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laniew1I don't know if any of those people that read my OLTL FF actually check my LJ or not.You can find the rest of Mirror Images at my website.
RATING: R (for language, violence)
PAIRING: Todd/Blair
AUTHOR: Melanie
DISCLAIMER: I don’t own anybody, if I did Todd and Blair would have been happily married for years now.
Mirror Images – Chapter 36
She blinked rapidly, disorientation flooding her entire body. She felt weak and sick and wondered if she would make it to the bathroom if she was going to throw up.
Then she wondered if she would be able to find the bathroom if she decided to do so.
A glance around the room showed her in a lady’s bedroom, one she’d never been in before though some of the items looked familiar.
Some of them looked like hers.
Which couldn’t be the case.
The mirror in front of her showed a woman, young lady in her mid twenties staring with shock at herself.
Pale, mouth pinched.
Her hair was long falling in waves over her shoulder and she hadn’t worn her hair like that in years.
“You’re not nervous are you?” a happy, familiar voice pierced through her veil of confusion and even as her back stiffened she was turning in her chair.
“Oh honey… you know if you don’t want to marry him you don’t have to.”
“Dad?” her voice was incredulous as she stared at him. Because this was her father, her father. Smiling at her, dressed sharply in a black tuxedo.
Alive.
“Honey are you okay?” the happiness faded and concern took its place as he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him.
“I’m…”
“You know what I’m going to get your mother,” Jeremy stated decidedly.
“No, no… I’m okay,” Blair stood from her seat, noticing for the first time that she was in a white bathrobe. Lying on the bed, ready for her to slip into with the help of her bridesmaids was her wedding dress.
A white wedding dress, beautiful lace and satin and beading.
“I’m getting married today,” she said softly.
“Yes you are,” her father moved forward, a gentle hand on her arm and he smiled down at her. Cupping her cheek as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“I’m. Getting. Married.”
“You know nervousness is normal sweetie,” Jeremy grinned. “But if you’re going to get sick warn me, I’ll get one of your cousins or possibly your brother. He should be an old hand at it by now… he was holding the wash cloth for Todd while he threw up.”
******************************************************************************
“Honey are you sure you’re okay?” Jeremy touched her back gently and Blair had to fight to keep herself from leaping into his arms and hugging the life out of him.
This was her father. Her father.
For most of her life she’d thought her father was someone that had abused her mother and that she’d been the result of that. It had only been in the last few years that she had found out the truth, found out that her parents had loved and adored each other with every fiber of their beings. She wanted nothing more at this moment than to grab Jeremy and find Marcus and take him home.
Finally.
“I’m fine,” she rubbed her arms. There was something really off about where they were. The air felt strange and constricting.
“You know what… I am going to go get your brother, he’ll ground you faster than I can,” Jeremy decided. He hugged Blair tightly, kissed her cheek and then was gone. Blair rubbed at the skin that his lips had touched staring after him. Her father had just touched her and it had felt natural.
Like there was a bond between them, the same bond that existed between Kylie and Paul, Darleen and Simon.
The air still felt weird but that simple touch had felt natural and normal.
Blair paced, remembering at the last minute that this was her wedding day so she didn’t drag her hands through her hair like she wanted to.
She glanced once more in the mirror and scowled.
Something really fucked up was going on. She could remember the event horizon, could remember the others presences behind her… strong and faithful linking her and Marcus to their world.
Whatever this was… well this wasn’t her world.
“Blair,” Marcus sounded as freaked out as she felt. She didn’t think she’d felt this freaked out when she’d met Kylie and then Darleen and seen her face on someone else’s body.
She flew at him, they may have only known each other for a few days but she felt that bond that declared him her sibling, brother, protector as keenly as if she’d known him forever. Hugging him tightly. Letting him hold her, each gathering greatly needed strength from the other.
“What the hell is going on?!” she swore. She touched his face, grounding herself in him.
“You’re asking me?” Marcus released her, touching her hand, linking their fingers together. He drew a deep breath and she felt a wave of calmness flow over her. She hadn’t realized that she was that close to hyperventilating until Marcus had relieved the stress building up within her.
“I don’t think this is real,” she stated. She smoothed her hands over the satin robe she’d found herself in. It sure as hell felt real, but it didn’t feel real.
And that was really hard to explain and she knew she wouldn’t be able to if someone asked.
Her father felt real, Marcus felt real… the Kylie and Darleen that had been ushered in and then back out by her father in his first attempt to try and relax her… they had not felt real.
And she hadn’t relaxed. If anything now she was even more on edge than she had been.
And they were on a time crunch.
Her cousins felt like figments, like fragments of memories that were barely there and she had a feeling that this world had been created either by her father… or worse for her father by some as yet unseen entity.
She thought that the second was most likely true, her father (so like Paul and Simon that she ached) would have fought with everything that he was in order to get back to her mother and Marcus and her… even though she hadn’t been born yet.
“I know its not real. It feels like a mirage, I’ve encountered something like it before,” Marcus said quietly. He kissed her head softly and backed away. “But hey at least you’re still marrying Todd here.”
Blair laughed softly, hoping her hysteria wasn’t bleeding through. If it was her father and ‘cousins’ were going to be racing to her side soon.
“Is it something that you’ve beaten before?” she rubbed her fingers over her eyes. Eyeing the diamond on one finger. That was her engagement ring, the one that Todd had given her the first time he’d asked her to marry him. He’d replaced it with something bigger and better the second and third time… but that first one, that one had always been special to her.
“It’s not anything really, there’s no beating it or not beating it. It’s like the Bermuda Triangle you know, it sucks people in by giving them what they want or what they think they want. Plus it keeps them from trying to leave.”
“So why isn’t it working on us?”
“Because we chose to come here, we weren’t trapped here.”
Blair sighed, slumping on the bed. She’d never seen this room before but somehow it felt like home.
“Fight it Blair,” Marcus muttered, he sat beside her, gripping her hand tightly. The pain drawing her back to herself from… well wherever she’d been heading.
“What the fuck?” she swore rubbing at her head, glancing over at Marcus. His expression was grim and determined.
“The longer we stay here, the more it’ll try to integrate us into the environment… we probably only have a few hours before it succeeds. We need to get dad and get back to the event horizon.”
“Any ideas? Because I think I’m supposed to be getting married today,” Blair stole a look behind where they were seated at where her wedding dress was laid out.
Her first engagement ring, her second wedding dress… something had gone to a lot of trouble to pull out her favorite aspects of her life to try and keep her here.
“The Todd here isn’t real…”
“How does this thing even know about Todd?”
“Our dads’ gift is foresight,” Marcus murmured.
“Well if you’ve got any suggestions you know, of how to get him out of here… well I’m all ears,” Blair said, the fingers not clutching at Marcus like he was her last life line flexed and then clenched. Her nails digging into the flesh of her palms.
Grounding her again. Pain might be the only thing standing between them staying and going.
A quick look to the right showed Marcus, his face visibly strained as he fought against this invisible enemy.
Any minute now he was either going to drop dead from a heart attack or start sweating. Since she was pretty sure that tux might be rented, or at the very least wasn’t real she tightened her fingers around his. Pushing shields up as fast as she could, she drew on the energy flaring between them.
And there was no way that any psychic sensitive person, real or not, within a ten mile radius hadn’t felt that.
“Honey are you okay?” Jeremy standing in the doorway, both Blair and Marcus jerked their heads up in shock.
They were so screwed.
******************************************************************************
Todd stared at the spot where Blair and Marcus had vanished; he was tempted to try and jump after them. If that shimmering portal thing that they’d jumped into hadn’t vanished when they had he would have.
He was trying not to worry, really desperately trying not to freak out… Kylie and Darleen were clasping hands drawing deep breaths as they did whatever it was that they were doing to make sure that Blair and Marcus were safe.
He’d been told to go away, that he was filled with to much negative energy and he’d instead turned to see what the others were doing.
It seemed he was the only one without a job.
Kylie and Darleen were holding hands doing whatever it was that they were doing.
Wesley was hovering over Michael who was in turn hovering over a map, a chain with the biggest emerald that he’d ever seen (and that had to be worth a pretty penny) hanging from it swinging over a map.
Simon and Paul were taking turns steering the boat. Todd thought they were just trying to keep busy, whatever was happening here… until Blair and Marcus reappeared with their father in tow he figured they didn’t have anything to do either.
And they’d better not even think about leaving. He was staying right here until Blair returned, going back to the hotel where he might have to field calls from Dorian or Starr or god forbid Kyle (who he knew he wouldn’t be able to lie to) was totally out of the question.
Although his son could probably at least have told him what the hell was going on. He cursed himself for not bringing his cellphone… of course out here in the middle of the fucking ocean he probably wouldn’t have been able to get a signal in the first place but…
There was a palpable energy on board. One of huge amounts of excitement, tinged with just a bit of apprehension… Todd didn’t have to be a psychic or a sensitive or anything to feel any of that. The others were emoting something fierce.
They were happy, excited… but worried that something had gone wrong… because Blair and Marcus had not yet returned with Jeremy in tow.
Which meant that something had to have gone wrong.
They were all staying positive, but he was feeling more worry than excitement. He didn’t care about Blair’s father at all if it meant he had to sacrifice Blair in return.
“You need to relax,” Simon smiled at him, his eyes wandering around the deck of the boat. It was being continually buffeted by the waves. Todd scowled at him which Simon in turn ignored.
He stumbled and caught himself on the railing, and swore under his breath. He hated this damn boat… but at least he hadn’t thrown up.
Although he’d be much happier when they were all on solid ground.
Todd frowned at Simon who wasn’t paying any attention to him, eyes locked on his daughter and niece… he didn’t look worried… why didn’t he look worried? Because Todd was about three minutes past freaking right out.
“Relax? Did you just not see Blair jump into the water?” even though Todd knew that she hadn’t actually jumped into the water, she’d jumped into a event horizon, a dimensional portal… and he’d had to make Wesley stop talking when he’d tried to explain it to him.
It had just given him a headache… besides the fact that he really didn’t care.
“She didn’t jump into the water,” Simon explained and Todd held up his hand. He didn’t want another inter-dimensional portal explanation. He wanted his wife back, on the deck of this boat safe and sound.
Was that to much to ask?
“She’s doing fine,” Simon said soothingly and Todd glared at him. Simon shrugged, as if saying
‘if you don’t block get used to people picking up on it’ and then patted him on the shoulder and sauntered off.
He’d been getting that look a lot lately it seemed.
He stared down into the water. It was getting dark, the sun setting fire to the water in the horizon.
How much longer were they going to have to wait?
******************************************************************************
Kyle sat in the middle of his bed, deep breaths drawn eyes flashing as he concentrated. He’d had to very subtly (so subtly that if he was lucky his mom might not even notice) ‘convince’ Starr to sleep in her own room and Dorian and Viki to not check on him every ten minutes.
If they even had an inkling of what he was up to they would have been right there, setting up camp in his room while he did it so they could watch and he didn’t do his best work when he had an audience.
He was six years old; one of the hazards of his age was that he got distracted very easily.
He could barely feel his mother but he knew she was still there… it was like she was being drawn away from him.
He focused, harnessing strength that he’d never touched. He was the first born; he was the only born at the moment. Lying dormant within him was the strength to serve his sibling, like his uncle served his mother, it would be hers when she was born but for now it was his…
He could feel the support web that Kylie and Darleen were casting, could feel them struggling to overcome whatever blocked them from keeping a tight lock and seal on his mother and his uncle.
He could feel his fathers’ almost overpowering worry, he was scared… terrified that he had found Blair only to lose her once more… Kyle hesitated for a second wondering if he should offer reassurance to his father.
He shook his head, his dad could live with the worry, Kylie and Darleen were struggling to keep Blair and Marcus with them. Trying to keep them grounded in their reality when something was trying to drag them away into something else.
His fists clenched, nails digging into his palms drawing blood as he fought to help them.
He would not lose his mother.
******************************************************************************
RATING: R (for language, violence)
PAIRING: Todd/Blair
AUTHOR: Melanie
DISCLAIMER: I don’t own anybody, if I did Todd and Blair would have been happily married for years now.
Mirror Images – Chapter 36
She blinked rapidly, disorientation flooding her entire body. She felt weak and sick and wondered if she would make it to the bathroom if she was going to throw up.
Then she wondered if she would be able to find the bathroom if she decided to do so.
A glance around the room showed her in a lady’s bedroom, one she’d never been in before though some of the items looked familiar.
Some of them looked like hers.
Which couldn’t be the case.
The mirror in front of her showed a woman, young lady in her mid twenties staring with shock at herself.
Pale, mouth pinched.
Her hair was long falling in waves over her shoulder and she hadn’t worn her hair like that in years.
“You’re not nervous are you?” a happy, familiar voice pierced through her veil of confusion and even as her back stiffened she was turning in her chair.
“Oh honey… you know if you don’t want to marry him you don’t have to.”
“Dad?” her voice was incredulous as she stared at him. Because this was her father, her father. Smiling at her, dressed sharply in a black tuxedo.
Alive.
“Honey are you okay?” the happiness faded and concern took its place as he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him.
“I’m…”
“You know what I’m going to get your mother,” Jeremy stated decidedly.
“No, no… I’m okay,” Blair stood from her seat, noticing for the first time that she was in a white bathrobe. Lying on the bed, ready for her to slip into with the help of her bridesmaids was her wedding dress.
A white wedding dress, beautiful lace and satin and beading.
“I’m getting married today,” she said softly.
“Yes you are,” her father moved forward, a gentle hand on her arm and he smiled down at her. Cupping her cheek as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“I’m. Getting. Married.”
“You know nervousness is normal sweetie,” Jeremy grinned. “But if you’re going to get sick warn me, I’ll get one of your cousins or possibly your brother. He should be an old hand at it by now… he was holding the wash cloth for Todd while he threw up.”
“Honey are you sure you’re okay?” Jeremy touched her back gently and Blair had to fight to keep herself from leaping into his arms and hugging the life out of him.
This was her father. Her father.
For most of her life she’d thought her father was someone that had abused her mother and that she’d been the result of that. It had only been in the last few years that she had found out the truth, found out that her parents had loved and adored each other with every fiber of their beings. She wanted nothing more at this moment than to grab Jeremy and find Marcus and take him home.
Finally.
“I’m fine,” she rubbed her arms. There was something really off about where they were. The air felt strange and constricting.
“You know what… I am going to go get your brother, he’ll ground you faster than I can,” Jeremy decided. He hugged Blair tightly, kissed her cheek and then was gone. Blair rubbed at the skin that his lips had touched staring after him. Her father had just touched her and it had felt natural.
Like there was a bond between them, the same bond that existed between Kylie and Paul, Darleen and Simon.
The air still felt weird but that simple touch had felt natural and normal.
Blair paced, remembering at the last minute that this was her wedding day so she didn’t drag her hands through her hair like she wanted to.
She glanced once more in the mirror and scowled.
Something really fucked up was going on. She could remember the event horizon, could remember the others presences behind her… strong and faithful linking her and Marcus to their world.
Whatever this was… well this wasn’t her world.
“Blair,” Marcus sounded as freaked out as she felt. She didn’t think she’d felt this freaked out when she’d met Kylie and then Darleen and seen her face on someone else’s body.
She flew at him, they may have only known each other for a few days but she felt that bond that declared him her sibling, brother, protector as keenly as if she’d known him forever. Hugging him tightly. Letting him hold her, each gathering greatly needed strength from the other.
“What the hell is going on?!” she swore. She touched his face, grounding herself in him.
“You’re asking me?” Marcus released her, touching her hand, linking their fingers together. He drew a deep breath and she felt a wave of calmness flow over her. She hadn’t realized that she was that close to hyperventilating until Marcus had relieved the stress building up within her.
“I don’t think this is real,” she stated. She smoothed her hands over the satin robe she’d found herself in. It sure as hell felt real, but it didn’t feel real.
And that was really hard to explain and she knew she wouldn’t be able to if someone asked.
Her father felt real, Marcus felt real… the Kylie and Darleen that had been ushered in and then back out by her father in his first attempt to try and relax her… they had not felt real.
And she hadn’t relaxed. If anything now she was even more on edge than she had been.
And they were on a time crunch.
Her cousins felt like figments, like fragments of memories that were barely there and she had a feeling that this world had been created either by her father… or worse for her father by some as yet unseen entity.
She thought that the second was most likely true, her father (so like Paul and Simon that she ached) would have fought with everything that he was in order to get back to her mother and Marcus and her… even though she hadn’t been born yet.
“I know its not real. It feels like a mirage, I’ve encountered something like it before,” Marcus said quietly. He kissed her head softly and backed away. “But hey at least you’re still marrying Todd here.”
Blair laughed softly, hoping her hysteria wasn’t bleeding through. If it was her father and ‘cousins’ were going to be racing to her side soon.
“Is it something that you’ve beaten before?” she rubbed her fingers over her eyes. Eyeing the diamond on one finger. That was her engagement ring, the one that Todd had given her the first time he’d asked her to marry him. He’d replaced it with something bigger and better the second and third time… but that first one, that one had always been special to her.
“It’s not anything really, there’s no beating it or not beating it. It’s like the Bermuda Triangle you know, it sucks people in by giving them what they want or what they think they want. Plus it keeps them from trying to leave.”
“So why isn’t it working on us?”
“Because we chose to come here, we weren’t trapped here.”
Blair sighed, slumping on the bed. She’d never seen this room before but somehow it felt like home.
“Fight it Blair,” Marcus muttered, he sat beside her, gripping her hand tightly. The pain drawing her back to herself from… well wherever she’d been heading.
“What the fuck?” she swore rubbing at her head, glancing over at Marcus. His expression was grim and determined.
“The longer we stay here, the more it’ll try to integrate us into the environment… we probably only have a few hours before it succeeds. We need to get dad and get back to the event horizon.”
“Any ideas? Because I think I’m supposed to be getting married today,” Blair stole a look behind where they were seated at where her wedding dress was laid out.
Her first engagement ring, her second wedding dress… something had gone to a lot of trouble to pull out her favorite aspects of her life to try and keep her here.
“The Todd here isn’t real…”
“How does this thing even know about Todd?”
“Our dads’ gift is foresight,” Marcus murmured.
“Well if you’ve got any suggestions you know, of how to get him out of here… well I’m all ears,” Blair said, the fingers not clutching at Marcus like he was her last life line flexed and then clenched. Her nails digging into the flesh of her palms.
Grounding her again. Pain might be the only thing standing between them staying and going.
A quick look to the right showed Marcus, his face visibly strained as he fought against this invisible enemy.
Any minute now he was either going to drop dead from a heart attack or start sweating. Since she was pretty sure that tux might be rented, or at the very least wasn’t real she tightened her fingers around his. Pushing shields up as fast as she could, she drew on the energy flaring between them.
And there was no way that any psychic sensitive person, real or not, within a ten mile radius hadn’t felt that.
“Honey are you okay?” Jeremy standing in the doorway, both Blair and Marcus jerked their heads up in shock.
They were so screwed.
Todd stared at the spot where Blair and Marcus had vanished; he was tempted to try and jump after them. If that shimmering portal thing that they’d jumped into hadn’t vanished when they had he would have.
He was trying not to worry, really desperately trying not to freak out… Kylie and Darleen were clasping hands drawing deep breaths as they did whatever it was that they were doing to make sure that Blair and Marcus were safe.
He’d been told to go away, that he was filled with to much negative energy and he’d instead turned to see what the others were doing.
It seemed he was the only one without a job.
Kylie and Darleen were holding hands doing whatever it was that they were doing.
Wesley was hovering over Michael who was in turn hovering over a map, a chain with the biggest emerald that he’d ever seen (and that had to be worth a pretty penny) hanging from it swinging over a map.
Simon and Paul were taking turns steering the boat. Todd thought they were just trying to keep busy, whatever was happening here… until Blair and Marcus reappeared with their father in tow he figured they didn’t have anything to do either.
And they’d better not even think about leaving. He was staying right here until Blair returned, going back to the hotel where he might have to field calls from Dorian or Starr or god forbid Kyle (who he knew he wouldn’t be able to lie to) was totally out of the question.
Although his son could probably at least have told him what the hell was going on. He cursed himself for not bringing his cellphone… of course out here in the middle of the fucking ocean he probably wouldn’t have been able to get a signal in the first place but…
There was a palpable energy on board. One of huge amounts of excitement, tinged with just a bit of apprehension… Todd didn’t have to be a psychic or a sensitive or anything to feel any of that. The others were emoting something fierce.
They were happy, excited… but worried that something had gone wrong… because Blair and Marcus had not yet returned with Jeremy in tow.
Which meant that something had to have gone wrong.
They were all staying positive, but he was feeling more worry than excitement. He didn’t care about Blair’s father at all if it meant he had to sacrifice Blair in return.
“You need to relax,” Simon smiled at him, his eyes wandering around the deck of the boat. It was being continually buffeted by the waves. Todd scowled at him which Simon in turn ignored.
He stumbled and caught himself on the railing, and swore under his breath. He hated this damn boat… but at least he hadn’t thrown up.
Although he’d be much happier when they were all on solid ground.
Todd frowned at Simon who wasn’t paying any attention to him, eyes locked on his daughter and niece… he didn’t look worried… why didn’t he look worried? Because Todd was about three minutes past freaking right out.
“Relax? Did you just not see Blair jump into the water?” even though Todd knew that she hadn’t actually jumped into the water, she’d jumped into a event horizon, a dimensional portal… and he’d had to make Wesley stop talking when he’d tried to explain it to him.
It had just given him a headache… besides the fact that he really didn’t care.
“She didn’t jump into the water,” Simon explained and Todd held up his hand. He didn’t want another inter-dimensional portal explanation. He wanted his wife back, on the deck of this boat safe and sound.
Was that to much to ask?
“She’s doing fine,” Simon said soothingly and Todd glared at him. Simon shrugged, as if saying
‘if you don’t block get used to people picking up on it’ and then patted him on the shoulder and sauntered off.
He’d been getting that look a lot lately it seemed.
He stared down into the water. It was getting dark, the sun setting fire to the water in the horizon.
How much longer were they going to have to wait?
Kyle sat in the middle of his bed, deep breaths drawn eyes flashing as he concentrated. He’d had to very subtly (so subtly that if he was lucky his mom might not even notice) ‘convince’ Starr to sleep in her own room and Dorian and Viki to not check on him every ten minutes.
If they even had an inkling of what he was up to they would have been right there, setting up camp in his room while he did it so they could watch and he didn’t do his best work when he had an audience.
He was six years old; one of the hazards of his age was that he got distracted very easily.
He could barely feel his mother but he knew she was still there… it was like she was being drawn away from him.
He focused, harnessing strength that he’d never touched. He was the first born; he was the only born at the moment. Lying dormant within him was the strength to serve his sibling, like his uncle served his mother, it would be hers when she was born but for now it was his…
He could feel the support web that Kylie and Darleen were casting, could feel them struggling to overcome whatever blocked them from keeping a tight lock and seal on his mother and his uncle.
He could feel his fathers’ almost overpowering worry, he was scared… terrified that he had found Blair only to lose her once more… Kyle hesitated for a second wondering if he should offer reassurance to his father.
He shook his head, his dad could live with the worry, Kylie and Darleen were struggling to keep Blair and Marcus with them. Trying to keep them grounded in their reality when something was trying to drag them away into something else.
His fists clenched, nails digging into his palms drawing blood as he fought to help them.
He would not lose his mother.