Dante awoke to the sound of his alarm clock by the side of his bed, slamming the off button he swung his legs over the side of the bed. He wished he could stay in bed but he knew he had to get to work. Wiping the sleep from his eyes he lumbered to the bathroom to take a shower.

An hour later he arrived at work with a few minutes to spare, he decided to give Lulu a call and see if she wanted to have lunch together later. He missed not seeing her face this morning when he awoke, he had gotten so used to her being there all the time. But she had said she had a lot of work to do, he had told her he didn't mind as long as he got to spend time with her but she had just laughed and said she would see him later.

Dialing her cell phone number he waited to hear her voice, the sound always made him smile. "Darn she must not have charged her phone again," he said with a laugh. He knew she always left her phone on and her habit of forgetting to charge it. He was always reminding her and when she was at his place he even did it for her.

Instead he called Crimson to get a hold of her, she would be there by now no doubt doing some tedious task for his cousin Connie aka Kate.

"Crimson," he heard a cheery voice answer.

"Maxie is Lulu there?"

"Dante I'm working here. Why are you calling the Crimson line your girlfriend has a cell phone you know." she answered sounding like she was busy.

"I know she must not have charged it cause she's not answering. Is she there?"

"No she didn't come in today, she called in sick."

"Oh is she alright?" he asked knowing Lulu would probably show up at work if it were just a cold or something.

"I don't know why don't you ask her. Look I gotta go." Maxie said.

"Alright thanks anyway."

Dante decided on his lunch break he would head over to her place and see how she was. Maybe bring her a little something to cheer her up and make her feel better. The day went by at a snails pace as Dante waited for lunch time to come so he could go see his girlfriend. Grabbing his jacket he headed out the door.

Lulu lay in bed with the blankets up to her chin, she felt horrible like maybe just maybe she was dying. Her nose was running so much that she could barely breath, her chest felt congested, her head was pounding. All she wanted to do that morning was curl up in a ball and stay there for a week or so until this thing passed. She knew Kate wouldn't like her staying home sick but at the moment she didn't care about her job, she didn't care about anything. She just wanted to feel better. Just then she heard a knock at the door, with a groan she pulled the pillow over her head. "Go away," she grumbled at whoever it was.

"Lulu! Baby it's me. Come on open up," he called through the door. He wished he didn't have to make her get out of bed but he didn't have a key to her place. She spent most of her time at his place so they hadn't felt it was necessary.

Lulu pulled the blankets with her as she shuffled barefoot across the floor to the door. Opening it a little, she realized what she must look like and went to shut it again. But before she could Dante put his hand out to stop her.

"No! I don't want you to see me like this." she said with a sniffle. It came out sounding raspy and nasally.

"Baby, come on you always look beautiful." he said closing the door behind him. She quickly retreated back to the bedroom. "Sweetie, come on." he said following her trying not to laugh. When he entered the room she had the covers up over her head, trying to hide from him.

"If you don't look at me I can't give you your surprise." Dante warned trying to get her to remove the covers.

"I look horrible."

"Baby you never look horrible. I love you and you are always beautiful to me."

"Your just saying that."

"I am not. Scouts honor."

"You were never a scout." she said peeking out from behind the sheet so that all he could see were her eyes.

"Come on now, " he said pulling the blanket the rest of the way down as he smiled at her.

"Hey!" she cried.

"You look fine sweetie." he said stroking her cheek.

"My nose is all red, I'm not wearing any makeup and I haven't even brushed my hair today."

"And I don't care."

Lulu noticed the bag he had with him, "What did you bring me?" she asked as she grabbed a kleenex off the night stand and blew her nose.

"I got you some chicken noodle soup from Kellys, the latest fashion magazine, at least that's what the lady told me at the store. And your favorite flowers he said pulling a bouquet from behind his back."

"They're beautiful." she said with a smile.

"I'l put them in some water for you and get you a spoon for the soup, you just lay back and relax. I'm here to take care of you."

"Thank you Dante." she said with a small smile as she leaned back against the pillows, she was kinda tired.

When he returned with the spoon and the vase of flowers she was fast asleep. Placing the flowers on her side table her took the contents of the bag off the bed. He would have to heat up the soup for her later on when she woke up. But it was good that she was getting some sleep, it was the best thing when you were sick. He didn't want to leave her so he called work to take the rest of the day off. Climbing in bed beside her he just watched her sleep, she looked so peaceful even when she was sick.

A few hours later Lulu awoke to Dante's arms around her, she had no idea he was staying. She thought he had just stopped by on his lunch break and would be going back to work after. Shifting a little she looked down at him to see if he was asleep and noticed him staring up at her. "Hey baby your awake." he said with a grin.

"Yeah and your still here. Don't you have to work?" she asked as he sat up in the bed.

"I took the rest of the day off. I wanted to take care of you."

"You didn't have to do that Dante."

"I know but I wanted to. I think that's the boyfriends job to take care of his girlfriend when she's sick."

"Really cause none of my other boyfriends ever did that."

"Well obviously they were idiots. Which is why they aren't with you anymore." he said with a sexy grin.

"Your right they were idiots. But you are definitely one of a kind. Not many guys would stay all day with their sick girlfriend and take care of her."

"I like taking care of you."

"Really? I like letting you take care of me."

"Oh hey, you want that soup now? It's probably cold now but I can heat it up for you."

"No I'm good for now. I just wanna lay here with my boyfriend."She said with a small smile.

"You feeling a little better baby?"

"Yeah, now that your here."

"Oh and Lulu I gotta say even though your sick the raspy voice is kinda sexy."

"Yeah you would say that." She said with a laugh as he leaned down to kiss her.

"What are you doing?"

"Kissing you, what's it look like."

"But I'm all germy, I'll get you sick too."

"That's ok I have a girlfriend who I know will take care of me if I get sick."