A/N – Thanks for the comments! I'm so happy you guys have liked this story. There is one more chapter left. I'm hoping I can start posting the new one, called Solidarity, next Monday or Wednesday.

Chapter 32

Robert finished kissing Anna thoroughly. "So, what do you want to do now?"

She smirked. "Agent Ruiz is going to put into Patrick's cell this evening. The guard is going to accidentally mention what Patrick did and let's just say that he is about to get scared straight."

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Claudia paced in her apartment. Patrick had never shown up for their date and when she called the hospital, the nurse told her that he left with some guy and said he won't be back for days. She is going out of her mind imagining where he could be. It's not like him to just disappear. If he hasn't shown up by tomorrow afternoon, she'll call the police.

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Ric watched as Jason and Diane entered his room. He has one wrist handcuffed to the bed and a cop is outside in the hallway.

"How are you feeling?" Diane asked.

"I'm sore, but okay."

"I'm going to do everything I can to keep you from going to jail."

Ric closed his eyes. "I don't deserve your kindness after what I did."

"We all make mistakes. I need you to fight. Do you think you can do that?"

He is overcome by the compassion in her eyes. "I'll try."

"The guys said they'll testify on your behalf," Jason said.

A tear rolls down Ric's cheek. "Tell them that I said, thank you."

"I'm sure they'll visit. You know that you'll have to go to Shadybrook for a while, right?"

"It's better than jail. I need to deal with this. Everything is going to change now. I'll be convicted, and that record will always be there."

"I'm sorry. I spoke to Edward, he agreed that if you get a clean bill of health, he'll try to find a place for you in the company."

A sob left Ric's lips. "I don't even know what to say. It's beyond anything I ever expected."

"We all want you to get better," Diane said.

"Thank you."

"Alright, I have to get some blood work done." When Ric's eyes widened, she squeezed his hand. "It's just routine."

"Get some rest," Jason said before leading Diane out.

"Right now, all he can see is that he ruined his life, but I think much greater things are in store for him. Firefighting wasn't his first love. Now, he can figure out what he really wants to do."

Jason nodded. "Did Sonny have a middle name?"

"Yes, it's Cornelius."

He stopped in his tracks. "Come again?"

Diane laughed. "That was priceless."

"You were pulling my leg?"

"Yes. He doesn't have one."

Jason shook his head and pressed the elevator button, glad that she is joking around a little. They are all dealing with it day by day.

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That evening, Manny Ruiz was placed in Patrick's cell.

When he ripped off his shirt and revealed his full body tattoos, Patrick almost wet himself.

"The guard told me you're in here for taking advantage of an unconscious woman. What kind of sick freak does that?" The shirt was tossed to the side.

Patrick backed up as far as he could.

"Maybe I should take advantage of you."

"Please…"

"Please what?"

"Don't hurt me."

Manny moved a little closer. "Give me a reason that I shouldn't."

"I—I didn't mean to hurt her. I kissed her to make her boyfriend jealous. I know it was stupid, but she was the only one who has ever loved me, and I had a brain tumor. I needed her."

Manny shook his head. "I just don't think you get what it means to take someone's choices away. Do you really understand how that violates a person?"

"Yes."

"Then why did you do it?"

"I was desperate and selfish. I was convinced she was the only one who could help me, but I was wrong. I know that now."

Manny stopped right in front of him.

"My friend Claudia talked to me about it a lot and I was so focused on my feelings that it didn't sink in, but this whole thing has made me see that nothing good came out of it."

Manny put his hand around Patrick's neck, making him whimper. "If I ever find out that you hurt another woman like that, I'll hunt you down and fucking rip your hands off your body. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

He released him and then sat on the bench.

Patrick didn't move. Hell, he is scared to breathe. About a half hour later, he finally took a seat on the cot and he thought about everything he did and the consequences. The truth is that Liz was already standing beside him even though they weren't together, something he really didn't deserve, but he crossed line and ruined everything. He had betrayed and disrespected her in the worst way. Maybe this was his karma.

Anna and Frisco watched the emotions play on his face.

"I think he might just get it now."

"What do you want to do?"

The intercom came on. "Uh, there's a pretty pissed off lady out here looking for Patrick Drake."

"Claudia," they said in unison.

"I'll take this one," Anna said.

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Claudia is livid. "Are you jerks going to get off your asses and try to find him? I'm telling you, something is not right here."

Anna moved next to her. "Claudia, my name is Anna Devane. Will you please come with me?"

Claudia's nostrils flared. "Fine…"

Anna led her into an interrogation room. "Please, have a seat and I will let you know where Patrick is."

She sat. "Why do I have a feeling that I'm not going to like this?"

"This is about what he did to Elizabeth and Jason."

Claudia's head tilted. "Did she have him arrested for what he did?"

"Not exactly…"

"What does that mean?"

"Well, Patrick really wasn't getting the damage he caused, and Elizabeth didn't want him arrested or to lose his license."

"Okay, then why is he here?"

"We decided to teach him a lesson by making him feel like he was going to lose something important to him."

Claudia averted her eyes. "So, you made him think that he was going to lose his career and possibly go to jail because you didn't believe his sincerity?"

"Please don't tell me that you are defending him what he did."

"I'm not. Action have consequences, but he is still recovering."

"We know and that is why we waited until now. He wasn't hurt—well maybe his pride. One of my agents just finished putting the fear of God in him though, and I watched him. I think he finally gets it. We're hoping that this will help him to not repeat his mistakes again."

"I want to see him now. You've held him since yesterday and had your little fun."

"It wasn't fun. Nothing about this is fun, but Elizabeth was violated by him and he's lucky I didn't have him locked away. What we put him through is nothing compared to thinking someone raped you and took away your happiness."

"Don't you think I know that! I like Elizabeth and I have told Patrick he was wrong. Just—take me to him, please." She is worried sick.

Anna led him to the cell.

Patrick slowly stood. "Hey."

Manny had already been taken out, so he is by himself.

"Can you get me out of here?"

Claudia wiped a tear away. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I mean this is bad, but I get how much damage I did to her. I'm sorry."

Anna unlocked the cell. "Patrick, you're not under arrest. This was all a ruse."

His face contorted. "What?"

"You needed to understand what it felt like to have something you loved ripped away from you. We didn't want to do any permanent damage, so we pretended to arrest you and then make you think that you'd lose your career. While that might seem extreme, so were your actions when you violated Elizabeth."

Tears stung his eyes as he focused on Claudia. "Did you know?"

"No. I came here to make them look for you."

"So, Elizabeth did this?"

"Well, it was a group effort and she went along with it. You pissed off a lot of people."

He ran his hand through his hair feeling relief, anger, and then shame. "I get it and I guess it could have been a lot worse, it could have been true. Can I go now?"

"Yes."

Claudia pulled him into her arms and held him as his emotions finally got the best of him and he cried with relief.

Anna took a couple of steps backwards. "I'm going to leave you with this last thing. When Elizabeth thought you raped her, she was crushed. Even though she didn't want to believe it, because of what you let Jason see, she thought it was a possibility. She had to endure an exam and tests all the while wondering if you had done the unthinkable. It was humiliating, and it broke her heart. She had let you back in, even when everyone had warned her that you wouldn't stop, and then you trampled all over her acts of friendship. I don't think she'll ever forget that and I hope you never forget this because she could have been spiteful and put you away. Her family wanted to, but then they thought better of it because they didn't want to punish patients who might need your help. You dodged a bullet this time. Do something good to pay it forward and be a better man."

Anna walked away and once Patrick had calmed, Claudia took him home and put him to bed.

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Two days later, Elizabeth and Jason were at the hospital checking on Ric, who was about to get transferred, and she spotted Claudia coming off the elevator.

"Can I speak to you a moment?"

Elizabeth nodded, figuring it was about Patrick. Anna had come by and gave them all the details.

"Yes, follow me."

She took her to an empty room.

"Are you done?" Claudia asked.

"Claudia…"

"I just need to know, because he hasn't gotten out of bed for two days because he's so fucked up in the head."

"Trust me, I know the feeling."

"I know what he did to you was wrong. I truly get that, but I'm really hoping you are done. He knows what he did was beyond wrong and it's eating him up."

Elizabeth sighed. "You know, it's hard for me to feel a lot of sympathy when it took all of this for him to finally get the consequences of what he did. It's obvious that you care about him, but what do you expect me to do?"

"I know I'm asking a lot, but can you talk to him one last time?"

Liz shook her head. "You want me to appease his guilt?"

"What I want is for Patrick to really apologize to you and Jason. You saved him from going to jail because he's a brilliant doctor. What good is he to patients if he is this depressed?"

"You're asking a lot, Claudia. I already confronted him, and he couldn't even say he wouldn't have drugged me."

"I know, but he gets it now. It will be a whole different conversation. Can you at least think about it?"

Liz nodded.

"Thank you. I want you to know that I do think what he did was horrible, but I just don't want it to define his entire life. I think Patrick can be the man that we know he can be, but he's got a hard head. I happen to know how that is because I've done some pretty reckless things too."

"Okay. How is everything else going?"

"Good and you?"

"I'm good. Jason is close to becoming Captain and Diane is having a little boy."

Claudia smiled. "That's great news. Listen, I know that there will be no double dates in the future, but maybe we can have a couple of girls only weekends. I really like and respect you, Elizabeth."

Liz gave her a hug. "That sounds like fun and for the record, I think Patrick is very lucky to have found you."

"If I don't ring his neck, we just might have a chance."

Liz smiled. "Come have some coffee with me before you go back."

"Deal…"

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Jason got up and started to pace. Liz had just told him about the conversation with Claudia. "I'm having hard time with this because of the pain he caused, but then I think about the fact that we helped Ric and feel like we'd be hypocrites not to at least talk to him."

Liz nodded. "I agree, but I'm just so mad at Patrick."

"And you have a right to be, but I think knowing what you know, if you didn't speak to him, it would bother you."

"She said we could just do a face chat."

"I insist on being on that call."

"Okay. I'll text her."

The next morning, they called Claudia from Jason's laptop.

"Hi. I'm going to walk it into the bedroom. I just got him up."

She pushed open the bedroom door.

"I'm not hungry."

"I know. Someone wants to talk to you."

He frowned. "Claudia…"

"Patrick, this pity party you're having ends today."

She sat next to him and he is shocked when he spots Elizabeth.

"Hello, Patrick."

He starts to get emotional and Claudia holds his hand to give him strength.

"What—why?"

"Claudia thinks that you need to apologize to help you move forward, so here we are."

Jason moved closer.

Patrick let out a harsh breath. "I don't think there are words to convey how sorry I really am. I was wrong, and I'm supposed to do no harm, but I did."

Liz wiped away a tear.

"I've wasted so much of my life being cocky and only caring about myself and even after I hurt you so badly, you still didn't try to ruin me. Why?"

Liz looked down as she gathered her thoughts. "I didn't want your gifts to be wasted because of your lack of sanity where it came to us. I wanted you to really get how you made me feel and what I went through and I can see that you do now. Patrick, you've gotten a second chance to live and another chance to do some good. Don't waste it. Deal with what you did and then you're going to have to forgive yourself and focus on helping others. Learn the lesson and move forward because what you are doing now, is just ruining all the progress you've made. Only you can fix this, and Claudia is standing by you regardless of what happened. Don't be ass and let her get away."

He sucked in a sob. "You were going to be there for me and I was stupid and selfish and disrespected you and Jason." His gaze fixed on Jason. "I'm sorry for how I made you feel too. I promise you that I'll do better. I'll get help and do whatever it takes."

"Patrick, I just want to be clear, I don't think I can be friends with you again, but that doesn't mean that I wish you any ill will."

"I understand."

"Goodbye, Patrick."

"Goodbye, Elizabeth."

She shut the computer and Jason held her while she cried, understanding that she needs to let go of her anger and move forward herself.

"Feel better?"

"I do. I needed to let that out. I'm glad it happened."

"I guess my need to punch him is gone."

Liz chuckled. "I love you, Jason."

"I love you too."