Chapter Nineteen

This update was written by Melissa.

He was nervous as he knocked on the door, hoping that nothing would go wrong with the plan.

"Victor, so good to see you again," Alison said as she opened up the door.

"I can't say the same, where's Irene?" Victor asked.

"I'm right here," Irene stated as she entered the room.

"Where is Cole and Hope?" Victor demanded as he pushed his way into the house.

"Where is the disk?" Irene asked.

"Right here, but you can't have it until I see Hope and Cole," Victor bargained.

"Alison, make yourself useful and bring in Cole and Hope," Irene stated.

Alison left the room but returned a few minutes later with Cole and Hope. Their hands were tied behind their backs and they had gags in their mouth, but they were alive.

"Here they are, I thought Hope was my daughter, but agent Smith was misinformed, isn't that right Agent Smith?" Irene asked as she turned to talk to someone that only she could see and hear.

"It's a fair trade Faison, I haven't seen my son's in years and I miss them. What would I do with Hope and her daddy?" Irene asked.

Victor hoped that she would go through with the trade and that her delusions wouldn't cause a problem as he watched with her argue with herself. She thought that she was talking to Faison, but he had been dead for a year.

"Torturing them would be fun and you're right, Cole would make for an interesting love slave, but my sons need me more. They must be miserable, spending years in isolation while these aliens took their place," she said as she turned to glare at Victor.

"I don't have all day Irene, if you want this disk with your son's locations then you will give me what I want?" Victor stated impatiently.

"I want to see the disk to make sure it really has my son's locations before we make the trade."

"Fair enough," Victor said as he handed over the disk.

Irene took the disk from him and walked over to the DVD player and inserted it as she turned on the T.V.

Victor closed his eyes and covered his ears as the image on the screen came up.

XOXOXO

"She's playing the disk now, is it working," Todd asked as he watched the monitor from the surveillance van. The camera that Victor wore had shown them everything.

"It's working," Robert stated as he, Anna, and Bo grabbed their guns leaving Nora with Todd.

"I can't believe that you were right and that Cole and Hope are alive," Nora said as she looked at the man that she had helped raise on the monitor.

"He's alive, Marty is going to be so happy to see him," Todd said as he thought about what she would owe him.

"I can't believe that you called Bo and didn't go off on your own and make things worse, the way that you usually do," Nora stated.

"I may hate Irene for the damage that she's inflicted, but she's my mom and she's sick. She needs help, and I knew that she would never get that unless I handled things the right way," Todd stated.

XOXOXO

Robert, Anna, and Bo rushed into the house wearing protective glasses and headphones. Alison and Irene were completely hypnotized by the images and sound on the screen and were unaware of their presence. Bo taped Victor on the shoulder to alert him to his presence. He guided him to the door.

"Open your eyes and head to the van, I will be right out with Cole and Hope while Robert and Anna secure the prisoners," Bo stated.

"Thanks Bo," Victor said as he headed out of the house.

Bo went back inside and took Hope out to the van and then went inside for Cole. Robert and Anna had shut off the DVD after they had placed handcuffs around Irene and Alison.

"What happened? Where are my son's? What did you do to me Anna?" Irene cried out as she came to her senses and realized that she had been taken into custody by the girl that she had trained with all those years ago.

"Your son's are outside. It's over Irene," Anna stated.

"Those aren't my son's, Faison told me that they are imposters that came here to scramble my brains and he was right, they tricked me."

"Faison was a liar that used you for his own twisted purposes, but he's dead and he can't play his mind games anymore," Anna explained.

"He's not dead, he's here and he's going to make you and Robert pay. You will never get away with this," Irene cried out as they escorted her and Alison to the van.

"Where are you taking them?" Todd asked as he looked at his mom.

"Alison is going to prison and Irene is going to ShadyBrook to be evaluated," Anna explained.

"I can't believe that this is finally over. I want to see Starr," Cole said as he hugged his little girl.

XOXOXO

Marty had been released from the hospital. She had just gotten home and was about to make something to eat when there was a knock on the door.

She gasped as she opened the door and saw Todd, and Cole standing there.

"Cole, I knew that I saw you. I knew that you were alive," Marty whispered as tears came to her eyes.

"It's me mom, I'm sorry that I had to let you believe that I was dead," Cole stated as Marty pulled him into a hug.

"I'll take a walk and give you some time alone," Todd said and then walked away.

"Hope, is she alive?" Marty asked.

"Yes, but she was badly burned. Victor took her to the hospital so that she could get checked out. I need to go and be with her, but I knew that I needed to come and see you first."

"Victor, he...he's alive?" Marty whispered as she placed her hand on her stomach. The mere mention of his name had caused her little one to start kicking.

"Yeah, he saved Hope and me after the accident."

"Why didn't he tell me that you were alive? Why didn't you?" Marty asked.

"He couldn't, we couldn't. There were some really bad people that had caused the accident. We had to let them believe that we were dead. I had to keep my little girl safe and keep you safe from Todd and Victor's mother."

"Irene?" Marty asked.

"Yes, she's been captured now, it's all over with. I've been trying to call Starr, but she's not answering. Do you know where she is?" Cole asked.

"Victor and Todd didn't tell you?"

"No, tell me what? Where is she?" Cole asked.

"She's in Statesville. She thought that Sonny Corinthos caused your accident and she shot him.

"I...I have to go and see her," Cole stated as he walked out of the house.

XOXOXO

"Where did Cole go?" Todd asked as he returned to find Marty sitting on the front porch.

"I had to tell him about Starr," Marty explained.

"My little girl is going to be so relieved to find out that they are alive," Todd stated.

"Yes, thank you for listening to me and finding him." Marty stated.

"When you asked me to find him for you, do you remember what I said to you?" Todd asked.

"You said that I would owe you big time. What do you want Todd?" Marty asked. She was glad that she had been reunited with her son, even if it meant that the devil was here to collect.
"I want you to marry me," Todd stated as he sat down next to her.

"What?" Marty gasped. "I...we...being together...I can't," Marty stuttered as her breathing began to accelerate as a panic attack began.

"Shhhh, take a couple of deep breaths and let me explain," he said to her, hoping that she would calm down enough to listen to him.

"I'm listening," she said after taking a couple of deep breaths and her breathing began to return to normal.

"I know that you are panicking at the thought of us being intimate as husband and wife, but I don't want you to worry about that. I promised you once that I would never force anything on you ever again and I meant it. I'll never touch you unless you ask me to. I just want you to be my wife, even if it's in name only," Todd explained.

"Why? What's the point?" Marty asked.

"Because I love you and I want your forgiveness."

"Todd, I forgave you years ago," Marty whispered.

"I know that you think you have, but you haven't not fully anyways. We've learned to co-exist, but you're still cautious around me. You've put up walls to keep me from getting too close, and if it was just about me, I could live with that because it's what I deserve, but it's not. I've seen you Marty and the only ones that you let close to you are assholes like John that you know can never hurt you because there was never any real love anyway."

"That's not true, I loved Patrick, we were married and I was happy with him," Marty stated defensively.

"Yes, I know that you loved Patrick, but you kept parts of yourself hidden, even from him and after he died, those walls of yours wouldn't let love in."

"I loved Victor, I'm having his child," Marty retorted.

"You had a one night stand with Victor and then you left him to return to John. I know that you believe that you loved Victor and maybe you did, but you don't even know him, hell, he doesn't even know himself. He had my memories implanted in him and took over my life. Can you honestly tell me that you didn't love him because he reminded you of me?"

"What do you expect me to say?"

"You don't have to say anything. I know that you're not ready to admit that you still love me, even if we both know it's the truth. I know that we can't have a full meaningful relationship unless you fully forgive me and you don't, not yet anyways. I brought Cole back to you and in exchange, I want you to give me a year to earn that forgiveness. Marry me, spend time with me, learn to trust me again and hopefully I can convince you that you're safe with me and that love doesn't always mean pain. Can you give me that? Can you agree to be my wife for a year?"

"Aren't you already married to Tea?"

"She and I were annulled as of this morning, but that's not an answer. Will you keep your end of the bargain? Will you be my wife? Will you give us another chance?" Todd asked again as he brought the ring out of his pocket and held it out towards her.

"I must be crazy. Yes, I'll marry you, I can't promise that anything will change in a year, but I'll give us a chance," Marty whispered as she took the ring.

"That's all I wanted," Todd said as he smiled.

"I want my own room," Marty added.

"Whatever you want babe," Todd promised as he smiled at her.