Author's Note: I started this in the early 00's sparked from an idea on a message board way back when. This was also at a time when Todd and Blair were one of the most celibate pairings ever... they barely even used to kiss much less have a love scene so fan fic was a way to really get that particular frustration out.

I'm not a fan of Tea Delgado but I still wanted to treat her like an actual character and I just can't buy that she'd put up with Todd's shit for too long. Also, Blair being destitute and easy to bully never sits right. I tend to write for Blair more than anything and this is no different. There will probably be continuity errors and then it veers off into AU in a big way.

Ultimately though, it's a story about Todd and Blair.

Sometimes he wondered where the hell the things that came out of his mouth actually came from. Not from him. They couldn't be from him. What had he wanted when he started all of this? He wanted Starr. He wanted his daughter. Blair was dying and he couldn't lose both of them.

But Blair didn't die. She survived and had come up fighting. If he thought about it, he probably should have expected that. Blair was nothing if not a survivor. So, there he was with his new wife and Blair was fighting like crazy...

For Starr.

If he was going to be honest with himself he would have to admit that he was bothered by the fact that she wasn't fighting for him. Get real, Manning, a faraway voice in his head whispered. She fought for you the entire time after you came back. Even when she found out about your taking Starr she was coming back. You're the one who threw her away...

He turned back to look at her. She was sitting on a park bench trying to stem the flood of tears that had started when he walked away from her. He should go... Tea was in the hospital because Blair shoved her out a window. They were right in the middle of an ugly custody battle and he couldn't afford to show any weakness.

But... God dammit... Blair was crying! And Blair didn't cry unless she was seriously hurting. Everyone always talked about her crocodile tears but he'd never seen a less than genuine tear come out of those double-daring, flashing green eyes.

Do you have a time machine?

His words sounded so cold as they echoed around in his head. He felt cold inside and out, frozen by betrayal and loss and loneliness. There were so few times in his life where he felt warm, cherished by someone who loved him. Blair had been one of those times.

He should go. His wife was in the hospital...

Your wife is sitting on a park bench, crying because her husband won't let her come home, that faraway voice said harshly. She just asked you to let her into your life again, you selfish prick! You can be the bastard everyone says you are and walk away or you can be the man she knows you are and go back to her.

He started walking.

Blair's cries faded as she looked up at him. She hastily wiped her eyes and turned away, not wanting him to see that he left her in such a state.

Todd sat down next to her and leaned his elbows on his knees. He looked at the grass then looked up at the sky. He had to be very careful. If he opened his mouth and something typically horrible came out of him, Blair would probably slap him and then leave and he'd never have this kind of opportunity again. He could feel his world lurching out of control and that faraway voice inside of him knew that this was his one chance to make everything right again.

He looked at her and saw that she was eyeing him warily. He almost got up and left but there was something in those bright green eyes that kept him right where he was. The faintest glimmer of hope. Even though it looked like she expected him to take another shot at her, there was that fragile look of longing that suggested that she wanted him to love her again.

Todd felt a soft smile touch his lips. "So tell Uncle Todd," he murmured. "What seems to be the trouble?"

Blair's lip quivered and fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. She reached forward and stroked his hair albeit clumsily. She wasn't able to say anything but a broken half-sob, half-laugh burst out of her before she scooted closer to him.

Todd straightened up as she moved nearer and before he knew it, he'd curled one arm around her back and was pulling her against him, wrapping his other arm around her in a tight embrace. He could feel her breath against his neck and he closed his eyes. This was right. His fingers skimmed down her spine and he felt her body shudder the way it always used to when he did that.

Pulling back slightly, he brushed his lips against her cheek tasting the tears that had fallen. He heard her sniff then felt her lips meet his. As always, one taste was never enough. His hand slid up to the back of her head and he pressed his mouth against hers in a hungry, desperate kiss. He'd been dreaming of her lips ever since Ireland. Of her lips and her hands and her hair... of the gentle curve of her breast and the sweet swell of her hips... of the way her body reacted to him and the way he felt when he was buried inside of her.

A soft mewl escaped her as he made her mouth his again. He knew, he knew that he could never leave her again. Blair was his. Oh God, she was his! And feeling her in his arms was like he'd finally come home. He'd come home for real.

Thoughts of the McPoet came unbidden to his mind. Todd pulled back and looked at Blair. Her green eyes were gazing at him with such love... love he hadn't seen or felt since their wedding night. Maybe he did have a time machine. It just didn't work without Blair.

"Blair..." he tangled his fingers in her hair and pictured her with the McPoet again. The anger he always felt didn't seem to want to come. After everything, blowing up the yacht, Blair's accident, Starr's illness, Blair's miscarriage... he let one hand drift down to press against her stomach, then further down to caress her legs. She's suffered enough, he thought. I put her through enough hell... let everyone else hurt her, too... God let it be over.

She watched him, her fingers rubbing strands of his hair softly. She wasn't asking anything of him. She was just sitting there, loving him.

Loving him! He could see it in her eyes and feel it in her touch and taste it on her lips. Todd kissed her again, letting his tongue slide between her lips to explore every inch of the mouth he once knew so intimately. I've put us both through enough hell... He pulled back again and took her hands in both of his. "I can fix it, Blair. I swear I can. I can fix everything."

Blair smiled gently and nodded. "Let me help."