Chapter 8

The afternoon after Robin's visit, Robert sat on the couch with a cup of coffee and an old book. Usually, the idea of having nothing to do would drive him crazy, but he felt content. Anna had gone for a walk down by the lake, when she got back Robert wanted to continue the conversation they had begun before Robin arrived. As he sat reading his phone rang, Robert knew the number but not why he'd be calling. "Hello."

"I need to see you, I have some news that will change a lot for you."

"Well, I can't really leave where I am. Apparently, I've annoyed someone and he wants my head." Robert told him.

"It never changes with you, why can't you leave?"

"I promised Robin I wouldn't," answered Robert.

"You're in Port Charles? I can be there tomorrow."

"Not right in Port Charles, think about your bachelor party."

"Bachelor party got it. Tell tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow." Then the line went dead.

"What's this about a bachelor party?" Anna said as she came over to join him.

"Hi Luv, I didn't hear you come in. We're going to have another visitor tomorrow."

"Oh OK," Anna didn't ask who, instead she took the book out of his hands, "What are you reading?"

"Just some old book I found, I think it might actually have been one of mine."

Anna looked the book over then tossed it on the coffee table. "I'd like to finish that conversation we started yesterday," she told him.

"I'm glad, I was thinking we should do the same thing. The most important thing is I'm going to be with you, Anna. I love you and I want to live with you."

"Good," she smiled, "Where are we going to be? It seems like I leave town just when Robin could really use her mom, so if we could I'd like to stay in Port Charles. I've actually started to really connect with our old friends again," Anna told him.

"I'd like to stay in Port Chuck too. If this is where Robin is, then we should be too. She told me she loves me yesterday," Robert said proudly.

"Of course she does," Anna told him. "If we're staying here we're going to need a place to live. You need to get out of the Quartermain's."

"Yes I do, the food's great there but they're all a little nuts. Listening to them it feels like I'm stuck in a constant power struggle, they all want to be the alpha," Robert explained.

"We're actually doing this, we're a couple again." Anna was elated. "I don't know what I want to do about work though."

"I'm not sure either, I want to be here and if I'm staying, I'm not working at the Haunted Star. That was just giving me an excuse to be here. I've got a little stashed away but I've only really had an income for the last three years," Robert said.

"What do you mean? Didn't they didn't pay you while they forced you to work for them?" Anna was shocked. "That's ridiculous."

"I guess all our lives were my payment. I lived where they put me, and I had an expense account but that was it. I was given a little severance then I was sent on my way" Robert told her. "I've asked an old friend to do a little investigating about how legal that was and if I have any course of action. It's the WSB though, so I have the feeling they could prove they've never even heard of me." They talked a little more about what their options were for their next step. Robert was sure they could stay at the cottage for the time being. He also knew they needed to find a place that would be just theirs, no other history attached.

...

It was later that day when Jason Morgan went to talk to his boss, Sonny. He'd been down on the docks making arrangments for a plan they were working on. One of his informants had given him some interest information he felt Sonny would want to hear. "There's a new man in town asking around about Robin's parents, he's definitely looking for both of them."

"Trouble does seem to follow those two. Do you know who he's working for, is it another one of Alcazar's guys?" Sonny asked him.

"I don't know who he works for, but it's not Alcazar."

"Everything going as planned where he's concerned?" Sonny asked.

"Yeah he shouldn't be a problem after tomorrow or any of his men," Jason answered.

"Good, keep me posted on this guy looking for the Scorpios," Sonny told him. What was going on now? Robin had talked about the dangerous situations her parents would find themselves in but he hadn't really thought it came looking for them. So far since they had both been in Port Charles they'd had a few arguments down on the docks and Robert spirited Skye out of town, nothing that should attract attention. Alcazar wasn't going to be a concern much longer, so who was this new player looking for them.

...

"Are you going to tell me whose coming here today?" Anna asked while they ate lunch the next day.

"I could but then where's the fun in it for me. I will tell you, you'll be happily surprised." Robert teased.

"I could get it out of you, one well placed kick and you'll start talking," Anna teased back.

"But now I'll know it's coming I'll be on my toes." He smiled enjoying their banter. "Save your energy, you'll want it for later."

"If I don't like this surprise all I'll be doing later is getting a good nights sleep. So tell me who are you expecting."

"That's not going to work. You'll just have to wait." Robert started cleaning up after their meal.

"Well when is this person going to be here?" she asked, clearly Robert wasn't going to tell her.

"I have no idea," Robert said with a smile. "Just that it's sometime today." Then the doorbell rang, "Like right now." As he went to answer the door Anna throws a dish towel at him and they both laughed.

Robert opened the door with a big smile on his face, "Well you look a hell of a lot better then last time I saw you, and if I recognize that other laugh I think I know why." The old friends hugged then Robert stepped back letting their guest in.

"Sean!" Anna rushed over and hugged him. "What are you doing here. Wait you knew he was alive?" Anna hit him in the chest, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Robert put his hands on her shoulders, "You can beat him up later Annie, let's find out why he's here first."

"You told him?"

"K, you can beat me up later too," Robert told her and lead her over to the couch, Sean sat in the chair.

Sean smiled at her, he missed both of them. "Well, it's nice to see you're still a little spitfire Anna. How are you?" he asked.

"Annoyed, start talking I have questions for you both." How could he have told Sean and not tried to contact her? She watched Sean and Robert talk for a little while. As the shock of seeing their old friend starts to wear off it made a little more sense, Sean has always had higher clearance at the WSB then either of them did, he might have found out about Robert on his own.

"Robert, I have some news you should find very interesting. You were being paid, all along. They were just putting it into an account they were hoping you would never find out about," Sean started to explain.

"Wait, so I have a little untouchable nest egg somewhere," Robert grinned.

"I wouldn't call it little, the old regime didn't care about your life but they took very good care of your money," Sean told him

"What are you saying, Sean?" Robert asked.

"Well, they were paying you as a senior agent, including danger pay. They were even nice enough to make sure you were getting the highest rate of interest at all times as well. They were hoping it would all just end up back in their pockets one day." Then Sean pulled an envelope out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Robert. "You have no idea what I had to do to first find out about that and then get them to admit it excited and finally hand it over. There are people there that are clearly your friends and others that still don't trust either of you."

Robert opened the envelope inside was a cheque, he pulled it out and read it, then handed it to Anna, a look of shock formed on her face, then she handed it back. "So this is mine? 2.6 million dollars."

"All yours, I'd say you're paying for dinner but you said you can't leave here. What's going on?"

"He pissed off an illegal arms dealer," Anna answered.

Sean started laughing, "Robert you never fail to surprise me."

"A friend asked me to help her and her unborn child get away from a dangerous situation, so I did. It's not my fault daddy can't understand it's better for his child to grow up away from his violent lifestyle." Robert informed him.

"Anna, are you hiding out as well?"

"The arms dealer was the case I was working, Alcazar was my mark, he got it his head that I helped Robert so we felt it best I was out of sight as well. Mac is already working on the situation for us." Anna told him.

Robert had gone to get them all a drink, "Well now that I'm a millionaire I think we should have a drink. I'd offer you some bubbly but we're fresh out. So brandy it is." Robert poured them all a glass. Sean looked at him curiously, "Don't worry it's not a problem."

Anna had noticed the look, "What's he talking about Sean?"

Avoiding her question, "I'm guessing you're angry I knew our old friend here was alive and didn't tell you,"

"Yeah, you guessed right." Anna was feeling a little annoyed again.

Sean knew he had to answer her. "Well, I found him in a sleazy bar down in Mexico. He was a complete mess and he was well on the way to drinking himself to death," Sean told her. "I had been at WSB headquarters when one of the older agents recognized me and told me about Robert, what he had been made to do and that he was worried about what might happen to him now that he had been let out of the agreement."

"I was at my lowest point, my life meant nothing. I wasn't working to keep you safe but I could never come home either." Robert added Anna saw the shame on his face. He was glad Sean was telling her this, most of it is a blur for him anyway.

"I spent a few weeks with him, I helped him get sober," Sean went on. "I hated seeing him like that, I was there after the first break up, Robert was angry and hurt for a long time. This was so much worse, whatever he went through broke him, Anna." Robert's head was now in his hands. "One night he had been talking about wanting to help kids, saving them from devastation, prevent them from getting sick because he couldn't help Robin. It was after that I told him about the medical rescue agency, it seemed to give him a goal at least, a reason to keep going. Robert had mostly gotten his drinking under control, I knew he was drinking to numb his pain. I haven't seen him since, we've had a few phone calls, the last was when he asked me to look into this for him. Robert made me promise not to tell anyone he was alive. Tiffany didn't even know until we got a call from Robin a few months back. Anna, you don't have to beat on me, I got it a lot worse from Tiffany already when she realized I knew."

Anna had been looking at Robert while Sean was talking, "OK you're off the hook Sean, as for you mister," Anna threatened playfully. Then he looked up at her, Anna wiped her tears before looking away from Robert, there was such sadness in his eyes looking back at her. Robert had told her about drinking to help himself sleep and not dream, but she had never thought it had gotten that bad.

The old friends continued talking getting caught up. As they talked Sean was watching Robert and Anna. After all this time, after all the pain that connection was still there between them. They were here together and it felt like nothing had changed between them. How had they gotten back to this point? "So now that you're officially back from the dead we'll all have to get together, Tiffany wants to have a word with you as well," Sean told Robert with a laugh.

"There's been a lot of that, Robin was the hardest, she walked in on me hacking into the hospital files over at GH, that forced me to tell her it all right then and I didn't handle it as well as I could have," Robert told him. "Seeing the pain on her face I didn't blame her for telling me she hated me. Anna came gunning for me when she found out."

"I kicked his ass when I found him too," Anna said proudly.

"Mac decked me, I could really tell they had all really missed me," Robert joked. Then Anna's phone rang and she excused herself.

"Am I seeing what I think I am because it sure seems like you two are right back where you left off?" Sean enquired.

"That's what you're seeing. I had always hope that one day Anna and I would find a way to reconnect, so I could have a chance to explain everything. Now I have her back in my life completely. Even before we had to lay low we were spending time talking, she was helping me deal with some issues. There was also no denying what we both still felt. Being out here all alone may have helped speed it along," Robert told him.

"What kind of issues are you talking about?" Sean asked.

"I was getting extremely angry and didn't know what was really causing it, then I started having nightmares and not sleeping. I spend a day in a rage and I didn't know why then I saw Anna, that was what helped. Once I knew she was safe it started to fade away. I've actually been out here since. It was a few days later when Anna stopped going back into town."

"So you spent a week together and worked through everything in a matter of days?" Sean was confused.

"No we started talking the day she found me, I explained why I had to stay away and how they were keeping me in line."

"If you're up to it sometime I want to hear a little more about that too," Sean told him.

Robert nodded, "Soon, but not yet." Sean seemed to understand. "Then after we were both here in Port Charles, arguing was the most common form of communication. Robin told us we were good parents, that we hadn't messed her up in anyway and after that, I think we let go of some tension between us. We stopped arguing as much but after that, I think I would either amuse or annoy her, sometimes both."

"Just like you always could," Sean offered with a smile.

Robert smiled knowing Sean was right. "When I got some information about Alcazar I wanted to warn her even if she wouldn't admit he was her mark, but when I saw her that night..." Robert trailed off, thinking about seeing her walking into the Haunted Star and smiled. "We found a private place to talk, I think we both knew what we wanted after we'd talked that night but we also knew we had to deal with a lot before we could think about anything else."

"I take it that has all been dealt with then?" Sean couldn't help but be curious besides, Tiffany will want a full report.

"Yes Sean it's all been worked out and we couldn't be happier," Anna said joining the conversation again.

"Well I'm happy for you two, no two people have ever deserved to be happy more than you. Why don't I run and get us something for dinner," Sean offered. "That bottle of bubbly is definitely called for now."

"That sounds like a great idea. Sean the only person that knows where we are is Robin. I wouldn't even tell Mac." said Robert.

"The fewer people that know the better," Sean agreed. "I won't say anything."

...

Robin was waiting for Patrick at Jake's when she thought she noticed a man watching her, he was sitting alone over at the bar. She didn't recognize him, so she thought she'd keep an eye on him. If she's being watched it might be something to do with her parents or he could just be checking her out. When Robin looked up again she couldn't believe who had just walked in. "Uncle Sean, is that really you?"

"Robin! What are you doing here?" he asked as he hugged her.

Robin didn't notice that Patrick had walked in just after Sean, "It's so great to see you. I'm meeting my, friend." She had wanted to say, boyfriend. "What are you doing here?"

"Do you have to ask?" Sean said.

"Have you seen them?" Robin asked.

"I have, I'm just picking up some dinner for all of us," he told her.

"What was your hint?" she asked.

"Bachelor party," Sean told her.

"Of course."

"Another one fluent in Scorpio I see." Patrick interrupted.

"Hi Patrick, I think Uncle Sean would say it's just efficient not Scorpio. Patrick Drake this is Sean Donely, he's a very dear family friend, he's my godfather actually." Robin told him

"Nice to meet you, Sean." The two men shook hands, then Robin noticed the man at the bar again. He was really interested in them now.

"Third bar stool was watching me before, now he can barely look away," Robin whispered to Sean and Patrick.

"I'll grab us some drinks," Sean said loud enough so the man would know he's turning around, sure enough, the man turned so it seemed like he was watching the pool game. Sean walked over and stood close to the stranger, "You know what's good here?"

"I wouldn't know, I've only been in town a few day."

"Oh really, I haven't been here in years and wouldn't you know it, one of the first people I see is my goddaughter." Sean saw it, there had been a flash of interest when he mentioned his connection to Robin. "So what brings you to Port Charles?"

"Business."

Then Sean got their drinks, "Well I hope you enjoy your stay." Sean turned and went back to their table. "He's definitely interested in you Robin, we'll finish our drinks then we should get out of here I can pick something else up for dinner."

Patrick was just trying to keep up, "So what's going on?"

"For some reason, that gentleman is interested in Robin, we knew people are looking for her parents so it could be connected, it might not. Either way, we should get out of here so he doesn't hear anything interesting about my favorite family, other then my own that is," Sean told him.

"I guess that makes sense," Patrick agreed. They made small talk while they finish their drinks, Robin mostly talked about what it was like being back in Port Charles. Patrick seems to be catching on now, "I want to take you both out for a nice dinner," he said loud enough to be overheard, Robin smiled.

"That sounds like a great idea," Sean said and patted his back as they all got up to leave.

Jason had been playing pool, and he saw the three of them get up to leave. He'd noticed the guy at the bar too and how he was watching them, so when the guy got up to leave right after them, Jason decided to make sure they had a little bit of a head start. "Hey, buddy I noticed you watching the game. Do you play? I could use some competition."

"I was just leaving actually."

"What's your hurry, one game what do you say?" Jason asked, blocking the way so he couldn't just step around him.

"I really should be leaving."

"Well if you're sure, but if you ever want a game I come here fairly often." Jason figured that should be enough time. He wasn't sure but he thought the older gentleman with Robin was Sean Donely. If he thought this guy was bad news he'd have gotten them away from here as soon as they were out the door.

"Yeah maybe next time," the stranger said. Then Jason let him leave.

...

When Anna answered the door she was surprised there were three people there instead of just the one she was expecting. Sean was carrying bags and Robin was guiding a blindfolded Patrick by the arm and he was carrying a bag as well. Anna put her hands over her mouth, trying to stifle her laugh, this is one of the funniest things she'd seen in a while. "Why is he blindfolded?" she asked.

"He wanted to come, the blindfold was his idea, besides he's the one who bought supper," Sean answered. "Don't worry it'll be on when we leave too old buddy."

Robert smiled he was liking this man more and more. "Well since he bought supper, we might even let him take it off while he's here," he winked at Robin.

"Oh dad," she smiled at him then took the blindfold off.

Patrick looked around once it was off, they were in a cottage. If he ever had to hide out he wouldn't mind if it was in a place like this. From the time it took to get here he figured they were outside the city limits. There was a piano on the other side of the room, had Robin really come all the way out here just to take piano lessons?

"Robin, how did you end up with these two, they look like a couple shady characters?" Robert joked.

"I picked them up at Jake's, I thought they could be interesting." Robin went along with him.

"Oh you have no idea how interesting I am, miss," Sean added.

"Actually I do," Robin laughed.

"The younger one looks fun, I mean interesting," Anna joined in.

"Mom do you have to?"

"Am I wrong?" Anna said then they both started laughing.

Patrick was just watching this interaction, Robert was in a good mood, he was making light-hearted jokes. All four of them were actually, it seems they really enjoy each others teasing. They went on like this for a while, Patrick just took it all in.

"You learn to keep it light even when it hit the fan," Robert had come over to Patrick and put his hand on his back. "Tonight though we're in a celebrating mood, I'm glad you're here Patrick. And yes you will have to wear the blindfold when you leave."

"I have no problem with that, can I ask what we're celebrating?"

"A fresh start, family and friends," Robert paused, "yup that about covers it."

"So Robin really came out here just for piano lessons?" Patrick asked.

"Well, when your teachers is a concert pianist you go to where she is," Robin answered with a smile.

"You were taught by a concert pianist? That's amazing. This family is just full of surprises," Patrick said. "Were you a prodigy or something."

"No just my kid, and I'm sure Kate like her more than me at first. She found me abrasive and annoying." Robert admitted.

"You do have that effect on women," Anna teased.

"But you love me anyway," he said with a grin. "I use to rent this place, and it came with a very attractive piano player. She gave Robin lessons when she was done practicing." Robert told him.

"There was a little more to it, Kate saw great potential in Robin and enjoyed teaching her," Anna added. "Oh, and she happened to be in love with Robert at the time."

They spent the night like this, light banter, everyone in a good mood. They were having a great time getting caught up, Patrick learned a lot about Robin, she may never have told him. She had talked about how crazy it could be, being the child of super spies. Now hearing these three talk about the danger and how they worked hard to hid it from Robin even when they were protecting her, he understood it more. He thought her understood Robin more as well. No wonder she had this ability to stare down a challenge and do what was needed. Patrick also understood why she had come back so happy the other night, it's almost contagious. He felt it, something about being here with all of them was making him understand that he could deal with whatever happened. If his test did come back positive Patrick knew he would be able to find a way to move on with his life.

Sean was booked on the late flight back to Boston, so shortly before they were going to leave Anna pulled Robin aside. "I want to ask you something. How would you feel if your father and I stayed in Port Charles? We've talked and we want to be close to you, I know we can both be annoying and overprotective, but we'll work on that," Anna told her.

"You both want to stay here? Isn't it only a matter of time before one of you will get called away for work?" Robin wondered.

"Actually we won't have to. We can talk about that later, so do you want your parents around?" Anna asked unsure of what her answer would be.

"Yes, I'd love having you two here," Robin hugged her.