Author's Note:

This is my first non-one shot of these two so not sure if it will be any good or if there will be any interest. This is an AU story for the most part. Port Charles is still the setting. Dante is a cop who transferred to the Port Charles police department from the NYPD a couple of months ago to be closer to his mom. There is no mob in Port Charles, and he doesn't know who his father is, probably isn't something I'll go into as I think I'll keep secondary characters to a minimum. Lulu is a highly successful author who has been away from Port Charles for awhile on a book tour, so she and Dante haven't met. But when Lulu seeks refuge back home after a stalker makes her his target, that's about to change Let me know if I should continue.

Chapter 1

God he hated this town sometimes.

"You haven't even been here that long."

Dante glanced up from the dead body to his partner, Lucky Spencer.

"Did I say that out loud?"

Lucky just grunted and pulled out his radio to call in the crime scene. They had been headed back to the station to wrap up their paperwork after a twelve hour day when they heard the hysterical screams. Running to the docks where the sounds were coming from, they found a teenage girl who couldn't be older than fifteen or sixteen staring down in horror at the bloodied body at the edge of the pier. She mumbled incoherently, her body overtaken with shudders, her face pale, they couldn't get anything out of her so Lucky led her to a bench nearby out of view of the body but where he could still keep an eye on her until she calmed down enough to be able to provide them with at least some information. Poor kid would be scarred for life.

Dante stared back down at the body of the twenty-something woman, a reflection of a life cut way too short and let the familiar outrage run its course before he pushed it aside and did his job.

More than three hours later as they finished processing the scene and working with the Medical Examiner and CSI team, Dante stretched his tired muscles and ran a hand through his hair.

"Fuck. Second damn body this week. I thought I'd get away from some of this shit in Port Charles."

"Yeah, well, this is typically what we see in maybe a couple months, not a few days. I don't have a good feeling about this." Lucky sounded as tired as he felt.

"Nothing good to feel about death." Dante just sighed and shook his head. "Second body of a female found in five days of each other, both with knife wounds over pretty much every inch of their body. No identification, no missing persons reports that match their descriptions, no witnesses, no fingerprints. We have to start considering ser-"

"Don't even say it," Lucky replied tiredly.

"I don't have to say it but we damn well better start thinking it. I don't want a third body."

Lucky rubbed a hand over his face. "Let's go get this son of a bitch."

Lulu Spencer felt like crying. And damn it, she was not a weak woman. But here she was with her proverbial tail tucked between her legs running to the only place she felt safe – home. In the span of two months she went from sociable and carefree to paranoid, afraid, and constantly looking over her shoulder. She hated having to cancel the last leg of her tour and disappointing her fans but she knew she had no choice, was certainly in no shape to carry herself through hours of conversation and autographs all the while wondering if she was being watched, stalked, targeted. She shuddered as she stopped in front of the doors to the PCPD, trying to decide how to let her brother know what was going on without freaking him out. This was going to be fun.

She found him at his desk, his head in his hands as his fingers massaged his temples. She cleared her throat and his head jerked up. He looked at her in shock, his eyes looking tired, his posture looking even more so, as if he hadn't slept in who knows how long. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Lulu! What are you doing here? Your tour isn't over yet. I thought you weren't going to be back until next month?"

"Yeah, about that…" her voice trailed off.

"What's wrong?" he asked suddenly.

Be strong, be strong, be strong, she told herself. But as she saw the protectiveness and concern from Lucky as he stared at her, she did the one thing she made herself not do the past couple of months – she burst into tears.

Alarmed, her brother had jumped to his feet, looking both helpless and angry that something was upsetting his little sister. That comforted her. She sniffed as Lucky pushed her down into the chair in front of his desk and demanded she tell him what was going on. More than a little horrified at her behavior, she yanked a couple of tissues from the box on his desk and rubbed at her eyes. She pulled out a mirror from her purse and satisfied that evidence of her emotional outburst was wiped away, she took a deep breath - and told Lucky everything.

"Son of a bitch," he said angrily when she finished. He pushed himself back so he was sitting on the edge of his desk. "Lulu, why the hell didn't you come to me sooner?"

"I…I don't know. I thought it would go away."

"Well something that's for sure not going away is you. You're staying here until the bastard is caught. I won't let him have a chance at you here, you can count on that. Jesus, Lulu. Don't you ever keep anything like this from me again."

She nodded and forced a smile. "Thanks Lucky. I really missed you."

"I missed you too." His gaze seemed to settle on something over her shoulder. "I want to bring my partner in to help with this."

"You have a partner?" She turned around to see what he was looking at and her breath caught at the man walking towards them. Whoa. Her eyes scanned what looked to be over five and a half feet of hotness. Despite herself, she admired the way he looked in his dark jeans, the brown shirt with the two buttons open at the top, his shoulder harness fitting snugly around him. His somewhat shaggy brown hair and slight scruff indicating at least a couple of days of being unshaven shouldn't have been sexy but damn if her stomach didn't clench at the sight. Damn she did not need this. He looked as exhausted as her brother did, but when her eyes met his and he flashed her a knowing grin, she knew he caught her checking him out. And when she felt her stomach flutter just a little bit at that smile, she knew she was in trouble.

She was shaken from her thoughts at the sound of her brother's voice. "Lulu, this is my partner, Dante Falconeri. Dante, this is Lulu Spencer. My sister."

Dante stared at the gorgeous blonde sitting before him. And what a sight she was. Long hair that framed a face he wanted to reach out to touch to see if it felt as soft as it looked. And where the hell did that thought come from? He caught sight of her full lips that he just bet could bring a man a whole lot of pleasure, a deep blue dress that seemed to hug her in all the right places. Oh yeah, those thoughts were much better. He couldn't stop the smile that tugged his lips when she looked him over just as thoroughly as he did her. And he sure as hell didn't miss the warning note in Lucky's voice when he said "my sister".

"So this is your sister…."

God he loved this town sometimes.