Next thing Susan knew, she and Rocket were on their first date together, at the little Italian restaurant that played Frank Sinatra tunes. Everything was just as it was on their first date, except Robert was dancing with her with BOTH arms. She admired him so, he was so debonair, so classy, he smelled so good, he was such a good dancer. He picked her up with both arms and swung her around, both of them laughing with delight.

All of a sudden she was at his home, the same incidents took place, except that he had carried her up to his bedroom, with both arms. He had cooked her the breakfast that he had made her, but with both arms, she and he walked Gretyl together, he walking Gretyl with one hand, holding Susan’s with the other.

In her dream, they had done everything together, and always, he had both of his arms, whether it be cooking for her, making love to her, moving her belongings into his home, just sitting together watching movies, going out to dinner, watching television together, he had both arms the whole time… Just as he was about to carry her to bed again, after watching “An Officer and a Gentleman” Susan awoke with a jolt. Sitting upright in bed.

She looked over at Rocket. He had been lying there so peacefully, both of her arms around him, holding him close.

She could see the bandage covering what was left of his left arm, now just a stub, really. She looked at his face; the face of an angel, to her, so peaceful, so full of desire and love for her….

She got out of bed quickly and quietly, not wanting to disturb him, heading for the kitchen. She wanted desperately to make him some sort of breakfast, but she hadn’t been to the grocery. All that she had were boxes of stale cereal, and not any milk. She had plenty of coffee, plenty of coffee-mate, sugar, but nothing to make him a proper breakfast.

She jumped in the shower, thinking about the dream that she had: Lathering up her body with soap, lathering her hair with shampoo she recalled just how proficient Rocket was with both of his arms, in her dreams, and in her memory of his Surgeon hood, and soon, she had begun to cry. Never again would he have both of his arms, never would he be able to pick her up with both arms and carry her upstairs to his bedroom; as he did in her dream, never would he be able to perform the life-saving surgery on the patients that needed his expertise so much.

She sat on the edge of her bathtub and just cried. That was all she could do, just cry and cry. Crying for Rocket, and cry for the arm that he would never again have….

She sat in the shower for a good 45 minutes, just crying and thinking. Finally, when she emerged, and went into her bedroom for a clean hockey shirt and a pair of panties, she noticed that Rocket was still sound asleep. She quickly put on the hockey shirt, the panties and a pair of jeans and sneakers.

She grabbed her keys and was headed out the door to buy some groceries; she wanted to cook a good breakfast for her man…. The man she loved, whether he had one arm, or no arms, she knew that she loved him because he had shared his heart with her.

She sped off to the grocery, leaving Rocket there alone, alone with his own dreams.

Every dream that Rocket had now, involved Susan in some way.

The meeting with Kerry, the chopper accident, the amputation - all of it, Susan was there, right by his side. He used to dream about Lizzie, she was always there for him, but not anymore.

Susan had taken Lizzie’s place in his dreams. He dreamt that Susan rushed to his side after the chopper had cut off his arm; he dreamt that Susan was there after the doctors had tried desperately to re-attach his arm, he dreamt that Susan was the one who performed the amputation, SHE was the one who had amputated his arm with precision. She was the one who was sitting, desperately waiting for him to come out of recovery. She was the one that he said, “I love you” to, She was the one that was so beautiful, not Lizzie, not anymore… Elizabeth was just a distant memory now, his feelings towards her, just a memory now…

His whole world revolved around Susan now, and Elizabeth wasn’t about to take that away from him. He had tried so desperately with Lizzie, dropping subtle and not so subtle hints, but she wasn’t ready for his advances, he had tried to show her how much he cared, still, she wasn’t ready for that. Still, in his mind, he would eventually have her…. Until Susan came along.

Susan WAS ready for that, she was not only ready, but she was willing and able, and that is all that Rocket needed to know. He knew that someone loved him, and he was glad that Susan was the one.

In his dream, his mind quickly raced to the evening when he had forced himself onto her. He desperately wanted to fix things with her, and had gone to her place. Instead of forgiving him though, she tossed him out, never wanting to see or hear from him again. He was pounding outside her door, frantically calling her name…. Knock knock knock, “Suz, please let me in, please?! Knock, knock, knock….. No answer.

Robert awoke with a startle as well. Feeling on Susan’s side of the bed, he felt emptiness, coldness.

“Suz?” He called out for her - Silence. Now sitting up, he could see a note on her pillow:

He decided to take this time to shower. He removed the bandages from what was left of his arm: It had been healing nicely, still a little red, still a little tender in some spots, but other than that, just a stub. He hated looking at it; his mind always went back to the horrible accident and the chopper.

Why did I have to be so fucking stubborn? I should have just let “Igor” have the damn thing; I could have waited for another. I wouldn’t be soaping up this damn stub if it weren’t for that damn Croatian asshole. He thought.

He immediately dried off, and got dressed in the same clothes he had on the night before. He had no idea he’d be staying at Susan’s for the night.

He went out into her living room and saw the empty beer bottles, the empty Jack Daniels bottle and the ashtray on the coffee table.

This too was my fault. She would have never had to resort to this, had I not hurt her so…. My damn temper and me. If anyone can save me from myself, it’s my Suz… As quick as he could, he started to clean the mess. It wasn’t easy with one arm, hell; it wasn’t easy with both arms. He had a housekeeper come in twice a week, even when he had both of his arms. He detested cleaning.

That’s what housekeepers are for, that’s why their here, to clean houses, how else would they make any money. No education, don’t want to work at Taco Bell or McDonalds, no; they just want to clean houses.

After he had cleaned sufficiently, he quickly got the Yellow Pages to find a moving company. He wanted Susan to move into his house - permanently. Never again, would he hurt her so bad that she’d want to leave, never again would he have to apologize to her for hurting her, never ever again.

He was satisfied with the fact that he had made all of the arrangements. The movers would be at Susan’s tomorrow, Suz wouldn’t even have to pack anything, they would do it all. All she had to pack was her personal belongings, her clothing, her CD’s if she wanted to, all of her personal stuff that she used on a daily basis. Now all he had to do was figure out a way for her to break her lease on her apartment. Maybe, hopefully, the lease was almost up, so he wouldn’t have to use unfortunate measures on the Super to get her out.

He didn’t want to start that cycle again. Susan had changed his perspective on life, there was no need for him to regress back to his old ways, otherwise, he’d have to dig up some dirt on the Super, use it against him/her and get Susan out of her lease, and he did NOT want to go back that way. He’d simply ask Susan when she got back that was all he had to do. Just ask her.

He turned on the CD player, it just so happened that the CD he had made for her was already in the player, he cranked it up. He went over and sat on the couch, admiring her good taste in her furnishings and smiled. He took the time to reflect on just how much she meant to him in just a short time that they had been together.

She was so sweet to him; despite all of the hell he had put her through, day in and day out at County. All of the insults he would hurl at her, remembering how funny he thought it was that day he hit her in the head with Weavers cane. He didn’t think it was funny now, but at that time, he was merely flirting with her. Flirting wasn’t one of his strong suits, especially after the accident. And then the night he forced himself upon her, yet she still found it in her heart to forgive him.

It really seemed hard to believe that they had only really been together for 1 and ½ months, 16 hours, 15 minutes and 12 seconds….. He had been counting the days, hours, minutes, right down to the second. Because when it came to Susan, every second he could spend with her were the very seconds that had brought he and his heart, back to life again.

Susan quickly raced through the store, finding as many breakfast foods that she thought Rocket might like.

“Wow! Count Chocula! My favorite!” She said aloud, as a wide-eyed elderly woman passed her by, quickly. She hurriedly made her way to the checkout line a suddenly felt lightheaded, dizzy. Then came the nausea. She quickly bent her head down to knee level, and the nausea subsided, as well as the dizziness she felt.

It’s gotta be my blood sugar level, I’m starving and I haven’t eaten in over 16 hours she thought to herself.

She quickly paid the cashier and was on her way home to see the most wonderful man she had ever known, and loved.

Robert decided to turn off the CD and play the stereo instead. Listening to the CD he had burnt for Susan had just made him too horny. Too many songs on the CD reminded him of their sex-life and made him want to attack Susan as soon as she came in the door, and normally, he would have done just that. But today, he wanted to talk to her about moving in with him - for good. He found an oldies radio station that played “hits for the 80’s and 90’s” and cranked it up even louder than it was before. Soon, the butterflies in his stomach took over at the thought of Susan’s arrival and before he knew it, he was dancing, picturing Susan right there with him.

As Susan began the usual routine of climbing three flights of stairs to her apartment, she could hear very loud music. The music was coming from somewhere in her building, she was sure of it. As she got to the top of the third floor, she was certain now, it had been coming from her apartment. The song playing: Pretty Woman - Van Halen style, one of her all-time favorites! She put the key into the door, and opened it. The music was so loud, you couldn’t even hear yourself think, but what really impressed her, was seeing Rocket there, dancing alone, his back to her.

She quickly put the grocery bags down and crept up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. Lightly licking and kissing his neck.

“There’s my angel!” he exclaimed, turning to face her, kissing her passionately. She eagerly reciprocated, her hand gliding down the back of his neck, his back towards his ass, which when she reached it, giving it a seductive squeeze.

“Watch it there Lewis, something like that could get a girl like you in trouble…” he said in between kisses, gently biting her lower lip.

“Yeah I know….” she sighed as she reached her hand around the front, gently rubbing his hardness.

“Sus, please don’t, I mean, er uh, not now…” he sighed. “I, oh, I need to talk to you, seriously, I do!” he stopped her by backing away and turning down the stereo.

“Come on, I need to put these away…” she smiled. He grabbing one bag, she the other, as they headed for the kitchen.

“Hey, the place looks great!” grinning at him lovingly. “You didn’t have to though.” Now feeling quite ashamed of just what he had cleaned up, her face turning red.

“I know baby, but really, I was the one who caused it.” he said point blank. “Really, if I hadn’t have done what I did….” he started to say it, but she stopped him.

“It’s all in the past with me, Rocket.” leaning in to softly kiss him.

Rubbing his hands together in anticipation, “So? Whatd’ya get us?!” looking like an innocent little boy, waiting for an answer, as he started to reach into the bags.

Susan playfully slapped his hand away, and started pulling out the items one by one and placing them on the counter.

“And finally, I saved the absolute best for last!” She said smiling, pulling out the box of Count Chocula.

“Count Chocula?” “Count Chocula!?” “They still make this stuff?” “I haven’t had this in years! He said, eyes full of amazement and wonder.

“Yeah, they still make it, and you just happen to be holding the last known box in existence today!” she laughed, winking at him.

He put the box on the counter and began tickling her on the sides of her waist, as she began laughing uncontrollably until she started to hiccup. “Ok! Ok! I give!” She laughed.

“Good, now promise you won’t make fun.” he said seriously.

“Cross my heart.” she agreed.

“As bad as this stuff is, it is my all-time favorite cereal in the whole world!” he said; now laughing himself. “You got a lot of great stuff Suz, but keep it all in the bags, and put it all back in the fridge, except for the milk, of course.” “Can we please have just cereal, pleeeeeeeeze?” looking at her with puppy dog eyes, as he reached into her cabinet and pulled out two bowls.

She happily agreed and brought the spoons and the milk.

They sat at the kitchen table, devouring the whole box of Count Chocula. They had expended a lot of energy in the last 16 hours, and their bodies felt week from over-exertion. They ate like they hadn’t eaten in days. During their breakfast, Rocket told Susan about his plans, about the movers, about her getting out of her apartment lease, how he had developed the feelings that he had for her in their short time together, and how he wanted her with him, sharing his home with him - for good.

Susan got up from her seat and went over and sat on Rocket’s lap, her arms around his neck.

“I’d love that more than anything in the world.” she said, kissing him softly, quickly turning into the passion that they both shared for each other.

“I love you, Romano.”

“I love you, Lewis.”

She got up from his lap, and began clearing the table of the dishes, milk and cereal.

“Hey!” Robert exclaimed. “Did you know that there is a free CD in this box?”

“No, I didn’t know, I just bought it cuz I love it so much. What CD is it?” Susan asked, inquiringly.

“You won’t believe me if I tell you, ok, are you ready for this?” he asked, laughing.

“Sure, shoot!” she said, as she was rinsing the dishes.

“Ok, now I know personally, that this is one of THE most coveted CD’s in the nation right now…..” he said, teasing and tempting her to the point that she just HAD to know what the CD was.

“What is it!?” she screamed in delight.

Rocket jumped up from the table, put the CD in the player and turned it up a bit.

Soon, Susan could hear a male voice:

Whoever it was, it was a male voice, trying to sound like a vampire, singing, “Ooops I did it again, I gave you my heart….”

“Oh God, it’ can’t be, a Brittany Spears song?!”

“Figure it out yet?” she could hear him calling from the living room. “I’ll give you to 3.…One…Two…Three… Ok, I’m telling you what it is now!” he screamed; now doubling over with laughter.

“It’s Count Chocula sings Brittney Spears greatest hits!” he said, now laughing hysterically.

She came out into the living room, now by his side, both of them laughing so much, doubling over in laughter, collapsing on the couch.

Taking a deep breath, “you go start packing baby, I’ll finish up here, I want to get you home, to our home.” he said, now smiling at his beautiful woman, who was now looking at him with a smile as big as Texas, her cheeks red with excitement.

“Our home, Suz…. It will be OUR home, you and me, me and you… God, how I love you.” he sighed as he leaned in to kiss her passionately, deeply.

“Yeah, our home…” she sighed, smiling, kissing him back, eagerly. “Yeah, I wanna go home.” she said, after kissing him once more. “I’m gonna go pack” she whispered into his ear as she got up from the couch, from his embrace, “Oh and Rocket? I can’t wait!” she said grinning, as she ran to her bedroom and began packing.

After she had finished, she and Robert stood at the front door, she looking back at it one last time. Finally, holding hands, they left, off to live together in Romano’s house. She in her car, he following her in his car, they sped off into the sunset, together.

Susan hadn’t even taken the time to check her answering machine before she left.

If she had, she would have seen the number 5, flashing in red.