The sunlight peeking through the blinds directed Dante's lazily opening eyes to Lulu's golden blonde head resting next to his. She is my light, he thought to himself. Her face was turned toward his, resting on her arms just as she had laid it. He brushed the long bangs away from her face so he could see her beautiful ivory skin. You needed to sleep more than I did, he whispered to himself. Lulu stirred a bit then and started to lift her head. She winced slightly as she felt the soreness start to creep into her neck muscles. Her eyes fluttered open and focused directly in front of her. Dante was wide awake, his eyes looking softly at her and his lips forming an easy smile.

"Good morning, beautiful," he said through the smile.

"Good morning," she said sleepily, stretching a little. "How long have you been awake?"

"Not long," he stated truthfully.

"It's morning," Lulu said again but this time with a note of sarcasm.

"What clued you in to that? The sunlight filtering in through the blinds, hitting your hair just so it shines like the sun…"

"Okay, they need to give you a little less morphine," Lulu giggled.

"What? Don't you like my cheesy lines?" Dante was still smiling.

"I wouldn't say that I like them but that wasn't a cheesy line," she smiled back at him, "I don't know what that was."

"Give a guy a break. I mean, I just got shot and I'm on all these pain meds, which by the way are nice," he joked.

Lulu couldn't do anything but laugh at that point.

"I missed your laugh," Dante said, settling the moment a bit. Lulu looked at him and leaned in to give him two kisses.

"I missed you," she said.

In the next moment, Patrick walked in the room with Epiphany in tow.

"Well, good morning. Good to see you both awake," he said then motioned to Lulu, "I see that you finally got some sleep as well, Lulu."

"Yeah, a little," Lulu answered.

"A little? The girl was out! I tried to shake her and push her head off the bed since it was invading my space…" Dante joked.

"Don't listen to him. The medication is making him delusional," Lulu retorted.

"Yeah, well, it's good to see you rested, too, Dante, but right now, you," he pointed to Lulu, "need to leave for a bit. We need to check Dante out. I'll let you know when you can come back."

"Okay," she said to Patrick then turned to Dante, "Be nice."

"I'm always nice," Dante said.

"Mmmm, hmmmm," Epiphany interjected, a knowing look crossing her face at Dante's.

"See," Lulu answered sarcastically, "Epiphany knows." He grabbed her hand softly as she walked away. She looked back but kept walking, their hands sliding gently over each other. He let out a deep breath of satisfaction as she exited the room and closed the door.

Patrick & Epiphany ran through a few minor procedures: blood pressure, reflex, pulse. Then Epiphany started to open Dante's upper gown.

"Be careful, now," Dante warned, "you might get too excited with what you see. I don't need my nurse to faint."

"Mmmm, hmmmm. Well, I doubt that I'd faint at the sight of a gunshot wound," Epiphany rolled off her tongue easily then added, "plus I've seen this all before. Not that impressive."

"Hey," Dante acted hurt, "that hurts my feelings."

At that point, Epiphany and Patrick almost had the bandage on Dante's chest removed. Patrick took a look at it for a few moments and had Epiphany make a notation on Dante's chart. She started to change Dante's bandage.

"So, Doc, how am I doing?" Dante asked.

"Everything is looking good so far. You're blood pressure is a little high but it's nothing to be concerned about. We're going to monitor you closely for the next few days to make sure you don't develop any infections. Otherwise, the incision is starting to heal nicely," Patrick told him.

"So, I can be out of here in a few days?" Dante said hopefully, his eyebrows rose in anticipation.

"Oh, no. You'll be in here for a few weeks," Patrick said truthfully, "the bullet was lodged very closely to your spinal chord and that is going to take some time to process and heal, and a little physical therapy here at the hospital before we let you go home. This was a serious injury and you need all the rest you can get."

"A couple weeks?" Dante had focused on those three words almost solely. He was not excited to be laid up for so long even though he could feel his body needed it.

"Look on the bright side," Epiphany interjected, with a smirk, "you get me as your nurse for all that time." She had just finished changing Dante's bandage.

"Oh, joy," Dante answered facetiously.

"I'm going to let you have a few visitors and then you will need to rest again," Patrick said before he and Epiphany left Dante's room. Lulu entered moments later.

"So, did Epiphany give you a sponge bath?" she joked.

"No, but I think she wanted to. I told her that was your sole responsibility and I wouldn't want to deprive you of that luxury," he joked with her, that signature smile playing upon his lips.

"Oh, really," Lulu smiled back, "Well, I give good sponge baths but I'm not sure you deserve one, yet."

"I just got shot. Doesn't that count for something?" Dante smiled back.

Before Lulu could answer, Kristina approached Dante's doorway. Dante noticed the young lady that he now would call his sister and said, "You can come in." Lulu looked back as Kristina entered and stood at the end of the bed, a little nervous to get too close.

"So," Kristina started, "You're my brother."

"Yes," he answered.

"Dad shot you. Are you mad at him?" she said and asked rapidly, her eyes hadn't left Dante's.

"Yes, and yes but I'm also confused," Dante answered her truthfully.

"How are you confused? Dad shot you and you almost died. They told me you did during surgery," Kristina said with anger and fear across her face.

Dante motioned for Kristina to come closer to him. She moved to the opposite side of the bed to Lulu, even though Lulu had started to move to let Kristina sit where she did.

"Sonny didn't know that I was his son when he shot me…and I didn't know he was my father. And add the fact that he shot me knowing that I was a cop, it makes everything a little confusing," he started to explain.

"What's confusing? He still shot a cop in cold blood! Theirs is nothing right about that," Kristina was almost screaming.

"Kristina," Lulu interjected, "Calm down. Dante doesn't need…"

Dante looked at Lulu lovingly and stopped her speech, "Lulu, it's okay. I'm fine. Let her talk."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't get so angry when you're recovering still," Kristina realized.

"No, it's okay Kristina. I understand your anger. It's okay to be angry with Sonny but though I'm angry too, I know that he would do anything for his kids, including you," Dante started to say again.

"It's not right, though, Dante. Michael got shot because of him. Then he shoots you, who end up being his son. And even before that, he knew that you were a cop. That's Murder one…even Molly knows that," Kristina argued.

"You're right, Kristina, but right now the only thing I know for sure is that I'm happy that I have a sister and two brothers. A whole family. Before, it was just me and my mom," Dante said.

Kristina's face softened, "Yeah, it's nice to know that I have a brother who's a cop. You were always nice to me and protective of me and Morgan and Michael," Kristina stopped briefly, obviously thinking about something. "I'm not sure about Michael, though. He may still hate you. I don't understand that."

"I know. Michael has had a lot of heavy stuff happen to him that he's still dealing with. I'm not worried about Michael hating me. All I know is that he's my brother now like you're my sister and that still makes me glad," he responded.

"I'm glad you didn't die, Dante. But I will never understand or love my dad for what he did to you and what he does," she stated. "I have to go but I want to come back later."

"I'd like that, sis," Dante said, smiling.

Kristina smiled back for the first time since she entered the room, "Bye."

Dante rested his head back on his pillow from it's left facing position and breathed a sigh. Lulu reached for his right hand again, cupping hers in his and rubbed his forearm with her other hand. He turned towards her.

"Well," she said, "two down one to go." He looked at her knowingly and breathed, "Michael."