Lulu didn't like the fact that she was leaving Dante's room with Olivia in it; but she was his mother and she knew what it was like to not have one so present in her life. He did, and as much as Lulu didn't agree with anything that Olivia had done, she knew that he needed his mom right now and that Olivia did what she thought was right for her son. Plus, she was very aware of how weak she was and that she needed sustenance. As she walked toward the cafeteria, Sonny was walking toward her with a Danish and coffee in his hands.

He stopped Lulu and offered them to her. "Uh, I thought that you should eat something," he said in his normal monotonous voice, then added, "My son needs you to be strong for him."

"Your son? You know, I don't even know what else to say to you. I don't even want to look at you or be anywhere near you, Sonny," her voice was weak and drained. She'd taken the food from him because she was too weak to turn them down, and she was still standing in front of him because she was too tired to walk any further.

"I know, and I understand that. But I don't know what to do here. I just found out that Dominic is my son, someone that I trusted then thought was the enemy and shot," Sonny tried to defend himself, his voice slightly raised but still monotone.

"Am I supposed to have pity for you? Because I don't. Dante's better off not knowing you're his father. But I guess it's too late for that since everyone knows now," she countered.

"Look, I know you hate me Lulu," Sonny started.

"Hate is not the only word to describe how I'm feeling right now towards you, Sonny," Lulu interrupted. "Anger, loathing, disgust, disappointment, nauseous, livid, murderous, disdain, ashamed…"

"Ashamed?"

"Yes, I'm ashamed that I ever trusted you or ever turned a blind eye to who you really are. I regret ever defending you to anyone for any reason. You never deserved any of it," her voice increased in volume and intensity.

"I deserve that. I know you're angry but it doesn't help my son if you're…" Lulu didn't let him finish.

"There you go again with your son! Dante may be your son by blood but he's nothing like you. He will never be like you, Sonny!" Lulu was almost yelling now.

"Hey, hey," Olivia had walked out of Dante's room and had closed in on the conversation down the hall. "Keep your voices down."

"Why?" Lulu countered sarcastically.

"Because Dante doesn't know that Sonny is his father yet. I didn't tell him," she explained.

"Why didn't you tell him?" Sonny asked.

"Look, just because you're his father doesn't mean you can question me or any of my decisions. But to answer your question, our son just woke up from a gunshot wound that you gave him because you thought he'd been disloyal to you. I'm not going to tell him anything until he's recovered more and neither are either of you," Olivia stated.

"What did you tell him?" Lulu asked.

"Just that everyone knows that I'm his mom and that Sonny knows that he wasn't disloyal. And that is all he is going to know for now," Olivia looked at Lulu directly, clueing her in that Dante knew the plan.

"Olivia, he's going to know soon enough. Lulu announced it to the whole hospital," Sonny pointed out.

"Maybe but I can control who goes in and out of that room and Patrick has agreed to not say anything until I say it's okay," Olivia said, wiping her forehead as was usual when she was tired and frustrated. "I'm tired of doing damage control," she turned to Sonny and warned, "Don't give me anything else to fix, Sonny. Keep your mouth shut for now."

"Because he's my son and I want him to get better soon, I'll shut up, for now. But I won't sit on the sidelines long. You know that, Olivia," Sonny said then walked away from the two women that loved his son enough to lie to hiss face.

"Okay, so now that Sonny is gone, what exactly did you tell Dante?" Lulu asked.

"He knows everything except that Sonny is his father," Olivia answered.

"How in the world are you going to keep that from him when everyone knows that Sonny's his father already?" Lulu asked confused and frustrated.

"Look, I'm gonna tell him but I have to do it right. He's not going to react well and we need him to agree to stay undercover," Olivia explained. "Sonny needs to be behind bars and out of all of our lives for good."

"He hates Sonny and I'd think that with him shooting him that he'd want to take Sonny down."

"Are you forgetting that Dante's gonna learn that he does have a father, that I lied to him about it his entire life and that he got close enough to Sonny before to waver in his investigation?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, he did consider many times what it would do to his kids and that Sonny did love his kids and was trying to keep Michael out of the business because of it," Lulu admitted.

"Exactly. My son has a conscience, which is great. But it doesn't work for us in this situation. It's a blessing and a curse," Olivia said.

"Yeah, but once he knows that Michael, Morgan and Christina are his brothers and sister, he'll want to protect them. If we point out that, too, that Sonny was willing to kill him, anyone, for betraying him that should be enough to get him to agree to stay undercover," Lulu said.

"Good point but 'we' nothing. You are going to stay out of this, Lulu. If you get hurt any more than you already are, my son will kill me. And I'm not kidding. No, you need to stay out of it, Lulu," Olivia scolded.

"Look, Olivia, I'll tell you the same thing that I told Dante many times, I do what I want. And when it comes to your son, I take no instruction from anybody, including him," Lulu said as she left and walked back to Dante's room.

"Oy vey," Olivia breathed. "No wonder he loves that girl."

Chapter 5

Dante's eyes were closed and he was breathing gently when Lulu tiptoed into his room and sat quietly on the chair. She set down the coffee on his small rolling bedside table and proceeded to tear a small piece off the Danish. As she took the first bit, Dante opened his eyes and remarked, "Coffee and donuts? Wow, we're a little cliché."

Lulu smiled through her bite, trying not to spit it out as she giggled slightly from his comment. "Yeah, well, I'm hungry and there aren't many options in the hospital. Plus your fa-" she stopped herself from finishing the sentence in which she would've told him about the biggest secret of his life and stuffed another bite of Danish in her mouth.

"My what?" Dante asked innocently after she stopped mid-sentence.

"Oh, I was just going to say that your favorite Danish was in the machine so I thought of you and figured that's what I would eat," Lulu saved. Wow, she thought, that was lame.

"O-kay, well, can I have some?"

"No," Lulu took the Danish away from his reach, "Patrick has you on a liquid diet still. You can't have this, or the coffee."

"Come on, give a cop a break!"

"No. You've been awake for like, what, 2 hours after being unconscious for the last three days?" Lulu countered. "Uh-uh. You will have to wait a few more days for your coffee and donuts, officer." She smiled at him and lingered in place for a few moments. They were both silent as the reality of the situation hit them both.

"You know it was Sonny, right?" Dante's voice was serious and low, a slight anger crossing his face.

"Yeah, I know. Olivia told us. It was rough for her to see you lying there," Lulu answered.

"She was there?" Dante asked.

"Yes. She saw him shoot you," Lulu said.

"What?! She saw it?"

"Yes. She said she walked in, heard Sonny say "Goodbye, detective" or something like that, then she ran in as he fired. She said you dropped right away and she thought you were dead right there."

"Oh, ma!" he winced and laid his hands on his head, rubbing his hair as he was accustomed to do when upset or frustrated. The thought of his mom witnessing Sonny shoot him angered him.

"She's okay. I think she kept her cool pretty well because apparently she ran to your side, checked your pulse and realized you were still alive. I guess Sonny helped get you to the hospital, too."

"He helped? After he shot me?"

"I don't know all the details," she lied. "That's all I know and all I care to know."

"He helped?" Dante asked again, this time to no one in particular.

"You need to ask Olivia when she comes back. I'm sure she can fill you in," Lulu said. "But right now, I think you need to rest and not think about Sonny or anything else."