Chapter 40
"How did you know about this place?" Anna asked Robert as they walked into Antonio's. When she'd said he was taking her out for dinner she hadn't expected him to pick a romantic restaurant, especially on such short notice. Not that she was going to complain.
"You think I don't know where to take the lady I love on a romantic date?"
"Um, well, yeah," Anna said making them both laugh.
"I have my ways of finding these things out," Robert said as they looked around. This was exactly what he'd pictured when she said she wanted to go out on a date tonight. Romantic music, private tables lit by candles.
"Did you ask your brother?"
Robert smiled, "Yes."
"I'm glad, I've wanted to come here and hadn't yet so I'm glad you did." They were shown to their table and Robert ordered them wine. "I want to focus on us tonight but I need to ask you a few questions first," Anna told him.
"Alright."
"I know Peter would have had his first visit with Alex already, did that have anything to do with why Frisco wanted to talk to you today?"
"No, we talked about a few cases then he told me about a case he's waiting for information on. That's the one he might need me to come in for."
"He didn't say what it was?"
"No, just that after he had the informant he was waiting for he would know if he needed me to get involved."
"Alright, next question. What do you want to eat?"
Robert smiled, "That's all the work talk?"
"Yeah, I just had a feeling whatever Frisco wanted might have had something to do with Alex or Peter."
"I don't know what it's about so I can't say."
"That's fine, now I just want to think about us."
Robert took her hand, "Good because if I do have to go out of town for a while I want to enjoy tonight. You deserve to be romanced and that is my plan for the evening."
Anna leaned in and kissed him tenderly, "You are a wonderful man. I don't think you hear that enough." She stroked his cheek, "I am so lucky to have you as my best friend and I am so blessed to have you as the man in my life again."
Robert cleared his throat, "I thought I was the one doing the romancing."
"My handsome man needs to know he is loved, so I get to do some romancing too," Anna said with a smile.
Their waiter brought over their wine and took their order, "I'm glad you hadn't been here before," Robert admitted once they were alone again. "Do you have any idea how happy I am that you and I are finally back together."
Anna smiled, "I think I just might. I was afraid to want this but now that you're back in my life I know this is what has been missing all this time."
"I never tried to get over you, I wasn't moving on with my life."
"Robert, I think we both know there's was more to why you didn't move on than just me. You went through a lot for all those years you couldn't come home."
"Anna, in all those years you were what kept me going. Even now you're what kept me going. It's always been you."
Anna noticed he was getting a little emotional so she leaned in and whispered, "I have always loved you, I tried to get over you, I tried to ignore my feeling, I tried to act like you were just an annoying old friend but the only thing that was ever true was that I love you Robert Scorpio. Now kiss me." He did just that, then stroked her cheek, looking lovingly into her eyes.
They started talking about the fact that they were moving in together. Then about what they wanted to do. They flirted all throughout the meal and when it was over he took her hand and lead her back out to the car. "I don't know if I'll have to leave within the next couple days but if I do I hope you enjoyed tonight."
"I did enjoy myself thank you." Before he opened her door she put her arms around him, "Tonight's not over yet," she said then kissed him passionately.
...
Peter was back at Stienmore for his second visit with his mother. Today they had to talk about what they needed to do now. He was waiting for her to be shown into the adjoining room, he hated that this might be the last time he sees his mother in a very long time. They had never set out to hurt other people they only wanted to do what was need to keep their secret. Peter had been able to make a life of his own to separate himself from Faison because of Alex and what she was able to give him. He still struggled with the influence Faison had on him but Peter has been trying to be a better man than the man his father raised him to be. Alex had been able to make a life of her own, put herself through school and become a doctor because of what she took the night Peter was conceived. She could have handed over the entire file but what she had kept made her life she had possible. She was eventually able to get away from Charlotte, she used what she had to finance her life but only enough to make her way. Alex had always believed if anyone ever found out what she had. That she was the one that ended up with it, her life would have been in danger. Could she still be in danger now, could he?
When Peter was let in again the first thing he did was hug Alex. "Hello Peter, I'm so glad we at least get this time together."
"Mother please let's not talk like that yet, we should just enjoy our time together."
"You're right." She touched his cheek then they both took their seats. "What do you want to talk about today?"
"I think we need to discuss what our options are now, if there's anything we need to be worried about then I just want to visit with you while I can."
"I'd like that too. Peter, if you don't touch that account there should be nothing to worry about. There is no way you can be connected to it."
"Are you sure? I have used some of the money from it."
"No, I gave you money from it. I have been the only one that has ever accessed the account you can't be connected to it," Alex reassured him.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," then she looked closely at him, "That's right isn't? You haven't touched it since I gave you that information did you?"
"No, I haven't touched it. Mother, you've been hiding the fact you have access to that account as long as I've been alive."
"And I will continue to hide that fact. I used that money as a means to an end. I should have handed that account information over with the rest of the file but I knew it was my only chance of having a life of my own. Then I used it so you would have a life of your own. No one can ever know I basically stool a million dollars from the DVX."
"What do we do now?"
Alex took his hand, "You don't worry about that account, understood." Peter nodded he knew that Alex had only taken the information for that Swiss bank account because she had been a scared teenager at the time. That she had believed it was her ticket out of the situation she was in. It had ended up being a curse she had spent most of her life making sure no one ever knew about. She had told him that over the years people had tried to find out what had happened to that information because then they would have known who had stolen those files from Faison. Peter focused on what she was saying when she said, "You can reverse that suggestion, it doesn't matter now since the truth has come out now. You can do that right?" she asked not wanting to think about that damned account any more.
"Yes, when I planted it I made sure I could reverse it as well." Peter reached out and took her other hand, "Are you sure about this?"
"Yes, I've put Anna through enough, fix this for her."
"I don't really think it will matter that much to her now."
"Do it anyway, for me," she said with a softness he wasn't used to.
"Of course mother. Now let's talk about something else. We don't have that much time together."
She squeezed his hand, "I know I'm going to be in here for a long time but I hope you'll come to visit me again. This isn't goodbye."
He noticed the tear in her eye, "This isn't goodbye but we still should make the most of what time we still have today," he said with a little smile. She smiled back then they started talking about Peter's magazine. She wanted to hear that her son was making a good life for himself then she didn't have to think about the fact she was going to be in prison in a very long time.
...
As soon as Frisco had gotten the recording of the visit between Peter and Alex he watched it. There was no question he needed Robert to see this. He might know what they are talking about, at least some of it and he'll know what Anna should be made aware of. Frisco called him and told Robert he was needed at headquarters. When Robert got off the phone he went looking for Anna he knew she was in the house somewhere. He found her upstairs going through a box of old photos.
"What are you doing?" he asked with a grin.
"Just taking a little trip down memory lane." She held up a photo, "Look at that handsome man." It was a picture of Robert on their second wedding day. "We went all out on that one didn't we?"
He smiled at the picture in his hand, "Where's one of my beautiful bride? I wanted the big wedding. I was never getting married again and I was marrying the love of life so I wanted it done right."
Anna handed him a picture of her from their wedding, "Gee, if you had just told me that back then I wouldn't have taken so long to agree to the big wedding," she said making them both laugh.
He sat down beside her, looking at the pictures in her hand. "I have to go to headquarters, Frisco just called."
She leaned against him a little, "Do you know how long you'll be there?"
"No, he said there was some surveillance he needs me to see. He needs my input and then we are going to plan a course of action."
"Nice safe office work, no one shooting at you."
"I might frustrate him sometimes but so far Frisco hasn't tried to shot me," he said with a smile.
"Well keep it that way. When does he want you there?"
"I have a flight in a couple of hours."
She patted his leg, "Then you can sit here and look at pictures with me for a little while."
He touched her chin turning her head then kissed her tenderly, "I can't think of anything else I would want to do."
...
Peter had never thought of himself as an emotional man but on the flight home last night he felt like he was losing something. The fact they had no idea when they would see each other again actually upset him some. They had never had the most traditional mother/son relationship but he had cherished it in his own way. When they had met he questioned her about why she seemed to keep showing up around him then she had told him who she was. At first, he had been very angry but then she had explained she never wanted his father to know about him and that when she found out that Faison was raising her son she needed to find him and at least see how he was. Make sure he wasn't being turned into the monster his father was. At first, they had bonded over their hatred of Faison but over time he had started to care about her.
This morning he sat thinking about her, Alex had asked him to visit her again. That she wanted to see him while she was in prison, he already had the clearance and he thought that was something he wanted as well. He was done eating and was about to head to his office when he saw Finn enter the restaurant. When he got closer Peter flagged him over and asked him to join him. "What brings you here this morning?" he asked as Finn sat down.
"Well since I'm living here again this is the easiest place to go for breakfast before work."
"That's right I forgot you are staying here again. Does that mean you and Anna are done?"
"Weren't you at the Floating Rib last week? Didn't you see her and Scorpio?"
"He might just be a distraction. She might be upset about how things between the two of you have gone and is just looking for comfort with him."
"I don't think so, Peter."
Peter looked at him, "Finn, you need to fight for Anna," he said in a calm voice. Finn looked at Peter like he was considering what he had just said. "Well, I have to get to my office, have a good day Finn."
"Right, thanks. You too, Peter." Finn watched Peter as he left, then the waitress came over and gave him a menu. As he looked at that all thought of Peter was put out of his mind.
...
Robert was shown into Frisco office at WSB headquarters when he arrived. "Good morning Robert, I'm glad you came in."
"You didn't really make it sound like I had much choice in the matter," Robert said as he took a seat across from Frisco. "What's this about?"
"Well, there are actually a couple of things we need to talk about. One will interest you very much and I kind of want your advice on how to proceed. The other stuff is some paperwork."
"Paperwork?"
Frisco smiled at him, "Just that you are relocating. We need that all on file, we also need to make the required arrangements to officially move your office to Port Charles."
"You aren't going to fight me on this? There isn't a bunch of red-tape to go through to make this happen?" Robert asked a little sceptical.
Frisco leaned forward on his desk." If this wasn't you and Anna there might be a few more steps to getting it all approved but this is you and Anna and I've already approved everything. You just need to fill out all the paperwork. The WSB took this away from you twice already, like hell am I going to stand in the way of you two finally being happy."
Robert smiled, "Thank you Frisco." Robert cleared his throat, "So what is it that you need me to see?"
"I may have OK Peter August's visit with Alex but that doesn't mean I wasn't going to monitor what was going on at them. I didn't request the first day to be recorded but I did have the second visit recorded. I want you to watch it, then we can talk about that."
"Yeah alright." Frisco turned his laptop so Robert could see it then pressed play. They watched the visit in silence when it was over Robert didn't speak right away. He looked at his hands while he gathered his thoughts. When he looked at Frisco, "So they knew all along that Peter was Alex's son."
"Maybe not all along but from what I was told when they greeted each other the first day it was clear they knew each other and were close."
"They knew what they were doing to Anna and they didn't care?"
"I've watched this twice now, I think Alex feels guilty about what they did to Anna. If we knew what they were talking, whatever that account is then maybe we'd understand why Alex has been doing all of this."
"You think there is a bigger reason for her actions?"
"What do you think?" Frisco countered.
"Maybe, I still don't know why she would want Anna to think she had a child with Faison but her actions could point to trying to protect herself and her son."
"She took something from Faison. Do you think there's any way for us to figure out what that was?"
"We can try, do you think that would put her or Peter in danger?"
"Do you care?"
"Anna would, that's what matters. Do you have any idea what that stuff about a suggestion was?" Robert asked.
"I was hoping you might understand that."
"They don't even hint at who they might be talking about."
"You don't think it was Anna do you?"
"No, they planted false memories why would they bother planting some kind of suggestion?"
Frisco nodded, "K, that makes sense. Someone close to her then?"
"I don't know maybe but it sounded like they are going to reverse it so maybe that doesn't matter now anyway. I want to watch this again, see if I notice anything different the second time. Tomorrow we can talk about it again."
"Do you want that paperwork to fill out as well?" Frisco asked as he pulled the flash drive out of his computer. He picked up a folder and handed them both to Robert. "I take it you'll be here for a few days then?" he asked as Robert took them.
"It looks that way, I want to understand what we're dealing with. I also need to figure out how to tell Anna about this."
"So you do want to tell Anna?"
"Of course I do, I'm not keeping this from her. She thinks Henrick is someone she might want to let into her life. So she needs to know as much about him as she can."
"I was going to leave that up to you about what Anna was told anyway. I knew you'd know how to handle that part."
"Thanks, I'll talk to you in the morning about what I think after I've had a chance to watch this again." Robert turned and left Frisco's office, he needed to call Anna. He wasn't going to tell her about Alex and Peter over the phone, he just wanted to hear her voice and let her know he was going to be here for a while.