Sam took her time getting to the hospital. She wasn't sure what she would say, what she could do, but what was the point of finding her family only to abandon them when they needed her the most? Alexis might be able to distance herself from the situation, or at least convince everyone that she was unaffected, but Kristina wouldn't have that same luxury. She wouldn't understand why both Robin and Morgan were in the hospital and Sam could only guess if the baby was all right.

A boy, she sighed. A perfect little baby boy. It had hurt when Harper told her that. She didn't mean for the memories to assault her and she was fairly certain he hadn't realized it. Even if he had, she had done what she could to distract him. All of the dreams she had had for Vincent, the life they should have had together. Maybe she would have been able to reconcile with his father if given enough time. Ryan hadn't been a bad guy, but they were both kids when they found out about Vincent. She didn't blame him for leaving. He hadn't lost complete contact until after their son was murdered. Then, he explained, it just hurt too much to be around her.

Alexis looked up from the magazine she was pretending to read when she heard Sam approach. It was anyone's guess as to how she had known it was Sam, or if that was even the case. She could have just as easily heard footsteps. Of course, that didn't account for the smile she was wearing when she lifted her head. "Sam."

"Hey. Hi. Um, sorry I haven't been here before now." Sam stammered, her words tumbling over each other.

"You're here now." Alexis pointed out. "Sit down." She patted the empty seat next to her.

"Where is everyone?" Sam wondered looking around. She had been expecting more than half the town.

"They're taking shifts. Some are visiting Morgan, Nathan, or went home to get something to eat. Hiding mostly." Alexis clarified with a ghost of a smile.

"Where's Mac?" Sam highly doubted Mac would leave Alexis all alone. It had been clear, even in the few and far between instances when they had had a chance to be around each other—okay so the one time at the wedding—that would rather be by her side than anywhere else in the world.

"I asked him to take Kristina home. She had gone without sleep so long she was starting to cry for no reason. I promised to stay behind and report back to him if there was any news."

"Is that your turnabout way of saying that nothing has changed?"

"Robin started breathing on her own," Alexis replied, "but the doctors aren't hopeful."

"It isn't fair." Sam didn't know which of them she was talking to. All Robin had wanted was that baby and now that he was here she didn't even get a chance to meet him? What did God have against mothers being with their children? Yes, she realized her anger had more to do with her own personal tragedy than Robin's, but she couldn't ignore the similarities. A madman had taken Vincent from her and a madman had almost certainly snipped the connection between mother and son in Robin's case. Why wasn't she fighting? Didn't she know her son was waiting on her to wake up? He needed her. The other side of the argument reminded her that sometimes the body wasn't strong enough to recover from certain injuries. Throw that on top of an already shaky health risk and hope tended to dwindle.

"Fun part about life." Alexis said without humor. She had seen enough sad to last her a lifetime and, as dire as her own situation was, she could, if she had to, accept it in time. She had so much to be thankful for. If this was meant to be her time, fine. The same didn't ring true for Robin. She had barely begun to live.

"Well what do doctors know anyway?" Sam threw out. They had told her a lot of things when Vincent was born three months early, but he had survived and she had survived. The price for that decision was high. Not only had she lost him, she had had to have a hysterectomy. There would be no more children for her and, somehow, she was okay with it. She had had her miracle. Six short years, but they had been the most wonderful time of her life.

"What brings you by?" Alexis tossed the magazine onto the ground, the sound somewhat startling to her.

"I wanted to see if there was anything I could do." Sam didn't know why she suddenly felt six inches tall. Perhaps it was because Alexis was right to wonder what she was doing there.

"I'm glad you're here. I thought maybe I had scared you away for good when we ran into each other at the pizza place."

"I am sorry about that." Sam offered no other explanation. If Alexis wanted one, she was going to have to drag it out of her.

"It was good to see you. I know things aren't going to be easy in the beginning. Things are so awkward between us right now. I mean, I thought I had lost you and now I come to find out that you've been happy and alive all this time. Was it something I said?"

"I have to tell you something. And it's not going to be easy to hear. Maybe I shouldn't..." Sam looked over at the exit, but Alexis reached out to place her hand over her daughter's wrist.

"Is it about David Harper?" Alexis ventured a guess. If she was wrong, at least she could have one of her many questions answered.

Sam did a double take. "No. What about David Harper?"

"Do you want to tell me what's going on there?"

Sam could lie. Alexis didn't know her well enough to be able to recognize it as anything but the God's honest truth. Still...She shook her head. "He helped me find you."

"Are you going to try and tell me that all you feel for that man is gratitude?" Alexis didn't sound convinced.

"No." Sam countered. "That's not what I was going to say."

"Well?" Alexis prompted. "Throw a married woman a bone."

"It's nothing to get all bent out of shape over. We're just..." What? What were they? Would any description she gave be accurate? "We're friends."

"Sam." Alexis shook her head dismissively. "Please don't treat me like I'm stupid. I've seen the way you two look at each other. If I had friends like that, Mac wouldn't like it."

"We're companionable. Sometimes I help him."

"What do you help him with?"

Sam caught herself. She wasn't about to get Harper in trouble. No matter how strange things were between them, she wouldn't betray his trust. "Engaging with the rest of the world. I don't know if you've noticed, but he's a major loner."

Alexis gave Sam a wary look, but didn't press. She didn't know what Sam was hiding, but she soon would. "Have you had anything to eat?"

"I thought that was my line."

"We Scorpios speak out of turn. It takes some getting used to."

"As long as it's not pizza." Sam feigned a groan.

"A bit sick of that are you?"

"Well I can't cook and David—erm Harper is never there long enough to..." She was going to stop now. Nothing she said would get her out of the hole she had dug herself.

"You live together?"

"No. Well, yes, but it's not what you think."

"How long has this been going on?"

"Just since I relocated to Port Charles." Sam promised. "It's not a big deal."

"So you're just roommates then?"

Sam felt her face flame and had to look away. "You could say that."

"I'm afraid I'm confused. If you're just companionable, why are you blushing?"

"It's complicated."

"Most things are when you involve sex."

"Alexis!" Sam shushed, looking around to see if anyone was paying them the least bit of attention. No one was. "I'm sure the guy on the fifth floor heard you."

"I'm your mother. I can tell." The way she said it would have convinced any passing stranger that they had always known they were mother and daughter. Sam still couldn't meet her eyes.

"And that in itself is just creepy. I don't want to talk about this."

"So it's more than sex. Interesting."

"It's not interesting. It's complicated." Sam repeated.

"How evolved are these feelings?"

"What are you talking about? There are no feelings to speak of."

"Then why are you sleeping with him? It would make sense if he was the only man on the planet, but seeing as that's not the case...Have you been sleeping together since the beginning?"

"That's none of your business."

"True. Tell me anyway."

"It's not like that. We genuinely like each other and the sex is..."

"Fantastic?" Alexis supplied.

"Fine. Yes. But that's where it ends."

"Then why does it bother you so much to talk about him?"

"We're at an impasse right now." Sam admitted.

"What kind of impasse?"

"I don't know..."

"Come on. I promise not to put the story in the paper. This is just between you and me."

"We want different things."

"Cop-out."

"Well it's true."

"No it's not."

"I told him I loved him."

"And he said?"

"He said he thought I made it up because of the situation."

"What situation?"

"The anniversary of Vincent's death was a few weeks ago."

"Who was Vincent?"

"Your grandson."

*****

If he had just stayed out of this room, it would have been possible to continue to convince himself that everything was fine. Robin was going to wake up, give Patrick nine kinds of hell and start taking care of Nathan and Morgan the way it was supposed to be. Or the way it was meant to be, if he wanted to believe all those romantic movies Mom and Elizabeth made him watch. But now, seeing her lying there so still, it was impossible to deny the terrible words of Dr. Walker anymore. Dr. Lansing had apparently been right. Robin might not make it through this.

As was his habit, Patrick had fled the second he heard the news. Lucky had no idea where his cousin was, but he knew where he wasn't. He wasn't with Nathan or Morgan. His parents were sitting with Nathan while Elizabeth tried to reach out to Morgan. And here he was, sitting with Robin. For someone who had been so determined to not leave Robin's side for anything, Patrick sure had a funny way of showing it.

Lucky sighed. He realized he was being unfair to Patrick. This had to have some uncomfortable familiarities about it for the other man. And even though right now he would deny it, Logan was Patrick's brother. That had to be a whole other layer of general what-the-fuckness that Lucky was thankful he hadn't experience. But still, could Patrick for once open up to people instead of forcing them to come looking for him or forcing him to face what he was feeling? It wasn't like Patrick was the only one scared to death about losing her after all.

Running one hand through his hair, he grasped Robin's smaller one with his. Had she always been this small? This fragile? Surely not. It was a side effect of the pregnancy. Had to be. Someone this tiny couldn't have possibly once threatened to beat him up after he beat her in a race to the highest tree limb. At least he wouldn't have been reasonably sure he wouldn't have been convinced she could have done it.

"Shortstack, you need to understand something. Watching that soap sucks so would you please stop trying to audition for it? I thought you had some pride. Some character."

He glanced quickly at her eyes to see if she had any response. Stubbornly they remained close. A joke that lame would have at least earned him a shove, a groan, anything but silence. "Come on cousin-in-law. You've got to give me something. You know how I get when I have nothing but silence. The jokes get progressively worse."

Running his fingers over her hair, Lucky fought back the tears that had been threatening to fall since Mac had shown up looking for Patrick. Had it really only been a day? It felt like he aged three decades since then. Ever since Thanksgiving he had been trying to deal with the inevitability that one day Robin wouldn't be there, but it wasn't supposed to be so soon, so sudden. There was supposed to be more time.

"You don't get it do you? This whole thing isn't going to work if you're not here Robin. You're the sane one. You're the one we all rely on. Elizabeth, Aunt Bobbie, Cameron, Cruz, Morgan, me. Nathan. Patrick. You're the glue in this group. Without you, we make no sense. We'd have self-destructed a million times over. You, Shortstack, have obligations here. Who's going to make sure I don't screw up this wedding thing huh? You think I'm going to rely on Patrick and Cruz for help with something that important? Who's supposed to help Elizabeth convince me that just because Gracie is a girl I shouldn't lock her away in a tower until she's about thirty-five? Who's going to tell Patrick..." he felt his voice trail off. "Shortstack, you know as well as I do Patrick isn't going to recover from losing you. He's just not. And Nathan and Morgan. God they need you so much. I don't know why you won't wake up, but I just know you have to."

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Just wake up. That's all we're asking from you. Just wake up."