A/N: Junior--you are such a sweetheart. Thank you for the kind words.

Cru and Jess--I enjoy reading your stories over at BoP, and glad you enjoy reading mine here.

And I'm sooo glad everyone liked the cliffhanger last time--even if it might have been obvious. Everyone enjoy--I've had this chapter in my mind for a very very long time. Until next time--PCGirl.

John stood there in the open doorway with his mouth open and a million thoughts running through his head. Was he dreaming? Was he dead? Had his heart just suddenly stopped? No, because the damaged nerves in his abdomen shot through his whole body and brought him back to reality, "Is it really you?"

"Yes. Oh John," said Caitlyn and she threw her arms around him. Immediately, as if by instinct, John's arms went around her and he held onto her for a moment. Then he smelled the wildflowers and just as instantly he pulled back, "I thought you were dead."

"I did too," said Caitlyn, her eyes filling with tears. "I mean, I thought you were dead," she said as her hand went up to touch his face and he swiped it away. "What's wrong?"

"Why are you here?"

"I'm here because I'm finally coming home John. I'm finally able to get away from that madman, and start the life I've always wanted with you."

John's mind was spinning still, but he was able to point towards the couch and reached for his jacket and took out his pills, dry swallowing one before speaking, "Tell me what happened that night."

"I was shot, and you passed out. I was so scared John—I kept calling your name, over and over, but you wouldn't wake up. Then this man, he came in and said he was going to help us and gave me a shot. When I woke up-I was in this dark room, and for weeks I had a nurse and doctor come in and check on me. It was always the same nurse-I didn't know what day of the week it was, or if it was noon or midnight.

"I was so scared—I couldn't understand why you and Kathy weren't trying to find me."

John fully came back to reality when she mentioned Kathryn, "Because we thought you were dead. God, Caitlyn—if I had ever in a million years thought you were alive this whole time I would have tried to find you."

"Instead of moving on with your life?" asked Caitlyn with hurt in her voice.

The words stung, but he knew she had no idea what he had put himself through in the past seven years—that he had put the reason for her death as his stupidity and selfishness from when he was younger. "I put myself through hell Caitlyn, and it took a lot for me to finally realize it was ok to move on."

"Yeah right."

John didn't want a fight so he went into the kitchen and pulled out his cell phone and dialed quickly, "Hey."

"Hey," said Antonio. "We're almost done here."

"Great. Uhm—listen, when you get here I'm going to need you to not come in the cabin, I'll come up with something for you to go back down and get. Can you take Jess with you?"

"Yeah, that's a great idea for dinner, John. Let me go get that," said Antonio as he looked at the girls before walking down one of the aisles, "Give me something for dinner and tell me what's going on."

John laughed, "How about stir fry? Get a bag of frozen vegetables, but forget the rice."

"Smart man. Now what's up? You were supposed to meet that Cairyn girl—did she show up?"

John chuckled again as he opened the kitchen door a bit to see her still sitting there, "I wouldn't believe this if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, but Caitlyn Fitzgerald is sitting in the living room right now. You there?"

"I—uhm—yeah. How are you holding up?"

"Going crazy, ready to pop down a bottle of these pills, wondering how I tell this to Natalie without stressing her out too much. Plus that and she doesn't seem to understand I mourned for her for so long."

"Too long—you did your share of mourning, just like Natalie did hers—you two belong together, like it's supposed to be."

"Would you be saying that if Cristian walking in the door?"

"Yeah, I would be. We'll be there soon," said Antonio as he hung up the phone. John looked at his phone and thought of someone else to call while waiting on Natalie to return.

-------------

"Love you too, Mom," said John as he hung up the phone while standing on the front porch. His mom had answered a few questions he had—at the funeral there had been a closed casket, and the same at the wake at the funeral home the day before. When he had told Eve that Caitlyn was alive her first response was shock, and then she told him something he needed to hear—even if he had been with Caitlyn this whole time, Eve was sure he would have met and ended up with Natalie. He had laughed at her, but the thought intrigued him for a moment.

A smile lit up his face as he saw Antonio's car pull up the driveway and park next to the truck. He walked down the steps slowly and opened the door for Natalie, helping her out of the car and pulled her towards him, "Hi," he said softly before giving her a kiss.

"Hi," she smiled, "I hear we're having stir fry for dinner."

"Yeah, did you all get rice?" asked John as he looked at Antonio.

"No," said Antonio as he tried to read his expressions, but he knew it was useless. "Jess and I will run back down and grab a box—let's get the perishables in the house though," said Antonio as Natalie and John grabbed some bags and he handed off one to Jessica. When Jess tried to continue into the house he grabbed her wrist and shook his head—leaving the groceries on the door step and leaving.

-----------

Sonia had no clue where she was—except for somewhere on the side of Llantano Mountain. She had caught up to Haver at one point, but now he was probably a good quarter mile ahead of her—just enough so she could see a flash of his silver car every few moments. She suddenly put on the brakes and jumped out to see his car was parked on the side of the road. She walked up slowly to see the car was abandoned—they were close to the cabin, the question was who would get there first?

-----------

Natalie smiled as she walked in and continued on to the kitchen, "Hi Cairyn. I hope John was being hospitable while you were waiting for me."

"Oh, he was such a gentleman," she said as she kept her eye contact with John who was giving her a look that read as clear as day for her to keep quiet.

"Did Jess and Antonio already leave?" asked Natalie as she went to get the rest of the groceries off the front porch and closed the door behind her. When she returned to the room she finally felt the tension in the room. "John?"

"Hmm? Yeah, they left," he said as he pulled Natalie towards him and kept his hand on her hip.

"What's going on? Did I miss something here?"

"Cairyn," he said with a cough, "I believe you have something to tell my wife?" he said as he tipped his head towards Natalie.

Natalie looked at John and then to Cairyn and her mind went right back to the first time she'd met her—when she was holding the wedding picture. There had been something in her eyes that day, something that had screamed at Natalie that day and was screaming at her again now. "Oh my--," she said as John moved her towards a chair and sat her down in it.

"Babe? You ok?"

"I'm—are you? Is she?" she asked, looking at Caitlyn and then at John and he nodded slowly. A sudden rush of anger filled Natalie, "Do you realize what he went through? Do you realize he couldn't sleep at night because to close his eyes meant he might dream of that night again? He was cold, and showed very few emotions—he threw himself into his work so he didn't have time for a personal life—didn't have time to possibly feel anything ever again. And Kathryn--," said Natalie as she looked at John. One night Natalie had asked what Kathryn had been like before, and now she had a much better idea of the woman that had been killed by Sonia Toledo when it was realized she was a dirty agent.

"You met my sister? What is she like now, John? Is she still happy?"

"No," he said softly.

"When I met Kathryn she was cold-she was unfeeling, maybe with time she would have warmed up again. I wasn't the easiest person to get along with at the time," she laughed slightly and then went rigid, "Kathryn was murdered."

"She was-my sister is dead?" she asked in shock.

"Kathryn got sucked into some bad stuff at the end. I wanted to help her-the night she died I told her I'd help her. She didn't want my help though, what she wanted was to not feel anything anymore. She knew I'd always helped her, but she was too far in-do you know how it felt Caitlyn? It was because of me I thought both of you were dead-I couldn't save either of you," he said, screaming the last part. Natalie's hand went onto his shoulder and he instantly relaxed.

John looked over at Natalie and she just smiled at him, "I need to put the groceries up."

"Ok, I'll be there to help you in a few," he said as he watched her stand up and leave the room, while she wondered how long until her legs gave way. John was quiet for a few minutes as he watched Caitlyn's mind process everything that had just been told to her. He finally got up to go talk to Natalie in private, taking a look back at Caitlyn before walking in. He immediately froze—the freezer door was open and a container of ice cream laid on the floor. He looked over to see the back door was open also, and as he took a step outside he felt something under his feet and looked down to see he was standing on a red leotard.