Eighteen

"Good luck and I'll see you soon." Robin let go of Jeremy Gilmarten's hand and stepped back as the nurse pushed his wheelchair out of the room. When the door closed she turned around and looked at the now-empty hospital bed. Jeremy was on his way to rehab where he was going to relearn and build on the motor and speech skills that her treatment had helped restore. It was going to be a long, frustrating road and it broke Robin's heart to see it happen to someone so young and so brave.

It was out of her hands now, though, she reminded herself. She straightened her shoulders and walked out of the empty room.

"I wonder if that place is as nice as it was back in the day or if it's run to seed," Noah smirked at his son who had just told him that he was taking Robin out of town for a few days of rest and relaxation at a resort a couple of hours away from Port Charles. The two surgeons were standing in the doctor's lounge in front of their lockers.

"Took a few conquests there yourself, Dad?" Patrick smirked back. Before the words were out of his mouth he saw the teasing light in his father's eyes dim and a return of the unhappy look that had been in there for weeks now. Something moved uncomfortably in Patrick's chest at the sight. Maybe, he wondered, he and Robin should stick closer to home. "You're welcome to come see for yourself, Dad. In your own room, of course." Patrick tried to make his words casual with a self-satisfied smirk.

"I'm sure a third wheel is just what you and Robin need on your romantic getaway." Noah rolled his eyes and opened his locker.

"Maybe I'm looking for some pointers from the master. You did have quite a reputation in your day." Patrick crossed his arms and tried to look around his father's shoulder into his locker.

Noah turned his head and caught the movement. He stiffened and spun around to face his son. "You want to check for a bottle of liquor? Be my guest!" Noah moved aside and swept his hand in invitation in front of the locker.

Patrick stepped back as if he had been smacked. His body stiffened and his expression went blank.

"You think I haven't seen you and everyone else hovering over me lately waiting for me to end up in the gutter again?" Noah roared. "Don't let me keep you in suspense. I'm dying for a drink. Not literally yet this time because you took it upon yourself to give me your liver. But every second I want it. Every second. So how about you go back to writing your old man off and leave me the hell alone?" Noah slammed his locker shut and stormed past Patrick, at the door he paused and looked back at his son who wasn't facing him and then he walked out of the lounge.

"You done, yet?"

Robin looked up from her desk to see Patrick standing stiffly in her doorway. "Just finished." She tilted her head and studied him. "You all right?"

"I just need to get out of here." He walked into the office and hunched down on her couch. "I can't remember the last time I took a vacation."

Robin logged off her computer, shooting him concerned looks every few seconds. Then she got up and went to sit down next to him. She put her hand over his on his thigh. "What's up?" she asked quietly.

Patrick shook his head. "Let's just get out of here." His father was going to drink or not regardless of whether he agonized over it. He had promised Robin a vacation and he was going to follow-through.

Robin hesitated for a moment before letting it drop and agreeing to leave.

There was a nondescript dive bar in every town that catered to hard code drinkers and people who wanted to pretend to live on the edge and in Port Charles it was Jake's. Noah slid his hands into the pocket of his jeans and looked up at the sign, Robert Scorpio's words echoing in his mind. He didn't know who Jake was, he didn't really care, all that mattered was that this was where he was going to get what he needed. This was something that was long overdue.

"I'm sorry, Patrick," he whispered as he took his hands out of his pockets and opened the door and went in.

"I've been wondering," Robin said into the quiet of the car. It was night out and they had been driving for almost an hour. Patrick's forced good mood had given way to a tense silence almost fifteen minutes ago driving Robin past her understanding girlfriend routine and into her more natural state of prying and fixing.

"What have you been wondering?" Patrick asked absently.

"How long you thought I'd go before I'd force out of you whatever has you so upset."

"I would have lost my shirt if I had bet. I didn't think we'd make it out of the hospital." Patrick's lips quirked into the first genuine smile she'd seen on his handsome face all day. Robin could see it under the strobe effect of the street lights on the country road they were driving on towards the resort.

"It hasn't been easy." Robin sighed dramatically. Then she dropped the humor. "Did you get into a fight with Noah?"

Patrick glanced at her in surprise. "What makes you say that?" He turned his eyes back onto the road.

"You're hurting and there are very few things or people that you allow to hurt you like that. Your father is one of them," Robin said knowingly. "What happened?"

"He wants to drink again." Patrick shrugged with his hands still on the steering wheel.

"Wants to or has?"

"He told me to leave him the hell alone so I'm doing that." Patrick's voice was hard with disappointment and anger.

"He didn't mean it. He needs help. Why don't we go back and…"

"No! I'm not wasting another minute on him!" Patrick took his hand off the wheel and put it over Robin's entwined hands. "He's a big boy. He gets to decide what he does with his life and his body. Let's just have a good time," he added when Robin opened her mouth to argue. "Please. No lectures."

Robin nodded and watched the light flash on and off over Patrick's troubled face.

TBC