"What the hell was that for, Viki!" Todd bellowed, one hand covering the side of his face where she had just smacked the hell out of him. He didn't know she had it in her!

"I can't believe that you would ever allow anyone to do something so vicious to a woman you claimed to love once," Viki's voice was colder than the dead of winter. "You knew that Tea was going to taunt Blair with the idea that Starr is calling her 'Mommy' and, worse than that, you let her! Todd, you are my brother and I want what's best for you but I cannot allow something like this to stand! If you don't do something to fix this then I will be forced to take matters into my own hands and right this egregious wrong. And let me tell you something else! No one has the right to-"

"I didn't know."

Viki stumbled over her words before stepping back and sizing her brother up. "I beg your pardon?"

"I didn't know that Delgado was gonna do that," Todd's eyes dropped to the floor. "I didn't have any idea. Blair told me about it later that night."

"And you believed her?" Viki looked skeptical. "That's unusual for you, isn't it?"

"It made sense," Todd shrugged his shoulders and turned to stand by the windows near the terrace. "Hey, I know Blair does stupid things when she gets angry but usually the stupid thing she does is me."

"How droll," Viki sniffed.

"Delgado gave me this schtick about 'plausible deniability,'" Todd stared out the window. "You know, I can appreciate it because it's something I'd do. But... when Blair told me... she was looking up at me with those eyes of hers just begging me to tell her that it wasn't true. I tried to imagine Starr calling someone else 'Daddy' and I felt sick to my stomach. The whole thing turned around when Blair told me, Viki. I wasn't too sure about things but I was then. It all made sense. Part of me..." he sighed lightly. "Part of me was glad because the Blair that tossed Delgado out the window... that's my girl. I really love that girl."

Viki moved across the room to stand next to her brother. "I know you do."

They stared out the window for a while in silence. Todd wanted to tell Viki about being with Blair again but was half-afraid that he was setting himself up for another fall with her. Would she even want to be near him again after that drama in the courtroom with Delgado hobbling in with her crutches and bandages? Blair hadn't even looked at him after the judge had decreed that Blair needed the written consent of a psychiatrist before she was allowed to see Starr again. He had to stand there and pretend that he had won something.

He felt sick to his stomach when he looked at Blair and saw her face crumple as Cassie and Dorian surrounded her. He'd wanted to throw himself at her feet and beg her to forgive him for putting her through it all. He figured that would have to wait. He was going to go to Philadelphia and use the Lord lawyers to find a loophole in his contract with Delgado so he could get out of it and keep her from deciding to spew her venom on him. She'd do it, too. Delgado liked the clout that came with his money and family connections. If he took it away and made it clear that it was gone for good she was going to be one pissed off lawyer.

And that was never a pretty sight.

Viki was waiting for her brother to tell her something, anything, that would give her hope that he was beginning to pull himself out of this downward spiral that he'd been stuck in since his return from Ireland. What had happened to him there? He seemed more cut off from everything since his return. Of course he had been hurt when he found Blair with Patrick but he'd retreated into some kind of shell and lashed out from the shadows rather than storming in and demanding explanations like the man he had been before.

Todd was an in-your-face kind of man. So what had happened to make him so squeamish about facing down people since his alleged death?

"Look," Todd turned to his sister. "I've got to go away for a few days and Delgado is in no condition to take care of Starr right now. Can you watch Shorty for me?"

"How ironic," Viki sniffed.

Todd blinked at her. "What?"

"I find it ironic, Todd," Viki repeated, "that Tea suggested Blair was unable to care for her daughter due to the injuries she sustained from the car accident and now, here she is, in a similar predicament. Equally ironic that the woman who was so weak that she couldn't take care of a child is the one who physically threw Tea out the window in the first place. Don't you think?"

"I can appreciate the irony," Todd muttered.

"Of course, she shifted her tactics to making Blair out to be an uncontrollable violent monster rather than being just short of an invalid. Given the evidence she managed to provoke, I can see why she changed that particular argument."

Todd seemed lost in thought.

She reached out to touch his arm. "I apologize for slapping you, Todd. That was… it wasn't right and it was unworthy of me to treat you that way."

A small smile tugged at the corner of Todd's mouth. Viki was from another era. Unworthy, he thought soberly. I have a long way to go before I stop thinking myself in that way. "Don't worry about it, Sis," he rubbed his face where it still stung slightly. "I've had worse."

Viki sighed softly. "Todd..."

"Listen," Todd cut her off. "I've got to get going. Can you take care of Shorty for me?"

"Yes," Viki nodded. "I love Starr and love having her at Llanfair. When will you be back?"

"Couple of days," Todd grabbed his keys. "I packed a few things for her, okay? You can see yourself out. I'll be back soon." He was out the door and gone before Viki could say anything in response.

Viki went upstairs to where Starr was sleeping and looked down at the little girl. "Your parents are... very intense," she whispered. "God knows that they both love you and that's what every child needs. I don't care what the courts say, Miss Starr Manning. When you come to Llanfair with me tonight, we're going to see if we can't 'accidentally' see your mother." She reached down and stroked the child's head softly. "I think it would do the both of you a world of good."

Blair walked along the street and tried to quiet the noise in her head. Dorian and Mel hovered constantly and were trying a little too hard to fix the broken Cramer family. Blair didn't want to hear it. She had every right to be angry at Kelly. The accident was an accident and Blair figured she'd get over that despite everything she lost. It was an accident and even though she might bear the scars of it forever she knew it wasn't on purpose.

It was the lying afterwards that Blair couldn't let go of. Everyone talked to her about how important family was, how you stuck together no matter what, and Kelly had watched her life fall apart after the accident and hadn't even had the guts to own up to it. The less said about her involvement in the trial the better.

The residential streets near Dorian's house were grand and spacious. Blair smiled a little wistfully at the beautiful houses and remembered dreams of long ago that would place her as the lady of one such fine house. Idealistic dreams of money and power and a fantastically rich husband that would give her whatever she wanted. Funny how for a brief moment she had that very thing. And her fantastically rich husband had loved her and she had loved him.

Unfortunately, she had to wake up from that dream.

Blair scowled and picked up her pace. The walk was supposed to help clear her head not depress her even more. She held her coat close around her and paused in front of a house framed by large oak trees. Late autumn had made it so only the most stubborn leaves were barely hanging on anymore. Blair felt hot tears streak down her face as she stared at the leaves. "Why do you keep holding on? Don't you get it? You've lost. You already lost and everyone knows it."

She felt pathetic. She felt like the last leaves of autumn hanging stubbornly on even though the season was moving into winter whether she dropped from the tree or not.

She wanted her daughter.

She wanted her husband.

She wanted her life and resented the hell out of the fact that it had been given to some sneering, frumpy lawyer woman while she'd been stuck in a coma.

Damn that Todd anyway, Blair wiped her cheeks hastily. If he thinks a couple of kisses is going to make up for this he's got another think coming. But that could wait. She had to get him back in her world on a more permanent basis before she let him know just where she stood on his overblown sense of jealousy. The minor jealousy that he had shown with David Vickers was one thing. That was fine. It didn't lead to any particularly nasty situations that could wind up with him in jail. The Patrick thing... that was another story and they really did need to come to terms with the series of mistakes that had led them to the place they were stuck in now.

Patrick wasn't an issue anymore, anyway.

Tea, however... Blair narrowed her eyes as she spotted a black Porsche rolling down the street in her direction. Tea was very much an issue and she had a score to settle with the woman who thought she was entitled to take Blair's place in the Manning penthouse. Blair had several scores to settle with that one. But she wasn't going to be pushed into anything like that scene at the Gala again. Oh no. She'd learned that lesson well.

The Porsche came to a stop next to her. Blair raised her eyebrows as the window slid slowly downward to reveal Todd's face behind it. He stared up at her, his eyes glittering brightly in the dark confines of his car, and then jerked his head towards the interior. "Get in."

Blair eyed him for a moment, then strolled casually around the front of the car and slid inside. She buckled her seatbelt as he tore away from the curb and watched him as he drove. "Well, you've got your sports car that goes zero to sixty in about five seconds. You've got your penthouse," she mimicked the bragging words from his prep school days and their Christmas of so long ago. "How about you? Are you happy?"

"You talk too much."

"Guess that's a no." Blair looked out her window as Llanview sped by. "Where are we going?"

"We're just driving," Todd told her, eyes on the road ahead. "I'm heading out of town pretty soon."

Blair looked in the back of the car. "Where's Starr?"

"Starr is fine."

"Where is she, Todd? She better not be with that bitch!"

"I think Viki would take offense to being called a bitch, babe."

Blair exhaled loudly. "She's with Viki?"

"Well, yeah, Blair," Todd grinned. "Tea's in the hospital all banged up. She can't take care of a kid in her condition." He turned his head to look at her, eyes flashing wickedly. "Don't you agree?"

"If by 'her condition' you mean breathing," Blair replied with a sneer, "I'd have to agree."

Todd raised his eyebrows slightly. Blair seemed to be in a particularly venomous mood today. He supposed he couldn't blame her. "That's not what I was talking about."

"I know what you were talking about," Blair leaned her head back against the seat. "It's not as funny to me as it is to you, I guess."

"Okay."

They drove quietly for a while. Blair wondered what she was doing. She may have walked into the biggest trap of all. Todd had custody of Starr so he didn't need to make a happy home with her. He could stay married to his attorney-wife, in his glorious penthouse with all of his glorious money, and just fuck her on the side. She'd probably even let him for a while if he just kept making promises to fix things. The very idea depressed her. She had no faith in anything anymore. What a miserable way to live.

She looked at the trees and caught a glimpse of another small grouping of stubborn leaves and burst into tears.

"Jesus!" Todd pulled over to the side of the road. "Blair, what's wrong?"

Blair didn't answer. She just cried harder.

Todd saw immediately that this was going to take a while. He pulled out onto the road again and headed for his original destination, crooning to Blair the entire way. He hated it when she cried. It tore him to shreds inside and he hated being the cause of her tears more than anything. The back roads around Llantano Mountain were secluded and quiet. Todd found the overlook he wanted and stopped the car then unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned over near Blair. "Come on, babe. Don't do that."

"Oh shut up!" Blair wept furiously. "I'll cry any time I damn well please! I've got good reason!"

He grinned in spite of himself. "I guess so. Tell me why you're crying, okay?"

"No!"

"Blair!"

"I'm pathetic," she wailed loudly. "I'm pathetic and sad and I could totally beat you if we were playing our old game today."

He reached over and stroked her hair. "Lay it on me," he murmured lovingly. "Let's see if you can compete with my Hall of Fame record."

"My daughter has been taken from me, I had a stroke, I had a second miscarriage, I lost my baby because I was in a car accident caused by my cousin, my husband divorced me while I was in a coma, I couldn't walk, I couldn't talk, I've been told by a judge that I have to see a psychiatrist before I'm allowed near my daughter again... and now I'm your mistress and you're going to screw me over again probably!" Blair drew her knees up to her chest and launched into another round of stormy tears that made the entire car shake.

Todd sighed heavily. "Yeah, that's pretty pathetic. Your face is all blotchy now, too, and you're probably going to get the hiccups from all that crying."

Blair sent him an evil look.

He unbuckled her seatbelt and pulled her up and over the gearshift to sit on his lap. He moved his seat back to give them more room and cuddled her up against him. "Ask me why I'm going to Philly."

"Todd..." Blair leaned her head into the comfortable crook of his neck and felt herself relax against him almost in spite of herself. He was so warm and he curled around her so perfectly. She was a pathetic fool for him.

"Ask me why," he prompted again.

"Why are you going to Philly?"

"Daddy's gotta work," he pressed his lips to her forehead. "Daddy's gotta make things right so Mommy and Starr can come home.

Blair looked up at him then straightened in his lap so she could look him in the eye. He seemed a little anxious to her as she studied him. Anxious... or excited, she deduced. Maybe a little of both. "What's Daddy going to do?"

Todd's lips curved into a knowing smile. He framed her face with his hands and pulled her closer, nuzzling her face softly until she sighed and gripped two handfuls of his hair. When she melted against him like that he touched his mouth to hers lightly, teasing her lips with his tongue until they parted and he could slide it inside. She let him explore her mouth for several moments before letting her tongue duel with his.

Oh, but his kisses were so damn intoxicating. She could forget anything when he kissed her. She felt his thumb tease her earlobe while his other hand danced across her back. He seemed perfectly content to just kiss her and, in all honesty, it felt wonderful to her. She was making out with her boyfriend on an abandoned overlook near Llantano Mountain. If she weren't so busy kissing Todd she'd probably laugh.

She had to give him credit for one thing. He'd made that miserable, last stubborn leaf feeling that had settled over her go away. What else could he do if she gave him the chance?

Todd pulled back, tucking stray locks of her hair behind her ears and gazing at her gently. "Daddy's gonna make it all better."