Dance with the Devil: Chapter 63

All had been quiet for the next few days.  Even with the arrival of Dorian Lord and the ongoing issues with Victor, things remained calm.  As Saturday dawned, the Manning family got ready to head to the hospital for Todd’s surgery.  It wouldn’t be until the early evening, but he had to be their early for preparation.  Blair managed to get Jack and Sam moving and Starr arrived to help her mother.  After having breakfast, they family arrived at the hospital, where they were met by Viki, Clint, Tina and Cord.  It took a while to get Todd settled in and he was more fidgety then normal.

“Hey, look at me Todd,” Blair said as they waited.  “Everything is going to be alright.”

“I know that.  I’m not worried,” he said, despite his tone.  It reminded Blair of the time he was stabbed by Powell Lord at Motel Hell and she had found him and got him to the hospital. 

“Yes, you are, Todd.  You can’t hide anything like that from me,” she said.  “Now listen, I’m going to stay here the whole time, so are Starr and Jack.  I’m sure Viki and Tina will be here as well.”

“Great, they gonna take any more of her blood for me?” Todd snarked.

“Listen you, I thank God that you two have the same blood type. She saved your life right after the shooting,” Blair told him.  She took his hand and kissed it. 

“Blair, listen, if any thing does happen to me--” he began.

“Nothing’s going to, though,” she assured him.

“If it does, I love you and I love the kids.  I want you to tell them that,” Todd said as the door to the room opened and Starr, Jack and Sam came in, followed by Viki, Tina and, surprisingly, Victor. 

Sam ran and climbed up on the bed.  He handed Todd Fred the Magic Frog.  “I think you need him today.  We can use him to talk while you’re asleep,” Sam told him.

Todd looked up at Starr and saw that his daughter was trying to keep the tears from falling.  “Thank you Sam, but I don’t think the doctors will let me bring him in.  Why don’t you hold onto him for me,” Todd said.

Sam nodded and gave his uncle a hug  “I love you,” he said.

Todd looked over the boy’s shoulder at his brother.  Victor looked to be getting a little emotional.  “I love you too, little guy.”

Sam jumped down and his father came over to the bed.  “I know you’ll pull through.  I doubt we’re through annoying each other.”  Despite the sentiment, Victor held out his hand and Todd shook it.  “I’m going to take Sam to the park.  And I think Natalie and Liam are meeting us there, right Blair?  That’s whose got on guard duty today?”

Blair rolled her eyes and ignored Victor’s comment.  She bent down to hug Sam.  “You have a fun time with your daddy, okay?”

“We will.  I want him to take me to Kelly’s for lunch,” Sam said as they left. 

Drs. Harmon and Wolek came in, followed by Nurse Webber and greeted the family.  “You’ll be taken down to the OR in a few minutes.  We’re going to be starting you on an IV sedative, so you’re going to start to feel groggy,” Harmon said as Elizabeth changed an bag.  Matt turned to the family.  “You’ve still got some time before he’s completely under.”  Matt turned to leave, but Danny stayed behind. 

“I’ll make sure he pulls through, Aunt Viki,” he said.  Viki merely mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ before her nephew left.

Starr sat down on her dad’s bed and leaned on him.  “Everything will be alright.  This doctor’s supposed to be really good,” she said to him, more to reassure herself then him.

Todd could tell his little girl was worried, but chose not to acknowledge it.  “Yeah, he’s one of the best.”  When Starr turned to him, for a minute, he flashed back to Viki’s attic and his sister putting her in his arms for the first time.  He gave her a hug and she stepped away.

Jack wasn’t sure what to say to his father.  It was still a new concept that this man was that to him.  Todd looked at him and held out a hand almost reading his thoughts.  Instead of shaking it, Jack took it and wrapped his arm around his father’s back, embracing him,  Todd returned the gesture, and a tear slip down his face.  Jack moved away from the bed, leaving the moment unspoken.

Tina stepped forward next.  “Consider this big sister bossiness.  You need to get better, or else…I’ll be left with just Victor as my brother and quite honestly, I like you better,” she said, trying to inject a little levity into the situation.  “You at least had some kind words for me.”

“That was because you gave me back what was mine,” Todd replied sarcastically to her, then smiled.  Tina kissed the top of his head.

Viki approached him.  “Todd, I have told you so many times, you are an important part of this family.  I need you to believe this, more than ever.  You have always fought so hard for all of us, and I need you to keep that up.”

Todd was beginning to feel drowsy, but nodded.  “You’ve always been more of a mother to me.  Hell, I actually wanted you as my mother, I was always jealous of Kevin over you.  How ironic that we wound up like this,” he said. 

The orderlies were beginning to move the bed, as Blair walked alongside him.  “You come back to me in one piece, you son of a bitch.  You see this ring on my finger?  I’m taking this as a solemn vow that we’ll be together.”  Before the elevator arrived, Blair leaned over and kissed him, deeply.  “I love you,” she said as the tears fell.  The doors opened and Todd disappeared behind them as they closed.  Starr and Jack moved to her sides and clung to her, much like they had the night John had taken Todd away after the movie premiere. 

When they arrived at the operating theater, Todd was still a little bit awake.  He saw Dr. Harmon in position and Danny Wolek moving around the room.  “Hey, kid,” he said to a nephew who was actually older then he was.  “Last time I was out for any extended period of time, I had a chat with your mother.”

:Danny smiled behind the surgical mask.  “I remember you telling me.”

“Think I may see her again?” Todd asked.  He didn’t get an answer, so he replied.  “I hope I do.  If that happens, you want me to relay any message to her?”

Danny thought about it for a minute.  “Tell her, I missed her so much and that I do love her.”

“Deal,” Todd thought he heard himself say.  He closed his eyes, welcoming the slumber.

As the surgery was beginning, Victor was watching Sam on the swing set at the park.  He was there with Natalie and helping his cousin push little Liam in a little kid swing.  For a moment, he took pleasure in watching his son.

“Sam’s a good kid,” a gravelly voice spoke up.  Victor turned and saw John McBain standing off to the side.  “He seems to love to play with both Liam and Ryder.”

“Your turn to watch me, McPain?” Victor asked.

“No, but since Natalie’s here and my boss knows Todd’s in surgery, she gave me a day off.  It’s been a trying few weeks.  Besides, I was hoping we could talk,” John said.

“What do you want to talk about?” Victor asked.  “Because I can’t think of anything I want to talk you about.”

“Well, maybe we can talk about Helena Cassadine,” John began,, trying to see his reaction to the name.  “See, I think she may be tied up in all of this.  She’s taken way too much interest in your family, for the short amount of time you’ve all been here.  I ran a few checks on her through Interpol and one name came up that was interesting.  You want to hear it?”

“Not really, but I’m sure you’ll tell me,” Victor retorted. 

“You’re right, I will.  Seems that after her son, Stavros died a few decades ago, in her wanderings, she somehow came into contact with a woman who was in Stockholm, looking, for an intelligence agency, into the death of a politician,” John explained.  “I’d be curious to know just how they came into contact, but something about the circumstances rang familiar to me.  I went back through files from last year and found that your mother was in Stockholm at the same time.”

Yeah, so?  What does this have to do with anything?” Victor still wasn’t understanding what John was trying to get at.

“Helena’s got a rap sheet longer then, well, your’s and your brother’s combined.  Among those crimes is kidnapping.  She once faked the death of a kid from here in Port Charles.  When he showed up a few years later, he had no clue about his family or his life before he left.  It was later figured out that he had been brainwashed into forgetting his past.  Took years for him to recover.”  John turned to Victor.  “Tell me again what you remember before coming to Llanview?”

Victor actually tried to recall the information, but all he could remember was the face of Mitch Laurence.  He knew it was Todd’s memory, but it was all he had.  “I don’t remember anything before I got back, well got to town,” he finally admitted. 

“Well, I willing to believe that Helena and Irene are connected.  They have a lot of similarities.  Both showed obsessive favoritism of on child over the others.  Both were shunted aside by the med in their lives.  Both have tried to take control over their legacies when they had no right,” John rattled off.  “I also think your case and this kid’s, Lucky Spencer’s, are link as well.  Both of you are the victims of brainwashing or mind alterations of a sort.”

The cop’s words were hitting Victor. There were a flurry of images he couldn’t place.  He tried to regain his composure.  “Why are you telling me this?  Why can’t you just go and do your job, find my wife and kid?”

“Victor, I think you hold the key to just that.  I’m telling you this in a hope that you’ll be able to remember even the slightest thing that may crack this whole case.  Not just Tea’s kidnapping, but maybe how and why Todd was taken and what happened to you before you ever came to Llanview.”

“Well, I DON’T RMEMBER!”  Victor shouted so loudly, Sam and Liam jumped from where they were at the playground.  “I have been trying to remember since I woke up in the hospital.  All I can tell you, you already know.  At some point, Allison Perkins had me and I was transported across the state line to serenity.”  When Victor said the word, he wasn’t sure where it had come from.

“Serenity?” John asked, perplexed.  “What do you mean by that?”

Victor sat down on  bench.  He felt like he couldn’t come up for air.  “Serenity.  It’s the name…”  The memory fled just as quickly as he had said it. 

“What’s it the name of?  Think man,” John pushed, hoping to make headway.

But as Victor tried to remember, he collapsed to the ground.

From a distance, Helena Cassadine smiled.


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