Note: Nikolas was kidnapped around chapter18, when Emily found out she was definitely pregnant. If it seems like he was nice anywhere around that time that was just because Conner was better at keeping the facade of being Nik better.Also, Nikolas thinks Emily is having Patrick's child and Emily thinks that Nik is the man that abused her and hurt her friends.

Chapter Twenty-Six: When Dreams Become Harsh Realities

General Hospital

As night broke into dawn, Robin found herself snuggled up against Patrick in the waiting room as she waited to be checked out. Feeling her shiver against his shoulder Patrick tightened the blanket around them as he wondered if she was really okay, not knowing that she was thinking the same. They both had gone through more than they could handle in the past twenty-four hours and they couldn't help but worry about the other. It came natural for them to put each other ahead of themselves, and it was something they had come to need in their lives to feel even more complete.

Patrick looked down at Robin from the spot her head lay on his shoulder and as he met her eyes he noticed she had woken up. Within moments of seeing him, she could see his concern mixed in with the anticipation of finding out her secret evident on his face.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked even though the answer was probably obvious from the droop of her eyelids.

"No. Did you?"

"Not at all. For some reason I just can't." He confessed, not embarrassed to tell her that he was scared of what he might see once he entered the uncontrollable realm of sleep.

"I know what you mean." She said as she continued quietly, "I know that if I close my eyes I'll see what happened all over again, in a state so real that I'll feel that I have to relive it once again. It's something I know I can't do right know. I just want to have it far away from my mind, so I can dream about something..."

"Peaceful."

"Exactly," she said as she tried to imagine how the life she had might be, not perfect, and yet enough, something she hadn't had for a while. As they continued to sit in their calming silence, Patrick came up with an idea that he hoped might help them deal.

"Let's dream Robin," he said, nonchalantly as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Robin looked at him slightly perplexed as she wondered what he was trying to say.

"You make it sound so easy. We might be tired but our thoughts are keeping us awake and our--"

"Secrets," he continued for her, "are bounding our minds to such a point of anxiety that we can't tell each other everything like we should." He couldn't help but throw that in as he worried that whatever Robin was keeping was something horrible that she didn't trust him enough to help her through. He just wanted to always be there for her...

"You know I trust you Patrick?" She asked, worried that he might be taking this harder than she thought. Why can't I tell him now, she pondered but for some reason she just knew it wasn't the right time. When it is, I'll know and I'll tell him everything. After all, our children will need us to raise them together...and we'll need each other for everything else.

"I know Robin," he continued, shaking her out of his thoughts as a sly smile began to spread from each corner of his lips. "So does this mean you'll tell me now?" At the slightly exasperated look on her face he replies. "Just kidding. I'll wait until you're ready."

"Thanks," she said mysteriously as the silence allowed her to delve into her thoughts a little more.

Patrick only wished he could get into her head and figure out what she was keeping from him because for some reason it sounded a lot bigger and more important than he could ever imagine. And it was.

Robin peered over at Patrick and could see the wheels turning in his head. She couldn't help but wonder how he would feel when she told him that she was pregnant; the truth was she didn't know how she felt about it herself. She was happy, uncontrollably excited that a little tiny life could come from them. That they could raise a son or daughter with his or her own, unique personality. But there was always the fearful possibilities and doubts in her mind that made her worry.

She had HIV. It was a fact that she had learned to live with and wasn't ashamed of. Yet even so, she couldn't bear the thought of passing it on to her child. Even worse was the knowledge that she just might not live long enough to see her child grow up.

Stop worrying, she thought. She had begun to live life more in the moment, and to not worry about the future when, right now, in this moment she was truly content. She didn't want to stray away from that because of any doubt or worry she might feel.

Inches away Patrick thought of where they would go from there. The danger was over and he could finally live his life the way he wanted with Robin. But what exactly did they want in a life with each other? He knew that if he could, he would ask her to marry him on the spot, at that very moment. He couldn't think of one other woman to spend his life with than the one right beside him. She was beautiful, but so much more than that. She was Robin.

The only question was, did she want the same? As much as he wanted them to make their relationship more permanent he didn't want to push her. Why was it so hard to figure out what to do?

They both looked over at each other and realized the added stress that was coming in waves upon them. Patrick reverted back to his suggestion.

"What do you dream Robin, for your life?"

"Well why don't you answer your own question first?" she replies, really curious to what he might say.

"No fair, but alright. I want to buy a house and wake up every morning to see your tousled hair strewn across the pillow beside me. I want to see our ten kids---

"Ten! Isn't that a bit much?"

"Well okay, three. And you can't interrupt," he says as she laughs at his feigned seriousness. "Well I want to see our kids running through the back yard, as happy as we are with the life we have. I want to see their reactions when they ask how Mommy and Daddy met and how they got together because we both know that our love has been eventful yet still so special. Maybe I'll start a practice with a brilliant researcher that you might know of. Really I don't know Robin and whatever life takes me will be okay as long as one thing stays true."

"And what is that?" She asks, tired yet forcing her self awake because of her true interest in whatever he might say next.

"It's the one thing that I always see in my future and that's you Robin. I can't imagine living without you again and I don't plan to. I love you Robin and I want, no I need to spend my life with you..." he pauses for a moment as he wonders how to say this, ultimately deciding to be blunt in want he wanted to express next. "I want you to marry me,"

I've finally said it he says relieved as he looks down expectantly for her answer only to see something completely different than what he expected. She's a sleep, her soft snore he had gotten used to indicating that she probably never heard what he said. Though tempted he couldn't wake her up from her much needed rest to find out

Slightly disappointed, Patrick still laughs, as he thinks of him proposing, bearing his heart to a snoring Robin. Maybe this wasn't how he intended for it to work out but it only gave him bigger dreams as to what might happen next.

So he lets his dreams to drift him to sleep as they both drift into a deep slumber. Patrick places his hand on Robin's abdomen without even realizing what that simple action meant. They stayed in that position until they began to awake to voices.

"They look so cute together don't they? Robin seriously knows how to choose a hot guy."

"Focus Maxie. God, I can't believe this is happening. What are they going to do without her?"

"Maybe you're over reacting, they'll find a way to get her back soon won't they? They're good parents, and they could give her a better life than some old witch at a foster home."

"I know...They're already a family and they don't deserve this. To be split up just when they were getting so close...Maxie, I think they're waking up."

Both Robin and Patrick sat still for a moment wanting so badly to believe that they were hearing wrong or missing something that would tell them it was all a bad dream. They couldn't be talking about Izzy. That little girl meant so much to them now that she was a part of their lives. They couldn't lose their daughter, could they? They opened their eyes as Georgie and Maxie came into focus, their guilty faces glancing at the couple.

"They took her didn't they?" Patrick asked fearfully as he began to feel a sick feeling rise in the pit of his stomach. Georgie and Maxie didn't have to say anything for them to already know it was true.

Patrick reached out for Robin's small hand and held it for dear life. All the while thinking 'I'm not going to lose her too'.

Emily's Room

Nikolas found Emily's name in the card on room 202. Taking a deep breath he walked in, soon realizing that maybe he shouldn't have. Seeing her lying there, frail in that bed with wires attached to her arms was too much to handle for him. What made it worse was that she was at least six months pregnant and the nearly non-existent bump on her stomach had grown to something much more.

Losing his train of thought as he paced he paused to pulled up a chair. Minutes later as he held her hands, he began to speak.

"I'm supposed to say something now aren't I? Something inspirational so that you're hand will begin to move and you'll wake up minutes later. But that only happens in soap operas Em, this is real life...Still, I need you to live."

"Maybe I sound selfish, saying that I need you to live instead of saying that you need to make it for yourself. But still I can't find myself thinking of anything else. I've lived years without you Emily and on the outside I was fine and happy. But that was only the face that I showed to the world, wasn't it? On the inside something's been missing for a while... you. I'd wake up next to Robin every morning determined to make it work because I needed to fill that hole somewhere inside me so badly that it was all I thought about. But she couldn't and neither could I. We both knew that we weren't meant for each other like I was for you and she was for Patrick," he stopped for a moment to mentally will her to live.

"I just wished I could have realized that sooner. That I would have told you that I love you before it had to come to this. We've wasted so much time. But we can have years and years more Emily, if you just fight through this."

"You probably hate me now, don't you, thinking that I was behind all that Conner did when after he had kidnapped and replaced me. I never saw it coming. I left the hospital for a quick break, probably right before you found out you were definitely pregnant, and when I came back I was a changed man wasn't I? And that's probably when it started, the abuse he put you and Robin through. God you must have felt so alone thinking that the one person who said he would try to love you could do all this to you and your child." The tears begin to fall his eyes as he quickly brushed them away.

"If I could have done anything to stop it, trust me, I would have. I just hope you don't blame yourself, because you will be a good mother to one lucky little girl or boy. Your child will be loved. I know that and yet I can't help but wish that the child you're having with Patrick were mine. But regardless of that I will be there for the baby and more importantly you. I let go once and I will never, ever, do that again."

He squeezes her hand once more and is surprised to feel an unexpected sensation back. She had squeezed his hand. He waits in anticipation for her to open her eyes and slowly she does. As something clicks and her vivid dream replays in her mind she looks back at him with a sense of pure fear as she tries to makes a run for the door.

PC Orphanage

Mommy and Daddy were gone again. At least it felt that way to Isabelle.

The little girl looked around the orphanage, "home" as that mean lady had called it. It couldn't be anything further from the truth. She missed her parents so much, and she couldn't help but blame herself, irrationally for the car crash that they were in. If they weren't driving her to her soccer game than maybe...

She shakes her head as she remembers how slowly Patrick and Robin had helped her. Patty told me that it wasn't my fault and that even though they were gone, my parents were always in my heart. Robbie was there for me everyday, whenever I needed her. When my nightmares started at night I thought they would take me back, that they would say they didn't love me anymore, but they didn't. They'd let me sleep with them in their bed and tell me bedtimes stories. They'd ramble about when they were kids and even sing me to sleep a few times. With them I felt happy again. Loved.

And now it was over, just like she knew it would be. Patty and Robbie remind me so much of my Mommy and Daddy, and in the end they left me too. They didn't mean to, but it happened anyway. Maybe this how it's supposed to be.

So Izzy walked away from her spot on the floor and stood up determined inside to not let anything hurt her anymore, even though in the moment she was crying inside.

I-36

"Slow down Robin," Patrick pleaded, worried as he watched as she barely missed hitting another car. He stared at her intently and saw the fire in her eyes as she seethed with anger. Yet somewhere in those eyes that unveiled to him her heart, he saw pain; pain that had lay dormant for so long resurface from the box that she kept it secured in. He knew he was right because he felt it too. He'd do anything for her to not feel the inevitable pain in her life from the past, present, and prospect of the future. He just wished he could somehow take it away.

"I can't slow down, we have to hurry and get to the orphanage now. What if she's scared, or she needs us? What if she-" her speech gets more frantic with each passing moment before Patrick finally cuts her off.

"Pull over," he softly demands as he notices that her hands are gripping the steering wheel too tight, seemingly enough to cut of her circulation. He searches further still, and it's plain to see that the color has drained from her face and the light that normally dances in her eyes has somehow diminished to a near blank expression. She looked to him like someone's whose world was unraveling and maybe that's because it was.

Robin swerves to the side of the street, impatient. She doesn't look at him, avoiding his eyes meeting hers by glancing at anything but him. He knows that if she looks at him, really peers into his soul that he will do the same and he'll know what she's thinking.

"Look at me," he softly asks as she turns to see a lone tear in the corner of his eye matching hers. She really wasn't alone in this, was she?

She reaches into hug him, tightly, if only to make sure that someone could possibly be there for her, unconditionally at times like this. Knowing that Patrick was made it so much easier for her to go through this.

"I'm sorry," she laments and she continues at his questioning glance. "I'm just so used to feeling that this is the way it's supposed to be. I've always felt like I'm meant to lose everything in my life. Like I'm supposed to be alone because in the end everyone I love will leave me. But you've shown me time and time again that you'll always be my rock through everything. I'm just sorry for doubting that."

"Don't be. We're human and we're meant to be confused about life, love and everything else that's thrown at us. It's just that we've come so far and I don't want us to turn away from each other again only to be left with regret and doubts about what could have been. I want us to never have to ask ourselves the question of what could happen if we were together because all we'll have to do is look at each other to know how far we've come."

"For once, Drake, I think you're right," she says nodding slowly as she lets it sink it.

"Just once? I think I can name a least a few hundred." He said with a smirk trying to get the tiniest smile to radiate from her lips. Knowing that it would help soothe her worries, even if just a little. Yet his attempt comes to no avail as he sees an even darker grimace set in.

"Why do you think they took her?" She says quietly as she tries to find the answer, "Was it something we did?"

"Parents make mistakes, we both know that and I'm sure we've been guilty of that a few times. But we've loved Isabelle to the point that she's not just some little girl she's our daughter. They'll realize that, I know it."

"If you think so."

"I know so." He says with false assurance, "You'll see."

And they would soon enough. Robin, Patrick, Nikolas, and Emily couldn't possibly know what was in store for them in life or where the love they had in their hearts might take them. It would be so easy for them to give up for the fear that what they had planned in life would never happen but they chose to take another route instead. Not only to hope and dream that they could be happy, but to make it happen, however hard they may be.

A/N: I hope you all likes this chapter and please review. It always helps.

loilou783: Glad you like this story and that you're still reading. Thanks.