Natalie sat in one of the comfy chairs of the student union reading chapters she was making up and taking notes—it felt good taking classes and spending time at the University again.
She jotted down a note and looked up to see her mom walking towards her, "Mom—hi," she said getting up and giving her a hug.
"You looked like you were actually enjoying yourself," smiled Viki.
"I was—I am. It such a renewal of my life to be back in school—I know I've only been taking the class for a few weeks now, but I see where and what I want to do after graduation," she smiled brightly.
"That's great—I'm so proud of you. I have a meeting to go to at the Banner, but I want you and Jessica to come over for dinner tonight, ok?" she asked as Natalie nodded her head.
"Good. Oh, this came for you in the mail yesterday—there's no return address though."
"Hmm, ok," said Natalie as she took the white envelope with her name and address typed out on the front. She opened the letter and froze as she saw the handwriting—it was from the man in Statesville, the one that impersonated Cristian.
She grabbed her cell phone to call Jessica, but both her cell and office lines went to voicemail. She took a deep breath—if she could calm herself down she knew she'd be able to drive over to the station and Antonio would find out why he was allowed to contact her in the first place.
Natalie walked around the corner and saw John walking towards her as she gave a fake smile, "Is Antonio around?"
"I think he went out."
"Oh. What about my Uncle Bo?"
"Court. Is everything ok Natalie? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"NO! It's not ok," she said as the tears began to fall and she handed the letter to him. "Why? What could have caused him to send this to me? Why did they allow him to send it?" she said—now in full sobs.
"Hey—hey, it's going to be ok," he said as he pulled her into a hug. "I don't know why they allowed that imposter to send you any mail. Let's go to my office and I'll call Antonio to come get you," he said as he held her by the shoulder and towards his office and had her sit down. "You need some water? How about a tissue?" he said—trying to get a smile out of her.
"No, I—I just want to make sure he never sends me anything again. Please John."
"I will—let me call Antonio," he said as he picked up the phone and watched his office door open to see Nick standing there. "Nick."
"Hey—Oh my god, Natalie—are you ok?" he said as he went to sit next to her.
"Yeah—something I got in the mail upset me and I came here to talk to Antonio but he's not here. John's calling him," she said as she gave him a better smile than she had John.
"Ok—I'll sit here until he gets here though," he said as he had her lean her head on his shoulder and he tried to calm her down. "I can't believe you drove over here like this—you had my cell phone, I would have come to campus and picked you up."
"I—I didn't want to bother you. This is a part of my crazy life—you're going to have to learn that soon enough," she said with a laugh.
"That's fine—I can sit here for as long as you need me. I was coming by to get a statement from John about a case he closed a few days ago but it can wait until Antonio gets here."
"I just got off the phone with Statesville—they said they are unsure of why that letter was allowed to leave the Prison and they'll make sure it doesn't happen again," said John as he walked into Antonio's office. "They already leave?"
"Yeah, Nick said he'd come back later today or tomorrow for a statement from you. Natalie seemed to have calmed down a lot by the time he decided to take her home."
"Good. Listen—what do you think of him?"
"Who? Nick? He's a nice guy—he treats Natalie with respect and wants to be the shoulder for her to cry on. Why?"
"I don't know—I just don't want Natalie to get burned by him."
"Burned? You aren't seriously suggesting that Nick's trying to use her for something—are you?"
"It just seems weird—he walks in one day and instantly takes a liking to her. I saw him the first day he came to town and she was smiling bigger than when she thought Cristian was really alive. Sorry—I shouldn't have put it that way."
"It's ok, John. As for Nick—don't worry about him John. From everything I've seen today and in the past there's nothing to worry about. I mean, unless you think he's going to steal her away from you," grinned Antonio as he watched John look around and leave without saying a word.
"Here you go," said Nick as he came in from the kitchen with a cup of tea in his hands and handed it to Natalie.
"Thanks," she said as she took it from him and then had a sip. "You don't have to stay—Jess should be home in the next fifteen minutes," spoke Natalie softly and then put the cup down and began walking around straightening the apartment.
Nick watched her for a minute as he saw she was just going through a routine and really had no idea of what she was doing—whatever had happened at the police station now had her in some sort of trance. He walked over to her and moved her towards the couch, "Ok, that's it—I want you to sit."
"No, I don't want to sit and I don't want tea. What I want is," but she didn't finish as she choked on the words.
"Hey—it's none of my business but maybe if you tell me what's going on it'll make you feel better."
"No," she said, her voice again soft and cracking.
She sat there for a minute and recomposed herself before looking at him and seeing he was still watching her. "I'm sorry—like I said, it's a part of my crazy life. I was married to a man in October 2003, we were happy and in love—we weren't married a month and he was killed. This past October a man came into Llanview that looked identical to my husband, we found out the truth in February. Today I received a letter from him—he said—he said in the letter he still thinks about me everyday and loves me.
"How can he say that? I mean I don't know him—he's not my Cristian. The only time I think about him is when I realize I let a complete stranger into my life and bed."
"I'm sorry—I mean I'm glad you told me that, but I'm sorry for everything you've been through. Before today though every time I've seen you you've been strong so maybe you should just file today under not-so-great and tomorrow you can be strong again."
"I can and I will—it just came out of nowhere so it caught me off guard and I don't like being caught off guard by anything or anyone," she said as she finally allowed herself to smile.
"Glad to hear it," he said as the door opened and Jessica walked in.
"Natalie—are you ok?"
"I'm better—this is just one of those not-so-great days," she said as her smile got a little bit bigger than before.
"Yes, hi. My name is Lt. John McBain with the Llanview Police Department. We have a person here inquiring for a job and I need to get a background check done on him. The name is Nicholas Dawson—," said John as he listed the information he had been able to gather on him since he came to town. "Ok, can you get this back to me within the week? Thank you very much," he said as hung up the phone and stared off into space—maybe Antonio was right, maybe the guy was just a nice regular guy that just happened to take a liking to Natalie from the get go. But this was Natalie he was talking about and when it came to her he never took chances so it would be the best for everyone if he researched her new found friend.
