Hey all! Thanks for the great reviews on the first two chapters! I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much. It's a really long chapter with a lot of stuffing.

Chapter 3

As Lulu was riding the elevator, she almost dreaded the doors opening, because she knew the million-and-one questions she would receive from Carly and Maxie. Honestly, she had enjoyed spending the day with Dante and getting to know him a little. For the first time in five years, she felt at peace while in the presence of a man, other than the men in her family.

Why did he have that affect on her? Ever since Johnny passed away, she couldn't even bare the thought of being with another man. Maybe this was a sign from God or even Johnny that it was okay to be happy, it was okay to be with someone else. Maybe Dante would be her saving grace, the one she would spend the rest of her life with.

Or maybe he would be the one that would end the little bit of faith she had in love.

Lulu sighed as the elevator dinged and the doors opened to the restaurant in the Metro Court hotel, she saw her cousin and best friend sitting at a table near the bar.

"There you are," Carly said, jumping up to run to Lulu's side, "How did this happen?"

"I slipped on some ice at the kids' school," Lulu replied as Maxie followed closely behind Carly.

"How did you get to the hospital?" Maxie questioned as they helped her to the table to sit down.

"Tanner's friend's dad took me and then brought me here," Lulu replied, wanting to change the subject before they asked too many more questions, she picked up her menu and began scanning it, "I'm starving."

"So what was the prognosis?" Carly asked

"It's just a small fracture in my ankle," Lulu replied, "No big deal, should be healed in six weeks."

"So this dad…is he single?" She questioned, grinning at Lulu.

"It's none of your business, but yes he is. His ex-girlfriend was on drugs, so he split up with her, but she left him with a 7-year-old son in Tanner's class and a beautiful little girl who is just a few weeks old," Lulu explained

"Baggage…" Maxie sighed and shook her head. "You better stay away from him Lulu, he's a single father with a strung-out ex-girlfriend, that can't be good."

"But he's got to be a great man to be able to just take the kids and raise them by himself," Carly added, Maxie agreed then.

"Okay first, who said I'm going to see him again and two—" She was stopped when her phone started ringing, it was a text message…

I believe you left your purse in my truck, do you need me to bring it back to you now or later?

Lulu smiled, and without looking up she could tell Carly and Maxie were glaring at her as she hit the reply button.

"Wow, he must be a pretty amazing guy for you to be smiling like that," Carly said, Lulu glanced up and rolled her eyes.

Whenever is convenient for you, I'll be at the hotel until 6ish, after that I'll be home for the rest of the evening, the address is 743 North Yale.

She shut the phone after putting it on vibrate and placing it on the table, then looked at her friend and cousin, "Stop looking at me like that," She demanded.

"He's coming to see you tonight, isn't he?" Maxie asked, knowing all too well.

"I forgot my purse in his truck, he's going to bring it by later," Lulu replied as her phone began to vibrate on the table, Carly moved quickly to grab it, but Lulu stopped her, "No."

I'll bring it by around 7.

"So we get to meet him?" Carly asked with excitement in her voice.

"No, he's coming by the house later," Lulu replied, causing Maxie and Carly to giggle, "He's just being courteous, he knows I can't drive, so he's bringing my purse to me."

"Right," Maxie nodded

"Can we just drop this and have lunch?" Lulu snapped, "Dante is just like any other parent of one of my children's friends."

"Okay fine," Maxie retorted

"Alright," Carly agreed

"Thank you," Lulu sighed going back to her menu, "What did Federico have to say?"

"He liked all of the designs except for that yellow dress," Maxie replied taking a sip of her water.

"But that was my favorite," Lulu said

"I know, it was one of mine too, but Federico said it wouldn't sell on the French market, and what Feddy says goes," Maxie added

"I wish I could have been there, Maxie. I'm so sorry," Lulu told her

"Don't worry about it, even though you were missed, we managed without you," Maxie told her, "Federico said he will catch you next time."

Just then Lulu's phone began to vibrate again on the table, she looked at the caller ID, "It's Tanner and Lexi's school," she pressed the button to answer it. "Hello?"

"Mrs. Zacchara, this is Alicia Green, Lexi's teacher, I have your daughter here and she's been complaining about being sick to her stomach, we tried to get her to eat, but it came back up."

Lulu sighed, "Someone will be there to pick her up shortly," She said before ending the call, she couldn't help but laugh at the fact that the universe was trying to play some sort of joke on her, her hands covered her face as he elbows rested on the table, "Can this day get any worse?"

"What is it?" Carly asked in a concerned tone.

"It's Lexi, she's sick at school," Lulu said, picking up her cell phone again, then began to mumble off some kind of ramblings, "Nikolas and Lucky are out of town, Liz and Nadine are both at work and Ethan is working today too…I guess I'll see if one of the Quartermaines would mind going to get her."

"Lulu, why don't you just take the rest of the day off, Maxie and I will take you to get Lexi and then Maxie can drive your car back to your house for you," Carly suggested, "How does that sound?"

"Would you be okay with that?" Lulu turned to Maxie

"Of course…go home and you and that little girl get some rest," Maxie assured her friend.

"What about lunch?" Lulu questioned

Carly stopped one of the waiters, "We need three club sandwiches with sweet potato fries to go," She said quietly, "And fast, we have a sick baby to pick up from school."

"Thank you," Lulu sighed loudly

Once the crisis was averted, Maxie and Carly made sure Lexi and Lulu were settled at the house before they left again.

"Crap," Lulu said as she sat curled up on the couch with Lexi at the opposite end, watching some cartoon, Lexi with a trash can in front of her and Lulu with her pain medication.

"What?" Lexi asked, looking up at Lulu

"I don't have anyone to pick up your brother," Lulu sighed, leaning over to pick up her phone from the coffee table.

She quickly began to think of where Lexi could have gotten this bug from and if it was exposed to Tanner, also. If Tanner was in the clear, she could easily call one of the other mothers to pick him up. Where had her children been around someone sick? Then it hit her…the night before, Tanner had been spending some "male-bonding time" with Ethan since Lucky and Nikolas had taken the other boys to New York City. Lulu had taken Lexi to the grocery store with her and had saw Robin and Emma there. Emma and Lexi were hugging each other and running up and down the freezer aisles making the light sensors come on in each case as they passed. Lulu recalled Robin commenting on how animated Emma was since she had just gotten over being sick.

Before Lulu could pull her phone from her pocket, it began to ring…a text message.

Is there anything I could bring over when I come by later?

Lulu quickly began typing away at a text message…Actually, could you do me yet another favor?

Name it. He replied

She found his name in the contact list and called his number, "Hey," Dante answered.

"Hi," Lulu replied quietly, "I was wondering if you would mind picking up Tanner and taking him home with you, then you can bring him home when you come by later."

"Sure, is something wrong?" Dante asked

"Well, I had to pick up Lexi early because she's sick and I don't think Tanner has been exposed to whatever she has yet, so it will give me a little extra time to disinfect everything," Lulu explained

"So you're home now?" Dante questioned

"Yeah, Maxie and Carly practically forced me to take the rest of the day off," Lulu said

"Ah, okay…yeah I can do that," He told her

"I was planning on asking Carly, but I know Tanner has been asking to go home with Bridger for awhile now," she didn't even have to finish her sentence.

"Say no more, I will be more than happy to pick him up and Bridger would love having him over," Dante replied.

"Thank you so much and I apologize for being this huge inconvenience on you today," She said

"You weren't, I enjoyed talking to you," Dante admitted, even though he did have to call into work saying he had an emergency, he would have rather been getting to know Lulu. "I don't really know anyone, so it's nice getting to know one of the parents at Bridger's school."

"Mama, my stomach hurts," Lexi whimpered from the other end of the couch. "I think I'm going to throw up."

"Here honey," Lulu said, quickly handing the trash can to her daughter, then spoke back into the phone. "I better go, Lexi's about to get sick."

"Okay, what time should I bring Tanner by?" Dante asked.

"Around six, if that's okay," Lulu told him.

"See you at six," He said before they hung up.

Lulu made a few more phone calls to her family before she helped Lexi upstairs, making her as comfortable as possible in her bed. Then she began cleaning everything as best she could on crutches.

About 5:30, Maxie stopped by to check on them, "Where are Lexi and Tanner?" She asked as she and Lulu sat down on the couch.

"Lexi is asleep and Tanner is at a friend's house, he'll be home later though," Lulu explained as she got situated on the couch with the cast on her leg. "I needed to get a head start on cleaning the house to make sure he and I don't get what Lexi has."

"I completely forgot about Tanner," Maxie gasped as her eyes went wide, she had completely forgot. "I'm so sorry; I should have picked him up."

"It's fine," Lulu assured her. "He's at his friend's, no offense but he probably would have wanted to go to Bridger's anyway."

"Would this friend happen to have a hot, single dad?" Maxie grinned.

Lulu's mouth gaped open, then she returned the grin, she wasn't sure what to say, "Maybe," she said simply with a smile

"So he's coming over?" Maxie asked hopefully. "When? Can I meet him?"

"Yes, but he's just going to drop him off," Lulu attempted to discourage her. "You don't have to wait here for that."

"Then I'll peek out the window," She suggested.

"Maxie, no," Lulu replied, she was putting her foot down on this one, Maxie wasn't going to win. "He'll think I've told you all about him and he'll get freaked out, you can't stay."

"Okay fine, see if I come to check on you again," Maxie retorted, only half teasing. "Do you need anything before I leave?"

"Not that I can think of," Lulu shook her head.

Maxie got up to walk toward the door, "Okay, if you do, just give me a call," She told her as Lulu followed her to the door on her crutches.

"Actually, do you think you could bring us some dinner later?" Lulu asked

"Of course," Maxie smiled. "From Marketplace?"

"That would be perfect," Lulu smiled as her friend stood in the doorway. "Thanks Maxie."

"I'll see you later," Maxie said before she walked off the porch and down the sidewalk.

When Dante pulled up a little while later, Bridger and Tanner barreled out of the back door before Dante could even turn off the vehicle. The boys came bounding toward the front porch where Lulu was standing with her crutches.

"Now Tanner, your sister is asleep, so if you go inside, you can't go upstairs and you need to be really, really quiet," she warned her son.

"Can we go to the backyard?" He asked

"Yeah, just be careful," Lulu replied. "And if I see you on that pool cover again, you're going to be in big trouble!"

"Okay Mom," Tanner said, recalling the time a few weeks ago that he made the mistake of stepping out onto it; Lulu was ready to tear into him that day.

Dante had taken Mia from her car seat and wrapped her in a blanket before walking to the porch.

"Thank you for keeping him and bringing him home," Lulu smiled. "Have a seat."

"Oh, it wasn't a problem at all," Dante replied. "He and Bridger had a blast,"

"Would you like to come in," she asked. "I've cleaned pretty well, so you won't be susceptible to whatever Lexi has."

"Sure," he replied before she ushered him into the house.

"What can I do to make it up to you?" Lulu asked as they sat down.

"Make what up to me?" Dante questioned

"The fact that I've been a huge inconvenience to you all day long," Lulu said.

"No, you haven't," Dante replied. "I had someone to cover my shift anyway since I was supposed to go to Scranton and I already told you that I enjoyed getting to know you and I also had fun getting to spend time with Tanner and Bridger this afternoon."

"He wasn't too much trouble was he?" Lulu asked

"No, he is probably one of the most polite seven-year-olds I have ever met," he informed her. "I can't say that much for Bridger."

Lulu laughed, "You must have caught him on a good day, he isn't always like that," she admitted.

"He's a great kid, Lulu…really," he told her. "He's more than welcome to come over to the house anytime."

"Thank you," Lulu replied as she looked to the sleeping baby in Dante's arms. "Can I hold her?"

"Yeah, sure," Dante said, sitting up to hand his daughter to Lulu.

She held Mia in her arms as the infant woke up from being resituated, "Hi Mia," Lulu spoke quietly to her. "You don't let those mean boys gang up on you too bad, do you?"

"Oh no, she has Bridger wrapped around her finger," Dante commented.

"And she doesn't do the same with you?" Lulu giggled, looking up at him.

"Of course she does," Dante also had to laugh at how much he had already spoiled his daughter.

"Tell Daddy there's nothing wrong with that," Lulu began talking to Mia again in a childish tone. "Someone needs to keep him on his toes."

Mia flashed a brief smile that didn't go unnoticed by Dante or Lulu, "Be careful, she'll have you wrapped around her finger before long," he told her

"That's okay," Lulu replied with a smile. "It's not like my kids don't have me that way,"

"Where did the boys go?" Dante asked

"Tanner said they were going to the backyard," Lulu replied, then pointed to the French doors. "Those doors go to the backyard if you want to go out there."

"I just didn't want them waking your daughter up since she's sick." Dante said.

Then there was a knock at the front door, Lulu sighed, knowing who it was. "That would be Maxie," she said, trying not to startle Mia before she began to hand her over to Dante, but paused. "Before she comes in here and opens her mouth, she means well, I promise, she's just really nosey."

Dante laughed before getting up off the couch, "I'll get it, it's going to take you half an hour just to get to the door."

Lulu leaned back into the couch as Mia fell asleep on her chest.

"Hi," Maxie said nervously, not expecting someone other than her friend to answer the door.

"If you're looking for Lulu, she's left town, she told me I was in charge of her house and kids and to not let you in," Dante told her, blocking Maxie's view into the house.

Lulu started to laugh when Maxie was unsure of what to say. "Come on in Maxie," she said before Dante allowed her in, then closed the door behind her. "Dante, this is my friend and colleague, Maxie Jones; Maxie this is Bridger's dad, Dante."

"Nice to meet you," Dante said, shaking her hand.

"You too," Maxie finally spoke with a smile.

"Aw, cute baby," Maxie noted, placing the sack of food on the coffee table and sat down in the arm chair next to where Lulu was sitting on the couch, before looking back at Dante. "Is she yours?"

"Yes she is, her name is Mia," Dante confirmed proudly, sitting back down on the couch.

"She's beautiful," Maxie told him.

"Thank you," He replied

"Isn't she just the sweetest thing ever?" Lulu asked as she kissed Mia on the forehead.

"She is," Maxie agreed. "It's been awhile since we've had a baby this small around here."

"Maybe that means you need to have one," Lulu teased.

"I don't think so, not for awhile at least," Maxie shook her head. "I don't know how you do it Lulu, balancing our hectic lifestyle with a family."

Then Tanner and Bridger came bounding through the back doors, startling Mia in her sleep.

"There you two are, have you been having fun?" Lulu asked as Tanner came to sit down next to her and looked curiously at Mia.

"I think it's about time we go, don't you buddy?" Dante asked, putting his arm around his son's waist when he walked over to him.

"I want to stay here," Bridger announced, causing Dante to laugh.

"I don't think that's a good idea because Tanner's sister is really sick and their mom has enough to worry about without adding another person into the mix," Dante told him.

"Okay," Bridger said sadly.

"So tell Tanner bye and tell his mom thank you for letting him come over after school," Dante told him

"Thank you," he said with a smile at Lulu.

"You're welcome honey, when Lexi gets better, you can come over to play if you'd like," Lulu replied

"Okay," he said excitedly then turned to Tanner. "Bye Tanner."

"Bye Bridger," Tanner waved at his friend.

Dante leaned down to take Mia from Lulu. "Thank you again for everything," she told him.

"It's not a problem, if you need anything, let me know." Dante replied before looking at Maxie. "It was nice meeting you."

"You too," Maxie replied before they left.

"Mom, I'm hungry," Tanner informed Lulu.

"Well you're in luck because I brought you some chicken tenders, Tanner," Maxie said, pulling the to-go container from the brown paper bag.

"Yay!" Tanner exclaimed as Maxie opened the container of food and sat it on the coffee table.

"What do you tell Aunt Maxie for not letting us starve?" Lulu asked her son.

"Thank you Aunt Maxie," He grinned up at her.

"And for you," Maxie said, handing Lulu her food. "A chicken-berry salad with extra berries."

"Thanks Maxie," she replied, opening the container.

"Now," Maxie began, Lulu sighed, knowing what was coming. "This guy…you met him this morning and now he's picking Tanner up from school and keeping him for you."

"Well, Tanner and Bridger are pretty good friends, I didn't see a problem with it," Lulu said.

"But you only met him this morning," she reminded her.

"I don't know how to explain it, it's just like we connected," Lulu explained. "I just felt safe with him, like he understood me and in a world of craziness, I felt at peace just sitting there getting to know a guy without having to worry about whether or not he would want to go on a second date."

"Well, that's understandable, there's no pressure," Maxie agreed. "We all know that being under pressure isn't your strong suit."

"And even though his ex-girlfriend is alive, we've both lost our significant other to horrible things," Lulu said.

"But like I said before, he has baggage," Maxie told her. "What do you know about him other than the fact that he has an ex-girlfriend and two kids?"

"Can we not talk about this in front of Tanner, please?" Lulu asked

"Fine," Maxie replied, then looked at Tanner. "Tanner sweetie, why don't you go eat in the den, you can go watch cartoons in there."

"Maxie!" Lulu exclaimed causing Tanner to eye her questionably. "It's okay honey, go ahead and go."

"Now, back to the guy," Maxie replied, clasping her hands together.

"Don't you have a non-husband to get home to?" Lulu wondered.

"I'm going to have Spinelli do a background check on him and see what he can find," she pressed.

"Maxie, no," Lulu began, and then sighed, knowing she was defeated before the conversation even started.

"Give me a reason not to," Maxie retorted

"Because normal people don't do that and it's an invasion of privacy," Lulu pointed out. "Who says I'll even see him outside of school functions or having Tanner and Bridger over at each other's houses?"

"I bet you will," Maxie nodded with a devious grin.

"I don't think I'm ready for it yet Maxie and I couldn't do that to the kids, I've gone on a few dates before, but this is different, Tanner and Bridger are friends," Lulu began to explain. "If I was to date him and things ended badly, they wouldn't understand why they could only see each other at school."

"Lulu, I have no idea what it feels like to lose a spouse, but I know what it's like to lose a sister and I know that Georgie wouldn't want my life to stop just because she's gone and I know that Johnny would be the same way, he would want you to be happy and actually living your life." Maxie told her.

She had told Lulu this too many times. But she only told it to her because she knew it was true. After Lulu and Johnny had actually fallen in love, he didn't want anything but happiness for her and their children. Maxie knew if Johnny had the chance, he would have given his own life to save Lulu, Lexi or Tanner.

"I know, it's just hard, even after five years, I still feel like I'm betraying him by even looking at a man that way," Lulu admitted.

It had seemed like an eternity ago that she had made those vows to Johnny, and though she didn't mean them at the time she said them, she eventually meant every word. But Johnny was gone now and she had never been quite sure that she was meant to move on.

"I know I can't make you do anything you don't want to, but listen to your heart, Lulu," Maxie said. "It can never steer you wrong."

"This coming from you?" Lulu began to laugh. "That's deep."

"I know, I know…it may have taken me awhile to listen to my heart, but once I did, I knew Spinelli was the man I would spend the rest of my life with," Maxie smiled.

"Yeah, I also thought Johnny was the one I was going to spend the rest of my life with and look how that turned out," Lulu said.

Maxie looked at her friend sadly, even after five years, Lulu still wasn't able to allow herself to even look at another man the way she looked at Johnny, let alone get serious with one. Of course, Maxie couldn't blame her, but part of her wished she could be happy again like she was when things started going right for her and Johnny.

Seeing Lulu lose Johnny was one of the hardest things Maxie ever had to endure, after losing Georgie, of course. She watched as Lulu moved in with Carly and Jax, allowing Carly to care for her two small children and Maxie to take over at Crimson. For nearly six months, Lulu rarely left the Jacks Estate. The only people she would talk to was Maxie and Carly and that was a rare occasion. She could barely look at her children who reminded her so much of Johnny.

Then slowly, but surely, Lulu began to get her life back on track. She started going back to work and spending more time with her Lexi and Tanner and eventually, she moved home. For the most part, things went back to normal. And as time passed, things got easier. The only thing that was never repaired was Lulu's fiery spirit when it came to going out and meeting guys. Maxie had hoped she would be able to date again one day and had even set her up with a few great guys, but Lulu just didn't seem interested.

"Is there anything wrong about just being friends with him?" Maxie asked, knowing Lulu would be more comfortable in a friendship than anything.

"I guess not," Lulu shrugged

"Then that's what you should do, be friends with him," Maxie encouraged.

Falconeri Home

Dante walked toward his son's room, he had already put Mia into her crib and was going to tuck Bridger in, as he did every night.

It was still hard for him to wrap his mind around the thought that he was a single father. He had been used to just having Bridger around, but he wasn't really a single father per se. But then when they placed little Mia in his arms along with the papers saying his ex-girlfriend was relinquishing her parental rights, it was a whole different story. He couldn't take care of a baby on his own.

He had tried calling his mom back in Bensonhurst and she had been willing to help him settle in with the kids. That is, until he told her where he was moving, this caused her to be extremely reluctant.

So here he was, taking care of two kids alone. Of course when he was at work, Mia was at daycare and Bridger was at school. He wouldn't trade his kids for anything, but raising them alone was a tough thought.

"Dad, can Tanner come over again tomorrow?" Bridger asked as Dante sat down on the edge of his son's bed.

"I don't think so, I have to work tomorrow," Dante replied. "Maybe one of my days off next week he can though."

"Then can I go over to his house?" he wondered, playing with a Hot Wheels car.

"Well, I think his mom works in the afternoons too," Dante explained.

"Do you like his mom?" Bridger asked, pretending the car was flying through the air, complete with sound effects and all.

"Yeah, she's nice," Dante replied honestly.

"No, I mean do you really like her?" he rephrased, sitting up in bed.

This caught Dante off-guard. He couldn't tell himself the answer to that question, so how was he supposed to answer his 7-year-old son, "I think it's time for you to go to sleep," he said quickly as Bridger laid down and Dante tucked him in, then kissed his forehead. "See you in the morning."

"I love you, Dad," Bridger said, something Dante never got tired of hearing.

"I love you too, Bridge," Dante replied as he turned out the bedroom light and made sure the nightlight was on.

On his way back to his own room, Dante thought of Bridger's question. He didn't know what it was about Lulu, but being around her just felt normal. He trusted her, something that his ex-girlfriend had ruined a long time ago. But with Lulu, he didn't know why, but he felt at ease. His mind wondered if it were due to the fact that they had both lost their significant other in extreme circumstances, because they had both experienced that pain. But it had to be something more than that, he knew it.

Dante had been hurt badly by his ex-girlfriend and for the first time since they split up, he had found himself opening up to someone other than his mother. Honestly, these feelings terrified him because he knew his world could come crashing down because of those feelings. He was so apprehensive when it came to trusting new acquaintances in his life, but for the first time since he split up with his ex-girlfriend, he didn't feel that way. It was as if Lulu had been sent to him for a purpose, he just didn't know what. But he hoped he would have a chance to find out.

Please let me know what you think! Questions. Comments. Concerns. Whatever.