Chapter 8 – Pursuit

Lulu barreled into the Haunted Star on a mission. Her father had talked to Johnny. Maybe he knew something about where he had gone. Maybe he could help her fix the mess she had made.

She couldn't see anyone in the main room so she called out for her dad. She heard a noise and breathed a sigh of relief. Her relief left her quickly when she realized it was Ethan, not her father.

"Hello, love," Ethan said casually. "Luke isn't here. I haven't seen him today. Is there something I can help you with?"

"No, I just need to talk to my dad. Could you tell him I came by?" Lulu asked.

She was quickly running out of options. Lulu needed to find Johnny before he got too far. The man she loved was slipping farther and farther away from her with every second and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She had finally pushed him too hard and now the baby inside of her was going to pay the price.

Her baby would grow up without a father just as Lulu had. Why did she always have to be so stubborn? She smiled a little at the memory of one of the drives she had taken with Johnny.

"Lulu, we are not going to stop at Starbucks," Johnny insisted.

"Yes we are!"

Lulu had been begging Johnny for over an hour to stop at the coffee shop because she needed caffeine.

"We can get coffee anywhere. The only reason you want to stop there is to get one of those muffins," Johnny argued.

"What if that's true? Are you going to keep me from my muffin?" Lulu pouted.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn? Can't I win one of our little disputes?" Johnny asked with a hint of a smile.

"No. You will always give in to me because you find me irresistible," Lulu said smiling.

"I can't argue with that," Johnny said as he pulled into the Starbucks parking lot. "But can I ask you one thing?"

"Anything," Lulu said leaning closer to him after he parked the car.

"Am I as irresistible to you as your muffins?" Johnny asked, now only inches from Lulu.

Lulu smirked. "It's a tossup," she said as she leaned in and crashed her lips against his.

Lulu felt a hand on her shoulder shake her out of her memory. She looked up hoping to see Luke, but it was Ethan again.

"Are you okay, love? You seem a million miles away." Ethan said with concern.

"I'm fine. Just tell my dad I was here," she said walking away.

"Wait. You seem stressed. Why don't I take you to dinner to get your mind off of things?" Ethan offered.

"No. I don't want to go to dinner with you or anyone else. I don't need you to help me take my mind off of things. I need you to tell my dad I came by," Lulu said angrily.

Lulu wasn't exactly angry with Ethan, but he was keeping her from finding Johnny and that was unacceptable.

"Look, I'm in love with Johnny. I always will be and right now, I need to find him and make sure he knows that. I doubt you want to help me do that. Please just tell my dad I came by," Lulu said.

Lulu left the Haunted Star and knew where to go next. There was only one person in the world who could help her. He could find anyone and he would do anything for her and her Miniature Fair One.

Spinelli was working hard trying to find customers for his new PI business. He needed a break from the tireless search and decided to retrieve his favorite refreshments. He came out of the kitchen with his barbecue chips and orange soda and heard someone knocking on the door.

He went and opened the door and barely caught a glimpse of Lulu as she ran through the door. She immediately went to his computer and picked it up to hand it to him. She shoved it in his face and he tried to catch what she was saying, but she was speaking fast, even for him.

"Spinelli, will you help me?" Lulu finished, leaving Spinelli to wonder what she had asked him.

"Fair One, the Jackal would love to assist you on any quest, but would appreciate a slightly slower version of the Blonde One's request," Spinelli said.

Lulu smiled and shook her head at the obvious irony. Spinelli couldn't understand her, not the other way around.

"I need to find Johnny! It's important. I told him I didn't want him in my life or the baby's and he left. He left town and didn't tell anyone, not even Claudia, where he went. I have to get to him to tell him that I was wrong and that I do want him. For me and the baby," Lulu explained.

"The Jackal is surprised that the Mob Prince would so willingly accept the Fair One's wishes," Spinelli commented.

"I didn't give him a choice. I didn't ask him to leave town, but I basically told him I never wanted to see him again. He just wanted to make me happy," Lulu said.

"The Jackal will assist the Blonde One in her mission to find the Father-To-Be. Does Fair Lulu possess any information about the Mob Prince's recent activities in town?" Spinelli asked.

"I know he went to see my dad and Claudia before he left Port Charles. That's about it. Do you think you can find him based on that little bit of information?" Lulu wondered.

"The Assassin of the Internet can and will find the Missing Mob Prince. He will work day and night to make the Blonde One's wish come true and to reunite the parents of the Miniature Fair One," Spinelli proclaimed.

"The sooner the better, Spinelli. I need to get to Johnny as soon as possible and make things right," Lulu said.

Spinelli begin typing on his computer and desperately seeking any information on Johnny. He knew it could be days before Johnny used a credit card or something else to put him on Spinelli's radar. He wasn't going to tell Lulu that, though. He wanted her to stay as positive as possible.

After an hour he asked Lulu to stop pacing, so he could concentrate better. After another hour, he took a break and fixed Lulu a healthy arrangement of food. She looked skeptical, but he insisted on feeding the baby something nourishing. After four total hours of searching, Spinelli found Johnny.

"The Jackal is successful!" he exclaimed.

"Where?" Lulu asked.

Spinelli gave Lulu directions on how to get to Johnny and watched her smile. Obviously Johnny was somewhere familiar to Lulu. She ran out of the door, somehow faster than she had entered and Spinelli collapsed on the couch exhausted.

He only hoped that his two friends would work it out. Neither Johnny nor Lulu could be called perfect, but Spinelli knew they were definitely better together.

Lulu packed as many things as she could. She didn't know exactly why she had so many things. If things went the way she wanted, she would return to Port Charles with Johnny and the clothes wouldn't be needed. But she wanted to be prepared.

On the way back to Wyndamere from Jason's penthouse, Lulu had decided that she would chase Johnny across the country if that's what it took. She didn't know what exactly had happened between the morning at the hospital and now, but her mind had changed. The days that had passed had been lonely and filled with pain. Lulu knew now that she not only did not want to live the rest of her life like that, but also could not live the rest of her life like that. She would not live her life like that.

She threw the bag she had over her shoulder and headed out the door. She left Nikolas a note explaining where she was going. She shoved the bag into the trunk of her car and got into the driver's seat.

She drove quickly and carefully while following Spinelli's directions. Not that she needed them. She smiled at the thought of Johnny. She allowed herself to dream about the future they would have with their child. That ever present picture of Johnny holding his child took hold of her mind yet again. He was holding the baby so carefully and grinning like the proudest dad in the world. Her heart swelled at the thought. She couldn't wait to see it actually happen.

Her foot pressed down a little more on the gas pedal.

"I'm coming for you Johnny."