Chapter 18

The sunlight beat down on his face and he could no longer ignore that morning had come. Patrick groaned as he pried his eyes open. Realizing one eye was opening further than the other, he brought his hand to his face and gently touched the swollen skin around his eye, prompting another groan.

"Good morning slugger" Robin said brightly.

Patrick closed his eyes against the glare. His head pounded and he had a vague recollection of six beers - or was it seven? "Could you please just kill me now?" he whined.

"What? And miss the day of mocking I'm going to enjoy? I don't think so."

"I'm a man in pain - where is your sympathy?"

Robin pressed her lips against his shoulder. "Well I have some sympathy since you came to Lulu's defense in a bar fight but why were you so drunk to begin with?"

"Hmmm?" Patrick asked. And then it all came flooding back - the picture of Brenda is his father's shirt, Noah talking about his needs and Brenda spilling that Robin already knew. His eyes flew open and he sat up quickly, a move he regretted instantly as he flopped back against his pillows. "You and I have a problem" he griped.

Lying on her side and propped up on her hand Robin grinned. "We do? You mean other than the fact that you fight like a girl?"

"Hey!" he protested. "How would you know I fight like a girl?"

"Call it an educated guess. Okay, so what is our problem?"

"I saw my father last night."

"And? Are you sure you don't have a concussion because I'm not following."

Patrick rolled to his side and faced Robin. The duvet lay nestled against her waist exposing her breasts, Patrick couldn't resist reaching out and stroking them. Robin closed her eyes, letting out a soft moan as his fingertips made contact. "My father wasn't home when I got there but Brenda was."

Robin opened her eyes and bit her lip as she looked at Patrick. "Oh? Was she visiting?" Patrick pinched her nipple. "Oww!" she said swatting his hand, smiling

"You know damn well she wasn't visiting. How long have you known they were dating?"

"Not that long." Robin pressed her palm against his cheek. "Nathalie and I suspected for a while but Brenda only came clean a few days ago."

"Nat? Nat knows?" he asked in surprise.

"Woman's intuition. Are you really freaked?"

Patrick exhaled. In the bright light of the morning, he was surprisingly calm about it all. He was pleased to see his father take a chance and knowing Brenda made it easier for him to accept. "Not really - it was a shock but if my dad's happy who am I to judge?"

"Wow" Robin grinned. "That's a very grown up approach."
Patrick palmed her breast, letting his fingers graze over her hardening nipple. "What can I say Scorpio-Drake? You're rubbing off on me."

"Actually you're rubbing off on me at the moment" she said huskily. Patrick leaned in and brought his lips to hers, running his tongue along her bottom lip. Robin shifted closer to him, tracing her fingers along his collar bone. Dragging his hand down her side, Patrick began to massage the globes of her ass but was interrupted by a crying Rian. They both groaned and rolled onto their backs. "I'll go" Robin said, reaching for her robe. Slipping into the navy silk, she padded to Rian's room. Patrick smiled as he heard her talking to Rian and him being very vocal with his baby talk. First words were not far now. Taking him from his crib, she came back to the bedroom and handed him to Patrick while she climbed back in to bed.

"Good morning little man" Patrick said, taking Rian's fingers in his own while Rian gurgled and laughed. A happy baby, he rarely cried and was a good sleeper. Both Robin and Patrick knew how fortunate they were.

"I've been thinking" Robin said quietly.

"Uh-oh Rian, nothing good ever comes from your mom saying 'I've been thinking'."

"Smartass" Robin swatted him.

Patrick covered Rian's ears. "Language Momma."

Rolling her eyes, she started again. "I've been thinking about our talk - about having another baby."

Patrick looked up in surprise. They had discussed it on Christmas Eve but hadn't broached the subject since. While Robin had agreed that she wanted another child, Patrick waited for her to return to the subject. He knew that she had some fears and concerns about it both related to her career as well as her health. There was little he could do to assuage her on either front and waiting to take his lead from her. "Oh?"

"I think maybe we should make some appointments with Kelly and Dr. Maida and see what our options are. I don't want to be pregnant right away but if we were to be pregnant by early spring that would work. It would give me nearly a full year at work, I could get some of my trials out of the way and then be ready for our next little one."

Patrick's heart filled with joy and he had difficulty keeping tears from his eyes. "Are you sure?" She nodded, smiling. "Oh Robin - that makes me so happy!" There was no mistaking the look of love in his eyes. Holding Rian, he leaned in and captured her lips, slowly pulling away. "You know, I love you more every day."

Robin kissed him back. "But we still get to practice baby making, right?"

"Damn straight." Robin snuggled in against the two of them as Patrick's arm went around her. She rested her head on his shoulder. It had taken her several weeks of reviewing her work schedule and doing some preliminary research before she was willing to talk again about having another baby. She also wanted to give Patrick the opportunity to back out in case his suggestion had been prompted by Christmas more than an actual desire to have another child. Realizing that he was serious, Robin set about making firmer plans for the future of their family.

Their quiet family moment was interrupted by the shrill ring of the telephone. Patrick reached for the receiver. "Drake."

"Patrick, it's your dad - I've been reviewing the Matthews case and I think I may have found a few things of interest."

"Really?"

"Yes. I'd like to get your take on it because maybe I'm not seeing things clearly - do you think you could come in today?"

He smiled involuntarily. The idea that there could still be a positive resolution to Ellie's case excited him. "Give me an hour, I'll be there."

Robin watched as he hung up the phone. "Was that Brenda asking you to call her stepmommy?"

"You're an evil woman and I'm not sure why I married you" he teased. "My dad thinks he found something on Ellie's case so I'm going to go meet with him."

"Patrick - that's great news!"

He nodded. "I hope so." He passed Rian back to her. "I have to go shower. I promise I won't be too long and we can spend the rest of the day together."

"Go!" she encouraged. "Rian and I will go for a walk and have some lunch and then when you're home we can play in the backyard."

Patrick kissed her one more time before hopping out of the bed. "I know exactly why I married you" he said quietly against her skin.

xxxxx

Noah was staring so intently at the films on the light box that he didn't hear Patrick knock at his door. Patrick watched him for a moment. Prior to coming to Port Charles he had never had the opportunity to work with him and though he knew his father's reputation both good and bad, to see him in action, to see the way he applied the years of experience to every case, was moving. Patrick was an instinctual surgeon who relied on intellect and arrogance but his father was a seasoned practitioner who knew the questions to ask which was as important as knowing the answers.

"Hey Dad." He leaned against the door, his hands jammed in his jeans pockets. The dark green turtleneck sweater only highlighted the bruising around his eye and he had refused Robin's offer of make up to cover it up.

Noah noticed the bruise right away. "Do I want to know?"

"Not really" he said coming in and sitting across from him. "So what did you find - was it me?"

He shook his head. "It's not you son. Look here" he pointed the smallest of shadows on her MRI. "It's a piece of tumor pressing on her cord."

Patrick looked in amazement. "How did I miss that?"

"My guess is it was difficult to see when you had her on the table and it just looks like a shadow here."

"How did you see it?" he asked in amazement.

"Well when you look at one MRI it looks like a shadow but when you put the four MRIs up on top of each other you realize it would be a near impossibility to have the same shadow appear four different times."

He leaned back in the chair and exhaled. "We can get it - we can go in and get it."

"Easy sport" Noah cautioned. "Before we subject that girl to another surgery I think we should try some radiation therapy and see if that has any effect. There is no way the chemo is going to touch that but radiation could do the trick."

"Wow. I studied her chart for almost a week and could find nothing. You have it less than 12 hours and you solve it."

Noah shrugged. "Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can see things you miss. Would you like me to come with you to talk to the parents?"

Patrick nodded. "Her father doesn't trust me very much and I think seeing a...wiser colleague at my side might give me some much needed credibility."

His father smiled. "Then let's go give the parents some marginally good news."

The two men got up and headed to Ellie's room. Just before entering, Patrick touched his father's arm. "Dad - thanks for this."

"It's not a sign of weakness to ask for help Patrick - we all need it."

*********

It had been a long but satisfying week for Robin as she finally felt that she was regaining traction at work. She had had her first appointments with both Kelly and Dr. Maida and as they discussed the options, she was becoming more excited at the prospect of a second child. Patrick's mood had lifted considerably after Noah found the cause of Ellie's paralysis and he was keeping a diligent eye on her progress. In the process of measuring out compound, she was surprised to hear a knock at her lab door.

"Nathalie - this is a surprise." She put down her materials and took her goggles off, surprised to see her friend and daughter in her lab. "Hi Gracie-lou"

"Hi Robin" Grace replied quietly.

"I am so sorry to bother you here but I wanted to have a chat with you before hitting the panic button."

"Of course - come on in."

Nathalie put Grace down and she immediately ran to Robin to hug her. In crossing the short distance to Robin's open arms, she began to wheeze. Robin caught Nathalie's eye and raise her eyebrows. Nathalie nodded. Robin scooped her up and hugged her tightly. "What's new monkey?" she said lightly.

"Mommy and me and Oliver built a fort in the backyard."

"That must have been fun. Are you having a good visit with mommy?"

"Yeah. Is Patty here?" she asked looking around Robin's lab.

Robin smiled. "He's working in a different part of the hospital." Robin carried her over to the couches and sat down. Nathalie followed and sat across from Robin while Grace sat on the floor. Her mother took out a book from her bag and gave it to her to read. "What's going on?"

"She's lethargic, I can't get her out of bed in the morning. She's had a low grade fever since Thursday night when my parents dropped her off and she's got bruises all over her legs."

"You don't think she's being abused do you?" Robin asked in concern.

"No" she shook her head. "My parents have many faults but that isn't something they would do. You saw how she wheezed when she ran to you? She got really short of breath while we were playing outside. Robin, Grace has always been a healthy child and if it were just one symptom I wouldn't be worried but this is a significant change in her health. I was wondering if you had any ideas?"

Robin listened carefully and weighed what Nathalie told her. Even as a doctor she found herself overreacting to every sniffle the Rian got but Grace's symptoms were much more than a sniffle. "Well, why don't I listen to her chest and we can draw some blood and that will probably give us an idea of what we're dealing with."

"I don't mean to impose on you...."

Robin raised her hands. "It's no imposition. Why don't you guys get comfy here - I'll get my colleague Epiphany to come and take blood and I'll oversee the testing - it won't take long to get the results. A few hours tops."

Nathalie sighed in relief. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate it."

She smiled as she walked to the phone. "It's no problem."

Nathalie sank to the floor and pulled Grace into her lap and read her book to her. Epiphany came to take blood and Grace barely cried as the needle pricked her skin.

"Well aren't you a tough little thing" Epiphany said kindly. "That must be why Patrick likes you so much."

"Patrick is my buddy - I was going to marry him but he married Robin"

"That's okay Grace" Epiphany said "I hear he leaves his socks all over the floor - no one wants that." Robin stifled a giggle as the nurse handed her the four vials of blood. Applying a Tigger band aid, she couldn't resist giving the young girl a quick kiss on the forehead before leaving. "Bye Grace"

"Bye 'Pifney" she waved.

Robin smiled kindly at both of them. "Why don't you guys grab something to eat at the cafeteria and I'll come find you in an hour or so and we'll see what the tests tell us."

"Okay. Thank you so much Robin." Nathalie picked up Grace, the young girl too tired to walk. "We'll see you soon."

"Bye Robin!" Grace waved.

Robin waved back and once they were out of sight ran down the four flights of stairs to the blood lab and calling in a favour put a rush on the results. Nearly pacing a hole in the carpet, she tore open the envelope when they finally handed it to her an hour later. Scanning the sheet quickly, she exhaled and closed her eyes at the results. After checking with the technician that there was no mistake, she folded the paper and stuck it in her pocket. Taking the elevator back up the four floors, she walked to Patrick's office and knocked gently at the door.

Patrick grinned as he saw her. "Why Dr. Scorpio-Drake, I think you are a little overdressed for a consult." Getting no reaction from her, Patrick became suddenly serious. "What's wrong? Is it Rian? Is it any of our parents?"

Closing the door behind her, Robin shook her head and sat on the corner of his desk. "Nathalie and Grace came to see me." She could already see the panic grip his face. "Gracie hasn't been feeling well for the last few days and so I offered to run some tests."

"And?" he asked cautiously. Robin grimaced as she reached into her lab coat pocket and passed him the folded piece of paper. Patrick took it and looked at her, trying to read her face before unfolding it. He read it once and looked off to the side before reading it a second time. His hands shook as he held the paper in front of him.

"Are you sure?" he asked in a strangled voice. She nodded and reached for his hand. "Have you.." he swallowed thickly. "Have you told them?"

"No - I didn't know if you wanted to come with me or not. I can do it on my own but I wanted to give you the choice."

"Do those choices include not telling Nathalie that her daughter has leukemia?"

"I'm sorry baby."

Patrick closed his eyes and released a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Where are they?"

"Cafeteria."

He stood up and ran his hands through his hair. He held out his hand. "Let's go."