The Next Day
General Hospital
Dante sat next to Lulu's bedside. Lulu had woken up briefly after the surgery the night before. But then she went back to sleep.
Dante held a construction paper card and set it next to Lulu.
"Rocco made you a get well card," Dante said, "He can't wait to see his mommy."
Lulu's eyes fluttered open. She slowly woke up. She tried to sit up attempting to make sense of her surroundings.
"Take it easy," Dante said, gently urging her to lay back down, "You're at General Hospital. You hit your head in the explosion. You had surgery to bring down the swelling and repair some blood vessels that took a beating."
"Dustin?" Lulu asked, tearing up, "He was there….No, he didn't make it."
Epiphany entered the room, "I'm going to have to ask you leave the room, Dante. Now that Lulu's awake, we'll need to check her out. The doctor will be shortly."
"Dante," Lulu replied.
"I'll be right outside the door," Dante said.
Dante was pacing outside the door when Kellie arrived.
"You obviously need to lay off the coffee," Kellie quipped, sensing Dante's tension.
"And you weren't burning the midnight oil last night either," Dante said, "Lulu just woke up. The doctor's examining her. Her question was about Dustin. I don't what I'm going to tell her. He asked her to marry her."
"Dante, you might want to breathe," Kellie said.
"I feel like that should be my line to you," Dante said, "Last night wasn't exactly a picnic for you either between Charles getting hurt in the explosion and not knowing if Jason had been as well."
"Dante," Kellie said, "Lulu's alive. She's going to be okay. Just go with that for now. You'll be able to answer her questions."
"I don't know if I should be the one giving her the answers," Dante said, "I'm the one that left her and Rocco."
"You left to get help," Kellie said, "That's never been in question. Though rather than tell your family you needed therapy and might have been brainwashed, you took off without a word. Never mind we might have been able to help you. At the very least, an explanation would have been helpful instead of leaving us to figure it out."
"I highly doubt that you could have helped with brainwashing," Dante said.
"Shows what you know," Kellie said, "Old WSB case of mine involved a brainwashing program developed by Helena Cassadine. She and others attempted to brainwash me with it twice. Some version of it was used on Alexis to make her forget she met Lorenzo as a teenager. I had to help with the deprograming it started falling apart."
"It's not like you could have known," Dante said.
"I've been to the treatment facilities and seen patients you reminded me of," Kellie said, "By the time I figured it out and called Robert Scorpio to get his assessment, you were already on the plane to the treatment center."
"Remind me never to under estimate you like that again," Dante said, "In all fairness, you had a lot going on at the time. I'm going to stop digging that hole."
"You think," Kellie asked, "Feel any better?"
"Seriously?" Dante said, "My wife, ex-wife nearly died you decide to….oh, oh…I see what you're doing. Distracting me."
"I'd say it worked," Kellie said as Epiphany and the doctor came out. Laura joined them as well.
"How is my daughter?" Laura asked.
"All her vitals look good," the doctor said, "We'll need to monitor her still. We're not totally out of the woods yet. But her recovery looks promising."
Laura breathed a sigh of relief, "As long as we're talking about recovery, I'm grateful."
"One visitor at a time," Epiphany said, "We don't want her to over do it."
"You two should be the first ones in there," Kellie said, turning to Dante and Laura, "Rather than overwhelm Lulu with visitors, could the two of you let her know I'm thinking of he?"
"Oh honey, are you sure?" Laura asked, "I'd hate to think you came here without seeing Lulu."
"Lulu isn't the only patient I'm visiting here," Kellie said, "Charles was caught in the explosion last night two. His leg was pinned under a support beam. Fractured in a couple of places. Hopefully he'll have an idea of when he can go home."
"Why don't you go see your father-in-law and swing back by before you leave," Dante said.
"I'm sure Lulu would love to see you," Laura said.
"Deal," Kellie said, "But if she needs her rest, I'll come by another time."
"Fair enough," Laura said, "Dante, you can go first. I have something I wanted to run by Kellie."
"Uh…sure," Dante said, "I'll see you later, little sis."
"I'll let the little sister remark slide this time," Kellie replied as Dante went back in the room.
"Kellie, have you ever tried just ignoring Dante's little sister remarks," Laura asked.
"Never," Kellie replied instantly.
"Uh never mind that," Laura said, "Have you heard anything that might help shed light on what happened at the Floating Rib last night?"
Kellie shook her head, "Not a thing."
"I guess I thought maybe Jason or Sonny might have had thoughts they'd share with you," Laura said, "Considering the turf war they have with Cyrus and your past history with your father's business…."
"Past history is the key here, Laura," Kellie said, "They tell me what I need to know to keep my kids safe."
"Uh um," Laura said, "Well if anything should come to your attention, I hope you'll let the PCPD."
"You know I'll do what I can to help Laura," Kellie said.
"Laura," Dante said, coming out of Lulu's room, "Lulu's asking for you."
"I'll come back in a bit," Kellie said.
She made her way to Charles's room. Monica was sitting with him.
"Is now a bad time?" Kellie asked from the door.
For you, never," Charles replied, "Monica and I were discussing my release from the hospital."
"He'll be released tomorrow," Monica said, "I'm trying to convince him staying at his suite at the MetroCourt with a nurse checking on him periodically is not the way to go."
"I appreciate the offer Monica," Charles said, "But I don't want to inconvenience you or anyone else."
Kellie looked at Monica, curiously.
"I suggested that Charles could stay with me while he recovers," Monica said, "Or rather the gatehouse since everything he needs is on one level. There'd be staff when I'm not around to help him."
"I'm sure I can…" Charles said.
"No," Kellie said, "You've got two choices, Charles. You can accept Monica's offer or you can stay in downstairs of my place. But you're not staying by yourself at least at first. Believe me when I tell you whoever your ride home is will answer to me."
Charles looked back and forth between Kellie and Monica.
"I'm obviously not going to win this battle," Charles said, "Kellie, while I appreciate your willingness to open up your home to me, if we're both honest, my injury is such that maneuvering around your home could be difficult."
"You'd pretty much be stuck in the media basement guest room," Kellie said, "It's not ideal."
"Monica, are you sure about having me stay at your place?" Charles said.
"Charles, in all honesty, I was planning to broach the subject of our living arrangements before last nights fiasco and your injuries," Monica said, "We've been seeing each other for awhile and spending a lot our time together. I was wondering if you would actually be interested moving in beyond just needing help with your injuries."
"Of course, I'm interested…if…um," Charles replied. An awkward silence fell upon the room.
"You two, obviously, have some things you need to talk about," Kellie said, "Charles, I'm glad you're on the mend. Don't screw this up. And Monica, thank you."
Kellie left the room. Her guard, Johnny, was standing outside the door.
"It's about time," Johnny said as they walked down the hall.
Kellie crossed her fingers, "They both deserve to be happy and if it's with each other."
"Mrs. Morgan," Cyrus Renault's voice boomed from behind them, "Might I have a moment of your time?"
