Disclaimer: Don't own.

Chapter 2—

"Here's my theory," Natalie began. "Now keep in mind that this is a very new theory and I reserve the right to revise it in the future."

Michael interrupted. "Natalie, I don't need a novel."

"Fine. The theory is that those relationships where you have to fight tooth and nail to even get the smallest victory—those type of relationships just aren't going to work in the long-run. You kind of kid yourself into thinking that once you get over the hard part and the hurdles, that things will settle down and you'll be a stronger couple in the end."

"But that's not the case?"

She shook her head in the negative. "I don't think so anymore. But then again, at this point, I'm tired of fighting in general. I think it would be a nice change for me to have a relationship that falls into place naturally. One that I don't have to manipulate in order to get what I want."

"Such a novel concept for you," he chuckled.

The two semi-friends fell into a lapse of silence after that. They both seemed to be turning things over in their heads.

Natalie soon broke the silence, however.

"I thought you were going home to get some sleep?"

"You distracted me," he off-handedly answered, his mind obviously elsewhere.

"I'm flattered, really," Natalie deadpanned, "but you're kind of zoning out there, Michael. Are you sure you're all right?"

He looked up at her query and met her eyes. Then, as if shaking himself out of a trance, he assured her that he was perfectly fine.

"I actually think that you're onto something with that… with that theory of yours," Michael startled Natalie by admitting.

At first she wasn't so certain what was going on. Then it clicked.

"We're talking about you and Marcie now?" she correctly surmised. "Well, it is just a theory. And a theory that doesn't apply to everyone. But Marcie obviously still has feelings for you. She practically gave me a beatdown at the hotel that time."

"When?" Michael asked in confusion.

"After our little 'let's play in the rain' moment," Natalie clarified. "When you went up to your room to get me those scrubs, Marcie was about to murder me."

"She was jealous?" Michael asked in astonishment.

"Livid would be a more appropriate word. I thought for sure that I'd talked some sense into her though. I figured it was only a matter of time before you two were back to normal. Not the case though?"

"Not the case," Michael sullenly responded.

"Well, personally, I don't know what she ever saw in you, but that's neither here nor there." Natalie jokingly grinned. Michael glared. "Oh, come on Michael! You and Marcie actually don't have to be that complicated. What's really standing in your way? Not a third party…" She trailed off, upon seeing Michael's subtle change in countenance at this mention. "There is a third party?"

She promptly slapped him upside his head. He groaned and held a hand up to the offending area.

"What was that for?" was the incredulous question.

"You cheated on Marcie! Michael McBain, I always knew you were a jerk, but this…"

"As usual, you are completely wrong," he cut her off. "I didn't mean third party in the literal sense."

"Oh. Well, in that case, sorry about the whole… hitting you incident."

"You apologize, but yet you couldn't be more insincere," he mumbled, still rubbing the side of his head.

She ignored him. "Metaphorically speaking then—the third party…?"

"Different factors. My job… her book… her agent… Al."

Natalie nodded her head in understanding. "Not seeing each other a lot—that's tough."

"It's more difficult to compete with a ghost."

"I'm not so sure if that's fair though, Michael," Natalie insisted. "Granted, I was never Al Holden's biggest fan. And vice-versa." She smiled a bit at the old memories. "The thing is though, of course Marcie will always love him—but that doesn't mean that she loves you any less. It is possible to love two different people for different reasons. It doesn't negate either relationship and doesn't mean that one is more special than the other. It just… means that they're different."

"But that's not really the problem. It's all those things mixed up together. It's like you were saying—things just got too hard. It was a constant uphill struggle and in the end, we hadn't gained any new ground."

"So what are you saying?"

"Well…" he faltered. "I guess that there's no Marcie and Michael any longer."

Natalie watched as Michael slowly rose from the bench. He stood up and walked a few steps. At first, she thought he was leaving. A rather sudden and abrupt departure, but then again, he'd just had an epiphany in regards to his relationship with Marcie. She could understand wanting to be alone.

But then he turned back and faced her again.

"It feels weird," he announced. "To let go once and for all."

"Weird in what way?" Natalie patiently asked.

"Kind of…" Michael paused, searching for the right word. "It feels liberating."

Natalie smiled at this. "I know exactly what you mean."

"I can't believe I feel this good about it. I mean, yeah, we've been broken up for several months. But there was always this feeling that if I was just patient, we'd eventually go right back to the way things were."

"And you don't want that any longer?"

Michael sat back down on the bench. He shook his head. "No. I don't."

"Well, congratulations, McBain—you and I both had epiphanies today. Really, I never thought we had so much in common." She paused and then added, "Although, let's not spread that around or anything."

"Should I feel this good, though?"

"I don't see why not," Natalie answered. "Letting something go isn't always a bad thing."

He turned to face her, his eyes bright and his smile wide.

Natalie took in his jubilant expression and the fact that he was smiling from ear-to-ear. She'd seen him wear that same expression several times and every single time, it usually meant the emergence of what she inwardly referred to as 'Giddy Michael'.

Giddy Michael was the same one who had convinced her that playing in the rain and getting soaked to the bone was a good idea. Nevermind that she'd ended up having fun—she could have had plenty of fun withoutrain being involved.

"Whatever you're thinking," she warned him, "stop thinking it."

He only grinned more widely. Before Natalie had a chance to… oh, say… run for her life, Michael had grabbed her hand and was dragging her along as though she was nothing more than an afterthought.

"All right, Michael, for future reference," Natalie said in an annoyed tone, "dragging me around like that? Not acceptable. You do it again, and let's just say that you'll be missing…"

"Warning noted, but nevertheless ignored," Michael cut her off.

"Why exactly did you bring me…" she looked around at their surroundings, "… here?"

'Here' being the hospital cafeteria. There were any number of reasons that one might end up in a hospital cafeteria, but Natalie couldn't think of a single one for why she was suddenly thrust into such a place. Well, besides Michael McBain, that is.

"Are you going to answer my question of not?" Natalie demanded.

"I'll be back in a minute," he said before disappearing.

Natalie felt like throwing her arms up in frustration. Something about the McBain brothers—they both made her want to pull her hair out. In fact, of the two, she wasn't entirely certain which brother was the worst offender.

She spent a few moments contemplating that question and soon enough Michael joined her side again. He ushered her over to an empty table and pushed a pudding cup over to her.

"You brought me to the hospital cafeteria to have… pudding?" Natalie asked in bewilderment.

Michael shrugged. "It's great pudding."

"Well, it better be amazing, awe-inspiring pudding. I don't exactly like hospitals… and I dislike hospital cafeterias even more. Besides, didn't you just leave this place? You do realize that it is customary to leave your place of employment when you finish your shift?"

"Would you stop talking and just eat your pudding."

Natalie rolled her eyes and sarcastically mumbled, "Yes, Doctor."

She ripped open the lid of her pudding cup and swirled her plastic spoon around, stirring up the contents.

"You don't do any kind of weird ritual with pudding, do you?" Michael questioned. "For my sanity, I really hope you don't mix mustard in with it."

"Ignoring you!" she said in a sing-song voice. She took a first bite of Michael's so-called wonder pudding and then promptly declared, "Hey, this is pretty good, Mikey."

"Told you so. Nothing better than celebratory pudding."

"You are truly insane. You know that, don't you?"

He answered with a mischievous lift of his eyebrows and a smirk.

Natalie couldn't help herself from smiling back.

TBC