"It's like Christmas all over again," laughed John as he sat down the box and opened it up, digging through all the stuff he'd had sent behind him. He didn't have time to put it all away at the moment so he just sat it to the side and soon was at the bottom of the box but the papers he wanted weren't there. "Crap," he muttered under his breath and grabbed his calling card and the hotel phone.

"Llanview Police Department," spoke Marcie.

"Marcie—hey—it's John. Can you put me through to Antonio's office?"

"Sure John—one second."

"Antonio Vega."

"Hey Vega—how you doing without me?"

"Tough, but I'll manage," he laughed. "What can I do for you Mr. FBI agent?"

"I'm just temporary—nothing for sure yet. I think I left some papers in my office. Have you ran across them? They were—,"

"In the bottom drawer. Yup, found them the other day. What do you want me to do with them?"

"Here's the PO box I just got—send it there," said John as he continued to give the address and the hotel telephone number and room he was in.

"So that's where you are? That's—uhm—interesting."

"How so?" he said as there was a knock on the door. "Sonia's here—you think you can get that sent today?"

"Yeah, will do. Tell Toledo hi for me," he said as he hung up the phone and took a second before picking it back up and calling Jessica to tell her where John was.

Natalie walked into the cottage and shut the door, turning quickly when she heard footsteps on the stairs and saw Cristian standing there, "Hey."

"I've been trying to call you," he said as he kept walking down the stairs and over to the couch. "Seems like nobody wanted to put you on the phone—or was that your choice?"

"I'm sorry, Cris. It was my choice," she said as she walked towards him slowly.

"You made me mad Natalie—I mean you're my wife and here you go running out on what was supposed be an important day for us. And then I can't get a hold of you for days—I couldn't even get it out of Roxy where you were. But you're back now—and that's all that matter's," he said as he went to her and tried to give her a hug.

"No—Cris wait. There's more to tell—this past year I've been through every emotion possible while not knowing which way I was going from one day to the next. And when you finally came back to me I thought my direction would be clearer, but it's still pretty murky."

"Ok—we can work on that. I love you, Natalie."

"And I love you too, Cris. But what I need to do is be by myself for awhile—away from Llanview. I'm going to London this afternoon—I'm staying with Joey and my Dad. I don't know how long it's going to take to straighten out my head, but I do hope you'll still be here when I do come back."

"But you are the same Natalie—nothing has changed, you are still the same beautiful, fearless, strong woman I married—I can see that."

"I think you want to see what you want to, Cris. You weren't here this past year when—."

"When what? When you fell for John McBain? Don't tell me you didn't, Natalie—I've seen how you are when he's around or his name is mentioned."

"This has nothing to do with John—," she said as she watched Cris' face show doubt. "Ok, maybe it does. I have to tell you the whole truth about us two—we were never a couple, it got close to that point a lot—especially once," she said as she flashed back to that night.

Cristian will always be a part of my life, and I will always love and miss him. But he wanted me to live my whole life, not be a shrine to him.

"But in the end neither of us were ready for anything—like I told you before. I thought I loved him Cris—maybe I do, and that's why I ran the other night. I love you and I love him—and when he left that night I was feeling the same thing I felt with Uncle Bo told me you were dead."

"You fell in love with the man that took a year from us!" shouted Cristian

"HE DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THAT!" she screamed back as the door opened and Rex walked in.

"Hey—Natty, your phone rang and I answered it. The plane just landed at the airport and Mom, Viki and Jessica are going to meet us there. You ready to go?"

"Yeah," she said as her temper went back down and she turned towards Cristian. "I have to figure out who I am now Cris—but I know I'll always love you," she finished and then turned to Rex, who put his arm around his sister's shoulder and left.

"The plane is ready whenever you are," smiled the attendant at the airport gate.

"I guess this is it," said Natalie as she took a deep breath and looked at her two families. She walked towards Rex first and gave him a hug, "You have been the best little brother these past few days—I'm just glad I know I can leave town and not worry about you going back to Jenn. You aren't planning on doing that, are you?"

"No," he said with a laugh. "I like Shannon—she's something different than the usual girls I'm into."

"I think its cause she keeps you in line, Rex. I love you."

"Love you too, Sis," he said as Natalie released from the hug and went to Jess.

"You know—if I didn't have so much work to do at the Sun I'd come to London for a week or so. I might still do that—I'm sure we can have some great shopping excursions in London," smiled Jessica, trying to keep the tears back.

"Oh, before I forget—Kevin called and said he wanted to be here but couldn't. He did give me a message though—he said he's sorry he hasn't been a good brother to you here and he already talked to Joey and told Joey to make it up to you for the both of them."

"I don't how I became so lucky to have two wonderful sets of siblings," laughed Natalie. "Please have Antonio go check on Cris later—I'm worried about him."

"I'm sure Antonio already has that planned—now you better hurry," said Jess as she gave her a big hug.

"Ok," she said as she went to Viki and Roxy. "On Christmas both of you told me to find happiness. I really hope I do because I want to—someone once said that I deserve to be happy for everything I've gone through in my life."

"Oh sweetheart."

"No, it's ok because I already realize if I hadn't had Roxy for a mother and everything hadn't happened the way it did then I wouldn't be the person I am today. I love both of you for what you taught me while I was growing up and what you've taught me since I met you." Her eyes were filled with tears and she realized if she said the rest of what she was thinking she'd never be able to get on that plane, "I love you both—and I'll call you when I land in London," she said giving them each a long hug before turning and walking through the door that lead to her plane.