A/N The next few chapters are a lot of fluff. Thank you all for your reviews. Very much appreciated
Three months later:
"How did I ever let you convince me to do this?" Robert says packing his suitcase. "Oh shut up. It's going to be great. It will be the whole family in a luxurious chalet in the mountains for Thanksgiving. I've always wanted to do this." Anna says walking past him and packing her clothes. "I still don't understand. What happened to our plans to go to San Remo, just the two of us?" Robert says. "Robert we have had this conversation about a million times by now. We will go in two months. I promised you that. Four days in the mountains during Thanksgiving is a tiny little vacation. So suck it up and lets get going." Anna says giving him that look that says enough already. "Ugh, I can't believe you talked me into this and the best part is that none of you can boil an egg. Its because you sprung this on me the other night and lured me into agreeing. You guys had planned this all along. What a family I have." Robert says. Anna laughs she remembers vividly, she literally had him to a point where he would agree to anything. "Don't laugh, you tricked me. You lured me with your sex. And now I'm the one that's going to be cooking all weekend." Robert says. "That's because you're so easy." She says. He gives her the evil eye. "Stupid Pilgrims." He says and she laughs as they walk out of the bedroom with their suitcases.
"I knew I shouldn't have left this up to my brother." Robert says as he and Anna are getting out of their car. They look at this "chalet" and what it really is is a split-level dump. Mac and Felicia and Patrick and Robin also pull in right behind them. Robert looks at Mac. "Nice work." He says. "What? I bet its luxurious inside." Mac says clearly not believing what he is saying. "I'll give ya ten to one." Robert says as Anna hits him. Patrick and Robin look at each other. "This should be interesting." Patrick says chuckling.
Mac opens the door and the place looks the same on the inside as it does on the outside. It hasn't been updated since 1970. The kitchen is big enough but so outdated. It has a pretty big dining room so that's one good thing. At least the living room seems big and it has a fireplace. But the carpet is 70's shag. They all proceed upstairs to the bedrooms. Mac figured on giving Patrick and Robin the master because they have Emma. He points to the second bedroom and tells Robert and Anna that its theirs. Robert proceeds to go inside muttering to himself. Anna looks inside as well and wonders where the rest of the room is. "I want to get angry, but I don't think I can fit another emotion in here." Robert says. Anna laughs and hits him. "Its not so bad, plus your brother tried. Don't ruin it for him. It was their idea. They really wanted to do this after everything we had been through." Anna says looking at the bed, which she is thinking, is not even a queen, but maybe a full or a big twin, she's not sure. Robert sits down on the bed and it squeaks really loudly. "Oh this is not going to be good. I'm going to kill him." Anna is now really laughing but is thinking also what are they going to do. "Come on, everybody out single file. There is a Four Seasons an hour from here." Robert says standing grabbing his suitcase.
Anna stops him with her hand against his chest. "Here's the thing." Anna starts. "Oh God, there's a thing." Robert says dropping his suitcase and looking heavenward. "Shut up and listen. The thing is, Mac went to a lot of trouble for this, for us." Anna says. "Really? This is a lot of trouble" He says waving his arms. "You are not going to ruin this for them or anyone else do you hear me?" Anna says. "You are going to be behave and be a good little boy and we are going to make this a great holiday. Capiche?" He looks at her and rolls his eyes. "Fine, fine. Ill do whatever you want." She smiles and kisses him sweetly. "Good boy." Mac comes in smiling. "So are you guys all set? I know the rooms are a little small, but I really think this is going to be a great weekend. Oh one thing. The plumbing doesn't seem to be all that good, so don't flush the toilet when someone is taking a shower. Just so you know, I take my showers every morning at 630am sharp. See you downstairs." Mac walks out. Anna looks at Robert they both roll their eyes at each other and chuckle. "I guess the OCD thing really is in your polluted gene pool." Anna says. Robert is fiddling with his phone. "What are you doing?" She asks. "I'm setting my alarm for 635am." He says smiling. Anna bursts out laughing. Mac comes back in seeing them laughing. "What's going on what's so funny?" He asks. "Nothing, just your brother being you know." Anna says. "Ummm, there is a huge wasp nest right out side the kitchen patio doors." Mac says. "And?" Robert says. "Robbie you know me and bees." Robert just shakes his head. "Just knock it down with a stick, its not that hard." Robert says. "They don't like that, they're wasps." Mac says. Robert just shakes his and says in all seriousness. "Here's what you do, you knock it down and pull your skirt over your head and run. Now get out." Anna is trying but failing to stifle her laughter. Mac gives him a dirty look and leaves. "Now this might be fun." Robert leaves to go and watch this spectacle. Anna laughs as she watches him leave. She has never laughed more than when she is with him, she thinks.
"At least the place is clean." Robin whispers to her mother. "Yeah there is that." Anna responds. "How is Dad handling this? Not well I can imagine. Its looks like those two are plotting something and I think Uncle Mac should be very afraid." Robin says laughing looking at Patrick and Robert on the deck. "You know your father. But I set him straight. I just have to keep my eye on him and keep him distracted." Anna says smiling at Robin. Robin just shakes her head knowing what her mother means by that. They are unloading all the groceries they brought for their weekend in the kitchen while Robert and Patrick are busy setting up the fireplaces both inside and outside. Mac and Felicia have gone out to get some things from the store and to pick up Chinese food. When Robin and Anna are done, they see Patrick and Robert sitting around the outside fireplace and they are laughing a lot. Emma is also out there and is also laughing at what they are saying. They decide to join them with bottles of wine they don't like the looks of this. "So what's going on out here? What's so funny?" Robin asks and all three look at each other and say nothing. "Ok, what are you three plotting?" Anna asks pouring the wine for everyone. Emma starts to giggle. Robert and Patrick look at her and she stops. "Ok Emma spill." Anna says. She is laughing a lot and they all join in. "Come on Emma tell us. What did Daddy and Grandpa say." Anna sees Robert and Patrick shaking their head at her from the corner of her eye. "Don't look at them Emma, look at me. What did they say?" Anna says laughing with her. "Well Daddy said they should leave Uncle Mac in the woods naked and Grandpa said they should rub honey on his butt and blow a bear whistle." She says barely able to get it out without laughing. Anna and Robin burst into hysterics along with Emma.
There is a hot tub outside and they see the guys have started it up. Its not exactly the most modern looking kind and its actually kind of small. "Not a bad hot tub." Robin says. "You mean that 4-seat Petri dish?" Robert says drinking his wine as Patrick laughs. "Why its not clean? I'm sure they disinfect it. It looks pretty good, its just well old." Anna says. "If there's disinfectant in there, it's getting its ass kicked." Robert says. "It might be fun." She says wiggling her eyebrows at him. He cringes and shakes his head no. "Oh would you lighten up; this place is not that bad. Granted its not what I was expecting, but we can make the most of it. Look tomorrow's Thanksgiving and we are going to have a wonderful time." Anna says with her hands on her hips. "Says the one who won't be cooking all day." Robert says smiling. Patrick and Robin laugh. "Its your fault you developed all these culinary talents." Anna says sitting on his lap with her wine glass.
They are all finished with dinner and are sitting outside again in front of the fire. Emma has gone to bed after watching a few movies with everyone. They have all had quite a bit of wine and are laughing at Robert and Mac's stories from their childhood. "Robbie remember that time Mom and Dad went away for the weekend and you were supposed to be watching me. I think you were like maybe 18 or 19 at the time. Remember when they came home early and found you and some girl I cant remember her name in their bed?" Mac says laughing. "Yes I remember." Robert says not really laughing. "I don't remember ever seeing Dad so mad, I thought he was going to kill you and Mom couldn't even look at you for a month." He says still laughing. "You were always getting caught with a girl. I remember that vividly, you were always in trouble." Mac says. Anna is looking at Robert now with her eyebrows raised. "What? I had a good childhood." He says. "Apparently." Anna says smiling. "Or the time when you were with a girl outside in the pool naked and you got locked out of the house? Oh my God that was so funny." Mac says now really laughing. Robert sees the looks from Anna and decides to get Mac back. "Its not like you were innocent either. How many times did I go into my nightstand and all my stuff was gone? When you hit puberty, I felt like your supplier." Robert says smiling. Mac looks at Felicia who gives him a look. "Well you did buy them by the gross as I recall. It was easier than going to the drugstore." Mac replies. Anna is now really curious and so is Patrick. "What the hell? I should have grown up in Australia." Everyone laughs at that.
Robert decides to quickly change the subject to take the focus off of him. "How about the time in little league when you peed in your pants at home plate?" Robert says looking at Mac. Mac stops laughing. "Robert." Mac says as a warning. The others are laughing wanting to hear more. "Awe Mac how old were you?" Anna asks. "I was 6." Mac says. "You were not, you were 10, maybe even 11. Nice try though." Robert says laughing. "But you forget, I hit an inside the park home run." Mac says proudly. "That's because nobody wanted to tag you." Robert says sipping his wine. They all burst out laughing as Mac goes to put Robert in a headlock.
They start talking about all of their history together specifically in 1991 when Mac first came back to town. Patrick never heard any of these stories so he was very interested. Robin told them about getting her parents together and finding her father's shirt in her mother's bedroom. They talk about that time and they all thought that on Valentines Day was when Robert and Anna slept together for the first time. They both corrected everyone and told them what really happened. They were all shocked. "So when did you finally get together?" Felicia asks. Robert and Anna both look at each other. Anna says "During the earthquake, literally." She looks at Robert and smiles. "Oh my god, you're kidding?" Felicia says. Robin is stunned. "I never knew that. I thought that whole time since that Valentines Day, you guys were ya know together." Robin says. "Well we were just we didn't get together until much later. You guys remember all the turmoil in between." Anna says smiling at Mac. "But you were definitely together in the Finger Lakes." Mac says. "What does that mean?" Felicia says. "Well let's just say when we stumbled upon that mansion those two immediately went up to their room and didn't come out for hours. Then when we were headed back to Port Charles we had adjoining rooms in a sleazy motel with the walls that were paper-thin." Anna is so embarrassed. She remembers that night very vividly. Robert is laughing too remembering that night. "Well in our defense, that was the night Robert proposed to me, so we were celebrating a little." Anna says chuckling. She is definitely feeling the effects of the wine as she goes to sit in Robert's lap. "Celebrating a little? The walls were shaking." Mac says laughing. Robin is so embarrassed but is laughing. "I remember being in my room waiting for the noise to die down. Then when I thought they were finally done, it would start again. I had the TV up so loud the room next to mine was banging on the wall. That went on for like 3 hours." Mac says really laughing. Everyone is pretty shocked and look at Robert and Anna who are both smiling and looking at each other remembering that night vividly. "Please let's have none of that here this weekend." Robin says. "Don't worry love, we have a bed we can't even yawn in without it sounding like a high school orchestra warming up." They all laugh at that.
They all head to bed around 1am. They all had a wonderful night and Anna is so happy. She loves her family and loves they are so close and getting closer. She loves that Robert and Patrick really get along and that Mac and Robert have really built upon their relationship. But most importantly she loves that Robin is able to experience all of this now after so many years of not having all of them in her life. That is the best part of all. Robert and Anna try to get situated in the bed but its absolutely no use. The bed is extremely small and they literally cannot move without the bed making a huge racket. They start laughing. "I'm sleeping on the floor, I can't take this." Robert says finally. Anna knows he's right. He grabs a pillow and a blanket and lies on the floor. She looks down at him, "Sweetheart are you sure you're ok?" He looks up at her. "I'm swell. Goodnight." Robert says and she laughs at him.