A/N: Thanks to all who read and reviewed!! I live for your responses!! Here's the next chapter. Again, thanks goes to someday who's little inserts here and there make the chapter complete. You are the best beta ever. You rock, hon!
Chapter 3: An Emotional State
Johnny stood in the shower, letting the hot water run down over his body. It helped to ease away most of the tension and sadness of the day. Lulu helped with the rest of that. Just seeing how flustered she got when he was standing in the robe was enough to raise his spirits 100. He couldn't help it. She was just irresistible. Even thinking about her made his heart race. Her attitude, the way her hair fell upon her shoulders, her smile, the way her lips felt against his, her admission to wanting to be with him… Johnny groaned and leaned his head against the shower wall. Maybe he should have taken a cold shower…
A few minutes later, he was dried and again wrapped in the fluffy, white Metro Court robe. He heard a knock at the door – the room service. Grabbing a $50 dollar bill from his wallet, he made his way to the door. He figured since they were getting everything for free, the least he could do was tip the help well. It's not like he couldn't afford it.
Johnny opened the door and the bellhop greeted him. "Room service, sir."
"Thanks," he replied the cart was wheel into the room.
"Is there anything else I can get you?"
"That's all for now," he said, hading him the folded up bill.
The bellhop glanced down at the bill in his hand and gaped. "Sir, this is too much. I can't –"
Johnny smiled. "Don't worry about it. Enjoy."
"Thank you, sir."
After the bellhop left, Johnny made his way to the bedroom. He figured he would relax until Lulu got back and eat dinner with her. He grabbed the TV controller and crawled into the bed, pulling the covers up to his chest. Johnny flicked the TV on and started to flip through the channels. Nice, he thought. Carly gave Lulu the movie channels. He noticed one of his favorite movies was on – "The Princess Bride". He laughed, wondering what the other mob bosses would say if they knew about this. Suddenly, he sobered, remembering another fact about the movie: it was his and Claudia's favorite. They used to watch it together at least once a week for as long as he could remember. They wore out the first tape so badly, Maria had to go buy them another. He sighed and burrowed deeper into the covers to wait for Lulu.
When Lulu got back to the hotel room, she had been gone just a little over an hour. She didn't want to be out that long, but her shopping took more time than expected.
"Johnny," she called out when she entered the room. She saw the untouched room service cart and wondered why he hadn't eaten yet. She put the shopping bags on the sofa, keeping one small one, and called out again, "Johnny, are you here?" That's a stupid question, she thought rolling her eyes. He has no clothes yet.
Lulu made her way to the bedroom and smiled at the scene before her. He looked so peaceful – almost like an angel. Johnny was asleep in the bed with "The Princess Bride" on in the background. The covers were bunched around his waist and the robe had fallen slightly open. Lulu stared at the expanse of chest that was now bared to her. She had only imagined what he would look like, but the firm, muscular, slightly hair-covered sight before her was even better than she ever thought. She had to physically restrain herself from rubbing her hands over him.
She collected her self and made her way over to the bed. Kneeling next to him, she said softly, "Johnny?" He didn't respond.
"Johnny, wake up." She gave him a little shake to jolt him.
"Hmmm, as you wish," he mumbled, stirring.
Lulu giggled. She leaned a little closer and said loudly, "Wake up!"
Johnny bolted upright, "What the hell?"
She fell over laughing. "I tried doing it nicely, but you didn't budge." Getting back up to her knees, she asked, "Do you always quote "The Princess Bride" in your sleep?"
He flushed a little as he ran his hand down his face. "It was on when I fell asleep," he replied in defense. "What took you so long?"
"I figured you didn't want to be sitting around in a robe all night, so I picked up some clothes for you. Courtesy of the Quatertmaines."
Johnny raised his eyebrow. "The Quatermaines?"
Lulu smiled. "Edward gave me a credit card to use in case of emergencies. I deemed this an emergency."
"What about what sizes I need?"
"Hello? I took your clothes to the laundry. I snuck a peek. I got you some loungey stuff to sleep in and jeans and stuff for tomorrow." She lowered her eyes and flushed at bit as she said the next bit. "And some boxers."
He bit back a laugh. "I missed that last part. What else?"
"Oh shut up," she snapped. "You heard me."
He got up and walked over to her. "Thank you, Lulu. For everything."
She pulled him into a hug. "All I want is for you to be happy, Johnny."
He put his finger under her chin and tilted it up so he could look into her eyes. "Knowing that you want to take care of me makes me happy. Knowing that you chose me makes me very happy," he said, then leaned down to kiss her.
Lulu closed her eyes and savored the feeling of his lips on hers. They only kissed a handful of times, but each time felt like the first time. She didn't think she would ever get tired of kissing Johnny Zacchara.
When they broke the kiss a few moments later, they just stood there, taking pleasure in being in each other's arms. Finally, Lulu sighed and said, "Why don't you go change into the clothes I got you while I go shower?"
"Maybe, maybe not," he replied with a grin. Lulu blushed again. "What, you don't like the robe?"
"No, the robe is fine," she choked out. "I just thought you'd like to get more comfortable."
He just smiled and went to walk out of the room. Remembering something, he paused and turned around. "Uh, the room service is probably cold by now though. I was waiting for you to eat. Should I order something else?"
The fact that Johnny wanted to wait for her made her flush with pleasure. "No, that's okay. There's a microwave in the kitchenette. If it doesn't bother you, we can just heat it up in there."
When Johnny left the room, she picked up her shopping bag and made her way to the bathroom. Apparently, Johnny enjoyed her reaction to him dressed in the robe earlier. Well, her idea was to make him as flustered as he made her, but now this was war. She grinned to herself and paraphrased one of her favorite lines from "The Princess Bride". "Never get involved in a land war in Asia, and never go in against a Spencer – on anything!"
Johnny did do as Lulu asked and changed into the clothes she bought him. She didn't buy anything extravagant – just a pair of black, cotton pajama bottoms and a white tank top. But they were soft and comfortable, and that's all that mattered. He peeked into the other Macy's bags to see what else she had bought. It looked like she picked up a nice black sweater and plain blue jeans for him for tomorrow. She even got him socks and a new pair of boots. Everything was Calvin Klein, except for the shoes – those were Doc Martins. I guess if it's on the Quatermaine's, she didn't spare any expenses, he thought with a chuckle.
When Lulu walked out of the bathroom towel-drying her hair, Johnny's mouth went dry. She was wearing tiny black shorts – if you could call them that; there was barely enough fabric to cover anything – that said "Angel" across the back and a tiny, white, strappy tank top that showed just enough skin at her waist. And it was obvious that she was no longer wearing a bra. At this point in time, Johnny no longer found himself capable of human communication.
She peeked out from under the towel on her head to glance at Johnny. He just stood in the middle of the room, dumbly staring at her. Lulu gave a triumphant little grin. Now we're even, she thought. Out loud, she asked, "Did you finish heating up the food?"
"Mmmhhmmm." He still didn't trust himself to speak.
"Cool. I'll meet you in the bedroom. We'll camp out on the bed and watch a movie."
Lulu couldn't help but let out a small giggle as he sped out of the room. She sauntered toward the bedroom, pleased with herself and her plan. Now that they were on even ground, everything would be just fine.
She flicked the TV back on and started flipping through the movie channels. "Hey," Lulu called out to Johnny, "what do you wanna watch? 'The Shining', 'Jaws', 'The Sixth Sense', 'Evil Dead II', or 'Psycho'?"
"What? Do you want to be scared or something," he called back.
"I'm just in the mood for a scary movie! Pick one!"
"Well then, 'All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.'"
"'The Shining' it is," she said with a smile as she flipped to the right channel.
Johnny came in with the food and they got comfortable on the bed. They ate and watched the first bit of the movie in silence. After a while, he noticed Lulu kept inching closer and closer to him during the scary parts, until she was grasping his arm and nearly sitting in his lap. By the time the part of the movie where Jack Nicholson breaks through the bathroom door with the ax came, she had her head burrowed in his shoulder.
"Okay," Johnny said, taking the controller and switching off the TV, "enough of that."
"Wait, no! It's not over!" She pouted, her bottom lip sticking out slightly.
He laughed. "Lulu, for the past fifteen minutes, you haven't watched anything but my arm. Why'd you even suggest this movie if you were so scared of it?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "Because it's one of the few really good scary movies out there. And, sometimes being scared is fun. I did get to cuddle up next to you, after all," she said, throwing him a dazzling smile.
Johnny's heart leapt at her smile. Then, that same heart almost exploded, it started beating so fast because at that moment, Lulu untangled herself from his arm and gave a long, relaxing stretch. She raised her arms above her head and pushed her feet all the way out. Her shirt crawled up, showing Johnny even more of her smooth stomach. His eyes zeroed in on that area, and he just stared in awe at how perfect it looked and he ached to reach out and run his hand over the milky expanse.
"Johnny? Hey Johnny? EARTH TO JOHNNY!" Lulu yelled, looking up at him and trying to get his attention.
"What," he asked quickly, snapping out of his daze. "What did you say?"
"I asked you what you were thinking about? You were concentrating awfully hard on something."
You don't want to know, he thought. Aloud, he replied, "Uh, I was just wondering why you decided to stay here tonight. I mean, I'm okay. You don't have to baby-sit me or anything."
"I'm not baby-sitting you. I'm here because I want to be here," she told him, her hand coming to rest on his arm.
"I think there's something more. I kind of get the feeling you were on your way here anyway," he proded, knowing something was bothering her.
Lulu just frowned and crossed her arms. "Come on," he said, grabbing her hands and uncrossing her arms. "I told you my problem, tell me yours. We're going to have to be truthful to each other if we really want to make this work."
She gave a loud sigh and stood up. "You're right. It's just that you have enough to worry about without me adding my problems to the list."
"And you obviously have plenty of problems of your own, yet you still took on mine. Now talk," he commanded gently, giving her a pointed look.
"Okay," she sighed, "but I'm warning you, it might get a little confusing."
He smiled. "I'm sure I'll manage."
"Fine. Well, I live in the Quatermaine mansion since my dad married Tracy. Now, Monica Quatermainne owns the mansion – she's the mother of Emily, the girl who was killed at the Black and White Ball. She is also a very talented surgeon. That is, until Emily was killed and she was still grieving while operating on my dad's bypass surgery. She froze in the OR and he would have died if Dr. Julian didn't get there when he did. Because of that, Tracy is now suing her for malpractice. On top of that, my dad up and disappeared the day he was supposed to be discharged from the hospital," she paused, catching her breath before continuing, "Monica kicked Tracy and my dad out of the mansion – he came back from wherever he was yesterday. But I was told I was allowed to say." She shrugged. "They like me for some reason, I guess. Anyway, I said no way. If my dad goes, I go. He's my real family. And on top of that, Tracy's separating from my dad because of his most recent escape. She can't take his unpredictability anymore, even though she really loves him and he actually fell for her."
Johnny interrupted. "'He actually fell for her.'?"
Lulu gave a rueful smile. "I can't even begin to explain that. Just take it for what it is."
"Okay."
"After the thing with Logan first happened, she was actually pretty supportive. She was another person I should have listened to. She warned me from him along with everyone else. For the first time, I felt like we were actually forming a relationship – understanding each other. And now she's gonna leave us because of my dad's stupidity." She sat back down on the bed. "That's my issues in a nutshell."
Johnny wrapped he arms around her shoulders. "Sounds like our families are the biggest fuck-ups on earth, huh?"
"You got that right." She paused for a second. "Speaking of your family, can I ask you a question?"
"I don't like the sound of that," he said warily, "but go ahead."
"I know you're extremely upset with her, but did you ever think maybe there was some reason that she stayed away?"
"Like what," he asked, a bit rougher than he meant to.
"Like she was forced away? Forbidden to keep in touch? Something like that?"
Johnny just shrugged in reply and turned his head away. Lulu grabbed his chin in her hand and forced him to look at her. "Johnny, you have to give her the benefit of the doubt. I've lived most of my life with my father barely around – "
"At least he was around!"
" – but I didn't let that ruin our relationship," she continued, ignoring his outburst. "It doesn't matter how much or how little she was around. Give her a chance to explain. She may surprise you."
"Haven't I been hurt enough, Lulu? What if you're wrong and I'm just setting myself up for more pain?"
"Then I'll be right here to help you through it all."
They sat for a few moments just holding each other, savoring the comfort each gave. Finally, Lulu yawned, "I'm tired. I think we've had enough emotionally draining drama for the night."
"I feel like I could sleep for days," he said standing up, pulling her with him. He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a quick soft kiss on her lips. "I don't know how I would deal with all this without you."
"Well, that's not something you have to worry about," she replied with a smile.
Johnny let go of her and started to make his way to the living room. Lulu looked after him, confused. "Uh, where are you going?"
He paused halfway across the room. "To go sleep on the couch."
"Why?"
"Because it's the – "
"Oh, I don't want to hear it. All I want to do is fall asleep in your arms."
"There's nothing more I'd rather do, but – "
"Johnny," she said with a smile, "we've just barely agreed to start seeing each other. I'm not expecting us to have sex or anything. I just want you near me."
"Lulu – "
"Johnny," she said softly, "I trust you."
The "I trust you" is what did him in. The level of trust and belief she had in him was unbelievable – he probably didn't even deserve it or her. But she made him feel like no other. He walked back across the room and crawled into bed, slipping under the covers. He gathered her in his arms and he immediately felt peace. This was where Johnny was supposed to be.
"Good-night, Lulu."
"Good-night, Johnny."
