Chapter 8
"Robin?" Marcus walked into Robin's office and interrupted her deep in a file. "Sorry to interrupt but I have a patient coming in 10 minutes so I won't be able to go to lunch. Will you be okay by yourself today?"
"Yes, I'll just go to the cafeteria and bring something back to my office." Robin smiled at him and then went back to her notes.
Marcus walked over to the desk and stood in front of it. "That will be fine but right back here after you get your food, right?"
Robin nodded her head. "Of course, right back."
"Good, I'll see you in just a little bit. Have a good lunch." Marcus left the office and headed back to his own, in such a hurry that he didn't noticed Patrick standing a few feet down from Robin's door.
Robin put her file away and headed towards the cafeteria. She was passing the elevator when she was grabbed from behind and pulled into it. "Hey – what do you think you're doing?"
Patrick let the doors close and hit the emergency stop button. "We need to talk."
Robin began looking around the elevator frantically. "Patrick, start the elevator."
"No – you have been avoiding me ever since you got back two weeks ago. I just want five minutes to try and explain…"
"Explain?" Robin practically choked on the word. She was trying so hard to stay calm, to not fall into a full panic attack standing in that small, confined space, but her anger won out. "Explain how you divorced me without a second thought? Or how you took up with Jason's wife while I was trying to save his life? Let me ask you – was that a final screw you to Jason? It wasn't enough to bed his ex-girlfriend, you had to sleep with his widow too? Why not sleep with Carly, hit the trifecta?"
"It wasn't like that." Patrick couldn't believe the pain and anger coming from Robin.
"I don't want to know. It hurts - it hurts so much to know that, in the end, I meant so little to you. That after all these years you are still the same egocentric jerk that I met in that OR." Robin tried to push past him to the button but Patrick stopped her and gently pushed her back into the corner.
"I'm sorry I didn't see it but Robin, how was I to know? Once again, you were hurting and didn't just tell me. I'm not a mind reader." Patrick knew it was a weak defense but it was the only one he had.
"I told you I was broken!" Robin screamed it at him. "How could you not know I was hurting and I needed you? I needed you so bad but you never came." Robin fell into the corner sobbing. "You never came."
Patrick leaned against the wall of the elevator and slid down to the floor, tears streaming down his face. "God Robin, what have I done?"
Patrick and Robin stared at each other in silence until they heard a pounding on the door. Patrick reached up and pushed the button back in and the doors opened up.
"Robin!" Marcus ran in and carefully picked up the sobbing woman in his arms. "It's okay, I've got you now, it's all going to be okay."
He took her out of the elevator and into the hallway. "Get me a wheelchair."
Robin shook her head. "I'm okay."
"No you're not." Marcus glared at Patrick as an orderly brought over a wheelchair and Marcus set her down in it. "I'm taking you back to my office and then we are going home. Epiphany," Epiphany looked away from Robin and at Marcus, "please reschedule my appointment."
Marcus took a moment and then gestured to the orderly. "Please take Dr. Scorpio back to my office and wait for us there."
"Marcus…" Robin was trying to stop the fight she could see brewing. "I'm fine."
"No you're not." Marcus kneeled down next to her and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "I'll be there in just a minute." He kissed Robin's forehead and motioned for the orderly to leave before turning back to Patrick.
"How dare you do that to her? Are you trying to destroy all the progress she has made?"
"I needed to talk to her and you won't let anyone near her. Why are you so intent on keeping Robin away from the people who love her?" Patrick had done his research on the man and, while he seemed on the up and up, Patrick still didn't trust him. "I would think that keeping her isolated would be detrimental to her recovery."
"You know for a brain surgeon, you're not that smart. You are detrimental to her recovery. We returned to Port Charles in spite of you. Your decision to turn your back on her was the straw that broke the camel's back. Cornering a woman who has developed claustrophobia due to her numerous incarcerations in an elevator – that's how you show your love for her?" Marcus took a step forward and stood toe to toe with Patrick. "I will say this once again – stay away from Robin. You have already hurt her enough for several lifetimes."
Marcus left a speechless Patrick standing in the hall as he went to check on Robin. Patrick took some deep breaths as he tried to comprehend all the information he had been given over the past few minutes. Robin's claustrophobia should have been obvious to him, the way she kept looking around the elevator and yet he had completely ignored what was right in front of him because of what he wanted. Once again he had failed her.
Patrick pulled out his phone. "Sam, I'm sorry but I need to stay here to monitor a patient so I won't be able to make dinner at your mom's tonight. Tell Alexis I'm sorry and I'll see you later. Bye."
Patrick finished his message and went back to his office. He needed to figure out what he could do to help Robin and show her that she could count on him to be there for her so they could at least be friends again. He owed her at least that much.