No Backing Down

It had taken far longer than he had wanted to find out where Maxie Jones was recovering from her surgery. Somehow he had found the one nurse who didn't seem to know who he was and was immune to his charm. It was a good thing Patrick wasn't here, Lucky mused as he stepped out of the elevator and on to the floor. He'd never live it down.

When he had heard about Maxie's admission to the hospital, Lucky had insisted on coming. He knew Robin had asked for her best friend, but Lucky realized a few things as well. He assumed Patrick was at the apartment with Morgan, Robin wasn't going to be leaving Maxie alone in the hospital, and Elizabeth wouldn't leave Robin alone. Dr. Lansing had told Elizabeth to avoid unnecessary stress and, while she had argued, Lucky remained firm. Her spending all night in the hospital was unnecessary stress. She would visit in the morning; he would stay up all night with Robin.

He spotted his old friend easily enough. Robin stood in the corner of the waiting room trying to keep all attention away from herself. Her shoulders and hands were shaking. Not wanting to startle her, Lucky approached her carefully, gently tapping her shoulder to get her attention. Catching sight of the unshed tears in her cinnamon-colored eyes, Lucky felt his heart break.

"Come here Shortstack." He whispered, pulling her close to him.

There was a time for pride and this wasn't it, Robin realized as she fell into Lucky's strong embrace. She needed to be held, she needed to be comforted. She had been angry before, but the blowout with Alexis, a woman she respected, a woman her uncle loved unconditionally, her future aunt, had left her feeling entirely too vulnerable. When she had seen the way that Alexis handled Maxie, leaning over her as if she were a cold-blooded criminal, Robin's heart had stopped. "Oh Lucky," she whimpered.

Comforting words had felt hollow to him when Cameron had been a few floors above them. He doubted Robin would find any peace in a meaningless phrase such as "It will be ok" or "Maxie's a fighter." There was no guarantee this would be ok. He stuck to rubbing her back lightly as she continued to shake. He settled for facts, facts he could deal with. "What's going on? What happened?"

"Kristina's been kidnapped." Robin answered bluntly. She wanted it out before she explained anything else. It needed to be said. She needed to accept it, believe it. When she had called Uncle Mac on the way over, he had explained the situation. Nurse Johnson had directed her to the correct room, but she had almost been too late. Alexis knew how vulnerable Maxie was. Her cousin wasn't well, not even on a good day.

His heart stopped. Every parent's worst nightmare was coming true practically in his backyard. "And Maxie?"

"She tried to fight off the kidnapper. She's all cut up by the glass from Kristina's bedroom window. She fell off the roof, ran after the car, and then was hit by an oncoming car traveling in the opposite direction. One of her lungs collapsed. She's only been out of major surgery to reposition one of her ribs a few hours. One of her arms was knocked out of socket from the fall. Her lip is busted. Her eyes are welded shut with bruises." Robin ticked off each one, feeling less and less steady in her seat as she did so.

Lucky pulled her closer to him and kissed the top of her head. "What do you need me to do?"

Robin gave him a tremulous smile. "Don't let go."

"They'll need to pry me off." Lucky promised.

"How could this have happened?" Robin wondered aloud as she clung to Lucky. She couldn't get the look of Alexis' panic-stricken face out of her mind. She had jumped to the defensive because anger and family loyalty were two things that came so easily to her. She hadn't wanted to understand the older woman's pain because, to do so, would have been admitting that Kristina really was gone and that the kidnapper may have more than just the D.A.'s daughter in mind.

Just a few short months ago he had asked himself the same question. The answers didn't come any easier now than they did then. He continued to rub his hands up and down her arms. "I don't know Shortstack. I don't know."

"I couldn't have acted worse when I confronted Alexis in Maxie's room...interrogating her." Robin buried her face in his shoulder to hide her shame.

"Alexis is worried and you were scared for Maxie. No more no less."

"How am I supposed to help, Lucky? I am truly at a loss. All I can think of is when my mother was kidnapped though the man had come intent on taking me. I felt as helpless then as I did when you were presumed dead freshman year. When I think about what Faison must have done to both of you...I know this is different. We all saw his body, but I can't keep the panic back." She admitted, her voice little more than a murmur in Lucky's shirt.

It was hard to keep his memories of those few weeks with Faison back. The fear, the helplessness, those weren't feelings he liked to associate with himself. After his escape he had sworn to himself he would never look back and wouldn't allow anyone else to make a decision for him. Lucky bit his lower lip, contemplating his answer. "I think you're doing it Robin. Being here. I think that's all anyone can do."

Robin lifted her head and gave him a small smile. "I love you."

"I thought we were keeping that on the down low from Patrick and Elizabeth. Don't want to start any triangles." He teased her.

Robin pouted. "Elizabeth can't have you. You're mine."

"You're welcome to tell her that." Lucky tilted his head to side. "Did I mention she's very hormonal today?"

"I know you're too smart to mention that directly to her?" Robin gave him a wry look.

"Of course. This is why I'm telling you in the safety of the hospital."

"Robin?" Mac called from the end of the hallway, quickly closing the space between him and the two friends. The young adults shot up to their feet to greet him and he held back a shudder at the way Robin seemed to collect all her strength from Lucky. "How is Maxie?"

Robin gave him a somber look. "She's out of surgery. Monica wants her to stay at least a week for her body to heal, but you know Maxie."

"She'll stay as long as she needs to even if that means I have to put a guard outside her room to insure it." Mac growled tiredly.

"I hear Hannah's available." Lucky joked.

Mac looked past them as if he could locate Maxie's room by sheer determination. Understanding, Robin linked their arms together and led her uncle toward the appropriate room. "Lucky, I'll be back in a bit."

"Go ahead. I'll wait here and contact the rest of the cavalry." Lucky mock saluted with one hand, waving his cell phone with the other.

He had managed to miss Mac by mere minutes and he considered that a great accomplishment as much as a miracle. The Commissioner had been sitting vigil at her bedside for the better part of the night and he had almost missed his chance—that is until D.A. Davis called him to her room. He hadn't even known she was in the hospital, but a quick word with an orderly later and he was more than a little informed of the entire situation. He couldn't imagine what it must be like to watch two women you loved both struck down at the same time and pray that each of them would make it while, at the same time, being out of your mind with grief that your new daughter was at the hands of a maniac. He didn't know and he told himself he would never know.

He wasn't brave enough to speak and that fact left him feeling immobile. There was nothing that said upon his entering the room she would even want to see him. Closing the door quietly behind him, he quietly headed toward the bed, his footsteps as light as his breaths were choppy. With each nearing step, he felt his throat constrict. She had been torn apart when the paramedics had placed her on the stretcher, but even then he wasn't able to see the true damage. Now he could. He could see it in the darkening of her eyelids, the twist of her arm, and the bandage around her midsection that was clearly outlined beneath her hospital gown. Her face was sliced from the indeterminable amount of glass shards that had struck her with little consideration for her haste and her once slick and passionate pink lips were swollen and broken.

"Ric." Maxie's voice startled him and she had the good sense to take in a full breath before continuing, "You shouldn't be here."

"You're in no position to stop me." He pointed out, moving slowly toward her.

"No I'm not." She agreed quietly. "However, my dad might not see it that way."

"Your father is with Ms. Davis right now. He won't be back for awhile yet." He sat down next to the bed gingerly, careful not to jar any of the numerous lines and monitors that were connecting her to the medication and fluids her body needed.

Even though her eyes were not open, he noticed them pinched in agony. "Are you okay?"

"Just peachy."

"Now that that's done, I really think you should go." Maxie insisted. She didn't want him to see her like this. She had deduced enough by Robin and Dr. Quartermaine's words as well as Mac and Alexis' reactions that she must look like an abused voodoo doll. Moreover, his being here just reminded her who was missing.

"I don't think so." It was the familiar urge to pick a fight with her, but this time with an unfamiliar motivation. Instead of wanting to see her eyes flashing, the passion rising up in their blue depths, this time Ric wanted to convince himself she really was fine, at least medically.

"I don't remember giving you a choice in the matter." Maxie pointed out.

"If I let your protestations stop me Blondie, you never would have been placed on the committee with me."

"So that's where I should have ended it then? Gee, maybe it's not too late." She replied bitingly.

"What are you talking about?" Ric reached out to touch her hand, trying hard to ignore the IV line protruding from there. A few short hours ago her skin had hot and fevered to the touch, his touch. Now as his thumb barely brushed hers, she pulled her hand away.

"Please, I don't want—I can't do this right now!" Maxie snapped at him.

She turned her head away from him, but not before he noticed the tear tracing its path down her cheek. The only admission he knew she would give him about the pain she was in tore at his heart. He didn't want to see her cry. He wanted her to scream at him, tease him, bait him, and challenge him. He wanted to think of ways to corner her around town without alerting anyone to what was occurring between them. Ric had always associated want with Maxie, but he was starting to realize just what he really wanted with her. Thinking about the correction she made in her statement, he smiled. "But you want to. You want me here Maxie."

Maxie's fingers tightened around the bar on the right side of her bed. She was impatient to do something that would release some tension in her sore body, but this was about all she could manage the moment. "Why are you here?"

"To see you. Make sure you are alright." It was the simple answer. She wasn't ready for the more complicated one.

"Why should you care how I am?"

He shouldn't, he knew that. Ever since Kate, he hadn't spent this much time actively pursuing a woman. No woman had seemed worth the effort. But right from the start, there was something that kept pulling him to the tiny blonde in the hospital bed. "Because I do."

"And the fact that I don't want you here doesn't matter?"

"You always say you don't want me around and then you seek me out. I'm saving you the trip."

"That was different. This is different. We're not joking around anymore. My sister is missing and it would be a very bad idea for us to be caught together." Maxie warned him.

Ric realized her statements were not directly about them. She was worried about her sister. But she had no idea how close her words struck to home. This is different. Her words echoed in his head. It was. It hadn't truly hit him until this exact moment. In the back of his mind he had attributed his more pursuant chase of her to their similar natures. But now, it stopped him to realize he wouldn't still be here for anyone else. He wouldn't have insisted on riding in the ambulance. He wouldn't have stayed to sneak in to see her after her family had left. It wasn't in his nature. He had tried serious relationships and failed miserably. Keep it light, keep it simple. Shaking his head softly, he chuckled lightly under his breath. If he wanted light and simple, he should have never stopped Maxie Jones in that hotel ballroom.

"Why is that such a bad idea?" he asked her. "If you didn't want to get caught, why invite me to your home? My place has more privacy."

"I had to baby-sit and I thought you wanted to see me." Maxie answered, hurt.

"I did. I still do." He assured her.

"My family needs me right now. My sister needed me." She said bitterly to herself.

"And what? You think I couldn't understand that?"

"No. I don't. I have a hard time believing you could do anything without it suddenly becoming an inconvenience. So you see this is for the best really."

Words were obviously not working with her. Ric grinned as he realized they never communicated well with words anyway. Leaning over her, he stroked her cheek before lowering his face to kiss her lips gently. She resisted slightly but succumbed to what he knew was right and she was determined to fight. "I'll be the judge of what is the best for me Blondie."

"You son of a bitch." Maxie ground out. "Are you not listening? You have to go. I don't want or need you here. Please just leave me alone." With that, she rested her left cheek against her pillow, successful in showing him her back.

Difficult. He had known she was going to make this difficult. But would it be half as much fun if it was any easier, he wondered. Standing up he made his way to the door. Pausing long enough at the doorway, he turned back around facing her. "I'll go. For now. But if you think I'm going to leave you alone, then you don't know me as well as you flaunted." Ric stepped out of the doorway, stopped, and snapped his fingers. "One more thing," he continued as he turned around. "I don't believe you about not wanting me either."

Maxie watched him go as hiccups began to attack her brittle throat. Why did he have to make this so difficult? Why couldn't they just end things rationally? Must it always be a fight? His retreating back was not something she wanted to become accustomed to but she figured, if she kept letting him get the last word, she had better get used to it. Once he got what he wanted, he'd be right back out the door. At least for now she could hide behind the truth: If they hadn't been so caught up in themselves Kristina would be safe at home in her bed tonight instead of God only knew where with some monster. Her eyes closed and she let the medication carry her away to oblivion.