A/N: I had to go back and make an adjustment in Jack's age. Unlike the show I can't make myself age Dani without aging her older brother. It just seemed wrong. That makes him just 23 and Dani 22. I couldn't bring myself to make him any older, so she gets to stay the same age she's been since the show ended. Soap Opera Magic!
….
Blair looked back over the swarm of police for a familiar face, but there wasn't one.
"John should be back by now." She kept her hand on Jack's shoulder.
"Mom?" He whispered softly. "Dad wanted me to remind you not to talk to anyone."
She rolled her eyes at him.
"Jack, I know-."
"He said they're going to split us up and try and make it seem like they're getting information from me and that you're going to panic and say something stupid and that I should remind you that I'm not going to say anything." He interrupted. Blair made a face. "I'm supposed to tell you this isn't his first rodeo." Her lips twitched into a guilty smile before she let her eyes slip shut with a nod. Jack squeezed the hand that was on his shoulder. "He also said not to worry about him, he's okay."
Blair pressed her chin to the top of her son's head.
"Yeah. Well.. with your Daddy? 'Okay' is a relative term." She huffed, spinning her wedding ring on her finger. She pictured the engraving in her mind's eye. Todd's messy scribble perfectly mimicked on the inside of her gold band. She repeated the phrase over and over in her head until a cop wandered over and predictably separated her and Jack for questioning.
"Don't say anything until your attorney arrives.." She reminded her son before following the officer out the door and onto the patio.
….
"So this is it?" Victor whispered pulling into one of the warehouses in the industrial park and stopping the car.
"Looks like it." Todd starred at the building.
"Do they all look like this?" He asked his brother.
"You don't remember?" Todd asked with a nod. "From when we got Jack out?"
"Barely." He mumbled looking out into the nothingness. "I remember there was a fence, and you kept yelling at me to keep going. I remember you wanting to kill Allison, holding the gun to her chest."
"And you wouldn't let me." Todd said pointedly.
"Jack was upset." He sighed. "I didn't want him to see his father commit a rage homicide right in front of his face." Victor's hand chopped at the air. "Even my messed up brain knew that wasn't what was best for the kid."
"And you were right." Todd sighed graciously. "Congratulations." He rubbed his face and looked at the building. "You wanna take bets on who's in there?"
"My fifth grade math teacher?" Victor snorted.
"They dead?" Todd countered.
"I don't know. I don't even remember if I had a fifth grade math teacher." He looked lazily at his brother. "Ready?"
"Yep." He leaned forward and let his twin cuff him. "Not too tight now."
"Sure thing, Boss." He snickered. "You sure we really have to do this for real?"
"Yes. They'll check. Just.." He listened to the click and leaned back to look at his brother. "Just focus on me for a while. It's gonna be fine."
"I hope you're right." He took a deep breath and moved him towards the doors, the doors swung open and an excited Miles Lawrence came out to greet them.
"Walker, thank God!"
Manning felt his twin's grip tighten on his arm.
"Walker?" Todd snorted. "You're such an idiot. At least I can recognize my own sibling."
"Victor?" Miles eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the other man. Todd held his breath.
"They moved Walker before I had the chance to get him out." The sorrow was evident in his voice. "I know it's no victory, but I can offer you my brother for yours."
"Come in." Miles gave a quick nod. "We'll take this to Lazareth."
Todd's head whipped up to face him before turning to look at Victor. His brothers face remained blank, but he squeezed Todd's arm again in acknowledgment. Manning watched his lips part slowly, his eyes narrowing at Miles.
"Walker said he has not risen."
"No." Miles shook his head. "But soon, come see!"
He ushered the twins through the door, taking a moment to yank at Todds cuffs as he led them down the hall into a small room. On the bed, surrounded by machines and medication pumps, was Mitch Lawrence.
….
Starr Manning was not expecting to see another car at the entrance of the Fortress when she and Michael pulled up out front. She felt the little hairs on the back of her arm stand on end as the Security ushered her past them and into the garage.
"Who is that?" She yelped as soon as the window lowered.
"Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Roberts." He told her efficiently, and Starr felt the fear rush out of her.
"Have they been verified?" Starr asked cautiously, despite the fact that she couldn't think of a less threatening duo then Clint and Cord.
"Yes. I was getting ready to phone Ms. Lord when you arrived."
"Thank you, Davis. Tell my Uncles we'll wait for them in the lobby."
"More family?" Michael asked cautiously, when she collapsed back against the seat.
"More Buchanan's." Starr smiled. "Uncles to match the set of Aunts upstairs."
"Ah." He smirked as the car pulled into the secure garage and shuttered to a halt, Starr marveled at the way it had all become routine, not just for her but for Michael, in one short week.
She stood smiling as the Buchanan car pulled in and Cord and Clint got out, chortling back and forth to each other, Texas accents thick from their time in their home state.
"Your aunts have a type." Michael snorted.
"No." She grinned at his confusion. "I mean yes. That type is Buchanan. They're father and son."
"Oh." Michael blinked. "I'd been meaning to give you the official title.. of most complicated family..'
"Thanks." She sighed, before her Uncle Clint caught her eye and smiled widely at her.
"Starr." He called jovially.
"Uncle Clint." She tossed her arms around him, before doing the same to Cord. "This is my boyfriend, Michael."
"Allan Quartermaine's grandson." Clint studied him intensely. "I can see quite a bit of Edward in you."
"Really?" His voice made Starr reach for his hand. Michael blinked, his eyes widening as the edges of his usually somber mouth quirked up.
"You have his eyes." Clint nodded before turning to his son. "You'll have to watch this one Cord, he'll have BE out from under us before breakfast."
"Is that so?" Cord smirked.
"I come in peace." Michael put up his free hand with a sly smile.
"We better get upstairs." Buchanan continued. "I'm sure Tina's worked herself into a tizzy this past week and I haven't seen Vicki in almost six months."
Starr watched them hurry towards the elevator and couldn't help but grin after them. As crazy as things had been there was something so normal about her Uncle Clint bustling about, griping about her aunts and BE she had to smile.
….
"I don't understand." Todd shook his head. "He was dead. For real this time, he was-."
"So were you. Hell, so was I." Victor told him gruffly. "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
Manning took a slow breath and turned to face his brother. Victor was staring at the floor, his head bobbing up and down slowly.
"I don't understand!" Todd yelled.
"You still can't see it." He lifted his arms to the ceiling, and cast a lazy look at Miles. "Forgive him. He knows not what he does."
"O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me;" The middle Lawrence brother looked between the Lord twins.
"We'll help him see." Victor nodded. "Father, in his mercy will help him see."
"This is as he wants it, to rule with his brother at his side. Three branches one tree."
"We are one." Victor said dutifully, Todd's heart skipped a beat. He drew himself up slowly.
"Anyone want to clue me in? As far as I know my two fathers have a combined total of three deaths."
"As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father" Miles smiled at him. "Just as you have risen, so has he."
"Our father is alive?" Todd whispered slowly. "Impossible, he'd be over a hundred years old."
"The Father is alive in the son. To know the son is to know the father! 'It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found..'" Miles looked back at Mitch for a second, touching his foot. "Come with me. I will show you."
The Lawrence brother walked ahead and Todd turned to look at his sibling.
"Marco." He muttered.
"Polo." Victor growled back.
"Just checking." He sighed.
"I'm still here."
"How you feeling?"
"Itchy." He sighed, pretending to prod his brother along.
"Yeah. I bet."
He followed Miles into the room at the end of the hall, the familiar swirls on the wall before him. On each was labeled with gold lettering: Lord, Lawrence and Alcazar. Todd felt Victor's stifled gasp from behind him.
And there it was, the mysterious third branch.
…
Blair had given her statement to to about four different law enforcement agencies before going off to look for her son. She finally spotted John McBain standing at the back of the building. He signaled her over.
"Took you long enough."
"Blair.." He said softly, pulling her out the back exit. "I need you to come with me."
"What? Is it Todd? What happened?"
"I'm sorry." John told her calmly, gesturing behind him at the police van. In it she could see her son sitting rigidly on a bench. His hands behind his back, Then her eyes slid to the front cab where Tomas Delgado held a gun to Natalie's head.
"He said we need to get in the van." McBain breathed. "Or he'll kill them both."
Blair Manning got in the van.