Samuel woke up and looked at Vicki resting on the side of the bed. He couldn't believe he was this close to her. For that matter, he was amazed he was still around. Samuel tried to take a deep breath but soon started coughing. Not the thing to do, now his chest hurt.
At the sound of his coughing, Vicki woke up looking with concern at Todd."You're awake. Take it easy, breathe shallow the coughing will subside. Now, don't try and talk too much. I didn't mean to get you all excited earlier. You obviously have found a way to work with your alters the I would never have imagined possible. I don't fault you, Todd, we both cope the only way we know how."
"Vicki, wait." Samuel reached up and touched her mouth."Shush." he smiled. "I always knew you were understanding. His memories of you have kept me going for a very long time. Even when I didn't know they were memories. I'm Samuel, and I'm so glad to truly be here with you. When Todd and I headed into the cemetery, I didn't know if we were going to come out." Samuel could see the concern in her eyes when she realized she wasn't with Todd. " Todd's not gone, he's just having a case of withdrawal. Because his body is weak, he's struggling to come to terms with the memories of that night. Ms. Perkins thought it best if I resume my role until he's stronger. I hope you'll accept me for the time being. I assure you he will return, he can come and go the way he used to."
Vicki searched his face, there was something very comforting about Samuel. She smiled back at him and said. "I'm very glad to meet you too, Samuel. Thank you for coming by yesterday. Because of you and what you said in the garden, I was able to figure out that you went to the cemetery. I'm very happy you all survived. If Blair and Starr hadn't followed you, the attacks would have been fatal. I think I know what occurred back in 2003. At least what occurred the night Todd disappeared. I don't think you or any of the others have any memory of it because Todd's trauma happened when he almost died. But Samuel, you have one memory he doesn't have, correct?"
Samuel reached up and touched his scars. He traced the newer one of the two and realized for the first time that it was shaped a little like the letter L, he had never even recognized the shape. He said aloud " The man who carved it said I would always remember him. He said 'L for Laurence' and then I passed out." Samuel met Vicki's eyes. "It was Mitch Laurence who did this. Wasn't it. He was responsible for bringing me out and sending Todd into eight long years in limbo."
Suddenly, Pete surfaced, turning his cold eyes on Vicki he said. "If Mitch Laurence is still alive I will find him and kill him for all of us, I swear!" Rage was emanating from every pore, the only thing containing Pete was the condition his body was in.
Vicki spoke quickly "Pete, please I understand your anger, but you're going to hurt Todd and yourself. Let Samuel have control, please." Behind her, Vicki heard the door open again. It was Blair back with the morning papers. "Blair, help me. Pete's in control right now. We've got to get Samuel back."
Blair came up to the bed and looked Pete straight in his eyes. She had faced those angry eyes many times. There was only one thing that Pete feared and that was death, so she told him the hard truth. "Pete if you don't leave now you're going to die, and you'll kill the others with you, especially Todd. What's it going to be? Are you going to stay and die, or go and live?"
Pete's eyes closed and his body slumped on the bed. His heartbeat that had started to race when he was in charge return to normal, but he was once more unconscious. Blair looked across the bed at Vicki. "Vicki, you said you spoke to Todd in the crypt. Why isn't he here? We haven't lost him for good have we?"
Deep in Todd's subconscious mind two men struggled for control and this time reason won out. "You idiot, you're not going to take control at will anymore. Not if I have anything to say about it. Rodd and Tom restrain him again. Right now we need reason and common sense if we're to continue to survive and I'm going to provide that the same way I have all this time. Now everybody rest, I'll be here when it's time to wake up." Samuel closed his eyes and willed himself back into Todd's consciousness ready to take charge when it was time.
Vicki looked at Blair. She realized that Blair still didn't know that Todd had survived his attempt to face the event that marked his disappearance. "Blair I'm sorry, it must have been a shock to come back to Pete when you were hoping for Todd. I can tell you Todd is back. At least he was earlier. We were discussing his alters and he got agitated. I had to calm him down and managed to get him to drift off to sleep. I dozed off and awoke when I heard him coughing. At first I thought I was talking to Todd again but I found out I was talking to Samuel. Samuel reassured me that Todd is back or at least capable of coming and going at will again but that because of his weakened state, he's withdrawn to get a handle on last night's revelations. Samuel told me he was sent back out to hold down the fort for the time being. Blair, what can you tell me about Samuel?" Vicki looked at Todd, he appeared to have fallen back asleep. She sat back down and took a deep breath. It was unthinkable what it could have meant for Todd if Pete had stayed in charge.
Blair sat down next to Vicki and said. "It's a long story, but I'll tell you everything I know. My story begins after Eli's death. Eli left me a lockbox and key and it took me a while to even open it. When I did I found a portrait of me inside. I couldn't figure out who would have commission a painting of me, especially when I saw the date on the painting. Vicki, the painting was completed in 2003. The painting was unsigned and so I set about trying to figure out who painted it. Christian and I found a link that sent us to Paris and a small gallery. We met the owner of the gallery and I encountered another picture of myself in his gallery. To say I was stunned was an understatement.” Blair stood up and walked to Todd’s side. Her hand carefully moved his hair off his face and she looked back at Vicki.
“The gallery owner informed me that he had sold a number of paintings all of me over the course of seven years. He was surprised that I didn't know the artist because the artist certainly knew me. As luck would have it, Samuel delivered a new painting that same night and Tomas, the gallery owner was able to get his name finally. And so the search began. Christian drew a sketch of Samuel from Tomas' description of him. Vicki, I almost fainted when I saw that sketch. It was a picture of Todd.” She paused and again looked at the man sleeping so peacefully.
“Through some investigations, Tomas and I found out where Samuel lived and I went to confront him," Blair remembered when he opened the door that night, it had been like time had shifted back to another night during the year they met. The night when their whole relationship had changed. For one brief moment, she'd been that same Blair looking for someone to share her misery and Todd had been perfect.
Blair smiled and looked back at Vicki. "Vicki , when Samuel opened the door it was unreal. I fainted and Samuel brought me around. I was so mad when I woke up, I started blasting him for staying away for eight years and I wanted to know who he was getting to paint all the pictures. Samuel was so confused. I had called him Todd and he didn't know who that was. Then he told me he could prove he was the artist and proceeded to do a pastel of me that very night. That's when I realized that I was talking to one of Todd's alters and that they were real after all. Samuel informed me he didn't know why he painted me, just that he would get images and put them down on canvas. Vicki, he apologized for upsetting me. Todd hated apologizing for anything. Any questions so far?"
Vicki had been listening intently to all that Blair was telling her. When Blair mentioned Samuel just picking up the canvas and doing an on the spot picture of her, Vicki was very intrigued. She remembered Samuel saying she had been with him for some time. How was that possible? She asked. " Blair, you say he painted pictures of moments with you. Did he paint anything else?"
Blair nodded , " Samuel's apartment was full of paintings, some of me but also many of you and Tea. He called us his muses. He had two beautiful paintings on his mantle, one of you and one of Tea, in fact those are at the penthouse here. Yes Vicki, he's back in the penthouse. Starr and Hope moved in with him a couple of days ago. The night we met, Samuel told me the only memories he had were of the last eight years, everything before that was a blank. Samuel's memories have been returning since he spotted me accidentally in Paris. The only memory that was eluding him was the memory of the night Samuel appeared. That memory, according to Samuel, was the link that was keeping Todd trapped. You should know that we believe someone had Todd for several months after he was injured and tampered with his mind. Samuel's been tracking down some leads and we believe that the experiments done on Todd might also have been done on Walker but that's another story. Right now I'm concerned with getting him well enough to go home but we've got another problem on our hands now. Look at these." Blair handed Vicki the newspapers she had left at the foot of the bed.
Vicki looked at the headlines, it was as she feared, the media had jumped on the sensational side of the event last night.
The Banner's headline read "PUBLISHER'S DOPPELGANGER SPOTTED" the story went on to speculate why a lookalike for the Sun's publisher Todd Manning was being taken from the tomb of Todd Manning's Father, Victor Lord. The reporter had a picture of Todd on the gurney.
The Sun's headline was just as inflaming "RESURRECTION: HAS VICTOR LORD RETURNED FROM THE DEAD!" Questions as to whom was taken out from the tomb, alive but in need of medical attention. Somehow they were going to have to tread carefully. Neither Samuel nor Todd was in any shape to face the questions that were going to start coming.
Vicki looked at Blair. "I'm not sure whether this can be stopped but we can make sure that it's held at bay until Todd is ready to step forth. We both know it's only a matter of time before he's going to want to regain his life and there are a lot of people it's going to affect when he takes that step."
Samuel woke and listened as Vicki and Blair sat talking, it was a little unreal to actually hear their voices. The whole time he had been alone with their portraits he had imagined how they would talk to him. Now they were real, two women he loved, talking about protecting him from the events about to unfold. He smiled and looked over at them "My lovely Muses, as always you continue to support me. But you're really here now, not just in my imagination. It's remarkable."
Vicki and Blair moved to his bedside. Vicki looked at him and said. "Samuel, I'm glad you're back. Are you feeling any better?"
"Well that's relative, Vicki. Compared to being dead, I feel marvelous, but truthfully I feel like someone stomped all over me. Still I'm here." Samuel looked at Blair "When I left yesterday, I thought I was saying goodbye for good. I thought once Todd faced his demon, he'd no longer need me and I would cease to be. He wouldn't let me face the tomb. He shut me out and went in alone. We were all trapped unable to help because we didn't know what he was facing. I don't understand. I thought we were here to protect him, but he protected us instead." Samuel's eyes went from one face to the other than rested on Vicki's. "Do you know why he did it?"
Vicki nodded, she had started to tear up when Samuel was talking. Her thoughts went back to the last thing Todd had told her. "Samuel, you might only be a fragment of Todd but to him, you're one of his brothers and he wouldn't let anyone hurt you or destroy you. He's protected his connection to you all these years because he didn't want to lose any of you. Years ago when Tom and the others came out, Todd almost lost you. Pete inadvertently made the alters look unreal and we all thought Todd had manufactured his alters to escape prison. Todd decided to let us believe the worst of him because he knew his secret was once again safe. When he went into that tomb, he knew you thought you were going to have to go with him and you were willing to sacrifice yourself for his sanity. He shut you out, even though he knew he was taking a big chance of losing himself once more, because he cares for you as much as the others. Todd has always had an unusual way of protecting the ones he loves. He thinks differently than the rest of us do. It's both infuriating and endearing."
Vicki paused letting Samuel absorb what she had just told him. She had a feeling life around Todd was forever going to be different now that some of his loved ones knew his alters were so real.
Samuel smiled, "I'm grateful to him, he gives us life. As do you Blair. Did you have something to do with keeping us alive?"
"Forgive us Samuel, but Starr and I couldn't let you go alone. I had an inkling you were headed to the cemetery so we followed. We were outside the tomb for just a short while, waiting for you to come out. Vicki showed up so we followed her in and found her beside you. You were having another heart attack. We got you laid down and did CPR until the EMT's arrived. Starr rode in the ambulance with you. You had two more attacks on the way here. I expect Starr here shortly she'll be so relieved you're still around. We've come to love you Samuel and we don't want you permanently gone. From what Vicki says we can have both you and Todd and the others and that's okay with us. You are all Todd, no matter who is out at a given moment." Blair gave Samuel's hand a squeeze and took a moment to move his hair out of his eyes again. Then she grinned and said, " Well except for maybe Pete. You guys really need to limit his time out."
Ruefully Samuel grinned back, "Ah, yes. He is a bit of a handful, but he and I came to an understanding earlier. For now he's under house arrest till he gets his temper under control. Now I heard you both talking when I woke up, what do you have to keep a lid on right now?"
"You're no longer invisible, Samuel. When the ambulance headed into the cemetery last night. It brought the reporters out. Further excitement was generated because of where you were found. Victor Lord’s Tomb is an unusual place for emergency help to be called in for. Well here, look for yourself." Vicki showed Samuel the papers and then sat down.
Samuel took the papers and glanced at his sister. She was looking a little pale. "Vicki is something the matter." At Samuel's words, Blair looked over at Vicki.
"Vicki are you alright?" asked Blair "Can I get you something? You didn't eat did you? You need to take care of yourself."
Looking at her watch, Vicki realized she was late taking her anti-rejection medication. She got her purse and pulled out her medicine. "Blair, I lost track of time. Could you get me some water? I'll be alright, I just need to take these." Blair went and got her some water and she took her pills. Then she just sat back and rested.
"Hey! What's going on? Vicki, why are you taking medicine, the cancer isn't back is it? Come on tell me the truth." Samuel was worried. He didn't like the way Vicki looked. "Vicki do you need a doctor?"
Blair quickly turned back to Samuel. He was getting agitated and he needed to know about Vicki. "She's alright Samuel, but she forgot to take her medicine on time. Vicki had to have a heart transplant some years back, but she has to continue to take anti-rejection medication or she could start to have a problem. It isn't a recurrence of cancer. Are you doing better Vicki?" asked Blair "If you want I'll get the doctor."
"I'm doing better, please Samuel, your heart is a much larger concern than mine right now. When you're better I'll tell you all about me, for now you need to calm down once again. Blair, you were right I do need to eat something. What did you bring me earlier?" Vicki asked "I could do with a little something right now."
Blair handed the bag with the muffin and apple and said. "You eat and then you're going to go home and get some sleep. Your daughters need you too. I'll stay and keep Samuel company and Starr should be here any moment now. I won't say anything to the press other than what you told the Doctor. Samuel is your cousin. No one needs to know different."
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