I am sorry that I haven't been updating as often, but I'm been so overwhelmed with college right now, that I haven't had a lot of time to write. On a side note, I made a slight change to the story. In the beginning, I said that Robin and Patrick had a son named Andrew, but now they don't. He's not that important to the story as a whole, so I made an executive decision. Enjoy!

Carly entered the dining room of the restaurant and looked out over the patrons. She smiled as she saw a tall, dark haired man sitting at a table in the corner. She was just about to walk over and say hello when she saw who her son was sitting with. Her smile faded as she strode over to the table.

"Morgan! What a surprise!" Carly said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Morgan glanced up wearily. He wasn't in the mood for confrontation with his mother and he knew that Mattie sure as hell wasn't. "Hi Mom."

"What are you doing here?" Carly asked, deliberately keeping her eyes away from Mattie's. It was no secret that Carly had hated Robin because she had told Sonny that he, and not Jason, was Michael's real father. Even though it had happened more than thirty-years ago, Carly held grudges forever.

Morgan raised his eyebrows. He gestured to Mattie. "What does it look like, Mom? I'm having dinner with my girlfriend."

Carly feigned surprise. "Oh, Mattie, I didn't see you there. How are you?"

Mattie smiled thinly. "I'm fine, Mrs. Jax. I'm sure that you are good as well?"

Carly nodded quickly and then turned her attention back on her son. "Well, I'd better get going. Morgan, Amelia wants you to come for dinner tomorrow. We're ordering take-out."

Morgan shrugged. "I don't know what my day looks like tomorrow. I'll call you then,"

"Oh. But, your sister really wants you to come. She never gets to see you since you're living in the carriage house at the Quartermaine's."

"I don't know, Mom." Morgan replied exasperatedly.

"Okay, okay. I understand. Try to come, though, I don't want to disappoint Lia." Carly said, waving as she walked away.

Morgan turned around to face Mattie. "Look, I'm really sorry about that, about my mother. She's kind of overbearing. And sometimes she doesn't think about what she's saying," he said apologetically. It seemed that he was always making up for what Carly said. Something that was not unlike what Jason had been doing for nearly forty-years.

Mattie shook her head. "It's okay. It's no secret that Carly hated my mother. And apparently, that hate gets transferred to me because she's not around anymore." She wore a pensive look on her face.

"Hey, are you okay?" Morgan reached over and clasped his hand around hers. She held tight as if it were a lifeline. Between him and her work at the hospital, she managed to keep a sane mind, even when she was missing her mother so much that she felt as though she couldn't move sometimes.

"Yes, I'm okay. Just missing my mother," She said quickly and looked up as the waiter came with a tray bearing their dinner. She waited to speak again until the food had been set on the table and they were once again left alone.

"I'm sorry, Mattie. I know how much you loved her." He knew that it sounded insincere, but honestly he didn't know what to say. He hadn't really lost someone who he'd cared so much about.

Well no, that was a lie. Morgan had lost quite a few people, but for some reason he's managed to bounce back. First had been his brother. After Michael's accident, Morgan had been too young to fully understand what had happened. He only knew that his brother had been hurt really bad and was asleep in a hospital to get better. Only he hadn't gotten better. Michael had never regained consciousness and because he was essentially a vegetable, Carly had made the decision to take him off life support and let his die naturally. That had been ten years after the accident.

After his brother's accident, Morgan birth father had given up custody of him to protect him from his life. After that, Sonny hadn't really been in the picture. He had stayed away because it was too dangerous to be in Sonny's life. And Morgan had long ago stopped associating the word father with Sonny Corinthos.

Despite their problems, Jax and Carly had stayed together for the duration and even now, their marriage was still going strong. After their little separation when Morgan had been a child, they had gotten back together and eventually became parents together with the birth of Morgan's first sister Rachel in 2012 and a second sister, Amelia in 2020.

Because Jax had always been in Morgan's life, he hadn't missed Sonny. Even when Sonny had been killed by the mob in 2025, Morgan had refused to mourn. Although after Sonny's death, Morgan had tried to comfort his step-mother and Sonny's wife Kate. Sonny and Kate had managed to make their marriage work, even though Sonny had never been completely out of the mob. They had even gone so far as to have two more children who were Morgan's half-sibling—if only by blood. Morgan was now relatively close to his brother and sister, Emily and Jack.

So, despite the fact that Morgan's life had not been completely free of loss, he couldn't feel the same way that Mattie was feeling. He hadn't really lost a parent, not when it counted, anyway. He looked back at Mattie. She was smiling.

"What?" He asked. Only a moment ago, she'd been sad, and now she was smiling. He's missed something during his daydream.

She shook her head. "I just try to remember the good times when I get sad about my mom. And it's really not difficult because I had a lot of them with her." She grew serious again. "When I was a little girl, I wanted to be just like her. I was going to be a doctor and was going to find my prince charming. Just like her and my dad. But when I grew up, I realized that life isn't perfect. She had HIV. She had an incurable disease that she had to live with everyday. I couldn't understand how someone so full of life could have a disease like that. It just wasn't fair."

"No. It wasn't fair. But do you think that she had come to terms with the disease a long time ago?" Morgan asked pointedly. He knew that she knew the answer, but wasn't willing to agree because Mattie refused to show weakness.

"Maybe, but I still don't think it's fair." She thought back to when her mother had told her about the AIDS. It had been visibly taxing on Robin, but she had gotten through it.

Mattie watched the water. The sun glinted off it and blinded her. But at the moment, she didn't care. She was avoiding her mother. Robin had told her the day before that her HIV had developed into AIDS. Mattie still couldn't believe it. No, she wouldn't believe it. And right now, she avoiding her mom and anyone associated with it.

Footsteps across the dock made her look up. Mattie saw her mother walking toward her. She pursued her lips and was about to stand up to walk away. She still didn't want to deal with the blatant fact.

But it was what Robin said that stopped her. Robin walked to the bench and sat down. She looked out at the water toward the ships that docked in the harbor. "I'm sorry."

Mattie whipped around and stared at her. "What?"

"I'm sorry." Robin looked at her daughter and fought the urge to grab her Mattie's hand in comfort.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" Mattie choked out. She reached up at wiped at the tears that threatened.

"I'm sorry for causing you pain, for telling you that I'm going to have to leave you someday. Someday soon," Robin added, her voice breaking. "Oh Mattie, I'm sorry that I have to die. I don't know what to say."

"Mom, it's not your fault," Mattie whispered. She stood up and walked to the edge of the dock.

"I was your age when I first found out that I had HIV."

Mattie whipped around and stared at her mother. "You never talk about your life then."

Robin smiled sadly. "It's really not that glamorous. I was in love with an HIV positive man. We didn't know much about the disease then. It was a mistake not to use protection. It was only one time and then Alan Quartermaine told me that I tested positive. It was a lifetime ago."

Mattie only stared. "I don't understand. Why don't you talk about it?"

Robin only shrugged. "I don't know. Like I said, it was a long time ago. And I've spent more than more than twenty years living with this thing…this disease…in my body and I can't do anything about it. I've learned to focus on the positive."

"But you're dying—how can you focus on the positive at a time like this?"

"Mattie, I'm aware of my fate. But at the moment, I want to focus on the positive because I want to cherish my time with you and your dad and your sister. It's more important to make memories than to talk about what happened long before you were even born. Please?" Robin looked at her pleadingly.

Finally Mattie nodded. "Okay, I understand." She walked toward the stairs, but stopped at the bottom. Looking back she said, "I'm so sorry Mom. It's not fair. But I understand that we need to make the best of this time."

Robin got to her feet and looped an arm to through Mattie's. "I love you Mattie-girl and I will do anything to make sure that this is easier for you."

"As if anything can be easier right now."

Robin nodded sadly. They walked up the stairs and down the sidewalk toward the hospital. Mattie knew that even though it was hard to do, she would regret anytime that she was mad at her mother, especially now. Time was too precious and the blatant fact that Robin was dying was a vivid reminder of that.

"Mattie?" Morgan said, touching her hand.

"What?" She was jolted out of her musings by his voice. She grappled for his hand and managed to wipe the tears out of her eyes with her free one.

"Mattie, you're too upset to be here tonight. How about we blow this pizza joint and go take a walk in the park?" When she nodded, he waved for the waiter, who appeared and asked if there was anything he could do. Morgan explained that they were finished and the waiter promptly removed their plates.

He stood up and helped her up. She wiped at her face as he held her wrap out. He took it and they skirted around the tables toward the exit.

Several minutes later, they were outside in the frosty fall air, walking toward the pier. He faced her when they arrived at the pier and were seated on the bench. "Mattie, I love you and I want to help you."

She looked up. "Can you say that again?"

He looked puzzled. "What? That I want to help you?"

She shook her head. "No, that you love me."

Morgan smiled now. He reached for her and pulled her to him in a hug. "I love you. I will always love you. Remember that."

"I love you too. You can't know how much that one little sentence helps me right now. I need to know that you are in my corner," She said, leaning into to him and breathing his scent in.

"I will always be there for you, no matter what."

She looked around at the pier. It was dark, but the single streetlight lit the small area like day. "It was here that my mom told me to cherish life and love because you never know when it might be gone. Ever since that day, I've tried to do that because of her."

"Your mom was right. Life is too precious to waste, especially because I love you. Right now, that's all we need," Morgan said. He stood up and held out a hand. "I better get you home. Sarah's probably worrying."

She smiled through her tears. "Thank you so much Morgan."

He nodded as they began to walk up the stairs and toward the parking lot at the hotel. As they situated themselves on the motorcycle and headed toward Mattie's apartment, she thanked the gods for Morgan. She didn't know what she would do without him and the knowledge that he loved her was more help than anything she'd learned in the last nine years.