"He still hates me."
"What?" Cameron was quiet happily playing with his mountain of toys in the corner. He was babbling to his stuffed animals, telling them all about the hospital and the doctors he had met. Lucky look over at Elizabeth convinced she was going crazy. "He doesn't hate you."
Elizabeth gestured wildly towards Cameron. "He keeps glaring at me. If he doesn't hate me why does he glare at me?"
"Cameron doesn't glare."
Elizabeth lifted one eyebrow. "That you've seen. Just trust me on this one. If you gave the glare he did, you would win every negotiation every time."
She settled back on the sofa, content she had made her point. Luke, Laura and Lulu had left a few minutes ago, leaving the three of them alone. Elizabeth briefly wondered why he had insisted she stay behind but decided not to question it. Knowing Lucky he would more than likely blurt out the reason for his request sooner or later. He was getting better at keeping details to himself, but keeping silent was something he would probably never master.
Lucky nodded, filing the information away for future use. "Good to know." As sure as he was Cameron didn't hate her, he couldn't pretend he hadn't notice his son was somewhat avoiding Elizabeth. There was something going on, but Lucky hadn't put his finger on it just yet. Now that Cameron was home, he could devote more time to figuring it out.
In between Cameron's physical therapy appointments. And figuring out what he was going to do about Cameron's school. Should he send him back or wait longer? He hadn't even begun to figure out what he was doing about the media. Thankfully they had gotten Cameron home before the press figured out anything more than they already had. As his mother had always said, it was the little things in life you had to be grateful for.
Ned had been great, as always. Even if Lucky hadn't been planning on coming back to work yet, Ned had been insistent he didn't want to see his vice president until Cameron was completely better, which was subject to Lois's discretion. Lois had practically threatened to move herself into his house if he had even thought about working on anything. Lucky knew he was fortunate. He could afford to take the time off and had a boss that was willing to hold his job until he could come back full time.
For the time being, Ned and Lois were handling the press for him. All requests for interviews were being routed to their office in New York, where the assistants were "forgetting" to give them their messages. Any reporter that was persistent enough to get through, got a full blast of Lois talking about anything and everything but the actual subject they asked about. It made him laugh to think about the number of reporters who probably were wandering around their offices confused about how a question about Lucky Spencer became a conversation about Coney Island and the Brooklyn Dodgers. It wasn't a good long term solution, but it would work for now.
"Should I ask the obvious question?" Elizabeth wondered.
"I feel like living dangerously, go for it."
Elizabeth pointed to the stairs. "Not that I am expert at your home or anything but I am assuming the bedrooms are up there." She pointed to the small wheelchair that sat by the door. "I don't think you can get that up there. Are you moving everything downstairs or what?"
He bit back his automatic smart aleck reply to her first statement. She had a point. "Cameron spends most of his time downstairs anyways. When its bedtime or whatever, I'll just carry him up."
Elizabeth nodded and rested her head on Lucky's shoulder. This was nice. It was a shock to her how normal this felt, just sitting here on the couch, watching Cameron play with his toys. Even if the kid did hate her, this still felt almost normal, almost like the way it was supposed to be. This was just silly.
The way it was supposed to be? She mentally shook herself at the ridiculousness of her thoughts. They had only been dating for three months. Ok so she would allow they were the most intense three months of any relationship she had ever had, but that was probably because they never followed a normal timeline. She had met his family after two dates. They had to jump to trying to explain dating to Cameron because his father had blown that fact wide open way before either one of them were ready for it. Of course it was intense, Elizabeth rationalized.
She could hear Robin's opinion as clear as if her friend was sitting right across from her. But Elizabeth pushed that notion right out of her mind as soon as it entered. Robin could barely admit what her own feelings were for Patrick. There was no way she was going to accept Robin's opinion on whatever this relationship was with Lucky. Robin could say it all she wanted, but Elizabeth knew she was not in love. At least she was pretty sure she wasn't in love.
"Daddy?" Cameron yawned. "You play?"
Lucky tried not to laugh. Cameron had always fought going to bed.. If it wasn't his monsters, it was his desire to know everything that was going on. "Oh I think it's sleep time for you Champ."
"No sleep. I not tired." Cameron protested through another yawn.
"Sure you're not Champ." Lucky bent down and scoop Cameron up in his arms, carefully minding the casts that covered the arm and leg. "Come on."
Cameron looked as if he was about to protest some more but recognized he wasn't going to win this argument. He rested his head into his father's shoulder. Feeling Cameron settle in, Lucky turned around to look over at Elizabeth, still sitting on the sofa. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Don't go anywhere."
Elizabeth smiled. "I promise. Besides, you drove me over here remember?"
Lucky winked. "See I told you I was smart."
Elizabeth tossed a pillow in his direction, not at all surprised when it fell short of its intended target. "Go put him in bed before I call Robin to come pick me up."
She was still giggling as she watched the two make the trip up the stairs. Smiling, she made her way over the pile of toys. She could at least make herself useful and help clean up the mess Cameron had made. It was amazing how much destruction one three-year-old could make. And how quickly.
The pounding on the door startled her. Had a reporter somehow found Lucky's address? Elizabeth cautiously made her way towards the door, glancing out the window. She felt herself relax when she noticed Robin's car parked along the side of the road. Grinning she opened the door to greet her friend, which immediately fell when she took in Robin's haggard appearance. "Robin? What's going on?"
Knowing speech was far beyond her comprehension at this point, Robin pulled Elizabeth into a hug and held on for dear life.
Elizabeth returned the hug. She gently pulled her friend into the house, kicking the door shut with her foot. "Robin? Sweets what's wrong? Did something happen to Morgan?"
Trembling furiously, Robin managed a weak, "No," and felt her legs go out from under her for the second time in less than an hour. It was a miracle in itself she had made it this far; she knew she could go no further.
"Whoa. Hold on there." Elizabeth attempted to hold her friend steady. "Come on sit down and tell me what's going on."
Robin shook her head not because she wanted to keep the morning's events a secret but because she didn't know if she could get through a full sentence and be understood. Collapsing onto the couch, her arms still wrapped around her friend's tiny waist, she squeezed her eyes shut.
"You'll feel better if you just say it. I promise."
Now that Robin knew to be a lie. She didn't want to think it, let alone say it! The scene kept playing over and over in her mind. She tried to make sense of it, but she was at a loss. The stupid part of her brain insisted that there must have been something she could have done differently to change the outcome.
Elizabeth decided to stay silent and concentrate on rubbing Robin's arm. When Robin was ready to talk she would. If it wasn't Morgan, then what could have rattled her so much? As soon as the question formed in her mind, the answer came to her.. Patrick. This had to involve Patrick.
"I di-di-didn't know where else to go." Robin admitted. Letting her head fall forward, she ignored the scratchy, drenched strands of her hair that shielded her face from her friend's questioning gaze.
"It's fine. We'll run Lucky out of his own home. It will be fun."
A manic cry escaped Robin's lips and she covered her face with her hands, bending in half. She couldn't even sit up, the weight on her shoulders was so damn strong.
"Sweetie. Just tell me what's going on."
"History repeated itself." Robin choked out, rubbing her fingers over the rough denim of her blue jean skirt.
"What happened with Patrick?"
"He was in bed with some woman." Robin answered matter-of-factly. If she just stuck to the facts, she might be able to pick herself back up..
Elizabeth took a quick intake of breath. Images of her own past with Max flashed in front of her eyes. Biting her lip, she tried to concentrate on Robin's pain. This wasn't the time to wallow in her past. "Start from the beginning."
"I don't know where that is. It's all a jumbled mess of thoughts.. It's hard..." Robin told her.
"Take a breath and try."
Forcing a strong intake of oxygen into her shattered body, she let her eyes open. "He took Morgan and me home last night." Lifting her head a fraction of an inch, she caught Elizabeth's worried stare and cringed. "We thought Morgan was asleep...but he wasn't and I had to go and rock him back to sleep. He had a nightmare. I accidentally fell asleep and when I woke up, Patrick was gone."
"Ok. So I guess you went to find him?"
"It didn't take a genius to figure out he went home and crashed. So I called my Uncle Mac and got him to bring me my car...since Patrick drove us home. The door was locked, but I found a way in." Her voice was so flat and emotionless Robin started to wonder if she was actually the one speaking.
"And that's when you found..." Elizabeth let her voice trail off, not sure if she could say the words.
"That's when I found him with a woman. He was in his boxers and she wasn't wearing anything at all." Robin swallowed hard, her eyes glistening with tears even though she was sure she had driven them all away.
Elizabeth winced in pain, tightly closing her eyes. "You caused a scene didn't you?"
"I tried to run away, but I flipped over a suitcase and cried out. I woke them both up." Robin recalled vaguely, wishing she had thrown something. She had been in far too much shock to even think of that.
"What happened? Did he say anything?"
"He basically told me it...wasn't what it looked like." Robin replied, shaking even harder as a series of sobs overtook her body.
Of all the things to say, he couldn't have come up with something original at least? She kept hearing about Patrick's smooth reputation. It would be nice if she could see evidence of it. Elizabeth pulled Robin closer to her. "What did he claim it was then?"
"A setup of all things. He said that she has been stalking him for a year because he ended things with her." Robin explained, resting her cheek on Elizabeth's shoulder.
"A stalker? Well I give him points on originality there. That is a new one." Elizabeth rubber her friend's arm. "Did the tramp have anything to say?"
"She made some sick comment about what she wanted Patrick to do to her." Robin swallowed hard when she felt bile rising in her throat as the memory assaulted her senses.
"Oh gross. I think we need to introduce her to Cameron's horse."
Robin thought she smiled a little, but it was really anyone's guess. "I'm just glad they didn't make a show of it for my benefit. He was such an asshole toward her, blamed her for the entire thing." She sighed irritably.
"Class act there Drake." Elizabeth sighed. "I'm sure she just broke into his place and stripped naked. Typical male fantasy."
"Oh, you should have heard some of his conspiracy theories."
"I'm sorry, I thought he was God's gift to women and once you went Patrick you never went back?"
"If I didn't know what he was capable of, I might have believed him." Robin was ashamed to admit it, but there it was.
Elizabeth raised her eyebrow at this admission. After all Logan had done and she would have been willing to forgive him? "Why do say that?"
"Weakness I have to those Drake men I guess." Robin answered point-blank.
Lucky came down the steps and stopped in shock when he noticed a second person sitting on his couch. He had been almost positive Elizabeth had been joking when she threatened to call Robin to pick her up. What was she doing here? It was only then he noticed Robin's red eyes and nose. His mind raced with questions. What was Robin doing here and why was she so obviously upset? And why wasn't Patrick dealing with this? "Robin?" he questioned as he made he way down the last few stairs. "What's going on?"
"She just needed a friend." Elizabeth explained.
"Did you know?" Robin inquired, meeting Lucky's confused eyes with a pair of fierce ones.
"Did I know what?" No wonder Patrick wasn't dealing with this, Lucky realized. His cousin was most likely behind this. Robin only ever attacked him when one of his cousins were involved.
"That Patrick was sleeping with someone else." Robin clarified with a wave of her hands.
"That…Patrick…that…what? What are you talking about?"
"Did you, or did you not, know that your cousin was sleeping with someone else?" Robin repeated.
"And don't think about covering for him if you did." Elizabeth narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her as she stood behind Robin.
"Cover for what? I don't have a clue what you're talking about! He's not even made a comment about his clients in months." Lucky looked directly into Robin's eyes. "Patrick is crazy about you. He wouldn't cheat."
"Tell that to the naked floozy in bed with him." Robin challenged, planting her hands on her hips.
"The who?" Lucky shook his head. Patrick was going to so owe him for this. "Can we please start this conversation over? Like at the beginning?"
Elizabeth took a deep breath. "Robin went to Patrick's place this morning. She found him in bed with another woman." She paused for emphasis. "A naked other woman."
Well that explained why Robin was alternating between tears and anger. "What exactly did he say?" If he was going to defend his cousin's behavior he may as well know exactly what had happened.
"That it was a setup. He had no idea how she had gotten in his bed." Robin replied without hesitation. If there was a real explanation, she was willing to hear Lucky out.
"Oh don't forget the stalker theory." Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "That was my favorite one."
"Stalker?" Lucky felt his stomach begin to drop.
"He wanted me to believe that she snuck into his twenty-story apartment and was trying to get back at him for breaking up with her. Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous?" She asked Lucky.
"He didn't happen to say her name was Emily, did he?" Lucky asked hesitantly. The favor Patrick was going to owe him was getting bigger and bigger.
"He mentioned it. Why?" Robin prodded.
Elizabeth looked at him with questions in her eyes. Lucky groaned and sank down into the chair. "Sit down. I can explain everything."
Despite the hour, the studio was dark when they returned to it. The shades were drawn and the lights weren't a necessity as Patrick reached behind Robin and locked the front door, pressing her into it with the side of his hip. Cradling her face in his big hands, he tilted her head back and pressed a lingering kiss to her gentle lips. Her hands fell down his chest and she carefully unfastened each button, reveling in the feel of his tongue dueling with hers. Crooking his finger around a belt loop on the front of the denim skirt, he pulled her closer, groaning when her body melted into his. Desperate to have his hands on bare skin, he unraveled the knot holding her sheer blouse together and eased it off her shoulders. Pulling the black strip of silk she wore beneath the blouse over her head, he strummed his fingers back and forth across the hem of her matching black bra.
Snatching his hand, she led him through the living room and up the stairs. Once they reached the top step, he latched her to him and danced her backwards into his bedroom, not bothering with the door. Tumbling onto the mattress, they inched toward the foot of the bed and started to undress each other. As he reached between their bodies to unsnap the button of her skirt, she shoved his gunmetal gray shirt off his shoulders, meeting his lips roughly, and crawled onto his lap in order to latch her legs around his waist. He could feel her aching above him and strained to get closer, deliberately thrusting against her. She started to withdraw but he countered the movement by massaging the back of her neck and fusing their lips together. Her knees stabbed into his thighs as she suddenly shifted and he moaned in response, wrapping her securely in his arms.
Convincing her to lean back, he broke their kiss and dropped his lips to her neck. Having discovered a piece of tender flesh at the base of her shoulder, he was compelled to turn his attention to her skirt when he heard her gasp. Fighting the zipper at the front of her skirt, he accidentally broke it off and had to jerk the material down her body, watching her eyes flutter as he removed the next barrier between them. She reached for the button on his black slacks, but his sudden movement deterred her and she fell onto her back in exasperation.
Kneading her right foot with one hand, Patrick used his free hand to pat her ankle sympathetically and worked her toes up and back in a soothing rhythm. Lowering his mouth to her instep and blowing a breath over her skin, he noticed her start to tremble. Repeating the action with her other foot, he used his free hand to rub against the inside of her left thigh and snagged the lacy panties down and off. Climbing up her body, he left a trail of kisses in his wake, focusing on each area only long enough to extract a whimper from her before moving on. Once they were face-to-face again, she flipped him onto his back and stabbed her tongue inside his mouth to evoke his powdered sugar taste and let it intoxicate her.
Sucking on her bottom lip, he stroked her left hip gingerly and shuddered when she bent her leg and pressed herself more intimately against him. He waited for her to rub her luscious tongue over his once more and then captured it with his teeth, holding her mouth hostage. Thoroughly distracted, she didn't notice his hands come up behind her, but she was well aware of the bolder of the two hands when it spanned across her bottom and crept beneath her. Panting, she tried to take control of the kiss and felt her thighs start to quiver. When he finally released her swollen tongue, she was glaring at him.
His index and middle fingers hovered over her drenched center and she tucked her face into the crook of his shoulder, her body humming with anticipation as she struggled to breathe. He let his nails tentatively caress every bit of searing flesh, nuzzling her cheek with his nose, his voice as faint as a whisper, ""Vous ça aimez?"
"Yes." She answered just as quietly, grabbing his wrist helplessly.
"Etes-vous sûr?" He inquired, meeting her lips in a smoldering kiss.
"God yes." She insisted in a wobbly voice.
"Vous êtes si jolis." He praised unconditionally, rubbing his knuckles up and down the inside of her thighs, ignoring his first instinct to rush.
She blushed and shook her head, dislodging their lips and triggering a grumble from her boyfriend.
"Vous êtes." He insisted, barely entering her with the tip of his middle knuckle. At the slight intrusion, she bit into her lip and clutched his wrist tighter. "Vous êtes si jolis." When she still didn't look convinced, he admitted, "Je n'ai jamais voulu de femme autant que je vous veux." Taking his hand out from under her, he intertwined their fingers and pressed the heel of her hand into the bulge of his pants, his breath whistling through his teeth. Her lips curved into a sexy little smile and she obediently laid down, the glint in her eyes promising retribution later on.
Frustrated that she was still partially dressed, Patrick unsnapped the front hook of her bra and buried his face in-between her breast, listening to Robin giggle as he made ridiculous attempts to rest against one while sucking the other. He ran his thumb over one puckering nipple and brought it to his ardent mouth. His lips didn't envelope her breast completely, but his tongue began teasing her ruthlessly. "J'aime vos seins. Je veux les mettre dans ma bouche et les sucer durement." Without waiting for her response, he closed his mouth around her nipple and put his words to action.
"Patrick?" Robin's voice tore through his thoughts and he glanced up at her inquisitively. Now that she had his attention, she felt as if her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth. As she slid her fingers leisurely through his uncombed hair, she let him rest his chin on the tips of each of her thumbs. "I love you." She told him.
"I love you too sweetheart." Patrick replied unfalteringly, kissing the inside of her palms. "Now, if you don't mind, can I make love to you now?" He asked in a light tone, trademark dimple in place.
"Oh, I suppose." Robin rolled her eyes in mock irritation and watched him lean across the bed to get a condom.
"Here, you hold this." Patrick advised, handing her the little foil package while he returned his fingers to rest between her legs. Slipping two inside of her and finding no resistance, he plucked them back and forth, back and forth, back and--paused to hear her strangled cry--forth. He could feel the tension building as her thighs started to quake together and took the opportunity to plunge his tongue between them. Strawberries, he thought faintly, and started to suck her in the exact same fashion.
Robin wasn't sure when she started begging him, "Please," but he was deliberately sluggish crawling up to her mouth and taking the condom from her. She worried that the waves attacking her would surely leave her before Patrick got the picture, but then she saw the foil wrapper fly onto the floor and felt him push her legs apart and settle between them. He was holding himself back, just the head of his shaft actually inside of her, and her orgasm was starting to ebb. I always knew your patience would kill me, she muttered, and his laugh proved that she had said the words aloud. She sighed in contentment when her body started to accept him fully. Leaning up, dragged from her position by an unseen force, a desperate need, she held his face between her hands and kissed him slowly letting her tongue mimic the teasing and straining pull of their lower bodies.
"Don't fight it babe." Patrick pleaded, surging toward her. It wasn't until he said that words that she realized that's exactly what she was doing…unintentionally, but all the same.
"Oh, my god." Robin fell back onto a lone pillow and squeezed her eyes shut, sighing as he stroked up and down her legs, arranging them on either side of his hips. Suddenly he wasn't close enough and she was reaching for him almost frantically, biting back the threatening cry only to hear it pounding in her ears a second later.
"I'm right here. Come for me." Patrick murmured, his voice acting as her only lifeline as she convulsed beneath him. "That's it. That's right." He rocked against her one more time and felt her resolve break, moaned at the sensation of her wrapping him in the wet glove of her body. Using words and slow, careful movements to reassure her, he thrust deeper, some irrational part of his brain wanting to touch a place inside of her that had never been touched before to the point that he knew he couldn't stop until he achieved his goal.
Whipping her head back, she let the orgasm take full control of her body, barely acknowledging it as her second one in a matter of minutes. Patrick was sweaty under her fingertips and she could feel him shaking. Hugging him to her, she licked and nipped at his neck, letting her body rub against his in a circular motion that had them both screaming in anticipation and sweet, throbbing pain as their bodies met again and again, each time more incredible than the one before it.
Her arms began to slacken and she buried her face in the crook of his shoulder, hearing their choppy breaths fall into sync as they returned to the here and now ever so slowly. He eased her onto her back with the last of his remaining strength and discarded the condom into the trashcan he kept by his bed. It took a minute or two, but she was able to get the blankets up and over them before sleep overtook her. "Love you." She whispered.
"Love you too." Patrick repeated, resting his cheek against the top of her head and closing his eyes.