He's taken a long - much needed - shower and shaven all the fuzz from his face. That being step one in the million steps in moving on. Standing in his towel, in the room he shared with her, Patrick Drake stares at the clothes he laid out for his first day back to work. He can do this - at least that's what he keeps telling himself.
It took him a long moment, but soon enough he was getting dressed. One by one, he puts on his clothes, slowly but surely they make it on his body. Finally dressed, Patrick walks downstairs to get his keys from the small glass bowl by the door. He takes a moment to catch his breath when he sees her keys there - trying to use it as courage to keep going instead of a reason to stay locked away in the house.
Taking his keys from the bowl, Patrick glances at the picture of him, Robin and Emma before walking out of his house and locking the door. He gets in his car, turning on the music he usually listened to on the way to work, and starts up the car before taking off.
"Patrick?" Matt looks at him a bit surprised when he walks off the elevator. "I haven't seen you in a while. Are you..."
"Don't ask me if I'm okay." Patrick cuts him off. "Its hard enough as it is."
"Fair enough." Matt was just glad his brother was back in the hospital. "Does this mean you're back on schedule?"
"I need to work that out with Monica." Patrick says, noticing the chief of staff in a heated argument with Epiphany.
"Well, Dr. Quartermaine, with all due respect, we wouldn't be having this problem if you hadn't caused one of my best nurses to flee to another hospital." Epiphany states firmly, having had enough.
"What's going on?" Patrick questions, eyeing the two from afar. "What nurse transferred?"
"Elizabeth." Matt says with distaste. "Apparently Monica pushed things too far and Elizabeth asked her sister to help her get transferred to Mercy."
"Huh." Patrick eyes Monica - who was completely steaming - and wondered if that would be the best move for him as well. "Do you know what happened between them?"
"Other than Elizabeth keeping Jake's paternity from Monica?" Matt sighs, running one hand through his hair - really not wanting to admit the second part. "She slept with Jason and Monica wasn't happy about it."
Patrick should be surprised by that tidbit, but he really wasn't. He knows the relationship between Elizabeth and Jason is a complicated one and Patrick had no room to judge. Even though he hates Jason for Robin making such an enormous sacrifice for him, Patrick couldn't and wouldn't take that out on Elizabeth.
He could see on his brother's face that Matt wasn't happy with it at all though, but he'll learn. He'll learn that there was no getting in between the two. Patrick, however, couldn't worry about his brother's love life. Not now. Now the only thing Patrick can afford to focus on is his work. Which, as of right now, will be harder without his favorite OR nurse. If he starts to work today, he'll have to train another nurse to react to his style and he just wasn't in the mood for that.
"Do not blame my nursing staff for your mistake." Epiphany was slowly losing her control with the chief of staff. "Thanks to you, Dr. Quartermaine, this hospital will surely suffer with your style of leadership!"
"Regardless of how you feel, I'm still the chief of staff and there's an expected level of respect to be shown, Ms. Johnson." Monica says formerly, not liking the way she's being spoken to.
"Reprimand me then, doctor." Epiphany dares her. "Or better yet, fire me. I would love to see how you run this hospital without me."
"You're not indispensable, Ms. Johnson." Monica says seriously.
"Yes, she is." Patrick walks up to them with Matt. "Epiphany is the best head nurse you'll ever have. You're ignorant if you believe otherwise."
"Nice to see you back, Drake." Epiphany comments with a slight smile.
"Patrick, are you back on rotation?" Monica questions cautiously, surprised to see him back. "I wasn't notified you'd be returning to work today."
"No. I'm not." Patrick says firmly. "And until the management here improves, I won't be back at all."
"What does that mean?" Monica questions, looking to Epiphany before concentrating on Patrick.
"It means, unless you get Elizabeth back here, I will be forced to transfer to Mercy." Patrick says matter-of-factly. "Check the logs. She's the only OR nurse that I have with me on every operation."
"Nurse Webber chose to transfer to..." Monica starts but Patrick swiftly cuts her off.
"Get her back or I transfer." Patrick snaps. "And in case you don't know this, yes, I'm indispensable to this hospital. I dare you to learn that the hard way."
With that, Patrick walks back onto the elevator and heads home to spend time with his daughter. Although Elizabeth has returned to Jason's orbit, Monica wasn't someone he particularly liked anymore than Jason. So if he had to choose between Monica and Elizabeth, it was no contest. Elizabeth would win out each time.
"He wouldn't really transfer, would he?" Monica looks to Epiphany and Matt.
"I wouldn't want to find out if I were you." Matt says, taking a file from Epiphany. "You won't like it if you do."
Monica walks off to her office when Matt and Epiphany both walk away from her. She never would have seen any of this coming just because Elizabeth no longer worked at General. When she got the paperwork saying that Elizabeth had transferred to Mercy, Monica thought all her prayers had been answered. She wouldn't see that woman every day and she'd finally be out of her orbit. Now, no, now she has one of General's best neurosurgeons threatening to transfer to Mercy as well.
"General Hospital, Chief of Staff Dr. Quartermaine speaking." Monica answers the phone, pausing for the caller to speak. "I understand that, but Nurse Webber chose to...no, I understand. Yes, Dr. Patrick Drake is an essential part of this hospital. Yes, I understand. I'll get on it."
Elizabeth sits on the bench just watching Jason pushing Cameron on the swings while Aiden is sitting beside her with his coloring book. Cameron has been all smiles since he woke up this morning and found Jason at the door. She doesn't work until that night and he has taken the day off from work to spend with the boys. She was surprised by the offer, but obviously didn't turn it down.
"Hello?" Elizabeth answers her cellphone, handing Aiden a juice box.
"This is Doctor Monica Quartermaine, Chief of Staff at General Hospital." Monica says formally. "I would like to schedule a meeting to discuss you retaking your position here at General Hospital."
"You're kidding right?" Elizabeth says bluntly, finding Monica being professional almost laughable. "I'm not going back to work there."
"Be reasonable..."
"No. I'd rather be realistic." Elizabeth says firmly. "Mercy holds more promise for me. Thank you for the offer, but I like it right where I am."
Ending the call, Elizabeth focuses on what matters most and that's her family. She didn't care why Monica was being all professional all of a sudden or why she was offering a position with General Hospital again. What's done is done and taking a page of Jason's book, she's not looking back.
"Everything okay?" Jason asks, walking over with Cameron.
"Yeah. Everything's just fine." Elizabeth smiles slightly. "Who's ready for some lunch?"
"Me!" Cameron says without hesitation. "Aiden's hungry too."
Together, the four of them head to the car, heading back to Elizabeth's house for lunch. In spite of herself, she can't help but wonder why Monica was offering her back her position at GH. From the looks of things, she'd have thought Monica would be happy with her out of her hospital. Apparently there was more to this than Elizabeth knew about and whatever it was that had Monica offering her the position, it was obviously not because she wants her back.
"Matt, what're you doing here?" Patrick questions, standing in his doorway.
"Can't a brother stop by to check up on the family?" Matt counters, walking in when Patrick steps aside. "Where's Emma?"
"Taking her nap, so keep it down." Patrick says, closing the door. "Now why are you really here?"
"Fine, you caught me." Matt shrugs out of his coat. "Are you really thinking about transferring to Mercy?"
"I already scheduled a meeting with the Chief of Staff." Patrick says seriously, pouring himself a glass of water. "If Elizabeth isn't reinstated, I will take up the neurosurgeon position with Mercy."
"I get it that Elizabeth's a great nurse, but..."
"No buts." Patrick cuts him off. "She's not only a great nurse, but she's also a great friend. I trust her in and out of the OR. I'm not about to waste my time with another nurse that has no idea how I operate."
"Even though she's dating Jason Morgan?" Matt counters. "If I remember correctly, you hated him."
"I couldn't care less about Morgan, that's true." Patrick says plainly. "But Elizabeth isn't Jason and either she goes back to General or I go to Mercy. If Robin were here, she'd be saying the same thing."
"All I'm saying is..." Matt starts to say, but is cut off by Patrick's phone ringing.
"I should get this." Patrick picks up the phone and answers it. "Patrick Drake speaking."
"We've got the location." the caller says calmly. "Meet us at the Elm Street Warehouse tonight at seven and we'll fill you in."
"I'll be there." Patrick says before ending the call. "I appreciate your concern, Matt, really I do, but I've already made my decision."
"Who was that?" Matt questions when Patrick opens the door for him to leave.
"No one you need to know about." Patrick gestures for him to leave. "And can I give you a word of advice?"
"Do I have a choice?" Matt counters, turning back to look at him once he's out the door.
"Elizabeth isn't the girl for you." Patrick says with conviction. "Her heart was claimed by Morgan long before either of us ever heard of Port Charles."
A/N: Let me know what you think.
Thanks for reviews.
-ROCkER