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Four

"I owe you big for this, thanks, man!" Patrick hung up the telephone, a big grin on his face.

"You look like the cat that ate the cream." Epiphany looked at Patrick with raised eyebrows.

"You my friend, Epiphany, are looking at a wonderful...um…friend. Robin is going to be so grateful to me." He leaned back against the counter in the nurse's station and rubbed his hands together. "And I can't wait to collect."

"Yeah? And what is she going to be so grateful for?" Epiphany put a pile of charts down on the counter.

"Ah, watch and observe." Patrick spied Robin as she walked towards the nurse's station. She spotted him and smiled as she put her patient chart down on the back counter and began to make some follow up notations. He walked over and leaned down on the counter. "Guess what you're doing this weekend."

"I'm going to New Haven for a reunion with my college housemates. Do you have Mr. Porter's films back yet, Epiphany?" Robin looked beyond Patrick to ask.

Silence.

"You're what?" Patrick asked, straightening up and pursing his lips.

"I'm going to New Haven for a…."

"I heard you." Patrick slid his hands into his jeans pockets, flaring his lab coat back. "So, who's coming to this? Just your old housemates?" he asked slowly.

Robin nodded. "Well, mostly. Shelly is bringing her fiancé David. None of us have vetted him yet and she's not allowed to marry him until we approve. Shelly had horrible taste in men all through college." Robin shook her head and laughed as she remembered the hours they used to spend talking about Shelly's creeps and Jason. "And Brad's wife Margie will come if they can get her parents to watch the kids. It was still up in the air. Other than that it's just the old roommates." Robin looked at Patrick curiously, her heart pounding. When he said nothing, just continued to shift around and avoid her eyes, she debated for a moment about dropping it but, with a mental sigh, decided one of them had to say what they meant. "You realize that I can't bring you to this, right?"

"Why not?" Patrick asked, frowning, finally looking up at her.

"Hi everyone, this is Patrick my friend with benefits he's here so we can get some during the weekend. I can't do that! Why would you even want to come along anyway?"

"You're right, bad idea." Patrick's expression hardened.

Ignoring the shaft of disappointment, Robin proffered an alternative invitation. "How about I make you dinner tonight at my place tonight since I'm leaving tomorrow?" Robin said in an attempt to be conciliatory and ease the tension that had been growing between them lately.

"What time?"

"Seven?"

Patrick nodded, grabbed his clipboard off the counter and with a quick glance at Epiphany walked away.

Robin leaned her elbows on the counter and turned her head to watch him go. Epiphany walked over and handed her the folder she had requested. "Don't even start." Robin put a hand up. "Patrick and I are adults who can manage our own relationship."

"Could have fooled me," Epiphany huffed and turned away.

Robin rolled her eyes and went back to work.

He was determined to get back on track and erase what happened this afternoon. Patrick stood outside Robin's apartment door with one hand on his hip and the other holding a bunch of flowers. He took a deep breath and raised his free hand to knock.

A moment later Robin opened the door. Seeing her with her hair pulled back, her face heated from cooking and wearing a yellow tank top and jeans, all thought left his head and traveled south. He licked his bottom lip and smiled shyly at her. "You look beautiful," he said gruffly and held the flowers out.

She blushed and looked doubtfully at him. "Thank you." She took the bouquet of purple tulips and closed her eyes to take in her scent.

Seeing Robin lose herself in the sensual experience of smelling the flowers he brought made him even harder. It also made his heart skip a beat, which set his brain to functioning again.

Robin opened her eyes and looked at him. "Thank you. Come in," Robin invited and stood back to let him in. Patrick walked in a few steps and then turned to face her. Robin waited for a moment. "I'm going to go put these in a vase and dinner should be ready soon. Do you want a drink?"

"Whatever you're having." He followed her towards the kitchen where she poured him a glass of iced tea, which he took and held up to the light with a grin. When she looked at him questioningly, he took a sip to let her know he was fine with the drink, then he leaned back to watch her snip the ends of the tulip stems and put them into a heart shaped, crystal cut vase.

"These are beautiful, thank you." She turned and smiled at him, her arms wrapped around the vase full of flowers. "Will you put these on the side table for me?"

Patrick put his glass on the counter and took the flowers. "I'm glad to see that these didn't meet the same fate as the last bunch of flowers I brought you," he said as he walked back into the kitchen.

"Does it help to know that I salvaged them after I discovered how wrong I was?" Robin looked at him pleadingly, a teasing tilt to her pink, glossed lips.

"Depends. Where did you put them?" he drawled as he picked up his glass of iced tea and took another drink.

"In the bedroom." Her smiled widened.

"Then I feel much better. How about a thank you, right here?" Patrick pointed to a spot on his cheek.

Robin laughed and shook her head, but walked up to him just the same. She put her hands on his arms. "You'll have to bend down. You're too tall."

"I am not too tall, you're too short!" Patrick laughed and bent down a little, but not enough. "And face it." He bent down just a bit further. "You love every inch of my body." His voice was gruff and suggestive.

Robin laughed and grasped his face. "You are an arrogant jerk." She pressed her lips to his. "I don't know why I put up with you."

"I do." Patrick grabbed her around the waist and pulled her against him. "Mind-bending sex."

"Oh, yeah, that." Robin put her hands around his neck and tipped her head back waiting for a kiss.

"About this afternoon…"

"Let's not talk about that now. Let's just enjoy the evening. Unless, there's something you want to tell me?" Her voice shook slightly at the look in his eyes.

He was silent for a moment. "No, let's do what you said and enjoy ourselves tonight." He leaned in and delivered the kiss Robin was waiting for.

"This was delicious, Dr. Scorpio." Patrick smiled at Robin across the table. The white tapered candles were almost down to stubs. "I'm impressed."

"Are you ready for dessert?"

"How about a dance first?" He looked towards the living room and then back at Robin. Playing in the background was a random selection of soft jazz from digital radio. Robin held up her slender hand and Patrick took into his strong, larger one and pulled her to her feet and into his arms and spun them to the larger area in front of the couch.

Robin rested one hand on his waist and the other up and entwined with Patrick's as they spun slowly around, staring into each other's eyes.

"I didn't know you were such a good dancer, Dr. Drake." Robin's eyes sparkled.

"I'm full of surprises."

Robin laughed at his echoing of her words and slid her hand around to cup his firm ass. He raised an eyebrow and bit his lip.

"Maybe we should take this dance into the other room?" she suggested. Before the words were out of her mouth she was in his arms and being carried into the bedroom.

When they got to the doorway they stopped abruptly.

"What's wrong?" she looked up at Patrick's face, in the dark she couldn't see his expression, only where he was looking. She turned her head and saw that her half-packed suitcase was on the bed. Damn, she thought, she hadn't had time to move it out of the way before he arrived. "Just push it aside." In the next moment she was dropped unceremoniously to her feet. She swayed dizzily as he turned and walked back out of the room and down the hall.

"Patrick?" Robin called out as she walked back into the living room where Patrick stood. His back was towards her and his hands were on his hips. "What…"

"When were you planning to tell me you were going away?"

She frowned in confusion. "It never came up." She walked over and turned off the music. When she turned back he was facing her.

"Never came up? That you're going out of town for the weekend? How does that not come up?"

"I have no idea where this is coming from, Patrick. You. Me." She motioned between them. "Are having no strings sex and suddenly I need to clear my schedule with you? We never plan anything in advance, was I supposed to wait around to see if you wanted to do something this weekend?"

"That's bullshit, Robin. We had that play planned weeks in advance."

Robin had to concede that point. "True, but that was your doing. Anytime I've ever tried to make plans in advance you take great pains to remind me of the temporary and uncertain nature of our relationship, if I can even use that word." Robin crossed her arms.

"When? When did you ever plan anything in advance?"

"Emily's birthday party."

"Once, and that was almost two months ago." Patrick slashed his hand dismissively before putting it back on his hip.

"I learned my lesson well, Patrick."

"You don't even know what Saturday is do you?"

Robin thought for a moment. "July 29th is um, no, I have no idea." She shook her head.

"Two months, it's been two months to the day since we went for a picnic."

Robin blinked and just looked at him. She was speechless.

"I had planned something to commemorate that. Something special. For you. For us."

Robin blinked again. "Let me get this straight, you were planning to celebrate the anniversary of the start of our no strings casual sex affair? Does that even make sense?" She held one hand palm up. "How was I to know anyway? You didn't tell me in advance either."

"You know what? It's probably a good thing you're going away this weekend. It's been getting too heavy between us." He turned and walked towards the door.

"Heavy?" Robin's voice shook with disappointment and fury. "You're right. This will be a good chance for both of us to rethink this entire arrangement!"

"Have a good weekend, thanks for dinner," Patrick said quietly as he walked out and closed the door behind him.

Robin's jaw dropped and tears flooded her eyes as the sound of the door clicking shut. She put her hand to her chest. She had no idea what had happened, how a lovely dinner had spiraled out of control like that. Did they just break up? Not that there was any relationship to break up. It felt like a break up, though. Tears began to slide down her cheeks and her breath caught. She walked over to the table and blew out the candles and began cleaning up. She had been playing by the rules they had agreed to, the only ones he would agree to. And now he was mad about it and trying to make her feel like she was in the wrong? What the hell was going on?

What was she going to do now?