DREAMS IN AMBER REFRAINS
Book 3 The Color of Love Series
REALITY CHECK
In May 2002, Blair finally learned the truth about the horrible Dead Baby Lie--Todd lied to her when he told her the baby died. The lie was revealed during a dizzying and immensely enjoyable week of live shows between May 13-17, which culminated with One Life To Live unexpectedly winning the Emmy Award for Best Daytime Drama. Kassie DePaiva was universally hailed as the performer of the week as she portrayed Blair finally putting the pieces together and heartbreakingly confronting Roger Howarth's Todd. Kassie's performance was breathtaking as Blair slowly came to the realization that the man she loved more than anyone in the world betrayed her in the most soul wrenching way possible.
As the storyline continues on OLTL, the aftermath of the revelation about Todd's dead baby lie is expected to be painful to say the least. Todd has so far refused to acknowledge the true heinousness of his act or to acknowledge the depth of Blair's pain and her sense of betrayal. Blair has sworn to never let Todd see Jack again, while Sam stands in the wings ready to whip on his cape and play SuperSam, The Saint, to "save" Blair from big old bad Todd and even from her own self-destructive urges. And if that weren't enough, Tea has returned and offered her services to Todd, with what now seems obvious (but maybe incorrectly) will be another episode of Starr Wars with Jack standing in for Starr this time, and, unfortunately, Todd has run to take advantage of her offer. (Addendum: Okay, it turns out I was wrong about the custody battle but Toddigan Island is worse than I ever could have imagined. And Blair reduced to worshiping Sam is more than my poor heart can stand. What a giant load of crap. 7.22.02)
Personally, the whole situation is depressing as hell to me. In fact, at one point my muse got so frustrated with the current storyline, she stood up, walked out of the room and slammed the door. I didn't think she was coming back! But she did and I must admit that I am glad. I really don't want to watch Todd and Blair at war with each other while interested parties with suspect motives (i.e., Tea, Sam and goodness knows who else) stir up more trouble between them--AGAIN (Didn't we see all of this in Starr Wars-Episodes 1-5000?). So I've retreated to my fictional version of a fictional world, The Color of Love Series, and started Dreams, where I'll be hiding out and watching the show when I can (probably peeking through the fingers of the hands over my eyes if things get really bad for T&B). Dreams is a work in progress so I will be posting chapters as they are completed but it will be a while before the book is finished.
It probably goes without saying at this point that since Dreams In Amber Refrains is a sequel to Regrets In Jade Tones, which was a sequel to Consequences in Blue Notes, it does not reflect anything that has happened on OLTL since I started the series in January 2002. In addition, my version of Todd and Blair is in some ways strikingly different from what is playing out on the TV at the present time (BTW, this is one of the things that upset my muse so much). The most important difference, in my opinion, is that my version of Todd and Blair have learned from their mistakes and changed as a result. This is not to say they are perfect by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, they are far from perfect, but they are working hard not to repeat their past mistakes. Yet life is nothing if not complicated. Although the aftereffects of the baby lies will always haunt them as will the aftershocks of Starr's kidnapping, as Dreams In Amber Refrains opens Todd and Blair find themselves at a point in their relationship where there are no lies or secrets between them and they are happier than they have ever been in their lives. Then the past comes knocking in an unexpected way.
Addendums:
Addendum 1: I posted the last four chapters of Dreams In Amber Refrains today! Whew! That was hard as hell. I felt like OLTL was trying to kill me with the island crap and the destruction of Blair. I kept making the mistake of watching an episode of the show and then I’d sink into creative doldrums for days and couldn’t write. Anyway, since I started posting this story at the end of May (5.26.02) I thought it was fitting to bring this one to a conclusion on the last day of July. I hope you enjoyed Dreams! --Tessarae87 (7.31.02)
Addendum 2: As discussed in some detail on the Regrets In Jade Tones main page, the Liz Reynolds currently being portrayed by the wonderful Barbara Nevin on OLTL is NOT the Liz Reynolds envisioned in this series. For one thing, my Liz Reynolds is African American! And, although my Liz Reynolds is far from being a saint (how boring that would be), she would never disrespect her daughter's love and integrity with that horrible "boyfriend's baby-surrogate mother" scam currently unfolding on OLTL. I find OLTL's version of Liz insulting and, although I have no legitimate right to feel this way, I resent the fact that the character has been sullied by TPTB's "vision." --Tessarae87 (11.02.02)
Addendum 3: Given the fact that Liz Reynolds has been killed off on OLTL, the differences between my version of Liz Reynolds and the OLTL's version has reached a point of critical mass. I have decided to change the name of my character and clearly identify her as a fan fiction character that has no real counterpart on the show. So in my fan fiction the character is now called "Toni" instead of Liz and surprisingly enough looks somewhat like Evangeline Williamson. Go figure. LOL Nothing else about the story has been changed. Toni is still Keri's mother and did keep Keri away from RJ but beyond those characteristics the similarities end. I've tried to edit all of the chapters in this story to reflect the name change. I apologize if any some Liz references slip through. I am double checking but it may take a third or fourth pass to produce a complete "Liz" purge. --Tessarae87(7.11.03)