The Magic Of Key West

By

Melanie Walker

 

 

“Where the hell is she?” Todd Manning snarled angrily. Seconds before he had stormed into the Buchanan library and he now had Max Holden / Buchanan by the neck against a wall.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Max gasped as he clawed at the vice like fingers around his throat. Christ Manning must have been working out while he was gone.

“Blair… Where is she? If she’s here…” Todd warned.

“She’s not here… I haven’t seen her since yesterday morning.”

“Todd let him go,” Gabrielle Buchanan said quietly from the doorway where she had stood watching the interaction. Todd Manning never failed to draw her interest. If it wasn’t so obvious to everyone but him and Blair where his true interests lied she might have tried to lure him into the game she and Asa were playing with Max.

“Is she here?” he snarled over his shoulder at her. His hand still locked around Max’s throat, he was attaining some satisfaction from the fact that Max was currently a lovely shade of cherry red. Maybe if he held him here long enough he would pop. Hey a man could hope.

“No, the last time I saw her was when she left here with you yesterday… Let him go Todd.”

Todd growled at Max as he released him, Max’s hands flying to his throat as he struggled to breathe, struggled to regain his composure.

“Now… it sounds like Blair’s missing?” Gabby asked as she slowly walked into the room. Smoothing her short skirt she sat on the couch, legs crossed watching him pace in front of her.

“Yeah.”

“Where was the last place you put her?”

Todd glared at her as he stopped in front of her. “She’s not a fucking toy! I didn’t put her down and forget where she was!”

“Todd you were the last person she was with,” Gabby rationalized calmly. “Where did you go when you left here?”

“I took her back to the penthouse… she was fucking losing it. Crying, screaming, I thought she was gonna lose the baby so I tried to calm her down. She kept screaming at me that I couldn’t have ‘this’ baby. That it was all she had left. I made her take one of those damn pills Larry gave her and put her in my room to lay down. Then I went to get Starr. I though if she saw Starr she would be okay, but…” Todd drew his hands through his hair as he relived the experience, the terror of returning and finding an empty room. “She was gone when I got back.”

“She can’t have just vanished Todd,” Gabby said sensibly. “Did you go by the mansion?”

“Yes I went by Starr’s house,” Todd said sarcastically. “She wasn’t there. There was a suitcase missing but not much else.”

“So maybe she just left town.”

Todd stared at her in disbelief. “With one suitcase?! Not bloody likely.”

“Well she can’t stay away forever. She probably just went somewhere to get her head screwed on straight and she’ll be back. Especially since she knows Starr’s back.”

“Well…”

“Well what?”

“Well I never actually told her that Starr was back in town, I just figured I’d surprise her. You know have Starr show up at the JP’s when we got married.”

“I don’t believe this,” Gabby shook her head.

“Look it seemed like a good idea at the time.” Todd snarled defensively. “I didn’t know she was planning on absconding with my unborn child.”

“Well she’s pregnant, she couldn’t have gone far.”

“You obviously don’t know Blair, to get away from me at this point she would go anywhere.”

*************************************************************************************

“Hi daddy,” Starr said as she watched her furious father stalk back into the penthouse.

 

“Starr,” he said softly, deep breaths, deep breaths, she can’t have gone far. And just look at it this way, it gives you a chance to explain to your daughter that you were wrong about the baby and that her mother is just a big fat liar instead.

“Did you find it?”

“Find what shorty?” he asked sitting on the couch, laying his head back against the high back he watched his daughter where she sat on the circular stairs.

“What you were looking for dummy… You said you lost something,” Starr giggled as she walked down the stairs to perch on the arm of the couch so she could be face to face with her father.

“No I didn’t find it.”

“Did someone steal it? Do we get to do some revenge?” Starr asked with excitement. She loved revenge! Plotting revenge against someone was one of her favorite things. Especially when she got to do it with her father. Although Asa was a close second.

“No it just disappeared… Listen, Starr,” Todd sat up leaning an arm against the cushion he made eye contact with his daughter. “Have you seen your mother recently?”

Starr looked at him and wondered which answer he wanted. The one that he usually wanted, or the one that he didn’t like to hear. She opted for honesty in this case because she didn’t want him to ever call her the names that she’d heard him call her mother to Aunt Viki.

“Well she was at Aunt Viki’s last night after you left to go look for that thing you lost.”

“She was at Viki’s?” Todd leaned forward. Viki’s? What the hell was she doing there? “Did she see you?”

“No! I hid until she went away, I didn’t want to see her!” Starr said angrily her little foot tapping on the sofa cushions, arms crossing defiantly over her chest in a move reminiscent of her mother.

“Did you by chance hear what she and your Aunt Viki talked about?” Todd asked curiously, trying not to sound curious. But his daughter had his innate sense of awareness and narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she realized that her father actually wanted answers about her mother. A subject that he had deemed off limits weeks ago.

“She didn’t talk to Aunt Viki… she talked to Uncle Ben.”

“Ben? Ben Davidson? What the hel.. heck did she want with Ben?” he asked as he eyed her. She was his kid, she had to have been eavesdropping.

“I don’t know. Aunt Viki came and made me go away and when I came back Mommy and Uncle Ben were gone,” Starr cried as she realized that something else was going on here. Was her mommy in trouble? Was daddy trying to help her again?

“She left with Ben? I don’t get it.” Todd sighed as he stood, guess he had to go beat or threaten the answers out of somebody else. Maybe he could get a three for one deal and have the opportunity to grab R.J. or Bo by the throat next. “Starr stay here with what’s her name, I’m going to go have a talk with your Uncle Ben.”

“Can’t I come daddy?”

“No!” Todd said abruptly, then softened his tone and expression when he saw Starr’s crestfallen little face. “Daddy needs to talk to Uncle Ben alone. I’ll take you next time,” he promised.

“You’d better!”

*************************************************************************************

Blair Cramer stared at the most beautiful sunset she had ever seen. A free sunset.

Lying in a gently swaying hammock, one hand pressed to her rounded stomach she reveled in her freedom.

“I’m free!” she giggled to herself. So what if everyone thought she was a total loon. She was free.

Free from Todd. Free from Max. Free from Llanview.

It was a nice feeling. She hoped it lasted.

*************************************************************************************

Todd burst into the sitting room at Llanfair boiling mad. He had been relatively calm when he had left the penthouse but as he drove here he had continued to get more and more furious. Finally reaching the point of boiling anger when he had realized that Blair had trusted Ben and not him. Even after everything he had done for her.

He had thought that proving that Max was a lying, cheating, piece of bottom dwelling scum would endear him to her somehow but it had only proven to make her angry. At Max and at him.

In his own defense, he kept telling her, he hadn’t done anything wrong. He’d only been trying to prove a point. Trying to save her from making a huge mistake, marrying Max. Again.

She’d already shot the scoundrel in the back once. He didn’t really relish having to clean up a second shooting.

But she hadn’t been grateful for the tape he had shown her and Max. If anything she had turned on him and Max and had reminded him why he had been crazy about her in the first place. She was fire, pure fire. Especially when she was pissed.

The only thing that had been off about the whole tape viewing exercise was her reaction.

Max’s had been exactly what he had envisioned. Stumbling, dumbfounded idiot talk as he tried to talk his way around what they were seeing.

But Blair’s. She had been angrier that he had been caught on tape with his pants down, then the fact that he had been caught with another woman. He should have known then that something was up, but she had covered nicely when she noticed his confusion over her lack of anger. She had burst into hysterical tears.

And he being a typical male had no idea how to handle the tears. Especially Blair’s heartbreaking sobs. Neither had Max because he fled the Palace leaving Blair with him.

He had treated her with kid gloves as he coaxed her back to Starr’s, being as gentle as possible because she was pregnant. Even if it was with the half-wit’s brat.

He had been ready to promise her anything to get her to stop crying when they got there, but immediately upon entering the house she had fled to her room. Locking the door behind her.  Effectively locking him out.

He had been getting ready to leave to go fetch Starr when Gabby had shown up.

Wearing a too short skirt and a too tight shirt she had flounced in like she owned the place and attempted to seduce him. Blatantly.

He had figured out what she was up to when she arrived. She wanted the tape back. But when she didn’t get the response she wanted, namely him, naked, in bed, she had dropped her bombshell. She might not have thought it was important. But her comments about his ‘problem’, about Blair telling her about his so-called ‘problem’ had given him the missing pieces to the puzzle he had been trying to put together.

Before she had walked out of the house with his guarantee that Max and Blair would not be getting married he had it all figured out.

Blair was pregnant with his kid. His kid. Not Max’s. His.

He had sat on that ugly overstuffed couch plotting his revenge, only to wake the next morning to find his quarry missing. He had trailed her to the Buchanan’s where she had been having a heated conversation with Max. When he popped into it, Gabby popped in as well. With both of them manning the guns, so to speak they had demolished any chance of a wedding between Max and Blair.

Max was furious, and Blair was quiet. Too quiet. She was incoherent for the most part, but he was almost positive that she knew, that he knew the truth about the baby. Even if he hadn’t said the words out loud everyone in that room knew she was pregnant with his kid. Not Max’s.

She had babbled, she had cried, and finally he had dragged her out of there. In hindsight taking her to the penthouse was probably a mistake. The rooms were full of memories that she probably didn’t want to relive. And she hadn’t actually started screaming at him until they had walked in and she had looked around.

He had convinced her to take one of the pills Larry had given her to relax in stressful situations and laid her on his bed. He had sat with her, stroking her hair while she mumbled incoherent phrases and tossed restlessly. He knew when the pills had finally taken affect because she had stilled almost immediately. If he hadn’t seen her chest rising slowly he might have thought she was dead.

And then he had left. It had taken him a little over four hours to get to where he had hidden Starr, get her packed and back to Llanview. In that time Blair had vanished from the penthouse, from the mansion and it seemed from Llanview. But now he had a clue thanks to his highly intelligent daughter.

He was a little disappointed that he couldn’t grab him by the throat like he had Max, but he didn’t want to alarm Viki and Jess who were sitting side by side on the sofa.

“All right Ben,” he growled angrily, “I’m only going to ask this question once… where the hell is she?!”

*************************************************************************************

Blair sat on her bed and studied her surroundings. As new homes went this one wasn’t bad. She had spent the previous morning looking at small bungalows on the beach. That was the only stipulation that she had given the realtor who had handled her requests. Two bedrooms, preferably furnished and on the beach.

She sat on the stuffed sofa and smiled to herself.  She had hated using Ben the way she had but she’d had no where else to turn.

She’d had this in the works for a couple of weeks. Quietly filtering money out of her savings account she had managed to get $5 million out before Todd had made his untimely reappearance. She had originally hoped to have the entire $10 million out before she left, but if she was smart she could manage.

Ben had also gotten her new identification, she flipped her purse open and took out her brand new wallet. Flipping to the license she smiled at her picture. It was probably the best picture she’d ever had on a license and it was under a name that she’d never gone by. She was now officially Chelsea Reardon.

She had wrinkled her nose at him when he had handed her the packet and saw the name. She had asked him if that wasn’t the name of some character on one of those soaps and he had shrugged at her. He didn’t watch soaps. How would he know?

She pushed herself up awkwardly and walked to the door overlooking the beach. There was a hammock hanging between two trees swinging loosely, she had slept in it last night after she watched the sunset.

Stretching she smiled to herself. She was happy. For the first time in a long time she was really, truly happy. The only thing that would make her happier was if Starr was here with her. But Starr hated her now.

She wondered if Todd would tell her the truth about the baby or if he would just let her continue believing that the baby was Max’s. She wasn’t sure which outcome she hoped for. It almost didn’t make a difference at this point because she wasn’t planning on ever returning to Llanview, and especially not to Todd Manning.

He had made all sorts of threats at his penthouse that day. Threatening her with custody of the baby, threatening to send her away. Her only defense had been to fight back. And she had.

She knew he hated to see her cry, so she had wailed at him, and he had crumbled. But by the time he had forced one of those tablets that Larry had prescribed on her she was truly falling apart.

Seeing the penthouse, with all its ugly reminders of Tea. And nothing of her.

Hearing him say he was going to take her unborn child’s custody from her after having already taken Starr.

Watching his indifference as she had fallen apart the first time. Knowing that the only reason he cared was because of Starr had broken her.

All she had ever wanted was for him to love her again. The same way that she still loved him. But he couldn’t give that to her. She wondered if he had ever been capable of that depth of emotion for any woman.

She sighed heavily, her good mood momentarily broken by her thoughts of Todd, if she let him he would plague her mind forever. But she wasn’t going to let him. She was going to move on. And as she felt her little one roll in his cocoon she patted him softly and promised him that he would never be alone. Whatever happened he would always have her.

************************************************************************************

Todd stood staring down at his sleeping quarry. It had taken him three days to find her. One to get her location out of a pathetic Ben Davidson. Two more to actually get to her.

So now he stood here watching her, uncertain of his next move.

She was sleeping in a hammock, looking through the window he could see clearly into her bedroom and there looked to be a perfectly good bed in there. Turning his attention back to her he had to clench his hands at his side to stop himself from reaching out to her.

She had one hand balled and tucked close to her cheek, the other was splayed on her stomach, her softly rounded stomach. Not the monstrous one she’d had the last time he’d seen her. Seeing her like this would have confirmed his suspicions, if he’d had any left.

A soft smile was creasing her lips as she slept and he wondered what she dreamed of. Him? He dared to hope. Releasing the air he had been holding with an angry puff he saw a frown cross her face, her head tilting towards him in her sleep.

Backing away slowly, he continued to watch her. If she woke he would show himself. If not he would wait.

There was a time and place for everything, he thought as he moved past the tree line taking one last glance at her still form. And this was not the time, nor the place.

************************************************************************************

Blair walked through the quiet streets slowly. Clad in a knee length yellow sundress, sunglasses on she looked carefree. She window-shopped as she walked; swinging a bag of newly purchased baby clothes at her side. She was happy. She was relaxed.

She would be more relaxed if she didn’t think that someone was following her.

But every time she looked behind her she could see nothing out of the ordinary so she continued. Smiling at young children as she passed. A girl about Starr’s age with dark brown hair playing hopscotch on the sidewalk brought tears to her eyes as she watched.

Pressing a hand against her back she continued on, alone. The small shops that lined the main street were just a short ten-minute walk from her new home. Everything she could ever want could be bought there so she hadn’t had to think about purchasing an automobile yet. She was sure that day would come though.

Digging through her purse for her keys she felt the eyes that she was sure were watching her and she whirled around, keys in her hand searching for them. Only to find nothing. She sighed as she shook her head, maybe she really was losing it.

As she unlocked the door she could hear the phone ringing and rushed inside, kicking the door closed behind her.

“Hello?” she answered breathlessly dropping her purse and bags on the couch.

“Blair? It’s Ben,” he said in hushed tones from the other end.

“Ben? What’s going on? Why are you whispering?” Blair asked as she sat down on the couch dumping one bag out on the couch as she cradled the phone between her ear and shoulder.

“Because I don’t want Viki to hear me… Listen… I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what? Ben you’re not making much sense,” Blair smiled as she lifted one of the little outfits she had purchased today. Laying it in her lap she traced the collar with her fingers.

“Look, he knows where you are.”

Blair stopped suddenly, her hands stilling in her lap as her breath froze in her chest. “Todd?”

“Yeah, he knows where you are. He’s known for a couple of days, if he’s not there already he will be soon.”

“Oh god,” Blair whispered pressing a hand protectively against her stomach, he would take her baby. Just like he had taken Starr he would take this little one. He didn’t want her, he only wanted her children. She couldn’t let him have this one. She would have nothing if he took this one from her.

“Blair listen, if he hasn’t shown himself to you he might not be there yet, you might still have time,” Ben said worriedly from the other end.

“No… he’s here,” Blair stood pacing to the window she held back the curtain as she looked out onto the street. She couldn’t see anything, but she knew he was out there. Watching, waiting. There was no better lurker than Todd, and she knew him better than anybody. He was out there waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike, to leave her with nothing.

“How do you know?”

“Someone’s been following me, watching me… I thought it was my imagination, you know just me being paranoid.”

“Blair you should go somewhere else, maybe he won’t follow you this time.”

“He said he’d follow me to the ends of the earth,” she mumbled absently as her eyes searched the street. Was he behind the big tree across the way? Or hiding in the shadows by the Nikelson’s garage? He was out there, she could feel it in her bones.

“What?”

“Nothing… I’m not running. I like it here. I’m staying, he can leave,’ she stated determinedly, letting the curtain fall back into place she sat back on the couch.

“Blair be careful… He was pissed when he was here. If Viki and Jess hadn’t been around he probably would have tried to kill me.”

“He won’t hurt me.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I have something he wants, he won’t hurt me until he gets it,” Blair said sadly.

*************************************************************************************

Todd stood behind the large elm tree and waited. She knew he was here. He could only imagine that the person she had been talking to on the phone was Benji. Probably warning her that the psycho was on the loose and headed to her neighborhood.

He had been following her for days. She had almost seen him this morning when she had been walking. She had suddenly whirled around, eyes searching the nooks and crannies of the street. He had leaped into the closest storefront, which had unfortunately been a lingerie store. The things he did for that woman were amazing. He had peered out the window until she had continued and he had trailed her again.

He had watched her shop. Watched her pick out baby clothes for their unborn child and had been ridiculously pleased to see all the blue. They were having a boy. Finally a son.

Looking at his watch he noticed that 30 minutes had passed since she had gotten her phone call from Ben, she obviously wasn’t turning tail and running so he had a little more time. He hadn’t quite figured out what he was going to do yet but he had some ideas. All he knew was whatever he was going to do he wanted to do soon, he had already missed too much of this pregnancy. He didn’t want to miss anymore.

Smiling he blew a kiss to her door and headed back to his hotel.

He liked Key West. He had liked it the first time he had been here when Blair had tracked him down and lied about being pregnant. Maybe he would marry her here again instead of waiting until they were back in Llanview. He would marry her on the beach, with Starr as their best man / maid of honor. With her really pregnant with his child this time.

“Daddy how much longer are we staying here? I’m going to miss school stuff,” Starr asked as he entered their hotel suite.

“I don’t know shorty… besides I thought you didn’t like school,” Todd said suspiciously as he reclined on the couch.

“I don’t, but Susie and I have plans for this year… Why are we here anyway? We already had a vacation.”

“I know, but what’s one more,” Todd shrugged nonchalantly.

“You’re still looking for mommy… Aren’t you?” Starr said accusingly from where she was siting on the bed.

“How did you…”

“I thought mommy wasn’t part of our family anymore… You said she wanted to be with Max, and have Max’s baby. You said she didn’t want to be with us.”

“You see… Starr,” Todd sighed. He had to tell her, if he didn’t she would be no help in winning her mother over. “Come here,” he patted the couch beside him and when she sat near him he turned to her. Now how to do this without him looking like an idiot and her mother looking like a moron. “I have something I need to tell you.”

“What daddy?”

“You see it’s about your mother and the baby…”

*************************************************************************************

Blair banged her sandals together on the patio, the only hazard of walking on the beach was the sand. It got everywhere. But after her phone call from Ben she had needed the walk to calm down.

Todd knew where she was. Why couldn’t he just leave her alone? Hadn’t he done enough damage to her?

She knew it was just a matter of time before he made his appearance. He would be the big bully and tell her what he wanted and expect her to acquiesce to his wishes. But she wasn’t going to. She didn’t want to return to Llanview, and she especially didn’t want to return to Llanview with someone who didn’t love her, who only wanted her because she happened to be pregnant with his child. Hadn’t they already played that game? And it had turned out horribly if her memory served her correctly.

Tossing her sandals aside she slid the door open and stepped inside.

“Hi mommy,” she heard before she saw Starr pop up from where she was sitting on the sofa, smiling at her. “Are you surprised?”

“Starr?” she breathed before her knees gave out and she was caught in strong arms from behind her as she fainted.

************************************************************************************

Blair woke to find it dark outside; she was momentarily startled to feel a small soft hand laying on hers. She closed her eyes as she felt her daughters’ head pressing against her stomach, humming softly. Singing to the baby. She reached out a trembling hand and touched Starr’s hair gently as she struggled to keep from crying.

“You slept for a long time mommy,” Starr grinned as she sat up on the bed. Crossing her legs she moved closer to her mother.

“Starr, baby, what are you doing here?” she whispered, she pulled another pillow under her head as she pressed a hand to her eyes, wiping away tears.

“Daddy brought me… He’s been looking for you for days,” Starr grinned. Her daddy had finally broke down and told her this afternoon why he was so frantically searching for her mother.

“Your daddy? Where is he?” Blair asked quietly looking around the small bedroom. He wasn’t in here she was sure of that.

“He’s making dinner. You must have been really tired mommy, you went right to sleep when you saw us. If daddy hadn’t been behind you, you would have fallen on the ground. Did we surprise you? Daddy said we were going to.”

“Yes you surprised me, but it was a nice surprise. I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Daddy told me I could stay in here with you if I promised to be really quiet and not wake you up… I was quiet wasn’t I?” Starr asked worriedly, she didn’t want daddy to get mad at her. Now that she knew that the baby was theirs again she wanted their family together and daddy had promised to work on that.

“Yes,” Blair smiled gently reaching out to touch her daughters’ cheek; “You were very quiet.”

“I missed you mommy,” Starr said in a hushed whispered glancing at the door to make sure her father wasn’t listening.

“You did? I thought you were mad at me because of the baby.”

“I was for a while. Daddy said you wanted Max and the new baby more than us and I didn’t like that. I thought you had lied to me,” Starr said sadly.  “But then I kept remembering you saying the baby was ours first, not Max’s so I thought daddy must be wrong. He didn’t like that and I didn’t want him to be alone so I told him I didn’t like you anymore… I didn’t mean it though mommy, I just didn’t want daddy to be alone and sad,” she said miserably tears rolling down her cheeks as she touched her mothers hair.

“I’m sorry baby, I never meant for you to be in the middle of all of this,” Blair whispered, tears falling down her cheeks as she felt some of the pain her daughter had been carrying. Biting back a sob she pulled her daughter into her arms, cradling her against her, sighing when she felt the small arms gripping her around the neck. Holding her tightly.

“Daddy said I didn’t need to be mad at you anymore though, he said that the doctor was wrong,” Starr said with a grin as she pulled away, rubbing at her eyes. She didn’t want her daddy to know she had been crying.

“What do you mean sweetie?” Blair asked cautiously, god help him if Todd Manning had filled her daughters head with more nonsense.

“He said that the doctor was wrong, he told you that the baby was daddy’s but then changed his mind and told you it was Max’s instead… Did Max tell him to say that to get back at daddy?”

“I…” Blair stuttered, she didn’t know quite how to respond to that. Todd had managed to tell their daughter the truth without either of them looking like liars or idiots.

“Why didn’t you come and tell daddy that the doctor was wrong mommy? Was it because we had already left for our vacation?”

“Starr,” she heard a soft voice growl from the doorway, turning her head slightly she could see Todd standing there, hands gripping the wood of the door jamb as he watched mother and daughter.

“I didn’t wake her up daddy, she woke up all by herself. Didn’t you mommy?” Starr said anxiously looking back and forth between her parents.

“Yes I did,” Blair said softly running her hand down her daughters’ hair one more time. Todd would probably snatch her again if she didn’t abide by his wishes now. Especially since he had told Starr that the baby was theirs again.

“Your soup’s ready… go eat while your mother and I talk okay?” Todd requested quietly. Starr looked between her parents again before climbing off the bed. Stopping by her father she shook her finger at him.

“You can’t fight with mommy while she’s sick daddy.”

Todd smiled as he patted Starr’s head, “We’re not going to fight, we’re just going to talk.”

Starr took one last look at her father than bounced out of the room in the direction of the kitchen.

*************************************************************************************

Blair sat up in the bed, tucking the blanket that had been laying over her under her hip as she waited for Todd’s explosion. But as she sat there waiting for the angry words that she knew by heart, liar, bitch, whore, traitor, he said nothing. He just stared at her as he rolled on the balls of his bare feet.

“Todd?” she said softly, she couldn’t stand the waiting. Why couldn’t he just say what he was going to say and leave? He didn’t want her. He had never wanted her. All he wanted was her children, she was expendable.

“How are you feeling?” he asked suddenly hands clasped behind his back as he walked into the bedroom closing the door behind him. He stopped at the foot of the bed, staring down at her in the darkness his eyes boring into her intensely.

“Okay… I’m a little tired, but…”

“I told Starr she could only stay in here with you if she didn’t wake you up, I uh… I shouldn’t have let her stay here. You need your rest,” he said awkwardly.

“She didn’t wake me, I just woke up… Don’t send her away, please,” Blair pleaded quietly as tears welled in her eyes. If he sent her away she wouldn’t come back. He would keep them separated until he had what he wanted. Her unborn child. Then he would make a family without her. Like he’d done before.

“Christ, Blair… don’t do that,” he said anxiously, moving to her he placed a hand on her hair as he pressed her against his chest, holding her to him. “I wasn’t going to send her away… It’s just you need your sleep, if she’s going to keep you up…”

“No! She won’t,” Blair said clutching at his hand, rubbing at her face with the other. “She won’t.”

“It’s going to be okay now, you know that right Blair?” he asked softly running a hand down her cheek.

“Please don’t take my babies,” she whispered as she stared into his eyes. He closed his against the desperation in hers. Desperation that he had put there. Would she ever forgive him for the things that he’d done to her? He’d long since forgiven her for most of her transgressions.

Leaning down he kissed her forehead, running his hand softly down her hair as she lay back on the bed. Kneeling next by it, he stroked her face gently as her eyes closed.

“Everything’s going to be okay now,” he whispered as drifted off to sleep her hand still clutching his tightly.

*************************************************************************************

Todd sat quietly on the bed. Blair’s head rested on his thigh one arm flung over his legs the other still gripping his hand tightly. She had cried herself to sleep as he sat here stroking her hair trying to calm her before Starr came back. He didn’t want Starr to see her mother in the condition she had been in.

“I’m done daddy,” Starr said quietly from where she was hovering in the doorway.

“Did you rinse your bowl out?”

“Yes… Is mommy sleeping again?” she asked as she padded quietly into the room. She had put her pajamas on once she had finished eating. She had hoped if she came in here ready for bed that they would let her sleep with them. She had wanted to talk to the baby some more. Plus she wanted to cuddle with her mother. But with her mother already asleep and her father sitting there with a worried expression on his face she knew it wouldn't happen.

“Yes she is,” Todd said quietly as his hand stilled on Blair’s hair. Starr walked up next to him, resting her elbows on the bed she leaned into him as Todd put an arm around her.

“Is mommy going to come home with us now?”

“I don’t know shorty, we didn’t talk about it.”

“But daddy…”

“I’m working on it… okay?”

“Okay… I don’t want to go home without mommy and the baby though,” she warned.

“I know… I don’t either,” he whispered as he pressed a kiss to the top of his daughters’ soft hair.

Starr grinned up at him. “I told you the baby was ours,” she stated smugly.

“Yes you did.”

Starr hugged him before leaning over him to kiss her mothers cheek softly, she lingered there before climbing off the bed.

“I made up the bed in the other bedroom for you, okay shorty?”

“I was kind of hoping I could sleep in here with you guys,” Starr asked hesitantly winding her hands in her pajama top as she waited.

“Maybe tomorrow night… okay? Your mother really needs her sleep now.”

“You’ll stay in here with her tonight though, right? She shouldn’t be alone.”

“Yes I’ll stay in here tonight,” Todd promised pushing his daughter towards the door. “Go to bed.”

“Okay,” Starr lingered by the door for a moment. “You have to be nice if she wakes up though daddy… Maybe you should tell her she’s pretty or something so she knows you’re not mad at her anymore.”

“Go to bed Starr,” Todd grinned as his daughter shot a smirk at him, he shook his head as he watched her scamper off to the other bedroom. His kid. What a piece of work she was.

“So are you going to tell me I’m pretty now?” Blair asked sleepily as she rolled off his lap. Her forehead still resting near his leg she pulled a pillow into her arms as she waited for his response.

*************************************************************************************

“Todd?” Blair queried softly tired of waiting for a response from him. His hand was still resting on her hair, moving slightly every so often as he sat there. The muscles in his thighs were rigid, probably from his instinctive need to run away from any question he deemed to personal in nature.

“You know you are… I don't need to tell you that do I?” Todd said quietly drawing his hand away as he stood. Standing by the bed he stared down at her.

“No… you do need to tell me why you looked for me though.”

“Did you think I would let you go? You're pregnant with my kid,” Todd said harshly his voice raising.  A pained expression crossing his face as he saw the sadness rise in hers. He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. No matter what he said it wasn't going to be the right thing.

Blair turned her head away, rolling she climbed off the other side of the bed then stood there watching him warily. When he didn’t move her shoulders slumped and she walked out of the bedroom. In the living room she opened the sliding glass door stepping out onto the patio, his hand barring the door when she made to close it.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked quietly as he ignored her glare and stepped outside with her.

“I’m going for a walk… relax Todd I’m not going to run off with another of your precious offspring,” Blair stated bitterly as she walked away from him.

The wind had cooled things down considerably since her walk earlier and as she moved across the sand she wrapped her arms around her body. She was startled when she felt him move behind her and place her sweater over her shoulders.

“What are you doing Todd?” she asked tiredly as she pulled the sweater on watching the waves roll gently in the distance.

“You wanted to walk… so we’re walking.”

“I wanted to walk alone.”

“Yeah, well, we don’t always get what we want… I wanted you to be honest with me for a change.”

“Yeah well I just wanted you to want me for me not because I’m some human incubator for the next Manning heir,” Blair snarled angrily.

“Who said I didn’t care about you?”

“You did Todd… Do the words ‘you’re dead to me’ ring a bell?”

“I only said that because…”

“Yeah, yeah because you thought I was pregnant with Max’s baby… Why should it matter Todd?”

“Why?!” Todd grabbed her arm forcefully turning her to face him. “Because you’re not supposed to want to have kids with that bastard! He treated you like shit, he cheated on you and you kept choosing him over me! My god I promised you the moon and you kept throwing him in my face like he was some paragon of virtue!”

“You promised me the moon?! When? When you were giving me some half-assed love is hate speech to try and convince me to marry you?! All you ever had to do to convince me to marry you was say the words! That’s all I ever wanted to hear! I wanted you to tell me you loved me and mean it… but you couldn’t and you don’t,” Blair stated coldly yanking her arm out of his grip.

“You think I can’t say the words?! Christ Blair everything I’ve done the last year has been proof of how I feel about you!”

“Please!” Blair snorted, “everything you did was because you and Starr wanted our family back together. Never mind the fact that I was married to someone else. Oh no, we’ll just blow that marriage up so we can have what we want… Why couldn’t you find some nice new lawyer to marry and give Starr the family that you both wanted? You’ve done it before.”

“Because that’s not what Starr wanted. She wanted us together. She wanted her family. Besides you didn’t fight me too hard. I mean you gave me that virus of your own free will, you know me better than anyone, you had to know that I wouldn’t just destroy it when I could use it to my advantage. You knew what you were doing. You wanted me to get you out of that marriage because you didn’t have the strength to do it. And I did. And you’ve given me nothing but grief about it since then.”

“Please,” Blair rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms around her waist. “If I wanted out of my marriage to Max I could have left him when he had his affair with Skye.”

“No you couldn’t,” Todd said confidently.

“What?”

“No you couldn’t, because if you walked away that would mean that Skye won. That she fought you for Max and won. You couldn’t stand that. Your competitive streak couldn’t stand it.”

“Please… Max is no prize.”

“You’ve got that right so why are we arguing about him?”

“Because you chose to play God. You wanted what you wanted when you wanted it and damn what anybody else wanted.”

“So what did I want Blair?” Todd asked moving close to her brushing a strand of hair away from her eyes.

“You wanted Starr…” she said breathlessly. God why was he looking at her like that?  And why was even contemplating wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his neck? He hadn’t apologized for taking off with Starr, he hadn’t apologized for treating her like dirt. He had said nothing to convince her of his true feelings.

“And?” he asked quietly his hand lingering on her temple.

“And you wanted this baby,” she whispered touching her stomach softly.

“And?”

“And what? That’s it.”

“If I just wanted Starr and the baby I could have them without you. I didn’t need to search for you. I could have had it all.”

“Then why are you here?”

“For the beaches,” Todd said sarcastically before gentling the tone of his voice. “I’m here for you. I’m here because for once we can have it all, it’s all out in the open all we have to do now is take it.”

“You just left me there Todd and you took off with Starr, do you know how scared I was?”

“I came back and so did Starr. Do you know how scared I was when I couldn’t find you?”

“I can take care of myself.”

“But you don’t have to anymore. I’ll take care of you… and Starr and our new baby.”

“And what happens the next time I piss you off? You take off with Starr and our son and I’m alone again, no thanks,” Blair turned away from him. Staring at the sand she felt him touch her shoulders lightly with his hands.

“I can’t promise that we won’t fight… but I can promise that if I leave I won’t take them with me.”

Blair whirled around facing him. “You’re just saying that,” she said disbelieving.

“I wish I was…” Todd sighed. “After Starr got through her initial ‘mommy chose Max over me’ anger she kept saying Mommy doesn’t lie to me. Mommy said she was having our baby first, so she’s having our baby still. I finally had to tell her that mommy was off-limits so she’d be quiet.”

“Our kids pretty smart isn’t she?” Blair smiled.

“Yeah… she is… So what do you say Blair? Do we give her what she wants? What we want?” Todd smiled hopefully at her.

Blair stared at him, gnawing on her lower lip as she thought. “So you don’t just want me because of Starr and the new baby?”

“I thought we covered this already!”

“We did,” Blair said softly touching his arm gently. “So that means that you do care about me.”

“I guess the only real question is how do you feel about me?” Todd asked quietly. “I don’t want you to marry me because you think you’re giving Starr something she wants. I want you to marry me because you want to be married to me.”

“Who said anything about marriage?”

“Well that’s what this is all about it isn’t it? Me, you, Starr and baby under one roof as a family.”

“We can still do that and not be married.”

“Like hell we can,” Todd shouted. “I’m not sending our daughter to school so she can explain to her friends that yes her parents do live under one roof, no they’re not married but they used to be. Do you know how confusing that would be? Plus what if something happens to you or the baby? No, we’re getting married, there will be no living in sin.”

“Since when did that bother you? We’ve lived together before without being married, hell we lived together when you were with Tea,” Blair snarled.

“Yeah well we weren’t sharing a bed then and we sure as hell will be sharing one now.”

“Says who?”

“Says me… and you if you would just admit it for once. You love me, I know you do because you kept trying to prove it to me to get me to back off before you decided to go after an easier mark and eyed Max instead and you know how I feel about you…”

“No I don’t!!! You have never once said anything about how you feel about me, am I supposed to be a damn mindreader now?!”

Todd looked at her, hair blowing around her face in the breeze, her cheeks red from her anger, her eyes two glittering emeralds as she sneered at him. Placing his hands on her face he crushed his lips against hers passionately then just as suddenly released her. “Now… How do you think I feel about you?!”

Blair stared at him breathlessly, touching her fingers to her lips as she blinked at him.

“Blair?”

“I…I need the words Todd. Just once I need them,” she whispered.

He stared at her in confusion before a slow smirk crossed his face. He touched her face softly, cupping her cheek gently as he leaned into her. “I love you.”

“Thank you,” she whispered wrapping her arms around his neck.

She was home.