A/N: There's a side joke here in a comment made by Noah that I'll explain at the end. Thanks for all the feedback!

Eight

"Sleep well?" Patrick's deep voice broke through the fog of sleep that Robin fought through to wakefulness. She opened her eyes to find his dark ones directly in her line of vision as he looked down at her. She nodded and reached up to caress his stubbled cheek. She smiled lazily and rolled herself closer to his warm, naked body. "Mmmm, want a little sumtin' sumtin' this morning?"

Too content to be baited Robin wrapped her fingers around his hard-on and slid her leg between his. She grinned lasciviously at his sharp intake of breath and began to stroke him.

"Have I told you how much I love waking up with you?" He thrust into her hand and dragged her against him and leisurely kissed her waiting mouth as she continued to make love to him with her hands.

The next space of time was filled with sensual and intimate indulgence. When he buried himself inside her, she surrounded him. When he drank of her, she tenderly cared for him. Their mutual release was long and deep and sublime and left them both shaking. As the physical sensations faded they lie together staring into each other's eyes until Robin's alarm went off and it was time for them to start the day.

"And I came on right after the hairy back contest."

"The what?" Patrick looked at his father like he was nuts.

"You've been off in la la land for the past five minutes, what's on your mind, sport?" Noah asked his son.

"Nothing." Patrick shrugged and took a sip of his lukewarm coffee. Father and son were sitting at a table in the hospital cafeteria. They both had come out of surgeries within minutes of each other and jointly decided to take a break together. They had started out the break bitching about hospital coffee and talking all things surgical – and who was better and knew more – then Patrick suddenly drifted off and Noah began talking babble to get his attention.

"Does 'nothing' go by the name Robin Scorpio?"

Patrick opened his mouth to automatically deny it, but then decided to not bother. "Yeah."

"What's going on?"

"You know, that's the first time you haven't accused me of something bad when it comes to Robin."

Noah leaned forward. "That's because lately you've stopped fighting how much you care about her," Noah said.

Patrick looked at his father and said nothing.

"Not going to say anything?" Noah tilted his head. "Maybe I spoke too soon?"

Patrick looked down. "No, I care about her." Patrick licked his lips, kept his head tilted down, but looked across the table at his father who just raised his eyebrows at him. Patrick sighed and put his hands on the table. "We're dating."

"And how exactly is that different from before?" Noah barely bit back an amused grin.

"I have absolutely no idea." Patrick shook his head.

"What do you want it to mean? No bullshit." Noah pointed warningly at his son.

Patrick smirked at his father's qualification before getting serious again. "I want…her." Patrick broke off and shook his head in frustration.

"That's deep, Patrick," Noah said dryly.

"What do you want me to say?" Patrick slumped in his chair.

"Is it really that hard for you to just say how you feel? Did I do that to you?" Noah asked in a sad and quiet tone.

"What are you talking about?" Patrick propped his elbow on the table and dropped his forehead into his palm.

"You can't say what you feel. You didn't used to be this guarded, this fearful." Noah sighed. "I really screwed you up."

"I'm responsible for who I am, not you." Patrick frowned and started to object to his father's characterization of his emotional well-being.

"Listen to me for a second - you and Robin are right together. I can see how you feel about her. If you can't admit it to yourself or her you're going to lose her."

"Robin and I are doing fine." Patrick lied through his teeth. He had just been sitting there lost in his thoughts about how uncertain everything was, feeling like he was sinking in quicksand and trying to strategize how to keep his head above it.

"Spare me. You two are sniping at each other every other day and it's all because you both don't just say what you feel. It's like before you got together, but worse."

"So, why are you giving me a hard time?" Patrick pointed at himself. "Go harass Robin."

"You say you're responsible for who you are, then who are you going to be? Are you going to get what you want or passively let life pass you by because of some macho bullshit or fear? Man or mouse, Patrick?"

"Impressive." Patrick gave a low whistle and broke into a smile at his father's challenge. His father definitely had a point. He once challenged Robin to go for what she wanted, it was about time he did the same.

"What's this about?" Robin walked up behind Patrick who was standing at her office door with a bouquet of roses in his hand. She had a big smile on her face as she looked from the flowers up to Patrick's face.

"I was thinking." Patrick leaned against the wall as Robin unlocked her office.

"Yeah?" Robin looked up at him as she pushed the door open.

"Actually, it's kind of hard to think when you're this close to me." He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Bemused, Robin licked her lips. "I was thinking about this dating thing we got going."

Robin laughed and put her hands on Patrick's waist and pulled him into the office with her. She kicked the office door shut behind him and pressed him to the door. "What were you thinking, Patrick, before I get old and gray." She pulled his shirt out of his pants and pressed her palms into the hard muscles of his abdomen.

"Really. Can't. Think." Patrick groaned and tossed the flowers towards the sofa. "Wait. Wait." He put his hands over hers which had gotten busy opening his pants. "Let's talk first."

"Three words together I never thought I'd hear from you at this point in time." Robin pouted, her eyes glittering with promise and teasing.

"Me either." Patrick shook his head and pushed her towards the sofa. He bent down and picked up the flowers and handed them to her when she sat down. "These are for you."

"Thank you." Robin buried her nose in them and looked up at him. "What's this in aid of, then? Flowers. Talking. I'm intrigued."

Patrick straightened his shirt and then ran his hand through his hair. "I came to ask you out on a date tonight. I wanted to talk. About us. I kinda got distracted. Out of order." He looked down at her bare legs. For someone so short she had incredible legs. He watched as she leaned over to put the flowers on the side of the couch. When she stretched out he could see the outline of her hard nipple through her dress. His mind stuttered again.

"I try." She leaned back and crossed her legs, deliberately letting her yellow dress ride up her thigh. "Wasn't it you who said talking was overrated?"

Patrick nodded and licked his lips. He was standing, towering over her, but he was afraid to sit down. If he did he'd be all over her. In her. Man, she messed with his head.

"Why don't we not talk now and talk on our date?"

"You know, Scorpio." He put his hands on his hips and grinned down at her. "I like how you think."

"Then get over here." She leaned forward and ran her hands up his thighs to his waist. She dipped her hands into his waistband and pulled him forward.

Patrick fused his lips to hers and climbed on top of her, pushing her dress up to her waist in the process.

"Was it the flowers?" Patrick grinned up at Robin who was looking down at him from the sofa. He was lying on the floor.

"I think it was just you. Flower never hurt, though. So, what's this date and talking?"

"It's a surprise. Come on. It's about that time." Patrick sat up and search around the floor for his discarded clothing.

Meanwhile, Robin sat up and smoothed down her dress and went on the hunt for her panties and shoes. She stepped over Patrick and chuckled when she found one spiky heel in the wastepaper basket. "Two points," she told him as she put her shoe back on.

"I'm nothing if not athletic," Patrick said as he stood up and shrugged into his shirt. "Good aim."

"You're so much more than that, Dr. Drake." She helped him button his shirt. "How's my hair?" she asked, trying to smooth it out.

"Sexy." He ran his fingers through it to help her and then he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips. "Are you ready?"

She picked up her purse and the flowers from the desk and took his hand. Just as they reached the door her desk phone started to ring.

"Come on, it can wait," Patrick tugged on her hand.

With one last look at the phone, Robin turned off the light and closed her office door.

A/N: Last Friday at Rick's show, he performed at a Catholic school fundraiser – no joke – it was held in the school parking lot and it's a complete fair and it was a packed audience. The thing was, Rick came on after a hypnotist and drum roll a hairy back contest. A fact that Rick laconically commented on during his show. It was surreal. Sigh. He is major hot hot hot.