The Doppelganger

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the love story of Marty and Todd. It also includes several other characters as well as their storylines. This story will be submitted in several parts and is based off the hit soap One Life to Live, yet the "history" has been changed somewhat to suit the purposes of this story. Not all the parts of this story will contain erotic sex scenes as there is a plot. First and foremost, this story is a romance/drama, not a sex story.

Also, I'd like to note that I do not own ABC's One Life to Live or the characters and I will NOT be receiving any payment whatsoever for writing this story. It is intended for entertainment purposes only.

This story takes place BEFORE Marty attacked and killed her psychiatrist, stabbed Kelly, and pushed Natalie from the roof at Angel Square. In this story, those events will not happen. This is my take on the two-Todds story including Marty and with an eerie or supernatural twist. Hope you enjoy the story...

~*o*~

After months at St. Anne's, Marty was slowly coming back to reality, although she was far from healed. Her doctors were helping her immensely, yet she was grief-stricken as she very seldom received visitors. Cole, her only child was in prison, and she had no other family. All her friends seemed to have forgotten or deserted her. Only Starr had come to see her, bringing Hope, her precious little granddaughter. For Hope, Marty struggled to get better. She had to get out of this dreary mental institution and return to her grandchild. Cole couldn't be there for his little girl, so Marty longed to be.

Marty was sitting in a rocking chair in her room at St. Anne's looking at a photo of Hope when suddenly she felt a strange sensation move through her, stealing her breath. She felt as though someone were there, in the room, watching her. Marty became convinced that someone WAS there in the shadows unseen. Marty was certain she wasn't alone. She was being watched.

"Who's there?" Marty called out, looking out the window of her room, searching the shadows of the dying sunlight.

Only the eerie sound of the wind whispering through the trees answered back. Marty shivered. She hadn't been this unsettled for a very long time. She had a strange feeling then. A feeling like she wasn't alone...

As she stood there at the window, she had dropped Hope's photo upon the floor. When Sister Neena called her to the door to meet with her doctor, Marty didn't even notice the child's photo lying at her feet. She walked toward the door and left the room, going with Sister Neena down the hall to her evening therapy session.

Moments later, a hand reached out, grasping the photo. Someone stood in Marty's room at St. Anne's looking at the photo of Starr and Cole's little girl.

Later when Marty returned to the room, the man was gone, along with the photo. "That's strange," Marty uttered, looking all around the room for the photo of her granddaughter. It wasn't in its usual place which was upon her dresser. Where could it have gone?

Marty looked everywhere, but it was as if the photo had just vanished. Marty shivered, realizing then that her window was strangely ajar. A cool breeze played upon her flesh as she crossed the floor to the open window and attempted to close it. But as she began to press down on the window, it was then she saw a man standing in the courtyard below. Although she couldn't make out the figure because of the distance, something told her she knew the man. Every nerve in her body seemed to be agitated as a quiver moved through her and the breath was stolen from her lungs. Who was he? And why was he watching her?

As she slept in her bed that night, Marty was plagued by nightmares. When she woke up, tears streaked her face. Sister Neena had come running into the room to check on her, hearing Marty scream out as though being tortured. "Todd!" was the name that came flying from Marty's lips as she sat up in her bed, her long curls tangled about her face.

"Todd's here..." Marty sobbed to Sister Neena. "He's coming for me!"

~*o*~

Despite the nuns reassurances that Todd Manning was no where near St. Anne's, Marty could still feel his presence there like dark clouds lingering after a great storm. "He's here, I tell you... and he's been watching me..." Marty insisted, but the nuns didn't believe her. They thought she was hallucinating again like she had when she had thought a small ragdoll had been her baby.

"Marty, you need rest," spoke Sister Neena.

"Here, take these pills. They'll help you get some sleep," promised the elderly nun, placing two tablets in Marty's hand and a cool glass of water.

"Thank you," Marty said softly, accepting the pills although she had no intention of taking them. Todd Manning was out there somewhere, and she needed to be at full awareness as he might strike at any moment.

"Good night, dear," said Sister Neena, patting Marty's hand before leaving.

Moments ticked by and Marty remained seated within the wooden rocker. Bits and pieces of last night's dream returned to her, and she could remember hearing his voice as he spoke to her, telling her he was there now, he had come for her. And then he moved out of the darkness, and she saw him...

And to her horror and confusion, it wasn't the Todd she currently knew. But the old one. His face was that of the man who had raped her all those years ago. It had been HIS face... and HIS voice.

Marty's heart raced in her chest as she remembered the dream. What did it mean?

Then she remembered the figure in the courtyard and she froze. It HAD been him, hadn't it? Todd had been the man standing in the courtyard, looking up toward her room. But oddly it wasn't the face of the man she had known as Todd for the past eight years, the man who had tricked her into his home and into his bed when she had lost her memory. His face was now the same as it had been before he had claimed to have undergone plastic surgery. He looked like the man who haunted her nightmares and ruthlessly ravaged her memories.

"Noooo... noooo... it CAN'T be him," Marty murmured. Maybe she was losing it after all, going out of her mind. Maybe her fragile grasp at reality had finally snapped.

But if it were true, what could he want with her... and what did all this mean? Who was this man who looked so much like the man who had hurt her all those years ago? Was he Todd? And if he was, then who was the man who claimed to be Todd Manning now?

As the questions did a wild dance through her traumatized brain, Marty was alerted to a sound coming from the window. Marty stood fearfully, glancing over at the pane of glass. To her surprise and horror, the window began to open as if on its own. Then as she longed to flee, someone left the ledge outside, carefully climbing into the room. "Hello, Marty," he said, gazing at her in the soft lamp light of her room. "Long time no see..."

Marty's heart did a flip-flop in her chest. "Todd?" she gasped, staring at him as if he couldn't be.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"I'm Todd Manning..." he answered matter-of-factly, his voice resonating in her ears.

"You... You can't be..." she gasped.

"If you're Todd, then who is he?" she exclaimed, referring to the one who had claimed to be Todd for the past several years.

"That's what I'd like to know..." he replied, closing the window and going to stand next to her.

"Don't come any closer!" Marty breathed. "You aren't real... this can't be happening..." She pressed her hands up to her cheeks to cool them, looking at the man before her with disbelief.

"Marty... listen... I am the real Todd Manning... and that other guy, I don't know who he is, but he's taken over my life. He took my kids... he stole my fortune, my life... EVERYTHING! And I want my life back... you have to help me," he pleaded.

"Why should I believe you? And how do I know if you are really Todd?" Marty responded, staring at him in a state of shock. He certainly looked like Todd. And he sounded like Todd. Just being in his presense effected her like no one else ever could. "Obviously, you're lying... or he's lying..."

"And if he's not Todd, then he's a very effective liar... because he's had everyone believing he's Todd for the past 8 years," Marty said.

"Alright then, Marty...ask me a question... something no one else would know," he offered. "Something only you or I would know, no one else..."

Marty thought for a moment, then a question came to her. "When CJ was little, what did he call you?" Marty asked.

"Ali, the genie..." he responded quickly. "But that question couldn't count, because not just you and I know the answer, Marty... ask me again..."

"Okay," she replied, thinking of another question, something not just anyone could know. "Hmmm.. okay, how about this question..." She paused a moment, lost in the memories that bombarded her from long ago.

"The night of the spring fling, after you, Powell and Zach were finished, I lay on Kevin's bed, hugging a stuffed animal, but you ripped it from my arms... What was it?" she quietly asked.

He looked at her in disbelief, shocked that she had brought up that moment and that horrid night. But after a short while, his senses returned to him and he responded to her question. "It was a stuffed lion," he replied. "But Zach or Powell could have known that..."

"You're going to have to think of something else, Marty... something that only you or I would know..."

Hearing him respond that the stuffed animal had been a lion sent a chill through her. Maybe this really was Todd... maybe...? Another question came to her, thinking of another night... and another storm.

"One night David Vickers followed me back to my place. He grabbed me and tried to kiss me, right in the middle of a thunderstorm and in my own front yard. You showed up and saved me," she spoke, softly smiling at the memory.

"And afterwards, we went inside by the fire with mugs of hot chocolate... and we talked..." she said, looking into his eyes.

"And you said something... you said the thing you regretted most was..." Marty's voice trailed off as she waited for his response.

"The night we made love, I didn't stay and hold you," he answered quickly, the words falling off his tongue.

A moment passed and neither of them spoke. Then to his surprise and shock, Marty threw herself into his arms, hugging him ever so tight.

"It's YOU... it's REALLY you..." she gasped, wetting his shirt with her tears. Whether they were tears of joy or sadness, Todd could not be sure. He just couldn't believe she was in his arms, and that she seemed pleased to see him.

Suddenly Marty pulled back, looking stunned at what she had just done. Tears were shining in her eyelashes as she moved to put some distance between them. A soft chuckle moved through Todd's chest as he gazed at her. "I don't know what I was expecting, Marty, but I never dreamed you'd have that reaction," he spoke. "Could it be that you've actually missed me?"

"Don't push it, Todd," Marty said in an almost growl.

"I'm just glad it's really you... and he's not you..." she went on to explain. "He did things to me... He hurt me."

"He did?" Todd said as a muscle twitched in his jaw.

"What did he do, Marty?" he asked, although silently he was thinking how could this man pretending to be Todd have possibly hurt Marty any more than he himself had hurt her.

Looking at Todd, Marty faltered, then eventually she began to speak, the painful memories beginning to spill forth. "I had been in an accident... and I had lost my memory... and he- he took me to his place to care for me and nurse me back to health. And as time passed, I fell in love with him. .. but he didn't tell me he was you, that he was Todd Manning..." Marty said softly. "He didn't tell me he had raped me... He even asked me to marry him. We were planning to adopt a child..."

A soft sob moved through Marty as the rest came from her lips in a rush. "But it was all lies... because later I was told he was Todd Manning, the man who had raped me. He had betrayed me, deceived me. And even so, I was still in love with him. And I hated myself for it."

"But now I realize he wasn't the man who raped me..." Marty said with a shudder. "He wasn't you. He tricked me..."

"He tricked a lot of people," Todd said with a heavy sigh, feeling anger at what the imposter-Todd had done to Marty. No wonder Marty was here and so incredibly traumatized. "He tricked Blair, Tea, Starr, Vicki..."

"They all think he's me..."

"How could Blair and Tea have slept with him and not know he wasn't me?"

"I slept with him, too," Marty said softly. "I had no clue he wasn't you..."

"That doesn't count, Marty. Your memory was skewed... and it's been years since you and I have been together," Todd reminded. "But Blair and Tea should have known..."

"I don't know, Todd... he's very convincing. There were times, very dark times when he TRULY seemed like you."

Looking at Marty, Todd saw the fear lurking in her eyes. He had seen that look before, in the past long ago when he had terrorized her. "He scares you," Todd spoke softly.

"Yes... he does. He's full of darkness... like the dark-side of you."

"Don't worry, Marty. I'll protect you from him. You're safe now..." Todd promised.

She wasn't alone now. Todd was here. And he had promised to keep her demons at bay. How ironic. This man had raped her nearly two decades ago, but now here he stood, vowing to protect her. But for some strange reason, Marty felt oddly safe with him. Somehow, she believed him and knew he was sincere. It was as if all her fears were dissolving now that he was here...

"I believe you, Todd... and I will help you..." Marty spoke. "But you have to break me out of here..."

Then quietly she added, "And I'm going to want something of you in return."