"Welcome back, boss," smiled Antonio as he looked up from his desk to see John come around the corner. "How was your vacation? Mine without you hounding me was great," he said with a laugh.

"Same here," smiled John as he walked towards his office and Antonio followed him. "Anything happen while I was gone?"

"The same day you went on vacation Nat and Cris went on their honeymoon," said Antonio, waiting for a reaction from John.

"That's great, but I meant work wise."

"That's all I get?"

"He's your brother Antonio—and he deserves her, I don't. End of story—ok?"

He gave up trying to get anything else out of John now, "That's fine."

"Good—you've got a week of cases to get me caught up on. So if we're done discussing your family then take a seat and let's get started," he said as he pulled the first file out of the stack and began reading over it.

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

John waited at the bar at Rodi's for his and Antonio's lunch order to be ready for pickup. He'd been pretty quiet all day—despite Antonio's constant bringing up of what he did during the week and the small bits he'd heard of Cris and Natalie's honeymoon.

There wasn't much to it though—he spent sometime at a nearby Pool Hall and a few times he went to one of the casino's to try his hand at blackjack. The rest of the time he'd stayed in his hotel room and to himself—except for one night when he met up with Roger for a few drinks.

"So John—what's new with you?" asked Roger as he watched his former colleague drift into space.

"Nothing much. Just got through a murder case and big bust all in one night. Boss gave me a few days off—said I needed it," he said, rolling his eyes in jest.

"Where's your lady friend?"

"Who?"

"The red head—I saw how you were around her before. Don't tell me you two aren't an item yet," laughed Roger.

"We're—friends," said John with hesitation.

"Friends," said John quietly as he came back to reality and looked up in time to see Natalie walk through the back door. "Hi."

"John—hi," she said, startled at seeing him, though he did brighten her day some.

"What wrong? You having a bad day?"

"No—it's just my first day back from our honeymoon and I found out I have two nights off between now and Christmas. I was just hoping I'd get more time to spend with Cris—not that the past week was good. How was yours? I heard before I left that you'd been given a week off," she said as she made herself stop rambling in front of John.

"It was—slow, but good. I talked to my mom—she said hi and is happy for you," he said as silence followed with them looking at each other and away.

Natalie couldn't stand it and broke the silence, "What's wrong with us John? We're sitting here in silence staring at each other because we're friends—we've always been friends so what is so different now? Is it impossible for us to be friends?"

"No, it's not—trust me."

"How do you know?"

John took a look at the pool table and saw it was empty, "Come with me."

"What are you doing?" she said with a slight laugh as she stood there and watched him push all the balls into the pockets except the cue ball, eight ball, and the two ball.

John turned around, smiling brightly and at the same time thinking this was crazy to say out loud, "The first night I was on vacation I was watching this pool tourney in Las Vegas and this kid—he had this shot right here to make to win. The commentator said it was impossible to pull off—and I said what you said—that our being friends was impossible."

"And did he make it?" she grinned at watching him this ecstatic about anything.

"Yeah—try it out," he said as he motioned her towards the pool table and began pointing out where exactly to hit the two ball to get the eight ball in the side pocket. "I'm going to touch your back to position you right—don't jump."

"I—I won't," she choked out the words as she took a deep breath at feeling his hand on her back.

"Straight ahead, Vega," he whispered before standing back and watching her sink the eight ball into the pocket.

"I did it!" she shouted as she jumped up and turned to hug John. "So what does this mean?"

"Yeah, what does this mean?" asked Cristian as he walked up behind the two of them—seeing the whole thing unfold from the door.

"Cris—hi," smiled Natalie as she gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek. "John—was just putting something into perspective for me."

"Well, isn't that nice of him," he said glaring at John.

"Natalie—I need you up here. McBain—your food is ready," shouted Mac from behind the bar.

Natalie walked past Cristian to get back to work but when John tried to move Cristian pushed him back, "Let's make something clear—McBain. Natalie is my wife—and I'm back, so I seriously think you should take your lunch business elsewhere—not here and not at my Mami's diner either—are we clear?"

"Yeah—sure—whatever," said John as he walked past Cristian and went to pay for his food.

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

Natalie finished wiping down the counter at the end of the night and looked to see Cristian staring at the pool table, "Let me get my coat and we can lock up."

"That's fine," he said as he waited for her to come around back to the front. When she did he finally decided to ask, "Where did this come from?"

"It's—it's the one from Crossroads that John bought."

"And you still play—why is that?"

"I enjoy it—John and I have had some good games at times," she said as she tried to think of a game she didn't enjoy with him.

"What went on between you?" asked Cristian as he stood there trying not to let his voice rise too much.

Natalie knew what she wanted to say—a handful of kisses, a couple of fantasies, and one extremely close call—but instead she just replied, "Friendship—that's all that ever happened or will happen with me and John."

"Is that all you ever wanted to happen?"

She finally decided it was time to be honest, "No. At one point I wanted more than friendship, but we weren't at the same place in our lives at that point."

"What does that mean?"

"He hadn't gotten over Caitlyn and I was still grieving for you so nothing ever happened. Then we grew apart and I did some things I am really really ashamed to say I ever did. And then you came back to me. I'm sure I can tell you how rotten of a person I became while you were gone Cris."

"No, it's ok—I can see I'm upsetting you now with all of this. I love you Natalie—I just want to make sure I'm the only one that does."

"You are," she said, hiding the uncertainty in her voice. "I'm tired, Cris—can we go home now?"

"Yeah, let's go," he said as he put his arm around her and left.