Chapter Three - Coffee, Croissants, and Men
Intimacies between women often go backwards, beginning in revelations and ending up in small talk. - Elizabeth Bowen
Robin walked into the doctor's lounge of General Hospital to find her friends Lindsay and Liz enjoying their morning coffee break and gave them a tired smile.
"Morning, sunshine." Lindsay quipped teasingly and Robin stuck her tongue out at her before turning toward the coffee pot. It was then that she saw Patrick Drake, leaning against the counter and smirking at her over his steaming mug of coffee.
"It's nice of you to finally grace us with your presence, Dr. Scorpio. You look like hell." He informed her as she searched the corner cabinet for a clean mug. Finally locating one, she went about the task of making herself a cup of coffee and ignored his remark about her appearance. But that didn't stop him from adding, "Especially considering how heavenly you looked last night."
Stirring the creamer into her coffee, Robin asked the room in general, "What's the number for our tech support guy?" She asked. "I'm gonna need to get someone to fix my computer."
"I'll call him," Liz replied, picking up the phone on the nearby table. "What's should I tell them is wrong with it?"
Robin looked guiltily at her two friends. "It's in several pieces on my floor."
Liz and Lindsay exchanged a glance with each other and tried to suppress their laughter. Robin's passion was one of the reasons she was so good at her job, but God help the world when her passion became misguided anger. "Are we throwing temper tantrums this morning for any particular reason?" Lindsay asked, lightly.
"Must be all that pent up sexual frustration finally making it's way to the surface." Patrick added, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Don't you have anyone else to annoy this morning?" Robin asked him, sitting down at the table with Liz and Lindsay and rubbing her tired eyes.
Patrick checked his watch. "Nope." He said with a grin, "My schedule is pretty clear for the next few minutes."
"Seriously, Robin," Liz said, putting down the phone and turning to her friend, "what happened to your computer?"
"It really is in a couple of pieces on my floor." Robin told her with a sheepish grin, taking a sip of her coffee. "I've had a rough morning."
"Clearly." Lindsay said with a grin.
"But, I did bring breakfast...so at least that will redeem me a little." Robin said, tossing a bag from the Metro Court's bakery down on the table.
Liz opened the bag and grinned. "Wow...you did redeem yourself, girl. These are Chef Louis' signature chocolate drizzled croissants."
"There are a few raspberry ones in there, too."
Lindsay happily accepted the croissant that Liz passed to her and said, "Chef Louis is a pastry chef sent straight from Heaven. We all owe Jax a sincere thanks for finding him and bringing him to Port Charles."
Patrick came over to inspect the pastries that the girls were laying out on the table. "You stopped by the Metro Court this morning?" he asked, eyeing Robin suspiciously. "Don't you think Jax will see right through that desperate attempt to see him again? Haven't you ever heard of playing hard to get?"
Robin leaned her droopy head on her hands, closed her tired eyes, and said, "Not that it's any of your business, but I didn't have to stop by the Metro Court this morning. I never left."
Patrick simply stared at her for a few moments and then muttered, "Well, so much for pent up sexual frustration." Grabbing a croissant, he headed for the door and said, "I have to go check on Mrs. Allen."
Liz watched him go and then raised her eyebrows and said, "Well, he left in quite a hurry!"
"Yeah," Lindsay grinned, "just as soon as he heard you spent the night with Jax."
"I did not spend the night with Jax!" Robin's eyes flew open as she realized what her earlier statement about not leaving the Metro Court until this morning must have sounded like. "I spent the night in a room in Jax's hotel! Alone. And Jax stayed in his penthouse apartment. Alone. Because we both had too much to drink."
Lindsay took a bite of her croissant and said, "That's not what Dr. Drake thinks."
Robin rolled her eyes and concentrated on trying to decide between the chocolate and the raspberry croissant. "Trust me, Dr. Drake is not going to concern himself for too long with where I spent the night last night." She said, finally deciding on the chocolate. "By now, he's probably moved on to some chesty, blond nurse with oatmeal for brains. I am no longer a blip on his radar screen."
Lindsay and Liz exchanged looks which revealed that they didn't believe that for a second before Lindsay said, "You really do look like hell."
Robin just shook her head and pulled the hair that was falling in her face behind her ear. "Thanks."
"Seriously, you don't look at all like yourself." Liz joined in, grinning like a chesire cat. "No make-up, bags under the eyes, pasty skin. Rough night?"
"Don't start with me." Robin warned. "Jax's celebrations can get a little boisterous. And since he was a giddy new father, we were in for an alcohol extravaganza last night. We started with martini's and appetizers, moved on to wine with dinner, and finished up with the best champagne he had in his wine cellar. I can't tell you how many times my glass was refilled."
"Good." Lindsay said with a smile. "I can't think of two people who deserve a good time more than you and Jax."
"Thank you." Looking at her friends, Robin asked. "So what are you two talking about?"
"Bastards." Liz and Lindsay said together.
"Oh" Robin grinned, "men."
"You got it." said Lindsay. "Did you know that Dr. Carson was married?"
Robin shook her head and asked, "Wait, you're going out with Dr. Carson? From radiology?" Lindsay nodded and Robin asked, "I thought you were going out with that guy Lance?"
"That was last month." Liz informed Robin.
"How did I miss this?" Robin cried, in mock outrage.
"I try to keep you up to date, but Lindsay's love-life just moves so fast." Liz grinned, teasing her sister-in-law. The truth was that Lindsay hadn't dated much at all since the death of her husband, Detective Simon Donovan, four years earlier. But once she had moved back to Port Charles this past summer, Liz had decided that Lindsay needed more in her life than her job at the hospital and her five year old daughter, Sophie. And Lucky had reluctantly agreed that his sister needed more excitement in her life.
"So, he's married?" Robin asked, intrigued. "Did you know, Liz?"
"Sort of." Liz said sheepishly.
"Sort of?" Lindsay and Robin asked at the same time.
"He said they were separated." Liz said, holding her hands up in mock surrender. "That's why I set Lindsay up with him."
"Oh God, Liz." Robin chided mockingly. "We all know guys can be bastards but you don't have to make it so easy for them."
Liz chuckled and shrugged. "Sorry, I was just trying to help."
"What could you possibly know about any of this?" Lindsay asked Liz. "You wouldn't know a bastard if you fell over one. You've got Lucky. The one decent guy left in Port Charles. Which doesn't help me at all...considering he's my little brother."
"I'm supporting the sisterhood." Liz said simply.
"Jax isn't a bastard." Robin said, grinning at Lindsay.
"That's true." Liz agreed, eyeing the rest of the croissants on the table. "Robin, do you want to split a raspberry one with me?"
Robin nodded and Lindsay said, "Jax is my patient. Or Courtney is." Lindsay shrugged and said, "I'm sure there is some ethics violation in all of that somewhere."
"They're not your patients anymore." Robin pointed out, taking the other half of Liz's pastry. "The baby is born. You have completed your task."
"Yeah," Liz agreed, "you can hand the baby over to the pediatrician and then jump the baby's daddy."
The three women dissolved into a fit of laughter before Lindsay said, "I don't know if I want to get involved with Jax and Courtney and the baby drama. I'm a Spencer, after all. I have enough drama of my own."
"That's a cop out, if I've ever heard one." Robin told her.
"And that's the pot calling the kettle black." Lindsay shot back. "How many dates have you been on since you returned, my dear?"
Robin, knowing she had been called out by the two people in this world qualified to make judgements on her life, just looked down at her coffee before taking another sip. Lindsay was right and she didn't have to say the words out loud to make them true.
"Look at us." Lindsay said quietly, "We are three fabulous women. Smart, successful, full of personality, funny, and sexy as hell. But here we sit, held hostage by our pasts." Lindsay looks pointedly at Liz and says, "And I include you in our group because you went through hell before getting your happily ever after, too. Between us, we have pasts full of drug addiction, sexual assaults, dead lovers, absent parents...how the hell do we get out of bed every morning?"
"We just do." Robin said quietly. "Because the alternative to facing our lives...is not facing them. And we've all been there and done that."
"And none of us want to turn in repeat performances." Liz agreed.
"We have to let our pasts stop being the anchors that are holding us back." Lindsay said quietly, absent mindedly running her fingers over the curve of the table. "Even though it scares us to death, maybe we have to just let go of who we were to be become who we're going to be."
"I was thinking about all my relationships the other day." Robin said quietly. "The ones I have with my family and my friends. The ones I shared with Jason and Stone. There are those that opened me up to something new and exotic, those that were old and familiar, those that brought up lots of questions, and those that brought me somewhere unexpected. I've had relationships that have brought me so far from where I started, and those that have brought me back again. But the most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all...is the one I've had with myself. And it's only gotten more intense since I contracted HIV. And so, if I can find someone to love the me that I have learned to love...well, that will be just fabulous."
"We love the 'you' that you love." Liz said, reaching across the table and taking Robin's hand.
"In fact, I loved that 'you' before you loved that 'you', my friend." Lindsay grinned, wiping a tear out of her eye. "Look at me! I am such a sap!"
"You two are going to find the perfect men for you. I just know it." Liz said reassuringly. "How can you not? I mean, you are the most fabulous women I know and Lucky can't possibly be the only man in Port Charles who isn't intimidated by a fabulous woman."
"It's really amazing what two people love chooses to unite, isn't it?" Lindsay asked. "It follows no rules...no logic. I mean, look at my parents. Who would have thought that they would find happiness with each other. Then there's Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Tony. And me and Simon, for that matter. We were circulating in two different universes before fate brought us together." Lindsay looked at Robin and smiled, "And you have never had a romance that made sense to anyone...Stone, Jason. No one would have ever hand picked those guys for our little Robin."
Robin grinned and said, "Especially not Uncle Mac. I guess at the end of the day, life is just this big wall of reality that we all crash into. And those who are left standing...win."
"Well, we've all obviously won." Lindsay said proudly. "Look at us. Lesser women who have been through what we have been through would be cowering in the psych ward eating crayons for lunch.So, Dr. Scorpio and Nurse Spencer, now that we've won...what should be our grand prize? What do we really want?"
"I have what I really want." Liz said quietly. "But a little more cash to fix the leaky toilet would be a nice bonus."
Robin grinned and then said slowly, "Do you know what I really want? I am someone who is looking for love. Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, all consuming, can't-live-without-each-other love."
Lindsay smiled and squeezed her hand. "Then you should have it, my friend. Because you don't deserve anything less."