A/N: I have no idea where this story came from I found it on my laptop while having a clear out. Its completely A/U and based in my emmerdale world where Natasha didn't kill Mark. I don't own any of the characters.
He was worried; she was falling apart bit by bit in front of his eyes and until she let him in there was nothing he could do about it. If he could just get her away from this place and Nathan in particular he was sure he could get her to open up to him. He meant it when he said she was heading for a breakdown and he was determined to do everything in his power to prevent that. He watched as she continued to stare at the same piece of paper she'd been looking at for the last half hour or so. She was clearly preoccupied, the strain evident on her face. They'd been avoiding the issue of what had happened in the kitchen earlier instead settling for working in silence only talking when it was absolutely necessary and then always about work. He knew now was as good as time as any to talk to her he just wasn't sure what to say or how best to approach the situation without pushing her further into herself. There was also the problem of which Natasha he was going to get. Lately she'd been jumping between three personalities; the happy nothing's wrong Natasha, the defensive argumentative Natasha who would fly off the handle at a moment's notice and the Natasha from earlier who was finding it all too hard and couldn't cope. It was this Natasha that worried him most. It showed how truly vulnerable she was and the glimpses he got scared him. When they had first meet she had been feisty, confident but most of all strong he saw barely any of those qualities in her anymore despite her attempts to act strong he could always tell it was just the, an act. He had tried so hard over the past few months to be understanding and let her deal with whatever was bothering her in her own way but he was slowly losing his patience and he desperately needed things to change before it tore them both apart. Watching as she picked up her pen only to put it back down seconds later and continue starring he realised enough was enough, they needed to talk just the two of them out of the office with no distractions.
'Hey do you fancy going out for lunch?' he watched her as she continued to stare completely oblivious to the fact he had just spoken. Sensing he needed to take more direct action he moved around the desk spinning her chair as he did so she was facing him. 'Come on we're going out' pulling her out of the chair before she could protest he wrapped his arms around her waist to steadier her as she stumbled slightly caught off guard by the movement. Once he was satisfied she wasn't going to fall he realised his grip and grabbed their coats taking her hand as he did. Gently leading her towards the door he took her lack of protest as a positive sign. On reaching the car he waited for her to get in the passenger side before getting in his own side. He was glad she wasn't fighting him but her silent passiveness was beginning to unnerve him.
Half an hour of near silence later and they were sat in his living room. She had briefly spoken to him when he had asked her if she wanted anything to eat but since then they had been sat in a surprisingly comfortable silence each caught up in their own thoughts.
'I thought we could talk'
'We could have done that at the office' she was clearly getting fed up if her tone was anything to go by. He had to admit he was slightly relieved in the change of attitude even if it did make things more difficult he couldn't handle her so quiet, at least if she was shouting at him she was talking.
'I wanted to talk about this morning. I meant it when I said you needed to let someone in and it was obvious you wanted to tell me something.' He could tell she was preparing her defensives and thinking of ways to brush of this morning as nothing 'look you need to talk to and we're not going anywhere until you do so it's your choice you can tell me what's been bothering you or we can just sit here in silence for the rest of the night.' Her expression was vacant and he genuinely had no idea which way this was going to go he could be in for a long night if her current silence was anything to go by.
'I think Nathan killed Mark'