Hope from the Ocean: 27 (mild adult)

Dorian picked up the phone, and heading into the kitchen, she said, "Todd, it's getting late.  I thought you said you were coming to get your wife?"

"Change of plans, Dorian.  Tomorrow is the opening, and the surprise.  I'm going to wait it out."

"You're scheming."

"She just as much told me last night, on the phone, that she won't come with me.  So, I decided to try something else.  Ignoring her.  She hates that."

Dorian couldn't help but chuckle lightly.  "She does."

"So, play it up, will ya?  Tomorrow's almost here, and everything will fall into place, I'm positive."

"All right."  She hung up.  Walking back to the living room, Blair was reading a magazine, and at the same time, looking up to the doorway several times a minute.  

Dorian said,  "He's not here.  I'm surprised he has not come to get you yet?"

"It doesn't matter if he did," she said, nonchalantly.  "I wouldn't be going anywhere with him."

"I see.  Well then you won't mind that it's already close to seven."

"He has to put the boys to bed.  Then, he'll probably come."

"He has Tina.  Can't she even do that?  I mean, Blair, it's been all day and you haven't heard from him."

"So?" She said, flinging the magazine, "I don't need him.  I'm an independent woman.  And if he shows up, I'm not going anyway.  Maybe he took the hint."

"What hint was that, your singing to him last night?"

Blair folded her arms, and appeared foiled.  "How did you know?"

"I heard you.  That's one of my favorites, 'My One and Only Love.'  It's kind of odd that you'd be singing that to him instead of 'Hit the Road, Jack,' but what do I know?"

"He just . . . had a bad day, is all.  He couldn't sleep, so I sang."

"I see, well, that was kind of you, considering you're estranged.  I have to say though, I am back on the anti-Todd wagon now.  And it feels good!"

Blair almost stomped her foot.  "What?"

"Yep.  Feels great to be on the same side as you, against him, yet again!  Like old times," she said, lifting her legs and placing them on the couch.  "Feels great, and so does this stretching out.  Long day getting things set for the opening tomorrow."

Blair got a sly look.  "That's right, the opening.  Hmm.  I'd better go pull out all of the stops and get out one of my really hot, red dresses.  He'll be sorry he never showed when he sees me in it."

"I thought you didn't want him to show?  Didn't you say . . ."

"All right, Dorian!  I know what I said!"  Blair shouted, heading to the staircase.

Dorian was quite pleased with herself, and picked up the discarded magazine.

***

"I thought Dad was going to get Mom, Jack."  Sam said.

"I think he changed his mind.  Don't worry, Squirt, Dad knows what he's doing.  He's got game."

"What does that mean?"

"It means, well, it means he's got a plan."

"I hope so.  He looks like a bum from the park."

"Well, he'll spruce up, don't worry."

"Is he going to wear a tuxehdo."

"What?"

"A tuxehdo."

"A tuxedo?  Boy, for a kid who spells good, you sure screw words up.  Yeah, he'll be wearing a tuxedo."

"I don't want them to break up," Sam said, his face turning downward.

"They won't break up."

"How do you know?"

"Because I know.  No matter what, Dad won't let go of Mom.  If they were going to break up, they would have done it long before today."

"Well, Mom's not here.  I miss her, Jack."

"Want to call her?"

"Yeah!"

Jack summoned Blair on the phone.  "Hey, Mom."

"Hi, Jack.  So glad to hear your voice.  How was school?"

"Good, boring stuff as usual.  Sam's missing ya.  He wants to say hi."

"Hi Sam, how are you feeling?"

"Good.  I just wish Dad would get home.  We're bored without him.  Today he played with me and Ray most of the day before he went to The Sun."

"He did?"  she said, and felt a slight pang in her stomach.  She recognized it.  She was jealous.  "That was nice."

"Yeah, and then, he fell asleep because he couldn't sleep last night."

"Oh, he did, did he?"  She smirked.

"Yeah.  He didn't say why, he just said he kept dreaming."

Blair swallowed.  He was alone, with that memory from Ray's call.  Damn it, Blair!  "Well, he's okay, now, right?"

"I don't know, he's not here."

She rolled her eyes.  "Let me talk to Jack, now, honey.  Good night."

"Night," Sam said handing the phone to Jack.

"Hey, Mom."

"Is Jenna excited, Jack?"

"Yeah, she's nervous.  After school, we went and got her a new dress.  She's going to pay me back after she sells her first painting.  She made me agree to that, I didn't want to."

"Well, that's good, no gold diggers for my son."

"Okay, Mom."

"Um, where's your father, Jack?"  she did her best to sound disinterested.  "Doesn't he care he has two small children and a teenage son to care for?"

Jack smiled.  He heard it in her voice.  She was jealous.  "Oh yeah.  He spent almost all day with the kids.  He just went to The Sun to get tomorrow all set.  He'll be back soon."

"Did he say anything else?"

"Just that he decided not to go and bring you back today.  He said you need your time."

She was furious.  "Oh, all right," she said sweetly.  "I'll see you all tomorrow at the opening, then."  She hung up.  "Damn you, Todd Manning!"

***

"Ramon, assure me that everything is squared away for tomorrow."

"It is, Sir.  Just as you asked."

"Positive?"

"Yes."

"Everything."

"Yes, Mr. Manning.  I know how you operate by now.  I know what you expect."

"Good.  Then I can go back to my kids, right?"

"I don't see why not.  You've been here for several hours.  Sir, I must say, you look a little ragged."

"Don't worry about that," he said heading to the roof.  It was after nine, and the city still looked beautiful in the dark and speckled with lights.

So Manning, what are you going to do.  You know you want to take this copter right to La Boulaie, land it on Dorian's lawn, and go in that house and carry her out of there.

He started the copter engine, and let it run a few minutes.

Of course, if you want your plan to really work . . . she should stew a while longer.  That's if your plan works.

He lifted off the helipad on the top of The Manning Building, and headed for Unforgettable.

One thing I'm sure of.  She loves me, and she always will.

Landing the copter, he looked over the yard at Unforgettable, that he considered his kingdom, where his most precious commodities resided: his wife and their babies, of all different ages and personalities.  Each one he loved so deeply that it hurt to think about it and assess it.  But he did anyway, and looking over the snow, he surveyed what he had created for them.  The tall snow drift that Sam had plummeted into, was still there, a gaping hole in its center, and he thought he could see some remnants of bloody snow where he had been digging.  He had promised her to always care for, protect and love her and their children, and he knew he would die doing just that.

He went into the master bedroom, and immediately sparked the fire.  It was chilly, even in the room.  The temperatures had dropped substantially, and there were icicles frozen along the edges of the roof of Unforgettable.  He threw his cold clothes over the side chair, and went to the sofa.  Sitting a minute, he saw the album she'd made for him, and he opened it.  Looking over the photos, he was brought to a longing he couldn't shake, and decided to try and sleep.

He looked at his cell phone before setting it down beside him on the small table along side the bed.  Nothing from her.  He wasn't sure if he should call her, and for a moment, he just wanted to hear her voice.  Then, realizing that he needed things to go as planned, he stopped himself, though he wanted to talk to her more than anything else at that moment.  Just as he was turning over to try and rest, Jack appeared at his door.

"Dad?"

"Yeah, Jack."

"Mom's jealous."

Todd laughed, "How do you know?"

"I just know.  I talked to her earlier.  She's dying to know why you didn't go get her."

"I just want you to know, Son, that I'm not going to get her, simply because your mother needs space."

"I know, you told me, and I told her that.  She didn't seem to buy it, though."  He stopped, looking at his father's face and appearance.  "Dad, are you all right?  I mean, really?"

"Yeah, I'm all right.  It's only been a day without her.  I'm fine.  I reached out to her last night, on the phone.  She knows what I feel."

"You look like freaking Hell, Dad."

He sighed and simply said, "This is me without your mother, Jack.  It's just how it is.  You're lucky I'm wearing socks and washing."

"Okay."  Jack rolled his eyes.  "Night, Dad."

"Night, Jack."

***

She woke up, and looked at the clock.  Three a.m.  In the king-sized bed that used to be theirs, many years ago, she ran her hand over what would have been his side.  Blair, what are you doing?

She turned over quickly, and pulled the covers up.  Snuggling down, she closed her eyes.  Not five minutes later, she opened them again.  How dare he not come and try and win me back? 

She turned again, on her other side, and punched the pillow, attempting to get comfortable.  When her eyes sprung open again, she grabbed her cell phone.  You left him alone, when he needed you.  And you promised to be there.  "Perzno, hi, sorry, Blair Manning.  I . . . need a ride."

***

Peter was standing by the edge of the bed, a cut off piece of two-by-four in his hand.  "Get up, you pansy ass, and fight like a man."

Todd, turning over in his bed, looked up at the man.  "Dad?  It's late.  It's like three or four in the morning."

"Late?  Too late you mean?  Maybe for you."

***

Perzno seemed a bit unhappy to see Blair, standing on the lawn of La Boulaie, in her lavender wool coat, slippers and pajamas.  But, he knew, when he signed on with the Mannings, it was a twenty-four-hour-a-day commitment, and he was paid exceedingly well. 

She climbed into the cab.  "I'm sorry, about this.  I know it's late."

"It's okay, Mrs. Manning."

She buckled herself in, and thought about Todd, having dealt with new memories just yesterday, and how she had been selfish enough to stay apart from him when he probably needed her support.  Besides, had he forgotten about her that fast?  He never had called, and didn't make good on his threat to come and get her.  What was he pulling?  Her mind was reeling as the copter made its way to Llantano Mountain and Unforgettable.

***

He heard Ray crying in the distance.  Still groggy from sleep, he said, "What are you doing here, you're dead."

"How do you know that?"

"I saw you die, Dad.  I begged for your acceptance at your bedside, remember?"

"Where is that infernal crying coming from?  You raising a pussy, like you are?"  He slapped the wood against his palm.

He sat up with alarm.  "No, he's just a baby.  He's only three."

Peter's grin seemed to swallow his face.  "That just the right age to start teaching 'em right."  The wood slapped his father's palm in a desolate rhythm.  

"No, I can tell you one thing, you bastard, I'll kill you if you go near my son."

***

The copter let down on the helipad, and Blair, stepping out, took notice of the snow drift that Todd had just looked at not hours before.  The motion sensitive lights snapped on outside the mansion, and she could see marks in the snow where her husband had dug with his hands to get their little boy out.  She swallowed.  "Blair, what the Hell are you doing?  This man would die for you.  Never mind Marty Saybrooke and Patrick Thornhart.  He would die for you and your children."

She didn't realize she'd said it aloud, and Perzno said, "I know that's true.  Did you see his face when he thought Sam was suffocating in the snow?  Now, can you get in there and back to him, so I can get some rest?  All due respect, Mrs. Manning."

***

When she walked into the bedroom at Unforgettable, through the glass panes that she knew Todd would forget to lock, a series of things happened in a short time, and though it seemed like forever, it was all in a flash.

He was in the bed, alone, thrashing in the covers, mumbling things she could not quite understand.  She recognized it immediately as a nightmare, and her heart broke.  Removing her coat, she placed it on the arm of the couch, and began to walk slowly toward the bed, as not to startle him awake.   

"I will kill you.  I should have done it when I was fourteen and had the chance to do it.  Begging for you to love me?  When you were on that death bed, I should have been strangling the life out of you."

Peter slapped the wooden beam across his palm, and said, "You never could stand up to me.  Look at you.  I'll kick your ass out of that bed again, if I feel like it.  But right now, I have to take care of that fucking crying.  It's driving me mad."

"No, he's not even three.  He's just a baby.  He's innocent." Then, "I was only three!"

He sat up abruptly, took a gasp of air in loudly, and his eyes rested on Blair, standing right beside the bed.  "Blair?  No, Manning, she's not here.  Get a grip," he said aloud, breathing as if he had run a race.  His shirt was soaked with sweat, as were the edges of his hair.  

She sat down on the edge of the bed, and reached her hand out, touching his scar.  "I'm real.  You were dreaming.  It's okay."

"You're real?"

"I'm real," she said, moving his hand to her cheek.

He ran his thumb over her cheekbone, and said, "You came back."

She nodded.  "I didn't want you to be alone.  Besides, I felt, stupid."

"I do that all the time," he said.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, just a dream.  Didn't sleep well last night, and with the call from Ray . . ."

She nodded.  "Just a dream, come here."

He leaned toward her, and she cradled him against her.  "You're awake.  I'm here."  She stroked his hair, and kissed the top of his forehead and his eyelids.

After a long pause, his breathing slowed.  "Blair, I know you're afraid.  You don't trust me.  I'm asking you to do just that.  Please.  Let's get through tomorrow, and talk about it when the opening is behind us."

"If that's what you want."  She looked into his eyes, and said, "It always comes down to just us, doesn't it?"

He nodded, and leaned toward her, kissing her lips gently.  "You're back.  I can't say I haven't missed you, Mrs. Manning."

"We're both pathetic.  We were barely apart 24 hours, and in the middle of it was that phone call."

He raised an eyebrow and gave her a look she recognized.  It sent a shiver through her.  He said, "That call, yeah.  We are a little pathetic, even all these years after the contest."

"Pathetic for each other, I guess."


"I want you to trust me, Babe.  Nothing is going to happen to us, the baby or the kids."

"Let's not talk about that.  Please.  Not now."

He said, "Then, let's not talk," and ran his hand down her body and around her waist, pulling her to him.  He kissed along her neck, and she couldn't deny she wanted him so much.  Her resolve was going to have to wait.  She surrendered to him as he whisked her around onto the bed, and under him.  Kissing every place on her neck and breasts that he knew would melt her, he felt his own want pushing against his clothing, until she worked her hand along his waistband and freed him.  He stopped, looking into her eyes.  

She whispered, "Don't stop, Todd," prompting him to run his tongue down her torso, and before he began to use it how he knew she desired, he looked up to her, over the small bump in her middle that was their next piece of life.

"I love you, Blair."

"I love you, Todd."  She said, and closed her eyes.

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