This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you
— Bless the Broken Road, Rascal Flatts

---

Patrick made his way into the lab, exhausted and hoping that Robin had made some progress. If she hadn’t, he would have to think of way to tell Elizabeth Spencer that her son would probably not survive the night.

Thoughts of Elizabeth and Cameron slipped from his mind when he saw Robin lying in a heap on the floor. Everything stopped, everything froze. His vision narrowed and for a moment in time, he couldn’t move.

When he saw her head move a little, heard the moan escape through her lips, it broke the moment and practically flew across the room to kneel at her side. “Robin, wake up, okay? You have to wake up–” He broke off and took a deep, stabilizing breath before lifting her into his arms and moving quickly towards the door.

---

“I knew she should have gone home,” Robert seethed as he paced out front of Robin’s hospital room. “I should have tied her up, tossed her in the car and then handcuffed her to something steel as far away from this hospital as possible.”

“Hey, she wouldn’t have gone,” Luke Spencer assured his old friend. “And she’s Anna’s daughter so she would figured out a way to free herself and come back here because she’s just that kind of person.”

“I ought to kill you,” Mac muttered to Luke. “Bringing this virus here–why can’t you have normal vacation like everyone else?”

“Oh, believe me,” Luke nodded, “Its tropical islands and drinks with umbrellas from here on out.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Did Jason and Carly make any progress in the islands?”

“I haven’t heard from them since they said they found the antidote.” Robert started to pace again. “Why we’re depending on a thug and a woman who’s no better than a common–”

“A common what?” Carly demanded shrilly as she stalked up to them. “Maybe for that I’ll just give the antidote to my kids and tell you and the rest of the hospital to go to hell–”

“I know places to hide a body,” Robert threatened, stepping up to the shorter woman. “Where no one will ever find you.”

“Okay, okay…” Luke eased between them. “Caroline, this isn’t the time to be yourself,” he admonished. “Robin’s sick and the old dinosaur over here gets touchy when his daughter’s dying.”

Carly frowned and glanced towards the door. She stepped up to the window and peered inside to see Patrick seated by an unconscious Robin. “She wasn’t anywhere near the patients, though. I–” she flicked a glance back at the trio of men gathered behind her. “I was talking to Mama about the virus before Jason and I left and she was talking about how glad she was Robin would be in the lab. How did she contract it?”

“She was in the ER helping out until we quarantined,” Mac answered with a frown of his own. “Why does that matter?”

“She didn’t figure out the serum?” Carly asked. “I thought that’s what she was working on–”

“She did,” Robert nodded. “But we had to give it to the worst case and that was Cameron Webber. He’s recovering so if Robin had just had more time–” he shook his head. “Why does that matter? Give me the antidote.” He held out his hand.

“It matters because Robin happens to matter to people I care about.” Carly planted her hands on her hips. “Look, I don’t like her, I don’t plan on liking her but Sonny cares about her, Jason always will and does most of the hospital staff, including my mother. I don’t want her to die.” Her lips curved into a smirk. “Life is more fun with her around.” She dug into her pocket and removed a few vials of the antidote. “Jason has the rest. I was taking this up to pediatrics for Morgan, Kristina and Cameron when I over heard the conversation.” She handed Robert one of the vials. “But since Cameron doesn’t need it anymore…”

Robert snatched it from her hand and went into the room, followed by Mac. Luke smiled at Carly. “Caroline, you do me proud sometimes. Going out there, finding an antidote and giving it to your worst enemy. What a mature thing to do.”

Carly wrinkled her nose. “Please. You’re making me nauseous.” She tucked the vials away in her pocket. “I’m not stupid, Luke. I know exactly what’s in the past and I’m just saying I don’t need another casualty on my head.” She shrugged uncomfortably. “But as far as Robin needs to know, Jason found the antidote and brought it back, are we clear?”

---

“How much do we even know about this?” Patrick demanded as he nervously watched Robert inject the liquid into Robin’s IV. “What if it makes her worse?”

Robert shook his head. “Carly took the antidote and her fever broke in less than ten minutes. And if she and Jason hadn’t taken their sweet time getting here, maybe Robin never would fell ill in the first place.” He set the syringe aside and folded his arms. “You can go check on your other patients now, Dr. Drake.”

“I don’t think so,” Patrick sat on the edge of Robin’s bed and monitored her vitals as the antidote slowly worked its way through her body.

Mac shifted. “The next time this happens, we’ll take your route,” he told his brother. “We’ll tie her up and then have Anna stand guard. She’ll keep Robin from escaping.”

“Deal.”

Robin moved her head from side to side, her lips parting on a small moan. “My head…”

Patrick immediately moved to inject some painkillers into her IV line. “That should help,” he told her before taking his place at her side again. “Welcome back, Dr. Scorpio.”

“Patrick…” Robin blinked her eyes and licked her lips. “How long…?”

“Two days,” Patrick reached for her hand and squeezed it. “You know, if you wanted my attention, all you had to was ask. No need to get all dramatic.”

She laughed weakly. “Still the most arrogant…” her eyes flickered for a moment and she focused on her father. “Daddy…?”

“Hey, Baby.” Robert knelt at her side and kissed her forehead. “You do know that thanks to you, your mother is probably over the Atlantic now and when she’s not worrying about you, I imagine she’s devising creative ways to display my head once she’s ripped it from my body.”

“No less than you deserve,” Robin murmured but with the anger of previous conversations. “The…I had a syringe…?”

“We found it.” Patrick smoothed her hair out of her face and garnered looks of genuine interest from the Scorpio men behind him. “And Elizabeth agreed to give it to Cameron. He’s recovering.”

She closed her eyes. “Thank God. I thought…” Her eyes flickered opened again. “Then how…?”

“Carly and Jason brought the antidote back from the Markham islands,” Robert supplied.

“Oops,” Luke said from the doorway. “I was supposed to tell you that Carly had nothing to do with it.”

Robin managed another weak laugh. “I owe my life to Carly. Yeah, that figures.” She shifted and looked back at Patrick. “What about the rest of the patients?”

“I…” Patrick coughed. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Robin asked, confused. “Why?”

“Because Junior Drake hasn’t left this room,” Luke supplied cheerfully, slapping Patrick on the back. “That’s dedication. Why don’t Bubba, me and Daddy Dearest go find out about those patients for you?” He grabbed Robert’s elbow and yanked him towards the door.

“Wait a second, she just woke up–” Robert was snarling as Luke dragged him down the hall.

“Luke has all the subtlety of a freight train,” Mac sighed. He leaned over Robin and kissed her forehead. “If you ever scare me like that again, I might have to lock you in a room padded with cotton just so I can feel safe.” He eyed Patrick for a long moment before looking back at Robin. “Anna will be landing in an hour or so and Felicia’s coming right after her so I’d better head to the airport.”

“Yeah, start thinking of excuses for why you let Georgie get married,” Robin said wryly as her uncle left. She focused on Patrick. “You should probably get some sleep.”

Patrick exhaled slowly and shook his head. “You’re deranged. You nearly died and you’re telling me to get some sleep.” He looked down at their hands and seemed to be surprised that they were stilled joined.

“How’s Noah?” Robin asked softly.

“As a matter of fact, I was coming to tell you that he agreed to let me test to be a donor.” He looked away. “But then you were on the floor so it didn’t seem important anymore.” He cleared his throat. “But I’m glad you’re feeling better. I should probably check on him and the rest of my patients.”

“Patrick…” Robin hesitated and thought about that moment in the lab when they’d both been exhausted and something had passed between them that neither were ready for.

“You can’t possibly be this blind. Why do you think I don’t want any thing to happen to you?”

She almost brought it up but at the last moment, she decided that she wanted to see where this might go on their own terms–without the drama of an epidemic, his father’s illness and her father’s return from the dead.

“I think when I’m feeling better,” Robin said instead, “that you should let me take you out to dinner.”

Patrick grinned. “Will this one actually have an ending I’ll like?”

Robin mirrored his smile. “We’ll see.”

← Chapter 7 |