A/N: Wow! I'm impressed! I didn't think the reviews could get any better but they did! You guys are amazing! I'm sorry if the end of the last chapter confused some of you but it will all start making sense soon enough. But thank you guys so much for the amazing feedback! I LOVE reading it all!

hugs and kisses

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Help Me Fall

Chapter Ten: Defending the Rightly Deserved

"Are you alright? You seem a little upset…"

"I'm fine." Robin stated. If she told Patrick the truth that she had found out that Jason was following them and spying on them, he wouldn't be so understanding. "Jason and I were just talking and it really got me thinking about the past…"

"Do you want to talk about it?" He took her hand in his and squeezed lightly.

"We just ended things is all… not that they weren't over. We just got closure." She explained. "Ten years ago, I left Port Charles and vowed to myself that I would never return and a large part of that reason was Jason. I just got to thinking about something he said about coming back to help him… I told him that I wasn't in his life and I hadn't been for years…" She wasn't even paying attention to Patrick any longer. Now she was talking more to herself than anyone else. "But yet I still came running when he needed help…"

Patrick shifted uncomfortably in his seat, not really wanting to hear the sorted details of her relationship with Jason. He really didn't like anything about the man… his career, his attitude, and the fact that he was once very close to Robin didn't help matters.

"I'm sorry." He heard her say. "I shouldn't be putting this on you. It's all in the past anyway and I should leave it there and move on."

"What are we doing Robin?" Patrick asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, is this some kind of game to you? If it isn't obvious to you already, I care about you. I don't want to hear about your past relationship with Jason Morgan. In my opinion, he is a thug and quite frankly I'm amazed that you ever gave a man like him the time of day but then you look down on me…" He was rambling and he knew it. He also knew he was spouting out information that he would probably regret later but he didn't care. The truth was, he DID care for Robin and he didn't want this to only be fun anymore. He wanted this to be serious. He wanted it to be the two of them… "I guess I just need to know if this is all some sort of fun time for you or if you could see something coming out of this. Whatever this is, it's my first and I don't want to ruin it… but at the same time I am scared…" He was interrupted when her lips slammed onto his in a forceful kiss.

"Come on," She stood and held out her hand for him to take, "we have some things we have to talk about and I would rather not do it here."

--

They walked through the door of her apartment, holding hands but were silent. They had taken their separate cars from Kelly's back to her place so they had avoided the awkwardness in the small, in closed space, but the awkwardness had only been carried into the apartment with them.

You could feel it in the air. The tension. They both knew what was coming and both were terrified of what would be said. This was where they figured out where their relationship was going, or if it even was a relationship.

"Do you want anything? Something to drink or eat?" Robin offered.

"Can we just talk, Robin?"

They locked eyes, as if trying to remember this moment when they were happy and it was only them spending 'friendly' time together. Neither knew where things would lead after their 'talk.'

"Okay…" Patrick said after a long pause when they were seated next to each other on the couch, "this is really awkward."

"Don't let anyone say you aren't a smart cookie…" Robin stated sarcastically. "Okay, look… I don't know where or what we are. I don't want you thinking that this is all about being fun and carefree because it isn't. These past few months have been great and I really have enjoyed them and I have enjoyed getting to know you." She was playing nervously with her hands and she refused to make eye contact. "I care about you too Patrick. That's why I stood up for you today to Jason. I do care for you and you are a really great friend…"

"That's the problem… are we just friends or are we something else? I'll be honest with you Robin; I have never kissed one of my guy friends the way I kiss you." He smirked at her, trying to lighten the mood. "Like I said, this, whatever this is, is new territory for me. I don't know what I'm doing or how I'm feeling." It was his turn to refuse to look her in the eye. "I can't go back to the way things were before. I can't act like these past couples of months haven't happened…"

"And I'm not asking you to…" She interjected. "But I'm scared too. I haven't felt this way in a really long time and I don't know if I'm ready to feel this way again. I have been hurt before when I listened with my heart instead of me head…"

"I'm not Morgan. I'm not going to hurt you…" he interjected. "I know that you lost Stone and I know Jason hurt you when he said he wouldn't, but I'm already in this thing too deep. This isn't just your heart and feelings on the line anymore."

"I want to believe that. I want to trust in everything that you are saying… I really do. I want to be the carefree woman that you want but I can't be. For years, I have been sheltered from almost everyone. I have always protected myself from a very young age and it takes a lot for me to trust someone." She gave a shaky sigh. "And it's not just because of losing Stone or anything that happened with Jason. I lost both my parents at a really young age, or at least I thought I lost the both of them. It just seemed that I kept getting hit with the pain and the only way to stop that pain, was to not put myself out there to feel it…"

"I am beginning to understand why I am who I am… I watched my dad crash and burn and I never wanted to feel that pain… but somehow… I stopped paying attention and you helped me break down this fence that I have had around my heart for years." He now looked into her eyes, refusing to let her look away. "I can't promise that I won't hurt you or that things will always be perfect because I can almost promise you that they won't, but I'm willing to give this a chance. I want to give us a chance. And it doesn't even matter how things end…" he continued on, "because I will have had a chance with you and I will have spent the best moments of my life with a woman like you."

She moved closer to him on the couch and put her hands on his face, touching her lips gently to his. She pulled back and looked deeply in his eyes, letting him know everything he needed to. "I trust you…"

--

She walked off the elevator with a broad smile covering her face… it was almost like she was skipping from each patient room to the next. She was humming as she walked and you received a warm smile every time she was near.

"What has you so cheerful this morning?" Liz asked, her eyes full of wonder. "This wouldn't have to do with any certain tall, dark haired doctor would it?"

"I don't know what you are talking about…" Robin tried to play it cool.

"Oh don't even try to deny it! I saw the two of you together the other day and don't think I haven't noticed your chipper mood recently? Or Patrick's for that matter…" Robin blushed slightly and was all of a sudden very interested in the patient chart in front of her. "Uh huh… that's what I thought." Liz stated smiling before turning and walking away shaking her head as she walked.

"Did I just hear Liz right?" A familiar voice asked from behind Robin. "What exactly is going on with you and Patrick Drake?"

She gave a heavy sigh, her smile and good mood quickly disappearing. "Sonny, I have already had this conversation with Jason and I don't feel like having it with you so if you wouldn't mind…" She began to walk away only to have him follow her.

"Why would you even think about fraternizing with a man like him? He is nothing but…"

She cut him off. "He is nothing but a great guy with an amazing personality. He happens to make me smile and I have nothing but fin when I spend time with him." She turned to face him. "I will tell you the same thing I told Jason… we haven't been in each other's lives for a really long time now. Neither one of you has a right to critique the man that I am seeing…"

"Why don't I have a right? You are like a little sister to me…"

"I used to be like a little sister to you. We have both changed in the past decade Sonny." She spat at him. "And if I was such a little sister to you, where were the phone calls and the birthday cards? I lived in Paris, Sonny, I wasn't dead."

"It goes both ways you know…"

She sighed deeply. "Let's just end this right now. We both know there is no place in your life for me and frankly, I don't really want to be. It's nice not having the danger on my back or having to worry about whether or not I'm going to living because I am in the wrong place at the wrong time. I am happy with Patrick and nothing you say or do will change that." She was breathing heavier than she thought she was. "Patrick is a good guy and we really care for each other…"

"So what… Dr. Drake suddenly replaces everyone that ever meant anything to you because he is a doctor and he has done some amazing things in his life?"

"I never said that Sonny. I just said that I don't have anything to worry about any longer…"

"No, you don't have to worry until the next skinny blonde walks in his line of sight, and offers him what you can't, and he accepts that offer; tearing your heart into pieces."

She smacked him before she knew what she had done, fire glowing in her eyes. "You have no right to pass judgment on a man like Patrick! Not when you have slept with God knows how many people and not just people… a mother and a daughter and you got them BOTH pregnant! Do not stand here and preach to me!" She fumed. "Patrick is twice the man you are! Sure, he may be an arrogant pain in my ass sometimes but that is what makes him that man he is. He is respected and he has a rightful reason to be! He SAVES lives Sonny! You take them… now tell me who the better man is." She hadn't meant to let all of that slip, she really hadn't. But she was sick of this bad wrap that Patrick had. He was a truly decent guy and he had been there for her. Sure he had a reputation but what the man did in private was his business, and no one else's. "Just leave Sonny. We are two different people now…" She wanted to say more but she was on empty. She had nothing. She stared at him a moment longer before turning and leaving him standing in the middle of the hallway, clutching his red cheek.

--

He stood in the shadows once more. Things only continued to get better and better. Not only did she have a connection with Morgan, she had a connection with Corinthos as well. It seemed things were finally falling into place, killing two birds with one stone.

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A/N: So there it is… now, I'm not sure if I'm going to have the BIG action start in the next chapter or if I will have it be in chapter twelve instead… but I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will have the next chapter out in hopefully a few days…