Chapter XII

Pine Valley Hospital, Pine Valley, PA

Andrassy Foundation Office

Alex sat down and gestured for Robin to do the same.

"I really don't have much time right now..." Robin argued, not sure why exactly her aunt had summoned her into her office.

"Please," Alex insisted. Obviously she wasn't going to take no for an anwer.

Alex's eyes were serious and Robin tried in vain to read them. She felt a bit like a teenager again, a feeling she wasn't sure she enjoyed. "Alright..." She took a seat across from Alex. "What's up?"

Alex took a deep breath. "After you left my office today, a man by the name of Bart Milton came to see me."

Her aunt paused long enough to give Robin a chance to tell her that she'd never heard the name before.

"He said he used to worked for the WSB," Alex explained. "In fact, he said he was one of the men sent to carry out the black box order against your mother."

At the mention of that, Robin's brows narrowed. "Why...why would he come to see you, after all these years? To tell you that?" Robin hated the WSB for destroying her mother's name, when she knew without a doubt that her mother would never have abandoned her family to run off with Cesar Faison. Not knowingly and certainly not willingly.

Alex's voice was soft, as if gauging her reaction. "He said he was in Venezuela at the time of the explosion that killed your parents."

"He was there?" Robin looked at her in disbelief. "So I guess he was glad that the explosion took care of the job for him?"

Alex ignored the comment. "He said he stood on the pier, when the tanker exploded. That the blast from the explosion forced him to jump into the water." Alex paused again, weighing her words. "He saw Anna in the water, when he jumped in. He said your mother was badly injured and about to drown."

Robin couldn't stop the tears that filled her eyes now. The thought of her mother's life being brought to an abrupt end in a fiery hell still broke her heart, even now, so many years later. The only thought that had offered her any consolation was the knowledge that her father had reached her mother before they died. She believed they died together, in each other's arms. Robin didn't know whether or not that was the truth and she didn't care. It was her truth. A truth that Alex was now on the verge of shattering.

"What do you mean he saw her in the water?"

"He saw that she was about to drown and pulled her out of the water."

"He pulled her out and then she died?"

Alex shook her head. "No."

"You're saying she didn't die during the explosion?" Robin felt her heart break all over again. "That she survived and died later? Alone?"

Alex's gaze didn't waver from hers. "Bart took her to a hospital after he pulled her out of the water. The doctors told him her chances of survival were slim. He assumed she was going to die so he didn't tell anyone he saved her."

"He left her to die? Alone, in a foreign hospital?" Tears tumbled down her cheeks mercilessly now. "So why the hell would he come here to tell you that? Is he dying and needs forgiveness? I hope you told him to go to hell!"

Alex stood up to put her arms around her. "Robin, sweetie…he didn't come here to ask for forgiveness. He came here to tell me that your mom didn't die, that she's still alive."

"No, that's not possible, Alex," Robin shot back, without hesitation.

Alex pulled out a photograph from her desk. "He brought me this."

"No." Robin closed her eyes refusing to look at it. "I don't believe you. My mom can't be alive. She wouldn't have kept that from me all these years. It's not possible. If you knew her, you would know that too."

"She had amnesia, Robin. She didn't remember anything."

Robin lips were clenched, fighting a sudden wave of nausea. She stood up and pushed her chair away from Alex's desk. "No, Alex. My mom would never forget me or Dad. She wouldn't. That man lied to you."

Concern was etched in Alex's face now. "Robin, please. Look at the picture. Tell me that this isn't your mom."

Robin turned away, refusing. "Photographs can be doctored, faked…you know that."

"Please, Robin…"

"No. It's not true. I don't believe it!"

Robin felt Alex's hand on her cheek, gently turning her face towards her. "Robin, just look at the picture. For me, please?"

Robin's lower lip trembled as Alex held up the photograph. There was a woman in the photo, sitting on the porch of a log cabin, her arms around a little girl. Her hair was longer than Alex's and slightly darker, but still shorter than how Robin remembered it being. The woman's eyes lit up as she smiled and Robin could swear there was a trace of mischief in them.

There was no doubt. None. The woman in the photograph was her mother.

Robin felt her knees buckle, as Alex's hold on her tightened.

"Robin!"

Her aunt half lifted, half pushed her to the sofa. "Come on, Robin, you're a tough girl. Don't scare me like this."

Robin wasn't sure what happened next, but when she came to, she felt a cool washcloth on her cheeks. Alex was sitting next to her, taking her pulse, her face full of relief when Robin opened her eyes.

"It's alright, Robin, you're okay..." Alex gave her a lopsided smile. "You scared me, sweetheart."

Robin didn't feel okay. But Alex's voice almost convinced her she was. Her aunt handed her a glass of water and Robin sipped its contents.

Alex brushed a strand of hair behind her face, "Take a deep breath for me, okay?"

Robin did as she asked.

"Again, sweetie." Alex squeezed her hand. "You don't want me to have to admit you, do you?"

Robin managed a meagre smile. "You wouldn't do that…" she said, testing her voice. "Is it…is it really true, Alex?"

Alex nodded. "I don't think Bart Milton was lying. It would make no sense. Even his reasons for keeping Anna's existence a secret make sense, in their own twisted way."

"But why did he come to see you now, after all this time?" Robin asked, not sure whether she was ready to accept this miracle.

Alex frowned. "Bart says that your mom suffered from head injuries during the explosion. The injuries were undoubtedly responsible for the amnesia, and when she started to remember things… according to Bart, the memories triggered something that caused her to..become ill."

Robin bit her lip, feeling the tears well up again. "What do you mean ill?"

"Bart says she has severe headaches. That she's weak. I don't know what else, Robin. That's where we come in. He needs us to figure out what's wrong with her and to do it with her safety in mind. She probably won't be able to come to the States yet. He says the black box order still stands and that she'd be arrested on charges of treason."

"How sick is she, Alex?"

"I don't know, Robin. Honestly, I don't know. Bart mentioned the headaches, but given her amnesia and her injuries, headaches of that nature are not unusual. I'm sure once I'm able to pinpoint what's causing them and treat her, she's going to be just fine."

Robin said nothing, still unable to digest everything. Her mother was alive. But she was ill.

"You have faith in me, as a doctor. Don't you?"

Robin nodded, taking another sip of water. To say she had faith in her aunt's skills was an understatement. She was easily one of the country's foremost neurologists. She couldn't have asked for a better physician to look after her mother. More importantly, Robin loved and trusted Alex. She trusted her to do whatever it would take to make her mother well and keep her safe.

"Does she remember anything about me at all?"

"I don't think so," Alex said softly. Regretfully. "I'm sorry."

Robin managed another smile. The reality of it all was starting to sink in. "It's okay. I mean, this is amazing. It's a miracle. My mom's…she's…alive."

She couldn't control her tears this time and she started to sob.

"Shhh…" Alex held her tight. "It's going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay."

Wildwind Estate, Pine Valley, PA

Later

Dimitri Marick walked along the hallway of Wildwind's second floor and peeked inside his son's bedroom, not surprised to find Alex there as well. Both of their heads were hunched over a notebook, their expressions identical.

They didn't see him in the doorway and he used the opportunity to observe them.

The two of them had such a deep bond. Each time he saw them together he felt a twinge of regret and a touch of envy. For the first seven years of his son's life, Max had barely known his father existed. Seven long years that he'd never be able to make up for. Dimitri hated that he hadn't been able to see Max grow up. Hated that there was no way to ever make up for it.

"Que-ce que tu fais, mon petit Comte?" he asked Max in French, as he stepped into the room. It was one small thing he alone shared with his son. Max had learned French while living in Paris with Robin and he himself had to learn it growing up at Vadsel. French being the language of the aristocracy.

"Je fais mes devoirs avec Maman," Max answered him slyly, watching his mother for a reaction. Knowing she wouldn't be ablew to understand a word.

"Oh stop it, you two," she groaned. "Multi-lingual show offs."

"Il faut qu'elle apprenne le francais, n'est-ce pas?" Dimitri told his son, grinning.

Max returned his grin, "Oui."

Alex got up to give Dimitri a kiss. "He's telling you to get lost, isn't he?" she whispered in his ear, making him laugh.

"Can I steal your Mom for a sec?" Dimitri asked him.

Max shook his head and wrinkled his nose. "No."

Dimitri pulled Alex towards the door. "Come on, be fair. You've had her all evening."

"But you already know how to do multiplication and division…" Max whined.

Dimitri grinned. "I'm sure there's some things about math that your Mom can still teach me."

"Like what?" Max asked him, scrunching up his lips.

Dimitri was already out the door with Alex, winking at his son, as he closed it behind him. "You know…things."

Alex smirked and waved to Max, "I'll be back once your Dad knows how to add and subtract."

"So what's this about you going away with Robin for a few days?" Dimitri asked her as he led her down the stairs.

Dimitri could have sworn he saw her cringing, just before she averted his gaze. "I told you, we're just going to Port Charles to visit Mac and some of Robin's friends."

"Why now?" Dimitri pressed. When Alex had first told him about the trip, she'd called from her drive home, and he could have sworn, she called precisely then, so she wouldn't have to give him any details. Because he worried enough about her reckless driving that he didn't want her to have lenghty phone conversations at the same time. A fact she knew all too well. "Can't it wait until Christmas break, then Max and I will join you."

Alex shrugged her shoulders, eyeing him as he reached for a jacket from the coat rack. "Robin wanted to go now and she asked me to come along, so I said yes, that's all. Mac's expecting us now."

Dimitri pulled out a jacket for her as well and lifted it for her to pull her arms through. "Where are we going?" she asked, puzzled.

"It's a beautiful late Fall evening. I wanted to go out for a stroll on the grounds."

Alex yawned. "How about we stay inside next to the fireplace and have hot chocolate with marshmallows instead?"

Dimitri grinned, "A short walk. The fresh air will be good for you, after being cooped up in that office all day." He grabbed a flashlight, from a shelf next to the coat rack and gave her a gentle push outside.

"Slave driver…" she mumbled.

Once outside, she watched him light a cigar in the darkness. "That's really why you wanted to come out here, isn't it? These things are going to kill you one day. Do you have any idea how many chemicals are in cigars?" she chided him.

"I want you to take O'Malley with you, when you go to Port Charles with Robin," he told her casually, as they walked towards a bench next to a pond. It was beautiful outside on the grounds. Crisp and clear, chilly but not cold.

"Oh no." Alex took a step back. "I'm not taking a guard with me. No way."

"It's not just... a guard. It's Shawn." Shawn O'Malley was the head of his security detail. The man who had helped him break into Brynn Wydd and ultimately kill Charlotte Devane. Next to his brother, O'Malley was the one man Dimitri would trust with his life, without a moment's hesitation.

Alex sat down on a bench and looked at him, as though she didn't have the energy for another argument. "You coaxed me out here because you didn't want us to argue in front of Max."

Dimitri cringed. She knew him far too well.

"I'm going to visit Mac with Robin," she tried to reason. "It's a leisure trip. The last thing I want is a body guard tagging along."

"Please?" He draped his arm over her shoulder, trying a different approach to her stubbornness. "For me."

Alex sighed and again she averted his eyes. There was something she wasn't telling him, Dimitri was sure of it. He could read her just as easily as she read him. He wanted to probe, wanted to have her tell him what she wouldn't.

But he didn't.

If she was keeping something from him, he figured she had her reasons. Much as he wanted to know, he respected her enough to give her whatever time she needed before telling him.

A whiff of cigar smoke blew in her direction and Dimitri waved it away.

They sat in silence for a while, until finally Alex gave him a lopsided smile, and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Alright. Fine. You win"

Dimitri gave her a shocked look in return. "Just like that?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "If it gives you peace of mind, we'll take O'Malley along. But what about Max? O'Malley always keeps a special eye out for Max at Wildwind."

"I'll be here until you get back. I'll make sure Max is safe."

"What if something goes wrong at the mine and you have to leave at the last minute?"

She had a point. Something always, inevitably, came up at the Marick mine that forced Dimitri to fly up to the Arctic Circle, sometimes as often as twice a week. Whether it was a broken dump truck, a particularly exciting find or an injured worker, it didn't matter. The Marick mine was his baby and Dimitri liked to solve its problems and share in its victories in person.

"They'll have to do without me for a few days," he told her. He noticed she was shivering in the crisp night air and pulled her towards him. "It's the least I could do in exchange for letting me have my way for a change."

Alex chuckled. "Am I really that difficult?"

He put out his cigar and looked into the moonlit sky above him. "You are difficult…" he whispered, returning her grin. "But worth it."

"Thanks...I think."

He stood up, pulling her up alongside him, laughing when she stumbled over an exposed root, and slipped into his arms. "Too much port after dinner, darling?"

She laughed too. "Maybe...you have to tell Edmund to stop bringing you that stuff from his trips to Lisbon."

"Or maybe we'll have to go and pick up some ourselves…I heard the coast of Portugal is the most beautiful place in the world."

"Not possible," she told him. "The most beautiful place in the world is right here, in your arms."

Dimitri smirked. "You're so smooth." He pulled her closer, kissing her earlobe. "Speaking of port and Portugal …have we ever really had a honeymoon?"

"I don't think so…maybe in time for our tenth anniversary?" She opened the doors of the estate, stepping inside ahead of him.

Dimitri took off her jacket and turned on the light in the darkened hallway, noticing for the first time that she looked not only tired, but on edge. Something was bothering her and he wondered whether it had anything to do with what she wouldn't tell him. Sometimes he almost wished he wouldn't be able to read her quite as easily. At least she agreed to take O'Malley to Port Charles. That was a weight off his shoulders. If anyone wold make sure she stayed safe, it was Shawn.

"So where should we go for our honeymoon?"

She grinned. "Upstairs to the fireplace. Hot chocolate and marshmallows."

"Funny."

She laughed. "Come to think of it, I couldn't think of a better way to spend our honeymoon."

"In that case…what are we waiting for?" Before she could protest, he scooped her up in his arms and made his way up the staircase. "Let's honeymoon."

Brooke and Edmund emerged from the study, watching as Alex squealed for him to put her down.

Brooke looked up at her husband, an amused smile on her lips. "Are you sure he's the older brother?"

Valley Inn, Pine Valley, PA

"It's a beautiful night out tonight," Jan announced as he walked into Cesar Faison's hotel suite. He saw Faison hunched over a lap top computer, a half-filled glass of cognac stood on the table next to him.

"Is it done?" he asked, without taking his eyes off the computer screen.

"The car? Yes, it's done. I've put the tracking device underneath the trunk. It's a green Ford Taurus and just as you suspected, it was the only car with an Ontario plate at the motel. I took down the licence plate number and traced it back to an Avis rental car agency in a place called Sioux Lookout near Thunder Bay."

Faison raised his head to face him, a smile on his lips. "We try harder, don't we Jan? I've run a background scan on Bart Milton and the story he told Alexandra checks out as well. He did work for the WSB, retiring only days after the explosion. He went to Canada because his mother was Canadian and had a house, or rather a cabin, there. It's all true."

"So we follow them up north. Then what?" Jan asked him, unsure of what exactly Faison had in mind.

"I've arranged for two of my men to meet us in Canada, as backup."

Jan offered him a puzzled expression. "Why? There's only going to be the three of them, Alexandra, Robin and Bart. Surely the two of us can take them on."

"And Anna. Don't count her out," Faison corrected him. "You're also forgetting Alexandra was trained at Brynn Wydd, together with Bart and Anna they could be too much for us, especially if they're armed and considering they're living in the middle of the wilderness, I'm assuming they will be."

"Alright…we take them on, four of us versus four of them. Fair enough and then what?"

Faison stared into the wall, as though Jan was no longer in the room, his mind far way.

"Anna," he mumbled. "Then we get Anna. That's the only thing that matters."