In honor of Father's Day, June 15, GENERAL HOSPITAL's Jason Thompson discusses what Patrick has learned about impending fatherhood, being a son, and love.
Soap Opera Weekly: What has Patrick gotten out of this relationship with Robin so far?
Jason Thompson: Robin has taught him a lot about love, relationships and commitment, and he's forever grateful for that. They're going through this [pregnancy] together; they're both growing up through it.
Weekly: Can Patrick still avoid growing up?
Thompson: He's seeing all the real things that happen when a woman is pregnant, right in front of his eyes. The fact that it's his child makes it hit home a little bit more than it would if it was just some random woman going through it.
Weekly: How, specifically, is Patrick growing up?
Thompson: He's becoming more responsible; he's having a little more feeling when he's at the hospital. It started with the HIV scare; he came face-to-face with [his mortality], and it really changed him.
Weekly: So now he wants to be a daddy?
Thompson: I wouldn't go as far as saying he wants to be a father right now. He's definitely trying to be responsible, trying to do the right thing because of his love for Robin.
Weekly: Is he still concerned about her HIV status?
Thompson: I know that, talking from the writers' point of view, they've done their research, and when it comes up, it's going to be a poignant story and it's going to be important — but right now the writers are just trying to deal with the realness of the pregnancy itself. They put it in every once in a while, like when she says, "When I take my meds, I start feeling sick." She said that when we were shooting the ribs story. Obviously, that was a very traumatic time, when that one patient came in with AIDS [on GENERAL HOSPITAL: NIGHT SHIFT] and died, but the baby survived. It hasn't been in the forefront right now, but obviously, it's always in the back of his mind. We haven't really dealt with the HIV storyline yet. It absolutely will be a big part of it when the time comes.
Weekly: Is Patrick concerned that he could be passing on some bad genes, like a tendency toward alcoholism?
Thompson: That's where a great opportunity comes in for Rick [Springfield, Noah] to come back. That's gonna be a really great story to talk about. These are the things Patrick feels. The apprehension he feels about being a father comes from what he went through with Noah being his father. There's a great opportunity to be up-front and speak to Noah about all this stuff, and maybe put him at ease. Noah has another opportunity to be a father and basically break the chain.
Weekly: So where does this leave Patrick?
Thompson: It's all starting to come together for him. It's self-realization: "Okay, my life is definitely changing." Patrick has spent almost two years saying that he likes his life, and he doesn't want to be a father, so I would imagine Robin is definitely apprehensive about it. He's trying to do the right thing, trying to show that he's available and he wants to be a part of it — but it does scare him.
