Chapter 10:

"Please," Lulu begged. "Just take me to the PCPD. It's only a couple of blocks away." Her arms were wrapped around themselves, hugged tight to her body, and resting lightly on are overly grown belly. "Please. Dante and Xavier are there. We'll wait out the storm and be perfectly safe…" her voice trailed off when a sudden clap of thunder startled.

"If we show up there, Dante's just going to kill me letting you go out in this storm in the first place," Ethan said in his usual calm and thick accent. "Look… I know it's scary, but we have cards. And we have booze…" His back was to her. When he turned around to gesture to the bar with a smile he was met with enraged eyes. "…that you can't drink."

"Over a year, Ethan! I have been nothing but sober for 20 damn months!" she yelled. It had obviously been a sore spot, and one that had been pushed and abused every time she entered her family humble gambling and booze emporium.

"While I feel incredibly sorry for your sobriety… I can't justify taking you out in that storm!" Another crackle of thunder caused her to jump. "See… It's not safe."

"What's not safe is being on a freaking boat in the middle of a storm!" She yelled louder.

He thought it over for a moment. "You may be right, but we can't leave. We'll just have to ride out the storm. At least… for now anyway… we're dry with some cover." He noticed his sister had stopped listening to him, but rather taking an uncharacteristic inventory of what little she could see of her feet under her belly. "What's wrong?"

"My water broke."

Dante was pacing in every direction his feet would take him as he bounced his baby in his arms. The tiny boy gave whimper after whimper as he clawed his father's shirt. "I know, buddy. I wish Mommy was here too."

"You're going to carve yourself a hole in the floor, Falconeri," his old friend called to him from his desk. Ronnie had found the sight before him amusing. The strangeness of seeing his childhood best friend as a father hadn't warned off. While it was funny it was also a reminder of the emptiness of his life that he had left behind in old neighborhood, because the truth was his wife had kicked him out. Visitation was every other weekend. "Can't you sit down or something? Need a drink?"

"I can't drink. Lulu can't drink so I can't drink and the one time she found out I drank she nearly turned my balls into the Christmas ointments." He chuckled at the memory. "She really enjoys her liquor."

"I really enjoy seeing you whipped," Ronnie only mocked him.

"She's definitely worth it." His memories distracted him until his son squirmed in his arm and started screen. The thunder was loud enough to make it feel as if the entire building had begun to shake. "I know, Xav."

"Where is Lulu anyway?"

Dante scoffed before answering. "Lulu chose today of all days to be the one to…" He took inventory of his audience before continuing. "…to run a favor for her father, and she had to go to the Haunted Star." He shook his head at the sheer ridiculousness. "Yep, the mother of my children is on a boat…"

"I'm sure she'll be fine. Just think about the baby or something."

"The one that's with her on her family's freaking boat?"

"Yeah."

She screamed and trashed as her brother watched in horror. "Help me!" She screamed between contractions.

"Why didn't you tell me you were in labor earlier?" He yelled back at her in panic. "What do I do?"

"Check on the baby." She motioned between her legs. She was suddenly very thankful that the truck load of maternity pants she owned had stopped fitting. She had been forced to wear dresses for quite some time.

Ethan's face grimaced. "Maybe I can go get some help… or something. Anything else!"

"You're suck a dork! I'm having a baby!" She barked. "I'm not asking you to enjoy the view, because trust me you won't. But if you don't help me bring my child into this world I'm going to ruin you." Her voice carried above the sounds of rain, wind, and thunder, more and more with every word. "I will kill you!"

Four hours later the storm had turned into steady rain fall, and the Commissioner had given the all clear to vacate the building. Dante strapped Xavier into his car seat and bolted through all the lights to the Haunted Star. He rushed in to find his girlfriend and her brother with their backs up against the bar admiring a squealing new born. "Hey…" She whispered softly. Head to toe of her body was soaked from sweat and there were questionable stains on the floor and what looked like majority of Ethan's close.

Dante would have dropped to his knees at the sight had it not been for the other child he was carrying. "Is that…?" He waited for reassurances. "So, I guess I missed it again?" Xavier's arms reached out for his mother and she took him on her other side. His tiny fingers went to the poke the baby.

"Hey, Mister, this is your brother," she told her son and he looked up at her with a wondrous smile as if he couldn't believe it. "As if there weren't enough Spencer men in the world..."

"It's a boy…!" Dante's voice reached a new pitch. "We had another boy!" He practically yanked his new son into his arms, and made little effort to stop any tears. "Two sons… I… wow…"

"So what's the little lasses name spuds name?" Her brother asked proud of himself.

"Daniel…" Dante started.

"Ethan Daniel Falconeri," Lulu was quick to interrupt causing a rather distressed and confused look from her other half. "My brother very selflessly helped me bring him into the world. That shouldn't be forgotten." A wicked smile crossed her face. "Plus he came out and immediately pooped on his favorite uncle. So… Ethan Daniel. E.D."

"What would you have named him if he were a girl?" Ethan spoke to directly to his sister while Ethan stared at his second born letting it all soak in.

"Emily," she said softly, and yelled towards Dante, "I want one of those you know."

"Hello, E.D." Dante said to his newest son.

The End.

Author's Note: I can't believe it's actually over. Thank you for reading and I hope it was worthwhile. I believe this was actually my first Dante and Lulu story as well as General Hospital… and now they keep sprouting up like a bad case of ants at a picnic. This story actually started in the chat room and that's when I was talked into finally trying to write. So thanks to the people who frequent there. Blame them.

I called this story Schadenfreude because it means taking pleasure in someone else's pain. My slightly cynical view of pregnancy, and I thought it would be something that I could relate to Lulu.

I still have a handful of other stories on the board and I hope you read them too. Please don't forget to review. It helps with that whole self-confidence thing when it comes to writing.