Chapter Fifteen:
Robin saw Patrick standing on the roof and she walked over to him, her anger right at the surface. He saw her and looked guilty.
"Robin, I didn't mean to," he began.
"Why did you divorce me?" she asked, stopping him mid sentence.
"What?"
"Why did you divorce me? I mean if you didn't want me to move on, then why dump me?"
"I didn't dump you," he said weakly.
"Really? So the divorce was a figment of my imagination? So you cheated on me again?"
He sighed.
"No. Just stop, please," he sat down on the floor.
"Oh, okay then. You tell me when I can talk. You seem to enjoy being able to dictate what I do with my life, so I'll just wait. I mean, I'm pretty used to being held captive."
"Stop!" he yelled, startling her. "I didn't mean it."
She looked at him and her eyes filled with tears. She turned to walk away and he put his head in his hands.
"I'm sorry. Please," he said and she turned to walk back to him.
"Patrick, I don't know what you want from me. I need you to let me live my life. I need to know that you aren't trying to sabotage me. I liked Mark because he looked at me like I was attractive and smart and not damaged. He doesn't know all of the shit I've been through and he simply liked me for me. You ruined that and now I don't think he will ever talk to me again. He thinks I played him and that's not who I am. I'm going to go pick Emma up from school and go home. Please leave me alone."
"I don't think I can do that."
She wiped her eyes and shrugged.
"That's not my concern. Maybe you should talk to Sam or Sabrina. Goodbye."
He watched her leave and he was furious with himself.
He needed to do better. He got up to follow her.
He needed a plan.
XXXX
Robin made her way back to the main floor to stop in and see Jason before she left. She wanted nothing more than to snuggle with Emma and just hear about how her day went.
Nothing else mattered.
Nothing else was important.
"What are you doing here?" a voice stopped her.
"Sabrina, great," she sighed. "I'm just going to see a friend, excuse me."
Patrick walked down the hall and froze when he saw Sabrina and Robin. He felt his anger build as he quickly walked to them.
"It was real pathetic, you know, getting Patrick to ask me to apologize to you."
Robin was surprised at that.
"I'm sorry for your loss, but I had nothing to do with what happened. I need you to leave me alone," she said and went to walk away when Sabrina grabbed her arm.
"No! No! Let me go, please!" Robin screamed and cowered on the ground.
Patrick ran to them and Sabrina was stunned.
"What the hell did you do?"
"Nothing. I was just talking," Sabrina said and Patrick knelt down next to Robin.
"Get away from her!" Patrick yelled and Sabrina left.
"Hey, you're okay," he said. "Robin? Look at me, please," he said, his heart breaking at the fear in her eyes.
"I'm okay," she said softly. "I don't require anything," she said and looked down.
Require anything? What did that mean?
"What the hell is going on?" Jason asked as he ran to them with Sam following.
"We're fine," Patrick said.
"Robin?" Jason spoke softly and she looked at him.
"Jason?"
"That's right," he smiled.
She ran into his arms and he held her tightly as she cried.
"Come on, it's okay," he said and looked at Patrick. "Is there a room we can go to for a minute?"
Patrick nodded and motioned for him to follow. His heart tore when Jason picked Robin up in his arms and followed him.
XXXX
"This is ridiculous. I should be in there, not him," Patrick paced outside his office while Jason and Robin were inside.
"Jason is the only one who can help her," Sam said. "I don't like it either, but after everything Robin did to save him, Jason would never leave her alone."
"Like I did?" Patrick asked.
Sam touched his arm and sighed.
"Hey, stop this. What happened to you and Robin is nobody's fault. It's tragic and from what Jason told me about the torture Robin endured, this is to be expected."
"What he told you?"
Sam hated how this was upsetting Patrick. None of this should have hurt everyone the way it had.
"Jason has been having some nightmares and many of them include trying to get to Robin and being unable to. I'm not sure of the specifics, and much of it might simply be Jason's need to help her, but it's bad. He's really shaken up after them and I am trying to respect his need to deal with this the way he wants."
Patrick crossed his arms and his jaw was set in a firm line.
"They aren't in love. They are just friends," Sam said.
Patrick nodded and tried to hold back his tears.
He wanted to be in there.
He wanted so much.
XXXX
"I'm so embarrassed," Robin said as Jason handed her a bottle of water. "I swear, it was like the nurses ball all over again. You didn't have to carry me all dramatically," she smiled through her tears.
"It seemed like the quickest option," he said and sat down. "What else can I get you?"
"Nothing. You should go home. I'll be fine. I need to get Emma soon and I don't want to miss that."
"Maybe you should let Patrick get her and just go home and rest."
"No! Please. I don't want to miss any more time with her because of this. I can do it. I can be a good mother," she cried.
Jason sat down and hugged her again.
"Shh, of course you can. I didn't mean that. Patrick is waiting in the hall. I'm going to let him come in and see you're okay before you leave. He needs that, okay? He's really worried about you."
Robin sniffed and nodded.
"You're going to get through this," Jason said as he got up.
She looked at him and her chin quivered as she sighed.
Jason walked out and closed the door.
XXXX
Patrick stood up when Jason walked out.
"How is she?"
"Embarrassed. I told her you needed to see that she was okay before she left. I'm taking Sam home."
Patrick stared at him.
"That's it?"
"Whatever else has to come from Robin," he said and Sam held his arm as they left.
"Whatever," Patrick mumbled as he walked into his office. He saw Robin looking at his desk and he realized he hadn't removed the pictures.
"Robin," he began.
"You both look beautiful together," she said of the picture he had of him and Sam from Christmas. "Emma and Danny look really happy, too."
"I should have put them away, I'm sorry."
"No, it's okay. They are your life now. Just because Sam is with Jason doesn't mean your feelings are gone. You don't have to pretend that they didn't exist or that you didn't plan to be with them for a long time. I understand that. I just wanted you to see I was okay to get Emma so you don't have to worry."
"I wasn't worried about that, Robin. I'm worried about you."
Robin ignored that.
"Did you really tell Sabrina to back off?"
"She's completely out of line. She needs to stay the hell away from you."
Robin shrugged.
"I can handle it. I understand her anger, but she needs to keep her hands off of me."
"Robin, can I ask you something?"
"Sure," she said as she met his gaze.
"Will you come over to the house so we can have a chance to talk?"
"No. I don't think so."
"Why not? We share a daughter and I want us to be friendly."
She smiled and sat on the couch.
"I know you have had a lot of time to stop loving me. You said that to me before I left and I never believed it would happen, but it's clear that you did. The problem is that I'm not there yet. I spent the last year, well more than that, reliving every moment of our life together and I worked so hard to get home to you and Emma. I know I left and you didn't want me to go. I know it's my fault, but when I realized you didn't want me and you filed for divorce, I still believed that once you saw my skype message, you would know that I was lying about everything. I truly believed you would fight for me and although it would be a lot to get over, my leaving to help Jason, I believed we could get over it."
He let his tears fall as he listened to her. She spoke with such feeling and hope and then it just changed to complete despair and resignation.
"But then you didn't come. My mom didn't come. Jason didn't come. Nobody helped me and it just broke something. As angry as I was, I still believed, in a small way, that when I saw you, we would magically reconnect. I believed that you couldn't truly just give up on me. When I got away, I hitchhiked all the way home and I knew it was so dumb because Helena could be right there, waiting, like before. But I needed to get to you. I needed you to know how sorry I was and how I never meant to be gone for so long. I just wanted to see you because I knew somehow, we would be okay. I mean, we loved each other, beyond reason."
He put his head in his hands
"And you found me with Sam."
She wiped her eyes.
"But things weren't okay and I need to move forward now, Patrick. You need to allow me to forget how to love you."
He watched as she got up and walked out.