Chapter 2

"Hey, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth looked up to see Robin Scorpio-Drake striding up to join her at the elevator. She was heartened at the lightness of her friend's step. Robin had been far too burdened over the past few months, a burden she had insisted on carrying nearly alone. But that was just about nearly behind her now and Elizabeth couldn't be happier for Robin and Patrick and their daughter.

"Hey yourself." she replied. "Heading home?"

"Yeah." Robin replied. "I've got some seriously hardcore plans for a girls night in with Emma and Patrick." Grinning at her friend, she added, "I'm thinking cookies, DVDs, and breaking in her new pair of jammies. Of course, Patrick'll have something to say about the jammies, they're brand new and the other three pairs are fine, but Emma knows how to get around him."

Robin's plans, however, received a small crimp in them when the elevator opened and she found herself standing face-to-face with a short, dark-haired teenaged girl.

"Robin! Oh, my God! I knew it was a great idea to come here now and this just proves it! Serendipity!" The girl jumped at Robin, wrapping her arms around her and squeezing for all she was worth.

An amused Elizabeth, remembering the girl's most recent visit very well, smirked at Robin, who was too shocked to respond. "Hello, Leora."

"Are you surprised?" Leora Hayward pulled back to look at her older sister. "Of course you're surprised, I didn't even tell Dad I was coming up here."

"Oh, what a surprise." Elizabeth asided, before deciding to make her exit. "I'll see you tomorrow, Robin."

"David doesn't know you're here?" Robin demanded, placing her hands on Leora's shoulders. "He's going to kill you. And that's after he gets off the phone with Mom, who will also want to kill you. Did you just up and leave without saying anything?"

"Relax, Robin, take a breath." Leora advised, then paused. "That's different if I'm not the one hearing it. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have led off with that. The reason Dad doesn't know I'm here is because he sent me off to school. He really must be in for it this time, because he usually only sends me off when he knows those jerkass Martins actually have something serious on him. Well, serious in the legal sense, anyway. But I didn't really want to be away from him so long and I figure public school here in Port Charles is easier to pull me out of once Dad charms his way out of trouble again and I can go back home. Are you headed home?" She made a grab for Robin's bag, slinging it over the shoulder that her own bag wasn't hanging from.

"Okay, so David isn't going out of his mind with worry right now because you disappeared?" Robin asked. She hadn't even thought of David in months, aside from seeing his name in some wacky conspiracy theorist's blog, but he'd always been crazily overprotective of Leora. Not that she blamed him, considering her sister's health problems and her continuing efforts to pretend those problems didn't exist.

"Well, I will have to call him before the school calls him and tells him I'm not there." Leora realized as Robin ushered her into the elevator. "I'm sorry I just dropped in on you and Patrick again. He won't be mad, will he?"

"Elizabeth said you were looking for me?"

Patrick barely had time to look up before his brother was sliding to a halt in front of him, looking expectant.

"Yeah, I'm on my way out, but I can talk for a few minutes. I talked to Dad, he said he can get some time off. He also wanted to make sure it was okay with you that he'll be here for more than a couple of days."

"Why should that matter?" Matt asked curiously.

"I think he realizes that he hasn't spent a lot of time over the years acting in consideration of your feelings and he's trying to make up for it. Don't ask me why he's doing it." Patrick replied, shrugging. Honestly, he didn't know what drove their father these days, but Noah was the only father he'd ever have. He would always respect Matt's feelings about Matt'srelationship with Noah, but his own relationship with Noah had been hard-won and he just wasn't interested in leaving it in tatters.

"Another question. Why does he think I care whether he's here for two hours, or two days, or two weeks? I mean, there's you and Emma, and Robin, and doesn't he have a few friends around here, anyway?" Matt asked. "I mean, I certainly enjoy the idea that my opinion has that much power over him, but it's not exactly healthy for him."

"So it doesn't matter to you?"

"No." Matt shrugged. "Don't tell him, but against my will, I'm actually kind of looking forward to seeing the old man. See if we keep doing as well in person as we do over email."

"You're not so good at this 'I hate the world' thing as you used to be."

"That's because I don't hate it so much anymore as I'm kind of annoyed by it. And by the world, I mean my love life."

Now this Patrick didn't have time for. Not if he didn't want Robin pacing in front of the car.

"Well, okay then. When Dad calls, I'll let him know he can stay as long as he can." he replied. "Hey, Elizabeth was saying something about balloons?"

"Oh, right." Matt snapped his fingers. "I've got this idea for an entire balloon motif. I can't remember where I saw it, probably one of those dumb wedding shows Maxie made me watch while we were dating, but I was thinking that as you and Robin come in, we could have all those balloons just falling around you. I think it'd be pretty cool."

"Actually, that sounds like a great idea." Another idea began to hatch in Patrick's already over-worked head. "But maybe we could have a small, restrained version of that when I bring her in, and then another one after..." he fell silent, turning over the idea in his head.

"... after?" Matt prompted.

"What do you think of me bringing Father Coates in to renew our vows? She didn't say anything at the time, because I know she respected the tension going on there, but I know she was disappointed Dad wasn't at the wedding."

Patrick could tell from his brother's face that he was taken aback by the sudden idea.

"I think..." Matt struggled with his own thoughts. He had actually very much enjoyed watching as his brother and sister-in-law had put their relationship and marriage back on track after certain events that no one really wanted to think about. And then there had been Robin's HIV scare, which Matt hadn't even know about till after the fact. Even before that, there had been Robin's post-partum depression after Emma was born. His decision made, he grinned at Patrick.

"You know, I think it's a great idea." he said. "I mean, you don't have to go for anything big, but it's a nice gesture. Might be nice to wait until your fifth anniversary, but the two of you have had a pretty good amount of crap thrown at you since you walked down the aisle."