Dante stared at his younger brother in what could only be described as disbelief. If pushed he couldn't decide if he felt more hurt or betrayed. Without even thinking the question, "What the hell is so fucking great about Johnny Zacchara?" tumbled out of Dante's mouth before he could even process it let alone stop it.

If the question surprised or startled Michael he certainly didn't act like it or let on. Instead he continued to stare at Dante defiantly as he said, "Because he doesn't act like he knows what's best for everyone. He doesn't judge you or go out of his way to attempt to control you. He's basically the fucking anti-you."

Dante frowned. It was obvious that Michael's words had cut him. If he weren't in an interrogation room where Lucky and other members of the force could watch and judge his every move he might have lashed out at his younger brother. Instead he fell back on his tired and always handy excuse, "I just want to protect you."

"You know when I could have used protecting when you got me thrown in jail because I protected my mother and little sister from a maniac who had no sense of right or wrong. That's when I could have fucking used protecting. Now I just need to be allowed to live my own fucking life." Michael seethed quietly. "Now you either let me leave or like I said I'll wait for my attorney to arrive."

Dante stared at Michael completely at a loss as to what the appropriate response was in this situation. All he wanted to do was lecture him on just how irresponsible of a choice he was making. "Michael…"

"You're free to leave Michael," Lucky announced as he reentered the room. "Thank you for coming down."

"Thanks Lucky," he said as he stood up from the interrogation room table. He didn't say anything as he squeezed pass Dante to leave the small room. Nor did he turn around when he heard Dante call his name, the exasperation and embarrassment obvious in his tone. Instead he kept walking straight ahead until he was in Abby's waiting arms.

"Are you free to leave?" She asked softly. She'd watched as Dante paced outside the window before busting in and ushering Lucky out. She then watched as Lucky shook his head in what looked a lot like bewilderment. She did her best not to make eye contact with Dante who was watching their embrace intently.

He nodded, but didn't say anything. Despite the badass and indifferent persona he had adopted in there he was tired and more than a little scared. After being put in prison he had a new distaste and fear of police stations.

"Are you okay?" She asked once they were in the car noticing that he looked a little pale. He reminded her a little of the Michael he'd been when they first met. Back when he was just a lost kid who was struggling to deal with the shitty hand he'd been dealt in life.

"Yeah I just uh really hate police stations." He attempted to joke, but he could hear how timid and hollow it sounded. "Plus I sort of told Dante to go fuck himself."

"Wow."

"Yeah so you know just coming down from all that," he told her, flashing a weak smile to try to convince her. "Have you heard from Lulu?"

"He woke up and he's groggy and in some pain, but fine." The only time she'd left the chair she'd been sitting in while he was being interrogated had been to field that conversation. "She's going to stay with him tonight."

"Good because I wouldn't put it past Dante to have someone trail us," he said as he glanced in the rearview mirror to see if there were any cars following behind. "He seemed pretty desperate to find Johnny."

She didn't say anything but in the back of her mind she couldn't help but wonder why exactly that was. The way Dante was acting you'd have thought Johnny was the perpetrator of a crime when it was obvious that he was the victim in this case.

"I think we're thinking the same thing," Michael said when he noticed the conflicted expression on her face as they came to a stop at a red light. "He was trying to act like everything was okay, but he seemed edgier than usual."

"You don't think…"

"A month ago I would have said no, but Dante's definitely got it out for Johnny. He even asked me what was so fucking great about him?"

"In the interrogation?"

"Yeah I don't think he meant to, but he definitely did. So of course I said he wasn't a fucking controlling dick, which you know really made increased the tension in the room."

"No wonder Lucky was shaking his head so damn much," she murmured as they pulled into the lot to their apartment building.

- J - & - L -

She groaned quietly as she slowly started to stir. She blinked and noticed an old John Hughes movie playing on the television. She looked up and saw that Johnny was watching it intently. When he glanced down at her and flashed her one of his melt-worthy smiles all she could do was smile back before stating the obvious, "I fell asleep."

"That you did," he confirmed as he began to slowly stroke her hand, an action he'd been itching to do since she had laid her head on his chest.

"I shouldn't have done that. What if you needed me or worse what if I had hurt you?" She said slowly extracting herself from his grasp to make sure that she hadn't disrupted his bandages. She hadn't wanted to let him get out of bed, but he'd assured her that he was strong enough to make the move from the bed to the coach.

"I didn't and you didn't," he assured her, gently urging her to lay her head on his chest again. "I'm hurt, but I'm not broken Lulu. I promise."

She nodded and enjoyed the feeling of him playing with her hair again. It was a simple display of affection, but since she'd been little it had always been one of her favorites. "Do you know who did it?" She asked quietly. The question had been plaguing her since the moment she heard about him being shot. She'd kept wondering if it had been the man on the phone that he'd been threatening when they first ran into each other earlier that day.

He shook his head and let out a tired sigh. "They blindsided me. I wish I did though so I could return the favor."

She started to ask if there was anything he did remember, but was interrupted by the sound of her ringing phone. Slowly she extracted herself from his grasp thinking that it was probably Abby checking in again. She smiled as she silently thought that she wasn't the only woman in Port Charles who had a soft spot for the reckless mobster. Her smile quickly turned into a frown when she saw that it wasn't Abby, but rather Dante on the line. She glanced at Johnny wondering if she should just let it go to voicemail. Finally she decided she should just answer because you knew how Dante would react to being ignored. "Hey Dante…" she said forgoing their usual pet names which she would have felt wrong to use with Johnny pretending not to listen to her on the couch.

"Hey Lu I know that things ended kind of rocky for us earlier today so I'm glad you answered."

This was the kind of sentence that normally would have made her instantly being mad at him. Now though it mostly just made her way to say well at least we've got that going for us.

"Lulu are you still there?"

"Uh yeah I'm here Dante. What's up?"

"Nothing I just was wondering if you had by chance heard from Johnny Zacchara?"

"Uh no. Why?" She asked as she flashed Johnny an apologetic smile.

"No reason. Anyway something's come up and I don't know if I'll be home until late."

"Okay sounds good." She replied distractedly as she watched Johnny struggle to grab his bottle of water off of the coffee table. She rushed over to the coffee table and handed it to him before he could do something stupid.

"Is everything okay Lulu? I'm really sorry about this afternoon."

"Everything's fine. I'm just tired. It's been a long day. I was just about to hop into the shower." She lied so easily that it nearly caught her off guard.

"Okay…" he said, hesitating for a moment before saying. "I love you Lulu. You know that right?"

"Yeah," she told him softly though she didn't miss the fact that his profession about his feelings didn't make feel nearly as breathless as Johnny's had just a couple hours earlier.

"The detective?" Johnny asked she rejoined him on the couch.

"Yep. He was wondering if I'd heard from you."

"Which of course you haven't."

"Of course not." She replied, chuckling softly before suddenly sobering when a realization hit her like a ton of bricks. "He's only going to come after you worse when he finds out Johnny."

"I can handle the detective." He told her. "And even if I couldn't you'd be worth it."

She nodded silently hoping that he was sure of that.

"You'll always be worth it Lulu."