Chapter 23

Such boundless pleasure
We've no time for later

Curving her hand around the door handle to Jake's Robin let out a small yelp as Patrick closed his arms around her waist and pulled her from the door. Turning her around in his arms, he backed her up against the brick wall and crashed his mouth of hers, his tongue insistently parting her lips and sliding past. She moaned into his mouth as her hands gripped his green sweater, pulling him closer.

Panting and breathless, they reluctantly pulled apart and Robin stared glassy-eyed at her boyfriend.

"Wow."

"Wow?" he questioned as he dipped his head towards her neck and nuzzled his lips against her soft skin.

"You…you're…you're insatiable. First your office, then your room and now you make my knees turn to jelly with that kiss. What's gotten into you –not that I'm complaining" she added with a small laugh.

Resting his forehead against hers he gently ran his thumb across her cheek, breathing heavily. "I'm hoping to get into you" he purred seductively.

"You have – twice" she giggled.

Giving a small shrug, he flashed his dimple and nipped at her lips. "I just…I see you – how beautiful you are, how sexy you are-" As Robin dropped her eyes he tilted her chin upwards and stared into her eyes. "How sexy you are" he repeated, "and I just want to be with you."

Running her hand down the front of his sweater, she gave her head a small shake. "No one has ever made me feel the way you do," she admitted quietly.

Her words unknowingly cut at him and he swallowed down his grimace. "I'm going to make you feel like that until you just can't take it anymore."

"Never" she grinned, "I'm never going to reach that point."

They stared wordlessly at each other for several minutes, oblivious to the comings and goings of the front door to the bar. Finally Robin pulled her eyes from him and glanced down at her watch.

"Crap! Eric's going to think we've abandoned him."
Rolling his eyes in response, he slowly pulled her away from the wall. "He's a big boy – he can handle himself."

Entwining her fingers through his, she looked up at him from under her eyelashes. "I really like him."

"But not too much, right?" he questioned half jokingly.

"Not too much" she agreed with a wink.

"Yeah, well – he likes you too."

"I passed the best friend test?" she asked as she pulled open the door.

"There's a test? Have I been tested?" Seeing her nod in response, Patrick's eyes widened. "How could I be tested? Your best friend lives in Italy and she's never met me!"

"I love it when you're paranoid! Oh look – there he is." She said excitedly half pulling him to the booth where Eric was firmly ensconced. "Sorry we're late" she said quickly as she slid into the booth.

Eric looked from Robin to Patrick and shook his head. "I always build in a 20 minute delay with Patrick if he's bringing a date," he joked.

Robin's eyes widened in mock surprise as she slapped Patrick's arm. "You told me I was your first!"

"He says that to all the girls."

"Oh god" Patrick groaned. "Something tells me I'm really going to regret letting you two ever meet."

"No baby – this is the best idea ever!"

Rolling his eyes, Patrick slid from the booth. "I'll go get us drinks – you two don't share any stories until I get back so I can refute them."

Both watched as he made his way through the crowd to the bar. Robin turned her attention to Eric and smiled shyly.

"It really is great that you're here," she said quietly. "Patrick doesn't talk much about his life before moving here – not in detail anyways – but he has talked about you."

"Then we have that in common" Eric replied kindly. "Because he has been unable to shut up about you since he met you."

Laughing, she covered her mouth with her hand. "I feel like I should apologize" she replied sheepishly.

Grinning, he shook his head. "Don't. I've known this guy for more than a decade and I've never seen him happier than he is with you."

She blushed and lowered her head. There was a question burning a hole on the tip of her tongue. He was Patrick's friend and clearly cared for him in a way that few others in his life did. And despite him being a doctor, she knew that medical training was no shield against the realities of her life.

Raising her eyes to meet his, she smiled weakly and sucked in a breath. "Has Patrick told you…about me?"

Arching up his eyebrow, Eric shot her a curious look. "I'm not sure what you mean, Robin."

"I…I, uh" she stammered.

It was so rare for her to ever falter when telling anyone about being HIV+ but Eric was so important to Patrick and she worried that how Eric would react to the news would somehow colour Patrick's view of her. She learned a long time ago that 'I love yous' offered no protection against people's fears.

"I…I'm HIV+" she spat out quickly.

He smiled kindly and nodded. "Yes – he told me."

"Do you…do you have questions? Are you worried about him?"

Giving a wry smile, Eric couldn't help but think that he was extremely worried about his friend but his worry had little to do with his girlfriend being HIV+.

"Robin," he began, "I'm a cancer survivor – I know from personal experience about disease and its pitfalls. I have also had several HIV+ patients on my service over the years. Truthfully, I worry more about you breaking his heart than I do anything else."

"I would never" she interjected.

"I can see that now" he said with a wink. "But my Pantsy fell hard for you and he's never fallen for anyone before. And without giving me details, he's told me you're healthy and that's all that matters. He also told me that he never would have made it through the first few days after his exposure in the OR if hadn't been for you."

Her cheeks turned crimson again and she smiled. She nervously twisted the ring around her index finger. "When I was diagnosed, I was surrounded by people who loved me and cared for me. And though I knew the likelihood of him testing positive was remote, the fear wasn't and I wanted to make sure that he wasn't alone."

"He's lucky to have you Robin."

Patrick watched them as he fought his way back through the crowd, a pitcher of beer and three glasses in hand. It looked so natural for them to be talking, even laughing. Eric had met most of his dates over the years and had said very little for or against any of them. His opinion of his dates had never mattered to Patrick until he met Robin. He knew that she was, quite simply, the best thing that ever happened to him and he wanted to share her with the one person who had been with him through thick and thin. Eric's opinion of Robin mattered because Robin mattered so very much to him.

He stopped moving for a moment as his mind drifted back to the crumpled papers he had retrieved from the floor and shredded. The reality of what he had learned that afternoon gripped his heart and threatened to squeeze the breath right out of him. Shaking his head, he tried to push the thoughts away.

Tomorrow.

He would deal with it tomorrow. Tonight he just wanted to pretend that everything was okay. Having made his way back to the table he placed the pitcher and the glasses down in the centre before looking nervously from one to the other.

"What?" Robin asked as she knit her brow together.

"Just making sure that no one has pulled out any photos that would require me to go get my laptop and overshare with one of you about the other."

"He's cute when he's nervous" Robin said in a loud stage whisper to Eric.

"Nah" he replied in the same tone. "He's really not that cute."

"Sitting right here."

Proffering a glass, Eric said, "And yet I still don't have a beer Pantsy. Care to remedy that for me?"

Giving an exaggerated sigh, Patrick filled a glass for Robin and Eric and then for himself. "What shall we toast to?" he asked.

"Well it's your 5 year cancer free celebration Eric – why don't you propose the toast?" Robin suggested.

Smiling gratefully, he nodded. "Okay – here's to doing everything it takes to stay alive – no matter how hard or scary – and winning." He stared directly at his best friend as they clinked glasses.

Patrick dropped his eyes.

"Okay" Robin set her glass down. "Let's get down to the nitty gritty – I want to hear the Pantsy story."

"Please no" Patrick said. "I'm not drunk enough for humiliation."

Leaning back on the bench Eric let out a deep throaty laugh. "How can you possibly still be affected by this – it's nearly 10 years ago. And it's not like you were humiliated like that since – well until Robin started turning you down for dates."

"I hate you" Patrick hissed with a grin.

"I know." Leaning forward, his elbows on the table, Eric turned all of his attention to Robin. "So back in the day of being a lowly intern, Patrick here had a bad habit of flirting with the staff in an effort to get invited into the best surgeries."

"Nice to know some things have never changed" Robin muttered as she blew a kiss to her boyfriend.

"Exactly. Now the head of neurosurgery at our hospital was this very frigid, very mean cougar by the name of Dr. Lynley. She would eat interns for breakfast. She had rules about everything – how your scrubs fit, hair cuts, shoes – everything and everyone gave her a wide berth-"

"Even you?"

"Hell yeah. I was no glutton for punishment. Genius boy over here" he said, jerking his thumb in Patrick's direction, "thinks she just needs some softening up. So he starts to work his Drake magic on her. Flirting here, smiling there and since my boy has some game, he actually made old Medusa smile."

Patrick simply rolled his eyes in protest and took a sip of his beer.

Eric continued. "Finally Lynley started to warm to him and invited him to participate in one of her surgeries. The jealousy among his fellow interns was palpable and of course some type of retribution was required."

"Oh dear" Robin commented as her brown eyes danced with anticipation.

"So someone who shall remain nameless-"

"Eric" Patrick added.

"Anyways" he continued, "someone told Dr. Love that Lynley liked brightly coloured scrubs ties with a lot of slack. That it was an aesthetic that truly appealed to her. Taking the information and running with it, he showed up for his big surgery debut in navy scrubs with long pink ties hanging down the front, nearly to his knees."

"Oh my god" Robin exclaimed, looking at her boyfriend's fast reddening cheeks.

"Now he had quite an audience in the gallery as we all wanted to see his genius at work. Lynley looked at him with disdain but said nothing. The surgery went off without a hitch and as the patient was being wheeled from the OR, she called Patrick over to her. He walked over – well he sauntered really – and stood really close to her so she could get the benefit of his greatness."

"What happened?"

"You want to finish the story?" Eric asked Patrick.

Taking a long sip of his beer, he shook his head. "And deny you your moment of glory, hell no."

"So Lynley smiles beatifically at him, grabs hold of his pink ties and looks him straight in the eye and says 'If you ever come dressed like this to my OR again it will be your last surgery'. She yanks so hard on the ties, his pants fall down and low and behold Dr. Love is going commando!"

Robin screamed with laughter as Patrick cradled his head in his hands.

"And so Pantsy was born?" she asked as she gulped down air.

"And Pantsy was born" he confirmed.

Seeing Patrick flushed crimson from his neck to the top of his head, Robin slid her arm around his shoulder and pressed her lips to his cheek. "It's okay Pantsy, I luvs you."

"I hate you both" he groused with a smile.

Giving him a small hip check, Robin grinned. "I have to go to the little girls' room – excuse me Pantsy."

Patrick slid from the booth and let her out before sliding back in. "I wish you didn't enjoy that story so much" he said as he reached for his beer.

"Aw come on – it's one of my favourites."

"Yeah, yeah I know. Listen Eric….in all the – insanity- from today I didn't get a chance to tell you how truly happy I am about your all clear. I know how hard that fight was for you and I know what you lost in the process. I just…I just didn't want you to think I was so myopic that I couldn't see that."

Tipping his glass towards his friend, he smiled. "Thanks."

Draining his glass, Eric set it on the table and reached into his pocket, pushing a small pill bottle towards his friend.

"What's this?" Patrick asked without touching it.

"It's steroids – if you start them first thing tomorrow, we'll be able to bring down the fluid in your head and that'll help with the seizures."

"Eric…"

"Pat – do you remember when I was in isolation? When I had no immunity left, I was bald, painfully thin, I couldn't eat for the sores in my mouth?"

Patrick nodded knowingly.

"Do you remember what you told me that night you came by and I told you I was going to die?" Not waiting for an answer, he carried on. "You told me I had a choice to live or die and I needed to fight. You told me there were people who loved me and needed me and it was down to me if I was going to survive."

"This is different-" his voice hoarse, as he interjected.

"Damn straight it is. You aren't dying Patrick – there is less than a 5 chance that your tumour is even malignant. We can treat this and we can cure you – but it's down to you. You have people who love you and need you – me, your dad and Robin."

Overwhelmed, Patrick blinked back the tears that seemed to suddenly form in his eyes. He closed his hand around the pill bottle and slipped it into his jeans pocket.

"Okay" he said, "I'll fight."

"And you'll tell Robin."

He nodded. "I will. After the Nurses' Ball" Seeing Eric roll his eyes, he held up his hand. "I mean it. It's a really big night for her and I don't want her distracted from that. But I will, I will tell her after – I promise."