Jack was buzzing with energy when Todd brought him to work the next day. He was ready to start wiring the office to the new house and figure out how to Sync everything. He was researching automated home tech that Todd thought was more out of House of the Future exhibits than anything else.
Jack assured him that they were available now.
Todd found that interesting.
"Sam wants us to have a set up like JARVIS," Jack commented lightly.
"What's that?"
"He hasn't gotten you to watch Iron Man with him yet?"
"Your Mom calls dibs on the superhero movies."
Jack smirked. "Imagine that."
"Yes, your sister has already informed me that Thor and Captain America are easy on the eyes."
Jack shrugged. "They are supposed to be superheroes."
"So what's JARVIS?"
"Well," Jack thought for a moment. "Like an automatic butler/genie who doesn't have a body… just a voice and basically does everything you need when you ask him to."
"Does he do the laundry or clean up the kitchen?" Todd asked.
"No."
"Does he take four year olds who wake up before dawn and feed them?"
Jack's smirk widened. "Hope got you, huh?"
"She do that to you?"
"Not in the morning," Jack admitted. "I'm pretty low on the totem pole when it comes to Hope in the morning. But almost everyone has had their turn bitching about Hope waking up really early. She'll go to Starr or Mom first. She's still getting used to Cassie but I guess she may have been heading to Mom but you were more convenient."
"Yeah, your Mom was burrowed up against my back," Todd nodded. "Leaving me open for Peanut. You know, we had nannies for Starr and for you. What happened there?"
"Mom stopped trusting nannies after Margaret Cochrane," Jack said. "And none of the bodyguards she looked at had very good kid skills. Not with us anyway. With Starr," his brow furrowed as he thought about that. "it was kind of messed up what happened with Hope. Thinking she was dead, finding out that Victor had planned to steal her anyway and tell her she was dead so he could run off with Cole's Mom and live happily ever after. "
Jack couldn't help but steal a look at his father then. The disgust and horror on Todd's face was evident.
"Then there was the whole thing where Jessica was the one who had Hope and Starr got her back… I don't think she wanted to hand her over to anyone else. And Mom was right there to help wherever she could."
"Yeah…"
"You really wouldn't have done all of that, would you?"
The tone in Jack's voice gave Todd pause. It was pleading and cynical and questioning all at once. He studied his son for several moments. "I have made a lot of mistakes in my life, Jack. More than anyone has had a right to make. There are two things I can say with absolute certainty… I would never have done to Marty what Victor did and I never would have taken Hope from Starr and told her she was dead. What I did to Marty and what I did to you and your mother were the absolute two worst things I've ever done. Those two things… I would never do again."
Jack mulled that over. "What did you really think when you saw me for the first time?"
"That you were perfect," Todd replied immediately.
The disbelief was evident. "Yeah, right."
"It's true," Todd said quietly. "I held you in my arms and I thought you were perfect. " He crossed the room to stand in front of his son. "Look at you. You are so tall and you're probably going to keep growing for a couple more years." He let his eyes drift over Jack with a wistful smile. "When you were born," Todd held one arm up like he was cradling a baby and gestured with his other hand. "You were this big… and really, a lot of that was blanket… fitting into my arm just so.
"Ten little fingers, ten little toes," Todd looked down at his arm as if remembering the newborn infant. "A shock of dark hair on your head and you were really red when you first came out. You'd make these little grunting noises… like a little piglet. And…" Todd drifted off. "I was the first thing you looked at."
Both arms dropped to his side wearily. "I had always wanted a son. The baby your Mom and I lost when we were first married was a boy. She asked me if I was disappointed when she was so certain that Starr was a girl because she knew how much I wanted a boy. I told her the next one would be a boy. I wasn't wrong, either. I just didn't expect there to be 8 years between. I didn't expect a lot of things… but there you were, this tiny little perfect thing and I hated Max Holden so much. That guy had three kids he barely had anything to do with and here I was, eating my heart out, because something I wanted so much was out of my reach while he had an embarrassment of riches and didn't even give a shit."
The silence stretched out between Todd and Jack.
"I guess that's what they call irony," Jack said quietly. "I just don't understand how you could have done what you did."
"Good," Todd replied. "I'm glad you don't understand. I hope you never understand. You should never be so twisted up inside that what I did should ever make sense to you. The fact that you don't get it, that it is so alien to you, means that your Mom did good in raising you. I would never want you to be like me."
"Except that I am," Jack argued. "The whole thing with me bullying Shane? Everyone likes to point out how like you that is."
Todd considered that. "If you're like me in that, you're also like a lot of other people in this town. I know where bullying comes from so I know you were struggling when you took that route. For me, I had no power in my life except when I could exert power over other people and then having that control over others became something like a drug. A taste of power to the powerless is a pretty heady thing.
"But I didn't really have anyone to help me out. You have a whole family here wanting to be there for you."
"I knew Mom wouldn't be too thrilled with me," Jack admitted.
"Yeah, I get that," Todd nodded. "But when it all came out, why didn't you go to your Aunt Viki or
something?"
Jack looked stunned. "Why would I do that?"
"Because she's your aunt and she loves you?" Todd countered.
"Really?" Jack replied. "Maybe in a related by blood so she has to kind of way. Aunt Viki hasn't really been a part of my life, you know. Besides, she wouldn't have listened to me. She had Shane and his family parked in her house. I couldn't go there… and why would I? She always sides with anyone else other than our family."
Todd stared. Jack turned and sat down at the other desk as he figured Todd might be awhile in trying to make sense of what he had said.
"What do you mean by that?" Todd asked.
"Well," Jack said with exaggerated patience, "when Marcie McBain ran off with Sam and then held Aunt Viki at gunpoint in some diner in Texas in order to keep from giving Sam up, Aunt Viki refused to press charges. I remember hearing Victor bitch about it to Mom. I mean, no one was on our side with that… McPain, Balsom, basically everyone in town was saying that Sam should stay with the McPain family because we suck. When push came to shove, Aunt Viki basically adopted almost everyone who had had a hand in keeping him from us," Jack's bitterness was evident.
To say that he was at a loss would have been an understatement for Todd. "I can't believe this…" he muttered. He looked at his son who was fidgeting as if he hadn't quite meant to say that much. "Jack…" he strode across the room. "Tell me about it."
"What do you care?" Jack's response was quick and brutal.
Todd couldn't help but smile a little. Jack was so much a product of him and Blair that it was scary. "Jack Manning, you are my son and I love you, even when you're being a prickly little shit like right now. Hell, I especially love you when you're being a prickly little shit." Todd reached up and clasped Jack's face in his hands. "Just tell me what the hell happened."
Jack looked even more uncertain. "We barely know each other."
"Well, sometimes that makes it easier," Todd pointed out. "And, hey, after this, we'll know each other a little better."
"Mom?"
Blair looked up from the various catalogues she was going through with Cassie to see Jack standing in the doorway of the living room. She cast a quick glance at the clock to see that it was almost six. Time flies…
"I may have made a mistake," Jack took a hesitant step into the room.
"What's up?" Blair asked.
"I told Todd about a lot of the stuff from the past year, about Shane, about why I did it and all that, about Aunt Viki going to Texas and the stuff with Spencer and Sam and Rex and Marcie McBain…"
Blair stood up and crossed the room to her son. She rested her hands on his shoulders. "Okay, there's nothing wrong with that."
"He seemed pretty upset by it all."
"Well," Blair nodded. "It's pretty upsetting stuff. It doesn't mean you did anything wrong. I'm actually pretty happy you told him about it. Where is he now?"
"Not sure," Jack mumbled. "That's why I think I made a mistake."
"Why?"
"He just dropped me off, said he had some stuff to take care of and to tell you he'd be back later."
Todd being vague about where he was going and what he was doing was never a good thing in Blair's opinion. It usually resulted in him flat out disappearing for several hours and coming back with secrets. He had promised her he had learned lessons and Blair hoped he meant it.
"Tell me what worries you about it."
"He kept asking me why I didn't go to Aunt Viki when I started feeling lost. When I told him she wasn't around much that really upset him."
Blair led Jack to the couch. Cassie retreated to one corner of the room and made herself appear engrossed in their previous work. "I imagine it would. Viki is your father's go to when it comes to problems."
"He just seemed surprised when I told him she didn't come around much. Angry, too."
"That sounds like something he's going to have to work out with her. That's not your fault. It's true, Viki hasn't been very involved in our lives for a long time. She's had her own things to deal with."
"Like siding with everyone else against us," Jack grumbled.
Blair blinked. She couldn't disagree with Jack but, once again, she was surprised that her son had been canny enough to see it. Blair had been furious to find out that Viki hadn't pressed charges against Marcie McBain for kidnappy Sam and even though she hadn't expected Viki to reach out to Jack after the truth about his bullying came out, it was still a disappointment to know that Viki's alliances were not with her troubled son.
"So that was it," Blair remarked. "Well, like I said, it sounds like something your father is going to have to work out with your Aunt Viki. You didn't do anything wrong and there's nothing to be worried about."
"Doesn't Dad have a tendency to go off the rails a bit, though?" Jack asked.
Tears sprung into Blair's eyes and her throat tightened up. "That's the first time I've heard you call him 'Dad,'" she whispered.
Jack looked a little embarrassed. "It's the first time he's felt like one."
"Okay," Blair leaned forward and kissed her son's cheek. "Thanks for telling me about all of this. It just sounds like your Dad needs to talk to his sister and work this out between them. I'll keep an eye on the clock and touch base with him soon."
Jack nodded.
"How's your packing going?"
Jack made a face. "Ugh. Fine. We packed all day long on our day off! How much longer is this going to go on?"
"The longer you wait to finish the longer it will go on," Blair told him as he got off the couch. She slapped him on the butt playfully. "So get to it! Just think about the awesome new digs we'll be in by the end of the month."
Jack let out a theatrical groan and thumped up the stairs in response.
"So," Cassie said as she moved the shut the doors. "What's the deal with Viki?"
Blair was silent for a few moments. "What deal?"
"I don't think you like her very much."
"I wouldn't say that."
"What would you say then?"
"I don't trust her."
Cassie's eyebrows rose at that. "Viki's a wonderful person, Blair. Why wouldn't you trust her?"
"Viki's a fine person," Blair corrected. "She's not wonderful although whoever does her personal PR deserves everything they make given how most of this town is convinced she's a living, breathing saint among us."
"You're sounding a bit like Mother," Cassie commented.
"No," Blair shook her head. "Dorian's descriptions of Viki are far more barbed than I could be about her. Viki's a nice enough person even though I know that if she had her way I wouldn't be remotely connected to Todd. She accepts that I'm a part of his life but she's not exactly throwing parties over it. That's fine, whatever. But I don't trust her especially not with my kids."
"Why on earth not?"
"First, there's the DID."
Cassie shook her head. "She's got that under control."
"Until she doesn't," Blair pointed out. "And who the hell knows what even triggers it anymore? Aside from that… Viki has very specific priorities which is fine for her but I know what I can't count on her for. The most important part of that is that I cannot count on Viki to put the needs of my children over Todd's specific needs. For her, Todd comes first before any of the rest of us."
Cassie was quiet as she took that in.
"Look," Blair explained. "The Cramers and the Lords don't see eye to eye on most things. I have Dorian to call when I need her and Todd has Viki but Todd has every right and reason to not believe that Dorian would ever look out for him just as I have every right and reason to believe the same about Viki. As for the kids? They have much closer relationships with the Crazy Cramers than they do any of the Lords. At least when we break, we go to an institution. Viki and Jessica are allowed to go wandering wherever they want… Jessica I give credit to, she took herself to St. Annes. Viki never did that and when Jessica didn't have a say in her own life, her family didn't step up and do what was necessary. Bad publicity, I guess."
"You've had to deal with a lot while I was gone."
"I don't hate the Lord family," Blair said. "I just see them for what they are. And I'm not willing to allow their vaunted reputation to dictate what I think is right for my kids and my family. Viki made her choices. I made mine."
Cassie nodded. "Fair enough. Wish I could be a fly on the wall when this comes to a head between you and Todd, though."
Blair was worried. It was one thing for her and Todd to deal with their own issues but she had a feeling it might be very different if they were dealing with outside forces… especially if it was Todd's beloved sister as an obstacle. She'd never really had to put her foot down regarding Viki's involvement in their lives before.
It would all depend on Todd whenever he came home.
