A/N: Nothing to say, but enjoy. :) Until next time--PCGirl.

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"Mmm," sighed John as Natalie pulled back from kissing him—they were in his hotel room on the bed—she was straddled over him in a slinky black negligee and even as he ran his hands up underneath the silk he wanted more. "Natalie," he said softly.

"What is it," she said as her hair draped over her shoulders and onto his skin. From the color of it he thought it should be burning his skin, but it was soft to the touch, just like her.

"I love you," he smiled as he closed his eyes for a moment. "I want you."

"I want you too," she said before kissing him again, hard at first and finishing with a soft kiss. She smiled at him, placing her hand on the side of his face. "But I'm sorry, John."

"What?" he asked, wondering if he'd heard her wrong.

"I can't be with you anymore—not now that I know Cris is alive," she said as she moved her leg to one side and got off of the bed—and began walking towards the door. "I don't understand."

"He's my husband and the man I promised I'd be with for the rest of my life," she said as she opened the door and Cristian stood there—placing a protective arm around her small waist. "I love Cristian."

"NO! Natalie—No!" yelled John, his eyes filling with tears.

"I'm sorry John," she sighed as she looked up to Cristian lovingly and then back to John. "I do truly hope you find happiness one day," she said as they walked out of the doorway and down the hall.

"Natalie! Natalie!" he screamed as he jumped up and went into the hallway to see they were gong. "Natalie!"

"John—hey, wake up," she said softly as she shook him awake. "Hey—look at me, there you are," she smiled as she placed a protective hand on his face. "You were having a dream."

"You're still here," he sighed.

"Of course I am, where would I be?" she laughed. "You looked spooked—like you saw a ghost. Want to talk about it?"

"No," he shook his head as he put an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "It's ok now—I'm ok."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," he said softly as he pulled her as close as he could and then rolled over so she was on top of him. "I love you, Natalie."

She laughed, "I love you too."

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Natalie sat at the desk at the police station—she'd come over here after picking up papers to renew the liquor license for Crossroads when the new secretary had an emergency and asked for Natalie to watch the phones for half an hour. She'd said that was fine and sat down to fill the paperwork—the phone lines were slow and John was busy on the phone with someone at the prison.

She had her head down reading a long statement when she heard a huffing sound and looked up to see Layla staring at her, "I didn't know you worked here."

"I don't—."

"Then what are you doing here?" interrupted Layla rudely.

"I'm helping a friend by answering the phone—what's your excuse?"

"I was here with Evangline—she had something important to talk to Nora about—you know, people things do when they have real jobs—not just stealing boyfriends away."

"I'm getting really tired of this. Evangeline left John—not the other way around."

"Yeah, but you sure didn't wait very long until you took your chance at him," she grinned.

That was enough—Natalie was getting tired of everything that came out of Layla's mouth—especially when it concerned her relationship with John. "You have three seconds to turn around and go wait for Evangeline to come out of Nora's office or else."

"Or else what?"

Natalie stood quickly and raised her hand when she heard her name being called harshly from behind her. She turned to see John standing there watching her.

"Layla—I seriously suggest you back off," he said as he walked between the two of them. "Go—unless you want me to let her give you what I'm starting to think you deserve."

"Fine," she said with a roll of her eyes and walked away.

"There—now you ok?" he asked as he turned towards her and brushed her hair away from her face.

"Yeah—she just made me mad—suggesting I have no right to be in here when all she's doing is standing around waiting on her stupid sister and harassing me."

"What'd you come by for in the first place?"

"I was answering the phones for the new girl—oh, and filling out my paperwork for the Crossroads liquor license," she said as she grabbed the papers up.

"Ok—let me find someone else to man the phones and we'll blow this pop stand," he said with a wink before kissing the top of her head.

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"It still looks the same," said Natalie as her and John walked into Crossroads—she flicked the light switch and they blinked first before turning fully on.

She walked quietly towards the pool table that had a sheet over it that someone had put down to keep the dust off. She whipped the sheet off and coughed as she stirred dust up, "I guess that was pretty stupid of me," she laughed as she looked at John who was grinning at her.

"Perhaps a little bit," he coughed slightly as he walked around the room, looking at the walls and then over to the bar, leaning back and facing her. "You going to change anything to it?"

She thought for a second before shaking her head, "No, because this was Ben's place you know—I feel like changing anything will be wrong. Besides I kinda like this look—it's more of a real bar atmosphere than Rodi's even."

"Pool table and all. What about a karaoke machine over in the corner?" he asked, motioning towards the left.

"So Roxy can belt out a few more tunes that will embarrass us?" she laughed.

"Well, maybe that's not a great idea after all. Can you really see her here though? I mean it doesn't seem to be her type of dive."

"Are you calling my place of business a dive?" she asked loudly. Her voice sounded like she was insulted but he could tell by her eyes that she was just trying to work him into an argument that could only lead to one thing.

He took his steps slowly towards her, "Well, see here's the difference—a dive is usually owned by this really burly guy named Bubba or Earl."

"Oh really?" she laughed as she grabbed the edges of the pool table for support.

"Yeah, and you'll have peanut shells all over the floor—dimmer lights too."

"Hmmm—anything else?"

"Smoky as hell. You can find some shady characters in those type of establishments."

"Sounds like Roxy's type of place," she laughed as he pinned her between himself and the pool table. "What about this place?"

"I like it—easy going atmosphere—and the owner—she's an amazing pool player, among other things," he whispered as he nuzzled his face into her hair and nibbled on her neck.

"Like what?" she asked, barely able to speak the words.

"I'll show you," he said as he pulled back for a moment and lifted her up onto the pool table. He looked into her eyes for a moment before covering her mouth with his and pushing her down onto the pool table.