You people are slaying me with all the crack metaphors in your feedback! I'm dying of laughter reading it all, thanks! This chapter took an unexpected turn and threw my entire outline off. But Robin insisted this was how it was going to go. The character gets the final say. So, I'm seriously making it up after this point….hang on!

Five

"Don't you have off today, Patrick?" Noah asked as he came to stand next to his son at the tenth floor nurse's station.

"Not anymore." Patrick shrugged and handed the waiting nurse the file he had been working on. He turned and looked at his father. "You're looking healthy. Things going well?"

"I haven't been drinking."

"That's not what I meant," Patrick said stiffly. "I was inquiring about the state of your health and my liver after your transplant operation."

Noah sighed, wondering if he and his would he and his son ever be on the same page? Problem was they were both the same kind of stubborn. "I'm doing well. Do you have plans tonight? Because if you don't maybe we can have dinner together?" Noah asked, looking hopeful.

"I was supposed to, but I don't now. Where do you want to go?"

"I hear Robin is out of town," Noah pretended to be concentrating on his dinner salad. The father-son duo was dining out at the Metrocourt restaurant. A convenient choice since both men lived downstairs.

"How did you hear that?" Patrick looked up.

"I wanted her for a consult and I was told she had taken off." Noah paused, wary of his son's tense expression. "Is everything all right between you two?"

"What do you mean?" Patrick scowled and looked down at his untouched salad.

Noah sighed and put his fork down. Apparently, being subtle wasn't going to work. "I mean since you and Robin have been seeing each other and she's out of town without you and you're in a bad mood I was wondering if you two had a fight."

"We're not seeing each other." Patrick shifted and didn't look up.

"You broke up?"

"There was nothing to break up. We were never seeing each other." Patrick shrugged.

Noah closed his eyes. "I haven't had such a hard time understanding anyone since I was drunk." Noah opened his eyes and leaned forward. "I know you and Robin are seeing each other. Everyone in the hospital knows it. Some have even seen it, which by the way isn't the most professional of behavior."

"Give me a break; you aren't seriously lecturing me about that given your own reputation at GH, which still lives today." Patrick snorted.

Noah smirked proudly for a moment. "If you don't want to talk about what happened with Robin I'll drop it. I'm only asking because I care about you and I have never seen you look as happy as you have the last two months."

"You knew it was two months," Patrick mumbled under his breath. Noah heard him and his smiled widened. "What?" Patrick snapped and glared at his father.

Noah just smiled at his son and then took a slow sip of his water. He put the water glass down and with much ceremony straightened the cloth napkin in his lap. "You mentioned earlier that you had other plans that fell through, I suppose those were with Robin? How did you screw that up?"

"Why do you assume I did anything? She was the one who had other plans and didn't tell me about them. Some reunion with her college roommates that I wasn't welcome to attend."

"That doesn't sound like Robin." Noah frowned in surprise. "Did you ask her why?"

Patrick opened his mouth to respond, but then closed it. He started toying with the lettuce on his plate with his fork. "The thing is Robin and I have, had this arrangement. No strings. No commitment. No hurt feelings. Technically, I guess she didn't have to." Patrick cleared his throat and continued toying with his food.

Noah rubbed his forehead. "How in the world did you get Robin to agree to that? Robin is not that kind of woman, Patrick." Noah shook his head in disappointment. "Don't tell me, you got mad at her for what sounds like playing by the rules. Rules that were your idea in the first place, I bet."

"Actually, Robin wrote those rules." Patrick pointed his fork at his father.

"After you refused to have a bona fide relationship I'm sure." Noah sat back and looked at his son, disappointment writ large on his face. "Now, it looks like you're regretting that stupidity. I could have predicted this, which is probably why you didn't tell me before. So much for no hurt feelings."

"I don't have hurt feelings."

"You're pouting." Noah smirked.

"I do not pout." Patrick dropped his fork and threw up his hands. "I wish people would stop saying I'm pouting."

Noah laughed. "That my son is the same pout you used to make when your mom and I would send you to bed and you wanted to stay up longer. Tell me, what asinine thing did you say to Robin before she left to make sure she was as miserable as you are right now and what you're going to do to fix it?"

"Not feeling the love here, Dad." Patrick leaned back in his chair and was, well, pouting.

"Precisely. Let me tell you something you've obviously missed. Robin Scorpio is not the kind of woman you have a no-strings affair with. She's the kind of woman that you fall in love with. She is your equal in every way and you are hers. And you both would rather cut off your tongues than say what you really feel, which is probably why you both entered into this dumb ass arrangement and are now suffering by spending the weekend apart miserable without each other."

"Do you think she's miserable without me?"

"Remind me to smack you in the head later." Noah sighed and wished he could have at least one glass of whiskey before talking to his son.

Robin dropped her bag in her bedroom and flopped down beside it. She closed her eyes and told herself she wouldn't fall asleep like that before she unpacked. It had been a long weekend. A good weekend, just long. She had enjoyed catching up with her friends and they had all fallen in love with Shelly's fiancé. The girl had finally gotten it right. Part of Robin envied her. The way David looked at her told everyone he was absolutely smitten with her.

Brad's wife hadn't been able to make it, so Robin, Brad and Sean had gone pub crawling together when Shelly and David called it an early night. It had been a total blast. They had hustled pool, one-upped each other on creative shots and danced all night. Even when there was no dance floor. She had even met a few guys to flirt with. Part of her wished she didn't have HIV solely so she could have taken one of them up on their offers of a one-night stand, then maybe she could break the hold Patrick had over her, but the truth was she wasn't even really tempted. Hadn't been tempted by any other man, in fact, since she had decided to sleep with Patrick. Which apparently, was over two months ago.

She couldn't believe that he had planned to celebrate that. Well, of course, he had celebrated Bastille Day, a Yankees game win and pretty much anything else he could think of to justify spending hours in bed. "So don't go making it into something it's not," she reminded herself for the umpteenth time since Friday. In the hazy hours of Saturday morning she and Sean had sat up sharing their relationship woes. Robin and Sean had talked herself all the way up to Patrick was in love with her right back to he was just upset he wasn't getting laid this weekend because he was having trouble luring women to his bed since he was sleeping with someone who was HIV+.

In the end, Sean had threatened to come to Port Charles and sleep with Patrick himself, in Sean's world there were no straight men, only men who hadn't been victims of his charm, if she didn't go to sleep. Robin had groaned in realization that her old buddy was just the gay version of Patrick Drake, and therefore her father, and dropped off like a light.

Many hours of driving, too much alcohol, too many conflicted thoughts about Patrick and not enough sleep later Robin was home and even more confused than when she had left. Were she and Patrick over now? Was that for the best? Did she even want more from him in the first place? Could she trust him to follow-through when every time in the past he'd shut like a venus flytrap the moment he showed any vulnerability? She had no idea and despite the fact that she had declared a moratorium on all things Patrick at some point on Saturday – their putative anniversary – she had never stopped obsessing about him and what to do.

Just then her cell phone started to ring. "If that's the hospital I think I'm going to cry." Robin rolled over and felt around for her purse and pulled out her phone without opening her eyes. "Scorpio."

"Are you home yet?"

"Patrick." Robin's eyes popped open and she propped herself up on her elbow. "I just got home." Her heart had started pounding the moment she heard his deep, sexy voice.

"I'd like to take you out to dinner."

Robin couldn't stop the smile that lit up her face. "Anywhere but the Metrocourt." Suddenly, she wasn't so tired anymore.

"Did you have fun this weekend?" Patrick asked as he guided her into the restaurant he had chosen for them. "More importantly, did you miss me?" Robin smiled and shrugged. Patrick slid his hand up her back to cup her neck. "I missed you." Robin's smile widened. "Throw me a bone, Scorpio."

She put her hand on his waist and slanted a look up at him. "I missed you," she said softly.

"What was that? I didn't hear you?"

Robin laughed and moved to stand facing him. She rested her hands on the waist band of his pants. "I said, I missed you."

"Did you tell your friends all about me?" He grinned and licked his lips.

Robin shrugged. "What did you do all weekend? Or should I ask who?" She raised an eyebrow at him. Her stomach quivered and she stopped touching him.

"Let's see. Friday I worked." He ticked off one finger. "Saturday, I worked. Saturday night I had dinner with my dad. Sunday, what did I do, oh yeah, worked." He put his hands on her face. "No need to be jealous."

Robin's heart pounded. She didn't think he was lying, but she was surprised. She thought the first thing he'd do was explore other possibilities. "How did dinner with Noah go?"

"I think my dad is doing like yours and trying to make up for all the missed years in one fell swoop." Patrick grimaced.

"Lectures?" Robin smirked.

Patrick nodded and then looked up as the hostess returned to lead them to their table. Once they were seated they studied their menus and placed their orders. "Had enough alcohol this weekend?" Patrick motioned towards the glass of ice water she'd told the waitress she was content with.

Robin nodded, her eyes wide. "Some I've never even heard of before. It was a lot of fun, although I think I could sleep for a week now. I'm not eighteen anymore. Thank god."

"Let's take off work and I'll join you." He winked.

Robin looked down. "Before we hit the sheets we should talk about how we left things Thursday." Robin looked up. "We've been arguing lately, and not in our usual disagree about everything on principle kind of way."

Patrick nodded, all trace of humor leaving his face. "As my father succinctly pointed out, I think it was during lecture five thousand and fifty seven, I had no right to be angry at you for having other plans when I never even asked you what you were doing this weekend when I made plans for us."

"The thing is, Patrick, I did think about telling you weeks ago but I thought it would be crossing some kind of invisible line in our arrangement." She shook her head. "This was supposed to be easy, but it's not anymore, is it?" She dug her nails into the napkin as she waited for his answer.

"No, it's not." He looked down and pursed his lips. His brow was furrowed evidencing his deep thought, and his hesitation. He finally looked up and licked his lips. When he spoke, his voice was gruff. "I like being with you Robin and not just in bed." He dimpled for a moment at the mention of bed, before turning serious again. "I care about you more than I've cared about any woman. I'm just…I'm not ready to promise things I don't know that I can deliver. Things like long haul. But I'm not ready to end things with either. I don't want to." He shook his head and blew out a breath and licked his bottom lip again. "I'm hoping we can meet on some middle ground. Up the ante."

Robin took in what he said. "What exactly is a middle ground?" she asked hesitantly.

"I was hoping you would know that." Patrick forced a smile when the waiter came over and served their soups. They had both ordered the lobster bisque. Once the waiter was gone neither moved to eat their food. "What about dating? Can't we just date? Can you give me more time?" he asked.

Robin looked at Patrick. He seemed so pained, so earnest. And god, she wanted him so badly. Cared for him so much. More than she'd let herself admit before now. She could fall in love with him. Maybe she already had. This was dangerous because he might never be able to reciprocate. What was it she had said to him once? That you had to take joy where you could find it, even if it wasn't exactly what you had planned? This seemed to be one of those times. She wasn't ready to give him up yet either. Maybe it was weak, but she nodded in assent. "Dating? Are you sure you can handle that?" She grinned at him.

Patrick's answering smile took her breath away. "I've heard this place has the best lobster bisque in town. Let's eat before it gets cold."

TBC