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If You're Not the One - 20
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"Robin always did have good taste."

Patrick looked up from the Game Boy Micro he was hunched over playing to find a vision standing in the doorway of his hospital room. Out of pure habit upon seeing a beautiful woman his smile turned sultry and he pressed his tongue out between his lips. "The Face of Deception, this is what I call room service." Then he gave her a dazzling smile, complete with his one-side-only dimple.

"Given that I'm Robin's best friend you might want ratchet down the horn dog act." Brenda walked into the room and sat down in the guest chair clearly undaunted by the idea of walking into the hospital room of a man she'd never met before and who was more than half-naked. In fact, she enjoyed the psychological advantage.

Patrick tilted his head and feigned deep thought. "You might have a point." Then he grinned. "So you're the famous Brenda, and when I say famous I don't mean as a model I mean as Robin's best friend. She talks a lot about you." He still found it surprising that Robin had a friend who was practically a super model, but then he'd learned a lot of things about Robin that were surprising in the past few months, turning all his off-the-cuff psycho-babble analysis of her life on its ear.

"That's natural, we've been best friends for over twelve years. I've always been a rather protective big sister as a friend, if you know what I mean." Brenda leaned in and spoke as if imparting confidential information.

"You're here to check if I'm good enough for your best friend." Patrick chuckled at the novelty.

"And little sister. Yes." Glad things were clear she sat back and crossed her legs and prepared herself to interrogate her captive subject.

Before she started Patrick looked towards the door and then back at Brenda. "Is she going to be here soon, I haven't seen her since this morning?" Something in Brenda's expression unnerved him. "What's wrong with Robin?" he demanded heatedly, unconsciously moving himself to be ready to spring out of the bed.

"Wow." Brenda looked at him in awe. "You're in love with her. She's fine, she doesn't need you to ride rescue for her tonight." Brenda definitely liked what she was learning.

"She's not all right, I can tell by your expression. What's going on? The funeral?"

Brenda paused, thinking back on what Robin had told her over the past months of "Patrick Drake this" and "Patrick Drake that." Then she decided to say and do what she pleased anyway, all in Robin's best interest of course.

"You know about Stone?"

"The boyfriend who died when she was seventeen. You knew him?"

"Yeah, I knew him." Brenda stopped and thought back. "They were amazing together, especially after we discovered he was sick. You'd never think she was this seventeen year old girl, she had the grace and generosity of spirit of…of no one else I've ever met of any age while he was dying and then she fell apart for a while."

"And today brought it back up for her, so she didn't want to come here like that," Patrick said, immediately understanding. Wishing it wasn't so, but understanding it. Robin didn't like anyone to see her vulnerable. That was something he intended to change between them.

"No, actually, right now she's at her apartment having a screaming match with her father," Brenda grinned. "Best thing that could have happened today, actually. Fired her right up."

"Her father's back? She's having a hell of a day." Patrick itched to get out of bed and rush to her side, even though he knew she probably wouldn't welcome his interference.

"You don't know that half of it. They're fighting about Jason, talk about closing the barn door after the horse gets out." Brenda chuckled.

"Why Jason?" Patrick frowned.

"I'll back up. After spending the afternoon with Maxie and then the funeral Robin was…" Brenda paused thinking on how to put it.

"Thinking about Stone." He waved a hand for her to go on.

"Right. And Sonny who was very close to Stone and very good to Robin during that time. So she went to the bridge to be near Stone."

"The bridge?" Patrick interrupted.

"It's a bridge that's special to Robin because of Stone, she feels close to him there. When Stone was dying one of the things he wanted to do before he left is to bungee jump so Luke found this bridge and set it up for him. That was the bridge that Robin, along with Sonny and me, released Stone's ashes. After he died she would go up there to be close to him. It was also where she met Jason, right after he had become Jason Morgan." Brenda shivered slightly as she thought of Jason's own description of that night. She tried not to believe that Robin would have actually jumped that night, but she wasn't sure and it still frightened her to think about.

Patrick was absorbing the information, but still confused about why she and her father were fighting about Jason tonight. Then it hit him. "Wait a minute, she went to the bridge tonight and, don't tell me, Jason showed up." Patrick scowled and wondered how the hell the guy had gotten out of jail.

"Exactly. Apparently they were sharing a close moment that Robin's father misconstrued when he suddenly decided to jump back into Robin's life and started yelling about being seen with, and I love how he says this, 'the criminal elements'. They were still going at it when I thought I'd escape and come meet you."

"What the hell do she and Jason have to say to each other," he mused out loud.

"The jealousy is cute, Dr. Drake." Brenda gave him her own dazzling smile. "I think Jason literally saved Robin's life, he definitely gave her the hope to go on after Stone died and she found out she was HIV positive. Whoever he's become now doesn't detract from who he was to her then and Robin's more loyal than it's probably healthy for her to be. They were talking about Sonny and Jason's situation." Brenda shrugged. "Did you know I was married to Jason once? Purely platonic, of course."

Patrick put a hand to his head, momentarily wondering if he was having a dizzy spell and then concluding it had to be the dizzying turns of conversation. He could hardly wait to see Robin in a room with this woman, there was no way Robin could be so darn serious around her. She was also his best source right now for knowledge on Robin and what made her tick.

"You're not jealous of Jason, are you?" Brenda asked.

"Of that thug? Robin's not in love with him." He knew that for certain because she had said it under oath. "So her father's back throwing his weight around and Robin's not liking that." Patrick's eyes strayed towards the windows of his room that looked out to his father's room and grimaced. "Maybe they'll have a chance to work things out this time." That is if the infamous Robert Scorpio put his pride aside and stuck around for a while.

"They will. Robin's just really pissed and really hurt. Her father was her idol growing up, whatever else happened to her, and it was a lot, she was always secure that her daddy loved her. His showing up and admitting he'd pretended to be dead for so long took the rug right out from under her. I'd pop him one myself but besides being a super spy who might shoot me, I can understand him wanting to protect Robin. She's always been in a lot of danger one way or another."

"Which is why she knows Kung Fu?" Patrick asked, thinking back to the display he had witnessed a short time ago.

"She's also a superior marksman. She'd definitely give Jason a run for his money if she decided to become a hitman. I'd hire her to do some work for me." Brenda rubbed her hands together.

"Tell me some more things about Robin I don't know."

Brenda decided she liked Patrick and she wanted to help him and Robin get it together. She knew before she came in that Robin was in love with this guy and now she was just as certain the feeling was mutual. He hadn't denied it and even if he had it was written all over his face. "Robin's bungee jumped a few times, jumped out of planes. She water skis and snow skis. She's a fantastic dancer, she also sings, but it's virtually impossible to get her to do it. She's generous, loyal, responsible, super intelligent, guarded and passionate and if you get into her heart she'll go to the wall for you no matter the cost to herself."

"Am I in her heart?" Patrick thought he knew the answer to that, but he wanted to hear it. If not from Robin, then from her best friend.

"That declaration, my friend, you are going to have to earn from Robin herself."

Patrick shrugged and gave her a smile that said that it was worth a try. "Can you get her to come visit tonight? Or at least call me. I want to know she's okay. And I owe her a few lectures on father-child relationships." Patrick licked his bottom lip and looked out towards his father's room again.

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