Special Operation

Chapter 1

Robert Scorpio pushed open the door to a private room at General Hospital, a private room where he and his ex-wife Anna Devane have come to visit and talk with a longtime friend, Sean Donely.

"Welcome." Sean says to them in a tone barely above a whisper, he was recovering from a gunshot wound and could barely stay awake, but he needed to get what he had to say off of his chest.

Both Robert and Anna came in and walked over to the bed

Robert took a good look at his old friend "Good to hear you got your voice back."

"Yeah, I heard yours loud and clear in the hall."

Robert threw his hands up, already on edge about this visit "Alright, what little game are we up to now?"

Sean looked at Robert then Anna "No more games my friends, no more games." He lifted a bag off his lap and emptied its contents to reveal coins

Anna was stunned "The thirty pieces." She uttered, the first words to come out of her mouth since entering the hospital room

Sean nodded his head "Right."

"What's all this?" Asked Robert, he was confused as to what Sean could possibly be doing with the thirty pieces

"You know what it is. The WSB symbol for betrayal."

Robert said harshly "That was all over in Bay C." growing more and more agitated with each unanswered question he had in his head

Sean shook his head and took a deep breath "No."

"Yes it was." Insisted Anna "We each took responsibility for what we'd done." She continued looking at Sean and then the thirty pieces

"Right. It's time we set the record straight though, because this time.." Sean picked up some of the coins and held them in his hands feeling the weight of them almost like the weight of his sins "All the pieces belong to me."

Robert and Anna stared at the coins as Sean held them up

Robert walked over to the head of the bed, moving Anna to his side "Now I assume this refers to your current relationship with Faison." He said to Sean

Sean tried to catch his breath "Partially." He said in answer to Robert

"Why didn't you tell us that you had a deal going with him?" Anna asked, this entire scene was making no sense to her. Why would Sean need the thirty pieces to reveal his reasons for his current alliance with Faison?

"This isn't just about the Wellington Collection." Sean spoke trying his hardest to stay calm

"But you knew that the last part of the crystal was in the dog." Robert accused

Sean shook his head "No, no I didn't. All I knew..."

"Why him?" Robert interrupted needing to get his answers faster than Sean was giving them

"All I knew was that Faison wanted it."

Robert was getting angrier by the minute "Why him? Why did you make an ally of yourself with him of all people?"

Anna was beginning to become upset also "You knew what he had on me" her voice was getting louder with each word she spoke "Because of what you were doing, you risked my daughter's life, Sean!"

Sean felt guilty for his role in this mess, and he was only going to feel guiltier after he told Robert and Anna what he had to say "I didn't think it would get this far." he gasped for a breath "And Robin is my godchild, I love her very much."

"Obviously not enough to walk away from whatever it is that Faison had to offer." Said Robert under his breath

Sean lightly shook his head "That's not true. I was trying to protect all of you." He said, trying to convince them of his true motives

"By working with him?"

"I didn't have a choice."

Anna laughed sarcastically "Oh, I thought I was the only one to compromise myself around here, I didn't expect it from you."

"I wanted you to know the truth."

Robert looked at Sean trying his hardest to keep his cool "So why not just tell us?"

Sean sighed "I was hoping I could pull it off by myself, that's why."

"But you could see what it was doing to us Sean. You just stood by and let it happen." Anna was appalled at everything Sean was saying, in the thirteen years she'd known him she never expected this

Sean was beginning to feel weak, he needed Robert and Anna to understand him "I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had to go through what you went through. Don't you realize what Robert and you mean to me? You're my friends."

Robert felt like they were getting nowhere "Friends trust each other." He turned his back to Sean

Anna moved to touch him but stopped when Sean began to speak again

"Sometimes too much."

Robert made his way back to the bed "Oh, come on. Look, let's get to the point here, alright!" he shouted "These three people have gone through enough secrets together in the past."

Sean spoke "It's about time you knew the truth about my secrets." He breathed and after a long pause finally found the courage to continue "These are things I didn't tell you in Bay C."

Anna looked at him sharply "What do you mean?"

With a tear running down his cheek Sean looked at his old friends "When you two came to me and admitted that you were the double agent and not Swede, I acted surprised, didn't I? But I wasn't."

Robert moved closer to Anna "What are you saying?"

"What do you think I'm saying?"

"You knew all along I was a double agent?"

Sean barely nodded "Yes."

Anna moved away from the bed this time, upset at what she was hearing, while Robert move forward to the head of the bed seemingly to understand better

"There's more" Sean continued "I also knew that you and Robert were married."

Robert's voice grew hoarse "What!" he exclaimed

Sean continued "It couldn't stay that way, it was against the rules. So, I needed a plan. That's where Faison came into the picture. "

Anna could barely breathe "How?"

Sean breathed "You both think that my...my alliance with Faison started here in Port Charles. You're wrong. I made an alliance with him thirteen years ago. That's when I didn't tell you all the truth." His tone was low, but his words shot through to Anna and Robert like bullets

Robert looked at Anna and saw the pain mixed with shock written all over her face, he suspected his face mirrored hers after hearing what Sean just said

Robert moved to the foot of the bed needing to put some space in between Sean and himself, while Anna took that as an opportunity to move closer to Sean needing to hear what he had to say

Anna looked at her old friend "Okay Sean, so you knew that we were married." She prodded

Sean nodded "Yeah, an agent that I was running in Italy at the time..." he said before he was interrupted by Robert who finally seemed to find his voice

"You knew the rules. You knew that agents don't marry. Why didn't you say anything?" he asked

Sean closed his eyes, unable to look at them "Yeah, I knew the rules, but I didn't care. You were my best two agents and I needed you. But before I say anything else, you've got to to remember that we were all different then, especially me." His words were slow but he was getting there opening his eyes to look at them Sean saw their emotions written all over their face "I had no understanding of what a commitment, a real commitment meant to a woman, how you could love one woman. All I loved was the WSB."

Robert looked at the man "What does this have to do with us?"

Sean closed his eyes again "I broke up your marriage." He said after a moment

"No you didn't, no you didn't. It was when he found out I was a double agent, it was over then. It wasn't you." Anna said, insisting that it was her fault and not Sean's

Sean looked at Anna with tears in his eyes "No, I set Robert up. I set him up to find out. I set both of you up."

Robert moved forward stunned "What!" he exclaimed almost simultaneously with Anna

Anna gasped, she instantly felt sick to her stomach. What she was hearing couldn't possibly be true

Sean continued "I needed you. You were my best agents. I couldn't afford to lose you."

Anna looked up at Robert needing confirmation that what she was hearing was real and when he was unable to look at either her or Sean she knew it was.

"What happened?" Robert asked

"I found out that Anna was playing both sides of the fence, working for me and Faison." Sean answered, ashamed at the answers he would now have to give

Robert was thinking "Wait a minute, wait a minute." he glanced at Anna for a second before continuing "Now you sent me out to find a double agent... a double agent... and you knew all along that it was Anna?"

Sean nodded "Right."

"You knew that would destroy us, didn't you?" Anna asked, she didn't want to hear anymore but she needed to

Sean was trying his hardest not to cry "Yes. I didn't care. I wanted you back. I needed you both together. So I was willing to do just about anything to... accomplish that. That's where Faison... and I, we made a deal."

Anna spoke almost emotionless "You made a deal with him for me?"

Sean swallowed "Yeah. In exchange for you, I gave him a way out. I arranged for his fake death certificate... and something else too. I agreed to get him a file, the same file he used for his research on the Lumina crystal."

Robert was bent over the bedside table becoming more exhausted and angry with each revelation "The missing air force file."

"Right."

Anna spoke softly "Oh God. Sean, I thought I knew you."

Robert was still unable to look at either of them, he was too upset "The Swede...The Swede...I accused him...of being a double agent to save Anna."

Anna gripped Robert's arm sick at the thought of the swede "You knew we were lying. You let an innocent man die because of us?"

Sean shook his head "He didn't die."

Robert looked at him sharply, but it was Anna who asked the question "He's alive somewhere?"

"Yeah, I got him a new identity..."

"All these years." Robert was furious "All these years you've let us...how...how could you do that? How could you do that!"

Sean tried explaining to them "I told you, in those days, I didn't know what true romantic love really was. I... I didn't know that real love could change a person." He paused, needing to find the right words for what he wanted to say "I didn't realize that you two... were really meant to be together."

"But you didn't give us that chance. Sean, you've let me think that it was my fault, all these years, that I destroyed our marriage. You let me think that all these years!" Anna yelled, her blood was hot with rage. For thirteen years she carried the guilt of her breakup with Robert alone on her shoulders, for thirteen years Sean let her and Robert believe that she was what tore them apart

Sean was getting weaker "I couldn't lose you both...I couldn't lose you both..." he repeated himself

Robert spoke again "Eight years, eight years I had a daughter, and I didn't even know about it...eight years."

"I not only destroyed your marriage, I destroyed your family. I don't know what I can do to ever make that up to you." He was ashamed at the man he once was

Robert was glaring at Sean now "Neither do I! As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing you can do!"

Anna walked toward the head of the bed where Sean laid "Sean, if Faison hadn't come to town, would you have told us any of this?

He couldn't look at her "Probably not."

Robert looked at him "But you would've continued to let us think that we sent any innocent man to his death"

"But you didn't, the Swede's alive."

Robert shook his head at the man "But we only found that out five minutes ago!" He shouted

Sean tried reasoning "But he's alive. Now I know it's not easy, but let me ask you something, both of you. If you were in my place, what would you have done?"

Both Robert and Anna were quiet

"I can't answer that." She said moving to the foot of the bed

Sean looked from Anna to Robert and back again "You probably both would've stayed together, you lost 13 years because of me. You know, you two really had something special."

Anna nodded her head, trying not to cry

"Something that only comes along once in a lifetime."

Robert and Anna look at one another

"I took it away from you, didn't I?"

Anna stared at something on the wall above Sean's head "Yes you did" she said, her voice breaking

Sean continued as if he hadn't heard Anna "There's a pretty good chance it would've worked. But you know, it's funny... everything that's happened, the three of us, all those years... but the two of you... it stayed...it stayed, it hung there. No matter what went on, there is nothing that could break you two apart, nothing." he looked at them, and then turned away, eyes closed "And if it wasn't for my obsessive attention to duty, you two would've spent your lives together."

Anna couldn't listen to anymore, without a second thought or look to either man she turned on her heels toward the door and left the room.

The fresh cool air she got out in the hall was a welcoming alternative to the now stale and betrayal filled air in Sean's hospital room. Even so, although she could now breathe Anna still couldn't think. She couldn't wrap her mind around what she had just heard and she couldn't even possibly begin to think about the what ifs her mind was beginning to conjure up

Anna hadn't heard Robert exit the room after her, it was only when she felt his arm wrap around her stomach that she knew he was behind her.

Taking a deep breath she rested her head back onto his chest, allowing him to rest his chin in her hair. They were both silent for a full two minutes, neither of them knowing what to say, what could they possibly say to one another?

Robert heard footsteps behind him, it was Katherine "Hi! Hey you two." She said, making them pull apart from one another

"Katie." Robert said surprised to see her

"How's Sean?"

Robert didn't know what to say "Um, he's uh.."

"Hi. He's okay." Anna answered for him not looking at either of them "I have to go" she added quickly before heading for the stairs, too impatient to wait on the elevator

"Did I miss something?" Katherine asked

Robert shook his head "No, no, you're timing couldn't be better. Look, you and I... dinner tonight just the two of us."

"Well, I've got to a lot of things.."

"Please." Robert pouted, he needed something to get his mind off of the last hour

Katherine smiled "Okay, sure"