Chapter 4

Dante awoke slowly savoring the warmth he felt with Lulu. He hadn't planned on falling asleep with her but he had needed her comfort just as much as she had needed his. He knew he hadn't been asleep long but this wouldn't score him any points with her family or Sonny. Getting out of bed without waking her was tricky, but he managed Kissing Lulu lightly he headed to find her family. Dante knew this wasn't going to be easy but he needed to get this over with so he could get back to Lulu. He wondered how much longer his cover was going to last.

Walking into the waiting room, he found Luke and Sonny.

"Where did you run off to" asked Sonny.

"I've been in the ICU with Lulu" Dante said somberly.

"So where have you and my daughter been all this time" Luke asked?

"A cabin a couple of hours from here. Joey Limbo shot at me while I was talking to Lulu on the pier. Lulu said she knew of a place I could hide out. I couldn't keep her from coming with me. I thought we had lost them but I guess they were just waiting for us to come back to town. We had just gotten back to Lulu's apartment when they grabbed us." Dante said.

"If I hadn't had someone watching Kelly's and Lulu's place, we wouldn't have known Joey had you" Sonny stated. "Why was he after you?"

"I appreciate that boss. I don't know. All I can think of is Anthony Zacharra considers me a traitor for siding with you. Mr. Spencer, I never meant for Lulu to get hurt. I didn't want her involved in any of this" Dante said.

"Well knowing my daughter, she didn't leave you much choice" Luke said.

Dr. Drake walked into the room at that time. "I just checked on Lulu. She is doing as well as can be expected at this time. She is awake. Someone can go in for just a little while. She needs all the rest she can get. If she continues to do this well we can get her out of ICU and into a regular room tomorrow. "

"I'll go get Laura. She is in the chapel. I know she will want to see her first," Luke said.

"Princess….. You've had us really worried" Luke said from the doorway. "There is someone here who is anxious to see you if you're up for it." Opening the door wider Laura stepped in the room.

"Mom….. Oh my gosh. What are you doing here? How long are you staying?" Lulu asked weakly.

"I heard there was trouble and I had to come" Laura said. "I'm going to be here until you're completely recovered so you just rest for right now."

Lulu's reunion with her mother was bittersweet. She wanted to be able to talk to her mom about her relationship with Dante, what was going on in her mom's life and how long she was going to be able to stay but she was just not up for it.

Dante was sitting beside the bed the next time she woke up. "Hey gorgeous, how are you feeling"

a concerned Dante asked?

"Better" Lulu said "but you look awful, you need to go home and get some rest."

"Are you kidding me, I'm not leaving you" Dante said.

"Dante there is nothing you can do right now. I'm going to need you more when I go home" Lulu said. "Please go home and rest."

"Ok ...Ok…I'll go home when your mom comes back, but I will be back in the morning." Dante said.

"Dante does Sonny know you're a cop" a worried Lulu asked?

Rubbing his hands over his eyes Dante said "No and I don't know how much longer my cover is going to last. You don't need to be worrying about this. You need to concentrate on getting better."

Distraught Lulu asked "How can I not worry about this? You are the man that I love. You could be killed any second if Sonny or Jason finds out who you are."

"Look, I just want to focus on getting you better. Ronnie might not like it, but Sonny can wait." Dante said. "I talked to Sonny earlier; he doesn't know anything other than Anthony putting a hit on me for being a Zacharra traitor."

Smiling weakly, Lulu said "You better watch your back Officer because I'm not up to it right now. I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you. I stepped in front of bullets once for you. I don't want to have to do that again."

"And you will never do that again" scowled Dante. "I'm not going to loose you."

"Well I see you're awake, Laura said coming into the room."

"Hi Mom. I would like for you to meet Dominic Parrelli. Dominic this is my mom Laura Spencer." Lulu said.

"It's very nice to meet you Mrs. Spencer. We weren't really introduced earlier. You know, you have a terrific daughter." Dante said.

"I think she is pretty special myself Dominic," a smiling Laura said.

Kissing Lulu Dante told her, "I'll be back later."

"Dominic seems like a really nice young man. Too nice for a mob lieutenant" Laura said to Lulu.

"He is Mom, I love him; but I don't know if that love is going to be enough" Lulu sadly said.

"Enough? What do you mean by enough?" Laura asked.

"Anything that is worth having Lulu you have to work for it" Laura told her daughter.

Patrick chose that moment to come into the ICU. "How are you feeling? You are certainly doing a lot better than I expected at this time." Patrick asked.

"So what all is wrong with me Patrick" Lulu asked.

"Well one bullet damaged your kidney. We are monitoring it closely; hopefully you won't need to have a transplant. Another bullet struck you in the back without hitting anything vital and the last two bullets shattered your femur. You are going to need to be in a wheelchair until that leg stabilizes enough for you to be on crutches" Patrick told Lulu and Laura. "I'll let you get some rest. I will check on you later."

Over the next two weeks Lulu's health improved. Dante was a frequent visitor and stayed with Lulu as much as his investigation of Sonny would allow.