A/N: Here's the end of my story--I do hope you all enjoyed my version of everything, and I appologize for taking soooo long. I would have had this up last night, but someone had me giggiling incontrollably. Anyways--until I come up with a new Jolie fic, Enjoy! Until then--PCGirl.
"What are you doing here?" asked Natalie as she opened the door to the cottage and saw John standing there in the drizzle of rain that was coming down.
"I came by to see that you were ok, and maybe to chat some," he said as he smiled a bit looking at her in a cotton t-shirt and red and black checkered shorts. He could tell he'd woken her up, as her hair was slightly flat on the left side. He realized he'd never known what side she slept on at night, but knew the answer now.
"Well, I was asleep—so I suppose I'm fine," she shrugged.
"I kinda noticed," he said with a slight smile. "Hey—I'm getting a bit wet out here, do you mind if I come in?"
"Fine," she sighed as she turned and walked into the foyer. "So where did you go after you left me? Let Kathryn cry on your shoulder? Consoled her? Promised her to never love again?"
John bit the inside of his cheek before responding, "Actually the answer to all those questions is no. I did transport Kathryn to Saint Anne's. Then I called her parents and told them what happened."
"Why did you do that?"
"Because I felt it was a final obligation to them," he shrugged. "They are going to get her the best psychiatrist their money can buy. Then I went back to the warehouse to pick something up."
"What was that?"
John titled his head to the side, "Does it really matter?"
"No, I guess not," she shrugged. "So do you want some tea or dry clothes?" she laughed as she realized he must have been standing outside the door for ten minutes trying to decide to knock or not.
John laughed, "Am I that wet?"
"Yeah you are," she laughed again as she came over and helped him take off his leather jacket and laid it down on a chair to dry. She turned around and saw he was now directly behind her. She bit her lip looking up at him as his hand moved up and went under her hair while the other went around to the small of her back and pulled her directly next to him. She stretched her body up along his to kiss him and he picked her up off the floor slightly and turned towards the couch, settling her down on the couch as he stood over her and quickly flicked off his shoes, never taking his mouth off of hers.
He stopped for a moment and opened his eyes to look at her and for a second she thought he was going to stop again, but he smiled instead and she pulled his head back towards hers as they finally allowed each other to get lost in one another.
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Natalie's eyes fluttered open as she tried to lay on the couch and not fall off of it but not wake John in the process. She began to scoot towards him more, but he shifted onto his side and she lost her balance and began to fall backwards, "I gotcha," he said sleepily as he pulled her towards him with the arm that was tightly around her waist still. They had made love on the couch for hours, finally falling asleep tangled up in each others arms and a chenille throw that was on the back of the couch.
"Maybe we should move up to my room—you know, that way your mom doesn't see her son and his girlfriend completely naked except for a blanket on the couch when she comes down for breakfast."
John smiled slightly, finally opening his eyes as he saw the sky outside was not as dark as before, and the clouds from the rain must have moved through, "Good idea," he said releasing his grasp on her so she could sit up, and gather their clothes, taking the blanket with her as she went up the steps to her room.
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"John?" said Natalie quietly as she opened her eyes and didn't feel him next to her in the bed.
"Hey, I'm here," he said as he came back to the bed and laid behind her.
"What time is it?"
John laughed, "Are you sure you want to know that answer? Let's just say we could consider this mid-morning."
"Are you serious?" she said turning over and seeing he had only gotten as far as putting on his grey tank top and boxers.
"Yeah, I've got to get to work."
"Will you come back and be here when my mom gets home?"
"I will," he said giving her a slight kiss which quickly turned into something more passionate. He was never going to get to work at the rate he was going, but who could blame him.
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"John-aren't you going over to Llanfair when Vicki comes home later?" asked Daniel Colson as he stuck his head in the door.
"Yeah, I'm heading out when Antonio does. Hey-look at this," he said as he looked up and handed a piece of paper to Daniel.
"Cell phone records."
"Yeah, this right here-this call was made to Cramer's telephone five minutes after Natalie and I watched him take off. And this-is Kathryn's telephone numbers. Looks like it was her that called him."
"Nice, now we need proof that she was at the Newark hospital when he got there."
"Natalie finding the dog tags still isn't enough, huh?
"It's fine, but we they can still say there is reasonable doubt."
"I wish her parents lawyer would just take the reasonable insanity defense you offered. Maybe they will-who knows. Hey-is Antonio out there?"
"No, he left fifteen minutes ago."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I was going to when I came in, but then you stopped me," he said as John got up, grabbed his jacket, and then pulled out a black box from his desk drawer before heading out the door, "Hey! Don't kill the messenger!"
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"Hi John," said Eve as she saw her son come in the cottage and give her a kiss on the cheek, "You're late-Natalie was wondering what happened."
John grinned, "Yeah, I know. Is she ready?"
"No, she decided to change what she was wearing."
John laughed, "Some things never change-do they? You get chastised for being late, and then your date isn't ready."
Eve smiled and looked at him for a moment pacing in front of the stairs before saying anything, "You know how happy this makes me? To see you finally allowing yourself to be happy and enjoy life again."
"Yeah, well it took two special women in my life to realize that."
"Who would that be?"
"Natalie, and-Caitlyn," he said quietly.
"Caitlyn?"
"Yeah, the other night I found a message in her diary, that helped me move on," he said as he opened his wallet and pulled out the folded up paper and handed it to her mom. "I doubt if I had read that entry before that night that it would have mattered at all. I'll keep it in my wallet for awhile I suppose-just to remind myself that I'm not doing anything wrong."
"There's nothing wrong with falling in love."
"I know that now," he said as they heard a cough and Natalie was coming down the steps, "Hey," he smiled.
"Hi-what were you talking about?"
"Nothing," he said giving her a kiss.
"Well, I'm going to go upstairs and change for my show tonight-come by if you get a chance, ok John?"
"Ok Mom," he said as he gave her a kiss on the cheek and she slipped the paper back into his pocket and felt the velvet box and gave him a look though he just grinned and turned, "Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah, except I'm not sure this outfit looks good enough."
"Yeah, you're right," he grinned.
"Hey now-I know you are rusty at the dating thing John, but you aren't supposed to insult me," she said as she straightened his tie.
"I'm not trying to insult you," he said giving her a kiss and then turning her around. "I just have an idea on what it will take to make it be the perfect outfit."
"Really?"
"Yeah, close your eyes," he said as he moved forward and nuzzled his nose into her hair and kissed her ear.
"Ok," she said as she stood with her eyes closed in the foyer of the cottage and waited for him to tell her to open her eyes. She could feel him move from behind her for a moment then come back, his arms going around her head and then she felt something around her neck. He hand reached up and she grabbed a hold of a necklace, "Can I open them?"
"Yeah," he said as he finished the clasp and stepped back.
Natalie opened her eyes tilted her head down to try and get a better look at the charm on the end of it and then gave out a laugh, "It's a—pot of gold."
"I'm sorry—it's cheesy, but I just saw it at lunch and thought of you. I'll take it back if you want," he said going towards her to undo the clasp.
"No! I love it—it's funny because I was just thinking about that conversation—how I said I might never be able to find the pot of gold, which for me means happiness. And look—I did find it, and now—it's near my heart, where it belongs," she said twirling around to him and up on her toes to kiss him.