As they came in from their day at the beach, John saw all the guys seemingly waiting for them. He was grateful Natalie had put on the cover-up over her bathing suit, since it did not leave much to imagination and had driven him crazy all day long. He could tell from the look on their faces this wasn't going to be good.

"John" Jake said, "We need to talk"

"Is this about the case? Did Allison go on trial?" Natalie asked.

"No, not about that" Jake answered.

The room was silent for a second, and John knew his friends were going to make him fight this battle on his own.

"Natalie, why don't you go take a shower?" John said.

"No, I'm not a child, and I'm not an invalid, if this is about me I want to know too" she said, mostly to the team.

"This has nothing to do with you" John said, making her look at him, "This is about my job, and you know I can't let you know everything"

"Fine" she said, finally retreating.

John watched her go, feeling his strength go with her. He took a deep breath and turned back to his friends.

"What?" he said.

"What the hell has gotten into you?" Jake demanded, "You risk this whole case, refuse to interrogate the suspects, even when you've dealt with them before, and then when your girlfriend shows up out of thin air just stop acting like you're on assignment"

"You didn't even come to the court date. We could have used your testimony" Josh added.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Jake demanded.

"I get why you're angry, but I wasn't about to let her die for a case. I've spent the last ten years of my life putting cases ahead of her and she left me over it. Forgive me if I wasn't about to make that mistake again"

"That excuse stops when she got into the ambulance" Jake said.

"You would have done the same thing in my shoes" he said, "If you'd ever loved someone, you'd know how I felt, how I feel right now" he looked at Aaron, "You know. You haven't seen your wife in six months. You must understand-"

"I can understand staying with her, but John she left you, and-"

"She lost her memory. She doesn't remember how she got here or what happened. The last thing she remembers is me taking her home when she was twenty five and we loved each other. She needs someone right now" he said, "and I love her. I may never get to spend another day with her once she remembers. So forgive me, but I 'm not about to leave her side for anything right now, especially work. After tomorrow, I'm going to lose her all over again, God knows how I'm going to live through that again, but for right now, she's the only thing that matters, so screw off if you think I'm going to stop spending time with her to help you"

The guys all looked down. Aaron was the first to speak.

"I'm sorry" he said, "I should've thought about how you must be feeling right now. We all saw the difference in you when you came back to the team. I can't imagine what must be going through your head right now" he said, "You should be spending time with her. Who knows? Maybe it'll work out"

"I'd like to believe that. I just don't think I can" John told them.

"Why don't we all head to that bar down the road? I'm sure Natalie'd like to play some pool with you, show off in front of us" Josh offered.
"I'll go get her" John said, turning.

"You coming, Jake?" Aaron asked their friend, who'd remain noticeably quiet during the exchange.

"No, I think I'm going to watch some TV" he said, and headed to his room.

Josh and Aaron looked at each other, unsure of what was so wrong with their friend that he couldn't understand John's predicament.
The trip to the bar had been fun for all four of them, and Natalie had taken turns killing all of them in a game of pool. They had been especially impressed when she managed to finish John off quickly as well. It seemed the legends were true after all. Josh and Aaron also noted the way that John kept looking at Natalie, as if she was the only person in the entire bar, that if he looked away she might vanish. There was no doubt in either of their minds that he loved her whole-heartedly, and they genuinely felt bad for their friend, wondering how he was going to survive the fallout that was sure to follow when she regained her memory.

When they had returned back to the house, Natalie and John had retired to his bedroom. When they had gotten in bed, their good night kiss had turned into something more. Natalie had pulled John on top of her, and his brain warned that he was nearing the point of no return as her hips bucked against his. She managed to roll him over so she was on top of him, her hips grinding into his painfully hard groin. She stopped kissing him and started nibbling along his jawline headed towards his ear.

"Natalie" he managed to say, though she didn't stop, moaning in response as she took his earlobe into her mouth.

"Natalie" he repeated and this time she looked at him when his head turned to meet hers, though she didn't move and the lower half of her body was still sprawled across his.

"What?" she asked confused.

"We need to stop now before I can't control myself anymore"

"I don't want you to control yourself"

"I don't want to take advantage of you" he said, "and I told you, you're not going to like me too much when you remember"

"I still don't believe you" she said, sliding off of his body, snuggling into his side as he instinctively put his arm around her, "but I appreciate that you're willing to do that"

"I wouldn't want to hurt you"

"You could never hurt me"

"I'm glad you can say that, but I have, and I don't want to do it again"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You can ask me anything" he said, though he had a feeling he wasn't going to like the question.

"I don't mean anything by it, and I don't want you to feel bad, but-" she said, starting to draw idle circles on his chest, "it's just that, you obviously love me and I believe I love you, too, and we have a kid and everything" she paused, "why I don't I have a ring on my finger?"

John looked at her, wanting more than anything than to put it on her finger. The ring was in his duffel bag, where he'd kept it for a year waiting to go home and propose. He pushed her hair back, "well, I went a little crazy for a while when we thought Liam wasn't mine and I tried to drink you off of my mind for months and you tried to be a family with the guy we thought was his father. And then, when the truth came out, I guess we were really stubborn about it. You see, the two of us, we knew we loved the other, but we were both convinced that the feelings weren't returned, and when we finally figured it out, well I went back to putting work ahead of you and then I got called away. My plan was always to ask you when I finally got to come home to you"

"I'm here now. Why not just ask me?" she asked.

"Because the answer you'll give me now and the answer you'll give me when you remember aren't going to be the same"

"What if they are?" she asked.

He caressed her hair again, "Tell you what. If when you wake up after getting that drug after tomorrow and you still want that ring, it's yours"
"You mean that?"

"Yeah, it would make me really happy to be able to put that ring on your finger and see it through this time"

"Alright" she said, "I can't wait to say yes" she said, smiling, and went to kiss him.

"Good night" he said, "I love you"

"I love you, too" she said, and kissed him again, before settling to sleep on his chest.

He knew she was asleep in less than a minute. He held her close to him, caressing her hair. If only it were that simple. He knew the last thing she'd want when she remembered was his mother's ring. And he was okay with that, but he knew he wasn't ready for was the look of hatred in her eyes when she looked at him in two short days. He didn't think anything could prepare him for that. But he still had one glorious day with her to show her he wasn't completely worthless.