John raced into the station. "Bo! Did you find her?" He asked frantically. Looking around he saw that the station was practically empty. "Bo?" he called again.
Bo came out of his office somberly. "We haven't found them yet John." Bo was about to say more when Rex came racing into the station.
"Uncle Bo we got a problem!" Rex said urgently not noticing John standing there looking shattered. "I found out Cris killed Tico Santi to take over the business!"
"What?" John asked even more frightened for Natalie now.
Rex finally noticed John, "What are you doing here? Where is Natalie? Why do you look like that?..." Rex trailed off with his questions and looked between thetwo men. "Oh MY GOD? Where is MY SISTER?" He practically yelled at John.
John looked down, "I don't know. Cris came with a couple of goons and took her. Apparently they bought the code to my security system. We woke up and there they were. One of them knocked me out and Cris took her." John had tears in his eyes. It was all his fault. If he had just been more alert, if he had just had better security, if he had just done things differently.
"Well what are you doing to find her. If Cris has her she could be seriously hurt!" Rex sad urgently. Not placing blame on anyone.
"What you knew about this too?" Bo asked getting annoyed. "Who else knew that my niece was getting beat up by Cris. How come no one told me. I could have arrested his him!" Bo shook his head then said more calmly, "Now isn't the time for this. Lets just find her. I have everyone looking for them. If they came back to Llanview we will find them."
Rex looked at John and asked fearfully, "Just what exactly was Cris's mood? Do you think he is gonna kill her?"
John shook his head, "I don't think he will kill her but he was very, very angry that she left him. And. well... He caught her in bed with me so he might beat the crap out of her." The tears in John's eyes started to leak out. One by one they fell and John didn't bother to wipe them away. He looked at Rex, "I'm just not sure. All I know is we need to find her. I can't live the rest of my life with out her!"
Rex and Bo stood looking at John in shock. They had never seen him display such emotion. Rex had known that John was in love with Natalie but until that moment he hadn't realized just what his sister meant to the usually somber cop. To see him display such agony was a true testament to his feelings for Natalie. The wholefive weeks John had been looking into the Santi's for the FBI he had never shown a 10th of this depth. He was by the book, and cautious even. But now looked ready to tear the town apart looking for hislost love.
Natalie was more frightened then she had ever been before. Even when Cris had hit her before he had shown remorse. But now he was cold, ruthless. His eyes were hard and blank. There was no love in them. Just anger and hate. "Cris" She began hesitantly.
Cris whipped his head around to look at her, "What is it wife? Not the accommodations your used to?" He asked coldly. Laughing he finished cuffing her hands to a pole against the wall. He had her chained up with room to walk to the bathroom and sit on the bed but not enough room to reach the door. "I have to make sure you don't go running back to McBain. You need to learn that you belong to me. Your mine!" He stated with out emotion.
Natalie looked around the room again trying to see a way out. She didn't know where they were. She knew that they were back in Llanview but she didn't recognize the area. She thought it might be on the grounds of Lion's Heart but she wasn't sure. Cris had dragged her into a small room with a bed and a tiny dirty bathroom. There was a light on the wall but too far away for Natalie to reach. He had used handcuffs to cuff her to a long chain against the wall. "Let me go Cris, Please!" Natalie begged.
Cris balled up his fist and punched her in the side, knocking her to the floor. "OW!" Natalie yelped then started to cry. "Why are you doing this? I thought you loved me!"
"Keep whining and I'll hit you again," Cris growled, raising his arm to slap her. Natalie cowered on the floor. "You left me once and you won't do it again!" He snarled at her then seemed to soften, "I do love you Natalie, That's why I have to do this. I can't lose you again. Don't you know I can't live without you?" He said gently.
When he reached down to caress her face Natalie flinched back and his face hardened again. "So that's the way its gonna be then? Well we'll see how you like being chained to this wall for a couple of weeks. That will change your attitude real quick." Cris declared grinning at Natalie's horrified look.
"Weeks?" Natalie stammered. Bringing her knees up under her chin and leaning back against the wall she looked up at Cris in horror. "Your gonna keep me locked up here for weeks?"
"As long as it takes. You're my wife and until you realize that you are going to stay right in this room." Cris said as he left the room.
Natalie sat on the floor staring after him tears seeping out of her eyes. Who was this man? He was nothing like her Cris. What happened to him to turn him into such a cold hard man. When he had seemed to soften he had been more like the old Cris butNatalie saw right through that. He had been trying to manipulate her. She wondered if he had been doing that since he had come back. She wondered if she had just been to blinded by her love for him to see what was right in front of her.
Looking into his eyes this morning when she woke up had just confirmed what John had told her. Cris didn't love her. He couldn't to treat her this way. Tugging at the chain at her wrist she smiled to herself ruefully. This was certainly not how she had imagined her day would turn out. She had imagined waking up in John's arms and making love all day. Getting dragged out of bed by her ex-husband was definitely not on her plans.
Thinking of John made her feel sad. How was he? Was he regretting ever getting involved with her? She had never wanted to hurt John and that was what had happened. He had been hurt because he was around her. Thinking of John and all that he must be going through because of her made Natalie start to cry again.
After about an hour of crying and general self pity Natalie began to get angry. How dare Cris do this to her? She wouldn't give in to him. She would find away out of this stupid room if it killed her! Natalie thought to herself.
As Natalie began to get more and more angry she began to pace the room. Looking for anything that could be used as a weapon or something to pick the lock on the cuffs. She had torn the bed apart and then the bathroom looking for something. She found a little piece of spring that looked like it came from the box spring on the bed and thought it could be used to pick the hand cuff lock. She had also found a piece of pipe in a particularly dirty corner of the bathroom. Whoever had cleaned out this room had done an poor job of it. Now all she had to do was bide her time until the right moment.
Filled with renewed hope that she would get out of here and back to John, Natalie put the bed back together and fell into a restless slumber.
"Mommy, mommy!" A little girl with red hair said urgently as she swung higher and higher on the swing.
"Yes, what is it darling?" Natalie said smiling at the little girl.
"Mommy, look at me. I'm flying." Said the little girl happily. "Daddy! Mommy look!" The little girl exclaimed, "Look there is Daddy!"
Natalie looked over her shoulder and smiled a huge smile. There was the love of her life. "Hey.."
"Wake up. Wake up Natalie!" Cris said impatiently. He had been calling her name over and over but she didn't want to wake up.
Natalie woke with a start. "No" she mumbled she didn't want to wake up. She was having a wonderful dream. She had been dreaming that she had a child. A little girl. Natalie put her hand on her stomach. Maybe she was pregnant. It was a possibility after the night with John. Smiling softly to herself she secretly hoped that she was. Maybe the dream had been a vision.
"What are you smiling about!" Cris asked unhappily, angry that Natalie had seemed to have forgotten that he was even in the room.
"Nothing," Natalie said hiding her smile. She was going to get out of here! She had to. She needed to get back to John. Filled with hope Natalie decided that she would play Cris's game until she could find the right time to make her move.