In His Corner, Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Starr came out of Kelly’s and saw AJ standing there.  A wave of guilt came upon her.  He may have lost his son because of his defense of her father.  She walked over to him.  “How are you doing?” she asked.

AJ smiled at her.  “Well, I at least got Michael to come over to talk to me this morning.”  He looked at one of the tables.  “I’d like to let you in on what I said.  Do you have a minute?”

Starr had been quite leery of AJ when she first met him.  She could see too many of her father’s worst attribute in the man.  But he was really going to bat for her dad and she felt she owed him at least a few minutes.  She sat down and waited.

“I told Michael that, from the day we first met at the Quartermaine mansion, I started looking into you and your family.  I would think your father would have done the same in my place,” he said. 

Starr nodded.  “I was kind of surprised he didn’t when Michael and I first started seeing each other, especially considering he was the son of Sonny Corinthos.”

AJ winced slightly, but moved along.  “The file on your dad is, shall we say, extensive.  I made sure I had as much information as I could on him.  So it was from that that I learned about his conviction for rape.”

Now, it was Starr’s turn to wince.

“But I also learned about his childhood, why he went to Ireland, what led to his imprisonment for eight years.  I gave Michael a bare-bones account of my findings,” AJ explained.  “Then I cautioned him.  His mother has a habit of using people’s past against them.  She did it to me and I think that’s what she’s doing to your dad.  But Michael, his response was something I didn’t understand.  He said his mother would never do that to him.  What did he mean?”

Starr’s eyes widen.  She had never thought how Carly’s lie would affect Michael. 

AJ caught her expression and became more concerned.  “Starr, do you know what happened to my son?  Please, tell me.”

She closed her eye then opened them and began.  “You know Michael was in prison for killing his stepmother, Claudia Zacchara, right?”  AJ’s face remained neutral.  “When he was in prison in Pentonville…he was raped.”

AJ closed his eyes.  The full weight of everything hit him.  And when and if Carly’s accusation proved false…He wanted to laugh, not in victory because that was what he saw before him in the decade’s long battle for his son, but because Carly had, once again, dug up someone’s past and used it against them.  And in her quest for revenge against Todd Manning, she may have destroyed her relationship with her son.

“Thank you for telling me Starr.  It looks like you have lunch for your dad there, right?’ he asked.

“Yeah, my dad eats like a fiend.  He’s probably wondering where I went with his burger,” she replied.

“I was wondering, can I stop by later?  I haven’t had a chance to actually meet him yet.  I know my mom said he was at the church for Grandfather’s funeral, but as I was unable to be there myself…”

“Not tonight.  My Aunt Viki is coming over for dinner and I have a feeling, going to give him hell for something he did to my cousin Natalie.  I can check about tomorrow, if that’s okay,” she asked.

“That should be fine.  I look forward to your call,” AJ said.  He watched Starr leave, and then slumped back on the chair.  It had been what he had feared.  Michael’s reaction in the morning fit what Starr had just explained.  And it made AJ more determined to prove that Carly was lying about Todd Manning.

******

The rest of the day passed by faster than Blair had expected.  She wanted to get back to the apartment, but her earlier confrontation with Carly made her reticent.  It was scary to her how jealous she could still be of the thought of Todd and other women.  She knew that it was because whenever they were together, he had never even contemplated being unfaithful.  Hell, the one time he had thought he had committed adultery, she had signed divorce paper without him even knowing it. 

She unlocked the door to the apartment and was greeted by a heartwarming sight.  Todd was at the computer with Starr, showing her page layouts.

“When I started The Sun, we still laid these out on boards.  I still think that has elegance to it.  I mean, with technology, any hacker could get in and mess around,” he was saying.

Starr’s face turned bright red for a minute.  A memory of a childhood prank flashed through her brain.  Blair noticed and laughed out loud.

 Todd looked from her to their daughter.  “You two gonna let me in on the joke?” he asked.

“Some other time,” Blair said, looking thoughtfully at Todd.  “Starr, Viki’s bringing dinner, why don’t you go to that cake shop down the street and get dessert?”

Starr noted the look on her face and left in a hurry.  Whatever her mother had to talk to her father about, it was not going to be good.

Blair took her time taking off her coat and setting things on the desk from her bag.  Todd eyed her warily.  When she finished what amounted to procrastination work, she turned to Todd.  “Did you sleep with Carly on New Year’s Eve?”

Todd swallowed, a pained look on his face.  “She told you,” he stated.

“Threw it in my face, more like it,” Blair replied, he voice rising in pitch.  “I’m guessing that’s where the DNA came for the rape kit?”

“Yeah,” he answered.  “That would be where it came from.”

“Why?” she asked.  She wanted to know.

Todd looked at her.  He didn’t want to say.  He didn’t even know how to answer.  “It just happened, Blair.  It was New Year’s, new beginnings.”  He could see the hurt on her face.  He didn’t want to see it there.  “We went to the Haunted Star; she wanted to rub us being together in Johnny’s face.  He never showed because he’d been kidnapped by his lunatic wife.  After midnight, we left and went back to my hotel room.  From there things…”

Blair nodded her head.  “I shouldn’t be completely surprised.  I could tell that you two had gotten closer when you came back to Llanview.  She was defending you and all.”

“It hadn’t gotten that serious by then.  Hell, it was never that serious,” he said, then reconsidered.  “Okay, we may have nearly gone there on Halloween, but that was more revenge sex against Johnny.  And she knew I was still in love with you.”  He figured complete honesty might be a good idea at this point with Blair. 

Blair narrowed her eyes and Todd had the sense to look chastised for once.  “What do you want me to say, Blair?”

She never got the chance to answer, as there was a knock at the door.  Blair turned and went to open it.  “Viki, lovely to see you.  Please, come in.”

“Hello Blair, Todd.  I hope you don’t mind, but I brought some other guests with me,” she said, cheerfully.  On cue, Bree came running in, her little brother trailing after her.

“Uncle Todd!” she yelled as she launched herself into his arms. 

Todd was too shocked at seeing her to not react.  He hoisted her up as she wrapped her arms around his neck.  “Hey, Bree, what are you doing here?’ he asked as another little boy came in.  He looked remarkably like Liam, but that made no sense, as his mother was Todd’s least favorite niece. 

“We brought them,” Jessica Brennan’s voice informed him.  He actually smiled at the sight of her, holding a bag from Poluzzo’s.  Then Natalie came in.  While Jessica’s presence was a joy to him, Natalie’s, not so much.  He put Bree back down and greeted Ryder, who hugged him enthusiastically.  Liam was staring up at him, awaiting a hug too, and Todd obliged the boy and squeezed him gently, his eyes never leave Liam’s mother.  Jessica made her way further in and they embraced, Todd closing his eye briefly.  He remembered the day saving her, CJ and Marty and how it had been the start of his redemption.  When they parted, Todd and Natalie eyed each other like the normally did. 

“We need to talk,” the redheaded interloper said to him.

Todd turned to Viki.  “Can I have that lecture now?”  He was so looking forward to it, what with Jessica’s evil twin here.  Sadly he was afraid it wouldn’t be coming from Viki.

He was proven right when she shook her head.  “I think you need to have a conversation with my daughter, and now is the perfect time.” 

Natalie marched right into the bedroom and Todd followed, sullen faced.  When he was in, Natalie closed the door.  He turned to her and she slapped him.

He was rubbing his cheek as he said, “I was actually being a concerned uncle, just so you know,” he told her.

“Concerned uncle?  CONCERNED UNCLE?!  That’s what you call it!”  The last sentence was not actually a question.

“Well, okay, not entirely.”  Todd took a deep breath and sat on the bed.  “I had just been rejected by Blair in favor of a CIA-trained kidnapper.  John was the one who ruined my reunion with Blair.  It was a picture that fell into my lap.  The person who gave it to me thought it would look good on the cover of The Sun but I was kinda worried about the woman’s hitman of a husband.  And when I got into the office the next day, after Blair left, it felt right.”  He looked at Natalie.

“And what about me?  What about my son?  Did we not compute in the equation?”  Natalie’s voice sounded almost hurt.

“I thought you should know,” he said.

“Do you even know what the fallout of your helpfulness was?”

“Did Clint go after him with a shotgun?”  It was an ass thing to say, Todd admitted to himself, but he couldn’t resist.

“Worse.  He had a restraining order taken out.  Liam hasn’t seen his father since the summer.”  She walked over and looked out a window.  “And he’s been asking for his daddy.”

That statement caused Todd to remember the day he had to say goodbye to Starr at the stables of the country club.  It broke his heart then to see his little girl’s face when he told her he couldn’t stay any longer.  “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t make up for all the damage, Todd,” Natalie said.

“Yeah, I kind of figured that out.”

Natalie went back to the door without looking at him.  Then she stopped.  “Did you rape this woman, Carly Jacks?”

“No,” he said.  Looking up to the ceiling, he told her, “I’ll switch babies, I’ll wreck relationships.  I may even kill my brother.”  Then he got up and put his hand on her shoulder.  She looked him in the eyes.  “But I would never go back to that place again.”

Natalie may not have ever known her Uncle Todd that well, but the genuine sorrow in his voice, in his eyes, told her he was being truthful.  “Then I’ll stand by you.”  And she walked out into the living room, with Blair, Starr, her mother, her son, her sister and her niece and nephew all standing there expectantly.  She picked up Liam and brought him over to Todd.  “Did you give Uncle Todd a big hug when you saw him?”  Liam’s face screwed up in a frown.  “Then why don’t you do it now?”  She passed the little boy over.

Todd backed up a step but Natalie pursued him.  Todd looked around and then reached out and took the boy.  He laughed and played with Todd’s nose.  The great-uncle was laughing, finding himself surprisingly charmed by Natalie and John’s son.  Then Ryder let out a whine and Todd put the one down and sat on the floor, playing with both.  Bree joined in as the twins and Starr prepared for them to eat. 

Viki and Blair stood back, taking in the sight of Todd and the children.  Viki was enchanted, as she always was at watching this side of her brother.  But Blair was saddened, wondering where the Todd Manning she had fallen in love with years ago had gone.