A/N: Once again, I didn't exactly update this story as quickly as I would have liked. Things got really stressful and confusing right when I got back into writing this chapter and I wasn't exactly able to find time to sit down and write. This chapter isn't all that long; it's kind of a filler. It's just trying to get their feelings out in the open, at least with themselves. But I have some plans for this story so please be patient with me and stick with me. I have exams in a couple weeks so a lot of my time will be spent studying but after exams I am out of school for three months so hopefully then, I will manage to update a little quicker. But thanks you guys for all of the amazing reviews and please, keep 'em coming!

Here we go…

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To Close for Comfort

Chapter Five: The Truth in Fairy Tales

He walked through his apartment door at three in the morning, an unmistakable smile plastered on his face. He unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt near his neck and around his wrist. He took his watch off, and took his wallet out of his back pocket, walking down his dark hallway to his bedroom. He threw his watch and wallet on the side table near the door and finished unbuttoning his shirt. He had a giddy feeling flowing through his body. He felt like he was floating.

Any other time he would have considered a night like tonight, a sham. He wasn't having a good time in her bed right now... he hadn't even gotten a good night kiss! The funny thing was, however, he didn't really care. For the first time in quite awhile, he had had a real conversation with an intelligent woman. She hadn't gone with him expecting anything from him in return. It was simply dinner and some good company. And for once, that had been enough. He found himself laughing and smiling. He even caught himself staring at her quite a bit. She was just so infectious. She never had any expectations of him or anyone around her. She knew the world was tough, she knew the world could disappoint. He felt his stomach constrict at the thought of being that thing, that person that disappointed her. He felt himself changing. He felt his attitude changing, his everyday life. He was constantly thinking of her and what she would do. If he was faced with a difficult decision, he always wondered what Robin would do. Would she face this problem head on or run away scared?

That night on the roof, something in him shifted. Suddenly he realized he didn't have to be that cold and unfeeling person anymore. He didn't have to shelter himself. Sure, he was terrified of falling for someone and getting hurt but wasn't that apart of life? Getting hurt but having the strength to move past it? She taught him that. He always had so much respect for her and the life she lived. Yes, he had antagonized her when they first met; always criticizing her life with his theories, but he never truly wanted to hurt her and he always respected her. Knowing that she was HIV positive, she had lost so many people she loved at such a young age... she was the strongest person he had ever met.

Now he was stripped down to his boxer shorts and heading for the bathroom, ready for his hot shower... He felt his feelings growing each and every day for her. The possibility that he was falling in love with her always in the back of his mind, but he refused to let himself believe that he could feel that emotion. He was scared that if he let himself recognize that he was capable of feeling love and being in love, he would run scared. He would run away from her and never look back, too afraid to go through what his mother went through when she lost his father.

The water slammed into his body, soothing his tense muscles, relaxing his body in seconds. He wasn't sure where exactly things were going to go with him and Robin. She was such an amazing woman and to even be able to spend a little time with her was amazing and he was extremely lucky. He didn't want to over-analyze... so he was going to let it all go. He was going to let whatever was going to happen, happen.

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She sat on her couch, watching television and eating a pint of her favorite Ben & Jerry's ice cream... Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Normally, she saved such things for special occasions; celebrations. But now she found herself, unable to sleep; her mind focused on the man she had just spent her evening and night with. She had seen a different side of him during the freak accident today. She saw the sympathetic side, the doctor side. The time when all that mattered were the patients and saving all of their lives. He was on a mission... Superman. He was determined to try and save every person that walked into that hospital. It didn't matter by what means... he was going to save their lives. And he did.

Somehow, in a matter of only a day, her feelings for the doctor had changed. She knew that for the past few weeks she had been denying her feelings for him and playing it off by fighting and arguing with him any chance she got. But in one day and on the brink of a crisis, he showed his real side. He showed the side of Patrick Drake that she could actually have feelings for; fall in love with.

The thought was crazy actually. What really was love? Webster's dictionary defines it as "a feeling of attraction resulting from sexual desire." If that was true then she was hopelessly and madly in love with the man in question, and she had been since the minute she met him. But she wasn't the only one. She was only one woman at General Hospital, in Port Charles. He showed up and forever the looks of men were changed. But she wasn't in love with him. She wasn't. She refused to believe that she could be... no.

Of course, Mr. Webster left out the truth of love. The petty, meaningless fights and arguments when in a bad mood or when the other person just grows alittlebit over the line of annoying. The heartbreak when it all ends and your world has come to a screeching halt, and is crumbling at your feet. The tears and the endless amounts of ice cream and chocolate consumed. Love was shown as the everlasting emotion; nothing could break it or bend it. Love conquers all. There will always be a happy ending. The princess always finds her prince and they ride off into the sunset.

Some would say that stuff was only in fairly tales, none of it ever came true. She was divided. Part of her wanted to believe that she was Cinderella and she had found her prince. But at the same time, she knew better than anyone that life wasn't fair and the person you love could be taken from you without a moment's notice. That certainly wasn't in any fairy tale that she had ever read.

Patrick had a reputation. He was the womanizer, the dog, the cheater. He was never anyone's prince charming. Sure, he was tall, dark, and handsome but that was the major problem. Almost every women she knew, was attracted to him. And who wouldn't be? With his tall, lean, muscular body and to die for smile with that perfectly placed dimple? He was a hottie and he knew it. He worked the attention for all he could get and didn't know when to stop.

Could she be with a man who was biological flirt? Would he be able to resist the other women and be in a monogamous relationship? Was he even willing to give up his freedom?

Who was she kidding? They had just had a dinner and a really great conversation but that didn't mean they were "dating." If anything, it just made things all that much more complicated because now where did they stand? Was it just what it seemed, a simple dinner? Was it more? Was she reading too much into whatever "it" was?

She was emotional. She was a woman. But Patrick was a man. He saw things from a different angle than she did, and not only because of their height difference. When he looked at a woman, it was like he was a lion hunting his prey. He saw what he wanted and went after it. But she, on the other hand, was more reserved. She didn't roll with the punches and grab life by the horns, waiting to see where it all took her. She had HIV and that restricted her. Although, she was finally realizing that her disease didn't have to control her life. Much of that realization had to do with Patrick. He walked into her life smug and cocky and was turning her world upside down.

Now she just had to decide if she was willing to jump aboard the ride and enjoy every moment… or be left in the dust wishing she could let go of her inhibitions. Wishing she could be the woman that Patrick pictured himself with. The woman that he sought out in the bars and clubs at night. The woman that, maybe, he could change for.