Author's Note: Hey guys! This is the same chapter 18 that I posted before but it was just brought to my attention that this chapter ended rather suddenly and I wasn't aware. There actually is more to this chapter and I didn't mean to post what I did. I guess I didn't save it when I was finished completely. So here is the actual chapter 18. Sorry for the mix up guys:D

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Unexpected Betrayal

Chapter Eighteen:

His feet echoed on the concrete floors as he made his way down the cold hallway. He felt his chest constricting, tighter and tighter. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Not after all this time.

Maybe this was his punishment? He thought that for once he could allow himself to be happy, to fall in love… maybe this is what he gets? It'd happened before. He had allowed himself to believe that love was indestructible. He saw his parents together and the love they shared and he let himself think that nothing could beat that, nothing could overcome that power. Nothing except death. So imagine the irony when he fell in love with a woman with HIV, and it didn't matter. Losing her didn't register on his radar… until he almost did. And he still could, and at the hands of the one person that he never would have suspected.

"What are you doing here?" His voice was cold, hollow. He looked like he'd aged another ten or twenty years within the past few days. But yet, he seemed small in this environment, almost weak and helpless.

"Are you sorry?" His voice cracked and he refused to make eye contact. "Do you regret what you did?"

The questions he'd asked himself every minute of every day; the same questions that kept him up at night. "I'm sorry that Robin was hurt…"

"Do you regret what you did?" He couldn't stand to hear her name. It hurt too much.

"I was hurting…" He stopped. "I can't give you a reason, or an excuse. Nothing I say is going to take your pain away." He ran a tired hand over his eyes and stood, walking toward his son.

Neither spoke or made a sound. The air surrounding them was stiff and cold. The two men who just a few nights before had been watching a good football game together, were now miles apart, almost like strangers. Only if they were strangers this wouldn't hurt so much. This emptiness wouldn't surround them and they wouldn't be standing in complete silence, at a loss for words. Their hearts wouldn't be breaking with each moment that passed; silently begging for a break in the dam. Both just wanting the other to be completely honest and speak what was on their mind and nothing else: stop hiding what they were thinking and feeling deep within themselves.

"I don't know what I was thinking coming here. I have to go." With that, Patrick turned his back on his father, never once meeting his eyes, and walked out.

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Something wasn't right, but she'd known that for awhile now. Her parents had spent all of five minutes in the room and neither bothered to try and answer any of her questions about Patrick. Brenda had sat at her side for awhile longer but she barely spoke, which definitely wasn't like her. And looking out the window, into the hallway, Robin saw each of their worried faces and their urgent whispers.

And still Patrick was no where to be found.

It was all still pretty fuzzy. She'd all but determined on her own that she'd been in some kind of car accident but she couldn't remember when, or if Patrick was in the car with her. If he was, and she was hurt badly enough for her whole family to hold vigil at her bedside… But he couldn't be gone. He was just busy. That was it, he was busy and he would be there any minute.

The door opened, she sat up straight in her bed, hoping. But it wasn't him. "Hi, Uncle Mac." She gave a small smile that didn't reach her eyes.

He walked to her side and pulled her into one of his famous bear hugs, "It's so nice to be able to hold you again." He whispered into her ear. "You gave us a real scare there for awhile."

She didn't bother looking into his eyes, she only nodded, her eyes remaining on the item she held in her hands. "Felicia took this picture a few months ago at the party for Georgie. We were all in the back yard, goofing off, being kids for awhile. I jumped on his back and took him by surprise but he didn't let me fall, he held on."

"It is one of my favorite pictures of you." Mac agreed. What exactly did he say to that? He knew she was missing him and he knew she was thinking the worst, but he didn't have anything to tell her. He could tell her that Patrick was fine, alive and well but honestly he didn't know. No one had seen him within the last few hours. And if he did tell her that he was fine, he would succeed in ripping her heart into tiny little pieces. If he was alright, why hadn't he been to see her?

"Where is he Uncle Mac?" Her voice cracked and her eyes filled with the tears she'd been fighting to hide. "Was he in the car with me? Is he okay?"

He sighed and pulled the nearby chair closer to the bed and took a seat. He took her tiny, shaking hand in his larger one. "Who told you what happened?"

"Nobody; Nobody has told me anything. I have these flashes, or memories. I don't see anything but I hear tires screeching. I just assumed I was in a car accident." She ran a shaky finger over Patrick's features in the frame, "He was in the car with me wasn't he?"

"Robin…" Mac started speaking but froze. "Patrick wasn't in the car with you."

Tears feel freely, "Then where is he?"

"Robin, you weren't in a car." He spoke softly and slowly.

She stared at him confused, "What do you mean?"

"Robin, you were hit walking home. You weren't in a car." His voice cracked and

tears formed in his eyes. It took all he had not to think of the pain she felt in that split second, the fear. And now that she was awake and she didn't remember, the last thing he wanted to do was remind her of the experience.

She sat silently for a moment, allowing herself to digest the latest information. "I remember… I wanted a bowl of cereal. I woke Patrick up… What happened? Who did this? And where is Patrick?"

"There was a drunk driver…" Mac spoke softly and now refused to make eye contact.

"And Patrick? Where is he?"

"I don't know." He sighed. "He was here the other night and he sat with you."

"But…" Robin persisted.

"No one has seen him for awhile. He hasn't taken lightly to this situation. It's been tough on him."

"Then where is he now? If this has been so hard on him, where is he now that I am awake?" She fought to keep the tears at bay, again focusing on the picture she held in her hands.

"I'm right here."