Chapter 3

Anna was in her office the next day, she had enjoyed her evening with Robin and Robert. He was all settled in and Robin was excited about the prospects of sleepovers. They hadn't come close to kissing again but last night as she lay in bed she couldn't stop thinking about him. Damn it, Sean, if they were still oblivious about the fact their life together had been stolen from them maybe she wouldn't be thinking about him like this. Was he thinking about the same things she was, what if this wasn't just him needing a friend and her being there for him? Maybe they were both feeling things for each other, but it might just be her. She didn't know what to do, how did she bring this up without sounding like a fool? She was brought out of her thoughts by her phone ringing. "Devane Donely."

"Hello Devane, Donely here."

"Hi, Sean. Have you found anything yet?"

"I think I have but, ah something doesn't make sense. I've found a crash victim that matched Holly's description completely except for one very big problem."

Anna thought she might know what that problem was, "Was the woman pregnant?"

"You scare me sometimes, how did you know?"

"That doesn't matter."

"Not just pregnant, she was too far along to be Holly."

"Sean that's who you're looking for. Don't ask questions, but that's the crash you're looking for."

"Are you saying that Holly,"

Anna cut him off, "I'm not saying anything other then you've found the right crash victim. Find out what happened to her after."

"You're sure about this?"

"Yes, and please keep quiet about the pregnancy."

"Will do, I'll check back in when I have more to tell you," then the line went dead.

She sat back in her chair, that's one more person Robert is going to have to tell. At least Sean was on the right track, soon they should know what she was up to and why she picked now to return to Port Charles. Her phone rang again, she answered it was Robert this time. "Hi Anna, I would really like to talk to you."

"I'm just about to take my lunch break did you want to meet at Kelly's?"

"My place."

"Your place? What do you want to talk about?"

"I'll tell you when I see you, can you meet me there?"

"Yeah, I can be there in half an hour."

"OK, just come up I'm leaving the office right now."

They ended the call then Anna started putting things away Felicia should be back soon then she'll head over to Robert's. When she left she told Felicia she wasn't sure how long she was going to be gone, there was a matter that required her attention and it could keep her out of the office for the afternoon.

When she got to Delafield's Kate smiled and said hello, then told her Robert was already upstairs. When the door open Anna saw Robert sitting on the couch waiting. "Hi, thanks for coming." He stood up and took a few steps toward her.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know and that's why I need to talk to you." His answer had her a little worried, she walked toward him, he took her hand and lead her back to the couch and they both sat down. "I need to get a few things straight in my head and I need your help to do that."

"I'll try and help any way I can." She looked over at him, that look was in his eyes again, "You know you can count on me."

"What's wrong?" he thought she sounded a little worried.

"Nothing, you asked me to come over and I did. You said you want to talk so let's talk."

Robert noticed how nervous she was, she has to be thinking about the same things he is. If he does this he knows there really only two outcomes, and either way, he'll have his answer. He reached up and touched her cheek, "I've wanted to do this for some time now." Then he leaned in and kissed her softly his lips gently touched hers. She responded to him, she kissed him back gently at first as well, her hand moved up to his neck, then her lips parted inviting him to deepen the kiss. He didn't miss the cue quickly there was passion growing in the kiss and his hand slip to the back of her neck. Now that he had his answer he pulled back from the kiss and put his forehead against hers, they were breathing heavily. "I thought that might be the only way we wouldn't try to deny what we're both feeling."

"Is it real? I've been telling myself you just need a friend right now, that you've been turning to me more lately because of that."

"I've been telling myself you're only being a friend when I really need one, but then we touch. You can't tell me we aren't touching a lot more now and it's not like before." Then he smiled, "I'm not sure when the last time you ran your hand along my inner thigh was but you sure got my attention."

She smiled thinking about that day on the dock, "I didn't plan it. I thought we were going to kiss a few time but then someone would interrupt and I'd scream at myself he needs a friend, and try to make sure we didn't get too close to each other after."

"I was so confused by the signals you were sending out. I would tell myself I was just reading too much into it, seeing what I wanted to see, what I wanted to happen. Anna, you've been on my mind a lot since Sean told us the truth."

"You've been on mine too. He tells us we still have that connection we always had, that we should have been together all along. I wanted to talk to you about that but understood we couldn't."

"Kate telling us both that we're in love with each other." They were saying these things out loud to each other just trying to make it all make sense. Everything they had been thinking, feeling the other one had as well.

"Oh it gets better, the other day she told me I'm blind and you're stupid because we won't see what's right in front of our eye."

Robert started to laugh, "I wonder if that was before or after she told me, the only woman she wouldn't mind me bring up here is you."

"As in 'bring' back to your place," Robert nodded. "Was that why she was smiling when I saw her? She said hi, told me you were up here already and she had a big grin on her face the whole time," then they both started laughing.

They sat back Robert now had his arm around her shoulder, "I could tell you were almost afraid to be alone in the same room with me last night. It was getting weird so I had to do something."

"I was so scared that I was reading more into what was going on. I didn't want to make a mistake and cause problems between us," Anna admitted.

"I knew you were either going to kiss me back or deck me but I was willing to take the risk, I'm so glad you kissed me," he told her a smile. "Anna, I think we should try dating."

"Robert what if we can't make it work? Aren't you worried about what that will mean for our friendship?"

"Our friendship can withstand anything, I'm not worried about that. I am worried about our daughter getting her hopes up and that if we can't make it work it crushing her, she wants us to be a family so badly."

"I know she does." Then Anna smiled at him, "I'm so glad that kiss is out of the way, it was driving me crazy wondering what was going on between us."

"When I'd see you, I wanted to take you in my arms, give you a kiss, not just say hi. I felt awkward around you because I was fighting with my feelings and not knowing what you were thinking.

I hated feeling like that."

"I know I hated not being able to relax around you." Anna smiled and took his hand, "So we're dating now?"

"Yes. I would love to take you out dancing but I think that's going to have to wait. Maybe a dinner at the Grill, I won't be so tactless and bring you here for our first date."

"You wouldn't want to have me all to yourself?" Anna asked with a smile.

"I didn't mean here, I meant here as in downstairs." Then Anna smiled a little bigger, of course, she knew what he'd meant, "Oh you're funny," then they both started laughing. "What do we do about Robin, do we wait to tell her?"

"I think that's for the best. Like you said I don't want her getting her hopes up."

"Keeping this quiet for now isn't a bad idea given everything that's been happening in my personal life lately."

"I think you're right. Oh about that, Sean called just before you did, he's needed to confirm something because he believed he had found the information on Holly's crash but was confused because the victim was pregnant. He'd done the math and knew if it was Holly she shouldn't have been as far along as the victim was. All I told him was that was the right crash to investigate and to stay quiet about the pregnancy. He tried to ask more but I cut him off."

"He'll want answers when he gets back." Robert sighed, "I don't even know why she was there, but I assume it was to have her baby without me knowing about it. When she left it wouldn't have been much longer before she started to show." He put his head back thinking for a minute, "I never really dealt with how I felt about the affair, I felt betrayed I hated that it had been Spencer she'd cheated with. I wasn't without blame either, I was never around and working for the WSB there were so many secrets."

"Then you thought she died. It was easier not to talk about it. People wouldn't think badly of her and they wouldn't ask you how you felt about it."

"Yeah, I wasn't in denial I just didn't want it to be public knowledge. Then since I was the only one that knew it was easy to just put it out of my mind."

"Robert before we go any further can I ask you something?"

"Of course, what is it?"

"I know we've been friends for some time now, you're my best friend. What I did, being a double agent, can you ever forgive me for that?"

"What makes you think I haven't? Anna we were different people then, I thought there was only right and wrong. You were young and craved adventure, what would be more exciting than trying to play two sides against each other?" He turns a little so he could look her in the eye, "Once you and I met were you going to continue to be a double agent? Would you have taken that last assignment if they weren't threatening to kill me?"

"I was done, all I wanted was the life we had talked about, I wanted the things we were dreaming about. Robert, I would have done anything to protect you, I still would."

"I should have given you a chance to explain. I felt I was right and you were wrong and that was all that mattered. We both made mistakes if I could have just listened to you then, giving you a chance to explain, even just waited a little while before demanding the divorce."

"So the past won't be a part of us giving this another chance? There's no point trying if it is."

"The past is in the past. If we are going to have any chance that's how it has to be. I want to see what can happen between me and this beauty in front of me, not the woman you were thirteen years ago."

Anna smiled, "You really mean that?"

"Of course I do, you're beautiful," Robert told her with a smiled.

Anna grinned, "I meant about the past."

"I know you did. Look I can't promise that it will never come up, we both know the past has a way of coming up at the most inopportune times. I can only tell you the mistakes we made then won't be brought up by me."

"You've really thought about this. I know I've been trying to figure out if I was the only one noticing the little changes between us. Then I started wondering if there could be a future given our past."

"It might not come as a surprise that I've had some sleepless nights lately but the fact it's you I've been thinking about the most might." Anna just smiled at him. "So when are we going out on our first date?"

"I think you're supposed to ask me out, I think that's how it works."

"Anna would you like to go out with me tomorrow night for dinner."

"I'd love to." Then Anna got up, "I think I better get going. Robin's going to be home soon and she actually wants to spend time with me this evening. It could be a fun evening or we could end up yelling. These teen years are going to be tough."

"I'm glad you came over we needed to have this talk." Robert got up and walked her to the elevator, he pressed the button then looked at her. "I'm really looking forward to tomorrow night." Then he leaned in and gave her a kiss.

When Anna got home she couldn't seem to stop smiling, "You're in a good mood tonight chum," Olin observed.

"I am, I just had a nice long talk with Robert, we needed to clear up a few things and I think we have."

"You and the commish were having problems I thought you've been helping him deal with the other lady problems."

"Oh no we weren't having any problems and yes he has been turning to me a lot lately. That wasn't what we needed to talk about. A few months ago we found out some things that we have both been really trying to make sense of and it has lead us to a path we never thought we'd be on again."

"I'm not following. You and the commish want to go somewhere?"

Anna smiled, "No we aren't going anywhere, it's a path that might lead to something."

Olin smiled when she grasped what Anna was saying, "You and the commish are back on each other's radar. Cool, get out there and go for it."

"Olin it's not that simple. Today we just admitted that we were both feeling the same things then we talked about our past. We have a lot of history and it's not all good."

"Talking goods, but remember the past is in the past."

"Yes, and we needed to make sure it was going to stay there. We have no idea what might happen so we aren't telling anyone, especially Robin."

"Got it, chum. My lips are zipped," Olin smiled. "Robin should be back anytime, I'm going to go finish cooking."

...

"I told you he's not here"... "I'll keep looking but it must be true"... "I know I understand"... "Fine, I'll check in again next week if I don't find out anything sooner then that"... "Yes, I understand what's at stake" The phone call was ended when the receiver was slammed down a little harder than needed. "How can I find someone that's dead and has been for years? I don't care what a few pictures might suggest." With a sigh, she moved to the window and stared out into the night sky.

...

"You seem to be in a better mood today, has there been a bank robbery that no one told me about?" Guy asked as he came in with some papers for Robert to sign.

"No, but that would liven up my day some. I think I have a few things figured out so I just have less on my mind." Robert signed the papers then handed them back, "Is there anything that needs my attention?"

"Nothing the men can't handle." Guy was about to leave when there was a knock at the door, when he opened it Holly was standing there. "Excuse me, I was just on my way out."

Holly stepped into Robert's office, "Do you have time to talk today? I see Anna isn't here."

He knew they would have to talk at some point, "Have a seat."

"Thank you," Holly sat down across from him.

Robert watched her, waiting for her to start talking, but she didn't. Finally, he asked, "What did you want to talk about?"

"Aren't you the least bit curious about what happened to me?"

"Even if I am, I don't expect you to tell me the truth. Why did I think you died in Australia, why didn't anyone contact your husband, why did you stay away, why did you pick now to come back? Are those good questions?"

"I guess it doesn't matter now since you apparently knew. I went to have my baby where no one would tell you about it."

"Yeah, I'd figured that out, get away before the tummy gave away your secret."

"Are you really going to be mad about that now? It's been years, I made a mistake."

"You see I never got to be mad about this, I found out the truth and then you left! We never talked about it or dealt with it, you never admitted what you'd done. You would have kept on pretending I was the biggest problem in our marriage. Yes, I made mistakes. Yes, I was not home enough. Yes, I had to keep things from you."

"Robert I really would like to talk not fight. I'm sorry I made a mistake but you were always gone I was lonely and I truly believed that you were coming here to be with Anna."

"Yes, of course, this old line. I must have been sleeping with Anna. So that excuses your choices, I kept your dirty little secret all these years, and if we hadn't been overheard I would never have let your secret out."

"Oh and let me guess it was Anna that heard us, of course, she knows."

"Katherine heard us, we were just outside her club, but you're right Anna does know now. Kate called her and told her I needed a friend. Neither of them will say anything, and the only reason I asked them to keep quiet was that I don't want this getting back to Laura."

"Laura?" Holly couldn't believe that was his reason for wanting this to stay quiet. "Your wife had an affair but you're worried about what people might say to Laura?"

"What did Laura do to you? Did you think about her once when you took her husband to bed? I made mistakes but why did you want to hurt her like that?" Robert glared at her waiting for any kind of response. Holly wiped away her tears, she had forgotten how well he could hurt a person with only words. He was right she had never once thought about Laura. "Maybe we shouldn't talk about this if you don't want to fight."

"You won't forgive me for that but you forgave Anna for betraying you."

"Anna made a choice that she still regrets before she met me. If she hadn't taken that last mission I would have been killed. Oh but here's a little news flash that we only just found out. The reason we broke up never should have happened, if two men hadn't made a deal, Anna and I would have walked away from the WSB like we'd planned and I never would have met you."

Again his words cut her like a knife, "I think we got off on the wrong foot. Can we try this again?"

"Fine, so why didn't you bother contacting me? Why didn't I deserve to know you were alive? I was your husband after all."

"You were here again when I came out of the coma, I was sure it was only a matter of time before you got back together with Anna.

"That would have been late '87, maybe the beginning of '88. I had already given her away at her wedding to Duke, we weren't getting back together."

"I found out the child I was carrying had been given up for adoption and it broke my heart."

"I guess that would have been a reason to stay away, heaven forbid you came to me and tell me the truth and maybe let me help you get past that."

"Would you have comforted me? Would you have taken me back?"

"We'll never know that. Too much time has passed. If you had come back then would you have been honest with me? I would have told you I knew but you left before we could talk about it. There is no way of knowing what could have been."

"I'm here now."

"It's kind of late, I believed you were dead for years. Even if you were getting over the fact your child had been given away, why didn't you contact me a hell of a lot sooner then this? Apparently, you knew where I was the entire time."

"Robert you are being very unforgiving."

"What is it you want me to forgive? The fact you cheated, the fact you tried to hide the result of the affair, the fact you played dead for four years? What? I'm not sure what you want."

"I want you to look at me and not have such anger in your eyes. Can you try to forgive me?"

"I won't forget about the affair but I will tell you I don't care about it anymore, lots of people cheat when they're ready to end a relationship." Holly started to say something but she stopped knowing there was no way to defend her choice. "Can I forgive the fact that for years you were out there, alive? You have given me no reason as to why you did that. You aren't making excuses you just aren't talking about it. Why should I forgive that?" Still, Holly said nothing, "You're the one that wants to talk but when I want answers you say nothing."

When Guy knocks and sticks his head in, Holly breathed a sigh of relief, maybe it hadn't been a good idea to come to Robert's home turf to talk. "Shots fired at Wyndham's Department store, possible hostages."

Robert reached into his drawer and pulled out his gun, as he put it on he looked at Holly, "We're done talking for today." Then he put on his suit jacket and followed Guy out of his office. Holly got up and slowly followed them out. What had she really thought was going to happen by them talking, he has every right to angry with her. There were things she needed to straighten out here and maybe her relationship with Robert wasn't going to be one, but that didn't mean she was done trying.

...

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm tired of waiting for answers about our problem."

"You told me you killed him, why are you stressed about this?"

"Yes I killed P.K. Sinclair, that boat explosion was me." He paused then looked back at his old friend, "What if he wasn't really Faison? I hadn't seen him in years it could have just been someone that looked like him."

"Those books he wrote about spies, Faison would have more than enough ideas to come up with those."

"I want to know for sure."

"I understand that I do, but Faison's apparently been dead since the late '70's."

"I don't care what anyone says I need to know for sure, he's the reason my sister is dead. You remember her, the woman you swore to love for the rest of your life."

"Of course I remember Lynda, Faison took her away and turned her into a killer."

"Then explain to me why you don't want to know if that monster is really dead." The two men were joined by a third person, "You had better get some answers soon. You know all of these former WSB agents you need to get me answers and the sooner the better."

She was exhausted and was tired of his attitude, ever since they had seen those damned pictures he had been so different. What was this obsession he had with that man and why did it matter so much who the dead man had been, he's dead. She had been asking herself these same questions for a couple months now. "The only one that might have told me anything wants nothing to do with me, besides they are all very good friends if one of them doesn't want to talk to me the other two won't either."

"I don't want excuses, I want answers!" then he stormed out of the room leaving the other two staring at each other in disbelief.

...

It's was almost nine when Robert finally walked through their door Robin ran and gave him a big hug, "Dad I was so worried. When we heard armed standoff mom called the station and they told us you were there I wanted to go down there, but mom said we had to stay here."

"I'm glad you did because I need to know you're safe I can't be worrying about you while I'm dealing with people like that." Robert gave her another big hug before she leads him over to the couch. "Do you know if there's anything in the kitchen I could eat, I missed supper."

"Yeah Olin knew you'd be coming here eventually and made you a plate, I'll go warm it up."

As soon as she left Robert stood back up and Anna came over and wrapped her arms around him, they stood there holding each other. "I'm glad you're OK. The news reports kept saying no more shots had been fired, and once in a while we could see you in the background."

"He knew he didn't have a chance so it was only a matter of time until he gave up, his gun jammed after the first few shots he fired and he didn't know how to fix it. If I'd known that I wouldn't have missed our date," then he gave her a kiss.

Anna smiled and let him go, "That's what you were thinking about? Gee, I need to wrap this up I have a date tonight."

"Well yeah, I've been waiting a long time to go on a real date with you." Robert turned and walked to the table he was holding Anna's hand so she followed him.

They were sitting at the table talking when Robin came back with his supper. The three of them sat at the table while he ate, Robin wasn't going to be very far from him this evening. Whenever either of her parents was in danger she always needed that time with them after so she knew they were alright. After he was done eating Robin picked a TV show and they all watched it together. When it was over they sent her to bed. Robert sat back and closed his eyes, he exhaled loudly. "This day did not go like I had planned." Anna got up from the chair and joined him.

"We can go out for dinner another night."

"Oh we will," Robert smiled and put his arm around her, "The armed standoff was a nice break from the never-ending argument I was having with Holly before that."

"It didn't go well?"

"She keeps saying she wants to talk but then she doesn't tell me anything. It's almost like she wants me to tell her all is forgiven and that it's OK she was gone. Yet she has given me no reason as to why she stayed away."

"Nothing really? Not even some line like she was held again her will, or she couldn't leave or they'd hurt the baby."

"Nothing it's like she doesn't hear the question. Same with why didn't she contact me, nothing."

"That must be frustrating."

"You have no idea." They sat and talked more about the conversation with Holly after about half an hour Robert got up, "I better get home," Anna got up and gave him a hug and kiss, then he left. When he got back to his place he saw Holly sitting at the bar in Delafield's and went straight to the elevator. Kate saw him and walked over, he glanced over at the bar, "I just want to get upstairs Katie."

"She won't come over if she thinks we're talking and I'll run interference while you get on the elevator if she does."

Robert turned and smiled, he looked over her shoulder, "K, she's still sitting there."

"I just wanted to make sure you were OK, I know the standoff ended a while ago and I assume you were over at Anna's"

"Yeah, Robin always needs to know I'm OK after things like this."

"Good, she loves you so much." Kate gave him a hug, "You make sure you always get to go prove you're OK."

"That's always the plan. It's been a long day Katie so I'm gonna run away before Holly comes over for round two of the pointless conversation we were having earlier."

"OK," She smiled and gave him another hug. "Runaway," he kissed her check then got on the elevator.

Holly had watched the two of them talk, the gossip she was hearing said they had broken up but what she just saw made her think that wasn't true. She turned back to the bar and took a sip of her drink, she was going to have to come up with something to tell Robert about why she didn't come back to him after the coma. She could tell him the truth and say she hadn't wanted to come back that she wanted to move on with her life, that she didn't feel the same about him anymore. He wasn't going to accept that she thought he had moved on, she knew he was here with his family but he had stayed single for quite some time, she was sure that this relationship with Katherine Delafield was the first serious one he'd had since her. There has to be a way to get close to him but how? Anna is still here and he has this Katherine in his life. She finished her drink then got up and left she would give it some thought then try talking to him again, even if she knows it will be more of the same as earlier today. Robert calling her out on the truth and her having no way of defending her actions.