Chapter Twenty-Eight:

Robin met Jason at the hospital cafeteria the next morning. She and Patrick had taken Emma to school and Patrick had to do his rounds. Robin wanted to see how Aaron and Mark were doing and when Jason called to talk to her, they decided to meet for breakfast.

"How are you feeling?" he smiled at her.

"Better. I have more range of motion in my shoulder and the pain is much less. I need to begin therapy soon to build up the muscle."

"Good, but that's not what I meant."

She smiled and nodded.

"I'm okay."

"You were never a good liar," he said as he took a drink of his coffee.

"Have you spoken to Sonny yet?" she decided to change the subject.

"He is still in jail, but I think they will let him out soon. I'm sure there's some way Diane will get him off the charges."

"But you haven't gone to see him?" she pressed.

He sighed.

"No."

She stared at him and he smiled, but there was a sadness behind it.

"I don't know what my life looks like now. I don't know what I want it to look like."

She reached and squeezed his hand, nodding.

"What do you think you want? Have you spoken to Sam about your concerns?"

A flash of pain crossed his features before he spoke.

"Things are different."

Robin sighed, knowing how he was struggling.

"I know."

"I mean, she thought I was dead, and I get that, but what I don't get is how she knew you were trying to help me and she didn't try and talk to you."

"She knew? When did she find out?"

Jason was surprised Robin didn't know.

"Patrick came clean to her after Faison hinted that I wasn't dead. Patrick told Sam that you left to try and save me and failed."

She rubbed her head and sighed.

"Robin, I'm sorry. I thought you knew that."

"It doesn't matter. He thought I stayed away on purpose and he wanted to move on with a clean slate. It's not good to start a relationship with secrets."

Jason smirked.

"That's very diplomatic of you."

She felt her tears come and shrugged with her good shoulder.

"There is no point in being mad about any of this. I can't change things and I can't pretend that the man I married didn't move on. I need to figure out how to do the same."

XXXXX

Patrick walked into the cafeteria to grab a bagel and he stopped when he saw Jason and Robin sitting in a booth together. She had her hand in his and was clearly upset about something. He went to walk over when he stopped.

He had no business interrupting her.

He felt his stomach churn when Jason said something that caused Robin to smile brightly. He hadn't seen that smile in so long. He hadn't been able to make her smile.

"Patrick?"

He turned and saw Sam standing there.

"Oh, hey," he said distractedly.

"How are you doing? How is your knee?"

"Hm? Oh, fine. I don't need the crutch anymore."

Sam looked at what he was staring at and she sighed.

"If you take a picture, it lasts longer."

"Excuse me, but I need to head back to my office."

Sam put her hand on his arm and stopped him.

"How are you doing?"

He moved away from her and shrugged.

"I'm fine. How are you?"

She looked past him to her husband.

"I'd be better if my husband trusted me."

"Why wouldn't he trust you? You didn't do any of this."

"He has questions I can't answer."

"Such as?"

Sam sighed.

"Why I never looked for Robin after you told me everything. He's right about that. I should have wanted to see the body. I should have wanted to know everything about his last moments. I don't even know how he got from the water to the clinic. I should have found out about all of that and instead I went ahead with you. One of my biggest issues was closure, and I never had that. Robin could have given that to me and I never asked."

"I know. I should have done things differently, but I don't know how to fix anything. I don't know how to answer the questions she has and I don't know that it will even make a difference," he looked again at Robin and Jason and felt his anger mount.

It was all anger at himself.

"There is something I wanted to ask you," she said.

He tore his eyes away from Robin and faced Sam.

"What's that?"

"Why didn't you tell me about the Skype call?"

"How did you hear about that?"

"Jason told me. Robin told him about it as being her last ditch effort to get help before Helena took her away from everything. He seemed to think she was most upset by how you and Anna didn't look for her. I just wondered why you didn't tell me about it. I don't even know when it was."

He rubbed his face and hated how Robin had talked about this with Jason. He wished he could disappear into nothing.

"It was right after the explosion at the clinic. There was a brief moment when I was worried she had been hurt in the explosion when Anna told me about it. We called her on Skype and she answered."

"Where was she? What did she say?"

Patrick crossed his arms and shook his head.

"I don't think I need to talk to you about this anymore. Whatever Robin and I went through is for us to figure out."

Sam shrugged.

"That's just it. It isn't for you two to figure out because she isn't talking to you. She is leaning on Jason and that makes it my business."

"Why? What possible worry do you have?"

"Robin is able to help Jason in a way I can't. I think he also has feelings for Robin."

Patrick blanched.

"What?"

Sam crossed her arms and shrugged.

"I think he might be in love with Robin."

XXXXX

"I should go. Patrick is over there talking to Sam and I don't want to cause you any problems," Robin said after she saw Patrick and Sam in what looked to be a heated discussion.

Jason looked over and then faced Robin.

"I don't care. I want to stay with you until I know it's safe. I still think you should move into Sonny's penthouse until Helena is found."

She smiled sadly.

"I'm done running," she rubbed her temples. "If Helena is coming, she may as well just come. I have no fight left, Jason. I can't put forth any more energy to hide. I want to be with my daughter and enjoy the time I have with her."

"I hear you, although this fatalistic attitude is terrible. What I'm worried about is how she will come after you."

Her brown eyes were full of tears as she knew what he was implying.

"You think she will go after Emma?"

He reached to her hand and squeezed it.

"I do."

XXXXX

"Why would you think he is in love with her?" Patrick asked incredulously after walking Sam to his office nearby. "You are his wife and he hasn't been with Robin in years."

Sam hated how Jason had been holding Robin's hand. She shook the image out of her mind and sighed.

"You were Robin's husband and you moved on. It's possible Jason has, too. Besides, they were there for each other in a way we weren't. Jason can't look past me sleeping with you, not because I was with someone else, but because of how Robin was hurt. He doesn't understand how I didn't go find her for more details. He's right. I should have. I'm not sure he will be able to get past it."

"I don't fucking believe this," Patrick muttered.

"When Robin came back and you were with Sabrina, did she let you touch her? Were you intimate before she left again? Could she get past what you had with Sabrina?"

Patrick couldn't breathe. He had been so incredibly myopic.

"She wanted me that moment she walked into the church. I made her wait. I made her feel less that worthy. I told her I wasn't sure what I wanted. After everything she had been through, I made her doubt my love. I was so stupid. I never had a choice to make. I knew all along it was Robin."

Sam was touched by how he spoke of Robin. His passion and desire was evident every time he said anything about her. He was a different man with Robin. There was a passion and fire that wasn't there with anyone else.

"So why did you hesitate?"

"Because I'm a coward. I was afraid of hurting Sabrina. I had no issue hurting Robin, but I couldn't look at Sabrina and face how I used her."

"When you did and finally let her go, did Robin welcome you home?"

Patrick wiped his eyes.

"Yes. In every way. Then a few days later we found out Sabrina was pregnant," he paced and shook his head. "God, I'm so stupid. I never gave her a minute to process anything. I just told her all of these things and expected her to go along with it all like I was some prize, and she did. She went along with everything until Victor came and told her about Jason."

"And she left?"

"She lied at first, but I knew it. She would never leave Emma if it wasn't something life or death and I knew that. I have always known that. It's one of the million reasons I love her. She never leaves anyone behind."

Sam was putting the plot in order and she had a sinking feeling.

"But you don't like Jason, so you probably told her not to go."

Patrick looked at Sam.

"He's a mob enforcer who kills people for a living."

Hurt colored her face and she sighed.

"But he is my husband and Danny's father."

"And she was my wife who had been tortured for two years and was going to walk out the door for God knows how long. I didn't care about Jason. I still don't."

Sam felt tears come to her eyes.

"All of the things you said to me when we talked about losing someone you love? Did you mean any of it?"

He sighed and looked at her, so much in his mind becoming clear.

"I did, but you know there has never been any love lost between me and Jason. I will never understand the fascination all of the women around here have with him. You, Carly, Elizabeth and Robin. You all act like what he does has some sort of code that acceptable. It's not and he makes me sick. I'm sorry for your loss, but I'm not going to stand here and act like he was some savior."

"So it was just when you wanted to get me into bed that you acted like you cared?" Sam was seeing Patrick in a whole new light and it made her furious that she had ignored all the signs.

" Don't act like this was some conquest and you played no part. I like you. You helped me with Gabriel's death and I began to live again. I am not sorry for being your friend. I'm sorry I made a mess of everything, and I'm sorry I wasn't able to be honest with myself about what I felt in my heart. I think it's time for both of us to go after what we want. If you love Jason, let him know it. If you don't, then let him go, but don't live in limbo."

There was a knock on his door and he went to answer it. He was surprised when Robin stood there. He saw the look of sadness cross her face when she saw Sam.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you were busy," she stammered.

"No, we're done," he said and looked at Sam.

"Yeah. I'll see you later," she said and walked out.

Robin looked at Patrick and he waited.

"I have come to a few decisions, and I'd like to talk to you about them."

He nodded and moved as she walked in.

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Thanks for reading! I know it's not all pretty, but my ultimate goal is Scrubs. I just need to get them to a place where it works. It's a long process