Spidey Sam: Chapter 31

Todd was sitting down resting after an early morning run at the park. Viki was just taking her morning walk when she spotted Todd sitting down resting. She thought about going over to talk to him. They hadn't seen or talked to each other since Todd had been to Llanfair for dinner. Todd had his eyes closed and he had his head resting again the bench, so he didn't see Viki approach the bench.  Viki took a seat next to Todd.  Todd felt someone sit next to him, opened his eyes and lifted his head.

"Oh, it is you, Sis."

"Who were you expecting Todd?"

"I don't know, not you Sis.  I didn't think you were speaking to me after our little dinner party."

"It's not the dinner party that has me mad at you Todd, I'm used to your little outbursts."

"I know.  It's me killing our dear brother, Victor."

"You may have hated him, Todd, but he still was my brother!"

"Viki, did you sit next to me just to scream at me yet again about Victor because if you did, I have to go."

"Sit down Todd, I'm not here about that."

"You are always here about that"

"Well not today, smart ass!"

"So, what are you here about today, darling sister of mine?"

"I want to talk to you about Blair."

"I'm leaving."

"Why do you keep running away from your problems with her?"

"I don't have problem with Blair.  She is the mother of my children we are getting along just fine."

"Todd, are you ever going to forgive her for what she did with Tomas?  You know everybody makes mistakes.  You have even been known to make a few yourself."

"Yes, Viki we all know I have made my fair share of mistakes, are we going to go over all of them one by one because I don't have all day."

"Really?  You think it would just take one day?"

"I know what have done in the past, but I'm trying to change."

"Yes, by avoiding your issues with Blair instead of facing them head on."

"I don't want to get into another big messy fight with Blair.  It's not good for me or her and it's especially not good for the kids."

"So you just want to keep burying your head in the sand?"

"Blair and I talk, for your information, all the time."

"Really? About what, the kids?"

"Yes, we talk all the time about the kids, the kids are all that really interest me."

"So, your not interested in being with Blair?"

"I'm not having this conversation with you Viki, I'm not talking to you about my sex life with Blair."

"Well, from what I hear their isn't much to talk about."

"I'm not interested in Blair that way anymore."

"Really, since when Todd?"

"Since, Blair slept with the man that had me put away from nine years and almost married him even though he was beating on her son!  I don't want to talk about this with you Viki!"

"Good, because I'm not the one you should be talking about this with, you should be talking to Blair about it."

"What if I talk to her and I still can't forgive her or give the kind of relationship she wants?"

"Well, then, you at least know you cleared the air and told Blair where she stands with you."

"I thought I already did that more than once when I told her I couldn't be with her."

"Well from what I have heard, Blair still doesn't get why."

"I don't understand why she would want to be with me anyway.  I killed Victor.  Why can't she be more like you, you can barely stand share a park bench with me."

"Blair loves you, you idiot.  That is why she can't just leave things the way they are, and for the record, I love you to."

"I know love me but you can't stand to be around me."

"Todd, if I couldn't stand to be around you I could have kept walking you had your eyes closed you wouldn't even seen me walk by.  You are the one that stopped coming by."

"I didn't think you wanted to see me anymore."

"Todd, are you staying in Llanview?"

"Yes, I'm going to try and be a better father to my kids and live my life the best way I know how for right now."

"I think your life would be better with Blair in it."

"Blair is in my life as much as can handle right now."

"Ok. Todd if you say so.  I'm going to leave you now.  Please stop Llanfair anytime you would like. I do miss seeing you believe it or not.  Oh and one thing and I won't make you promise that you will do it just think about it.  Please, talk to Blair.  I think you two have more to talk about than you think.  If think you are going to fight than just go when the kids are at school."

"I guess I can think about it, but no promises."

"Thank you, Todd."

"Thank you, Viki."

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R.E.M. Part 9

Of course he didn’t listen to Blair. Of course he listened to Peter Manning. And of course he found himself stuck spending his days in a sweaty mess with men who were bigger and stronger and stupider and crazier than he was.

He laughed at Blair’s thought that he should throw his tryout. Football was the one thing he’d ever done well and he didn’t know how to pretend otherwise. To his shock, he made the roster.

He didn’t play except when there was a disaster leaving the coach with no other option, but that was all right. He was in the NFL. He hadn’t planned for this, exactly, but any man who said he’d never dreamed about playing pro football was either lying or really really gay. The food the team brought into the locker room was good and the cheerleaders were easy. Peter was pleased with him most of the time, even if he sometimes asked Todd how he could live with himself knowing he was so useless that he never got off the bench. It was an okay limbo in which to spend a few years.

Llanview and L.U. and KAD faded away from his consciousness.

When the team went to Philadelphia to play the Eagles, the Banner dutifully sent a reporter to ask “the former L.U. standout” how it felt “not to be a star in the pros.” Todd dutifully spit out the correct answers about caring more for the team than himself—he’d known enough to say that since Sam Rappaport had been his coach, after all—and waited for it to be over.

Then, when it was over, Kevin Buchanan joined the sports reporter.

A strange sensation coursed through Todd. It was almost as if he was glad to see Kevin. Todd decided that it was probably just jetlag.

“My mom and Jessica wanted to be sure I invited you to dinner,” Kevin said when they’d shaken hands. “They reminded me three or four times.”

“I wish I could,” said Todd. “The team has to leave right after the game.”

“I figured,” said Kevin.

“Tell your mom and Jessie I’m sorry.”

“Sure.”

“How are they doing?”

“Good,” said Kevin in the polite way people did when they didn’t feel like a real answer was required.

“How about Powell?” Todd pushed. He hadn’t even thought of Powell since graduation. As intense as Powell had been about the bonds of their ersatz brotherhood, it was a little odd that he hadn’t made any effort to stay in touch with Todd. (Todd was the football star; football stars never had to make efforts to maintain personal relationships because other people always made the effort for them.)

Kevin’s lips tightened.

“What happened to Powell?” Todd repeated. He put on his best ‘concerned’ face. He might even have been concerned. Sometimes it was hard for him to tell. It was obviously hard for Kevin to tell, too, because Kevin took a moment too long to answer.

“He had a hard time,” Kevin said at last. “He’s sensitive,” he added, using the term his mother had always used to excuse Powell’s brand of crazy.

“He really freaked out when Marty ended up in the hospital right before graduation.”

“He never quite came back from that,” Kevin admitted, and Todd took that to mean that Powell had gone from hysterical fearful outbursts over Marty’s well-being to out-and-out obsession with Marty. Powell had been headed that way when Todd had picked up for Cincinnati. “His parents decided to get him some help.”

“They put him in a loony bin?”

Kevin scowled, not caring for Todd’s word choice. “It was a wakeup call for Marty, though. She straightened out and went right into med school. She’s doing great.”

“Good for her,” Todd lied, because maybe if he sounded pleasant and nice and decent Kevin would tell him about Blair. Then he remembered that he wouldn’t give Kevin that satisfaction of knowing he wondered about Blair and he didn’t ask. But by then it was too late to tell Kevin to remind Marty that it was bad form to try to cure all her patients with sexual healing, so he let Kevin go.

Another year passed. For the second time, Todd almost inexplicably made the team, with the help of a few freak injuries to would-be teammates who really and truly were better than he was.

It happened to be a rule on the team that second year players invited the rookies to their homes for a welcome to the team dinner. Except everyone knew that instead of “dinner,” it was a party, and instead of “the rookies,” the whole team crashed. It took about a quarter of a minimum-salary player’s yearly earnings to throw the damn party.

Todd was less of a party animal when he had to spend his own money and let his own house get destroyed.

Halfway through the party, he was wondering if he should just burn the place down and move. One of the running backs, more drunk than high, was standing on the couch with his dick in his hand, pretending to masturbate while half a dozen women ducked out of the way of the imaginary spray. The team’s kicker, more high than drunk, was giving wet willies wherever he could get close to an ear with a spit-soaked finger. Sex, in twosomes and threesomes and foursomes, was happening in every bedroom and bathroom and closet and corner. Only Todd’s own bedroom was spared because he’d locked it and claimed to have lost the key. Everyone realized he was lying and he didn’t fucking care.

He took another drink and let one of the cheerleaders writhe around him in time to the music.

And if you follow

There may be a tomorrow

But if the offer's shunned

You might as well be walkin' on the sun

If it hadn’t been his own house, he wouldn’t have been half-sober and paying enough attention to see her as soon as she walked in.

But if it hadn’t been his own house, she probably wouldn’t have walked in, anyway.

He pushed the cheerleader into the accepting arms of one of his teammates and forced his way through the party to Blair.

“What are you doing here?” he asked as soon as he was close enough for his shout to be heard.

“I told you I’d come visit you,” she said, like over a year hadn’t gone by since she’d made that particular declaration. She had a little travel bag on wheels with her.

“You planning on staying?” he asked.

“Well, I was going to ask you if I could,” she said, lowering her eyes artfully. “There’s some convention in town and all the hotels are booked. But when I saw you were having a party, I thought I should at least say hi before I started driving back to Llanview.”

He knew he’d been right to lock his room.

He took Blair by the hand and led her through the chaos of the party. There were whistles and questions about where Todd had been hiding this, as well as the occasional comment that teammates were teammates and needed to share that made Todd want to take somebody’s head off even though he’d said the exact same thing more than once.

In the comparative quiet of his room, Todd handed Blair the key.

“You can come back to the party if you want, but you lock the door behind you and you keep the key with you,” he warned. “If you stay in here, you don’t open the door unless you’re positive, and I mean positive, that it’s to me. Every guy down there thinks he’s entitled to have sex with every woman he looks at, and they all looked at you. These guys are local heroes. They can do no wrong. They get away with everything. You have to take that seriously.”

Blair cocked her head in pretended curiosity. “I have the strangest sense of deja vu. I seem to recall that about two years ago I went to a party and Kevin Buchanan was appalled when I wanted to go for a walk with the biggest partier in all of Kappa Alpha Delta. Who was that guy?” She snapped her fingers. “I just can’t remember his name.”

Todd didn’t appreciate the irony. “I need you to stay safe. And I need my bedroom to stay safe,” he added, because he didn’t want her to get any crazy and possibly realistic ideas about how he’d been pining for her since he’d left Llanview. “Nobody has sex in my bedroom but me.”

“That happen a lot?” she asked.

“That’s not your business,” he told her.

“What I meant was, do you have a girlfriend who wouldn’t like it if I slept in your bed?”

“Oh.” Todd shook his head. “No. You should get into bed. Right now.”

Blair laughed. “You really don’t want me to go to that party, do you?”

“I really don’t,” he admitted. He’d always been honest with her about most things.

“Okay,” she agreed. “I won’t.” She handed the key back to him and batted her eyes. “I’ll stay locked in your tower until you come to free me, Sir Todd.”

“Come out if the house burns down,” he said, mindful of the story she’d told about her crazy relatives the last time they’d spoken. “Knowing some of these guys, it’s a possibility.”

“I’ll remember.”

“I’d like to kick them out now, but I can’t. It’ll be most of the night.”

“Okay,” she said again. She kissed his cheek and he wondered what the hell was going on. “Enjoy your party.”

There wasn’t much chance of that.

He did what he could to speed the party along to a premature end. He bribed some of the girls to lure their targets elsewhere. He started a rumor that there was a better time to be had elsewhere. He surreptitiously called in noise complaints to the police. He had his hand on the circuit breaker to cut the power before it occurred to him that as long as the supply of booze and women held out, no one would care if the lights went off. They would probably even prefer it.

It was the early hours of the morning before he’d successfully sent his guests out into the world and unlocked the door to his own bedroom.

He found Blair asleep in his bed.

The sight pleased him. Rather than take a shower and lie down himself, as he’d intended, he fell into a chair and stared at her. He actually had her in his bed; why miss a minute of it and take the chance that she’d vanish if he looked away?

He wasn’t sure how long he stared at her, but eventually her cat-green eyes blinked open and she rolled over, languidly stretching out in his bed, caressing it like she should have been caressing him.

Blair focused her gaze on Todd, completely unashamed to have put on a show for him in her sleep, completely unbothered to have found him there. It was an unconscious confidence and trust that was sexy as hell. “Todd?” she asked. “What are you doing?”

He shrugged. “Just thinking,” he said, because that was technically true.

“Party over?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“Want your bed back?” she asked, making no move to get up.

“I think my bed likes you better than it likes me,” he told her.

“I know that’s not true.” She stroked a pillow invitingly with her hand. “I think this bed just loves you.”

If Todd hadn’t known better, he would have thought it was an invitation. He stared numbly at her.

“We could always share,” she suggested. She scooted over, leaving open the place still arm from her body.

“What are you doing, Blair?” he tried.

She swung her long legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. He choked back a gasp; she was wearing a scrap of black lace that left almost nothing to his imagination. “You didn’t want me at your other party,” she said. “I thought we could have our own party.” She pulled him to his feet; he followed her direction, mesmerized, as she began to dance with him.

When she kissed him, he kissed back. Wildly, he wondered if it was actually happening after so many near misses. Had Blair really just shown up out of the blue and planted herself all but naked in his bed? Did he really care why, as long as it was happening?

Before he lost his nerve, he pushed her hard onto the bed and climbed on top of her. The kissing got harder and faster; after a moment he pulled back to look at her, to convince himself once again that she was really there.

She ran her hand gently down the side of his face, playing with his hair, which had grown long enough for a ponytail over the past year. She looked into his eyes and a wave of fear overwhelmed him. This was the woman who had looked at him and talked to him when he’d been the loser expelled from L.U. for being too stupid to pass a test. This was the woman who made it plain that she didn’t care whether he had the play of the day on ESPN or not. This was the woman who snuck into his bedroom with beer and made him laugh at the stupid portrait of Kevin Buchanan’s grandfather. This was the woman who peeled him off the floor of a bar when he needed it and told him her darkest secrets.

He’d never done anything like this with anyone like her in his life.

He grabbed her hand and pinned it over her head  so that she wouldn’t touch him like that again. He was going to get through this; Blair wasn’t going to get a chance to run away and call him a freak like those other women-- those other women--

Blair pushed him hard in the chest. “Todd, let’s just, let’s just, Sweetie, let’s just slow down.”

It was the ‘Sweetie’ that undid him more than anything that had happened so far. He decided to cut the humiliation short, put Blair in his past where she belonged, and never mention this to anyone.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he muttered. “Look, I have to go to practice--”

“You do not have practice at 4:00 in the morning,” she said. She reached again for his hair, which seemed to fascinate her. He leaned back, but she was persistent. “I’m not staying stop, Todd,” she murmured. “I’m saying, let’s go slow. If you try it, you might like it.”

“If you want me to stop, you just let me know,” he blurted out. He was pretty sure that no woman, ever, had really enjoyed having sex with him. It hadn’t mattered in the past; he hadn’t cared about them, and he’d kept in mind Peter’s warnings about the nature of women. But with Blair, it mattered. He’d never had sex with a woman he liked before. Hell, the only other woman he liked with Kevin’s mother, and the thought of that almost made him run screaming from the room.

She didn’t answer. Instead, she drew him into another deep kiss. “Slow,” she whispered into his ear. “Slow.”

She unbuttoned his shirt, kissing down his chest as she went. She stayed in charge up through the moment of entry; by then, Todd’s nerves had vanished and he couldn’t think of anything but Blair’s skin and Blair’s curves and Blair’s mouth and Blair’s hot, wet, insides.

His mind didn’t reconnect with his body until sometime later when he had Blair’s naked body draped over his own like the best blanket ever. “What are you doing here, Blair?” he asked.

She laughed. “If you don’t know, I could do it again and see if you figure it out that time.”

“No!” He reconsidered. “Well, maybe. Definitely. But why are you in Cincinatti and not Llanview?”

“I came to see you.”

“Just like that,” he said flatly.

“I did tell you I would visit you when you left.”

“You didn’t call,” he pointed out.

“I’m so sorry for the breach of social etiquette. What would your friend Viki say?”

“You know what I’m asking. How about you answer for real? I thought we had this thing where we told each other the truth.”

“Okay,” she whispered. “Truth. There was no convention. I could have gotten a hotel room. I came here to see what would happen. If I could make this happen.” She gestured aimlessly at their entangled, naked bodies. “I almost turned around when I saw that you were having a party, but then it seemed like a sign. The first time I met you it was at a party a lot like that one.”

“Why now? Why not when I was hitting on you every time we had a drink? You just want what you can’t have?”

“Maybe. A little.” She sighed and rolled off of him, but snuggled close to his side like she had the night she’d told him about her family. “I was attracted to this man. I crossed paths with him doing things with Melador because he owned a spa. Him and his wife.”

“Ouch,” said Todd, because even he knew better than to fly into a jealous rage at the thought that Blair had been after someone else.

“He seemed like the kind of man I was supposed to be with. Older and sophisticated and a big deal with the main line upper crust. So I decided that I should go get him, like I went and got Melador.”

“It didn’t work?”

“It did, for a while. He never quite told me he was going to leave his wife, but… Well, even when I had him it wasn’t as much fun as it was supposed to be. It wasn’t as much fun as I used to have with you. And there was this whole thing where I accidentally ran over his wife.”

Todd’s laughter shook the bed. “Accidentally?”

She slapped him lightly with her manicured hand. “It was an accident! And after that, it was like, what am I doing? How am I finding it inside me to do that when I couldn’t even find the courage to figure out what was going on with us because you were younger and a football player and Dorian doesn’t like you? It’s why I didn’t call ahead. I was afraid I’d lose my nerve. I wanted to see in person if you were interested for real. A lot of times, men, they’ll hit on you over and over like you used to and the prize is getting your number or getting you to say yes. It’s all about the pursuit. They don’t really want you if they can get you.”

“Did Dorian tell you that?”

“It’s true!”

Todd shrugged. He wasn’t going to acknowledge that Blair’s witch of an aunt had a point, not when it didn’t apply to him, not with Blair. “I really want you,” he said, flipping himself on top of her and kissing her neck until she moaned. This time, there were no false starts.

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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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