John rubbed his eyes from behind his desk—the words on the page were continuously blurry and he was unsure of why he was sitting here still. It was 8 am and he hadn't gone home yet, hadn't slept yet—not that sleep was ever a necessity in his life. There was a knock on the door and he looked up to see Antonio come in, "Hey."

"Hey. Have you been here all night? I figured when you didn't follow me to the hospital you went back to the hotel."

"Yeah, Sonia and I burned the midnight oil trying to get everything in order to put Tico away in a Fed prison for the rest of his life. So far we've got two murders, multiple hits put out, and bribing a judge."

"Sounds like your night was full of surprises."

"Yeah," he said as he rubbed his face. "But now—now I think I'm going to get some sleep," he said as he got up out of his seat and grabbed his jacket to put on. "Did Natalie get to the hospital safely? When I talked to her I was worried she'd drive so fast to get there she'd get in a wreck," he laughed as they walked down the hall.

"Yeah, she made it right after we got there. She asked where you were."

"I have to go interview Cristian later for Sonia—I'll probably see her then. She's not letting him out of her sight from the way she was acting last night."

"No, probably not—oh, and thanks for getting Cris out of there before I did."

"Where were you anyways?"

"Let's just say I was keeping a close eye on Jessica."

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

Natalie tried to keep from smiling as she stood outside of Cristian's hospital room, but it was no use. She had gotten Michael to call Carlotta and tell her that her son was in the hospital and was asking for her. She peeked back in the room one more time to see Jessica and Antonio sitting next to each other—maybe their lives would finally be normal again.

Natalie turned at the mention of her name and couldn't help but smile at Carlotta as she gave her a hug.

"Is he ok? What happened? All the doctor would say is my son is in the hospital," said a frantic Carlotta as Natalie gave her a hug.

"He's fine—it was just a few bumps and bruises, but he's completely fine. See for yourself," said Natalie as she motioned towards the door.

Carlotta's heart stopped as she saw Cristian lying in the bed and she ran and hugged him, murmuring Spanish the entire time.

"I—I think I'm going to go back outside—you three have a happy reunion," said Jessica as she patted Antonio on the hand and slipped outside with her sister. "Wow—that was great. I haven't seen Carlotta that emotional in a long time."

"Me too," said Natalie as she peeked through the window one more time to see Carlotta holding her son's hand tightly and Antonio coming over to his mother's side also. "I think Antonio might start acting like a Vega again too."

"That'd be a good thing," said John as he walked up to the two girls.

"Hey—thank you so much for last night. It was crazy, and I know you must have thought I should be in Saint Anne's when I called saying Cristian was in danger."

"Don't mention it—I was just worried about you."

"I didn't interrupt anything important with you and Evangeline did I?" she asked as he looked around and ignored the question. "Oh John—I'm so sorry. I'll talk to her and apologize. I swear, it'll never happen again," she said as she realized that Jessica had slipped off somewhere.

"Yeah, well Sonia wanted me to get Cristian's statement about Flynn being paid off by Tico. Is it a bad time?"

"Carlotta just got here—I'd give them a little bit before you ask him any questions."

"That's fine. You going to be ok here?"

"I'm fine John—I've got Cristian back now, you don't have to be my white knight anymore," she laughed at him and almost swore she saw a look of sadness in his eyes. "But you can still be my friend—we'll always be friends, right John?"

"Right. Take care, Mrs. Vega," he said with a wink before turning towards the elevator. Friends—that was all they were now—but if it was such a bad thing why did he feel like someone just stomped on his heart?

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

"What do you think is going to happen next?" asked Jessica to Antonio while they sat down in the cafeteria at the hospital.

"I'll tell you the first thing I'm doing—going to the station and get my job back. I'm supposed to be a cop and not a Spanish Mafia hitman."

"And I'm not supposed the be the head mobster's wife," said Jessica with a slight smile. "What about us—do you want there to be an us?"

"I've realized two things through all this—despite my parents, I'm a Vega and that you are the one I want to be with. Let's just take it slow, Jess—we've both been through a lot these past few months."

"That's what I was thinking about Natalie—she's been through so much I hope she doesn't—nevermind."

"What? What were you going to say?"

"She wanted to be with Cristian for so long, but whenever I see her around John I just think--."

"They should be together?" grinned Antonio.

"At least be given a chance. Isn't that wrong though? I mean he's your brother and my sister and here we are sitting down here trying to break them up so we can put Natalie with John."

"John's with Evangeline—let's just see how they act around each other before we decide to play matchmaker."

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"It just made me so mad, Nora—I've never felt this way before, but whenever he gets the call and runs off my blood just boils. Of course he just denies it when I see him afterward," spoke Evangeline as they walked down the hallway of the police station.

"Well, you have to expect it—he is a cop after all."

"It's not just that he's a cop—it's that he goes running after Natalie every time she breaks a nail. Last night—we're having this great dinner at the Palace and she called. All I heard him say was Cristian Vega's name and then he was gone."

"Wait—last night? Haven't you heard? Cristian Vega was found alive last night at Lion's Heart—John found him. John didn't tell you?"

"Well, I would have if she'd had answered the phone," said John as he walked around the corner after hearing everything Evangeline had just said. "Got a problem picking up the phone, counselor?"

"No. What I do have a problem with is my so called boyfriend running out on me to save his charity project from another mess she got in," snapped Evangeline.

"Well, you don't have to worry about it anymore because as of this moment Natalie is not my charity project and I'm not your so called boyfriend," yelled John as he stormed off and slammed his office door.