Chapter 10

The next morning, both Holly and Robert slept late, exhausted from the emotions of the night before. Holly awoke first and made her way into the bathroom for a shower. She stuck her head under the water and stood there for a long while. She couldn't wrap her brain around Robert's revelations of the night before; couldn't fathom how painful the past years must have been for him. One thing was for certain, it certainly explained his recent behaviour. Holly wondered whether Robert would be able to overcome his experiences and she wondered if her heart was brave enough to let him in again. "How many more chances are you going to get, Holly?" she wondered.

Holly came out of the bathroom, ramming the door into Robert, who had been leaning over in a rather sad attempt at yoga. She looked down at him on the floor and covered her mouth in an attempt not to giggle.

"Go on, laugh at the dying old man."

"I don't think you're dying, Robert," said Holly as the giggle escaped. "You just need to stretch your back."

"That's what I was trying to do!"

"Here, try this." Holly demonstrated a stretch to Robert, who tried it and moaned.

"Up, up, up." She patted the side of the bed. He sat and she rubbed his shoulders and upper back as she had a thousand times a lifetime ago. After a few minutes, Robert felt he could move again.

"Thanks." He wanted to say more, wanted to thank her for making him feel human again but couldn't figure out how to put that into words. He smiled bashfully at her.

Holly smiled at Robert, sensing his discomfort. She decided to change the subject: "So, Robert, what do you make of Evan working for Viranon?"

"I think it's pretty strange that the man who proposed a 'can't-fail' investment to Dougald now works for the company that supplied him with more money to supplement that investment. Somebody wanted the two of you in, and in deep."

"Do you think there's a connection between Crylium and Viranon?" asked Holly.

"I'm willing to bet there is. I've got a buddy who can look into these things. I'll give her a quick call and have her check. What time is it in New York?"

Holly looked quickly at the alarm clock on the nightstand. "Uhh, 6 am?"

"I'll make that an email, I guess. Then a nice brunch?"

"I would like that."

Returning from brunch, something caught Robert's eye. He moved over closer to read it. It was a poster for a classical music concert. Robert laughed when he noticed who the featured artist was. "Katie," he thought, "what's the chances?"

Robert motioned to Holly to come look at the poster. "Holly, you up for a night on the town?"

"Oh, Robert, I don't know." Holly thought back quickly to the days following her awakening from her coma, when she learned that Robert was engaged to Katherine Delafield.

"C'mon, it'll be fun. We'll get dressed up and not think about viruses for a couple of hours. Plus you always liked classical music, more than I ever did." Holly was a bit surprised by Robert's thoughtlessness in activity suggestion but was swayed by the idea of a complete change of pace.

Robert read aloud part of the response to his email. "From what I can tell, Crylium Industries is a subsidiary of Viranon Consolidated. That was pretty difficult to trace, mind you. Even though Viranon is the bigger company, there's a lot less information on it. They do seem to have offices in Arizona, I've attached that address."

"Arizona, eh? Maybe we should pay them a little visit," said Robert. Holly frowned, remembering her last foray into investigating Crylium.

Robert misinterpreted her expression. "That is, if you're OK with me sticking around? I can't handle too many more battles like last night."

"I'm sorry about that."

"No, you're not. And I'm not either. Those things needed to be said, luv."

"I would like us both to go, Robert. I think we stand a much better chance of sorting this out together," Holly admitted.

"Then let's book us some flights," replied a relieved Robert.

The concert was beautiful. Katherine's skills as a pianist had only grown better, and the orchestra was magnificent. After the concert, Robert convinced Holly to go meet Katherine backstage. Against her better judgment, Holly again agreed, mainly because she was curious to meet the woman who had played such a pivotal role in their lives.

"Robert! It's so good to see you." Katherine gave Robert a quick hug. "But how? I thought I heard you were dead?"

"Umm, yeah, it's a long story. Let's not go there."

Katherine's eyes fell on Holly, whom she thought she recognized from a picture of Robert's. She looked questioningly to Robert for confirmation.

"Uh, Katherine Delafield, Holly Sutton. We probably don't need to go there either."

Katherine raised her eyebrows at the two of them. "And now I know why life insurance premiums are so expensive. Well, then, will the two of you join me for dinner?"

"Oh, Katie, no, I just wanted to say hello and see how you were keeping."

"No, I insist. My husband wasn't able to accompany me on this tour, and so I'm dying for some dinner company. Please say you'll come," Katherine looked imploringly at Robert, then at Holly. The three ended up having a lovely dinner, telling stories about Port Charles.

Katherine couldn't figure out the dynamic between Robert and the woman she knew had been the love of his life. There was definitely something there between them, it was almost palpable, but on the other hand they seemed weirdly distant from one another. Neither had been very forthcoming about their whereabouts over the last few years, nor why they were in London together. Katherine very much wanted to see Robert be happy; although he fully participated in the dinner conversation, there was something reserved about his demeanor. "These two were meant for each other," thought Katherine, "and I am going to do something about it."

Robert excused himself from the table and headed for the bathroom. Holly suddenly felt incredibly awkward. Katherine looked at her and began speaking forthrightly: "You know, Holly, they say hindsight is 20/20. When Robert and I were together, there was always a little part of him that was absent, stuck in the past. My mistake at the time was thinking it had to do with Anna. And then my poor instincts pushed them together," Katherine finished wryly.

Both women looked at each other for a moment and then smiled understandingly at each other. "It seems to me that this is your chance, Holly, to straighten things out."

Robert reappeared at the table a second later.

"This is going to sound strange, seeing as how I just finished a concert, but I'm going to go play a piece just for fun." Katherine got up before anyone could object and made her way over to the restaurant's piano. She began playing a romantic jazz song.

Robert got up from the table and extended a hand to Holly. "May I have this dance?"

Holly hesitated.

"Come on, I need the exercise. We haven't had to outrun anyone all day."

Holly laughed and acquiesed. The pair got up from the table and moved to the dance floor. They began moving together, both lost in thought about the past but also about how natural it felt to be back in each other's arms. The song came to an end, leaving Robert and Holly staring at each other on the dance floor. Katherine sat at her piano, with a satisfied smile on her face.

Shortly after, Robert, Katherine and Holly said their goodbyes. "It was good to see you again, Robert. Try not to 'die' again anytime soon." Robert rolled his eyes at Kate. "And Holly, it was lovely to finally meet you. Keep in mind what I said."

"I will try. And it was a pleasure to meet you, too."

It was a nice warm evening, so Holly and Robert began walking back to their hotel.

"I liked Katherine, Robert."

"I figured you would. She reminded me of you in a lot of ways. She has a good heart."

Holly smiled, relieved to have confirmation that Robert no longer believed that she was involved with the virus or the antidote. She looked up at the stars for a moment. "Do you ever think about…"

"…about what might have been?" Robert completed her sentence. "I'm surprised you even have to ask. Especially after the boat explosion, when I was recuperating, I think I covered just about every possible variation on the theme. Some where you called me when you woke up, some where you showed up at my wedding, some where I never went back to Port Charles at all. "

"Not any where you let us know you were OK?" Holly asked ruefully.

"The further I got into my assignments, the less I felt like I could show my face again. When you showed up alive and well, you made some comment about not wanting to see me because you didn't want to upset me. Do you remember that?"

"I do. You do know that I have spent years berating myself every day for the choices that I made then, don't you?"

"But the strange thing is that I understand your reasoning more now. I thought you were utterly foolish when you first said it. Possibly certifiable. But then the farther into things I got, the more it made sense."

"Robert, it's not as though you had any choice in the matter. You did what you needed to do to keep your family safe. What else could you have done?"

"Probably a million things, but there's no going back now, is there? What's done is done."

Robert offered Holly his arm, and they continued walking, each reflecting on the strange paths their lives had taken.

Holly and Robert stood in the hallway, in front of the room they were sharing. Robert looked at Holly for a long while, then said, "We've managed to make a mess of things, haven't we, luv, for years now?"

Holly nodded. Robert reached out and caressed her cheek. After a few seconds, she reached up on her tiptoes and kissed him. In a flash, the kiss deepened, as Robert took Holly's face in his hands while at the same time leaning her back against the door of the room. The couple continued to kiss passionately, arms snaked around each other. Abruptly, the door swung open from the inside, sending Holly completely off-balance and almost onto the floor.

"Well, isn't this cozy," smirked a decidedly annoyed Luke Spencer.

Author's note: So help me, I liked Katherine Delafield. Although in retrospect, it may have had some thing to do with transference; my teenaged self all ready for Robert Scorpio to come deflower me.