FYI: Scrubs is the couple name for Robin and Patrick. g

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Chapter 3

After the initial study of the gathered of samples, all four doctors were certain that a certain gene mutation enabled Luke and the other survivors to fight off the man-made virus and that something that was found common in all of their blood work could help mimic the same physical actions in the patients who weren't so lucky. It was painstaking work to come up with the needed materials and manufacture it in to a serum that could be delivered to the patients. Not enough serum could be made help all patients at once and decisions had to be made above on who would get what they needed first.

Robin was distantly aware of the life and death decisions being made above, of the lives being saved and of the lives being lost. The bulk of the work they were doing was something only Simon and Robin could do at first while Patrick and Noah were left to do the finish work and delivery.

Twenty-four hours after lock-down the first of the serum was being administered, more was being made, and Noah was now sufficiently trained to do the required lab manipulations. However, his weakened physical condition became obvious and Robin ordered him to get some sleep while Patrick took his turn at the bench.

"All in all, I like surgery better."

"That's an improvement." Robin, dark circles under her eyes looked across the lab bench at her current lab partner. They were currently the only two in the lab with Noah sleeping and Simon running interference with the bureaucrats.

"From what?" Patrick asked, all the while his eyes studying her closely for signs of the illness.

Robin was not unaware of his study, but chose to ignore it. "When we met you assumed I did this kind of work to hide from the world and that surgeons were the only real doctors."

"Yeah, well." Patrick shrugged, his own exhaustion betrayed by the fact that he looked almost as pale as his lab coat. "Faced with this kind of threat. So your father has been chasing this virus for a while?"

"I don't want to talk about my father." Robin put her goggles back over her eyes and bent her head to study her Petri dish.

"What about Doctor Surfer?"

Robin couldn't stop a small laugh from escaping. "He's never even surfed a wave in his life."

"So he's just a pretty boy? A metrosexual?" Patrick sneered.

"You seem rather fastidious yourself."

"This is all natural beauty baby."

Robin grinned and continued her work.

"You should get some sleep, Doctor Scorpio."

"I will. When we know that the serum is working."

"And if it's not?"

"If it's not I've gone without sleep for a lot longer than this. I can catch a power nap on my couch if I need to."

"You need…"

"I know what my body needs. I've been living with HIV for ten years." She snapped.

"So you've said. Excuse me for being concerned."

"I didn't know you knew what concern was. I believe you call concern butting in."

Patrick didn't respond.

"Funny thing is that from the first day I knew you, you were giving your opinion on everything from my social life, sleeping habits to my work habits and career goals. I try to show concern about you and your father and I'm butting in. But feel free to talk about my viral load." She rolled her eyes, her goggles once again on the top of her head as she waited for a reaction to occur in her Petri dish and in the self-contained man in front of her.

"I thought we already agreed I was a jackass."

"Oh, that's right." Robin grinned.

"Don't think I don't realize that your concern was more for my father than me anyway." He looked down at his own work and away from her penetrating stare.

Robin blinked a few times, surprised at the grumpiness of Patrick's comment. Could he really be jealous of his father? Of her relationship with his father? She had, after all, she realized suddenly, got Noah to do things that Patrick had never been able to all those years. Leave the bar, operate again and eventually clean up his life, although it was Patrick who had talked him into rehab.

"I guess it's easier for me not being Noah's daughter to feel compassion and empathy for him," she said quietly.

"Just like I can understand your father doing anything, even risking your everlasting hatred, to protect you."

"Not at all the same thing," Robin said shortly and got off her stool to take the dish to the next stage of serum development. "For the record, Patrick. Despite how difficult you make it, I do care about you too."

>>>>>>>

It was twelve hours later and it appeared that the serum was doing its job. It was now up to the team to determine whether the results were permanent, if the virus was really halted in its track, or if it was a temporary fix the virus was already finding ways around. As Robin sequestered herself in the lab, Noah and Simon were acting as go-betweens for her and her father, although she wasn't exactly welcoming to any messages sent through Simon. The two Scorpios had stubbornness in common and neither Scorpio would make the first move and Robin refused to acknowledge Simon as anything but a medical mind.

"I've got another round of blood samples," Noah, looking well rested and happier than Robin had ever seen him, walked back into the lab.

Robin brushed the wisps of hair out of her weary face and nodded. "Put them there," she said, pointing to the counter near the microscope. "I'll look at them in a minute."

"Are you sure you don't need a break?" he asked for the tenth time in an hour.

Smiling wearily, she shook her head. "No time for that."

"Wearing yourself down isn't going to help them you know?"

"But finding out if the antidote is working will. And that's what I'm here to do."

A voice came from the door to the lab. "You don't have to do it alone."

Robin's eyes closed involuntarily as Simon walked confidently toward them. The truce of the early hours of their partnership had been disappearing quickly as exhaustion began to take hold and the need to work so closely together waned.

"That's why Robert asked me here."

"See that's the thing. This is my lab. Not Robert's." The sarcasm in her voice was evident as she referred to her father by his first name.

Simon smiled at the irritation in her voice. Her fire had been what attracted him to her when they first met. True, Robert had sent him to work with his daughter but Simon had relished the assignment. His feelings for Robin were not part of the plan but they were real. Would she ever believe that?

"What do you want?" The edginess in her voice escalating as his gaze penetrated into her.

"I came to help."

"I don't recall asking for your help with this part. If I need anything, Noah will let you know. Until then, get out of my lab and go play with my father. I'll let you know what I find when I find it."

Simon opened his mouth to say something but stopped as Robin turned her back on him and walked to the microscope to prepare and examine the newest slides. He shook his head and retreated from the lab, having been sufficiently rebuffed by the diminutive researcher for the time being.

Noah looked at Robin. "Want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" Her gaze was focused on the slide beneath the scope.

"What happened just now?"

"I kicked him out of the lab. So what? Happens all the time. Especially with him."

Noah couldn't help but chuckle softly. "That's not all it was."

Robin looked at him, her eyes belying the hurt caused by the man who just left the room. "He's someone from my past. I thought what went on with us was real but it wasn't. He was simply there to do my father's bidding."

"Your father cares a great deal about you."

The noise that came from her was short and sharp. "Amazing how those that supposedly care so much are the ones that do the most damage."

Noah felt his face grow warm. Her words couldn't have been more true. He thought back to the years he had abandoned his son and to Patrick's recent offer. His son had offered to save his life yet he had rebuked him as though insulted by the notion. Redemption Patrick had called it.

Robin noticed his silence and knew her words had cut through him. That hadn't been her intention. Before she could say anything, Patrick came thundering into the lab, his plastic protective gown swishing before and after him.

She looked up, annoyed at another interruption. "What do YOU want?"

"Down tiger. I just came to see if you had found anything on the slides."

She sighed heavily. "If everyone would leave us to our work, we might be able to get something done."

"Who's everyone?" Patrick scowled at her.

Neither Robin nor Patrick noticed Noah's beeper sound or his hasty exit from the lab.

"Doesn't matter. Give me half an hour and I'll get you a report. Fair?"

"What the hell is your problem? I thought we were a team here, Doctor Scorpio." Patrick turned to leave.

She snorted sarcastically. "A team huh? We're doing what we have to but when it's all said and done, things will go back to the way they were before."

"I thought we had called a truce and we were friends."

"Friends, sure we're friends while it's convenient for you."

"What's this about Robin?" Patrick looked genuinely puzzled.

"Look, we're all here working together because we have no choice. But as soon as this crisis is over, things will go back to normal. Everyone will go back to what they choose over what they are forced to do because of this epidemic. My father to his work, Simon back to working for my father and seducing other unsuspecting women, you to chasing Carly or whoever the next conquest is."

Patrick started to speak but Robin had already walked away, tucked her hair behind her ears and was staring down the barrel of the scope, searching for any clue that the antidote was working. With an angry scowl he stalked back out, certain that in another moment he would take his stress and exhaustion out on her and not wanting to give her the satisfaction of being able to look better than him.

As he walked back toward the nurse's station, he passed Simon who appeared to be heading back to the lab with a report in hand. "Just a friendly warning, I wouldn't go in there. She's a little testy."

"She's beautiful when she's testy, isn't she?" Simon grinned wickedly and chuckled as he continued to walk past.

Patrick turned and watched as the virologist strode away. The clench in his stomach was unfamiliar and unpleasant. He looked at his watch. He would be sure to be back in half an hour.

>>>>>>>

Simon quietly walked through the lab door he had left through only a few minutes earlier. He had planned to give her space, to let her cool off, but she needed a break anyway and he wasn't willing to wait any longer to make her understand how he really felt about her. Even if she never forgave him, although that was a contingency that he wasn't willing to accept, even if he deserved it for how he had left.

For a moment he let himself enjoy watching her work, efficient as always. Her writing was quick and to the point, neater than most doctors. They had spent many days working together in labs, hers in Paris and sometimes his lab in Geneva. Sometimes working silently and in synch, sometimes loud and passionately as they argued their way past their differences to a genius conclusion that set them back to working silently together again. Then it would start all over again. His partnership with Robin Scorpio had been the most successful and passionate of his career, as well as his personal life. She had to be really hurt to not be able to see that all of that could not have been feigned and he was determined to push her past that today. Now.

He smiled as he heard her small sigh as she realized she was no longer alone in the sanctuary of her lab.

"What do you want now?"

"We need to talk."

"I think we have more important things to do right now. Save people's lives perhaps?"

"This will only take a few minutes if you'll just listen to me."

She rolled her eyes and put her report on the table. She had been on her way to the phone beside her desk to page Patrick when Simon had interrupted her. The report hadn't taken as long as she thought once she looked at the samples. The serum was definitely working, so far. The problem now was that they were running out of the raw materials to manufacture it.

"We need…"

"There's nothing you can do right this second. Please."

Needing to sit down anyway, she sat down on the stool beside the counter and waited for him to begin talking. He hesitated. "Can we go somewhere else? Your office?"

"If you want to talk to me, you do it here." She shook her head.

"Okay, okay." He took a deep breath before delving into the speech he had been practicing over in his mind since he boarded the plane to come to Port Charles.

Robin listened as he explained how Robert had approached him, how he had made his way to Paris and how he had fallen for her. It had gone beyond his assignment.

"The passion we shared, you can't fake that. The way we worked together." Simon walked over to Robin and hesitantly put his hand on her cheek.

Meanwhile, Patrick walked up to the door of the lab. He could hear Simon's voice from the other side. It almost sounded as though he was pleading, cajoling. He recognized the tone well.

The touch of his hand on her cheek was more than she could take. His voice, his tone, the way he was trying to convince her of his sincerity were more than she could handle. "Stop, just stop. Look, you only became involved with me because of my father. The father you knew I thought was dead and yet you allowed me to continue to believe that"

"I couldn't tell you the truth."

Patrick unconsciously moved inside the door.

"You slept in my bed, worked in my lab and the entire time you were lying to me about who you were and about my father being alive. Nothing will erase that. I don't have anything else to say to you and I have no interest in hearing anything else you have to say on the subject. We are nothing but professional colleagues. Temporary professional colleagues. What I need right now is a solution to creating more serum. After that, now that I know you're alive and where you are we can take care of the legalities."

Simon closed his eyes, shaking his head. "I won't agree to that. Not until you believe me."

"That won't happen."

Clear that she wasn't ready to listen to him yet. He silently walked out of the lab, casting an angry glance at Patrick who clearly had been listening in.

"What do you need, Patrick?" Robin asked, having known he was there since the moment he entered the room even though her back was to the door.

Patrick stood still, not saying anything.

"Are you here for the report?" She turned her head to face him.

"I know about Dads letting you down and not being there when you need them," he said instead of asking for the report as he had planned.

"Then you're ahead of me because I haven't had fifteen minutes together to think about it. Until this week I thought he was dead. Quite different. The serum looks to be a success. The data is right there." She hopped off her stool and headed for the centrifuge for the last bit of serum they were making.

"And the guy?"

"Patrick, I really can't think about all that right now. I'm not going to break. I can't. I can't let this virus win. They can't die. Not like…" Robin's voice wavered; she closed her eyes and leaned against the lab bench.

"Are you okay, Robin?" Patrick moved quickly to stand next to her.

"I told you I'm trying not to feel anything right now." She opened her eyes, blinked a few times and turned to face him. "I can't afford the time."

"No. That's not what I mean." He put his hand on his forehead and uttered an oath. "Sit down. I'll be right back." He pushed into a nearby chair and strode out, his white coat flaring out behind him.

A few minutes later, Patrick knelt down next to her and put the nurses' kit on the floor. He stuck the thermometer in her mouth and pulled on surgical gloves to take a blood sample. The fact that she didn't protest was concerning him as much as her pallor and the sheen on her face. A minute later he looked at her temperature and his alarm ratcheted up. Without saying a word he lifted her into his arms and started to carry her out of the lab. That's when she roused herself.

"I'm just tired."

"Just shut up."

"What's going on?" Noah coming down the hall towards them looked worriedly at his son and the woman in his arms and turned to pace them.

"She has a hundred and three. I took a blood sample. We need to check her viral load and white counts too."

Resigning herself, Robin closed her eyes and rested her head on Patrick's chest. His voice, barking out orders for a room and other stuff sounding like it was coming from far away.

Feeling herself settled on a bed she opened her eyes and weakly called out his name.

"You're going to be all right." He knelt down in front of her and stroked her hair off her forehead.

"I might need more serum than the others, because of the HIV."

"Because your immune system might not be up to helping as much. I know. I'll take care of you. Just rest now, and fight." His voice and face betrayed the depth of his concern.

"Something else." Robin's voice was weak and thready.

"Not right now. We got it covered."

"More material. We can get it from the people who are already well, who got the serum." As soon as the words left her mouth everything went black.