Jack was confused. He watched the pained look on his Aunt Vicki's face before moving his eyes to McBain; who was presenting what they knew about David Hayward and his visit to Uncle Clint.
He was the only one of the Manning kids who had decided to attend the meeting. Starr and Dani were making cookies with the younger children downstairs, but he was sitting stoic, hanging on every word.
"So now we know what we're dealing with." John McBain said in the same calm way he always did.
"We have no idea what we're dealing with." His dad blew air out of his lungs. "This guy can bring people back from the dead. How are we dealing with that?"
"Todd, you don't really think that Tony.." Vicki's voice trailed off.
"Do I really think that your cousin, who was our secret brother for about five minutes, is alive and attempting to collect Lord children to replace his dead son?" Todd rattled off. "Yeah. I think Hope telling us they called Tommy "Brian" is probably a pretty good clue."
"Three Branches. One Tree." Victor muttered, everyone's eyes jumped to him on the screen. "Todd, Blair and I have thought for a while now that Mich Lawrence and Victor Lord were two of the branches. We called them the dead branches. We've been trying to track the living branch, but…"
"Turns out, in keeping with tradition, it might not be as dead as we thought." Natalie turned to face her husband as she spoke.
"Mich is dead." John reassured her. "We know that."
"Not if Hayward revived him." Todd grumbled.
"I don't understand." Vicki whispered, moving her fingers through the Orpheus
files on the table in front of her. "Some of these people died in hospitals, with relatives at their side. Then years later they show up alive?"
"Not much is known about the process." Anna Devane said softly. "I contacted Dixi Martin, one of the..returned. I wanted to see if anything more had been uncovered. Nothing had, however; now that we are sure David is involved, I wanted to make sure that your family had all the information it needed."
"So Hayward's the other branch?" Jack asked slowly from his spot at the end of the table.
"We don't know son." Blair whispered. "It's possible. "
"What do you think?" Todd asked him. Jack's eyes shot to his father who raised his brows at him.
"I don't think it makes any sense." Jack shrugged. "These other people, have a vendetta against us. Why does Hayward give a shit?"
"My thoughts exactly." Todd smiled, glancing at his mother.
"I will say that almost all of David's other.." Devane trailed off, looking for the right word before deciding. "Patients, were people that he had relationships with, unfinished business."
"But none of you have ever heard of him?" Jack scanned the faces in the room, a collection of head shakes and shrugs rippled through the space.
"I will say there is something…" Anna sighed. "This all came about I think.. because David has lost his child. All four of them actually."
"Oh my God." His mother whispered, moving her hand to her chest. His father squinted his eyes like he was in pain. He was glad his sister wasn't in the room.
"So that's motive. Someone could convince him that they deserve us," Jack whispered. "That Uncle Cousin Tony might deserve a collection of Lord children.."
"It's possible." The woman whispered. The room was silent for a moment before Victor grunted uncomfortably, all eyes in the Media room flipped to him.
"I have another.. concern." He murmured. "No proof.." His Uncle looked uneasily at his twin. Jack watched his dad move towards his mother and take her hand in his. "But we don't know the whereabouts of Miles Lawrence. Todd and I have both been looking into it.."
"Shit." Natalie whispered.
"And since we're talking about him and creepy doctors who can cheat death.. we can't assume that-."
"Spencer Truman." Jack felt the name slip out of him as the hot rush of what that meant rippled through him. Victor met his nephew's eyes, he felt the memories move between them. He thought about all the horror that one man had brought on his family all those years ago. "We can't assume that Spencer Truman is dead." He shook his head before standing up abruptly and pacing towards the wall. "He was the one who wiped Margaret's memory. What if-? What if she's not dead either? What if she wants-?" He looked towards the door frantically as his father left his now crying mother and crossed the room in four quick strides.
"Hey. Hey." Todd pulled his son to him by the scruff of his neck. "Sam's safe. You're safe." His father sighed, holding him tight to him and whispering softly. "I've got you."
Jack leaned heavy into him for a minute, only prying is eyes open to meet his mother's tearful gaze before pressing his head into Todd's shoulder for a second before pulling away and wiping and embarrassed tear from his cheek. His dad kept his warm palm cupped around his neck. He looked up at Victor on the screen.
"I want you to fill Jack in on this." He announced. "I think he can help you out. He obviously remembers a fair amount of that time period."
"Like every second." The younger Manning muttered darkly. His uncle Victor nodded at him.
"I should get a picture of this Truman to Pine Valley, see if Dixi or anyone else recognizes him." Anna countered
"And Hope." Jack nodded, and Todd's hand gave a squeeze.
"Hope?" Blair asked, her head bobbing up.
"We should show her pictures of all of them. She recognized Tommy right away. She may be able to name all of them. We'll put some random pictures in there too, just to make sure we're not leading her on."
"That's smart, Jackson." Victor agreed, rubbing his face. "Look I don't want any of this getting out to Sam yet."
"Agreed." Todd's voice was just as protective, Jack watched his mother nod.
…..
"It's like a game." Starr said softly pulling her daughter onto her lap. Dani watched anxiously from an armchair. "Mommy's going to show you a picture and tell you the name of the person in it, and you tell me if I'm lying to or telling the truth. Okay?"
Dani shifted her eyes to her step mother who hovered fretfully in the kitchen, just out of Hope's line of site, before casting her gaze to her brothers on the sofa. Jack's legs were propped on the armrest that Sam was leaning back against, as if he was physically blocking any attempt Spencer Truman or Margaret Cochran made towards the boy. She looked up to the loft. Her father stood, his arms crossed leaning forward slightly, looking out onto the living room. He sensed her looking, turning his head to meet her gaze.
He stood up straight and she climbed the stairs to meet him.
"You okay, Firecracker?" He asked softly, folding her into his arms. She pressed her cheek against his chest.
"Me?" She murmured. "It's the boys you should be worried about."
"I'm worried about all of you." He muttered into her hair.
Out of all of her siblings, Dani had the hardest time falling under her father's spell. Not that Todd hadn't worked damn hard to break her, but it was only when he'd literally crashed through a wall and rescued her from a kidnapping attempt that they'd really gotten to know each other on a deeper level.
Dani remembered little about how she'd ended up in Louisiana with Arturo, being handed over to Allison Perkins, but she did remember the three days she'd spent with her father after her rescue. Every minute of it actually. He'd been homesick and exhausted and lonely, which meant he was a talkative Todd Manning. They'd taken the journey arguing and swapping stories as they had made there way north to a safe house where John McBain was waiting to bring her home.
"Well aren't you a damn firecracker." He'd muttered when she'd started arguing loudly about the ridiculousness of the two of them tromping through the swamp in thick horrible heat. The nickname stuck, and Dani Manning fell for her third Father in a spectacular way. .
"Humm." Dani pulled back and looked at him. "So lets say this is Spencer. We can't still send Sam to school. Or Llanfair, can we? Knowing that they're out there?"
"Sam has great security. Even at Llanfair. Where anyone can just walk in and take a kid; because McBain and the LPD seem to think the fact that they hang their uniforms in closets there means no one can penetrate it's perimeter." He flapped a hand in the air.
"You had great security on me too until I ditched them." Dani countered, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Well Sam follows directions better than you." He raised the same eyebrow back at her and her face broke into a smile. "I'll have Blair put Sean on him if it makes you and Jack feel better okay?"
She nodded at the thought of Destiny's brother watching out for hers. A angry guttural sound ground out of the baby monitor that Todd had on his hip and gripped it in his palm.
"The Terror won't sleep." He mumbled, rubbing his finger and thumb into the corners of his mouth.
"Lord's don't sleep." Dani answered robotically, taking the monitor with a smile. ""I'll get her down, tell Blair to call Sean."
"Deal." He cupped the back of her head and pressed a kiss between her eyes before jogging down the steps. Dani made her way into the west wing and to her youngest sibling.
"Who am I?" Dani asked her boldly, crossing her arms across her chest as the little redhead reached out to her. An immediate pout formed on her baby face. "Don't give me that. I invented that."
"Dani." Merrie growled after a few irritated minutes.
"And who am I to you?" She asked pointedly.
"No." Merrie snapped.
"Yes." Dani snapped back. "Unless you want to stay in the crib."
The toddler screeched and fell on to her back like she'd been struck.
"I invented that too. " She huffed. "Who am I to you?"
"Fister." Merrie squealed, kicking a chubby leg.
"Yes. I am your sister Dani and I am the boss of you. Got it, Red?" She clarified, reaching into the crib and collecting her off the mattress. Merrie popped and angry thumb into her mouth and laid her head against Dani's shoulder. Dani pressed her chin to her red curls before exhaling. "Got it."
She moved to the rocking chair and started to rock slowly, she was still there when her older sister opened the door.
"Well?" She whispered breathless, as Starr wiped the hair from her shocked face and picked up a game of Guess Who? off the table.
"She knew Spencer Truman." The words slipped into the space between them.
"Crap." Dani sighed.
"Crap." Merrie answered sleepily.
….
"When this is all over?" Todd Manning whispered, coming up behind his wife as she stood searching the security cameras that had kept watch over their family for the last four years. "We're going to get a new one of those giant portraits done, with all the kids." He wrapped his arms around her. "This time I'm going to have them frame it with glass, so I don't have to pay a small fortune to have it cleaned after you get mad and deface it."
"Hummm." She tilted her head to the side and he kissed her neck. "I like having them all here."
"Me too." He pressed his nose into the back of her ear.
"Feels safer." She looked at the empty apartments the Manning girls had left behind with a sigh. "Why did we decided it wasn't safer?"
"The Feds said it wasn't safer. Keeping up appearances. Everyone going on with their lives." He brought a finger up and moved her hair off her still exposed neck and kissed her again. "You're the one that agreed and said it would be better for them to have autonomy. To have a real life."
"I'm an idiot, why do you listen to me?" She hummed, bringing her hand up and brushing the side of his face.
"You were right." He assured her cupping his palm over the back of her hand and holding her to him. "And after we brought Hope home it was important not to draw attention towards this place and wherever Starr goes, attention follows. I'm surprised the damn paparazzi hasn't shown up yet. They haven't noticed she's been gone?"
"It's only been three days." She cooed, turning her face slightly to touch her lips to his chin.
"That's not possible." He sniffed. "I've done like five days worth of work since then."
"You've been monomaniacal." She tore her eyes away from the live feed of Cutter closing Shelter for the night and turned slowly in his arms. "Tonight we sleep."
"I took a nap today." He shook his head.
"That was yesterday." She sighed, pulling on his arm and leading him through the door that led directly to their bedroom.
"Seriously?" He squeaked.
"Seriously." She countered, undoing the buttons of his shirt and unbuckling his belt.
"Are you coming on to me Mrs. Manning?" He smirked as she pushed the garment off his shoulders and undid the clasp of his pants.
"If it gets you to lay in this bed with me for more than four hours? Yes, I'm coming on to you." She said in a sing song voice.
"I will lay with you any time, Babe." He kissed her clavicle, backing her up towards the bed.
"That moment, with Jack today." She closed her eyes and Todd pulled the blanket down and prodded her to crawl in before tucking himself around her. "He was so anxious Todd, this Spencer/Margaret thing.."
"Yeah. Vic and I talked about it again. He's going to have a chat with Jack about it. Reassure him." She tensed in his arms at the mention of it. "It's about him and Victor Babe." He reminded her. "I wasn't there."
But you were, Blair thought. That was when he was still you.
"Hey." He breathed into her hair. "Talk to me."
"You know I don't like to think about that time Todd." Her voice sounded icy, even to her, she rolled to face him gripping at his undershirt with her fingers. He nodded.
"You know sometimes we have to." He reminded her. "When it has to do with the kids and their wellbeing, we do."
"Not tonight." She sighed.
"Okay. Not tonight." He kissed her cheekbone at the base of her left eye.
"He kept their doors open." She sighed. "His and Sam's, like someone's going to raid the fortress in the night."
"Dani's asleep in Hope's bed. She didn't want the Terror to be alone."
"They're scared Todd." Blair slid forward until she was safely tucked under his chin. "I'm scared."
"It's gonna be okay." He pressed a kiss to her head.