I would like to thank PCGirl and girlmeetsworld123 for their very kind reviews!!
Disclaimer: Again, I do not own anything remotely related to OLTL.
Chapter 4
That night Jessica and Vikki sat at the kitchen table discussing the day's events.
"Mom, I'm really worried about Natalie. She's been acting really strange, and Cristian, well he's been a complete ass to her!" Jessica vented.
"I know honey, but I am not sure if we should interfere." Vikki consoled.
"I'm not going to just sit here and watch her fall apart." Jessica protested.
"Let's just give them some time to work things out, if Cristian gets worse then we'll impede." Vikki decided.
Upstairs, Natalie sat on her bed silently brushing her hair. Cristian sat on the other side of the bed flipping through his little black notepad that he would not let out of his sight. Once Natalie finished brushing her hair, she flicked off the bedroom light, and got under the covers. Cristian was still considerably intoxicated, and in a very foul mood.
"Why the hell did you turn off the lights? I wanted them on!" Cristian snarled.
"I am exhausted, and I am the one who has to go into work early in the morning, so I will chose when I got to bed." Natalie shot back.
"Don't use that tone with me!" Cristian grabbed her arm.
"Cristian, let go, you're hurting me!" She cried.
Cristian's grip on Natalie's arm tightened.
"STOP IT, I mean it Cris, it hurts!" Natalie tried to pull her limb away.
Cristian unwillingly let go of her arm. "Don't you ever talk to me like that again!" He threatened.
Natalie held her arm and winced in pain. Red fingerprints were indented in her arm, because Cristian had been wringing it so tightly.
"You promised that you would never do it again!" Natalie whimpered.
Realizing what he had done, Cristian took a step towards Natalie. "Oh, honey I am SO sorry! That—"…
Natalie cut him off. "That is the last time you ever touch me!" She quickly walked over to her dresser, pulled a pair of jeans over the nightgown she was wearing, and ran down the stairs.
Jessica had been lying on the living room couch working on an article for The Sun when Natalie came flying down the stairs. She hurriedly rose from her resting spot and ran after her sister, who was heading out the front door.
"Nat, Natalie, wait up! Where are you going?" Jessica followed her out the door and into the cold winter's night. She shivered and pulled her robe closer to her body.
Natalie was already in the process of unlocking her car when Jessica came up behind her.
"Natalie where are you going in the middle of the night? Did something happen?" Jessica asked.
"It's Cristian…we're through." Natalie managed to choke out the words, tears streamed down her face.
"Oh honey, come inside…tell me what happened." Jessica insisted.
"No, Jess just leave me alone." Natalie began to cry.
Jessica sighed. "Where are you going?"
"Somewhere…anywhere as long as I'm not near him." She opened the car door and got in.
Jessica reluctantly gave up, and went back inside the warm house.
"What did he do to her?" Jessica dashed up the stairs and pounded on the door of Natalie and Cristian's room.
Meanwhile Natalie drove into town, and parked her car in front of John's apartment. She ran into the building, and up the stairs and found herself knocking on his door. John had been lying in bed, halfway asleep, when he heard the knocking, and roused himself from bed.
He looked through the peak-hole of his bedroom door and after noticing that it was Natalie, he hastily opened it. Natalie's face was stained with tears, she looked like a wreck, and John noticed that her arm was slightly bruised. Natalie fell into his arms the second he had opened the door. John automatically wrapped his arms around her, and closed the door behind them.
"Natalie, what's wrong? What happened? Are you okay…did you get into an accident?" John searched for reasons why she would show up at his doorstep so late at night.
Once Natalie had gotten control of herself and had finally stopped crying, she slowly removed herself from John's arms and sat down on his bed. John followed her and sat down next to her.
"Nat, please tell me what's wrong. You're scaring me." John looked her straight in the eyes.
"Can I crash here for the night, please," Natalie asked. "I'll explain everything later."
"Of course you can, but Natalie I need to know what happened!" John repeated himself, like a broken record.
Natalie ignored his last comment, curled her legs up to her chest, and fell asleep.
Please, please, review! I'll post more tomorrow. Trust me the plot will get much more interesting. The story is just starting out a little slow.