"He's going to be difficult about this isn't he?" Cruz questioned as he watched the numbers steadily climb while they rode in the elevator.
"When has he ever made anything easy?" Lucky scoffed.
"That's what I was afraid of."
Cruz was convinced they were undertaking a fool's mission. Laura and Bobbie had sent them there to try to get Patrick to leave the hospital at least for a minute. It had been four days since Robin's accident and four days since Patrick had seen actual sunlight. "Remind me to figure out a way to say no to your mother." Cruz remarked as the doors started to open.
"If you figure that out, let me know." Lucky followed his friend out the door and headed towards the waiting room. Anna and Mac had been successful in keeping Patrick out of Robin's room. Even during the rare times they left, mostly when Courtney, Elizabeth, and Morgan visited, the bodyguard blocked him. Amazingly, the tiny woman seemed to be the only one on the planet immune to Patrick's charm.
They saw Alexis Davis leaving the waiting room just seconds before they came upon it. She approached them, placing the tip of her glasses in the corner of her mouth. "I assume you're here for Patrick." She said quietly.
Nodding, Lucky took the lead. "We're under orders to get him out of the hospital and to feed him something my mother would approve of."
"That might be kind of difficult." She reasoned. "I know he hasn't slept a wink since I've been here."
"We're used to Patrick cranky." Cruz assured her.
Any other time, Alexis would have laughed. She had been up here with Mac every afternoon and it was starting to show in her face and her sluggish reactions to people talking to her. "If you can get him out, I'll make sure he can't get back in until he has had a good night's sleep. I have connections with the commissioner." She smiled, her voice slightly teasing.
"Throw in fixing some parking tickets and you have a deal." Lucky offered his hand out to her.
Alexis gave him a look that said she was not amused. Ever since she and Mac had started dating last September, she constantly found herself living from one dilemma to another. There was always some kind of drama. Last month, some idiot with a gun had tried to hold the PCPD hostage. She was sure all the Corinthos/Morgan lackeys had cleared out when their idols had been sent away to prison. At least, that had been her intention when she helped put them there.
Realizing his joke had fallen flat Lucky awkwardly pulled his hand back. Even though he had known Alexis for years, she still intimidated the hell out of him. She was the first and, so far only, Cassadine Luke had ever respected and that alone earned a place of both fear and honor. "We'll get him out of here. At least for an hour or so."
"I'll leave you to it then." Alexis motioned for them to do just that, heading toward the coffee machine. She already had her seventy-five cents in her hand when she brushed past an elderly woman. The woman simply huffed and got behind Alexis, apparently put off at the idea of having to wait in an actual line for stale hospital coffee. Well, she could just wait her turn, couldn't she?
Catching Cruz's eye, the two men squared their shoulders and marched their way into the small room. Patrick was easy enough to spot. His clothes were wrinkled, his eyes were bloodshot, and his face held the same look it had when he stayed up cramming for exams all week during their college years.
"You look like shit." Lucky announced.
"What of it?" Patrick challenged. For all this efforts, he had been awarded bits and pieces of information from Alexis when she gave it, but Mac and Anna had made a combined pact to keep him as far away from Robin as possible. Even Courtney hadn't helped him sneak in, but then, he hadn't expected her to. She hated him just as much as the Scorpios did. God only knew what Robin had said to her family, to her friends, in relation to him. Her own take on things as well as their own preconceived notions had been more than enough reason to keep him waiting like a fool.
"You stink too." Cruz added.
"I do?" Patrick made a face at that last comment. He couldn't say he was surprised, but it wasn't the nicest thing for his friend to say either. They didn't seem all that affected by what had happened to Robin. They woke up with an alarm every morning and went to work, had done so before the accident and continued to do so. Her coma hadn't affected their lives much. He, himself, felt some kind of strange tie to what had happened to Robin. He wasn't a heartless person though he doubted most people would believe that. He was supposed to be here, but he wasn't sure why. He wanted her to wake up just like anyone else, but there was something that almost resembled desperation in the way he handled her family and the useless medical team.
"The massive amounts of cologne cover some of it, but there's no denying you've been taking quickie hospital showers." Cruz sat down across from Patrick as Lucky sat down next to his cousin.
"She hasn't woken up yet." Patrick told them, though they must have known.
"We know." Lucky responded quietly. "But sitting around here all day isn't good for you."
"I don't want to be gone when she comes to." Patrick argued defensively.
"They'll call you." Cruz argued.
"Will they?" Patrick inquired incredulously. They would sooner predict the end of the world than call him about Robin's progress. Alexis could cut him off at any time she wanted without warning. That was why he had to stay here, had to see Robin through this.
"Okay so Anna and Mac probably won't, but Alexis seems to like you." Lucky placed his hand on Patrick's shoulder.
"I don't understand why they won't let me see her." And he didn't! For all their preaching about protecting Robin, it made no sense for them to keep Patrick from visiting with her. Obviously, he didn't expect her eyes to shoot open when she heard his voice, but he didn't want her to think he had abandoned her either, shoved the responsibility onto her family.
"Because you spent the last six months making her life miserable?" Cruz guessed.
"But I saved her. Shouldn't that mean at least limited access?" Patrick had given up sleep completely; the images in his memory far too vivid to allow him even an ounce of peace. All five of his senses were assaulted the moment he closed his eyes. He doubted his own health was an issue, but he had kept up the protocol just in case.
"I think Alexis giving you updates and that bodyguard not shooting you on sight counts as your limited access." Lucky pointed out.
"That damn bodyguard." Patrick grumbled. "She doesn't even know me and yet she judges me anyway." Her lack of reaction to his God-given attributes had at first surprised him and then pissed him off. Didn't she know who he was? Didn't she care? The answer to both questions remained a solid no. She hadn't cared to learn his name, his face, his intentions, or anything else about him. She labeled him as a passing nuisance and he wasn't ashamed to admit that he had gotten in her face more than a few times. She simply tilted her head, gave him a look that stated, "Are you kidding me?' and went back to what she was doing: acting as the only physical barrier between Patrick and Robin.
"Crazy-eyed mad man trying to get in wearing the same clothes from two days ago? Why wouldn't she let you in?" Cruz gestured towards his friend's disheveled appearance.
"I guess I see that." He gave in. They weren't here because his behavior worked as an irritant to their lives. No, they were here because they had to his best interests at heart. He must look pretty ridiculous putting up a fight for a girl he had spent the last half decade despising. Lucky's recent behavior toward Miss Elizabeth Webber had Patrick wondering. And then there was the matter of Cruz and his mystery woman. No matter how many times Patrick tried to convince his cousin of her existence, Lucky would swiftly change the subject. He and his friends were all about endgames, or so they had themselves convinced.
"Come with us to Kelly's. Mike will let you crash in one of the empty rooms. You can shower. Eat Ruby's chili." Lucky tried to make it sound as promising as he could.
"I'll pass." Patrick shook his head, not sure why he was putting up a fight. He would go with them because he could no longer ignore the exhaustion coursing through his body.
"Why? Are we not good enough to hang out with anymore?" Cruz asked.
"You know why I can't go with you." Patrick answered immediately, easily picking up the hurt in Cruz's voice.
"Explain it to us." Lucky challenged matter-of-factly.
"What if--if--damn it, I need sleep." Patrick admitted, dropping his head in his hands. Let them think they had convinced him. He knew the truth.
"We know. Alexis knows. Anna and Mac know. Laura and Bobbie know." Cruz paused before lowering the boom. "Laura and Bobbie sent us up here to get you."
"Since when do you take orders from Bobbie?" Patrick asked Cruz.
"Since she threatened to help Laura not feed me." Cruz countered.
"I don't think I believe you, but I don't have the energy to fight with you either. Where's the exit?"
"This way." Lucky pulled his cousin up by his shoulder. "This is for your own good man."
"It was Ruby's chili that did it. I know when I'm beat." Patrick figured it was half true.
"Thank goodness for small miracles then." Cruz followed the two cousins down the hall.
"How bad do I look?" Patrick asked, pulling his brows together.
"Your more angry jilted conquests would be happy." Lucky answered honestly.
"Great." Patrick muttered. "No time like the present to get cleaned up." He was asleep before Lucky even had time to pull his Jeep out of the parking lot.
Normally during the summer the rooms above Kelly's were full of teenagers out experiencing their first brush of freedom. Somehow, the three friends had lucked out the one day there was a free room. Patrick had fallen onto the soft bed, fully intending to only close his eyes for a minute but awoke an hour later. When he had opened his eyes, he found a pair of jeans and a t-shirt he recognized as his own sitting on the small desk chair, along with a towel, bar of soap, and his hair care items.
Obviously his friends had gone to his studio to get his belongings. And as much as he hated to admit it, he did feel moderately better after having slept in something more comfortable than orange plastic. Plus these showers didn't shut off the hot water after three minutes, an unfortunate fact he had discovered about the showers in the hospital. Spotting a small bag he assumed was for the laundry he was expected to send to Laura's, he shoved the worn clothing in as he descended the steps to the small restaurant.
"He's alive!" Lucky joked upon seeing Patrick's face. Waving his cousin over, he continued. "Come on. Mike said he'd bring fresh chili as soon as you came down."
"That there is incentive." Patrick smiled, following his nose to the kitchen.
"Out!" Ruby shouted, slapping him with a dish towel. He walked to the table, defeated but smiling.
"You know better than to try to breach Ruby's kitchen. You're lucky she just had a dish towel."
"You can't blame a guy for trying." He pressed his lips together and added uncomfortably, "And, um, thanks for taking care of me."
Cruz cupped his hand over his ear. "I'm sorry, what was that? It sounded like a thank you...from Patrick...clearly I heard wrong."
Lucky leaned over and pressed his hand on Patrick's forehead. "You catch something at the hospital we need to know about?"
"Forget it. Last time I say anything nice to either of you." Patrick grumbled, taking a slow drink of his coffee.
"There's the Patrick we all know and the ladies worship." Lucky joked. "Seriously though man, anytime."
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. I met your Miss Elizabeth." Patrick told Lucky. "I can see why you like her." He added just to bait his cousin and watch his cheeks puff out.
Lucky glared at his cousin. "You lie. You haven't met her."
"What the hell telling her about Candice anyway?"
Apparently he had met her. "She already knew from Robin. All I told her was Candice's name and where she worked."
"Are you always this invested in the women I sleep with?"
"Hey, why does Patrick get to meet this mystery girl and I just hear stories days after they pass?" Cruz crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"I don't even know how he met her in the first place. Meeting him generally runs the nice ones off." Lucky defended.
"I resent that." Patrick piped in, but didn't argue. "She picked up Courtney's phone by mistake and got the call about Robin's accident."
"Well that explains it." Lucky was dying of curiosity about what Patrick thought of her, but he would be damned if he was going to ask him outright. He concentrated instead on the sandwich Ruby had placed in front of him.
"You are just dying to ask, aren't you?" Cruz couldn't contain his chuckle. The next time they played poker, he was insisting on this Elizabeth coming. She made the Great Stone Face Spencer a transparent mess.
"Ask what?" Too late Lucky recognized he asked the wrong question. He should have asked what Cruz was even talking about.
"You need my approval there, little cousin?" Patrick chuckled.
"Have I ever?"
"But you want to know what I think, right?"
At same time Lucky said "No!" Cruz chimed in with "Yes!"
"I'll say one thing. I can understand why you were so upset about being late to that parent-teacher conference."
"No that was because mom threatened to disown me if I was late. I hadn't met her yet."
"Right. You know what I think?" He asked Cruz.
"Since I'm apparently not privileged enough yet to meet her? Hell yes. Spill it."
"I think he's been seeing her long before that pool party."
Cruz nodded in agreement. "I did detect familiarity there. He doesn't normally run after girls he just met that day."
"I am sitting right here."
"Lucky, shh, we have to make sure this is in your best interest." Patrick teased.
Carefully checking for Ruby's presence, Lucky flipped them the bird.
"I guess that means he's invested in this one. You ought to meet her, Cruz. She's very attractive with all that curly brown hair." Patrick went on, watching Lucky's face turn redder and redder.
"Very nice. Eyes?"
"Blue."
"You two are pigs."
"All's fair in...Well you know." Patrick insisted.
Figuring that teasing his cousin about camping out in the hospital for a girl that up to two months ago he loudly declared hatred for was a bad move at this point, Lucky turned his attention to Cruz. "Well at least I admit Elizabeth exists. This is more than we can say for some people…"
"Ah, yes, when are we going to get to meet your leading lady?" Patrick wondered, narrowing his eyes at Cruz.
Shit. Cruz had known hanging out with them would lead to trouble. It always had, back to the first day they met. As much as he wanted to tell someone, as hard as it had been to lie to them, he couldn't tell them. Not before he at least talked to Bobbie about it. "You're both delusional. I'm not seeing anyone."
"I knew he would say something like that!" Patrick huffed.
"Then when the hell did you develop an interest in Broadway?" Lucky smiled. He had been waiting to use this particular nugget of information.
"What?" Patrick looked interested.
"What are you talking about?" Cruz stalled.
"The soundtrack to Hairspray. I found it in your CD collection." He looked at Patrick gravely. "It was in alphabetical order."
Patrick didn't say anything, just busted out laughing. Before he knew it, his chair had tipped over and he was on the ground, holding his sides.
"It's not that funny!" Cruz huffed. Just how was he going to explain this one? Suddenly he hit on an idea. "It was a gift from Axe. I can't very well get rid of it. He does stop by my place from time to time."
"Axe is giving you presents? And this makes it better how?" Lucky wondered.
"I didn't realize you two were close enough to be exchanging music." Patrick chuckled dryly.
"It was for Boss's Day." Cruz knew it sounded lame. "He's the music critic. I think it was the free one he scored from the label."
"B-B-Boss's Day?" Patrick had to be sitting down for this. He climbed back into his chair.
"Boss's Day." Cruz practically spat out the words and prayed for the Earth to open up and swallow him whole.
"I'm self-employed, so I guess that means I have Boss's Day everyday." Patrick was pleased at the thought.
Lucky looked as if he was about to press on another point with Cruz when his cell phone rang. Patrick and Cruz raised their eyebrows when they recognized the tune.
"Uninvited? When did you start using Alanis?" Cruz wondered.
Blushing, Lucky answered the phone and made his way outside the restaurant. "Hello?"
"What do you suppose that was about?" Patrick whispered to Cruz who simply shrugged.
"Judging by the way he was blushing, I'm guessing Miss Elizabeth."
"Cancel Friday?" Lucky repeated. "You want to cancel our date?"
She knew he couldn't see her, but Elizabeth still felt the need to look at the ground. Damn she didn't think it would be this hard. "It's not that I don't want to go out with you..."
"And cancelling our date convinces me of this how?"
She blinked when she heard the annoyance in his voice. Well it was probably the first time someone had broken off a date with him, she figured, fingering the picture from the newest People magazine. Lucky Spencer with one Daphne Vega. And just as Elizabeth had secretly feared, Daphne was gorgeous with smooth coco colored skin, black hair done in ringlets, brown eyes shining with excitement. She couldn't be more than nineteen. And he had his arm around her. "Well it's just with Robin in the hospital and all, I just don't..."
"Have time? We can visit Robin before we go if you want." He offered. Stupid, he berated himself. 'Her friend is in a coma and you've haven't been thinking with your actual brain, you ass.'
Elizabeth smiled. "That's sweet, but I was going to say that I don't feel right going out and having fun when she's there."
So she thought it would be fun? He smiled. "I understand. It took Cruz and me a while today to convince Patrick that sleep, shower, and non-hospital food were in his best interest."
"So you finally got him to leave the waiting room then?" she laughed.
"Yes. And now even he agrees getting out and seeing the world is a good thing."
"I'm impressed by your powers of persuasion. Courtney and I fully expected him grow roots on that chair."
"How can I persuade you that cancelling our date is not in your best interest?"
"Lucky..."
"Elizabeth...I understand you feeling guilty about having fun with Robin in the hospital, but I know her too and I don't think she'd want you to cancel just because of her." He felt slightly like an ass right now, using Robin like this, but he didn't think she'd mind. Lucky made a mental note to make sure and send a whole new batch of CDs to her room tomorrow. He thought he remembered reading that music was supposed to help coma patients.
Elizabeth bit her lip. Hell he was right. Robin would kick her ass if she found out that she had cancelled this because of her. And Elizabeth didn't doubt for one second that Courtney would tell her. She wasn't about to tell him she was jealous seeing him with another woman when they hadn't even gone on one date yet. That just sounded insane.
"You don't mind stopping to see her first?"
"Not at all. I'll even visit with Patrick if you want to talk with her alone."
"Okay, fine I won't cancel."
Lucky grinned. "I promise you a night you won't soon forget."