A/N: More thanks than I could ever imagine go to Laura who helped me "scout" locations. LOL--you are a doll, and unknowinglypointed me into the perfect Jolie location that I used to wrap up the chapter. Speaking of wrapping up, this is the last official chapter of the story--there will be an epilogue, so never fear--I can't abandon you all just like that. hehehe.
Until next time--which will be pretty soon, most likely--PCGirl.
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John pulled into the complex and made the few turns to her building—a smile on his face and a local station blarring music out of his rental.
His smile turned into a furrowed brow and he turned the volume down—her car was gone. Was he at the right building? He looked and saw Marissa's car parked at the next building down and knew he was at the right building. Maybe it was in the shop for repairs, he shrugged—going up and knocking on the door.
"John—hey," said a voice behind him and he turned to see Marissa walking up. "Natalie told me to keep an eye out for you. She had a friend come for a quick dinner—said he wanted to talk to her about something. She gave me her key to give to you though."
"Thanks," he said, looking at the key. "You don't happen to know where they went—do you?"
"I think they went to the bistro down the street—take a left out of the complex and then a right at the third light—you'll see it on your right."
"Thanks again, Marissa," he said with a nod before getting into the car and driving off.
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John had asked the hostess if she'd seen anyone fitting Natalie's description come in and she'd pointed him around the back to the patio area. He walked around the corner and was surprised to see who Natalie was sitting with—it was Cristian. She was smiling at something—her eyes sparkling with happiness.
He wondered if he'd ever had a chance—the few times they'd been together since she came to San Diego were great, but now he doubted everything. As he turned to leave he heard her soft laugh drift toward him and give him chills.
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John had left the bistro and headed back towards the airport when he realized he still had Natlalie's key—Marissa had left so he went into the apartment to wait on her and Cris to get back.
His thoughts and random walking around the living room stopped when the door clicked open and he turned to see her walk in and over towards him giving him a hug, "Hey."
"I missed you," she smiled as she pulled out of the hug and kept her distance to him minimal. "Did you have to wait long?"
"Uhm—no, not really. Natalie—I know," he said as he pushed her away just a bit.
"Know what?"
"About Cris—Marissa told me the bistro you were at and so I went to see you there."
Natalie laughed as she watched his expressions flash upon his face—the only time he could ever not hide them well was when he was distracted and jealous about something. "John—do you see Cris here?"
"No, I figured he was outside waiting for me to leave."
She smiled as she walked closer to him, "You know—when you get jealous these little creases around your eyes show up more," she said as she touched the area in question. "And then you start to stutter a bit too."
"Do not."
"Yeah, then you start arguing."
"Stop, Natalie. Why are you doing this?"
"See—I'm right," she smiled. "Let me tell you something—Cris showed up at my door a few hours ago and had someone he wanted me to meet—her name is Tanya and she's his good friend slash girlfriend. They came here for vacation and he wanted me to meet her and make sure I was ok with everything.
"I don't know why you didn't see her—maybe because you were only paying attention to part of the scene, but I told Cris that I'm in love with you and happy with you."
"Are you sure? I want you to be happy Natalie—I can make myself forget you, it'll take time but—."
"Stop John. Seriously just stop it. If I didn't want to be with you seriously I would have said so—I would have never seen you again after learning about Cristian being alive. Ok?"
"Ok," he said sheepishly.
"Good, now if you're done with this jealousy fit I need to go get ready or we're going to be late."
"Late?"
"I made our reservations for eight, but I wanted to have a few drinks before dinner," she gave him a quick grin before pulling her hair out of the pony tail it'd been in and went into her bedroom shutting the door behind her.
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"This doesn't seem like your type of joint," said John as they walked into the Top of the Hyatt restaurant.
"We can't live off of beer and burgers forever John," she smiled as the waiter showed them their table that overlooked the harbor. "Isn't the view gorgeous?"
"Breathtaking," he sighed as his eyes continued to look at her. She'd pulled her hair up and into a French twist and was wearing a strapless black dress that went down to just above her knees and had white piping down the sides and around the waist.
"I was talking about the city John," she said, as she felt the tinge of blushing come to her cheeks. "Besides I wanted this to be a time to celebrate and decide what's next in our lives. I want to stay here another semester—that's all I need to graduate, but I can come back to Llanview and just take the classes there instead—if you need to stay in Llanview and at the department. I just don't think I can be away from you for another semester."
John smiled at what she was willing to do to be near him and he knew he would do the same, "That was actually one of the things I talked to Bo about before I left today. He's giving me time off from the department—if anyone asks we're stating personal reasons."
"For how long?"
"As long as it takes until you're ready to go back there. And if the answer is never—if you'd rather live here then I'm fine with that. Your happiness is what matters to me Natalie and I love you and will continue loving you as long as you'll let me," he said as his eyes began to get watery."
"John," she said softly.
"I—had this plan and speech prepared earlier, but I don't remember any of it right now. So I'll say this plain and simple," he said as he got up out of his chair and came to hers and knelt down, pulling the box out of his pocket. "Natalie Balsom Buchanan—will you marry me?"
"John," she said as she wiped the tears away and just nodded—putting her hand out and feeling surreal as she watched him slip the ring on her hand. John looked up at her and she gave him a smile before throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.
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"Where are you taking me?" asked John as they walked into the lobby of the other tower of the hotel.
"You'll see," smiled Natalie as she pulled his arm and he followed until he saw a sign for Redfields Lounge and Bistro.
The sound was the first thing he heard he grinned, "Jazz."
"Yeah, I thought it'd be something different. We don't have to stay if you don't want to," she said as she sat down on an empty couch and he joined her, her head finding his shoulder almost immediately as she listened to the music of the singer on stage.
"No, it's great—you're great for thinking of this," he said as he realized she was studying her ring again. "I'm not going to ask for it back so you can stop staring at it—it's not going anywhere."
"I know," she sighed. "I just can't believe it—and you actually got emotional," she laughed.
"Yeah, well when it comes to you I've learned it's pretty hard to try and hide them," he said as he kissed her on the head and then pushed her face up to his and kissed her again.