This stands as a oneshot for the time being, but I have a good feeling it will become a complete story. I just wanted to get feet wet so to speak before I dived into a full-length fic. This is basically alternate history. Robin gave birth to Emma, Elizabeth was with Jason, but they broke up after the second kidnapping, and have been apart ever since. This picks up 8 months after Emma's birth, and if you are a hardcore Scrubs or Liason fan (in that you don't want any of those four paired with anyone else), you probably don't want to read. Thanks! Any feedback is appreciated.
To Have & To Hold
"Thanks for letting me come over," Patrick said, shifting Emma in his arms as he started down the landing and into Elizabeth's living room.
"It's not a problem," she replied, taking the baby from his arms so he could set down the oversized diaper bag he had thrown over his shoulder.
Like any overprotective father, he insisted on carrying around everything that Emma might need at a moment's notice; every type of over-the-counter medicine, an entire wardrobe, and numerous blankets, five different stuffed animals, and an entire selection of baby food. That bag was more stocked with things for his daughter than Elizabeth kept on hand for her own children, but it was endearing, a sure sign of what a great father Patrick had turned out to be.
"I didn't know who else to come to," he muttered quietly, watching closely as Elizabeth set Emma on the floor on a blanket across from Jake, who was shoving around a few matchbox cars.
"I told you that I am here for anything you need," she replied, smoothing her hand over the back of the little's girl head, and grinning at the perfectly placed bow that swept her dark, straight locks away from her face. Straightening, she up, she smoothed her hands over her blouse and gave Patrick a nervous smile. "So, what did you need?"
She was used to the single father calling her at a moment's notice or coming straight over when he needed help. It was the least she could do for him, not to mention his late wife, both of who'd she'd been friends with, especially Patrick, who had been there through some of the most difficult times during the past few years.
Elizabeth thought losing Robin during the birth of their child would shatter Patrick in the most unimaginable of ways, but instead, he stepped up and become one of the most amazing fathers she'd ever seen. He was patient and doting, so tender and careful with Emma like she might break.
"It's complicated, really," he said, digging through the diaper bag and pulling out a flat, manila envelope. "I thought that something like this might happen, but now I – I have no idea what I'm going to do, Elizabeth."
"Just give me one second," she murmured, pulling the thin stack of papers from the envelope and sitting down on the couch.
She patted motioned to the space beside her, but Patrick chose the floor instead, and she couldn't resist watching him push cars back and forth between Jake and Emma. Suddenly, Cameron came flying down the stairs, calling out Patrick's name as he ran over with a racecar he'd given the little boy a few days ago. Cameron pushed himself into their little group, immediately talking about some race that had been on television the day before, and she turned her attention back to the papers Patrick had given her.
Her eyes widened as she read the words petition for and she instantly, knowing immediately knew where this was going. Without realizing, she must have gasped, and Patrick looked up from the floor, his smile fading as he pushed himself up from the floor.
"What are you going to do?" she asked, forcing a smile when Cameron looked up with curiosity. She bent over, raking her hand through his curls as she looked at all three kids playing on the floor. "How about Patrick and I go make you guys a snack?"
"Ice cream?" he asked, his eyes lighting up, and she knew he was thinking of the new pint of chocolate they'd bought the night before at the grocery store.
"Ice cream," she confirmed, standing back up. "Cam, keep an eye on them for me, okay?"
He nodded, taking a car from Emma's hand when she started to stick it in her mouth, and Patrick's hand appeared with one of her favorite teething rings.
"We'll be right back," she said, starting for the kitchen, the legal papers still in her hand. She set them down on the counter, turning back to Patrick with a frown. "What are you going to do?"
"I have no idea," he admitted, leaning against the swinging door to the living room so that he could watch the kids while Elizabeth made their snack. "Mac threatened to do this when Robin died, but I thought it was just grief. What would make him think that he can take Emma away from me?"
"Patrick, you're a good father," she reminded him, opening the freezer and grabbing the carton of chocolate ice cream. It wasn't much to lift his spirits, but it was the truth, one she pointed out every time he doubted himself as a father. "Any judge is going to see that. Have you contacted a lawyer yet?"
"Diane," he nodded, his eyes narrowed intently at his daughter. "She helped you when you and Lucky were arguing over custody so I thought…"
"She's a really good lawyer," Elizabeth agreed, pulling two bowls from a cabinet and opening a drawer to grab the ice cream scoop. "Maybe it won't come to that. Have you tried talking to Mac?"
"He won't talk to me," he Patrick replied, which didn't surprise her in the slightest bit.
When Robin died, Mac blamed Patrick, like it was her fault that the pregnancy had been so hard and she hadn't survived. He blamed his niece's fiancé for getting her pregnant, for taking her away from him, and Elizabeth still remembered how he vowed to take Emma from him just minutes after Robin had died.
"He's still grieving," she said, opening the ice cream container. "And people do things without thinking when they're-"
"It's been eight months, Elizabeth," he interrupted angrily, giving her an apologetic look for his nasty tone.
"She was like his daughter," she reminded him, walking over to the door and peeking out into the living room. "When Robin was pregnant, Mac probably thought of this baby as his grandchild, and he just – he doesn't know what to do."
"I've made it very clear that he is more than welcome to see Emma whenever he wants," Patrick shrugged, his eyes fillinged with worry as he looked down at Elizabeth. "And the most screwed up part is that Diane thinks he has a good case."
"What?" she asked in disbelief, her voice so loud that Cameron and Jake both looked towards the kitchen. "Ice cream's almost ready."
"Look at my history," he said, as she walked back to the counter and started to scoop ice cream into the bowls. "I'm more than well known for my womanizing ways, Elizabeth. Not to mention that I work a crazy amount of hours – Emma probably sees you and Audrey more than anyone else because-"
"My kids probably see my grandmother more than anyone else," she pointed out, hating that he was putting himself down.
"It's all in those papers," he muttered, walking over to the counter and grabbing them. He flipped through, reading off Mac's accusations about how Patrick couldn't provide stability, how he cheated on his niece (which was the furthest from the truth), and how he lived at Jake's for the first month that Robin was dead. The latter couldn't be denied, but like everyone, he was mourning – facing a lifetime with a daughter and no mother., Wso who could blame him?
"The sad part is when I read what he's written on paper, I start to think that he's right," he swallowed hard, walking back over to the door to check on the kids. He looked back over his shoulder as Elizabeth shoved spoons into the bowls. "But I look at Emma and I just know that she doesn't belong with anyone except me. It's what I feel."
"That's called being a father," she said, giving him a warm smile as she set the bowls on the table, calling for the boys to come eat in the kitchen.
Cameron came barreling through faster and when Elizabeth walked into the living room, Jake was making his way over, leaving Emma completely behind. She swept the little girl into her arms as Patrick grabbed Jake when he neared the doorway, lifting him into his highchair, and setting the ice cream in front of him.
Elizabeth dug through Emma's diaper bag, looking for an equally tasty treat for Emma just as someone knocked on the door. She abandoned her searched and hurried over to the door, surprised when to see Diane standing on her porch.
"Well," she said, grinning at Emma, "I see Patrick has already told you the news."
"Yes," Elizabeth replied, smoothing her hand up and down the baby's back. "But I don't understand how Mac can have a case."
"He has one," she shrugged, wringing her hands as Elizabeth stepped aside and motioned her in. "Patrick doesn't have a history of being a capable, dependable, and trustworthy man. Some people may even argue that since he didn't want to be a father, he was forced into all this, and-"
"But that's not true," she interrupted, kicking the door closed with his foot. "He loves Emma more than anything, and yeah, he may have freaked out when he learned Robin was pregnant, but can you blame him? He didn't think he wanted to be a father, but – n not many men do, and it becomes the best thing that happened to them."
"All your points are valid," Diane agreed, walking over to the couch and sitting down. She dug through her briefcase for some papers, looking up when Patrick came in from the kitchen.
"Uh, Cameron is eating, Jake is smearing it all over his highchair," he said, looking curiously at Diane. "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to talk to Elizabeth about your case. She's probably the best character witness, you've got. Even your father seems to side with Mac," she replied, patting the couch on either side of her for them to sit. Elizabeth noticed how Patrick tensed at the mention of his father and hated that Diane had to remind him of Noah's own poor thoughts on his son. "And we are looking at a difficult trial here, especially since Mac Scorpio has major pull in the system with the police department, judges, attorneys – the state will be on his side the moment he walks in, so we have to make sure that we show that Emma has a stable and loving home."
"Which she does," Elizabeth said firmly, bouncing Emma up and down on her knee. The baby reached forward, grabbing a handful of her curls and trying to shove them in her mouth. "Emma…"
Patrick came around the other side of the coffee table and kneeled down beside Elizabeth, carefully pulling her hair from the infant's fist. When Emma got a hold of something she wanted, the baby just did not let go. Elizabeth didn't even want to know how much hair she had lost to her grip.
Diane let out a chuckle as she leaned back on the couch, shaking her head at the three of them. "I am so good," she muttered, her eyes sparkling smugly. "So good in fact I may just have to buy myself a new pair of shoes on the way home for this." Elizabeth and Patrick just looked at her. "Oh, come on, you two! This is so easy – all we have to do is show that Emma is happy and stable, that she has people around her, a loving mother figure."
She leaned forward, stroking Emma's cheek as she continued laughing to herself. "And you do, don't you? You just adore, Elizabeth," she murmured, sounding so pleased with herself. "How much time do Emma and Patrick spend with you?"
"What?" Elizabeth asked, frowning when Diane repeated the question. "A lot, I guess."
"How often do you see them? What do you do when you're together?" she asked, pulling out a legal pad and a pen.
"Um, we have dinner a couple times a week," Patrick spoke up. "Either here or Kelly's. We just hang out, play with the kids."
"You go places!" Diane murmured, jabbing her pen against the paper.
"Yeah," Elizabeth nodded, looking at Patrick from the corner of her eye, relieved to see that he was as confused as she was.
"Where?" the lawyer pried, scribbling away furiously.
"The park, Kelly's, the docks – the kids love the boats…" Elizabeth trailed off, but Patrick jumped right in, much to Diane's amusement.
"Yeah, we took them to the children's museum last week. Nikolas let us come to Spoon Island one day – Emma loved the horses."
"Hmph," Diane grunted, so satisfied that she leaned over and gently squeezed Emma's cheek. "You're like a regular all-American family."
Elizabeth's jaw dropped when she realized where Diane was going to this. "Except we're not," Patrick said firmly, grabbing Emma's hand when she reached for Elizabeth's curls again.
"But you look like you are," she stressed, looking back and forth between them. "Just think about it – a doctor and a nurse, raising three children together – why the only thing you need is a dog!"
"Raising three children together as friends," Elizabeth reminded her, but Diane was so far gone that it didn't even register.
"The system favors families in these cases – they want to side with the mother and father, but in this case, we have a hellacious background for the father-"
"Thanks," Patrick muttered, rolling his eyes.
"And we have an absolutely beautiful girlfriend – one with two kids of her own that she's raised by herself – working and putting herself through school. No wonder Patrick Drake fell in love with-"
"Okay, Diane, that's enough," he interrupted, standing up beside the couch and looking down at her. "You cannot go into a courtroom and act like Elizabeth and I are seeing one another when we're not. People know we're not."
"No, what people know is that you take your children to kid's night at the diner and to museums on the weekend," she corrected seriously, looking confused as to why they couldn't see exactly where she was coming from. "Elizabeth is a stable, capable, and loving mother – if she and Mr. Spencer would have gone through their custody fight, I would have wiped the floor with his sorry behind. I am telling you Patrick, if you walk into a courtroom with a strong woman at your side who is willing to be Emma's mother, the judge is going to side with you."
"What about everything you just said? About Mac having power in the system and-"
"Rubbish," she said, shaking her head at him. "If you're with a woman like Elizabeth, who has two boys already from previous relationships, you look like such a kind, understanding man – one who wants to raise his children as well as someone else's. If you walk in alone, you look like a workaholic – a , womanizing, smug jerk who never wanted kids. Are you seeing the difference?"
"So, basically you expect Elizabeth to walk into a courtroom and commit perjury?" Patrick asked, his hands on his hips. Diane cast Elizabeth a knowing look, one that thankfully Patrick wouldn't understand. "You expect her to just act like she's my wife."
"Ha!" Diane laughed, smacking herself on her knee. "That's exactly what I'm asking. Actually it would be better if she were your wife – all to have and to hold in sickness and in health, through the good times and the bad – the judge would just eat that up-"
"Mommy!" Cameron burst through the door, his mouth covered in chocolate. "Jake dumped his ice cream on the floor.
Elizabeth sighed, handing Emma over to her father as she started towards the kitchen, her head spinning from what Diane was telling them do. She grabbed a damp towel from the sink and hurried over to wipe Jake's face off before pulling him out of his high chair. He took off in the direction of the living room, no doubt going after Cameron, and Patrick appeared in the kitchen a few seconds later.
"I'm sorry about Diane," he muttered, shaking his head as he watched her wipe up the ice cream.
"No, it's fine," she shrugged, walking over to the sink to rinse out the rag before going back to the sticky floor. "She has some valid points, but it's just a little crazy." She looked up at Patrick, smiling when she saw how he was looking at her, and she knew he was desperate to do anything to keep his daughter. "She's used to twisting the law for Sonny and Jason, but we're different, Patrick. We're not…"
"Mobsters," he filled in, brushing his lips against Emma's forehead as she gripped the collar of his shirt.
"Yeah, and if we get caught lying like that…"
"We're in serious legal trouble and I lose Emma."
"Exactly, so to do what she's suggesting is to make it look like we're really married, which means…"
"Getting married," he muttered, biting his lip as he looked at Elizabeth, and she almost wondered if he was actually willing to do something like that.
"Patrick, I meant what I said – I would do anything to help you keep Emma, but this – there's not even a guarantee," she said, noticing how his arms tensed around his daughter as if trying to protect her from something that hadn't come yet. "We could get married and, go into a courtroom, but still get torn apart and lose Emma, and then we're both going to regret everything."
"Or we could – I could get to keep her once and for all," he replied, shaking his head as soon as he said it. "I'm sorry. You're right. I can't ask you to marry me."
She swallowed hard, watching his eyes dark and sad as he turned and started back towards the living room, his eyes dark and sad, and part of her wondered if he'd actually ask if he thought she'd say yes.