Natalie took a final look in her compact mirror before straightening her suit and walking out of her office--her eyes were a bit puffy from the tears she'd spilled at John's earlier, but she thought she could blow it off as a lack of sleep if anyone asked.
She saw Jared standing outside the boardroom, his hands crossed in front of him and walking towards her at seeing her, "Can we talk?", he said and then paused, becoming concerned by her eyes, "You ok? You look like you've been crying."
"I'm fine," she said as they went into the empty board room. "Did you make your decision?" she asked, her voice firm--if he wasn't going to tell her family the truth today then she would.
He nodded softly, "I'm going to announce it first thing at the beginning of the meeting--Nigel's packing my suitcase as I speak."
"How would--he knew?" she looked at him--surprised by that revelation more than she was that he wasn't even her Uncle.
"Don't blame him--he's a good man, I conned him into it."
"I never would have," she said as the family started to walk in and they all took their seats.
When everyone was seated Jared stood up, messing with the button on his coat in nervousness and wondering if he should have taken a chair closer to the door--he'd seen Clint pull a gun on a man once at the ranch, and he suddenly worried that he might have one in his office, "I want to tell you all something--it's important and it affects all of us--," he said, stopping when there was a knock on the door.
"Hold on just a moment, Jared," said Clint as he opened the door and shook hands with the man before bringing him into the room. "Everyone--I want you to meet James Lansing. I've hired him to help us look find new international acquisitions. He comes with quiet the resume, but I'll let him tell you all that," as Clint took his seat and Jared did the same.
Natalie wasn't listening to a word the man said though--she was her eyes were on Jared. He was focused on what the man was saying, but as hard as she tried he wouldn't make eye contact with her. If he thought he was getting out of the truth he was sadly mistaken.
John tried to focus on his work, but since he walked in the door all he could think of was Natalie was pregnant with his child. Every time the thought of holding his newborn baby came into his mind he started smiling, and then the realization that him and Natalie weren't together hit him. Their breakup had always been hard on him--despite what he said, or didn't say, but now--knowing there was something that would tie them together forever it made him realize how maybe he should start fighting for her.
He hadn't fought before--had known she needed to find herself, that she didn't feel like the same person as she was before the accident. He knew he should do the same for himself during their off period, but as hard as he tried he couldn't figure out exactly who he was without her nearby.
A knock came on his office door and he absently said for the person to enter. Looking up he saw Officer Davis come in with a paper in his hands, "They pulled this from the security tapes at Saint Anne's--I'm going out of line on this, but thought you might to see it before Ramsey."
John took the picture and a curse came out of his breath, "Has anyone else seen this?"
"No sir. I figure even if she doesn't work here anymore she's still a part of our family here at the station--I was thinking you could get her side of the story first. If Ramsey sees it he'll just throw her in a cell--we can't do that to one of our own, can we?"
"No, we can't. Thanks Davis--and if anyone asks about the pictures from the tapes tell them the lab is still working on them," he said as he got up and grabbed his jacket before heading out.
"Well, I really don't care how the paperwork suddenly vanished--find it and get it up to me asap," said Natalie loudly into the phone. After the board meeting Jared had been swooped off by her father to go with Mr. Lansing on a tour of the company and then go over the interests that he and Natalie had been working on. She never did get a chance to ask Jared why he changed his mind on telling the family he wasn't one of them.
"See--I told you paperwork doesn't just vanish," groaned Natalie as she walked around to answer her knocking office door. Opening it quickly but instead of finding some assistant of an assistant she came face to face with John. "John--this isn't a good time. I want to talk about the baby too--but things--they are going crazy right now."
"I'm not here about the baby--but I am kinda bummed you broke your promise on calling me when you joined the convent," said John as he handed her the pictures that Davis had given him.
Natalie's eyes went wide with shock as she dragged him into the office and closed the door behind her, locking it for good measure, "I can explain."
"Please do. Because I don't want to have to watch my child grow inside you between a Plexiglas window over at Statesville."
Natalie walked over to the couch she had to the side of her office. She took a seat and John took the chair across from her while she told everything. When she was finished he stood up and took a deep breath, "So it was Jessica's idea?"
She was shocked that was all he had to say, normally she figured she'd at least get a 'damn it, Natalie' in, but he didn't seem to be angry that she'd helped break out a known psychopath-baby stealer out of a mental facility, "She thought Alison Perkins had something to tell her--something relating to our family--now we both realize the woman just wanted to terrorize us again."
"Yeah. This isn't going to be easy as the missing fibers--but I can make it work," he muttered to himself.
"What?" she asked, shooting up out of her seat. "I don't need you covering my ass, John," she said loudly.
"I'm--I'm not--but this isn't like normal where we can go to Bo with the findings and it gets swept under the rug."
"You used to not be one to sweep things under rug John--when did the line blur for you?"
"I--it just did," he said as they were interrupted by someone trying to open her office door and finding it locked. "Somebody is looking for you--I better not keep you any longer," he said as she went to the door, opening it to see Jared on the other side.
"What? What's going on?" asked Jared, as he walked in and looked between the two of them. "You already told him? Just because I didn't say it earlier you've already decided to involve the police in this?"
"It isn't all about you Jared," she said as she looked at John who was looking back at her quizzically, "We'll talk later--ok? About everything--I need to schedule that appointment--I'll let you know when it is," she said as John gave her a silent nod, sized up Jared one more time and then left the room.
"You want to tell me why he was here?"
"It's none of your business, Jared. Tell me why you chickened out of telling the truth earlier, Jared? Jessica already knows--and I'm sure you would rather be the one to explain yourself to my father than either of us."
"It's the same reason I took that guy on the tour--I don't trust him. I don't think he's who he says he is," he whispered into her ear, enough to take in the scent of her shampoo and causing himself to lose his focus.
Natalie laughed, taking a large step back from Jared and going behind her desk for safety, "Oh because you are exactly who you have been saying you are for months. This coming from the man that walked in here with a bogus resume to try and sweep me into giving him a job."
"If you are so wanting the truth to come out then let's go tell dear old daddy," he said, not expecting her take the bait.
"Ok, let's go."
John walked into Capricorn expecting to find a quiet spot on the bar and ignore any stares that came his way, and if he'd been looking he would have seen Natalie sitting there in the booth with her brother and Gigi and had time to slip out before she saw him. But he wasn't paying attention so he had to turn towards her when she called his name in surprise, "Hey."
"Oh my God, John--what happened?" she asked as she jumped up and quickly moved to John who had a shiner on the side of his face that hadn't been there this afternoon.
"Nothing--I'm fine," he said as she motioned him to a seat. He looked over to Rex for some sort of assistance and saw him and Gigi quickly getting up and leaving. "Thanks guys," he groaned as they left. "Couldn't wait to get out of here fast enough--could they?"
Natalie said nothing, just poured some ice and water into the cloth napkin and put it against John's face, "Hold this."
He couldn't help but give a slight laugh--he loved how she always tended to him when he was hurt, whether physically or just emotionally. Maybe that's how they got to the point they were at now, "To answer your question--Todd decked me one. That was after I went to talk to him about the way he nearly killed Cole after the he caught the kid in bed with Starr."
"Oh my God--poor Starr."
John gave a slight laugh again, "Of course, if I were to walk in on our teenage daughter in the manner that Manning did I'd probably have the same reaction."
Natalie got silent and just watched John sitting there, with a cold and wet napkin pressed against his face, "You already think it's a girl?"
"Well, I--I guess it could be a boy, but I'd rather think it's a girl and she's as beautiful as her mother," he said, staring into her eyes and realizing he was slowly getting lost in them but not caring.
"I--uhm--that's really sweet to say--oh, I was going to call you and tell you my first appointment is going to be Thursday at 11:30. It'll be at the hospital because they want to do an ultrasound right away since it's later in the pregnancy than normal."
"I'll be there," he said as he watched her quickly gather her purse and coat before leaving him sitting there alone at the empty table.