Part 13

"How did you get here?" Robin asked as they were being driven down the rutted road to the airport in a surplus army truck supplied by the men sent by Sean Donely to contain the situation. This meant, much to Anna's satisfaction, the real saving had been done by Robin who had called Sean, not Robert as he tried to claim.

"I got my mom to lend us the Quatermaine jet. It was so cool!" Dillion said from the seat across from Robin and Patrick where he was explaining to Lulu how Patrick and Dillon ended up where the women found them.

Anna, Robert, Holly and Luke rode in the other truck where the men were trying to convince Anna not to put a bullet in the Englishwoman for endangering her daughter's life. Anna's reminder made both men visibly cringe in a way that spurred Lulu into insisting that the "young people" would ride separately.

"But why?" Robin asked Dillion her brow furrowed in puzzlement. Her mind was still stuttering with the realization that Patrick had come after her.

"Duh!" Lulu rolled her eyes and pulled her gun out of Dillion's amateur hands.

"Why? What the hell were you thinking?" Patrick demanded harshly.

"I think I should be asking you that," Robin said, still completely bewildered, or at least pretending to be because a bubble of hope was growing.

"I'm not the one who almost died from the virus and then decided to traipse off to its source."

"I was not traipsing, I came to rescue my father and Luke. We both did." Robin raised her chin. "We know what we're doing."

"Without a word to anyone. Especially someone – me - who might have talked you out of such a stupid idea. Or have come with you!" Patrick shook his head in frustration.

"When was I supposed to tell you, Dr. Drake? When you were dismissing me in the locker room?" She glared at him.

"You weren't going to tell me at all, Scorpio so don't even pull that. I had to hear it when this one," he pointed at Dillon, "Came looking for you because Lulu had disappeared and we put two and two together."

"I don't even know what we're arguing about here." Robin threw her hands up in frustration. "Or why you're here. You shut up!" she pointed at Lulu who was about to mock them again.

Lulu looked at Dillon and shrugged. Dillon smiled and waggled his eyebrows.

"What the hell else am I supposed to do when my girlfriend decides to play Wonder Woman?" Patrick snarled.

"I have no idea what you're supposed to do when…what? What did you call me?" Robin bit the inside of her lips to stop herself from smiling.

"What?" Patrick looked at her in confusion.

"Since when am I your girlfriend?" Robin demanded.

Both Robin and Patrick ignored Lulu's long, drawn out "duh" even though this time Dillon joined in.

"What do you mean since when? We talked about this other night."

"What night?" Robin looked at him like he was crazy.

"In my hotel room. We admitted we cared for each other," he said like it was the most reasonable and obvious answer.

"And that we would go with the flow!" Robin mimed a passing wave with her hand. "Talk about when things go too heavy. Nowhere in there was the word girlfriend mentioned."

"Then what the hell have the past few days been about?" Patrick sounded exasperated.

"I thought it was about two friends having casual sex," she said in a low voice. "Like we agreed."

"That's what you thought!" Patrick closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead and began mumbling under his breath.

"Frankly, I thought you were going to end our fling and getting…things…in." Robin waved her hand meaningfully.

"You thought I was going to end it." Patrick covered his eyes with his hand. "Why in the world did you think that? Do you think I let just anyone to pretend to be my fiancé and help pick out my new home so I can make sure she likes it?"

Robin blinked at those words, but not knowing quite how to respond to them she ignored them. "The way you were acting the other night was so distant," she again spoke in a loud whisper in hopes that the two teens couldn't hear their conversation over the road noise. "And then you were gone in the morning and you just left the hospital yesterday without talking to me."

"That night I was upset about my argument with my father and." He broke off with a pained expression, the kind that men get when you try to make them talk about their feelings. "You know what I was upset about. And that morning I went to the gym to work out and I didn't want to wake you."

"Before sunrise?" She asked dubiously.

"I couldn't sleep and I needed to go home before work anyway. And at the hospital, you were the one shutting me out. I was annoyed so I left the locker room to cool off and ended up talking with my father. After we were done I went looking for you and overheard Dillon talking to Liz and found out about Nikolas lending you his plane. If I had known you were coming up with this crazy scheme..." Patrick shook his head.

"How did things go with Noah?" Robin asked, trying to process all the other things he'd said.

"It was fine, great. We said things that should have been said a long time ago. Stop changing the subject."

"I still don't get when I became your girlfriend." Robin crossed her arms and dropped her chin to her chest as she wondered how she could have gotten things so wrong. "Or you became my boyfriend," she mumbled.

"Well, do you think I qualify now that I came halfway around the world to make sure you were all right?" He leaned over and spoke close to her ear.

"Maybe." Robin tilted her head and looked at him. "Just what did you two plan to do once you got here? Besides get captured?"

"We were a little rough on that," Patrick admitted with a sheepish grin.

Lulu let out another "duh." Robin snorted. "Have you ever shot a gun? Been camping? You've never struck me as the survival skills kind of guy." Robin chuckled.

"You either," Lulu said to Dillon.

"I knew you'd protect me," he joked, and then his expression turned serious. "The virus started here. Dillon said your fathers were in trouble. There was no way in hell I was sitting at home waiting for you to come back." He put a finger on her chin and made her look at him. "Or not," he whispered.

"Thank you for coming after me. But I'm still not your girlfriend."

"Why?" Patrick couldn't quite bite back a smirk.

"You didn't ask." Robin crossed her arms.

Patrick rolled his eyes and put his arm around her shoulders and rested his head on top of hers.