Takes place about a year from the present day GH.
"Sonny," said Dante after he answered the loft door, in answer to a couple of strong knocks at the door. "What's up?"
"Dante," said Sonny, walking past him, rubbing his hands together, trying to contain whatever anxiety he was feeling. "You gotta arrest him. You just, gotta find any reason to arrest him."
Dante closed the door and then crossed him arms. "Arrest who, exactly?" Sonny had never, to his credit, ever asked him to arrest anyone. At least, not in a long time. He dimly recalled a request or two not long after they had met, but nothing after that. It must be big, for Sonny to come to his door. But it couldn't have been about a murder. If that were the case, Dante reflected grimly, Sonny would retaliate himself, not ask Dante or the cops to do something about it.
Sonny turned around and looked at him. "Johnny Zaccharra!"
"Oh," said Dante. "Well, what's his crime? I mean, any new ones? Since uh," Dante laughed softly, "he apparently didn't kill his grandfather/father after all."
"Knocking your sister up!" said Sonny.
"Uh," Dante said. "Can you - did I hear that - Kristina is pregnant?"
"With his baby," clarified Sonny unnecessarily.
"Uh, wow," said Dante. He rubbed the back of his neck. "He didn't - he didn't - what did she say - I, uh," Dante stopped, trying to gather his thoughts. "Are you sure, first of all? You know Kristina can, um, tend to have some flights of fancy."
"Oh, I'm sure," said Sonny. "At least, she's pregnant with someone's baby. It was plain as day."
Dante looked at his watch. 2:30. 2:30 wasn't that early. Plenty of men - and women - had drinks at 2:30 on their days off. "So you've seen her," said Dante.
Well, that explained why Johnny wasn't dead. Yet, he supposed.
"Oh, yeeah," confirmed Sonny. "With a damn ring on her finger!"
"They're engaged?" This was freaking insane.
"They're married!" spat out Sonny.
Dante just looked at Sonny, trying to take it all in. John Zaccharra, his brother-in-law. A traitorous thought slipped in, when he was trying to muster up some elder-brother-outrage appropriate to the occasion: better than, God-fucking-forbid, my step-dad. Or coming back to town and trying to screw his wife.
"Well?" asked Sonny. "Go and find something." He waved his hand around the room, as if some evidence for Johnny's arrest was somewhere in one of the corners.
"I mean, I guess I can talk to Kristina," said Dante. "See if there was something . . . untoward."
Sonny shook his head. "She's gonna just spout some brainwashed crap about how happy she is."
"Uh," replied Dante. "How awful." He knew he was doing a lot of uh-ing, but really, how was a man supposed to respond to this?
"It's a lie!" said Sonny.
"Well, you know Kristina Sonny," said Dante. "She's kind of . . . out there. Maybe they really are . . . a love match?" God, he had never wished harder that he had a dentist appointment. Maybe he could schedule another sperm count test right about now.
"Besides, Sonny," added Dante, "she's already pregnant. Like, out to here, like you said." He gestured outward with his hand. "Does it really matter that they're married now? Isn't it better? He didn't have to marry her once she was, you know. With child."
"What is this?" said Sonny. "I know you like to contradict me just because you can sometimes, but I expected a little more protectiveness on behalf of your sister. What kind of brother are you?"
The kind that only wrote two e-mails to his sister the past year, thought Dante, but he didn't say that out loud. "I just, you know. Don't want to go out running out and arresting the father of my sister's baby."
Sonny looked at him for a long moment. His eyes narrowed. "My God. You're fine with this, aren't you?"
"'Fine' is such a strong word for this situation . . . " said Dante. "'Confused' would be a better one."
"You like that at least he's not sniffing around Lulu or your mother," said Sonny bluntly.
"I mean, that exact thought didn't cross my mind . . . " Dante said. "But I mean I guess . . . if you made me choose at gunpoint . . . "
Sonny looked as if he was tempted to do just that. Luckily, Dante was pretty sure he was unarmed. The possibility of coming to blows with Sonny was always in the back of his mind, but never did he think it might be over Kristina marrying Johnny Zacchara.
He heard noise coming from behind him. "Dante! Dante, guess what!" his mother was yelling, Rocco in her arms.
"Noooo!" interrupted Lulu. "Olivia, I wanna be the one to tell him!"
"Sorry," he said, turning around. "I think Sonny beat you both to it."
"Sonny!" said Lulu. "What the hell!"
"I'm sorry Lulu, I wasn't really thinking about who got to be the first one to break the news to Dante," apologized Sony sarcastically.
"Well you should have been," muttered Lulu. "Wait." Her eyes widened. "Sonny. Holy shit. You have got to get out of here."
"I think it's too late for that," said Olivia. "Just bolt the door, otherwise he's gonna run into them."
"We can't do that!" protested Lulu. "It's rude!"
Dante was starting to get a bad feeling. "No, you know what? We can. We can bolt the door, we'll make it up to them later." He walked over to shut the door, but just as he grabbed the knob, John Zaccharra and his pretty damn pregnant sister appeared at the door. She wasn't ready to pop, but as Sonny had said, it was plain as day.
Dante just stared at them. "You invited them over here!?" he said, without turning around.
"Well, what the hell," said Lulu. "I didn't know Sonny was gonna be here!"
"Gee, nice to see you too Dante," said Kristina.
"Yeah, is that anyway to greet me, brother?" asked Johnny.
"Don't . . . don't call me that," said Dante.
"I am gonna kill you, you bastard," said Sonny. He started to move, but Olivia thrust Rocco into his arms. "Sonny, why don't we give Rocco a bath."
"A bath?" said Dante. "It's 2:30 in the afternoon!" Well, it had been 2:30 in the afternoon, 5 minutes ago. Dante was really longing for the halcyon days of 5 minutes ago.
"Yeah, let Uncle Johnny give him a bath," said John. "I'm gonna need the practice."
"Okay. You," said Dante, pointing at Johnny. "You are not Uncle Johnny."
"Well, actually . . . " said Lulu, "he kinda is."
"Hey, think about this way," said Johnny. "I coulda been Grandpa Johnny, or," he said, a large grin forming on his face, "step-dad Johnny."
"Okay, you know what, no, you definitely could not have been," said Dante, putting his arm around Lulu, "because my wife has more sense than that."
Lulu raised her eyebrows and just said, amused, "thanks babe."
"What's that supposed to mean?" said Kristina, putting her hands on her hips and using her stomach to get everyone out of her way as she crossed her way towards the couch. She plopped down on it. "That I have no sense?"
"What is this?" asked Dante. "Let's-be-perfectly-honest day?"
"Oooh," said Johnny. "I'll start."
"No!" everyone replied.
Just then there was more scrambling at the door. "You!" said a young man's voice. It was Michael and Morgan, Morgan doing the speaking. "You got our sister pregnant!"
"Yeah, thanks for the news brief, Morgan," snapped Dante, rather meanly and unnecessarily. He knew that was rude but his patience was really being tested here. He looked around, and spotted Sonny glaring daggers at Johnny still, Olivia practically forcing him to keep Rocco in his arms. Ah. Morgan did have his uses, after all.
Dante went and plucked Rocco out of Sonny's arms and back into Olivia, and took Sonny by the back of the shirt.
"What the hell are you doing?" asked Sonny.
"Finally arresting you for that gunshot to the chest?" asked Johnny, who was now sitting next to Kristina on the couch. No one responded.
"What?" said Johnny awkwardly. "I thought that was an inside family joke now."
"You," snarled Sonny, trying to turn around, "are not family."
"Keep going Sonny," Dante whispered behind him. He pushed Sonny right into Morgan's arms and backed them all up in the hallway. "Please get him out of here."
"Dante!" said Sonny, struggling to get out of Morgan's grasp.
Dante looked at Michael, wordlessly asking him to take him by the other arm. Michael sighed but acquiesced. He and Sonny didn't speak much nowadays, but at had come to a detente of sorts. At least, Dante thought, Johnny could at least be used to strengthen that detente.
"Please just take him back to his house," said Dante. "Or . . . out of town. Atlantic City. Canada. I don't care."
"You're gonna arrest him, right?" Sonny asked.
Michael shook his head.
"Or, at least, give him a beat down, right?" asked Morgan.
Dante looked at him. "Yeah, Morgan," he said. "That's totally what I'm gonna do." He sighed internally.
"Come on Morgan," said Michael, starting to pull Sonny away. He and Morgan started pulling Sonny out, not letting go even though Sonny seemed to be willingly led at this point.
Dante sighed externally this time and opened the door.
"Any bullet holes in our hallway?" asked Lulu.
"Actually this whole thing has gone better than I thought," said Johnny. Kristina nodded. "I was hoping for a stroke," she said.
"That's not funny, honey," Olivia said over her shoulder, who was over by the table, putting plates on it.
"Just a small one," mumbled Kristina.
"Ma, what are you doing?" asked Dante. "Please don't let it be what I think."
"I'm setting up the table for dinner," answered Olivia. "What does it look like I'm doing?"
"I'm pretty sure I can't eat a fucking thing," said Dante.
"Language, honey," Olivia reprimanded.
Dante looked at Rocco, and then Johnny. "I can't eat a fucking thing," he said through gritted teeth. Johnny just smiled. Smugly, it looked like to Dante.
"Well, I'm hungry," Johnny said.
"Yeah, me too," said Lulu. "So's Rocco." The two of them headed over to the table.
"I'm starving," said Kristina. "Obviously." She put her hand on the table and used it to balance her weight to heft herself up. Dante couldn't help but notice Johnny gently putting one hand on her back and the other at her elbow, helping her up.
Damn it. It looked like John actually freaking cared about her. It would have been so much easier to try to arrest him than what was coming up next, which was try to get Sonny to remotely get over this.
He looked at Kristina and Johnny, sitting down at the table. Well, Dante supposed, Kristina could take care of that. In the meantime, he had actually lied his ass off about not being able to eat anything, so he decided he might as well go and eat too. He glanced over at the wine rack. And drink. A lot.
He glanced at his watch. 3:00. Even better than 2:30. He went over to join the others.