"Right here is fine." Robin told Lucky as they unloaded the six-foot inflatable Hello Kitty makeshift punching bag from the backseat of her car.
Eyeing the pink bobbing kitten suspiciously, Lucky took another look outside his front window. "And Patrick has no idea you brought this thing into my house?"
"He helped me pimp it out." Robin giggled, pointing to gold clip-on earring dangling from one ear and the long black marks drawn under each eye.
Lucky groaned as Elizabeth made her way down the stairs. "He's going to come by the house with a camera. I know he is."
"He's watching the boys today." Robin promised.
"Really, Lucky you are too paranoid. And I hate to break this to you, but Gracie is a girl. More girlie toys will be making their way into this house." Elizabeth laughed.
"Number one, there is no such thing as too paranoid where Patrick is concerned and number two, I don't think so."
"Men." Elizabeth shook her head as she caught Robin's eyes. "So clueless."
"This is not girlie. This is a training tool." Robin argued, folding her arms across her chest.
"A training tool?" Lucky tried unsuccessfully to keep himself from laughing. "Are we going to be beating down six year old girls?"
"Get him out of here, will you?"
"Go." Elizabeth shooed at him with her hands. "Before I start taking pictures of you and Hello Kitty and start emailing them to Patrick and Cruz."
"You don't have to be mean about it. I was going." Lucky protested as he went over to kiss both Elizabeth and Robin on the cheeks. "Watch out for the dangerous inflatable bat crowd. I hear they are deadly."
Robin rolled her eyes. "Did you bring in my bag?" she asked him.
"Yes Mother Hen." He pointed over by the front door. "Right there."
"Good. You're dismissed. Are there water bottles in the fridge?"
"Yes." Elizabeth assured her friend as Lucky beat a hasty retreat out the front door. "But Robin, I don't think Hello Kitty here is going to put up much of a fight."
"She's stronger than she looks. She'll be good for practice. Patrick is on speed dial for when you're ready for a normal red one." Robin dug through her bag for a few tools. "Give me your hands."
"Ok." Elizabeth was still skeptical about Robin's entire training plan, but she was willing to humor her friend. At the very least it gave her something else to concentrate on other than Max or the latest family crisis at the hospital.
"First, we're going to wrap your hands." Robin explained, showing her the yellow wrap before methodically covering most of her hand with it. "Now the other one. Let me know if I get it too tight. We don't want the hands too snug, but it's important for the wrist to be a little tighter."
"Robin, while you now I love your obsessive attention to details, you do realize that your training tool is filled with the combined hot air of Patrick and Lucky right?"
"Okay, I have a little confession to make." Robin grinned.
"What did you do?"
"Made Patrick hide the real punching bag in Lucky's office. We can work down there without being interrupted."
"You are evil." Elizabeth grinned.
"I am good." Robin countered. "Do you want to put on your gloves?"
"Why don't you show me the actual move first before I injure myself with equipment?"
"Okay. Let's work on your fighting stance first." Robin instructed, nudging Elizabeth's right leg backwards. "Since you're right-handed, you put your left leg in front of you. I should be able to measure the distance between your left toe and your right ankle."
"Measure? With what a yard stick?"
"With my arm."
"Alright. Like this?"
"Yes! Very good! Now bring your hands up so that one is fisted against your chin and one is in front of you."
"Why do I foresee myself knocking myself out before I hit anyone or even Hello Kitty?"
"Would you trust me? I'm not letting anyone or anything near you until you get this right. Now, your hands."
"Yes?"
"You want to keep your arms straight and jab." Robin stepped back to avoid collision.
"Jab?" Elizabeth awkwardly threw her hand forward in a jerky motion. "Like this?"
"Yes. Now bend at your elbow and jab. Jab, pull back, and jab. Like reloading a gun."
"Robin I feel like a total idiot."
"You look great. Come on."
"I look insane." Elizabeth shook her head, but repeated the motions Robin was showing her.
"I know you've been waiting to smack Hello Kitty all this time. Give it a try." Robin pushed the not-so-light makeshift punching bag in front of her friend.
Elizabeth landed a soft punch that barely moved the bag. "There."
"I think I felt a large gush of wind fly past my face." Robin teased. "Come on Lizzie, hit her. Knock her lights out. Pretend it's Sarah. No, no, it is Sarah."
"Well she certainly has Sarah's brains." Elizabeth joked.
"I can see the resemblance. Can't you?"
"Now that you mention it..." Elizabeth lined up her arms and tried to land the punch again. This time the bag bounced down and back up. "Better?"
"Much. Now, how does jump rope sound?"
"Suspiciously like you've watch Rocky one too many times."
"It's on the list." Robin told her with a shake of her head.
*****
His fingers flew across the first set of twelve numbers. As always it was the last one that stopped him. If he just pressed it, in a few short minutes she would possibly answer the phone and Steven could get the answers he wanted from his wife. His pregnant wife.
But as always he would slam his phone shut in frustration. Throwing the offensive technology across the room, Steven sank onto the bed, rubbing his tired face with his hands. It had been almost twenty-four hours since Mac showed up outside his hotel room and proceeded to completely change his world. It was probably some form of karma considering how he had disrupted the other man's life. His father-in-law told him Georgie was pregnant. If it hadn't have happened to him, he would think it was a bad movie scene.
Pregnant. There was that word again. It kept coming back to him. Georgie was pregnant. The concept still hadn't become clear in his mind. His wife was pregnant. In nine months...was it nine months? Was it less? Would she tell him if he called her? Did she ask her father to come and tell him? Was this her big plan to reveal their news? Send her father?
When had she found out? How long before she told anyone? Did she know when he left? Was this why she didn't come with him? Was this why she was full of excuses? The questions wouldn't stop coming. Only one person could answer them for him and she was currently in Port Charles.
He was going to be a father. That was the only thing he didn't question. There was a baby coming, his child, his and Georgie's child. Sure, the timing wasn't what he had expected, but then again nothing about his relationship with Georgie had been expected. Hadn't he wanted this, exactly this since the time he proposed?
He needed to go home. He needed to talk to Georgie and get some of the answers to the questions that had kept him up all night. There was no debate about that. Mac had made it clear if he was going to bail to tell him now. While he understood Mac had been down this road with Georgie once before, Steven still bristled at the very idea that Mac would assume he'd leave his Georgie over this. Leave her? He had been trying to be with her from the second he met her. Standing up, he walked out of his room and found himself pounding on Mac's door before he could talk himself out of it.
"It's open."
Steven threw open the door and barely stepped inside. "When's the next flight back to Port Charles?"
"Two hours. I have an extra ticket if you're interested. If not, I could always smuggle on a few kangaroos."
"I'll be ready in ten minutes."
"Are you absolutely sure about this?"
"As absolutely sure I was the day I married Georgie."
"Then get your ass in gear." Mac waved him off.