Port Charles Chronicles: Chapter 36

        Blair and Starr took one look at each other and raced into the room.  Todd was sitting up in the bed, clearly upset.

        “Mr. Manning, please you need to calm down?  I understand your fears.  But you need to understand what it could mean if you don’t have this operation?”  Dr. Drake was trying to bring his patient’s level of tension down.  He didn’t like the sudden spike in pressure he was seeing.  The man had been clinically dead only hours earlier.  He had hoped after some rest, Manning would be able to cope with the latest news, but now he wasn’t so sure.  Dr. Collins was right.  Todd Manning was on the edge.

        “Calm down?” he was clearly agitated, “You just told me you want to go in and root around in my head and remove lesions found there.  You’re telling me they could be causing my headaches, but you don’t know for sure.  You can’t even guarantee that if they’re removed my headaches will go away.  That doesn’t exactly give me warm fuzzy feelings.”  Todd looked around wildly and spotted Blair.  “Blair, can you believe these guys?  They want to open up my head on a chance they could stop my friggin’ headaches.  They’re just tension headaches, I think you guys are getting a bit extreme.”

        Blair was trying to think of a response when a small hand tugged on hers.

        “Mom, why do those men want to cut into Uncle Todd’s head?  That will hurt him.  I don’t want them to hurt him.” Sam looked into his mom’s eyes and back at Todd.

        Everyone in the room was speechless for a moment.  Dr. Drake recovered first.  “Mr. Manning, I can see you need time to think about all this and you have family here.  Talk to your fiance and we’ll try and figure out the best means to help you.  I’ll leave you for now.”

        Blair crouched down next to Sam. “Sam, these men don’t want to hurt your uncle.  They’re doctors.  All they want to do is make him better.”

        Todd spoke up. “That’s right buddy.  I’m in a bit of trouble and they’re just trying to help, but don’t worry, they won’t hurt me.  I’m really glad you came to see me, Sam.”

        Sam dropped his mom’s hand and ran to the bed.  “I missed you.  Mom said you got real sick, but you’re better.  She thought I could cheer you up.  I flew here in your jet.  It’s really cool.  It doesn’t look anything like those big airplanes.  Vince, let me and Jack take the wheel and fly part of the way here.”

        “I see.  Did Jack come with you?” Todd looked at the doorway hoping Jack would walk through. After a minute he realized his son hadn’t come to the hospital. His jaw tightened and then he shook himself. It’s going to take time, you have to let him get past his grief.

        “Nah, he’s still being a jerk.  He got Mom all upset earlier.  She called him by his full name and they had a long talk.  Mom said someone tried to kill you.  I’m glad they didn’t.” Sam leaned forward and hugged what he could reach of Todd on the bed. “I don’t want you to go away, like Dad.”

        Todd laid his arm across Sam’s shoulders. “Hey, I’m not going anywhere.”  His eyes met Blair’s and he realized she was fearful of the same thing as Sam.  “Don’t you worry.  I’m getting some help.  I’ll be as good as new before you know it.”  He looked over at Kevin and Starr.  They also looked worried. “Hey, everybody needs to stop being so down.  Things are looking up already, my buddy came to visit.”  He flashed a smile at all of them and glanced down at Sam. “Come on up here and talk to me, Sam.”

         That was all the invitation Sam needed.  He climbed up on the bed and sat down next to his uncle.  “When are you coming home?  I want to show you all my new Spiderman toys.”

        “Sam, I don’t think I’m going to be going home to Llanview.”

        “No!  You have to come home.  You said you would be around, you promised.” Sam looked at his uncle. “Dad is gone, you just can’t go, too.” Sam’s voice caught and his lower lip quivered.

          Todd’s heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t let Sam down, but he couldn’t go home.  “Listen, Buddy.  I’ll still be around.  I’m just not going to live in Llanview.  I decided to live here.  I bought several properties located here and they’re going to require me to be around Port Charles for a while.  I can still come to visit you anytime.  All I have to do is hop on my jet.  You said Vince let you fly the plane.  It was fun, wasn’t it?  You probably won’t believe this, but I can fly that jet, too.”

         Sam’s eyes widened in surprise.  “Really!”

         Starr expressed her own surprise at her father’s statement that he could fly. “Dad, are you kidding?  Sam, I think he meant he can fly the plane like you did.”

        He turned his eyes on his daughter,  “That hurts Shorty, I’m not kidding.  I have a license and everything.”  His face fell.  The last time he had seen that license was before Mitch stuck him in the tomb.  “Well, I did.  I carried it in my wallet.  Mitch took it.  He wanted it to look like I disappeared, after Sam’s death.”

        Starr felt dreadful, she watched her father’s face shadow over.  He had gone from thinking about something enjoyable to being reminded of his last moments in Llanview. “Dad, I’m sorry, I never meant to question you?  I just didn’t understand.   You never told me you could fly.”

         Todd raised his eyes again. “I guess I was too caught up in getting you and your mom away from Max, then everything else went wrong.”

         Sam saw his uncle’s face and knew Starr had made him sad.  He immediately piped up.  “Starr, Uncle Todd wouldn’t lie.  He’s a good guy.  Uncle Todd when did you learn to fly?  Was it hard?  There were an awful lot of funny things in front of Vince on the plane.  It was like in a spacecraft.  Do you really know how to read all of them?”

        Todd’s mood brightened as his nephew defended him, he looked at his daughter.  He recalled when she used to look at him with awe, but now it was different.  She had gotten disenchanted over the years.   He had let her down too many times.  “It’s alright, Sam.  I never got a chance to show Starr.  I got my license when I was away from Starr and your Mom.  But you’re right, Buddy, the front of the airplane does look like a spacecraft.  Vince told me I had to take a class, to learn all the instruments and I almost changed my mind.   My last stint in school didn’t turn out so well.”

       “You went to school?” Sam’s eyes widened.

       “Yeah, surprisingly taking that class also made me take another class in computers.  My skills were helped immensely by that class.”  Todd caught Blair’s eyes and he smiled.

        Blair blushed as she remembered one very special night.  Todd blacked out all of Llanview for her.  He always managed to surprise her.

        Todd continued his story for Sam.  “Once I aced the instruments class, Vince and I started the actual flying classes.  I’ll never forget the first time I soloed.  Taking that plane up all by myself, flying above the clouds, it was like a little slice of heaven up there.”  He recalled the peace he had found in flight.  He couldn’t explain it to anyone, but he was sure his dead son and Bitsy were staying close as he felt something or someone lightly touch his shoulders.  He had felt them before, during his captivity.  He knew now, that his son and mom had been with him a lot in the past years.

       Her dad surprised her.  Starr could tell by his voice that he was telling the absolute truth to Sam.  She heard happiness.  The last time she remembered her father happy had been on New Year's Eve when Jack had joined the family and they were all together.

        Kevin stood quietly watching Todd’s exchanges with his nephew and noticed the tension leaving Todd’s body as he interacted with the little boy.  He was surprised at how swiftly Todd had managed to distract the little boy away from the topic of his plan to stay in Port Charles.  It was clear Todd didn’t want to hurt the boy.  Kevin walked quietly over to Blair.  “Ms. Cramer, I’ll leave him in your care.  I don’t want to disturb him; your son’s visit is just what Todd needs right now and I have to talk further with Dr. Webber and Dr. Drake.”  As he began to leave, she grabbed his arm.  He knew she was still worried about their earlier talk.  “He’ll be alright, just stay close.  He needs you.” He patted her hand and left.

        Todd didn’t realize he had gone somewhere else until he felt a small hand touch his face.

       “Uncle Todd, wake up.  How did you get back down to the ground?  The plane was awfully high up when I looked out the window.  Wasn’t it scary bringing the plane back down?”

       “Well, sure it was, but it was also exciting.  It’s like when I used to play football.  You have a plan, all you have to do is stick to it and trust your teammates will follow it too.  In a plane, all those instruments, that I had to learn, are like my team.  If they do their job, I know where I am in relation to the ground.  You follow them to the letter and everything plays out smooth as silk.  You have a touchdown.  You have to fly a certain number of times before you can take any passengers up and I’m afraid I still have a few more flights since I was out of commission for a while, but I promise to take you up one of these days and you can be my co-pilot.”

        “Wow! You mean it?”

          Todd nodded and was rewarded with a big hug. “Say, Buddy, would you do me a favor? Could you and your sister go get me copies of The Port Charles Press and The Sun?  Your mom and I will talk while you’re gone.”

         Sam hopped off the bed. “You bet, we’ll be back soon. Okay?”

          “Okay.  Thanks, Buddy.”  He gave a little wave as they left the room and then turned his attention to Blair.

****

          It was nearing dinner time and Walker slammed the phone down.  He had just spent the last couple of hours trying to track down where Blair had taken off too.  His last contact had finally managed to find out that Blair had left Llanview on the Manning jet.  His contact was still trying to find out the flight plan but had assured Walker he would have the destination by nightfall.

         Alison walked into the study and could see her host was upset. “Miles, is it something you would like to talk about?”

         Walker looked across the room at Alison. The programming that made Alison see him as a scarred man was holding.  She had no idea she was in the presence of the man Blair believed to be Victor Lord Jr.  Although a little too mousy for his taste, she still managed to present a decent picture once she had some fancier clothes to wear.  He had asked that she dress for dinner and she now wore a shimmering floor-length gown that looked like it was made of liquid copper.  It clung to her figure accentuating her diminutive curves and with her hair upswept she looked every part the elegant lady.  She didn’t have the fire of Tea, but he wasn’t keeping her around for sex.  He admired her kidnapping skills.

          He had had a good two years with Tea.  But when Todd Manning had surfaced, it had become apparent the ride was over.  He had let Tea go when he realized that by killing himself, he could get out from under the albatross, Irene Manning.  With the loss of their son, all ties with Tea were now cut.

         Alison, on the other hand, was essential to his plans for acquiring Sam back. He looked her up and down.  As a dinner companion, she wasn’t half bad, but he needed to do something to loosen her morals up a bit.  He knew Mitch’s influence was still in effect.  Maybe he would tweak her programming. It might be fun to see how wild he could turn sweet little Alison.  He walked to her and let her in on his call.  “It’s the woman who has my nephew.  It seems she took him and her family out of Llanview.  It galls me no end.  Sam should be with family now that his father is dead.  She has no legal right to him.  My sister was his mother.  I should be the one raising him.”

      “Miles, I’ve told you before.  I can help you.  I know Blair Cramer.  She’s a crazy bitch.  You’ll never get Sam by legal means.  Especially now that the real Todd Manning is back.  He’ll back her with his money and she’ll find a way to keep your nephew far away from you.  I believe you have a right to get to know him and he should be with family.  You say she left town.  Where did she go?”

      “That’s the problem, I lost track of her.  She flew out of Llanview with him yesterday, but I don’t know where.  That was an associate of mine, he says we’ll hear something tonight.”  Walker was pleased.  Alison fully believed he was Miles Cochrane,  Margaret’s brother.  He could almost see the wheels turning in her mind trying to think of ways to help him get Sam.  He had to hand it to Irene.  With the exception of Todd Manning, her mind control methods were proving to be quite effective with Alison Perkins and Johnny Zacchara.

       “Well, then we wait.  As soon as we find out where she’s taken him, we can make some plans.  I’ve had some experience with helping people get their lost children.  You’ve generously let me stay here, the least I can do is help you get Sam.”

****

        Sam wandered around the gift shop looking for something to get his uncle.  Starr was waiting patiently holding the newspapers her father had asked for.

       “Why don’t you get him some cards, Sam?  You and he could play ‘Go Fish’.”

         Sam looked around and found a deck of cards and brought them to his sister.  “Starr, is Uncle Todd bad sick?  I don’t want him to go away.  Dad left and now you.  Everybody is leaving.  Did I do something wrong?”

       “Oh Sam, you didn’t do anything wrong.  Things just happen.  Your Uncle Todd isn’t going anywhere too far, he’s just decided to live here.  I’m sorry if you feel we’re all leaving.”

         “You left with Hope and now she’s gone, just like Dad.  Those doctors said Uncle Todd needed to have something cut out of his head.  How did he get something in his head?  Did it happen when he was gone all those years?”

          Starr set the papers down and pulled her younger brother into a hug.  “I don’t know, Sam.  The doctors did a test and the test said there is a problem.  The doctors want to operate on him.  That’s what Uncle Todd meant when he said they wanted to cut into his head.  You remember when the doctors operated on your dad.”

         Sam nodded  “I remember, but dad wouldn’t wake up for a long time.  You told me Uncle Todd already slept for a really long time when he was gone.  That’s probably why he doesn’t want them to cut into his head.  He doesn’t want to go back to sleep like that.  I don’t think I want him to go to sleep like Dad.  What if this time he didn’t wake up?”

         Starr shivered inwardly.  She didn’t want to think of that possibility.  She had seen her father lying on the dock not breathing.  If Michael hadn’t gotten him back, she would have been devastated.  “I don’t want you to think that way.  You’ve seen him, he got rid of the man who wanted to hurt you.  If he decides to have that operation, he’ll make it through it.  I know, because he survived out on an ocean, all by himself on a raft, just to get home to me and Mom and Jack.  So, we’re not going to think bad thoughts, like him leaving, are we?”

         “Okay.  But I still wish he would come back home,” he said sadly.

          Starr laughed “Well if he won’t, then maybe you should talk Mom into moving here.”

          Looking up at his sister, Sam replied. “Maybe I will.”



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