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If You're Not the One - 22
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"Where were you last night?" Brenda's cheery voice called out as she walked in from the kitchen holding a homemade smoothie.
Robin cringed like a teenager, both at getting caught sneaking into her own apartment at six in the morning, but also imagining what her kitchen must look like now. "Good morning," she locked the door behind her and dropped her purse on the couch. "Before you ask, yes, I was with Patrick. Yes, I know you gave him my photo albums behind my back and yes, I let him hang on to them when he gave me a very hang dog look and implored me to leave him something interesting to do while stuck in a hospital bed."
"He's good. And really freakin' hot! Good going Little Sister." Brenda waved the smoothie around to punctuate her exuberance. Robin watched, waiting for the drink to spill out and stain something. Brenda caught the look and laughed and took a sip of the drink. "There's extra. I'll go pour you some." Brenda walked back into the kitchen.
Robin grinned. She was really glad Brenda was back. Now the trick was getting her to stay.
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"You claim that the reason that you didn't want a transplant was because you didn't want to take a liver from someone who for some reason deserved it more from you. Well, you didn't and your son is recovering just fine. So, when are you going to stop complaining that you have a second chance at life and with your son and take it?" Bobbie asked Noah.
"How many times do I have to say that this wasn't my choice?"
"No, your choice was to start drinking when Mattie died and leave your young son to fend for himself. Your choice was to try to push him away to leave him without closure when you died. Your choices, quite frankly, suck. Patrick was right when he called you a moron."
"That's quite a bedside manner Nurse Spencer." Noah looked at Bobbie out of the corner of his eye.
"It's time you started being a father, a man and a doctor, Noah. That is what Mattie would have wanted – you told me that yourself when you got out of rehab – and it's what Patrick needs. It's what you both need. You just have to stop being scared of it."
"I'm not scared, I just don't deserve it." Noah didn't sound convinced.
"Of course you're scared. Sobriety is new and so is everything else about your life; but you don't need to do it alone. You have your son. You have Robin. Your AA sponsor. And you have me, Noah." Bobbie took Noah's unresisting hand in hers. Finally, for the first time in days he turned to look at someone without rage and bluster. The look in Noah's eyes took Bobbie's breath away and she squeezed his hand. Tears came to her eyes to match his when he squeezed her hand back.
"I can't do this alone," he whispered.
"You don't have to."
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Bobbie walked into Patrick's room and looked around. "Where's Robin?"
"Home or working I imagine." Patrick feigned ignorance and turned back a few pages in the photo album he was looking at. He had found a particularly camp picture of Bobbie Spencer that he wanted to tease her about.
"You two have been getting close, but I guess with Brenda in town she wouldn't be spending another night at your bedside." Bobbie smirked, clearly knowing where Robin spent the night. "Noah wants to see you."
"Does my father want to yell at me again for saving his life?" Patrick asked hesitantly as Bobbie moved closer to the bed. He closed the album, more focused now on his father.
"Actually, he's ready to listen to you. He's scared, Patrick. About all of it. Being sober, being a father, resuming his career. Finally grieving for your mother." Bobbie sat down at the side of the bed. "I reminded him that he wasn't alone. I wanted to make sure that you knew that applied to you as well. You're in Port Charles now and there's no escape." Bobbie grinned at him.
"I stayed here because my father once worked here." Bobbie just nodded, she had known that since day one. "I couldn't believe it when Robin told me where she was demanding I go. I would have come anyway so I could make medical history." Patrick gave Bobbie an unrepentant smirk. "But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see General Hospital in Port Charles."
"Come on, I'll help you to your father's room and then I need to go be with my grandsons. Today is their father's wake."
Patrick frowned. He hadn't realized it was today.
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"You're not going and that's that!" Mac Scorpio drew a verbal line in the sand.
"Uncle Mac, there'll be plenty of security," Robin said, glancing over her shoulder to listen whether Brenda was out of the shower yet. Once Brenda had finished teasing Robin about spending the night in Patrick's hospital bed the realization that it was the day of Sonny's wake turned the mood somber. Until that day Brenda had been pretty calm about it all, but the reality of it had her agitated and teetering on the edge of grief. She didn't want her to hear Mac and her father's warning about possible mob violence on top of it all.
"I have to agree with my brother. It's the middle of a mob war, there's bound to be an attack. Haven't you had enough of that already?" Robert snapped.
"Don't start off by telling me what to do, Dad. Is ganging up on me the only reason you two came over?" Robin looked between the men. She was touched by their concern and pleased to see the Scorpio brothers united on an issue, but she wasn't going to roll over and listen to them either. She needed to pay her last respects to Sonny, for Stone's sake if nothing else; and she needed to be there with Brenda.
"I'm telling you that I can't guarantee your safety. The word on the street is that something big is going to happen and I don't know if my team will be able to stop it," Mac said.
"Pay your respects to Corinthos later, not at the wake. Let them all kill each other."
"Bobbie will be there with Sonny's kids. Alexis Davis and Ric Lansing will be there to say goodbye to Ric's brother and Kristina's father. I'd recommend you work on the security and not me." Robin wasn't worried. She didn't' think that Alcazar would be so disrespectful as to hit a funeral and she was certain that Jason and Uncle Mac would have enough security about the place to make sure that nothing happened.
"You're so damn stubborn," Robert growled. "Don't risk your life just to spite me."
"She gets that from you," Mac accused his brother. He knew that Robin was immoveable, figured she would be, but they had to try. "Be careful, keep an eye out and try not to stay long." Mac leaned down and gave Robin a hug and kiss.
Robert stood with his hands on his hips looking worried and annoyed.
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