Chapter Thirteen - The Men Who Love Her

Patrick moved his flashlight back and forth between Jason's eyes, measuring his pupils' response and checking for appropriate brain activity. "Good," Patrick said quietly, "now follow the light with your eyes."

Patrick continued to run some follow up exercises with Jason to test his brain activity while Sam sat quietly in the corner. She was relieved to finally hear Patrick say, "OK, everything still looks good." Turning off his flashlight and putting it in the pocket of his white lab coat, Patrick picked up Jason's chart and began to make some notes. He looked back up at Jason and said, "Now I know you don't want to hear this, but you really do need more rest. You've been placing too much strain on your..."

Sam knew how the end of the exam was going to go. Patrick was going to continue to lecture Jason about taking better care of himself and not tarnishing Dr. Drake's precious reputation. Jason, in turn, was going to pretend to listen and then do whatever the hell he pleased. She knew the drill, so she quietly stood up and gathered her coat. "I'm going to warm up the car. I'll meet you downstairs in a few minutes." Sam said, slipping quietly out of the room.

While Patrick lectured Jason about proper post-surgery care, Jason took the opportunity to study Dr. Drake and size him up. It hadn't escaped Jason's attention that Robin and Patrick were growing closer.

He had first taken notice of the connection Robin had with Patrick when he saw them having dinner at the MetroCourt a few nights before. It was as if he had stepped back in time, watching the Robin of old that he had known so well. She was trading barbs with Patrick, but she was also basking in the other man's presence like a flower opening up under the sun's warmth. He even witnessed a rare smile light up her face, and heard a merry laugh escape her lips. As for Patrick, Jason noticed that he was actually behaving like a human being when she was near and not the arrogant jerk he had first met before his surgery. Patrick's eyes brightened. And more smiles seemed to be taking the place of that smirk that had always been pasted on his face. Quite a few times here at the hospital, Jason had glimpsed them conversing in low tones over matters that didn't always seem to be about medicine. A man had to be blind not to be aware of what passed between the two. And Jason was finding himself a little bit jealous.

"Where's Robin this morning?" Jason asked, performing another one of Patrick's mundane exercises like a puppet on a string.

Barely acknowledging him, Patrick glanced up from the notes he was making and said, "Her shift ended a few hours ago. My guess is that she is sound asleep right now." He made another note and then said, "Keep your left arm up above your head so I can see your range of motion."

"My motion was not the problem, it was my memory." Jason muttered, wondering what it was that Robin saw in this guy.

Patrick gave him a pointed look. "I cut into your brain, which besides performing many other important functions, also controls your range of motion. I just want to make sure that my intrusive procedure will not keep you, when the need arises, from pointing your gun at anyone's head."

"Right." Jason scowled, his dislike for Patrick growing by the second. "You're the doctor and I'm the hit man. And you just want to make sure I know what role I play in this little relationship." Jason's arm was getting tired and he wasn't all to sure that Patrick was just having him stand there for his own amusement. So, Jason said, "But we do have one thing in common."

Knowing exactly what Jason was talking about, Patrick snapped his chart closed and said, "No, we don't actually. Because, you see, I put Robin's needs first and don't force her into uncomfortable situations with people she doesn't like to be around."

"You know nothing about it." Jason snarled, lowering his arm. "When I woke up from that car accident there were only two people who looked like they knew what they were doing...Sonny and Robin. She taught me what life was all about. And I loved her."

"You broke her heart." Patrick retorted, returning his pen to his coat pocket. "Which made things very difficult for me at first. But I like a challenge. And Robin is definitely worth all the extra effort I had to put into it." He said smugly, enjoying watching the anger rise up in Jason. "So there's no need to worry, I am more than enough man to fix all the things you managed to break within her."

"I..." Jason began, but was cut off when Monica walked into the room.

"They told me you were here for a check up this morning." Monica said brightly, walking over to where Jason was and putting her arm around him. "This is an ungodly hour for an appointment. You really need to keep better hours, Jason." Monica paused and finally saw the contempt simmering between the two men. "Am I interrupting something?" She asked.

Patrick tore his eyes away from where they were locked with Jason's and pasted his smirk on his face. "Actually, Dr. Quartermaine, we were just finishing up. Jason, I'll see you for another exam in two weeks. Stop by the nurse's station to set up an appointment." He said, turning and walking out of the room.

Throwing his chart on the counter of the nurse's station, Patrick managed to knock the charts Liz was working on to the floor. "Well," she said sarcastically, leaning down to pick up what he dropped, "if it isn't Dr. Personality and his charming bedside manner."

As if he hadn't heard her, Patrick asked, "What did Robin ever see in that guy?"

"I see your appointment with Jason went just fantastically, didn't it?" Liz smiled a knowing smile and said, "Some people ask the same thing about you, you know?"

"Seriously," Patrick said, "I don't get it."

Liz shrugged, "Robin just plain loved him. They were like these sweet, romantic kids. Jason came into her life at a time when she needed to be reminded that life was worth living and he did that for her, without judgement or consequence." Liz looked over to the closed door of the exam room where Monica and Jason were still talking. "What should've destroyed them just made them stronger and she gave him everything she had left."

"Which he promptly turned his back on." Patrick said, raising his eyebrow at Liz's explanation.

"Jason is who he is." Liz tried to explain, knowing what he was talking about. "This bond he has with Carly is like some unexplainable force and you just have to accept her constant intrusion in his life." Liz shook her head and said, "I don't know how Sam does it and how Robin put up with it for so long. It's just Jason. He does things on his own terms and you just have to accept that if you want to be part of his world. Carly, Michael, his job...all of it."

"If that's love..." Patrick began, but Liz cut him off.

"It was love. Don't doubt that for a second." Liz warned him with a pointed look. "Whatever it ended up as, what he and Robin had was real and you're going to have to accept that if you want to be part of her world."

"Yeah, well, there shouldn't be conditions like that..." Patrick began, but was cut off by the ringing of the nurse's station telephone.

"Hold that thought." Liz said, picking up the phone at the desk. "Tenth Floor nurse's station." She said into the receiver as Patrick went back to his paperwork. He vaguely heard Liz say, "She's just coming out of Jason's room now. I'll send her right down."

Liz hung up the phone and no one seemed to notice the shakiness of her hands. Without looking at Patrick, she called to Monica, "Dr. Quartermaine, Tony needs you down in the ER right away. Mac brought Robin in." Patrick looked up at Liz, but she still refused to meet his eyes. Her next words froze him in his place.

"She's comatose and is not responding to his treatment."