Author's Note: Look, I'm updating before the four month mark! Given the ending of the last chapter I was really excited to write this chapter so I started as soon as I posted the last one… and I have started over so many times. Finally, I am pretty happy with what I have come up with and I have quite a few ideas for the next couple of chapters, so hopefully I can get some inspiration and get the next couple written and posted. Anyway, you guys are amazing and I thank you so much for all of the feedback on the last chapter. It was great reading all of your reactions. So thanks guys! Oh, wish me luck. My midterms start tomorrow…

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Unexpected Betrayal

Chapter Nineteen:

He'd longed for this moment, dreamed of this very scene time and time again. Many nights waking from his place on their couch in a cold sweat, wanting nothing more than to see Robin walk in the door from a long shift at the hospital or hear her cooking dinner in the kitchen. But he would hear nothing but his own heavy breathing and his rapidly beating heart and he would remember that she was still in the hospital. She was still imprisoned inside her very own body, at the hands of one of the men she trusted with her life and he could do nothing to help her.

This was another dream, an illusion. He was going to blink and she would disappear and he would once again wake up on the couch fighting yet another hang over. He'd sheltered himself inside their apartment, their home, unwilling to step out without her. He'd spent the days staring at the pictures of them together, reliving their memories. He barely ate and when he did sleep, it was fitfully; always waking hurting more than before having had to wake up to yet another day without her.

He blinked and when he opened his eyes, she was still there smiling at him hopefully with tears in her eyes. She hadn't disappeared. "Robin?" He wasn't even sure what it was that had drawn him to her room today instead of the other days. Maybe he had to see for himself that she was still alive, that she wasn't gone from him forever: There was still hope.

"Hi." Her voice was so sweet and gentle. She spoke softly, her voice shaking ever so slightly, fighting to keep her tears at bay.

His heart was pounding and his whole body was shaking: she was awake, she had come back to him.

He longed to rush to her side and to take her in his arms but he stood, glued to his spot by the door. She was still so pale and she seemed smaller. She was still connected to the machines, wires, and bandages: her body was still healing.

"I'll give the two of you some time alone." Mac said as he walked toward the door, pausing briefly to place a hand on Patrick's shoulder. "The doctor's say she is going to be fine."

Patrick nodded and stepped forward, his eyes remaining locked on her tiny form. "I was starting to think I wouldn't get this chance again." His voice cracked from his emotion. He finally had what he'd wanted so why was he still in so much pain? "How are you feeling?"

She noticed the distance that still remained between them. "Do you remember when we took this picture?" Her eyes fell to the back to a time when they had no worries besides what to order in that night for dinner. "It was only a few days after we said 'I love you.'"

He nodded, his gaze remaining focused on her. "I remember."

"Where have you been Patrick?" Tears rimmed her eyes when she looked at him once more. "I was so confused when I woke up and you never showed… I thought something had happened to you."

"Has anyone told you what happened?"

She shook her head, placing the picture in her bedside drawer. "Mac has told me a little bit…" Her voice trailed off and she was surprised when she looked at him that he was sitting on her bed, but at the other end. "What is going on Patrick?" There was worry etched on her face and in her voice. For the first time she really took in his appearance; the dark circles under his eyes, the stubble growing on his cheeks. "You haven't been sleeping much have you?"

He shook his head, "I couldn't. Not without you beside me." He took care not to look in her direction for too long of a period and he refused to look her in the eye.

"Where have you been, Patrick?" She repeated.

"Around," he dodged her question again as he stood and walked to the window, staring out on the town he now considered his home. "I thought I had lost you."

"So then why weren't you the first person I saw when I woke up?" She was a little taken aback by his actions at the moment and that combined with her added worry from the past few hours, had her a little on edge.

He stood in front of the window, his hands slid inside his pockets and his stance rigid, "It's my dad's fault."

"What is your dad's fault?" Now he was saying random things.

"He was drunk and he was the one driving the car that night. He is the one who hit you and he is the reason you are lying in that bed right now." She could hear and feel the cold, pure anger in his voice. She saw his eyes glaze over and his jaw tighten. But this had to be some kind of joke. Noah wouldn't do that. He wouldn't risk the relationship that he'd built with his son, not after all of this time.

"I-I don't understand…"

"He took another drink, drank until he couldn't think... and then he made the decision to get behind the wheel of a car and drive, almost ruining my life in the process." The steeled anger was replaced with hurt and tears, tears that he hadn't allowed himself to let go of.

"I-I don't know what to say." Could Noah really have done this? Was he really the one who put her in this bed and took so much time from her and Patrick? Did he really disappoint and hurt him again?

"Why don't you start with what a fool I was to believe in him again? Tell me how stupid I was to think that I could actually be happy for once? Tell me how what a mistake it was to let myself think that I could have a relationship with my father after all of this time." He spoke quickly, beginning to pace, running a nervous hand through his hair.

"You are not a fool, Patrick. He is your father and you let yourself have faith in him and you let yourself believe that it was possible for him to be the man that he was when you were a little boy, to be the man that you looked up to and admired." When he was close enough to her, she grabbed his hand. "What your father did was wrong but his decisions do not reflect on you in any way." It felt good to touch again, even if it was this little bit and with miles between them at the moment.

"How can you say that when you are lying in this bed because of him? I wasn't the only one he lied to, he lied to you too. He looked you in the face and swore that he was done drinking and then he thanked you for saving his life. And this is how he repays you?" He ripped his hand from her grasp; bring them both to cover his face. "I'm so damn angry."

"You're hurt." She corrected him. "You are hurt and you are showing it through anger. He lied to you, Patrick. And after everything the two of you have done to work through your problems."

"No, I am angry. He did this to you. He put you in this bed. He took you away from me and every person who loves you for too long all because he didn't call a cab. He decided to get behind the wheel of a car…"

"Have you told him how you feel?" She interrupted him. "Because you can stand here and rant to me or go to my uncle, hell, you could even go to the bar and get drunk yourself and tell a complete stranger but you will never, never, feel better or move past this until you tell Noah how you feel." She grabbed his hand once more when he finally lost all his energy and slumped into the chair nearby, resting his head on the edge of the bed. She ran a hand through the short hair at the base of his neck and continued softly, "I'm not making excuses for him Patrick. I just woke up and now I have been hit with this huge blow and right now I don't know what to think or what to say, or how I feel. But he is your father, and despite your differences in the past, he loves you and you love him. No matter what decision he made that night or the consequences of those decisions, he is still your father, the only parent you have left. And until you let yourself tell him what you are thinking and you are feeling, this is going to eat you alive."

When he looked at her again, his eyes were rimmed with tears. "I was- I was really starting to think that I'd lost you. And it hurt so much. I realized just how much I depend on you." He took a shaky breath, his hand playing with her fingers. "I thought that I was actually going to understand what my dad felt when he lost my mother. Here I had separated myself so far from anything resembling love or emotional intimacy. But I let you in and you change me. And suddenly, I was faced with losing you. And the irony of it all?" His eyes locked with hers, "The man who I watched lose himself, who woke up every morning wishing he'd been the one to go… it would have been his fault. I ran so far and for so long because I didn't want to be him, and in one moment, on one night, he could have forced me into that position."

She placed her tiny hand below his chin and forced him to look at her, "I'm sorry I scared you," she wiped at the lone tear that fell from his eye, "but I'm not going anywhere." He flashed a weak smile that didn't quite reach his brown eyes. Instead those eyes were filled with fear. "Get up here." She lifted a corner of the blanket, inviting him to join her in its warmth.

"I-I can't, I'll hurt you."

"No you won't, trust me. Just get up here." Her words were strong but she spoke softly. She sighed in relief when he didn't put up any more argument and climbed in beside her, careful not to put too much weight on her still fragile body. "Comfortable?"

He nodded his head and mumbled into her neck, where his head was now comfortably placed. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." She whispered into his ear, already feeling his body relax against hers. She slid her fingers through the hair at the base of his neck and soon heard his breathing even. He'd fallen into, what she was sure, the most peaceful nights sleep he'd had in awhile. Kissing his forehead she said, "I love you."