Disclaimers: I own nothing; ABCD owns all trademarks and characters. (Well except the real estate agent but she's not even named.)
Author's Note: Okay guys I started this due to a challenge I posted on my LiveJournal—basically 'give me a story title and I'll try making a story out of it'. This one was posted anonymously but the muse and I really liked it so thank you to whoever it was who suggested the title!
Dedication: To the unnamed person for the suggestion and to Sydney for continuously asking me if I'd worked on it—your persistence is a large part of why this is finished!
Title: Closed For Remodeling
John sighed as he slowly trudged up the stairs of the Angel Square Hotel, exhausted both mentally and physically. He really wanted nothing more than to go up to the hotel roof and sit with Natalie--he knew that she would understand, and that her very presence would help rejuvenate him.
Unfortunately for him, Natalie was out of town--she had gone to Harrisburg that morning for the forensic technician certification exam and wasn't due back until the following night, a fact that bothered him more than he'd let show.
Finally reaching the top of the stairs, John began to walk down the hall and noticed that almost every door had a neon pink flier tacked to it. He frowned as he approached his door and began to read.
"Closed for remodeling? Your hotel, the one that Roxy owns?" Natalie asked incredulously.
"Yeah, that's what it says. 'The hotel will be closed anywhere from three weeks to eight months.'"
"I wonder what got into Roxy," Natalie mused, propping the phone between her head and shoulder as she reached across the counter and over her several pages of notes to grab her apple.
"I don't know," John sighed, pacing the room as his brain whirled. "I was more concerned about where the hell I'm gonna live while this is going on."
Natalie winced in sympathy as she finally got ahold of her apple and pulled back, knocking her pencil off the counter in the process. "I wasn't even thinking about that--have you had any ideas?" she asked as she knelt to retrieve the pencil.
John shrugged and then he remembered that she couldn't see him. "Nah, not yet."
"How long do you have to get moved?"
"Two months," he replied with a sigh.
Natalie considered that for a moment. "That's actually not too bad. I bet we could find us a decent place within that time limit."
"'Us'?" John asked tentatively, surprised by the lack of dread that he'd expected.
"I bet we could find you a decent place, sorry. I wasn't trying to--"
"I know," he interrupted. "It's all right." He wanted to say more, to tell her that it was more than all right and that he wanted her to live with him... that he never wanted to know what it was like to have to say good-bye at the end of the night again for any reason.
But once again, his cowardice prevailed and he found himself asking, "How is your studying going?"
"John, this is the last place listed for this area—it's this or moving to Llanfair for God knows how long," Natalie said, clearly exasperated. It had been a month and a half since Roxy had issued the notices, and so far John had found something wrong with every house and apartment they had seen.
"I guess it'd better be a good one then," John replied solemnly, barely able to hold back his smile as Natalie playfully swatted his arm.
"Well I guess you had better stop being so critical unless you want to try to sneak into my bedroom every night with my mother down the hall," she returned with a wink, turning and walking towards the small house before he had a chance to retort.
"So, what do you think?" Natalie asked after the real estate agent had excused herself from the room.
John shrugged. "It's all right I guess."
"'All right'? Are you kidding me? This is perfect!" The fire blazing in her eyes only intensified when she saw the smile in his eyes and she punched him in the shoulder.
"Ow!" he protested, rubbing his shoulder.
"That's for teasing me," Natalie informed me, grinning. "So you like it?"
"It's great," he answered honestly this time. "Not a thing wrong with it—not even the price. And hell, the location couldn't be better," he added with a sexy wink that made Natalie's knees go weak. He was referring to the fact that the small house was just a five-minute drive from Llanfair.
"You're sure?" Natalie asked and when he nodded she smiled and called the real estate agent back into the room.
Two weeks later John carried the last box into the house—he had never realized just how little he owned in the world until the time came to pack it up. The six boxes it barely filled had all fit into his truck—except for the slot machine and his bed which were coming via movers the next day.
He called out for Natalie after setting the box onto the ground and smiled when he followed the sound of her voice to the kitchen. She was standing in front of the stove pouring a box of macaroni and cheese into a pot of boiling water. Her auburn hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and she was wearing one of John's white shirts that ended just below her knees.
John's mouth went dry at the domestic and breathtakingly beautiful sight and he couldn't help but think about what it would be like to go to sleep every night and wake up every morning with moments like this to look forward to. Just then Natalie turned around and flashed him one of her brilliant smiles and he knew in that moment that just thinking about what it might be like would be never enough for him.
"So what do you think about the house? Still like it?" Natalie asked as she turned away from the stove, smiling at John and wondering what the unreadable expression on his face was about.
Shaking himself from his stupor John's face relaxed into a smile. "Yeah, it's pretty good. There uh, there is one thing I think it's missing though."
"Oh yeah? What's that?"
"You," he answered simply, his smile widening at the little gasp of surprise she let out. "I've been thinking and I'd really like it if you'd consider moving in?"
Natalie was positively beaming as she walked across the kitchen and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his head down so that her lips were mere centimeters from her own. "My answer is yes," she whispered before closing the last few centimeters between them and kissing him.
John smiled against her lips and pulled her as close to him as physical law would allow and his last coherent thought was a thank-you to Roxanne. That 'Closed for Remodeling' notice had turned out to be the best thing that had ever happened to him.
FIN