Ch. 3

"Food and sex. That's all you need, Lulu. You've been married all this time and you still don't know that? Men are simple. Get his favorite meal from his favorite Italian restaurant, pour him some wine, and after dinner, show him your sexiest lingerie. Bam, you're in."

Lulu shook her head at her best friend. "I think it's going to take more than that this time, Maxie. Something still feels off. It's like his body is present, but his mind is somewhere else. I can't put my finger on it. Something else is going on. It can't just be the kiss..."

"What kiss? Who kissed who?"

"I didn't tell you about that yet, did I? Dante and Valerie. They actually kissed. Well, he's claiming he kissed her—she's not at fault at all. Yeah, right. That was his response to thinking I cheated on him with Dillon, kissing Valerie."

"That uber skank! And she didn't have anything to do with it? 'Yeah, right' is right. You know she was over there on the 4th, don't you? Nathan and I stopped by to invite you all to a picnic in the park. Dante made some noises about how Rocco had a cold and since you were 'helping your hurt grandmother', we'd shoot for next year. She was standing there big as life. I felt a weird vibe then. I knew I should have smacked her!"

Lulu laughed at Maxie's ferocity. "Thanks, pal. I knew you'd have my back on this. But as much as I blame her, I blame Dante, too. Even if he thought I was cheating on him, he didn't have to kiss her. Why did he kiss her? I know he feels sorry for her so he can't see her for who she really is. Keeps telling me I have to accept her as family. I don't see that happening, ever. I didn't trust her before but after all this, I really don't. I just want her gone, but I don't see that happening, either. I'm not sure how to get things back to normal. I thought if you could watch Rocco tonight, maybe Dante and I could try to reconnect, talk some more, really see what's going on and where we're at. He shot that idea down, though, saying Rocco didn't deserve to be pawned off on you after being away from us all day. He had a point, but still…"

Maxie gave Lulu a huge smile. "Look, you know I love Rocco. Let's do this. I'll keep him over here tonight. You ambush your husband with the plan. Food and sex. I'm telling you, it works every time!"

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The aroma that assailed Dante's nose when he entered the loft was heavenly. The scent immediately took him back to his childhood, those smells mingling in the air and wafting out of kitchen windows all over the neighborhood as he and his friends played in the streets. For a moment, he wondered if his Ma was back in town. He unclipped his badge and locked his weapon away in its lockbox, then made his way to the small kitchen. Ah. Take out. Lulu must have decided to surprise him. He lifted the corner of one of the tins. Beef braciole, mmm. Suddenly, Dante was famished. He thought to give Rocco a kiss and a cuddle before setting the table for the meal. Rocco wasn't in his crib, though. He was beginning to search the loft when Lulu emerged from the bathroom wearing a silk bathrobe over what appeared to be new, skimpy lingerie. "Hey, Babe,' he greeted her, "where's Rocco?" "Maxie offered to take him for the night so we could have a chance to spend some time together. I thought it was a good idea—I took her up on her offer." Dante stared at Lulu for a minute and then scratched his head before saying, "I thought we talked about this, though. I thought we agreed to talk this weekend, but to have Rocco come home tonight after being away from us all day. Didn't we decide that?"

"We kind of did, but she offered, and I didn't see how one night could hurt anything, and we need the time…"

"She offered? You didn't ask her, and she somehow played along, huh? She just offered, out of the blue?"

"Does it matter whether she offered, or if I asked her? The point is that he's being looked after by someone we trust, and it's only one night."

"No, the point is that I thought we'd already settled this. Why do I even say anything? If you planned to do whatever you wanted to do anyway, why ask me? I didn't want him at Maxie's tonight, I wanted him here. I haven't seen him all day and I was looking forward to spending some time with him."

"It's one night, Dante. One night. One night we need together. I don't see-"

"You don't see what? What the big deal is? We discussed this already, that's the big deal. We agreed to talk this weekend, but as usual, you go ahead and do whatever you want to without any regard to me or what I say! Why do you even bother to ask me about anything? Just bulldoze ahead and do whatever you want to—you don't need my opinion to do that, do you?"

"Dante, you're blowing this out of proportion! I didn't mean anything by asking Maxie to take Rocco except that I thought we needed some time together! No one's disregarding you or ignoring your opinion!"

"So now I'm imagining how I feel on top of being ignored. Great. So tell me, Lulu, how do I really feel? I shouldn't be angry that you totally disregarded what we already agreed on, right? So, how should I feel?"

Lulu stomped into the kitchen and began throwing the carefully planned meal into the trash bin. "Don't you dare throw that food away! " Dante grated.

"Why not, I bought it! All I was trying to do was have a nice romantic night for the two of us where we could try to get things back on track and you ruined it. I don't even get why what I did was so wrong! This was for us! For us, Dante, and it was only one night! What is your problem?"

"I told you, my problem is you just deciding to do something and disregarding how I might feel about it! Once again, I'm a bystander for Lulu's Big Adventure, if I'm invited along at all!"

Lulu glowered at Dante angrily. "And there it is, isn't it? It all goes back to me going off with Dillon! I already explained that! You know what really happened now! Why can't you let it go? I didn't do it to hurt you—my dad-"

Dante held up his hand to stop her mid-sentence. "I know, I know, your dad. Don't bother with all that again! The bottom line is you don't seem to trust my judgement. Or care about my opinions. You always know best, don't you? Lulu's way, or the highway, right?"

Lulu paused and looked at Dante in hurt silence. To say she felt disappointment would be understating things. How had the night derailed into this train wreck? She rubbed her head as she reached for the right words to defuse the situation. "Dante, let's calm down, ok? Let's sit down and talk this out. I thought we were getting past me going to Canada with Dillon. I want to get past all that. I mean, you kissed my cousin, didn't you? You think that's ok with me? We both screwed up. I want to get past it, though, and get back to who we were before Valerie-"

The calmness Dante was reaching for evaporated instantly. "Don't you blame Valerie for all this! This is bigger than Valerie! You don't trust me!" He suddenly realized how thoroughly hypocritical that statement was, but he continued, "All this happened because you didn't trust me! This whole mess started there! And I don't think I can get past it! I'm trying to, but I can't seem to let it go."

"We need to talk to somebody, Dante. Someone neutral who can hear both sides and help us. I think we're really in trouble here. We need help."

"What, like a counselor or something?"

"Are you against that? Would you be willing to go if we found someone?"

"Sure, if you think it'll help. I'll go."

"If I think it'll help? What about you? Don't do it just for me!"

"That's not what I meant, Lulu."

"Ok, then we'll find someone and see what we can do to fix all this. Clear the air and start fresh. I really want us to get back to where we were before Canada, Dante. Before everything got so muddled. Can we sit down at least and enjoy this food?"

"I've lost my appetite—I just want to go to bed. But don't throw it away, ok? Save it for later."

Lulu gave Dante a faint smile. "I thought we promised we'd never go to bed angry at each other?"

"So what, I should stay awake all night?"

Lulu's smile fell away to be replaced by sadness. She shook her head in frustration, which Dante noticed. "It was a joke, Lulu. A bad one. I'm sorry." He approached her and touched her shoulder. "I know you were trying to make this a good night, too. I don't know what's wrong with me. Let's just write this one off, ok?"

"Sure," she replied. She watched as he undressed and climbed into bed. "We seem to be writing off more and more lately anyway," she murmured before going to the kitchen to put the uneaten food into the refrigerator.

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Valerie took a sip of her wine before taking another bite of the beef bourguignonne she was enjoying due to Carly's graciousness. She sat across her cousin in the restaurant at the Metro Court, giving her a faint smile before remarking, "This is really good, Carly. Whatever you pay your chef isn't enough. Thanks for inviting me out. I'm still not sure why, though." Carly acknowledged her thankfulness with a smile of her own. "You're welcome-enjoy. And trust me; the chef makes more than enough for his services. I thought this would be a good time to get to know each other. You've been in town for a while now but I haven't made any time to get more acquainted with you. Totally my fault. You'll find I get swallowed up in my own drama a lot. We're family though, and should get to know each other better. That's why I invited you."

Valerie angled her head a bit and looked at Carly thoughtfully. "So it wasn't to warn me off your cousin's husband? Ok."

Carly chuckled. "My cousin is your cousin, too. Don't forget that. Look, you and Dante made a mistake, one I don't think you plan to repeat. Dante and Lulu worked hard to get what they have, so I'm seeing this as a bump in the road. As far as you're concerned, you don't seem like the type to go around breaking up marriages to me. I'm sure the kiss was one of those things where two people who had too much to drink ended up doing something they wouldn't do otherwise. I'm not planning to rake you over the coals for that. If you spend any real time in Port Charles, you'll find any number of people ready and willing to give you book, chapter and verse on all the mistakes I've made since coming to town. I will warn you, though. If you have feelings for Dante, you should end them. You're only borrowing pain if you don't, and I don't want to see you get hurt."

Valerie thought to herself, "If you only knew what really happened. It might be too late for that." She pushed her plate away as she responded, "Can feelings be turned on and off like turning a tap? Maybe they can, I've not really tried. I'll tell you this much, I don't intend to do anything Dante doesn't want me to do. Is that fair? I'm not a home wrecker. But if he comes my way again, I won't turn him away."

"Ooh, little cousin, I'm not liking what I'm hearing at all. I only see trouble ahead—take it from someone who knows how these things end up. Let's talk about something else, ok? Tell me how it was growing up 'Spencer' away from the dysfunctional Spencers."

"Hmm. For as long as I can remember, it was just my mom and me. We were a real team, you know? I didn't know my father. Mom never really talked about him. I got the impression from things she let slip over the years that he was married. She never said that outright, it's just an impression I had. I think she loved him but if he was married, that would explain why there was no room for me in his life, or why he never looked for me. I kind of like believing that's the reason he stayed away. Life was normal, I guess. People are funny. They'd look at Mom, then look at me like, 'This is your daughter? Is she adopted?' And when Mom would say, 'No, she's not adopted,' they'd get this look like, 'Ohh, it's like that. Patricia likes the chocolate.' My mom raised me to believe that people are just people, though. Her dad was a bigot and that didn't sit well with her. I always thought that's why she left home so early, to get away from his small-mindedness. Now I know differently. I wish I'd talked to her more about it all, been pushier about asking more questions. She's gone, and half of my history went with her." Valerie's eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry for getting all weepy. I still miss her. I think I always will."

"You're human, aren't you? It's ok to cry, Val, and if you can't cry with family, who can you cry with?"

"'Val?'"

"You don't mind, do you? It fits. It's cute. Like you."

"I don't mind at all. It's how I think of myself."

"I grew up not knowing who my father was for a long time. And I actually was adopted. I had a lot of anger over that for a long time, and I acted out because of it. That's how I ended up here in Port Charles, but that's old, nasty, better to be forgotten history. We have some common ground, little cousin. Enough to build on, don't you think?"

"I'd like that, 'big cousin'. I'd like that a lot. I should be getting back to Spoon Island. I'm sure Nikolas' pilot isn't going to hold the launch forever." They both rose from the table as they prepared to leave for their respective homes. "I'll go with you to the dock, because I don't want you going on your own," declared Carly "You don't have to do that—I'll be fine. Thanks, though." "It's either me or Max, who is one of Sonny's bodyguards. Take your pick." "Max, then. You should go home. I really enjoyed myself tonight, Carly. Thank you again. For listening and for caring."

"I told you, we're family. You're welcome. I enjoyed myself, too, more than I expected to. We'll have to do it again sometime."

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Valerie was pensive as she rode the launch toward Wyndemere. Carly made a good point—if Dante intended to work things out with Lulu, it made no sense for her to harbor feelings for him. Maybe she needed to see what else, or who else Port Charles had on offer. There were a couple of guys in the department who were single; Dante wasn't the only fish in the sea, not by a long shot.

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