Chapter 161

You are the one

Bustling through the front door after a long day in court, Alexis stopped in her tracks as she saw Eric, still in scrubs, stretched out asleep on her sofa with Kristina curled up next to him. Having heard the door open, Viola emerged from the kitchen.

"Kristina wasn't feeling well and so she called Doctor Eric to come over."

She smiled bemusedly. "Oh she did?"

Viola nodded. "Her stomach was a little upset and when I told her that we couldn't call you because you were in court, she picked up the phone and called him herself."

Alexis shook her head at the boldness of her daughter. "Poor Eric" she said quietly, "he was working a 36 hour shift this week." Walking down the steps to the couch, she carefully and gently picked up her daughter and carried her to her bedroom.

As she lay Kristina down, her eyes fluttered open. "Mommy" she said softly.

Alexis kissed her head. "Hi sweetheart. How are you feeling?"

"Okay. I had dragons in my tummy but Eric gave me some medicine to make them go to sleep."

"I'm glad to hear that. You like him, don't you?"

With sleepy eyes, she nodded. "I love him"

Smiling, she tucked her daughter in. "Me too Kristina. And I love you – feel better."

The young girl drifted back to sleep and as Alexis left her room she pulled the door shut behind her. Returning to the living room, she found Eric sitting up wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"Hey" he greeted her sleepily.

Flopping down beside him, she cupped his chin and kissed him softly. "You're amazing."

"Because I gave your daughter some Dramamine?"

Shaking her head, she slipped her hand inside his and entwined their fingers. "Because you came when she called even though you're exhausted."

He shrugged. "I like Kristina and Molly"

"I think the feeling is mutual," she replied with a smile. "Listen why don't you go and lie down for a while and I'll order some dinner and wake you when it gets here."

Eric waggled his eyebrows. "Why don't you come and lie down with me?" He stole a kiss and tugged her closer to him.

"I need to finish up some paperwork from today" she told him. "And there's something I'd like to talk to you about later so go have a nap and then we can have dinner together."

He furrowed his brow together and gave her a questioning look. Having reconciled after their argument, he felt closer to her than ever before. His feelings for her ran deeper than he had even realized and he knew that he had met his match; he did not want to do anything to endanger that.

"What do you want to talk about?" he asked, swallowing down his nervousness.

"We can talk about it later" she demurred.

Bringing her hand to his mouth, he kissed it gently. "Sleep is out of the question now – tell me what's up."

Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it go, she smiled nervously. "Well you know they haven't been able to find a foster family for Josh."

"Not many people, even veterans of the system, want to take on a heavy care kid."

She nodded. "I was speaking to a contact of mine at CFS and while they normally don't let unmarried couples take in a child – under the right circumstances – they would make an exception in this case."

His blue eyes widened hopefully. "Do you … do you know of someone?"

Alexis tucked her hair behind her ears and nodded. "Us" she said quietly.

"Wh-wh…." He stammered trying to process the information. "But – we don't live together."

Her mouth in a half smile, her throat suddenly dry, she exhaled. "So move in with me."

Eric looked at her with a mixture of disbelief and shock. "Alexis – you….you can't ask me that."

"Why not? You love me, you love my kids – I love you. Half your clothes are here – move in with me."

His mind raced and swirled in complete confusion as he tried to understand what was happening. "You can't ask me to move in with you so we can foster Josh."

Cupping his face, she brushed her lips against his. "I'm not. I'm asking you to move in with me because I love you – because I want to go to bed every night in your arms and wake up every morning together. I'm asking you to move in with me because I want us to build a life together. Fostering Josh would be happy benefit."

He shook his head. "But what about Molly and Kristina? This would be a big adjustment for them – Josh needs a lot of attention."

"I think it would be good for them," she countered. "And Josh and Kristina are the same age. It would be good for Josh to be around other children."

His blue eyes shimmered with tears unspilled. "Lexie-"

"Eric, if you don't want this – living together or fostering Josh – that's okay. You can say no. I just wanted to let you know the option was there – on both counts."

Blowing out his cheeks, he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her towards him. "You are the most important person in my life" he told her throatily. "You – our relationship means everything to me and I'm not willing to let anything get in the way of that. It's taken me a while to realize it but I have been waiting my whole life to meet you. I do want us to live together – to build a life – but what if it's too much too soon."

Her heart leaping at his words, she kissed him passionately in response. "We're just going to foster him – to start with – and if it proves to be too much for him or for us then we'll reassess – provided this is what you want."

A stray tear escaped from his eye and he brushed it away as he shook his head. "I don't know what to say."

"Say that you're going to bring the rest of your things here. Because regardless of Josh, I'd really like you to move in."

Cupping her face, he fastened his mouth to hers in a hard, long kiss. Pulling away breathlessly, he stroked his thumbs along her cheeks. "You are the greatest gift I've ever received" he whispered.

"Is that a yes?"

Her eyes welled with tears as she realized her search for a partner and a lover had come to an end. She had finally let her walls down enough to let someone in and despite bumps along the way, it was the healthiest relationship she had ever had.

"Yes."

*****
"I'm not late am I?" Patrick asked with urgency as he slipped through the door of the exam room.

Lying on the exam table, Robin smiled and shook her head. "No – Kelly hasn't been in yet."

"Okay" he nodded, catching his breath. "How are you?"

"Not very good"

His eyes went wide with worry. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"You haven't kissed me yet" she answered with a sly look on her face.

Patrick shook his head as he walked towards her. "It's not nice to scare the father of your baby" he admonished jokingly. Leaning in, he kissed her exquisite softness leaving his lips to hover over hers until the exam room door opened and Kelly cleared her throat.

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, are how babies are made"

Not quite ready to step away from Robin, Patrick shot her a look over his shoulder. "If that's what you believe Kelly, then you've been doing it wrong – it takes a whole lot more to make a baby – I could explain it to you if you like" he teased.

Rolling her eyes she sighed in mock exasperation. "Yeah, like I'm going to take lessons from you."

"One shot Kel – all I needed was one shot."

"Hey!" Robin slapped his arm playfully. "You make it sound like I had nothing to do with it. If I remember correctly I did quite a bit of work that night too."

He winked at her. "You sure did and you were very good at it."

He had taken his father's words to heart and was trying very hard to let go of his frustration and simply trust that they were on the right path. He wanted to be in the moments with her, be present in every way that mattered and not let this detour derail him. Learning to accept that not everything was within his control was hard but being loved by Robin was worth it.

Kelly covered her ears with her hands. "Can we not do the play by play of conception night? Pleeeease??"

Patrick smirked as he lowered himself into the chair next to the exam table. "Don't start what you can't finish."

"Do you want to see your baby's heartbeat or should I just go to my next patient."

"We'll be good!" Robin replied. "I promise! – er, we promise!"

Grinning, Kelly pulled the ultrasound machine over to the table and gently lifted Robin's gown and inserting the Doppler, carefully moved it around.

Robin reached for Patrick's hand and brining it to her lips, gently kissed it. They both kept their eyes glued to the screen as a small almost indecipherable image came into view.

"Is that it?" Robin asked anxiously.

Nodding, Kelly examined the image on the screen. "Your baby is measuring at the 8 week mark and everything looks good." She turned the monitor towards them and pointed to the screen. "That's the heartbeat"

They both stared in wide-eyed wonderment at the tiny dot on the screen. Tears poured silently from Robin's eyes and Patrick swallowed thickly as she pulled him closer to her.

"Our baby" she whispered.

"Yeah" he replied hoarsely.

Turning her head away from the screen and towards him, she gave him a tearful smile. "We're having a baby – we're really having a baby."

He pressed his lips to her forehead. "We sure are" he rasped.

Kelly removed the probe and pulled Robin's gown down. "Everything is fine and on track," she said. "I'll give you guys a couple of minutes and I'll meet you in my office."

Patrick brushed Robin's tears away and their eyes remained locked on each other as they stared in wordless awe. Bringing her hand to the back of his head, she drew him down towards her and kissed him with such passion and love.

"I love you" she told him with her lips pressed to his. "I can't believe we've made this life together and you are the only person that I want to make a life with."

Her words were like a balm on his frazzled spirit and he nuzzled her neck, whispering kisses against her soft skin. "We are a family."

"Yes we are" she said confidently, running her fingers along his brow. "Bound by love, forever."