Try Again

Chapter 7

A/N: We have diarrhea of the word processor. So, we meant to write chapter 6 which turned into a monster that we had to break up.

We made a compromise (with each other) on some things that will play out in the next chapter. Trab just likes to kill folks and I like to mess with the characters.

Patrick and Robin were back at her/their apartment.

They'd showered and eaten and he was chomping at the bit to get it off his chest.

Robin could see the excitement in his face and threw him a bone.

"So, what's your big plan?" she asked after settling herself onto the couch.

Patrick sat on the table in front of her.

"I know how you feel about marriage, and correct me if I'm wrong, but it's all the officiousness, right? The forms and certificates and bureaucratic bullshit."

Robin thought a moment before she responded.

"I thought you were going to call me a commitment-phobe, but some of that, most of it is true."

"And the commitment phobia?" he asked gently.

Robin decided to be honest with him and herself.

"Yes."

"I want to be with you and this baby for the rest of our lives, however long that's going to be. But I don't want to force you into something that will make you miserable. Just tell me… Do you want to be with me? Do you want me in your life and the baby's? Forever? Or as long as you can stand me?" he added with a smile.

Robin's eyes welled with tears.

"It was never about not wanting you. It was me… Being scared… Being a coward…"

"Don't," he said, startling her.

She blinked and looked at him.

"Don't beat yourself for how you feel. But just try to see that it's not entirely reasonable to be afraid of us being together."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I have an ingenious plan. One that will let me have my much needed public display of commitment and you can still be unencumbered by official documents and the threat of divorce."

She smiled at him.

"Well, come on, big brain, let's hear it."

He held in suspense for a moment.

"An unofficial, document-free, non religious commitment ceremony. We just rent a hall, or go to a park or the beach and invite our friends and family and let them know that we intend to stay together for as long as you'll have me."

Robin was a little stunned.

"I don't want to push, but I really, ideally, I would like to do it before you birth our baby."

She continued to sit, thinking.

"Okay, I can live with that," she said, holding her arms out to him.

Patrick picked her up like she was a doll and took her to the bedroom.

"You know I spoil you," she said, kissing his ear.

"Thank God," he said, pushing the bedroom door closed with his foot.

"You cared for me so much, you left me alone and hooked up with Courtney?"

"It wasn't like that initially. Sonny had me guarding her, but then she was there. Proximity and availability. Anyway, you were with Ric and not talking to me."

"Which all goes back to you not telling me the truth. If you'd said word one to me, I never would have…" She stopped. "Okay. I am not going to play the blame game for this one. Ric was my mistake. But the thought of you and Courtney made me so fucking miserable…"

"It's not like I was in a particularly happy place myself. Sonny and Carly weren't making my life easy, neither were the Feds. I couldn't be with you and… She was there," Jason said unhappily. "I could rattle off reasons, but it comes down to wanting you safe. I had all these worst case scenarios running through my head after the bomb in your studio."

"I'm going to give you Courtney, because it was pretty much the same with Zander. But we need to talk about… We need to talk about that night."

Jason shook his head.

"And say what? I was cruel? I deliberately said those things to hurt you? I made love with you and when you wanted more I shut you out. I pushed you away as far as I could."

"Which is why what I did was just as cruel."

He looked at her blankly.

"Ric had hurt me, Zander was a huge mistake, and I turned to you. We had a night, and you told me it was all we'd ever have, so I… Well, the short story is I got stinking drunk the next night and had sex with Zander. But you know that. But I had a paternity test done the same time I had Jake's done."

"What are you saying?"

"Okay, I know it's going to upset you that I've known for two years, but call it a little payback…"

"What is it, Elizabeth?"

"Cameron is yours. Biologically speaking, you could quite possibly… Well, are in fact, the father of both of my children."

Jason sat open mouthed.

"What?"

"That night was filled with much… banging of the gong. And we may not have been as careful as we thought, or there was condom failure, I don't know. But you are the father of my children. And you lied for ten years, I only lied for two. Why do you think I've been pressing you so hard the last few years. I couldn't just announce that Cameron was yours, too. It would look desperate, like a game or a ploy."

"We've kept secrets… And I've kept mine, which is almost on par with yours. I can't say I blame you for not telling me. Well, maybe a little. But, I just can't get angry about it."

Liz looked relieved.

"Then, I left for a change and when I came back, eventually I fell back into the routine of being with Lucky. It's not like you were alone. There was Sam."

"I think you have the wrong idea about me and Sam."

"What wrong idea? You hooked up with a pregnant chick."

"I wasn't with her when she was pregnant," he said, blowing out her breath. "You were with Lucky and some fool had given him a badge, so I didn't want to make your life difficult with him."

"Yeah, you not being with me helped that relationship. It was doomed before it started. But I still don't understand Sam."

"Can I use the proximity and availability thing again. You know it's hard for me to say no…"

Liz blew out her breath.

"You're a whore Jason Morgan. In fact, you are a lazy whore. You just wait for chicks to come live with you."

Jason took a deep breath.

"Lucky, me, Lucky, me, Ric, Zander, Lucky, me. I'm going to go with you're a lazy whore, too."

"Oh, okay, we're doing lists. I got a list for you. Robin, lived with you. Carly, lived with you. I lived with you. Courtney lived with you. And Sam, lived with you. Yeah, you try real hard to form long and lasting relationships. You just wait for bitches to move in."

"Well, I'm a whore, fine. How do you explain climbing 15 floors in the dark? Just to talk, after you caught Lucky with Maxi. Tell me that wasn't a revenge fuck?"

"Okay, I said that I was there to talk. And I can tell you that Lucky was the last thing on my mind when I went to you. It was the sudden and abrupt realization that I was desperately and completely unhappy. Not just because Lucky was sleeping with Maxi. But because I wanted to be with you. Then we made love and you did that noble bullshit and sent me away again. So, fuck you, Jason Morgan."

"More revisionist history ala Elizabeth?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I recall that night and everything we did. And you were the one who said it was all we could have and scurried back to Lucky."

"I did not scurry," she grumbled. "Maybe I wanted you to fight for me."

"So, you were trying to manipulate me?"

"Yes, I was. We're going full disclosure, right? I did. I wanted you to go all Fred Flintstone on me and drag me back to your cave. Maybe then I would have known you gave a damn. Maybe I wouldn't have gone back to Lucky thinking he was my only option. And the impression I got was that you were unwilling to fight. You wanted to work it out with Sam. And what the fuck was that all about?"

"You are aware that she is unable to have kids because she took a bullet for me."

Liz blew out her breath.

"Do you know for a fact that bullet was for you? Maybe it was for the horse-faced bitch, she has enough enemies. But she sure as shit milked that guilt for all she could."

"She had a right."

"No, she had no right to you. I had every right to tell you those children were yours and demand… anything. Demand you marry me, put all our shit out there for the people of Port Charles, pressure you into being with me. But I didn't. And look what it got me. What do I have to do to make you realize I want you with me?! I want you in your son's lives. Do I have to start packing heat and randomly walking into gun fights?"

Jason looked at her with a new appreciation.

"What do we do now?" he asked "Is it to late to go back?"

"Yes, Jason. It's too late," she said, tears in her eyes.

Spinelli wakes up in his hospital room to arguing.

"You don't need to be here. He doesn't need his vitals taken every five minutes," Georgie said.

Leyla took a breath.

"You're just a candy-striper, it's not like you're integral to his medical care," she tossed out.

"I'm here to visit a friend, not that it's any of your Limey business," Georgie retorted.

"Um, ladies, so not about you two right now. Poor Spinelli is in the hospital AGAIN. He doesn't need to deal with the two of you fighting about who needs to be here more."

"Stay out of it," Georgie snapped.

As Leyla said at the same time, "Mind your own business."

"Not gonna! You two! Out! Now!" Maxi whisper-yelled as she pushed the women out the door.

She settled by Spinelli's bed and pulled a magazine out of her purse.

She glanced at Spinelli, hooked up to all the machines. She saw that his eyes were opened.

"Don't talk Spin, you don't have the strength." She leaned back and got comfortable in the chair, flipping through her magazine. "These new fashions suck ass, seriously. And the colors! I know it's fall but do we have to look like we're going to a funeral? And I'm totally gay."

She stopped as Spinelli's eyes widened, but he remained silent.

"I know, I know. But after Lucky and Cooper and Logan," she shivered when she said his name, "I knew something was different. And then I met you and I was thinking, 'Here's a good guy I could totally be with.' But I kept backing away, because, I wanted you to be my friend… And I just didn't feel right.

"Plus, when I was doing it with, you know, them, I was thinking about girls. Like Angelina Jolie with her hot self and pretty lips… I'm getting away from the point. I never meant to lead you on and make you think we could be together, even though I thought I wanted us to be together at some point, but I figured out what it was.

"I'm gay. I'm a lesbo. I haven't got my union card yet, which is my way of saying I haven't actually done it with a girl, but I haven't met the right one. But that nurse Leyla, hot, hot, hot. And if she wasn't straight as an arrow and crushing on you, I'd give it a try.

"Oh, yeah, Leyla has a crush on you, and so does Georgie. Try not to have a heart attack."

On that note, Spinelli fell back into unconsciousness.

TBC