Chapter Sixty-Five:
"You need to let me in there right now!" Mark yelled at the nurses who were holding him in the hall. "He is my son!"
Robin put her hand on his arm and he looked at her.
"He's only nine. I need to be in there, Robin. I need to be in there!" he said as his fear was taking over.
"Okay, but you need to relax. Let's go in and see what's happening," she said and motioned to the nurses it was okay.
They went in and Robin was surprised to see Patrick working on Aaron. Her heart dropped when she saw it was dire.
"What happened? Aaron?" Mark said brokenly as he looked at his lifeless son on the bed. "What the hell happened?"
Patrick looked at them and was in complete doctor mode.
"He has a brain bleed. I need to go in and try to stop it right now, or he will die. We are looking at minutes," Patrick said urgently.
"How? Why?" Mark asked as he held his son's face in his hands.
"We need to go now, please," Patrick said.
Mark was frozen and Robin took his hands in her own.
"Come on. I'll wait with you. Let Patrick help Aaron. He's the best, okay?"
Mark looked at her and nodded, stepping back while they rushed Aaron to surgery. Patrick looked at Robin and she met his gaze before he rushed out.
"Come on," she said to Mark. "Let's go sit down."
"I want to know what happened. I need to know why this happened!"
Robin nodded.
"I know, but right now, we need to wait and maybe say a prayer, okay?"
Mark walked to the desk in the room and picked up the toy car that sat there.
"Oh God," he said. "What am I going to do?"
Robin wiped her eyes and led him to a chair.
She pulled him to her as he cried.
XXXXX
Patrick kicked the garbage can as he pulled his gown off after two hours in the O.R. He was furious and stressed out and he had to go talk to Mark and Robin. He knew what he needed to do; he just didn't know how to do it.
He walked out to the waiting room and Mark stood up, Robin asleep in the chair next to him. She jumped when he stood and she looked at Patrick, trying to read his expression.
"He's in recovery. I had to put in a shunt to relieve the pressure, but I think he will be okay. The meds Robin started him on seemed to really help and I was able to clean up a lot around the damaged tissue."
Mark put his face in his hands.
"Thank God. Can I see him?"
"He's being moved to ICU. You can stay with him there. I hope after he wakes up, he will feel much better than he has and you'll be able to take him home. It's not a cure, but it will give him time," Patrick said.
Mark hugged him and Patrick smiled. He watched as Mark hugged Robin and she smiled as he walked to be with his son.
Patrick crossed his arms as he watched Mark walk away and he took a deep breath before he turned to leave.
"What aren't you saying?" Robin asked as she walked to Patrick.
"I need to change," he said and started to walk to the locker room.
"Patrick, wait," she scrambled after him, worried about his behavior. His long legs took him faster and she had to run to keep up. She walked into the locker room and grabbed his arm.
"Stop this! I get you're pissed at me for something, and I don't know why, but this isn't about us. I would like for you tell me what happened and maybe I can help. You walked out of our dinner and you haven't said two words to me since. What the hell is going on?"
He turned and looked at her, grabbing his bag from his locker.
"I said I needed to go and you need to back off. I wanted time to think and I have. I think Mark is a great guy and you should stay with him. I think you're right and sometimes life just doesn't work out the way you want. I think I really want to be with Sam, and I'm going to fight for her. I'm sorry if this hurts you. I'll see you around."
He walked out and Robin stood there, stunned.
Something wasn't right.
Patrick walked to the roof and sat down on shaky legs. He looked at the note he found in his locker and he felt his stomach churn. He had to hurt her. He had to make her think he was done.
They got to Aaron and they would get to Emma if he didn't do what they said. He didn't know how to fix this and he realized in that moment just what Robin had gone through. She never had a choice. If she didn't comply, they would hurt those she loved. He never thought of what she must have gone through.
They knew she would try and save Jason because that's who she is. What he didn't realize was that it wasn't a choice like he made it to be. They had to have threatened her and he knew that. They didn't care about Jason, so there had to be a benefit in her leaving that would be for them and he had refused to look at that. The more he thought of all she had been through, the more he felt like he deserved every bit of pain coming his way.
She had been all alone, just like he was. She did everything she could and they still went after him.
What was stopping them from going after her again? He would lose her forever and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
He didn't know what to do. He put his head in his hands and tried to calm down.
"She's in love with Jason, and you can't compete. If you want to break my heart, just tell me you don't trust me and that will hurt more than anything else," Robin said as she sat down facing him.
He looked at her and his eyes were full of fear.
"Besides, I may look tiny, but I'll kick her ass. People are always underestimating me. If I have to fight for you, I will."
"Robin, you need to go," he said softly. "Please."
"Look at me," she said and touched his cheek.
He raised his head and she smiled.
"Was it a note? A video? A phone call?"
His eyes were wide.
"How did you know?"
She sighed.
"Because if you wanted to hurt me, you could have said a million other things. I knew you weren't going to fight for Sam."
"Why not?"
"Because you would have already tried. I know your heart, Patrick, and you guard it so securely. I hurt you, deeply, and you aren't over that. If you were, you wouldn't have walked out last night. I get that you don't want to be with me, but something happened after the surgery and I need you to fill me in."
He shook his head and handed her a note.
Robin looked at it and her heart sank.
"They gave Aaron a med that counteracted with his HIV meds and caused the aneurysm," she said and looked at him. "Where did you find this?"
"It was in my locker. They said Emma would be next, Robin. I don't care what happens to me. I'll live a life of solitude if they want, but I will die before I let anyone near Emma."
She nodded.
"I understand, but this needs to end. This sick game they are playing with our lives has to end," she stood up and went to leave.
"Robin, wait! Where are you going?"
She turned around and the anger just poured out of her.
"This is enough, Patrick. We are not here as play toys for the sick fucks who want to mess with our lives. It's like we've learned nothing from years of torture. I left because of fear and it destroyed everything about us that was good and pure. You can't ever trust me again and I look at you and see everything that I always hoped I would have but none of it lasted. Now, we finally have a chance to move forward and you were going to do what they wanted, simply because they are threatening us. I'm done. I've had it! I am more than a lab monkey who jumps when they call and I want my life back. I can't do this anymore. I don't have the heart," she began to have trouble breathing.
He walked to her as she sank to her knees and he pulled her into his arms.
"Okay, just breathe," he said. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Please don't do this," she sobbed. "Please don't let them manipulate us any more. I won't survive. I can't do it again."
He just held her and nodded.
"Okay. I hear you," he said.
"You can't do what they want because they will take you and hold you and torture you with images if all you lost. They will show you how your family moved on without you and how your daughter has a new mother figure. They will give you pictures of your husband laughing with another woman and tell you how easily you were replaced. You will be all alone and tortured and nobody will care because that's what you're worth; nothing."
She cried as he held her and his own tears came as her feelings rushed out. All she had been through and all she endured just poured out of her.
"Robin, please stop. I'm so sorry and I love you. I'm so sorry."
"No, I didn't mean for you to say that," she said and wiped her eyes as she sat back. "I know you don't feel that way and it's okay, but I can't watch you do anything that is going to mess up your life because of this group of animals who need to be removed. I just need this to end, you know?"
"You're wrong. I do feel that way. I love you and I want to be with you."
"Then why did you leave last night? Why are you so guarded? I can't play these games and I don't want to because I'll make it if you just tell me you're done, but if you let me think there's a chance and then walk away, I don't think I'll be okay. I just don't want to play any more games. I want my life back and I want it with you," she said passionately.
He pulled her to him and crashed his mouth onto hers with an intensity that surprised them both. He wrapped his arms around her and she moved to hold him close.
"I want you. I ran because I don't think I deserve this chance. I ran because you scare the shit out of me. I ran because I wanted you so much, I was afraid of hurting you. Everything you just said is all true. I let you down and I hurt you and I can never take that back. You keep saying I don't trust you, but that's simply not true. I trust you and I love you so much it hurts to breathe. I can't be with you half way. You think you won't survive if it doesn't work? I know I won't. I can't explain why I allowed myself to be with other women. I guess I was looking for something to fill the whole in my heart and my life and it never did. It never could. I needed you and I want you."
"Will you take me home?" she asked him. "I'm so tired and I just need to stop running."
He stood up and helped her up.
"I'll take you home, but what am I supposed to do about what they did to Aaron? How can I make sure they don't come for Emma?"
"The note said they would be in touch tomorrow, so we have tonight to make a plan. Emma will be with us at the penthouse and we will make sure she's safe. We can figure this out together. I don't want to do everything wrong again. I should have let you help me and instead I walked out. I am not doing that again. This is our family and it's time to fight for it."
He nodded and took her hand.
"I couldn't agree more."
Later that evening, they were back at the penthouse and Emma was asleep in her room after the fun events of the day with Mac and the sleepover the night before. Patrick and Robin had a great dinner with her and it was the most normal evening they had all had in a long time. Ben was keeping watch outside the door.
Patrick called to check on Aaron and he was doing well, talking and sitting up and Mark was thrilled.
Now it was the two of them in the bedroom, the air mattress on the floor and nothing to stop them but their own struggles.
Robin stood there and rubbed her arms, trying to decide what was next.
Patrick walked to her and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Will you let me show you how much I've missed you?"
She looked down and shrugged.
"It's not necessary, Patrick. You have been through so much and I have no expectations."
He tilted her chin up to him and smiled.
"Maybe you should have expectations? Maybe it's time you held me to a standard you deserve?"
"Love doesn't work like that," she said, her voice thick with emotion. "I don't want to be someone you have to prove anything to. I just want to be with the man I love and have it mean as much to him as it does to me. I just want you to love me; no hesitation or worry."
He leaned in and captured her lips with his own, his hands moving down her arms and then slipping around her waist.
"There has been no part of my life that has been okay since you left. You are the woman I love and you are the woman of my dreams," he said as he moved to pull her shirt off.
"Even after all that has been done? My body looks different than before. Men have touched me in ways that have to affect you," she said softly. "Are you turned off by that?"
"What happened to you had nothing to do with love or compassion. What you were put through was a violation nobody should ever have to endure. All I see when I look at you is strength and beauty," he spoke softly and with complete sincerity.
She unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it off his shoulders.
"Thank you," she said softly.
He walked to the mattress and turned to her.
"This reminds me of my first apartment," he grinned.
She smiled and sat down, moving to make room for him.
"We had a lot of really good times on that mattress."
"We did. It was the start of an amazing journey."
They were both startled by a bloodcurdling scream that came from Emma.
"Emma?" both Robin and Patrick raced to her room.
They froze when they saw Jerry standing over Emma who was unconscious on the bed.
"What the hell did you do?" Patrick yelled and he and Robin raced to their daughter.
Jerry smiled and motioned to his men who grabbed Robin.
"She's just sleeping. I gave her a little sedative so she wouldn't have to see this."
Patrick kept his hand on his daughter and turned to see a man handling Robin who wore only a bra and her pants.
"Get your fucking hands off her," he said.
"I don't think so. I told you I would get to you and I will. There is no where you are safe and no way to get away from us."
Robin tried to get away when Jerry looked at one of the men and nodded. The man walked over and stuck something in her side and she froze.
"What are you doing?" Patrick asked.
"It's time for Dr. Scorpio to come with us and finish her job. You and your daughter and your girlfriend won't be harmed," Dr. Obrecht said as she walked in and smirked at them.
"No, please," Robin said as she looked at the two people who had taken so much from her. "Just kill me. I can't do this again. Please just end this."
Patrick looked into her eyes and pleaded with her to hold on.
"We're going to get through this," he said. "Don't give up."
She cried as she looked at her daughter on the bed.
"I can't do it. I have nothing left," she said.
Jerry looked at Robin and smiled at her.
"So sweet," he said. "You have always been so strong, haven't you? I knew that from the moment I shot you in the Metro Court. How is that scar? Has it healed?" he ran his hand to her pants and unzipped them to look at her skin.
Patrick went to pull him off her when another man went to grab Emma and Robin cried.
"No! Patrick don't leave Emma. Please, stay with her and protect her, no matter what."
Jerry touched Robin's skin and moved to her chest and she let her tears fall.
"I swear to God I'll kill you," Patrick seethed and they were all stunned when Ben came in, blood flowing from his head and he quickly shot Obrecht. Mac and Anna ran in behind him and Mac went to Jerry just as he shot voltage into Robin's side, causing her to crumple to the ground. There were more gunshots and Patrick laid his body on his daughter.
"Patrick? We need help!" Anna called out after everything settled and he sat up, looking over his daughter.
"Robin is in trouble," Anna said.
Patrick raced to Robin and turned her gently on the floor. She was rigid and unresponsive and he looked at them.
"We need to get her to the hospital right now," he said as his tears fell. "Emma too. I need them both to be okay," he was in shock and the only thing he registered was that everyone was dead and his daughter and the love of his life were unconscious and clearly in trouble.
Anna covered Robin with a sheet and looked at Patrick.
"You take her and Mac has Emma. Let's go," she said and Patrick gathered Robin in his arms and followed them out of the penthouse and over the dead bodies of those who tormented them.