Cristian walked into the gallery quietly—there was a showing tonight, but the owner of the gallery had talked to him over the phone and asked him to come up here tonight. He had sent a small portfolio of his more recent art to him a month ago and the man now wanted to talk to him about doing a showing of his work in the near future.
He didn't see the owner just yet so he began making his way around the first room in the gallery slowly, taking note of the artists technique and wondering if he'd ever be able to paint like he used to.
It was the flash of red through the doorway to the next room that caught his eye and at first he thought he was imagining things—that it was just like every other time he'd seen a redhead in the past few months, but once again he had to make sure it wasn't Natalie.
As he reached the doorway he saw her and froze—Natalie was standing there staring at a painting. It took him a few seconds to register that standing next to her was Vincent Jones.
Had they all been wrong these past months? Had she left on her own and not cared about what her family would be going through without her there? He started to confront her and then she glanced his way—looked straight at him, but it was like she was staring at a stranger as she turned herself and Vincent away from him and kept on walking.
He looked beyond her and saw there was a patio outside and made his way to the patio door on the part of the gallery he was in.
"You know—maybe we're looking at this all wrong," said Bo as he leaned back in his chair while John continued moving through hours of surveillance footage from the day. They'd already run the paper the ultrasound photo was on and the envelope through forensics—and as expected they came back clean for prints.
"Someone dropped that envelope on my desk Bo," he said as he paused on the video of the hallway one of his office doors was at.
"I know. So let's work backwards—we know for sure now that Natalie has been kidnapped," he said as he saw the look John gave him. "I never doubted she was John—but we have the evidence now. And at least—at least we know she's getting care for the pregnancy. Who would want Natalie? Let's start with a list—that might help with the suspects, if any, that show up on this video."
"Number one on my list—Vincent Jones," said John as he turned away from the television and the two men started discussing the details once again—hoping this time something would click.
Cris watched Natalie through the patio doors for a few minutes—he hadn't been surprised by the baby bump that was quickly growing, Antonio had told him in secret one night that Natalie had been pregnant, but he'd followed his brother's request and told no one.
Vincent started to speak to someone and she began to walk his way onto the patio. He moved to the railing, his back to the door, and took a big breath as he heard it open and her heels click on the tile as she came next to him.
"Beautiful night," she said, wrapping her arms around herself as she glanced at Cristian.
"Yeah," he said as he looked at her and made eye contact—part of him wanted to hug her, he'd started to think the worst had happened to her, and part of him wanted to yell at her—ask her what the hell she was thinking, hanging with Vincent while her family worried about her. But when he looked at her up close he realized something was seriously wrong, "What happened Natalie?"
"How—how did you know my name?" she asked as she looked around and saw they were alone on the patio. "Do you know me? Did we know each other from before?"
"Before—?"
"The fire—it wiped out my memories. All I know is what my father has told me—my husband died in the fire and that it's better to not remember the life from before."
"Your father?" he asked, confused and he knew she wasn't speaking of Clint. "What is his name?"
"Mitch Lawrence. Who are you?"
He felt his blood begin to boil at knowing it was Mitch that was behind her disappearance, "I'm Cristian—you know me—now come with me," he said as he took her hand.
"No—I don't know you—where are you taking me?" she yelled and he let her out of his grasp in fear that she would make a scene and Vincent would come to investigate.
"To John—and everyone else in Llanview."
"John's dead—and I've never heard of Llanview."
"I don't know what Mitch told you or what he did to you, but John is alive, Natalie, and Mitch is not your father," he said as he watched her eyes widen with fear. "Now will you please come with me?"
"No, if what you are saying is true we need to catch him in the act. My going with you won't help them—won't help John—and he needs closure, the one thing that's always haunted him is a lack of closure," she said and then covered her mouth at the words, but she knew they were true at the same time.
Cris smiled at her saying the words—she was remembering things, and suddenly he wasn't sure if leaving her in this limbo state of reality was a good idea. He looked towards the tinted patio doors and saw Vincent was coming their way and quickly took his cell phone out of his pocket, "Take this—do not let anyone see it—not even Vincent. I'll call you when I get to the Police Station."
"I'll see you soon Cris—give Jessica a hug for me when you see her," she said, shocked at both saying the name and instantly knowing who it was.
As he looked back he worried that this was the wrong thing to do—he should just grab her and go—but then she didn't fully trust him yet and he thought she might make a scene, and he was sure if that happened no one would ever see Natalie again.
Bo and John both turned as the door to Bo's office burst open and Cristian walked through, "We're in the middle of something Cris—this is going to have to wait."
"It can't—I saw Natalie. Vincent Jones has her."
"What? Where is she? Why didn't you bring her with you?" asked John as he jumped out of his seat.
"I couldn't—it would have been too dangerous."
"Too dangerous? You left her with him?" accused John as he walked closer to Cristian.
Bo got out of his chair, ready to jump between the two men, "Wait, John—let Cris tell us what happened."
"At first she remembered nothing, when I left her though—she was remembering more. She thinks Mitch Lawrence is her father and that you two were married, but you are dead," he said, referring to John.
"Ok—where is she? How do we find her?"
"She's got my cell phone—I told her I'd call her," he said as they both saw Antonio and Jessica join the room.
"Jess—why don't you wait outside?" asked Antonio as he put his hands on her shoulders.
"No—she's my sister—I want to talk to her. Did I hear you right, Cris? Does Mitch Lawrence have her?"
"It'll be ok, Jess—we're going to get her back," said Bo as he passed his phone over to Cristian to dial the number and motioned to Antonio to close the door to the office.
Cristian set the phone back down after he dialed and placed it on speaker phone as they listened to it ring, "Cristian?" came an uneasy voice and John grabbed the back of the chair hard at hearing her voice. In his dreams he'd heard her voice every night, but for it to finally hear it while he was awake—was almost more than he could handle.
"Yeah—it's me. Are you alone? Is it safe to talk?"
"Yeah—I think I'm safe. Who is with you?"
"I'm here Nat," said Jessica as she walked forward.
"Jess?" said Natalie, her eyes starting to fill with tears at hearing yet another calming voice she recognized.
"Yeah, it's me," spoke Jessica, wiping tears from her eyes. "You're going to be home soon—Antonio, John, and Uncle Bo are all going to make sure of that."
"John—are you there?" she asked, hope rising and suddenly she had a smile on her face.
"Yeah—I'm here," he said, his head down as he tried to stay calm and in cop mode—just for a bit longer, he thought. "Listen," he said looking back up at Bo and then over to Antonio. "This is what I need you to do Natalie. Leave the phone on—do not hang up—but put it somewhere, out of sight—in a drawer, under the pillow. Something so we can keep tracking the signal—we'll be there soon."
"Hurry John—I—I don't know what he has planned next."
"We are—I'm not giving up until you and our baby are home safe with me and your family," he said, his emotions breaking through, the tone in his voice had immediately softened at the word baby.
"You know I'm pregnant?" she asked in a shocked voice.
"Yeah—and I couldn't be happier," he said as he noticed everyone else was silent and he suddenly felt uncomfortable. "We'll be there soon—I promise," he said as the three cops headed out the office door—Bo shouting for backup officers to come with them—leaving Cristian and Jessica to sit and wait for word.
