"I'll see you home later tonight?" asked Antonio as he finished talking to Jessica in Angel Square.
"Yeah, I'm going to try and call Natalie from the office—maybe this time I'll be lucky and not interrupt her and John," she laughed as she covered her face in embarrassment.
"I told you John already apologized to me on the phone for his bluntness," laughed Antonio.
"I know—I need to go," she said as she gave him and kiss a turned. "Tell Natalie hi for me," he hollered.
"I will," she called back.
Antonio turned to head back to the apartment and get ready and walked right into Cristian, "Hey Bro—I didn't know you were around here."
"Yeah, I'm headed over to Mami's—did I hear that right? Is Natalie in London with John?"
"It's not what you think, man. We didn't even know where John was when she left—she honestly went there to sort through everything in her life."
Cristian didn't believe a word his brother said, "You're supposed to be my brother—you're supposed to be on my side. How can you be ok with them being together? She's my wife, Antonio—not his."
"I'm not."
"Sure looked like it to me."
"Cris—Natalie changed a lot while you were gone and John and Natalie—they both gained a well trusted and respected friendship."
"Are you telling me to give up on my marriage? Is that what your saying, Antonio?""
"I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying that maybe if you'd been more open to their friendship in the beginning none of this would have ever happened."
He knew what he was doing—nobody could tell him otherwise. They all denied that John and Natalie were together but he didn't believe them. John took away something important to him and now he was going to return the favor. That's all he could think of as he took aim and a shot rang out in Angel Square.
"Hi," smiled Natalie as she slipped into the corner booth at the Pub. "Sorry I was late—I started doing a little window shopping at decided to stop into a few stores."
"I see that," laughed John as he took a look at the bags. "Went a little overboard?"
"Yeah, but I just couldn't help myself—Oh no, I'm sounding like Jessica now."
"Far from it," he said while rubbing his eyes.
"You ok? You look tired."
"I stayed up doing surveillance on this guy and then had to write up a report—I haven't had much time to sleep," yawned John.
"Ok, well then I'm ordering you to go back to your hotel room and go to sleep—turn off the ringer on your cell phone and room phone."
"Can't do that," he said, shaking his head and yawning. "Sonia might need me."
"Is she doing surveillance on him right now?" asked Natalie as he just shook his head. "Ok, good. That means that you can tell her you are taking a required nap and if there's an emergency the only way to get in touch with her is coming by the hotel room."
"When'd you get to be so tough?" he chuckled.
"Life. Now go to sleep—I'm going to sit here and rest my feet for a bit before heading back home."
"You going to be ok by yourself?"
"Stop stalling, John," she said, not looking at him but instead studying a menu for something light to eat.
Natalie walked into the house and hadn't hung her coat up when Joey opened the doors to the study with the cordless phone in his hand, "It's Jess."
"Hey," she said as she took her coat off and put it in the closet. "I just got home from having dinner with John—what's going on with you?"
"I—wow, this is hard to tell you," said Jessica as she sat on the couch with Antonio standing over her. "Michael McBain was shot while leaving the Angel Square Hotel for work this afternoon."
"Oh no—is it serious? Is he ok?"
"Yeah, he's in surgery but they are pretty sure he'll pull through fine. That's not why I called— Cristian,"
"Don't say it—is Antonio there? Let me talk to him," she said as she kept her eyes locked on Joey's. "Antonio—did Cris do this? Did he shoot Michael?"
"He went to Mami's Diner and dumped the gun in the trash. We've got him in a cell right now. You don't have to come back if you don't want to—but we can't get a hold of John."
"That's my fault—I told him to go turn off his phones and go to sleep. I'll go tell him. I'm sorry Antonio."
"For what—telling John to actually go to sleep?"
"No, for causing my husband to shoot an innocent person. I'm going to come home too—can Jess leave my car at the airport?"
"Will do."
"Thanks," she said as she hung the phone up and hung her head for a minute. When she looked up her eyes were filled with tears as she stared at Joey, "I did this to him. I made him do this—I can't—I have to tell John about his brother."
"Hey—wait a minute. First of all it's not your fault Cristian did what he did. You had no control over him—I'm sure if Antonio had expected his brother to do something rash and crazy like this he'd have had him followed or watched. Don't blame yourself though."
"Fine, but I still have to tell John. When is the next flight to Llanview?"
"You can use the Buchannan jet, and you're going to need someone to take you to the airport. So go grab some clothes to throw in a bag—I'll get the car warmed up."
"Thanks, Joey," she said through a smile as she turned up the steps and took them two at a time.
Natalie knocked on the door softer than she meant to but quickly the door opened, "I thought I told you to go to sleep."
"I was—I am, I thought you were room service. You sent me to bed without dinner so I decided to get something here and then go to sleep—I can call down and order you something," he said as he went towards the phone but she stood in the doorway. He turned and could tell something more important than food was on her mind. "What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry—it's all my fault."
"What? Did something happen after I left?"
"I went home and Jess had called—they were trying to get in touch with you but I told them to turn off the phone ringer. Michael was shot earlier today."
John stood there for a moment before going to the closet and grabbing a bag, "Is he ok?"
"Yeah, they said he's going to pull through just fine. But—it was Cristian that shot him," she said as she began to cry a little. "I'm sorry—I feel so responsible for this. If I hadn't come to London, if I had forced myself to deal with it head on."
"Hey—stop, stop this right now. I feel better knowing you are here working out your feelings than here—he just shot a man for no reason, Natalie. What if he'd shot you instead? If I had heard he shot you—do you know how responsible I'd feel?" he asked as he stopped throwing clothes into the bag and walked over to her. "I love you Natalie," he said softly as he gave her a kiss.
Natalie gave him a smile at hearing those words, "I love you too, John. But that's not the problem right now—the problem is getting home to Llanview. Joey's downstairs with a car and the Buchannan jet is getting ready for take off now."
John laughed as he went back to grabbing and throwing clothes in the bag, "I usually don't like being told what to do or how to do it, but I guess this time I'll make an exception."