Chapter Two

October 2010

"And Cinderella and Prince charming lived happily ever after, the end." Reaching across her bed, Natalie placed the tattered book on her bedside table and looked down at her twin daughters who sat on either side of her. "Come on girls, it's time for bed."

The Buchanan family had just finished up their nightly ritual. Each night before bed they would all brush their teeth, change into their pajamas and then prop themselves up in Natalie's bed as she read to them.

The small red-head on the left looked up at her mother with big blue eyes. "Mommy, do you think every little girl grows up and lives happily ever after?" She asked, her little voice dreamy.

Thinking about her own childhood, Natalie smiled down at Sydney Anne Buchanan and pulled her closer. "Yes, I do sweetheart."

"Well I don't." Another voice piped up.

Biting back a smile Natalie looked to the right of her and glanced down at Eve Victoria Buchanan, who sat with her arms folded defiantly across her chest. "You don't? Why not honey?" Natalie asked as she began to stroke Eve's long, brown hair.

Eve's blue eyes met Natalie's. "Well you don't have a prince charming mommy."

Though, Natalie was completely caught off guard by her daughter's innocent observation, she managed to recover quickly. "But I have you girls don't I? That's my happily ever after right there." Natalie scrunched up her nose in mock horror. "Plus boys are yucky anyway aren't they?" She said quoting what the girls had said the week before after spending time with their cousins Ryan and Josh McBain.

Both girls laughed at their mother's funny face, and Eve seemed satisfied by the answer. Despite being twins, Eve and Sydney were as different as night and day. Sydney was the most like Natalie, right down to having the stereotypical 'short temper' that went along with being a redhead. She was determined, stubborn, curious, funny, and often dreamy and the one that tended to give Natalie the most trouble. Eve on the other hand was just like her father… observant, protective, quiet and sometimes slightly cynical for her young age of four. But despite all their inherited personality traits, the girls were almost always happy, polite, and incredibly close to each other, and to their mother.

Natalie ushered the twins off her bed and followed them down the hall to their room. Despite the fact there were four bedrooms in the house, Sydney and Eve had insisted they wanted to share a room – though Natalie suspected it was more Eve going along with it knowing Sydney was still scared of the dark. After helping them into their matching beds, Natalie kissed them goodnight and made her way downstairs, her mind still on what Eve had said.

Her daughter had a point – Natalie hadn't gotten a chance at happily ever after with her own Prince Charming because he had left town without even a second glance. After that night she showed up at John's apartment and found him gone, Natalie had spent nearly a year trying to track him down. She knew what it was like to grow up without a father, and despite everything Natalie hadn't wanted to do the same to her daughters. So she hired PI's, did internet searches, and even had Rex following leads for her… but nothing.

It was as if John had disappeared off the face of the earth.

Once the twins were born Natalie had her hands full and little time for anything else, so she had given up and left the matter in the hands of Michael and Eve – both of which who played a large role in their lives. Eve, who just adored her two granddaughters had made the trip from Atlantic City to Llanview several times a month for the first few years of their lives. However, once Marcie and Michael were married and had Josh and Ryan, Eve had decided to permanently move to Llanview so she could be closer to her grandchildren. As for Michael, the girls had had him wrapped around their fingers since the day they were born.

But there was still nothing from John. He had called both Michael and Eve a few times in the first few months, but whenever either of them had tried to bring Natalie up, he had abruptly ended the calls. It had now been four years and the only contact either of them had with him was through the occasional letter which never included a return address.

Natalie spent a few minutes picking up discarded toys and crayons from the living room, then made her way into the kitchen and put the kettle on. These days, the twins kept her so busy that it was rare for Natalie to actually sit and think about John. But when she did, she worried. Ever since the prison riot John had gone on a downward spiral one that resulted in him being suspended from the Llanview PD. Bo hadn't wanted to do it but John had given him no choice – he had blown almost all therapy sessions, was yelling at the other officers and staff, and had often come into work wearing the same clothes from the day before and smelling like whiskey. The final straw had been when John had badly beaten up a suspect who had made a lewd comment regarding Natalie. John had been suspended on the spot, and as he was leaving, he and Natalie had fought. She had tried reaching out to him, tried to convince him he needed help, but he had lashed out at her and she had lashed back. A lot of awful things had been said on both parts, but then Natalie had delivered the worst of them all – she had told John she hated him.

Even four years later she could still remember the stricken look on John's face – he seemed devastated. She had tried to apologize, tried to explain it had slipped out in the heat of the moment, but the words were out there. He had rushed off, not even bothering to clean out his office. That was the same day Natalie had realized she was pregnant and the same day John left town.

Life after that hadn't been easy. At the young age of twenty-five Natalie was divorced, alone, only working part time and now pregnant with twins. At first she had been apprehensive about telling her family, worried about what they would think – however everyone happy for her and in the usual Buchanan fashion, united to help her out. Jessica, a new mother herself, had gone to every doctor's appointment with her and been her Lamaze coach and Bo hired another part time receptionist at the police station and allowed Natalie to make her own schedules. But the biggest thing they had done for her, was buying her and the girls this house.

Natalie had been 8 months pregnant, still living at Llanfair and had been trying – with no avail - to find an apartment that could fit her new family and fit her budget when Vicki and Clint told her they had a surprise for her. With effort they had loaded her into their car and driven to the suburban neighborhood Jessica and Nash had just moved into. When they had pulled into the driveway of the house beside Jessica's, Natalie had been amused. "Dad, their house is the next one," she had said with a small smile. But her amusement soon turned to confusion when Clint replied, "I know," his face now holding the small smile. He and Vicki had helped her out of the car, led her up to the front door, and then handed her a key. "It's yours honey," Vicki had said, beaming at her daughter's shocked expression.

At first Natalie had a hard time accepting the overly generous gift, but both Vicki and Clint convinced her it was something that they wanted to do for her and their grandchildren. Seeing how happy her parents were, Natalie stopped objecting. Vicki, Jessica and Roxy had decorated and furnished the house and Rex, Nash and Michael all joined together to paint and do the heavy lifting. The end result was beautiful, and for the first time in her life Natalie felt like she had a real home. When she entered the house with her parents for the first time, almost the entire Buchanan, Balsom, Brennan and McBain families were there waiting for her – where they had set up a surprise housewarmimg/baby shower. Without a doubt that was one of the happiest days of Natalie's life because it was then all feelings of doubt, or inadequacy escaped her and she finally felt truly apart of a family.

The next four years passed quickly. She had given birth to the twins and spent almost all her time with them. She still continued to work part time at the police station, but now that the girls were enrolled in junior kindergarten, Natalie had gone back to LU part time to finish up her degree in Criminology – something she hoped to have finished within the next two years.

The shrill noise of the kettle broke Natalie out of her thoughts and she quickly took it off the stove not wanting to wake the girls. Carefully she poured some of the steaming water into a mug and added a teabag. She allowed it to steep for a few moments as she went over to the sink and began to wash the dinner dishes. Once she had finished that, Natalie grabbed her tea and started to make her way toward the living room but stopped when she heard the load snap of a twig. Slowly, Natalie turned towards the window and froze in fear when she noticed the figure of a man peering through the window.

Her fear quickly turned to panic and the mug fell from her hands and crashed to the floor. Knowing her first priority was the girls Natalie turned and began sprinting toward the stairs, ignoring the sound of crashing glass.

She had made it up the stairs and was just outside the door to the girl's room when he grabbed her from behind and put a chemical soaked towel to her face. Before she even had a chance to scream, Natalie was unconscious.

When she awoke hours later the girls were gone.