Chapter 1
It had been almost five months since Patrick Drake had started the appeal process to get his job back after he had been fired for losing Rafe Kovich on the table. He still maintained that even though he had thought about ending his life to get justice for his son and for Sabrina that he had not acted on it. Even though he had been working with Sam to try to find out what really happened the night of the car accident, he really missed doing what he did best and wanted to get back to work.
After all this time, he was about to find out whether or not he was going to be able to return to General Hospital. He had finally gotten a phone call from the chief of staff, Dr. Obrecht, asking him to meet with her as the board had made a decision. Although working with Sam had provided him some distraction, he was suddenly realizing how nervous he really was about the board's decision. His whole life was riding on the decision the board made and he honestly didn't know what he would do if they didn't give him his job back. He would have to go back to work eventually and was really hoping it would be at GH.
Patrick had been with Sam when he got the call and although she had offered to come with him, he knew this was something he had to do on his own. Stepping off the elevator, he took a deep breath and headed in the direction of Dr. Obrecht's office. As he rounded the corner, he was surprised to see Sabrina sitting outside of Obrecht's office.
"Sabrina?"
"Patrick!" Sabrina said shocked to see him. "What are you doing here?"
"Obrecht called me and asked me to meet her. The board has made a decision regarding my appeal."
"Oh, good luck."
"Thanks, I honestly have no idea what way they are going to go. I'm really hoping that I get to come back, even if it means working for Obrecht," Patrick said trying to make light of the situation. When Sabrina didn't respond, Patrick was alarmed. "Hey. Are you okay?" Patrick asked concerned about her.
"Hmm?" Sabrina asked as if they hadn't been in a middle of a conversation. "I'm sorry. What did you say?"
"I asked if you were okay. What are you doing outside Obrecht's office anyways?"
"Oh, yeah. I'm fine."
"Are you sure? You know you can tell me anything, right?"
"Yeah. Really, everything is fine," Sabrina said lying through her teeth hoping he would believe her. The truth was that nothing was fine. Nothing had been fine since Robin walked into that church almost a year ago. She and Patrick should be getting ready to celebrate their one-year anniversary in a couple weeks and Gabriel's first Thanksgiving and Christmas. But instead she had lost just about everything that mattered to her. Through it all, she had managed to hang on to her job, the only thing she had left other than Felix, but now she might even lose that.
When Patrick had chosen Robin all those months ago, her heart had been broken. Then she found out she was pregnant and that almost made it all bearable. But when her sweet Gabriel was taken from her, her still broken heart was shattered. When she came back from Puerto Rico, she thought she was better but she knew now she was wrong. She hadn't been able to move on from losing her baby and as a result she tried to make the person responsible feel the same pain that she felt. Only, Carlos had been wrong. Ava hadn't been responsible for the car accident and now there was a good chance Sabrina was going to lose the one thing she had left.
"Okay," Patrick said knowing her well enough to know that she was lying. "I know I haven't seen you much since you've been back, is everything going okay?" Patrick asked trying again to get her to open up to him.
"What? Oh yeah, everything's fine," Sabrina said unconvincingly.
It was obvious to Patrick that everything was not fine, but he had pretty much given up his right to pry when he walked out on her on their wedding day. He really had loved Sabrina, but when Robin returned he was sure going back to her was the right thing to do. He had to stop himself from laughing out loud at the thought of how wrong he had been. After everything he had put Sabrina though, he didn't blame her for keeping her distance, he was actually kind of shocked that she still spoke to him. But that was Sabrina… She was probably the kindest person he had ever known. And even though everything they had been through seemed like a lifetime ago, there was still a piece of his heart that would always belong to her and right now it was causing him to be really worried about her.
Knowing he was better off to leave it alone, he made a mental note to check in with her later, suddenly realizing she hadn't been like herself the last couple times he had talked to her either. Had he been that caught up with his flirtation with Sam and the investigation into Luke Spencer that he really hadn't noticed that something wasn't right with Sabrina?
Patrick was pulled from his thoughts when the door to Obrecht's office opened, revealing Epiphany. "Nurse Santiago, let's go the conference room where we can have a private conversation," Epiphany said in a serious tone, not realizing that Patrick was even there.
"Yes, Nurse Johnson," Sabrina said rising to her feet to follow Epiphany keeping her head down, refusing to make eye contact with either Epiphany or Patrick. She really wished Patrick hadn't been here to see this, she was embarrassed enough as it was and really didn't want him to feel sorry for her. So much for looking like you have everything together she thought.
Patrick watched the scene unfold in front of him. Epiphany coming out of a meeting with Obrecht and needing to talk to Sabrina could not be a good thing. He knew he hadn't been wrong when he thought Sabrina wasn't really fine.
"Drake Junior. I didn't see you there. Are you here to meet with Dr. Obrecht about getting reinstated?" Epiphany said noticing Patrick.
"Yes. Dr. Obrecht called to say a decision had been made."
"Well good luck. This hospital needs you back."
"Thanks Epiphany."
"Come on Nurse Santiago," Epiphany said quickly reverting to her serious tone as she began walking to the conference room, expecting Sabrina to follow.
Patrick tried to catch Sabrina's eye as she walked by, but she kept her head down as she walked by. He knew she was one of the best nurses at GH and couldn't imagine that she could really be in that much trouble. But he couldn't worry about that right now, he had to meet with Obrecht and find out what his own future held.
