Victoria Lord walked into Statesville with a little more trepidation than her companion had expected.
"You okay?" John McBain's ragged voice came out in a whisper. She nodded. "You don't have to do this. I could go alone."
"No." Vicki shook her head. "If anyone can coax Allison into running her big mouth it's me."
John had to agree. Vicki got under Allison's skin better than anyone. He flashed his badge at the door of the maximum security wing and he and Vicki were escorted back to the holding cell where they could talk to Allison through the thick pane of glass as Todd and Victor had insisted.
He didn't like taking orders from Victor Lord, but the fact was no one knew more about the organization and its potential risk then Victor Lord.
"You listen to her. Really listen. If she's repeating phrases, or saying anything that sounds like an insane southern preacher, you get my sister the hell out of there." Lord had told him via video conference in what John referred to as the war room of Todd Manning's fortress. "Seriously." He gave him a death stare. "I'm trusting you with my sisters life McBain."
John would have pointed out that he was a cop, and if either of them should be trusted with Vicki's wellbeing it was him, but a quick shake of the head from Todd Manning had made him bite his tongue.
"Vic, John's not going to let anything happen to Vicki. He's family after all."
"That's only if you consider Natalie family." His brother grunted.
"Well I consider you family and you stole my life for eight years, Bro. So how about we let John do his job?" Todd had said casually, like he was referring to his twin stealing his CD's not his very identity. "I'll talk you you soon."
"It's weird, seeing you two all happy family." John shrugged.
"You save a man's life and bring back his kid from the dead and they tend to be nicer." He shrugged, before the grin left his face and he became more somber. "He got the shit end of the stick McBain why should I hold a grudge?"
John wondered what about Victor's life Todd found so much less desirable than his own, before deciding it was probably about Blair.
"He's right though, about Perkins. There is a reason they have her solitary. She's dangerous. This organization is very dangerous. Especially for Victor. If someone had the power to take my free will away from me with a few catch phrases, I'd probably think twice about sending my beloved sister to meet with her."
Todd Manning being an FBI asset was also something he found he didn't particularly like, but the man had proven on more than one occasion that he was incredibly invaluable. Which is why Manning's pleas to protect Vicki seemed to carry more weight that his angrier sibling.
"I wish Todd were here." VIcki's whispered admission brought him back to the present as the two of them took their chairs in front of the glass. "No offense, Dear."
"None taken." John smiled at her, shocked to find he actually meant it. He knew Todd Manning would have more insight into this situation then he would, so he vowed to remember every last detail.
…..
The garage security waved the Manning car through one of the first doors before the driver exited and returned to the lobby. When the red light turned green, Todd tapped at the panel and the second door opened, moving the vehicle forward on its own accord. Starr watched with fascination to what had become an everyday occurrence to her parents. The door closed again and another light turned green. Her mother gestured for her to open the door. Todd had gone out the other side and was collecting their bags from the trunk.
"I don't have anything to wear in this weather." She moaned.
"We'll get you somethings." Todd said softly. "Your sister still has things in her closet."
"Dad. I can't wear anything Dani can wear." Starr chuckled. "Dani ironically is built like mom while I'm built like Aunt Vicki."
She glanced at her mother when she said this, but Blair was already at the elevator, pressing her thumb against the panel. She exchanged a worried glance with her father before they joined her.
"I can't wait to see-."
"Not yet!" Blair stopped her. "Don't say it until we're-." She swallowed hard, looking at the floor. Todd dropped the bag he was holding and took Blair's hand in his.
"It's okay, Babe." He whispered. "Everyone will be excited to see you, Shorty."
Starr forced a smile as the elevator beeped and then opened. Todd kicked at the baggage until Starr moved it into the plain cement block lobby. Starr watched her father key in another code and the door opened into another, slightly less compound like area. He swung the door open.
"We're home!" He yelled.
"We're in here!" Tina called back from the dining room, as the children turned from the table.
"Mommy?!" Hope's surprised shout made everyone jump, her chair clattered to the walnut floor as she ran, in a blur of blonde and pink, to her mother. Starr was already crouched on the floor sobbing with outstretched arms. They fell back into a heap of arms and legs when Hope reached her target.
"Merrie's asleep." Tina told Blair as the other woman's eyes swept the room. At least she was."
"Thank you." She whispered before quickly greeting her sons and hurrying up the steps. Todd paused a minute to check in with the boys and his sister before following her.
…..
"Blair?" He cracked open the door to the nursery to find his wife on Hope's bed clutching their sleeping toddler to her neck. He joined her, pulling gently until she collapsed back against his chest with a sob. "Talk to me."
"One word." She shook. "One word Todd, outside of this house and they will come for my baby in the night!"
"No one will ever-."
"Tell that to Starr, Tell that to Tea!" She buried her face in his shirt. Todd watched Merrie stir.
"Shh.. you're going to wake up the tiny terror." He pressed a kiss against her hair, while rhythmically patting the baby's back until she settled again, her fingers slipping into her mouth. "We will never let anyone take our children anywhere."
"I don't want Starr to leave." She told him quickly. "No one knows she's here. She could let her agent know there's been an emergency that she'll be out of the country."
"That's her decision to make, but good luck getting her untangled from Hope anyway." Todd had mixed feelings about Starr being here. The father in him wanted her in the fortress more than anything, but he also knew that Starr being here increased the chances that people would ask questions. Mainly why she had left a successful music career in LA to return to Llanview. Questions and reporters would follow, and one mistake would leave them exposed. "What aren't you telling me? About Cole?"
"I told you everything." She whispered, she'd rehashed the conversation with him more than once over secure channels, but he knew there was more.
"Blair?" He pulled her hair to the side and met her damp eyes.
"It was so similar." She told him calmly.
"To Victor." Todd finished, the air deflating slowly from his lungs.
"I know you don't like to talk about it." She sniffed as he adjusted his hold on her. "But what if..?"
"He hasn't given us any reason to worry." Todd lowered his voice. "We know the signs, he's not showing any of them."
"That we've seen." She scoffed.
"I talk to him everyday." Todd, lifted his hand from his daughters back and held it in the air.
"I know he's your brother and-." She began.
"I owe it to him, Blair." He said softly. "To trust him. If he can't come back from this what does it say about the rest of us?About Hope? They had me too, Blair. If you're concerned about Victor why aren't you concerned about me?"
"I told Starr your brainwashing didn't take.' She sniffed in what could have been a laugh and Manning smiled.
"I thought I killed Victor. I was seeing the ghost of Mommy Dearest all over town." He reminded her.
"Yeah well. You weren't attacking people and giving their babies away." She sighed.
"Sam Morgan might disagree with that last part." He chuckled. "Victor could never do anything that threatened the kids Blair."
"He tried to take Hope once, maybe that was early programming-." She pressed her fingers in to the hand he held against Merrie's back.
"Maybe, but he couldn't do it remember. He couldn't do that to Starr." He mumbled into her hair. "He loves her. That's the antidote remember? Love."
"Love." She sighed.
"Irene couldn't brainwash me because I loved you too much. They couldn't get Victor to deliver the kids to them because he loves them. Clint loves Nat and Jess too much to take their kids from them. Cole tried to tell us about Hope because he loves her."
"Cole.." She breathed, remembering the wicked smile that had graced his face when he quoted Matthew 19:14. "Do not stop them." She whispered.
"Babe?"
"It was a threat. Let the little children come to me and do not stop them." She shook her head.
"Because the kingdom of heaven belongs to people like these.." He took a deep breath. "I don't know what kind of sick bastard thinks that the kingdom of heaven belongs to the Lords." He chuckled softly.
"Lazurith." She answered with disgust. "And his band of followers.
"Mitch Lawrence is dead, Cole would have proclaimed him risen with glee if he wasn't."
"But Carl Peterson and his psycho sister stepped right in to fill the void."
"Weak people are attracted to psycho paths. I agree with them that my father and Mitch were branches of the same tree." He sighed.
"So who's the third branch of the tree Todd? The living branch?"
"I don't know." He leaned forward and looked at his wife. "But we'll find out, and we'll kill him."
…..
"Well, Allison didn't give us anything useful." Todd sighed, glancing up at his brother's face. "But Cole scared the shit out of Blair and Starr."
"I don't know how I feel about Starr being back in Llanview." Victor rubbed at his chin and leaned back into his desk chair. Todd crossed the room and sat on the table.
"I'm with you on that one, but you get her away from the daughter she has only seen in person twice since she's been 'risen.'" Victor felt himself wince at his brothers words. Todd grimaced. "Sorry."
"It's fine. It's not like you say it and I turn green and start flipping over tables." Her growled.
"I know." Todd looked towards the door, his face softening in a way that could only mean Blair had arrived.
"What is it like?" There was an edge to her voice that put Victor on alert.
"What is what like?" He raised an eyebrow and she wrinkled her nose at him.
"Please don't play coy." She shook her head. "I just watched a boy go from confused and fragil, to manical in the blink of an eye because I said a phrase."
Victor gulped back any response he might have had when he looked at Blair's face. He felt a whisper of the Todd part of him longing to reach out and comfort her false bravado. The real Todd Manning watched her for a moment before his leg kicked out and tapped the outside of her thigh. She backed up into his embrace and sighed. Victor felt the tension melt from him as well.
"Blair have you ever had an itch you couldn't reach?" Victor asked, looking down at the keyboard. "It's so uncomfortable and nagging and everything in you wants to get to the itch but you know you can't?"
"Yes." She whispered.
"That's what it's like." He blinked up a her with the flat affect everyone had come to understand as the Victor parts of him. The parts that lacked the depth of Todd. "You say 'three branches one tree' and I itch, but I don't scratch."
"So what do you do?" She felt sorry for him, he could see it in her face. It pissed him off, he moved his eyes to Todd who held them with the strong steady reassurance he'd come to rely on. Damn him.
"I wait for it to go away." He told her. "And it does."
She was still eyeing him suspiciously, like his very existence was something that still offended her, even after all these years.
"Dad?" Victor winced again as his oldest son's voice floated from Pennsylvania to Tahiti.
"Yeah Sam?" Todd called back, unpulsed by Victor's unjustified jealousy.
"You said you'd help me."
"I'm coming." He looked up at his brother. "You two going to play nice while I design a diorama of Paris?"
Blair shot him a look and he raised his hands in surrender and backed out of the room.
"It bothers you." She sighed. "Sam calling Todd 'Dad'?" Blair took Todds seat on the conference table.
"I don't love it." He swallowed. "But he's not wrong. Todd is more of a father to him then I have ever been."
"You're right he is." She was indignant, but he could still see the shadow of pity.
"Todd loves kids. Turns out I'm not really much of a fan." Victor had spent a lot of time thinking about this since Tommy had been returned to them. "I'm trying to do better, but I find myself relying more and more on Todd's parenting skills when I'm dealing with the son I'm currently raising."
"Todd knows the damage a bad father can do." She whispered. "He takes parenting Sam especially seriously."
"He still thinks one day he's going to wake up and become Peter Manning." Lord shook his head. "He won't."
"I know that." She huffed.
"There's no need for a pissing contest, Mrs. Manning. I know you know Todd better than anyone. Maybe even me. Definitely better than he does." Victor chuckled.
"What about you? Do I know you?" She looked afraid of the answer.
"Blair, I don't even know me." He met her eyes again. "But I can promise you, on my life, I won't scratch the itch."
When he finally got of the phone with his sort of ex wife and wandered back to Tea chatting in animated Spanish on the phone to Dani while feeding Tommy lunch. Victor sat down next to his son, pulling a grape from his plate and tossed it into his mouth.
"You so funny Daddy!" The little boy laughed, his father smiled widely.
…..
Anna Duvane couldn't sleep. She pulled herself out of bed and made her way down stairs to the kitchen table. Emma had started a puzzle just before bed and she was careful not to disturb it. Something was bothering her about her conversation with McBain earlier. She pulled out her iPad and looked over her notes again.
Prisoner then began babbling about a lute and nymphs and a song so beautiful it could raise the dead.
There was something so familiar about it. Something she just couldn't put her finger on. Anna switched to the internet and typed that phrase into the search bar.
She squinted at the results before the realization hit her. She grasped the phone and called John McBain.
"The Lute player, his name is Orphus, and he raises the dead." She said breathlessly. "You need to contact Captian Brot Monroe in Pine Valley, and ask him when the last time someone saw David Hayward was, now."
….