Fifteen minutes later Anna was striding through the emergency room doors, her heart racing. Without even slowing down she crossed the waiting room and entered the main ward. A dozen beds lined each side of the corridor, some open to view, some screened behind privacy curtains. It was a busy Friday night and most of the beds seemed to be occupied. Medical personnel scurried back and forth with unflustered urgency as machinery hummed all around.

Anna walked down the corridor, gazing carefully around her, but she struggled to get her bearings amidst the controlled chaos and couldn't seem to locate Duke or Robert anywhere.

Finally she spotted a familiar face. "Bobbie!" she called. "Is Duke ok? What about Robert?"

Bobbie came towards her, the look on her face calm and reassuring. "Duke's fine, he's already on his way home. He's got a split lip and some pretty badly bruised ribs, but he's going to live."

Anna nodded. "And Robert?"

"He's back there," she pointed to a closed curtain at the back of the room. "Dr. Hardy's just finished with him. He needed some new stitches to close the chest wound back up but he'll be as right as rain in no time."

Anna felt her whole body sag with relief. "Oh, thank goodness."

Bobbie leaned towards her with eager fascination in her eyes. "What happened?"

"I don't know, I guess there was some sort of fight at the office," Anna replied, distracted, her gaze on the curtain over Bobbie's shoulder. "Can I see him?" she asked, a plea in her eyes.

Bobbie pursed her lips in thought for a moment and then nodded. "I don't see why not. I don't think Dr. Hardy is going to admit him overnight. In fact, as soon as he gives the ok Robert can probably go on home too."

"Thanks, Bobbie." Anna quickly strode over to the curtain and then stopped with her hand on the material, taking a deep breath, and then another, trying to get her still pounding heart back under control. Then she ducked beneath the curtain and entered a cramped area containing no more than a regulation hospital bed with a small table beside it and a single human occupant.

Robert sat with his legs dangling over the side of the bed, naked from the waist up but absorbed in carefully pulling his shirt over the fresh bandage on his chest. There was a dark streak of blood down the front of the fabric and Anna's eyes slid closed for a moment as a sudden memory of finding him in his bloody trench coat that afternoon in Elena's garden flashed through her mind.

She must have made an involuntary sound because at that instant he glanced up. "Oh," he said as he caught sight of her.

He quickly looked down again, wincing as he began to button his shirt over his bandaged torso. The knuckles on his right hand were grazed and Anna could see a baseball-sized mark on his cheek where a dark bruise was already forming. Instinctively she reached up to touch it, to soothe it –

Before her fingertips met his skin he inclined his head slightly away from her, reaching up instead to capture her hand in his and give it a gentle squeeze before letting it go.

Anna sighed. "Robert. What the hell happened?"

He frowned and looked away. "Nothing. Just a tiff between friends."

"That's not what Sean said."

His eyes flicked to hers. "You didn't need to come down here, Anna. I'm fine."

She crossed her arms. "Bobbie told me they had to stitch up your chest again."

He started to shrug, thought better of it. "It's no big deal."

Anna stared at him, anger rising up within her at the idiocy of men. "It serves you right. I at least expected you to be a grown up – you're a WSB agent for goodness sake."

"Everyone has a bad day."

"You don't."

"Yeah, well, sorry to disappoint you."

"What were you two fighting about?" she pursued.

Robert breathed out a heavy sigh through his nose. "He just wouldn't get things go, Anna. I'd appreciate it if you would."

She couldn't. She had to know why the coolly rational Robert Scorpio of all people had allowed himself to be goaded into a fight. Her mind returned to Duke's fit of jealousy earlier in the evening – could he have gone and confronted Robert about their relationship? "It wasn't – it wasn't me, was it?" she asked. Despite the seriousness of the situation she found her heart swelling a little at the thought.

"Let it go, Anna," he said again, this time with a clear note of warning in his tone.

Anna set her jaw stubbornly. "The least you can do is tell me why I'm wasting my evening here at the hospital instead of being home with my daughter."

"You didn't have to come down here," he repeated, matching her stubbornness with his own.

Anna's anger flared once more. "You're right. I didn't. I don't have to care about you. I didn't need to see if you were all right."

"Anna –"

She cut across his words, "But I guess you wouldn't understand that, would you? You've the great Robert Scorpio. You don't need anyone!"

He blinked at the genuine fury in her voice. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just what I'm saying," she flashed. "You've never needed anyone in your life. Not even me."

He stared at her. "Is that what this is about? You think I don't need you?"

Anna held his gaze, defiant in her certainty. "You don't."

"That's not true."

"It is. You've never really needed me, Robert. Not really."

"Oh, Anna." Robert breathed out a sigh and raked a hand through his hair. "You remember what I said to you, just after Holly died?"

She nodded.

"I told you that I came back to Port Charles because you and Robin were my security blanket. That I needed the two of you in my life."

"Yes, I remember," she said very softly, her eyes fixed on his. "You needed to be with your daughter."

"That's right." He nodded, and then took a step towards her, the look on his face suddenly intent. "But even if we didn't have a daughter – it would still be true."

She shook her head. Robert never lied to her, but she knew that he would sometimes shade the truth in order to spare her feelings. "You don't have to say that, Robert."

"Why not?" he asked with a low, solemn gentleness in his voice. "I mean it."

His eyes were a clear fathomless blue and for a moment Anna felt as though she could see all the way down into his soul. It was as if time slowed and then stopped as she realized that what he was saying was true – he really meant it. Her breath caught with wonder as the implication of his words opened out before her.

We were meant to be together.

If he really did need her, then perhaps…just perhaps…it wasn't really over between them. Perhaps – now that they knew it had been Sean, not she, who had destroyed their marriage – they still had a chance. She felt her pulse quickening at the thought. "Robert –"

"Well now, Robert –" Steve Hardy's deep baritone voice boomed out behind them as the curtain drew back. "Oh, hello, Anna," he greeted her as she turned to face him.

"Hello," Anna replied, having to fight to keep her voice pleasant. Dr. Hardy was the kindest, gentlest man imaginable but right now she wanted to curse him for his untimely interruption.

Fortunately he seemed oblivious to her mood, instead focusing his attention on Robert. "I've signed your discharge papers so you're free to go." His face grew stern. "But only light activity for the next few days, and take that pain medication I prescribed." He nodded to the pill bottle that sat on the bedside table next to Robert's tie.

Anna swept the bottle and tie off the table and into her purse. "I'll see that he does."

"Fine. Stay out of trouble, young man," he admonished. "I don't want to see you back here." With that final word he turned and ambled away, leaving the curtain open for their departure.

Robert didn't move.

Anna eyed him, reading reluctance in every line of his body. "Well?" she challenged.

"Well, mum?" he shot back with more than a hint of petulance in his tone. "Going to tie my shoes, too?"

"If necessary," she replied, rankling at his resentment of her assistance. "Coming?" She turned on her heel and started for the hallway, knowing he would follow.

He did.

The car purred through the Port Charles streets, which were silent and nearly deserted at this late hour. Which was just as well because Anna drove with only half her mind on the road. The other half reviewed the events of the evening over and over again in a perpetual rewind.

Robert – in a fight. At the office. With Duke. Reopening his gunshot wound and needing new stitches in his chest.

Gods, what if Sean hadn't been there to break it up? What if Robert had been more seriously hurt? What if he'd been bleeding internally? The thought caught her up short. What if he was bleeding internally? He could lose consciousness from loss of blood, go into shock…

But even as a jolt of panic flashed through her, her rational mind fought it back. Steve Hardy would certainly have thought of the possibility and checked it out – and there was never a more thorough doctor in the world.

Yet nonetheless seeing Robert in the hospital tonight scared her. More than she was willing to admit. She needed him in her life too desperately – needed his friendship, his strength, even his vigilant over-protectiveness and infuriating stubborn streak. What would she and Robin do if they lost him?

Her thoughts spinning round and round, Anna was relieved when they drew up at the house and went inside. All was quiet, both Robin and Philomena having already gone to bed. Which was where Robert should be, too, so he could heal – she simply couldn't face the thought of losing him again.

"So I'm getting the silent treatment again, then?" asked Robert as he closed the door behind them. Feeling aggrieved as he thought back to the last time he and Lavery had almost come to blows: when the man, despite being completely untrained, had come to the office and insisted on joining the WSB hunt for Elena Parsons and her men. Not unreasonably Robert had refused, but after Anna found the two of them arguing she refused to speak to him for nearly an entire day.

Anna gazed up at him as she tried to find a way to articulate the turmoil going on in her head.

"I almost lost you last month, Robert," she finally breathed, her words almost inaudible – raw and trembling as they left her mouth. She ran her tongue slowly over her lips. "I just…I couldn't bear it if anything else happened to you."

Her distress was so palpable that Robert found his annoyance melting away like snow warmed by a flame. He reached out with his good arm and gathered her against his side. "Nothing is going to happen to me," he said with heavy emphasis on the first word.

She leaned back and stared up at him, willing his assurance to bleed into her soul. "You promise me?" she demanded, her eyes locked on his.

He nodded with the solemnity of a priest about to deliver the last rites. "I promise."

The bruise on his cheek was darkening. It looked like it must hurt, although characteristically he seemed oblivious to any physical discomfort. But Anna always felt his suffering as if it was her own. Unable to help herself she once again reached up to brush her fingertips across it in the lightest of sympathetic caresses.

This time he didn't move away.

"Shall I get some ice?" she asked softly.

He shook his head, his blue eyes not leaving hers. He didn't regret the dust-up with Lavery but he did regret that it caused Anna pain. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

She nodded, allowing herself to relax a fraction. Robert was home now and he was safe. "I know."

"Promise not to do it again," he said quietly. "Scout's honor."

"Good," Anna replied, his words immediately making her feel better. Robert always kept his promises.

They stood still, the moment stretching out between them.

"We should get to bed," Anna said at last.

Robert wasn't feeling particularly tired, and normally he would remind her that he was more than capable of making his own decisions. But he didn't want to upset her again tonight. He nodded. "Ok."

"Goodnight, then."

"Goodnight."

Anna exhaled a small sigh and started towards her bedroom. She was nearly at the door when she heard his voice behind her.

"Anna."

She turned. Robert stood gazing at her with an atypically serious expression on his face.

"I'm glad you came to find me tonight."

The admission was unexpected coming from him. She nodded in acknowledgment, equally serious. "You're welcome."

He took a step towards her. "Listen, as it's your birthday Tuesday, how 'bout I take you out?" he offered, wanting to show his appreciation in a more tangible way than words alone. "Dinner and drinks? I'd add dancing too but I think this wing –" he motioned to his bandaged shoulder, "– is gonna be out of commission again for a little while."

Anna felt her heart leap at the prospect – and then she remembered. "Um, Duke is taking me to dinner at the club."

"Ah, I see," he said, and turned away, but not before Anna detected what she thought might be a flash of disappointment in his eyes.

"Maybe on Wednesday…" she heard herself say hopefully.

He pivoted back to her, a grin of pleasure sliding over his face. "Wednesday it is."