A/N: Well, I got some bad news--this story has taken a mind of it's own and will be longer than I originally expected. Sorry for those of you who wanted it to be over soon ;) Anyways, everyone enjoy and have a Happy Memorial Day Holiday! Until next time--PCGirl.
"Ugh, I'm so nervous," said Natalie as they watched each floor number light up on the elevator until it reached the 6th floor.
"Don't be, it's going to be ok," he said as he kissed the top of her head. He wanted to stop the elevator and just take her in his arms for a few minutes, but knew she wanted to get up there and see her mom. He grabbed her hand and held it tight as they walked off together, "Hey Bo," he said as he saw him standing there.
"Hey—I'm glad you're here. I need you to come down to the station for a few minutes—there's something I need to talk about."
"Well, can it wait? I'd like to be here for support for Natalie until they hear some news."
Bo grimaced, "I really need you down there. I promise this won't take long."
John bit his lip and looked at Natalie, "Will you be ok here?"
"Yeah, Antonio and Kevin are here—go do what you need to do and I'll see you in a bit."
He sighed, "Ok," and leaned down and kissed her and whispered, "I love you Natalie."
Natalie's eyes sparkled at hearing him say that, "I love you too, John McBain," and she walked off.
"You finally took the leap, huh?" said Bo as they went back to the elevator.
John smiled and blushed slightly at being called out, "Yeah, and it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be."
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"I understand it's my job and all Bo, but I really wish you would have at least let me stay with Natalie until they gave them some news."
"You can go back as soon as this is over with, I promise," he said as he motioned towards his office and they walked in.
John walked in and stopped as he looked at her, "Kathryn—hi."
Kathryn walked directly up to him, "How are you doing, John?"
He gave out a loud sigh and turned to look at Bo, "Bo—you dragged me all the way down here to see her?"
"Let her talk first John."
John rubbed his face, took a step back and sat on the edge of Bo's desk, "Fine—what did I do to deserve your wonderful visit today, Agent Fitzgerald?"
"Paul Cramer—he's dead."
John tried to hold the chuckle in, "Oh really?"
She brushed her hair back on one side and looked at him, "Yeah. They found him beaten up in an alley in Atlantic City."
"What? I thought he was supposed to go to Newark," he said as she shook his head in confusion.
"How did you know where he should have been, John?" asked Bo.
"Last night—Natalie went up to the roof to take in the news about her mom. I went up there to talk to her and fly boy and his boss—Dr. Long—they came out, Dr. Long handed him an ice chest and then told him to go to Newark. He then said that afterwards Paul needed to get in contact with Natalie so he could get her to hand over her trust fund for a heart for Vicki."
"And you didn't arrest him?" asked Kathryn as she flipped her hair to one side.
"No, because I felt I could possibly be putting Natalie's life in danger by doing so. Is there any reason I need to be here right now?"
"Yes. Paul--his last words were your name."
John couldn't help laugh this time, "I swear—if one more person on his deathbed says my name I think I'm going to kill myself. And for the record Kathryn—I was with Natalie ALL NIGHT LONG—there is no way I went to Newark or Atlantic City, and if you want to ask Nat you can, but not right now while her mother is clinging on for dear life, understand?"
"I'll tell you what I understand - John. The way this looks you won't have to kill yourself. You'll be on death row."
"Do you have anything to hold me on?" he asked as she looked down at her paper, "Well, good—you'll know where to find me," he said as he left Bo's office with the door slamming shut.
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John walked off the elevator and looked around until he saw Antonio, "Hey, what's going on?"
"This morning a heart came through for Vicki. She's been in the operating room for an hour now."
John was able to smile, "That's great. Hey—Kathryn Fitzgerald is back in town and Paul Cramer is dead."
"What?"
"Yeah, anyways the stupid little punk said my name on his deathbed, so they think I had something to do with it."
"Well, that's ridiculous. I mean you were with me here in the waiting room until 2 am, and then you went back with Natalie to your place for the night. The only time you were technically out of mine or her sight all day yesterday was the fifteen minutes you were in your hotel room after chasing Dr. Long away from the roof of the hotel."
"Yeah, well I was trying to explain that to my dear ex-partner, but she wasn't listening to me. Hey, where is Natalie anyways?"
"Right here," smiled Natalie as she came off the elevator and handed him a piece of paper before leaning up and giving him a kiss on the cheek and halfway noticed the smile that appeared on Antonio's face.
He read the paper once and then twice before looking at her, "I thought we talked about not going back to Dr. Long this morning?"
"Yeah, well I told Dorian what I did last night—and that he may or may not know that my mom got a heart yet. So I went in to his office with my checkbook in hand. He gave me this paper to fill out—saying if I were to snitch on him he'll sue me for every penny I owned. Before I could sign though Dorian walked in on queue. He was so taken off guard with what happened he asked me to leave and didn't realize I took the paper with me."
John sighed, "I'm glad you got us some proof to do a search, but I think Dr. Long's little scam is over anyways. Paul Cramer is dead."
"What? What happened?"
"Why don't you tell me?" asked Kathryn as she came off the elevator.
"I thought I told you to leave her alone for the next few days—when did you stop listening to me?"
"When you stopped being a Fed John—you aren't a higher up anymore, just one of the men in blue."
"Fine, what's up?"
"I wanted to see how much Ms. Vega here could vouch for your alibi."
John looked at Natalie, and placed his hand on the small of her back, his thumb making circles on her skin and nodded at her, "John found me around 7:30 last night at my place."
"What were you doing?"
"Wait—when did I become a suspect?"
"Just answer the question."
"Fine. I had dinner with Paul Cramer, and then we went upstairs to my room—and uhm—John McBain came over about ten minutes later to tell me about my mother. He drove me to the hospital, then we went up to the roof to talk, and after Paul took off in his Medivac, he left for about fifteen minutes, when he came back and stayed with me until I'm guessing he was summoned by you to the police station," she said rolling her eyes. "Anything else?"
"John—can someone vouch for you before 7:30?"
"Yes, I can," said Antonio as they were joined by Jess, "I saw John around the office from lunch on, and then he and I went to do a stakeout from 6 pm to around 7:15, which at that time we found out that Vicki Davidson had a massive heart attack, and left the stakeout to go pick up Natalie and Jessica to bring them here."
"What was the stakeout for?"
"I don't believe that is information you need to know. Now I'm getting hungry—John, Natalie, would you like to join us in the cafeteria?"
"Sounds good," said John as he hit the elevator button and got on with Natalie.
"I need my purse," said Jessica as she turned to go get it from the waiting area.
"We'll meet you down there," said John as he hit the door close button and let it go down half a floor and hit the emergency stop button.
"What are you doing?"
"I've been wanting to do this all day, and if I have to stop an elevator for five minutes to get some time with you—well, Jess and Antonio can take the stairs," he smiled as he picked her up and held her against the wall and he looked into her eyes and smiled before kissing her.