"I'm telling you, I don't know whether it's a good thing or a bad thing we weren't there today. On the one hand, Robin could have used the support but on the other, there is no way I could have kept from my dad quiet about something else major." Georgie sighed as she ran a hand through her hair haphazardly. The doctors had been encouraging her to keep talking to Steven, saying there was really no medical reason for him to not wake up on his own. He just needed encouragement as one of the few nice nurses had told her this morning. So she had been babbling about every little thing since then. Thank God Maxie called when she did or she would have had to start discussing her soap with him. Although he might just wake up to protest that topic of conversation. It was something to think about at least.

"So I figure this could go two ways." Absentmindedly, she intertwined her fingers with his, lifting his hand up, careful to not disturb the IV line. "Option one, Dad calms down quickly and realizes there are so many other things that I could have kept from him." Pausing she chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. "Of course that doesn't mean I'll be telling him all about the false alarm mind you."

"Option two is that Dad realizes there is no way I could have missed Robin's news while we were both in Paris and will somehow figure out a way to blame you for me not spilling the beans first. So between you and me I'm hoping for number one okay?"

Looking down at his face, she half expected to see his crooked smile, the twinkle that appeared in his eyes whenever he was in on the joke. She bit on her lip harder, trying to keep the tears from spilling down her face yet again. Tears, she told herself sternly, were not going to help Steven right now. Tears were the last thing he needed.

"No what he needs is to hear me talk about the most inane subjects known to man." Georgie finished her thoughts out loud with a sigh. Sitting back into the chair, she pulled one leg up under her chin. Squeezing his hand in hers, she pinched her eyes shut. "I feel so useless. So stupid doing this. I know it's supposed to be good for you, but half the fun of talking with you is the arguing. I love telling you you're wrong. And of course the making up isn't bad either. But I hate this. I hate one-sided conversations."

"If I wanted the silent treatment, I wouldn't have banned your parents and sister from the building. I thought you loved to argue with me. Well I've thrown some choice moments out here for you to correct my thinking on and you just let each opportunity pass. Come on Steven. I'm not going to be so obviously wrong ever again so you have to take advantage now buddy."

The tears no longer paid any attention to her attempts to stop them from falling. They traced down her face in two tiny rivers. Using her free hand, she wiped away at them furiously. "I'm crying here Steven. Of course you never did know how to handle a crying woman so that probably wouldn't encourage you to wake up would it? No. You're probably hiding until we all stop with the waterworks so you don't have to deal with them aren't you?" She smiled through her pain, clearly seeing him trying just such a ploy. "Yeah I bet you are."

Blowing out a breath, Georgie tried to sniff back a few of the tears. "It's just we have never not been able to talk. It's our thing. We talk about everything. Or at least try to. And we have so much we still have to talk about. There are so many debates I want to have with you, but the thing is you need to be here to have them. So just do whatever it is you have to do and get back here will you?" Pushing his hair back on his forehead, she pressed a quick kiss there. "I miss you so much."

"Why are you crying?" Steven's voice startled her into lifting her head and meeting his eyes. He squeezed her hand and tried to smile, but the pain caused it to come out as little more than a grimace.

"Steven?" She could barely contain the gasp. "Steven?"

"Who were you expecting? James Bond?" Steven laughed and then winced. He raised his hand to comb through her hair. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing. Right now everything is perfect."

"Then why are you crying? Did somebody hurt you?" He couldn't move his head at will, so he had to depend on his eyes. He didn't see anyone in the room with them.

"No. No. Happy tears. These are happy tears." She tried to assure him.

"Are we at the hospital?" He recognized the whirring machines and dreadful double-breasted gown from his week spent in a hospital similar to this one where he had had his appendix taken out.

"Yeah. Been here a few days now."

"I know the shoot's over, but surely we can afford somewhere better." Steven joked. "What happened to me?"

"You were coming to meet me and my dad. And apparently the car stalled." Georgie looked down at their hands before she could continue. "You got out, maybe to check it or something, and another car didn't see you."

"Someone hit me?"

"Yes. But you're here and now you're fine. That's the important thing. Everything else is just details ok?"

"Who hit me?" Steven didn't think it was all okay. "Did they bring me here?"

"We don't know who hit you. A guy on the squad saw the car on the side of the road and pulled over to investigate. He found you."

"Found me?" Steven repeated.

"Steven, we don't need to go into this now. You're here and you're going to be fine."

"Georgie, I could have been killed. How can you act like that doesn't matter?" Steven gazed up at her imploringly.

"It does matter. But there's just not a lot of information to go over. My dad is looking into it."

"Are we sure he wasn't the one behind the wheel?" The joke came out a little too harsh and Georgie winced. "I didn't mean that."

"I know. I know you didn't. Let's just say it's been an interesting time around here."

"Interesting?"

"I'm beginning to think maybe we should have worried more about how to tell your parents than my father."

"My parents? Oh, baby..." Steven watched her with a pained expression. "That must have been awful. I'm sorry I wasn't there."

"I'll forgive you this time. Thankfully, between your sister, grandmother, Alexis, and my dad we finally got them thrown out of the hospital. However I do think we have been uninvited from Thanksgiving and Christmas."

"What a sacrifice." Steven rolled his eyes.

"But there may have been a slight silver lining in all of that."

"What's that?"

"Elizabeth and I may have a conversation or two and just maybe I told her you would not be opposed to using the fact that you did not want to tell your own mother about your marriage might mean she's not the greatest judge of character in the world."

"The custody trial?" Steven guessed.

"Yup." Georgie nodded. "I've been told watching your mother squirm over that on the stand and then misidentifying the twins would have been funny if it wasn't so sad."

Steven chuckled. "Glad I could be of some use."

Georgie smiled and leaned down to kiss him softly. "I'm just glad you're going to be ok."

"Sorry I was late."

"You'll just have to make it up to me later."

"Speaking of which, when can I get out of here? I think now that the world knows we're man and wife, it's about time we start acting like it." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"I'll talk to the doctors."

"Please do. We have a lot of time to make up for."

*****

In all of their planning, none of them had figured out how to decipher if Patrick, Cruz, and Lucky had made up. They would most definitely lie if asked directly, so the only option was to leave them where they were for now until they started begging for bathroom breaks. Or until Lucky picked the lock. The party had ended almost fifteen minutes ago. Neither Uncle Mac nor Alexis were speaking to Robin, but she hadn't expected them to. She had thrown out a few innocuous comments about Maxie's newest beau, but her cousin had doggedly evaded any real explanation before hugging her and telling her she was working a double shift tonight. Much as Georgie had congratulated her over the fake engagement, Maxie had rubbed Robin's belly and said that, if it turned out to be a girl, her name should be considered.

Elizabeth's legs dangled off the edge of the couch. She was obviously asleep, but still reached protectively toward the twins' stroller bouncy seats positioned mere inches from her fingertips. Audrey had dropped them off so that she could go to the doctor. When Elizabeth offered to go with her she thwarted her granddaughter's attempt. It was obvious she was trying to regain some of her initial independence. She might have Steven staying with her, but she could easily say that was as much for his benefit as well as her own.

Laura and Luke were cleaning up the kitchen despite Robin's insistence that she could do it. They said it was the least they could do after the way they had reacted to the engagement. Shocked, Robin had let them alone. The world must be standing on its head for all the sense today made to her. First, Maxie had been the most positive influence in a mass of chaos. Second, Uncle Mac had punched Patrick. Or how about the fact that the guys were locked in the upstairs nursery? About the only normal thing about this whole thing was the sight of Bobbie rocking Majandra in Patrick's favorite lounge chair.

Robin couldn't help but pace the length of the living room. She had walked past the nursery door several times only to be met with silence. While it was unlikely they had killed each other, she knew their tempers. None of them would appreciate being tricked into talking. Well, if they had just made the effort themselves, they wouldn't have had to be tricked. She would wait another few minutes and then start for the room again. If they hadn't solved their problems by then, there was little she could do. They were three of the most stubborn mules she had ever met. God help her, she was about to give birth to a little boy who would be just like them. Tears sprung to her eyes at the chance of Lucky and Cruz not being around for his life. Maybe she wouldn't let them out after all.

Robin dropped into the loveseat in Patrick's office and wished, not for the first time, that it was full of camera equipment similar to the one at his other apartment. She had been the one to move the loveseat in here in the first place and Patrick must have moved his desk in some time last night while she had been at the Spencers'. Her only regret for leaving Port Charles was that she hadn't included Patrick. She should have let him go with her, but much as the time when Morgan was stolen from her, she had wanted to escape. The only difference was that by the time the second opportunity presented itself she had seized it.

Something sharp poked her in the back and she jumped into a sitting position and turned to see what it was. Wincing as she rubbed the sore skin, she discovered a golden key. It looked like any old key, no writing on it. What made her look at it more than once was that it was a lone key. It didn't belong to a keychain. Curious, she went around the apartment and tried to unlock various things. She returned to the loveseat after almost forty-five minutes of no success. What could it possibly open? And why had it been hidden in the cushion of the loveseat? Robin started to think about the night she had come home, how Patrick wanted to ask her something. Surely, he had learned his lesson before and hadn't gone out and found them a house. No, even that was too drastic a decision for Patrick to make on his own. She would sooner believe he participated in an underground cock fight. So what did this key go to?

Rounding his cherry wood desk, she pulled open the drawers one by one. Whatever the key went to, it was possible a clue lie hidden somewhere in this desk. She pulled out stacks of papers, Post-It notes decorated in chicken scratch, and several writing utensils scattered onto the floor at her feet. Flipping through the stack with her thumb, she skimmed through each page carefully. Water bill. Utility bill. Cell phone bill. Grocery list. Emergency numbers. A list of dates written on a five by seven sheet of notebook paper. That one read: Birthdays.

Discouraged, she returned the papers, the pens and pencils, and stack of Post-It Notes to the desk. As she went to pick up the last pen that belonged to the drawer, her fingertips brushed across a discarded note. Across the top it read: 549 Willow Drive Port Charles, NY 10033. Her bakery, she thought faintly. Why did he have the address written out? She kept reading, trying to make some sense of it. Below the header, she saw several dollar amounts, all but one scratched out. In the far right corner of the paper Claire Tanner was written in bold black letters. The amount that hadn't been scratched out was circled several times. Robin looked back at the other figures. An offer, she mused. An offer to buy the building back from Claire. Patrick must have bought the building because he knew how much she had loved her bakery. Oh God.

Previews:

"Worked like a charm." Elizabeth winked. "He'll never see it coming."