A/N: This is a pretty long chapter, but again, I had some set-up to do! Thanks to 4gcrazyme (hopefully this wait was easier! Thank you!) for the review! Anna is back, but she's back to a mess lol.

Chapter 19:

Sean had gone straight home, but not before patting Robin's cheek and kissing an infuriated Anna on the temple, where a vein was pulsing. Sean loved his little godchild with all of his heart, but even he had to concede that Robin had been rather insufferable on the plane ride back.

The closer she got to home, the more questions she asked about when she could write her book with P.K. Sinclair. Anna had been disinterested and vague, without providing her daughter an answer. Sean knew that this was the only strategy that Anna had to prevent her from revealing her panic at Faison's interaction with Robin. Unfortunately, this only incited the girl to repeat the same questions over and over (and over) again.

"How was it?" Tiffany exclaimed, flinging her arms around him the moment he got in the door, kissing him thoroughly. "It's about time you got back, I was tired of sleeping alone."

"Sweetheart, you have no idea," he laughed. Tiffany had the exclusive quality of pulling Sean out of his head and putting him right where she was. A rush of affection washed over him and he missed her. He dropped his bag and wrapped his arms around her, feeling amorous. "Let's remedy that."

But his wife slipped out of his arms like it was an art form and cleared her throat. "Hold on! A lot has happened since you've been away, Sean. And if I thought you wouldn't skin me alive for not telling you, we'd be going upstairs right now. But things being what they are—"

"What happened?" Sean said sharply. His tone wasn't directed at Tiffany, and she knew it. She picked up the paper settled on the coffee table and waved it toward him.

"This is what happened …Cassandra Clark, that sorry reporter for the Inquisitor? She's been verrry busy."

"Give me that." Sean grabbed the paper from her and perused it as fast as his eyes could scan. There were two articles about Faison. One was about him buying Wyndamere. The other…

Sean felt horror building up in him as he absorbed what Robert must have been dealing with this whole time, without them. He looked up at Tiffany, who was observing him almost too closely. Her mouth was curled into a grimace.

"It's bad, Sean. I haven't spoken to Robert, but I can tell you that Cassandra isn't the only one who's been talking."

"What does that mean?" Sean said darkly. What the hell was going on?

"Can I talk to you like I'm a reporter?" she asked frankly. "You tell me how this sounds."

"Alright," he said, crossing his arms in a subconscious brace.

"Police Commissioner arrives at his ex's place of business to arrest—"

"—he didn't arrest—"

"—to take in," she corrected with a warning look, "our newest celebrity citizen, who is a very private person, a recluse even …for questioning."

"Right."

"So then, after keeping this private citizen in a cell for the full allowable time, my station gets a tip-off that he was taken to the police station and the media goes rushingin to invade this man's privacy and shove cameras in his face."

"As that how you really want to describe it?"

"I'm giving it to you like I would give it to my viewers if I was outside the situation and this had nothing to do with Robert or Anna," the blonde answered stubbornly. "So let me finish."

He held up his hands. "Go on…"

"And then stabbings start to occur on the docks. An increase in muggings, in suspicious behavior—our tip lines are ringing off the hooks—and people start to ask, 'why was P.K. Sinclair arrested by the police for permit violations when we have people getting assaulted on the streets?'"

He opened his mouth to respond, but was waylaid by one of Tiffany's looks.

"And then we are getting other reports of frustrated outbursts from our Police Commissioner. Confrontations between Robert and P.K. Sinclair in public places, no sign that the crime problems are being addressed, no comment from the Police Department as to how or when it will be addressed, and then, and then…" Tiffany paused for dramatic effect and Sean couldn't even be exasperated because you could have knocked him over with a feather at this point. How could everything have gone this wrong?

"…and then, we have Cassandra Clark reporting that she interviewed Mr. Sinclair and Katherine Delafield, and Mr. Sinclair was originally supposed to be on a date with Anna Lavery at Delafield's, when Robert showed up to toss him in jail. And Anna, where is she? With you, Sean Donely, far away on a tropical island for vacation at Robert's request, just like Robert claimed to the press the last time she disappeared, while he almost lost his job because he was refusing to reveal her whereabouts." Tiffany finished with a deep breath.

"Now tell me how that sounds, without a hint of bias."

It sounded frighteningly like what Cassandra Clark had written in the pages of The National Inquisitor. Sean rubbed above his eyes, realizing what Anna was going to see when she got home. They shot open. "When did this come out?!"

"This morning—Sean, what are you doing?"

He dashed to the phone and punched in the numbers of Anna's landline. It rang so long that the machine almost picked up, when a breathless, young voice answered. "Hello?"

"Honey, it's Uncle Sean, is your mother nearby?"

"Well, yeah, she's outside."

"Can you go get her for me?"

Robin laughed. "We just left you!"

"I know, honey, but this is important. Can you get her?"

"Okay."

There was dead air over the line for a minute, and then he heard Anna. "Sean?"

"Yes, it's me. Listen, do you have a copy of the National Inquisitor?"

"I suppose," she said, nonplussed. "Why would I need that?"

"If you have a copy, find it and read it alone, alright?"

"Why should I—Robin, give that here!"

"Mom!"

He heard the sound of papers rustling and Robin complaining loudly, then she returned to the phone. "Can I call you back later?"

"After you've read it," he said. "I'll talk to you soon."

She hung up. Tiffany had been listening intently. "I'm glad you warned her," she said. "She needed to be prepared, but I'll tell ya, it's not going to be pretty when she sees Robert…"

"I don't understand," Sean said, looking at the ceiling as if for answers. "We were only gone a week or so…"

"That's why I'm saying, it's like you left and everything went crazy!" She gestured widely. "Shep's been wanting to report more on it, but he's been distracted by Colton's stabbing."

"Colton was stabbed?!"

"He's going to be fine," Tiffany said, waving it away like it was old news. "But sweetheart, I don't know what's going on, and this is putting me in a jam. Robert is a dear friend, but his public behavior is making it difficult not to comment on it!"

"You need to keep doing your best on that one," Sean said firmly. "Robert is—he's not going crazy or not doing his job, okay? I can tell you that, at least." The magnitude of the problem was beginning to sink in. Robert had failed.

Anna would have grounds and reason to step in between Robert and Faison, and she wouldn't hesitate.

"Things didn't go according to plan…"

"Understatement of the century, my dear," Tiffany said, more astute than she could have known.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

"—this isn't fair!" Robin screeched. "I wanted to read the rest of the article, it's about Mr. Sinclair!"

Anna had fled back outside to get away from her daughter, but said daughter had legs and was determined to make her mother want to jump off the nearest cliff. "I want you to go inside and leave me alone!" Anna ordered in pure frustration.

"Mom! What is your problem? You can't just rip a newspaper out of someone's hands!"

"I can if she's my daughter," Anna proclaimed angrily. "My daughter, may I add, who is walking a very fine line for grounding."

Robin had never been grounded before, she had never needed to be ground because she rarely worked on her mother's last nerve. It looked as if they were going to be entering a time when that happened almost constantly. But for now when she was under threat, Robin toned it down.

"Okay, I'm sorry," Robin said, sounding more resigned than contrite. "But it says there that P.K. Sinclair bought Wyndamere, so he's staying in Port Charles!"

Anna hadn't had the chance to even glance down at the paper since she had snatched it out of Robin's hands in a dead panic. And now, she looked down, reading the headline.

"I have to call him right away!"

Anna was surprised. "No, you should call your father, we just got back."

"Later," she stepped up toward Anna and moved the page. "Mom, read this part about the lady…"

"Mr. Sinclair plans to make Spoon Island Estate a true fairy-tale castle as befits life there with the woman of his dreams…"

"Wow," Olin gasped, who had been staying on the borders of the fight between mother and daughter, and thought it may have been safe to speak. Anna drifted into thought. Was this what Sean meant?

Nothing had changed. He was still here. Worse—he was settling here, and coming for her.

"I never heard him mention a lady before," Robin said, her voice on the fringes of Anna's mind. Where was Robert right now? What had happened between the two? Her heartrate picked up slightly and her eyes found the paper behind it—a second headline.

Scorpio Ignores Crime Wave to Harass Famous Author. Why?

Anna snapped the newspaper closed, and ran excuses through her head to dismiss Robin from the vicinity. But she couldn't help herself, and keeping the article out of Robin's sight, she tried to read.

"Mom, what if his lady of his dreams is with him now?"

"No, she isn't," Anna murmured.

"But what if? What if she's taking up all his time and he doesn't want to work on the book with me anymore?" There was alarm in her child's voice and she looked up almost automatically.

"That's not gonna happen…"

"But what if she doesn't like me and—"

"Hey!" Anna cut across her, wanting to stop the worried ramblings. "Stop worrying about things that aren't going to happen, okay?"

"That's right, kiddo," Olin put in helpfully. "This Cassandra person could be a glorified gossip! Why, the whole story might not be true!"

Four sentences in and Anna went cold. She grasped Robin's crestfallen chin and focused her gaze on her. "Don't you think it's more important you call your father? Tell him you're back?"

"Alright," Robin said glumly. "But then can I call Mr. Sinclair?"

"Just ask your father," Anna said with a little more heat. All of this had been going on and Robert hadn't seen fit to call them? Robin was quick to run off and Anna was lost again in the fine print.

"Sources say that P.K. Sinclair had hopes to spend a night with former police chief, Anna Devane Lavery, who readers will know happens to be the ex-wife of the current Police Commissioner—"

"Sinclair spent two nights in lock-up, after which onlookers saw him have a verbal confrontation with Robert Scorpio at Delafield's. Incidentally, this is the restaurant of Katherine Delafield, Scorpio's former fiancée—"

"Mrs. Lavery and her daughter have not been seen in town since her ex-husband interrupted the proposed date with Sinclair, missing the annual Police Department Carnival, where the two have been regular attendees to support the cause—"

"Scorpio has been known to have possessive outbursts where his ex-wife is concerned, and was witnessed by hospital patients weeks ago, trying to jealously dissuade her from 'handling' something, potentially involving a suitor. It was reported by these sources that Dr. Tom Hardy had to intervene. Mrs. Lavery was seen pulling the Police Commissioner into an elevator, presumably to calm him down, or so those reports say—"

"Mr. Sinclair would only comment that he was a patient man and willing to endure any persecution if it meant achieving his dreams, romantic or otherwise…"

"What's wrong, chum?" Olin wasn't reading the article, but was looking at Anna with a furrowed brow. "You look like you're gonna burst into tears at any moment."

Anna shook her head quickly. "It's this," she handed the newspaper over to Olin, because she would eventually get wind of it anyway. "I don't want Robin seeing and I don't want her getting hold of the paper."

Olin nodded. "You got me, chum. She won't hear about it from me." She didn't get too far in reading before she pushed it back at Anna, shaking her head. "I don't need to see anymore. Man, the Cassandra woman is really pushing the Commish with this garbage, huh?"

Anna was staring out at the gate, trying to control her feelings with Olin around. Or someone else was pushing him. "Nothing's changed, though. If anything, it's got worse."

Olin slowly shrugged and sighed. "I know. Vacation's over!"

Olin returned to the house after patting Anna on the arm, shaking her head as she went. It gave Anna a few moments to read it all again by herself.

The innuendo could have only come from Faison—the first article only confirmed that the journalist (if you could call her that) had interviewed him. She remembered the hospital incident after Sean had been shot and they were trying to come up with a plan …how had the reporter known that? She must have snooped around, but why go out of her way to smear Robert like this?

Robert must have made Faison angry, she had told Robert what would happen! Anna blinked furious tears away, wondering how she was going to keep this nonsense from reaching their child. She had so hoped, so trusted in Robert—she had wanted to find a way out of this. And she was afraid …she was afraid of Faison.

She was afraid of herself, of what she would be.

Robin skipped back out of the house. "Can I read the rest now?"

Anna crinkled the paper in a tight ball and threw it in the outside garbage. "No, you read the point of it anyway."

"Then can I call Mr. Sinclair now?"

Anna sighed. "Didn't I tell you to ask your father?"

"He didn't answer!" She skipped closer. "So he can't say 'no', so—"

"So I'm saying 'no' then," Anna said imperiously. "You're not to bother him, and you should be more concerned with seeing your father."

"I can't help if Dad didn't answer!" Robin protested. She reached for Anna's arm and Anna dodged her hands. "Why can't I call him?!"

"Because I'm your mother, that's why!" Anna snapped.

"That's not an answer!"

Anna saw Robert standing there over Robin's head as she restrained herself from strangling her beloved child. She was suddenly possessed with the desire to run to him—to even hide in him. It wasn't even close to an option, and the feeling left her a little stricken. She hadn't wanted him to care for her like that in a long time …and it would be more dangerous than ever to feel that way.

"Hey, hey, hey," he said lightly, and Robin swung around to look at him before latching on to him as an ally, as young girls were wont to do.

"Hi Dad, would you please tell Mom to stop treating me like a little kid?"

"Hey, maybe you should stop behaving like a little kid—"

"I am not!"

Robert wrapped an arm around his daughter and smiled meaningfully. "Good to have you guys back!"

"Sorry, hi, but will you please talk to her?!" Her voice laden with disrespect, Robert's smile faded.

"What's going on here?"

"I want to call Mr. Sinclair and she won't let me."

Anna didn't break her gaze from Robert. "And what?" she prompted Robin.

Her daughter sighed. "And …in the paper, it said he had a lady of his dreams, and I wanna find out who she is!"

Robert immediately tensed and drew away from Robin. "Have you been reading the paper?"

Before Robin could respond, Anna stepped in. "She saw enough to know that Mr. Sinclair has bought Wyndamere."

"For this lady!"

"Why would you want to call him?" Robert asked, trying to hide his relief from the girl, though it was apparent to Anna. So Robert was aware of the smear job on him.

"To find out about our book."

"Well, I think your mum is right, leave the man alone."

"He said I could call him any time I want!"

"It's a bad idea," Robert answered. Anna tracked him as he walked. She wanted Robin to go back in the house and she wanted answers now.

"Why?"

"Because it is."

"Why?"

"Because I'm your father, that's why!" he said, echoing Anna's words from a minute ago. It seemed they were all driven to it.

"I am getting sick of hearing that and I deserve a better answer!"

"Hey!" Anna warned.

"Let's watch our mouth, young lady, alright?" Robert said seriously.

"Neither of you will give me one good reason why I shouldn't call him," Robin maintained. It was so irritating the way she persisted in this, and they really didn't have anything good to say.

"I had to bring him in last week for questioning," Robert finally said.

"You arrested him, what for?!"

"Well, it wasn't an arrest, there were some details that had to be cleared up. As it turned out, I didn't like his attitude."

"Attitude?" Robin said incredulously. "What did you expect after you dragged him off to jail?"

"Hey!" Robert was quickly losing his patience with their daughter and Anna put a hand on Robin's back, hoping a gentle touch might stem the backtalk. "Now I just don't trust the guy, okay?"

"Neither of us trust him, alright?" Anna backed Robert up. It only caused Robin to wrench away.

"Well I do!"

Robert circled around them and put himself behind Anna, facing Robin in unity. "Well that's too bad."

"You're still not giving me an answer."

"Look, we're doing—we're doing what we think is best!"

"What about what I think or want, doesn't that count for anything around here?"

"No!" Anna said, raising her voice as her patience snapped. Her daughter begging to place a call to Faison was raising the hairs on the back of her neck with disgust and she could say nothing about it. "It doesn't, you're not to call him, end of story, okay?"

Predictably, Robin ran off back into the house.

"Robin, get back here this—"

"Let her go, let her go!" Anna cried in exasperation. "We didn't give her a valid answer."

"So that excuses the attitude?"

"No, it—" Anna groaned. "Forget that." She turned and pulled the crumpled newspapers out of the trash and flung it out toward Robert. "Do you mind telling me what's been happening lately?"

"A lot." He didn't take it from her, and watched her let it drop back into the trash. "And now I come here and our daughter's in a mood because she wants to chat with my mortal enemy?"

"Just let it go," Anna muttered, walking around him, bursting to say a few things. Robert was just as near to explode; she felt it.

"Takes two," he said snidely, and she whipped around to face him.

"This was supposed to be over by the time we came back," she reminded him harshly.

He stepped toward her, just as angry. "Well, it isn't."

"No—right, because your plan didn't work! He's supposed to be out of here."

Robert let out a breath and put his head briefly in his hands. "The plan hasn't worked yet…"

"No," Anna bit out. "It just didn't work."

"Don't start, Anna," he said in a low voice.

"Where are all these people, coming out of the woodwork, nothing is happening!" She was pacing again.

"Someone did," Robert answered, his body following hers, but not moving from his place. "Then promptly disappeared."

That stopped her. "You mean he had him taken care of?"

He lowered his eyes briefly. "Possibly."

Anna looked off beyond him in stunned silence. "This isn't going to end then, not with this plan."

"It was one man—"

"No! It's never just one!" Anna felt despairing that he would ever understand. "And he's already started on you, Robert. The article—"

Robert stepped toward her, too close. "If you think that I will let this man get to me like that, you're sorely mistaken."

Anna laughed, feeling half-crazed as she looked up at him. "The article was just the beginning! Don't you understand?" He was so close that her palm landed against his chest and she rested it against him, imagined she could feel his heart beating. "This is why, this is why it has to be me—"

His hand closed around hers, squeezing so tight it hurt. "I'm not—"

"You're not what?" she said goadingly, pulling at her hand. He didn't let it go, so she stopped tugging and let him grip it. "You agreed, Robert," she reminded him.

"I didn't—"

"Don't lie."

"Well, you would know about that." He let go of her as soon as the words came out of his mouth, his eyes wide.

She knew he said that because he was frantic to keep her from doing something, but the words burned and her hand felt empty. She closed her eyes and turned away from him slightly, felt him immediately press himself against her back, his hands wrapping around her arms, holding her. "I apologize," he breathed against the top of her head, and the apology was in every note of his voice. "You're just scaring me."

"Oh Robert," she thought, "I hope scaring you is the only thing I do..."

"It's nice to know that you two don't have a completely amicable divorce."

Robert's heat disappeared from behind her and she turned to see him partially blocking her view of Faison. She wondered how long the man had been watching them, but had no time to go over whether something particularly damning had been said.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Robert growled. Anna wrapped her hand around his arm, willing him to calm down.

Faison removed his glasses. "Pardon? I believe I am allowed to go wherever I wish. Now that you have released me from jail?" His eyes found Anna, lingering for a moment on the hand wrapped around Robert's arm before tracing up to her face. "I hope you were berating him for the …shameful way he treated me?"

She was slow to answer, raising her eyebrows. "No, I didn't get to that yet."

If he was displeased by her answer, he always rallied well. "As a matter of fact, I ought to thank you, Scorpio."

"Really?" He began to move forward again and Anna had no choice but to keep her touch on him, like a tether. Keeping him physically at bay, her mind went to the obvious: just how difficult and interfering Robert would become while she tried to ensnare Faison. She would need him to look away—she wasn't certain at all that he could. He was shifting his body, keeping himself between them at all times.

"I love being out in the sun among my friends and …mingle with the cream of Port Charles society. As a matter of fact, had I known that it was this rewarding, I might have gone public long ago."

"Better late than never, ay?" She had to pull him back again, but Faison seemed unconcerned by Robert's aggression.

"Precisely." His gaze once more shifted to Anna, who let go of Robert in favor of toying with her hair distractedly, a small gesture she knew would draw his eyes. "We'll celebrate, we'll finally have our long-anticipated dinner. What about tonight, Anna?"

He was doing this in front of Robert to upset him. It couldn't have been more obvious. And Robert, dear Robert, was transparent enough to allow him to show how it unsettled him. But Robert didn't believe she would do this…

"Okay," she said as she exhaled, the merest word to Faison's great satisfaction.

"Marvelous …or should I count on being arrested?" He smirked at Robert. "More logs for the fire of the gossip rags, shall we say?"

Robert leaned toward him and Anna clung five fingers to his back, pressing against it like a wall. "Be very careful …that the fires you set don't lose control," Robert answered quietly.

Faison's eyes were shining with pleasure, even in his drawn face. "I don't believe my control is at issue, Scorpio."

Well, wasn't this the pissing match.

Anna was pushing back a desire to grasp onto Robert with more than that, and not let go—wanting to take his strength in a way she hadn't wanted to in so long. But her conflict dissipated when Robin ran back outside and caught sight of the very man she had been talking about unceasingly.

Robert became even more rigid, if that was possible. But that was all she felt underneath her hand as she watched Faison put on all his charm for their daughter, like a mask. If Robert's body in front of her hadn't been anchoring her to the place, she might have fallen away. She might have died.

They had been so far away from all of this and now it had returned with a vengeance, without even 24 hours to get her bearings. The cockroach had crawled out of its hole, and it was roaming her house like it had ownership.

Why couldn't she just step on it? What stopped her from snuffing it out? Robert?

Faison knows too much, the words came to her in Sean's voice. Robin was smiling, sheepish, impressed. She was already half-captured, just like Anna had been when she was too young to know any better.

Faison said something about a trip to Monte Carlo, dangling it in front of Robert and Anna, a beautiful knife. Anna hated him. She truly did.

"Delightful child," Faison said blandly as Robin ran back into the house.

"Leave my daughter alone," Robert hissed, and Anna caught him back as he moved forward. She gritted her teeth as Faison's eyes found hers and she willed the loathing to drain back into the pit of her soul, so he couldn't see it.

"Until 8 o'clock," he smiled. And then he went on his way, having secured his promised date. He must have known that Anna would be there this time, no matter what Robert said. And she would.

"What are you doing?" Robert asked. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going on a date."

"Did you hear him?! Monte Carlo?"

"I would never bring—"

"Yeah, but what about you!"

It was heartening that Robert knew she wouldn't bring Robin anywhere with that man. At least they had that. "I'm going to do what I have to do."

"Meaning what?" Robert narrowed his eyes at her. "Anna. I've told you already, the point of this operation is to keep you and Robin out of this!"

Anna stared at him and something inside of her steeled up. She had told Sean that night at the beach what she would do, and she was beginning to realize that she had to go even further. She wouldn't be able to afford this—none of them would.

"No, that was your point. I told you…" He sighed and lowered his head in exasperation, but she dipped her head slightly to force him to meet her eyes and see how serious she was. "I told you what I would do, and that hasn't changed."

"We need to do this together!" Robert snapped desperately. "Don't you understand that this is what he wants?!"

"Us, separated?" Anna laughed. "Well, no one is gonna believe that, will they? Not after that article."

"Forget the bloody article!" He exploded and she took a slight step back from him. "I don't care about it! I don't care what he does to me, or anyone else while our daughter is at risk!"

But what about you?! He had said it only moments ago…

"What about me?"

"I—" he fumbled awkwardly. "No. I don't want you to risk—"

"There," Anna jabbed a finger toward him. "Right there. That's the problem. You don't trust me. You don't want me to risk anything. You don't want me involved. You're delusional. I'm there, Robert. There's no escaping this. And until you understand that, I don't think we have anything more to say to each other."

He stormed away from her as soon as she got the words out, and Anna knew she had hit the mark. He was so close to losing control and she knew he would get away from her before he said anything he was going to regret. Depending upon how angry he was, she might have even bought herself the whole night. She hoped, that is…

Nothing. She felt nothing. It seeped out of her and it went somewhere far away, where she kept all the things she needed to tuck into the darkness. She went to get dressed and figure out what lie to tell Robin. What was one more?

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

Sean was already in Robert's office when said Police Commissioner blew in like a hurricane-force wind. Sean jumped out of the visitor's chair, startled.

"What?" Robert snarled, barely casting him a glance as he made for the computer.

"Well, I have to say, this is not the welcome I imagined getting…"

"Sorry, the carnival was last week." He sat down and turned the screen on again, hearing Sean slowly move toward him.

"Alright, old buddy, you got me. What's on your mind?"

"What's on yours, you're the one that came here?" He didn't look up as he typed. He was furious and he didn't know why he was checking again, as he was sure he wouldn't find anything different than before.

"Anna told me she would give me a call back and she didn't. Were you over there?"

"She's going on a date." He clicked "enter" and the same message came up as before:

REPHRASE QUESTION

"Klaus Freidlander?"

"Faison's latest hush-project," Robert said. "He gave me a call and then never showed up. You can guess why."

"So I take it we didn't make any headway?"

"Gee, what gave you that idea?"

"Look, calm down," Sean's voice was clipped. "I just asked a simple question. I guess you answered mine. Who but Anna could put you in this mood?"

Robert felt some surprise to hear it characterized that way. "Plenty of people, I'm a pretty grumpy guy!" He rubbed his face, wishing he could rub his tiredness off with it. "I'm sorry, let's just start again. What did you come to talk about? If you've left Tiff already, it's gotta be important…"

"Tiffany is actually the one who brought me here. Well, for all intents and purposes, that is."

Robert finally turned around and looked at Sean, blinking. "I haven't spoken to Tiffany lately. What did she have to say about me?"

Sean unfolded the paper he had brought with him and Robert scoffed derisively. "Aw, not you too!"

"This is serious, Robert." Sean shook his head. "Why didn't you call and tell us that it was going this badly?"

"Why? WHY?! Because I was afraid what would happen is exactly what's happening now! Anna throwing herself at a mass-murderer who's obsessed with her! You think I didn't see the writing on the wall, Sean? Forgive me if I was trying to avoid it!"

Sean gave a quick, wary look at the door. "Keep it down. You can't be getting yourself worked up like this. And you don't want to be overheard."

"To hell with that," Robert muttered. "To hell with it all. To hell with my stubborn, snotty ex and her suicidal plans!"

The clock ticked away, and Sean stared at him for long enough that Robert was forced to acknowledge it.

"Well, I'm sure you have something to say, so just get out with it."

"Okay," Sean crossed his arms and settled in before he spoke. "Exactly what part of that article Cassandra Clark wrote was false? Because from what I'm seeing, she might have told the truth for once in her life. And I think I'm finally getting a clear view."

If his words were meant to offend, he executed it well. Robert felt the rage bubbling up as he stood before his friend of decades, his brother, his comrade. Is that really what he saw of him? His fist clenched and he tried to will it away, but he couldn't.

"Oh yeah, Sean, she has it all figured out! I'm stalking and controlling of Anna and our child, I'm not doing my job, and Cesar Faison is just a nice, recluse author who wants to wile his hours away, writing children's books!"

"I guess no one ever told you, but God will damn you with the details," Sean answered, squaring himself toward Robert. "In this arena, the truth doesn't matter, Robert. What matters is what you are showing to the world!" He smacked the paper in his hand. "This is what you're showing!"

"That's rubbish," Robert waved away. "No one who knows me will believe any of that."

"So Tiffany doesn't have a read on the situation?" Robert looked up and Sean leaned in toward him fervently. "You don't know this, but she's been covering your ass by not reporting the same thing that Ms. Clark here has been reporting. For the sake of your friendship, she's kept quiet! How long do you expect her to keep that up?"

"This is ridiculous."

"Is it?" Sean persisted. "Think! Remember the Snowman? How about when Anna was on trial for shooting Olivia Jerome? Everything involving Duke Lavery? This isn't just about P.K. Sinclair, Robert. People might have been saying these things for years, for all you know. Don't give them any proof that they might be right!"

"Hey, I've done my job," Robert growled. "I dare anyone to tell me I haven't."

"You have this job because Anna was kidnapped by Grant Putnam. To get to you. You only took back this job to save her!"

"What does that have to do with—"

"Everything, Robert!" Sean cried in exasperation. "Faison—he's exploiting everything, including your relationship with Anna. And I'm telling you right now, he's not going to stop until it's all been stripped away."

"Because I threw him in the clink for a couple days?"

"Because you are an obstacle to what he wants," Sean said with herculean patience. "It's obvious he blames you for interrupting his work with Anna all those years ago. Robin is proof that he can't just make you leave. He might even have qualms about killing you, if it'll upset Anna. This is the alternative for him!"

"The guy's got some nerve," Robert gritted out. "'His work'! Like he didn't want to paw all over her while they were doing their 'work'. He wasn't anything like that to her, and now he's here destroying our lives for his delusions!"

"And you have to get yourself under control," Sean warned. "When was the last time you slept? Meanwhile, your cases are piling up and the media is waiting with their pitchforks. You've got to prioritize."

"And while I'm doing that, Anna plays the honeypot for that freak? No. I'm not gonna let this one go, Sean. You know me better than that."

"And I know you are letting your feelings for Anna get in the way of your sense!" Sean shot back. "The two of you kissed. Anna told me."

Robert's mouth hung slightly open for a few seconds, and then he turned and rounded the desk to his chair, sinking into it with the same stunned expression. Then he finally closed his mouth with some effort. "She did?"

"How else would I have known?" Sean queried. He followed, lowering himself into the chair that faced off with Robert's, and he folded his hands on the desk. "And you are an idiot …to do this now."

"Believe you me, I'm aware…" Robert admitted. He remembered the consuming, familiar, passionate connection that aroused itself. It had been so powerful, it felt beyond his control. "Neither of us planned that."

"It doesn't matter if it came with a two-week notice or not, Robert. It happened."

"But why did she tell you?" Robert wondered, looking down at his desk. "Why now?"

"Because she can tell that you're losing it. She's losing it too. Frankly, if this were my call, I'd pull you both out of this mission before you could blink." He held Robert's gaze. "Not even the best agents can push through when they've compromised themselves like this, and you should know that because you've done it before with the same woman!"

For once, it wasn't on the tip of his tongue to bring up Sean's actions in the scope of that. Sean was completely right …he should have known better.

"So you understand why I'm telling you all of this?" Sean continued. "With the game Faison is playing, you need to be the one to retreat. She can't play him if you are constantly in the way, and you're not gonna survive if you keep on like this."

Irish, blue eyes were entirely too sober, but they didn't lie to him. He knew he wasn't at full capacity and he needed to refresh his energy, especially with the cases he'd been ignoring or dumping off on Sam. He needed to get some bloody sleep.

But sleep always resulted in a rope bound around her neck, and his dreams never let him save her. Robert touched his fingers to his lips and pushed back the words that would reveal it. The dreams weren't real; he wouldn't let them be.

"She can't do this on her own," Robert finally said and Sean exhaled in frustration. Robert didn't care. "Last time, she was alone. It's not gonna happen again." His hand was already reaching for the phone, dialing her number. Sean's disapproval was silent, but transparent.

"It's not gonna happen again."

He barely heard Sean's next words. Certainly, he paid them no attention.

"Then he will destroy you..."

A/N: I'm going to warn you now, Robert will be put through the wringer in this story. But there's always a light at the end of the tunnel, so keep that in mind.