"So. The FBI paid us a visit this morning?" Blair was sitting at the vanity brushing her hair, he met her eyes in the mirror.
"Anna Duvane did." He sighed. "I'm honestly still not sure if the visit was personal or professional."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean she told me classified information, but it was about her ex."
"One of the good guy spies or the bad guy spy?" Blair turned and looked at him, still sprawled out on the bed, his head propped up on his elbow.
"Get this." Todd raised an eyebrow at her. "Neither."
"Seriously, another ex? She's like Vicki this woman."
"Nah, she's not Vicki level bad. Just Dorian level bad." He countered.
"She's still got time." Blair pointed out. "So what does her ex have to do with anything?"
"Apparently the other two branches might not have stayed as dead as we thought." Todd took a breath, sitting up and pulling his legs closer to his body.
Blair continued to stared at him, but he didn't elaborate. She realized that meant he couldn't. She got up from the chair and walked to the bed. He wrapped his arms around her.
"I have Victor working on some things. I'm going call Vicki, there are some things I need to know from her."
"Should I be scared?" She breathed, his lips pursed before he shrugged lightly.
"No more than usual." He decided.
"Are you going to have to-." She rushed the words out of her mouth.
"I told you I'm not leaving." He interrupted, pulling back and framing her face with his hands.
"You told me that over a year and a half ago. We both know things change." She grasped at his wrists.
"Do you need me to say it again?" He smiled. "I'll say it again."
"Todd." She whispered, her eyes filled with tears and she looked away from his face.
"18 months and.." He stopped for a minute, his fingers ticking up in silent compilation. "..eleven days ago, I sat here on this bed." He looped his arms around her angled knees and pulled her up towards the headboard. "That's more like it, just like this."
"Todd." She huffed at his reenactment.
"And got the shock of my life." He settled his palm against her flat waist. "And that's saying something because I've come back from the dead, multiple times."
"Stop." Her protest was a little less ernest this time. She tried not to smile at his teasing.
"And I looked at you and you were terrified. Seriously I've never seen you that scared." The grin was gone, he swallowed hard. "And all I can do is whisper your name. And you said.."
"'Stay.'" She closed her eyes at the memory, feeling the tears slip out of the corners.
"I'm not leaving." He told her firmly, pressing his forehead into her hair. "You could try and kick me out but I don't think I'd get very far."
"Taking down this organization is-."
"Someone else's problem." He finished for her. "My only job. My ONLY job, is protecting this family and I can do that from here." She rearranged herself so she was in his lap, he rocked her slightly. "Right here in our fortress, on video chat with my idiot brother surrounded, by surly teenage boys, a precocious five year old and one tiny red headed terrorist that I would not trade for anything." She chuckled at him. "And you.." He pulled her back, tracing his fingers over her face. "I could have the world in my hand;" his low voice reached into their past. "It wouldn't mean a thing if I didn't have you. Nothing.." He raised his eyebrows at her. "..can change that. You got that?"
"I love you Todd Manning." She whispered softly, slipping her hands into his hair and pressing just enough that he had no choice to move his lips to hers. "I love you."
"I would hope so." He breathed, letting his mouth drop from her lips to her chin to her clavicle. "After all this damn time."
…..
"Oh Well will you look who's finally awake." Sam looked up at his brother, following his eyes to his sister who was wiping the sleep from her eyes. "It's after two you know.""
"For your information it's only eleven my time." She moaned before making a goofy face at her daughter as Sam cut her sandwich in half. "And Hope was up till four."
"Well she was back up at nine. I guess you were here for the Feds then?" Jack asked, giving her a sideline glance before dropping some cut up pieces of fruit onto Merrie's tray, while star dropped in a keurig.
"It was John McBain and Anna Duvane, they're just cops. Hardly Mulder and Scully." She smiled at Jack like he was naive. Sam grunted out a laugh.
"Just cops she says." Jack and Sam exchanged glances. Star brought her coffee to the table and looked back and forth between her brothers.
"What?"
"I thought you were the smart one?" Sam whispered.
"What?" She looked at Jack.
"Anna's Dad's handler."
"Dad's what?" Star snorted, hot coffee splashing onto the table.
"You missed the part where Dad became intelligence asset? Were you on tour or something?" Jack laughed. "Have you seen our 'media room'"
"She just thought he was handy with technology. Like advanced gaming or something." Sam smirked.
"How long-?" Her voice trailed off, unit made sense.
"Two plus years. Since right after he left Llanview." Jack whispered.
"We're not supposed to know." Sam countered. "But he totally knows we know. So we all just pretend."
"Does Dani know?!" Starr asked, her mouth agape.
"Probably." Jack shrugged.
"What the hell?"
"He brought your supposedly dead daughter home. You thought that was just a weekend gig or-" Her younger brother stopped and stared at her for a minute before turning to Sam. "You're officially the smart one."
"Where's dad?" She ordered stiffly.
"Mom made him lie down, he'd been up all night." Jack countered just as stiffly.
"Watch the girls."
"That's what I've been doing." He grumbled back.
Starr Manning climbed the stairs two at a time in outrage like her childhood self would have.
"Dad!" She flung the doors to the west wing open and stomped to the master bedroom. "Dad?"
"What's wrong?" Todd Manning opened the door quickly.
"Did you forget to tell your oldest child you're an intelligence informant?"
"Starr.." Blair got off the bed and moved towards her daughter.
"Because apparently Dani knows and the boys know. Do Hope and Merrie know?"
"Dani knows?" Todd grimaced.
"Why do the boys get to know?"
"The boys live here honey. They lived through that time." Her mother replied.
"How does Dani know?" Todd looked back at Blair.
"Dad!" Starr stomped her foot, Blair smirked at the nostalgic look Todd gave his daughter before pulling her to him.
"You had a lot going on Starr. It's hard to slip into conversation." He sighed into her hair.
"Dad?" Sam called up the stairs. "Dani's on the phone down here, she said your cell was going to voicemail. Anyway she's all pissed that you let Starr come home and not her."
"Of course she is." He mumbled from his daughters hair.
"This is too dangerous." Starr whispered.
"Nah. I can handle your sister." He said pulling away and turning his phone back on. It starting dinging rapidly. He pressed a button. "I'm an asset for the federal government." He winked at her. "Hello Firecracker.."
Stars face flickered with a bit of a smile at her father's nickname for her sister. Blair patted the bed beside herself as he started for the door in the corner that led directly into the media room. "I'm sorry Dani it was an emergency last minute thing. Danielle I said I was sorry."
He rolled his eyes at Blair and she laughed lightly before turning back to Starr.
"You okay?" Her mother asked.
"Me?" She squeaked.
"You." Blair moved her daughters hair from her face. We haven't really had time" to talk. After Cole, I kind of tapped out for a minute."
"I can understand that." Starr whispered. "This is bigger than I thought. I mean. I realized that now. I just thought.. I don't know what I thought. People in our family seem to come back from the dead a lot."
"Baby, you don't know the half of it." Her mother sighed.
The door opened again and her father walked through with a sigh.
"Set another plate for dinner. Your sister will be here in six hours." He said with a shake of his head.
"You sucker." Blair smiled widely at him.
…..
Cord and his father had been playing cards when the man showed up. They exchanged glances, before Clint's face morphed into the vaguely absent, doddering look that he used as a cover. It had taken Cord Roberts a few days to get over how quickly he went back and forth. It had also be like a tiny miracle to realize that the last two years had been an act and his dad was still the same guy he'd always been.
But he was currently starring the cards in his hand like they were something interesting.
"I hope I'm not interrupting." The man asked softly. "I was informed Mr. Buchanan's son was visiting. That's a surprise. He doesn't usually get visitors other than Mrs. Lord. "
"My stepmother had planned to come, but something came up. We didn't want to disappoint Dad." He stuck out his hand and shook it.
"I was hoping to speak with your father alone."
"I share guardianship with my stepmother, so anything you need to say, you can say it with me in the room." Cord said firmly.
"I'd prefer not to."
"Dad is it alright if I stay?"
"Stay as long as you like Cord." Clint commented jovially, like he was hosting him at a party. "We have lots of cards."
Cord smiled at the man. The man grinned back unevenly, clutching his hands together in front of him.
"Dad said someone was talking about my sisters last visit. I'm assuming that was you?" Cord continued.
"Just mentioning how nice it must be, to have the whole family basically under one roof." The man narrowed his eyes at Cord. "You live there as well don't you?"
"Yes. My wife, and our son. He's just moved back after active duty. Taken a job with the police department." He nodded. "We actually have three members of the Llanview PD living in our home." He nodded again. "That's a lot of cops."
"You must feel safe." The man said.
"Very."
"I'm afraid if I'm not going to be able to talk to Clint alone, I'll need Ms. Lords permission for you to attend as well."
"I'll give her a call. I'm sorry I missed your name?"
"Dr. David Hayward." The man said with a shark like smile. Cord returned it, moving into the hallway.
"Manning." He said softly as soon as he was out of earshot. "We got a problem down here alright. Guys name is Hayward, and he's like a snake oil salesman."