A/N These characters belong to ABC. I do not own them. If I did I would not treat them so badly.
After seeing the show on the 22nd I was struck with an idea. Hope you like it. Just remember it is supposed to be funny.(hopefully) Don't be offended. Please! Its all in good fun. really.
Right plot, Wrong target!
Part 1
Natalie didn't know which way to turn. She had come to the tree lighting to get away from thoughts of John and Cris. But, true to her luck, there they were. Both of them! Seeing John there lighting the tree and making that little speech, Natalie missed him more then ever. She was angry at him she wanted not to miss him but she couldn't help it. The only thing she could do was not let him see how much he still effected her.
Then Cris had shown up. It had been like a punch in the gut. He had looked almost like his old self again. Then he had to open his mouth. When he spoke she realized that he wasn't the same man she married. He was different.. changed. Natalie knew it was to be expected, what she didn't know was how to deal with the fact that he was there.
Then he had told her he wouldn't give her the divorce and she had gotten angry. How dare he just expect her to fall into his arms again after all he had done! At least John was trying to give her space. He was respecting her decisions. Natalie sighed.
Natalie heard a noise behind her. She spun around and bit back a sharp comment. It was Evangeline. Natalie sighed and said, "Leave me alone I don't want to talk about it."
"Sorry I can't do that Natalie. You can push John away, you can divorce Cris but you can't get rid of me that easily." Evangeline said kindly and Natalie was thrown for a second.
Was this the same Evangeline that was always throwing snarky comments at her? The one who flaunted her sex life with John in front of Natalie's face? To say that Natalie was confused by Evangeline's behavior was an understatement.
"I said I don't want to talk about it." Natalie said again in a tired voice.
Evangeline stepped closer, getting into Natalie's space, and said gently, "That's ok just listen then. I know this is very difficult for you Natalie. I just wanted to tell you that I admire your strength. I admire the fact that you just aren't going to forgive both of them. I think you are totally right. You need time and space. I'm just sorry I couldn't convince Cris to give you that."
Natalie just about fell over. She didn't know what to make of this. This was not typical Evangeline. "Well..." Natalie started uncomfortably. "I need to go now," and with that Natalie rushed off her head spinning with the events of the day.
About 2 hours later Natalie was back at Angel Square. Looking up at the Angel in the middle of the square she reached out a hand to trace the plaque on the base. Sadness overwhelmed her and she sat down.
Looking out around the square Natalie could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She felt someone brush her hair back in a way that only John did. Turning around to yell at him Natalie was startled to see Evangeline.
"It's gonna be ok, Natalie." Evangeline said drawing Natalie to her trying to comfort her.
Natalie was tired, she was so tired of trying to be strong. Leaning into Evangeline Natalie buried her face into Evangeline's shoulder and began to cry. And that was how John found them.
Evangeline was smiling inside. All her careful planing, all of her free time in the last year had been spent trying to get her to this point. She had everyone in this silly town so fooled. They all thought that she was in love with John.
Those fools. John was a nice guy and a great lover but she was no more in love with him then he was her. She had to pretend that he had been the love of her life. Otherwise none of this would be happening. She had known Cris was Cris from the very beginning. John might think she was stupid but that didn't make it so.
Evangeline also knew that she had had to bide her time. What she wanted couldn't be accomplished quickly. For her plan to work she had to destroy Natalie's faith in everyone around her. She had to destroy her love for John and her love for Cris. The best part of her plan was that she hadn't had to do anything. John and Cris had done that for her.
Evangeline had kept the lie so that John could dig himself in a hole so deep he could never get out. She knew when Natalie found out that John had known Cris was alive she would never forgive him. Evangeline also knew that Natalie would never forgive Cris either. That fit her plans perfectly. Natalie would be hers!
She had been in love with Natalie since she had hired her to defend John. Natalie had been in love with John then and Evangeline had wanted her to be jealous. So she had gotten John drunk and had sex with him. She had known that John was in love with Natalie even then. He had said Natalie's name in the middle of having sex with her.
He had closed his eyes and imagined that he was driving into Natalie, he had called out Natalie's name as he reached his climax and that had been ok with her. As a matter of fact she herself had imagined that she was with Natalie. That Natalie was the one touching her and kissing her. So Evangeline didn't begrudge that same privilege to John. After a while it had made her angry though. She was a woman after all. She wanted to be wanted even if he wasn't the one she wanted.
So she had flaunted their relationship in Natalie's face. She had done it for several reasons. One, she wanted Natalie to be jealous, and 2 she had wanted to kill any chance of Natalie wanting John again. That had failed. Natalie had still wanted John. That was one of the reasons Evangeline was attracted to Natalie. Her loyalty to those she loved was nothing short of amazing.
So Evangeline had kept quiet and now all her careful planning was paying off. After all that had happened, Natalie was in her arms and it was she that was stroking her hair in a way that she knew Natalie liked. It would just be a matter of time before she managed to convince Natalie to give them a shot.
John saw Natalie in Evangeline's arms and he was shocked at the bolt of jealously that flared through him. He was actually jealous of Evangeline because he wanted to be the one comforting Natalie. He wanted to be the one she turned to. But he knew that wasn't going to happen.
When he saw Evangeline's hand start to stroke Natalie's hair in the same way he did John again had a feeling that something wasn't right. He had never seen Evangeline do that to Nora when she had been helping her through what happened with Daniel. Something just didn't add up here. John was confused by his feelings. He knew Natalie didn't even like Evangeline so why was she letting Evangeline comfort her.
"Its nice to see so many couples happy this time of year." Someone said noticing John staring at the embracing couple.
"What?" John choked out. Looking back at Natalie and Evangeline he realized that indeed they did look like they were embracing. "Oh no, They are just.. well what I mean is that they aren't even friends and they are definitely not umm..." John stammered, flustered by the thought of Natalie and Evangeline moving on 'together'.
The man laughed and said, "just look at them." Pointing to Evangeline he said, "look at her face. "Clearly she is in love with the redhead."
John just about threw up at the thought. Evangeline in love with Natalie? No way! But then... Evangeline did talk about her a lot. And when they had been together she had been almost obsessed with Natalie. Always bringing her up and acting like she was jealous of the time John had spent with her. "You really think so?" John asked the stranger absently.
"Oh yeah," the man replied before going on his way.
John stood there watching Evangeline hold Natalie in her arms and began to worry. Natalie wasn't pushing her away. What if what he and Cris did had turned her not only off them but off men all together. John couldn't live with that. HE wanted Natalie back he didn't want her to move on with anyone, least of all Evangeline!
The more John watched them the more jealous he became. He began to get very angry at Evangeline. What if this was her plan. What if she had wanted to make Natalie hate him and Cris so she could have Natalie for herself? The more he thought about it the more sense it made. John had really worked himself into a lather when he decided to confront them. If Natalie had moved on without him he wanted to know!