General Hospital - Scrubs Fic - Come Back 14/20
Originally posted by: tkfaf Jan 19 2008, 06:11 PM
A/N I know it has been WAY too long since I posted an update, but I finally got Chapter 14 together enough to post. I'm not sure how happy I am with it and it just didn't flow like I wanted it too, but at some point you just have to accept it and move on I guess. A bit of a warning though - since I have a lot going on all over the place, there will be a lot of mini-scenes in the next couple of chapters. Thank you again to Kristin and Amanda, both of whom have listened to me b*tch & moan for weeks now about this chapter. Poor Kristin had to beta read it one tiny piece at a time. Thank you both and thank you to all the readers who have posted encouraging messages and requests for updates. I hope you all like it as much as I loved reading your comments.
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Chapter 14
Robin kept her eyes closed, giving in completely to the warmth and love she felt from the arms wrapped around her. She didn’t dare move, even though it felt like she had been motionless for hours now. People had repeatedly commented on how stubborn she was and she was going to prove how right they were by locking herself in this very spot forever.
“No matter how much you want to control time, you can’t.” Robin tried to shut out her voice and bury herself deeper into the feel of his arms around her. ‘You can’t slow it down during the good times and you can’t speed up the bad times either.” She clenched her eyes shut trying not to let the woman’s words into her ears. “You can enjoy all the happy moments and let them carry you through the valleys until you reach the next hill.” Robin felt a tear escape from between her eyelids.
“What happened after Stone died?” Robin stubbornly refused to acknowledge the woman or her question. She tried to focus her mind on the feel arms around her and the feeling of safety they provided. “What happened Robin?” Obviously the woman was not going to let this go.
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
“Yes, you do.” More tears followed the path blazed by the first one.
“No, I don’t,” Robin insisted, refusing to give in to the growing uncertainty she was beginning to feel. As she opened her eyes, she could still feel the arms around her and hugged her own over them.
“You felt lost and adrift for a while, didn’t you?”
She looked out into the nearly cloudless sky as the woman continued to speak, but Robin no longer heard her words. Instead, the sky became a backdrop for an IMAX sized movie of her life starting with Stone’s death. There was her talking with Mac, people coming to or calling Sonny’s penthouse, the funeral, moving back in with Uncle Mac. The tears began to flow in a constant stream as her life continued to move past those first few months. She remembered how the bridge had become her refuge when things became overwhelming. It was the place where she felt Stone’s presence. She could tell him things that she was too scared to admit to anyone else; things that would disappoint Uncle Mac. Things the new Jason she was getting to know wouldn’t understand because of his head injury. Stone was gone and she was going to die young, so what was the point of even trying? She felt a sense of dread knowing what came next. Closing her eyes, she didn’t try to stop the image of herself sitting on the bridge, holding her bear. Jason had come to find her, she could see the surprise written so clearly on his face that she had been too numb that night to see. Once again she felt the hopeless despair and pain that had prompted her to stand on the edge and nearly leap off to end it all. Jason really had saved her life that night and, over the course of the next year, had shown her there was hope for the future. Despite what happened with Michael and Carly, which lead to the downfall of their relationship, she would always be grateful to Jason for that. She had run to Paris after Jason and Sonny had dismissed her. The time she spent there had given her heart time to heal while she threw herself into her studies and work at the Sorbonne.
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“It’s different for her than it was for me,” Stone said watching Robin stare off into the never ending sky.
“Stone, you know it’s not the same for everybody.”
“Yeah, but I knew I was dying. She doesn’t. Shouldn’t we tell her or escort her somewhere?”
“I can’t do that and neither can you,” she told him firmly and then turned to looked over at Robin. “She’s got to find her own path and make the decision on her own.”
“Isn’t there anything we can do to help her?”
“Why do you think we are here with her?”
“Love,” he said simply.
“So that’s the answer. We use the love because it’s the only path to understanding anything.”
“But why can’t she see or hear us?”
“Because she’s seeing what she needs to see right now.”
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Patrick sat by Robin’s bedside, listening to the whoosh of the respirator as it forced air into her lungs. He hardly noticed the beeping of the heart monitor, except when it became irregular, which was happening more often.
“How is she doing?” Patrick looked at Robin’s mother standing in the doorway and didn’t know if he was surprised to see her or not.
“Not very well,” he replied. She continued to stand in the doorway watching him and the details of her appearance began to register in his sluggish, sleep deprived brain. Her hair was falling out of the bun that hung loosely at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face sported of a couple fresh bruises, and her clothes looked like they had been stolen from the reject bin at the local thrift store.
“How are you doing?” She asked.
“Not much better than you I imagine.” He saw her almost smile and then step further into the room.
“Do you mind if I sit with her for a while?”
Quickly standing up, Patrick offered her the chair he had been sitting in and she sank into it with a weariness that he wouldn’t have usually associated with her. He also noticed that her left arm was resting in a sling that was very similar to the ones he had seen in the war movies he used to watch with his dad on Saturday afternoons as a kid.
“What happened to your arm?”
She waved her good hand dismissively. “Robert has never been known for smooth evacs, especially rushed ones, but it’s nothing that won’t heal.”
“Speaking of Robert, where is he?”
“He’s with Mac.” Anna tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear and a comfortable silence fell over them. After leaving the message on her voice mail, he had expected Anna to fly in like a hurricane at some point, giving orders, interrogating him and everyone else, but instead, she had come in more like a warm breeze. She was calmly stroking Robin’s hand and Patrick was surprised to find himself getting angry at her. How could she be so calm when her daughter could be dying? Couldn’t she see how serious Robin’s condition was?
“She’s going to be fine,” Anna said softly. Patrick saw the quiet confidence in her eyes. His mind told him that she couldn’t possibly know that, but the protest never made it past his lips. Despite what his medical knowledge told him, he wanted to believe that Anna had some way of looking into the future. Turning back to look at her daughter, Anna said, “there’s so much more for her to do and Robin isn’t one to leave things unfinished.”
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Stone sat down beside Robin on the fountain and took her hand in his. She looked at him, snapping out of whatever internal journey her mind had taken her on.
“Stone, I don’t understand what’s happening. You have to help me,” Robin pleaded.
“I think you understand more than you think,” he said, taking her hand and placing it over his heart. “When you would go to the bridge, I was there. Even though you couldn’t see me, I saw you and could hear all the things you said to me.” Tears filled her eyes again as he continued. “Love forms a bond, Robin, and it can’t ever be broken.”
“I can feel it,” she said, closing her eyes. “I can feel your love and Mac’s and Georgie’s and Maxie’s…” Her eyes flew open, filled with panic. “What about my family? What happens to them?”
Suddenly, they were standing together in the entryway of the Scorpio house. Both Robin and Stone looked around in surprise.
“Uncle Mac,” Robin called out. “I’m home!” The house was eerily quiet. “Uncle Mac…Georgie…Maxie?”
“I don’t think they’re here Robin,” Stone said following her into the living room. She continued to look around for any sign of her family.
“Where could they be?” Stone watched as she walked to the couch and sat down. Stone saw the newspaper on the coffee table before she did. She reached out, picking it up, and her mouth fell open at the front page headline - MEMORIAL FOR DR. ROBIN SCORPIO TODAY.
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I know it is kinda short, but now that I've gotten past this chapter, I hope the next one will be easier.
A/N I know it has been WAY too long since I posted an update, but I finally got Chapter 14 together enough to post. I'm not sure how happy I am with it and it just didn't flow like I wanted it too, but at some point you just have to accept it and move on I guess. A bit of a warning though - since I have a lot going on all over the place, there will be a lot of mini-scenes in the next couple of chapters. Thank you again to Kristin and Amanda, both of whom have listened to me b*tch & moan for weeks now about this chapter. Poor Kristin had to beta read it one tiny piece at a time. Thank you both and thank you to all the readers who have posted encouraging messages and requests for updates. I hope you all like it as much as I loved reading your comments.
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Chapter 14
Robin kept her eyes closed, giving in completely to the warmth and love she felt from the arms wrapped around her. She didn’t dare move, even though it felt like she had been motionless for hours now. People had repeatedly commented on how stubborn she was and she was going to prove how right they were by locking herself in this very spot forever.
“No matter how much you want to control time, you can’t.” Robin tried to shut out her voice and bury herself deeper into the feel of his arms around her. ‘You can’t slow it down during the good times and you can’t speed up the bad times either.” She clenched her eyes shut trying not to let the woman’s words into her ears. “You can enjoy all the happy moments and let them carry you through the valleys until you reach the next hill.” Robin felt a tear escape from between her eyelids.
“What happened after Stone died?” Robin stubbornly refused to acknowledge the woman or her question. She tried to focus her mind on the feel arms around her and the feeling of safety they provided. “What happened Robin?” Obviously the woman was not going to let this go.
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
“Yes, you do.” More tears followed the path blazed by the first one.
“No, I don’t,” Robin insisted, refusing to give in to the growing uncertainty she was beginning to feel. As she opened her eyes, she could still feel the arms around her and hugged her own over them.
“You felt lost and adrift for a while, didn’t you?”
She looked out into the nearly cloudless sky as the woman continued to speak, but Robin no longer heard her words. Instead, the sky became a backdrop for an IMAX sized movie of her life starting with Stone’s death. There was her talking with Mac, people coming to or calling Sonny’s penthouse, the funeral, moving back in with Uncle Mac. The tears began to flow in a constant stream as her life continued to move past those first few months. She remembered how the bridge had become her refuge when things became overwhelming. It was the place where she felt Stone’s presence. She could tell him things that she was too scared to admit to anyone else; things that would disappoint Uncle Mac. Things the new Jason she was getting to know wouldn’t understand because of his head injury. Stone was gone and she was going to die young, so what was the point of even trying? She felt a sense of dread knowing what came next. Closing her eyes, she didn’t try to stop the image of herself sitting on the bridge, holding her bear. Jason had come to find her, she could see the surprise written so clearly on his face that she had been too numb that night to see. Once again she felt the hopeless despair and pain that had prompted her to stand on the edge and nearly leap off to end it all. Jason really had saved her life that night and, over the course of the next year, had shown her there was hope for the future. Despite what happened with Michael and Carly, which lead to the downfall of their relationship, she would always be grateful to Jason for that. She had run to Paris after Jason and Sonny had dismissed her. The time she spent there had given her heart time to heal while she threw herself into her studies and work at the Sorbonne.
###################################################
“It’s different for her than it was for me,” Stone said watching Robin stare off into the never ending sky.
“Stone, you know it’s not the same for everybody.”
“Yeah, but I knew I was dying. She doesn’t. Shouldn’t we tell her or escort her somewhere?”
“I can’t do that and neither can you,” she told him firmly and then turned to looked over at Robin. “She’s got to find her own path and make the decision on her own.”
“Isn’t there anything we can do to help her?”
“Why do you think we are here with her?”
“Love,” he said simply.
“So that’s the answer. We use the love because it’s the only path to understanding anything.”
“But why can’t she see or hear us?”
“Because she’s seeing what she needs to see right now.”
#####################################################
Patrick sat by Robin’s bedside, listening to the whoosh of the respirator as it forced air into her lungs. He hardly noticed the beeping of the heart monitor, except when it became irregular, which was happening more often.
“How is she doing?” Patrick looked at Robin’s mother standing in the doorway and didn’t know if he was surprised to see her or not.
“Not very well,” he replied. She continued to stand in the doorway watching him and the details of her appearance began to register in his sluggish, sleep deprived brain. Her hair was falling out of the bun that hung loosely at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face sported of a couple fresh bruises, and her clothes looked like they had been stolen from the reject bin at the local thrift store.
“How are you doing?” She asked.
“Not much better than you I imagine.” He saw her almost smile and then step further into the room.
“Do you mind if I sit with her for a while?”
Quickly standing up, Patrick offered her the chair he had been sitting in and she sank into it with a weariness that he wouldn’t have usually associated with her. He also noticed that her left arm was resting in a sling that was very similar to the ones he had seen in the war movies he used to watch with his dad on Saturday afternoons as a kid.
“What happened to your arm?”
She waved her good hand dismissively. “Robert has never been known for smooth evacs, especially rushed ones, but it’s nothing that won’t heal.”
“Speaking of Robert, where is he?”
“He’s with Mac.” Anna tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear and a comfortable silence fell over them. After leaving the message on her voice mail, he had expected Anna to fly in like a hurricane at some point, giving orders, interrogating him and everyone else, but instead, she had come in more like a warm breeze. She was calmly stroking Robin’s hand and Patrick was surprised to find himself getting angry at her. How could she be so calm when her daughter could be dying? Couldn’t she see how serious Robin’s condition was?
“She’s going to be fine,” Anna said softly. Patrick saw the quiet confidence in her eyes. His mind told him that she couldn’t possibly know that, but the protest never made it past his lips. Despite what his medical knowledge told him, he wanted to believe that Anna had some way of looking into the future. Turning back to look at her daughter, Anna said, “there’s so much more for her to do and Robin isn’t one to leave things unfinished.”
####################################################
Stone sat down beside Robin on the fountain and took her hand in his. She looked at him, snapping out of whatever internal journey her mind had taken her on.
“Stone, I don’t understand what’s happening. You have to help me,” Robin pleaded.
“I think you understand more than you think,” he said, taking her hand and placing it over his heart. “When you would go to the bridge, I was there. Even though you couldn’t see me, I saw you and could hear all the things you said to me.” Tears filled her eyes again as he continued. “Love forms a bond, Robin, and it can’t ever be broken.”
“I can feel it,” she said, closing her eyes. “I can feel your love and Mac’s and Georgie’s and Maxie’s…” Her eyes flew open, filled with panic. “What about my family? What happens to them?”
Suddenly, they were standing together in the entryway of the Scorpio house. Both Robin and Stone looked around in surprise.
“Uncle Mac,” Robin called out. “I’m home!” The house was eerily quiet. “Uncle Mac…Georgie…Maxie?”
“I don’t think they’re here Robin,” Stone said following her into the living room. She continued to look around for any sign of her family.
“Where could they be?” Stone watched as she walked to the couch and sat down. Stone saw the newspaper on the coffee table before she did. She reached out, picking it up, and her mouth fell open at the front page headline - MEMORIAL FOR DR. ROBIN SCORPIO TODAY.
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I know it is kinda short, but now that I've gotten past this chapter, I hope the next one will be easier.