Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long to get this chapter done. I will try to do better at publishing a chapter at regular intervals. Either way, I will complete the story. Your patience has been appreciated. Your reviews are definitely encouraged!
Jason heard Robin talking as he slipped both their bags into one hand so he could open the cabin door. She looked up at him as he walked in. Jason could feel the lightened mood immediately and her smile confirmed it.
"Uncle Mac, I will check into it. However, I can guarantee you that it didn't happen that way." Robin said as she continued walking around the cabin while talking on her phone.
Jason took the opportunity to take Robin's bag up to the bedroom loft. Robin was just hanging up the phone when he came down the stairs. She watched him silently as he placed his bag in the corner of the room near the couch.
"Jason," she said softly as she lightly touched his arm. He turned to face her and she immediately put her arms around his neck. "I am so sorry for yelling at you outside. You have been wonderful to me and I was just awful."
Jason wrapped his arms around her tightly and they stood there quietly for a couple of minutes. He wasn't entirely sure what he was feeling at the moment but it felt nice and he wanted to enjoy it.
"I don't get my feeling hurt that easily Robin. It didn't bother me at all. In fact, I have always enjoyed your fire."
"You want to hear something funny?" Robin asked with a small laugh. Jason enjoyed hearing her laugh. It seemed like such a long time since she laughed and been happy.
"Sure," he answered with his arms still wrapped tightly around her. Neither one of them seemed willing to break the physical connection yet.
"Uncle Mac thinks you are sleeping with Maxie," Robin told him with a laugh.
Jason was shocked to his core. He stepped back suddenly from Robin and stared at her with his mouth wide open. He didn't know what to say to that.
"I know it isn't true and I told him that," Robin told him with a smile. "I told him I would ask you about it but I know that things didn't happen the way he thinks they did."
Jason continued to stare at Robin for another minute before regaining his composure. He immediately replaced the look of shock with his usual unreadable expression. Jason was horrified at the suggestion and Robin clearly thought it was funny.
"Why on earth would he think that?" Jason asked suddenly. "She is with Spinelli. Neither of us would ever do that to him!"
"I know that," Robin told him with a smile. "He said something about Maxie telling you she tried to sneak out of your room this morning before you woke up. There was also something else about needing a shower after 'last night's activities' and he is freaking out."
"I get it," Jason said with a shake of his head. He took Robin's hand in his and let her over to the couch. "That friend I thought may be working against me was Sam. I was in the position of having to compel the answers I needed from her."
Jason watched Robin's face. He was surprised when there was no change. She did not express distaste for the violence in his life or ask if he had hurt Sam. This was curious.
"You aren't going to ask?" Jason asked quietly.
"Ask what?"
"If I hurt her." He answered in a near whisper.
"I don't have many illusions about you anymore," Robin told him as she looked at him intently. "I know what you do for a living and why you do it. Most of it is distasteful and I will never like it Jason. Never. However, I can separate the actions from the person. You kill people and I know that. To me you will never be a killer and that is the way it is. I know that you did not hurt Sam. You live in a violent world and you are among the best at what you do but you have your own set of rules you live by. You don't hurt women and that is that!"
"I pulled a gun on her, tied her up in her own apartment, and made her believe I was about to kill her with her own kitchen knife." Jason stated simply.
"Fear is an effective technique." Robin said as she nodded. "That is the business you are in. Let me ask you, if you hadn't threatened her and got the answers you needed, what would have happened?"
Jason looked at Robin sharply. She never asked about business. She hated almost everything about it and wanted to be kept away from it. It worked well for them since Jason didn't want his business touching her either.
"Robin," Jason began. Robin cut him off by placing her hand gently over his mouth.
"I know you won't answer that and it is okay. I already know. You forget my stepfather was in this business so I know how it works. If you had not gotten the answers from Sam that way, Sonny would have had someone else 'ask' her and she would have definitely gotten hurt in the process."
Jason just nodded. There wasn't really anything he could say to that because she was entirely correct. Sometimes he did forget just how much she knew about life in the mob. He wanted to believe that he had shielded her from much of it but the truth was that he could never really protect her from mob violence. It seemed to permeate her life. When she was a small child she grew up with a stepfather as a mobster, as a teenager she became friends with Sonny, and then Jason went to work for Sonny about the time he and Robin had begun dating. She was barely a young woman then. Even though they had been apart for many years they had maintained a close friendship. She never really walked away as completely as either of them thought she had.
"Anyway, Sam is a tough woman. She can take out a lot of men I know who are pretty good. Despite that, I was able to subdue and control her easily. Had I honestly wanted to, I could have raped and killed her easily."
"That isn't who you are." Robin told him with a smile.
"That isn't the point, I could have and it really bothered me. It was bothering me when I went home and found Maxie and Spinelli talking about a woman who was raped outside the Metro Court the other day."
Robin remained silent. She knew Jason was heading somewhere but she didn't know where yet. He would tell her in his own way and time.
"It was easy Robin. Sam is no pushover by any means but with a small amount of preparation I was able to overpower her. It shouldn't be that easy to overpower and attack a woman like that."
Robin continued to watch Jason silently. He was clearly bothered about his 'attack' on Sam. She was also curious how this related to Mac's unfounded fears that Jason and Maxie were sleeping together.
"If anything happened to Maxie it would devastate Spinelli. So, I had Spinelli try to attack Maxie and I showed her some ways to temporarily disable her attacker so she could escape. Apparently I pushed them both very hard last night. When we finished they took a shower and went to bed."
"That was very sweet of you to do that. I know that Maxie isn't your favorite person and I think it was wonderful of you to look after her like that."
"She made a lot of points with me by how good she is to Spinelli." Jason shrugged. "She is under mine and Sonny's protection."
"But why was she in your shower this morning?"
"They broke the shower head in the other bathroom last night. She wanted another shower this morning so she decided to invade my room." Jason came back to sit on the couch next to Robin. "She and Mac seem to have this crazy dance they do about her sex life. I just wish Mac would leave me out of it."
Robin was silent and her expression barely changed. It didn't matter though, Jason felt the darkness descend over Robin like incoming flood waters. The suddenness of it startled him.
"Leave Dr. Scorpio out of it" Robin whispered through the lump in her throat.
"What does that mean Robin?" Jason asked as he put his hand lightly over hers. He expected her to jump up and run out of the cabin again but she didn't. She was withdrawing into herself again and he wasn't entirely sure she even felt his hand on hers.
"The front door was kicked in. A moment later the back door was kicked in and I turned to look. Then I heard Patrick yelling and I turned to run into the living room. Someone grabbed me and I was about to kick him in the balls when I heard the gunshot from the living room."
"What happened next?" Jason asked as he lightly stroked his hand over Robin's. He still couldn't be sure if she was feeling it but he wanted to provide the emotional support if she did.
"The guy behind me said 'our orders are to leave Dr. Scorpio out of it.' I tried to go through the guy in front of me to get to Patrick. However, he was too strong and then the guy behind me grabbed me too."
"There were two of them in the kitchen with you?" Jason asked intently.
Robin nodded silently. The tears were running steadily down her face now and she made no attempt to wipe them away.
"If Patrick was shot in the living room while you were fighting two guys in the kitchen that means there were three intruders in your home that night." Jason said as he continued lightly stroking Robin's hand. "Do you remember what any of them looked like?"
"No. I see them in my nightmares but I can't remember when I'm awake." Robin whispered. Even though he was sitting right next to her, Jason barely heard Robin's reply.
"You did good Robin," Jason told her as he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her again. "You did real good. The rest will come out when it is time. You did good today."
Robin allowed herself to melt into Jason's arms completely. She didn't want to think anymore. She just wanted the pain to stop. She cried quietly in Jason's arms for a long time. Neither of them knew how long it was. It didn't really matter. He held her until she stopped crying.
While she washed her face and took her medicines and stuff, Jason managed to find something to fix for dinner. Robin didn't even notice what she ate or how it tasted.
Jason was starting to worry again. She hadn't said a word in a couple of hours now. She had been silent during dinner and now as they sat on the couch she was still silent. Jason was reading a magazine on motorcycles. Robin hadn't even opened her medical journal. She was just staring into the fireplace.
"It's going to be okay, Robin. I promise." Jason told her soothingly as he hugged her close to him again. "You are a strong, amazing woman who can do anything she chooses. You will get through this but you don't have to do it alone."
Robin merely nodded. She was resting her head on his chest just above his heart. It's steady beat was comforting to her and she took peace from it until she drifted off to sleep. She was not aware of when Jason had carried her up to the loft and put her into bed. She hadn't heard him go back downstairs and sleep on the couch. She did know that he was close by if she needed him and that allowed her to sleep more comfortably.
Author's Note: I hope you are continuing to enjoy this story. Please be sure to write a review!