The next morning, Lulu awoke to her cell phone ringing, "Hello?" She answered groggily.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up, I figured Leah would have you up by now." Nadine said
Lulu looked to the clock, which told her it was nearly ten, she quickly jumped out of bed to find that Leah was not in her crib. Assuming Tracy had come to get the baby in the middle of the night, Lulu sat back down on the edge of the bed, "Is something wrong?" She asked promptly, "Is Nikolas okay? How did the surgery go?"
"It went well, they were able to remove the tumor and get the bleeding stopped." Nadine said, "They have him in a drug induced coma to try to keep his brain pressure down while it heals a little."
"That's good," Lulu replied, "Have you talked to Grandma Lesley or Lucky?"
"I called your grandmother and she said she would call Lucky for me." Nadine said, then paused before speaking again, "When I got here, the doctor was questioning me about the last few months…"
"What did he ask you?"
"He wanted to know if I had noticed anything out of the ordinary with him." Nadine explained, "So I told him about what happened with the whole situation, he said it is highly probable that the tumor has been there for a year or longer and because of its position, it could cause a lapse in judgment and cause him to be angry."
"So you're saying that he did all of this because of a tumor?" Lulu questioned
"That's just what the doctor told me." Nadine replied
"I don't mean to be rude, but…how do we know Nikolas isn't paying the doctor to tell you this?" Lulu questioned
"I wouldn't have believed it either, I got on a plane because of an impulse, but during the flight I had that thought in the back of my mind too." Nadine admitted, "And if I hadn't see him when they wheeled him out of the operating room, then saw the nurse change the dressing on his head earlier, I probably would still be doubting, but I think it's real."
"So what's going to happen next?" Lulu asked, "I mean with you and Nikolas."
"I don't know, I guess we'll talk it over when he wakes up." Nadine let out a sigh.
"Okay…thanks for calling me, keep me updated." Lulu said
"I will, give Leah kissed for me." Nadine replied
"Okay, I'll talk to you later." Lulu said before they hung up.
Lulu went into the bathroom to pull her hair into a ponytail and change clothes, but when she came back into her room, there he was sitting on her bed, "Johnny!" She squealed, trying not to be too loud as she flung herself at him causing him to fall backward onto the bed, "What are you doing here and how did you get in my room?"
"I wanted to surprise you, I climbed up the tree." He smiled, sitting back up and wrapping his arms around her before he pulled her into a sensual kiss.
"How did you know where I was?" She asked
"I called Trey and he told me that you came to stay here and Gabe was with you." Johnny replied
"Yeah, thankfully he stays pretty invisible; otherwise the Quartermaines would be throwing a fit." Lulu said
"Where's Leah?" He asked
"I guess Tracy came and got her before she had a chance to wake me up." Lulu replied, "I just got up about ten minutes ago."
"Let's go see if your mommy has decided to wake up yet." They heard Tracy's voice from the hallway.
Lulu jumped up immediately, grabbing Johnny by the arm, "You have to hide." She commanded, opening the bathroom door and pushing him in.
Tracy knocked lightly on the door before opening it as Lulu was tossing her wadded up pajamas into her suitcase, "Well…she is up." Tracy said to Leah.
"Yeah, I just got up a few minutes ago actually." Lulu replied walking over to Tracy and lightly rubbing Leah's hand, "You want me to take her?"
"If you'd like, I think she was just wondering who all these strange people were, she just stared at Daddy like he was crazy." Tracy told her as she handed Leah over to Lulu.
"I don't blame you." Lulu said to Leah with a laugh, "Thank you for coming and getting her this morning even though you didn't have to."
"Well, I figured with Johnny gone, you may be having trouble sleeping, so I thought it might be nice for you to be able to sleep in." Tracy explained
"I appreciate that Tracy, thank you." She said, "Are we still planning on lunch today?"
"If you'd like," Tracy replied
"Okay, I need to give Leah a bath and change her clothes, then I'll put on some make-up and I'll meet you downstairs." Lulu told her
"Alright." Tracy said before exiting the room.
Lulu quickly opened the bathroom door to find Johnny leaning against the vanity, he quickly looked up when the door flung open, then smiled when he saw his daughter in Lulu's arms, "Look, Daddy's back." Lulu said to the baby who grinned widely causing Lulu to start laughing, "Did you see that?"
"Yeah," Johnny smiled as he took Leah and kissed her cheek before cradling her in his arms, "It almost makes you wish she was a little older so she would have a bigger reaction." He said as they walked back into the bedroom and sat down on the bed.
"Oh no, this first month went by a lot quicker than I thought it would, we're not wishing anything." Lulu replied before she linked her arm with one of his and rested her head on his shoulder, "But I do wish we could all go home together."
"And we will, I just need a little more time." Johnny sighed, putting his arm around her, "So how did you end up here?"
"Nikolas had to have emergency surgery, he had another tumor that was causing his brain to bleed, so Nadine went to be with him and I couldn't stay in that house alone, it scared me." Lulu admitted, "So I came here."
"Is Nikolas okay?" He asked
"Nadine called a little while ago and they have him in a drug induced coma so his brain can heal and the doctors seem to think that's what caused him to do what he did." Lulu explained, "She also said she was skeptical, but she saw Nikolas when they wheeled him out of surgery and when the nurse changed the dressing on his head."
"Yeah, I don't think Nikolas would be able to pull that one off." Johnny replied
"I'm worried about him." Lulu said as she got up and walked to the window
"Do you need to go see him?" Johnny asked, Leah started to fuss in his arms so he put her on his shoulder and began pacing back and forth while he rubbed her back, "Just say the word and I'll have you on a jet to Greece."
"No," she nodded, "I'm sure Nadine will bring him home."
"Lulu," Tracy said as she knocked on the door causing Lulu and Johnny to both jump.
"Just a second," Lulu said quickly as Johnny handed Leah over to her and went back into the bathroom as Lulu opened the door, "Yeah?"
"I just remembered I have an appointment to get my hair cut at 1:30, so I was wondering how long it is going to take you to get ready or should I reschedule my appointment?" Tracy asked
"I can be ready in thirty minutes; I was just about to give Leah her bath." Lulu replied nervously, hoping her stepmother hadn't heard Johnny.
"Okay, if you need more time, I can reschedule it, no problem." Tracy said
"No, it's fine." Lulu replied, a little sad she had to hurry and couldn't spend more time with Johnny.
"Okay, I will meet you downstairs in thirty minutes." Tracy said before walking away, Lulu quickly closed the door.
"That was close." Johnny said quietly as he came out of the bathroom.
"I'm sorry, I'm going to have to hurry if I'm going to be ready in thirty minutes." Lulu told him, resting a hand on his cheek.
"If it would make it easier, I could give Leah her bath and get her ready," Johnny suggested, "That way I could stay a little longer."
"I knew there was a reason I loved you." Lulu grinned before Johnny leaned in to kiss her.
"Did you bring her bathtub over here?" Johnny asked
"No, I forgot," Lulu let out a groan, "just bathe her in the bathtub."
"What if she drowns?" He asked seriously
Lulu began to laugh before she spoke, "You actually think she's going to drown with you sitting there holding her in an inch of water?" she questioned
"You never know, it could happen." He defended
"Fine, put her in the sink." She replied, still laughing at his paranoia as she pulled the handle for the stopper in the sink and began to run the warm water.
"I can't believe how much she's grown just in the last couple of weeks." Johnny smiled as he took the romper off of her.
"I can't believe she's already almost two months old." Lulu added, "Time seems to have gone by so fast."
After Johnny gave Leah a bath and got her dressed, it was time for them to leave.
"Are you sure you don't want to hide out in here until we get back?" Lulu asked with a grin as she pulled him into a kiss by his shirt collar.
"I would do that in a heartbeat, but I'm sure my dad knows I'm home by now." Johnny replied, "But I will try to call you a little later in the week so we can meet up at the Haunted Star or something, I'm sure I can convince my dad that I'm going to talk to your dad about business."
"This is the only reason I hate seeing you in secret." She said, trying to keep the tears in her eyes from rolling down her cheeks, "Because I know we'll always have to say goodbye and it's never easy."
"I know, I'm trying to get things done so we can be together again." Johnny said, "I hate that I've missed out on more of Leah's life than I've been in it."
"Well, we have her for the next eighteen years, there's plenty of time to make up for that." Lulu replied
"You should go before Tracy decides to come up here after you." Johnny told her
"Yeah, I guess I should." Lulu frowned as she walked over and picked Leah up out of the crib.
"I love you." He said before kissing her.
"I love you too." Lulu replied
"I love you Leah." Johnny said as he kissed Leah on the head.
"We love you Daddy." Lulu replied, waving Leah's hand as Johnny opened the window to climb out.
Lulu sighed as she grabbed Leah's diaper bag along with her purse and went downstairs.
"There you are, I was about to come get you." Tracy smiled, "Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah, I just need to get Leah's car seat out of the Acura." Lulu replied as they started out the door.
"We can take your car if you'd like, that way you don't have to move the car seat." Tracy suggested
"Okay." Lulu agreed
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Nothing much to say except I've been slacking. Sorry about that. Let me know what you think!