For disclaimer, see initial chapter.

A/N: Extremely AU

John Doe Request

Dante Falconari sighed heavily as he stood from his desk at the Port Charles Police Department. It had been a day filled with an almost endless amount of dull, mind-numbing paperwork. When he'd signed on with the PCPD at Mac's behest, he hadn't realized that he'd be relegated to the position of desk jockey pencil pusher after a botched case. The few cases he had worked on had been well beneath his considerable skills and he felt that his talents were being wasted. He missed being on the front lines where the action was in spite of the constant danger it put him in.

It had been a year since he'd taken the position offered by Mac. A year filled with heartache and change as he'd come to grips with the fact that his father was a man who embodied everything he despised in the world and then some. A year since he'd learned that his mother had spent the majority of her adult life lying to him on the pretense of protecting him. In the end, her lies had nearly cost him his life.

He'd quickly forgiven her for her lies, but found it difficult to completely trust her again. Their relationship had suffered because of his mother's deception, and, though he wanted to not only forgive her, but forget, the latter was by far the harder thing to do. Every time he thought about his mother, his thoughts were tainted by this single, deadly act of silence on her part and it hurt.

He could still feel an ache in his chest where the bullet from his father's gun had slammed into it. Rubbing at the phantom pain, he frowned as his chest stung in remembrance of the incident which had torn his life apart and sent it into a downward spiral.

Though more than a year had passed, he still avoided Sonny, refusing to even talk with him. He'd even tried to help the man when he was certain that he'd been guilty in a car bombing incident meant to take Johnny's life, but which had ended up harming his own daughter, Kristina. But it had done no good. Sonny was intent on continuing on in his dubious ways and Dante had found that he could only turn a blind eye to the man's actions so many times before it made him despise himself. He was a cop, not his father's puppet.

Michael had even lived with him for a time, though he hadn't been doing Sonny a favor with that, it had been his penance for inadvertently getting Michael sent to prison when he'd insisted that he tell the truth about what had happened to Claudia Zacchara. His plan had backfired and he hated what it had done to Michael and that he'd had a part in causing him even more pain.

It was hard work eluding Sonny these days, being as he now lived and worked in Port Charles, but he made every effort to do so, delighting in the pain it seemed to cause the mobster. The man deserved as much pain as he could dish out.

His growing bitterness had driven a wedge between himself and Lulu. Everything he did was centered on bringing Sonny down after the man had gone after Johnny yet again and driven the man out of town, almost taking the life of an innocent bystander in the process. He practically ate and slept vengeance and Lulu had been patient at first. She had been understanding and helpful and had done everything she could, short of gunning Sonny down herself, but in the end, it just hadn't worked out for either of them.

He knew that he'd closed her out of his life, much as he had his mother. He threw himself wholly into his work and avoided both women nearly with the same precision he avoided Sonny. Neither his mother nor Lulu had given up on him, but he had cut them out and refused to share his life with either of them. He would not bring them down into his little version of Hades regardless of how much it hurt them or him.

Shortly after Lulu had moved out, Michael had made his escape. He couldn't blame the kid, and was grateful that Jason had agreed to take him in, even though he'd had his reservations about the suitability of the placement at first. Jason was a good man, knew right from wrong, black from white. Was able to make difficult decisions in a moment and support them through to the end. He respected and admired the man even though he was a cold-blooded killer who didn't particularly like him and would just as soon see him dead as alive.

He'd known that Lulu would get over him eventually and here it was, eight months after he'd broken it off with her, and she was getting married to some adventurous pilot she'd met on her trip to Europe. The very trip her father had sent her on to keep her from moping about their breakup. Dante scanned the wedding announcement once again, sorrow tugging at his heart over his loss, and yet he was happy for her. The smile on her face was radiant and there was a twinkle in her eye that could not be diminished even with the subdued colors of the newspaper announcement. There was no doubt in his mind that she was in love with the man she would be marrying in less than a week's time.

"Hold on Officer Falconari," Mac flagged him down before he could make it out of the office.

"My shift's over." In fact his shift had been over an hour ago, he just hadn't relished the idea of returning to his one room apartment overlooking some nameless back alley. It was dark and drab and lifeless.

"I know, and I'm sorry to do this to you, but we got a John Doe that was dropped off at General Hospital about ten minutes ago with multiple gunshot wounds. They aren't sure he's going to make it, but I'd like you to be there to question him just in case he does," Mac's voice betrayed a hint of apology, "or if he has a moment of lucidity at some point in time. Besides, Nurse Johnson requested you." He clapped a hand on the younger officer's back.

"Wha…"

"I've worked in this town long enough to know that it is best to give Nurse Johnson what Nurse Johnson wants. She's got good instincts, seems to know which officer to request for which case. Don't ask me how," Mac interrupted Dante's protest with an upheld palm.

"Anything else I need to know?" Dante asked.

Mac shook his head and smiled. "When you're done with the John Doe, go home, the paperwork can wait until morning."

Dante nodded, grabbed a notepad and a pencil and headed out the door wondering why the strict, abrasive Epiphany Johnson had requested him to look into their latest John Doe rather than Lucky or Mac. Shaking his head, he walked to his car and pondered it on his way to the hospital, hoping that when he got there, the John Doe would still be alive and some of his questions would be answered.