Seeing Red
Part 4

A/N: Thanks, as always, to Jackie, my awesome writing partner. We're gonna conquer the literary world! And you didn't even have to say anything about this one, just be my delay so I could change my mind g .

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"Thanks for dropping me off, Mom. I had fun shopping."

Vicki smiled doubtfully and indulgently at her daughter.

"I did!" Natalie insisted. "And I love everything you got me." Natalie held up two hands full of shopping bags.

"I did too. I'm sure Bo and John will be glad that you came in to help them. The reports on the news are very disturbing." Vicki's posh accent drew the words out very formally.

"John was really affected by the case last night. I want to help."

Natalie and Vicki said their goodbyes and Natalie walked over to her desk and stowed the bags in the corner behind her computer and powered up. As she waited she went to check the communal coffee pot and finding the coffee less than fresh went about preparing a new one. While it was brewing she walked to John's office to see if he needed a cup and to say hello.

Like Bo, he wasn't in his office. His desk was a mess she noticed with an indulgent smile and set about organizing it the way she knew he preferred and gathered up some files that he'd signed to check back into the filing system, just as she had trained him. Underneath a new file she found crime scene photographs. The sticker at the corner confirmed they were from last night's murder, the one that was plastered all over the newspapers and on the radio and television news.

Used to seeing photos like this because of her work at the station and her unfinished degree in criminal justice she didn't think anything of looking at them. The first few were of the scene itself, the alley behind Crossroads, which was disturbing enough, but the ones of the body itself had her heart skipping a beat.

An icy chill ripped through her body, her breathing quickened and a fine sheen of clammy sweat broke out all over her body. The image in front of her blurred.

John and Bo were talking quietly to each other as they walked back into John's office. They had just come from the ME's office where they were briefed on preliminary findings and the status of the fingerprint and DNA database search. No identification had been found on the body and no one had yet lodged a missing person report that matched the girl.

"Natalie?" Bo was the first to see her standing, trembling behind John's desk, clutching the photos.

"Hey? Natalie?" When she didn't respond to their calls Bo and John shared a look and John walked over to her. He put his hand over hers and covered the photos from her view. "You shouldn't be looking at those."

Seeming as if she had just realized she wasn't alone, as if John wasn't touching her, she turned her head to look at him. John took the photos from her hands and put them on the desk and put his hands on her cold cheeks.

"Sit down. Put your head between your knees." John pushed her down.

"Wait. Wait." Natalie pushed his hand off her shoulder and shook her head. She walked a few steps away and took a few deep breaths to compose herself. "I'm fine. I'm fine."

Bo and John exchanged a serious look and Bo quietly walked out, closing the door behind him.

"Who is she, John?" Natalie turned as the door closed and look at John.

"We don't know yet. She didn't have any identification. No purse."

"You should ask Roxy."

"Why Roxy?"

Natalie walked over to the desk and reached for the photos. John lifted them out of her reach.

"I'm fine. Let me show you something." John reluctantly handed them over. "Look here, her nails. That design is Roxy's. Only she does those symbols, see they look like the symbols on the playing cards from Parker's Casino in AC. Far off the boardwalk."

"I'll have a photo enlarged and have someone take it over, thanks. Are you okay?" John tentatively put his hand on her shoulder. "That's a tough thing to see."

"I've seen it before, John." Natalie was embarrassed to have been so affected.

"I was thrown when I saw it myself last night."

Natalie put her arm around John's waist and he pulled her in for a moment, touching their heads together, drinking in her comfort and returning a bit of his own.

"There was something else about it that bothered you," Natalie said when he let her go and put the photos back into the file.

John looked up at her in surprise, then sighed and put his hands on his hips.

"Her hair," Natalie prompted.

"I knew you were back at the wedding, safe, but when I saw her hair spread out like that. The color." John stopped and blew out a breath. "It was like back at the Diner, for a moment I thought it was you."

"Yeah, well, I'm safe and I made you fresh coffee if you want it." Natalie picked up the files she was taking out with her.

"I'll get some on the way to Bo's office. Thanks for coming in today." John walked over to the door and put his hand on the doorknob.

"John? Why is your cheek red?" Natalie walked over and put her fingers over the welt.

"I had that talk you've been nagging me to have with Evangeline today." John drew out the word "nagging" to show he was teasing. "Gonna kiss and make it better?"

Natalie leaned up and pressed a soft kiss on his cheek. "I guess she didn't take whatever you said well."

"You could say that." John didn't tell her about the threats his former lover had made on her.