GH Fic: Chaos Theory - Chapter 27.1/?
Title: Chaos Theory
Author: Normative Jean
Fandom: General Hospital
Characters/Pairings: Robin, Patrick, Lulu, Sam, Anna, Robert, Mac, Faison, original characters; main pairing is Robin/Patrick, with Lulu/OC and Sam/OC later
Rating: PG-13 (for language, situations, and thematic elements)
Timeline: begins March '06, after the bet debacle. AU after that.
Summary: The epidemic was just a experiment, and it was deemed a failure; its mastermind is now targeting the only doctor he believes can make the experiment a success: Robin Scorpio. Robin finds herself trapped in the middle of an international mystery, on the run from an old family enemy she believed long dead. Patrick Drake is determined not to let anything mess up his chances at happiness with Robin, even if it means going along for the ride. Along with old friends and unexpected allies, can they keep Robin safe and stop a plot to take over the world?
Chapter 27, Part 1 - One Step Forward, Two steps Back
"Are you ready?" Sam asked as she and Lulu approached the Admit desk at the center of the emergency room.
Lulu nodded determinedly. "Yeah. Let's do this."
They walked up to the desk, and Sam fervently hoped that that their paper-thin story would remain intact long enough for them to get the information they needed.
"Excuse me," Sam said quietly to the nurse behind the desk. "Hi. My cousin and I came to see a friend who was brought in earlier, and I think we got turned around..."
The nurse didn't even look up from her computer. "Yes."
Sam blinked. "Yes," she repeated slowly. "And we were kind of hoping you could help us figure out where we are."
"You're in the emergency department."
Inhaling slowly, Sam counted to five before speaking again. Sure, she was trying to steal drugs from the hospital, but did the nurse really have to be making things so difficult? "Well, we already knew that," she replied, "But we're not sure where we went wrong to end up down here when we weren't before."
The nurse glanced up. "Where were your before?"
"Uh..." Sam hadn't anticipated that it would take so long to get a basic layout of the emergency room. Once they knew their way around, they could figure out where the drug lockers were most likely to be. "We were up in...I can't remember what that unit's called over here..."
"We were in the CCU," Lulu said smoothly. "I can't remember what they called it over here, but we were trying to find our way to the gift shop to pick up a get-well present." She smiled brightly, casting a quick look at Sam in surprise that she had stumbled so badly. "You know, one of those cute teddy bears, or maybe even some really nice body products. I mean, no offense," she said innocently, "But no one likes smelling like hospital very much."
The nurse made a noncommittal noise.
Lulu looked at Sam again, edginess starting to creep onto both their faces. They weren't getting what they needed fast enough, and their story would only hold up to so much scrutiny if they had to keep expanding on it. "Anyway," she said, "I think we must have gotten onto the wrong elevator, and we wound up here." She laughed nervously. "You know how stupid Americans can be sometimes."
"If I might ask," the nurse said, slowly standing up, "How did you manage to walk by all the bleeding and sick people without realizing you were in the wrong place? To get from anywhere in this hospital to the Admittance desk, you have to walk through the entire emergency department." She raised an eyebrow above her horn-rimmed glasses. "Well?"
Lulu and Sam looked at each other. Sam wasn't saying anything, so Lulu knew she would have to keep going. "Well, we realized that, but we still couldn't figure out where we needed to go to get back to where we were, so we thought that if we asked someone who worked here, they'd be able to help us." She looked pleadingly at the nurse, and hoped she was buying their story. "Please? We came over with some friends, and one them had a heart murmur that acted up. This is his first time traveling overseas, and we just wanted to do something nice for him, and now we're all lost!"
The nurse seemed to relent at the sight of tears welling in Lulu's eyes. "You want to walk down this hallway and make a left at the end. Go down about halfway until you see a set of double doors. Go through those and follow the hallway to the elevators. The shop's on the second floor, and Cardiac is on the fifth."
Lulu smiled in relief. "Thank you," she said gratefully, grabbing Sam's arm and moving away from the desk. "I think I know where we got turned around now. Okay, bye!" She tugged at Sam and the two of them hurried down the hall. Lulu glanced back when they rounded the corner to make sure the nurse was no longer watching them.
"What the hell happened back there?" she hissed at Sam.
Sam shrugged helplessly. "I don't...I panicked, okay? I haven't had to do anything like this in a really long time, and I just choked."
"I don't understand, though. You've been doing stuff like this since we got here."
"That was before, when there wasn't really any pressure," Sam replied. "Now we've got Bobby lying back there, shot and bleeding, and its..."
Lulu sighed. "Now its real." She gave the other woman a sympathetic look. "I get it."
Sam chuckled mirthlessly. "I guess this proves Spencers handle pressure better than Cassadines, huh?"
Shaking her head, Lulu replied, "You know, I think you're still holding your own. Now, come on," she said decisively. "If Patrick's instructions are right, supply lockers are usually kept between patient wings, out of the way of major department traffic."
Sam looked around them at the layout of the hospital. "You mean, like maybe at the end of this hallway?"
Lulu nodded. "I think that's right."
Motioning for Sam to follow, Lulu quickly stepped towards the end of the hallway. "There," she whispered, pointing at a locked door surrounded by glass-enclosed chain-link. "That's gotta be it." She juggled the door handle in frustration. "And...it's locked. Now what are we supposed to do?"
Sam looked at the door lock for a moment, then looked at Lulu, tilting her head sideways as she considered Lulu's head. "Give me a couple of your bobby pins."
"Huh?" Lulu frowned.
Sighing in frustration, Sam held out a hand. "I can pick the lock," she whispered insistently." But I don't have my toolkit with me. I just need a couple of pins to open the lock."
Wordlessly, Lulu reached up and pulled loose two pins from her hair, brushing the now-loose strands from her face as Sam made quick work of the lock. Lulu let out a low whistle of appreciation. "Nice. I'd say that more than makes up for you choking back there."
Sam rolled her eyes. "Yeah, thanks." She quietly opened the door and motioned for Lulu to follow her inside the supply room.
Lulu cast one final glance down the hallway to make sure they were alone and moved towards the door when something caught her eye. At the end of the hall sat a cart piled high with clean scrubs and a shelf filled with boxes of bandages. She ran over and grabbed a set of scrubs and dug around one of the drawers. When she found what she was looking for, she walked into the supply room with Sam, carefully closing the door behind them.
"Look at all of this," Sam breathed.
Lulu nodded. "Yeah. We've got to get through all of it pretty quickly to find what we need." She held something out for Sam. "Here. I grabbed it outside. I think its the best way to carry everything."
Sam looked at Lulu's hand. "Hey, isn't that a sling?"
"Yeah," Lulu said. "If you wear it, we can just hid everything we need to carry in there, an no one will be the wiser. You're just another patient in the ER."
"Wait, what? Why do I have to wear it?"
"So that I can just put the drugs and supplies in as I get them."
Sam sighed and dropped her head. "And the scrubs?"
"Well..." Lulu said. "I figured I can just throw them on over my clothes and look like an orderly or something escorting a patient."
Sam frowned. "Why can't I do that part?"
"Because I know what to look for in here, and it would look really weird for the patient to be leading the hospital employee around the hospital," Lulu replied logically. "Sling up, McCall."
Grumbling, Sam slipped the strap over her shoulder. "Fine, fine. Let's just grab what we need and get out of here."
Nodding, Lulu pulled out the list Patrick had given her and started walking around the supply room, looking for the drugs they needed to bring back. She and Sam fell into silence for a few minutes as Lulu pulled different vials off the shelves. She frowned several times when the dosages on the bottles didn't match up with what was on the list, so she took extras of each just to be safe. As Lulu placed more bottles in the sling, Sam adjusted the straps, allowing more room to carry everything.
"Good thinking, getting the bigger size," Sam said quietly. "We've got more room this way."
"Yeah," Lulu said distractedly, her mind wandering back over everything that had happened in the last few days. She looked over at Sam a few times, frowning in puzzlement, opening her mouth to say something, but quickly shutting it."
Sam looked at her. "What?"
"Hm? Oh, nothing," Lulu waved off dismissively.
"You looked like you wanted to say something."
"No I didn't."
Sam sighed. "Yes you did. And I think we're a little passed being coy by now, don't you think?"
Lulu exhaled. "It's nothing. Just..." She sighed and looked at Sam. "Can I ask you something?"
Sam smiled nervously. "Um...sure. Lulu, what's going on?"
"I just don't get it," Lulu said. "I mean, You're really nice and you're holding your own out here. So why aren't you like this back home?"
"Excuse me?" Sam stared at the other woman in shock. "What, am I bitchy and incompetent in Port Charles?"
Lulu shrugged. "Well, yeah. Kind of." Sam coughed incredulously. "Well, you are!" Lulu explained. "I mean, why are you so wrapped up in Jason Morgan and Sonny Corinthos? Those guys are all, 'Me Ugg, you Ugg's woman,'" Lulu imitated in a cave-man voice.
"Jason's not like that!" Sam protested. "He's just protective of the people he loves. That's a good thing."
Lulu snorted. "Please. Does he even talk in full sentences? Every time I see him, he's just kind of..." she waved her hand, looking for the right word. "...Staring."
"Jason is a wonderful man, Lulu," Sam said, a bit of an edge in her voice. "He's been there for me through some of the roughest times of my life when he didn't have to be. He took care of me when I didn't have anyone to turn to, and he's never asked for anything in return. You don't know him like I do, Lulu."
"Where is he now, then?" Lulu asked, fire suddenly in her eyes. "All Robin told you was that you had to get out of town. Why did you come with us instead of going to Jason and having him protect you?"
"Jason's been busy with--"
"He's been busy with other things," Lulu finished. "Face it. Your world turned upside down and you felt more comfortable asking Robin for help than asking Jason. Look," she said, grabbing Sam's hand. "You're my brother's sister, so that automatically makes me want to help you. And Spencers aren't exactly known for keeping our mouths shut. I'm sorry if you don't want to hear this, but someone needs to say it to you. Why the hell are you still with Jason?"
"Jason's a good man," she repeated softly. "And you'll never understand how much I owe him."
"Love isn't about quid pro quo," Lulu insisted. "And guys who think it is should get their asses kicked to the curb."
Sam lowered her eyes. "I think maybe we shouldn't talk about this anymore."
"Sam, I'm sorry--"
"Look," Sam replied tightly, pulling back her hand. "Let's just get the stuff and go back to Robin and Patrick, okay? The sooner we get out of here, the better."
"Sam..."
"What's. Next?"
Lulu sighed in defeat and looked at her list. "We just need a packet of blood. Patrick said that ERs usually keep a refrigerator with emergency O-negative down here, just in case."
Sam nodded, pushing Lulu's words out of her mind. "Right, then. let's go."
***
"Robin," Patrick said softly, trying to calm her down.
"No!" she whispered fiercely. "You wanted to talk about this, remember? I thought you didn't want me bottling things up?" Hot tears pooled in her eyes, but she fought them back. Why, why did he insist on talking about this now?
Patrick took a tentative step forward. "I know what I said."
He stopped walking, suddenly unsure how to proceed. He had been pushing her about this, although in that moment, Patrick couldn't for the life of him remember why. All he knew was that the moment Sam mentioned that more had gone on between Jason, Robin, and Carly than Luke had told him, the rest of the world had flashed out. Patrick had thought that at least this part of Robin's life he knew about and understood. Now, however, he was rudderless again. It was another potent reminder that he really knew nothing about this woman in whom he had become so invested.
"Luke didn't know about this?" Robin didn't say anything, and Patrick was afraid he had pushed her too far after everything else that had happened.
"I'm sure he's guessed," she finally said. "Carly blathers on enough, I'm sure most people in town have a pretty good idea of what happened."
"Then tell me," he said, almost pleading. "You told me once that if I had known what had happened between you and Carly that I would have popped open a beer to watch you two go at it." He took another step forward. "Let me prove you wrong."
Robin stared at him for a moment, and then let out a soft laugh. "God, I remember saying that," she said. "Was it really only a few weeks ago?"
Patrick smiled ruefully. "More important things came up," he replied. "And I hated that I diminished your feelings for Carly even just knowing the little bit that I did. So I don't think there's much chance I'll change back after hearing the rest."
Bobby snorted. "You hate that you 'diminished her feelings'? Nice bit of personality growth there." His comment went unheard by the room's other occupants.
"You don't think you'll 'change back'?" Robin repeated, unconsciously taking another step away from Patrick. "I don't know if you've noticed, but the whole town kisses Carly's butt like it produces little rays of sunshine." She rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself protectively. "And that's including the people who know what she did."
"Rays of sunshine?" Bobby muttered. "What the hell goes on in that town?"
Patrick swallowed, feeling another rolling wave of guilt for pursuing a friendship with the woman as a way to spite Robin. Since this whole mess had started, he'd noticed that he'd been feeling a lot of guilt for the things he had said and done to her. "I was an idiot. I freely admit that." He studiously ignored Bobby's choked laughter. "And I'd like to believe that I've shown you that you were wrong about me, too. So let me prove you wrong again."
Robin lowered her eyes. "You do take a disturbing amount of pleasure in proving me wrong, don't you?"
"What can I say?" Patrick asked lightly. "Everyone needs a hobby."
As quickly as her anger had started to lessen, Robin felt it quickly return. "A hobby?" she repeated slowly. "Prodding around in my past is your new hobby?"
"What?" Patrick blinked. "I didn't...we were just talking now!" He shook his head at the abrupt change. "What just happened?"
Robin wasn't listening. She paced to the other side of the room, her arms clenched around her middle, breaths coming in quick, shallow bursts. "I don't suppose it ever occurred to you that maybe I don't want to talk about the most humiliating time in my life? No," she laughed hollowly, "of course it wouldn't occur to you. You're incapable of picking up on other people's emotional cues."
"Hey!" Patrick shouted. "Don't try to make this about me! You may not want to talk about it, but you sure as hell need to talk about it!"
"Who are you to tell me what I need?" Robin shouted back.
"Please do no antagonize her!" Bobby hissed to Patrick. "Of all the times to pick this fight, you choose now? When I have a bullet in my arm?"
Patrick ignored Bobby and stalked towards Robin. "I have earned the right to tell you when you need something as badly as you need this," he returned. "I may not have a whole lot of experience in this area, but I'm pretty damn sure that being your boyfriend qualifies me to make this particular judgment call."
"Oh, don't even pretend that you have any idea about what I need," Robin snapped. "And for that matter, could you stop using the word 'boyfriend'? It sounds way too disturbing coming from you."
Patrick shook his head. "Nuh-uh. Sorry, babe. You don't get to try and make this about my issues. Right here, right now, we are talking about you, and we are having this conversation whether you like it or not!" He knew that yelling probably wouldn't solve the problem, but it it certainly made him feel better.
"This is not happening," Bobby moaned quietly as the room descend into chaos. "How could Lulu and Sam leave me alone here?"
"Fine!" Robin bit out, throwing her arms to her sides. It all felt like too much, suddenly. In her whole life, the walls around her had never felt like they were closing in as much as they were at that moment; her whole life, no matter how bad things had gotten, she had always had an escape route. The tiny exam room, their hiding place as they tried to keep Bobby alive and continue to run away from a global conspiracy set on taking over the world, Robin finally saw no way out except through Patrick, through her own fear and pain that she had tried to desperately to keep locked away for ten years. It felt like she had been running for so long, for too long. Robin was so tired of running.
"Fine," she repeated calmly, locking her eyes on Patrick's. If the only way out was through him, then fine. Robin had never liked complacency, and the base of her brain itched with the need to fight. "You get the Cliff's Notes version: Jason and I started dating after his accident. He needed someone who wouldn't judge him for no longer being the Golden Quartermaine, and I needed someone to remind me that every moment we have in life is precious. I wasn't ready to sleep with him yet, what with my last boyfriend dying of AIDS and all." She glared contemptuously at Patrick before continuing. "He started hanging out at Jake's, met a girl there, and without even exchanging names, started having sex with her there." Robin couldn't suppress the sick sense of satisfaction she got when she saw Patrick's eyes widen with realization.
"Yeah," Robin laughed caustically. "You got it. While I was dealing with what I thought was a death sentence with the help of my perfect, understanding new boyfriend, he was screwing Carly on the pool tables in Jake's."
Patrick said the first thing that popped into his mind. "And you took him back?!"
"Seriously," Bobby muttered, though neither doctor paid him any mind.
"He didn't know it was wrong," Robin said, the defense slipping seamlessly from her mouth as it had so many times in the past. "Carly, on the other hand, found out pretty quickly that Jason was dating me, and that Jason had brain damage. She didn't care, and kept sleeping with him until I found out and asked Jason to stop. Once he found out cheating was wrong, he stopped. But Carly had already wormed her way into his life permanently, and then she got pregnant and panicked..."
"And ran to Jason for help," Patrick finished, already knowing the rest of the story. He rubbed a hand over his mouth. "I didn't know."
Robin wrapped her arms around her midsection tightly, looking just off to Patrick's side. She couldn't look at him directly yet. "Carly never mentions that part, huh?"
"No. And I meant what I said back in Port Charles. If I had known about any of this, I never would have used her to get at you." He shook his head. "Why the hell did you work so hard to save him last year?"
"He was still an important person in my life, Patrick!" Robin snapped. "And I'm a doctor. I would never turn my back on him, especially not when he needed me the most."
"No, you just keep trailing after him, no matter what he did to you," Patrick said lowly, a spark of white hot anger shooting behind his eyes. "How long did you stay with him after being sucked into that lie? You're the most honest person I know, Robin! Believe me, I know damn well that you say whatever is on your mind." Was that horrible bet so really as long ago as it felt? "So how the hell could you justify living with that? How could you still love someone who would make you do that?"
"Don't you stand there and try to tell me how I should have lived my life! You have no idea what it was like for me back then!"
Patrick gritted his teeth, trying to keep his anger in check. "I would if you would just tell me!"
Bobby rubbed his good hand over his face. "Way to be stealthy here, guys," he mumbled. "Where the hell are Sam and Lulu?"
"Why is this so important to you" Robin pushed, fighting back hot tears. "Why now, why here of all places? What is so important about this that you can't just let it go?"
"Because," Patrick began, then stopped. He knew without question that once the pieces had fallen into place that he had felt a rush of pure venom for Jason Morgan, but Robin was right; why had he allowed the conversation to devolve so completely? Why was he pushing this?
He looked across the room at Robin, standing with her back against a wall and her arms crossed so tightly against her chest that he wondered how she could breathe. Her face was pale and tight, her eyes burning with unshed tears and a fire that he couldn't quite place. It was too hard for anger, it was more than embarrassment, it wasn't even hatred...
It was pride.
It hit him all at once, that dredging up this part of her history had been an assault on Robin's pride. Patrick sucked in a breathe, falling back against the counter. He ducked his head, hiding his eyes and buying a few moments to quiet the roaring inside his brain. God, how had he missed this? He had been pushing her and teasing her and fighting her for months now, and of all the things he had learned, he knew that Robin Scorpio's pride was both the strongest and most brittle thing in her life. She wrapped it around herself like a shield, like a wall; but he had seen it more than once serve as her fuel, allowing her to burn long enough and bright enough to accomplish impossible tasks. He knew that her pride had kept her going during the epidemic when other doctors around her had collapsed, he knew that it had nearly broken when she apologized to him for a mistake entirely of her own making in front of her worst enemy. It had held strong in the face of burying too many loved ones to count, and had even remained intact when she had been confronted with her own mortality. All those times her pride, her very spirit could have broke...but it hadn't.
Patrick knew that he had found the one point in her life when her pride had been shattered, and at that moment he was doing nothing except shoving it back in her face. He was getting far too familiar with feeling disappointed in himself for his own comfort.
"Who am I kidding?" Robin interrupted his thoughts, speaking bitterly to herself. "You always have to get your way, no matter who it hurts in the process."
"Hey, wait a second!" Patrick snapped, his internal debate silenced for the moment. "I get that this is a miserable topic for you, but how does that give you the right to attack me? And by the way, I do not hurt people just so I can get my own way!"
"Oh no?" Robin scoffed, pushing off from the wall and advancing towards him. The flashing in her eyes hadn't dimmed any, but the injury to her dignity that the memories brought had easily slipped behind the protection of attacking the current source of that pain. "You blackmailed me for a date, you threatened to physically remove me from the hospital during the epidemic--"
"Oh, forgive me for caring whether you lived or died!"
"--And now, here you are, steamrolling over what is clearly a sensitive topic for me, just so you can satisfy your own curiosity." She waved a hand towards Bobby, who was resolutely staring at the ceiling and avoiding eye contact with either person in the room. "Do you remember him? Bullet-in-arm guy? Our friend and one of the main reasons we're out here?"
"Hey, leave me out of this," Bobby muttered, knowing neither doctor was actually paying attention to him. He was getting to be good friends with the throbbing pain in his arm by this point.
"You could be taking care of him, but no," she continued, smirking triumphantly at Patrick. "You have to be attacking me because somehow a relationship I was in over ten years ago hurts your precious ego. I can't even figure out how this is relevant to us!"
"Oh," Patrick sneered. "So now there's an 'us.'" He shoved his hands to his hips, taking a defensive position. "Funny, but you only ever refer to our relationship when its convenient for you. Is that Jason's legacy for you? You learned how to selectively turn on and off your integrity?"
"You do not get to judge me or my pain!" Robin screamed.
"No, but you get to judge everybody else!" Patrick shot back. "Explain how that works."
"Getting captured by the DVX sounds so good right now," Bobby mused quietly. Looking over at the makeshift bandage on his arm, he idly wondered how quickly he could die of sepsis.
"You don't understand," she said bitterly, her voice low and tight. "You don't understand what its like to love someone so much that you would sacrifice everything that you are and that you believe in to make them happy. Can you honestly tell me you know what its like to love someone that much?"
Patrick's face darkened at the insinuation. "Oh right, I forgot. I'm just a shallow dog who only cares about the next adrenaline rush. Isn't that what you said back at your uncle's house?"
"And I apologized for that!" she hissed. "I've done that a lot with you, remember? That thing where you admit that you've done something wrong?"
"Right, yes, of course," Patrick said sarcastically. "And I especially love how you've so conveniently forgotten that I did the same damn thing with you!"
"I didn't say that! But you've been doing nothing this whole time except attacking someone I used to love and who was an incredibly important part of my life for a long time, so how am I supposed to react when--"
"Oh for God's sake, Robin!" he snapped. "When are you going to accept the idea that maybe, possibly, someone you care about and who actually cares about you isn't going to break your heart?"
Robin started, whatever she had been about to say momentarily forgotten in her shock. She didn't know what to make of Patrick's last statement, but she also wasn't ready to concede just yet; she had been suppressing everything since getting to London, and Patrick had provided a more than convenient outlet for her stress. "How dare you--"
"Guys, shut up!" Bobby hissed, trying to actually get their attention.
Both doctors ignored him, advancing on each other again. "Oh, the truth hurts, doesn't it?" Patrick mocked.
"Guys!" Bobby finally shouted. Robin and Patrick snapped around to face him, and he could see the anger still burning in their eyes, though now he wished it weren't directed at him. "You can fight later," he said instead, focusing on the immediate problem. "Someone's coming."
The anger melted away, replaced in a split-second by worry. "What do you mean?" Robin asked.
"You hear something?" Patrick added.
Bobby nodded, pressing the index finger of his good hand against his lips, then pointing at the door. Sure enough, all three heard the sound of someone jiggling the door handle.
Robin eased backwards, standing slightly in front of Patrick and Bobby, ready to protect them against whoever came through the door. A physical fight would be just as good an outlet for her anger, anyway.
The door opened...
Author: Normative Jean
Fandom: General Hospital
Characters/Pairings: Robin, Patrick, Lulu, Sam, Anna, Robert, Mac, Faison, original characters; main pairing is Robin/Patrick, with Lulu/OC and Sam/OC later
Rating: PG-13 (for language, situations, and thematic elements)
Timeline: begins March '06, after the bet debacle. AU after that.
Summary: The epidemic was just a experiment, and it was deemed a failure; its mastermind is now targeting the only doctor he believes can make the experiment a success: Robin Scorpio. Robin finds herself trapped in the middle of an international mystery, on the run from an old family enemy she believed long dead. Patrick Drake is determined not to let anything mess up his chances at happiness with Robin, even if it means going along for the ride. Along with old friends and unexpected allies, can they keep Robin safe and stop a plot to take over the world?
Chapter 27, Part 1 - One Step Forward, Two steps Back
"Are you ready?" Sam asked as she and Lulu approached the Admit desk at the center of the emergency room.
Lulu nodded determinedly. "Yeah. Let's do this."
They walked up to the desk, and Sam fervently hoped that that their paper-thin story would remain intact long enough for them to get the information they needed.
"Excuse me," Sam said quietly to the nurse behind the desk. "Hi. My cousin and I came to see a friend who was brought in earlier, and I think we got turned around..."
The nurse didn't even look up from her computer. "Yes."
Sam blinked. "Yes," she repeated slowly. "And we were kind of hoping you could help us figure out where we are."
"You're in the emergency department."
Inhaling slowly, Sam counted to five before speaking again. Sure, she was trying to steal drugs from the hospital, but did the nurse really have to be making things so difficult? "Well, we already knew that," she replied, "But we're not sure where we went wrong to end up down here when we weren't before."
The nurse glanced up. "Where were your before?"
"Uh..." Sam hadn't anticipated that it would take so long to get a basic layout of the emergency room. Once they knew their way around, they could figure out where the drug lockers were most likely to be. "We were up in...I can't remember what that unit's called over here..."
"We were in the CCU," Lulu said smoothly. "I can't remember what they called it over here, but we were trying to find our way to the gift shop to pick up a get-well present." She smiled brightly, casting a quick look at Sam in surprise that she had stumbled so badly. "You know, one of those cute teddy bears, or maybe even some really nice body products. I mean, no offense," she said innocently, "But no one likes smelling like hospital very much."
The nurse made a noncommittal noise.
Lulu looked at Sam again, edginess starting to creep onto both their faces. They weren't getting what they needed fast enough, and their story would only hold up to so much scrutiny if they had to keep expanding on it. "Anyway," she said, "I think we must have gotten onto the wrong elevator, and we wound up here." She laughed nervously. "You know how stupid Americans can be sometimes."
"If I might ask," the nurse said, slowly standing up, "How did you manage to walk by all the bleeding and sick people without realizing you were in the wrong place? To get from anywhere in this hospital to the Admittance desk, you have to walk through the entire emergency department." She raised an eyebrow above her horn-rimmed glasses. "Well?"
Lulu and Sam looked at each other. Sam wasn't saying anything, so Lulu knew she would have to keep going. "Well, we realized that, but we still couldn't figure out where we needed to go to get back to where we were, so we thought that if we asked someone who worked here, they'd be able to help us." She looked pleadingly at the nurse, and hoped she was buying their story. "Please? We came over with some friends, and one them had a heart murmur that acted up. This is his first time traveling overseas, and we just wanted to do something nice for him, and now we're all lost!"
The nurse seemed to relent at the sight of tears welling in Lulu's eyes. "You want to walk down this hallway and make a left at the end. Go down about halfway until you see a set of double doors. Go through those and follow the hallway to the elevators. The shop's on the second floor, and Cardiac is on the fifth."
Lulu smiled in relief. "Thank you," she said gratefully, grabbing Sam's arm and moving away from the desk. "I think I know where we got turned around now. Okay, bye!" She tugged at Sam and the two of them hurried down the hall. Lulu glanced back when they rounded the corner to make sure the nurse was no longer watching them.
"What the hell happened back there?" she hissed at Sam.
Sam shrugged helplessly. "I don't...I panicked, okay? I haven't had to do anything like this in a really long time, and I just choked."
"I don't understand, though. You've been doing stuff like this since we got here."
"That was before, when there wasn't really any pressure," Sam replied. "Now we've got Bobby lying back there, shot and bleeding, and its..."
Lulu sighed. "Now its real." She gave the other woman a sympathetic look. "I get it."
Sam chuckled mirthlessly. "I guess this proves Spencers handle pressure better than Cassadines, huh?"
Shaking her head, Lulu replied, "You know, I think you're still holding your own. Now, come on," she said decisively. "If Patrick's instructions are right, supply lockers are usually kept between patient wings, out of the way of major department traffic."
Sam looked around them at the layout of the hospital. "You mean, like maybe at the end of this hallway?"
Lulu nodded. "I think that's right."
Motioning for Sam to follow, Lulu quickly stepped towards the end of the hallway. "There," she whispered, pointing at a locked door surrounded by glass-enclosed chain-link. "That's gotta be it." She juggled the door handle in frustration. "And...it's locked. Now what are we supposed to do?"
Sam looked at the door lock for a moment, then looked at Lulu, tilting her head sideways as she considered Lulu's head. "Give me a couple of your bobby pins."
"Huh?" Lulu frowned.
Sighing in frustration, Sam held out a hand. "I can pick the lock," she whispered insistently." But I don't have my toolkit with me. I just need a couple of pins to open the lock."
Wordlessly, Lulu reached up and pulled loose two pins from her hair, brushing the now-loose strands from her face as Sam made quick work of the lock. Lulu let out a low whistle of appreciation. "Nice. I'd say that more than makes up for you choking back there."
Sam rolled her eyes. "Yeah, thanks." She quietly opened the door and motioned for Lulu to follow her inside the supply room.
Lulu cast one final glance down the hallway to make sure they were alone and moved towards the door when something caught her eye. At the end of the hall sat a cart piled high with clean scrubs and a shelf filled with boxes of bandages. She ran over and grabbed a set of scrubs and dug around one of the drawers. When she found what she was looking for, she walked into the supply room with Sam, carefully closing the door behind them.
"Look at all of this," Sam breathed.
Lulu nodded. "Yeah. We've got to get through all of it pretty quickly to find what we need." She held something out for Sam. "Here. I grabbed it outside. I think its the best way to carry everything."
Sam looked at Lulu's hand. "Hey, isn't that a sling?"
"Yeah," Lulu said. "If you wear it, we can just hid everything we need to carry in there, an no one will be the wiser. You're just another patient in the ER."
"Wait, what? Why do I have to wear it?"
"So that I can just put the drugs and supplies in as I get them."
Sam sighed and dropped her head. "And the scrubs?"
"Well..." Lulu said. "I figured I can just throw them on over my clothes and look like an orderly or something escorting a patient."
Sam frowned. "Why can't I do that part?"
"Because I know what to look for in here, and it would look really weird for the patient to be leading the hospital employee around the hospital," Lulu replied logically. "Sling up, McCall."
Grumbling, Sam slipped the strap over her shoulder. "Fine, fine. Let's just grab what we need and get out of here."
Nodding, Lulu pulled out the list Patrick had given her and started walking around the supply room, looking for the drugs they needed to bring back. She and Sam fell into silence for a few minutes as Lulu pulled different vials off the shelves. She frowned several times when the dosages on the bottles didn't match up with what was on the list, so she took extras of each just to be safe. As Lulu placed more bottles in the sling, Sam adjusted the straps, allowing more room to carry everything.
"Good thinking, getting the bigger size," Sam said quietly. "We've got more room this way."
"Yeah," Lulu said distractedly, her mind wandering back over everything that had happened in the last few days. She looked over at Sam a few times, frowning in puzzlement, opening her mouth to say something, but quickly shutting it."
Sam looked at her. "What?"
"Hm? Oh, nothing," Lulu waved off dismissively.
"You looked like you wanted to say something."
"No I didn't."
Sam sighed. "Yes you did. And I think we're a little passed being coy by now, don't you think?"
Lulu exhaled. "It's nothing. Just..." She sighed and looked at Sam. "Can I ask you something?"
Sam smiled nervously. "Um...sure. Lulu, what's going on?"
"I just don't get it," Lulu said. "I mean, You're really nice and you're holding your own out here. So why aren't you like this back home?"
"Excuse me?" Sam stared at the other woman in shock. "What, am I bitchy and incompetent in Port Charles?"
Lulu shrugged. "Well, yeah. Kind of." Sam coughed incredulously. "Well, you are!" Lulu explained. "I mean, why are you so wrapped up in Jason Morgan and Sonny Corinthos? Those guys are all, 'Me Ugg, you Ugg's woman,'" Lulu imitated in a cave-man voice.
"Jason's not like that!" Sam protested. "He's just protective of the people he loves. That's a good thing."
Lulu snorted. "Please. Does he even talk in full sentences? Every time I see him, he's just kind of..." she waved her hand, looking for the right word. "...Staring."
"Jason is a wonderful man, Lulu," Sam said, a bit of an edge in her voice. "He's been there for me through some of the roughest times of my life when he didn't have to be. He took care of me when I didn't have anyone to turn to, and he's never asked for anything in return. You don't know him like I do, Lulu."
"Where is he now, then?" Lulu asked, fire suddenly in her eyes. "All Robin told you was that you had to get out of town. Why did you come with us instead of going to Jason and having him protect you?"
"Jason's been busy with--"
"He's been busy with other things," Lulu finished. "Face it. Your world turned upside down and you felt more comfortable asking Robin for help than asking Jason. Look," she said, grabbing Sam's hand. "You're my brother's sister, so that automatically makes me want to help you. And Spencers aren't exactly known for keeping our mouths shut. I'm sorry if you don't want to hear this, but someone needs to say it to you. Why the hell are you still with Jason?"
"Jason's a good man," she repeated softly. "And you'll never understand how much I owe him."
"Love isn't about quid pro quo," Lulu insisted. "And guys who think it is should get their asses kicked to the curb."
Sam lowered her eyes. "I think maybe we shouldn't talk about this anymore."
"Sam, I'm sorry--"
"Look," Sam replied tightly, pulling back her hand. "Let's just get the stuff and go back to Robin and Patrick, okay? The sooner we get out of here, the better."
"Sam..."
"What's. Next?"
Lulu sighed in defeat and looked at her list. "We just need a packet of blood. Patrick said that ERs usually keep a refrigerator with emergency O-negative down here, just in case."
Sam nodded, pushing Lulu's words out of her mind. "Right, then. let's go."
***
"Robin," Patrick said softly, trying to calm her down.
"No!" she whispered fiercely. "You wanted to talk about this, remember? I thought you didn't want me bottling things up?" Hot tears pooled in her eyes, but she fought them back. Why, why did he insist on talking about this now?
Patrick took a tentative step forward. "I know what I said."
He stopped walking, suddenly unsure how to proceed. He had been pushing her about this, although in that moment, Patrick couldn't for the life of him remember why. All he knew was that the moment Sam mentioned that more had gone on between Jason, Robin, and Carly than Luke had told him, the rest of the world had flashed out. Patrick had thought that at least this part of Robin's life he knew about and understood. Now, however, he was rudderless again. It was another potent reminder that he really knew nothing about this woman in whom he had become so invested.
"Luke didn't know about this?" Robin didn't say anything, and Patrick was afraid he had pushed her too far after everything else that had happened.
"I'm sure he's guessed," she finally said. "Carly blathers on enough, I'm sure most people in town have a pretty good idea of what happened."
"Then tell me," he said, almost pleading. "You told me once that if I had known what had happened between you and Carly that I would have popped open a beer to watch you two go at it." He took another step forward. "Let me prove you wrong."
Robin stared at him for a moment, and then let out a soft laugh. "God, I remember saying that," she said. "Was it really only a few weeks ago?"
Patrick smiled ruefully. "More important things came up," he replied. "And I hated that I diminished your feelings for Carly even just knowing the little bit that I did. So I don't think there's much chance I'll change back after hearing the rest."
Bobby snorted. "You hate that you 'diminished her feelings'? Nice bit of personality growth there." His comment went unheard by the room's other occupants.
"You don't think you'll 'change back'?" Robin repeated, unconsciously taking another step away from Patrick. "I don't know if you've noticed, but the whole town kisses Carly's butt like it produces little rays of sunshine." She rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself protectively. "And that's including the people who know what she did."
"Rays of sunshine?" Bobby muttered. "What the hell goes on in that town?"
Patrick swallowed, feeling another rolling wave of guilt for pursuing a friendship with the woman as a way to spite Robin. Since this whole mess had started, he'd noticed that he'd been feeling a lot of guilt for the things he had said and done to her. "I was an idiot. I freely admit that." He studiously ignored Bobby's choked laughter. "And I'd like to believe that I've shown you that you were wrong about me, too. So let me prove you wrong again."
Robin lowered her eyes. "You do take a disturbing amount of pleasure in proving me wrong, don't you?"
"What can I say?" Patrick asked lightly. "Everyone needs a hobby."
As quickly as her anger had started to lessen, Robin felt it quickly return. "A hobby?" she repeated slowly. "Prodding around in my past is your new hobby?"
"What?" Patrick blinked. "I didn't...we were just talking now!" He shook his head at the abrupt change. "What just happened?"
Robin wasn't listening. She paced to the other side of the room, her arms clenched around her middle, breaths coming in quick, shallow bursts. "I don't suppose it ever occurred to you that maybe I don't want to talk about the most humiliating time in my life? No," she laughed hollowly, "of course it wouldn't occur to you. You're incapable of picking up on other people's emotional cues."
"Hey!" Patrick shouted. "Don't try to make this about me! You may not want to talk about it, but you sure as hell need to talk about it!"
"Who are you to tell me what I need?" Robin shouted back.
"Please do no antagonize her!" Bobby hissed to Patrick. "Of all the times to pick this fight, you choose now? When I have a bullet in my arm?"
Patrick ignored Bobby and stalked towards Robin. "I have earned the right to tell you when you need something as badly as you need this," he returned. "I may not have a whole lot of experience in this area, but I'm pretty damn sure that being your boyfriend qualifies me to make this particular judgment call."
"Oh, don't even pretend that you have any idea about what I need," Robin snapped. "And for that matter, could you stop using the word 'boyfriend'? It sounds way too disturbing coming from you."
Patrick shook his head. "Nuh-uh. Sorry, babe. You don't get to try and make this about my issues. Right here, right now, we are talking about you, and we are having this conversation whether you like it or not!" He knew that yelling probably wouldn't solve the problem, but it it certainly made him feel better.
"This is not happening," Bobby moaned quietly as the room descend into chaos. "How could Lulu and Sam leave me alone here?"
"Fine!" Robin bit out, throwing her arms to her sides. It all felt like too much, suddenly. In her whole life, the walls around her had never felt like they were closing in as much as they were at that moment; her whole life, no matter how bad things had gotten, she had always had an escape route. The tiny exam room, their hiding place as they tried to keep Bobby alive and continue to run away from a global conspiracy set on taking over the world, Robin finally saw no way out except through Patrick, through her own fear and pain that she had tried to desperately to keep locked away for ten years. It felt like she had been running for so long, for too long. Robin was so tired of running.
"Fine," she repeated calmly, locking her eyes on Patrick's. If the only way out was through him, then fine. Robin had never liked complacency, and the base of her brain itched with the need to fight. "You get the Cliff's Notes version: Jason and I started dating after his accident. He needed someone who wouldn't judge him for no longer being the Golden Quartermaine, and I needed someone to remind me that every moment we have in life is precious. I wasn't ready to sleep with him yet, what with my last boyfriend dying of AIDS and all." She glared contemptuously at Patrick before continuing. "He started hanging out at Jake's, met a girl there, and without even exchanging names, started having sex with her there." Robin couldn't suppress the sick sense of satisfaction she got when she saw Patrick's eyes widen with realization.
"Yeah," Robin laughed caustically. "You got it. While I was dealing with what I thought was a death sentence with the help of my perfect, understanding new boyfriend, he was screwing Carly on the pool tables in Jake's."
Patrick said the first thing that popped into his mind. "And you took him back?!"
"Seriously," Bobby muttered, though neither doctor paid him any mind.
"He didn't know it was wrong," Robin said, the defense slipping seamlessly from her mouth as it had so many times in the past. "Carly, on the other hand, found out pretty quickly that Jason was dating me, and that Jason had brain damage. She didn't care, and kept sleeping with him until I found out and asked Jason to stop. Once he found out cheating was wrong, he stopped. But Carly had already wormed her way into his life permanently, and then she got pregnant and panicked..."
"And ran to Jason for help," Patrick finished, already knowing the rest of the story. He rubbed a hand over his mouth. "I didn't know."
Robin wrapped her arms around her midsection tightly, looking just off to Patrick's side. She couldn't look at him directly yet. "Carly never mentions that part, huh?"
"No. And I meant what I said back in Port Charles. If I had known about any of this, I never would have used her to get at you." He shook his head. "Why the hell did you work so hard to save him last year?"
"He was still an important person in my life, Patrick!" Robin snapped. "And I'm a doctor. I would never turn my back on him, especially not when he needed me the most."
"No, you just keep trailing after him, no matter what he did to you," Patrick said lowly, a spark of white hot anger shooting behind his eyes. "How long did you stay with him after being sucked into that lie? You're the most honest person I know, Robin! Believe me, I know damn well that you say whatever is on your mind." Was that horrible bet so really as long ago as it felt? "So how the hell could you justify living with that? How could you still love someone who would make you do that?"
"Don't you stand there and try to tell me how I should have lived my life! You have no idea what it was like for me back then!"
Patrick gritted his teeth, trying to keep his anger in check. "I would if you would just tell me!"
Bobby rubbed his good hand over his face. "Way to be stealthy here, guys," he mumbled. "Where the hell are Sam and Lulu?"
"Why is this so important to you" Robin pushed, fighting back hot tears. "Why now, why here of all places? What is so important about this that you can't just let it go?"
"Because," Patrick began, then stopped. He knew without question that once the pieces had fallen into place that he had felt a rush of pure venom for Jason Morgan, but Robin was right; why had he allowed the conversation to devolve so completely? Why was he pushing this?
He looked across the room at Robin, standing with her back against a wall and her arms crossed so tightly against her chest that he wondered how she could breathe. Her face was pale and tight, her eyes burning with unshed tears and a fire that he couldn't quite place. It was too hard for anger, it was more than embarrassment, it wasn't even hatred...
It was pride.
It hit him all at once, that dredging up this part of her history had been an assault on Robin's pride. Patrick sucked in a breathe, falling back against the counter. He ducked his head, hiding his eyes and buying a few moments to quiet the roaring inside his brain. God, how had he missed this? He had been pushing her and teasing her and fighting her for months now, and of all the things he had learned, he knew that Robin Scorpio's pride was both the strongest and most brittle thing in her life. She wrapped it around herself like a shield, like a wall; but he had seen it more than once serve as her fuel, allowing her to burn long enough and bright enough to accomplish impossible tasks. He knew that her pride had kept her going during the epidemic when other doctors around her had collapsed, he knew that it had nearly broken when she apologized to him for a mistake entirely of her own making in front of her worst enemy. It had held strong in the face of burying too many loved ones to count, and had even remained intact when she had been confronted with her own mortality. All those times her pride, her very spirit could have broke...but it hadn't.
Patrick knew that he had found the one point in her life when her pride had been shattered, and at that moment he was doing nothing except shoving it back in her face. He was getting far too familiar with feeling disappointed in himself for his own comfort.
"Who am I kidding?" Robin interrupted his thoughts, speaking bitterly to herself. "You always have to get your way, no matter who it hurts in the process."
"Hey, wait a second!" Patrick snapped, his internal debate silenced for the moment. "I get that this is a miserable topic for you, but how does that give you the right to attack me? And by the way, I do not hurt people just so I can get my own way!"
"Oh no?" Robin scoffed, pushing off from the wall and advancing towards him. The flashing in her eyes hadn't dimmed any, but the injury to her dignity that the memories brought had easily slipped behind the protection of attacking the current source of that pain. "You blackmailed me for a date, you threatened to physically remove me from the hospital during the epidemic--"
"Oh, forgive me for caring whether you lived or died!"
"--And now, here you are, steamrolling over what is clearly a sensitive topic for me, just so you can satisfy your own curiosity." She waved a hand towards Bobby, who was resolutely staring at the ceiling and avoiding eye contact with either person in the room. "Do you remember him? Bullet-in-arm guy? Our friend and one of the main reasons we're out here?"
"Hey, leave me out of this," Bobby muttered, knowing neither doctor was actually paying attention to him. He was getting to be good friends with the throbbing pain in his arm by this point.
"You could be taking care of him, but no," she continued, smirking triumphantly at Patrick. "You have to be attacking me because somehow a relationship I was in over ten years ago hurts your precious ego. I can't even figure out how this is relevant to us!"
"Oh," Patrick sneered. "So now there's an 'us.'" He shoved his hands to his hips, taking a defensive position. "Funny, but you only ever refer to our relationship when its convenient for you. Is that Jason's legacy for you? You learned how to selectively turn on and off your integrity?"
"You do not get to judge me or my pain!" Robin screamed.
"No, but you get to judge everybody else!" Patrick shot back. "Explain how that works."
"Getting captured by the DVX sounds so good right now," Bobby mused quietly. Looking over at the makeshift bandage on his arm, he idly wondered how quickly he could die of sepsis.
"You don't understand," she said bitterly, her voice low and tight. "You don't understand what its like to love someone so much that you would sacrifice everything that you are and that you believe in to make them happy. Can you honestly tell me you know what its like to love someone that much?"
Patrick's face darkened at the insinuation. "Oh right, I forgot. I'm just a shallow dog who only cares about the next adrenaline rush. Isn't that what you said back at your uncle's house?"
"And I apologized for that!" she hissed. "I've done that a lot with you, remember? That thing where you admit that you've done something wrong?"
"Right, yes, of course," Patrick said sarcastically. "And I especially love how you've so conveniently forgotten that I did the same damn thing with you!"
"I didn't say that! But you've been doing nothing this whole time except attacking someone I used to love and who was an incredibly important part of my life for a long time, so how am I supposed to react when--"
"Oh for God's sake, Robin!" he snapped. "When are you going to accept the idea that maybe, possibly, someone you care about and who actually cares about you isn't going to break your heart?"
Robin started, whatever she had been about to say momentarily forgotten in her shock. She didn't know what to make of Patrick's last statement, but she also wasn't ready to concede just yet; she had been suppressing everything since getting to London, and Patrick had provided a more than convenient outlet for her stress. "How dare you--"
"Guys, shut up!" Bobby hissed, trying to actually get their attention.
Both doctors ignored him, advancing on each other again. "Oh, the truth hurts, doesn't it?" Patrick mocked.
"Guys!" Bobby finally shouted. Robin and Patrick snapped around to face him, and he could see the anger still burning in their eyes, though now he wished it weren't directed at him. "You can fight later," he said instead, focusing on the immediate problem. "Someone's coming."
The anger melted away, replaced in a split-second by worry. "What do you mean?" Robin asked.
"You hear something?" Patrick added.
Bobby nodded, pressing the index finger of his good hand against his lips, then pointing at the door. Sure enough, all three heard the sound of someone jiggling the door handle.
Robin eased backwards, standing slightly in front of Patrick and Bobby, ready to protect them against whoever came through the door. A physical fight would be just as good an outlet for her anger, anyway.
The door opened...