Chapter 16

The next morning, Robert and Holly were awakened by a loud pounding on their hotel room door. Robert sat straight up in bed with a start. He got up and looked through the peephole and was somewhat relieved to see that it was Luke. Robert opened the door and Luke barged into the room without preamble.

"Good morning, lovebirds," he said as he sat on the bed and turned on the television. Holly and Robert looked at each other in disbelief. Then Holly looked down at her dust-covered arms, back at the bed, and realized that she had fallen asleep the night before. Embarrassment colored her cheeks as she looked over at Robert. "I'm sorry," she mouthed.

"Soon," he mouthed back in reply.

"Spencer, it's great that you decided to hand-deliver our wake-up call, but it worked, we're up. You can go now."

"Hang on, hang on, you have to see this." Luke was madly flipping channels on their TV, trying to find the report he had seen in his own room. Finally he fell on a news network: "Portuguese authorities have been working to contain an outbreak of a deadly virus in a small village 100 miles from Lisbon. WHO officials are also on scene, attempting to identify the nature of the virus. The hospital system is already showing signs of strain as the number of cases continues to mount."

Robert felt a weight in the pit of his stomach. It was beginning again, and this outbreak was only going to lead them to Faison. He shook his head to clear it as he realized that Luke was talking.

"I checked on the Internet and there's only one flight there that will get us in today. We have about 30 minutes to make it to the airport if we want to make the flight."

After another long series of flights, the three landed in Lisbon. From there, they took a train to the town closest to the virus outbreak.

"Ok, so we're here, so' s the virus. What are we supposed to do now?" asked Holly.

"I'm going to make a few inquiries so that we make our presence known. Then we head back to the larger town, away from the contagion. The last thing any of us need is to become infected, wouldn't you agree, Spencer?"

Luke moaned a little as he remembered how sick he had been. "Do you think they need any of my blood?" he offered.

"Unfortunately, this time your blood won't be of any help. Each virus is different, so each has its own set of antibodies. You're just as vulnerable as the next person," explained Robert.

"And while we're waiting, I was thinking you and I could go out for dinner," Robert said to Holly. "So you should go take a good nap." He had the foresight to duck as she reached over to playfully smack his head.

Luke laughed and said, "I'll give the two of you some time alone, then. We should meet up for breakfast tomorrow morning."

Robert had managed to locate one of the town's little gems. He had spoken to the maitre d' at their hotel, who pointed him in the direction of the Azul restaurant, which was conveniently around the corner. "It is where I take my girlfriend, sir, whenever we have a special night to celebrate."

Holly was resplendent in a cherry red sundress that she had thrown in her suitcase at the last minute. Robert had on the best shirt and pants that he had found in his bag, and a sports jacket. He fervently hoped that the restaurant would not require a tie. He was having enough trouble breathing just looking at Holly.

The little restaurant was beautiful as well. Tucked away in a basement, the exposed brick walls were lit by candles that were spread all around the room. Music played softly in the background.

The dinner was wonderful; they each had cod, a Portuguese specialty, prepared in a different way, as well as local wine.

Over dinner, they each spent a lot of time gazing at the other. Robert kept continually touching Holly's hand, as if to make sure that she was really there. Holly felt nearly as many butterflies as she had the night they first made love, only now they were tempered with the knowledge of what she was in store for.

The waiter interrupted their mutual reverie. "Can I get either one of you some dessert, tea, coffee?"

"No!" the two responded in chorus. Laughing, Robert elaborated, "No thanks, just the check."

Holly and Robert practically tumbled into their hotel room. Frantically kissing, hands moving everywhere at once, they were trying to cram almost 20 years lost into each and every movement. Holly stopped kissing Robert for a moment to catch her breath. She looked Robert in the eyes and lost her breath all over again when she saw that they were hooded with passion. He pulled her closer for one of the most intense kisses she had ever experienced. She pushed his jacket off his shoulders and set to work on his shirt. For his part, Robert had essentially ripped off the shrug covering Holly's shoulders, revealing an expanse of skin, every inch of which he intended to mark. He began working on the hooks at the back of her dress, frustrated when they didn't come undone all at once.

Holly was just about to set to work on Robert's belt when she was quickly spun around. Robert's arm snaked around her waist and pulled her back in tight to him. She felt his arousal hard against her for a moment, then Robert relaxed his grasp and returned to the fastenings of her dress. He rumbled gruffly into her ear, "you are still the most beautiful woman in the world." Holly felt her knees go weak and then the cool rush of the room air against her skin as her dress fell to the floor, with her bra a close companion.

It astounded Holly how familiar Robert's touch was after so long. His hands roamed her breasts and made her almost dizzy with pleasure. She turned around and reached for his belt. "Do you know how much I want you, Robert Scorpio?" she asked as her nimble hands made quick work of the belt, the pants, and his underwear.

"Show me," he growled, as he fell back on the bed, pulling her onto him in the process.

Robert held Holly tightly in his arms. "My beautiful Holly," he said as he kissed the tip of her nose, "this is what I should've done when I found you in New York."

"Shh," she replied, "no sense crying over split milk." She propped herself on an elbow and declared, "The fates must like us."

"You think? Seems like our lives would have run a bit more smoothly if they did."

"But we keep getting second chances, don't we?" Holly smiled radiantly at Robert. "At some point, we're bound to run out."

"This is the last one that we'll need then, luv. I don't need another cosmic kick in the pants to realize how much I love you," smiled Robert.

"Oh, Robert. The day they showed me that tape of you, I thought my heart was going to explode. I was so happy that you were alive that I didn't even dare to hope that I would find myself in your arms again. I don't have the words to tell you how much I love you," finished Holly. With that, she found herself wrapped up in another passionate embrace.

Author's PSA: I originally envisioned a little safe sex moment in this chapter, what with Robin's HIV status and all that. I read a newspaper article some time ago that the leading demographic for new AIDS cases is individuals over 50. So just know that they used a condom (or several), OK?