Chapter Two

An hour had passed and Robin hadn't moved from her place beside Rick. Not an inch. Alex had entered the room to see his mom, but noticed she was in some kind of trance and simply sat on the edge of his uncle's bed and began to read a book.

They were both brought back to themselves when a small commotion made itself apparent out in the hallway of the hospital. And it was getting closer to Rick's room.

And they both knew who it was.

Lori threw the door open, her face red and her brown hair flying about her face. A flustered nurse was behind her, trying to calm the woman down.

'What the Hell are you doing here?!' she snapped shrilly. The poor nurse disapearing.

Robin lifted her bowed head and raised a copper eyebrow at the older woman. 'Visiting my wounded brother.' was the answer.

Lori went almost purple 'Don't be damn condescending. You aren't welcome around here. Around us!'

'What is going on?!' Dr. Moon called, appearing with the nurse.

'I want this woman removed from the premises!' Lori demanded, looking at the doctor.

'Breath, Lori. You're makin' a scene.' Robin said, her voice sounding bored. Her head tilted back, blue eyes gazing at the ceiling.

'Mrs Grimes! I must insist that you calm down, before I have you removed from this hospital.' Dr. Moon admonished.

Lori gritted her teeth and breathed heavily through her nose. 'How did she even know? I never gave permission for you to call her!' Lori demanded.

The good doctor straightened his white coat and spoke calmly 'Your nephew was worried. And with all due respect, Mrs Grimes, but the hospital doesn't need you permission to call your husband's emergency phone call.'

Lori froze at that and looked at the doctor in shock 'What? Rick's emergency phone call is...'

'Yes. Now if you aren't capable of controlling yourself, I must ask you to leave.' he said sternly.

With her face going red again, Lori spun on her heel and swept from the room. Robin winked at Dr. Moon as he sighed tiredly and dabbed at his brow with a handkerchief.

'Y'know, she's gone to call Shane.' Alex said, not looking up from his book.

Robin made a non-committal sound. Dr. Moon tutted 'You and him aren't going to start anything in my hospital, are you Robin?'

'Would I do that to you, doc?' she asked with a smirk. When the doctor narrowed his eyes, Robin stood from the chair and sighed.

'No. I'll be gone by the time he gets here. I'm moving back into the cabin. Think I might stay around for awhile.'

'Seriously! I'll need my clothes from Uncle Rick's house. We can get in now that Lori is here.' Alex said excitedly, closing the thick book and hugging it to him.

'You're a bad influence' the doctor said, looking at Robin.

'Backdoor?' She asked the doctor and he nodded in dismissal.

Draping an arm around Alex's shoulders, they made an exit out the back of the hospital with a sarcastic call behind her to the doctor 'Make sure she don't have an aneurysm.'

The small family left the hospital and made their way to a red 1980 Ford F-150 pickup with a black tarp covering the bed of the truck. Alex whooped in joy at seeing the pickup, causing a grin to spread over Robin's face.

'Its just a pickup, kid' she called, receiving an offended gasp from the 14 year old.

'Puh-lease! You love her just as much as I do!' he said as they got into the pickup.

The pickup pulled out of the parking lot just as a King County Deputy Sheriff's police car quickly pulled into it. 'Think Shane noticed us?' Alex asked

A snort sounded from Robin 'If he had seen us, I would have been arrested for having a granola bar for breakfast.'

Driving down the roads of King County, they talked about what they had missed of each other.

'That's a new book, right?' Robin asked

'Yeah! Dr. Moon gave it to me. From his own collection! He said that if I was going to learn about medicine, then I would learn from the best.'

Smiling over at Alex, Robin said, 'My son, the doctor. I don't think we've had a Doctor Grimes in the family before.'

Turning down a dirt path surrounded by trees, the red pickup slowed to a stop before a small wooden cabin. 'Casa de Grimes' Robin piped up.

Moving to exit the pickup, Robin paused when she noticed Alex not moving. She turned to look at him, but noticed his mind elsewhere. Settling back into the drivers seat, she waited for him to speak.

'Is what you said to Dr. Moon true? Are you really staying, Mom?' he asked quietly, wringing his hands together.

Robin was silent, just gazing down at her son. The son that she had miss growing into the brilliant young man he was now. Robin reached her hand to her neck and grasped something metallic. Pulling the necklace free from her neck, she leaned over and placed the necklace around Alex's.

He looked at her in surprise before looking down at the necklace.

'Yeah. I'm stayin.' she replied. Alex sniffled slightly and threw himself over to the drivers side, hugging Robin tightly, soft sobs escaping the boy.

And for the first time that she could remember, tears fell from Robin's eyes, holding her son just as tightly.