A/N - thanks for all the enthusiastic feedback!

Touching You 10?

John McBain sat in his desk chair looking at the slip of paper that he had found sitting in the middle of his desk when he returned from finding Roxy and telling her that Natalie was actually in the hands of the FBI rather than the Killing Club killers. It had taken a while to calm her hysterics. First relief, then fury at the Bureau. He related to both feelings.

On the note there were no words, only numbers. Nine digits. An encrypted number. Natalie.

He wanted to call, to hear her voice, to assure himself that she was all right. Even if she was angry at him. Even if she hung up on him and said she never wanted to hear from or see him again. Still, he didn't dial the open phone sitting in front of him on his desk.

There were so many things he wished he could go back and do over when it came to Natalie. Bringing her into the Flynn Walker case, for one. Allowing Cristian to come to Vegas. Letting her hang out with Paul Cramer when he had the power to stop that. Telling her he...

John's thoughts stopped.

Cristian. She was with Cristian. Her husband. The man she loved, like he loved Caitlin, and now she had another chance to be with him for the rest of her life. This, thankfully, would be much longer than he'd thought just a few hours ago.

It was just a telephone call. Confirmation for the report, if nothing else.

John leaned his elbows on the desk and rubbed his eyes. Then, taking a deep breath he dialed the number he had already memorized.

It took a few rings before she answered. His heart pounded as he waited.

"Hi."

His heart stopped when he heard her voice and a lump of tears clogged his throat.

"Hey. I wanted to make sure you were all right." His voice was raspy with emotion.

He heard rustling in the background before she responded.

"I'm fine. I heard that you figured out what happened. I knew you would."

"It took me two weeks." Two really, really long difficult weeks as the dark circles under his eyes and the tremor in his hand attested.

"My mom said you were a big comfort to her during that time. Thank you for making sure she was okay."

"I didn't really do anything. If anything, she comforted me."

There was silence on the other end.

"I'm here with Cristian." This time, her voice was hard.

"That's good. That's where you should be." John's eyes went bleak, his face blank.

"Yes. It is." Her words were pointed. Angry.

There was silence on the line again, but for the first time it was not a comfortable silence.

He opened his mouth to speak, to say anything to fill the void when there was a pop on the other end of the phone.

Then he heard Natalie ask someone else, probably Cristian, "what was that?"

He heard three more pops and Cristian telling Natalie to get back.

"Natalie! What's going on?" John stood up.

"I think those were shots, gun shots. Cristian is looking."

"Get back, get back!" John heard Cristian yell at her.

"Was it shots...ow!" he heard Natalie yell.

With his free hand John dialed a number on his desk phone.

"What's going on."

He heard glass breaking in the background.

"In here. Go up!" he heard Cristian ordering her from close by.

"We're going into a crawl space in the attic," Natalie whispered into the phone.

"McBain, we're in Delaware. Cape Henlopen. On the eastern side of the park. Get my wife." Cristian barked into the phone.

Then he heard the sound of movement, of the phone being dropped.

"There's an attack on the damned safe house in Delaware you have Natalie and Cristian Vega in!" he said into the other phone. "Get people there now!"

"Cristian! Cristian! Where are you going?"

John ran out of his office to Bo's.

"Close the door now!"

"Where are you going?"

"Natalie, close it! Stay hidden until someone comes to find you. Me or someone from the FBI!"

"No! Cristian!"

"Natalie, now!"

He heard Natalie's ragged breathing. He knew Cristian must have left the phone for her. He heard the scrape and bang of the crawl space cover. He knew it was probably a hidden door, one standard in all Bureau safe houses. But if they found the house, they might know about it.

"Attack at the safe house!" John ran through Bo's office, knowing that Bo, and probably Rex, would be close behind.

He grabbed the first car available. "Natalie, talk to me!"

He started the car as Bo and Rex jumped in.

"I'm in the attic. Cristian didn't come up. I don't know where he is." Her breathing was ragged.

John heaved a sigh of relief when he heard her voice.

Rex grabbed the phone as they drove out of the LPD. Bo, meanwhile, had taken out his own phone.

"Where are we going, John?" Bo asked.

"Delaware. Cape Henlopen. East side. Beach." John was breathing hard as he put on the police light.

"Head to BE helipad," Bo said, closing his own phone. Then he grabbed the phone from Rex's resisting hand.

"Natalie. Can you turn off the sounds on the phone? If you can't turn the phone off. We'll try to call you back in fifteen minutes. We'll be there soon. We love you." Bo listened for a moment and then cut the connection.

"Why'd you tell her to turn it off?" Rex demanded.

"To conserve the battery. So they don't hear the phone beeping. In case they have a sensor with them," John rattled off.

"Oh." Rex said from the back seat. "Cool. A helicopter."

>>>>>>>

Natalie didn't know how long she had been hidden in the corner of the dark attic behind some boxes. She couldn't figure out the phone so she had to shut it off and she had no way to tell time. She was afraid to turn it on, in case it made sounds when it did so and someone heard it. Someone who she didn't want to know where she was.

Her ankle was throbbing and she was cold. The cold of shock and fear. She was all too familiar with it lately. She didn't hear anything or anyone in the house anymore. But she didn't know if they were just waiting her out. If she moved across the attic, surely they would hear her.

The quiet scared her even more because she didn't know if Cristian had gotten away to get help, had been taken or even killed. Again.

She pressed her hand over her mouth and nose. She didn't think she could survive losing Cristian again.

Suddenly, she head footsteps in the house again. She curled up even tighter.

John jumped out the helicopter and ran, head down, towards the house. There were black cars pulling up outside. They were obviously Bureau. He ran up to them, ID out. They had already known to expect him and he was quickly let through to enter the house with them. He surveyed the scene with a professional eye.

He saw a couple of bodies of plain clothes agents, looked like another of one of the raiders. There were broken glass and bullet holes in his path as he headed straight up the stairs. He grabbed one of the agents at the tope and demanded to know which room had the crawl space. He was pointed in the direction of the room at the furthest end of the hall.

As soon as he entered the room he knew she stayed here. It had her warmth. Her scent.

He began opening closets, looking for the tell tale mark on the back wall that told him that there was a hiding space above it. He found it in the third door. He moved the boxes and blankets that had been placed to hide it. He pulled a pen flashlight out of his pocket and lit up the carefully cut hideaway that they must have shown Cristian. He propped his feet on the wall and edged his way up the shelf. He pushed the cut out up and levered himself in.

"Natalie. It's me John. Where are you?"

He crawled into the tight space and looked in both directions.

"Natalie? Where are you?"

He heard whimper from a dark corner and he crawled towards it.

He pushed the boxes aside and found her curled up in the corner. Her eyes were closed. He put his hand on her. She was breathing. Warm. Alive.

"Hey. Hey. Oh God. It's all right. Natalie." He crawled forward and pulled her into his arms. "Oh God." His voice was thick with emotion.

She woke up as he embraced her. She stiffened and began to fight. He smiled and pressed her closer.

"Hey. It's me, John. You're safe."