I Got Him Ready For You

Tragedies had a way of making the strangest of bedfellows, she was becoming more and more sure of that as she forced a smile up at the woman who handed her a cup of coffee as she took the vacant seat next to her. "He's going to be ok, Natalie," Evangeline Wilkinson said softly as she put a brave face on for the other woman.

Natalie shrugged: "How mean of me is it to wish it was him?" Natalie asked over the rim of her cup of coffee as she watched the ex of her and the other woman, one Detective John McBain come over and envelop the shaking form of his wife, the saintly Dr. Marty Sagebrook, into his arms, before walking off without giving even of them even a word.

"Considering that he can't even spear an 'I'm sorry for you'?" Evangeline asked. "Right now, not much."

Natalie sighed as she rose to her feet and started pacing, forcing a smile at her son who was playing with Evangeline's on the hospital waiting room's floor.

Only a few years ago this scene wouldn't have been possible.
She and Evangeline wouldn't have been friends.
And even if they were, and they were sitting here they would've been surrounded by Buchanans.
But then Jared had happened.
Jared who had tried to con the family into thinking he was a Buchanan and then into thinking she wasn't.
Who had succeeded with both, until Kevin with the help of an unlikely source had come to her aid, not out of brotherly love but because he had hated the other man.
Even now she couldn't quite get over the hurt of their discarding her so easily.
Of how her mother had forgiven Charlie so easily.
Still had Jared over for family functions and expected her to sit there and smile--- sans her husband of course.

From her seat Evangeline started to laugh slightly. "What's so funny?" Natalie asked.

"Us. This," the black woman said indicating the room around them, "the song playing."

"The song?" Natalie asked as she strained to hair the music playing over the loud speaker. "I don't get it."

"I taught him how to talk to me/I showed him what a woman needs/A hand just to hold in the dark/He used to think it was enough/Sending flowers to show love/Now he knows he's gotta open his heart/And the saddest thing 'bout how it all came down/Is he's not here with me now" Evangeline started to sing along, to Natalie's raised eyebrows. "I got him ready for you/Look at all the things he can do/You can cry on his shoulder/He might even cry too/He's come a long long way/And it's tragic but true/I guess I've got him ready for you/"

Natalie shook her head: "Too bad I didn't tell you you could keep him," she said under her breath.

"Just shut up and listen to the rest of the song," Evangeline laughed. "wouldn't say I have regrets/'bout the time that we both spent/If the truth be known, I'm a little better too/So when he does the little things, when he treats you like a queen/In a crazy way I'm there in the room/Ooh, I feel like I did all the fixing him up/But you moved into our house of love
I got him ready for you/Look at all the things he can do/You can cry on his shoulder/He might even cry too/He's come a long long way/And it's tragic but true/I guess I've got him ready for you
I don't blame you, I'm not saying you stole him away from me/I just want you to know he's not the man he used to be, yeah
He's come a long long way/And it's tragic but true/I guess I've got him ready for you
I guess I've got him ready for you."

Natalie shook her head: "So, you fixed John up for me and I what? Fixed him up for Marty?"

"And she's fixing him up for the next damsel in distress, the downgrades from us."

"Don't think you can get much lower than Marty," Natalie sighed.

Evangeline smirked: "Well, word around the office is that you can. Apprearently, we did all the fixing up for nothing."

"If you're just saying this to keep my mind off of Lee. . ."

"Now would I do that?"

"Evageniline Manning. . ."

"He's screwing around on Marty," Vang said lowly.

"John doesn't cheat."

"Not on us," Evangeline smirked. "Because we made him better. Marty. . . well, he doesn't talk to anyone anymore. He's built those walls back up. . ."

"Doesn't talk to Michael. And when they do, they fight about issues those two long since buried. He doesn't call Eve. Doesn't know what's going on with Shannon. Doesn't go out with Antonio or Talia. . ."

"Only deals with Marty, Cole, and Star and the baby and. . ."

"Oh, don't even tell me!" Natalie squealed, eyes going round at the implications that were all too good. After all the only other person that would be better would be Jessica, and the only reason she knew John wouldn't go there was because every other man in town already had been.

"Yeah. Some rivalries die hard."

"Think he's told her he 'loves her?"

"He learnt that from you didn't he?" Evangeline asked on a laugh.

Natalie laughed back: "Can I throw that in Blair's face?"

"Only when I get to throw the fact that the pearl necklace she's wearing is the 'no strings attached but belonged to my mother' necklace he gave me," she shot back.

"Well, I guess we did learn a few things from him too, didn't we?" Natalie asked.

"Learned what and from who?" a voice asked from behind her, causing Natalie to gasp and jump to her feet. She quickly threw herself into the free arm of her husband, one of the only people who stood by her when she was crucified by the town for 'conning her way into the Buchannans,' and who gasped at her weight. "Don't you dare scare me like that again Lee Ramsey," she complained.

Rolling his eyes he put her away from him: "if you promise to be more careful yourself."

"I had it under control till you came over."

"Yeah, it sure looked that way."

Natalie threw her red hair over her shoulder and glared at him: "then tell your guys to clear the room properly before letting me in. Hell maybe if they weren't thinking about their wife's latest nervosa's or their latest tramps or the kids of both. . ."

Lee shook his head and leaned in and kissed her square in the mouth, enjoying the way she melted into him. If he had one thing to thank John McBain for it was being stupid enough to let the spitfire he had eventually married go. Sure, everyone thought he only married her to get back at McBain, and while it might have started as that and a way to get standing in this god forsaken town it certainly had turned into more than that for him. He her once thought that he would use Marty Sagebrooke for the deed, but soon realized when Jared Banks had tried to destroy Natalie Buchanan and John had tried to rescue the pregnant disinherited heiress that she might be more his speed.

Once he had brought Marty back he had been proven right.

Natalie Balsom, as she was back to being known then, was no cowering flower and with a new damsel to save John had left her for him to ride in and lend a helping hand to. After Star Manning had seemingly caused her miscarriage, Lee had helped her heal, proven that Cole was the real culprit, put both teenagers in jail, gotten Natalie reinstated in the forensics program after a psych eval proved that she only tampered with the evidence because of her fear of losing John again and the evidence over John's own cover up of evidence to help Marty was introduced, and proved that she was actually a Buchanan. All in all not to bad, especially not when it helped to move him up in some regards and tarnish McBain's standing.

"Would you two find a room?" Michael McBain asked from a door. "He's clear to go home. Just some mild blood lost and muscle damage. I'll want him back to check. And I know that Natalie will make sure you come back. And don't try to get over on her. She knows all the tricks. My brother and Asa taught her how to spot them," he said before leaving.

"So that's what you were talking about? Things you learned from McBain?" Lee asked a touch of amused annoyance in his voice. He was, after all confident enough not to worry about the other man, although he was smart enough to recognize the connection that John shared with his wife.

Natalie rolled her eyes as she bent to picked up a couple of the toys her son had been playing with and threw a look to her best friend: "I'll get the rest of this," Evangeline said.

"We were talking about how we taught John how to be a better man and how, Marty technically should've benefitted from that. However, she just made him regress," Natalie answered as she sauntered over to her husband and wrapped her arms around his waist, "However, that doesn't mean that I didn't learn a few things from him myself. Like how to appreciate a guy who treats me right. Who lets me be me. Who lets me fight my battles. Who'll fight them with me. Who'll support me. Who'll love me no matter what I do, what my family thinks of it. Whether I have money or not.

I might have fixed him up for someone else to benefit, but he tore me down.

You, on the other hand, did all the fixing up on me and I chose to stay around."

Lee shook his head: "Grab Ben and lets go home and discuss expanding this love project you have going," he whispered into her hair.

"I think I like that idea," Natalie smiled, more than confident in herself and her love for the first time in her life.

Song Credit: I Got Him Ready For You