A/N: Thanks for reading this story. I hope it was fun for you all!

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If You're Not the One – Part 32/32
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Robin threw the kitchen towel onto the counter and put her hands on her hips and glared at the cabinets in a vain attempt to calm her nerves. Oh hell with this! She whirled around. "If you feel that way Patrick I can pack my things right now and go home!" They'd been staying together for a week now and they were driving each other mad. Neither of them were used to staying at home and not working. Neither of them were communicating with each other fully. The combination was making them edgy.

"Dammit, Robin…" Patrick dropped the sponge he was using to wipe down the kitchen table.

"Don't even try it!" Robin stormed out of the kitchen into the dining room. She stormed around the table and into the living room. Patrick was hot on her heels. "I won't let you do this!"

"Do what? God, I don't even know what the hell you're freaking out about this time!" Patrick stalked after her into the living room.

Robin spun around and put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"If you don't like what I'm…"

"I don't even know what…"

"That's because…"

"Stop!" Patrick yelled.

Robin spun around and put her back to the fuming man.

"Robin Anna Scorpio!"

"You have been talking to my mother way too…"

"Because you won't be reasonable!" Patrick stormed up to her and grabbed her arm.

"Reasonable!" Robin spun around and faced Patrick.

"What the hell are we arguing about?" Patrick shook his head, kept his hand on Robin's arm and bit his lip.

"I heard that message!" Robin whispered.

"She left me a message! I didn't call her!" Patrick closed his eyes. "God, Robin. Do you not know by now that I love you?"

Robin froze and her eyes widened. She took a breath and turned back around and faced Patrick. "What? You what?" Her hands clenched and unclenched.

Patrick was just as shocked as she was. Not the sentiment, he'd known for a while that he was in love with Robin, had planned to tell her when she woke up but it never seemed the right time, though never having told a woman he loved her he wouldn't have known the right time if it walked up to him and introduced itself. Which was why he hadn't said it before now. He tilted his head and looked at his shocked and silent girlfriend and thought that maybe this was that right time after all since she was finally not arguing with him.

"I said." He walked up to her and sat down on the edge of the couch and pulled her unresisting body to stand between his thighs. "That I love you." He smiled and let the ball lob into her court.

"You love me?" Robin blinked and was still looking at him like he was an insect under a microscope.

"Yes." Patrick smirked as he waited out her thought process.

"Since when?"

"Probably since the first time I caught you ogling my assets." He teased and looped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

"I'm being serious, Patrick."

"I know you're trying to be." He dipped his head and pressed his nose against hers. "Now how about you tell me that you love me too?" He knew he was taking a big chance saying something that was tantamount to giving an order. With her temperament she could quite likely refuse to do so just as a matter of pride. He let out a small sigh of relief when he saw her eyes start to sparkle and felt her face transform into a smile.

"I love you, too," she said softly, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Yeah? Since when?" he asked and bit his bottom lip.

Robin slid her fingers through the back of his hair and pondered the question. "I don't really know when it happened, I just know that you always…"

"Mattered?"

"Yeah, you always mattered. Even when I hated you."

"You never hated me." His smile widened and he pulled her closer. She tilted her head back and he hovered over her lips enticingly.

"I did. I really did. You were a soulless, presumptuous, arrogant jerk."

"Hey, that's the man you love you're talking about." Patrick chuckled.

"Yeah, it is." Robin sighed and pulled his head down the distance required to fit their lips together. They kissed for a few minutes, neither able to get enough of each other, and then Robin pulled back. "This isn't one of those heat of the moment things you're going to regret? I.." Robin pulled out of his embrace and crossed her arms. "You don't regret what you said do you?" Her face was pale.

It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her that she was exhausting, to blow his stack and stomp off like she had done only moments before. But her fear was a palpable thing between them and since he really did love her he decided to take another tact. "I didn't plan to say it right now, Robin, but I had planned to say it. I just couldn't seem to find the right time. I thought maybe this was it?" He shrugged and stood up and began to walk past her.

"Wait." Robin put her hand on his arm. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. I'm just going to get something." He put his hand on her hair. "I'll be right back."

Robin hugged herself and stood where he had left her. The moments waiting seemed endless before she heard him coming back down the stairs again.

"Here." She turned her head and saw that he was holding out two white envelopes to her. The same ones he had given her for safe-keeping before his surgery. "Read these."

Robin took the envelopes and looked up at him. "Are you sure? Both of them?" One of them was addressed to Noah.

"Yes." Patrick looked around and decided to leave her alone. "I'll finish cleaning up in the kitchen."

Robin nodded and frowned at the envelopes she held gingerly in her hand. She didn't move until Patrick left the living room. She walked out onto the balcony and closed the door behind her and sat down on a chair and put the letters into her lap. Which one should she open first? She considered whether she wanted to savor her letter for last or whether it would be too intrusive to read Noah's at all, even though Patrick had asked her to. She blew out a breath and opened an envelope and pulled out a sheet of paper three-quarters filled with Patrick's chicken scratch handwriting.

She began to read. She swallowed past a lump in her throat as she read the things that Patrick had written to his father. The father he had risked his own life to save and was writing to in case he himself didn't make it through. He spoke words of forgiveness, about his mother and his love for his father. Most of it, she was surprised to realize she had heard directly from the author himself. It was dawning on her just how deep Patrick had let her go with him. It had seemed like torturous route at the time to get underneath the glib exterior, but at this end it seemed to have happened so quickly and easily. It seemed that he had wanted to have her there. Now, he was outright telling her so. And telling her so much more. It was the last few lines of the letter that loosened the tears from her eyes.

Don't be angry at Robin for helping me save you, she did it just as much for me as she did for you. She knew that I would not be able to live with myself if I hadn't done all I could to save you, even at the cost of my own life. She more than anyone knows the importance of using the time we have the best way we can. Please take care of her for me. She is the woman I love. She would have been your daughter-in-law. Make sure she gets mom's ring. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home.

The letter dropped into Robin's lap and she covered her face with her hands and sobbed. She didn't know if she could read the letter written directly to her. Her heart might just explode it was so filled with love, joy and a hundred other emotions it was overwhelming. She took a deep breath, then another and then swiped at the tears on her cheeks and opened her letter, careful to avoid smudging it with her tear soaked fingers.

Robin,

I'll do this quick since you'll be here soon and this is the stuff I'm not ready to say out loud and you're not ready to hear.

Things like I love you and I've already gotten my mother's ring from the safe deposit box to give you. I know that would make my mother happy. She would have loved you, both for who you are as well as for all you've done for me and my dad. If I believed in such things I'd say she sent you to us.

In case you're wondering, I think I've loved you ever since you barged into my OR spitting fire and pretending you weren't ogling me. Yeah, I caught you ;-). So promise me that you will not let my death haunt you. Promise me that you will be happy and that you will open yourself up to life and to love. You deserve it more than anyone I know.

Always know that you gave me more life in the short time I've known you than I've ever had before it. I've enjoyed sparring with you, Dr. Scorpio. And I've enjoyed kissing you. Sorry I missed out on the more (which I euphemistically refer to as "payoff").

Robin always know that you have my heart. I guess you had me from "make it quick." Patrick.

"Robin?" Patrick's hesitant voice permeated the haze caused by the sobs that shook Robin's body. She shook her head, unable to stem the tide of emotions overwhelming her. The letters were swept from her lap and she was pulled into Patrick's embrace. She held on tightly.

"I didn't mean to upset you. Please stop crying. Were they that bad?" Patrick sat down in another chair and cradled her in his lap. "Please stop crying."

"I love you. I love you. I love you."

"I knew it."

Robin laughed through her tears and sat up straighter. She used the sleeves of her sweatshirt to wipe her face. She then cupped Patrick's face. "I can't believe you wrote all that." Her voice was full of wonder.

"You spooked me with all your worrying. I knew I was going to be fine." He shrugged. The motivation the led him to write the letters a distant memory for him now. "And if you read them before it would have saved me a lot of trouble of trying to figure out how to tell you I love you."

"Did you want me to go get the ring for you too?" She bit her lip and looked at him through her lashes.

"Actually." He dug into the pocket of his jeans. "I've been carrying this around all week. Kept having to stash it around whenever you jumped me."

"Right, I jumped you." Robin rolled her eyes and took the box he handed her into her trembling hands. She looked into his face, asking silently if he really was ready for her to look at it. He reached down and covered her hands with his own and they opened it together. She gasped and covered her lips when she saw the beautiful emerald cut Ruby surrounded by tiny diamonds on a platinum band. She looked back into Patrick's face. Her heart skipped when she saw the utter seriousness in his eyes. Her breath caught.

"Robin, will you do me the honor of being my wife?"

A thousand reasons to say no swirled through Robin's mind as she started into Patrick's earnest dark eyes. But her heart said the answer that came from her lips.

"Yes." She grinned and he slid the finger onto her finger as she leaned forward and kissed her fiancé for the first time.