Patrick met them at the door, Dillon, Morgan, and Lance. He slightly turned his body so that Robin was partially covered. Why hadn't he thought of this before? Robin wanted nothing more than to be with their boys. He had kept them separated until now thinking it best, thinking it right, but he had been wrong. There was no option left. Dr. Lansing would have no further reason to keep Robin hooked up to the machines. As he pointed out already, she might be breathing on her own but she had shown no other improvement.

Dillon had both boys by the hand and he looked a little nervous to let go of either of them. Nathan was in reaching distance of Dillon, playing silently in his plastic crib. At the moment, he was practicing sticking his sock covered feet into his mouth. Patrick had been watching him for about an hour now; he was getting quite good at it.

Morgan was a statue in-between Dillon and Lance. His eyes were focused just to the right of Patrick where he could see the outline of his mother's hospital gown. He looked up at Dillon, pleading in his eyes. He just wanted to go home. Why wouldn't they let him go home? Mommy had only been this still one other time and that was after the car accident. He remembered the gory details; he remembered everything. What if she didn't wake up this time? He couldn't lose another mommy. Daddy had always told him that God had a plan, that some people were alive for only a single purpose. Sometimes that was living a long life, sometimes it wasn't. Why would He give Morgan another mommy if he was just going to take her away again?

"Morgan," Patrick gestured him forward.

"It's alright." Dillon promised slowly. He didn't know if it was, but no matter how desperate Patrick might be for Robin to wake up, he wouldn't knowingly endanger his stepson.

Patrick took a step toward Morgan. "I'm not trying to scare you. I wanted you to come and see Mommy and Nathan." Morgan glanced over at the plastic crib and his eyes shot right back to Dillon. "Come and see her. It's okay. She's sleeping right now."

Sleeping? Right. She was hooked up to machines. She was a guinea pig.

"When you get hurt, your body needs time to heal. And that means you sleep a lot. Just like Mommy's doing. If it were her choice, I know she'd be awake right now. We both know how stubborn she is."

"There's an understatement." Dillon chuckled.

"Come over here. It's alright." Maybe if he kept telling his son that, he would start to feel it too. Morgan stared at him a second longer and then met him in the middle. "It's alright." Patrick whispered moving around him so that he could pick up Nathan. "This is your brother, Nathan. I've told him a lot about you. Come. Sit here." He patted the seat furthest from the bed. One thing at a time, he told himself. Children were resilient, but still fragile. This, in itself, was a risk. He could send Morgan into an even more terrible state. The alternative was no better. What if he got Morgan to talk to Robin, to let her hear his voice, and then she still never woke up? Was he making the wrong decision? Was it selfish? No, he couldn't think like that. Mother and son, they had always needed one another. Morgan needed this time with his mother just in case there was no tomorrow.

"Do you want to hold him?" Patrick waited for Morgan to sit down and then adjusted his arms just right. He would take anything he could get. A smile. A frown. A single word. Morgan sat stiffly, his little arms wrapped securely around his brother. Patrick watched every movement, every tick ready to step in if he had to. Nathan reached for Morgan's finger and stuffed it into his mouth, startling his older brother for a second. "That means he likes you."

"Daddy?" Lance tugged impatiently on Dillon's shirtsleeve. "Daddy."

"What is it Lance?" Dillon's lips barely moved his eyes glued on the struggling family in front of him.

"Daddy, I want to go." Lance explained.

"In a minute, okay?" Dillon asked.

"No, now." Lance persisted.

"It's fine Dillon." Patrick promised. "I think we're okay here." Dillon looked to Morgan for assurance and then quietly led Lance out of the room. Morgan stared at the door for a long time. "Is he too heavy? Do you want me to take him?" Morgan's only response was to hold Nathan tighter. "Okay. It's okay."

"You know," Patrick began, "when your mom and I were kids, we didn't get along very well. It was always just us boys and then your mom moved into town. I felt like she was trying to take my family away from me." He didn't go on to say he had kept that feel for quite a while. "I'll never forget the fall she left to go vacationing with your grandma and grandpa. You would think they'd wait until summer, but they always told Uncle Luke that that's when tourists chose to go and they were not tourists." He had been in his first semester of college when she returned the following spring. He would never forget the way she had looked when she stepped out of his brother's red Mustang. He and Lucky had been working on it for the better part of the year and given it to Logan when he was finally able to get his driver's license. The judge had required he wait until he was eighteen before he could be eligible to drive. Patrick forgot why.

"I was awestruck." Patrick told him. "I hadn't known a girl could be so beautiful. I thought, for sure, I would start rambling the second I talked to her. So I didn't. I avoided her completely. Aunt Laura found me in my room and demanded I go talk to her. I was being rude, she said. The thing about your mom, Morgan, is that she has a magical way of making me a little crazy." Morgan lifted an eyebrow. "The reason I'm telling you this is because…I know you get sad sometimes and I'm sure you've heard some things. I want to set the record straight. When she makes up her mind to do something, there is no stopping her. This time she needs a little help." Patrick took a sleeping Nathan from his brother and carried him over to Robin's bed. "I've kept you and your mother separated because I thought that it would hurt you to see her. And I've been selfish, so selfish, believing that I could fix her if I just wished hard enough. Now I know I was wrong."

Morgan glanced up at him, tears in his eyes. "She needs you. She needs to hear your voice. I know it's a lot to ask and it's scary. I don't want to scare you." Morgan looked over at the bed and then back at Patrick. "And if you don't want to, it's alright. I won't force you. It's…I'm out of ideas." Patrick sunk into the chair opposite the bed. Morgan walked over to him and put covered Patrick's hands with his own. Then he looked at Robin and sucked in a breath. The tears were still running down his face as he climbed into the bed and hugged Robin.

They stayed like that for a while, Patrick in the chair holding Morgan's right hand, Morgan snuggling closer to Robin, Nathan kicking out his feet. A nurse or two came in to check vitals and machines, but other than that, the peaceful setting wasn't disturbed. At one point, they all fell asleep.

Morgan was the first to open his eyes. He wasn't sure what woke him because, as far as he could tell, nothing had really changed. Patrick had, at some point, gone to get Nathan. Morgan knew this because the crib was empty and he could hear his brother whining right beside him. Morgan curled deeper into Mommy's arms and closed his eyes, wrapped up in her smell, in her warmth. Nathan's whine grew louder until it he was on the verge of a hysterical fit. Morgan kept waiting for Patrick to wake up, to take care of the baby, but he didn't move.

"Nathan?" The voice was so soft, Morgan barely registered that he had heard anything. He didn't think he was the one who had spoken, but he didn't know. He was still partially asleep. Nathan continued to wail, desperate for someone, anyone to tend to him. "Nathan." The voice, this time stronger, repeated.

Morgan looked up, certain he was dreaming, and was met with Robin's cinnamon stare. They were filled with sleep and confusion. He sat up and scooted backwards, startled, when her left hand brushed his hair off of his forehead. "Morgan." There was a tinge of sadness in her voice and something more profound: relief. "Are you okay?"

He blinked, convinced that he was dreaming. A memory could be strong enough, he told himself. Strong enough to make the hand on his forehead feel so real. Selfishly, he leaned into the hand, determined to relish in the feel of it even if was imagined. It was better than waking up to a world where she almost didn't exist.

"Morgan, baby." Robin coaxed him closer. She looked around, taking in everything. Morgan guessed she was assessing the danger. He had woken up after Logan and been just as scared, but she had been asleep a lot longer. He didn't want her to be scared so he squeezed her hands. "Am I in the hospital? Am I? Morgan, honey, what…?" Nathan's crying stopped her. "Is that…?" She turned her head slightly to the right and cried out. Morgan tensed at the sound.

"Are…are you…does it hurt?" Morgan wanted to know.

"No…a…a little." Robin admitted grudgingly.

"I can…" Morgan swallowed with some difficulty. "I can get Nathan for you if you want—"

"Nathan?" Robin echoed.

"Yeah." Morgan nodded. "He…he's…"

"What's wrong?" Robin insisted. "You can tell me."

"Nothing's wrong. It's okay. It's okay." Morgan promised.

"Can you get Nathan for me?"

"Yes." Morgan slid out of the bed and tried to take him, but Patrick's hands closed over his. "Mommy wants to hold him."

"What?" Patrick ground out.

"Mommy wants to hold Nathan. Give him to me." Morgan demanded.

"Morgan, you're dreaming." Patrick told him.

"No, I'm not."

"Patrick." Robin whispered. "Patrick, open your eyes."

"Now I'm dreaming."

"No, Patrick, wake up. Wake up sweetheart."

Even if it was a dream, it was well worth it to hear her voice. Patrick opened his eyes and looked over at the bed. Morgan was standing between the bed and the chair, his arms wrapped around himself. And there, there, was his beautiful wife. Somehow in just speaking she didn't seem so small, so fragile, but the urge to protect her even still was strong enough to be palpable.

"Let me hold him please." Robin gulped. "Please, I have to see him."

"Yes." Patrick left the chair and closed the space between him and the bed. The second Nathan was rested in his mother's arms, Robin's face brightened.

"Hello Nathaniel." Robin whispered her voice heavy with tears. "It's so good to meet you."

*****

It was the worst kind of stupid idea, the kind one recognizes as stupid about three seconds before one arrived at a destination. Had he really thought she would come here of all places? Really? Maybe he really was as ignorant as the Colonel always said he was.

Kicking at the grass, Ric groaned in frustration. The hilltop, which seemed so romantic during that first date, now seemed to be mocking him. Why on Earth had he thought she would come here? Maxie certainly hadn't been seen around town. Ric doubted she had left town with Robin not fully on the road to recovery yet. Whenever she was visiting Robin it wasn't when he was on shift. He had tried Kelly's, the Metro Court, the docks. He had even debated driving past Lucy Coe's house out of desperation. She hadn't been there. She hadn't been anywhere. Maxie Jones had become a ghost.

Not that he entirely blamed her on that one. And not as if she hadn't told him explicitly this was what she wanted to happen. Maxie wanted nothing to do with him. He was the one with the insane idea that if he could just sit down and talk with her, explain himself somehow, she would forgive him and take him back. Another brilliant idea. Maxie was not a forgive-and-forget-type girl. She still held a grudge against Lulu Spencer for some minor infraction she could barely remember from grade school. He had taken her heart and stomped on it and he expected her to what exactly? Say everything was fine?

And did he honestly expect her to just sit around the places that meant something to them? Maxie? Ric sat down on the unforgiving ground and ran his hand through his hair. No she would never do that. She'd consider that beneath her, a sign of weakness. Something she would swear she would never be around him again. And she would consider their every moment together weak. Ric had the sinking feeling that if she stayed in town long enough, the next time he would see her would be when she had another man in her life.

That thought had kept him up for more nights than he cared to admit. When had she done this? When had she become so important to him? She was just supposed to be a fling. No more, no less. She had told him repeatedly they would end. So why was he so desperate to continue on? It hadn't mattered to him before what a woman thought of him when they broke up. He certainly didn't care what Kate thought. So why was it so important he make it right with Maxie? Why was he so obsessed with finding out where she was hiding?

"Why can't I let you go Blondie?" he asked the wind. "What did you do to me?"