Chapter 2

"Brad" she finally choked out when she found her voice

"Nancy?" he had a look of surprise and confusion on his face.

"Who's Nancy?' Steve asked thoroughly confused at this point.

Robin and Mr. Larsen, or "Brad" as she had called him seem to know each other, but he had called her Nancy.

"You two know each other?"

"Umm, uh, kind of, yeah." Looking at Brad, she knew that she needed to explain this in private. "Dr. Webber, could you please give us a minute, Mr. Larsen and I need to clear something up." She saw that he was about to argue, so she pleaded with her eyes "Please, Steve, I will explain later, trust me."

"Ok, but come see me as soon as you are done" he said and walked out of the room.

The room was silent as both Robin and Brad tried to figure out what to say. Brad finally brook the silence

"So, I'm guessing that you are not Nancy Green, Pharmaceutical rep from California.

"Uh, no" Robin looked down at her hands "I'm Robin Scorpio"

"Doctor" he interrupted

"Right, Doctor Robin Scorpio, Pathologist from Port Charles" she continued now tapping her fingers on her scrubs covered legs

"So Nancy Green…"

"Was someone I made up" she finished. This was going to be harder than she thought. Brad was a guy she had met in Rochester, NY when she had "ran away" from her life. Although at the time she was suffering from postpartum depression, the guilt of leaving Emma and Patrick still snuck up on her sometimes. She remembered that evening well, she had gotten in her car to meet Patrick at their favorite restaurant, so that they could talk about the issues they had been having. She remembered feeling relieved that they were finally going to clear the air and get back to some semblance of normality. She had come to a fork in the road and all of a sudden felt this enormous pressure to get away. Away from her life, away from whom she was and had always been. She'd thought at the time that the best thing she could do for her family was leave, because she was making their lives miserable. She had taken the unfamiliar road that lead to Rochester. She had walked into a Diner feeling part relieved and part sick and met Brad. He was a carpenter and a friend of the owner. She wasn't sure what came over her when she introduced herself as Nancy Green. She had made up a whole other life for herself that did not include a husband and child. Even knowing that all of it was a result of the PPD did not make her feel less guilty. Anyway she and Brad had gotten to know each other when she had helped him fix a leaking sink and he had asked her out. In short, they had gone out on their date, he kissed her and she had walked away with little explanation. Kissing Brad had snapped her back into reality. Made her think about what she would be throwing away if she didn't get help. She had come back home and tried to take everyone's advice about getting help. She found out later that Patrick had come to Rochester and seen her with Brad. He confronted her, they fought about it and she'd told him what happened. She'd finally gotten the help she needed and had gotten back to her life. She had been so happy to connect with Emma and Patrick and live the life that she had always wanted that she had forgotten about Brad and Rochester. The last year, before Lisa, had been almost perfect.

"When I met you, I was suffering from postpartum depression, it's a…,"

"I know what postpartum is Doc.," he cuts in with a trace of irritation in his voice

"Right, so you know how what happens, I wasn't intentionally trying to hurt anyone, I just needed to get away and I ended up there and with you and when you kissed me it made me realize that I was being an idiot. It wasn't fair to Emma and Patrick and it wasn't fair to you" she was babbling

"Emma and Patrick?"

"My daughter and husband" The room got quiet again as they both thought about what she had said.

"I'm sorry Brad, it really wasn't intentional, I know I sound like I'm making excuses, but god, I feel like such a bitch right now." she looked up at him "can you please say something, if you don't want me as your doctor, I understand, I can recommend someone else and consult on your case..." she trailed off, she was babbling again so she stopped and waited for him to say something.

"Wow, married with a child, that is the anti Nancy Green" he said with amusement.

She looked up sharply "you're not mad? I mean you have every right to be"

"I think you're mad enough for both of us Doc, look I had a close friend who suffered from PPD and she did some out of character things so I understand" "Besides, it was over a year ago, you didn't think I would still be pinning did you?" he joked. He was still in shock from seeing her again. The Woman he had met in Rochester who had changed his life in one weekend and then disappeared on him.

"No, I didn't think you would still be pinning over me but... wait a second" she remembered something she had read in his file. "Your file said that you are an architect from New York. You told me you were a carpenter from Rochester"

"Rochester is in New York" he gave her a small smile, "I guess you weren't the only one trying to get away from their life that weekend" He'd just buried his best friend and business partner and had started to re-evaluate his life. He and David had started out as carpenters when they were teenagers and had both gone to school to become architects. They had opened their firm over ten years ago which had became one of the most successful architecture firms on the East coast. They had both put their work first and put off having families of their own. When his friend had died in a car accident last year, Brad had had any epiphany. He'd realized that he had become so consumed in work that he had neglected the rest of his life. He had taken his friend Marie up on her offer to spend a few days with her and her daughter in Rochester and think about his life. He had been helping her with some fix up work in her diner when he had met Nancy/Robin. The two days they had spent together had been some of the most interesting he'd had in a long time. She was beautiful and intelligent. After she had left, he had gone back to his life and tried to forget her, but couldn't. He'd tried searching for her and come up with nothing so he had given up and moved on. Now here she was back in his life only to find out she was married, had a child and not who he thought she was.

"I was going through some issues of my own that weekend, so I guess we are even"

"Ok, in that case" she got up and walked over to him with her hands out "Hello Mr. Larsen, I'm Dr. Robin Scorpio and I hope that you will allow me to treat you.

"Well Dr. Scorpio, you came highly recommended so I would be honored to have you as my doctor." He stood up and smiled mockingly "besides, if you are half as good a doctor as you were a pharmaceutical rep, then you might just save my life".

She smiled as she opened his charts again "well I'm going to do my best Brad, or would you rather be called Jeremy?"

"Brad's fine, only my business associates call me Jeremy" he sat back down on the bed "so Doc, how bad is it? Your chief told me that it was inoperable so I'm guessing if your treatment doesn't work, I'm going to get a timeline."

"Let's not jump to any conclusions, the tumor is in a part of your brain that's hard to operate on and we are hoping that with the treatment, we won't have to operate at all, but even if it fails, the medicine will make it more accessible to us and we will be able to get it. I have complete faith in the protocol I developed but if it doesn't work we have one of the best neurosurgeons on staff here. If anyone can get this thing out, it's Dr. Drake"

"Drake" he paused, "Dr. Webber introduced you as Scorpio-Drake, is Dr. Drake your husband?"

He didn't miss the fleeting look of something he couldn't quite place it when she answered

"Yes, he's a brilliant surgeon, but hopefully, we won't need his brilliancy."

Not wanting to push her considering they had just actually met, he followed her lead. "Let's hope you're right Doc."

Robin laid Brad's chart on the counter at the nurses' station and scrubbed her hands over her face.

"You ok?" she heard Elizabeth's voice and peaked through her fingers

"Define ok, I just found… dammit" she cut short when she saw Steve coming around the corner. She picked up the chart and started towards him "I was just coming to find you, I swear" she walked past him so that he had to turn around and follow her back to his office.

Before he could open his mouth she closed the door "Remember I told you about the guy in Rochester when I had PDD?"

"Don't tell me"

"Yep, that's him"

"Of all the hospitals in all the towns…"

"He walked right into mine" she shook her head "but don't worry, we've cleared the air and he wants me as his doctor. I've explained the basis of the treatment to him and he wants to get started."

"Ok, good" the doctor in him was thrilled at the prospect that one of his doctors would get to validate her work, but the friend side of him was worried. "I know you haven't really thought about this guy since leaving Rochester, but he's here now and with everything that's going on, are you going to be ok?"

"Look, I'm not going to let my personal life interfere with my patients. I want to help Brad, and not just because I feel I owe him, but because I want to see him live a long healthy life."

"Ok" he took both of her hands in his "let me know if you need anything

She looked down at their linked hands and smiled before pulling away "thanks Steve"

"Hey Liz, have you seen Robin" Patrick asked as he logged onto the computer

"Yeah, she was just talking to Steve" she hesitated "she looked distracted"

"I wonder what's going on."

"Well you can ask her yourself, here she comes"

As disillusioned as Robin was with Patrick, he was still the first person she wanted to talk to when important things happened in her life. She realized that she could never cut him out of her life because

of Emma, work and the reality that she still loved him despite everything. So when she saw him standing at the nurses' station, she didn't hesitate to rush over and share the news

"Open it" she smiled as she dropped the folder on the counter in front of him

"What is it" he was so surprised to see her smiling at him that he lost his train of thought for a second

"Just open and read" she walked around the counter to stand next to him.

After a few minutes of reading the information in the file, he looked back at her "does this mean you get to try out the new treatment?"

"Yes, Steve did the preliminary tests and concluded that it would be the best course of action"

"Oh my god Robin" he grabbed her in a hug "this is amazing" he was almost as excited as her because she had been working on this for so long.

"Thanks" she pulled back as she took the chart back from him, "I think the patient has an excellent chance"

"Well he's a lucky guy" he noticed the smile fade from her face "what is it?"

She figured she might as well tell him before he found out from someone else. "The patient is… umm, well he… ah…"

"Hi fellow doctors, who's the most brilliant surgeon you know" Lisa breezed in and called out. "Well besides Patrick here of course" she continued "I just got out of a surgery where I repaired a man's spinal cord using tissues from his..."

"That's great Lisa" Patrick interrupted "but we are trying to have a conversation here" he turned back to Robin "what were you saying about the patient?"

"We'll talk later" she took the excuse and brushed past Patrick. There was no way she was going to tell him while the delusional witch was within hearing range.

"What was that about" Lisa questioned as she watched Patrick watch Robin walk away "Patrick?"

"What" he turned back to Lisa "nothing" he picked up the charts for his next Patient and walked away pre-occupied.