I fell in love with Patrick and Robin literally from the moment I saw them, and my love remains strong. I have four characters on this show that can do no wrong — Elizabeth, Dillon, AJ, and Patrick. Patrick appears to be the only character the TPTB love as much as I do.
So North Star was my first attempt at a semi full-length Scrubs fic, but I didn’t quite have a handle on either of their characters, it meanders a bit but not in a bad way. My second attempt at a Scrubs story was much better: Sanctuary.
Timeline
This story begins after Patrick and Robin have their first date in January of 2006, shortly before the virus story that killed Courtney. Which, I cannot state enough, was the one gift Guza came me in like seven years. I still celebrate February 20 as a personal holiday. Everything is should be self-explanatory.
This set after August 15, 2006 when Jason and Elizabeth slept together. This story is written in Carly’s POV, and during this time period, she’d moved into a new era of her character. She was managing the Metro Court and becoming closer to Lulu, who had recently learned she was pregnant after a brief relationship with Dillon Quartermaine.
Inspiration
I really loved GH back in 2006, and I wrote a ton of character pieces, just having fun with these people I loved to spend time with. Laura Wright’s first two or three years of Carly rejuvenated my love for the a character which led me here. Ironic, honestly.
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Carly Corinthos was having a very bad day, thank you very much. She’d overslept, missed a meeting with suppliers at the hotel and then had to cancel lunch with an investor for a new club because her pregnant cousin needed someone to drive her to the hospital for a doctor’s appointment because the useless moron who had impregnated her had had some sort of family emergency. Carly always dropped everything for Lulu because she wanted the girl to know that someone was at least on her side in all this. As long as Lu didn’t feel alone, she might not do any Carly-like things and screw up her life.
And her day was getting worse after running into Sam at the hospital and seeing her all teary over Alexis, who’d been sick for months and had hidden the illness. If Carly had a husband as annoying as Ric and a daughter as useless as Sam, she would have hidden it too. You just couldn’t depend on people to take care of things for you–especially not your kids. Sam had been all teary-eyed because she and Jason were still not back together and the only way to shut Sam the hell up was to promise to talk to Jason.
She’d talk to him, he’d ignore her and then with any luck, she could go home, eat dinner with her boys and maybe this day would end better than it had started.
She shoved open the penthouse door (Carly Corinthos never knocked and didn’t intend to start, knocking was for people who had time to waste and she didn’t) and shrieked. “Oh, my God, I’m blind!” She slapped her hands over her eyes.
A brunette squeaked and fell off the couch, grappling for something to cover her naked body.
“Carly,” Jason Morgan glared at her and tossed Elizabeth Spencer the t-shirt from the back of the couch. He tugged a pillow over his middle. “What the hell do you want?”
“Can’t talk, traumatized.”
Elizabeth sprang to her feet and tugged the shirt down further, as if it didn’t already come very close to reaching her knees. She looked around frantically and found Jason’s jeans tossed over the pool table. She skirted around the sofa and tossed them to him. “Ah, Carly–”
“Oh, god I wasn’t hallucinating,” Carl whimpered, “you really are here.”
“Carly,” Jason growled, sliding into his jeans and pulling them up around his waist. He zipped them but didn’t bother with the button. “What do you want?”
“Is it safe to look yet?” Carly asked, not moving her hands.
“Oh my God,” Elizabeth muttered, dragging her fingers through her tousled curls. “Carly–”
“Carly, take your damn hands from your eyes and tell me what you want,” Jason said shortly.
“Okay, okay…” Carly reluctantly slid her hands away and breathed in relief. “Good, you’re somewhat decent.” Still, she felt somewhat nauseous and damn, Jason looked pissed. She must have interrupted him before he could finish–oh, God, she was going to be sick. “Um, so my reason for coming here is obviously moot now.”
“Just say it and go,” Jason replied, irritated.
She frowned and glanced at Elizabeth before looking at Jason oddly. “How long has this been going on anyway?” She gasped. “Is this why you really broke up with Sam?”
“Oh my god,” Elizabeth repeated. She leaned against the pool table. “This isn’t happening to me.”
Jason strode forward, grabbed Carly’s hand and shoved her into the hall. He joined her, shutting the penthouse door behind him. “From now on, you knock,” he instructed, jabbing a finger in her face.
“Do you intend on screwing the muffin in the living room often?” Carly demanded. Her face paled. “Oh, God, I’m never going to get that image out of my brain. I’m going to havenightmares.”
“Carly,” Jason said, his teeth clenched. “You will knock from now on. And you’re not going to tell anyone about this, or so help me God–”
“Don’t worry, I will never forget to knock again,” Carly assured him. She narrowed her eyes. “And why can’t anyone know?” she demanded. “Does the brat still think she’s too good for her? Well, you just give me five minutes and I will have her teeth knocked out–”
“Carly.”
It was that tone that told Carly she might have gone too far. The glare on his face, the clenching of his jaw. Clearly, keeping this a secret was important and he wasn’t asking her, he was demanding her to comply. She narrowed her eyes. “Jason, look, I’m not about take an ad out in the paper about this. Believe me, I don’t even want to know this is going on. But you deserve better–”
“No, Elizabeth’s son deserves better,” Jason cut in. “He needs to be safe and the only way he can be is if no one knows.”
“That’s not fair to you–” Carly began again.
He sliced his hand through the air. “I’m not going to push her away like I did before, like I did to Sam. It doesn’t work. But this way everyone gets what they want and what they need. So you’re keeping your mouth shut, Carly, and you’re letting me have this.”
She closed her mouth and nodded. “Okay. Okay.” She hesitated. “So I guess coming over here to talk you into giving Sam another chance is not going to work right?”
“Probably not,” Jason said, exasperated.
She shrugged. “I only agreed so she’d leave me alone. Geez, Jason, what did she do that was so horrible–” she stopped. “Nope, don’t even tell me. I’m better off not knowing.”
“Carly,” Jason called as she started for the elevator. “And you’re not allowed to tease, torment or in anyway use this information against Elizabeth in public.”
“I would never,” Carly said, insulted. Damn him, he knew her too well. She jabbed a button. “And damn you. You always take the fun out of having a secret.” She stepped onto the elevator and heard the door to the penthouse open and close. She did not want to think about what was going in there now.
This is set vaguely in 2007, but I actually wrote it in 2006. That being said, it doesn’t really fit into any piece of the GH canon so you’re free to read it it without knowing much history.
Inspiration
I literally could not tell you what inspired this little crazy story, lol. It’s the only Electrick story I’ve written (outside of playing with it in Fallen From Grace) but it’s a sweet, cute fluff with the Spiderman theme song in the background.
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“Spider-man, Spider-man, does whatever a spider can.”
The sound of Elizabeth Spencer’s off-key, yet still sweet voice filters through the baby monitor and he laughs to himself, thinking that Cameron’s got a great mom if she knows the words to the Spiderman theme song.
“Spins a web, any size, catches thieves, just like flies.”
It’s a strange journey that he’s made, from where they began to where they are in this moment. Twisting turns, and detours that weren’t necessarily mistakes–he’ll never pretend that what he’d shared with Robin was anything less than what it’d been–but it still surprises him that he’s found himself here.
“Look out! Here comes the Spider-man!”
What had once been a superficial flirtation had turned into the real thing and dinners between friends turned into dinners between a man and a woman. And kisses on the cheek and jokes about his prowess had turned into something a bit more meaningful. This is now a nightly ritual–she puts her son to sleep before coming out to the living room and snuggling with him on the couch as he tells her about his day and he asks her if she’s sold any paintings in the last twelve hours since he’s asked last.
“Is he strong? Listen, Bud! He’s got radioactive blood.”
It’s been six months since these nights became routine and eight since Elizabeth became more than the beautiful nurse he worked with. He’d thought for a while that it would taper off, that eventually, he would want out, that he wouldn’t want something lasting with someone like Elizabeth. Casual to Elizabeth was a type of dress, not a relationship. She might have said she’s sworn off serious but he’s never believed that.
“Can he swing from a thread? Take a look overhead.”
He fishes into the back pocket of his pants and withdraws the ring box he’s been carrying out for two weeks, trying to find the right moment. Even in the best of times with Robin, though there had been few of them, it had never occurred to him to take that last step. She’d never brought it up and it wasn’t part of his future at that time. But with Elizabeth, it feels right. It feels like he’s taking a step towards the rest of his life.
“Hey there, there goes the Spider-man!”
With Elizabeth, he can see a future, he can see the way it should be. With a house and a garage and a place for Elizabeth to paint. A backyard to build a tree house for Cameron. And sometimes, he lets himself think about more than just Elizabeth and Cameron. About having a baby. Of seeing Elizabeth with his child, with their child. A little brother for Cameron to torment, or a sister to protect. He can see the years down the line, with dinners and Elizabeth laughing at him across the table as she’s burned yet another meal she’s sworn she could pull off.
“In the chill of night, at the scene of the crime,”
His father loves her and he wishes his mother could have met her, could have seen that it was going to be okay after all. That despite a rocky start in the world of serious relationships and commitments, he’s found the right woman and the person to spend forever with. He thinks his mother would have approved. And he knows his father will like the idea of him settling down and will embrace the role of honorary grandfather to Cameron. And that’s important to him. That Cameron not be just her son, but part of their family. His family.
“Like a streak of light, he arrives just in time,”
He’s spent a decade alone, and a year with another woman, whom he’d loved a great deal. He would never tell Elizabeth that he’d never loved anyone like her, because that would be unfair to Robin. He’d loved her as much as he’d been able to and she’d loved him. There was no rhyme or reason why they’d fallen apart, but they’d had. But he’ll never regret taking that step with her and loving her. Loving Robin opened him up to the concept of a future and a full life and he’ll always treasure their friendship, he’s grateful it survived.
Elizabeth wasn’t his polar opposite like Robin had been; there had been no real walls to tear down, no extreme hurdles to get past. By the time he’d worked up the courage to ask her out on an actual date, she’d already received the go-ahead from Robin and was more than prepared to take their friendship to that level. She’d laughed when he’d asked her, wondering what had taken him so long. She’d seen what they could be together and now he can only hope that her vision of their life had meshed enough with his that she would say yes to this.
“Wealth and fame, he’s ignored, action is his reward,”
He’s not even sure how he’ll ask. If he’ll say pretty words or just blurt it out. He’s not sure which way would be better, or how she’d want it done. He very much wants this to be perfect for her. She’s been hurt so much before, by those that came before him and he’s worked very hard to make up for that, bringing her flowers when she doesn’t expect them, leaving presents around in the middle of the day for her to find and taking her out to fancy dinners for no reason at all. He’s gone overboard to make her feel special but now he wonders if this is the right moment. If asking her over their nightly conversation is really the best way or if he should plan something more elaborate.
“To him, life is a great big bang-up,”
He listens to the song wind down and shoves the ring back in his pocket. It’s better, he tells himself, to wait until the moment is absolutely perfect because if you’re lucky, you only get to do it once. She’s been proposed to many times before, he knows that but he wants this one to count, to be the last. And he wants to start their life together as perfectly as he can.
“Wherever there’s a hang-up, you’ll find the Spider-man!”
A few moments later, Elizabeth emerges from Cameron’s room and smiles at him, shoving her hair out of her face. Her eyes are on his and her smile is bright and he realizes that the look in her eyes, the affection and the warmth are all for him.
And that he doesn’t need elaborate plans, fancy food and elegant surroundings for this moment to be perfect. He stands and retrieves the box from his pocket. The moment is perfect because she’s there and he’s there. And that’s all they really needed.
“Elizabeth,” Patrick Drake begins, “there’s something I have to ask you…”
In August of 2006, Patrick was exposed to end-stage AIDs after operating on a patient. He was eventually found to be negative. This is set after the black out that month.
Inspiration
I wish I could tell you. I wrote a lot in 2006.
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January 10, 2007
“You always think somehow, there’s going to be a miracle.”
Robin Scorpio glanced over shoulder and smiled faintly as Elizabeth Spencer stepped up to her side. The two women both cast their eyes to the gravestone they stood over. “I guess you do. I mean, even though you know they don’t happen all that often and even when they do, they usually turn out wrong…it doesn’t stop you from believing in them.”
“Would you have still treated her if you’d known how it would turn out?” Elizabeth asked softly. “Knowing that…it would end this way?”
“That would be asking me…would I still have fallen in love with Stone if I’d known that he would die of AIDS, but before that, he’d give me the virus as well.” Robin sighed. “There are days my answer would be no. But most days, the answer is yes.” She met Elizabeth’s eyes. “Would you have still fallen for Lucky all those years ago if you’d known it would end like that?”
“And that’s assuming you have a choice in who you love,” Elizabeth murmured. “But you don’t. I think we each know that better than anyone.”
“If I had known that by treating April Gilbert, that my entire life and those of the people I love would change irrevocably, would I have still fought for her surgery?” Robin pursed her lips. “I suppose it really doesn’t matter what my answer is, does it?” She trailed her fingers restlessly over the stone, knelt on her knees and traced the letters. “Patrick would have fought for her anyway.”
“That’s true.” Elizabeth hesitated. “But even if he hadn’t…would you have?”
“Yes,” Robin stood. “Because I’m a doctor and my patient’s needs come first. They have to come first. But I would have thought twice. I would have hesitated.” She chuckled bitterly. “I suppose that doesn’t make me a very good doctor, does it?”
“Maybe not,” Elizabeth allowed, “but it makes you human.” She touched Robin’s shoulder. “And there’s no shame in that.”
“I’m glad April came into my life,” Robin said after another moment. “Not that Patrick…that what happened, happened. But that I met her. And that I was able to make a difference, at least in her life.”
She tugged her coat more tightly around her and glanced over her shoulder where two cars waited, two men stood. Far apart, seeing as neither liked the other but there they stood nonetheless. “It’s strange how much everything’s changed since that day in the OR.”
“You’re not kidding,” Elizabeth laughed, her hand straying down to the rounded belly that was covered by her black pea coat. “I never thought I’d be in this place.”
“Are you sorry?” Robin asked, turning the tables on Elizabeth. “Are you sorry you went to him?”
“There are days when I say yes,” Elizabeth nodded, echoing robin’s answer. “Days when I think this is all a mistake and that it can’t end any other way but badly. But most days, I’m glad. Because if nothing else, something good will come from it. And our friendship survived it.”
“Friendship,” Robin sighed heavily. “That’s what it all comes down to in the end, doesn’t it?”
Elizabeth looped an arm around the brunette’s shoulder and hugged her. “Yeah, I guess so. It’s not going to be easy, Robin. We’ve both chosen hard roads.” She glanced down. “Me with my being pregnant with the baby of a notorious criminal. And you…” her eyes softened. “If you need me, Robin, for anything. Night or day, sun or snow. Because I love him, too.”
Robin’s throat swelled. “I know,” she said thickly. “And there are days when I think I can’t possibly do this again. That I can’t…” she closed her eyes. “But then there are days when I look at myself and realize that I’m proof. Right?”
“Right.” Elizabeth took Robin’s hand in her free one. “And even it turns out for the worst, you’ll have had today. And tomorrow. And as many other days come after it.”
“There are moments when it doesn’t feel real,” Robin said slowly. “And that I will wake up and it have been a dream. That he’s not…that he didn’t test…” she sucked in a deep breath. “That it’s all okay.”
“And there are moments when I think that I couldn’t have possibly tested pregnant. That it was a nightmare and even if it was true, it could never be his child.”
“It helps to say it out loud. That I’m scared and that I wish I’d never met April Gilbert, because if I’d never met her, Patrick would be okay right now.”
“He will be okay,” Elizabeth said. “We’ll all be okay. We might have different definitions of okay, but, hey…it’s not a death sentence anymore.”
“But it can be.” Robin closed her eyes. “I know that I’m strong. I know that I have lived through so many awful things and still came out standing but I have to wonder…”
“Don’t we all have a breaking point?” Elizabeth nodded in sympathy. “If you feel yourself breaking, I’m here. I love you. You know that.”
“I know.” Robin exhaled on a shaky breath and smiled weakly. “I love you, too. You know that. I don’t think I could have survived this last month without you. Since the moment we found out, you’ve been so good to me–”
“Well, you never turned your back on me either,” Elizabeth pointed out. She tilted her head in the direction of the cars. “We should get back to them. Jason gets cranky if I’m out in the cold for very long. I think he picked it up from Sonny.”
The two women turned and arm in arm, they made their way to their separate cars. Robin stepped up to Patrick and touched his shoulder.
“How are you feeling?” Robin asked. “Did you want to go say goodbye–”
“I said what I needed to say at the hospital,” Patrick said. He tucked her arm in his. “Robin, I understand if you–”
“Don’t give me another out,” Robin interrupted. “I don’t need it or want it.” She opened the car door. “We should go.”
“Yeah, I definitely don’t need to spend any more time in a cemetery than I need to,” Patrick said darkly. “It won’t be more than a year before–” he stopped abruptly, seeing the stricken look that flashed across her face. “You’re right, let’s go.”
Jason hustled Elizabeth into the car but not before casting a concerned glance at Robin. “Is she okay?” he asked, once Elizabeth was settled inside.
Elizabeth rested one hand on her belly, feeling her daughter kicking and entwined her other with Jason’s. “No,” she admitted. “But then again, none of us is right?”
Another Patrick & Robin story set in the era of 2006, but not specifically tied to any story in particular.
Inspiration
I repeat: Patrick Drake and the dimples.
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It was supposed to be temporary. A temporary affair that would last until he was tired of her. And Patrick was sure that he would get tired of her. Despite the fact that whatever he shared with Robin was different than everything that had come before, he assumed that once he’d charmed her into bed, he’d only want to stay there for two, three weeks top.
Three weeks had turned into a month and without realizing it, a month turned into three. And pretty soon, everything about his life was different. He flirted less and he didn’t even realize that he hadn’t dated anyone else since the first time he’d slept with Robin. It didn’t even register that there was no one else that even remotely interested him on that level.
He didn’t notice that how much time he was spending in her apartment–even after she’d cleared first one drawer for his things and then two. It didn’t occur to him that he had more clothing at Robin’s apartment than in his hotel room and when he’d gotten his monthly hotel bill in September, he’d laughed at the fact that he’d not charged one extra expense to his room. He joked that he might as well move in and save money all together.
And eventually, that’s what happened, though neither of them commented on that fact when Patrick quietly gave his room up at the hotel in early October and his luggage joined hers in the hall closet or that they’d bought a second dresser and put it in her bedroom.
And when they’d resigned her lease and added his name, he remarked it made sense since he spent so much time at the apartment, he should be helping her out with the expenses. He didn’t call it living together and neither did she. They ignored the obvious to first the amusement of their family and friends and then to their dismay.
He didn’t really think about the fact that he wasn’t tired of her. And it more than the sex–though that was the best he’d ever had in his life. It was the after part of it. The waking up in the morning and arguing who would make the first pot of coffee and who would get the shower first. It was the way they each brought their work home–often doing their research together. It was the way she’d try to steal the remote when he wanted to watch hockey and she’d hide it until he kissed the location out of her.
He could spend an hour just watching her read a medical journal and enjoy the way her nose would wrinkle when she read something she didn’t like and the way the corner of her mouth would curve when she read something she agreed with.
He could ignore the fact that they had somehow entered an exclusive and committed relationship without intending to. And he could ignore that they’d been living together, even four months after he’d given up the hotel room. He could ignore all that because he couldn’t remember the last time life had felt this right. He had his career, which was going better than he could ever expected, he had his father, he even had a few friends. And he had this beautiful, intelligent and captivating woman that stimulated him, challenged him inside and outside the bedroom.
But something happened just after anniversary of the death of Dr. Tony Jones, which was commemorated in a very sweet memorial. He’d been called in from the service for a tricky surgery–a risky surgery to be more exact and it’d been a roaring success. He’d become one of only five surgeons worldwide to complete the surgery without losing the patient on the table and one of only three surgeons who didn’t lose the patient at all.
Job offers poured in from around the world and Patrick could no longer avoid placing a label on his life with Robin. He was being offered lucrative positions in hospitals he’d only dreamed of and he could basically write his ticket at any of them.
But none of the positions were in Port Charles and he knew if he wanted his career to continue ascending, he couldn’t stay at General Hospital. GH had a decent reputation but if he stayed, his career would be stalled.
He was studying the job offers when Robin came home from her shift and she sat across from him silently as he read through them a fifth time.
“The one from Toronto looks good,” she said after a long moment. “They’re offering you a lot of money and a really good position in the department.” A weak smile spread across her face. “And you know how you love hockey.”
“I was looking at the one at Columbia University Hospital.”
“In New York,” Robin nodded. “You could probably even get a place in your old neighborhood.”
New York was closer to Port Charles than any of the other offers, though if Patrick were asked, he’d never admit that’s why he was closer to taking that one than any of the others. Because then he’d have to admit that New York was close enough that Robin might consider going with him. Because then she’d still be close to her family.
“And you’d be close to your dad,” Robin continued. She bit her lip and looked around the apartment. His basketball was next to the front door, his sneakers tossed in front of the couch where he’d kicked them off after a game in the park the day before. It drove her crazy when he did that.
They had been creating a life together but how much of a life could it have been if neither of them were willing to admit it? It was better this way, better that Patrick would leave for his career because she didn’t think she could have survived him leaving on his own accord.
“And the research they do there is incredible,” Patrick found himself saying. “They do a lot of studies there, more than most of these other hospitals.”
“Mmm…” Robin nodded. “They were one of the hospitals I applied to get my grant for my drug therapy. They agreed but the hospital in Paris gave me more money.”
He didn’t look up at her and made sure to keep his eyes on the table in front of him as he spoke. “You should, ah, you should apply again.”
Robin blinked, but that was only reaction that showed physically. Inside her heart was racing and she was sure the palms of her hand were a little damp. “Are you…are you asking me to go with you?”
Patrick exhaled sharply and stood. He stalked towards the windows and yanked the curtains open to stare moodily out at the harbor. “I can’t–I can’t not accept any of these offers, Robin.”
“I know that,” Robin murmured, somewhat fascinated at his reaction to her question.
“It’s not that I don’t want to work at GH,” Patrick continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “But you know what my career means to me–”
“Patrick…” Robin stood and crossed to him. She put a hand on his chest and looked up at him with a tremulous smile. “Do you have any idea how proud I am of you? You’re a brilliant surgeon and it was only a matter of time before the rest of the world realized that.”
“Robin–”
“Of course you have to take one of these jobs,” Robin said. “If you had even thought about staying in Port Charles, I would have smacked you.” She licked her lips. “But I–I mean, we’ve–” She huffed impatiently. “Look, we’ve been dancing around this for months and I think–we can’t do that anymore.”
“I know.” He licked his bottom lip. “Robin, we’ve been…well it’s been…” He dragged a hand through his hair. Why was this so hard to say? Why couldn’t he make the words come out? “Look, we’re basically living together…”
“Patrick, we’re not basically doing anything. We’re living together,” Robin laughed nervously. “Your name is on my lease, too.”
“Right, yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “And I think–I mean we’re doing okay, right?”
Her lips curved into an amused smile. He was so adorable when he was flustered. “Yeah, we’re doing okay.”
“So–I mean, I don’t–I know you want to be close to your family. I get that. I kinda want to be close to my dad. So you know, New York is a good idea. It’s an hour by train and if there was an emergency, we could be back quickly–”
“Patrick,” Robin interrupted softly. “Are you asking me to go with you?”
“Ah, I mean if I go to New York, yeah–”
“No, Patrick,” Robin shook her head. “Are you asking me to go with you wherever you decide to take the job?”
He exhaled slowly and met her eyes…and saw her answer. “Will you go with me, no matter where I take the job?”
“Yes, I will go with you,” she replied softly. She leaned up and brushed her lips over his.
“But what about your job, your family?” Patrick said. He pulled back. “You have a career, too and it’s important to you and it’s important to me–”
“I can do my research pretty much anywhere.” Robin’s smiled deepened into a smirk. “And you know, you’re not the only one who gets job offers.” She crossed to her desk in the corner of the room and withdrew a stack of envelopes. “Let’s see how many match and pick where we want to live.”
This is set in the spring of 2006, when Patrick and Robin were still lightly flirting. They were so freaking cute, lol. This is set before the drama with Noah’s liver and the donation.
Inspiration
Robin and Patrick are my second favorite couple in GH history, and Patrick is a ride or die His dimples were the inspiration, let’s be real.
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Robin Scorpio stepped onto the elevator and pressed the button for the second basement where the vending machines were kept. She’d had a craving for a bag of M&Ms since she’d clocked in earlier that morning and there had finally been a break in her schedule.
Before the doors closed, a hand shot out, and Patrick Drake followed.
“And my day was going so well,” Robin breathed. She pressed her lips together and stared at the row of numbers above the doors, watching as ten became nine and nine became eight…
“If you keep making that face, eventually it will get stuck like that.” Patrick smirked at her but Robin resolutely kept her eyes on the numbers. Six became five and five became four.
Finally, she turned to him. “You really just don’t like rejection do you?” She tapped her fingers against the folder in her hands. “You keep asking me out, you keep…pursuing me…because I said no when everyone else says yes.” She shook her head and looked back at the numbers. Three became two and two become one.
“It’s possible,” Patrick allowed. “I’ve never really had to worry about it before.” He shrugged. “Why don’t you just prove yourself right and say yes?”
“Because it would have defeated the purpose in saying no in the first place,” Robin said staunchly. One become basement one and she waited for the doors to open.
As the elevator dinged, Patrick reached out and pressed the doors closed button. “And you only said no to prove a point so I don’t think either one of us is winning.”
“I didn’t know this was a contest,” Robin replied sweetly. “Would you please let me out of the elevator?”
“Fine.” Patrick released the button and the doors slid open. Robin started to step out and he snagged her arm. “But first…”
He swung her into the circle of his arms–her folder slid to the floor–and covered her mouth with his own. Her emotions whirled and skidded as she considered pulling away. Instead she let her eyes flutter shut, giving herself over to him.
After a long moment, during which the doors tried to close no less than three times, Patrick finally stepped back and released her. He nudged her out of the elevator so she was standing in the hallway. He stooped down and retrieved her folder from the floor. “I’ll just let you think about that for a while,” he said handing it out to her.
She took it almost numbly and after a second, she realized he was still in the elevator. “Isn’t this your floor?”
Patrick gave a smile at sent her pulse skipping again. “I’m due on the tenth floor actually. Catch you later, Dr. Scorpio.” He pressed the button to close the doors and his grin widened as they slid shut on her bewildered expression.
This is an episode tag to April 18, 2006. During the quarantine in February of 2006, Robin had been stunned to learn that her father, Robert, was still alive. He’d been believed dead in an explosion in 1991. Anna had returned from the dead in 2003, but she’d been given amnesia to explain her absence. Robert never lost his memory, but willingly stayed dead for over a decade. Robin and Robert struggled to rebuild their relationship at first.
This is also set in the early days of Robin and Patrick’s relationship, before they were official.
Inspiration
Around this time same, I had listened to a song by Lindsay Lohan (do not laugh, I will find out).
The foundation of Robin Soltini Scorpio’s life was that her parents had loved her above all else. Even after their death, their love was something she could wrap around her and use it to protect her from the harsh realities of her world.
And when she’d been granted a miracle with her mother’s return from the death, she’d never dared to think that her father could have survived. If he had, he would have returned to her.
It was the one certainty that Robin had allowed in her life.
I wait for the postman to bring me a letter
After the disastrous confrontation on the docks during which Robin reaffirmed the belief that if Robert Scorpio had ever loved her, he no longer did. He had been in town, had intended on leaving again without once letting her know he was there.
She hadn’t listened to his excuses, to his explanations. She didn’t want to hear them again. There would never be any words that would justify what he had done to her and to her memory of her beloved father.
She almost wished he’d stayed dead so that Robin could have clung to the illusion that he loved her.
I wait for the good Lord to make me feel better
Robin returned to the hospital and disappeared into the lab to catch up on various projects that had gone abandoned while she had dealt with Noah Drake’s transplant and the fall out that had occurred thereafter.
“Normal people go home after their shift is over.”
Robin glanced up at the familiar voice of her cousin Georgie. “Since when have I been normal?” she asked quietly.
“Since the twelfth of never,” Georgie said with a smile. “I wanted to let you know that your dad was in town today to extradite Luke back to the Markham Islands. I couldn’t come any earlier because there was a command performance at the mansion but I thought you should know.”
“Thanks, but I ran into him on the docks,” Robin said dismissively. She adjusted the slide under her microscope.
And I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders
“Ah.” Georgie slid her hands into the back of her pockets. “Sometimes I think about tracking down my real father and asking why he left me and Maxie.” She shrugged. “But then I realize I have Mac and you know what?”
“What?” Robin sighed. She made a note in her file.
“The lack isn’t in me or Maxie. It’s in him,” Georgie said.
A family in crisis that only grows older
“It must be nice,” Robin mused softly. “To have that certainty.” She smiled briefly at her cousin and Georgie was struck by the emptiness in the expression. “There’s always been so much about my life that’s unpredictable and uncontrollable but the one belief I had that I could never be shaken was that my father loved me.”
“He does, Robin,” Georgie said. “But—”
“I appreciate you coming by,” Robin interrupted. “But I really have work to do.”
Why’d you have to go
She avoided all contact for the rest of her shift and for the first time since returning to work after her suspension, Robin left the hospital when her shift ended.
She went home to her apartment and went straight to the closet in her room and dug out the cardboard box that she had lugged from place to place for fifteen years.
Why’d you have to go
It had stayed with her in her Uncle Mac’s house, in her dorm rooms at Yale and the Sorbonne. In the cottage and the penthouse, in her apartment in Paris. Robin had dragged it everywhere because she needed the comfort it gave her.
Why’d you have to go
She tugged it out to the living room and poured herself a glass of wine, bringing the bottle out to the room with her.
Tonight, Robin Scorpio was going to get good and drunk. And she was going to destroy the memories in this box because man contained within no longer existed and she was beginning to believe he never had.
Daughter to father, daughter to father
I am broken but I am hoping
Three glasses of wine later, Robin had sorted through hundreds of photos, photos of Robert Scorpio and Anne Devane, young and old. She had collected these after their deaths, had scoured through her mother’s possessions, her father’s and her uncle’s to put together a complete picture of the parents she’d only had for seven years.
She’d wanted to remember every inch of them.
Daughter to father, daughter to father
I am crying, a part of me is dying and
She set the family portraits aside—those of her with her parents, with her father, with her mother. She put those that depicted Anna Devane alone in a separate pile.
The ones of Robert Scorpio went into a pile of its own. Along with newspaper clippings of his exploits in Port Charles, of his adventures and the days when he’d saved the world. Ticket stubs to movies and plays he’d taken her to; the wedding announcement from the Port Charles Herald when her parents had remarried. Those all went into a pile in front of the fireplace.
These are, these are
The confessions of a broken heart
Robin was struggling with a piece of firewood when someone knocked at her door. “Go away!” she called, stumbling as she finally managed to get the log set up. She reached for the box of matches and was about to strike the first one when the door opened.
“Look, Scorpio, I don’t have time for your avoidance issues—” Patrick Drake broke off when he saw the scene before him. Robin, surrounded by hundreds of photographs and mementos, tear stains on her cheeks, a match in her hand. “Oh.”
“Go away,” Robin sighed, too tired to deal with him. “Whatever grievance you have can wait until tomorrow.”
Patrick set the patient’s file on the coffee table and nodded. “Sure. It’s not cold enough for a fire, you know.”
And I wear all your old clothes, your polo sweater
Robin smiled faintly. “It’s not for warmth. I’m just getting rid of some things.” She lit the match and tossed it into the fireplace. She sighed when it didn’t catch hold.
“Obviously, you’ve never set the mood before,” Patrick said. He took the matches from her. “First you need some douse the firewood with some gasoline or accelerant so the flames will catch hold.”
Robin frowned and then stared at her half full glass of wine. Patrick followed her stare and then looked at the half-empty bottle of wine. The scene was beginning to come together for him.
Robin tossed the wine onto the firewood. “Will that work, you think?”
Wordlessly, Patrick struck another match and tossed it into the fireplace. This time the flames caught hold and ignited. Robin sank to her knees and reached for the first photo to toss in.
Patrick kneeled across from her and stopped her. “Robin—what happened?”
I dream of another you
“Nothing.” Robin tugged her hand from his grasp and tossed the photo in. They both watched the flames eat away at Robert Scorpio’s handsome face as he was dressed in a suit for his best friend Luke Spencer’s wedding.
“Yeah, I’ll believe that.” Patrick watched as she tossed another photo in, this time one of a very young girl and Robert. He surmised the girl was Robin. When she went for a third photo, he took her hand. “Why burn them?”
“Because these are just memories,” Robin said softly. “Memories of a man I made up in my head.” She tossed the third one in. “My father came back.”
The one who would never (never)
Leave me alone to pick up the pieces
Duh, Patrick wanted to say but he refrained. He wasn’t one for emotional conversations but Robin had stood by him when his father was at death’s door, he could attempt at least to do the same for her. “I guess it didn’t go well.”
“You’re right.” Robin reached for the bottle of wine and poured herself another glass. “But you’re always right, aren’t you?”
Not falling the easy trap, Patrick didn’t answer. “What happened?”
“He was never going to tell me.” Robin tossed half the glass back in one gulp. “Never going to tell me he was back. He was going to get Luke and then take off again.”
Not for the first time, Patrick wished he could put Robert Scorpio through a wall. “I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about.” Robin took another photo, again of herself and her father. “He just confirmed what I’ve suspected all along.”
He watched her toss the photo in before asking, “What’s that?”
“I used to think I was just a poor judge of character,” Robin said instead. “That Sonny couldn’t stand by me because he was wrong or that Jason couldn’t love me enough because something was wrong with him. But now I know it’s not the people in my life.” Her empty eyes met his. “The lack is in me.”
A daddy to hold me, that’s what I needed
“No,” Patrick denied immediately. “Sonny and Jason are just idiots and your father sucks, Robin, but there is nothing wrong with you.”
She smiled, a twisted bitter smile. “It’s nice of you to say so but it’s okay because I understand now.” Another photo was eaten by the flames and the air in the apartment was beginning to smell acrid. “My mother loves me, I know that. But not quite enough to give up her adventurous life style.”
Another photo.
“Jason loved me, but never quite enough to stop sleeping with Carly or stop choosing her over me.”
Another photo.
“Sonny loved me, but only until I broke his rules to live by.”
Another photo.
“But my father—” Robin shook her head. “I thought I could always believe in that, always believe that when all else failed, I had my father’s love.”
She picked up a photo of herself and her father, taken shortly before the boat explosion. “But it seems I didn’t even have that.”
So why’d you have to go
He was out of his element here, he had no idea how to handle a woman in the midst of an emotional crisis, he’d never let himself get that close before. But it was beginning to dawn on Patrick that whatever he had with Robin was going to be completely different than what had come before.
“You have your uncle,” Patrick pointed out.
Robin sighed. “I do have my uncle. He’s my rock, the one person in my whole life I’ve ever been able to depend on.” She went to throw in another photo but Patrick took her hand.
“You’re upset right now but you shouldn’t burn anymore. You’ll only be sorry for it later.”
Robin shook her head. “No, I’ll be glad for it. I’ve been dragging this stupid box around for fifteen years because it was all I had of my parents, of our lives together. I thought what was inside was real, that it meant something to them—to him.” She ripped a photo in half and heaved them into the fire. “When I found my mother alive, I knew I’d been granted a miracle but I never once imagined my father was still alive too.”
“Why? I mean, wouldn’t it have been a logical assumption?”
She focused on him and the heartbreak in her eyes nearly broke him. “Because he loved me and he would have come back if he was alive. He never came back, so he was dead.”
Why’d you have to go
And then Robert Scorpio had shown up, alive and well without a trace of the amnesia that kept her mother from her. He could only imagine how that would have crushed her.
Before Robin could take another gulp of the wine, Patrick nipped the glass from her fingers and set it on the coffee table behind them. “Come here.”
Robin rolled her eyes but was too tired to fight Patrick as he pulled her towards him and set her in his lap. “I’m not that drunk,” she quipped.
“Ah, there’s the Dr. Scorpio I know and love,” Patrick returned. “Relax, no funny business.” He took a deep breath. “When my mother died and my father drowned himself in alcohol, I put away all the pictures of my parents. I put them in a box, like you, and I put them on a shelf. I took the box with me when I went to medical school and I would probably have them now if I hadn’t burned them one day.”
Robin closed her eyes and rested her cheek against his chest, she could feel his heart beating through his shirt. She felt safe and protected in his embrace and she wondered absently if she could stay here forever. “Why’d you burn them?”
“Because my father showed up to my med school graduation drunk and made a fool out of himself and of me.”
Why’d you have to go
There was a long silence and Robin swallowed. “I’m sorry.”
“I was so angry at him for destroying that day, a day that my mother had been waiting for her whole life and never got to see.” He cleared his throat and forced himself to go on. “I was angry at him for destroying the memory I’d had of him until my mother died—the strong doctor who never let anything fail him. He was my hero, Robin, and I felt betrayed when he proved himself to be anything but.”
The parallels in their situations were so strong that Robin was quiet for a long moment. “My father didn’t know about me until I was seven but once he did know, he made all my dreams come true. He was a wonderful father, he was so funny and he was kind and he made me smile all the time. He made me feel safe and loved. And I thought that he would always feel that way to me.”
Daughter to father, daughter to father
I don’t know you, but I still want to
“You opened my eyes and made me see my father for the flawed person that he is,” Patrick said. “Because of you, I started to understand how my father could have lost himself after my mother died and because of you, I know that I don’t have to lose out on having my dad around for the rest of my life. People make mistakes, Robin, and they’re not infallible.”
She smiled, he felt the movement of her lips against his chest. “It’s not fair using that against me.”
“Since when do I play fair?” Patrick replied lightly.
“I’m more angry at my father for taking that memory of him away than I am at him for not coming back,” Robin admitted. “I’m angry that the way I remember my father isn’t the way he is now and that it’s likely that I’m still seeing him through the eyes of a seven year old girl who’d always wanted a father.”
“It’s hard not to measure up to how people want to see us,” Patrick said after a moment. “Knowing that you could never be what they need to you to be, no matter how much you want to.”
Robin didn’t say anything for a long moment. “Are you just talking about my father?” she asked hesitantly.
“No,” Patrick admitted. “But that’s another topic for a different time. Robin, your father has his reasons for doing what he did. You can’t change them and you can’t go back in time to when he was your hero. But he’s alive now. I’d give anything to be able to see my mother again, to talk to her, even if she had played dead for the last decade.”
Robin exhaled shakily and he could feel her tears, warm and wet on his shirt. “I’m sorry, I must seem so awful. I’m lucky, I know I am. I got my parents back and that doesn’t happen to everyone and instead of being happy and grateful, I’m being ridiculous and pitying myself—”
“That’s not true,” Patrick said. “And even if it were, there’s no handbook for how you have to feel. You get to do whatever you want. You want to be angry, be angry. Be happy, be sad, but don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not allowed to feel that way.”
“Careful, Dr. Drake,” Robin said softly. “I might begin to think there’s a heart beneath the lothario exterior.”
“There wasn’t before you.”
Daughter to father, daughter to father
Tell me the truth, did you ever love me
Flustered, Robin extricated herself from Patrick’s arms and started to gather the photos together again. “I should put these in an album or something,” she said. “And—you’re right. I’m upset right now and I’ll kick myself for burning these later.” She smiled though. “He did love me once. Even if it’s not true now, he loved me once and that’s—that’s enough.”
“He still loves you, Robin,” Patrick said hesitantly. “He just doesn’t know how to show it. You don’t make it easy on a man to tell you how he feels.”
Robin met his eyes, startled but looked away almost immediately. She wasn’t ready for what was reflected back at her. She shoved a pile of photos into the cardboard box. “Thank you for this, Patrick. I—thank you.”
“Will you talk to your father?” Patrick asked.
She hesitated and glanced towards the phone. “I could call him, I guess.” She chewed on her lower lip. “He gave me his cell phone number before he left the first time.”
“You should call him,” Patrick advised. “You have a second chance, it’d be a shame to blow it.”
Cause these are, these are
The confessions of a broken heart
Later, after Patrick had gone and Robin had put the box back in her closet, she hesitantly dialed the number Robert had pressed in her hand the day he’d left the hospital two months ago.
“Scorpio.”
I love you,
Robin smiled briefly. He still answered the phone the same way. “Dad?”
Robert’s voice changed. “Robin—I didn’t expect to hear from you.”
“I’m angry at you, I don’t know how to change that,” Robin began painfully. “But I want to.”
I love you
“I’m sorry, Robin. I wish there were words—but the way you found out, it was not what I wanted. I thought a thousand times how it should go but that wasn’t it.”
I love you
Robin nodded, but he couldn’t see her. “Dad?”
“Yeah?”
I, I love you
“‘The biggest reason I’m angry is because I have to see you as an adult now and not just as my dad. As a human who makes mistakes and makes decision I don’t agree with. Part of me—part of me just wants you to be the hero I knew when I was a kid.”
Daughter to father, daughter to father
I don’t know you, but I still want to
“And I wish I could be that for you, sweetheart. I wish that more than anything in the world.”
“Will you come and see me?” Robin asked hesitantly. “When you get your case wrapped up?”
Daughter to father, daughter to father
Tell me the truth
“The very second it’s over, I’ll book a plane ticket,” Robert promised. “And I’ll take a real leave of absence. Robin, I love you. I want you to know that, even if you don’t believe it.”
She didn’t believe it but maybe she would one day.
“I love you, too, Dad,” she answered softly.
Did you ever love me
Did you ever love me
“I have to go now, but I’ll call you again. And we’ll talk right?” Robert said.
“Yeah, call me again and I promise to answer this time,” Robin replied.
These are
The confessions of a broken heart
When Robert Scorpio stepped out of the gate three months later to visit Robin, this time, they had the reunion he’d wanted. She flew into his arms and he picked her up off the ground and twirled in her in a circle before setting her back on her feet. “You look well rested,” he said. He touched her tanned face.
Robin bit her lip and glanced over her shoulder where Patrick waited for them. “I just came back from a weekend at Martha’s Vineyard.”
Robert narrowed his eyes. “Oh, really,” he remarked with deliberate irritation.
Because she’d secretly dreamed of how Robert would have treated Stone and Jason, Robin giggled. She’d always wanted to bring her boyfriend home to her father.
“I’m glad you came,” Robin said softly.
“I’m glad you called,” Robert answered. He kissed her forehead, picked up his duffle. “Let’s go meet Dr. Drake.”
