Chapter 3:
Lulu was relived to find some of her clothing and toiletries still her in old bedroom and bathroom. She was thrilled to find a stash of canned food, cases of bottled water, and even some juice that didn't need refrigeration until after opening. She had enough supplies to last her awhile.
She turned on the heat on higher to get the house warmer than it already was. Lulu was ecstatic to find that Lucky had left most of the pots and pans. Lulu opened a can of chicken noodle soup and began to heat it up as she took the sheets off the rest of the furniture.
This was the last place that anyone will go look for her.
Nikolas rushed into the station. One of his people finally located Lulu. She was at Lesley's old house. He breathed in a sigh of relief when the news came to him. He had to let Lucky know. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Dante in the station. "Lucky, can I have a word with you?"
"If it does have to with Lulu…" Dante began.
"I am not telling you a thing, you slime ball," Nikolas quipped. "Lucky, a word?"
"Yeah." Lucky led him to the interrogation room. "Did you hear from her?"
Nikolas shook his head. "No but one of my people was able to spot her. She's at your old house. She just arrived there."
Lucky breathed in a sigh of relief. "Thank God. Do your people know where she was last night?"
"They were not able to verify anything. But from what they told me, Lulu is fine. She doesn't look to be harmed in anyway," Nikolas explained.
"We have to tell him you know," Lucky gestured to the door with his head.
"We can just tell him that Lulu is safe. He doesn't deserve to know any more than that."
Lucky nodded. "I can deal with that. I want him to stay as far away from Lulu as possible."
"She can stay with me," Nikolas offered. "Even better the Quartermains, Alice, Edward, and Tracy will take turns kicking his ass."
"He was put looking for her too, last night," Lucky added.
Nikolas rolled his eyes. "I don't care! He hurt our baby sister so badly. He doesn't deserve her. I have a couple of important business acquaintances that expressed interest in her when they had seen my photograph of her and Spencer. I can fix her up with one of them."
"I think that Tracy and Edward have that under control," Lucky said.
Dante watched through the two-way mirror. He was unable to hear what the brothers were talking about but by their body language he could tell that Lulu had been found. He breathed in a sigh of relief. At least he knew she was safe. She wouldn't want to talk or see him again but at least she was safe.
He shuffled some paperwork on his desk as Nikolas and Lucky came out.
"My people found Lulu," Nikolas said. "She is fine. Don't try to contact her at all. She is better off without you. Stay away from her."
As much as Dante wanted to make it up to Lulu, he knew that if he saw Lulu and her brothers will most definitely kick his ass. He heard himself agree to Nikolas' request.
Lulu poured the warmed chicken soup in a bowl. She found a spoon and headed back to the living room. She just sat down on the sofa when someone knocked on the door. She froze; no one knew that she was here. As far as she knew, Lucky haven't been back in this house since his life imploded.
The knocking increase, "Hey Lulu, I know you are there. Don't leave me standing on the porch, its freezing! I might attract some attention from your nosey neighbors if you don't let me in soon."
It was Johnny.
Lulu set the bowl on the coffee and raced to open the door. "How did you know I was here?" she asked.
Johnny stood on the other end of the door with a box of pizza and a case of beer. "Are you going to let me in or not? My balls might fall off if you don't let me in soon. That might deter some later activities."
Lulu let Johnny in. "How did you know I was here?" she asked again.
"I know you, remember? If Dudley Doright haven't thought of it means that he didn't know you at all." Johnny set the box of pizza on the coffee table. "Beer?" He opened a bottle for her and for him.
"Thanks." She sat down next to him on the sofa.
"Just to let you know, my people spotted some of your brother's people on the street earlier." Johnny opened the lid, handing her slice of pizza.
"So my brothers know I am here. I wonder why they are not banging down the door to make sure I am okay." She took a bite of pizza.
"They are probably threatening to kick Dante's ass if he ever…" Johnny trailed off. "I didn't come here to talk about Dante."
Lulu smiled. "Me either. What do you want to talk about, Johnny?"
Johnny pulled her into a kiss. "Is your room in the same place?"
When Lulu nodded, he picked her up in his arms, and carried her up the stairs. "Cold pizza is much better anyway."
After making love in her old bedroom, they retreated to the bathroom filled the tub with bubbles and enjoyed each other's company. "Don't tell anyone this," Johnny kidded as he ran a washcloth over Lulu's arm. "It might destroy my macho image. A mob boss in a bubble bath."
"Your secret is safe with me." Lulu kissed his chest.
For the next couple of days, Lulu stayed in her grandmother's old home. Johnny showed up almost everyday to spend sometime with her. She kept on getting text messages and voicemails from Dante each message sounding more desperate than the last one. In each message, he wanted her to contact him.
Today Lulu was returning to work. She took the stairs to Crimson's floor to avoid the scene in the lobby that was going to happen if she ran into her cousin. As soon as she stepped foot on the floor she was greeted with a floral fragrance. The entire office was filled with various bouquets of flowers.
She heard Maxie but she wasn't able to see her. "Look! There is no room for this latest round of 'forgive me' flowers! Can you see that every single surface is covered? What are you doing? That is the water cooler! You can't just leave it there!"
The ding of the elevator told her that the flower delivery guy did and left their floor.
"About time you showed up," Maxie said, noticing that Lulu was on her way to her desk.
"Why does our office look like a funeral parlor?" Lulu asked.
"They are from Dante," Maxie explained. "Our apartment is even worse. I am thinking about donating to some sick patients at General Hospital."
"I will call Nikolas and see if he can have some one come and pick the flowers up. I am sure that it will brighten the day of some sick people."
"You are not even going to look at the cards?" Maxie asked.
"I really don't give a flying flip on what he has to say. I deleted all his voicemails and texts. I didn't even listen or read them. I don't want to talk to him or see him."
"Good!" Maxie exclaimed. "You are too good for him anyway. Let's get back to work."
Lulu picked up the phone. "I will as soon as all these flowers are gone."
Dante went to General Hospital to get a statement from an assault victim when he overheard a couple of nurses talking what they were saying caught his attention.
"Can you believe it? Someone donated enough flowers that almost every single patient has a bouquet!"
"Someone really needed some forgiveness," the other nurse laughed. "I am glad that the person donated the flowers to brighten the day of people that are in need of it."
"You're right; someone wants to get out of the doghouse. By the looks of it, she's not having it. I wonder what the guy did."
Dante was stunned. Lulu gave the flowers away. He couldn't blame her for doing it. Donating the flowers to sick people was better than throwing them away.
Taking a deep breath, he approached the nurses' station. "Hi I'm Detective Dante Falconari, I am here to see…"
"Curtain three," the nurse stated.
Dante noticed the large bouquet of flowers on the hub. "Nice flowers ladies."
"They aren't ours. Someone donated an entire florist to the sick patients," one of the nurses said.
"Someone wants to dig themselves out," the second nurse commented.
"You have no idea how much," Dante muttered.
After work, Lulu was starving. She headed over to Kelly's to her relief, Mike was not there. She took a seat at the counter. She picked up a menu from between the bottles of mustard and catsup. The girl behind the counter
"I knew you were going to show up here sooner or later," a voice that she was all too familiar with said behind her.
"I have nothing to say to you." She didn't look up from the menu.
"Please hear me out," Dante pleaded as he sat down next to her. "Did you get any of my messages?"
"I got them all. I deleted them all. Like I just said, I have nothing to say to you." Lulu continued to look at the menu.
"I noticed that you donated the flowers to the hospital."
"I thought that they might brighten someone else's day. I was tempted to throw all of them out."
"Lu, look at me, please," Dante begged. "I am sorry. Please give me a second change. I promise I'll make it up to you."
"The last time I gave someone a second chance, it almost got me killed," Lulu said.
"What? You never told me that," Dante said.
"There is a lot that you don't know about me. There is a lot that you will never know about me." Lulu closed her menu.
The girl behind the counter came over to her to take Lulu's order. Dante just stewed. Lulu wasn't giving him the time of day. He knew trying to reason with her was going to be hard; he never thought that it was going to be this difficult.
"I am sorry that I lied to you, Lulu."
"Just leave me alone alright? You know I am fine now you can go back to Brenda."
Dante sighed. "Lu, please, I don't want to be with Brenda. I want to be with you. I want to…"
"Start over?" Lulu finished. "Too bad, Dante I am not willing to put my heart on the line for you again. In case you have forgotten I stood by you and this is how you repay me? Just leave me alone, okay?"
Dante sighed. "Alright, I will go for now. I am going to spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you."
"I wouldn't hold your breath," Lulu countered, coolly. "It's going to be a cold day in hell when or if I finally hear you out."