Patrick punched in a familiar set of digits and waited for his damn cousin to answer the damn phone.

Lucky fumbled through the cushions of the couch, looking for the ringing menace. Elizabeth at this moment was preparing a bath and the last thing he needed was to be caught on the cell phone. Finally finding it, he answered in exasperation. "Yeah?"

"Oh no, you don't get to sound put off, okay? Not you. Not right now. This is all your fault you selfish son of a bitch." Patrick ground through his teeth.

"Hello to you too Miss Mary Sunshine."

"You got laid. At my expense. I'd ask if you were proud of yourself, but you're my cousin. I already know the answer." Patrick grumbled.

"Ok what the hell is wrong with you and why the hell are you blaming me?" Lucky knew Robin was still freezing Patrick out, but that was hardly his fault. He wasn't the one who sent her in to a Laura Spencer Intention Attack unaware.

"You couldn't have given me a heads up, could you? Get distracted did you? God, and you're always going on about family loyalty." Patrick snapped.

"Are you going to stop talking gibberish anytime soon and get to the point?"

"You told me to do whatever it took. You told me to be at her damn beckon call if that's what I had to do to get her to trust me again." Patrick explained, his voice rising.

"I'm guessing there was an argument of sorts."

"She started the whole thing and now she's thrown the lock on me." Patrick shot back.

"Where the hell are you?"

"I'm in Manhattan. Where the hell did you go? Oh right. You went to Vegas to track down your girlfriend who, I know, had something to do with this."

"Wait a second! What does our being in Vegas have anything to do with you and Robin?"

"This whole thing was a setup which you failed to tell me. And don't even pretend you didn't know." Patrick warned coldly.

Lucky glanced at the clock on the bedroom table. "Dude I didn't know until about an hour ago."

"One hour? And you've let her lead me by the ear all damn day?" Patrick contemplated throwing the cell phone against the wall, but pushed back the urge. He wanted to yell, he wanted to blame, but most importantly, he wanted to not feel so damn helpless on the wrong side of the bedroom door.

"You call yourself family, but you betray me the first chance you get!"

"Number one I was concentrating on saving my own ass."

"Typical Spencer answer." Patrick complained.

"And then I was a bit distracted making up."

"Oh, I don't want to hear any of this." Patrick didn't want to dig his grave any deeper and discussing Lucky's sexploits seemed to just get him into more trouble.

"I take it you are crashing miserably?" Lucky glanced towards the closed bathroom door, listening to the sound of the running water.

"I was doing fine earlier until she lied and I caught her." Patrick explained vaguely.

"Why do I have a feeling this isn't good?"

"She said she was going to go down to the spa to get a massage and when I went to see for myself, she wasn't there. She still won't tell me where she went. Worse than that, when she got back we got into another fight and she told me that this whole day was a game for her. THEN she locked the damn bedroom door." Patrick clarified gruffly.

"You do realize that when you are attempting to apologize you really aren't in a position to demand answers right?"

"But she lied--" Patrick protested.

"Probably as part of her plan Dipshit." Lucky rolled his eyes.

"Great. Just great. Last time I listen to you." Patrick closed the phone with enough force to make it sting Lucky's ear and stared at the notorious bedroom door.

Robin smoothed the moisturizer over her face, closing her eyes as her skin soaked it up. She wasn't sure if it was the makeup she used or the radical climate change from Port Charles to Manhattan, but her face looked blotchy under her own inspection. Touching the mirror, she stared at herself skeptically. Maybe she had been a little harsh at the mall. Patrick had called her beautiful, hadn't he? And she had stopped talking to him after that. Way to accept a compliment gracefully Robin, she silently scolded herself.

Leaving the safety of the bathroom, she stepped into the bedroom and stared at the cold, empty bed. She bet Patrick had pulled out the couch bed and her heart squeezed a little bit. She would just unlock the door for a second and check on him. He hadn't said a word to her for over an hour. Really, she was only making sure he was still alive. Her actions in no way meant that she had forgiven him for jumping all over her when her stories didn't match up.

Just the sight of Patrick curled up on the couch bed when he was clearly too tall to achieve a comfortable position was enough to make Robin feel guilty. He had done everything she had asked him to do today and he had actually admitted to being jealous of a hotel masseuse. It was almost too much to take in the span of a day. He, Patrick Drake, was invested in their relationship. She knew she wouldn't allow herself to completely trust him until he said the words aloud, but, for now, his actions were enough to convince her.

Was he asleep? Robin couldn't tell from the doorway. One quick look to make sure and then she could go back to bed. She had been reading, not even the slightest bit tired, but it was the relaxing routine of putting on her night cream that lulled her into tranquility. If she hadn't known Patrick was on the other side of the door struggling to figure out where he had gone wrong, she might have just closed her eyes and gone some sleep. She hadn't heard the actual words he had yelled to Lucky through the phone, but the tone of his voice was enough of an indication. This too might have been why she left her bed.

Any other guy would have left her there until she came to her senses. Angry beyond belief, Patrick had stayed, not knowing whether or not she would ever open the door for him. He had stuck around for one purpose and one purpose only: to make sure she was safe. The irony struck her as odd. How many people in her life had warned her against him, told her that he was out for himself and no one else, that she would end up getting hurt and he'd get the last laugh? And yet, here he was, sleeping on an uncomfortable couch bed when he paid for a king-size bed for the mere chance that she might forgive him.

Perhaps Patrick wasn't the only one hanging on to old resentments. How many times had she looked at him and seen his brother, or tried to compare his actions with those of her ex-husband? It wasn't fair. Old habits and all that, but she had to cut her ties or she'd never be happy. Patrick made her crazy. He made her mad beyond belief. He made her happy. She couldn't explain it any more than she could understand it.

She noticed her own hand running through Patrick's hair before she even knew what she was doing. Somehow, she had materialized beside him. It was as if her heart had carried her the few necessary feet. Curling her fingers around the short hair at his right ear, she listened to him murmur in his sleep. Not wanting to disturb him, Robin pulled back the sheet and settled in beside him. Her arms wrapped around his waist and, even in his sleep, his hands slid down over hers to hold them against his stomach. Her breathing slowed almost immediately and she let sleep overtake her.

The buzzing of his cell phone on the coffee table broke Cruz out of his Saturday afternoon stupor. He had been mindlessly watching coverage of the golf tournament, more out of lack of college football than anything else. Glancing at the clock, he distractedly answered his phone, "Hello."

"Traitor."

Cruz grimaced. He knew this was coming. "So Elizabeth told you did she?"

Lucky paced along the length of the suite's living room, still sticky from the food fight the night before. "To think, I protected you from Patrick when you pulled the bakery stunt."

"Which you reminded him of for days on end whenever he started teasing you just a bit too much." Cruz argued.

"I never actively plotted with your girlfriend against you though." Lucky grumbled. "Of course it would help if I knew who she was."

"There was no active plotting. She had already decided what she was doing. Your girlfriend bullied me into helping her."

"You could have said no."

Cruz couldn't help the snort that escaped him. "Have you been able to figure out how to say that to her yet?"

Lucky opened his mouth to protest but conceded the point. He really hadn't. "You could have at least warned me."

"She threatened to plot against me if I did. The little bit she told me about what was in store for you already scared me."

"Aww did Elizabeth scare you?" Lucky teased in his best baby voice.

"Angry woman, determined to get you alone from family and friends in a desert. That is the start of many bad horror movies my friend."

"And good..."

Cruz interrupted before Lucky could finish his thought. "If Elizabeth is in ear shot then you might not want to finish that. You'll be right back to where you were."

Lucky glanced towards the door of the bedroom to make sure Elizabeth wasn't standing nearby. Cruz was right. She would have kicked his ass for that remark. And he would be right back where he started from. This wasn't fun. The making up however was very enjoyable.

"So I take it all went well?" Cruz asked.

"Why would you say that?"

"Because if it hadn't she would have sent your ass home in UPS boxes." Cruz explained calmly.

A discrete cough distracted Lucky's attention. Elizabeth stood in the doorway of the bedroom, her hair falling haphazardly down her shoulders, her body wrapped only in the white sheet that had covered his bed the night before. She had wrapped the sheet around her to resemble a strapless dress, hugging her curves and trailing down behind her in an almost elegant train. Leaning her head against the door, she smiled slowly at him.

"Gossiping again?" she teased.

Lucky stood up slowly, shaking his head in answer to her question. Remembering Cruz was on the phone, he spoke distractedly to his friend. "Listen I've got to go."

Cruz laughed. "So it went that well huh? I'd ask for details but I think you've learned your lesson."

"You know it. And hey Cruz? Thanks man."

"Anytime brother. Anytime."

Lucky slapped his phone shut and threw it over his shoulder as he reached her. Elizabeth grabbed at the tie of the complimentary robe from the room. "Talking about me again?" she asked with a gleam in her eyes.

"Just trying to find out exactly how you got my friend to conspire against me."

Laughing, she winked her eyes, playing with the ends of the belt. "I'm good."

Moving them backwards towards the bed, Lucky fingered the edge of the sheet she had tucked in to cover herself. Pulling it out slowly and beginning to unravel her creation, he kissed her softly.

"Trust me. That much I know."