Through the Darkness, Chapter Thirty

CHAPTER 30

August, 2013

By time Todd, Victor and Viki got the Llanview Hospital, the doctors were working on Clint under Larry Wolek’s direction.  Viki found her daughters and sat with them.  Todd and Victor hung back, with Tina between the two groups.

“So, you have any thoughts on the reappearance of Clint?” Victor asked. 

“Oh, I have lots of thoughts,” Todd said, drilling a look at his twin. 

“Well, while we wait, I think we should have that talk,” Victor said.  Todd swallowed as he nodded.  Before he headed for the hospital chapel, though, he went up to Tina. 

“Come with us,” he demanded of his sister.  Tina looked at the expression on the two of them and after a momentary quizzed look, she followed. 

When they arrived, Todd began.  “What do you want to know exactly?”

Victor inhaled.  “I want to know about what happened to my son,” he said.  “Tea told me, but, I want to hear your side.”

“Victor…” Todd’s voice began to break as he looked to Tina.  Even she began to try and dissuade him from his inquiry.

“No, you’re going to tell me,” he said with surprising calm.

Todd began to describe everything, from Tea not showing up for Starr’s court hearing to finding her in the hotel garage to the rainstorm and the delivery in the bus stop.  “When he…he came out, he wasn’t crying, he didn’t make a sound.  Tea demanded I find help and I did.  Or, I thought I did.”  He went on to the crazy woman in the shed and her declaring the baby dead.  Then, when it was just him, he explained how another woman had collapsed inside the shed and Todd hearing her baby’s cry.  He told Victor how Tea had found him with the other baby, and Tea mistaking him for her son.  “I should have stopped it there.  I tried to but the woman came back, thought she had saved the baby.  Then, when I told her about the other woman, she came up with the plan.  I didn’t want to, I‘ve done that before and I knew it wouldn’t work, but she kept harping on my guilt.”

“Your guilt?” Victor asked slowly. 

Todd looked at Victor.  “Contrary to popular belief, I did feel guilty for ‘killing you’” he said.  “I made the mistake of telling the crazy lady that.  And then I got Tea to the hospital.  I tried a few more times to right it, but they got messed up too.  And I thought I could let it lie.”  Todd sat down and looked at his brother.

Victor remained quiet and calm.  It looked to Todd like he was processing the information.  Todd was prepared for anything, including his brother’s potential for a violent reaction.  “Where did you find Tea again?”

Todd blinked.  He hadn’t expected that question.  “She was unconscious on the floor of the garage.  It looked like she was about to get into her car.”

“How long was she there?”

Todd narrowed his eyes.  “I don’t know.  She could have been there for, like, a half-hour, if she was on her way to court.”

“Did you see anyone else there in the garage?”

Todd shook his head.  “No one that I noticed.”  He turned to Victor.  “What are you thinking?”

Victor didn’t answer, just got up and headed back to the waiting room.  Larry was there, talking to Viki and Clint’s kids.  “He seems to have stabilized.  His heart is a point of concern, if for no other reason than, we have no idea how long he’s been without the anti-rejection meds and how that has impacted on his heart.  We’re also testing him for any signs of that drug we found when he was brought in a few weeks ago.”

“Will he be alright?” Viki asked, as both of her daughters had their arms around her. 

“I can’t say for certain, but if his cardiac tests come back positive, he should be alright,” Larry answered at last.

Clint’s family let out a sigh of relief, as Victor signaled to Larry.  The doctor moved over to him.  “Clint should be fine.  I just told them,” he said.

Victor seemed to ignore what he had just been told.  “Was there an autopsy done on my son?” Victor asked.

Larry looked at Victor for a moment.  “I’m sure there was one done on the baby when he was brought in up in Port Charles.”

“Was there one done before he was buried here?” Victor asked, his voice rising.

“I don’t know, Victor,” Larry answered truthfully.

Victor closed his eyes for a minute.  “If Tea was drugged, could that have been what killed my son?”

Larry looked from Todd to Victor.  Then, taking his brother-in-law by the shoulder, he ushered him into another room.  Victor’s twin followed.  “Have you spoken to Jack?  Either of you?  Do you know if he spoke to Tea?”

“What’s Jack got to do with this?” Todd asked.

“Before you both came back, Jack came to me, asked me questions about Merrie,” Larry explained.  “I told him about my daughter.  She was my son Daniel’s twin, who was stillborn.  She, too, had respiratory issues.  He thought Tea should speak to me, that maybe there’s a link there between your son and my daughter.”

Victor took a deep breath.  “And maybe…look, someone’s been going after our family.”  He circled his hand between himself and Todd.  “Maybe they thought Tea was an easy target.  Maybe they wanted to get her and get the baby after he was born,” he said.  “Look, can we just…is it possible that if Tea was drugged it could have gotten to the baby and that was the cause of death?”

Larry seemed to mull it over.  “It’s possible.  I’d have to see the autopsy results before I can say for certain.”

“Then do it.  If you need the body exhumed, I’ll sign the papers to authorize it,” Victor said.

Larry left without saying a word.  Todd turned to him.  “You think someone went after Tea?”  Victor didn’t answer.  He just walked away, leaving Todd concerned.

**********

“How did Victor take the news?” Blair asked Tea as they helped Lois clean dinner off the table.

Tea got quiet, before she said, “He took it well,” she said.

Blair raised an eye to that.  “You tell your husband, the man you love that you’re pregnant, and he takes it well?”  Then, she saw Tea begin to crack.  “What’s wrong?  Please, tell me.”

“He didn’t have any reaction to the news.  I asked him how he felt about it and he didn’t say anything.  I was surprised when he announced it tonight,” Tea said as she tried to get herself under control.

Blair didn’t know what to say.  She really didn’t want to get involved in the Victor/Tea relationship but she also remembered the plan to keep an eye on Victor.  “Tea, he never had time to even contemplate the idea of your son.  And now, you’re pregnant again, it has to be hard for him to think about.”

“How did Todd react to when you told him you were pregnant?” Tea asked.

Blair understood what Tea was looking for.  Blair sorted through her memories as she answered.  “Which time?”

“That’s right, you lost a baby too,” Tea answered.  “When you were pregnant with Starr, how did Todd react to that?”

Blair remembered all the children she had lost, but the memory of telling Todd about Starr was one that always filled her with joy.  “We had just pulled one over on David, Dorian and I with some help from Todd.  And he took me for a ride in his jet.  We talked about a lot, about the secrets that tore us apart.  And one thing led to another and that was when Todd asked me to marry him again.”  She looked at Tea sheepishly.  “I told him there was one more secret, that I was pregnant.”

“How did he take it?”

“He was surprised but after we talked, he was happy.  We were happy.  We got engaged again and the whole world was at our feet,” Blair said.

“And then he --” Tea began.

“Yes, I remember what happened next,” she replied, her voice getting pissed.  “It’s taken us a long time to get back to where we were then.”

Tea backed off.  “But you are back,” she said at last. 

“I don’t think we’ve ever been this close,” Blair said. 

“I envy you of that.  There was a time that I would have gloated in your place.  To be that close to my husband…”  She shook her head.  “Victor is so different.  It’s like, he’s going through the motions.  Like, he is reacting to things the way he thinks people would expect him to react.”

Before the conversation could continue, Starr and Jack came in.  “The boys are asleep, and Sam and Bree are just finishing up the next chapters of their books.  I’m going to go check on them in a few minutes,” Starr said.

Jack looked at his mother and Tea.  “What are you talking about?”

Blair looked to Tea, who answered, “Your mother was asking me how Victor was when he heard about the baby.”

It was then that Jack remembered something.  “I was having a talk with Larry Wolek and he told me he had a daughter who was stillborn.”

Tea looked at him curiously.  “I never knew that but I don’t see the point…”

“Well, he was married to our Aunt Merrie so I was thinking, maybe there’s a family link,” he said uneasily.  He looked to his sister, who eyeballed him.

Tea, at least, seemed touched.  “Thank you for your concern, Jack.”

“Have we heard anything from the hospital?”  Starr asked, breaking the silence. 

Blair shook her head.  “I don’t think we’ll hear anything for a while, though.  I would figure, though, that once there’s any good news on Clint, your father and uncle will head back here.”  

“I’m surprised Dad went in the first place.  He’s never been a big fan of the Buchanans’,” Starr replied.

“He went to support your Aunt Viki,” Blair reminded her.  “Despite a lot of stuff that’s happened over the years, Todd still feels the closest to Viki.  And God knows, she’s given him the most support he’s ever had in his life.  He’s just returning the favor.”  Then she went over to her children, putting her arms around them.  “Like any sibling would do.”