Thirty

PANT.

STOMP.

PANT.

STOMP.

Something was about to go wrong. He could see it through the useless binocular duty they had distracted him with. The binoculars were long gone somewhere into the Port Charles River as he raced towards the entrance to the warehouse. Panting and sweating he rammed through the thugs blocking the open warehouse doors. In his haste he tripped over one of the burly guys he had knocked to the floor, regained his balance and kept running towards the center of the warehouse where they were having a stand off he had been watching from afar. He didn't notice one of the thugs stand up and get taken out by a shot cracking out behind him. He wouldn't have cared if he had. He had to get to them. To her. To him.

All he could hear was the pounding of his feet and his heart. He skidded around a corner of cartons and slid to a stop. "No!" he cried out.

"It's me you want, let them go." Robert Scorpio held up his hands and gave his trademark charming smile and looking as cool and relaxed as if he was on a beach vacation and not standing with his ex-wife, a crew of agents and his daughter and Noah Drake being held at gun point in front of him.

"I'm thinking I'm going to get what I want and you," Lorenzo Alcazar said, himself looking cool and collected in his well-tailored black suit as his goons held the power. "I guess your ex-wife is not only losing her touch, but you're losing her."

Anna narrowed her eyes as Alcazar and kept a firm grip on the gun she had trained on the man.

"Where's my child, Scorpio?" Alcazar demanded.

"Last I heard Diego was off romancing the daughter of a deep cover WSB agent. Perhaps he would have been safer in prison?" Robert said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"You don't say?" Alcazar motioned towards one of his men and had Noah Drake brought closer to him. "Dr. Drake, I hear that dating an agent is dangerous business. I guess you can confirm that, no?" His eyes went cold and he looked at Anna. "Deadly in fact, if I don't get what I want. Let my ship go and tell me where my baby is."

"We already know what you want. Now, how about I tell you what I want? You let my daughter and Dr. Drake go and you surrender. All nice and peaceful like."

"I can see how you two were attracted to each other. The couple that is delusional together stays together. Oh, but you didn't, did you? In a bit of staggering irony, Ms. Devane here hid a baby from you didn't she?" Alcazar made another motion and the goon holding Robin pushed her forward towards Alcazar, keeping the gun trained on her back. Alcazar grabbed her by hair and pulled, exposing her neck. He rested his long fingers on the white skin. "Children are precious, aren't they? It's painful when someone even threatens to keep them from you, isn't it?" His eyes darted between Anna and Robert, taking in the dangerous gleam in Robert's eyes and the cold calculation with which Anna kept hold of her gun.

"Let the innocents go and let's deal with each other directly, Alcazar."

"Tempting, but no," Alcazar told Robert and tightened his grasp on Robin's neck. She choked slightly, but made no move to escape.

A gun clicked, a shot ran out.

Patrick lunged forward but wasn't in time to stop the bodies smashing down to the ground. He heard a crunch and then a thud. His doctor instincts kicked in and he knelt down to lend aid, either secure in the certainty that Anna and Robert would take care of the chaos around them or uncaring as he ran his hands over and through the tangle of Robin and Noah's bodies.

Noah had gotten the signal from Anna and dived for Robin, knocking her out of Alcazar's hands. Shots had rung out and now Noah and Robin lay unmoving on the ground, Noah on top of Robin.

"Robin? Dad?" he called out. A groan answered him. "Robin?"

"Noah hit his head on the ground," Robin gasped, panted.

Patrick touched his father's face and turned it slightly and in doing so he saw the bruise forming on his father's temple. His father's respiration was steady and his pulse was similarly okay. He eased Noah onto the ground and off Robin. She was lying on her side and didn't move when he eased his father's weight off him. Her face was pale and her breathing labored.

"Rib, no puncture," Robin gasped out, holding herself immobile best she could.

"We need an ambulance here!" Patrick called out, his eyes darting from his unconscious father to his girlfriend who could puncture a lung with one wrong move.

"On the way." Anna knelt down and ran her hand over Noah's body. "How is he?"

Patrick dug into his pockets and pulled out a pen light. He moved around Robin and studied his father's pupils. His lips tightened into a thin line.

"Tell me," Robin croaked out.

"Stop talking, Scorpio," Patrick moved back to Robin and carefully helped her straighten her body. Sirens began to sound in the distance.

"Tell me."

"Unequal, slow reaction to light."

She knew that it meant a potentially serious injury. "I'm sorry," she grasped his hand. He squeezed it back, torn between gratitude that she was okay and worry for his father.

"Where's that ambulance?" Patrick called out and then looked around. Lorenzo Alcazar was down on the ground with a gunshot wound square in the middle of his head. He didn't feel the slightest bit tempted to check the criminal's status.

"Keep this on until I tell you otherwise and you're on bed rest for the next few days," Dr. Alan Quatermaine ordered Dr. Robin Scorpio as the nurse put an immobilizer on her arm and around her torso. Her rib had indeed been shown to have been snapped clean through and another couple of bruised, fortunately they had been able to wrap it all without surgery. Both doctors knew that any further movement or pressure and surgery could be required to set it. "Otherwise I'm admitting you with a full body cast."

"Yes, sir." Robin smiled at her boss and old friend and caregiver. "How's Noah?"

"Patrick went with him for a CAT Scan. They should be back soon."

"I need to go to them."

Alan tightened his lips. "In a wheelchair. That's my final offer."

"How is he?" Robin asked quietly, startling Patrick from his close study of the films from Noah's scan.

Patrick turned around and looked at Robin, licking his lips. "How are you?" He walked over and put his hand on his head.

"Tied to this thing." She reached up with her free hand and took Patrick's. "How's Noah?"

"A herniation is growing."

"Dr. Dumont could operate."

Patrick smiled ruefully and knelt down next to Robin's wheelchair. "With the medication he's on after the transplant, he might not make it through the surgery. And he might not appreciate another surgery without his consent."

"Is he going to wake up? Has he?"

"Briefly. He'll be in and out." Patrick stroked her cheek. "He's a good candidate for your protocol. I was thinking that we could start tonight, unless you need to rest? You should probably get some rest first."

Robin's stomach tightened and she looked away. "I don't think the drug treatment good option. You can administer coagulants during the surgery to counteract the transplant meds." She nervously pulled her hand out of Patrick's.

Patrick frowned.

"Patrick, I don't want you to be angry, but you should know that Noah, your father, all this time he wasn't really drinking, he was spying for my mother," Robin said hurriedly before he could ask anything.

"I know. Robin…"

"And there's more. My mom and your dad, they're involved."

"If I didn't know that before Anna's hovering in the warehouse would have clued me in." Patrick smirked. "Robin…"

"We could end up siblings, which in the grand scheme of weirdness in this town would hardly be noticed. Listen, you should get back to caring for your dad. Do you think I could see him?" Robin avoided his eyes during her hurried monologue.

"Robin!" Patrick put his hand on her chin and tilted it to look at him. "How are you? What's going on in there?" He touched her head gently.

Tears filled Robin's eyes and she bit her lip. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."