A/N: Ok, honestly—I hate this chapter. It's missing something and I don't know what but I want it off of my computer and posted so here goes. Sorry for the horribleness of it. Until next time—PCGirl.

She felt herself waking up and felt warmth and light all around her. As she felt the warm touch on her bare back she remembered she was still in John's hotel room in Atlantic City.

She opened her eyes and rolled over just enough to see John lying behind her, his head propped up on his arm watching her, "Good morning."

"Hey," he said—his voice still rough from waking up a few minutes ago. He leaned forward and gave her a deep kiss. "You sleep good?"

"Yeah," she said as she nodded softly, biting her lip at gazing up at him. "I woke up a few times, but once I realized where I was it was pretty easy to fall right back asleep. Should we be heading back to Llanview today?"

"I guess," he said as he ran his fingers down her jaw line. "But first I was thinking of a little of this," he said as he pulled her towards him and then on top of him.

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"You won again, McBain. Either I'm rusty or you've been practicing while I was gone," laughed Natalie as she chalked up her cue stick as John racked the balls back up at the pool table at Rodi's.

John grinned, "The whole time you were gone I didn't even look at a pool table—it was too hard."

"Well, then I must be rusty—but it's ok—I'll get enough alone practice soon enough," she said as she came over and put her arms around him and he looked down at her before giving her a kiss.

"Alone practice? How can you do that when I'm not letting you out of my sight?"

"I was thinking on the drive home—I want to reopen Crossroads. It's been closed too long and it's time to open it again. You know that's where my mom met Ben."

"And where you had me the first time I saw you," he smiled.

"So what do you think of the idea?"

He thought for a moment before he spoke, "I'll probably get more work done at the Station without you nearby."

"Speaking of the station you should probably get back," she said as she began to walk towards the door.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him, leaned down and whispered softly, "Only if you'll come back with me. Don't make me beg."

A shiver went down Natalie's spine as she looked at him and just smiled, "How can I say no? Let me go get some names and numbers from Mac for Crossroads though, ok." With a kiss she was off and he just smiled and watched her talk to Mac and then go into the back. He turned and began breaking down both of their pool sticks, into the moment and not seeing Evangeline coming up and leaning back on the pool table. He looked over at her, "Hi."

"Hi. I see you and Natalie are together—finally. Guess all that stuff you said about not loving her was a lie."

"Guess so. Did you want something counselor?" he asked, stopping what he was doing and looking directly at her. She was beating around the bush enough he thought she'd found the lost city of Atlantis.

"I just wanted to give you and Natalie good luck on life together. I'm glad you were able to get past all secrets that you had before—I'm sure there's nothing in the way now that would ruin the love you two obviously have for each other. Nobody would want to get between what you have—you might just have them locked up if they tried."

John said nothing—she was bluffing on whatever it was she thought she knew. He saw Natalie was coming back out from talking with Mac and he finished slipping the pool sticks in their bags and threw them over his shoulder, "Thanks for the kind words Evangeline. Goodbye."

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John walked into his office from taking some files that needed to be filed to the front desk and looked over to see Natalie was stretched out on the couch with a notepad in hand, "Already an entrepreneur?" he laughed.

"It's tough work getting a bar set up after it's been closed for two years," she sighed.

"Hey—you sure about doing this? I mean nobody at the Station will hate the idea of you working the desk anymore—definitely not me," he grinned as she moved her legs so he'd sit down and then stretched her legs out over him.

"It's not that—I just wonder if I should do this at all. I've been through so much. Maybe I just want to do this so I can keep my mind off of everything that happened in that pit," she said as she covered her face.

"Hey," he said as he moved closer to her and kissed her head, "Take the reopening slowly then—Don't try to rush it. Go out there and do whatever you can each day, and then when you get tired—well, come a keep me company," he said with a sideways grin that got her to smile a bit. "There's that woman I love—trying to take the world on by herself," he said as he got up and put his hand out to help her up.

"Look who's talking about taking the world on themselves," she grinned as she took his hand and he pulled her to him and covered her mouth for a second. She looked at him startled and just whispered, "Hi."

He smiled down at her and kissed her forehead, "Let's let the world take care of itself for the rest of the day."

She bit her bottom lip before shaking her head and quietly answering him, "Ok."