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Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters.
It was 10:00 a.m., on Friday morning. Danny�s plane didn�t land until 3:00 p.m., so that meant that Michelle had roughly five hours to kill before she�d be with Danny again. She hoped earnestly that his flight would not be delayed. Being away from him was the hardest thing she�d ever done.
Despite her efforts not to, Michelle found herself looking forward to Danny�s arrival. She�d tried to tell herself that she had to get used to being without him - that things might never work out the way they hoped. She told herself that she had to be strong, for the baby�s sake. She tried to convince herself not to give in to Danny�s promises. But it was no use. Her husband had never disappointed her before. Their marriage had been solid from the beginning. Danny never kept her in the dark about the family business and his efforts to legitimize it. He didn�t keep secrets from her about where he was and what he was doing. He�d never lied to her about anything. He took his wedding vows seriously, and she knew that he would keep this promise, just like he�d kept every other promise he�d ever made to her.
Danny wrapped up his business just before lunch time. The meeting was successful, but his heart just wasn�t in this business anymore. In fact, his heart had never been in it. He�d allowed himself to be pulled in, because it was his father�s business. But he�d come to realize that this was not what his father had envisioned when he started out. He knew his father would not have wanted his children to live in fear.
He�d come to this realization the night that Michelle confessed to him that she had been an informant for the FBI. When he saw the fear and desperation in her eyes, he knew that he could not live this way for the rest of his life. It was then that he began putting money away, in a secret bank account in Chicago. After Michelle came back to him, and they settled into their life as a married couple, he stepped up his efforts to financially separate himself from his family. Eventually, he accumulated enough to make some wise investments, and every penny of interest that he earned, went straight back into the investments.
His portfolio was now fairly significant. If he cashed in his Certificates of Deposit, and pulled the rest of his money out of the stock market, there would be enough money for him to start a business of his own - one that was above reproach, with absolutely nothing questionable.
He drove across Chicago to the bank, and picked up statements of all his accounts and CD�s. Then he stopped by his broker�s office, and got print-outs of his stocks. He�d never told anyone about the money, not even Michelle, but it was time to let her in on his plans. He knew that she was skeptical, to say the least, of the possibility that the Santos family business could be legitimized, and he wanted her to know that he was skeptical as well. He wanted her to know that he�d been making plans to secure their future for a long time.
Michelle walked back into her apartment with a bag full of groceries and various other things. Danny was only in town for the weekend, so she bought enough food that they wouldn�t have to go out at all. Selfish, yes, but she wanted him all to herself.
Danny told her that he�d take a cab from the airport to the apartment. He didn�t want her to have to sit around and wait on him, if his flight was late. This was fine with her, because it gave her plenty of time to get things ready.
While she was out, she bought several picture frames, and she placed pictures of the two of them strategically around the apartment. Aromatherpy candles burned in every room, and fresh flowers sat on the kitchen table.
By 2:30 p.m. the salad was already tossed and chilling in the refrigerator. Michelle finished assembling the lasagna, which would also stay in the refrigerator until it was time to go in the oven. Once Danny got there, she didn�t want to be working in the kitchen, so she did everything beforehand. That way she could just be with him.
Impatiently she watched the minutes tick by. She called the airport twice to confirm that his flight was on time, and walked to the front window every other minute to see if a cab was coming up the street.
Finally, at 3:45 p.m., she saw him getting out of the cab, and walking up the steps to the apartment building. She had to force herself not to run out the door, and down the steps into his arms. Instead, she opened the door to her apartment and stood there waiting for him.
The sight of her standing there, literally knocked the breath out of him. He took her hand gently, stepped inside the door, threw his bags on the floor of the apartment, and slammed the door behind him. He picked her up, tenderly yet deliberately, and carried her to the bedroom.
They were lying on the bed; his fingers unbuttoning her blouse, and his mouth playfully teasing her ear. Suddenly, he stopped, and looked up at her.
"I didn�t even say hello to you," he said.
Michelle bit her lower lip and ran her hands down his chest, to his waist, and said, "Oh yes you did, and it was the best �hello� I�ve ever heard."
They spent the rest of the afternoon in the bedroom, working up an appetite. Finally, at 7:00 p.m., the went into the kitchen, poured themselves something to drink, and put the lasagna in the oven. It had to bake for 45 minutes, so Danny took that time to tell Michelle about the money he had been stashing away and his plans to start their own business.
She could not believe what he was saying. Part of her was miffed at him for keeping it from her, but even more than that, she was thrilled to know that he really did have a plan for them. A plan that had been in the works for years. If she had any doubts left, Danny obliterated them all, in the time it took one lasagna to bake.
By the time they sat down to dinner, they were looking forward to their future, and the possibilities that it held. Just hours before, Michelle had had no idea what the future would bring for her, Danny, and their baby. But now, Danny had proven once again, that he would never break his promise to her.
The hard choices they�d made, were going to pay off.