Inevitable pt. 21

John stretched out his arm and shook the Father's hand. "Thank you again for your time."

"It's no problem at all. I'm happy to help. Martha Scott was a kind-hearted soul. She was loved by a lot of people. Anything you need, lieutenant, anything at all." The man looked very burdened. "I just wish that this help could have come sooner. Before her unfortunate death."

John nodded in understanding. He had spent a good two hours scouring the church and interviewing staff and patrons, and was very aware of how everyone felt about the supposed suicide. Hell, he was Catholic himself! The Father was very cooperative. He was younger than he had expected, in his mid-thirties probably, and relatively tall - about 6 foot 2, give or take an inch.

"Where did you say you were from, Father Timothy?" Natalie asked, interupting the lovefest. She ignored the pointed stare that McBain was pinning her with.

"Dallas, Texas," he answered, softly. "I transfered to Llanview two years ago, replacing Father Geoffrey upon his retirement."

Natalie's eyes narrowed. "Dallas, huh? You don't have an accent?"

He chuckled. "No. I moved from Texas at a young age, and only returned about five years ago." A young woman stepped from the office, and approached the trio. She handed a message to him. "Well, I'm sorry to cut this short but I have some things to attend to. Please, take whatever time you need."

"I think we're done here, Father? Thank you." He shook the man's hand and smiled, and watched him take his leave. Running a hand over his hair, he quickly looked at Natalie, and then walked toward the car. She followed.

When they were seated inside, she waited, wondering why the heck he was so mad at her? John was furious. He started the car and pulled out of the lot and onto the quiet street. "Well? Am I supposed to guess why you're pissed off?" She continued to watch him, getting angry herself. He was ignoring her. "John?" she pushed. He continued on, driving more aggressively than was necessary, and she shrieked when he pulled off the road and into a narrow alley behind some crappy looking buildings.

He stopped the car and finally looked at her, but still didn't speak. Not because he was ignoring her or had nothing to say, but because he was trying to rein in the anger that wanted out. She was angry too, but he didn't care in the slightest.

"Would you just say something already? Why are you so mad?"

"You're not a cop, Natalie. You are NOT a cop."

She wanted to smack him in his smug face. "Your point?" Again, he was silent and she wanted to scream. "Oh come on, John? Don't tell me that you believed one word that came out of that guy's mouth?" Still silence. "He's lying!" she shouted, unable to control herself anymore.

"YES!" he boomed. "He was lying. He was a liar." She crossed her arms and looked out the windshield, but he grabbed her chin and forced her eyes back. "And now, because of you, he knows that we know that."

She felt like he just slapped her. She thought back to the conversations throughout the day, and she didn't know what to say to him? He was right. She was distrustful from the start, and didn't bother to hide the fact. He let go of her chin. "You knew the entire time?"

"Yes, I did." He took a deep breath, beginning to feel his anger slip away.

She looked into his bright eyes. "Did I just wreck this case?"

"No," he answered without hesitation, "but you did make it a little harder." He didn't want her to beat herself up over this, but she needed to know the consequences. She needed to learn to trust him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a leather bound bible. "You think you can pull a print off of this?"

She almost laughed. "Did you steal this? You stole a bible from a church?" She couldn't believe it. He ran a hand over his face, clearly not comfortable with his actions. "But aren't you Catholic?" He lifted his eyes, and it felt as if all the oxygen in the world disappeared.

"Yeah, well? I've committed a great many sins lately."

She slowly took the bible from him and stuffed it in her purse, needing to look anywhere but at him. He brushed her hair behind her ear, and just like that, flames coursed through her blood.

"Listen," he began, still touching her soft hair, "you need to trust me Natalie."

"I do," she said quickly, getting lost in his eyes all over again.

He touched her cheek, softly gliding a knuckle along the flushed skin. "You need to let me be the cop." His eyes were serious and his voice was firm. "You're forensics and that's it, or we're going back to the station right now and you're staying there." She nodded, grabbing his hand and holding it tightly in hers. "No more questioning suspects. No more interference."

"Okay."

He shook his head and smiled softly. "Okay." They continued to stare. "How would you like it Vega, if I came into your lab and started taking over?" She smiled and rose onto her knees, stretching across the seat. John felt his heart slamming into his chest, and held his breath when her lips hovered very close to his.

"I'm sorry," she said, earnestly.

He reached out and laced his hands into her hair, gripping it. "I believe you." He closed the distance between them, gently touching their lips together. It was soft, barely a touch, and his stomach tightened when she opened her mouth. She made him ache and he wanted the release that only she could give, but he pulled her away and slowly opened his eyes, staring into her wide gaze. "We need that print," he suggested, quietly.

Natalie moved back across the seat and sat, buckling up. "So? Let's go McBain."

He shook his head and pulled into the traffic. They would get the print, and then maybe start getting some truthful answers?

Natalie barely had time to hear the click of the door, before John was approaching with a deep frown. She watched him snatch the report from her fingers, and then stalk back over to his desk. Without missing a beat, she followed, quickly reclaiming what was hers.

He was mad, and didn't bother to hide it as he met the eyes across from him. They blazed with challenge, and a bright anger of their own. He leaned onto his desk. "Hand it over."

She mimicked him, balancing on the wood. "I didn't hear the magic word."

"Damn it, Natalie! It's been over four hours. Mind telling me why a single print took the entire afternoon?"

"Not particularly, you ass!"

He stood straight, continuing to stare into the depths of her eyes. She was ready to erupt, and he took a breath. "May I please see the report?" he asked evenly. She didn't move, and he was waiting for a flat-out refusal, but she tossed the paper down and took a seat. He sat too, reading the results from the lab.

"So now what?" Natalie asked, watching him closely.

He finally looked up. "Now I do my job."

"God, you're infuriating!" she spat, angry again.

He held up his hand, stopping her tirade before it really began. "Alright." He took another breath. "Look, I'm not used to working with others, okay?"

"I can see that. You suck at it."

They continued to stare, and then finally John grinned. "I guess I do?"

She pulled her chair closer to the desk and leaned forward, never losing eye contact. "So now what?" She was very aware of her rising temperature.

"Now we run a check on the good father, and see what comes up."

"So it looks like this property is our best bet."

Natalie sat alongside John, having pulled her chair around so that she could see the computer. There was an open map on the surface of the desk. "It's in the middle of nowhere."

"Yeah." He looked to the clock on the wall. "It's late, but I want to check it out."

She looked at him, ignoring the butterflies that were tickling her stomach. "You mean, wewant to check it out." He didn't say anything. "No arguments. It's approaching six o'clock so let's get going."

He stood slowly from his seat and offered her a hand. She took it and he gently pulled her to her feet. "Ladies first."

Natalie began to move around the desk, still holding his hand in hers. There was a quick knock and the door to the office began to open. She blinked when his fingers pulled from her hold. "You still here?" she asked, walking up to her uncle with a smile.

"Well, I'm glad to see that you two are still around." His eyes hopped from one to the other. "Are you leaving?"

John nodded. "What about you?"

"Soon," Bo answered. "You find something on the Scott case?"

"Maybe? It could be something." He shrugged. "It could be nothing. There's some property I want to check out."

Bo stared. "Check out?" He crossed his arms over his chest. "You got a warrant, lieutenant?"

John frowned. "No."

"Then it will have to wait until morning."

"Oh come on, Bo. I'm not talking breaking and entering, just a little poking around." He was frustrated as his boss shook his head.

"I happen to know that you have somewhere to be tonight."

Natalie swallowed. "What?"

"A certain dinner. You're both out of excuses. There isn't anything so pressing that you can't take the evening off."

"Uncle Bo..."

He held up his hand. "Don't Uncle Bome. Just go out and have a good time. There's nothing that can be done about this case tonight." He looked at John, who was still frowning very deeply. "Your wife is excited about tonight." He smiled. "Go. Have fun." Then he looked at his niece. "You too." He turned to leave, stopping briefly in the door. "Oh, and John? If I hear that you went poking around private property without a warrant, I'll be very unhappy."

Natalie's head was spinning. She stared through the windows, watching her uncle walk toward his office. "What just happened here?"

John sighed, rubbing his eyes. "We've been shanghai'd."

She spun around and looked at him. "What the hell? She talked to Uncle Bo about the dinner?" She was on edge. "We can't go!"

John was a little on edge himself. "We're stuck, Natalie, unless you have a brilliant idea to get us out of this mess?" She was silent, but the tension was rolling off of her in waves. "I think..." his voice trailed off. "I think Caitlyn is trying to make Llanview feel like home."

Nat swallowed, staring. "Any suggestions on how to handle this, John?"

He stepped closer, carefully stopping far enough away to avoid contact. "We can do this." His tone was far from convincing. "It's just dinner, right? We're capable of polite conversation."

She grinned and shook her head. "Right? Should be great." She couldn't help but be sarcastic. "So, we're really going to do this?"

He licked his dry lips and walked to the coat rack. "I guess we're going to dinner?" Then he pinned her with one last look, before leaving the room and the building. He didn't look back.

Natalie stayed frozen in her spot for another moment. Oh, this is going to be fun! Finally, she went to her desk and collected her purse and jacket. She made her way to her car, and headed for home. She had 70 minutes to get ready for the evening.