Chapter 24

Robin leaned against the doorway and smiled. Her husband lay stretched out on the chocolate brown leather couch, his long legs threatening to slide off. The white afghan blanket lay haphazardly over him and his arms were wrapped around their son who lay sleeping on his chest. It was sight that made her heart full. She wanted to stand there for hours and watch them, the two most important people in her life, just be. She was pulled from her reverie by the sound of a key turning in the lock. Stepping away from the living room, she walked to the front door.

"Hey Brenda" she said quietly as she opened the door.

"Hey little sis!" Brenda squealed.

Robin put her fingers to her lips. "I have sleeping boys in the next room. Let's go to the kitchen." The two women walked to the kitchen and Brenda slid into a chair while Robin put the kettle on. Leaning against the counter, she watched as Brenda pulled one leg to her chest, resting her chin on her knee.

"Uh-oh" Robin smiled.

"Uh-oh?"

"I know that look - you're being chased by thoughts in your head."

"At this point it's hard to tell who is the chaser and who is the chasee."

Making a pot of tea and grabbing the bag of Oreos from the cupboard, Robin joined her at the table. "Okay, spill."

"I don't know where to begin" Brenda said quietly, pulling on her pant hem.

"Does it have to do with Noah?" Robin asked as she poured the tea.

"Yes....no.....sort of."

Robin smiled. "Oh dear. What's going on in that head of yours?"

"Robs I haven't been home in almost 8 months."

"I thought Port Charles was home?"

Brenda shook her head. "Nope - never was if I'm being truthful. Rome is home - I have a business there and friends and a life."

"You have friends, a life and a boyfriend here." Robin reminded her gently.

"He is not my boyfriend" she insisted.

Robin looked at her in surprise. "What do you mean he's not your boyfriend? Brenda, you have spent almost every available minute with him since you got home from Australia - how does that make him anything other than your boyfriend."

"Boyfriend implies commitment - we are not committed."

"Oh lord - did you find Patrick's old playbook or something?"

She shrugged. "It's just reaching a critical time for the business and I should probably be going back to deal with it."

"You don't want to go back" she observed. "You want to stay here - with Noah."

"Please" she scoffed. "If I was going to stay here for anyone, it would be for you."

Robin laughed lightly. "I'm pretty tough Bren, you're not going to hurt my feelings." The two women stared at each other. Brenda opened her mouth several times to speak but closed it again. Robin reached for her hand. "Bren, it's okay to want this with Noah."

"But what about my business - I spent years building my life there, establishing those contacts."

"Move your business here - move your life here. If you love Noah, it would be worth it."

"Love?" Brenda let her leg drop to the floor. "Who said anything about love?"

"I thought we had rules" Patrick's voice came from behind them. Both women turned as he walked in to the kitchen. He kissed Robin's cheek and passed Rian to her. "No lovey-dovey talk with Rian and I around."

"You said no public displays of affection, you never mentioned talk." Brenda teased.

"Fine, I'm amending the rule" he said.

"Do you want some dinner?" Robin asked.

He shook his head. "I promised Gracie I would be back at 7 to read her a story. I'm just going to dash upstairs and get changed." Turning his head, he looked at Brenda. "All joking aside - are you okay Brenda?"

She smiled brightly. "Absolutely! Valentine's Day is next week and I'm going to get Robin's opinion on which lingerie your dad would prefer." Robin burst out laughing as Patrick covered his ears.

"Evil!! Evil!!" Patrick cried as he sprinted from the room.

"You are mean" Robin smiled.

"Eh - the opportunity was there."

"Brenda - I love you and I want you to be happy but you have to want that for yourself too. It's okay to change from the plans you had laid out - sometimes the best things happen when you go off-track."

"Like Patrick?"

Robin kissed Rian's head. "And this one too."

xxxxxx

Patrick slid the puppet on his hand as he pushed open the door to Grace's room. "Patty!" she said weakly. "You came back."

"Of course I did munchkin and I brought a friend."

Grace looked past him. "Is Robin here too?"

He smiled as he sat down on the bed beside her. "No sweetie. Robin's at home with Rian. "This" he held up the puppet "is Schnookums"

"Schnookums? That's a silly name for a dog!" She cuddled her Curious George closer to her.

"Well he's a guard dog who uses his silly name to hide how powerful he is."

The young girl pulled the puppet from his hand and placed it on her lap as she snuggled closer to him. Patrick put his arm around her and kissed her forehead. "How do feel Gracie-lou?"

"I'm sick" she said.

"I know baby. Are you scared?"

"A little. Can I ask you somethn'?" She coughed forcefully.

"Of course you can - you can ask me anything."

"Am I going to die?"

Patrick's throat closed over and his chest tightened, it suddenly became very difficult to breathe. He inhaled sharply. "Why...why do you think that?"

"I'm not stupid Patty - I know cancer is bad."

Stroking her hair, he tried not to react as a clump of it came off in his hand. "Cancer can be bad..." he started.

"Am I going to die?"

He tried again. "We're all going to die at some point"

The young girl recognized his ducking of her question. "If I die do I go to heaven?"

"Yes" he said hoarsely. "If you die you'll go to heaven."

"Is Daddy in heaven?"

He kissed the top of her head and tightened his grip around her. "Yes angel, your daddy is in heaven."

"So if I die, I can see him again?" She shrugged "Dying is okay then."

Patrick tried to come up with some response but could not find the words. Blinking several times, he prayed the tears that were threatening would not fall as he didn't want to have to explain that to her. He pressed his lips against her head and sighed. "I love you Gracie-lou."

"I love you too Patty."

He lay beside her, singing to her as her eyes grew heavy from the medication. She finally fell asleep holding tightly to both Curious George and Schnookums. He closed his eyes and wished he remembered how to pray. Church had been a weekly outing for him as a child and for a long time he would pray before he went to sleep at night but somewhere around the time his mother fell ill, he got angry with God. The disillusionment continued through her death and the destruction of his family. Andrew's death only cemented his belief that either God was vengeful or didn't exist. He wished he had faith that he could offer up some words that would bring him comfort. There was only one person he could call on.

"Help me mom" he whispered. "Help Gracie." His eyes flew open as he heard the door creak open. He smiled as he saw Nathalie come through, holding Nikolas' hand. Though her brow seemed permanently knitted in worry, there was something lighter about her. He moved to get up but Nathalie waved him back down. Walking to the bed, she kissed him on the cheek.

"Hey P" she whispered. "You're a star." He winked at her. Leaning over him, she kissed her daughter on her forehead. "Hi my love" she said to the sleeping girl.

Patrick slowly sat up and ceded his place to Nathalie. "I've warmed it up for you" he said, touching her shoulder. She smiled gratefully and lying down, pulled her daughter into her arms. Patrick walked to where Nikolas stood and nodded to him. "Thank you" he said quietly.

Nikolas looked up in surprise. "Me? What for?"

"You being back here makes all the difference."

Nikolas gave him a half smile. "Don't nominate me for sainthood yet Patrick, I didn't come back for purely selfless reasons. I love her" he nodded to where Nathalie lay "and life without her just wasn't working for me."

"She was miserable too."

Grace stirred in the bed. "Mommy?" she whined plaintively.

"It's okay baby, I'm right here."

Struggling to open her eyes, she finally managed to look at her mother. "My eyes hurt."

"Then close them sweetie - you can just lie here with me."

Grace looked around the room. "Hi Nik!" She said attempting to be bright.

He grinned at her. "Hi Gracie."

"Mommy?"

"Yes Gracie?" she replied, stroking her hair. Another clump of her hair came out in Nathalie's hand. Closing her hand around it, she shoved it in her pocket to hide it from her daughter.

"Mommy?" she tugged on Nathalie's sweater. "Are you listnin?"

"Yes baby" she smiled, kissing her cheek. "I'm listening."

"I love you Mommy."

Nathalie's breath hitched and she smiled a watery smile at her daughter. It had been nearly a month since her daughter had spoken those magical words to her and hearing them was like a balm on a burn. "I love you too Gracie-lou - so very, very much."

"My eyes still hurt."

Nathalie put her hand over them. "Close them and go to sleep."

"Sing for me" she demanded.

Go to sleep my darling, close your little eyes.
Angels are above us, peeping through the skies.
God is in his heaven, and he watch doth keep.
Time for little children to go to sleep

Both men felt their eyes well with tears as Nathalie's voice carried through the room. Once Grace was asleep, the three of them walked out to the hallway. Nikolas slid his arm around Nathalie's waist as she turned in to him, putting her head on his shoulder. Nathalie's studied Patrick's face and was concerned about how troubled he looked.

"P?"

"Why can't I call you N?" he leaned against the wall, stretching his legs in front of him and crossing them.

"Because it doesn't sound as cool as P. What's wrong?"

He shook his head lightly. "Nothing. You look good."

"Nice attempt at changing the subject..."

Nikolas pressed his lips against Nathalie's. "Did anyone ever check to see if you two were separated at birth?"

They both snorted. "Please."

"Well this is typical. Your daughter is sick and what are you doing, trying to decide which man to take to bed?"

The three friends turned in shock as they saw Nathalie's parents coming down the hall. Nikolas felt Nathalie stiffen immediately and held on to her to stop her from stepping away from him.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed.

Her mother raised her eyebrows. "Lest you forget, we are responsible for that child - and we've come to take her home. She can get care in DC."

Patrick straightened up and folded his arms across his chest. "No way. Grace is too critical to be moved and an important part of her treatment is to be around people and places she knows. That's here, not in DC."

"Dr. Drake.." John Harder started.

"And as one of Grace's physicians I will not, under any circumstances, sign off on her being moved."

"We'll take you to court" John sniffed. "Which one of these men are you slutting around with or is it both of them?"

Unable to control herself any longer, Nathalie slapped her father hard across the face. John stepped back from the force of the blow. "You just shut up."

"That's so typical of you" her mother snarled. "Absolutely no respect - you are a hateful child - it should have been you Nathalie - it should have been you instead of Gregory."

Both Patrick and Nikolas watched as she flinched from the accusation. She had long suspected that to be the case but the reality of hearing it proved to be more painful that she had imagined. She made a move to lunge towards her mother but Nikolas stepped in front of her and holding on to her arms behind him.

"Patrick?" he asked, nodding towards Nathalie.

He nodded and taking Nathalie by the hand, walked towards Grace's room.

Nikolas stepped forward. "I warned you both the first time we met that all roads to Nathalie came through me and that hasn't changed."

"In case you haven't noticed" Anne said condescendingly "we have custody of the children - not you and not our disgrace of a daughter."

Letting his inner Cassadine out to play, a small smile crossed his lips. "You've missed the point. I'm a patient person and I wait for openings. Imagine my surprise when it came to my attention that several of your backers were willing to sell their stake in your firm. I currently own 48% of your firm and the minute I become a majority owner, I will own you. You may want to think twice about your next move."

John opened his mouth to reply but Nathalie's loud cry from Grace's room interrupted all of them. Turning their heads they saw the code team rushing to her room. The young girl was crashing.

Bruce smiled as he snapped the photos. This would help him make the necessary plans for Phase 3.