ONLY YOU - UNWELCOME

PREVIOUSLY

"Who knows. The guy's a nutball." Kelly rushed out of the room, and Max was left holding the note, laughing to himself.

Well, well, well. Todd's coming after the Sun? This ought to liven things up a bit. It was getting a little boring around here. What we need here is a little chaos to make things interesting.. And nobody's better at spreading chaos and disorder than Todd Manning. Unless it's me.

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Two: Unwelcome

"The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved, loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves." -Victor Hugo

Blair was sound asleep when the call came; it was, after all, five-thirty in the morning. Her mind had not even considered the possibility of getting up yet, and she swiped furiously at the alarm for several seconds before she realized that the sound she heard was the phone ringing. She reached for it with a groan.

"Allright, who is this? This had better be good.." she growled sleepily into the reciever.

"Good morning to you too, Blair."

"Todd," she whispered. "What.. what's going on? Where are you? What do you want?"

"Where and what, that's not important," she heard him chuckle humorlessly. "What I want is.. I need to see Starr."

She sat up in her bed. "Good one, Todd. Oh, and while you're here, would you like to explain to our little girl where you've been these last eight months?"

"Just get her ready, Blair.."

"What, you mean NOW?!! Todd, she has playgroup today! And I need to go to work!"

"Yeah, at MY old job. You can come in a little late today, I know. And Starr can skip the play thing for once."

"Oh yeah, you show up and we're just supposed to jump when you call. You disappear for months, and want to just suddenly drop in on our daughter, because YOU need to see her? And then what, are you just going to disappear again?"

"Just have her ready, meet me in the park in an hour."

"Todd! It's five-thirty!"

"Two hours then. Don't be late."

Click.

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Starr played contentedly at Blair's feet as she sat stiffly in the park bench. He had taken her off-guard before, but now she had regained her poise and was ready to give him what for. She watched her daughter below her, absorbed in her drawing, oblivious to the chaos that constantly surrounded her. How dare he drop in and out of her life like this, and her daughter's life! The way Starr adored her father, it devastated her to be without him, and every time he came back only to leave again, just made it harder. For the life of her, Blair couldn't understand it. After the way he had fought tooth and nail to keep full custody of Starr, and spending every day with her for most of her life.. It made no sense, for him to just give up and run like that. Like he had been running ever since the Georgie Philips murder. No matter what else happened, she had expected (fearfully) that he would keep Starr with him at all costs. She had been both relieved and mystified at his sudden desertion. She couldn't help but be glad that Starr was with her now, and out of Todd's control and influence, but Starr loved her father dearly and it killed Blair to see her missing him so much.

Blair suddenly looked up, seeing a dark shadow out of the corner of her eye, and, glancing around wildly, noticed him nearby, leaning against a lamp-post, watching Starr. He did not move, or meet Blair's eye, but watched his daughter bent over her crayon drawing, eyes squinting in concentration. Blair could not see his face.

"Starr," she said, turning to her daughter. "Starr, sweetie, come here.." she wanted to prepare her, but it was too late; Starr had already spotted her father. She stared at him, with a look of open- mouthed surprise, and didn't move for a moment. "Daddy.." she whispered. Todd stepped forward slowly, and smiled at her. Starr leaped into action, her momentary uncertainty forgotten, and ran to him. "DADDY!" she yelled happily.

He dropped to one knee as she barrelled into him, and held her close. "Hey, Shorty," he whispered.

Blair approached slowly. She wanted to yell at him, wanted to pound him into the floor to be honest, but she couldn't bear to break up this scene just yet. It could wait. There was something special between Starr and her father; always had been. As much as it killed her to admit it, Starr was indisputably Daddy's Girl.

They broke apart after a long hug, and Todd held the little girl at arms length, looking her over as if to memorize every detail. Here Blair got her first look at him, and she froze in shock. He looked terrible. He was much thinner, and horribly pale. He had dark circles under his eyes evident even from where she stood.

"Are you back for good now, Daddy?"

He tried to smile, but he looked very sad. "Not yet, kiddo. Hey, don't look so glum. I brought you something.."

Blair couldn't help jumping in. "You can't buy your daughter, Todd. Not like your wives..."

He glared at her for a moment, but turned away to pull something out of his pocket. He held it out to Starr, and Blair struggled to see what it was. A tiny gold necklace, with a little gold charm...

"A star! Like me!" The little girl reached for it joyously.

"Uh-huh, just like you. Here, lemme put it on for you." He placed the thin chain around the girl's neck, and fastcened the clasp. Starr stared at him almost shyly, and he looked into her eyes, suddenly serious. "You got all the presents I sent you, right?"

She nodded solemnly. He brushed the hair back from her face, studying her. "I miss you," she said softly.

"I miss you too, Starr... You're not mad at me, right? For being away?"

She shook her head and put her little arms around his neck. "I love you, Daddy."

He hugged her fiercely, and choked out, "I love you too. I'll come back and see you real soon, I promise." He held her a few moments more, then stood up, and started to walk away, quickly.

"You wait just a minute, Todd Manning!!" Blair started after him. He did not pause, but took off in huge strides for the parking lot. Blair had to run to keep up with him; Starr stayed behind, watching. "Todd, where have you been?! What am I supposed to tell our daughter, Todd!!" She grabbed his arm, and he finally stopped.

He turned to face her, and again she was shocked by his appearance. His scar, curling across his cheek, was a livid, angry red against his pale face, and his eyes were empty and hollow. Everything about him seemed weighted down with weariness. He sighed, and shook her arm off. "Tell her whatever you want, Blair. Tell her I've got business or I'm on a secret mission or whatever you want her to think. You will anyway. You've been giving her my presents, right?" She nodded, silenced for the moment. "Good. Just... tell her I miss her, and I think about her all the time, and I want to be here but I can't. That's all there is. She won't understand the rest."

"I don't understand the rest, Todd! Is this forever, are you just going to drop in and out of her life?! Because don't think I -"

"I don't know, Blair, I don't know."

He started to walk away again, and she caught his arm. "What now, Todd, are you going to see your old chiquita Tea? You gonna go bother her too?" She knew she must have hit a nerve, but he didn't react, at least not that she could see.

He didn't look at her this time, stared off into space. "No, she doesn't have to put up with me anymore, I guess she's off the hook, huh? But you're stuck with me, you and Starr.." He turned his face away from her, and she couldn't see his expression. "Tea.. She's doing just fine now, I guess, so at least that's one thing I didn't destroy. We'll see about everything else."

"Todd," she muscled up to look him in the eye. "Where have you been all this time?"

He looked back at Starr, watching them from a distance, then at her. "Hell," he answered.

"Sam said you'd been to Chicago."

He looked surprised for a moment, then laughed ruefully. "Yeah, it looks a lot like Chicago."

He broke away, and this time she let him go.

End Part Two

Next: The Merest Glance