Mirror Images

by

Melanie Walker

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blair Cramer looked around the nearly empty room and sighed. Eyes searching for anything she might have forgotten that she would need within the next couple of months.

 

Pressing her hand against her stomach she smiled as she felt the baby do a half gainer. Starr had never been this active. That’s how she had known this one would be a boy. He was going to be active and love sports… and probably look exactly like his father. Just like his sister did.

 

Her eyes settled on the framed picture sitting on the table by her bed. A picture of her and Starr taken a few years ago. Her hand brushed the edges of her hair, it had been longer than. Starr had been younger and not prone to vanish with her father.

 

She walked over slowly and picked the picture up. She traced her daughter’s sweet face with a fingertip as she smiled a bittersweet smile, tears pricking at her eyes as she realized that the last words she had heard her daughter say to her had been in anger.

 

She hoped that wherever Todd had hidden her that she was being well cared for… and that she wasn’t anywhere in the vicinity of Tea Delgado.

 

She brushed a hand to her eyes, wiping the wetness away. She had swore when Todd Manning reappeared without their daughter that she would shed no more tears for her, or him. She knew Todd would never let anything happen to Starr. That he would protect her with his life if necessary.

 

She laid the picture in her carryon and zipped the bag up. Her other bags had already been taken care of. Most of her belongings were in storage since she had no expectations that she would be allowed back in this house when she returned. She had called the cab and they should be here shortly. She was almost homefree.

 

She lifted the bag onto her shoulder, taking one last look around the room she turned to the door and stopped in her tracks.

 

Todd was leaning negligently in the doorway watching her with hooded eyes.

 

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked coldly his eyes betraying no emotion.

 

“What does it look like I’m doing?” she retorted sharply as she shoved past him.

 

“It looks like you’re planning a trip,” he said following her down the stairs. “Not taking much baggage,” he commented as he watched her set the carryon down and turn back to him. Hands on her hips, baby stomach protruding she glared at him.

 

“Don’t you have someone else to harass today?”

 

“I always make time for you Blair.”

 

“Well just think you get to take a break… you can destroy someone else’s life until I get back,” she stated as she turned away from him rifling through the desk. Finding her address book she tucked it in the front pocket of her bag and took a glance at her watch.

 

“No, I don’t think you’re going anywhere… You’d never leave without Starr,” Todd said confidently as he sat on the steps watching her.

 

“Well funny you should mention Starr… See my psycho of an ex-husband took out a restraining order to keep her away from me and if that wasn’t enough then he decided to hide her from me,” Blair said sarcastically.

 

“Well the restraining order was for her own good, you are mentally unstable.”

 

“You want to see mentally unstable,” Blair snarled as she stalked up to him as fast as her pregnant body would allow her. “Give me a gun and I’ll show you mentally unstable.”

 

“If you’re leaving to go find Starr I can save you the trouble, she’s coming here.”

 

Blair stared at him for a moment before tears filled her eyes and she turned blindly away from him. “Don’t do that Todd,” she whispered.

 

“Don’t do what?” he asked quietly walking towards her, he reached out a hand to touch her shoulder and then changed his mind and dropped it to his side.

 

“Don’t use Starr like that… you know it’s not true, I already asked you to bring Starr back and you refused… what’s changed?” she whispered.

 

“You’d be surprised.”

 

“I don’t think so,” Blair said stiffening her back she turned back to him, her body taking on her best ‘I don’t give a damn” posture. “I think it’s a trick to keep me here so you can have somebody to torment.” The sound of a car horn honking startled her and she turned to the door and then back to Todd.

 

“What about Addie?” he asked suddenly.

 

“What about mama?”

 

“Who’s going to take care of her… go see her with you gone?”

 

“I’m mentally unstable Todd, you know that. I’m not a fit guardian for my mother, her guardianship has been transferred to Dorian for now,” she said sadly. She smiled wistfully at him. “Things could have been so different, if only…” she shook her head, this was neither the time nor the place. She softly touched his cheek, a look of desolation fleetingly crossing it as he flinched back from her. “You’ll find someone else to torment while I’m gone.”

 

Dropping her hand she stared at him, their eyes locking together before she broke the gaze. Picking up her bag she set her house keys on the table. Todd’s eyes flickered between them before refocusing on Blair as she opened the door and went to walk out.

 

“Blair!” he called after her desperately, if Starr got here and her mother was gone he was in deep shit. “Just wait a damn minute… Blair!” he called as he watched her climb into the back of the cab, watched her lean forward to speak to the driver and then lean back in her seat as the cab drove away. All without once looking back.

 

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

 

“Daddy!” Starr called as she ran up the driveway, her father was standing in the doorway watching a cab drive away. He looked down at her touching her head softly. “Where is she?” she called happily. She had finally convinced her father to come home and listen to what her mother had to say. After her grandmother had spilled the beans in her last phone call she’d been so excited.

 

Her mother was really pregnant with their baby. Not Max’s. Addie had said so. Her daddy had been furious when he realized that her mother had actually intended to give his child to Max Holden. She hoped mommy had a really good reason for that.

 

It had taken a lot of coaxing and a couple of temper tantrums to get daddy to let mommy explain.

 

“Starr,” he called rushing in the house after her.

 

“Where is she daddy?” she asked slowly as she came back down the stairs. Her mothers’ room was bare, everything was gone. “Did you take her to the penthouse? Is everything okay now?”

 

“She’s not here shorty,” he said quietly, flinching as he watched the familiar expression of anger fly across his daughters’ face.

 

“But daddy,” Starr protested. “You promised.”

 

“I know… I’m working on it,” Todd said quietly as he drew his daughter into his arms, shooting a glance out the open door he closed his eyes. “I’m working on it.”

 

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

 

Six Months Later - Penthouse

 

Todd sat at the desk zipping through files on his laptop. On the couch, pretending to do her homework was Starr. Every so often she would glance over at him and sigh. A large sigh that meant that she had the weight of the world on her little shoulders, demanding that he fix it. And he was trying, damn it.

 

It wasn’t his fault that Blair had seemingly vanished into thin air when she had left the mansion in the cab. He had checked the airlines, he had checked the train station, he had checked the car rental agencies. Nothing. No one matching her description had left town by any of those means. The cab company had no record of sending a car to pick her up.

 

Dorian had appeared three months ago demanding to know what he had done with her niece. From what he could gather from her the two women had been in regular contact for the first two months Blair was gone. Then nothing for a month. Blair had been supposed to meet her in Paris and had never shown, her tickets had been voided, the address she had been living at had been cleaned out.

 

She had vanished again.

 

The two of them had decided that together they could cover more territory. They had declared a temporary cease-fire and had merged their efforts.

 

Only to continually come up with nothing.

 

“Daddy?” Starr asked from where she was now leaning against his desk. He blinked at her, startled to find her standing next to him when she hadn’t been there a moment earlier.

 

“Are you done with your homework?”

 

“Yeah,” she said quietly, moving next to him she leaned her head against his shoulder. “Do you think the baby will like me when mommy comes home?”

 

“Of course he will.”

 

“Do you think we’re ever going to find mommy?”

 

“Sure… She’s just… well she’s hiding out now.”

 

“Hiding from what daddy?” Starr asked as she watched him hit keys on his keypad with a vague interest. “Aunt Dorian said she’s never coming home.”

 

“When did she say that?”

 

“When I was over there after school yesterday… she was talking to Kelly,” Starr wrinkled her nose. “She said that the monster had finally drove her away… was she talking about you?

 

“Yeah that would be me.”

 

“But you’re not a monster daddy, you’ve been looking for mommy since she left.”

 

“Yeah, well, your aunt Dorian has her own opinion on what happened.”

 

“Do you think mommy misses me as much as I miss her?” Starr asked, her father breathing a sigh of relief as the phone ringing interrupted their latest heart to heart.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Todd? It’s Bo Buchanan,” he heard from the other end.

 

“To what do I owe the pleasure Commissioner Buchanan?” Todd asked with a grin as he sat back in the chair.

 

“We found a woman matching Blair’s description at a hospital in D.C.”

 

“What?” Todd jumped to his feet sending the chair skidding backwards, Starr looking up at him in alarm. “Is she okay? What’s?”

 

“We don’t know yet… I’ve called Dorian she’s going to meet us at the airport, the hospital is waiting for us… Todd… It doesn’t look good… She was admitted as a Jane Doe almost two months ago, the hospital said she hasn’t regained consciousness since then.”

 

Todd closed his eyes, pressing a hand to his mouth as he looked down at his daughter. Starr looking up at him with a worried expression lining her face as she realized that he was talking about her mother.

 

“I’m on my way.”

 

“Daddy?” Starr asked with a trembling voice as she watched her father pull on a jacket and dig through the desk for his keys.

 

“Shorty I need you to stay here with Suzanne,” he said distractedly.

 

“It’s mommy… isn’t it? Is she okay? Is the baby okay?” she asked with tear filled eyes.

 

“I don’t know,” Todd said softly, he looked down at her dropping to his knees when she came running towards him.

 

“Daddy?”

 

“It’s going to be okay… I promise,” he said pressing a kiss to her forehead before he leapt to his feet and was out the door.

 

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

 

Todd walked silently by Dorian. Bo and the cop that had picked them up at the airport walking ahead of them. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like it at all.

 

The cop had been talkative about the Jane Doe until his cell phone rang. After that it had been like pulling teeth to get any information out of him. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his gut and it hadn’t dissolved when they got to the hospital.

 

Especially when the cop led them to the morgue.

 

“This is Dr. Winslow,” the cop said introducing the young doctor who appeared to be waiting for them. Bo shook his head. Dorian crossed her arms over her chest and Todd glared down at him.

 

“I’m sorry that it seems you folks have come out here for nothing,” he said with a quiet authority.

 

“You’ve identified your Jane Doe?” Bo asked with some confusion shooting a puzzled look at the young cop who looked down at the floor and seemed enthralled by the tile design.

 

“Well no, but we could have faxed the pictures to you for positive ID,” the doctor said awkwardly his face flushing as he looked around anxiously for a superior, any superior.

 

“I don’t understand,” Todd said angrily. “You get us down here, tell us that you’ve got a Jane Doe in a coma and we tell you we’re coming to ID her as my ex-wife and now you tell us we wasted a trip… but she still hasn’t been ID’d.”

 

“You see…” the young doctor stumbled.

 

“Just say it,” Dorian said angrily, like Todd she was beginning to see the picture and she didn’t like the way it was developing.

 

“The Jane Doe passed away about 30 minutes ago… Probably while you were enroute,” the doctor said quietly.

 

Todd went silent. Bo took a step back as he saw the flurry of emotions cross his face. Dorian reached a hand out and touched his arm, he shrugged it off as he stepped forward.

 

“I want to see her,” he growled.

 

“I don’t…”

 

“Winslow if he wants to ID the body show him the body,” his superior stated walking up to them. Doctor Winslow looked with pleading eyes at the newcomer to which he just raised his brows.

 

“Of course, follow me,” he said quietly shaking his head as he turned to lead Todd and Dorian into the morgue.

 

“Interns,” they heard his boss say to Bo and the cop who stood watching them walk away.

 

Winslow opened the door ushering them inside. Leading them to a steel table with a white cloth covering the body he peeled back just the sheet covering the face and Dorian gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as she turned away. Tears streaming freely down her cheeks.

 

Todd moved forward. “Leave,” he muttered to the young doctor as he touched her cheek. She felt cool to his touch. Cuts on her face and cheeks not marring the beauty that she used to be.

 

Leaning down to her he pressed his forehead against hers letting his tears fall freely from his eyes against her face. He didn’t care if Dorian saw. Maybe she would for once understand. Understand how much he had loved her even with everything else.

 

“Babe?” he whispered as he kissed her cool lips gently. “I’m so sorry,” he cried. “So sorry.”

 

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

 

Six Years Later

 

Kylie Jensen snapped her emerald green eyes open, whirling in her chair she flung her arm up to ward off the descent of the hand to her shoulder. Her wide eyes met her startled partners as he lifted his arms in a surrender motion and backed away slowly.

 

“Nightmares again,” FBI Special Agent Josh Wexler commented as he cocked his eyebrow and looked down at her.  He didn’t really expect an answer. She normally shrugged off the nightmares that had plagued her for the five years that he had known her.

 

The first time he had heard her have one was the first case they had been on together. He had been in the room next to her and heard her moaning, yelling, screaming. He had been terrified that she was being attacked and had busted down the door.

 

He had no idea what they were about and with the sounds of her screams echoing in his head from the last time he had woken her from one he had no desire to find out. Sometimes you had to deal with your own demons. He knew when she was ready she would deal with hers.

 

“Sorry,” she ran her hands over her face. “I must have dozed off while I was looking the case file over,” she said glancing down at the pictures littering her desk.

 

“You know, you have a home… with a bed I would imagine. It would probably be more comfortable sleeping there than here.”

 

“Don’t start,” Kylie sighed leaning back in her chair, eyes moving over the pictures on her desk.

 

Pictures of the madman that she had been chasing for over six years. At first without the FBI’s backing. Then finally with. She had never thought she had what it took to be law enforcement but she enjoyed her work.

 

More pictures of the madman’s victims interspersed within. The people that she hadn’t been able to help. Including a friend.

 

She enjoyed making the guilty pay, helping the innocent. If anyone took a good look at her past they wouldn’t have been shocked. Both parents in law enforcement to some degree.

 

His best friend, her older brother was a cop in DC. Even though she continually tried to get him to leave the police department and come to the FBI. He always told her that the bureau was her niche. Not his. He was happy where he was.

 

Josh had questioned him once on his sister. Michael had clammed up, saying if she wanted him to know about her past she would tell him. He had never asked again.

 

“ADA Johnson wants to see us… We might have a break in the case,” Josh grinned waving at the pictures. He knew that she was desperate to catch this madman. He knew that what drove her to that was personal. He had murdered a friend in her place, thinking that he was assaulting the only eye witness to one of his many crimes, when he had discovered that he had the wrong woman he had killed her. Putting a bullet in her head. She had vowed that he would go down. And Josh knew he would. There was no one as determined as Kylie.

 

“What’s he got?” she stood, running her fingers through her long blond hair she pulled a band from around her wrist and secured it in a simple twist at the nape of her neck.

 

“Our guy attacked some girl in Llanview PA. Her mother and uncle stopped him when they came along unexpectedly. The family has money so the cops requested bureau help, when the agents taking their statements ran it through our database they hit our guy.”

 

“Do we have a description of the perp?” Kylie asked shuffling the papers and pictures on her desk into the folder they had come from.

 

“Yeah… He matches our guy to a T, with the exception of eye color and hair color…”

 

“Which can be altered,” Kylie grinned as they walked side by side down the hall. “Who’re the witnesses?’

 

“Todd Manning and Viki Buchanan.”

 

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

 

Todd paced in front of the fireplace, cell phone to his ear listening to Briggs complain on the other end. Raising his eyes to the sky he frowned.

 

“Look Briggs, I don’t care what the Commissioner says… He doesn’t run the Sun, I do. I want the creeps pictured plastered on the front page, in color, with a running commentary on what he tried to do to Jessie.”

 

Hearing a sound at the top of the stairs he turned, his eyes widening in shock as he took in his thirteen-year-old daughters appearance. “Briggs just do it,” he barked as he hung the phone up. Gripping it in his hand he stared Starr down.

 

“Now dad,” she started as she came down the stairs.

 

“So what are you planning on changing into?” he asked tossing the phone in the chair as he crossed his arms over his chest.

 

“This is what I’m wearing dad… All the kids dress like this.”

 

“Well you’re not all kids, you’re my kid and I’m telling you that you’re not leaving the house in that outfit,” Todd scowled at the short, short skirt and T-shirt that exposed almost all of her belly. “Who the hell let you buy that in the first place?”

 

“Aunt Dorian and Cassie were with me when I bought this… and I’ve seen pictures… Mom used to wear skirts shorter than this.”

 

“Well you’re not your mother, so you’re going upstairs and changing before the car takes you to Susie’s.”

 

Starr sighed as she saw the look of determination cross her fathers face. “Whatever,” she would just pack the outfit in her bag and change into it when she got to Susie’s.

 

“And don’t think you’re taking it with you, I will check your bag before you leave,” Todd smirked. He knew his kid better than she thought he did. If she thought that an easy acquiescence to his wishes would satisfy him she was wrong.

 

“Dad,” Starr protested. “I’m a teen now, don’t you think it’s a little childish to be searching my bags.”

 

“Go change Starr.”

 

Starr stared at his back as he turned away, she glanced over at the picture of her mother sitting on the fireplace mantle. “Dad?”

 

“What?” he asked turning around to face her again. “You haven’t changed yet?”

 

“No… Aunt Dorian wanted to know if you would mind if she, Cassie and Kelly came with us tonight… I know you don’t like to have anyone there with us, but…”

 

“No,” Todd looked away, focusing on the picture that Starr had been looking at. Their second wedding picture, their only wedding picture. “Tell her it’s okay,” he said softly.

 

Starr walked up the stairs leaving her father alone, with the past.

 

There were a lot of things that Todd Manning had regretted in his life.

 

Walking to the fireplace, cradling the picture in his hands staring blindly at the woman who had been the source of most of the pain and happiness in his life. She had been everything to him, whether she knew it or not. And he had destroyed her.

 

“Happy birthday babe,” he whispered tracing her smiling face with his fingers. She had been so happy then. He had been too, even though he didn’t look it. “I miss you.”

 

Setting the picture back in its place he walked to the couch. He rested his elbows on his knees, holding his head in his hands as he composed himself. Putting in place the indifferent façade that he had gotten so good at.

 

The penthouse reflected her. She didn’t know that of course. He had commissioned it first thing upon returning to Llanview, he wanted it ready for her and the baby to come home. He wanted the horrid memories of Tea wiped out, so he’d had replaced all the gaudy furniture that he had bought for Tea with what he remembered having there with Blair.

 

He had wanted to surprise her. He had dreamed about her reaction. She would fling herself in his arms and tell him how much she loved him, how much she loved what he did for her. But instead the surprise had been on him. She had fled. Taking their unborn child with her.

 

And then she had died and a part of him had died as well.

 

In his grief he had shutdown. Shutting out his family, what few friends he had and their daughter. Starr had been dealing with her own grief at the time, she had needed her father and her father had been unavailable.  Wallowing in his misery, misery of his own making. Because if he had just once listened to the words she had spoken to him he would have known the truth.

 

She hadn’t even known that he knew.

 

In hindsight he had been okay until he had seen the police report. He hadn’t broke down until he heard the words spoken. Heard what the animal that had murdered her had done to her. The words still continued to echo in his ears, even years later.

 

Raped. Brutally beaten. Stabbed. Shot.

 

Words that he had never envisioned ever being used in context with Blair’s name.

 

No one could tell him what had happened to their child. The son that she had been carrying when she vanished had also vanished, with no trace. So he had lost both of them. Before he’d even had them to call his own again.

 

Dorian and Viki together had managed to shake him out of the misery he wallowed in. Screaming that his daughter needed him. His family needed him.

 

Starr’s name had done it. He had pulled his act together for his daughter. Now a single father not by choice but by fate he had put on his best face and stared down his adversaries. And had beaten them.

 

He had a good relationship with his sister now. She had dumped the dead weight, divorcing Ben Davidson within months of Blair’s death. Two months later she had remarried Jessie’s father. Clint was the only Buchanan that Todd could stomach. And, he had to admit, a much better match for Viki than Benjy had been. Although he grinned at the fact that Viki sure seemed to like her Buchanan men.

 

He still had a fairly good relationship with Dorian. They only bickered about Starr. But Blair’s name was never mentioned between them. She had blamed him when they had first learned of Blair’s fate. Now they just didn’t talk about it. The fact that she was journeying to Blair’s grave for his and Starr’s annual birthday celebration for her was a telling point.

 

Maybe she had stopped blaming him for her death. Of course hell hadn’t frozen over so he didn’t think that was possible.

 

Blair had been buried at the Lord plot. Viki hadn’t argued with him when he stated that it was where she was going. It had been a closed casket, Todd hadn’t wanted Starr to see her mother dead. Hadn’t wanted her to see Blair with the cuts that marred her face.

 

It had taken her next birthday to pull him completely out of his funk. Starr and her bright ideas.

 

She had wanted to hold a birthday party for her mother. He knew now that she just wanted to be close to both her parents and he had almost ruined it for her. Refusing to attend. When he had returned to the penthouse to apologize he had found a note telling him that she had gone without him, that Cassie was going to be there with her.

 

He had sighed and went to fetch her. But when he got there he saw Cassie sitting a few feet away and his daughter… His beautiful daughter was sitting in the middle of her mothers’ grave. A cupcake sitting on her headstone, Starr holding another and she was talking.

 

“Susie, you remember Susie don’t you mommy? She’s still my best friend. I was going to have her come tonight but I wanted you all to myself… I wanted daddy to be here to, so we could be a family for once but he said no. He misses you mommy. He says he doesn’t, he says that stuff happens and that we need to move on. I don’t want to though mommy,” Starr cried softly, rubbing at her eyes with one hand while her other hand held the cupcake, trembling. “I want you to come home, I want you to bring my baby brother home, it’s not fair that daddy and I finally came home and you left. It’s not fair.”

 

“Starr,” Todd said softly as he stepped forward. Glancing only momentarily at a crying Cassie he kneeled at his daughters’ side, she flung herself in his arms tears streaming down his face.

 

“It’s not fair daddy, you promised when we came home that we were going to be a family.”

 

“I know,” he whispered, tears forming in his eyes as he watched the flickering candle on Blair’s cupcake.

 

He held her for what seemed an eternity before her tears subsided and she finally turned in his arms so she was looking at the headstone again. She set her cupcake down and leaned forward tracing her mothers’ name.

 

“Do you think she can see me daddy? Do you think she misses me?”

 

“Yeah, she can see you and I know that she misses you,” Todd said quietly. He softly kissed his daughters’ temple.

 

That had been the start of the yearly tradition. Every year on Blair’s birthday at sun down they would go to the plot, cupcakes, yellow of course, in hand and have a party. Celebrating her life and not her death.

 

“Is this acceptable dad?” Starr asked from where she was standing now at the bottom of the stairs. She knew this day was hard on him. But if she didn’t force him to acknowledge the fact that her mother had existed that she had been a very real part of their lives that he would just banish her from his thoughts.

 

Todd looked up and nodded. “It looks fine,” he said softly. She had changed into a long T-shirt and baggy black jeans. She walked over to him and hugged him tightly.

 

“I love you dad,” she whispered in his ear.

 

“Be good,” he whispered back.

 

“I always am,” she smiled as she left, Todd laughing hollowly behind her. But laughing nonetheless.

 

He leaned back his melancholy mood temporarily broken, glancing at his watch he realized that he would have to meet Viki at the police station in less than an hour.

 

The big guns had finally been called in. The creep that had attacked his precious niece was evidently wanted for even more heinous crimes. So he now had to meet with FBI, tell them the same thing that he had been telling Bo and every other cop and hope that they were somehow more intelligent than Llanview’s finest.

 

He didn’t have high hopes.

 

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

 

Kylie didn’t like Llanview. Josh could tell that from the moment the car entered the town. He wasn’t sure what it was about the town the unnerved her but her posture was stiff and unbending… and she hadn’t laughed at one of his jokes since they had crossed the city line.

 

“All right… what gives?” he asked quietly as he pulled into a parking space in front of the Llanview Police Department. Parking the car, he leaned against the steering wheel staring up at the brick building as he waited.

 

“Nothing… I just… I just…”

 

“You just what?”

 

“I have a bad feeling about this,” she said softly, almost to herself. Closing her eyes momentarily she sighed to herself and then unhooked her seatbelt.

 

“Wait,” he said grabbing her arm to stop her as she went to get out of the car. She looked down at his hand, then back at him brow cocked as she waited for him to release her. He knew she didn’t like to be touched. The right to touch her came by invitation only and she had never invited him to lay a hand on her. “Did you have a premonition?” he asked staring at her.

 

He didn’t used to believe in crap like that, he would never have thought he would ever meet anyone with any actual talent. But their second case had been solved due to one of her “premonitions”. She called them feelings, sometimes dreams, sometimes waking nightmares. And she hated them with a passion.

 

“No, at least not a normal one… it’s just a feeling. Us being here,” she said glancing up at the building hand on the door, “it’s a bad idea.”

 

And with that she ended the conversation by opening her door and climbing out.

 

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

 

Bo Buchanan was not pleased. He had Todd Manning sitting in an interrogation room and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it because he was a witness in a crime and not the purveyor of one.

 

The bureau agents that were supposed to be coming to take his statement along with Viki’s and Jessie’s were late and glancing at his watch he once again started muttering obscenities under his breath. He didn’t know how much longer Manning would just sit and wait. He’d already tried to leave twice.

 

Plus Bo was of the same mindset as Manning, which didn’t happen often. They both had decided they didn’t need the FBI. Of course Bo thought that his officers could handle, where Todd wanted to handle it on his own. Not that Bo approved of that, but at least if Manning found the guy they wouldn’t have to sit through a lengthy trial where the creep might get off.

 

Of course they would also have to keep Todd from killing the creep before they could bring him to justice. Manning was not pleased by the fact that his beloved niece had been attacked. Bo had stopped reminding him that Jessie was his niece as well, plus he hated to think what Manning’s feelings would be if it had been his daughter that had been attacked.

 

He still remembered vividly the rage that had emanated from him when they found out what had been done to Blair. The rage that had consumed Manning had been frightening to watch. If the perpetrator of that crime had been found he had no doubt that Manning would have killed him with his bare hands.

 

He also remembered him shutting down when no one was found. He had actually felt sorry for him when it had become abundantly clear that Blair’s death would continue to be unsolved, that her murderer would never be brought to justice. That there would be more questions than answers even though years had passed.

 

Where was the child that Blair had carried? That unborn child that she had fled with thinking she was protecting it from his father?

 

Why had she been in the hospital as a Jane Doe when her fingerprints were on file?

 

Why had the FBI had such an interest in the case? Why had they protected her room when she had been alive, but been unable to identify her? Or even tell anyone why they had such an interest? Why had they protected her body even when she was dead?

 

Bo had thought at the beginning that they might have identified the wrong body as Blair. That in their grief Todd and Dorian might have been mistaken. But then he had seen the body and it was Blair. Albeit a non-pregnant one. So unless Blair’d had a twin, which Dorian swore was impossible, the woman buried in the Lord family plot was Blair Cramer.

 

Shaking his head and looking down the still empty corridor he headed back to the interrogation room. He had a feeling that Todd would be getting ready to leave again.

 

Stopping momentarily in front of Antonio Vega’s desk, detective Vega now he raised his eyebrows in question. “Anything?” he asked.

 

“I called the field office again, they said they were enroute and would be here shortly. Should I…” Vega stopped abruptly his eyes widening as he looked at something behind him.

 

“Commissioner Buchanan?” the soft southern drawl came from behind him.

 

Bo froze when he heard the voice. He knew that voice and even as his eyes widened as Vega’s were, his back stiffening, he turned.

 

And met the inquisitive emerald green eyes of a woman who looked amazingly like the dead.

 

“Blair?” he squeaked. Wincing as he heard his own voice he watched the woman and the man standing next to her exchange puzzled looks.

 

“Excuse me?” she asked softly.

 

“You look…” he trailed off. She shrugged as she exchanged another look with the man at her side. He shook his head before stepping forward offering his hand to Bo.

 

“Special Agent Josh Wexler, FBI… this is my partner Kylie Jensen… I believe you’re expecting us?” he queried quietly.

 

“Oh… yeah… sorry,” Bo stuttered as he continued to shoot quick glances at an amused Kylie. “We have Mr. Manning and Mrs. Buchanan in one of the rooms. We’ve kept them separated from Ms. Buchanan just as you instructed. You said you wanted to speak to them alone.”

 

“That’s fine… We’ll talk to Mr. Manning and Mrs. Buchanan first. I know we’re a little late and they probably have other appointments…”

 

“Actually why don’t you start without me I want to use the ladies room real quick,” Kylie interrupted.

 

“Okay,” Josh shrugged nonchalantly. “Commissioner…”

 

“Sure… This way,” Bo said leading Josh away.

 

Behind them they heard Antonio mutter to himself, “Manning’s going to have a cow.”

 

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

 

Todd paced the length of the room. He was tired of waiting. These FBI agents that had been so interested in their statements had yet to show. Taking a look at the clock on the wall he shook his head as he determined that they were now almost an hour late, he wasn’t waiting anymore. If they wanted to talk to him they could wait for him to fit them into his schedule.

 

“Todd why don’t you sit down… Pacing is not going to help,” Viki said quietly from where she sat on the table.

 

“You know for agents that supposedly wanted to get statements from us so badly you wouldn’t know it by their timeliness,” he grumbled running a hand through his hair.

 

“Things happen Todd… they might have run into traffic. They might have decided to talk to Jessie first.”

 

Todd and Viki both turned when they heard the door open and Bo led another man into the room.

 

“Well it’s about damn time,” Todd growled.

 

“Todd,” Viki said softly smiling up at Bo. “He’s a little tired of the waiting.”

 

“We got stuck in traffic on our way up… We’ll have to wait just a few minutes more for my partner.” Josh nodded at both of them before setting his briefcase on the table. Holding out his hand he offered it to Todd. “Special Agent Josh Wexler.”

 

“Todd Manning,” Todd grumbled.

 

“Viki Buchanan,” Viki smiled softly, shooting a warning glance at Todd telling him to behave himself.

 

“I believe we spoke on the phone Mrs. Buchanan?” Josh asked busying himself taking folders out of his briefcase. “Commissioner Buchanan I believe we’ll be okay in here. If you could go check on the young Miss Buchanan we’ll talk to her as soon as we’re done in here.”

 

“Sure,” Bo said shaking his head as he looked over at Todd.

 

“So… what are we waiting for?” Todd asked finally sitting in his chair, lounging back casually.

 

“I believe Agent Wexler was waiting for me,” the soft southern drawl came from behind them. The drawl was stronger than he remembered. But the voice was one he would recognize anywhere and Todd Manning decided that is was probably a good thing he was already sitting down, he would have hated to embarrass himself by falling flat on his ass.

 

Turning his head slowly, lest it be a dream and any sudden movement cause him to wake, he faced her and drew in a sharp breath. He heard Viki gasp beside him but it barely registered as he stood, the woman’s emerald green eyes watching him warily as he advanced on her.

 

“Dear lord,” he heard Viki utter in a whisper behind him.

 

He reached out a hand slowly to touch her cheek, but instead let his fingers hover over her skin.

 

“Mr. Manning?” he heard agent Wexler ask behind him, his eyes locked on hers he ignored him.

 

“Blair?” he whispered.

 

“I think you have me confused with somebody else,” she smiled sadly. Stepping away from him she offered him her hand instead, “Special agent Kylie Jensen FBI.”

 

Todd took her offered hand and felt her jump even as his muscles flinched at the connection that he had only ever felt with Blair before. He didn’t know what was going on here. This woman that was Blair, but said she wasn’t. This woman who he felt the same sense of electricity that he’d only ever felt with Blair.

 

Kylie let him hold her hand for just a few seconds before discreetly yanking it away, clenching it at her side as she assumed her most aloof demeanor.

 

Moving away from him she put the table between them setting her briefcase on the table and taking a seat next to Josh. Exchanging a brief look with him she shook hand with Viki.

 

“Mr. Manning would you have a seat please?” she asked softly unsnapping the locks on her case she pulled out several folders never looking directly at him as she busied herself with the items in front of her.

 

Todd sat back down, hands folded on the table he watched her as she studiously avoided his gaze, when he spoke, speaking of what had happened to his niece she never actually met his eyes.

 

Looking at his shoulder, the tablet in front of her, her partner, Viki.

 

Anywhere but him.

 

And that only made him wonder what she was afraid he would see if she let him see her eyes.

  

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

 

Viki studied the woman sitting across from her. Agent Wexler had taken Todd into a separate room, the agent probably of the mindset that he might get more cooperation from her brother if Kylie was not present.

 

She probably should have told him that if he wanted Todd to cooperate he should have sent Kylie into a separate room with him so she would be forced to pay attention to him.

 

“Is there anything else Mrs. Buchanan?” Kylie asked looking up from the tablet she had been making notations on.

 

“No… I believe we have covered everything that happened that day,” Viki smiled at her, a smile Kylie returned after a moment. “This man that attacked my daughter… the agents that took our initial statements said that he had been wanted for quite some time by the FBI.”

 

“He was right. Carlos is quite the vicious sociopath, he doesn’t care who he hurts, kills… whatever he wants he just takes,” Kylie said bitterly leaning back in her chair.

 

“It sounds like you’ve had the opportunity to meet him,” Viki said quietly.

 

“Yes I have, and trust me the next time I meet him he’ll be behind bars where he belongs,” Kylie said emphatically, her eyes flashing brilliantly. After a moments pause she asked nonchalantly, “Who did your brother think I was?”

 

Viki leaned forward her eyes searching for any sign of recognition, when she found none she sighed. “He thought you were his ex-wife. You look exactly like her, so much so that you could be her twin… I don’t suppose…?”

 

“No, I wasn’t adopted,” Kylie answered the unspoken question quietly. “They say everyone has a twin…”

 

“Yes, well it is quite eerie. Even your voice is the same,” Viki mused quietly. For a moment she thought she saw something flash in her eyes, but in an instant it was gone replaced by a dark, blank expression.

 

“You didn’t like her,” Kylie said softly tapping her fingers against the table.

 

“How?”

 

“Your tone… it’s…”

 

“It didn’t matter whether I liked her or not, my brother loved her… if he’d had his way they would have been remarried and raising their children together… but as it stood she fled, she died six months later,” Viki said firmly.

 

“I’m sorry,” Kylie said. Shaking her head as if to clear it she looked Viki directly in the eyes. “Maybe it would be best if your brother and I stayed as far away from each other as possible… I don’t want him to be uncomfortable with my presence in town.”

 

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

 

Todd stood in the open doorway watching the occupants of the room. Intent on their task they had not noticed him yet.

 

Josh sat on the edge of a table watching his partner walk slowly in front of the pictures tacked to the wall. Kylie passed her right hand over the pictures as she studied each one. The three silver bands on the middle finger of her right hand catching the light as she moved.

 

“So?” Josh asked softly. When she was like this, she forgot that others were in the room with her.

 

“So what?” she answered absently.

 

“Anything? Thoughts, comments, rants?”

 

“I don’t get it,” she said softly looking at the latest picture to be added to Carlos’ victims. Jessica Buchanan.

 

“You don’t get what?”

 

“Unless he’s changing his MO she doesn’t match… she’s ten years out of the age range of his other victims, he really didn’t try to hard to injure her, it doesn’t make any sense… He held back, it was like he knew he would be interrupted,” Kylie mused softly.

 

“So why the girl, if he wasn’t part of the larger picture what was her purpose?”

 

Kylie looked hard at the picture, finger tapping the edge of it as she studied, her mind far away from the station in Llanview. “I was right,” she said suddenly.

 

“Right about what Ky?”

 

“It’s a trap… he used the girl to lure us here,” she stated.

 

“Lure us here? Why would he want to do that?” Josh asked sliding off the table and moving next to Kylie. Todd could see him watching her expectantly. “Do you think it has anything to do with this lookalike dead woman?”

 

“I don’t know… it could. Does seem kind of strange that the young woman attacked was the niece of a man whose ex-wife looked like me.”

 

“Huh?” Josh asked puzzled.

 

“Todd Manning’s ex-wife looked like me… better?” Kylie smirked.

 

“Yeah… So you think Carlos set a trap for us? Using the girl as bait to draw us here… for what purpose?”

 

“I think we’ll find out when he tips his hand.”

 

“Don’t like this Kylie,” Josh shook his head. “I thought he had some grand plan in this game that the two of you have been playing… what’s changed to make him lure us here?”

 

Kylie turned noticing Todd standing in the doorway her chin raised defiantly as her eyes locked with his. “Maybe he’s as tired of the game as I am.”

 

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

 

Kylie stared at the pictures laid out on the table in front of her. They were the same pictures hanging on the wall behind her and the sad thing was she needed neither set of pictures to see the inhumane acts of a madman.

 

Holding the picture of Jessica Buchanan’s bloodied wrists in one hand she ran her other over the pile of pictures. The abrasions, the pattern the rope had made digging into her skin was one that she had seen before. Tapping a finger along the edge of the pictures she finally found the one she sought.

 

Victim number 2. Catherine Siegel. Age 37, had identical rope burns on her wrists when found.

 

She sighed softly. So at least they knew they weren’t dealing with a copycat. That had been her first and worse fear. But the patterns of the ropes, the way they were tied around the victims’ wrists had never been released to the media. Neither had the fact that Carlos seemed to be starting over. The victim just prior to Jessica had the same patterns as the first victim.

 

Laying the pictures side by side she rested her head in her hand as she studied them. The only difference between Jessica and Catherine was Jessica was still alive, while Catherine was dead.

 

Her cell phone ringing interrupted her private thoughts, glancing at her watch she flipped it open, holding it to her ear with a soft, “Jensen.”

 

“Where are you?”

 

Kylie winced as she recognized the voice. “Um… well…”

 

“You’re on your way right? The parents and I are not just hanging out in front of Corleone’s for no reason right?”

 

“Well… I’m at work,” she explained quietly leaning back in her chair.

 

“You’re at work,” he laughed quietly. “She’s at work,” she heard him say to someone else.  She heard a male laughing as he came back on the phone. “Well leave work, we’ll change the reservations… how soon can you be here?”

 

“Well… About 6 hours if Josh drives,” she winced again.

 

“What?”

 

“I’m out of town, we got a lead on Carlos.”

 

“Hey dad, get a table for four… I’ll be right back,” she heard Michael say into the phone. The fading of voices indicated that he had moved away from the crowd at the restaurant to give himself privacy. “All right what the hell is going on?”

 

“I told you… we got a lead on Carlos, Josh and I are just following up on it.”

 

“And?”

 

“The victim is still alive, her mother and uncle interrupted him.”

 

“So they caught him? It’s over with?”

 

“No, he got away… but we know he’s still here,” she glanced down at the pictures. “He lured us here.”

 

“Where’s here?” he asked suspiciously.

 

“Llanview PA,” she said quietly. “I know what you’re going to say…”

 

“You have no clue what I’m going to say,” he said loudly. “All right maybe you do… Are you fucking nuts?! Have you lost your god forsaken mind?!” she heard him take a deep breath, trying to control his anger. "I guess it would be too much to hope that you’re going to let someone else take this case? That you’re coming back before he has a chance, before everything…”

 

“It’s going to be okay Michael,” she soothed. She knew why he was worried. She knew that he had put his career and life on the line doing what he did. “The covers are all in place, I’m protected. Nothing is going to happen.”

 

“After all the crap I went through to protect you,” she could envision him shaking his head on the other end in exasperation. “You just give yourself to him.”

 

“I’m not giving myself to him, I’m doing my job… A job may I remind you that you taught me how to do.”

 

“Don’t blame this on me.”

 

“I’m not,” she said quietly. “I owe you for what you did. You saved my life, that’s not something I’m going to forget any time soon…But this needs to end, I’m tired, I want to go home and know that I’m going to be safe for a change.”

 

“I do understand… you know I do,” he sighed heavily. “I guess I’ll have to eat alone with the parents… you owe me for this now to.”

 

“So… table for four? You bring somebody with you?” she asked with a smile.

 

“Karen.”

 

“Karen,” she laughed. “Your wife Karen. The woman that you called, and I quote, a shrieking hell bitch from the darkest corners of the earth whose sole mission was to destroy you and everything that you loved. That Karen?”

 

“Okay I might have jumped the gun by calling her a shrieking hell bitch.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Alright we made up okay… She apologized for trying to stab me with the steak knife, I apologized for trying to throw her computer out the window. We’re good, of course she’s alone with the parents so we might not be when I get back so…”

 

“Yeah, go save them before she tries to dismember dad,” she laughed.

 

“If you need anything…”

 

“I’ll call you immediately,” she promised.

 

“Be careful,” he warned. “You don’t know what he’s up to.”

 

“I know and I will, have fun at dinner,” she grinned.

 

“Yeah… right. I still think you being in that town is bad news… What if someone…”

 

“I can handle the people of this town, no one here is going to find out anything I’m not ready to reveal to them.”

 

“Right… Why are you not instilling me with any confidence?’

 

“Because you’re a pessimist by nature… and a worrywart.”

 

“Just… be careful, watch your back. Oh and happy birthday,” he said softly. “Hugs.”

 

“You remembered,” she smiled happily. “I’ll be careful,” she promised softly. “Hugs.” She hit the off button on her phone and sat it on the table. Picking up the pictures of Catherine and Jessica that she had been looking at she studied them once more. “What are you up to? And why am I here?”

 

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

 

Todd stood in the shadows of the cemetery and watched the scene in front of him with mild interest. His attention was really back at the Llanview Police department where his Blair was pretending to be a FBI agent.

 

And he was positive that the woman that had been in the room with him was Blair. His Blair. A little older, but still as beautiful as he remembered. Still as stubborn as he remembered.

 

He didn’t understand why she just didn’t drop the façade when she had seen him. When she knew that he knew who she was. Instead she had kept up the pretense, even going so far as to separate him and Viki, sending him off with her partner.

 

He’d had some doubts when he saw her working. Saw her hovering over the pictures, scouring them for clues. For information. And for one brief moment he had thought he was wrong. But she had turned and met his eyes and that energy, that spark he always felt with her had leaped between them and he’d known he was right.

 

So why was she still pretending? Why had she been hiding from him all these years? Where was their child? Had she thought he would be angry that she was alive instead of dead? He had been momentarily pissed for a moment, but the relief that she was alive, standing in front of him was more overpowering then the anger he had felt.

 

So what to do now?

 

He had already called Briggs to dig up any information on Kylie Jensen and her partner. He wanted as much background as he could gather before he went in and forced her to admit the truth about who she was.

 

No woman of his was going to work for the right side of the law. Especially with his past, not to mention hers.

 

He was undecided about what to tell Starr.

 

Did he tell her that her mother was alive and masquerading as someone else? Or did he wait for Blair to reveal herself?

 

She wouldn’t be able to stay away from Starr. If there was one thing he knew about Blair it was that she would do anything to be near her children. If she had been truly working for the FBI all this time there had probably been agents tailing them, PI’s taking pictures. Maybe he would put a call into Sam Vance and see what she could come up with.

 

He hadn’t had her on his payroll since he’d had her take care of a small problem several years ago. But he had managed to kill two birds with one stone in that endeavor. Managing to finally remove Tea from his and his daughters’ lives, as well as retying Blair to him.

 

Tea had been furious, but with what he had uncovered she’d been unable to stop him. At the time he’d also had Dorian’s backing. Something that he hadn’t had since the fateful day when they learned of “Blair’s” fate. But by that time all the wheels had already been in motion. Nothing she could say or do could stop what he'd planned.

 

And she had tried. Lord knew she’d tried.

 

“What are you doing skulking in the shadows?” Dorian came up behind him. Todd looked down at her and knew from the gleam in her eye that she’d already heard about Kylie Jensen.

 

“Just watching… Who told you?”

 

“Viki called me, she thought you might be intending to tell Starr,” Dorian said crossing her arms over her chest. She wrinkled her nose as she felt her heels sinking into the wet soil. Cassie had told her to wear sneakers or flats, but she hadn’t.

 

“I actually haven’t decided what to tell Starr yet… but when and if I do, I don’t need your approval for that,” Todd stated coldly.

 

“Do you really think that this woman is Blair Todd?”

 

“You haven’t seen her Dorian…”

 

“We saw the body Todd, we brought her back to Llanview ourselves… If that woman wasn’t Blair who was she?”

 

“I don’t know… Maybe Blair did have a twin. Maybe Addie just didn’t remember that.”

 

“I would think Addie would remember having two babies,” Dorian laughed quietly.

 

“Why?” Todd asked looking down at her an angry sneer lining his face. “Half the time she doesn’t even remember the one.”

 

“Todd,” Dorian sighed looking back at the cemetery. Starr and Cassie were giggling off to one side, Kelly was sitting on one side of Blair’s headstone. “Just think about Starr’s reaction before you do something rash. I know that’s difficult for you, but if you’re wrong and you get Starr’s hopes up…”

 

“Everything I’ve done has been for my daughter,” Todd said angrily his voice raising, Starr and Cassie both heard him and turned their heads. Starr smiled wildly running over to them.

 

“I didn’t think you were coming dad,” she glanced down at her watch. “You’re really late,” she scolded.

 

“But I’m here,” he grinned touching the top of her head. “Did you save me a cupcake?” he questioned laying an arm over her shoulder as he shot a warning glance at Dorian before letting his daughter lead him to the grave.

 

“You know I did dad,” she giggled. “I got you something too.”

 

“Got me something? It’s not my birthday it’s your mothers,” Todd said in confusion as he watched Starr disappear behind the headstone coming back out with a wide wrapped item. She smiled as she handed it to him.

 

“I know,” she watched with expectant eyes as he first shook it then started ripping the paper off. “Aunt Dorian helped me with it… I hope you like it.”

 

“I’m sure it’ll be great,” Todd said as he tore the last sheet of paper off and felt the prick of tears at his eyes, sadness lining his heart.

 

“It’s the picture dad… You know the one that we hung at Dorian’s, the one that mom got cut off on cause the frame was too small,” Starr moved to her fathers side, resting her head on his shoulder as she touched the picture lightly. Tracing her mothers’ face.

 

“It’s beautiful shorty,” he said softly, he pressed a kiss to the top of her head his eyes flickering briefly to Dorian who was standing stoically to the side, arms crossed over her chest. “Thank you Dorian,” he said awkwardly.

 

“I thought you could hang it over the fireplace at the penthouse,” Dorian said as she moved to his other side. Cassie and Kelly hanging back as the three looked down at the picture. “You didn’t have a picture of the three of you together.”

 

Todd looked down at her, he could read the condemnation in her eyes, intermingled with the sadness that she still felt. The anger she still harbored towards him.

 

He could hear the words that she wasn’t speaking. Could hear the blame, the blame that the reason that there was no portrait of the three of them was his fault.

 

That he alone had caused Blair to run straight into her death.

 

As he looked back down at the picture, his eyes focusing on the brilliant green of hers he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Kylie Jensen was Blair Cramer.

 

Now how did he get her to admit it?

 

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

 

In a darkened room a madman sat alone at a desk rifling through pictures, papers, envelopes for what he sought.

 

He didn’t think he was a madman. In his mind he was a misunderstood genius who only wanted to make people understand. To make her understand.

 

She had been nothing before this started. She had only been important to him, her gifts had only been important to him. Not that she had known that, she had found out when he revealed himself. When he had taken her and the other one. He had destroyed one, he hadn’t meant to, he hadn’t understood then that they were the same.

 

So now she had full-blown psychic powers, when before she’d only had minor gifts. Small powers that meant little but were a power of their own, a power that he hadn’t had. Her new powers could be directly attributed to him. If he hadn’t done what he did to force her over the edge she would still be mediocre. She couldn’t claim mediocrity any longer. She should thank him for forcing greatness on her.

 

But she never thanked him. She hated her newfound gifts with a passion and sought only to use them to punish and destroy him. It hadn’t always been that way though. She hadn’t always fought him. It was only in the last few years that she had sought to destroy him.

 

And he believed that he had finally found out why. He couldn’t allow anyone to destroy him before his mission was complete. Especially not her.

 

He didn’t believe that anyone besides her and her brother knew her secret. He’d finally found out what they were hiding and he was almost giddy with anticipation. Soon he would have everything.

 

Soon he would have the power to once again control her, and by controlling her, he could control her gifts again.

 

Soon.

 

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

 

Kylie tiredly walked off the elevator to her room. Every muscle in her body ached and she longed to just fall into bed. She was staying in the Palace hotel. Most definitely a four star and she had been shocked. The FBI didn’t normally spring for hotels of the class that the Palace was.

 

She had spent another two hours after her phone call from Michael scouring the pictures at the police station, finally deciding that it was time to get some sleep when she had almost knocked herself out falling into her coffee cup.

 

Josh had left much earlier. Leaving shortly after the interviews with Todd Manning and the two Buchanan women, he had wanted to get them checked in and secured at their motel. When he had called an hour after leaving and told her they were staying at the Palace instead of the motel they had passed she had shrugged and told him to do whatever.

 

As long as she had a pillow to put under her head and a door she could lock she didn’t care where she slept.

 

She stopped suddenly as she walked down the hall as she saw the man leaning against the wall by her door tapping a foot impatiently.

 

“Shit,” she muttered under her breath as she plastered a smile on her face. “Mr. Manning,” she nodded as she gripped her key card in her hand. “Did you need something?”

 

“I wanted to talk to you,” Todd said quietly, his eyes boring holes through her as he gazed intently at her. Eyes searching for the truth. Truth’s she wasn’t prepared to either tell him or for him to find out.

 

“About what?”

 

“Oh, I think you know.”

 

She waited, then realizing that he wasn’t going to say anything else until she opened the door she reluctantly shoved her key card through the slot opening the door. Pushing it open she held it for him. “After you Mr. Manning,” she said politely a broad fake smile firmly in place.

 

“Thanks,” he grinned sweetly at her as he walked into the room.

 

“Whatever,” she muttered as she followed him letting the door shut behind her. “I’ll just tell you that I’m armed, if you try anything funny…”

 

“Why would I do that?” Todd asked feigning mock innocence as he surveyed the room. “You haven’t unpacked yet?”

 

“This is the first I’ve been here,” Kylie said tossing her key card on her dresser. She shrugged her jacket off, folding it in half she laid it over the back of a chair in the process giving Todd a full view of the gun in the holster at her side.

 

“So when did you lose your fear of guns?” he asked standing in the middle of the room facing her.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“Guns,” Todd said motioning to the one in her holster. “When did you get over your fear?”

 

“I’m not now nor have I ever been afraid of guns.”

 

“Hmm… really… I’ll have to remember that.”

 

“What do you want?” Kylie asked crossing her arms loosely over her chest as she stared at him.

 

“I want to know how much longer you’re planning on playing this charade.”

 

“This isn’t a charade Mr. Manning… This is my life.”

 

“No! This is not your life. Your life is here… with me, with our daughter, with our son…Where they hell have you hidden him?”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kylie said quietly as she moved to the dresser. Leaning casually against it she tapped her fingers against the smooth wood, her eyes raising but not quite meeting his.

 

“Oh… but I think you do,” Todd said his lips forming a small smile as he stalked towards her. Stopping in front of her he waited for her eyes to meet his. When they didn’t he gripped her chin in his hand and forced her head up glaring down at her. “This ends now… You’re going to call your partner and whoever else knows the truth and you’re going to tell them that it’s over. Then you’re going to go get our child, our son from wherever you hid him and you’re going to come home. Do I make myself clear?” he stated coldly.

 

She jerked her face out of his grip her eyes blank as she moved away from him. When she felt the wall against her back she scowled, when she saw the thin smile on his lips she felt the furious anger take her over. How dare he! He had no idea what was at stake here! Forming a fist with one hand she drove it into his stomach, while he was recovering she slipped past him, gripping his arm, and suddenly he was being flipped. Landing hard on his back on the ground he lay there stunned, groaning.

 

She sat on his chest. Knees on either side of him as she pressed her arm lightly against his neck her angry eyes meeting his now pain filled ones.

 

“Damn,” he groaned. “How the hell did you do that?”

 

“You’d be surprised what I can do,” she sneered down at him. “Now listen to me quite carefully. Because I will not repeat myself. This he-man, drag your female back to the cave shit may work with the other women in your life, it may even have worked with your ex-wife. It sure as hell won’t work with me. Have I made myself clear?”

 

“My wife,” Todd said quietly closing his eyes before he pushed her off him as he sat up.

 

“What?”

 

“My wife… not my ex-wife.”

 

“I don’t understand,” Kylie said her voice filled with confusion as she stared blankly at him.

 

“You’re my wife… Our divorce was over turned several years ago,” Todd said climbing to his feet, pressing a hand against his now aching back he groaned again quietly then looked down at the woman still sitting on the floor staring at him dumbly.

 

“Wouldn’t she have known about that?” she asked quietly as she took his extended hand and let him help her to her feet.  She stood in front of him, arms wrapped around her waist as she waited for his response.

 

“You were already missing when I did it,” Todd said with a weak smile, he walked over to the window, brushing one of the curtains back he stared down at the lights of Llanview. “The police wouldn’t do anything to find you… I thought if I got the divorce over turned at least when you came back you would be bound to me… to our family.”

 

“Wouldn’t her family have had something to say about it?”

 

“Dorian helped me, she, uh… she found out some information about my other ex-wife… Tea Delgado,” he supplied looking over his shoulder at her. When she didn’t respond he turned his gaze back out the window. “We used that to get Delgado to help us… Course by the time things were firmly under way we found your… the body, the one we identified as you. Dorian tried to stop it but…”

 

“I thought Ms. Delgado loved your family.”

 

“Oh she did… we didn’t love her though,” he laughed hollowly. “She begged me to not do it, she even tried to re-insuate herself into our family… Especially after we found the body, I was… I was distraught, so was Starr… She told Starr that she was going to be her new mommy and Starr…” Todd grinned at the memory of his spitfire of a daughter. “Starr told her that she didn’t need a new mother, that hers was coming home, Tea kept trying to tell her that you were dead, that there wasn’t anyway for you to come back and Starr she, well she kicked her. Told her she was a liar. Almost broke her knee, it was the most amusement I got in those days.”

 

“I’m sorry,” Kylie said softly. “Maybe it would have been better if you had let Ms. Delgado have what she wanted.”

 

Todd whirled in disbelief, just staring at her momentarily before he sighed heavily. She wasn’t going to drop the pretense. She was going to continue to repeat what he didn’t want to hear. He walked over to her slowly, she watched him warily as he stopped in front of her. Cupping her face in his hands he forcefully tilted it so she was looking directly into his.

 

He could see pain there, remorse. Why would she not tell him the truth? Was she afraid of him still? After all these years how could that be?

 

“I only ever loved you,” he said quietly forcing her to see the truth in his eyes. It had taken a long time for him to realize. But if she wouldn’t tell him the truth then he would force her to hear his, whether she wanted to or not. “I came back to this stupid town for you, for our daughter. I wanted my family back, the family that I had stupidly thrown away because I listened to people that I shouldn’t have… I should have been listening to my heart, the one everyone told me I didn’t have… It was telling me what to do the entire time and I squashed it, telling it that it was wrong, that I had to love Tea when I didn’t… I… I loved you, I love you… Please come home,” he whispered.

 

“Todd,” she said softly her eyes filling with tears. “Please don’t…”

 

Todd cut her off by pressing his lips gently to hers. He stroked her cheeks with the pads of his fingers, gentling her, trying to show her what he spoke was real. He could feel the ever-present connection as he just touched her, not trying to deepen the kiss just reveling in the feeling of having her close to him. He knew she felt that connection as well, knew it when she lifted her hands to his neck winding her fingers in his hair.

 

He had grown it out for her when she had been missing. He kept it long for her and he had never imagined that he would ever feel her fingers combing through it. Easing away from her he moved just a hairs breadth away staring down at her. Her flushed cheeks, her bright eyes.

 

“Blair,” he whispered.

 

Which it seemed was the wrong thing to say. Shutters seemed to close over her eyes as her hands dropped to his chest and pushed him away. Running a hand over her face he watched in amazement as she composed herself, he could almost see the steel barrier of her new personality, of her new life being thrown up as her defense against him.

 

A defense that he didn’t know how to breach yet. But he would.

 

“I think you should leave now Mr. Manning,” she ordered softly walking to the door. Unlatching the dead bolt she yanked it open holding it for him. As she watched him continue to stand in the middle of her room eyeing her in shock that turned to satisfaction when she started tapping her foot impatiently. Desperate to be rid of him.

 

“This isn’t over babe,” he said with a smug smirk. He knew he had gotten to her, she was kicking him out before she fell apart and told him the truth.

 

But there was plenty of time for the truth, now that he knew she wasn’t as indifferent to him as she would have him believe. That she still loved him, or at the very least still desired him. The way she had clung to him… only pushing him away when he had made the mistake of uttering her real name. Maybe it was a form of amnesia he mused to himself as he walked towards her. He would have to have Briggs look into it.

 

“Yes it is,” she said stiffly.

 

He just smiled at her, eyebrow cocked as he recognized the sign of battle lines being drawn in the sand. He had crossed them before he would cross them again. And someday she would thank him.

 

He knew she would be angry for a while over him having the divorce reversed. But when she sat down and thought about it he knew she would see his point. That it had been the only way.

 

Stopping in the doorway next to her he looked at her, imprinting her face, her eyes in his memory. Reaching a hand out he stroked her cheek before winking at her and sauntering confidently down the hallway.

 

Kylie stared after him as he climbed into the elevator, not turning back to check and make sure she was watching because she knew that he knew that she was. As the doors closed her demeanor crumbled and she slammed the door, hooking the dead bolt in place as she collapsed on the floor in front of the door sobbing.

 

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

 

In the elevator Todd smiled as he plucked his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Brigg’s number.

 

“It’s me,” he barked into the phone. Almost too happy to do even that. He wanted to celebrate. It was only a matter of time before she broke and admitted the truth he already knew.

 

“Mr. Manning,” Briggs said breathlessly. “Thank god! I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for the last hour and a half.”

 

“I turned the phone off… didn’t want to be disturbed. What’ve you found for me on Kylie Jensen and her partner?”

 

“Quite a bit actually…”

 

“And?”

 

“Mr. Manning I don’t think it’s something that you really want to hear over the phone, I think it’s something you need to see,” Briggs said distractedly. He was looking down at the pictures. The photos sitting side by side of the same woman in two places at once. He didn’t understand… maybe Mr. Manning would.

 

“Whatever… You still at the Sun?”

 

“Yes sir.”

 

“Good… I’m on my way, I should be there in about 15 minutes,” Todd said as the elevator reached the lobby. Grinning happily to himself he pushed past Max and Gabrielle Holden, not even bothering to acknowledge them as he hung up his phone humming a jaunty little tune under his breath.

 

“Wonder what he’s so happy about?” he heard Gabby ask as he moved away from them.

 

Oh if you only knew Gabrielle… If you only knew, Todd grinned. She would soon enough. They would all know soon enough.

 

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

 

Todd stared at the two pictures lying on the desk in front of him. To say he was stunned would be a gross understatement.

 

One picture was of him and Blair, his wife, crashing that stupid ball when they were first married. He vividly remembered that red dress and idly wondered whatever happened to it.

 

The second picture was the same evening and showed Kylie Jensen, her brother Michael and father Paul posing together after Michael won some achievement medal for the DC Police department he worked for. All three had the same brilliant green eyes of his wife. Same wheat colored hair. Had Blair somehow been related to this family?

 

Maybe a twin separated at birth from her other half?

 

How different would her life have been had she been raised by this family? Would she still have met him, been his friend, married him, had children with him? Somehow he didn’t think so.

 

The brother looked to be the protective type… his arm resting over his sisters shoulder, her head resting against his. The father stood on the other side of her, hand probably setting in the small of her back… although Todd couldn’t tell from the picture.

 

Could he have been wrong? Was Blair actually dead and Kylie Jensen was just a look-a-like who was doing her job. Searching for a madman… Todd briefly shook his head. No, he was positive that the woman posing as Kylie Jensen was his Blair. So that begged the question… where was Kylie Jensen?

 

Was she the woman that he and Dorian had mistaken for Blair and buried in the Lord family plot?

 

“Mr. Manning?” Todd lifted his head to see Briggs hovering anxiously in the doorway. Another picture and a stack of papers held tightly in his hand.

 

“What else have you found?” he asked waving in him a frown creasing his face as Briggs laid the picture in his hands next to the two the Todd had been studying. Running his hands over his face he closed his eyes. “Same day?” he asked tiredly.

 

“Yes sir… that’s Darleen Connick and her brother Wesley. The picture was taken at her fashion school graduation in Paris the same evening as the other two.”

 

“I don’t get it… Are they triplets?” Todd looked up at a confused Briggs. “How can three women look identical? I could buy the two… but three…” he shook his head. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

 

“Yes… well sir I think it’s about to get even more confusing,” Briggs winced as he sat the papers in his hand down.

 

Todd scowled as the headline jumped out at him.

 

FBI Agent attacked, Witness in coma

 

“Damn,” he muttered. “Go away!”

 

Briggs rushed out the door closing it behind him and Todd stared down at the papers, eyes flickering to the pictures before he started reading.

 

FBI Special Agent Kylie Jensen remains in the hospital in unconscious listed in critical condition today after she was attacked outside her home three weeks ago. The agent who had been guarding the only eyewitness in the FBI’s investigation against serial rapist/murder Carlos Guitterez was reported missing after she failed to check in with her partner. When agents arrived on the scene of the safe house the two women had been firmly ensconced in they found indications of a fight and both women missing.

  

Four days after their disappearance Agent Jensen and the as yet still unidentified witness managed to escape from their captor. Jensen who had been severely beaten and stabbed managed to free herself and then running on adrenaline managed to get both herself and her witness to the local DC hospital.

 

Nurse Janine Carmichael was on duty the night that they appeared in the emergency room and she went on record at the time as saying, “It was the most amazing thing I think any of us had even seen. We just stood around gawking for a moment before we rushed to help them. Agent Jensen had pretty much dragged the other women to the hospital, the women are about the same height and weight so it couldn’t have been a small feat.”

 

Agent Jensen lapsed into unconsciousness moments after being relieved of her precious cargo. Her brother, Washington DC Police Detective Michael Jensen identified her by her jewelry and he vowed vengeance against the man that did this.

 

The witness, still unidentified at this time remains in a coma. Her injuries have not been released to the press although one hospital insider stated, under a guarantee of anonymity that she had been sorely misused and that she would more than likely die from the gunshot wound to the head.

 

At this time the FBI, which continues to have agents guarding both women, continues it’s silence and has not released a statement confirming Carlos Guitterez’s involvement in the abduction and assault against the two women.

 

Todd stared at the words that seemed to be mocking him. His greatest fear had always been one of his girls being hurt the way he had hurt Marty. He’d had nightmares about it.

 

Growling low in his throat he thrust the paper away from him, focusing once again on the pictures in front of him.

 

Michael Jensen would know the truth. He would have to know that the woman he had identified as his sister was in fact not his sister. Had he done it in an attempt to protect Blair from the madman that had tried to kill her? What had Blair seen that made her a target?

 

Why had Kylie not told him that her witness had been his wife? She would have to know that he would focus on newspapers to find out what the hell was going on. Had she thought that he would just let it drop?

 

He knew in her current guise of Kylie Jensen that those answers would not be forthcoming. At least not from her. But in order to get Blair home, in order to get his son home he would need to get rid of the threat against their safety. And that threat seemed to be this Carlos. This man that had brutalized Kylie Jensen believing her to be Blair he was sure.

 

But it seemed he had another mystery besides just the Kylie / Blair mess. He held all three pictures in his hand, fanning them so he could see just the three women. The men were inconsequential at this point.

 

Their faces were the same, their smiles and especially their eyes.

 

Those emerald green eyes that had always seemed to transfix him, that had threatened to suck him in when she focused their power on him. The three sets of emerald green eyes that seemed to glitter at him as if they alone knew an invaluable secret.

 

A secret he would have to learn if he wanted to bring her safely home.

 

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

 

Kylie tossed and turned in the bed. She sat up agitatedly, fluffing her pillow roughly she thrust it back in its spot and flopped back down. Staring at the ceiling as she once again tried to unsuccessfully count sheep to sleep. She could do this. She had to do this. People were counting on her to be strong… so why did she all of a sudden feel so weak.

 

Crying like baby on the floor. She hadn’t cried in years. Hadn’t allowed herself the luxury. There would be time for all the tears in the world once this was over with. And she had a lot saved up.

 

“Damn you Todd Manning,” she muttered as she sat up once again. She wasn’t going to let him interfere with this. He didn’t understand, she couldn’t let him understand because that would mean telling him the truth. And sometimes she wasn’t even sure what the truth was anymore.

 

Running her fingers through her hair she closed her eyes momentarily then flung the covers aside and stood. Peeling off her sweats she pulled on the jeans and sweatshirt that she’d left folded on the chair. Pulling on her boots she grabbed her keycard and wallet from the dresser and made her way down to the Palace bar.

 

Surveying the scene in front of her she decided that she was glad that Josh had made the command decision to stay here instead of the motel. If they’d been in the motel she would have had to find the closest bar and then she would have had to bring her gun.

 

“Can I help you?” a short older woman with cropped chestnut hair walked up to her. “Oh. My. God,” she uttered as she stared at Kylie in disbelief.

 

“Yeah… bar’s still open isn’t it?” Kylie asked smiling down at her, her smile faltering as the woman continued to stare at her in openmouthed amazement. “Ma’am?” she asked waving her hand in front of her face.

 

“Um… yes, yes it is,” she said shaking her head as if to clear it. “I’m Renee Buchanan I run this hotel,” she said with a cautious smile as she extended her hand.

 

“Kylie Jensen, I believe you checked my partner in earlier,” Kylie smiled as she shook her hand. “Is there a problem?”

 

“No! No… It’s just you look so much like…” Renee shook her head again. “But that’s neither here nor there… The bar is open until 2:00 am,” she smiled before she walked away. Wait until Asa hears about this.

 

Kylie watched her leave with a frown then walked into the bar area, taking a seat on a free stool she crossed her arms on the bar as she waited for the bartender to turn his attention to her.

 

“What can I get you ma’am?” he asked setting a napkin in front of her and then patiently waiting.

 

“Scotch on the rocks,” she smiled. At last someone who didn’t think she looked like someone else.

 

“Sure thing.”

 

As she waited she drew a bowl of peanuts over to her, picking one out she had just popped it in her mouth when she heard the barely whispered, “Blair?” from behind her.

 

Sighing she turned and came face to face with a short, long curly haired brunette who was staring at her in shock.

 

“No, sorry, you must have me confused with someone else,” she smiled graciously as she winced on the inside. How many times was she going to have to say this before people finally got the picture and understood?

 

“Oh… I’m so sorry,” the woman whispered before rushing away. Kylie sighed again, maybe coming to the bar was a bad idea. Turning back to the bar she had just about decided to go back to her room when she felt someone sit on the stool next to her.

 

“Get used to it,” the amused male voice said from beside her.

 

“Excuse me?” she asked turning to her new drinking partner.

 

“Get used to it… for some reason this town has a hard time adjusting to people who look like other people. I still get punched by people who’ve mistaken me for my twin Colin,” he laughed.

 

“Really… Kylie Jensen,” she held out her hand to him.

 

“Troy MacIver… You’re one of the FBI agents aren’t you?” he asked as they watched the bartender put her drink down. Troy shook his head as he fingered the lip of his beer mug.

 

“How’d you know?” Kylie asked her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

 

“I was one of the doctors that treated Jessica Buchanan… I’d heard that they were calling the FBI in… I’ve never seen you before so I put two and two together…”

 

“And came up with four… Somehow I think it’s a bad idea to for me to be here. Especially since I seem to look like this dead woman that everyone in town seemed to know.”

 

“You mean like Cassie?”

 

“Who?”

 

“Cassie Cramer… that was the woman that approached you before I sat down. I guess you do look a lot like Blair,” Troy said as he squinted his eyes, tilting his head to one side as he studied her appearance. “Your hairs longer though,” he shrugged.

 

“Let me guess,” Kylie groaned letting her head fall against the bar. “You knew her too?”

 

“No… Saw quite a few pictures of her though. Her ex-husband… Todd Manning, when she first disappeared he did like front page spreads on her trying to get someone to tell him where she had run off to… didn’t work though, she turned up dead a few months later.”

 

“So he really did try to find her?”

 

“Oh yeah, the library probably has the paper on film if you want to see them,” Troy offered.

 

“No thanks… I just want people to accept the fact that I’m not her.”

 

“Hmm… I want people to accept the fact that I’m not Colin… but I’ve come to the realization that if I want that I’ll have to go to a different town because this one…” Troy shook his head. “Once they see you as one person it’s hard for them to see you as another.”

 

“Well fortunately I shouldn’t be here for that long,” Kylie smiled hopefully.

 

“Blair?” she heard from behind her, she could feel Troy laughing next to her and in exasperation she whirled on her stool.

 

“No! She’s dead! Deal with it!” she said coldly.

 

“Okay… sure thing… Not a problem,” the man backed away, holding up his hands a shield, eyeing Troy nervously before he turned and skittered away.

 

“Max Holden,” he grinned.

 

“Do I have to wear a fucking T-shirt with my name on it?”

 

“Whatever floats your boat I guess,” Troy said as she turned back to the bar. “You do get used to it after a while.”

 

“Yeah right… When?”

 

“I’m not sure… I’m still waiting.”

 

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

 

Asa Buchanan sat in his living room a cup of coffee in hand he was studying the newspaper in front of him. He normally didn’t read The Sun, preferring to stay as far away as possible from anything associated with Todd Manning. Besides his close friendship with Manning’s daughter he had managed to succeed. But he had been unable to help himself this morning when he had seen the headline of The Sun.

 

Serial Rapist / Murderer Sought By FBI

 

He had to wonder if Manning realized that he would undoubtedly be infuriating the agents that were in town. One that he knew from his wife Renee looked amazingly like Manning’s dead ex-wife. There was no doubt in his mind that this stunt in the paper was Manning’s sick idea foreplay.

 

“Hi Asa,” Starr smiled from where she was leaning against the door.

 

“Miss Starr… your daddy know you left the house wearing that?” Asa asked folding the paper in half and setting it on the end table.

 

“You’re not going to tell on me are you Grandpa Asa?” she asked with a small smirk as she bounced into the room. Perching on the couch next to him.

 

“Nah, your daddy don’t know enough to search you from head to toe before you leave for school that’s his problem… Why aren’t you in school?” he asked suspiciously.

 

“Teacher conference’s today… dad wasn’t home so I thought I’d come see you.”

 

“Hmmm… That was real sweet of you… why?”

 

“Dad’s been on the phone with Brigg’s the last couple of days talking about this FBI agent that’s here… I don’t like it,” Starr wrinkled her nose. Her father was too interested in this woman. The only woman that he was supposed to display that much interest in was her mother.

 

“I think your daddy knows what he’s doing… Maybe you should ask him to introduce you,” Asa said with a half smile. That would be a meeting that would gladly pay to be a fly on the wall during.

 

“No thanks, dad always says that the only good cop is a dead cop,” Starr stated smartly.

 

“I would expect no less from a Manning,” Al said sarcastically from the door.

 

“And I would expect no less from a Holden then eavesdropping on a private conversation,” Starr snapped.

 

“Hey if it was private you would have closed and locked the door and I’m not a Holden,” Al snapped back as he sauntered into the room.

 

“Children!” Asa bellowed, when both teens turned to him in surprise he stood up. “Al why don’t you take Starr back to the penthouse and go see if Clint needs your help today,” he said pouring himself some more coffee.

 

“I don’t want to take her back… she’ll be all snide and shit,” Al whined.

 

“Watch your language boy… there’s a lady present,” Asa snapped, when he saw the smirk cross Starr’s face he turned to her. “And you young lady… I don’t want to see you out here in that type of attire again… If your daddy don’t have the intelligence that god gave a gnat to search you before you leave the house I will… Now do I make myself clear?”

 

“Yes sir,” both mumbled, glaring at each other.

 

“Good… Now be off with you both, you’re ruining my morning coffee,” Asa said sitting back down on the couch unfolding his paper once again.

 

He grinned as he heard the two of them bickering on the way out of the house. Manning and Holden had better keep a close eye on their children. In a few years they might be even closer than they were now. Although it sounded as though they’d had a quarrel recently from the tones of their voices.

 

The friendship that had sprung up between the two of them these last couple of years had been a source of irritation for both their families. It seemed the only person happy about their friendship was him and that was only because he enjoyed seeing Manning and Holden squirm.

 

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

 

Kylie glanced over her case file while she ate her bagel smothered with cream cheese. The thought of food had made her nauseous until she actually started eating. She had vaguely wondered as she started eating if she should call room service for the big breakfast that her brain had overruled her stomach on earlier.

 

She felt restless for some reason. As late as she was out last night, drinking with Troy she should feel tired. Lethargic. But she didn’t. She felt wired for sound and that worried her. She had hoped that perusing the file would relax her.

 

“Jensen,” she said absently into her cell when it rang.

 

“It’s me.”

 

“Karen,” Kylie leaned back in her chair, pushing her plate away as she swung her feet up on the chair across from her. “What’s this I hear about you and Michael getting back together?” she grinned.

 

“Well I don’t know if we’re so much together as we’re having great sex,” Karen laughed.

 

“Okay that’s way more information than I needed at eight o’clock in the morning,” Kylie grimaced.

 

“You know… if you’d get a sex life of your own I wouldn’t feel this insatiable need to regal you with the details of mine.”

 

“I’d feel better about it if it wasn’t my big brother who was the star of them.”

 

“Yeah well… you have to make do with what you have, and let me tell you… your big brother has this amazing thing he does with his tongue that’ll make your toes curl.”

 

“Okay that’s it, another word on sex and Michael out of your mouth and I will hang up on you,” Kylie warned.

 

“You’re no fun,” Karen pouted. “Nobody else will listen to me.”

 

“There’s probably a reason for that… Now did you call just to ruin my breakfast or did you have something for me?”

 

“I have some information for you on your latest victim.”

 

“Jessica Buchanan?”

 

“Yeah,” Kylie could hear her rummaging through papers on her desk. “Here it is… the rope that was used to tie her wrists wasn’t our boys usual type… the fibers of the rope themselves were weaker than his normal grade. She would probably have gotten loose long before he managed to get started.”

 

“Well that’s a good thing,” Kylie began tapping her finger against the tabletop. “Why the change in rope though? He’s been pretty methodical about the items he uses…”

 

“Maybe because the girl wasn’t actually intended as a victim but as bait,” Karen supplied.

 

“You’ve been talking to Michael again.”

 

“Josh actually, but on this point I have to agree with you… this all smells like a setup to me. You being in that town with everything else is a bad idea, I think you should let somebody else handle it.”

 

“Like who?” Kylie asked as she stood to answer the knock on her door. Peering through the view hole she saw Josh with a furious expression on his face. Unhooking the deadbolt she opened the door waving him in. “This is my case. I know Carlos better than anyone. Nobody else can say that.”

 

“Nobody else wants to,” Karen laughed. “What’s wrong?” she asked in alarm when she heard the sudden gasp. “Kylie?!”

 

“That son of a bitch,” she seethed as she ripped the paper the Josh was holding up for her out of his hands.

 

“What? Who are you talking about?” Karen asked quickly.

 

“Karen I’ve gotta go, I’ll call you back later,” Kylie said hitting the off button as Karen was voicing her discontent.

 

“I’ve called the commissioner they’ve already seen it, they’re taking measures to get them off the street now… before Carlos sees it.”

 

“Carlos has already seen this,” Kylie said quietly staring at the bold headline, fuming silently she finally realized why she’d felt edgy and restless this morning. “He’s already taken his next victim.”

 

“How do you know?” Josh asked staring at her quizzically.

 

Kylie raised her eyes to his, the darkness of them overpowering. He didn’t want to know what she’d seen that made her draw that conclusion. Didn’t want to know what vision had happened upon her. He had a feeling he wouldn’t like it. “I just know… all we can do now is wait.” Looking down at the paper one more time she folded it in half, patting her gun already in her holster she pulled her jacket on to cover it and made for the door.

 

“Where are you going?”

 

“I’m going to have a little talk with Mr. Manning,” she said as she waited for him to exit the room.

 

“I’ll come with you.”

 

“No! You’re going to go help the Commissioner do damage control, keep your phone close we’ll have a murder soon.”

 

“Kylie?”

 

“Just do it, please.”

 

“I don’t think you should see Manning alone. Especially not with the temper you’re in.”

 

“Why?” Kylie asked as they got into the elevator. Pressing the button for the lobby she turned to face him. “Are you afraid I’m going to kill him? Trust me that’s the last thing I want to do.”

 

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

 

Starr sat quietly in the passenger seat of Al’s car. A fancy red car with real leather seats that Asa had gifted him with on his sixteenth birthday and that she loved to ride in it. Not that she often got the chance. Maybe she’d get lucky and Asa would get her one just like it when she hit her sixteenth birthday.

 

“Are you going to be mad at me for long?” she asked as she glanced down at her watch.

 

“Why? I would think you would be used to it by now seeing as how you go out of your way to irritate the hell out me,” Al said quietly shifting in his seat as he hit the button to roll the window down. Her perfume was driving him nuts.

 

“I don’t know why you’re so mad,” Starr said softly. “I never promised to call you when we came back from the cemetery.”

 

“Starr,” Al started, shaking his head as he realized that he couldn’t say what he wanted to. She was a female, which meant that if she found out that he had been worried about her she would use it to her advantage.

 

“What?”

 

“Never mind.”

 

“Al,” she reached out a hand, laying it on his arm, he glanced down at it before refocusing on the road. “I’m not that scared little kid anymore. You know, that one that missed her mom horribly, the one that blamed herself… It doesn’t even hurt that much anymore, sometimes I don’t even miss her.”

 

Al glanced over at her as he idled at a red light. “You know I don’t believe that… You may feed that line of bull to Susie or even your dad but I don’t buy it… and you don’t either.”

 

“I don’t know why you even care… its not like you liked my mother,” she said idly.

 

“How I felt about her doesn’t matter, you loved her and you still miss her.”

 

She looked away, watching the scenery fly by as he drove quickly, tears that she couldn’t control pricking at the back of her eyes. He was right, he was always right when it came to this stuff. She hated that about him. That he knew her better sometimes than her own father did. Than her best friend did.

 

“Don’t wear that again,” he ordered softly as he entered the parking garage for the penthouse.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“That outfit you’re wearing… don’t wear it again,” he repeated as he swung into a parking space shutting the car off.

 

“You’re my friend, not my boyfriend… you don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t wear,” Starr stated angrily.

 

“That’s right,” he said grabbing her arm as she made to get out of the car, forcing her to look at him. “I’m your friend and as your friend I’m telling you, no I’m asking you to not wear that again,” he glanced down at the short skirt that barely covered her thighs, the skintight tank top that clung to her.

 

“Why do you care?”

 

“Because you’re my friend and I don’t want to see you get in trouble,” he said softly.

 

Starr pursed her lips thoughtfully as she studied him. He seemed sincere and he actually seemed worried about her. “Fine,” she sighed.

 

“Good,” he grinned opening his door walking over to the passenger side of the car, jumping out back as her door came flying open threatening to hit him.

 

“You’re not coming up with me,” she stated eyebrows raised as she climbed out slamming the door closed behind her she gained a small measure of satisfaction from his wince.

 

“Yeah I am… A gentleman always escorts a lady to her front door.”

 

“You just want to tick off my father,” Starr said as she walked side by side with him to the elevator.

 

“Well yeah, but I also want to see him blow a gasket over your outfit too. It’ll just make my day,” Al grinned.

 

“Glad I could help,” Starr rolled her eyes, she pressed the button for the penthouse. As the doors closed and the elevator started ascending she wondered why she had a bad feeling about this.

 

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

 

Todd rushed to the front door grumbling the entire way. After a long night spent at The Sun getting the days headlines together all he’d wanted was a couple of hours sleep before he had to go back.

 

Yanking open the door with a harsh “What?!” he was shocked but ridiculously pleased to see Kylie standing there very obviously fuming mad.

 

“Babe,” he grinned holding his arms out, which unfortunately for him gave her a perfect opening to land a fist in his stomach. Staggering back with a grunt she pushed past him kicking the door closed behind her.

 

“You miserable rotten bastard! What’s gives you the right to fuck up my life?!” she yelled at him her face flushed in her anger. As he hesitantly straightened he could see her visibly trembling as she paced in front of him.

 

“I think you need to calm down,” he said as he tried to regain control of his senses. Having her in the penthouse wasn’t something that he had been prepared for. He had wanted to have flowers for her, have her favorite wine ready.

 

“Do not tell me what to do you arrogant jack ass!” she said coldly pointing her finger at him.

 

“All right I’ve had enough of the name calling Blair… You’re going to calm down now before you pass out,” he said in what he hoped was a soothing voice as he walked slowly towards her.

 

“Do. Not. Call. Me. By. That Name,” she yelled punctuating each word with a hand in his chest. He grunted as he grabbed her hands holding them tightly in his as he looked blankly down at her. She wasn’t here to beg his forgiveness? To tell him that he was right, she was wrong, she was going to get their child and coming home? Why was she continuing to play this stupid game? “My name is Kylie Jensen, remember it or so help me god,” she snarled as she struggled to regain control of her hands.

 

“And I told you that I don’t buy it,” he said coldly as he pulled her struggling against him. “I know what I know,” he whispered his face inches from her as he stared down at her. “And I know that you are my wife… what I don’t know is what game you’re playing.”

 

“Why did I even bother?” she stated finally managing to yank herself from his tight embrace. “Obviously you have trouble dealing with the truth when it doesn’t fit into your nice neat little world… “ she sneered before whirling on her heel halting suddenly as her startled eyes met those of a stunned Starr Manning.

 

“Starr,” Todd said softly moving forward to intercept their daughter. She wouldn’t understand. Especially with Blair maintaining her Kylie stance.

 

Starr ignored him, brushing past him as if he wasn’t even there throwing her arms around Kylie. “Mommy,” she breathed, sobbing uncontrollably as tears fell freely down her face.

 

Kylie’s pain filled eyes met Todd’s hooded ones before she awkwardly raised her arms to pat the young woman clinging to her on the back.

 

“Starr,” Todd said softly touching her back gently. He glanced over his shoulder at where Al was still standing in the door with a shocked expression on his face.

 

Starr finally backed away touching Kylie’s face gently with one hand, wiping at the tears falling down hers with the other. “I told dad you were alive… that you wouldn’t leave us alone… that he had to be wrong.”

 

“I…I…” Kylie’s wild eyes fluttered anxiously between Todd and Starr as she backed away slowly.

 

“Mom?” Starr said anxiously glancing over at her father who was staring at her with a worried expression on his face.

 

“Babe?” he said softly reaching out to her, just barely touching her arm before her whole body went rigid.

 

“Todd,” she breathed her hands clenching tightly at her side. They watched in stunned silence as her eyes went bright green, her pupils almost vanishing as her eyes seemed to flash. Then they rolled back in her head and she collapsed on the floor.

 

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

 

Todd sat on the edge of the couch watching Larry Woleck do whatever medical stuff he was doing. He had called him as soon as she collapsed an hour ago. He’d held her hands as they twitched uncontrollably, her eyes moving frantically under closed eyelids.

 

Larry finally looked up meeting his eyes, slightly shaking his head as he cast a glance over to where Starr was waiting anxiously, Al standing by her side looking nervous. He didn’t even want to know why the two of them had come to the penthouse together.

 

He, as well as Max had forbidden the friendship. Obviously he would need to reiterate the Holden devil speech.

 

“Starr why don’t you go upstairs,” he said quietly as his eyes held Larry’s.

 

“But dad…” Starr protested.

 

“Go!” he ordered gently. “I’ll tell you if anything happens,” he said when she hesitated. He frowned when she began stomping up the stairs. “Starr?” he called.

 

“What?” she turned on the top step facing him defiantly.

 

“Throw that outfit down after you change into something else.”

 

“Dad…” she started glaring at Al when she saw the smile forming on his face.

 

“I think it’ll make a nice fire,” Todd said quietly his eyes daring her to argue with him.

 

“Whatever,” she said angrily as she turned away again.

 

Al shook his head as they watched her go. Then turned to find Todd watching him with narrowed eyes. “I…  uh… I guess I should go,” he said brightly as he inched his way towards the door.

 

“Go into the kitchen,” Todd stated coldly turning back to Kylie and Larry, flinching as he heard Starr’s door slam shut.

 

“Sir? I could just leave,” Al said anxiously darting a quick glance between Todd’s stiff back and his only escape route.

 

“Wait in the damn kitchen, I’ll deal with you later!”

 

“Uh, yes sir… I’ll just… well… uh…. I’ll just go wait in the kitchen,” Al said as he fled to the kitchen. He didn’t like the look in Todd’s eyes, maybe he should have listened to his father after all.

 

“Well?” Todd asked softly after he glanced behind him to see that Al had surprisingly followed his instructions and disappeared into the kitchen. Maybe there was hope for him yet. He softly stroked her hand as he waited for Larry’s analysis.

 

“I don’t know what to tell you Todd,” Larry shook his head as he repacked his bag. “She seems fine physically, blood pressure’s a little high but you said she was angry when she got here which would be understandable. Plus the added stress of seeing Starr… I’ll run some tests when I get back to the hospital and see what I can find out from her blood but other than that…”

 

“What about that thing that her eyes did… the glowing thing?”

 

“Are you sure they glowed?” Larry asked skeptically as he glanced back down at her. She looked like Blair, but he’d seen her with her partner and she’d gone by another name then.

 

“Well maybe they didn’t glow, they kind of flashed,” Todd said letting go of her hands as he stood to walk Larry to the door.

 

“I don’t know, I still think you all imagined it,” Larry shook his head as he pulled his coat back on.

 

“I didn’t imagine it, neither did Starr or the idiot’s son… Maybe she’ll know,” Todd glanced back to where Kylie still lay motionless on the couch, hands still twitching.

 

“Maybe… you should probably call her partner… let him know what happened,” Larry advised as Todd held the door open.

 

“Hey Larry… That blood you took, can you match it against what you have on file for Blair? You know just to check..."”

  

“You want me to run a comparison against the two, see if Kylie Jensen is really Blair Cramer?”

 

“I need to know… so does Starr.”

 

“I’ll see what I can find out,” Larry sighed. “Let me know if you have any more problems.”

 

Todd watched him enter the elevator then closed the door, walking back into the penthouse. Stopping suddenly when he realized that Kylie’s eyes were open and that she had stopped twitching.

 

“Hey… How do you feel?” he asked softly walking over to her. She pulled away from him when he went to touch her hand.

 

“How do you think I feel?” she glared at him as she slowly pushed herself to her feet. Pressing a hand to her head, she closed her eyes as she struggled to gain balance, to not pass out again.

 

“Where are you going?” Todd asked jumping to his feet alarmed as she slowly walked to the door.

 

Quicker than her he barred her way. “What do you want Mr. Manning?” she asked in a strained voice, trying to glare at him but not quite having the strength to do so.

 

“I want the truth, I want to help, I want you to come home,” he said softly letting his fingers graze her cheek lightly.

 

“I can’t,” she whispered. “You don’t understand what’s going on, you can’t help.”

 

“Tell me and let me make that decision.”

 

“No… Please… let me go,” she whispered. Todd stared down at her before backing away from the door, opening it for her.

 

“No… I’m not letting you go again,” he said quietly, she didn’t turn to him, instead pressing the button for the elevator. When the doors opened she entered it, turning to him as he stood watching her.

 

“Keep her away… please,” she whispered, her eyes pleading with his as she stared at him, the door finally closing her off from his view.

 

“No,” he said softly. Watching the elevator for a moment he waited, hoping she would change her mind and come back. When the doors didn’t open and the elevator instead began descending he slammed the door to the penthouse closed. The sound causing Starr to come running from her room, clad now in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt.

 

“Where is she?” she asked her eyes widening in alarm as she searched the living room and found no sign of her mother. “You let her go?!”

 

“I didn’t have much choice in the matter when she just upped and walked out,” he said sarcastically.

 

“Dad…”

 

“Just let it go Starr… she’ll come back when she’s ready to,” Todd said as he sat on the couch leaning back as he studied the ceiling.

 

“Not good enough dad,” she said angrily as she spun on her heel.

 

Al, hidden in the shadows of the kitchen watched with narrowed eyes as Todd’s lips curved into a cruel smile and he realized that Todd was going to use Starr to get to her mother. Just like he always had.

 

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

 

Kylie sagged against the wall of the elevator as the doors closed and the elevator began its downward descent. Pressing a trembling hand to the center for her forehead she struggled to regain composure. Struggled to figure out what the hell was going on. Nothing like this had happened to her in years.

 

She couldn’t do this again. She couldn’t take more power being forced upon her.

 

As her mind started running through the pictures of that awful time. That time when all she’d wanted to do was come home, and instead she’d been drawn into a web that continued to keep her and the others firmly within its grasp. The sound of her cell phone ringing startled her. To her over-heightened senses it was like a horn going off in the enclosed elevator and she whimpered in pain as she drew it out of her pocket. Every movement sapping energy that she didn’t have.

 

“Jensen,” she whispered into the phone.

 

“Are you okay?” she heard Michael on the other end. He sounded as weak as she did, his voice strained.

 

“What the hell happened?” she moaned.

 

“I don’t know… but everyone felt it… Dad’s at the hospital now getting stitches from where he hit the corner of the desk.”

 

“Is he okay?” Kylie asked numbly before his words sunk in. “Everyone? Does that mean…” she asked hesitantly, the impact of his words finally hitting her.

 

“Everyone felt it,” he reiterated.

 

“How? Is everyone okay?”

 

“We don’t know how, and everyone’s fine… But you need to get back here now, we all need to meet, figure out what we’re going to do.”

 

“I’ll be there as soon as I can… but Carlos…”

 

“What about Carlos?”

 

“He’s got his next victim, I felt the energy this morning, couldn’t place it…maybe he?”

 

“How he would know?”

 

“I don’t know,” Kylie said softly rubbing at her forehead. “All I know is it felt like someone pushed a red hot poker through the middle of my forehead.”

 

“The third eye,” Michael said suddenly.

 

“What?”

 

“If Carlos did grab his next victim and she was a psychic, if he drove something through her third eye, if she was powerful enough... it could reverberate through any psychics close to her. Plus any others they were linked to.”

 

“Shit,” she muttered. “As if this day couldn’t get any worse.”

 

“Get here… soon… I have a feeling we don’t have much time,” Michael said quietly. “Hugs.”

 

“Hugs,” Kylie hit the off button, then was shocked when it began ringing again. “Jensen?” she asked cautiously as she pressed it once again to her ear.

 

“It’s me, we have another victim,” Josh said quickly.

 

“I’m on my way.”

 

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

 

Carlos Guitterez waited patiently. As he waited he thought of his life. As the years went by he sometimes forgot that he had a mission in all of this. That each woman that he chose had a gift to be given. Sometimes he was wrong. Sometimes he just got so angry that he had to lash out and he chose the most conveniently located person to do that.

 

His first victim had been his sixteen-year-old girlfriend. Her body had never been found, her picture was not included in the packet that he was sure the FBI had collected on him.

 

He hadn’t meant to kill her. They’d been making out in her room. Her parents out of town. Their relationship had been progressing nicely and he thought that she, like him, wanted to take their relationship to the next level.

 

He’d been wrong. When they had started making love she had been with him, as things progressed, as their clothes vanished she’d started having second thoughts and tried to back away. So he’d raped her, strangled her and then buried her in her mothers newly tilled garden.

 

And no one had ever known. The power that he’d felt then was not the power that he strived for now. The power he wanted now he’d only ever found out about because of her.

 

He’d watched her for years. Watching as she painstakingly accomplished her job. He’d realized her power when she’d solved a case by pure instinct. She’d had no clues. No witnesses. She’d had nothing but she’d solved it.

 

That was when he knew she was the one. The one that would take him to the next higher level. But he needed her to be willing. And right now she wasn’t willing, but that was only because she was the other one. But soon she would be willing.

 

Carlos smiled as he waited patiently. He watched the police scurry around like rats, securing the scene, taking pictures. They would see nothing that he didn’t want them to see.

 

This was the first time that he had ever stayed at one of the sacred places. He had placed the call himself. Barely managing to hide himself before the cars descended. But he stayed because he wanted to see if had been right. And he wanted to see her.

 

Even though she was the wrong one.

 

He had left a present for her on the body. A present only she and the brother would understand. They would understand that he knew. And that he was coming for them. For her.

 

He hoped she wouldn’t fight him this time. That she would give him what he craved from her.

 

Last time she had fought him. And he had hurt her. He hadn’t meant to.

 

He had meant to hurt the other one. But like he had said before.

 

He hadn’t known they were the same.

 

He smiled happily as he watched the car pull up. She had come. He had known she would but still he had feared that she would be incapacitated from his sacrifice.

 

He watched her partner jump out of the drivers’ side, ready for action. But his eyes were naturally drawn only to her. And he watched as she slowly climbed out of the car. He could see her pain. The paleness of her skin. He imagined that if he were standing next to her that her skin would be clammy to his touch. Her lips were pinched and drawn and her eyes bright.

 

She looked like she was running a fever. But he knew she wasn’t. He knew that she had felt the power that he had unleashed. He wondered where she’d been.

 

Had she been alone in her hotel room? Or at the police station. How had she explained what had happened? Or had she even bothered.

 

He watched as she looked around. Her eyes focusing on the spot where he was hidden, they narrowed as she studied the shadows. He smiled at her. She wouldn’t see him, he couldn’t allow that. But he knew she would sense his presence.

 

Smiling to himself he pulled away. So now he knew for sure.

 

He’d already known how he was going to draw her to him. He had everything planned for that.

 

The only thing he hadn’t known was how he was going to control her. She was a wildcard, unpredictable. But now he knew. He knew how to control her and now his plans could move forward.

 

His next victim would not be in this town. He needed to remove her from this environment before he could proceed. But he would be back soon enough and so would she. And the next time they entered this town it would be near the end.

 

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

 

Kylie touched the roof of the car lightly, shivering her bulky coat. She needed rest. Normally after an episode she would sleep for hours. But she hadn’t been allowed that luxury this time. The crime scene wouldn’t wait for her to recover.

 

She could sense him in the shadows. Could feel his happiness from where she stood and it pissed her off. Someone was dead and he was happy. She studied the shadows, knowing that she wouldn’t find him there. She frowned as she felt him draw away. He’d seen what he needed she knew. He knew that he’d hurt her.

 

Taking a deep breath, refocusing on what needed to be done she pulled on the plastic gloves that Bo handed her. Slowly she followed him and Josh to the body that had been covered with a plain white sheet.

 

“Get rid of the reporters,” she whispered to Antonio as she kneeled by the body. He eyed her carefully before complying. She knew what he was going to say. Could hear the thoughts bouncing around in her head as she frantically tried to regain control.

 

He was worried about her, he thought she was sick. He was also worried about his girlfriend. She’d been coming home late the last couple of nights. He thought she was cheating on him.

 

When she saw him waving them back, talking softly to two uniformed officers she leaned forward and nodded to Josh. Together the two of them drew the sheet away.  Revealing the nude body of their latest female victim.

 

She heard Bo’s sharp air intake as he instinctively took up a position by Josh, attempting to shield view of the body from photographers standing in the crowd. Attempting to give the woman dignity even in death. She could tell him that it was hopeless. The photographers and reporters didn’t care about dignity.

 

They cared about their story.

 

She wondered if Todd had sent someone over from The Sun. She almost scanned the onlookers to find out but stopped herself short. She knew he had, he was a businessman after all. And he had a paper to run.

 

Uncovering the body she noted that the body was still warm, he had probably been the one to call 911 and report it. She made a mental note to have phone records pulled. He normally covered his tracks very well, but there was always the slim chance that he’d been in such a hurry that he hadn’t.

 

Then next thing she noted was the small metal cylinder distending from her forehead.

 

Michael had been right. He had pierced the third eye. Wreaking havoc on the psychic community.

 

“What do you think?” Josh whispered watching her anxiously. She didn’t look good at all. She could hear his worry that something had happened when she had confronted Todd and while she wanted to reassure him that she hadn’t been harmed during that confrontation she couldn’t without explaining what had happened. He claimed to be open-minded, but she didn’t think he was open-minded enough to understand.

 

“The shard in her forehead killed her,” Kylie said softly as her hand hovered over the cylinder. Her eyes raised meeting Bo’s before lowering back to the body again. He thought that he knew for sure now she wasn’t Blair. Blair would never have been able to be near the body, to examine it as clinically as she was.

 

Her hand moved down the body, stopping over her belly as she studied the markings. The knife wounds were different then she was used to seeing on his victims. While rope patterns and beatings had differed on each victim, he had normally been quite methodical in the cuts he inflicted.

 

“They’re different,” Josh said quietly as he himself studied the cuts. Looked at them in the angle he was observing them they almost looked like they were forming arrows pointing to the victims’ hands.

 

When he looked up he realized that Kylie had already come to that deduction herself and was slowly opening the clenched fingers. When she laid the palm flat she stared at the small emerald embedded in her hand. Looking over at Josh he opened her other hand, revealing a second emerald.

 

“Well…that’s new,” Josh said stunned.

 

Kylie frowned as her mind tried to grasp the concept of the emeralds.

 

He knew. She looked away, focusing on anything but the body lying on the ground with the emeralds. But how much did he know?

 

Reaching out a shaking hand she held her hand over the emerald, she could feel the remnants of power. The woman, whoever she was, had tried to use the emeralds to protect herself. The power that she’d been attempting to harness before he drove the cylinder through her third eye was still evident. She’d been powerful, he had to have drugged her somehow. Something had kept her from fighting back until the very end.

 

Had she not realized that she was in danger, that he was going to kill her? Had she trusted him?

 

Hand hovering she could feel the power emanating from the emeralds. As the body got cold, the power would vanish into the air.

 

She could use the emeralds now though. If focused correctly and in time they could figure out what had happened here. Figure out how a powerful psychic, like this woman had quite obviously been, had allowed herself to be used in such a grotesque fashion.

 

“Have them do the pictures, then bag the body want. I want it at Quantico ASAP… We have a window of opportunity here, I don’t want to lose it,” Kylie said determinedly as she stood. Swaying slightly before she began walking away peeling off her gloves, winding them in her hands as she stalked back to the car.

 

She refused to be cowed by this bastard. If he wanted her… he was going to have to come and get her.

 

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

 

Kylie sat alone in the interrogation room. The walls were bare, the maps torn down, the pictures back in their envelopes. She had one set of pictures fanned out in front of her. 

 

Carlos had been sighted leaving town. She knew he wasn’t done here, whatever finale he had planned would play out here. He’d gone to too much trouble to lure her here to just abandon his plans now. No she knew he was just biding his time. Plus he was trying to drive her insane.

 

But she got to go home. ADA Johnson had called to tell them that they were to come home. That her father was in the hospital and that he would leave two men here, in Llanview, just in case. She’d not been surprised to get the call. She knew that Michael and the others wanted her back in DC immediately. He had obviously not held back any punches, going directly to the ‘father in the hospital’ card.

 

“Hey I just heard,” Josh said from where he stood quietly in the door. He held in his hands the first set of pictures from the latest victim. Their people would do a thorough examination of the victim when the body arrived in Quantico. He knew that Kylie had pulled one of the emeralds as soon as the preliminary pictures were done. The other was still in the victims’ hand, ready to be examined once the body arrived.

 

“How long will it take you to pack?” Kylie asked as she perused the pictures of Jessica. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she knew that there was something that she wasn’t seeing.

 

“An hour, we can be on the road by 6:00.”

 

“Good,” Kylie looked up at him, her eyes red rimmed and obviously tired. “Is that the new set?”

 

“Yeah…” Josh laid them on the table, watching with concerned eyes as she spread them out studying them intently. “I guess I’m driving back.”

 

“Why do you say that?” Kylie asked picking up one photo and peering closely at it.

 

“Because have you looked in the mirror lately? You look like you’re going to keel over!”

 

“I’ll be fine once I get some caffeine in my system,” Kylie said absently. “Did you look at these?”

 

“No I brought them right from the lab,” Josh said walking around the table. Standing next to her he rested his hands on the table top staring down at the pictures.

 

“Look at this, tell me what’s wrong with this picture,” Kylie said sliding one in front of him.

 

Josh sighed as he picked it up. “Is this a trick question?”

 

“No, just tell me what you see,” she leaned back in the chair, Linking her hands together behind her head she stared at the ceiling as she waited.

 

“I see the girls hand, with the emerald imbedded in it,” Josh shrugged.

 

“Look at her wrists,” she directed quietly.

 

“Her wrists… Wait a minute,” he said suddenly his eyes widening as he rifled through the pictures looking for the photo of the opposite hand. “There’s no rope burns, no patterns on her wrists.”

 

“Nope,” Kylie leaned forward again, resting her head in her hands she closed her eyes before dispelling a deep breath and standing.

 

“What? Why?”

 

“I don’t know… But you know what, I think we’ve been here long enough… I want to see my family,” she said pulling her coat on. Shoving the pictures in one pile she plucked the one out of Josh’s hands and slid them into a manilla envelope.

 

“But… Kylie…”

 

“I want to go home Josh, besides we have plenty of time, he’s nowhere near done yet,” she said cryptically as she headed for the door.

 

“What does that mean?”

 

“It means, he’s not done yet and this mess.. it’ll still be here when we get back.”

 

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

 

Kylie shoved clothes haphazardly in her bag. She’d already emptied out the bathroom. All she had left was the clothes she’d shoved into the dresser. She knew agents that could live out of a suitcase for indefinite periods of time. She was not one of them.

 

Hearing the knock on the door she frowned as she threw a sweater the bag on her way to answer it. Yanking the door open her face froze and her mind sputtered obscenities as she saw Starr standing there, her eyes filled with tears, her face red and splotchy it was obvious she had been crying.

 

Her eyes flickered back to Al who was standing awkwardly behind her, from the stance of his body she could tell he was just a few short minutes from wringing his hands in agitation.

 

“Did you need something Miss Manning?” she asked as she held the door open. Not budging. She couldn’t let this girl into her room. She could feel the hope radiating off of her. As well as the sadness. The girl believed what her father believed.

 

“Are you leaving?” Starr asked suspiciously as she motioned to the suitcase on the bed before ducking under Kylie’s arm.

 

“Why don’t you come in?” she rolled her eyes sarcastically. Al hung back by the door as she turned to the visibly distraught Starr.

 

“You are her… aren’t you?” Starr asked with tears in her eyes. She had just about stopped crying by the time they got here. Al had gotten all pissy because he had told her father he would take her straight to Susie’s. Instead she’d had him bring her here. He’d refused until she told him that she would just hitchhike back if he didn’t do what she asked. Al knew her well enough to know she wasn’t kidding.

 

“Miss Manning…”

 

“My name is Starr… you know that,” Starr yelled. Kylie flinched as if she’d been struck. “Dad said you’re just confused, that you’ll come home when you’re ready… But this,” she waved at the bag again, “looks like you’re getting ready to leave town instead.”

 

“I’ve been called back to DC yes,” Kylie said stiffly reflexively clenching and unclenching her hands as she struggled to keep from reaching out to the young woman in such obvious distress.

 

“My mother would never lie to me,” Starr whispered walking up to her. Staring her directly in the eyes she searched for something. Recognition, sadness… the truth.

 

“Starr…” Kylie started as she saw the light of hope there. Hope that her mother wasn’t buried six feet under and was instead standing before her. Pretending to be someone else.

 

“Daddy wants you to come home, he’s wanted that for the longest time so why won’t you? Why did you pretend to be dead?”

 

“Starr your daddy doesn’t always get what he wants… Your mother is gone,” Kylie said softly. Starr jumped back as if she had been slapped. The hope, the light draining from her eyes as she stared at Kylie’s stone faced countenance.

 

She turned on her heel stalking to the door, stopping suddenly before she crossed the threshold she furiously spat at Kylie; “I know the truth. You are her, daddy’s going to figure it out and when he does…” Starr glared and stalked down the hallway. Al watched Starr walk away before turning back to Kylie.

 

“They don’t deserve this,” he said angrily. Kylie stared at him with expressionless eyes, an emptiness that he never seen before radiating from them. It almost seemed like she was drowning in a sea of desperation. Just as quickly her eyes showed nothing.

 

“You should go, she’ll leave without you.”

 

Al stared at her uncomprehendingly for a moment before he heard the elevator bell ding, groaning inwardly he shut the door behind him as he rushed out. Running for the elevator, because she was right. Starr would leave without him.

 

Kylie waited a moment, closing her eyes as she reached out for something, anything to steady herself and then fell to her knees. Staring at the door with blank eyes. Her breath coming in gasps as she wished for something to finally break her free from the life she was being forced to live in. She couldn’t protect them if they knew the truth.

 

Everything she’d done, she’d done to protect them.

 

Burying her face in her hands she wept silently. “I’m sorry, so sorry,” she whispered as she rocked.

 

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

 

Todd paced the length of the living room. He wanted more than anything to go up those stairs and comfort his daughter. The one who was currently crying herself to sleep. But until he figured out how to get her mother to admit to who she was he could offer no reassurance other than what he already had.

 

Starr had reappeared at the penthouse, Al still in tow, crying. Wanting to know why her mother wouldn’t tell her of all people the truth and Todd had been shocked.

 

He had never imagined that she would continue the pretense when confronted with their crying daughter. Maybe he had been wrong after all.

 

It had happened once or twice he was sure. All that stuff with Tea. He had sure been wrong about that. Just like he’d been wrong about Blair’s loyalty. About her love.

 

But he hadn’t thought he was wrong about this. He had been positive that Kylie Jensen was his wife.

 

He frowned as he cast another glance at the stairs. He hated being wrong.

 

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

 

Josh stopped the car at the curb and when he made a move to get out Kylie stopped him. A gentle hand on his arm as she shook her head at him.

 

“I’ve got it,” she said softly, unfastening her seatbelt she opened the door. He rolled down the window, leaning across the seat as he waited for her to finish taking her suitcase from the backseat. Her small bag slung over her shoulder, she set the other on the sidewalk and leaned down. Bracing her hands on the open window.

 

“I’ll fax you what I learn in the morning… Call me in the afternoon.”

 

“Whatever,” Kylie waved as she stood upright. Grabbing the handle of her suitcase she heard the car pull away as she walked up to the house.

 

She didn’t bother digging in her pockets for her keys. She could sense the presence of others in the house and knew that one would open the door for her.

 

As expected the moment she reached the top step the door opened and she was faced with green eyes as tired as hers. With a small smile Darleen Connick reached for her suitcase, setting it against the wall as she shut the door behind them.

 

“Everyone’s in bed,” she whispered as they moved to the living room. “I left hot water on the stove for you, I knew you’d want tea before going to bed.”

 

“Thanks,” she whispered back with a sigh as she leaned back against the couch. She’d needed sleep.

 

She’d almost lost it with Starr. She could feel the desperation, the sense of hopelessness, the despair. She missed her mother unbearably. Her aunts and cousins couldn’t fill the void that she’d left.

 

She wanted the baby brother she’d been promised. The one she had planned on spoiling rotten… because she could.

 

And she wanted her father to be happy. To see him smile and laugh again. He hadn’t really smiled, or really laughed since they’d found out her mother was dead. She didn’t want her father to be lonely anymore. She didn’t want to be lonely.

 

With the despair clawing at her it had taken everything in her to not say what the girl wanted her to say. To instead repeat what she’d been saying for six years.

 

Even though she hated herself for doing it.

 

“How do you feel?” Darleen asked hovering in the door.

 

“I feel like shit… you?”

 

“Yeah,” she looked down at her hands gnawing on her bottom lip as she hesitated. “Michael called a family meeting first thing in the morning.”

 

“Yeah I know… You can go to bed, I’ll be fine.”

 

“Okay… The house is secure… If you need anything…” Darleen said with a shrug before turning away. Tonight everyone was facing their own demons, their own nightmares. Everyone knew that hers would be worse than theirs. But there was nothing they could do but offer support in their own way.

 

Darleen had set the water on for tea, Michael had probably set out candles in her bedroom to, Wesley had most likely set up charms for protection. Anything to give her some semblance of protection. Protection that they had failed in once before.

 

She shrugged off her coat as she kicked off her shoes. Padding in bare feet to the kitchen she fixed herself a cup of tea, adding just a little milk, a half a teaspoon of sugar. When she put the milk back she looked for something to snack on. Wrinkling her nose as she realized that no one had gone grocery shopping while she had been gone. She wondered what they had all been eating in her absence.

 

Probably fast food, Chinese, pizza.

 

Anything that kept them from having to cook. They all hated cooking.

 

She grabbed a small handful of chips from the bag on the counter. Folding it back up as she ate them she brushed the crumbs off her hand with a towel.

 

Leaning back against the counter she closed her eyes as she sipped her tea. She had vowed to capture Carlos and she would. It was just a matter of time before he fucked up, she would be waiting when he did. He grossly underestimated her.

 

By threatening her family, her loved ones he had unleashed someone who would do anything to protect them.

 

And she had.

 

She had given up one life in order save the others. She’d had no regrets up until a week ago. Sighing to herself she decided that it was time for bed. She couldn’t put it off because she didn’t want to have nightmares. Soon her body would just shut down.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Todd this is Larry Woleck… I’m sorry to call so late, but I have the test results back and you said you wanted to know what they were immediately.”

 

She shut the light off in the kitchen, carrying her cup in one hand she held the banister with the other as she pulled herself up the stairs. She was beginning to feel fatigued. The muscles in her leg ached, she could barely keep her eyes open. But the blast of power, the welcoming heat she felt made her smile.

 

He was waiting for her.

 

“What did you find out Larry?”

 

“Well it’s kind of strange, the results were not what I’d expected.”

 

She made her way down the hallway turning off lights in the hall as she went. She hesitated momentarily outside his door, pressing a hand against it she could feel him waiting for her expectantly on the other side. She could feel how much he’d missed her while she was gone. He was half-afraid that she would choose to go to bed without coming to see him. She smiled softly. Silly goose, she could never do that.

 

“What are the results Larry? Just tell me.”

 

Pushing the door open she was met with a pair of green eyes identical to hers. They flashed sleepily at her as he smiled sitting up in the bed. Welcoming her home silently as he watched her, waiting to see what she would do.

 

“The tests came back positive.”

 

“Positive? Then that means…”

 

“Hi mommy… you went home without me.”

 

“It means that Kylie Jensen is Blair Cramer.”

 

Blair smiled as her grinning son crawled to the edge of his bed flinging himself in her arms, hugging her tightly as she rocked him back and forth.

 

“Yes… but I came back for you,” she said as she pressed a kiss to his forehead.

 

 

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