"What?" She couldn't believe her ears, she laughed, "No...No there's no way." He knew she would need to see for herself and frankly so did he.
"I don't know Natalie"
"I saw him….he was dead", she whispered.
"I'm sorry, I didn't tell you everything. I just wanted to protect my dad. I thought I could handle it."
"I know. It's ok. The next time you promise me that you'll come to me first, you hear me?"
"I don't think there's gonna be a next time. I'm so cold…"
"Jared? Jared? Jared? HELP I NEED A DOCTOR! JARED!"
Natalie felt a shiver down her spine.
"I know", he said just as quietly. He reached over and grabbed her hand, they held on tight until they reached the hospital.
Rushing down the hall they reached the man's room, Officer Rice was standing in the hallway making notes in a notebook.
"Jeff, whatcha got?" John addressed the officer.
"Hey Lieutenant, security guard saw this man wondering around down at the south end of the docks and when he was asked what he was doing down there, he said he didn't know. He couldn't remember how he got there, why he was there, how, long he'd been there...nothing. When asked his name, he said Jared Banks and he asked them to call his wife. When the guard asked who his wife was and heard your name Natalie, he called the station. We had a portable kit so we finger printed him at the scene, results of the run should be back soon." Natalie lifted her eyes for the first time since the conversation started and nodded at Jeff Rice.
"Any injuries?" John asked.
"None that were obvious, the doctor is in with him now." the officer replied.
"Ok, great thanks", the officer nodded and left them alone.
"You ok?" John asked her, she was so pale and seemed to be drawn into herself.
"I don't hardly know", she answered distractedly; she had her arms crossed protectively across her chest. He reached out and placed his hand on her small rounded belly. She was wearing an empire waist top that flowed over her curves with a heavy cardigan effectively hiding her abdomen. She had carried all of the kids small. He knew anyone not looking for it wouldn't see her belly but, if anyone touched it, there would be no hiding it.
"Whatever you need sweetheart", he told her; she just nodded staring into space. She moved to sit in a chair up against the wall, he sat down beside her.
"Was it this weird when you saw Evangeline for the first time?" She asked him nervously.
"It was pretty awkward…..but, we're not even sure who this guy is", he said.
"Do you...think, do you think this is a coincidence?" she asked just realizing the situation.
"If it is, it's an amazing one", he said. Thinking about what this could mean, how this could happen, who could do this. All the usual suspects were dead. Mitch, Carlo…hell how many times did they come back from the dead.
"Do you think someone did this on purpose? I mean, what would they have to gain? How the hell did they pull this off? Mitch….Mitch is dead right? We….we saw him die." She said thinking along the same lines.
"Mitch Lawrence is dead. No doubt. I don't know, I-" John was interrupted by the door to the room opening. The doctor walked out and closed the door behind him. John noticed it was the same doctor that Evangeline had. John rolled his eyes.
"Excuse me doctor?" Natalie stopped him, "how is he?" She asked nervously.
"Who are you?" the doctor asked shortly staring her down.
"I'm….." She didn't know how to answer that. She blinked up at him not knowing what to say.
"We're with the LPD, what can you tell us about that man's condition", John took over for her. The doctor apparently recognized him. John noticed the narrowing of the doctor's eyes.
"No physical injuries, there is nothing wrong with him as far as I can tell. As with Ms Williamson, he has some short term memory loss. He doesn't remember what he was doing before he arrived down by the docks tonight. I looked through his file and unlike Ms Williamson, he only has no memory of the last few years, not a decade. Tread lightly, as to not overwhelm him but there's no reason he can't be brought up to speed slowly. Excuse me", he abruptly turned and walked away.
"He's not very friendly is he", she mumbled staring after him as he walked away.
"Not really", John agreed.
"We should mention this to Michael." Natalie started toward the door.
"Michael has better things to worry about…" he said quickly. "Hey, I don't really want you to go in there alone", he told her quietly. John put his arm and rested his hand on her side to stop her from passing him by.
"He won't hurt me", she said back just as quietly, looking up into his eyes.
"We don't even know if it's him", he scoffed was hoping she wouldn't fight him.
"I'll leave the door open", she said with a raised eyebrow, "ok?"
John wasn't happy but nodded anyway. He lowered his arm and as she passed him she gave him a quick kiss. As she walked away, he couldn't help the feeling of dread and helplessness that descended over him. He rubbed a hand over his face and walked back toward the room and leaned a hand onto the outside of the doorframe waiting to see if she needed him.
When Natalie walked into the hospital room, the man had his back to her as he stared out the window.
"Jared?" she said quietly. She thought she would faint. She was looking at her dead husband. Trying so hard not to pass out.
"Hi Sparky, where have you been?" he asked her, "they wouldn't let me leave here and…..what's wrong?"
"How are you here?" She whispered, still in shock.
"A cop brought me here, what I don't know is how I got down to the docks. That was really weird", he told her watching her closely. "You're acting weird, too. What's going on?" Natalie's eyes had filled with tears; she shook her head afraid to speak.
"Honey, it's alright, I'm ok", he said walking over to her, putting his arms around her. She hugged him back tightly.
"I didn't think I would ever see you again", she cried.
"I'm fine….see", he pulled back looking at her face. "Ok you're scaring me what's going on?" he asked her. Not getting an answer, he tried again, "Natalie…."
John stood outside the room, listening to see if Natalie needed him. His cell rang, it was the station, his prints came back as belonging to Jared Banks. He had to tell her. He waited a few more moments but John couldn't take it anymore, he walked into to room to see his wife in the arms of another man. She was hugging him tightly, he saw Jared pull back and tell her he was fine and she was scaring him. He wanted to shove Jared up against the wall.
John stood just inside the door keeping a tight lid on his emotions, he noticed Jared finally saw him.
"McBain, what's going on here", Jared asked as he tucked Natalie under his arm. He looked from John to Natalie, he felt her stiffen and pull away from him. Natalie couldn't meet his eyes. She walked to the other side of the room keeping her distance from men.
"Do you have any idea why you were down at the docks tonight?" John asked him unemotionally, wanting nothing more than to grab Natalie and run out of the room.
"No, none", Jared replied scratching his head.
"How about how you got there, what were you doing right before?" John asked.
"No idea, I don't really remember much. Last thing I can remember you were trying to railroad me", Jared said glaring at John. "Are we free to go because, I'd like to get home and get some sleep, I'm not feeling all that well."
John looked at Natalie and nodded his head, turning to pin Jared with a glare, "Yup, you are free to go." Emphasizing the 'you', Banks wasn't leaving here with wife.
"John", Natalie scolded him.
"What the hell is going on here is there something I should know? Did I do something while I blacked out?" Natalie could tell Jared was getting frustrated.
"Jared, sit down", Natalie said. Jared stared at her for a moment, then made his way back over to the bed.
"Ok, I'm sitting down, what is going on?" Jared demanded, he was tired and frustrated and he just wanted to go home.
Natalie looked at John, "I have no idea how to do this." She pleaded him with her eyes. He can't refuse her when she looked at him like that. He sighed.
"Banks, what…..year do you think it is?" John asked awkwardly.
"Wh-what?" he laughed, "are you serious?"
"Very", John said flatly, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
"It's 2009, honestly what is going on here?" Jared was getting agitated. Natalie took a deep breath as she went and sat by Jared on the bed.
"Actually Jared, it's 2014. We've….your family and I thought you were dead", Natalie said she reached over and squeezed his hand.
"What? I….No, it's not. Is this some kind of joke?" Jared asked pulling his hand away from hers.
"No", she said gently, "It's not. I'm sorry."
"What, how did this happen?" he asked her. Natalie quickly told him the events that led them to California, Mitch Lawrence and his 'death', John jumped in occasionally with details here and there but mostly trying to leave the story to her.
"So, you see…all these years", she looked at him hardly believing, "all these years, I thought you were….that you were dead."
"I…don't know what to think, what to believe." Jared told her, Natalie had an idea, she grabbed the remote for the television in the room and flipped it on to a national news channel. As they listened for a few minutes, it was clear from the stories they were reporting that it was definitely not 2009. When an ad for a new model 2015 car of some sort came on, Natalie turned to look at Jared, he looked stricken, sick and very, very pale.
"Are you ok?" she asked.
"Yeah, I just really wanna go home. We can figure this out tomorrow, I'm so tired", Jared told her. He picked up her hand and held it tightly. She looked at John. John was staring at her intently. He was leaving this up to her, and Jared should hear this from her. She owed him that.
"There's something else you need to know", she told Jared.
"I don't think I can hear anything else", he chuckled. "Can we please just go home right now?" He rubbed his eyes.
"We don't have a home, Jared. I'm…I'm married to John", she said quietly but firmly. Jared looked between the two of them not believing what he'd heard.