Enjoy!

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Chapter 16
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"Done unpacking." Patrick loped down the stairs and plopped down on the couch next to where Robin was reading a sheet of data that had just come through the fax from her colleagues in Paris. "How are the trials going?"

"Good. Really good actually." Robin got up and put the paper on the credenza in the dining room and walked into the kitchen to check supper. A few minutes later she came out of the kitchen and handed Patrick a bottle of water. "Are you sure you want me here for this? I could easily disappear to the lab and give you and your father time to talk alone."

Noah was joining them for an early supper, as it was the night before the surgery. Since Patrick was moving out of the hotel and into Robin's place that afternoon she had offered to make them an early supper, which was more of a late lunch as both men couldn't consume any food or beverages beyond a certain hour.

"Do you really think my father's face is the last one I want to see before I go under the knife?" Patrick was flirty and dramatic. He put his arm out and Robin sat down and let him pull her next to him on the couch.

After their encounter at the grocery store it was as if Patrick had never backed off from whatever was growing between them. He had, as promised, shown up at the lab and they had passed an enjoyable half hour drinking coffee and chatting about work. Since then, they had gone out on a couple of more dates – dates that Patrick didn't have to blackmail Robin to go on – and engaged in the most delightful of make out sessions in the front seat of his car outside her house, replete with steamed windows and chapped lips. This afternoon, with him moving his stuff from the hotel to her place in anticipation of his post-surgical stay, was the first time he had entered her house.

Robin could tell that both Drake men were extremely nervous about the surgery the next day – Patrick for his father and Noah for his son - and Robin herself had her own anxieties. She was both humbled by being included in their family and she was feeling a closeness to Patrick that blew her away in both its depth and its intensity. She had turned it over and over in her mind over the past few days trying to ascribe it to what they had endured during the outbreak and that they were currently going through some pretty heavy life and death stuff, but she had finally accepted just this morning that it wasn't true. She had gotten off the elevator to see Patrick flirting and working at the Nurses' Station and was hit with a wave of emotion that couldn't be anything but that she was falling in love. Since then, she had been trying to decide whether she should tell him.

On the one hand, giving love was a great gift and one she wanted to give to Patrick with no expectation of anything in return. On the other hand, she realized it might completely freak him out and actually, ultimately be a selfish thing for her to lay on him the night before life-threatening surgery with all the emotions he was dealing with around his relationship with his father and his father's health.

Then there was the part of her that really wished he would have those feelings for her back and voice them, even if facing that reality would scare her to death. She had no doubt that he cared about her, that he enjoyed being with her and that they were attracted to each other. But love? Monogamy? She wasn't so sure that Patrick had ever even been in love before. In all the stories they had been sharing over the past few days he never mentioned any particular woman he had been involved with for an extended period of time. It was almost like he was still fifteen and, despite his sexual experience, was just learning the ropes of relationship.

"What's going on inside that serious mind of yours, Scorpio?" Patrick tapped her on the shoulder with the arm extended around her neck.

"Nothing." Robin smiled up at him, her eyes dropping to his lips.

Patrick's eyes sparkled with amorous intent as he looked down at her and pulled her onto his lap. "You were fantasizing about me again, Scorpio." He cupped the back of her head and his lips brushed lightly against hers. "Say the word and I'm all yours."

Robin shivered as his voice rasped through her. She licked her lips, tasting him. She slowly slid her arms around his neck. She could feel his heart pounding against her breast, both of their breathing quickening as they drew out the moment of their lips finally melting together.

"You're so arrogant, Drake."

"It's not arrogance when it's true." Patrick slid her turquoise, body-hugging shirt up her waist and teased her bare skin with his fingers. "I can get you references."

"I bet you could."

"Of course, you could just judge for yourself," Patrick said, his voice husky.

Unable to wait any longer Robin initiated a tender kiss that went on and on. Desire fireballed through each of them, heat and sensation burning them where their bodies melded together, but their kiss remained slow, each taking their time to savor. Patrick's hand boldly moved up her torso, under her shirt, until he was cupping her breast. She moaned into his mouth as he expertly stroked her, stirring sensations her body had never experienced.

Patrick was just levering them to lie on the couch when the doorbell rang.

Their lips parted and with a muttered curse Patrick rested his forehead against hers and panting. "Ignore it," he urged.

"Coming!" Robin called out.

"Almost," Patrick muttered.

Robin laughed and pushed his shoulder so that she could slide out from beneath him. "Go check the kitchen while I let Noah in." Robin smoothed down her shirt and tried to smooth her hair.

"Good idea." Patrick glowered at her and got up from the couch. He gave her a heated look promising they would resume things later before he walked away, whistling.

Robin put her hand on her stomach and took a deep breath before going to answer the door.

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They had finished cleaning up the table. Noah had insisted on helping before leaving for Bobbie's brownstone where he would be staying that night and after the surgery. Robin had busied herself with loading the dishwasher as Noah hugged Patrick goodbye. Dinner had been good even with emotions running high. They had tried to keep the conversation light and not dwell on the possibilities the next day might bring.

Patrick closed the door behind his dad and sighed heavily. Robin looked up from stoking the fire and smiled reassuringly. "He's going to be fine."

Patrick nodded, not trusting his voice at that moment. Robin walked to the couch and patted the spot beside her. He sat down next to her and smiled as she snuggled against him. He kissed the top of her head before resting his cheek there. "Tomorrow's a big day." His voice was softer than she ever remembered hearing it before.

"Yeah it is," Robin agreed.

"So where were we?" Patrick moved swiftly flipping them back to the position they had been in just before Noah showed up – her underneath him on the couch. He put his hand on her waist and began to push up her shirt, a wolfish grin on his face.

"Patrick!" Laughing, Robin tried to swat his hand away as he nuzzled her neck with his stubbled chin.

"Mmmmm? This could be my last night on Earth, you know." He waggled his eyebrows at her and wiggled his hips.

"That's a pretty cheap line, Drake, nothing I wouldn't expect from you of course." Robin sighed into his touch, her eyes closing as he worked his magic on her breast again.

"Whatever works. Whatever works." He leaned in and slid his tongue into her waiting lips. They both moaned at the intimate contact. Her arms encircled him and her fingers dug into his muscled back as she arched into him.

Minutes ticked by and their activities on the couch became more frenzied, but just when his hand slid between her legs to caress her through her slacks, Robin stiffened and pulled her lips away. She grasped his wrist and pulled him to a safer zone.

"We have to stop."

"I want you so much," Patrick moaned into her neck, trying to rein himself in. "I know you want me." The fingers of his formerly exploring hand gripped her waist. His other hand was still buried in her hair.

"Get up. Please." Robin rubbed a hand over her face as Patrick reluctantly sat up.

"I feel like a teenager here, Robin." He was scowling at the fire blazing across from them.

Robin sat up and crossed her legs and looked at him, trying to push back her own desire and order her thoughts before stepping into the minefield.

"When I was a teenager I was diagnosed with HIV."

"Don't pull the HIV card with me, Robin!" Patrick jumped up and glared at her.

"It's a fact Patrick. One that impacts how I deal with sex," she said quietly, firmly.

"You don't deal with sex!" Patrick put his hands on his hips and leaned over her.

"No. I make love. That might not be different if I wasn't HIV positive I can't say. But that's how it is. I can't just think of my own pleasure, I have think about my partner's safety. Your safety. If you can't live with that then we should take a step back and just be friends."

"Friends. You want us to be friends." Patrick said the word "friends" as if it was a curse. He stared pacing in front of the fire.

Robin watched him and waited.

"Do you know how crazy this is?" Patrick stopped and spun to face her. "You're driving me absolutely mad. Crazy. Insane."

"Then we're even," Robin admitted, finally showing how deeply affected she was by this conversation.

Patrick laughed mirthlessly and sat heavily onto the chair sitting kitty corner to the couch. He sat at the edge, his knees almost touching hers, his hands dangling between his knees. "I've never been just friends with a woman, not one that I want as much as I want you. I can't be just friends with you." Patrick sighed, closed his eyes and shook his head. "And I can't stay away from you either." He opened his eyes. "I know that you want me."

"You're an incredibly gorgeous man, Patrick."

"That's some solace, I guess." Patrick gave a wry smile and picked Robin's hand up from her lap and stroked it with his thumb. "No woman has ever made me work this hard. No woman has ever made me want to."

"Do you want to, with me?" Robin was suddenly breathless. She couldn't tear her eyes away from his intense gaze.

"I do." Patrick's voice was raspy and low, but Robin heard him and his commitment quite clearly. Still, there were things she had to make sure he understood.

"What exactly are we agreeing to here?" Robin asked. "Are we talking about casual dating or something, more, monogamous?"

"Monogamy." Patrick repeated and chuckled. "I think I'm asking you to be my girlfriend. Maybe next week you'll go to the sock hop with me?"

"Because of the HIV, there are things that we can't do, limits." Robin let out a deep breath. "I need time. You need to be sure."

"I'm a doctor, Robin. I understand the limitations and the risks. And the rewards. You have this virus, but you are not this virus. Understand?"

Robin squeezed his hand and nodded, a bubble of happiness expanding in her chest. Who knew when she marched into that bar and tossed a bucket of water on the infamous Noah Drake's head that it would turn out like this?

"I don't do anything I don't want to do and I don't do anything I'm not sure of. All part of my hedonistic personality." He chuckled softly. "Now, I can be patient about some things, but there's no reason not to enjoy the rest of the evening."

Robin laughed and let him pull her into his lap. They snuggled into the chair and began making out.