Chapter 14

The flight felt like an eternity. He just wanted to see her in person and make sure it was really her. Hours later, Dante arrived at St. Michael's Hospital in London. He rushed to the floor they had told him to go to on the phone. "I'm here to see my wife! Sleeping Beauty is my wife! Her name is Lulu Falconeri!" He brought Lulu's passport with him to show them that she was who he said she was.

"Finally! We were starting to think nobody cared about her." The nurse said.

"We thought she was dead. I want to see my wife right now!" Dante demanded.

The nurse led him into Lulu's room. His breath caught the moment he saw her. It was his Lulu. Alive. She looked even more beautiful than he remembered.

"The doctor will be in to discuss her condition with you shortly." The nurse said and left them alone.

Dante moved forward and sat down in the chair next to Lulu's bed. He took her hand in his and just stared at her. She looked peaceful and pale but she was alive. He kissed her hand and started to speak "Lulu, baby, it is me, Dante. I don't know if you can hear me. I love you. I'm so sorry about everything. I'm never going to let you out of my sight again. Please come back to me."

The doctor entered the room and Dante stood up to speak to him. "Is she going to wake up?" Dante asked.

"We honestly do not know. She was near death when she arrived here. She had lost a lot of blood and had a stab wound to the chest. The stab wound healed and she is physically healthy other than the coma but three months is a long time not to be responsive. There has been research that hearing a loved one's voice can help. You should sit and talk to her." The doctor said and then he left Dante alone with Lulu again.

He sat back down and grasped her hand. "Lulu, I'm here. Please wake up. I need to see your beautiful smile again. I have been so lost without you." He started to cry and kissed her hand. "I love you."

Dante sat by Lulu's side every day for the next month, talking to her, stroking her face and holding her hand. He didn't tell anyone else in the family that he found her and Sonny agreed to keep it a secret. The less people that knew, the less chance Scott Baldwin would find out that she was still alive. Hopefully, nobody had shown him the news report. He would read to her from the romance novels he knew she loved. He talked about everyone at home in Port Charles and how much they missed her too. He was starting to get discouraged but he never gave up. The staff would have to force him to go back to his hotel and rest because he didn't want to be away from her.

One day, after many spent by her bedside talking and hoping she would respond, he was recounting the story of their wedding when Dante felt her fingers move slightly. The hand he held in his squeezed him back weakly. Dante jumped up from his chair. "Lulu? Baby, can you hear me?" He leaned down and kissed her on the lips. He pulled his face back and Lulu slowly opened her eyes. "You came back to me" Dante cried tears of joy and kissed her hand. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Her throat was too dry. Dante quickly got her a drink of water. She sipped slowly and tried again. "Dante? Where are we? What happened?"

"We are in London at a hospital. Baby, do you remember being kidnapped?" Dante asked her gently.

It all started to come back to her. Scott holding her captive in that cell and then stabbing her in the chest. "How am I alive? He stabbed me."

"We aren't sure. The doctor said someone left you at the door of the ER four months ago. You have been in a coma ever since." Dante explained. "Sonny found out you were here from a news report. I just found you a month ago."

"Four months?" Lulu started to cry.

"Baby don't cry. You are okay and you came back to me. We thought we had lost you forever. I love you." Dante said as he wiped her tears. "Let me get the doctor and let him know you are awake." Dante went out in the hall and summoned the doctor. He came in and checked Lulu over while Dante nervously looked on.

"You are very lucky young lady. You were in rough shape when you arrived here. Now that you are awake, you should make a full recovery."

Lulu managed a weak smile. "When can I go home?"

"We are going to keep you in here a few more days for observation and then you can go home. It will probably take you a while to start walking again and to regain your strength. You haven't used your muscles in awhile."

Lulu nodded and the doctor left the room. Dante sat back down in the chair next to her bed and stared at her. "I thought I would never see you again. The idea of life without you was unbearable."

Lulu stared back. She didn't know what to say. This was all so surreal. One minute she was on her honeymoon have the best time of her life and the next she was being held captive and then stabbed. Just like that it was four months later.

"I promise you Lulu. Nothing like this is ever going to happen again. I'm so sorry that I wasn't able to protect you."

Lulu just nodded and tried not to start crying again.

Lulu spent the next few days trying to learn how to regain her strength so she could walk again. The doctors carefully monitored her to make sure she wouldn't have any relapses. Despite being in a coma for four months, her health was very good. Her body had time to heal and rest from the trauma of the stab wound. Dante was with her every step of the way. Holding her up while she tried to walk and making sure she had everything she needed. He had Sonny send a bag of her things from the loft so she could wear her own clothes. Lulu was very quiet and withdrawn during this whole process. Dante was trying to give her time to process everything and come out of her shell but it was hard.

A week later, Lulu was ready to leave the hospital. Dante helped her into a wheelchair and wheeled her out to a waiting SUV. They had armed guards surrounding the car as Dante helped Lulu in and followed behind her. He wasn't taking any chances on her safety with Scott Baldwin still out there. He decided it was too dangerous to go back to Port Charles and was taking Lulu to Sonny's villa in the Tuscan countryside of Italy. The property had armed guards at every entrance and around the perimeter plus a state of the art security system.

After a flight and long drive they arrived at the villa. The grounds were beautiful with a grove of Olive trees and a nice pool with lounge chairs surrounding. There must have been 100 guards patrolling the property. "Don't you think the guards are a little much?" Lulu asked.

"Baby, you were taken from me once. I'm not allowing that to happen again and if it takes 100 guards and hiding out here in Italy forever, then that is what it takes."

Dante insisted on carrying Lulu inside. "I never got to carry you over the threshold." He said as he set her down on the bed in their suite.

"So what do you want to do first? Are you tired? Do you want to go to bed? Watch some tv?" Dante asked nervously.

Lulu felt awkward and shy, which was silly. This was Dante. The love of her life and her husband.

"I think I would like to take a bath to wash the hospital off." Lulu requested.

"I will go get it ready for you." Dante said as he headed off to the bathroom. Lulu looked around. The house was really beautiful and thankfully, nothing like his house on the island. Dante came out and helped Lulu off of the bed. She still couldn't walk very well so she leaned heavily on him. Once they got into the bathroom, Dante didn't know what to do. "Do you want me to help you? Would you like me to leave the room?"

Lulu thought about it for a second. She felt slightly uncomfortable but knew she wouldn't be able to do it herself in her weakened state. "Would you mind helping me please?" She sat on the edge of the tub while he helped her undress. He took off her shirt and his gaze lingered on the scar of the stab wound right above her heart. "I know it is ugly." Lulu said, hoping it wouldn't make her permanently unattractive to her. Dante leaned in and kissed the scar softly as tears filled Lulu's eyes. "Nothing about you is or ever could be ugly." He helped her out of her yoga pants and panties and then lifted her into the tub. "This feels so nice. Thank you" Lulu sighed as she leaned back. He had put lilac scented bubble bath in the water and she could already feel the aroma relaxing her. After awhile of just watching her relax Dante said, "Here, let me wash your hair." Dante said as he got the shampoo. He lovingly washed her hair and turned on the faucet to rinse and then conditioned and rinsed again. "I'm turning into a prune, will you help me out?"

Dante lifted her out of the tub and wrapped her in a big fluffy towel. He dried her off and then helped her out to the bedroom to put on panties and a short nightgown. Once Lulu was dressed for bed, Dante went to take a quick shower. Lulu was settled into bed when he came out dressed in a pair of boxer briefs. "Would it be better if I slept in another room? You are still healing." Dante asked nervously. "Don't be silly, you can sleep here in the bed." Relieved, he climbed into bed. "You have no idea how much I missed this. I would wake up in the night sometimes and reach for you to pull you close. Only you weren't there." They both lay on their backs, staring up at the ceiling. Dante wasn't sure if he should try to hold her or not. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable, he could tell she wasn't feeling quite right.

"Dante, what if we can't get back what we lost? What if we are never the same? What if I'm never the same?" Lulu asked in the darkness. He reached out and grabbed her hand. "Baby, it is going to take some time for you to heal not only physically but emotionally. You have been through a terrible ordeal but we can get through this. We are getting a second chance. I love you so much"

Lulu tentatively scooted over closer to Dante and laid her head on his chest as he put his arm around her. "I love you too Dante."

The next morning Lulu woke up to Dante staring at her. "Dante, did you sleep at all?"

"Don't you worry about that." Dante said.

"Honey, you have an alarm system and there are guards outside. I'm perfectly safe here with you. I don't want you to make yourself sick by not sleeping."

"It will pass Lu, just give me some time. What would you like to do today?" He asked changing the subject.

"I think it is time that you tell me what happened after you all thought I was gone. Did my dad ever show up? Does my family even know what happened?"

"Lucky came back to town shortly before you….left us." Dante said carefully. "Your dad showed up at your memorial service."

Lulu was shocked. "There was a memorial service?"

"Lulu, we thought you weren't coming back. We had to honor your memory. It was one of the most miserable days of my life. Your father showed up just as we were about to get started. I punched him." Dante said sheepishly. "He hasn't been seen since then."

Lulu didn't know how to process that information. It was just like her dad to show up too late and then disappear again when he didn't want to deal.

"What about my mother?" she asked

"After your memorial service, I flew to Paris to tell her. She was very upset and had a setback. She is doing better now and she has plenty of security around so Scott can't get to her. We will tell her you are okay as soon as Scott is found. We can't take any chances by telling her before that."

"I don't want to put her in danger by telling her. I guess it is best if I just stay here out of everyone's lives until I'm not a danger to them." Lulu sighed.

"So what would you like to do today?" Dante asked again.

"I'm feeling kind of tired still. Would you mind just laying here with me for a little while?"

Dante squeezed Lulu tight. "You know I take any opportunity to be close to you." Lulu sighed as she cuddled into Dante. She wondered if she would ever truly feel safe again. There used to be nowhere she felt safer than in Dante's arms. She didn't blame him at all for what happened but it proved that not even he could keep her safe. He would move heaven and earth for her and it still wasn't enough. She had been stolen right out of their honeymoon bed. She just wanted to go to sleep and wake up back on the island before any of this happened. She was the happiest she had ever been then. Newly married and completely in love with her husband. She burrowed into Dante's side and fell back asleep.

As the days went on, Lulu spent a lot of time sleeping and doing exercises to regain her strength. Swimming was a good way to regain her strength without putting too much pressure on her muscles so she made good use of the pool. She was still withdrawn and quiet most of the time and Dante was worried. He didn't want to push her to open up to him about the happenings of the last few months but he felt like she was shutting him out. She knew Dante felt like she was closing herself off to him but she just couldn't bring herself to talk about everything that had happened. She tried to busy herself with various activities. The Italian chef at the villa was teaching her how to cook authentic Italian meals. In no time she knew how to make all of Dante's favorites and the meals were actually good. Cooking made her feel better and like she was making something for Dante out of love. If she couldn't share her feelings with him, she could at least do this.

Every evening they had elaborate dinners by candlelight in the elegant dining room. Lulu would explain how she and the chef made the meal. Dante would tell stories from the old neighborhood. They didn't talk of anything important but it was Dante's favorite time of day. Even though there was always that elephant in the room, these dinners felt like they were almost their old selves, just for a short while.

The other issue was while they were sleeping in the same bed, they had not been intimate since the night that Lulu was kidnapped. Dante didn't want to pressure her and was waiting for some kind of signal that she was ready and Lulu took his not making a move as a sign that he wasn't as attracted to her like that anymore.

They went on like this for few weeks. Enjoying Sonny's villa as best they could under the circumstances. Lulu took to taking a swim every afternoon before cooking with the chef. One afternoon she came up after her swim and found Dante dozing on the bed.

She was so happy he was resting. She was starting to really worry that he was going to make himself sick by not sleeping and constantly worrying about her. Lulu showered and wrapped herself in a towel. She hung up her wet bathing suit to dry and then went out into the bedroom to get some clothes to wear.

She tried to be quiet closing the drawers after taking out her clothes but he stirred anyway. She had just put her panties and bra on when he said "Damn, if only I woke up a minute earlier."

"I'm sorry I woke you! I was trying to be so quiet."

"Baby, you can wake me up any time if I get to see you in that." He said heatedly, referring to the black lace bra and thong she had just put on.

Lulu blushed and decided that now was the time to make her move. Dante was shocked when she climbed on the bed and straddled him. She leaned down and kissed his forehead then his eyelids and his cheeks until finally settling on his lips. She licked the seam of his lips and then he opened his mouth to allow her tongue entry. His hands rubbed her thighs and then reached around her to squeeze her ass. She could feel him stirring in his pants as she slowly rubbed herself against him.

She pulled back from the kiss and looked into Dante's eyes. "Make love to me Dante."

He leaned up to kiss her again and rolled them over so he was on top of her between her legs. He quickly scrambled off of the bed and she watched as he removed his clothes as fast as he could. She loved looking at his body. He was so muscular and sexy. He was down to his boxer briefs when he climbed back on the bed, his hard-on evident through the thin fabric. He took his time kissing her mouth and then moving down to her neck, licking and sucking the way he knew she loved. He reached behind her and unclasped her bra, slowly removing it to reveal her perfect breasts. He leaned down and kissed and sucked her breasts. First one and then the other. She moaned and pushed herself against him. Deciding she couldn't wait anymore to feel him, she rolled them over once more and stripped off Dante's boxers and then hurriedly removed her panties and straddled him. She slowly rubbed her wet center up and down his hard shaft. He groaned and grabbed her ass. She reached down between them and took his hard shaft in her hand, rubbing up and down a few times before centering herself over it and putting it inside her. She moaned loudly at the intimate contact as she settled over his cock. At first she didn't move, just enjoyed their connection, enjoyed the feeling of him inside of her after all of these months. Dante looked up at her in awe. She was so incredibly beautiful, naked and riding him. He missed this so much. The intimate connection. Looking into each others eyes while they were joined together. He sat up and wrapped her legs around his waist. She put her arms around his shoulders and they moved together slowly. He kissed her passionately, his tongue dancing with hers. "I love you Lulu. I love you so much." He breathed into her mouth. She pulled back and looked into his eyes "I love you too. I missed you.". They stared into each other's eyes for a few moments still moving together slowly. Lulu felt like he could see right into her soul and he felt the same about her. They were "them" again. Dante turned them over so he was on top, keeping her legs wrapped around his waist. He could no longer keep the slow pace and his thrusts grew more insistent. They were both panting and moaning. "Harder Dante" Lulu moaned and he complied, slamming his cock into her over and over. His tongue lapped at hers and he could feel her muscles tensing up. He grabbed her ass pulling her against him with each thrust trying to get as deep as possible. They fucked frantically like that until Lulu screamed his name as she came hard, clenching around him. He followed right after, shaking as he shot inside her. She wrapped her legs tighter around him to keep him inside as they slowly came down from their high, kissing with lazy open mouth kisses. Minutes later after they had both relaxed, Dante rolled off of her and leaned on his elbow facing her. She turned to face him to as he lazily ran his hand up and down her side and around to squeeze her ass. "I really missed doing that with you." Dante grinned. She reached up to brush the hair out of his eyes and cupped his cheek. "I missed doing that with you too." She smiled. "I was worried you didn't want me like that anymore."

"Lulu! How could you even think that?" Dante was appalled. "I didn't want to pressure you into anything you weren't ready to do. I'm so sorry if I gave you the impression that I wasn't attracted to you anymore. I have been wanting to do this since I found you again." He leaned in to give her a long and passionate kiss. He then pulled her to him, intertwining her legs with his and wrapping his arms around her. "I love you." He said and kissed the top of her head.

Lulu lay intertwined with Dante, feeling surround by his love and decided she was ready to talk.

"Dante? I'm ready to talk about what happened."

Dante squeezed her even tighter. "I'm here to listen."

Lulu took a deep breath as she lay with her head on his chest. "I woke up on a plane wearing only the sheet from the bed. Scott Baldwin was staring at me. I felt so dirty knowing he had taken me, naked, out of OUR bed where we had just made love." Dante tried to keep from tensing up at the thought of it and rubbed Lulu's back softly. Lulu continued "He tossed me some clothes and I got dressed under the sheet. I asked him why I was there and he told me he wanted revenge for Logan. He was angry that I was so happy when his son wouldn't even get that chance. I asked him if he did anything to you and he said no. I was so relieved that you were okay. He then explained his plan to kill a Spencer, either me or my father. I knew right then that I was doomed. My dad would never exchange his life for mine and I would never want him to." Dante didn't say anything. He wanted to give her the chance to get this all out.

"He injected me again on the plane so I would pass out and not see where we landed. I woke up in that cell in the dungeon with my leg shackled to the wall. He was taunting me all of the time. Telling me how you were frantic to find Luke. I tried to sleep as much as possible because I would dream of you."

Lulu took a few more deep breaths. This next part was going to be hard to get through. "Whenever I had to use the restroom or take a shower, he would watch me. I can still feel his eyes on me sometimes." Lulu started to cry and Dante squeezed her tight. This man was going to die for what he did to Lulu. There was no question about it.

Through her tears, Lulu finished her story. "On the last day, he came in and told me to write you a goodbye letter. Then at midnight, he came in with a knife and stabbed me. I was so weak by that point that I couldn't even fight back. I blacked out so I have no idea who brought me to the hospital or how I lived. The next thing I remember is waking up to you."

Lulu felt like a weight had been lifted off of her finally after sharing the details of her ordeal with Dante.

Dante finally spoke. "I'm so sorry Lulu. I'm so sorry that this happened to you and that I couldn't stop it."

"Dante, I know I need to let go of what happened to me and move forward. You need to do that too. You need to let go of the guilt because you couldn't have prevented this. We never could have seen it coming."

"Baby, I promise you, I'll try."

"I think the next thing we need to do is take our life back. We need to go back to Port Charles and let everyone know I'm alive." Lulu declared.

Dante sat up in bed. "Lulu we can't! It isn't safe. Not until Scott is caught or killed." He stated firmly.

Lulu sat up to face him. "Dante, we can't hide forever and there are no leads at all on where he might be. We can't let him take everything from us. You have family at home. There are people that love you and miss you."

"Lu, can you just give me a couple more weeks? I promise you, if we don't have any information on Scott in a couple of weeks, we can go home. I just want a couple more weeks alone with you where I know you are safe." He pleaded.

Lulu couldn't say no when he looked at her like that. "Ok" she acquiesced. "A couple more weeks alone with you doesn't sound so bad." She grinned and gave him a soft kiss.