Out on Old Mill Road there was a rundown series of cabins dating back from the 1950’s called the Happy Camper Resort. Ordinarily, it would have been closed up tight for the winter by November. However, someone had discovered a new use for the place. Even though the resort had seen better days, it made the perfect hideout: it was secluded; the area was deserted at that time of year; it had plenty of sleeping space; and it was easy to spot someone coming.

Inside the main lodge, three men sat at a table playing cards. Another man and a woman sat on the faded sofa flipping through magazines while a fifth man sat in a nearby chair reading the Port Charles Herald. Two more men ate a late night snack at a table next to the lunch counter. The only thing that looked out of place was the bank of video monitors, computers, police scanners and other electronic equipment that took up one whole wall. A woman sat at the console keeping an eye on the surrounding woods.

The door burst open as Anna, Sean and Frisco stomped into the room. The others looked up as they entered then, noticing the disgusted looks on the three former agents faces, quickly returned to what they were doing. As he had throughout the entire car ride there, Sean was still lecturing about foolish risks and the importance of "keeping your cool". At first he had yelled and threatened. Later, as the adrenaline wore off, he tried to be calm, rational. Anna and Frisco looked ready to shoot him just to shut him up.

"Look, all I’m saying –"

"Sean! Give it a rest already!" Frisco snapped on his way to the lunch counter.

"I am just trying to –"

"To keep us all from getting killed," Frisco finished sarcastically. "We heard you the first ten times," he added as he got a beer out of the refrigerator. He noticed Anna rubbing her side. "What’s the matter with you?" he barked.

"Nothing," she said tersely, dropping her hand.

"Doesn’t look like nothing. Are you hurt?"

"I said it’s nothing," she said turning away.

"Fine," Frisco added, sarcastically.

"Fine," Anna called back over her shoulder.

"Good," he said, crossing his arms.

"Good!" she answered loudly, turning back to face him with her hands on her hips.

"Great!" they both finished at the same time, glaring at each other across the room. The other agents rolled their eyes and sighed. This was obviously nothing new.

"Would you two grow up and listen to me!" Sean growled at them. He visibly tried to get a grip on his temper. "You can’t keep taking these ridiculous chances –"

"Oh, shut up!" Anna shot back.

"Bite me!" Frisco yelled.

"Fine! Get yourselves killed! But don’t say I didn’t warn you!" Sean stalked over to an empty chair and flopped down in a huff.

Anna, muttering under her breath about being "so childish" walked over the woman watching the monitors and asked if anything had happened while they were out.

"No, not a thing. Its been quiet all night."

"Any word yet?" The woman smiled.

"Not yet, Anna. I’ll put him through to you as soon as he calls." Anna nodded and started for the stairs.

The man who was reading the paper spoke up, "So did he show?"

Anna stopped and her eyes narrowed as she, Sean and Frisco noticed him for the first time.

"What are you doing here?" all three demanded at once.

"He said they were covered and wanted me to come here just in case you needed extra backup."

From his place by the counter Frisco asked, "You pissed her off again, didn’t you?"

"No, I didn’t," the man replied through gritted teeth. "I just told you –" Sean cut him off before he could finish.

"You two are going to have to work this out. You can’t just keep up this childish crap." The man just stared at him, trying not to lose his temper. Finally, he looked back at Anna who is glaring at him, arms crossed, waiting for an explanation. He decided not to try to explain again.

"So was he there?" Anna opened her mouth to answer but Sean beat her to it.

"What do you think Parker?" Sean heaved himself out of the chair and went to get himself a beer as both Anna and Parker glared at his back. Parker gave an exasperated sigh and tried again.

"So, Anna, how did it go?"

"Fine." He waited for details but apparently none were forthcoming.

"Well, what did he –"

"You know I really don’t want to talk about this right now." Anna held her right side as she gingerly lowered herself into the chair Sean vacated. Parker kept staring at her.

"How’d you get hurt?"

The dirty look he got in reply finally discouraged him. He deliberately raised the paper again, blocking them all from his view.

Frisco set down his beer and walked toward the door.

"I’ll be back." Sean looked up in surprise.

"Where do think you’re going?"

Frisco called back over his shoulder, "To see Tony," and kept walking.

"We discussed this earlier. I’m going to the house to check things out." Frisco stopped with his hand on the doorknob and glared back at the older man.

"You know I think they can probably manage without you. Can’t you wait?"

"You mean while you catch up on the last three years with your brother? Sure, Frisco, what day do you think you’ll be back?"

Frisco spared a glance at Anna, who was trying valiantly to ignore them, before he stalked back over to the counter.

"I’m going to bring him back here," he whispered. "I –" He glanced at Anna again and lowered his voice some more. "I want him to take a look at her. Something might be broken."

"Well that’s a nice idea Frisco. Stupid and unrealistic, but nice. She’s never going to go for that and I need to get over to the house!" Sean hissed back. Anna gave up trying to tune them out and interrupted before Frisco could come up with a retort.

"Why don’t you both go and quit bickering back and forth like a couple of old women." The other agents wisely hid their amusement as they waited for the inevitable protests.

"But –"

"I don’t know what –"

"I don’t need a babysitter. Just go," she said holding up her hands. When they started to protest she added, "Go!"

Sean and Frisco sulked out the door, Frisco muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "bitch".

"What was that, Frisco?" Anna asked sharply.

He shrugged and said innocently, "Nothing," before following Sean outside.

Anna carefully stood and began slowly climbing the stairs.

"Carol, let me know as soon as he calls." Before the other woman could answer, the phone beside her rang. All eyes riveted on the woman at the console. She picked it up before it could ring again. She smiled at the person on the other end of the line.

"Anna. It’s him." Anna face showed her relief as she told the agent she would take the call in her room and hurried upstairs.

In the bedroom, Anna winced as she sat on the edge of the bed then picked up the phone.

"I was beginning to worry, you know," she said warmly. She could hear her husband’s smile on the other end of the line and smiled in return.

"Sorry luv, I was giving you time to get back. How’s my favorite Happy Camper?"

"Did I mention that its really good to hear your voice?"

"That bad, huh?" Her smile became wider.

"No, not at all. Did everything go alright on your end?"

"Ladies first," he said, trying to make light but sounding concerned.

"Age before beauty," she shot back, enjoying the easy banter they’d always shared.

"Hey hey hey! No hitting below the belt. We’re fine. Your little diversion worked great. Your turn."

"It went fine," she answered vaguely.

"Was he there?" he asked suddenly completely serious.

"Yeah."

"Did he try anything?"

"No. Robert, I told you it was fine." He didn’t answer. After a long pause she tried to lighten his mood. "Hey, you fall asleep on me?"

"I’m not that old yet luv. Did you get a chance to talk to anyone else tonight?"

"No," she lied. "We just wanted to get out of there before he decided to return."

"Probably a good idea." He chuckled, "I’ll bet you really knocked their socks off showing up like that."

"Yeah I guess," she said softly.

"You all right Anna?" Robert asked, sensing something was wrong.

"Yeah, I’m just tired. It’s been a long day."

"It’s been a long eight years," he replied with a sigh. He didn’t believe her, but decided not to push it. She would tell him when she was ready.

"How’s Robin? I see Parker’s here."

"Now don’t start, she’s fine. I thought they could both use a break."

"Robert, he’s supposed to –"

"She’s fine Anna. We’ve got it covered. Do you want to talk to her? She’s putting the girls back to bed but I can run up and get her."

"No, don’t bother her. Just tell her that I love her and that I’ll talk to her in the morning."

"She’ll be disappointed that she missed you."

"Has she been very worried?" Anna asked anxiously.

"Yeah. But she’s tough." He smiled. "She’s our kid." Anna smiled at that, then sighed.

"I’d better let you go. Mac and Felicia will be home soon. You have a lot to talk about." When Robert didn’t answer her, she asked, "You nervous?"

"Me? Nah. Piece of cake," he joked.

"Robert…go easy on Mac. This has to be very difficult for him. Just because Robin accepted our reasons for staying away, it doesn’t mean everyone will be so forgiving." Robert was silent for a moment, hoping she would tell him what was wrong. When she didn’t volunteer anything, he decided to try one more time to get it out of her.

"We talked about that before we came home, luv. Did something happen tonight that I should know about?" he asked quietly.

"No. Now stop worrying. I’m going to bed, I’ll call you in the morning." He sighed, realizing she wasn’t going to tell him.

"All right. I love you."

"I love you, too, Robert." They hung up without saying goodbye.

Robert sighed as he walked over to the fireplace to study the pictures on the mantle. The picture of Anna and himself was still there. It had been one of his favorites; he had even had it blown up and framed and put it on the mantle himself. He’d had another made for his desk. The picture had been taken in his office at the police station just weeks before Faison had taken Anna. She was sitting on his lap, their arms were around each other and they both wore huge smiles on their faces. They looked incredibly happy. God, was that only eight years ago? he asked himself.

It had been so easy. Too easy Robert thought. He was still waiting for the inevitable explosion. So far, Robin had been nothing but grateful for her parents’ return but Robert and Anna still expected the anger to come later. They had talked, endlessly – Anna and Robert trying to explain and Robin filling them in on all of the details of her life during the years that they had missed. How very much they had missed, he thought again. The major stuff they had known about through Sean and Frisco, but all of the little things… Robert sighed. Hearing it from Robin herself had made it that much more painful.

Robert’s brooding was interrupted by the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. He hurried to the door and peered through the closed blinds just in time to see Felicia helping Maxie out of the backseat as Mac picked up a very sleepy Georgie. He retreated from the door and stood by the couch. And braced himself for another reunion.

Lyrics from "Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton.

*****

Dr. Tony Jones waited patiently in his cabin. He was about to give up and go to bed when he heard a knock at the door. He smiled sadistically and made the person knock a second time.

"Door’s open," he called out, hiding his amusement. Frisco walked in and started lecturing.

"You just leave the door unlocked? That’s not safe, you know. Anything could happen out here in the middle of nowhere."

"I thought you might show up tonight." Tony’s nonchalance stopped the lecture in its tracks. Frisco looked hurt and confused.

"I’ve been gone for three years all that’s all I get: ‘I thought you might show up tonight’?"

"Frisco, nothing you do can shock me anymore. So…everybody settled in for the night."

"Yeah about that…" Frisco trailed off.

"You need my help," Tony said smugly.

"Well, need is such a strong word…"

"Okay. Great. I was on my way to bed so – "

"No wait! It’s not for me."

"Um hmm." Tony waited for him to ask but Frisco busied himself looking around the room, stalling. "Hit the edge of that bar pretty hard, didn’t she?" he asked wisely. Frisco looked down and fidgeted, irritated that Tony knew him so well, and loving him for it at the same time.

"Yeah," he admitted, chagrined.

"And you’d like me to examine her?"

"Yes, alright. Yes! I need your help! Are you happy now?"

"See. That wasn’t so hard." Tony reached down to pick up his medical bag that was setting beside the chair out of Frisco sight. Frisco’s eyes narrowed as he realized he’d been had. "C’mon little brother, let’s go check her out." Frisco watched incredulously as he walked right past him.

"Don’t I even get a hug?" he asked petulantly. Tony stopped and grinned and grabbed his brother.

"I thought you’d never ask."

"You know I’m gonna expect a really good explanation later, right?" Tony added as they walked out the door.

"Oh yeah," Frisco answered, already mentally preparing himself for the flood of questions he knew was going to face later.

*****

"Felicia, why don’t we take the girls upstairs and let Dad and Uncle Mac talk?"

"I think that’s a great idea. C’mon girls, bedtime." But Maxie and Georgie, being Frisco’s daughters, were much more interested in tales of danger and death-defying heroics. When they started to complain Robin interceded.

"Hey guys, I’ve got a surprise for you. Actually I’ve got two of them. But…you’ll have to come upstairs to find out what it is. And you’ll have to be real quiet, okay?" Robin took the younger girls by the hand and led the way upstairs. She smiled encouragingly back over shoulder and winked at her father. He grinned. Mac’s excitement turned to seriousness with Robin’s exit.

"What was that all about? Does Robin know what’s going on?"

"Of course she does."

"Well, do you mind telling me? Robbie what happened that day? I saw pictures of the explosion."

"You saw what we wanted you to see."

"We? Who’s ‘we’?" Mac’s demeanor suddenly became cold.

"Me, Frisco and the WSB." Mac’s jaw tightened in anger. He ran his hand through his hair, frustrated.

"You did that?" he asked. "You wanted me to see those pictures? You wanted me to believe you were dead? You wanted Robin to believe? How could you do that to us?"

"It’s not like I enjoyed it, Mac! We weren’t sure Faison was dead. We couldn’t find his body. The photos were made to fool him in case he had somehow survived." Mac refused to look at him. "We were still trying to find him when you and Sean went to the WSB. Your arrival pushed the WSB into showing you the pictures. If they hadn’t, Faison would have known something was up." Robert paused to let his words sink in. "So to fool him…you had to believe it, too."

"You could have just told us. Didn’t you think Robin and I would leave everything and go with you?"

"I didn’t want either one of you to have to do that. Especially not Robin. I didn’t want her to be on the run for God knew how long. She was safer here with you."

"She was better off believing her parents were dead?"

"Yes." Mac abruptly stood up and walked to the fireplace, staring at the same pictures Robert had been brooding over earlier. "You couldn’t have been with us at first anyway. A lot had happened in the two months Anna was missing," he added

"Meaning what?" Mac asked as he turned to fix Robert with an intense glare.

"Meaning Anna wasn’t…quite herself. I didn’t think Robin should see that."

"See what Robbie? That your ‘wife’ was in love with a another man? A murderer?" This time it was Robert who glared.

"I think you’d better explain yourself mate," he said slowly.

"I know all about her, Robert. Felicia and I found out after you left. Right about the same time the WSB did. She’s a traitor, a double-agent! I understood why you divorced her but I’ve never been able to figure out how you could be stupid enough to marry her again!"

"Now just one bloody minute! You of all people have no right to judge anyone, especially when you don’t know the whole story!" Robert said, shooting up off the couch to face his brother.

"What’s wrong with you? You’re smarter than this. What were you thinking? Or should I say, what were you thinking with?"

"What I think is that you should quit while you’re ahead,." Robert said menacingly.

"Why are you defending her? Because she was your wife?"

"She is my wife," Robert interjected.

"So you know she’s here?"

"Of course I know. She created a diversion to allow Robin and I to sneak in here. And now that I’ve talked to you, I’m beginning to understand what she wouldn’t tell me on the phone."

"So you’re still helping her?"

"We’re helping each other."

"Quit risking everything for her! Let her fight this on her own!"

"She wouldn’t stand a chance against him alone. He’s got too much money. Too much power."

"What’s that phrase?" Mac asked, trying to stare Robert down, "You reap what you sow?"

"Oh, that’s rich coming from someone with your background."

"I’ve paid for mistakes."

"So has she!" Robert tried to get a handle on his temper. Mac was the last person he expected to feel this way. "More than you know," he added quietly. "We’ve all paid for our mistakes."

"Everyone except Faison," Mac said bitterly.

"Trust me. He’s going get his," Robert answered, determined.

"She’s a traitor Robert. She betrayed you, the WSB, her country…. What makes you think she wouldn’t kill you in your sleep and run off with Faison?" Robert’s gaze suddenly shifted to a point beyond Mac. At the stricken look on his brother’s face, Mac had a sinking feeling he knew what he was going to see. He slowly turned to see Robin standing at the bottom of the stairs.

*****

As Anna stood glaring at the island and Robert argued with his brother, a man paused in the shadows at the top of the stairs. He was surprised to see that someone was already there. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the woman below him was. He stopped and watched Anna for a few minutes. Finally, he tossed his cigar in the water and quietly descended the steps.