Chapter 192

I can feel the magic floating in the air

The morning sun cut through the curtains warming the room; Patrick blinked and yawned as he was roused from sleep. Looking down at Robin, her hair fanned out over his chest and the soft ruffle of her breath blowing against his skin, he could not help but smile. His fingers danced along her belly and he sighed happily as he reflected on the night before. Her declaration had been exactly what he needed to hear. He had harboured doubts about her feelings for him and even about his ability to be the man she needed but it was though her words had freed him. He felt renewed.

Robin's eyes fluttered and she snuggled in closer to him as she started to wake. "Looking for round three?" she asked sleepily.

Sliding his finger underneath her chin and tipping it upwards he softly captured her lips in a languid, lazy kiss. "If we're going to have round three, we're going to need to start carb loading" he teased.

Laughing, Robin buried her head in his chest. "I am rather famished" she admitted. "It really was quite the workout."

"You're the one who kept asking for more - over and over again." Chuckling, he shook his head as he watched her skin flush pink. "I don't understand how that comment can make you embarassed considering some of the things we were doing last night."

"Because I'm a good girl at heart?" she offered with a sly grin.

Closing his arms around her, he swept her underneath him, his mouth just hovering above hers. "Oh no. You're a bad girl, a very bad girl."

Cupping his face with her hands, she nipped at his lips. "So when do we move in?" she asked playfully, "after all we have rooms and rooms to christen."

"Mmm" he moaned, returning her kisses, "I think we should move in right now."

Lifting her head from the pillow and glancing around the room at the pillows and blankets that had been tossed, she grinned. "I think we have."

Following her gaze Patrick laughed, waggling his eyebrows. "Okay seriously, let's move this week. I'll call the movers and we can go shopping for baby furniture and stuff." Noticing a flash of concern pass through her eyes, he rolled off of her and sat up. Sliding his arm around her waist, he pulled her to him. "What's going on in that big, beautiful brain of yours?"

Her hand brushed against his chest, lingering over his tattoo. "Do you...are you okay with everything I said last night?" she asked, a hint of nervousness hitching in her throat. "Was it too much? Not enough?"

A look of surprise crossed his face and his mouth tugged upwards into a smile. "Robin," he began softly, "no one - no one - has ever said anything like that to me before. I know...I know you've been in love before but I haven't and I'm still rendered speechless when you tell me that you love me and that you want a future with me. So I'm not okay with what you said last night-"

"You aren't?"

He shook his head. "I am....I am breathless from what you said last night. And I want to get moving on our future right now."

Shifting to his lap, Robin looped her arms around his neck and teasingly kissed him. As the sheet gave way and pooled around her hips she pressed her breasts against his chest. Patrick stifled a groan as he returned her kiss. His hands slipped around her breasts, kneading them softly.

"I love the changes in your body," he whispered against her mouth.

Her hands curled over his shoulders and she smiled seductively at him. "I'm not the only one whose body is changing." Dipping her head she whispered a trail of kisses along his neck, loving the way his stubble lightly scratched her skin.

"You are more insatiable than ever," he rasped out as his head lolled against the pillows.

Feeling his arousal growing underneath him Robin swiveled her hips. "It's pregnancy hormones. What's your excuse?"

"I think they're catching."

His mouth went in search of hers and his tongue slipped past her lips. Taking great care with her, Patrick moved her to the side before reaching into the nightstand. If their lovemaking had been an urgent expression of passion the night before, it was a slow reaffirmation in the early light of morning. Their bodies tangled together as each delighted in exploring the other with fingers and mouths and tongues. The room was soon filled with moans of pleasure as they continued to connect without words. Robin gripped the sheets as he pushed her yet again to the edge; he loved to tease her and leave her teetering, on the verge of falling over and then pull back. He knew her body so well and with his expert hands was able to set every nerve ending on fire.

Bending her knees she cradled him with her hips and undulated against him, encouraging him. He was unable to resist any longer. There had never been another woman in his life who was able to make him feel as she did. Her pleasure became his pleasure and as their bodies moved together and he locked eyes with her he was sure there was simply no feeling on earth that could come close to this moment.

The near vacant house echoed loudly as their moans turned to cries as they pushed towards their climaxes before it all feel eerily silent; they collapsed on the bed, gasping for breath, their hands still joined together. Patrick nuzzled his face against hers.

"You know," he began, still slightly breathless, "if someone had told me that this was settling down was like, I would have signed up long ago."

Giggling, Robin kissed him again. "Well I for one am glad it was a mystery until you met me." Her stomach growled loudly and both burst out laughing.

"Kelly's?"

With a second wind Robin kicked back the covers and sprang to her feet. "Oh my god - pancakes and waffles and bacon. Lots of bacon."

Shaking his head in amusement Patrick got up and went in search of their clothes. Every thing, every little thing that had brought them to this moment was worth it.

*****
"Patrick!" Noah greeted him as he pulled open his apartment door. "How's the shoulder?"

He gave it a small rub and shrugged. "Pretty good," he replied, crossing the threshold. "Though I have to say it's not an experience I want to repeat any time soon."

His father hugged him. "I'm just glad everyone is alright."

When Patrick had phoned him to tell him of the accident, he had offered to fly to New York and help out but Patrick had demurred, explaining Robin and Alexis were alread there. The news of the accident had left him slightly shaken but grateful that their relationship had been repaired. Almost every day he was amazed or impressed with the man his son had become and was thankful that he was allowed to be part of it.

"You're looking rather serene," Noah observed as he returned from the kitchen with two cups of coffee.

Well aware of the goofy grin permanently residing on his face he could do little but nod. "Robin and I are....we're back together and we're moving into the house."

Noah's hazel eyes shone proudly. "Really? Oh Patty, that is fantastic news! Everything is....it's sorted?"

"Yeah. I mean we still have stuff to work through but that's just us being us. She told me, without reservation, that she wants a future with me - she even mentioned children."

"Well I'm not opposed to a bucketload of grandchildren," Noah told him. "In fact I will offer myself as chief babysitter."

Patrick smirked. "Don't think we aren't going to take you up on that."

"Nothing would give me greater joy" he said softly, "than to be a part of your children's lives. It's an amazing thing to see miracles replicate."

"Miracles replicate?" he queried.

"You were a miracle for your mother and I and this child and any that come after will be a miracle for you and Robin."

He shook his head in wonder. These were conversations he had never imagined having and yet now that he was, he wanted more. He had never spent a lot of time contemplating the future, he wanted to live in the moment and wring every experience from it - or so he had told himself. But now the future was a bright, gleaming beacon on the horizon and he could not stop thinking about it. It was the possibilities it presented that energized him, that gave him hope, that made him happy.

"It's funny, when Robin burst through the doors of the OR the first time I met her, she told me she needed a miracle and I was it. The irony is I was the one who needed a miracle and I didn't even know it and now I have her."

"Patrick Drake discovers romance, who knew it was possible?" he teased.

Patrick laughed. "Sure as hell not me." He took a long drink from his coffee before speaking again. "Listen Dad, I....uh.....I came by for two reasons. One was to tell you about Robin and I."

"And the other?"

"To get the ring I gave you for safekeeping."

Noah looked at him in surprise. "Really?"

"Really. It's time. It might even be past time but I don't want to wait much longer to ask her."

Getting to his feet, Noah walked to this study. Patrick could hear the filing cabinet open and the rifling of papers; he smirked to himself sure his father had actually filed it under 'r' for ring or 'e' for engagement. His head snapped up as his father returned and pressed the box into his outstretched hand.

"Do you have a plan?" Noah asked curiously.

"I have the beginnings of a plan. I just need to call in a few favours to make it work."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"So far, no. But I will let you know."

Patrick pried open the box and his heart leapt as he looked at the ring again. It had been months since he had seen it but he felt the same way seeing it now as he did that day in the store in Rome. Closing the box he looked up at his father and smiled.

"By this time next week, Robin and I will be engaged."