Five

The next morning Noah and Anna sat together in the hotel restaurant enjoying a breakfast for two and engrossed in a powwow regarding their children. Noah leaned in closer to Anna, passionately making his point.

"They're two souls searching for each other."

"One spirit looking for the other," Anna interjected.

Noah nodded and sighed. "Caught between a hard, hard place and a rock."

"Shhh. Here they come. Quick, grab my boob." Anna flung his arm around her shoulder and Noah smiled widely.

"Hey Sport."

"Dad." Patrick looked at Anna and nodded. "Mom."

Robin hit him. "Shut it," she whispered.

"You look tired, darling," Anna said as she rose up and kissed her daughter on her cheek.

"Didn't sleep well." She shot a glare at Patrick.

"I slept like a baby."

"A big, perverted baby," Robin grumbled under her breath.

Patrick just shrugged and snagged a piece of his father's toast. A scream, from what seemed like the hotel lobby, broke into the clatter of silverware. Anna and Robin looked at each other, concerned. The Drake men continued eating, unaware. Noah, his arm draped back over Anna's shoulder, fed her grapes. More screams ensued – high pitched, excited screams, causing a table full of women wearing matching t-shirts to jump up from their seats and run out of the restaurant. That Patrick and Noah noticed.

"What the hell is going on out there?" Noah asked.

"I'll go take a look."

"I'm coming with you, Mom."

"Hurry back." Noah patted Anna on her butt, smiling.

As the two women opened the door to the restaurant, the screams got louder.

"John! Oh my God! We looooovvvveeee yooooouuuuu!"

"Where's Kate?"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The door swung shut, muffling the screams. Noah and Patrick shrugged their shoulders and turned back to their table, Patrick eating off of Noah's plate.

"We have a serious problem, Dad. I'm going to need back in the room tonight."

"I don't think that's possible, Son. Just get another room."

"Well that's the problem. There are no other rooms, not in this hotel or any other hotel. There's at least 4 different conferences in the city this week and everything is booked solid. You're going to have to keep it in your pants until we get back to Port Charles."

"Where did you sleep last night?"

"Robin's room, but believe me she wasn't happy about it. I don't know if I'll be able to talk my way in for another night."

"Oh please, of course you can. You're a Drake – we can charm our way into anything. How do you think I got your mother to marry me?"

"Yeah well, Dr. Scorpio seems to be impervious to my charms lately." Patrick looked down and shook his head sighing. "Tell me, what kind of fool am I to just let go? To just let go like that?"

"Well…."

He ran his hands through his hair. "I really screwed up."

"Yeah, you did. But don't walk away. Unless you're looking for a price to pay. Is that your master plan?"

"Huh?"

"Listen. If Robin is someone you care about, fight for her. Don't give up."

The screaming got loud again, and the men turned to see Anna and Robin returning from the lobby, Robin flipping through a pamphlet.

"So what's going on?" Noah held out his hand for Anna and pulled her to him.

"Apparently there's a fan club event for that soap opera, Too Many Personalities to Live being held here this week. One of the stars just walked through the lobby."

"I believe the term you're looking for Mom is soap hunk."

"Yes, he was quite hunky, wasn't he?"

"Mmm hmm." Robin nodded and laughed with her mom.

"You think he's cute?" Patrick asked, his face tinged red.

"Isn't Too Many Personalities to Live the soap opera you used to watch with your mom, Sport?"

Patrick turned to glare at his father.

Robin burst out laughing. "You watched a soap?"

"He ran home after school every day in the 4th grade to watch."

"Hey, I wasn't the only one. 30 million people watched Michael and Mandy get married. It was on the cover of Time Magazine – it was a cultural phenomenon!"

"Michael and Mandy?" Robin exclaimed. "Maybe you'd rather sit in on some of these panels instead of the neurology conference." She flipped through the pamphlet she was holding. "Oh look! At 1pm they have a discussion titled 'Soap Villains: A Retrospective.' That sounds interesting."

A gaggle of women – the group in matching t-shirts – came storming back into the restaurant, chatting excitedly, creating quite a din.

"JOKA!" a large grey haired woman shouted, as though she was Mel Gibson screaming 'Freedom!' in "Braveheart."

"JOKA!" the women screamed in reply.

"Joker? What the hell-"

A pretty blonde walking by their table stopped by Patrick to explain. "It's Joka. You know, short for John and Kate? The Supercouple on Too Many Personalities to Live? Even though those idiots in charge have kept them apart for the last two years, us true believers keep the faith they'll find a way back to each other again. We flove them."

"Flove?" Noah whispered.

The blonde looked at Patrick closely and leaned in. "Are you here for the fan club event too?"

Patrick smiled. "Well I could be."

Exasperated, Robin broke in. "Sorry honey, he's here for the neurology conference."

"Oh! Are you a doctor?"

"Why yes, yes I am," Patrick smiled wider and Robin rolled her eyes.

"Hey, can you explain to me how that evil witch Cassandra could have been shot in the head while giving birth and lived?"

"What?"

"Hey, Joka4evah, over here! We're getting in line for the first autograph session!"

"Joka4evah? Is that your name?" Robin asked, confused.

"Oh, it's my message board name. Most of us met on Joka's Wild, the message board dedicated to John and Kate. There's at least 3 different boards dedicated to Joka online. Such a great group of people!"

Robin looked at her t-shirt and saw that it was a picture of a playing card, the Joker card of course, with the word Wild underneath.

"Joka4evah, c'mon! They're only signing for an hour!"

"Oh, gotta go. Maybe we can talk later? I'd love to pick your brain about some real inconsistencies I've seen on the show."

TBC