A/N: I wanted this chapter out before Christmas--oh well, too bad--boo hoo--you'll just have to deal with it. ;) Just kidding! You guys reviews always make me smile--glad I can give you all a little Jolie happiness while we dredge through another triangle/quadrangle on the show. Until next time--ya'll truly are the best--PCGirl

Natalie sat at the bar at Rodi's and took another glance at her watch—Jessica was supposed to be here thirty minutes ago and was still a no show. She took out her phone and dialed, "Hey—where are you?"

"Oh no Natalie—I completely forgot about girl's night. Todd gave me this huge story to work on and it's going to take me at least another two hours to straighten out my sources. Can we do it tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, I guess that's fine. I'll talk to you sometime tomorrow I guess," said Natalie as they said their goodbye's and she slipped off the stool and nearly ran into John—a smile appearing on her face immediately. "Hi."

"Hey—What are you still doing here?"

"Jessica said she'd meet me here, but--," she stopped as her phone began ringing and as she answered hers John answered his. "Sorry bout that—it was Cristian, he said he was going to spend some time with Antonio tonight."

"Ok—that's really odd because that was Antonio saying Jessica had a bad day at work so he was taking her to that nice restaurant that overlooks the river."

"No, Jessica just called me—she's working late at the Paper. What is going on here?"

John laughed slightly, "I believe we've been set up by Antonio and Jessica—I was supposed to meet Antonio here for a few drinks after work."

Natalie grinned at John, "Now why would they want to do that?"

"Maybe they thought we could use a good friend to shoot the breeze with," shrugged John as he looked at the pool table. "And a few games of pool?"

"I left my pool stick at home—but I guess that will give you more of a chance to beat me, McBain," laughed Natalie as she motioned for two beers to be brought over to the pool table.

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"It's weird not coming in here all the time anymore," said Natalie as they stood outside of the Hotel. They had ended up playing four games of pool—each winning two and deciding a draw was just fine. Since then they'd just been walking around Angel Square and talking about everything—except for three things—Evangeline, Cristian, and them.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I mean for so long I was coming here to see you, and then I was living here with Paul."

"You don't like living at the cottage now?"

"No, I love it. Everything is great, and I'm finally getting to make that place a home for both Cristian and us. It was only ours for a brief second before he was gone and then Roxy came in. Remember the tree last year?" she asked with a laugh.

"You think Cris will let you decorate the tree with a pink boa this year?"

"I don't know—I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask," she said with a shrug and looked around as her mind wondered what to say to him. This was awkward—it had never been awkward with John before—before Cristian came back.

"Hey—I've got some beer up in my room—you want to take them up to the roof and have a few before you head back to the cottage? I'm sure whatever it is Antonio and Jessica have planned it should keep Cristian from looking for you for another hour or so."

"Sure—that sounds like something fun to do."

"After you then," said John as he held open the door and motioned for her to walk in first.

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"This Christmas sure is different from last year's," said Natalie as she sat on the bench while John leaned against the wall looking towards her. "I mean last year—I thought Cristian was dead, and here it is—we're not running from serial killers either," she said with a laugh.

"Yeah—tell me about it. It's so slow at the station—I—nevermind."

"What were you about to say?"

"Nothing," he shrugged—not wanting to bring up his possible leave from the force.

Natalie knew he was holding back something, but let it slide—they were just friends from now on, he didn't have to tell her everything. "So anything fun planned for Christmas?"

"Yeah, actually," smiled John. "Michael, Shannon, and I are taking a flight down to Florida where we're surprising my mom on Christmas Eve. Figured it would make her day to have her two boys and niece with her to celebrate the holiday."

"I'm sure it will be—she always seems her happiest when she has you two around. And maybe with Shannon gone Rex will realize how much better she is for him than Jen," laughed Natalie. "Sorry, that was wrong."

"No, it wasn't—though I will say if he does anything to hurt her—your brother will have to deal with both me and Michael."

"Ooo—going to play big brother, are you?"

"I always do that with people I care about," he said and then got very silent.

"Natalie?" came a muffled call from the stairwell and Natalie's eyes got huge.

"Shh—I'm not here," said John as she tossed her empty beer can at him and he hid around the corner as she gave him a silent thank you.

"Cris—hi," she smiled as she turned to see the door open.

"Hey—what are you doing up here?"

"I visited Roxy for a bit and then came up here to see if it was going to snow—I don't think it is," she said as she looked up at the sky and Cris came behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Wouldn't it be great if we had a white Christmas?"

"Yeah, I guess it would be nice. You ready to go home?"

"Uhm, sure—no reason to stay up here," she said with hesitation as Cristian took her hand and led her down the stairs.

John couldn't help but hear the hesitation in her voice when she left—he hoped it was because she'd rather be with him, but he figured he'd have to wait a bit longer and let Natalie make the first move—she was always good with doing that.

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John heard the tentative knock on his door and looked up to see Antonio come in, "Hey. How is Jessica feeling?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, she's fine—just had a bad day at the office, you know how it is. Sorry I had to bail at the last minute—she just wouldn't take no for an answer."

"It's ok, you don't have to apologize," he said as he realized Antonio was about to start digging for what he did last night instead—too bad he was going to come up with air.

"So what did you do last night instead? Anything interesting?"

"Unless you call sitting in my room last night and listen to the radio interesting—nothing."

"Nothing? You didn't find someone else to hang out with?"

"Nope," said John as he kept his head down and avoided eye contact.

"Well, Bo's got some stuff for me to do—I'll come by later," said Antonio as he backed out of the door and turned to go find a place to call Jessica.

John grabbed the phone and before he was done dialing he was smiling, "Hey."

"Hey," smiled Natalie as she walked into her bedroom and shut the door. "By the tone of your voice I'm guessing you were just questioned by Antonio as to what you did last night."

John laughed, "Jess over there?"

"Yeah, came by for breakfast—I didn't tell her anything, did you tell him?"

"Nope. Figured I'd let his mind wander for a bit."

"Or make them feel like that failed their mission. About last night—when Cristian came in—thanks for not letting him know you were there. I know there were a few things I said—about how he's acting so different, but I still love him and want this to work—if he saw me with you last night I don't know what would have happened."

"It's ok, don't worry about it," he said as Antonio opened the door and peeked his head inside. "Antonio's here—if I don't talk to you before I leave this afternoon have a Merry Christmas."

"You too. Bye."

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"So what do you think they did last night? I mean they are both saying nothing and avoiding eye contact?" asked Jessica as they sat at a table at Rodi's. John had to get some things done before he left so he'd declined lunch—said to just bring him something from wherever was closest.

"Something happened, but I think they also know what we did."

"Set them up?" asked Jessica as she turned to see Natalie walking in and towards their table.

"Hey. You two talking about John and me?" she said with a grin as Jess blushed and looked down at the table. "We had a good time last night—talked and laughed a lot—which is what we needed. And now—I need some help from the both of you," she smiled as she pulled the chair backwards and straddled it as she told them about what she was thinking of doing.

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"Explain to me why I'm helping you do this?" laughed Antonio as he looked around the station real quick with a red sack on his shoulders.

"It's—he helped me get in a good mood last year on Christmas by doing this. I'm just returning the favor. You sure he's not going to show up before we get this finished?" asked Natalie as she closed John's door and put her bag down on the floor.

"Not if we work fast."

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"Any messages for me, Marcie?" asked John as he walked into the station to go by his office for a few more minutes before packing it up and meeting with Michael and Shannon to head to the airport.

"No messages—but you did have a package delivered to your office. They didn't say who it was from, but Antonio signed for it," she said as she kept her eyes on what she was typing.

"Thanks," he said as he wondered who'd send him anything and continued to his office, humming a little carol out loud as he walked. The humming stopped as he opened the door and his jaw dropped—scattered around his office had to be somewhere between thirty and fifty fruitcakes. He saw a note that looked like Antonio had written it, "Check your messages."

He picked up his phone and dialed to get to his messages quickly and smiled at hearing Natalie's voice, "Hey John. I guess you are wondering what's up with the fruitcakes—actually you should know what is up with them. I was just returning the favor. Tell your mom Merry Christmas for me—and hope you have a Merry Christmas yourself. I'll see you when you get back—bye."

John hung up the phone and laughed—grabbing a few boxes to take to Bo, Daniel, Nora and anyone else that was still around the station.