The Devil You Know: Chapter 49

It was early morning by the time that Blair had ordered the kids to go home.  They had protested, of course, but Blair had gotten that look in her eyes that shut up Starr.  She had pulled Jack out of the room and Clint had taken them back to the house in time for Tina, Cord and Jessica to be setting out breakfast for Sam, Bree and Ryder.



“How is Uncle Todd?” Jessica asked concern in her voice.



“He came out of the catatonia a while ago, but they want to keep him there for observation.  And Mom and Aunt Viki are making him stay,” Starr informed them, helping herself to a cup of coffee.



“So, what happened?” came Tina’s question.



Starr looked to Jack, who answered, “With Dad, we’re not really sure.  Aunt Viki told us that Victor left with the shrink, Kevin.  But we didn’t see him by time we left.”



“Wait, what do you mean with your dad?  Did something happen to Blair?” Now it was Cord asking them.



Starr’s eyes brightened, a mischievous smile on her face.  “Mom…passed out.”  Tina and Jess were about to jump at her with more questions until she finished with, “Mom found out she’s pregnant.”



“AGAIN!” Tina yelled, startling Sam and Bree.  She looked contrite but pulled her niece out of the kitchen.



Starr, remembering the stories of the battles between her mother and her aunt in the early times of the Manning marriage, round one, prepared herself for the comments she was expecting from Tina.  She figured Jess was getting ready for the same thing when she followed them.  “If you make one comment about my mother orchestrating a pregnancy to get my dad, so help me--”



“Please, at this point, Blair doesn’t need anything to trap your dad.  She had him under her spell probably from well before you were even born,” Tina remarked.  Over the years, she had come to see Todd and Blair’s dance and a lot of things that hadn’t made sense to her at the beginning were obvious now, ever to her.  “It’s just, well…”



“Well what?” Starr asked an edge of caution in her voice.



“Well, I mean, Todd just has to look at her and she’s expecting,” Tina lamented, a hint of jealousy in her voice.



Starr had to chuckle.  Tina was right.  Who knows how many more siblings she would have had if not for her grandmother’s evil schemes?



A wave of sadness hit her as she thought children, of Hope.  So much time had passed as she realized with all the craziness of the past few months, she hadn’t thought about her daughter for some time.  Her father’s words came back to her, about not always having those feeling of loss.



Jessica noticed the change in her face.  “Sweetie, are you okay?”



Starr shook off her memories.  Now was not the time.  “Yeah, I’m fine.  But I need some help and I was hoping the two of you could do this with me?”



Tina smiled at Starr again.  “Anything for you, dear.”



She walked into the hall and grabbed her everyday bag.  In it were the wedding plans she had copied from her dad’s office.  She unfolded them and looked them over.  “Help me finish my dad’s plans for their wedding,” she requested, not thinking for a minute.  When she looked up at Tina, she mentally hit herself.



Tina had the proverbial ‘cat that ate the canary’ look on her face.



Starr knew she was in trouble.



Back at General Hospital, Todd had scooted over to make room for Blair on the bed.  They held each other in their arms in blissful silence.  Then Blair positioned herself to look at his face.  “How did you know?  I just found out while you were…”  Her voice trailed off.



“I told you, her guardian angel.  Well, mine too,” he replied.  Todd’s mouth turned downward then.  “I was with my sister again.  And then Victor popped in.”



“Victor?  You mean…?” Blair was about to continue when there was a knock at the door.  She turned towards it and saw her husband’s twin there.



“Can I come in?” he asked.  Victor saw the coziness between the two and got uncomfortable.  He usually was, especially with all of Todd’s memories of Blair playing over in his head all these years.  Now, though, those images seemed very faint.



Blair looked back at Todd, but when she saw the look on his face, she nodded for Victor to come in.  As the other man approached, Blair got up from the bed, but held onto Todd’s hand.  “Where’d you go?”



For a long time, even before Todd had returned, Victor had the habit of ignoring Blair.  Once, it had been at his own peril and he had been kidnapped and presumed dead.  It was something that irked her, but now, she let it pass. Noticing Tea in the doorway, she said, “I think I need a cup of coffee.”  Then, she headed out the door.  When she walked out to the nurse’s station, she turned to Tea.  “Okay, what happened?”



Tea pursed her lips, not answering right away.



Back in the room, Todd lay in bed, his mouth suddenly dry as he tried to swallow.  He knew what he had to say but he hated the thought of it.  “Thank you.”



“And thank you, I guess,” Victor replied.



They stared at each other in silence.  Neither was comfortable with this situation.  Victor didn’t want Todd’s memories, and Todd didn’t like Victor having them.  But this was the hand they were dealt.  They would live on in eternity, mentally conjoined.



“Did you tell Blair?” Victor asked at last.



“She already knew,” Todd replied.



Victor nodded.  “Her passing out in here.  That was why.”  Victor sat in the chair near the window.  He was trying to think of something to say.  “So, that was Merrie?”  Todd nodded.  “And she was married to Larry Wolek?”  Another nod.  “Viki never mentions her.  What happened?”



“I went through archives of the Banner.  She was killed when she fell down the stairs at Llanfair, I think.  There was something about a hostage situation and she was trying to escape,” he told his brother.  “Actually, Viki was telling me after my shooting that my doctor and nurse, Steve and Elizabeth Webber, are actually related to a doctor who treated her years ago.  Viki said she’s felt Merrie presence ever since she got to Port Charles.”



Victor thought about that for a minute.  “You ever think that it would have been like if we were all raised together somehow?  Maybe not with the old man, but with Viki and Merrie and, god help us, Tina?”



At the mention of their last sister, Todd rolled his eyes and chuckled.  “I never really did, honestly.  It has always felt weird.  Coming from being an only child in an unhappy household to being the youngest of five--”



“Six,” Victor corrected.  At Todd’s look, his brother counted off on his fingers.  “Tony, who if memory serves, was older than Viki, then her, Merrie, Tina, you and remember, you beat me out.  I’m the youngest.”



A smirk that Todd seemed to reserve for Victor formed on his face.  “That’s right, you are the baby.”  He went back to his thoughts, before Victor had to butt in on them.  “Being in a family, it didn’t really hit me until…”  Todd thought about it real hard.  He had never felt a part of anything but when had that all changed?  “Until this summer.  I was standing there in the ER watching Viki standing over me as I was going into surgery after the shooting and her telling me she couldn’t picture her life without me.  And Tina, she gave me a blood transfusion no hesitation from what I was told.  But it was Merrie…she was there with me through it all.  Like she was now.”



“I still remember what it was like when we thought Viki was going to die without the heart transplant.  That was the most scared I was ever.  Even after what I went through in the last year…The thought of losing her…She’s made us a family.  From the minute she accepted you, from the minute we learned just what Irene did.”



“I don’t even want to think about losing her.  Let’s not,” Todd stated firmly.



Victor nodded in agreement.  “I was hypnotized by that quack, Collins and--” Todd started laughing out loud.  “What the hell is so funny?”



“You don’t know who Lucy Coe is, do you?”  When he got a blank stare as a response, he continued.  “CoeCoe Cosmetic?  Like, door to door sales?  Okay, she has these different levles of sales and they’re all base on ducks.  Her husband, the ‘quack’ gave her one years ago, she told me and her whole company is based around that animal.  And you, calling him a quack…which is what I think of him as anyway…”  Todd couldn’t help but dissolve into laughter.



 Victor thought it over and began to chuckle also.  Then he began to give other opinions about the topics and the laughter only came harder as he learned Todd shared them.  The mocking was getting too hilarious for them to handle maturely.  It was in this state that their women found them.  In fact, they were at the point of trading thoughts on all of Port Charles society that they hardly noticed Blair and Tea.



Blair just looked at the brothers and said, “You know, Todd is always going on and on about how scary it is that we were friends.  But this, this is scary!”



“Dios, si!” Tea replied.  “What has gotten into them?”



After a moment, Blair cleared her throat and got their attention.  “Alright, boys, want to let us in on the joke?”



“Oh, hey, Blair,” Todd said, wiping the tears from his eyes.  “Oh, we were talking about Lucy Coe and the rest of Port Chuckles.”



“Yeah, seriously, how many wardrobe changes did she go through last night?  Was it the Nurses Ball or the Lucy Coe Fashion Show?” Victor commented.



“From what Monica Quartermaine told me, that’s usually par for the course,” Tea told them.  She looked over at Todd.  “How are you doing?”



“I’m fine, Delgado.  Thank you.”



Tea nodded.  “Look, you’ve had a long night, both of you.  I think we should head back to the hotel and see the kids.  Let Todd rest.”



“Let me go home is more like it,” Todd remarked.  He always hated hospitals and he wanted out.



“Let the doctors okay it,” Blair told him.



“She’s right,” Victor said, relishing the feeling of being able to put one over on Todd.  It was for the mere dig, but it was fun.  “We’ll get going and when you’re out, we’ll finish this talk.”  With that, he and his wife left.



Blair watched them go and then turned back to Todd.  “Now I know what it feels like.”



Todd had on a confused smile.  “What do you mean?”



“That uneasy feeling you had about Tea and I, I just got about you and Victor,” she explained.



Todd blink as her words hit him.  “You’re right.  God, I’m sorry,” he chuckled.



She offered him her hand.  “It’s okay.  It is a little weird.”  She sat back down the bed.  “We need to talk about some other things.”



Todd looked at her, figuring where this conversation was headed.  “What do you want to talk about?”



“We need to talk,” she took his hand and placed it on her stomach, under hers, “about this new baby.”

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