A/N: I really had to address some of my other stories before I returned to this one, so thanks for your patience! Special thanks to tsarinajen (I'm a big fan of good endings, so don't worry! Robert and Anna have to trudge through this muck of things they created first haha), saint2sinner (I completely agree, their fights were always so intense and their relationship was so powerful that they were always able to bounce back, no matter what was said. One of the many reasons they are so great together), 4gcrazyme (Thank you! It wasn't soon enough, but here we are!), sammy11357 (I'm so glad you enjoyed! Unfortunately, this update wasn't as quick lol), Sassydew (From our previous discussion, I knew you would like that chapter! All I can say is: continue to hang in there lol. But it will be easier now that the dam has broken… they won't be playing coy anymore, so don't worry!), Guest (you bring up a lot of interesting things: Sean specifically wouldn't have batted an eye over Connie lol …and I've tried to write Robert a bit as not really seeing this side of Anna and being essentially blind to it. In a sense, he's aware that Anna likely has this experience, but he won't think about it and he almost plays dumb), Bostie (I love your poeticism! Now that that particular wave has crested, the plot will rear its ugly head!), and another Guest (Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy this one too!)
Chapter 22:
"MOOOOMMMM! I'M BACK!"
The voice and the accompanying door-slam had him opening his eyes, but it was being cuffed on the side of the head that actually woke him up, along with a smooth knee grazing very close to his sensitive parts. The brutality of all the stimulation startled him fast into awareness and annoyance.
"What the—" A tiny, hard hand pressed against his mouth, forcing him gulp back the words and blink up at the woman attached to said hand.
"Shhhhhh!" Anna hissed frantically, her very mussed hair framing her face. "It's Robin!"
Robert looked down at her bare breasts brushing against his chest and went blank with desire. He was confused and comfortable… and what the hell was the point? One of his hands came up to grab her wrist and pull it away so he could speak. "Wait—"
"MOM?" Footsteps pounded toward the room and Anna pushed him as hard as she could until he obliged, stumbling sideways off the bed and just catching a bundle of clothing she tossed toward him. He dropped everything but the boxers, figuring slight decency was in order if Robin had decided to be an obnoxious preteen today and bust in on her mother.
"Go, go, go!" Anna cried under her breath, shooing him back towards the closet. Outraged and just done wrestling with his underwear, Robert flung back around defiantly as Anna screamed toward the hall, "DON'T YOU OPEN THAT DOOR, ROBIN! I broke something glass and I don't want you cutting yourself!"
"I'm not—just lock the door, damnit!" Robert growled at the same time that Anna lunged for it and turned the mechanism, having the exact same thought. It was too early in the morning for this garbage, and he wasn't about to hide in a bloody closet from a child!
The knob jiggled as Robin clearly tried to turn it. "Mom? I can go get the broom if you—"
"NO!" Anna gasped with irritation—and too much urgency for the scenario. Robin would know something was suspicious. "I'll just vacuum it!"
"What's going on?" their daughter persisted through the door. Definitely suspicious. Robert would have laughed at any other time. Instead, he spotted Anna's robe and snagged it off the bathroom door, draping it over her shoulders. "Is someone in there with you? I thought I heard something weird."
"What you heard, darling, was me …knocking a bottle of perfume," Anna deadpanned. Through the door, perhaps Robin couldn't hear the breathlessness of her reply. She fixed the robe around herself and tied it. "I will be out in a moment, I just have to clean up a bit. Alright?"
"But Dad's car is—"
Robert slapped his forehead, making a distinct noise on connection and jumped away as Anna almost stomped on his foot.
"Your father's not here!" Anna declared loudly before Robin could question what she may have heard. "Now just get away from the door and put away your things and I'll be out soon!"
"Okay, okay…" Robin huffed sullenly. And they clearly heard her walk from Anna's bedroom door to her own, before it closed a little too loudly.
Anna sighed, rubbing her forehead, robe hanging almost entirely off her shoulder. "Oh God… you've gotta get out of here…"
"Hey, wait a second!" Robert cried, stepping toward her. "We've gotta talk about what just happened here—"
"Do you?" Her eyes were tired and something else that she was trying to hide from him… Hunted? Scared? It gave him a foreboding feeling in the pit of his stomach. "I think it speaks for itself, really…"
How casual… Robert shook his head, feeling a little disbelief but unable to understand. Could she really be pulling this on him? He was so heavily aware of the form underneath her robe. He was so aware of everything about her for the moment (God, was she beautiful), and after the first full night of sleep in two weeks, his head felt clogged with it. Something that had been put away for a very long time was out again, even if she tried to ignore it. "Not for us, Anna..."
Her head jerked up to look at him. "We can't talk about this right now, because you've got to go! Robin is home, and she already thinks something strange is going on."
"And is she wrong?"
"Oh, Robert!" Her hands came down on his, stretched out toward her, and she held them there. "We don't have time for this. Go out through the window, and we'll talk later!"
"When?"
She shook her head, pushing him backward. "When Robin isn't waiting on me! You can't be serious with this!"
"Serious as a heart attack. When?"
"I don't know—after Dawn's wedding! You know we have bigger things to worry about right now. Go!"
He did, but only because he knew that he wasn't winning this battle. He fastened his pants and threw his shirt and tie on, undone. He could see the stress around her eyes as she paced around him with one hand secured to her forehead. Robert's head turned to follow her.
"I'll tell Robin one of the officers picked you up here for a stakeout or something…"
"Detective."
"Yes, a detect—" Catching her, he took her face in his hands and swallowed the rest of the word with a thorough kiss. She exhaled hard through her nose in surprise, and her hands slowly came up to grip the back of his shoulders. He responded automatically, snatching her waist to press her against him and she didn't pull away from him for a long moment, to his satisfaction. When she did finally, she had a chastising expression, but he knew better. "Stop, Robert, go!"
He crawled through the open window, propelled by her fluttering arms, and stepped over a flowerbed to his car. Robin was still unpacking in her room presumably, so she wouldn't hear the car start and pull out. She wouldn't know her father had ever been beyond the closed door with her mother. She wouldn't know.
He couldn't get his head around everything. He had finally slept soundly and Anna… Anna was—
"Damn…" he whispered, throwing the car into gear a little too forcefully. She was always the right woman at the wrong time. Faison—right in the middle of this mess. Robin in the middle of the entire problem too. The papers, the press, he knew what Sean would say…
And yet, last night his hands had been all over her. In his mind, they still were. The little noises she made, the perfection between them, her eyes softer than they could ever be in any other circumstance. He felt spent and thrilled and out of his senses...
How had it been so long? He had forgotten what it was like to utterly lose his mind and heart in her, only this time, he knew what all of those things meant.
"Enough now," he ordered himself. He shook his head, waterlogged with something unique to her—something he needed to do without, but couldn't. And prevailing above all was the mounting dread of realizing he was on the same, intoxicating train. What had they done?
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Hours later, Anna had been forced to smash one of her favorite bottles of perfume, make her excuses to Robin, pick out outfits for them both for Dawn's wedding, and somehow shut last night out of her mind with a steel, sound-proof door. And even with that, the words and feelings and touches of it all were fleeting images that refused to be ignored. Anna looked off the patio and tried to stop reliving it.
"I'm sorry, am I boring you?" Sean asked testily as he observed Anna's blatant inattention. She blinked and shook her head.
"No," she muttered, standing to toss her plate in the trash. She could feel Sean's eyes carefully watching for any hint as to where her mind was going. Anna wasn't so far-gone that she didn't notice. And she must not have given him any idea, because he decided to just come out and ask.
"What's going on, is it what the papers are saying?"
"No—it's—" She stopped herself from saying more and paused. "I'm sorry I didn't call you back after I saw the papers, by the way. I was just… frustrated."
"Yes, and then you came stomping into my penthouse to have a blow-up with Robert."
She was already plagued with thoughts of Robert, but not the disagreeable kind. His arms had been so strong and warm last night. His lips, his hands, the ocean of his eyes… Anna pressed her lips together and stopped. It was enough now. "He deserved it," she rebutted finally. "You both did, you know."
Sean leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Maybe," he said neutrally. "I still think I'm the only objective voice in the room, with whatever is going on between you two…"
"Nothing!" Anna retorted too fast. "There's nothing, except you and him thinking that you can dictate how I handle Faison! He's jealous, and you… you're…"
"I care about you," Sean said simply, with just the slightest hint of impatience. "He does too. I think that goes without saying. What I don't quite understand is why you seem intent on painting Robert as your enemy in this."
"Because with this, he is." Anna said adamantly as she stood in front of Sean. He may have meant well, but Anna knew what was really going on here and she was not about to let Sean gaslight her into thinking it wasn't happening. She had been at this game for almost as long as they had, and from a younger age. "Don't start telling me that Robert has the mission in mind, Sean. It's an insult to my intelligence."
"So insulting Robert is your solution?" Sean hit back. "What was that crack about 'covering the cameras'?"
Anna couldn't stop the blush that spread on her face. "It was personal."
"Right, exactly." Sean rubbed his face. "I'm having the same conversations with Robert, why? Because both of you are making this personal, alright!"
"And he starts it!" Anna insisted. "He did at your penthouse and he's been doing it ever since his ideas didn't work and before that! And now that he has to back up his promise…" She lifted a finger to halt his response. "I left town like a 'good little girl', against my better judgment, and look what we've come back to!"
She slumped back into her chair, banging her elbow against the table and ignoring the jolt of pain that came with it. "I haven't gone behind his back or yours! I've told you exactly what I'm gonna do to finish this! He agreed, you agreed, but apparently that means nothing!"
Sean was quiet for a moment. Anna knew that he didn't disagree with her, but he was trying to find a workable solution.
Robert's fingers danced against the side of her face as he bit right under her ear, pressing so close that she didn't know where he ended and she began. Tenderness and pain in the frenzy of them, together again.
Anna swallowed. Sean didn't know that there probably wasn't a workable solution anymore…
Robert wasn't going to stand for this. If there was any guarantee that he would fight her tooth-and-nail, every step of the way, it was what they had just done in her bed.
She really couldn't bear to tell anyone, so she would have to figure something out on her own. She had some ideas, each more cutting than the last.
"Anna, the way I see it, we need to tone this whole thing down," Sean said very professionally, and she could see the respect there when he met her eye. "We're gonna try with the Sheikh. We'll take everything step-by-step. We are going to work your plan if this fails, and I will stand beside you on it."
"You already said that once before," Anna reminded him. Sean conceded with a nod.
"Yes, I did. And I know you felt blindsided about the changes, but I also know how dangerous this man is…" He sighed. "And I know that I'm being a little protective, but I care about you and I care about Robin and I don't want to risk anything we don't have to risk."
There was a time when Sean had been so reckless with the personal, with the feelings of others… But that time was over.
"Neither do I," Anna laughed softly, at a loss for why. She thought of Faison's open expression from the other night—the flickers of vulnerability. "I can work him, Sean. I know that I can."
"Then you'll be able to prove it." He straightened and brushed off his hands. "But first, we have a wedding to attend. You're my plus one, baby. Well, you and Robin."
"Is Robert going?" She recalled suddenly that she said they would talk after the wedding, but seeing him there would prove that difficult.
Sean scratched his nose uncomfortably. "Nah, well… Monica had some …concerns about Robert attending."
"Because of the articles," Anna finished glumly. "I suppose she doesn't have a problem with my going then? Why's that?"
"Cassandra Clark's ridiculous narrative portrays you as the victim in all of this, doesn't it?"
"Ridiculous…" She let the word drift far away, to where she was trying to push her thoughts of Robert. "But Monica is Robert's friend, and she's worried about all of this?" Anna countered. "I don't like it…"
"Oh, softening on your ex now?" Her partner winked, but then immediately sobered. "Friends they may be, but it took all of my powers of persuasion just to get her to agree to invite the Sheikh. Dawn is her daughter, and she doesn't want any mishaps for this wedding. If the press cover it at all, which I doubt they'd miss a Quartermaine event, Monica doesn't want her daughter's day to become a three-ring circus, nor does she want it overshadowed with articles about Robert and you."
"And what about 'P.K. Sinclair'?"
"He's not likely to attend, according to Monica. That whole business with Ned and Wyndamere…"
Ah, yes… thank God for small favors. She felt better bringing Robin, knowing that Faison wouldn't be lurking around the next corner. "Well, it sounds like everything will work out just perfectly then!" She couldn't keep an edge of sarcasm off of her tone, so she reverted to logistics. "What are the chances that the Sheikh will actually turn up?"
"Eh…" Sean laughed a little and stood up. "We're not going to know until we get there. Look, I'm gonna go home and get ready for this wedding. I'll come pick you up in an hour, okay? By that time, you'll probably have Robin wrangled, huh?"
He chuckled when she scowled at him and turned away before she could do much more. She may get a break from Faison's physical presence, and from Robert, but it was no respite. It was another step toward breaking Faison's hold on them all. If the Sheikh wasn't there…
Miraculously, Robin was completely dressed and ready, with Anna well on her way before her daughter asked any questions that hit too close to her nerves.
"Is Daddy going to be at the wedding?"
Robin had barely believed the story about Robert on a stakeout, leaving his car at their house. He had never felt the need to do such a thing before, and it was barely believable that he wouldn't drop in on them before leaving with his car. It was a poor lie, but Anna couldn't worry about it. Better that lie than the damning truth.
"No, he has police business to handle. But he wants us to get a picture, so you'd better practice that smile."
Robin huffed, and watched as her mother applied makeup, her expression suddenly thoughtful. "Do you think that Dad is avoiding the wedding?"
"Why on earth would you think that?" Anna said, her hands freezing over her foundation.
"Well because …because of his wedding to Kate. The one that didn't happen because of…"
Duke's death. Anna turned around to face her daughter.
"And now that they've broken up, maybe they don't want to see someone else's wedding."
"You know that wasn't the reason they aren't together anymore, right?" Anna asked.
"I don't know. Nobody's told me anything about it," Robin said with a little defensiveness. Her arms went up in a defeated gesture. "It's like one day, they just weren't together. I didn't even know anything was wrong."
"I'm sorry for that," Anna said lamely. Truth was, she had no idea that Robin felt this way and it was a huge thing to miss. With her and Robert scrambling around to deal with Faison, normal life issues were slipping through the cracks, and how it would affect their daughter. "I know Kate is special to you too."
"Yeah, she is!" Robin agreed, and then she bit her lip in a gesture that Anna recognized all too well. Her daughter had done it since she was a little girl, and it signified the rare moment when Robin wanted to say something, but wasn't sure it was a good idea.
"What's the matter?" Anna wheedled. "Tell me."
She must have been bursting to say it, because that was all it took to get her to fold. "You know, Mom, I did notice that Kate hasn't been around as much. And I wondered if…"
"What?!" If Anna had been younger, that could have sounded like a whine. Instead, it just sounded exasperated.
"If Daddy and Kate broke up because of you and Daddy!"
"Me and your father?" Anna echoed and the words ricocheted around her brain anxiously. In all of her thoughts about what she would do, she had forgotten that Robin wasn't a child young enough to be led and accept vague explanations. She blinked up at her daughter and kept her face carefully unaffected. "What possibly gave you that idea?"
Robin averted her eyes and fidgeted. "I don't know… I just said that Kate hasn't been around much, but that was even before she and Daddy broke up. And she got weird when she brought me to the club for pizza when we talked about San Remo. And then there's the…" She grimaced and trailed off.
Oh, Anna knew what this was about. "Hm—what?"
"Mom …you'd tell me if there was something going on, right? Between you and Dad? I mean, I thought that you and Mr. Sinclair were …but now I don't really get it."
"Nothing is going on between me and P.K. Sinclair right now, alright?" Anna said sharply. "And as for me and your father …you're old enough to know that most of what people write in tabloids is not true."
"Yeah, I know, but—"
"But what?" Anna took Robin's limp hands and squeezed them comfortingly. "You know your father and me …better than some journalist who wants to sell papers. People have written a lot of stuff about us before, darling, you've just been too young to notice."
Every word felt like another nail in Anna's coffin, and her eyes were fixed on her daughter, who already didn't completely believe her. It was small, but it was there: a slight shine of mistrust and question.
Robin was almost a teenager; it was bound to happen. Yet, what was buried underneath the foundation of their family was far, far worse than normal growing pains. Anna panicked.
"But listen, I want you to listen to me, Robin." The girl's brown eyes cleared and it gave Anna more hope than she dared, especially with what she was about to say. "If I do something…" her mouth trembled and she pressed her lips together to take a breath. "If I do something that doesn't make any sense to you, I want you to talk to me about it. But above all, I want you to trust me. Can you please do that?"
"Something's wrong, isn't it." Robin answered seriously. She hadn't so much as blinked since Anna had begun and her voice was quiet. "Is it a mission, like you used to have?"
"You're not a little girl anymore," Anna said. "I can't make it fun for you and expect you to believe our stories. But when I do tell you something, you need to know that I'm trusting you. And I need you to trust me, even when you don't understand. Please."
Robin didn't hesitate for a moment and her nod was firm and unshakeable. "Okay, Mom. I'll try."
Anna pulled her forward and hugged her fiercely. "Good," she whispered.
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"Robert, I understand what you're saying, but I have to tell him something," Guy said in a moderated tone. Robert appreciated his second's peacemaking nature in times like this, but to go from his night with Anna to this frustrated garbage was not ideal.
"It's a bloody article! And it doesn't even have anything to do with this department!" Robert dropped the papers back on his desk with a slap and landed in his chair. "This broad has it in for me, Guy. Hell, she pretended to land an interview with Katherine solely to go digging about me. And now you're standing here, telling me that the State Commissioner has a bug up his rear about this? Are we really gonna lend such credibility to the likes of Cassandra Clark?!"
"The article wasn't his main complaint. It was more the pending caseload and the crime wave going unaddressed."
"Unaddressed?! We—"
Guy put his hands up. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm just telling you how it seems to him!"
"And so what?!" Robert snarled. "He's gonna 'pop in' and check up on me? I've got enough problems, Guy, and I don't need to be taking it from all ends here!" It was amazing that he had felt so rejuvenated this morning, only for that to come to an untimely end as soon as he stepped into his office. Robert stood heavily and retrieved a pen that had gone off his desk earlier, Guy silently watching. It wasn't lost on him that Guy had been nominated to deliver this news. Sam was probably the one who had fielded the calls to start.
Robert shook his head. "You can bet that idiot Scott Baldwin made a call or two. He told me as much that he would…"
"Well, I think it would go a long way if you could show cause for hauling P.K. Sinclair in here last week, you know?" Guy responded with care. "That was a question he had…"
"Bloody unbelievable," Robert muttered. Could Faison have planned this? The crime wave, the State Commissioner coming to call, the press disaster, all in one? If he hadn't, things couldn't be going more in his direction.
He wants me distracted…
Faison didn't have to hide his motives because there was nothing to lose by Robert knowing. He was still forced to deal with these problems and Anna would be left alone to fight him, just like last time when Faison had threatened his life and Anna couldn't tell Robert what she had been doing all along. It was going Faison's way, and he knew it.
"Robert… are we gonna talk about how to handle this?" Guy asked tentatively, waving a hand to catch his attention.
Rubbing his lips, Robert's pensive eyes caught Guy's own. And then he stood, buttoning his jacket. "If there was a way to handle all of this, a way that didn't involve just dealing with it and trying to keep our heads above water, believe me that I'd be first in line. But before we tackle it, I have to check about something. If anyone needs me, I'll be at the Quartermaine wedding."
"I thought you weren't invited to that," Guy said quizzically.
"I'm not going to stick around. I just need to talk to someone there. After that, I'm all yours, alright? And listen, if he calls again, tell him that we have some leads on the murder investigation. Hell, you can tell him what we've got, just don't tell him we got it from Shep Casey!"
"Whatever you say." Robert could hear the reluctance in his voice, but as he left, the Sheikh was the only thing on his mind.
Any assistance at this point, any way to take the pressure off of Anna (and him, by extension) was welcome. He had to know if things had panned out, and he needed to know immediately before he could form a plan for the Department.
Anna was there at the Quartermaine's, with Faison. Faison, who wasn't supposed to be there… Robert's blood ran cold. The creep wouldn't have been there if he wasn't confident that he wouldn't run the risk of further exposure. He smiled at Robert and Robert look away entirely, mitigating the desire to punch the guy's lights out.
"You and I need to talk," Robert said, focusing on Anna. His hand automatically wrapped around her elbow and started pulling. She didn't budge and gave a quick look to the DVX spy.
"Robert, we were about to go," she hissed. "What's this about?"
"C'mon, it's still a party," Robert responded, looking around at the guests still milling around. "I thought our daughter would be here."
"She's not anymore, Sean and Tiffany took her with them." Anna pulled away. "If you want to see her, go to the penthouse!"
"I came to see you, actually." More curious than ever, with Sean's absence and Faison's presence, she must have had something to tell. "Privately."
Faison, who had been watching their interplay, sighed lightly. "I'd expect a little more decorum, Scorpio. It's a public function, you were not invited, and you became a tiresome obstacle long ago…"
Anna's hands were on his chest, pressing Robert back before he realized that he had moved forward at all. "I'll speak with him, it's better to just deal with this now," she said to Faison. "We can go in a moment, okay?"
Robert scoffed and watched Faison's unhappy expression as she pushed him toward the living room, cleared of all guests at the moment. But he didn't unleash until she had firmly closed the door behind them and they carefully ensured that they were alone and no one was roaming about outside.
"So the Sheikh had to be a no-show then!" he snapped.
"What are you doing here?" Anna groused, glancing nervously at the door in a way that set Robert on edge. "You said you were going to stay away!"
"Well, sorry, but I've got a little situation at work and I can't lay out what I need to do next until I knew what was going on here!" Robert planted his hands on his hips and stepped towards her. "What has he said to you? What is he even doing here?!"
"I don't know, he just showed up at the house to escort me and I couldn't—"
"You should have told him to take a hike!" Robert bellowed, causing Anna to shush him forcefully.
"Keep your voice down! What should I have told him? That we had invited one of his enemies to the wedding and could he please return to Spoon Island?! It's suspicious enough that you showed up!"
"You're the mother of my child, we have plenty of business."
"He knows it has nothing to do with Robin." Anna looked again toward the door before muttering. "The Sheikh didn't turn up. Now it's my move."
"Like hell!" Robert swore. "We—you—give it some space, will ya?! The wedding isn't even over!"
"Sean got a note," Anna explained. She was just so calm, it rankled him. "He told him he was coming. They're all scared, don't you see? We're out of your last-minute options now. There's nothing more you can press and blindside me with. We're going with the plan we should have gone with from the very beginning, and that is all you have to say about the matter."
He had guessed this was going to happen, but he felt the bottom drop out anyway, and he clawed and clawed the ragged sides of this hole, trying to keep himself from falling in. And as panicked as he felt, Anna appeared as assured and fearless. He didn't understand it. He didn't understand her.
"What …are you going to do?" he mustered. He was standing too close and she didn't even do him the courtesy of looking at him.
"It's better that you don't know the details."
"For God's sake, Anna!" he raged. "Does it even matter that we—"
"Don't talk about that!" she ordered him, her eyes flashing and back on him. "That's not important anymore. Forget about that. Forget about us and forget my mission. Mind your own business, Robert." She was so cold and pitiless in the moment, it scared him.
Is this what it was going to be like? Twice in two days she made it her business to make him feel like their long, hard-won relationship meant nothing. What did she want from him?!
"Will you stop trying to hurt me, just for one second?!" Robert snapped, his hands capturing her upper arms, as if the physical will of his hold would somehow force her to stop lying to him or herself or whoever and face the music. He leaned down until her face was level with his. She watched his eyes like he was a dangerous predator, and she was right about that. He made sure his heated whisper rang in her ears. "Nice try, but I remember you last night…"
She swallowed reflexively at his words and her face warmed. Oh, she was a little liar.
It was the desired effect, so he kept going as their eyes fought each other unblinkingly. He looked as if he could bite and only bravado kept her from leaning away. "I remember it all, my darling. And nothing you say about that is gonna convince me for one second that I imagined it."
"You let go," she growled, fighting to get away.
The door opened; he didn't even have time to see who it was.
Because Anna slapped him, hard.
"What—" Robert began, catching her hand impulsively as she tried to do it again.
"I'm tired of this!" Anna cried, her voice carrying out of the room and into the reception area. Robert was too flabbergasted to stop her. "You following me around, having your men follow me, saying you're protecting Robin from what?! You're a liar, Robert. A jealous liar and if you don't stop harassing me, I will go above your head to the State! I'm a private citizen and I—"
They were being separated, Anna wasn't laying a hand on him but the words landed like she was pounding him into dust and Robert thought he might have heard Simone's voice, but all he could see was Anna coming undone at him. Anna…
"Anna…" Tom Hardy was suddenly next to them and Robert finally looked up to see wedding guests scattered towards the open doors, looking as if they were watching a gladiator match at the Coliseum. "You're shouting... I don't know what is going on with you and Robert, but do you really want to do this here?"
"Yes, Tom, I really do," Anna said aggressively. In the space of a minute, her whole demeanor had changed: she was running an act at his expense and he was the fool standing around taking it. She flung her hand toward him, looking almost imploring at the doctor if she didn't seem so indignant. "He has a whole police department at his disposal and I can't defend myself against his harassment unless I tell truth!"
"Tell them what?" Robert asked angrily, wanting to defend himself from these ridiculous lies and not even knowing where to begin. "What the hell are you on about?!"
"You know exactly what!"
"Robert," Tom started, moving between them. The protective gesture for Anna's benefit enraged Robert on principle, but there was nothing to do but grit his teeth. "This sounds like a personal issue. Why don't you two go somewhere with less people?"
"I don't know, Tom." Scott Baldwin was standing next to a delighted Faison at the front of the small crowd. "It sounds like Anna might have grounds for a harassment suit. I'm available, if you need a lawyer," he shamelessly plugged.
"I don't need a lawyer. I need him to leave me in peace and stay out of my personal life!" Anna cut across Scotty. Then she looked him dead in the eye. "We have a daughter, Robert, but that's the end of it. You don't get a say on who I date, and you certainly don't get to dictate my life." She strode away from Robert to where Faison was standing. "Please take me home?"
Faison's beady eyes glinted at Robert. "It would be my great pleasure." He offered his arm and Robert felt cemented to the ground, heart pounding, as they left.
This was a ruse …a ruse, but why? How was this necessary?! He heard Tom shift uncomfortably beside him and then Monica's voice. "Robert, please leave. I don't want to have to throw you out, but this is my daughter's wedding…"
The gazes were on him and he knew: they believed Anna. They believed Cassandra Clark and P.K. Sinclair and Scott Baldwin. Tom Hardy was staring at him like he didn't know him—like he was some dangerous quantity that might have to be thrown out.
"I apologize for the disturbance," Robert ground out. "I'll go now."
He escaped for the second time that day.
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"Are you sure you're all right?" Faison asked again. He couldn't keep the satisfaction from his voice.
"Good," Anna thought to herself. "Be satisfied. Think that I despise him and that I can actually want you. Think whatever you like until you're dead in the ground."
"I'm fine," Anna said. Her voice wavered, but that was to be expected: Robert was the father of her child and a close friend. She would have to be inhuman not to be bothered by what had just transpired. But she tilted her head away from the window and smiled at him, in the way that she was sure would fixate him in the low light. "I don't want to discuss it, really. Let's just go and enjoy the rest of the night, okay? We'll talk about whatever you wanted to talk about."
"Of course we will," Faison answered. "I may be bold for saying this, but I think that even after that …display between you and Scorpio, you might appreciate this all the more."
Anna wondered what that could mean, but she didn't allow herself to consider losing advantage. Instead, her lips curled up into a smirk and she nodded slowly. "Let's see, shall we…?"
A/N: I call this Anna's Wedding Train moment (like when Robbie ripped off her scar and tore into her in 1985, in front of everyone). More love and war to come.
Also, Shep and Kate are doing something of their own thing right now, I'm not getting into them until they come back into the Faison storyline. So just imagine they're bonding lol. Thanks for reading, let me know what you think!
