Chapter Twenty Three

Elizabeth kissed Jason goodbye then got in her car to drive to the hospital. Once there, after speaking to Emily about the santa suit, she went to changed into her new surgical clothes. "How does it feel to be General Hospital's newest surgical nurse?"

"Wonderful." she said with a huge grin at Nadine. "So, how was the trip to New York City?"

"Great, I really enjoyed myself, which surprised me. I wasn't too sure what to expect from Maxie Jones." she confessed. "However it was a fun trip and I will say Johnny and his girl friend, they are amusing to watch. So what did you do on your days off?"

"Well I warned my brother that our sister is arriving, and then Jason and I took Cam to see the lights up near the border." she said with a sigh. "It was wonderful, just the three and a third of us."

"Has he taught him to say mama yet?" she asked sympathetic to Elizabeth's pouting in regards to her son's first word choice."

"Nope, now Cam is saying ba ba." she said with a ironic laugh at herself as they left the locker room.

Planning on separating at the hub they soon saw Epiphany Johnson glaring at someone in scrubs who was clearly fleeing her wraith. "Is everything okay?"

"Crowell, you are down in the ER today, Elizabeth Dr. Jones needs you in surgery. We have an overload of patients since Mercy is closed for the day." she growled as she went back to her list and changed assignments thank to the news that Dr. Quartermaine had given her.

"How does a hos..."Nadine was asking but saw the glare and scurried off before the head nurse took her head off. Downstairs she saw Dr. Monica Quartermaine tending to a patient in need of stitches and asked if she knew what was going on?

"Mercy Hospital and County are offline today, they received an incredibly generous donation of state of the art medical equipment. A man dressed in a Santa suit arrived driving a sleigh in front of a caravan of semi trucks." she said shaking her head in disbelief.

"Wow, really?" asked the southern belle as she went to take care of the incoming patient. An hour later the gossip reached her that the two hospitals had received over fifty million dollars worth of new equipment each.

Returning up stairs on her break after a day full of every single type of injury, malady and psychosis imaginable , she saw Elizabeth was changing from one set of scrubs to another. "Busy day?"

"Yes, we have done two stents, one bypass and now I am taking a break." she said exhausted. "I heard about Mercy and County being closed to incoming emergencies, no wonder Piph is in a bad mood."

Yet at the two county supported hospitals, the staff and long term patients were shocked at the updates being done around them. When patients began to be moved to unused wings, they were astounded at the new paint on the walls, the new hospital beds, even the new cafeteria. "Who on earth?"

Georgie was giggling as she heard the gossip at school that day. She had expected it to be a big deal, just not as big a deal as it was turning out to be as she heard about news truck and reporters turning up to cover the story. Walking to her car, she was just about to drive to Crimson Point when she saw her mother waiting. "Mom, Hi. I am sorry but I have to head to work."

"That's fine sweetie, I was just hoping you had time for lunch." she asked with an inquiring smile. Felicia was amazed at how much her little girl had grown in the past few months, she seemed so mature when it felt like just yesterday she had been learning to ride a bike.

"I usually eat with Mr. Anthony, otherwise he tends to skip eating." she told her."However, if you want you can join me at Kelly's while I wait for them to prepare my order. With Carly working there now, it takes twice the time."

Agreeing, Felicia got into the passenger seat and gave a sad sigh. "I can remember a time when I was the one driving you all over the place."

Jason was on the phone with his suppliers when he heard the sound of knocking on the front door. Seeing Mac, he let the police officer in and asked. "Are you here in an official capacity, as a father or is this something else?"

"All three." he said with a sigh. "Morgan, what do you do know about Sam McCall's background. I received a call today from a reporter at the Daily Mirror, Do you know if she was adopted?"

"No, really I was just there as a place keeper, so she wouldn't abort her child." he said then asked the man if he wanted coffee lifting his own cup.

Absentmindedly nodding yes, Mac followed him into the kitchen. "I was also asked if I was aware that she had a long history of cons. Did you redact any part of her file when you gave it to me."

"No." he said "I should tell you though, that the file came from Sonny. All the cons we were aware of where in it."

"Okay, I will speak to Corinthos. Now onto the father question. John Zachara, is it safe for my daughter to be dating him?" he asked looking the blond man in the eyes. He couldn't come right out and asked the question he really want to, so he would skirt about the issue of the mob.

"Yes." was all he could say then asked about the last part.

"Have you talked to Elizabeth or your parents today?" He asked wondering if the former mobster had an insight into the rather generous gifts that had been donated to the area hospitals or if he was aware of how busy General Hospital had been as a result.

"About Mercy and County hospitals?" Jason asked then said "I heard from Elizabeth when she took her break, and I did some checking but have gotten no place with who donated those items."

"Well I feel better, at least I know the answer to that, I just am curious as to how it connects to a case I am investigating." he said with a frown as he drank the coffee, then before he could ask his other question regarding Anthony Zachara, Cam woke up.

Watching as Morgan quickly went up the stairs to get the waking boy, he called up that he had to head back to the station when his own phone rang. "What is it Taggert?"

"I checked, Zachara Sr was not the man in the sleigh. Someone hired a homeless man from St. Agnes and cleaned him up. He was the man driving the sleigh." he said. Then after a few seconds said "I got a call from the radio station, someone had visited WPCH last week and dedicated a song to me to be played today. Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. There was a note left as well."

"What did it say?"asked Mac as he backed out of the driveway, missing seeing Robin kissing a dark haired man on his stoop then heading next door to the Morgan/Webber household.

"That Santa had a list and he was checking it twice." said Taggert. "The description, well it fit Ric Lansing."

That wasn't what Mac had been expecting as he pulled over and waited for the other shoe to drop. "And..."

"Just that he said Santa Claus knows when your awake and that he knows if you've been bad or good. That the very naughty were taken care of, but that slightly naughty bore watching." he said with an odd tone in his voice.

"Take the note to forensics, let them see what it can tell us." said Mac as he pulled back out onto the road.

At the house, Cam was changed and Jason had set him up in his high chair so he could be feed when he heard the sound of the doorbell. Frowning a bit, he lifted his son and carried him with him to the door. Opening it, his frown deepened when he saw Robin standing there. "Robin."

"May I come in?" she asked then took his nod as an agreement and entered the house. Looking at the little boy, she grinned and said "Wow, its true, you really have a son of your own. I would recognize that glare anywhere."

Turning without a word, he led the way to the kitchen and set Cam down in his high chair yet again before picking up the food and smelling it. "Cam, I am not so sure about this, but your Mommy says Ham and peas is good for you."

The curly haired boy babbled at his father, his hands waving in the air. "Okay, okay, well here we go."

Robin silently watched as Jason fed the foul looking green stuff from a jar to the little boy then when it was quiet asked. "Aren't you the least bit curious as to why I am here?"

"No. I was sure you would get to it when you wanted to." he said as he looked up for a second from his son then back at the little boy who had slapped his tray wanting more food. "Okay, Okay, I get the message. What do you want Robin?"

"I uh, I came to tell you some news. I am married." she said proudly. "His name is Patrick Drake, he is a doctor I met while he was visiting my hospital in Paris."

"I heard, Georgie told Elizabeth and I last week." he said evenly. "I am sure since you know about Cam, you know about my wife, Elizabeth."

"Yes, I heard. I was so happy to find out you finally got over me." she said with a sad sigh. "We would have never worked Jason, and the mistake with Sonny's sister, well I am sorry, that was my fault. I should have come home, I heard you were on the rebound and..."

"Hold that thought."he ordered as he finished feeding Cam who reached for his bottle and drank some of it. Placing his son in the playpen, he opened the door and called out to the guard. "I need you to come inside for a few minutes, Levi."

The guard quickly agreed, then sat down across from the little boy and played his favorite staring game with the strange toddler who constantly beat him at it.

Taking Robin's arm, he led the way to his office and said "Let me get your misconception out of the way. Yes, I was rebounding when Brenda was in town, when I got involved with Sonny's sister but from losing Elizabeth who I met not long after I let Michael go to AJ after you outed his parentage."

"Oh.," she said feeling slightly deflated at Brenda's gossip being wrong but happy to be wrong regarding Jason, she would hate for anyone to be holding a torch for what should have never been. "Well that is even better than."

"And you are right, we would have never worked out. As for Courtney, well she was what she was." he said with a shrug. "A mistake but in a way I am grateful for making it because it mean that having what I have now is all the more precious. Robin, why are you really here?"

Taking a deep breath, she said "I spoke to AJ a few days ago. I know you apologized for what happened to him and well... I guess I am waiting for you to finally tell me you are sorry for what you did to me."

"Well you will have a long wait." he said. Seeing her eyes narrowing, he said "Robin, you didn't tell the truth for Michael's sake, you did it to get Carly out of our lives. Instead you just pushed her even further into mine as I fixed your mistake. While AJ should have been in his son's life all along, it was none of your business."

Standing as tall as she could, she said "I tried to warn you about Carly but you weren't listening to me. Instead you let her take over our house, yours and mine, not HERS. You ran when she called, leaving me to twist in the wind and she played you."

"Yes, now that I do owe you an apology for, you were right and I am sorry for not believing you when you said she was chasing after me. However what you did in reaction to her was the wrong way to go about things. Now, I wish you well, and hope you are happy in your marriage but honestly Robin, we were the past, and I really don't have time to deal with it."

Leaving, feeling a bit put out at his words, she went to see her husband who was waiting."Well, how did it go?"

Giving him a play by play, she was hurt when he told her that the other man was right."Robin, you were playing god with things because you were jealous. Now, why don't we move to that hotel, you can deal with this there instead of having to face him being right next door all the time."

Blinking she said"Sounds like fun, but Patrick, I was over Jason a long time ago, I just felt he owed me an apology but it appears some things never change. He still doesn't get what he did wrong."

"Neither do you." he responded as he went to where her suitcase was already packed. "What was the name of the hotel this AJ gave you?"

Maxie who had skipped her only morning class to eavesdrop and spy on Robin slipped out the door, astonished to find out she had been both right and wrong in regards to her cousin. Yes, Robin had come into town because of Jason, but not because she wanted him back, but clearly because she had wanted to rub Jason's mistakes in his face and say I told you so.

TBC