Chapter 2

Patrick arrived at Room 1007 and rushed in to see where he was needed. The crash cart had already arrived and he stepped in to man the paddles and work on Brandon Martin. He noticed that Martin's fiancée, Heidi Scranton, was in the corner off to one side. "Get her out of here," he yelled, through the confusion, clearly meaning the fiancée, and a nurse took her arm and, despite her protests, escorted her out of the room. Patrick returned his attention back to his patient and desperately shocked him repeatedly to bring him back. Unfortunately as he gradually realized, there was nothing that could be done. He pronounced him dead after working on him for 30 minutes with no response.

Patrick stood back from the hospital bed and ran his hand through his hair, clearly drained with the effort to bring back his patient. Now he was faced with the unpleasant task of telling the family and fiancée. The nurses had told him when he came in that Martin's blood pressure had gotten out of control after talking to his fiancée, the one thing he had feared would happen if they talked again. Unfortunately, his fears had come true and now the young man was gone, he thought with a sigh. Patrick composed himself and stepped outside the room where the young man's father, fiancée, and Robin waited.

Robin knew from the look on Patrick's face that the situation had gone downhill drastically and she felt awful for her role in it. She heard Patrick saying that he was sorry but there was nothing he could do and then the fiancée screaming and collapsing on the couch. Brandon's father just looked at the doctor with stoicism and asked what happened. Patrick looked at Heidi and debated how much to tell the father since how Brandon had died didn't really mattered anymore, it just mattered that he had.

Patrick stated quietly, "His blood pressure went sky high and we weren't able to bring it under control and it caused his system to shut down." The father seemed to accept that answer and didn't ask any more questions, dropping down into the waiting room chair as if exhausted.

Heidi, however, looked up at Patrick with tear stained eyes and asked, "Would it have happened if I hadn't gone in there?"

Patrick looked at her sorrowfully, while he watched Brandon's father's reaction, "No, it probably wouldn't have. He abruptly changed subjects, and said, "I'm truly sorry for your loss. If you need any more information, please feel free to contact me, but otherwise, the nurses can help you with any preparations you need to make. I'm sorry, but I need to get back to my rounds," he said with a nod toward Robin and they left side by side to go back to his office.

Down at the nurse's station, Stan had come to see Epiphany for a brief mother son discussion. Stan noticed the commotion down the hall and was able to get a glance at the father and fiancée. He had to look twice because he was startled at what he had seen. "Mom, what is that lady's name down the hall?" he asked.

"Oh, that lady where her fiancée just died?" asked Epiphany as she rifled through her papers, not really paying any attention to her son.

"Yes, that one. She's sitting on the couch and a man is sitting next to her," said Stan.

Epiphany looked up and down the hall, "Oh, that is Heidi… Heidi Scranton, I believe is the name. Why? Do you know her?" she asked.

"Well, I don't personally know her, but I know of her. Her father is a mob boss of one of the five families. That is one family you sure don't want to mess with," said Stan, with a shake of his head.

Epiphany heard this and looked again down the hall thoughtfully, seeing that Patrick and Robin had left. As she did that, the distraught fiancée suddenly got up and sprinted down the hall as if a ghost was after her. She punched the elevator button and deciding that it wasn't coming fast enough, rushed to the stairwell and practically flew down the stairs. Epiphany just shook her head and muttered, "Stupid girl," while Stan looked on, concern growing in his eyes.

Patrick and Robin arrived at his office and went inside to sit down. Patrick guided them to his office chair and, grabbing Robin, drew her into his lap. She looked down at him sadly, "What happened with Brandon?" she asked. "Did it have to do with his fiancée?"

Patrick looked up at her slowly and his heart ached for what he was about to tell her. "Yes, I believe it did," he said. "The nurses said that his blood pressure spiked as soon as she went in there and it only went upward from there. It appears that the blood pressure caused the cardiac arrest that shut down his entire system. There was just nothing we could do," he said sadly.

"Oh, Patrick," she said, tears coming to her eyes and falling down. "If only I hadn't interfered, that poor boy would still be alive," she said brokenly.

Patrick frowned and pulled her close to him so their bodies were touching. "If you hadn't talked to the girl, the foolish boy would have just gotten out of bed and went to find his fiancée anyway. There was nothing you could have done about it, Robin. You only tried to help and it's one of the many reasons I love you," he said, holding her face at eye level and talking tenderly.

"Yes, but…" she said, as tears streamed down her face.

Patrick cupped her face with his hands and said, "No, buts, Robin. You tried the best you could and fate had other plans, I guess. We, as doctors, did all we could. You tried to help and that's all anyone can ask of us." He held Robin tenderly as she cried for poor Brandon and now the misery that Heidi would have to suffer. She remembered Stone and how hard that was for her and she cried harder.

Patrick knew that when they lost particularly young, male patients that it always reminded her of Stone and so knowing what she was thinking, he just held her and let her cry it out. Robin slowly finished crying and raised her head to look up at him, giving him a slow smile, "Did I ever tell you how wonderful I think you are?" she asked.

Patrick gave her a smile in return and said, "Yes, but I always want to hear about it over and over again."

Robin gave him a small hit on the arm and said, "You and your humungous ego, I swear. Sometimes I think there's not enough space in the room for me, too," she said as she rolled her eyes at him. She got serious again, "Seriously, though, thank you for taking care of me. You knew I would have a hard time with this and you just held me and let me be. I love you so much," said Robin with heartfelt feeling while she leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder.

Patrick wrapped his arms protectively around her, drawing her even closer if that was possible. "Baby, I would do anything for you. I want you to always remember that," he said, with fervor in his voice. "I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone and I will do anything to comfort and protect you. I hope you believe that," he said, pulling her back and looking deep into her eyes.

"Yes, Patrick, I believe that to the bottom of my soul," Robin said, pulling him down for a passionate kiss. They broke apart, both breathless from the steamy kiss. Robin slowly got off Patrick's lap and held his hand, breaking contact slowly as she pulled away. "I've got to get back to the lab now. Thank you so much for helping me."

Patrick, a little taken aback at the sudden turn of events, eyed her warily, "What do you have up your sleeve, Scorpio?" he asked.

Robin gave him a little smile and said, "You'll just have to wait and see. You did promise me an extra surprise tonight, remember? Maybe you will have a surprise of your own also," she said as she smiled sweetly at him. "You'll just have to wait and see," she said as she left the room, her voice trailing out behind her. Patrick smiled as she left, eager for their night to begin, especially for his special surprise.

Robin went back to her lab and sat down thinking about the morning's events. She was still upset about Brandon Martin's death, but she was now able, with Patrick's help, to see that she had only tried to help and the events that led up to his death had been in place long before she became involved. She knew she would always feel remorseful about the small part she had played, but also knew that she couldn't dwell on it or it would literally drive her to the nuthouse. She was a doctor and she had only been doing what she thought was best at the time.

Robin made a few phone calls and set her plan in motion. Her plan was a little bit more far reaching than just this evening, but she would tell Patrick about it tonight, she thought. She kept imagining his eyes lighting up with pleasure at what she was going to tell him and she couldn't keep back a little giggle of pleasure at her ingenuity. They were certainly going to have a night to remember, she thought, with a smile.

The day went quickly after that and before Robin even knew how it had happened, it was time to go home and see what Patrick had planned. As she passed the nurse's station to get onto the elevator, she heard quite a commotion and decided to go check it out. Epiphany, Liz, Kelly, Lainey, and Emily were at the counter talking amongst themselves.

"Wasn't that the fiancée of that young man who died earlier?" asked Kelly, as usual, not bothering to keep her voice quiet.

"Yes, it was," said Epiphany, as she looked up and saw Robin approaching. She hissed quietly, "Now, you girls go about your business and don't let Robin hear about this, do you hear me?" The girls all looked at each other quickly and then at Robin as she approached them.

"But she's going to hear about this eventually, anyway," said Liz. "I think we should just tell her so it's not such a shock, especially if it comes from us," she said, thinking that Epiphany was sometimes way too protective of Robin and Patrick, almost like a mother hen.

"Yes, I agree with Liz," said Kelly as the other four nodded in agreement. Epiphany just threw her hands up and marched away from the group as she shook her head, saying, "Those damn fools. They don't know what's good for them." Kelly, Liz, Lainey, and Emily looked at each other trying not to break into laughter as Epiphany walked away. They knew that if they let Epiphany hear them laugh as she walked away, they would be in deep trouble and Epiphany always found a way to get even.

Robin walked up to the group, "What's going on, guys?" she asked.

"Ahm, we heard some news," said Liz, "that you'll probably want to know about."

"Oh, really?" asked Robin inquisitively. "What happened?"

"Well," said Liz, "you know that fiancée of Brandon Martin… what was her name?" asked Liz, looking to the other friends for help.

"Heidi Scranton," said Robin, "that was her name. What about her?"

"Well, it appears…" said Liz, with a slight pause, afraid to go on.

"She committed suicide this afternoon," piped up Kelly, impatient for the information to get out and be done with so she could go on home.

"What?" asked Robin, shocked. "She committed suicide this afternoon? How?" she asked, reaching for the counter to help support her as she felt off balance for a second.

Kelly continued, "Well, we're not sure on the particulars, but it appears that she got a gun from her father's collection and shot herself in the head."

Robin said, "Oh, my," and decided that she needed to get out of there as fast as possible. She didn't want any of her friends to see how shocked she was and she needed to find Patrick and fast. He was her support system and she needed him now more than ever. "Hey, guys," she said, "I've got to go. Patrick has a special evening planned for me," she said quickly, with a tight smile. "I'll see you tomorrow." Robin raised her hand, waving goodbye, quickly punched the elevator button, got on, and left, leaving her friends staring after her, stunned at her quick departure.

"Well, that can't be good," said Kelly, echoing everyone else's feelings, but as usual, the only one who would voice them.

Over on the other side of town, a man was talking to an underling. "Who encouraged her to talk to him?" he asked.

"A doctor by the name of Robin Scorpio," he said. "The eyewitness we have said that she talked to Heidi and then talked the doctor, Dr. Drake, I believe, into letting her see Brandon."

"Good. It's always nice to know the names of our enemies," the man said to his employee. "We'll take care of her in due time."