Hi Everyone! I'm back after a little break. I don't know if anyone is still reading this story but here is the next chapter. There is another time jump and it is about to get a little angsty. As always, please read and review. I love to hear reader feedback.
Chapter 14
Seven months after they moved in together, Dante was home alone again. Lulu had been gone more often than she was home and he missed her. He wanted to support her in her career but he was frustrated at their lack of time together. They were supposed to be building a life together and instead they communicated mostly by text and short phone calls. She would be home for a few days and then back out on an assignment. She was exceptionally good at her job and was rewarded for that with tougher and longer assignments. This also meant they were more dangerous and Dante worried. He found the woman he loved and wanted to settle down with just as she found a dangerous career that took her away from him for long periods of time. He didn't want to seem needy or insecure but he questioned what kind of future they could really have if things continued on this way. He went to bed early feeling depressed and lonely after trying to call Lulu and getting her voice mail. In the middle of the night his phone rang. He grabbed it off the nightstand and looked at the caller ID. It was Lulu calling from whatever far off place she was in.
"Hello?" He said groggily.
"Baby it's me, I'm sorry I woke you up. I just realized it is really late there." Lulu said.
"It's okay. I'm happy to hear your voice." Dante said.
"I miss you." Lulu said softly.
"I miss you too. So much." Dante said sadly.
"I should let you get back to sleep." Lulu said.
"No, it's okay. I want to talk to you. How is the job going?" Dante asked sitting up in bed.
"It's going okay. I hope to be done in a couple of days." Lulu said.
"I can't wait to see you. I don't like sleeping alone." Dante said looking at her empty side of the bed.
"I know, I don't either." Lulu said. Dante didn't sound like himself. "Dante are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Dante said, not wanting to upset her while she was away with his fears.
"Okay." Lulu said as tears sprang to her eyes. She knew he wasn't okay. She felt so far away from him both physically and emotionally. "I'll let you get back to sleep now. I love you."
"I love you too. I can't wait to see you." Dante said. "Bye."
"Bye." Lulu hung up and stared at her phone. She started to cry in earnest. She missed him but she loved her job and she had no idea how to balance the two.
The assignment didn't end in a couple of days. It was extended and Lulu was gone for another couple of weeks. The longer she was gone, the more distant they grew and Dante could feel himself getting angry. Why didn't she want to come home to him? One evening Lulu called and he answered the phone with a despondent "Hello".
"Hi, it's me." Lulu said softly. "How are you?"
"I'm okay." Dante said shortly.
"Looks like I'm going to be home in a few days." Lulu said trying to keep things light.
"You said that a couple of weeks ago and it wasn't true." Dante said still with a tightness in his voice.
"The assignment was extended. It's my job, I had to see it through." Lulu tried to explain. "You can't just drop a case in the middle because you want to go home."
"My cases don't take me away from you for weeks on end." Dante could feel the anger rising in him.
"Sometimes they may as well with as much as you work." Lulu said defensively.
"We still sleep in the same bed every night when I'm working on a case. We still see each other in person. You haven't been home in weeks. What kind of relationship are we supposed to have over the phone and through texts?" Dante said angrily.
"I'm sorry. I have to go where they tell me. It's my job." Lulu said as she started to cry.
"Lulu, I'm really upset and frustrated right now and I think it would be best if we didn't continue this conversation. I might say something I would regret and I don't want that." Dante said trying to calm down.
"Okay." Lulu said. After a moment of silence where he didn't respond she said "I love you."
"I love you too." He said and the line went dead.
Lulu was heartbroken. Dante rarely got angry with her like that and it stung. She finally found a career she loved and it was tearing them apart.
Dante lay in their bed alone staring at the ceiling. He felt terrible about going off on her like that. He just missed her and he was hurt that she would rather be off working than come home to him. Her trips were getting longer and longer and they had less time together than ever. He sighed at looked over at her empty side of the bed. How were they going to fix this?
A few days later, Lulu arrived home. She and Dante hadn't spoken since their tense phone call. She sent him a couple of texts saying she loved him and he always wrote back his love to her too. She didn't tell him she would be home that day because she wanted to surprise him. He was still at work when she arrived so she ordered them dinner, showered and changed into a pretty dress. Then she waited. The hours passed and he still didn't show up. Eventually, she put the food in the fridge and blew out the melted down candles then sat on the couch where she eventually fell asleep. Late that night, Dante finally arrived home. He went out for a few beers with the guys from the station because he hadn't wanted to come home to an empty house again. He noticed the dining room table set for dinner, which confused him. Then he saw Lulu's blond hair over the arm of the couch. He went around the front to find her fast asleep. It looked like she dressed up for him and obviously wanted to surprise him by coming home. He felt terrible that he missed it. He brushed her hair back from her face and knelt down next to the couch to lay a soft kiss on her forehead. She opened her eyes and stared at him for a moment without speaking. Then she pulled him down to her so she could kiss his lips.
"Surprise!" She said groggily as she tried to wake up.
"I'm so sorry. I went out with the guys because I didn't know you would be here." Dante said as she sat up.
"It's okay. You didn't know. It was silly of me not to tell you. Now we missed a whole night together." Lulu said. She was feeling dumb for not just telling him she was going to be home. They had such little time together as it was.
Dante sat next to her on the couch and grabbed her face to kiss her. "I'm happy to see you."
"I really missed you." Lulu said as she kissed him back. "I'm so sorry we fought."
"I didn't mean for it to all come out like that on the phone." Dante said. Now that she was here in front of him and he could look into her eyes and see the love his anger had diminished. "I'm sorry I got so angry. I'm frustrated with our situation and I hate being without you so much."
"I hope you know that I'm not gone on these long trips because I want to be away from you or that I like to be. It's my job and since I'm good at it they keep giving me more to do. I don't like that it takes me away from our home." Lulu was trying to explain.
"I will be honest and say that it feels like you are choosing your job over me most of the time and it hurts." Dante just decided to be brutally honest.
Lulu felt like she was kicked in the gut. "Dante no. That's not how it is at all. I miss you every moment I'm gone. I finally found something I'm good at after years of working as an errand girl. I get respect out there in the field. I'm no longer the loser who doesn't know what to do with her life and it feels good. The major downside is how long I'm gone. I feel like it's tearing us apart but I don't want to give it up." Lulu said as she started to cry. "I don't want to lose you or my new dream."
"What about my dreams? I want to make a life with you and we can't do that if you are always gone on some dangerous assignment. Don't you want a life with me?" Dante asked, scared what the answer might be.
"Of course I do but I want this job too. You have a career that you love. What if I asked you to give up being a cop?"
"The difference is that my career still allows us to be together and have a relationship. Your job does not."
"I guess you are right about that." Lulu conceded. "Where do we go from here?" She asked tremulously.
"I don't know. I do know that I love you very much and I don't want to give up on us. We have to figure out a way to work this out."
"How?" Lulu asked still crying.
"I don't know. We don't have to figure everything out tonight. Let's go to bed. You must be tired." He said as he stood up and reached for her hand. He led her upstairs and Lulu washed up while Dante stripped down to his boxer briefs. He took his turn in the bathroom while she changed into a short nightgown. She stood in front of their big closet looking at all of their clothes hanging together and their shoes neatly lined up. This was their life together and she was missing it. Dante came out of the bathroom and saw her staring into the closet. He went up behind her and slid his hands around her waist. "Come to bed." He said into her ear.
She turned around and kissed him hard. "Make love to me Dante." She said into his mouth. He did as she asked. Clothes were quickly shed and he was inside her thrusting slowly as they stared into each other's eyes. They came together as Lulu held onto him tightly, not wanting to let go. Dante rolled them onto their sides and slipped out of her.
"I'm glad you are home." Dante said and he kissed her again.
"I love you." Lulu said and she drifted off to sleep in his arms. Dante watched her for a while before drifting off himself. He had nightmares about Lulu being taken away from him. In the middle of the night, Lulu's phone rang waking them both up. She looked at the caller ID and it was Liam. Dante saw it too and immediately felt anger. They couldn't even have one night.
"Liam what is it?" Lulu answered the phone.
"Lulu, we need you to come back right away. The job isn't finished and we need you to go back in undercover because they already know and trust you." Liam said.
"I haven't been home in weeks. I can't come back." Lulu insisted.
"We need you Lulu. The whole thing is going to fall apart if you don't come back to finish it." Liam was not taking no for an answer. "All of your hard work will be for nothing."
"Please don't do this to me. I need some time at home." Lulu begged.
"I'm sorry but it can't be helped. We'll email you your plane ticket. Your flight leaves at 5:00am." Liam hung up and Lulu stared at her phone not wanting to face Dante. It was already 3:00am and she would have to get up and get ready now to make her flight.
"You can't be serious." Dante said angrily. "You haven't even been home for a full day. How can you even consider going back?"
"Dante all of my work for the last weeks will be for nothing if I don't go." Lulu tried to explain.
"Who cares? When do you get to have a life?" Dante was furious. "When do WE get to have a life?"
"Who cares? I care. I worked on this for weeks and it's all going to fall apart if I don't go back now. This is my job. Would you just drop a case in the middle because it was inconvenient?" Lulu was getting angry now too.
"Of course not. The circumstances here are a little different though don't you think?" Dante asked.
"Not to me. This is important to me and I wish you would try to understand that." Lulu snapped.
"Try to understand? I think I have been pretty damn supportive and understanding with you gone ALL of the time. Just once I would like you to pick me and us instead of your job." Dante spat back.
"I picked you and us for a long time at the expense of anything for me. I have a passion now outside of the relationship and I can't just drop it because you don't like it."
"Lulu, if you go. I can't guarantee that I'm going to be here when you decide to come back."
"You are giving me an ultimatum? Either I give up on this case or you leave me? That isn't fair at all!" Lulu yelled.
"What's not fair is being in this relationship by myself! If you can't see that leaving right now would be a mistake then what do we have left here?" Dante shouted back.
"I can't believe you are doing this to me." Lulu said as she got out of bed and stomped into the closet to pack her bag. Then she stormed into the bathroom and turned on the shower. She broke down in tears while she took her shower, then she tossed her hair up, got dressed and went back out into the bedroom. Dante was not in bed where she left him. She looked out the window and her car service was waiting for her. She grabbed her bag and made her way downstairs. Dante was sitting on the couch staring at the TV.
"I'm leaving. Do you really want to part like this? I love you Dante." Lulu said.
"Not enough to stay here with me." Dante said sadly.
"That isn't fair and you know it." Lulu said. "I'll call you from the road." She said as she walked out.
Dante couldn't believe she left. He all but begged her to stay and she left. Maybe it was time to be honest with himself that she would never be happy living a simple life at home with him.
Lulu cried the whole way to the airport. Then she dried her tears and focused on work. She had to finish this assignment as fast as possible and get home to Dante to try and work things out. She would demand some time off to be home.
Dante thought about making good on his threat to move out while she was gone but he couldn't do that to her. If there was a shred of hope that they could somehow work this out then he needed to be there and leaving was what all the other people in her life did to her. He wasn't going to be like them.