Through the Darkness, Chapter Thirty Six

CHAPTER 36

August, 2013

Blair had been very impressed and a little surprised by how Todd had taken control of everything.  He wasn’t usually the one to rally the troops.  His usual MO was lone gunman.  But she also knew it was within him to be that guy.  She remembered a time in their own relationship where had taken control of the situation and tried to lead them out of a mess, but she had been suspicious and scared and it only made matters worse.  Now, she was willing to sit back and let him lead.

“I need your help, Blair,” he said to her when they walked into the carriage house to wait for everyone.

“You know that whatever you need, I’ll be here to help,” she reassured him.

“You need to be the one in charge,” Todd told her.

That surprised her.  “What?” she asked.

He waved his hand back towards Llanfair.  “I’m not…I’m not this guy.  I’m not the leader type.  I tend to go off half-cocked.  I hate authority and now, now I’m getting sucked into it,” Todd explained as he sat down in a huff.  “You, you’re more respectable.  People are more liable to believe you.  You need to help me.”

She smiled at him.  “You think people believe me?  That’s not so true.  I’ve pulled enough crap to have people not take my word on things and regret it later,” she said.  “Todd, there are enough people in town who realize there is a threat to all of us.  You can do this, you are being believed.”  She sat down next to him and took his hand, as she kissed his cheek.  “I will stand by you and I will help you.  And if your voice is silenced, I will do everything in my power to keep it heard.”

He offered her a smile back and moved in to kiss her lips.  But just as they were about to connect, the door opened and Jack and Starr walked in.  “We’re gonna be subjected to this forever now?” he asked to nobody in particular.  Then he saw his sister’s grin and his scowl deepened.  “And don’t you start too.”

“I thought you and Dad were fine now,” Starr asked, a hint of teasing ion her voice.

“I’m fine with Dad now.  I’m not fine walking in when they’re making out,” Jack corrected her.

Before Starr could offer comment back, Brody opened the door and stepped in with Jess and Natalie following him.  Nick Jobek arrived a few minutes later.  He was talking with Todd when the last of the group, Victor and Tea, arrived finally.

Todd looked from his brother to his old friend.  “Guess you should meet my brother,” he commented, walking over to Victor.  With Nick one side and his twin on the other, Todd said, “Nick, Victor.  Victor, Nick.”

“I remember you,” Victor replied.  When Nick gave his a strange look, Victor waved him off. “It’s too long of a story now.  Let’s just say, I still member seeing you and that cheerleader at the party.”  With that, he walked off.

Nick turned to Todd.  “That’s kind of creepy.  You said it would stay our secret.”

Todd offered an ominous smile.  “It still is.”  When Nick’s look grew more baffled, Todd did little to explain other than, “He just does creepy.”  With that, Todd walked towards the fireplace and tried to get everyone’s attention.  “Hey, can you all quiet down?” he nearly shouted.  It did, however, seem to work and all eyes were focused on him at that point.  “Look, we have a lot to cover and I want to get this done as quickly as possible.  I’m sure Viki’s gonna be looking for a good number of us for dinner soon.”  Then he went over what he had learned early, about Elizabeth Dalton and her children, as well as her connection to Victor Lord. 

“Brody, you still got contacts in the military?” Todd asked.

Brody nodded.  “Yes, but I was Navy.  The OSS was Army intelligence.  I do, however, have a few friends who may be able to look into it, though.  I’ll reach out to them.  Anything specific you want me to have them look into?”

Todd paused, hating the idea even mentioning him, considering the specter he still cast over the family.  “Have them look into any wartime activities of Victor Lord, Sr.  He was in the OSS during World War Two.”

“Victor, Senior?” Natalie asked.  “That’s going back a ways, isn’t it?”

“Well, considering the fact that he seems to be the root of all evil in this family, that may be how far back we have to go,” Todd said with disgust.  Then he turned to Tea.  “Can you think of any way to get records on Elizabeth Dalton?”

Tea did a double take.  “What do you mean, illegally?”  At Todd nonchalant shrug, she threw him a dirty look.  “Look, let me look into legal avenues to getting information on her.  If not, we’ll see.”

Todd suppressed a smirk.  He must have been gone a long time for Tea to so obviously cringe at the idea of obfuscating the law to reach her goals.  He then turned to his brother.  “Have you gone and seen that shrink yet?”

Tea look to Victor and crossed her arms over her chest, a sure sign she was pissed.  “He’s refusing to go see Dr. Levin.”

Victor looked from Tea to Todd.  “I think, after today, I will.”  He took a breath and then said, “You still want me to do some snooping for Clint’s files at St. Ann’s?”

It was Natalie who spoke up.  “Yes.  I wanted to know what they did to my father from the time I saw Allison Perkins by his bedside to when he showed up here.  And now that he seems to have the same tattoo as you do, it’s even more important.”

“And you still need to figure out what led to you getting it,” Todd reminded him.  “Look, you know my thoughts on the whole therapy crap.  But I will make you a promise.  You do this and I’ll even sit through it with you.  I have a lot I haven’t dealt with myself and it may be time to do that as well.  Besides, you got a kid on the way.  You don’t want to lose any time you could have with them.”  Todd looked to Starr and Jack.  When he turned back to his twin, he could see Victor looking almost envious.  Since he last disappearing act, Victor has pretty much lost the boy who had always considered him his father.  “Jack will be there for you too.  You are still his uncle.”

Victor looked at Todd.  “What’s gotten into you?  You’re all compassionate, being a leader, all of a sudden.”

Todd offered a smile.  “I think I’ve been staying here at Llanfair too long.”

“That’s why I never wanted to stay long here myself.  Only one night, generally, tops,” Victor replied, mirroring his twin.  “Look, I want to get Tea home.  I’ll let you know anything I learn.  And I will be taking you up on that offer.” 

With that he and Tea left, followed a few minutes later by Jessica and Brody.  Natalie stuck around to talk with Nick until she left to get home to her son.  When she left, Todd sauntered over to his friend.  “So, you making a date with her?” he asked in a teasing tone.

“We’re going to meet for drinks at this club, Shelter, later on.  You sure you’re alright with me dating her?” Nick asked.

Todd let out an overly dramatic sigh.  “There’s a lot that’s gone on between us,” he said, trying to wiggle out from a long explanation.  But Nick didn’t look to be giving in.  “Before I found out I even had Viki as a sister, I saved Jessica’s life.  She was in a car crash and I can upon it while I was on the run.  I saved her, her cousin CJ and the woman I raped.  CJ thought I was some hero and begged the governor for a pardon for me.”  Todd looked at his high school buddy for any reaction but there was none.  “Anyway, Natalie came along years later.  Viki didn’t know she had another daughter and Natalie, well, she kind of shoved her way into the family.  She tried to take Jess’ place and, quite honestly, I didn’t appreciate it.  We’ve been iffy since.  I will say this, however.  You are better than the last two guys she was involved with.”

“That still doesn’t answer my question.  You’re not going to be the overprotective uncle or anything?” Nick asked again.

Todd smiled.  “Nah, don’t have to worry about me for that one.  She’s got a father and a brother who are Texans who like their guns,” he said as he left the carriage house and made his way back to the main house.

Nick followed.  “Gee, thanks for that one,” he replied sarcastically as they went into the kitchen.  Todd walked over to the refrigerator and got out two beers.   “Really, just how worried about them do I have to be worried about?”

The question wasn’t answered as Viki came in, hearing the two men’s voices.  “Oh, Nick, I wasn’t aware you were back in town.”

“Yeah he just got back and we were catching up,” Todd covered.  He didn’t want to let on why Nick was here and he hoped Viki wouldn’t pursue.

“Well, since you just gotten back to town, I was wondering if you’d like to join us for dinner.  I apologize, but there is still a lot about Todd that none of us know and having a friend from high school…it’s an opportunity I never thought I’d have.”

Todd, naturally, looked suitably appalled at the idea.  “I’m sure Nick has a lot to do.  Plus, you know, he’s got a date tonight,” he said, scrambling to squelch the invite.

“Uh, yes, I’m meeting Natalie for drinks later,” Nick said, somewhat baffled.

“Well, I could just ask if she’d like to come for dinner.  This is her home,” Viki reminded them.

Nick looked back to Todd and, seeing his near begging expression to not take the dinner offer, turned back to Viki and said, “You know that would be lovely.  Thank you for the gracious offer.”

As Viki walked away, Nick shrugged his shoulders.  “What, you wanted me to turn down an offer of a nice dinner?  Sorry, buddy, that was never going to happen.”

The dinner didn’t go as bad as Todd had expected.  Viki even kept the questions about his teen years to a bare minimum, and through most of the meal, Nick seemed more interest in having a conversation with Natalie or bonding with Liam.  When it was over, Natalie and Nick headed to Shelter for the drink he had mentioned to Todd earlier.  Then Blair turned to Todd.

“I want to go over the the club also.  I think I have all the plans I wanted to make in place there,” she said to him.

Todd nodded.  “Shorty’s going to meet us there?”  When Blair nodded, Todd went on to as, “And she has no idea about this?”

“Not as far as I know.  But I think she’ll be fine with it.  She told me she was given part of the club up in Port Charles, so even from that short time with it, I’d guess she’d have some ideas on how to run a club,” Blair said.

“She’s always been one smart cookie,” Todd said.  “And quick to learn things.  She’ll be fine.  And if not, she’ll still have you there for help.”

They headed over to the club and Todd quickly found Nick.  He let out a sneer when he saw Nat next to him, but pasted on a polite smile as he approached.  “Are we all having fun here?”

Natalie returned the sneer but Nick smiled.  “This is a nice place.  Blair runs it?”

Todd’s only answer was a vague smirk as he settled down next to the two.  A few minutes later, Blair and Starr made their way up to the stage.  As Blair was trying to get the crowd’s attention, Todd noticed Dorian come down on the arm of Carl Peterson.  He got Nick’s attention to the arriving couple and Nick took notice when they came to the table.

“Well, Todd, it is nice to see you up and about.  Hello Natalie.  Who is your friend?” she asked in her nasty/friendly tone.

“Nick, Dorian Lord, Blair’s aunt.  Dorian, my friend, Nick, Jobek,” Todd said by way of introduction.

“Your friend?  I didn’t know you had any of them those,” Dorian replied cattily.  “Natalie has of course met Carl, but this is my niece’s…husband, Todd Manning.”

Carl nodded as he shook the mens’ hands.  “Yes, I have heard a great deal about you,” Carl said.

Todd laughed.  “Well, that’s funny because, I don’t know a thing about you.”

“Well, maybe we should change that.  I could set up a meeting for say, tomorrow?” Carl offered.

“Call my office.  I’ll see how my schedule shakes out,” Todd replied.  Blair had finally quieted the room.  “If you don’t mind, my wife is onstage.”

Wordlessly, the couple moved off and Blair stood in front of the microphone.  “As you know, I opened Shelter because, to be honest, the club scene in Llanview was lacking.  And, I have to say, I’ve had fun here.  But, other opportunities have come up and I’ve decided to step back a bit.  Now, I won’t be leaving this place totally behind.  But, in my stead, I leave you with another fabulous young woman who probably knows more about the popular tends in music.  I’m just an old country girl at heart.  So please, put your hands together for Ms. Starr Manning!”

As Starr accepted the applause and cued up the accompanist, Blair moved off to join Todd.  She leaned back into him as they listened to their daughter perform, basking in the pride they both felt at that minute.  When the song was over, Todd kissed her gently on the cheek before whispering, “We have a meeting with Mr. Peterson tomorrow.  Let’s see what we can learn from our enemy.”  Blair turned to face him and smiled as she kissed him on the mouth.