Author's Note: I'm not traditionally a fiction writer, but I thought I'd take a stab at it. Make any comments you'd like. I don't mind criticism.

I don't own GH or any of these characters, so please don't sue me.

Prologue: Sweet Dreams

A strong arm wrapped around her waist, catching her off guard.

The usual banter they played off each other had already caused a familiar tightening in her stomach as she had sat on the edge of her chair talking to him. She was definitely attracted to him, but she had just told him they would not ever date. Being alone together in her apartment, she knew, could be a dangerously arousing situation if she didn't shoot him and his gigantic ego down again, and quick.

Standing as he had walked away to leave, she was losing her resolve to not fall in love with this man, especially when, now, he was so close she could smell a hint of cologne and his natural masculine musk. She didn't have time to catch her breath when his lips came crashing down on hers. She melted into his body, pulled by his hand on the small of her back.

His tongue softly licked her upper lip, and against her will, she opened her mouth to welcome it. Their tongues greeted each other like familiar lovers, expertly expressing words that had not yet been voiced. She needed to feel him closer. She raised her hand to place it on his waist, but restrained herself.

And just as quickly as he had approached her, he was gone. She opened her eyes to see his retreat.

"Okay, hey, well, goodnight, person I am not dating." Backing away from her, he stumbled towards the door, obviously affected by the passion in the kiss they had just shared. "Sweet dreams."

And he was gone. As she touched her lips and smiled, she knew she wouldn't be able to resist his charm much longer and he knew it. She was bluffing, and he saw right through her best attempts to hide it.

Was that knocking at the door? No. Pounding.

"Lulu!"

More pounding. What was this?

"Lulu! Come on, we're going to be late! Kate will kill us!"

Lulu pulled the pillow over her head and let out a groan that turned into more of a growl. The same dream, again. It was as if he cursed her when he wished her sweet dreams. But, oh, how sweet they were!

"Coming Maxie! Just go on in without me. I'll be there shortly."

"Okay, Lulu, but you'd better not forget to bring Kate her latte. And you know what? Bring me one, too. I deserve a reward for covering your ass for being late, again."

"Okay, Maxie. Just go!"

Lulu had been late to work several times this week. All because she woke up each morning to dreams replaying the evening she had last seen Detective Dante Falconeri.

"I have got to get that man out of my head! He's ruining my concentration and soon I won't even be able to keep this job!" she chided herself. She crawled out of her bed and dragged herself over to her closet. "I know what I need" she told the empty room, but mostly herself. Just sleep with him, she thought. Get it out of your system, Lulu. Then he can have what he is after, you get off and can get your mind off of him. There's no way this is going to be anything serious, and he'll be leaving town soon, so you might as well enjoy him while he's here.

"What am I thinking? I can't just sleep with him to 'get it out of my system'! Sex is about love, respect, openness…honesty."

But you don't believe in love, right Lulu? It's all going to end sometime, right? So why not just get it over with? The longer you wait, the more you'll like him and the more you'll hurt when he leaves. Just fuckin' sleep with him, and let it go.

"Now I'm starting to sound like Maxie. Oh, this is so not good."

She stood there in front of her closet for another minute, considering her options.

"What the hell. What do I have to lose? Besides my sanity. Since when do I talk to myself?"

Since he came to Port Charles. You know that, Lulu.

Letting out a deep breath and shrugging her shoulders, she decided to do this right. She pulled her new dress out of the closet; a midnight blue A-line dress going down to her knees with a thick belt around the waist, accentuating her curves. The V-neck was just low enough to catch a hint of cleavage, but not enough to be trashy. She walked over to her dresser to find her "you should feel lucky to be with me" panties and bra set. Oh, yeah, she thought to herself as she busied herself getting ready for work, the officer won't even know what hit him.

Shutting his eyes tightly against the morning sun glaring through his east-facing window, Detective Dante Falconeri willed the image of a certain young lady out of his head. It had been a week since he had put himself out there and he hadn't heard a word from Lulu. His mind ran over the brief conversation he had with Lucky the night before at Jake's.

They had been secretly working on the Franco case together for the past week, but finding it hard to coordinate meeting times. It wasn't mere coincidence Dante had chosen to come to Jake's tonight for a drink before heading back to his room above Kelly's. Lucky walked up to the bar from his table and stood next to the undercover cop. They were careful not look at each other so as not to appear like they were about to have the deep conversation that they were.

Dante sat at the bar, facing straight forward, holding his bottle of beer in both hands, looking downward at the label. Lucky stood a foot away from him with his empty glass of ice sitting on the bar, waiting for someone to come over to give him a refill on his Coke.

"Listen," Lucky said, quietly. "I got a lead from New York."

"Yeah, I've got some news from the other side, too," Dante responded, glancing over quickly, then went back to staring hard at his bottle. He had respect for this man and didn't want to bring him in so far as to tip Sonny off that he and Lucky were working together.

"We can't talk here. Get Lulu to ask you over tomorrow night. We'll go over what we have."

Taking another chance, Dante shot Lucky another brief look. He shook his head once, letting out a deep breath. "I don't know, man." Looking back at his bottle, then up to the ceiling behind the bar, he continued. "I haven't heard from your sister at all this week. I really don't think she'd be too happy that I call her up and invite myself over. I'm tryin' to give her a little space right now, and the last thing she'll want is for us to use her for a place to meet again."

"Why haven't you heard…" Lucky's voice gets lower as the bartender, who, fortunately, is not Coleman, but someone Lucky does not recognize comes over. "Can I get a refill on my Coke, please?" he asks, addressing the young lady.

"You bet. Is there anything else?" she asks as she takes the glass from the bar. She didn't walk away, yet, and Dante was getting annoyed.

"No, that's it. Thank you." Lucky quickly replied. As the girl walked away with Lucky's glass to the soda dispenser, Dante grabbed his moment.

"Look, we had a chat about the whole "us dating" thing, and she basically informed me she wasn't interested. I decided to back off a little. Concentrate on why I'm here."

Lucky looked over at the bartender, who had paused to refill another customer's drink before returning his full glass. "Hey, man," he responded, leaning over the bar, hands clasped in front of him. "Lulu…she's been through a lot. She's doesn't just jump into things. She's done that before and has gotten seriously hurt. If you seriously care about my sister, you won't take this personally. Give her some time. She'll come around."

Just then, the bartender returned Lucky's glass. He picked it up , gave one last look to Dante, who was still grasping at his beer, and walked back to the table he was sharing with Elizabeth and her brother.

Still lying in his bed, Dante released what was something between a groan and a moan. If it was time she needed, he would gladly give it to her. Though it may kill him to be so sexually frustrated, waiting for this girl was well worth it. She was special, not like the other girls he had dated back in Bensonhurst.

Lulu was it for him. And until she realized how great they could be together, he resolved to being the best damn non-dating boy friend she ever had.

But right now, he had to focus his attention on this case so he could figure out what was going on with this Franco guy, not to mention, find a way to take Sonny down with the least possible damage to the people of Port Charles that loved the fuckin' guy.

"Alright, Dante. Pull yourself together. You've got a lot to do today," Dante told himself as he pulled himself out of bed with a groan.

As he stretched his muscles from the poor night's sleep, he noticed a slip of paper that must have been pushed under his door. He walked over, picked it up and read the contents.

"Dinner. Tonight. My place. 7. Lulu."

Dante chuckled to himself. Well, this time thing must really be working. After a week of not contacting her, she invites me to dinner at her place. Come on Dante, don't get your hopes up. Remember the last time she invited you over it was to play Rock Band. Sure there was a kiss involved, but the girl can't make up her mind if she really wants you. Stick to the plan. Be her non-dating boy friend. Don't go screwing it up by pushing her way again.

Dante, holding the note in his right hand, tapped it to his left palm, considering his options.

Walking over to his cell phone, he texted Lucky. "L's place. Tonight. 9 pm."

That should give them plenty of time to have dinner, but not enough time for anything to get too serious before Lucky shows up to "talk cop."

Lulu Spencer. I will have you all to myself, someday, but just not tonight…