Disclaimer: ABC owns the characters

Chapter 2

Kevin knocked on Natalie's bedroom door. "Natalie." When there was no answer, he turned the knob only to find that it was locked. "Natalie, come on. It's Kevin. Open the door."

"I'm fine, Kevin," he heard Natalie say, but she didn't sound very convincing. "Please just go."

"I can't do that until I see if you're really okay."

"Go, Kevin. Please just let me be alone."

Kevin tried for a few more minutes before giving up. He went downstairs disappointed. He was surprised that he had not gotten his way. He always got his way. "I didn't realize how stubborn she was," he mumbled.

The doorbell rang and Viki answered it. "John? What are you doing here?"

"I'm just here to check on Natalie. I wanted to see how she was doing," he answered shyly. He liked Natalie's mother even though he didn't know her all that well, but he didn't know what she really thought of him. She was always nice to him, but he was sure that she knew of his history with Natalie. She wouldn't be the first person to think that he hadn't treated Natalie right.

"Join the club," Viki said.

"What do you mean?" John asked.

"We haven't caught more than a few glimpses of her since Chris was arrested. She's locked herself in her room and she won't come out. I don't even know if she's eating," Viki said. She looked like she was about to fall off the edge of a cliff. "I don't know how to help her through this."

John looked toward the stairs.

Viki understood the silent question, and she responded to it. "Please go to her. Maybe she'll open up to you."

John went upstairs two steps at a time and knocked on her door. "Natalie. It's John. Can you open the door?" Remembering his manners he added, "Please."

" Mom called you, didn't she? You need to leave." Natalie said through the door.

"Sorry, but I'm not going anywhere." John sat on the floor with his back pressed against the door. Natalie didn't answer, but he knew that she had heard him. On the other side of the door, Natalie sat down with her back against the door as well. They sat that way for half an hour until John heard a click as Natalie unlocked the door.

John rose slowly and pushed the door open. His eyes fell on Natalie, standing in the middle of the room with her back to him.

"Natalie."

At the sound of her name, she turned around and met his eyes. She waited for him to speak first.

"I know you're angry now and I don't blame you. Yell. Scream. Hit me. Just don't keep it inside," John said. His pain-filled eyes mirrored hers. He braced himself, expecting her to lash out and do just what he had suggested. She shocked him when she rushed into his arms. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. She was trembling, but she wasn't crying. She wouldn't allow herself to.

"It's okay," John said soothingly. "It's okay."

"Stop saying that because it's not okay, and it won't ever be okay, Natalie said. She pulled away from him. "My husband is dead. He's never coming back. How could I not know that I was sharing my bed with a complete stranger? I...I thought I knew my own husband. God, how could I be so stupid?" She refused to look at John.

"Don't say that. What happened wasn't your fault. He fooled all of us."

"Not you, " Natalie said," How come he didn't fool you?"

"Because I didn't love Chris. I didn't know him before he died--at least not well," John said. He had been jealous of Chris because of his relationship with Natalie. John looked at her closely. There were dark circles under her blue eyes, and was it him or did she look thinner? "When was the last time that you ate?"

Natalie looked confused. "Ate?"

"Yeah. When was the last time you ate?"

Natalie bit her lip, trying to remember. Truthfully, she wasn't sure. It might have been a couple of days ago. Food had been the least of her concerns.

"It must have been a while ago since you have to think so hard," John said. He knew taht there was only one way to deal with her in her present condition. He switched to cop mode and used his no nonsense tone. "Go shower and put on something a little dressy. Your going with brother and sister to the Palace."

"I want to stay home," Natalie insisted.

"So that you can starve yourself or disappear? I'm not going to let that happen and neither is your family. So make this easy on all of us," John said. "You can't stay in your room for the rest of your life."

"Why not?" Natalie whispered.

"Because I think your mother would get tired of seeing me at Llanfair everyday, John said with a smile that few people saw.

Natalie returned his smile, and headed to her bathroom.

John went back downstairs where everyone was sitting and drinking tea. Kelly had arrived and she was talking to Jessica. Jessica had changed out of her pajamas and into a sleeveless black dress. She was nodding her head at something that Kelly said.

"Do you want some tea?" Viki asked him. It wasn't really what she wanted to ask, but she wanted to be polite.

"Uh..no thanks."

"How is she? Did you see her?" Viki asked.

"Yeah, I saw her," John said with a grim expression on his face.

"You did? She opened up for you?" Jessica asked. She couldn't hide her jealousy. Natalie was her twin. Why hadn't she been able to help her?

"She's not doing so good. She has circles under her eyes and she's lost some weight," John said, knowing that this would hurt her family, but they needed to know the truth. "I convinced her to go with you guys to the Palace."

"Do you think that you could come, too?" Kevin asked. "My sister actually responds to you for some reason. I just want her to be okay. I want her to get through this."

"Okay. I'll come. I want what's best for your sister, too."

A few minutes later, Natalie came downstairs. "I thought you left," she said to John.

"Nope. It looks like I'm coming along, too."