The MST, Firestorm, Ch. 32

Samuel kept a watchful eye on his sister as she ate. She had been through that and he hadn't known, all because Carlo Hesser used him as a guinea pig. That was one more thing Carlo was going to answer for. The color was returning to her cheeks, looking at her he said quietly, "Vicki, Blair's right, you should go home. You shouldn't overdo it for me, I'm tough. I'll be alright. This heart thing has been with me for years. I don't think it's going to take me in the next day."

Samuel closed his eyes, paused briefly as if to catch his breath, opened his eyes and began talking again, "Really I'm feeling stronger, besides I'm only supposed to be your cousin. The reporters are going to think I'm more than that if they get wind of the fact that you sat at my bedside all last night." Vicki started to say something, but Samuel halted her. "No, I insist. Hey, if I worry about you I'll just add to my stress. And you don't want that, do you, sis?" Suddenly his words registered. Vicki looked into his eyes, there it was the sparkle in the eyes and his quirky grin.

"Todd," Vicki could only sit there and smile. He had come back out. Although pale from everything he had been through in the last eighteen hours, he was looking stronger.

“One thing before you go, you should know that you are very near and dear to Samuel's heart. While I was incapacitated for eight years, he relied heavily on you. According to Ms. Perkins, Samuel painted you the night after he considered ending it in Paris. Somewhere in my mixed up subconscious Samuel found you and you helped him. So go home for both of us, neither one of us could make it without you. I'm fine, I won't go anywhere. Scout's Honor." Todd's eyes found Blair's and they smiled at each other over their own little memory. " Now go on Sis, I need to talk to Blair."

Vicki stood up and went to the head of the bed. She bent and gave him a kiss on his scarred cheek and said. "Since you asked so nicely I guess I'll go. You do what the doctors tell you, I'll be back later. Blair, don't let him tire himself out."

Todd touched her cheek and simply said."Bye".

Todd watched Vicki leave and looked at Blair. It was ages ago that she told him she loved him, but they couldn't be together, that he was toxic for his kids. That seemed a lifetime ago. All he knew right now was how glad he was to actually be in the room with her, instead of watching her from afar. "Hi, Blair."

Blair had realized at about the same time as Vicki, that Todd had joined them in the room. The air in the room had suddenly seemed charged with electricity. She had stood quietly as he made his point to his sister. There was no way she was leaving that room until they had a chance to talk. "Hi Todd," she hesitated "I don't know what to say to you. I looked for you, I didn't believe for an instant that you killed Sam." She saw him wince. "Oh God Todd, I'm so sorry. I guess that pain is still fresh for you. I won't go into all the details now. We'll talk about him later if you want. I won't ask you about the crypt either, but I hope you'll tell me when you’re ready. Todd when I saw the sketch of Samuel I couldn't believe my eyes. I'm standing here looking at you and it still seems unreal. All these years someone else has been living your life. We all believed him. I hope in time you forgive us for that. I want you to know that the minute I saw Samuel I knew our Todd Manning was a lie. And I'm going to help you get your life back if you let me." She looked fearfully at him not knowing what he was going to say. "Todd are you OK"

"For someone who doesn't know what to say, you sure said a lot, Blair. But you know what, I don't want to talk about any of that. I want to talk about the kiss you gave Samuel before leaving Paris. Tell me the truth, Blair. Were you kissing Samuel or Me?" Todd looked at her waiting for an answer.

Blair felt flushed as she recalled that kiss and there was only one answer to give. She walked right beside him, looked him right in the eyes and told him the truth. "That afternoon before I left, I kissed one man. The only man that was important to me. I kissed you Todd and only you."

For one moment, they stared into each other's eyes then Blair leaned over and began gently kissing Todd. She knew he wasn't in any shaped to take the kiss to the next level, but she put as much feeling into that kiss that circumstances would allow. Todd's free arm came up and embraced her as he kissed her back, wanting to take it farther but then a small moan escaped his lips as a small pain rippled through his chest. Blair immediately pulled back. "You're not ready to take this further right now. But we'll get our chance later if you want."

Before Todd could say anything else the door opened and Starr entered with Hope. The next thing heard was: "Look, Mommy, Sir Dragon is awake."

Starr looked at her daughter and smiled. "Yes Hope, Sir Dragon is awake. That's great but remember what I told you, Sir Dragon was in a fierce battle last night and was sorely injured so we have to be extra careful with him today. Ok, Sweetheart."

Hope nodded and squirmed in her mom's arms. "Give hug Mommy, make better. "She held out her arms toward Todd.

Blair glanced at Todd. His eyes were only focused on Starr and Hope. "Starr, bring Hope over, I know Sir Dragon would like nothing better than a hug from his Princess Shorty."

Starr took Hope to the bed and set her down. Immediately Hope crawled up and gave her dragon the biggest hug. Todd blinked his eyes to keep the tears from falling and with his free arm hugged his granddaughter. Starr saw a tear escape and knew how emotional the moment was. Hope had missed her dragon all day. Starr had been determined to get back at the hospital. She had felt so helpless last night and her Dad had looked so vulnerable. Why had they waited so long to entered the tomb? They had almost lost him. Starr looked at her dad and realized he was looking back at her. She wondered who was holding Hope at the moment. "Hope, be careful now. Give Sir Dragon a chance to breathe, honey. Dad, I'm so glad you're awake. Are you Ok?"

"I'm much better now that you're here, Shorty." Todd looked at his daughter and took in how beautiful and grown-up she seemed. Just then Hope decided she was going to sit on her dragon's chest and Todd couldn't help but gasp.

Blair quickly grabbed up her granddaughter. "Todd, are you alright? Look, I'll take Hope to get a drink. Remember take it easy." After one more look to make sure Todd seemed okay, Blair left to find that drink.

Starr was looking at her father. She had heard her mom call him Todd. Was it true? "Dad? Is it really you?"  She looked closely than he grinned at her the way he used to when he was slightly embarrassed to show emotion. Before Todd could even say anything, she was hugging him almost as hard as Hope had done. In her ear, she heard, "Uh you're strangling me, Starr," Starr quickly jumped back. "Oh my gosh, I didn't hurt you did I? Are you sure you're okay? Do you need anything? I'm so glad to see you, Mom and I were so worried last night.  You seemed to be in the tomb so long and then Aunt Vicki arrived. Dad, why did you do it?  You could have killed yourself? " at that Starr punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow, That hurt," Todd said petulantly.

Starr glared ."Good, you deserve it for scaring us."

"Hey, heart attack remember? Give me a little leeway. OK." Todd raised his hands in mock defense. " I had to do it, Starr, I wanted to come home. It was the only way I could get out. I know Samuel told you all this."

"But Dad you could have waited. You're not a young man anymore. You almost died. I don't want to lose you again. You're here, isn't that enough for you?" Even as she asked the question, she knew her dad wasn't finished yet. He had always had tunnel vision when it came to getting even, and from all their talks with Samuel, Starr knew her dad had an agenda.

"I'm here and because I'm laid up for a time, things are on hold. But Starr I want back what was taken from me. Look at you, you're all grown up and you have a daughter. I know you left out a lot of stuff when you talked to Samuel. I won't push now but we're going to talk and when we do I want all the truth. Someone took all of you away from me and I'll never get back those lost years but I will get whoever it was and he'll pay. I didn't leave of my own free will, but now I'm back. I'm Todd Manning and I've come back for what is mine."

Todd looked at his daughter, he knew she was a little upset, but he had always managed to get her to see his side of things. That shouldn't be any different now. First, he needed to get her to stop worrying he was going to drop dead. "Shorty listen, you’re just upset about what occurred last night. It won't happen again. I faced what terrified me eight years ago or at least I understand what took place for the most part. Hey, I'm all here, all of us are still around. That should make you happy, shouldn't it? I know I have a slight health problem but I can work around it."

Starr looked at her father and said, "A slight health problem. ARE YOU NUTS!"

Todd shrugged his shoulders and grinned saying "That's what they tell me."

That stupid grin, it was too much. Starr started laughing, only her dad could make her mad and happy at the same time. She leaned over and gave him another gentler hug. "I missed you, Dad." Todd hugged her back and kissed her forehead " I missed you too, Starr."

"Dad, you said you were all here, does that mean Samuel's still around. He makes a pretty great 'Uncle'. I'd like to meet some of the others some time except maybe 'Pete'. I guess he's the black sheep of the bunch, huh Dad. You know what Dad, you’re a lot more talented than I ever thought. I knew you were a good newspaperman, but an artist, wow."

Todd listened as Starr continued talking about his alters like they were the most common thing in the world. Then something she was saying sunk in." now Cousin Jess's Alters aren't quite as nice as Samuel and Tom." Todd reached over and touched her arm and said, "What did you just say about Jessica? What alters, when did this happen?"

"You don't know. I'm sorry, Jess suffers from DID too. No one knew until Aunt Vicki had her first heart attack and then Dad, then Walker tried to help her face the problem, she went to St. Anns but she wasn't able to keep Tess from taking over. Tess was into all sorts of things and met this guy named Nash and they had a baby. That is Jessica's daughter Bree. Two years ago Tess came out again and then another alter named Bess showed up. For now, Jessica is in control but something happened the other day. Aunt Vicki is frantic because we think Tess might have come out again.” Starr looked at her dad, he was pale and seemed to be breathing a little too fast, his heartbeat was fine, but he was starting to get clammy. “Are you Ok Dad?"  Starr pushed the call button just before one of the alarms went off on the monitor. The nurse came in, read the monitor. Starr asked, "Is it his heart?"

"No, he's hyperventilating, Mr. Toddman, can you hear me. You need to slow down your breathing I'm placing something over your nose and mouth just breathe, that's it Mr. Toddman." the nurse upped the oxygen level and turned to Starr "He's going to be fine, but you should probably cut this visit short. He needs to rest."

Starr watched over her Dad. He appeared to have fallen into a light sleep. She wasn't just leaving him. Starr sat down beside him and mentally kicked herself for telling him about Jessica.

The door opened and Blair and Hope came in. Blair took one look at Starr's face and knew something had happened. Handing Hope to Starr, Blair walked over to check on Todd. She felt his forehead and had an inkling what might have happened. She had seen these symptoms a lot after Ireland. Todd would have panic attacks and break into cold sweats. She looked over at Starr and said. "What brought on the panic attack? Did he start talking about last night?"

"No Mom. It was me. I was talking to him about his alters and mentioned Jess. He heard me say something about her alters not being as nice as Samuel and Tom and he asked me to explain. I didn't think, I just told him about Jess's alters and a little about what they had done. That's when I noticed he was breathing way too fast. Mom, why did he get so panicky?" asked Starr.

"Oh honey, you know by now what the leading cause of DID is. Both Your aunt and your Father went through horrendous childhoods that fractured them. We know Jess also suffered something similar. Jessica is your dad's favorite niece and when you said she suffered from DID, I'm sure your Dad pictured the worst happening to her the same way it happened to Vicki and him. It was obviously too much for him to absorb. We really are going to have to tread lightly for a while. So much has happened while he’s been out of the loop. He's going to feel that he's at fault for not being here." explained Blair. " Don't worry your dad is so stubborn, nothing's going to get in the way of showing everyone that he is back!

He was standing in Vicki's front hall. He started hearing the laughter coming down the stairs. He recognized that laughter, Todd stood at the bottom looking to see who was coming. The old man was coming but he wasn't alone, he had those filthy hands all over her. She was terrified struggling to get away but she couldn't."Get your hands off her you pervert" Todd rushed the old man but he ran right through them. He couldn't help her. "leave her be, you've hurt enough people" He was powerless to help her. Then he heard sobbing. Looking down he saw Vicki huddled in a ball looking in fear at the stair.

The vile old man kept walking down the stairs with the girl, they step into the light and suddenly he saw the girl's face, it wasn't Vicki, it was Jessica. Powerless to do anything, Todd watched as his hated father took the struggling Jessica and led her to his sister Vicki. Helpless, he watched as Victor suddenly had both Vicki and Jessica in his grasp he was fondling both of them and then Victor looked straight at him. "Come join me, you know you want to. You're just like me remember, they're so young and tasty at this age." Todd was sick, "I'm nothing like you old man,"

Suddenly another voice spoke " I'll take care of the whelp Victor, you go ahead and have your party. This one isn't a problem." Todd whirled and confronted Peter. "You can't hurt me you're dead, you're both dead. Leave us alone." Todd tried to make Peter go, but he just stood there laughing. Then Todd watched as Victor split in two, Victor continued to hold Vicki but now a faceless man was holding Jessica. Hard as he tried, Todd couldn't help either his sister or Jessica. Unable to stop what was happening, Todd collapsed hurting so deeply because he had failed them. Then he was alone in the darkness. All around him he heard Victor and Peter laughing endlessly..he started crying knowing that his sister and niece would never be the same again.

Blair and Starr had been sitting with Todd for several hours, when it became apparent that Todd was in the middle of some sort of nightmare. They both kept an occasional eye on his monitors. but other than a slight increase in blood pressure his heart seemed to be holding strong. 

Hope had been sitting on her mother's lap, she suddenly said " Mommy, Sir Dragon is crying."

Starr looked over at her mom. "What do we do?"

Hope piped up. "Kiss and make all better."

Blair smiled. Out of the mouths of babes. "Hope darling. Why don't you give Sir Dragon a kiss, I'm sure he'll feel better after a kiss from you and you can lay down next to Sir Dragon and take a nap. That way when he wakes up he'll see his sweet Princess Shorty."

Starr put Hope down next to her dad. Hope sat for a moment looking at Sir Dragon and then she leaned over and kissed her dragon, and said." It all better now Dragon." She then laid her head down on the pillow next to him and put her arm on his chest and joined her dragon in sleep.