Dance with the Devil: Chapter 76

One week later, Todd Manning was able to walk out of General Hospital on his is own with the aid of crutches with arm braces.  The doctors had said his recovery was proceeding at an amazing speed and, while he would need to continue with physical therapy, he was able to be released.  With Jack, Starr and Blair, he got into the car and finally left the hospital, he hoped, for the last time.

“So I figure that everyone will be back at the house, right?  Viki’s got a whole big party planned?” Todd inquired.

“What makes you say that?” Blair asked, but knowing he was right.

“Cause it’s my sister,” Todd answered.  “Come on, when has she not found a reason to through a party?”

“Maybe the party isn’t for you,” Starr piped in.  “Maybe she’s having one for Leo.”

“Leo?”  Todd said.  “Who’s Leo?”

“That’s what Victor and Tea named the baby,” Blair explained.  “Leo Thomas Lord.”

Todd’s eyes side toward Blair.  “Thomas?”  A supremely satisfied smile crossed Blair’s face.  “God, I really do hate that name.  Where did they come up with Leo, though?”

“It was Tea’s father’s name, Leon,” Jack supplied.

“The three of them got up here yesterday and they made a request of us, which I was actually really surprised by,” Blair said.  After a pause, she told him, “They want us to be his godparents.”

Now Todd’s look turned to one of confusion.  “Us, godparents?  St. James barely survived us getting married in there.  I doubt it would be standing after a christening with the two of us.”

“That’s what I said, after which I also expressed some strong words to Tea about her witch hunt of you,” Blair said.

“Aunt Viki and Aunt Tina nearly had to pull Mom off of Tea,” Starr said, a hug grin on her face.

Todd’s head lolled on the back.  “I missed another cat fight between you two?” he harrumphed.  “You need to throw the hissy fits at each other when I’m around.  I haven’t seen one of those since you sent her out the window at the Palace.”  He took a breath and then asked, “How is Delgado doing?”

“Well, Larry Wolek said they were able to save the kidney, but she’ll be on medication for the rest of her life and she may need a transplant later on down,” Blair told him.  “The drugs she was given also impacted her ability to have children.  The doctors have advised against it.”

“So, no more grandkids for Victor Lord Senior?” he commented, then leered at Blair.  She wanted to give him a dirty look, but had to chuckle at the thought.  Behind her, her kids rolled their eyes and made gagging noises.

At that point, the car pulled up to the front door of their house and the family got out of the car.  Starr held open the door for her father as he maneuvered his way in.  Then, he nearly fell to the floor when a loud “WELCOME HOME!” boomed in his ears.  He managed to regain his footing and scowled at Starr and Blair,  “A party for Leo,” he snarled at them. 

Starr merely shrugged her shoulders.

Then Todd looked around the foyer again.  Of course, there was Viki, Clint, Tina and Cord.  Sarah, Natalie and John were there and Liam was holding one end of a banner that repeated the sentiment he had just heard.  He then looked at the middle of the banner, and smiled at Sam before seeing the Liam’s cousin, Ryder, holding the other end, with his mother Jessica and sister Bree right next to him.  Behind them was Victor, Tea and Danie, Tea holding her son.  This was the first time he had seen the baby since the night he was born and he was stunned to see how much he resembled his mother.  Standing near Victor were Carly Jacks, her son Michael and her young daughter, Josslyn, with Molly Lansing also in the background.  And standing behind Viki were Addie Cramer and Dorian Lord, the former with a glowing smile on her face, the latter her typical plastered expression straining her mouth. 

Todd really didn’t know what to say, even though he had figured this would be happening.  He could go with a genuine, heartfelt saying, thanking everyone for being there, but he also knew that just wasn’t him.  So, he decided to go with his patented sarcasm.  Turning to Viki, he said, “What, Kevin and Joey couldn’t make it?”

Before Viki or Clint could offer a retort, Tina stepped in.  “Well, they may not have come, but there is someone here who I know you haven’t seen in a long time.”  Stepping out of the study was a young man, seemingly in his late twenties, dressed in a Navy uniform.

Todd was truly speechless for a minute, then uttered a questioning, “CJ?”  His nephew offered him a big smile and they embraced, not having seen each other since he had left town with his mother when Starr was a baby and he had returned from Ireland.

“Uncle Todd!” he replied.  When they broke apart, he couldn’t keep the smile off his face.  Then he said, “Mom and Dad called to tell me everything that happened to you and I had some leave coming, so I knew I had to come.”

“It’s so amazing…I never thought…” he sputtered.  For a minute he remembered the little boy who helped him hide, who gave him the action figure for a Christmas present, who took his job as usher so seriously on a lovely fall day at St. James.

Blair was loathed to break up this family moment, but she could tell that Todd, who wasn’t as steady as he thought, was near collapse.  She finally stepped forward and whispered to Todd, “Maybe we can take this party into the study so you can sit down.”

“Ah, I’ve been sitting and laying down for weeks now, I really want to go run a marathon right now,” Todd cracked, until he saw the look in Blair’s eyes.

“As your physical therapist, I will object to that.  You still have a lot more work before you can even ditch those crutches,” Carly called from the back of the group.

Finally Todd moved out of the foyer and everyone followed him.  He sat down and then turned to Tea.  With a somber look, he held out his hand.  “I’d, um, like to meet my youngest nephew, if it’s okay.”  Tea turned to Victor then bent down and held the baby out to Todd.  When he was secure in Todd’s arm’s, his uncle said,  “Hey, there.  I’m sorry it took so long for us to meet.  I’m your dad’s better looking brother, but you can call me Uncle Todd.”  Leo gave him a smile, which Todd returned, saying to him before he handed him back to his parents, “When you’re older, we’re gonna have a little talk about how it’s not polite at’all to scare me like you did five months ago.”  He looked back up at Tea.  “He’s a great looking kid, Delgado.  I see he takes after his mother.”  Victor shook his head from behind his wife as Todd added, “I truly am happy for the both of you.”

Tea was at least gracious enough to say, “Thank you.  And I am happy for you and Blair.”

“Yeah, she told me about you offer.  And I agree with her.  I’m still kind of afraid to go into a church now, but I do have an alternative for you in the godparent department,” he offered, then turned his head to Tina and Cord.  “They would be better candidates for that job.  Especially Cord.  He’s always been almost too good to be true.”

Tea looked to Victor, who once again rolled his eyes.  But he made not vocal protest at his twin’s suggestion.  Instead, he said to Todd, “I guess this means you want it all back, huh?”

Todd looked over at Jessica and then answered, “Well, let’s have a talk later.  There are some things I’ve sort of been holding out on you.”

With narrowed eyes, Victor and Tea moved off to talk to Tina and Cord.  While her parents were huddled with her aunt and uncle, Sarah came over to Todd.  “Well, it’s good to see you so vertical.”  Then she asked,  “How are you really feeling?”

“Feeling well enough to plan a wedding, which I’d like to talk to you about.”  As Sarah sat down next to him, her brother joined them, as did Blair.  “The best wedding I had with Blair had the two of you in it.  So, we discussed it, that when we get remarried, we want you two to be a part of it again.”

Sarah smiled.  “Thank you.  And this time, we won’t have to sneak out of the house to be there.”

Todd laughed at that, then said, “We’ll work out the details, but I wanted to give you a heads up.”

They moved off and Todd found himself looking at Viki.  Her cool demeanor told him he was in trouble with her, and he knew exactly why as she said, “You had to make a comment at my sons, didn’t you?”

“Well, if I can’t make a crack at Kevin, then I wouldn’t feel alive,” Todd replied, offering her his best innocent smile.  “And boy, do I feel alive!”

“You drive me crazy, but I do still love you,” she finally said. 

“You going back to Llanview now?  I got plenty of mother hens here,” he told her, pointing to Blair and then Starr. 

“Well, I will be going back, but you’re not getting rid of me that easily.  Plus, Clint told me that he’s opening a permanent office of BE here in Port Charles.  And guess whose running it?”  Viki told him with a gleeful smile.  Her eyes burst with joy as she turned to Cord, who was still talking to Tina, Victor and Tea.

Todd followed her gaze and let out a groan.  Blair chuckled at his obvious disgust until he told her, “You really want me to let Tina plan our wedding, cause if you keep this up, I will.”  Blair looked suitably horrified and then returned his disgusted looked at her red-headed sister-in-law.

The evening wore on and the entire event was actually subdue.  Dorian didn’t come near him all night, and that suited Todd just fine.  Addie gushed over him and promised Todd and Blair that she’d be right there to help out any way she could.  Todd had always liked Addie and was reassured that his kids had at least one grandparent who was semi-normal.  Liam and Ryder were off playing with Joss, Bree and Sam, while the older kids, his included, weaved their way in and out of conversations.  He soon noticed, though, how Starr and Michael and Jack and Molly disappeared and eventually figured out they had slipped away for more privacy. 

Then Todd looked at his watch.  He signaled to Blair, who gathered Victor, Tea and Jess up and moved them to the dining room.  There, Todd sat at the table, a number of papers in front of him.  When they were all seated Todd began.  “Since I’ve been up here, I learned some more about the circumstances surrounding our birth.”  He then launched into an overview of the relationship between Irene Manning and Edward and Lila Quartermaine.  “In the end, Edward made Victor promise to set up the trust fund for us, but the old man made it more of a contest.  Whoever got to it first got it all,” he said as he slid Edward’s affidavit to his brother.

Victor read it over then handed it to Tea.  “And what, you were never going to tell me about it?” he asked snidely.

“It was an option,” he admitted in all honesty.  “But, seeing as how you expanded the Sun and all the holding while I was incapacitated for eight years, as well as how I’ve continued the expansion up here in Port Charles, I have a deal for you.”

Victor read over the legal papers Todd gave him.  “We split everything?”

“Not so much that.  I give you forty-nine percent of the Port Charles Sun and you give me forty-nine percent of the Llanview edition.  You have controlling interest down there and I have controlling interest up here,” Todd explained. 

“If I’m reading this correctly, it does sound like a fair deal,” Tea said,  “which automatically makes me suspicious.”

“If you want to alter any word you don’t like, be my guest.  My no-good lawyer protested very loudly when I told him, and in all honesty, I still trust you at least a little more then I trust Lansing,” Todd said. 

“What about you, Jess?” Victor asked.  “You’d get screwed in this deal if we agree.”

“Actually, I would ask that you keep her as managing editor.  She did a great job while I was on trial for your non-murder and after I came to and decided to stay in Port Charles,” Todd suggested.

“I really would like to stay at the Sun.  I mean, I can always move over to the banner.  Mom would take me back in a heartbeat if I didn’t have anywhere to go,” Jessie said, channeling a bit of Tess to aid her.

Victor smiled at her.  “I’d love it if you stayed.  Besides, I can’t have the Banner pick up any steam.  We need to put it into it’s grave already.”  Jess retuned his smile.

They were about to get up when Todd asked Tea to stay.  She looked over at Victor but nodded her head and the other three left.  She turned back to Todd.  “This is about Daniella, isn’t it?  If you are threatening to tell Victor, I’ve already done that,” she began defensively.

“This is about Danie and I’m glad you’ve spoken to your husband about it.  How did he react?”  Todd finally asked.

She sat back down slowly.  “He took it better that I thought.  We had a long talk with her also.”

“Good, cause I had a talk with her as well.  And I stand by what I told her before.  She is a wonderful addition to this family.  I really do see hear as a niece.  And I know that my name is on all the paperwork but I have here signed papers handing over all parental rights to Victor if you want it.”  He handed her those papers.  “What do you say, Delgado?  Give Danie the father she really wanted.”

Todd handed her a pen and she looked over the papers, signing and initialing where needed.  Todd did likewise and handed them back to Tea. 

Then Tea surprised him.  “I had a talk with Victor and he knows how much you care about Sam.  And, by his own admission, he was never really the best father to him.  So, with Blair’s approval, I have paper for you to adopt Sam.”

Todd was stunned, but he read over the paper and signed them immediately.   As he stood up, he saw Victor talking to his daughter and smiled.  Tea followed his gaze and moved over to them.  She showed Victor and Danie the papers and they all embraced, eventually walking over to Viki, who was holding little Leo. 

Blair saw him return to the entrance of the study.  “Another family reunited,” she said to him.

“Yeah,” Todd answered, then showed Blair the adoption paper for Sam.  A tear fell down her cheek as she looked over at Victor, who merely nodded his head.  Then Viki approached.

“I have decided that we need a family picture.  Maybe several, one of each of ours.  So, can you please join us?” she asked.

Todd gave her a glare that melted at the sight of his eldest sister’s smile.  Then the furniture was moved and Tea was seated on the couch next to Danie, with Leo in her arms and Victor behind them.  Next up was Todd and Blair with Sam between them and Jack next to his mother and Starr next to her father.  Tina and Cord opted to stand next to the fireplace with their children.  Lastly, Clint and Viki placed themselves on the couch with their daughters next to them (John sitting next to Natalie) and their grandchildren on the floor in front of them.  There was one final picture needed before one large group shot.  Viki and Tina sat in the middle of the couch and their twin brothers sat on either end, Todd next to Viki and Victor next to Tina.  The two men who hadn’t known about each other until a little over a year ago, who didn’t share the same face, but did share nearly thirty years worth of memories, seemed to, at the moment the flash went off, have the same thought.   But Viki, more mother to them then sister, shot each of them a fierce look and everyone gathered laughed, realizing what had just happened.  They instead smiled almost genuinely as the flash went off.

It was this picture, along with the one of him, Blair and his kids, that he placed at the center of his mantle in his home.  All the family he would ever need.            


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