The Devil You Know: Chapter 11

As her parents were boarding the plane to Llanview, Starr and her cousin were arriving at their aunt’s estate with their boyfriends.  Walking up to the door, they were greeted by Nigel, who gave Sarah a warm smile and Starr a conspiratorial one. 

“It’s so wonderful to see both of you young ladies.  It’s been far too long,” he said.  As the boys entered, he nodded to them.  “You must be Michael Corinthos and you then are Dillon Quartermaine.  Please come in.”

At the sound of the voices, Viki came down the stairs and embraced her nieces.  “Oh, it is so wonderful to have you back!” she said, unusually effusive.  She walked over to the two young men.  “Welcome to Llanfair.”

“Thank you for inviting us, Mrs., um…” Michael was unsure of how to greet her.

“Viki will be fine,” she said at last.

“My mother wants to send along her congratulations as well,” Dillon said, “Her words were, and she wants me to be exact, ‘Wish Queen Victoria my best for her wedding.’”

Viki lips pursed at the thought of Tracy Quartermaine’s sentiment.  “Well, you can tell your mother thank you for me.”

As she turned away, Dillon had one last question.  “Is there really going to be turkey and mashed potatoes and all the other stuff like a real Thanksgiving?”

When Viki gave him an odd look, Michael apologized.  “Excuse him.  Growing up at the Quartermaines, they never really got the chance to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner.”

Viki still had an odd look on her face, but she escorted the young people into the library.  “You all must be exhausted.  Can I get you anything?”

“No, actually, can we just drop our stuff off where we’ll be staying?” Sarah asked.

“Hey, can you take Michael’s stuff with you.  I should get over to La Boulaie before Aunt Dorian has a stroke.  I know she’ll be annoyed we stopped here first,” Starr said.

“Sure thing,” Sarah said as she led Dillon to the carriage house. 

Viki turned towards the door with Starr and Michael.  “Have you heard from your father?” she asked.

“No, not since we left this morning,” she said as she looked at her watch.  “They should be leaving or have left already though.” 

Viki’s smile quirked upwards.  “Well, that should be an interesting flight,” she said.  “Tina and Cord and Todd and Blair, all together.”

“They should all be fine,” Starr said as she gave her aunt one last hug.  When she and Michael stepped outside, however, she added, “At least, that’s what we can hope for.”

The drive to La Boulaie was short and Starr was, as expected, greeted by Dorian and David.  “Welcome, welcome, welcome home,” she said as she nearly picked up Starr with an embrace.  “Oh, I have missed you here so much.”

David walked over to Michael and extended a hand.  “David Vickers-Buchanan.  And you must be the mobster’s son.”

Michael’s eyes went wide as he was left speechless.  Starr gave him an admonishing glare as Michael finally replied, “Actually, my father is a coffee importer.”

“Sure he is,” David said dismissively.  “Now, I don’t think her father will approve of you staying here.  But at least it’s not the other one.  He beat the crap out of her high school sweetheart.”

“And with that, can you help me bring my bags upstairs, Michael, please?” Starr asked, her eyes pleading. 

He nodded and turned back to Dorian and David.  “It was nice…meeting you.”  Then he hurried upstairs. 

When they got to her room, Starr’s face was bright read.  “I am so sorry for David.  Tact has…never been his thing.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me,” Michael said as he watched Starr put her things away.  He was sitting on her bed when he found a stuffed frog.  “This looks like it was well loved.”

Starr turned around and saw what he was holding.  “That’s Fred the Magic Frog,” she told him.

“Really, and what makes him magic?” Michael asked, playing with him.

“According to my dad, when you are missing someone and you want them to hear you, he sends the message,” she explained.

“And does he work?”

Starr nodded.  “When I was a little girl and my dad had to leave Llanview, I talked to Fred and when my dad came back he assured me he heard everything I told this guy.”

“Then he must work,” Michal affirmed. 

Starr finished her chore.  “Now, you want to go back down and brave my aunt and David?”

Michael took a deep breath and allowed Starr to lead the way back down.

As they were waiting at La Boulaie, a car pulled up to Llanfair and out came the remaining group from Port Charles.  As they approached the front door, Viki opened it up to welcome them.  “It is so wonderful to see you all,” she said, embracing Todd and Tina first. 

While Tina, Cord and CJ moved further into the estate, Todd stood by the door, as if to make an escape.  “You have your sister, now I can go?” he asked sarcastically. 

“Todd,” Viki warned.  Then she looked towards the library.  “Just to let you know, Starr and Sarah arrived a short time ago.  Starr already headed over to La Boulaie with Michael.”

“Great,” he said.  “Well, we’d better get over there and rescue them from an attack of Dorian and David.”  He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. 

As he headed out the door, she could help but add, “I like the cane.  Makes you look very…distinguished.”

He rolled his eyes, but then grinned at her and went back to the car, which headed over to Dorian’s mausoleum.  When they got into the house, Dorian greeted Blair as effusively as she had greeted Starr earlier.  At that sound, Starr and Michael entered the foyer.  Dorian went on to give Addie a kiss on her cheek and give Sam a big hug.  She tried to fist bump with Jack, who responded with a degree of embarrassment.  Then she turned to Molly.  “You must be Jack’s…friend.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Senator,” Molly said cheerfully, extending her hand.  “Molly Lansing-Davis.”

“Well, Molly, I hope you feel welcome in my home,” she replied before she moved onto Todd.  “Todd.”

“Aunt Dorian,” he replied, then he added, a smirk playing across his lips, “What, you didn’t miss me?”  He then eyed David approach Molly.  “Stay away from her.  Her parents are both lawyers and her uncle is a--”

“Coffee importer,” Michael interrupted with.  “She’s my cousin.”

“Yeah, a coffee importer,” Todd said slowly as he eyed Michael.  Then he walked over to his daughter’s boyfriend.  “He give you any trouble?”

“No, but…he seems a little…”

“Yeah, I know just what you mean,” Todd agreed.

Dorian tried to gather everyone in the sitting room.  “May I just say, it is so wonderful to have you all back here,” she turned to look at everyone.  “Yes, Todd, even you.  And I am so looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with you all.”

Jack looked over at his father.  “Aren’t we doing dinner at Llanfair?”

“Ah, yeah Dorian, we’ll be at Viki’s on Thursday,” Todd told her.

“Oh, you will?”  Dorian seemed to be taken aback by that .  “Well, I am still glad that you’ll be spending…what time you have to visit…under this roof.”

“Are you done with the speechifying, Senator?” Todd asked.

Dorian shot him a glare.  “Yes, but I am serving dinner…” she began as the family moved off in different directions, except for Blair and Todd, “…at six”

“Ah, I think the kids had other plans, Dorian,” Blair told her, shrugging her shoulders.  “Jack mentioned taking Molly to the Buenos Dias, Starr and Sarah talked about taking the guys to Capricorn and Momma wanted to catch a late yoga class at the community center.”

“So it’s just us?” David asked.  “I’m sitting down to dinner with Todd Manning?  The man who ruined a perfectly good con?”

Dorian looked to Blair, who looked to Todd who had his menacing scowl on his face.  Then Todd turned to Blair.  “I think I’d actually like to have dinner with my evil twin.  You up for that?”  With that comment, Blair just held up her hands a shrugged her shoulders.


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