John shuffled the folders on his desk around as he thought about what Michael said before--to not let Cristian win the war. He didn't want to let Cris win--but then he didn't want to be the cause of a failed marriage. The way Cristian wasacting though, the marriage might just fail by no fault of John's.
If that was the case--then there would be no harm in staying close friends with Natalie in case she needed a shoulder to cry on. John grinned at how he justifiedhis future actions--but then, Natalie was worth it.
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Jessica walked into the cottage with extreme hesitation—her and Antonio had talked long into the night and this morning over coffee also about what to do—let Cris alienate himself and Natalie from everyone but themselves, or try to give John and Natalie one last chance at making something happen with them. John and Natalie had won.
"Hey—is Cristian here?" asked Jessica before she began her interrogation of her sister's life until the name John came up—which she knew wouldn't take long.
"No, he went over to the diner to see Carlotta before I was up. I'm surprised I slept in late," said Natalie as she feebly attempted to straighten the living room that she had already straightened three times before.
"Well, how well could you have slept after last night? Did you two talk at all?"
"No—it's getting harder and harder to talk to Cristian about his actions lately. He's blaming every single little thing on John. You have no idea how difficult it's been lately, Jess. I mean I love Cris—don't ever think that I don't, but I keep waiting for John to walk into Rodi's while I'm working and challenge him to a game of pool," she said with a slight wander in her eye at the past games they'd played.
"Then why don't you? I mean you two still are friends, right?"
"Yeah—but Cris doesn't like me even talking to him."
"Oh god Natalie—John was your friend for a year, you two almost became more than friends a few times. Cris just can't expect you to forget the past year. John saved your life how many times?"
"I know that—do you think I'm not grateful for John being my white knight for the past year? But now I can't focus on that at all—Cris is back in my life and he's my husband and the man that I'm ready to spend the rest of my life with."
"Then why are you upset about not playing pool with John?" grinned Jessica. "I mean like you said—Cris is the one you want to be with, not John—right?"
"Right."
"Ok, well you keep making your heart believe that and maybe one day it will be true. I have to get to the newspaper before Todd decides to fire his favorite niece."
"Jessica—you cannot leave me after saying that," said Natalie as she turned in her chair and watched her sister walking out of the room.
"Sure I can—I'll see you tonight," she said with a huge grin on her face, knowing the seed was planted into her sister's head now.
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"Glad we could be of service," said John to the elderly white haired woman as he and Antonio walked away from her apartment after returning her purse that was stolen while she was out shopping the day before.
Antonio looked over at John and could read his face, "This isn't exactly the reason you signed up for the force, is it?"
"No," laughed John. "This isn't exactly what I had in mind—maybe I should take Sonia up on her offer after all," he said under his breath, thinking to himself.
"You talked to Sonia?"
"Yeah," said John as he realized he'd thought out loud without trying to. "I helped her with a few contacts for her new case last night—it's nothing big, but it's definitely connected to what I've dealt with in the past."
"And she asked for your help," finished Antonio as he tried to decipher why John was so nervous about saying that.
"Nothing is in stone, it would keep my senses more fine tuned."
"Quit kidding yourself—you are getting tired of returning stolen purses and petty crimes for a living, and I don't blame you," laughed Antonio as his phone rang, "Hello."
"Hey. I need to talk to you about something I found out this morning—can you come by when you get a chance," said Jessica as she sat behind her desk at the newspaper.
"Sure. I'll be over there in a few," he said as he ended the call and put his phone back in it's place. "That was Jess—said she needs to talk about something. You want to me to drop you off at Rodi's and you pick up lunch for the two of us—give you a chance to hear Natalie apologize profusely."
John tried to hide the idea of seeing Natalie after days of avoidance so he just gave a nod and got into the car silently.
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"Hello," smiled Jessica as she looked up to see Antonio coming into her small office. "How are you today?"
"Good—and you?" he smiled as he leaned over and gave her a kiss.
"I'm good—I might have put a seed in Natalie's head though earlier."
"It's ok, I think I did the same thing with John."
"Are we doing the right thing, Antonio? I mean Cristian is your brother and my friend—and here we are trying to break up a marriage that never even had a chance."
"Well, it might still have a chance if John does what he was talking about."
"What? Antonio—don't you hold out on me now."
"John's been talking to Sonia a lot—she's on her next case and was asking for his help. He was thinking of joining her and they work together—give him a change of scenery for awhile."
"But Sonia was on the Santi case for seven years—if this one is bigger than the Santi case then he could be gone so long that it doesn't matter when he gets back."
"First, there will never be a bigger case than the Santi's and second—we're just going to have to work harder to get these two where they belong—together."
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Natalie kept looking towards the door and at the clock—she was trying to be patient, but kept hoping that John was going to show up for lunch today. She kept telling herself it was because she needed to apologize for the way Cris treated Michael and Shannon and nothing to do with what Jessica had said.
"He'll be here soon enough," said Mac as he walked up beside Natalie.
"Who?"
"McBain—you keep watching the door waiting for him to come in," he said with a grin as she tried to argue with him and he motioned towards the door and she turned to see John walk in.
"Hey," she said with a smile.
"Hey. How have you been doing? Everything good with Cristian?" he asked Natalie as he put two fingers up to Mac on how many orders he needed today.
"It's good—everything is really good," she said, not even believing herself. "Well, except for last night."
John gave a slight chuckle, "Michael and Shannon came by earlier."
"Oh no—I'm so sorry—they must think I'm horrible."
"No, it wasn't your fault at all—and they know that. Cris—he's just got to learn that we're living here also and not going anywhere."
"I keep trying to tell him that, but I think it's useless," she sighed.
"Let's get off the topic of Cristian—ok? Anything fun planned for your only other night off before Christmas?"
"Yeah, it's tonight actually—Jess and I are going to rent a bunch of movies and just have a girl's night."
"Sounds like you'll have fun—and you deserve it Natalie," he said as Mac brought out a brown to go bag and John handed over his money. He gave her a smile and began to leave but stopped and looked at her, "Listen—I know you're with Cristian and I want it to work for you, but if you ever need someone other than Jess to vent to—my door is always open."
"Thanks," she smiled brightly.