Having made his way across his cousin's lawn, Patrick pulled the sample paper menu out of the back pocket of his forest green trousers and rapped lightly on the door. He had left Robin sleeping in their bed with the promise of bringing back blueberry muffins and tea from Kelly's. "Anybody home?"

Going to open the door, Elizabeth rubbed the front of her shoe along the back of her black pants. "Patrick? Lucky's not here but he should be here soon."

"I was looking for you actually." Patrick explained rather nervously.

"Me?" Elizabeth looked around in confusion. Patrick had never willingly sought her out in all the time she had known him, unless there was an apology of some sort involved. "Did we have another fight and I missed it?"

Patrick grinned. "No. I'm here to deliver this to you and I'm not supposed to leave until you pick one for every category." He handed over the menu and walked in.

Looking at the lists of food, Elizabeth felt her eyes grow wide. When it was just Robin planning her baby shower, her friend had promised a small low key affair. This looked more in line with a wedding than a baby shower. "I shouldn't have allowed Dillon to help."

Patrick considered this for a minute. "Probably not, but it is what it is. Do you want something from the kitchen?" He asked, already on his way there.

"No thanks." Elizabeth lowered herself into the chair, trying her best not to mess up the only nice shirt she had that still fit her. Glancing at her watch, she figured she had a few minutes before she absolutely had to leave. Surely she could sit here a bit and fill this out quickly. If she made any mistakes, like requesting pickles and ice cream for a main course, Robin would tell her in seconds later on tonight.

Patrick returned to the living room with a bottle of water and took the chair across from the couch. "When are you planning on having this party anyway?"

"Last I was informed it was April 26th."

"What do you do there? If I were pregnant, I'd want my food brought to me." Patrick mused quietly.

"I don't know. Dillon just says something cryptic or an obscure Hollywood reference and walks away." Elizabeth shrugged. "And Robin hasn't been much better about details either."

"She's got a lot going on." Patrick answered vaguely.

"Oh I know." Elizabeth said quickly before she revealed too much. "That's kinda how I allowed Dillon to get involved. Take off some of the stress." That and the guilty pains she had every time she thought of Robin not being able to celebrate the same thing without fear of losing everything.

Patrick met her eyes, wondering just how much she knew. He had told Brenda; it wasn't so farfetched that Robin would tell Elizabeth. From what he had learned of Elizabeth Webber, she seemed almost too calm about Robin being out of commission. Of course, it was just as likely that she understood what with Morgan being back that Robin would want to change a few things including spending more time with her son. "At least it'll be fun, right?" He tried to sound encouraging.

"So Dillon keeps swearing on the bodies of various celebrities."

"There you go." Patrick nodded. "How's the list coming?"

"Slowly. And I'd rush it, but you know Robin. She'd be down here herself, cursing us both for not doing it right the first time. Which is not something she needs to be doing or I need to see."

Patrick mentally agreed with her. If Robin hadn't spilled, he knew it wasn't his place to do so. "Yes she would. I meant to see how Lucky's doing."

"Oh well, you know Lucky." Elizabeth said with forced cheerfulness. She still hadn't talked with Lucky yet about what Luke had told her. And today they had a meeting with Dara Jensen about the custody suit Tony and Lisa had filed regarding Cameron. Lucky was barely hanging on and was still hiding out on her. She wanted to trust Luke and her grandmother's words about being patient and letting him come to her, but she was beginning to believe he never would.

"Yeah?" He prodded carefully. "You don't sound all that convinced."

"You know it's just been busy lately, with the kids and everything. He's been putting in a lot of long hours at work." Elizabeth concentrated harder on the list, trying to differentiate one word from another through the tears that were building behind her eyes. "Shrimp or lobster? Dillon is out of his mind."

"I say lobster. At least Lucky's got you to lean on though." Patrick reminded her.

"Yeah. At least he has that." She whispered softly.

"Are you alright?" Patrick figured he could ignore her tears, but it would be an inevitable. If there was a crying woman within a twenty-mile radius, he was going to have to witness it.

"I'm fine thanks." Elizabeth wiped furiously at her eyes. "Hormones. You know, fun thing you get to look forward to."

"What?" Patrick wasn't sure if he had heard her right.

Too late she realized her mistake. Waving her hands, Elizabeth tried to correct herself. "I mean in the future, you know if you and Robin decide to have kids. In the future."

"Elizabeth..."

Holding her head in hands, Elizabeth concentrated on the floor. "Robin is going to kill me." She murmured.

"Why is Robin going to kill you?"

"Patrick..." Elizabeth sighed. "I know."

"You know?" Patrick repeated.

"I know. About the baby. What Dr. Lansing suggested. I know."

Patrick gulped slightly. "Does Lucky—?"

"No." Elizabeth said vehemently. "I swear I didn't tell him."

"Please don't." Patrick whispered.

"No problem. He has enough going on right now. I don't want to add anything else to the mix."

"Has he been sleeping?" Patrick knew he sounded anxious, but his cousin had never taken him up on the offer to talk about his own kidnapping experience.

"Not that I know of. Has Robin?"

"Not until last night." Patrick admitted. "We had a little scare, but she and the baby are fine. We met her new doctor."

"So she found one? Good. Good." Elizabeth blew out a breath. "I was starting to get worried the only one she would find would be overseas."

"I don't want to get anybody in trouble, but I have to tell you something."

"You're making me nervous."

"Lucky was kidnapped when we were kids. He showed up at General a few days later." Patrick explained.

Elizabeth smiled sadly. "You're a bit late with that. Luke told me."

Patrick snapped his fingers. "Damn. I love being the first to tell the big secrets." He replied sarcastically.

"We can start again and I can act surprised if it will make you feel better." Elizabeth offered. "But since we are telling secrets here, there's something I should probably tell you too."

"Now I'm a little worried."

"I'm still hoping it will blow over, but it's not looking good right now." Elizabeth blew out a breath and met Patrick's gaze. "Tony and Lisa are suing for custody of Cameron."

"They're what?" Patrick asked indignantly. "On what grounds?"

"The kidnappings. And with everything that was going on that night, he forgot to call them. They found out in the paper." She gestured to her stomach. "Seeing me like this, didn't help."

Patrick blew out a grinding breath. "If they had their way, Lucky would have mourned Jess until the day he died and never moved on, never had a family with anyone else. This has nothing to do with Cameron's safety; it's always about their 'special loss' that no one but them can understand."

"Care to say that in court? We're meeting Dara in about an hour. She wants to talk a witness list today."

"I'll do whatever I can. My schedule is free at the moment. I'm out of commission for a little while to make sure that Robin stays off her feet and rests."

"Good. She needs that." Elizabeth cast a quizzical eye on Patrick. "Am I assuming you've come around to Robin's wish to keep the baby? Because if you are just doing this to try to convince her..."

"I told you we talked last night. The doctor said the pregnancy was possible and Robin's heart is set on it." Patrick answered.

"I'm glad. Just...just make sure you are sure Patrick. For yourself and not because Robin is so determined to do this. I was the first one to suggest finding someone other than Dr. Lansing but if he was right..." Elizabeth let her voice trail off, not wanting to voice both of their fears. "If he was, this will affect you more than anyone. Just—be sure, Patrick. Please."

"I am." Patrick nodded with a ghost of a smile. "It's too soon to be excited, but I am."

"Good because we are about to have another person in common." Elizabeth smiled, quoting his words from right after Christmas.

"Speaking of, I know you're keeping the sex of the baby from the rest of the family..." Patrick drawled.

"Nice try, but you aren't getting any hints."

"Why not?" Patrick whined. "I helped paint the nursery."

"Under protest."

"And I'll be enlisting his help when we decide on a color." Patrick pointed out.

"True. But I'm not explaining to Laura why I wouldn't tell her but I told you."

"You're still afraid of Laura?" Patrick chuckled.

"Why don't you tell her about your baby and why you and Robin aren't married if you're so brave then?"

Patrick sobered. "I don't want to get her hopes up if the pregnancy doesn't take."

"I shouldn't have said that last one. I took the joke too far."

"It's okay." Patrick nodded. "Really. I guess I'm just a little sensitive about it."

"The Great Patrick Drake is sensitive? Who would have guessed?" Elizabeth teased gently.

"No one. Least of all me." Patrick took a breath. "What are we going to do about Lucky?"

"I don't know. Luke and my grandmother both said to let him come to me and talk, but I don't think that's going to happen."

Patrick snorted. "You're right. It won't."

"The only way I could see him doing any talking is if he was convinced it would help someone else somehow."

"You mean like if he talked to Robin." At her surprised expression, he clarified, "He won't talk to you and he won't talk to me. If he thinks he's helping Robin, she could get him to open up. She did when Cameron got hurt."

"You're right. And Robin's not exactly being very talkative herself lately..."

"I never thought I'd miss her random musings." Patrick sighed.

"But if she thinks she can help Lucky, she might just start yakking his ear off."

"I'm not seeing a downside." Patrick smirked.

"Me either." Elizabeth matched his smirk with one of his own. "I think we might need to work together more often."

"Can it be on something other than babies or birthday presents?"

"Not macho enough for you? I can't really fake an interest in race cars."

"There must be something in the middle. Lucky told me you like art."

"I do."

"Well, I have an eye for it. I am a photographer. Don't tell Robin but a couple times a year I buy Italian artifacts off eBay."

"Can I give you some advice?"

"Sure."

"Keep them out of reach of Morgan and the baby."

"I rented a warehouse where I keep them."

"You may be as smart as you always claim to be there Drake."

"Damn straight."