Overprotective

By Athena13

8/19/2005

Summary: August 2005. What happens after Natalie is released from the hospital.

Blah, blah, I don't own 'em, ABCD does and while they're finally treating them well, we do have weekends to endure….so instead of suing me, how about hiring me?

"I know you've never liked John, but you're the one who's been egging me on for months to go after him. Now you're warning my away from him?" The Balsom siblings were standing in the foyer of Llanfair, very far from the Atlantic City squalor they had shared as young children.

"That's just what I'm doing." Rex crossed his arms and looked sternly at his sister. He wasn't going to budge. This was for her own good, he reminded himself.

"Why?" Natalie held her palms up to show she was completely bereft of even a guess.

"He's no good for you, Natty."

"Why, Rex?" Natalie asked, still incredulous at the about-face of her little brother.

"He just puts you in danger, Natty. I don't want anything to happen to you."

Natalie's frown softened. She could see the fear in her brother's eyes. She moved forward and put her hand on his arm. She looked up at him, her blue eyes teary at the bittersweet feel of his painful caring for her.

"Hayes is not John's fault. Marcie told me he targeted me because she thought I was competition for Michael McBain. It had nothing to do with John."

"That doofus?" Rex's firm expression momentarily dropped, but he quickly recovered. "The thing at the Love Center was Hayes playing with John."

"John saved my life."

"He wouldn't have found you in time if Evangeline hadn't given him that clue and if I hadn't questioned Nick and found out about the mud."

"John would have found me." Natalie was firm in her conviction that he would always be there when she opened her eyes from the dark. Soon she hoped that it was more literal than figurative.

"Rex, I love John and he loves me." She put her other hand on his cheek. "I'm not going to wait until it's too late again to be with him."

"I don't want there to ever be a too late again." Rex's voice was rough. "You're not going to listen to me are you?"

"No more than you ever listened to me about Jen." Natalie knew her brother's wound was still raw, but she also knew he would understand.

Rex dropped his chin down to his chest and opened his arms. He took his sister into his embrace and buried his face in her hair.

"I love you, brother."

"I love you, Natalie."

After a long moment they pulled back and Natalie's gaze was drawn to the front door where John McBain was letting himself in. Their eyes caught and held.

Rex stepped out of the way and looked between the two future lovers. With a sigh he walked back into the Llanfair sitting room.

A smile lit Natalie's face, part of her had been afraid that now she was out of the hospital John would retreat. Instead, he had come to her. She felt flutters in her stomach as John's lips tilted in a rare answering smile and at the look in his eyes. The same look she had felt bathed in at the hospital hadn't dimmed.

"Welcome to Llanfair John McBain," her words drifted across the room.