina, Todd and Victor look up to see Viki’s exasperated, smiling face in the door way.  “Well, it looks like I have my greatest wish…and my greatest nightmare as well,” she said finally, looking at all three of her siblings.

Victor smiled at her “Sis,” he said.

She walked over to him in  bed and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  “It really is true.  You really are here.” 

“Well, what can I say.  I’m like a bad penny, I always turn up,” Victor said.

As they conversed, Todd noticed Danie hanging back.  He made his way over to her and she followed him as he wheeled his way down the hall.  “How are you doing?” he asked.

“You all lied to me,” was what she stated.

Todd tried to give off an air of innocence as he responded to her accusation.  “We merely omitted piece of information from you.  Look, it’s a very confusing situation for everyone.  We knew he was alive but we couldn’t explain how.  I still thought I shot him.  We were waiting for anything that could explain what happened.  Nothing was done to hurt you,” Todd said.

Danie chose not to answer him, but only said, “Aunt Viki thinks it’s a good idea that we not tell him about my mother’s lie.  The one thing about him is, he’s much more volatile then you are and I don’t want to think of how he’ll react to the news that she just wanted ‘Todd Manning’ and used a kid to get him.”

“Victor loves Tea.  He’ll come around eventually,” Todd said with certainty.  “But you are right.  Now is not the time to let him know.  I’ll let Starr, Jack and Sam not to say anything about that to him when they come to visit.”  He looked back towards the room.  “You should go see your father.”

Danie looked in that direction and walked over to it.  By time Todd had gotten back, Danie was in Victor’s arms, the tears falling from her eyes.  Viki turned as saw Todd, joined by Blair, in the door.  She knew what he had done and she smiled with approval.  When she left the father and daughter, she said to Todd, “Danie told you how we’re playing this?”

“Yes.  It’s the right idea for now.  It’s not a great idea to stress him out any more then he is,” her brother agreed.

“I spoke to the kids.  It’s kind of late now, but they want to come and see him as soon as possible, so I’ll bring them after school,” Blair told Todd.

“Yeah, maybe we should get back to them, let them know how he’s doing,” Todd nodded.  With that, he and Blair left the hospital.  When they arrived home, Jack and Sam pounced on them for information as soon as the door opened.

“Is he alright?  When can I go see him?” Sam cried.

“Is he going to recover?  What did they do to him?” came Jack’s questions.

“Whoa, one at a time!” Todd yelled.  When they quieted down, the whole family moved into the study, where Starr and Natalie were waiting.  When they had all gathered, Todd explained what they hospital told them.  “So right now, they don’t see any complications and they are expecting a full recovery.”  Then Todd’s voice grew somber.  “Now this is important.  Victor knows about Tea and the baby and that they are both missing.  But he doesn’t know about Tea’s…” Todd sought for the right word.

“Lie about Danie,” Starr supplied, her voice tinged with anger.

Blair threw her daughter a look.  Next to Blair, Starr had taken Tea’s admission the hardest.  Starr still held Tea in some affection, even for the way Tea had treated Blair when she was a little girl.  Now, learning that she had been lied to and manipulated brought out all of the qualities Blair saw in herself.  She decided not to call her daughter on her attitude just yet.  “Yes, Tea’s lie.  So for right now, Danie is still your father’s child.”

“But isn’t it wrong to lie?” Sam asked.

Todd picked him up and put his on his lap.  “Yes, it is wrong, but also, right now, your dad’s under a lot of stress.  He’s been away from you for a long time and he needs to get readjusted to the world.  That’s going to be stressful enough and the doctors worry any more stress will be bad for him.”

“Do they know when he’ll be released from the hospital?” Jack asked.

“Well, it’s too early to tell, but I would think that if he keeps improving, he’ll be released in a few days,” Blair hazarded a guess.

“Yeah, and when that happens, I’ll have him stay here,” Todd said to the surprise of his family.  When he saw their expressions, he went, “What?  Look, we have a lot of things to go over and I think, with the security we have here, it would be for the best.  So, Starr, if you want to go see him first thing in the morning, we’ll take you.  But you guys are going to have to wait until after school,” Todd told Jack and Sam.

When the kids left for their own rooms, Blair fixed Todd a drink.  “Thanks, I think I need this,” he said as he downed it. 

“That’s really generous of you, letting him stay here when he’s out of the hospital,” she said softly.

“It’s the least I owe the guy.  Besides, I do know we have a lot to talk about,” he replied.

“Like the inheritance?” she asked.

Todd went to the desk and pulled out the signed statement from Edward Quartermaine.  He honestly didn’t know what he was going to do about it.  If he had known about it a year before, he would have used it to fight his brother tooth and nail.  Now, as time had passed, his life had changed so drastically.  He was happy and waiting to start a new life with Blair and his kids in a new town.  He was still racked with guilt over all that he had done, real and imagined, to Victor and Tea.  He had been shunned and then brought back into his family.  He handed the envelope to Blair.  “Put it in the wall safe, just for now.  I will tell him about it at some point, but exactly when, I don’t know.  And I don’t discount that possibility that he may still piss me off and I may still use it against him.”

Blair had to smile.  “I know you’ve changed Todd, but also know that you haven’t changed that much that you’ll just forget about this,” she waggled the envelope, “completely.”  She did as he asked and turned back to him after she had finished.  “It’s been a long day.  Let’s go to bed, relax and hope that tomorrow isn’t as crazy as this day was.”

Todd pulled her into his lap.  One of the things he did like about his current medical condition was he was able to be a kind of chariot for his woman.  As he wheeled them towards the bedroom, he said, “That sounds like a great idea.”              



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