“Nothing much just thought your advice was good, figured you could run me to the hospital and I could talk to you about Kipling at the same time.”
“I’m not buying it. What happened?”
“Look you going to give me a ride to the hospital or not.” Todd stood away from the wall.
“Sure just tell me why the sudden need and why don’t you just take yourself there?”
“You won’t let up huh. Okay, I was trying to reach Blair and when I couldn’t I almost passed out. I didn’t think I should drive myself so I called you. Satisfied?”
John took a good look at Todd and saw the beads of sweat on his brow and the nervous way he was clenching his jaw. He was agitated and John knew something about Blair’s absence was bothering him. “Yeah, I guess you shouldn’t be driving. But you could have called a cab, why me?”
Todd couldn’t believe John. “Damn it, John. Are you going to help me or not. I want to find out what’s causing me to pass out and I sure as hell want to know where Blair is. What do you want me to say? I don’t know, I called because you were handy. Sue me. You know what? Never mind, I’ll drive myself.” Todd started walking a little unsteadily down the street toward where he had parked his car.
John stopped him. “You’re not driving yourself. Come on, get in.” He had caught up to Todd as he was passing John’s car.
Todd shook off John’s hand and glared at him, but got into the car they were standing next to. Once seated, he raised a shaky hand and wiped off his brow. All he kept thinking about was Blair and why she hadn’t answered her phone.
John got in and looked over at Todd. “Are you doing okay?”
“Oh, now the concern?” Todd said sarcastically then grinned weakly “Yeah I guess so.” He realized that was true, his heart rate was slowing down and he felt less dizzy. He was still worried about Blair, but now he was able to take some deep breaths and the panic was abating.
“You want to talk about it? I know this Mitch thing is getting to you.”
“You know he kidnapped her before.”
“Who?”
“Blair. He said he would trade Blair for Natalie and I was desperate. I thought I could handle him. I was going to be Blair’s hero and I turned out the fool. Blair only escaped death because Christian followed Natalie and me. While we were confronting Mitch, he had sent Blair to be killed and Christian saved her. Then, I accidentally shot Christian thinking he was Mitch. It was after that fiasco the Blair sent me away. I swore I’d get her and the kids back, but didn’t figure on Mitch and Carlo. You know the rest of the story.” Todd looked down at his hands and absentmindedly cleaned his fingernails, his thoughts in a whirl about that time and how close he had come to losing Blair. “She’s not answering her phone.”
“Blair?”
“Yeah, I thought she’d beat me to The Sun, but she’s not there either.”
“Todd, she could have left her phone at home and maybe she had a stop to make, you weren’t aware of. Did she know you were coming to the police station? I mean she could be wondering the same thing about you? Look I’m sure Blair is fine, and we’ll get you checked out and you’ll probably see each other later and wonder why all the worry. We still don’t have anything definitive on Mitch and until we do, you need to rein in your imagination.” John couldn’t tell if he was getting through to Todd or not. The guy was pretty high strung on a good day and this looked like it was one of his bad ones.
Todd raised his head and looked over at John “I know you’re right but I just have this feeling and Mitch is the one everything is wrapped around. He's alive out there I know it. Now I can’t reach Blair. You don’t understand, but if I lose Blair, I lose me.” He stopped talking as John pulled into the hospital parking lot. Todd paused as he was getting out of John’s car.”I forgot to ask if you’ve had any leads on Kipling. Any ideas where he might be hiding?”
“Nothing so far Todd, but I’m still looking. You want me to stick around?”
“Nah, I’m fine I’ll just go chat with Larry. Get this straightened out. John, if Blair should call, tell her I’m here, okay?”
“Sure Todd. good luck.” John pulled away not happy to be leaving Todd alone but respecting his wishes all the same.
Todd was walking down the hallway when he heard her dulcet tones coming from Larry’s office.
“Oh, Larry I don’t know how I’m going to tell him.”
“Blair it’s only a precaution we’ll know better in a couple of months. In the meantime, you need to rest. This is going to be tricky given your age, but it’s by no means impossible.”
Before Blair could say anything else Todd was standing in the doorway. “What’s the matter with Blair? What can’t she tell me?“ Todd looked in bewilderment at both Blair and Larry and then dropped to their feet unconscious.
Larry moved to Todd quickly and recognized the signs indicating Todd had just fainted. He immediately raised Todd’s feet so that blood could flow to the brain. “Blair, has he fainted before this?”
“Not to my knowledge, is it his heart?”
“It could be a problem with it or his circulatory system. He’s coming around. Hey Todd, take it easy, sit up slowly.”
Todd jerked remembering his question about Blair. “Blair, are you all right?”
“Todd, I’m fine, sit quiet and let Larry finish checking you out.”
“Help me off the floor, I guess I fainted again.”
“Todd, when did you faint last?” Larry was definitely alarmed to hear Todd had already had a syncope spell.
“Earlier at the police station but I put it down to not having any breakfast.”
“Todd, tell me about the earlier episode. What do you remember?”
“Not much, one minute I was talking to Natalie and John and began to get dizzy, and the next thing I know I was on the floor. I was walking to my car and managed to stave off a spell not too long ago, but I guess hearing you guys talk got me all stressed out, and I collapsed again. I was on my way here to talk to you about it Larry when I heard you. Blair, tell me what’s the matter with you? God if anything is wrong, we’ll get the best doctors.”
“Todd, take it easy. You’re working yourself up for nothing, Blair is fine. Your blood pressure is going through the roof. I need you to stop and take some deep breaths and calm down.” Larry walked to his desk and called the nurses' station. “I want you to stay put and rest. Blair, I think he needs some good news. Then we’ll get him checked out properly. I’ll be right back.”
Todd looked up at Blair and she was beaming. But the only thing his mind had really heard was Larry saying Blair was fine. He grabbed her around her waist and drew her close .”You’re not sick. You’re really all right?”
Blair took his head into her hands and bent to give him a loving kiss. “Oh Todd, I’m just marvelous.”
“But what are you doing here? Why didn’t you answer your phone when I called? No one at The Sun has seen you all morning.”
“Todd please calm down. I came here because I wanted to get proof of what I believed and I turned off my phone because I had a couple of tests run. I’m sorry if you were worried. I really thought I’d be gone to The Sun before now.”
“What did you come here for Blair?” Todd searched her face looking for any signs she was going to hide something from him.
Blair sat down next to him and took his hands in hers. “I was so worried about you when you were in the coma, my schedule became unimportant to me and I stopped taking my monthly pill. I completely forgot it. I just realized the other day that I’m off schedule.”
“You’re off schedule? What, you mean you’ve forgotten to buy the shoe of the month or something? I don’t understand.”
“Silly, I mean I missed my period.” She watched his face as the words penetrated his fogged brain.
“God, Blair you mean,...but how?”
“Oh, Todd, you know exactly how.” She laughed and it sounded like heaven to him.
“How far along are you?’
“Larry says I’m about three weeks so it’s still very early and he is concerned about my age but he assures me if I take it easy this shouldn’t be a problem. Right now I’m more concerned about you. What brought on this rash of fainting spells?’
“Hell if I know. I’m a little stressed that’s all.”
Larry walked back in and said. “That could be part of your problem. How have you been sleeping lately?”
“You know me, Larry. I‘ve always managed on a short amount of sleep.”
“He’s been getting terrible sleep. I figure over the last few nights he’s probably had only about two to three hours of sleep, the rest of the time he’s up.” Blair piped in.
Todd looked at her, he had thought she was unaware of his sleep habits. “I thought you were sound asleep.”
“Ever since you began having nightmares, I’ve been waking with you. I keep waiting for you to share them with me, but I’m not going to push you.” Blair reached and pulled his hair off of his face and tucked it behind his ear.
Todd reached up and captured her hand and kissed it. “I can’t take you into that ugliness. I won’t.”
Larry cleared his throat and got their attention. “Todd, the lack of sleep, and the nightmares are part of a problem that needs to be addressed. It’s possible you’ve developed some blockage in your arteries that needs to be cleared out. Something is inhibiting the blood from getting to your brain. Then again, stress and lack of sleep can also bring on attacks. We need to find out just what is causing the blackouts. The other thing is, your lack of sleep could affect Blair and this baby. Both of you need all the sleep you can get. This pregnancy will not be easy. Now I want to get you in for a few procedures and we should know by late tonight what the problem is. Are you game? Since you said you hadn’t eaten this morning. we should be able to do them this evening.”
“Larry, are the procedures dangerous?” Blair asked gripping Todd’s hands tightly.
“They’ll be performed under a mild sedative he won’t be put completely out. I think Todd will weather these procedures just fine.”
“You better be right about that Doc. I’m going to be around when this child is born. From start to finish.” Todd leaned over and kissed Blair, her soft lips welcoming his with eagerness and love.
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