This is an AU story!!!!!!! I have changed several storyline details in this. Natalie never married Mitch Lawrence. Christian is not in the picture and never has been. Rex is still a Balsom but he came with her when Natalie came to Llanview and is liked and respected by every member of the Buchanan clan. Jessica, Kevin and Joey are in London running BE. Clint is also there. Natalie is not a Forensic Tech. She is a full-fledged Forensic annalist. (Working in the lab not in the field) That's about it. Any other changes you will have to find out by reading. So happy reading!

Unexpected

Attn: I don't own John or Natalie or any other OLTL character. I do own everyone else though.

Chapter 1

The wind rustled the trees, leaves falling lazily onto the ground below. Flashing lights disturbed the tranquil peace of the forest. Animals scurried away in the dark, unseen by the men invading the clearing. The scene was grim. A young woman lay on the ground. Dead. Underneath her was a plastic tarp protecting the lush green grass from the flow of blood. Next to the woman was a bloody knife, obviously the murder weapon. The crowd around the body parted as another car pulled in, FBI.

This was the last case that John McBain would be working as an FBI agent. He was moving to Llanview to be near his family, they missed him and he missed them. But these were not what thoughts he was thinking as he stepped from the car and into the crime scene. He was thinking now of the killer, the serial killer to be exact. This was the fourth victim to be found this way. Hopefully the last. He sighed as he took in the local cops, they were likely to be territorial about it. As were most local cops.

Pushing his shaggy dark brown hair from his face John walked to the body only to be detained by a fat man with a sour look on his face. Rotating his shoulders in the worn black leather jacket he wore he prepared himself for the "Fuck the FBI this is our jurisdiction speech."

The two men stared at one another, each measuring the other up. John stayed silent waiting for the other man to break the silence. It wasn't long before that happened.

"Who are you," the as yet unidentified man asked. His voice was gruff yet had the unmistakable ring of authority. John looked closer into the man's eyes and saw hostility there but under that was keen interest and a sharp intelligence that he hadn't expected.

"John McBain, FBI" John answered. He kept staring directly into the other mans eyes, refusing to back down at all. "You in charge here?" he asked keeping his voice firm but polite. It wouldn't do to make an enemy of this man, especially since they would be working together.

The other man stared another moment then the hostility fled from his eyes and he actually smiled. "Craig Houser. Yes I am in charge. I was told someone from the FBI would be here. Nice to meet you. Just wish it was under better circumstances." He held out his hand and when John took it he gave him a firm handshake before letting go and turning to the dead body on the ground. "You up on this guy?"

John was surprised at the mans abrupt change in mood. He was not used to this type of welcome. He also turned to the body before speaking, "I read the file." He knew that it was important to get all the facts before jumping into such a case. He studied the scene as he waited for the other man to speak.

Rarely had John ever seen a crime scene so neat. All the blood was confined to the plastic tarp. The woman's body lay on its stomach but from what John could tell she was a redhead, probably about 5 foot five or so, slender, on the skinny side really, no shoes but clad in a light blue silky nightgown. Or at least that's what it looked like under all that blood. He felt a moments pity for the poor unfortunate victim before ruthlessly pushing it aside in an effort to remain detached.

Craig studied John closely, looking for the arrogance, the superiority that usually came with men from the FBI and found none. He took a moment to gather his thoughts asking the question he wanted to ask. After a minute he began to speak. "Tell me what your impression of this guy is...?"

"I don't know much about him yet, but I do think it's a man. From the way he kills I think he either hates women or maybe just a specific one. He always kills redheads, always of medium height, always white. That tells me he either really likes redheads or he really hates them. Maybe he is substituting, pretending to kill a specific woman over and over. He always stabs them and leaves the body and the knife in the forest. This tells me that either he simply likes the outdoors or that he identifies with it for some reason." John stopped speaking for a moment as the CSI's continued to process the body. "The use of a knife suggests a crime of passion. He likes for it to be personal, he likes to see them die yet he turns them on their stomach so he doesn't have to look at their face. I think he does that because he doesn't want to see their face after he kills them. This suggests he does feel something. I am just not sure what. Maybe guilt or maybe even disgust."

Craig digested this all for a long moment. He was impressed with John's knowledge and assessment. This was definitely the man he wanted to have on this case. He just hoped no other women would die before they solved it.

"We're ready to turn her over," called one of the CSIs.

Craig nodded and then asked, "We got any Id on the victim yet?"

"Not yet." The CSI replied then slowly began to turn over the body.

"Oh my God!" One of the other CSI's said then ran for the bushes and began to retch. The face of the victim was gone. Literally gone. Someone had actually peeled the skin off leaving a bloody mess the resembled ground meat.

Even John was sickened by the sight as he took it in. This was a deviation from the normal routine of the killer. He studied the body more thoroughly and saw that there was something written on the body underneath the nightgown. He carefully stepped over to the body and lifted the gown with his gloved hand. When he read the word written on the stomach of the woman he understood what the missing face meant.

"Nobody"

"He is escalating," Craig said.

"Yeah, I just don't understand why he picked now. I wonder if something happened to make him need to hide the identity of the victim as well." The two deviations bothered him a lot and John knew that until he figured it out he wouldn't be getting any peace.

"I found something!" Called the CSI that had been vomiting behind a bush. He came out holding a purse. "Maybe this belonged to the victim," he said.

10 minutes prior to John showing up at the scene

Natalie ran through the woods like the hounds of hell were chasing her. Waking up from her drugged slumber in the trunk of a parked car was enough to push anyone into panic mode. Taking a nail file she had cut thru the seat and climbed out. Carrying her purse and leaving her shoes she took off through the nearby woods.

The darkness gave her cover and for that she was grateful, especially when she heard a masculine voice screaming at her to stop. As she ran she tried to remember how she had ended up in the trunk of that car. The last thing she remembered was coming home from work. She had been walking to her door when someone came from behind her and presses something to her face. Everything after that was a blank.

She ran as fast as she could, the rough ground cutting into her feet. She had to get away! She could hear he kidnapper running behind her and he was catching up. The fear made her movements clumsy but the adrenaline kept her moving as she felt time and time again, cutting her hands and arms up in the process. Her slacks torn and bloody and her shirt getting tears in it left and right she continued to run. Through the dense trees she saw a glimmer of something and stared at it trying to make it out.

Lights! She saw lights in the distance. They looked like police lights. Gasping in relief she ran toward them, the snapping branches and cursing from behind her becoming more distant until they stopped all together. Nearing the scene Natalie skidded to a holt, dropping her purse. Staring wide-eyed at a body she froze as she realized that it was a murder scene! She saw the victim and gasped again when she saw that it was a redhead of her same body build.

She stood there frozen for a moment, not seeing anyone or anything but the body on the ground then started forward into the protective light. "Ummph!" She tried screaming but a hand blocked off the sound and she felt her self lifted him and dragged quickly but silently away from the scene.

"Gotcha!" Snarled a furious voice from behind her then she felt a prick in her neck and everything went dark.

To be continued...