31A/N: This is an A/U version after Patrick has tested negative for HIV. He and Robin are in love and living together in a committed relationship.
The usual disclaimers apply as I don't own anything GH related.
Chapter 1
Robin woke up in her bed and noticed the warmth that had been coming from the other side of the bed where Patrick slept was no longer there. She looked around and noticed a note on her pillow. She picked it up quickly and looked at it: Had an early surgery. See you at work later. Love, Patrick. She smiled lovingly as she ran her fingers over the penmanship on the paper thinking about the man she loved so dearly. She turned over in bed and noticed a tray on her nightstand with her pills laid out and a glass of juice with a muffin. Robin felt the tears come to her eyes as she sat up and reached over to take her morning protocol.
She remembered back to a few months ago when she and Patrick had decided to live together that he had made a specific point to familiarize himself with the medications she took. After that, every morning he laid out her protocol for her along with something to eat and drink, because he knew that with some of her meds she needed to have a bite to eat to keep the nausea at bay. She had known before he started doing that that she was in love with him, but if she had had any doubts at that time, they had all been erased in a heartbeat. She thought about a myriad of other times when he would show his concern for her health in little ways like not getting overtired and run down, eating healthy meals, getting enough exercise, and trying to keep her away from people who were clearly sick and contagious. He had shown his concern for her, but had mastered the art of not being too overbearing or overprotective with her.
Robin remembered one time in particular when she had caught the flu bug from a patient in the hospital. She had woke up that morning and had started throwing up right from the beginning. Patrick had expressed his concern for her, but she had sent him on to work, as he had two surgeries scheduled. He had kept in contact with her all day, but she had told him she was fine, even though she had clearly not been. He had seen through her façade and managed to make it home fairly early that evening where he found her asleep on the bathroom floor, as she had been too exhausted to get up. He had carried her to the living room, checked her out, and seeing that she was dehydrated, he had quickly gotten her dressed and taken her to the hospital. There they checked her viral load count which was thankfully fine, rehydrated her with IV fluids, and given her an anti-nausea medication to stop the dry-heaving she had been doing. Patrick had been very attentive and had stayed with her during her short hospital stay, sticking to her bedside like glue, while she dozed fitfully. Luckily, she had only had to stay there a few hours and had been able to go back home, but she was very glad that Patrick had been there to take care of her, because she didn't know whether or not she would have even had the energy to get to a phone if he had not been there. It was a perfect example of how Patrick let her try to get past something, but if it became too much to handle, he took over and saw that everything was taken care of. Sometimes, it was just so nice to have someone in your life that you can count on in that way, she thought with a smile.
Robin got out of bed and went to take her morning shower to get ready for her busy day at work. By this time, the whole hospital knew about the hot and heavy love affair that she and Patrick had. It was pretty obvious, she thought, they couldn't keep their hands off of each other and of course, since they had moved in together, they had the same address and phone number, which everyone knew about. She loved knowing that they were both "off the market" so to speak.
They had gotten so much closer emotionally after Patrick had his HIV scare, that by the time the test came back negative, there was no way either of them would have let the other go. Robin had gone through a short phase where she had tried to push him away because she was determined for him to never have another scare like that again. She knew that with her around him that possibility always existed, but Patrick would have none of that nonsense he said, and made it quite clear with that they would be together for the long haul. Oh, how she loved that man, she thought.
Robin remembered when she had even brought up to him the fact that if they stayed in a committed relationship with her for any length of time, he would probably end up seeing her die from AIDS. She pointed out to him how hard he had taken his mother's death and asked him if he could deal with it when the time came. Patrick had been understandably upset even thinking about that eventuality, but he had assured her that he could handle it, that he wanted whatever time with her that he could have and he wasn't taking no for an answer. He had stressed that he would do whatever was necessary to help ensure that her death was a long way off and that all she had to do was ask and he would help. Robin smiled as a tear came to her eye… just another thing to love about Patrick, she thought.
She finished up her shower and started to dress remembering how it felt when he put his hands on her. It was the most glorious thing she could ever imagine. Making love with him was the best she ever had and they both had ravenous appetites in that area. As her mind wandered while she did her morning ritual, she thought about the day ahead. Patrick had said that they were going to have a romantic date tonight, but he had been unusually quiet and distant about the actual facts of this date. She was a bit stymied by his bizarre behaviour as he was usually so upfront about everything. If he had a problem with something, you could be assured he would tell you almost immediately what it was that was bothering him. There was no pretense and it was just another thing that she loved about him, which is why his behaviour regarding the date was so unusual. She couldn't wait to find out what he had up his sleeve for this evening.
Robin took a cab to the hospital on that cold February morning as she knew they would be taking Patrick's car when they left that evening. As she stepped off the elevator onto the 10th floor, she saw her boyfriend talking to Epiphany at the nurse's desk. They seemed to be having a rather heated conversation, but that wasn't unusual when it came to Epiphany. Even thought she was rather brusque, everyone knew she had a heart of gold and really only wanted what was best for the patients. Epiphany, as usual, was letting Patrick know in no uncertain terms what she thought the patient needed and Patrick was shaking his head.
"That boy needs to get stuff straightened out with his fiancée," Epiphany said, while Patrick shook his head.
"No, no, he just got out of surgery. He needs to be resting and not getting excited," said Patrick, his face starting to get red at Epiphany's insistence.
"Once he gets his relationship straightened out, he will be able to rest," said Epiphany. "Just look at him, he is practically struggling to get out of bed so he can go and see her," she said, as she was shaking a finger in front of Patrick's face. "Mark my words, if you let him see her, they will straighten everything out and then you will have your model patient," Epiphany stated vehemently.
"Epiphany…" said Patrick warningly, "don't you dare go against my orders and let Mr. Martin's fiancée go see him. The last time they saw each other his blood pressure went through the roof and he just can't handle that right now."
Robin slowly walked up to them, smiling as she did and putting a small hand over Patrick's hand resting on the counter. "Now, is there a way I can help?" she purred.
"If you can knock some sense into this boy, maybe," said Epiphany, walking away in a huff. "I'm still not done with you yet," stated Epiphany over her shoulder as she went to the end of the counter to attend to another chart.
"Patrick, what is going on here?" asked Robin. "You and Epiphany usually don't fight like that."
"She wants to let Martin, in Room 1007, see his fiancée, who got him really upset after he woke up from surgery yesterday. The problem is his blood pressure rose so much from that encounter that we had to sedate him and escort his fiancée out of his room. Right now, he's just too weak to have another episode like that, however, he's insisting that unless we let his fiancée in to see him that he will leave against medical authorization. He's very distraught, as is his fiancée," said Patrick pointing to the waiting room, where Robin could see a woman crying. "Truthfully, I don't know what to do. Do you have any ideas?" he asked Robin hopefully, knowing that she was a true peacemaker, if ever there was one.
"Do you know what they were arguing about yesterday?" asked Robin, hoping that maybe that would give her a clue about what to do in this situation.
"No, I just know that whatever it was it got the nurses scurrying in there to calm the situation. They called me and I ended up ordering the sedative for Mr. Martin," he said.
"Ok, why don't you let me go talk to his fiancée in the waiting room and maybe I can see if there's something I can do to help," said Robin hopefully. At Patrick's nod, she reached up to give him a quick kiss on the lips and then hurried to the waiting room. As she entered, the woman rose to her feet and asked, "Can you tell me how Brandon is, please? I really want to see him, too, if that is possible."
Robin sat beside the woman and held out her hand, saying, "I'm Dr. Scorpio."
The woman sat back down and shook her hand, saying, "My name is Heidi Scranton, Brandon Martin's fiancée."
Robin smiled and said, "How are you doing today?"
The woman quietly stated, "Fine."
"I guess there appears to have been a problem yesterday in Mr. Martin's room," Robin ventured. At the woman's nod, Robin said, "Mr. Martin is apparently insistent on seeing you, but after the problem yesterday, Dr. Drake is not convinced that he won't take a turn for the worse if his blood pressure becomes too elevated – like it did yesterday."
The woman looked sadly at her, "I won't upset Brandon, I promise. I just want to solve the situation, not to make it worse. We are in love and I told him yesterday that I was pregnant. We were not expecting a baby, so it came as quite a surprise and he initially was angry about it, but we quickly got over it," she said as the words just started to come tumbling out of her mouth as they so often did with whomever Robin was talking to. She noted, as she had so many other times, that people just seemed to spill their guts when she was around.
Robin nodded her head, "And the monitors started going off when he got angry about the baby?" she asked in understanding.
"Yes, but by the time Dr. Drake came in the room, he was starting to calm down, but Dr. Drake wasn't taking no for an answer and they haven't let me in to see him once since then," she said forlornly.
Robin patted her hand, understanding the situation. It appears that since the initial shock had worn off that the situation should be under control now and Brandon would be able to handle future visits from his fiancée, Heidi. "I think we should be able to get this taken care of very quickly," she said to Heidi as she quickly got off of the couch. "I'm going to talk to Dr. Drake and hopefully you should be able to see Brandon in a few minutes," said Robin to Heidi.
"Oh, thank you, that would be so wonderful," said Heidi hopefully. Robin left the room to go find Patrick.
Robin found Patrick in his office and discussed the situation with him and he agreed that Brandon should be well enough adjusted to the news by now that it shouldn't have any more severe side effects like it had yesterday. He was grateful for Robin's help in solving this issue and called Epiphany to let her know that Mr. Martin's fiancée, Heidi Scranton could see him now.
Patrick came over to Robin and pulled her to him for a long, searing kiss. They broke apart breathless from the fire that always ignited when they locked lips or even touched. They looked at each other with fire in their eyes until Robin looked down at her watch and noticed the time. "I have to go," she said. "I have a consult with your father in a couple of minutes. I'm already late." Patrick let her out of his arms reluctantly and watched her leave after promising to have lunch with him later as he stayed in his office to finish up some paperwork.
A half hour had passed quickly when all of a sudden the intercom beeped, "Code Blue Room 1007, Code Blue Room 1007." Patrick quickly stood up as he realized that was Brandon Martin's room and he rushed out of his office to the dying man's room.