2cd Choice

"I'll see if Captain Charles can send the Forensic crew down from DeGarde," Dick agreed.

"I'll go to the front; you stay down here in case either one tries to go out the back," Elise snapped to Jack.

"There ain't no back," Jack smirked. "My boy mike lived here right after we got out of St. Thomas."

"There are two bedrooms, both with windows at the rear of the building," Elise snapped. Cover them."

Elise walked up the stairs to the third floor apartment, paused in front of the door, heard the intolerably loud music booming out of the apartment, and waited. Knocking on the door while the music was blaring would do no good; even if they did hear her knocking, the music would muffle any responses from inside. She knew that these apartments had hollow core doors; a shotgun blast could rip through the door quite easily and do some serious damage to her.

The song wound down and Elise nodded curtly to Jack.

"Police!" she hollered, slapping the door with her baton. "Open up! Now!"

She could hear the scurrying in the apartment right before the next song came booming out.

"Open this door! Now!" Elise yelled, hammering on the door again.

"What the fuck you want?" Rosa asked, peering out.

Jack almost laughed as Kirsten jumped out the back window, falling into the mostly weed choked rose garden.

"Hands where I can see them, Sweetheart," he smiled.

----

"Hi, I'm um, I'm Anthony Carrecci," Anthony mumbled as he stood in front of the nurse's station.

"Yes sir," Yolanda asked pleasantly.

"You, um, well, um, somebody called me from here?" Anthony stammered. "About that girl I brought in here last night?"

"Oh yes!" Yolanda laughed, showing a lot of teeth. "You're the hero!"

"Um, no, no ma'am," Anthony protested. "She um, she needed some..."

"How's it going?" Dr. Charles Lapointe asked, exiting a patient's room and approaching the nurse's station. "You're patient's doing a lot better today; come on, want to see her?"

"Um, yeah, yeah, she can have visitors?" Anthony asked, pushing his thick glasses up his nose.

"Absolutely," Charles smiled, resting a friendly hand on Anthony's shoulder. "Come on; she's right here, room five nineteen."

He opened the door and entered. Anthony hesitated a moment, then wobbled into the dimly lighted room.

"There's my handsome hero?" Lucy smiled from the bed, peering at Anthony.

Anthony looked over at Charles, who laughed at Anthony's consternation.

"Yes, Ms. Gomez, this is Anthony Carrecci; he's the young man that drove like a madman to get you here," Charles smiled.

"I'm um, I'm real glad you're all right," Anthony mumbled.

The girl that lay in the bed still bore all the bumps and bruises of the horrible beating she had received, her left arm was encased in a fiberglass cast, her torso was covered by the shapeless hospital gown, but to Anthony, she was gorgeous. The type of girl that wouldn't look twice at him, much less talk to him. And certainly wouldn't call him 'handsome.'

Her long black hair hung down, fanning out beautifully against the backdrop of her several pillows that now propped her upright. Her small round face had deep brown eyes (her left eye was swollen shut) a tiny nose, but pouting lips (even though the bottom lip was split) and gleaming white teeth, made all the whiter by her natural brown tan.

"Come here," Lucy ordered, holding out her right arm.

"I'm real glad you're..." Anthony said, shaking the girl's offered hand.

"No, no, Antonio!" Lucy laughed and pulled him in for a hug. "Thank you; Dr. Charlie says you saved my life!"

"Um, you're welcome," Anthony stuttered, unsure of what to do.

"Thank you, Antonio," Lucy whispered and kissed his cheek.

"Okay, I'll leave you two to..." Charles said, exiting the room.

"I um, you um, you need anything?" Anthony asked, pulling away from Lucy the moment she relaxed her one armed hug.

"No," Lucy smiled. "The food is pretty good. , you always hearing people say hospital food so bad, but..."

"You know, um, like I don't know, like oh, hey! You um, you want maybe a couple of magazines, you know, something to read?" Anthony offered.

"No, no, there's a TV right here," Lucy smiled.

"Or, um, I mean, when I was in here, getting my tonsils out, my dad brought me some puzzles and stuff," Anthony weakly offered.

"No, no, all I want if you sit. Sit, sit, talk to me," Lucy pointed to the chair by her bed.

"Oh, okay, sure," Anthony said and wedged his bulk into the chair, wincing as the chair groaned against his weight.

"So, Antonio, what do?" Lucy asked.

Anthony launched into a detailed explanation of himself, making sure to throw in that he was a basketball player.

Lucy screwed up her face in confusion.

"But the basketball player is so big!" she said, stretching her hand above her head.

"They let me stand on a chair," Anthony joked.

"Antonio, they do not!" Lucy laughed.

Anthony excused himself when the volunteer wheeled a dinner cart into the room.

"Antonio, you come see me tomorrow, okay?" Lucy demanded.

"Good night, Antonio," Charles teased as Anthony waddled out of the room.

"Antonio?" Yolanda asked. "Said his name's Anthony, right?"

Chapter 3

Okay, I do want to see you in four weeks; get that cast off of you, also want to see how that head is doing; you had a pretty severe concussion when you came in," Charles smiled, scooting the chair back from the side of Lucy's hospital bed.

Lucy looked at him for a moment.

"Dr. Charlie?" she asked.

"Yes?" he asked, looking up from the notes he was scribbling.

"I have, there is nowhere to go," she admitted.

"Mother? Father? Maybe a sister r..." he asked.

"And I have no clothes either; they cut them off when Antonio bring me in," Lucy continued.

"Let me see what I can do," Charles said.

He left room five nineteen and walked over to Yolanda.

"What do we normally do when a patient has nowhere to go?" he asked.

"Pat them on the head and wish them good luck," Yolanda said, not looking up from her computer screen.

"Or any clothes?" he persisted, putting Lucy's clipboard on a peg.

"Lost and found usually has something they can wear and St. Jules usually puts them up for a couple of nights," Yolanda offered. "I assume we're talking about Ms. Gomez?"

"God, I really don't want to put her there," Charles muttered. "Not that there's anything wrong with St. Jules, but..."

"Call Antonio," Yolanda shrugged.

"Would you?" he asked, already grabbing another clipboard from the wall.

"Oh of course!" Yolanda said, grabbing Lucy's clipboard from the peg. "God knows I have nothing else to do!"

"Please?" Charles asked, already walking away.

"Just because you said 'please,'" Yolanda smirked, punching the outside line on the telephone.

----

There was only a moment's hesitation when Yolanda called Anthony; he was fairly smitten with the small woman. In their talks, however, she had told him, in quite glowing words, all about her Marco, and the baby she was carrying for him.

"But if Paige or Chelsea needed..." he reasoned with himself.

He was not stupid; he knew Paige held him in contempt, and poor Chelsea went along with anything her big sister did. But he still regarded them as his sisters, and would do anything for them.

"Be there at..." Anthony checked his sports watch. "Um, about six thirty? That too late?"

"That's fine," Yolanda smiled and couldn't help throwing in, "Antonio."

----

Most of the clothing in UMC's 'Lost and Found' were barely scraps, but Lucy managed to find a very short skirt and a skimpy top, along with a pair of patent leather shoes and a rabbit fur jacket.

"Perfect!" Lucy laughed as she pulled the clothing on.

"Yeah, if you're a hooker," Yolanda said to herself.

(In actuality, the clothing had belonged to a hooker, one that had died of a drug overdose in their ER.)

"And there's my handsome hero," Lucy laughed happily as Anthony stuck his head in the door.

"Um, you um, there anything we need to do?" Anthony asked.

Looking at Lucy, his cock had immediately gotten hard. In her skimpy outfit she was the picture of naughtiness.

"She's already signed everything," Yolanda smiled. "Got all her paperwork and here's a few samples; she can have one pain reliever every six hours, all right?"

"Um, yes ma'am," Anthony said.

"You ready, Antonio?" Lucy smiled happily and took his arm in her right arm.

"Dr. LaPointe wants to see her in a few weeks; she has the appointment card," Yolanda called out as the candy striper wheeled Lucy toward the elevators.

At the front entrance, the candy striper assisted Lucy out of the wheelchair and Lucy immediately took Anthony's left arm into her right arm and glued herself to him.

Anthony was in a mental fog; Lucy was pressed tightly against his left side, and smiling up at him. She told him she was in love with some guy Marco, was even pregnant with Marco's baby, But she was pressed tightly against him in a very familiar manner. If Paige or Chelsea held onto him like Lucy was doing, if ANY girl held onto him and looked up at him like Lucy was doing, Anthony would have thought they had sex on their mind.

"Ooh!" Lucy shrieked as a blast of cold wind greeted her exit from the hospital.

"Damn, should have let you stay inside while I ran and got the car," Anthony apologized.

"No, no, just hurry, which car is it?" Lucy complained.

He guided her toward the Mustang and she stamped her foot impatiently while he unlocked the car door for her.

"Oh, this is nice!" she said as he started the car.

"You um, really?" Anthony asked as he drove out of the parking lot. "I mean, that nurse, Mrs. Garcia? She said you don't have no place to go?"

"Antonio, I told you, my padre? He threw me out and my Marco's sister? Well you know what she did, right?" Lucy patiently explained.

"Um, okay, I guess you..." Anthony stammered.

He drove them home, blushing hotly at the thoughts that he was having about her. She had sunk back into the soft leather seat, then sat up and looked around at the lighted dashboard; the rear of the car, then sank back again. The maneuvering around had pushed the already ridiculously short hem up, and Anthony was sure that his passenger wore no panties underneath the short skirt.

"What kind of car is this?" she asked.

"Mustang," Anthony said.

He pulled up to his parking spot, then got out and opened her car door for her.

When she swung her legs out, Anthony's curiosity was satisfied; Lucy had on no panties. She did have a neat triangle of dark pubic hair.

He helped her out of the car, locked it, and then guided her up the short flight of stairs, watching her cute little butt wiggle in front of him.

"Hurry, Antonio!" she complained, bouncing up and down. "It's cold and I have to go!"

She sighed in satisfaction as they entered the warm apartment.

He pointed out the bathroom and she scampered to it. She did not close the door, simply raised the hem and plopped down on the commode.

When she was finished, Lucy strolled into the small kitchen and looked into the cabinets, finally locating the food supplies.

"This is all you have?" she asked, frowning.

"Um, well, yeah, I mean, hey, this morning? I didn't know I was going to have a house guest," Anthony defended.

Lucy draped her jacket over a chair and started pulling cans out of the cabinet.

"Um, you want me to..." Anthony asked.

"I have this," she assured him and pulled out some sauce pans.

Anthony pulled out his Algebra text book and began doing the homework assignment while Lucy made a great deal of racket and muttered to herself in Spanish.

"White bread?" she asked. "Oh no, no, no, Antonio! Oh, that is no good for you!"

"I like it," he defended.

"And I like chocolate ice cream, but it is no good for me, make me all fat," she said, rubbing her flat belly to emphasize her point.

In thirty minutes, Lucy announced that their dinner was ready.

"What is it?" Anthony asked, looking at the steaming bowl she put onto the table.

"Soup," she laughed and slid a grilled cheese sandwich onto a plate and put it in front of him. "What does it look like?"

"Nothing I'd ever want to eat," He muttered and shrugged his shoulders.

She was a noisy and enthusiastic eater. She also saw meal time as time to talk. Anthony heard more about Marco and how Marco and she were going to get married just as soon as Marco got out of jail.

"Lucky bastard," Anthony said seriously.

"Oh, you meet him, Antonio," Lucy promised happily. "You my friend."

He gave her one of his old tee shirts to wear from bed; it was far too snug on him and almost hung to mid calf on her. The neck opening gaped and he could see the top of her right breast as she giggled and swished around in the large shirt.

She looked on in surprise when he grabbed to pillows off of his queen sized bed and left the bedroom.

"Antonio; where you going?" she asked.

"I'll sleep on the couch," he said and lay down.

Oh, okay," Lucy said, recognition setting in.

True, he was here hero, and was acting as a true friend. But he was also a man. Friend or not, hero or not, he was a man and would act as a man if they were in the same bed together.

----

She woke up and stumbled to the small bathroom. The mirror was still fogged over from his shower, the towel was still damp.

She looked around the small apartment; he was not there.

She smiled; he had to have come into the bedroom to get his clothes for the day, but did so very quietly. She found a twenty dollar bill sitting on the kitchen table and a small note telling her the money was in case she needed anything before he got home that afternoon.

She fixed herself some breakfast, then dressed, and skipped down the stairs. She saw Mrs. Lewis as the old woman was returning from the large dumpster.

"Ola," she greeted the woman.

"Um, Ola," Mrs. Lewis agreed, clutching her purse tightly.

"I live with Antonio," Lucy smiled, pointing up the stairs. "You live here too?"

"You, live with, with HIM?" Mrs. Lewis asked eyes wide with disbelief.

"Si, we amigos," Lucy agreed and happily started walking.

With a wave, she headed east on Highway 52.

"You and that fat ass boy?" Mrs. Lewis asked, shaking her head in disbelief. "Will wonders never cease?"

----

Anthony pulled into his parking spot and looked up at his apartment. He saw Lucy's small head just over the wooden guardrail.

"Hey," he said as he approached the foot of the stairs.

"Ola," she said listlessly.

"Um, why you out here? Kind of cold, huh?" he asked, lumbering up the stairs.

"I went out, but you didn't leave me no key; I had no way get back in," Lucy complained as he unlocked the door.

"Oh, Lucy, I'm sorry! I didn't even think of that!" Anthony apologized.

"So, what'd you do today?" Lucy asked as she hurried to the small bathroom.

Again, she did not close the door, just plopped down on the commode and did her business while he filled her in on the day of a typical college student.

"Later we go grocery shopping?" she asked as she began pulling cans out of the cabinet.

"Um, sure, um, and you probably need some stuff to wear, huh?" Anthony asked.

"Okay," she agreed and began cooking a late lunch for them.

----

Paige was extremely interested in the small, attractive woman that hung all over her step-brother, but didn't want to say anything to Anthony.

But, when Anthony greeted his step-sister, Lucy's eyes immediately narrowed and locked with Paige's eyes. Paige wanted to laugh as Lucy moved closer to Anthony, putting a possessive arm around Anthony's left arm.

"Oh, please, Honey, you want this pile of shit, you can have him," she wanted to laugh, but didn't.

The small trunk of the Mustang was crammed full of their groceries, and Anthony nodded in satisfaction. Lucy had carefully selected each and every item that was put into the cart, babbling in Spanish and English about what meals she could and would prepare for them.

He pulled up to the Bargain Bin clothing store.

"Oh, I love this place!" Lucy excitedly agreed.

"Hi, welcome to the Bargain Bin; anything I can help you find?" Nicole Dumas asked, Bargain Bin apron stretched out over her belly.

"Hi, Mrs. Dumas; how's Coach Dumas doing?" Anthony smiled.

"Anthony, how's it going?" Nicole smiled wider. "He's good, wishes you were still playing for him, that's for sure."

"Well, I'm a U.L.D. Storm now," Anthony said, chest puffing with pride.

Lucy immediately went to the junior section and began searching through the racks.

"Well, your girlfriend seems to know what she's looking for," Nicole smiled.

"She's not my girlfriend," Anthony mumbled.

"Antonio, come look," Lucy demanded.

None of the clothes she picked out were appropriate, in his opinion. The tops were too skimpy. The skirts too short. The jeans hung too low on her slim hips. She put up a mild fuss when he also threw two packages of panties into her basket but relented when he told her he would not buy the skirts unless she promised to wear the panties with them. She adored the tennis shoes he found for her.

"No, no, the shirt is fine," she argued when he pointed out the nightgowns to her.

"Oh, okay," he agreed and brought the basket to the cash register.

"Thank you, Antonio," she murmured, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"Tell Coach I said 'hi,'" Anthony called out to Nicole as they left the store.

Lucy cheerfully let Anthony do all the unloading and hauling of bags from car to apartment. She spent that time in the bedroom, making room for her clothes in his small closet.

"No, no, Antonio," she fussed when he grabbed his two pillows. "The bed is big enough; you stay here."

Chapter 4

"Mrs. Lewis," Lucy called out as she knocked on the old woman's apartment door.

"What you need?" the old woman asked, suspicious.

"Antonio, he play the basketball tonight; I want to see him," Lucy whined.

"Then go; who's stopping you?" the woman said, moving to shut the door.

"I don't know where it is," Lucy whined, stamping her foot. "You know his padre maybe? I call him, he can take me."

This tickled Mrs. Lewis; she knew Anthony's father, knew the man well. She knew that any interruption of Frank's day would send the man into a fit.

"Sure Honey, come on in," Mrs. Lewis cackled.

----

Frank Carrecci frowned darkly when the caller ID on his phone showed it to be that miserable old woman, Mrs. Lewis. Installing Anthony as his building manager had been a stroke of genius; it got that miserable old woman off his ass.

"Yes?" he barely bit back the venom in his voice.

"Meester Carrecci? This Lucy," Lucy said, unperturbed by the angry retort. "Antonio? He plays the basketball tonight. I want to go; you take me."

"Wait, what? Who is this?" he demanded, cigarette ash spraying from the cigarette he was smoking. And who's Ant..."

"An Toe Nee," Lucy said slowly. "Your son Antony play the basketball; Mrs. Lewis you give me wrong number?"

You mean Anthony?" Frank asked.

"Yes, Antonio. This is Lucy; I live with Antonio," Lucy explained. "He plays the basketball tonight. You take me please."

"What? I don't have time for this," he sputtered, outraged.

"Okay, you know his Madre? Maybe she take me," Lucy said.

She knew that Antonio's mother and father were divorced and that it had not been a pleasant divorce.

"Fine, fine, be there in twenty, no, give me thirty minutes," Frank spat into the telephone.

Thirty minutes later, Frank Carrecci glided to a stop in front of the apartment complex. An attractive young woman approached his car. Over the young woman's shoulder, he could see Mrs. Lewis, still cackling at his displeasure.

"Ola," Lucy happily said, getting into the car.

"Ola," he sneered. "Or, as most Americans say, hello."