"I don't know where that came from. I...I just said it, I felt it.I...I..it..it can't be true, my baby was dead, they told me, the Dr and the nurse both told me so" Natalie said standing up and going by the window to look out.
"Natalie, that's the thing, the D---" John said as Natalie cut off his words loudly and sternly
"NO John! It's not true, it can't be true," Natalie said turning slightly to look at him.
"It is Natalie, she's alive and I've seen her" John told her as he got up off the couch and walked over to her.
"No, you're lying" Natalie said shaking her head back and forth
"You know I don't lie Natalie, and you know I wouldn't say something like this unless I had facts to back it up" John said as he took her hand and stood in front of her. He saw the private debate in her head going on as she tried to process things, he saw the harsh stubborn expression change, she was realizing what he had said was true. Her eye's got even glassier and a few tears fell as she gave into it, into the sadness. John led her back to the couch without words for a few minutes.
"Tell Me" Natalie asked softly and John knew she needed to know all of it, the whole truth, everything so he started to explain it to the best of his ability. He was just hoping as he went thru the story he could keep himself strong, this was breaking his heart, telling her all that had happened and what these people did to her, but he had to be the strong one, for her.
"It seems... Dr Winters and his nurse delivered your baby, she was alive, they.. they gave you the C-section so...so.. he , winters, he could adopt your baby." John said holding her hands feeling her squeeze them as he spoke.
"How did he adopt my baby? I never signed any paperwork for an adoption, I mean if I remember it now, they were always asking me about putting the my baby up, I...I even remember something about Dr Winters wife, a rumor around the office, she was sick and couldn't have children, but...but I didn't sign anything, nothing, I wouldn't have, I wanted to keep my baby" Natalie said staring down at the floor for a few minutes and then she looked back up at john.
"But you did Natalie, they tricked you, you weren't in any state to sign it but you did" John said as he took a copy of the signed adoption agreement out of the file he had laid down on the coffee table when he came into the apartment. He handed it to Natalie; she looked at it and threw it back down on the table.
"That doesn't even look like my signature," Natalie said stubbornly
"But it is, it has some of the same characteristics as yours but looking at it compared to your every day signature it can be determined you weren't in your right mind when you signed it." John said as he picked up the paper and showed her the signature
"How did you...find all this out?" Natalie asked as she grabbed a throw pillow from the couch and held it to her body
"I met a nurse named Susan, she told me about it and gave me a copy of your file when I went to the clinic" John told her watching her clutch the pillow close to herself
"Why did you go to the clinic?" Natalie asked as she looked into his eyes
"I...I.I needed to know.. to know if I could make your dreams come true," John said softly hesitating at first
"What? " Natalie didn't quite understand what he was getting at
"It felt so right, I mean with Jess' baby and us, then you said you didn't know if it was possible for you, you know physically to have a child, so I went to the clinic before... before. That's not what's important here." John said stopping mid sentence and changing the subject back to what was important
"John, I'm too confused with everything going on to try and figure out your riddles, you needed to know before what?" Natalie asked as she watched his blue eye's get deeper in color.
"Before I asked you...asked you to marry me and.. and.. have my children" John said as he looked into her eyes. This wasn't how he had wanted her to know, it wasn't how he had planned to ask her and he knew there was more important things right now.
"All that's not important right now, what's important is you have a very much alive daughter and we have to figure out how to get custody of her." John said looking away briefly and then meeting her eyes yet again.
"It's still not making sense, I mean I went to the clinic that day, it wasn't scheduled, she wasn't moving inside me, there was no movement" Natalie told him trying really hard to fill in the blanks of this story.
"Michael said that was normal, she was probably positioning herself to be born and that was why you didn't feel her. I know this is a lot right now, it's been a long day for you and it isn't even dinner time, lets just let it sink in for a little while, here lay down" John said as he moved over on the couch so Natalie could lay down and then he laid behind her on his side pulling her back to his chest. They were silent for a few minutes when Natalie began to speak.
"John, you said you saw her, was she alright? I mean did she look o--" Natalie said softly staring at the wall across from her when John interrupted with his words.
"She was beautiful Nat, she looks just like you, and she seemed to be perfectly healthy and well taken care of" he said as he kissed the back of her neck. Natalie took a deep breath and then let it out, after a few minutes she spoke again.
"Thank you and it would be yes" Natalie told him softly while her fingers started to move up and down his arms that were wrapped around her
"What?" John asked just as softly but confused
"When the time is right and you officially ask me my answer will be yes" Natalie said as she felt him again kiss the back of her neck.
"I love you, and I promise you I'll get you your daughter back, I'll get her back for you and for us and then we'll have our family." John said. John and Natalie lay together on the couch neither slept but they took comfort in their warmth and love for each other.
Natalie laid a wake in his arms with a mixture of emotions running thru her body. John had just told her some shocking news, news about the baby she thought was dead, her baby from all those years ago, ten years ago, that baby was ten, ten years of a child that was he's was lost to her, ten years ago an awful man, a Dr she trusted had tricked her into thinking her baby was dead inside her and then he again tricked her into signing away her rights to her baby. Then the Dr adopted her, gave her to his wife and they loved her all these years and she loved them back, but she was my child! Natalie told herself, mine! They had no right to take her and love her, she was supposed to love me and I was supposed to love and take care of her. A few tears began to fall and Natalie jumped up out of Johns arms, she grabbed her purse and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" John asked her but he was pretty sure he knew the answer to his own question. He got up and went over by her at the door before she walked out of it.
"I'm going to get my child," Natalie told him in her stubborn tone.
"You can't, not yet." John told her and he took her hand, he closed the front door for which she had just opened.
"She is my flesh and blood and we've already lost so much time together, you can't stop me." Natalie said again opening the door but John again closed it.
"Natalie, a few more days or weeks isn't going to matter but if you go and he runs with her, you may never see her. We need to build a case, a smart case then we can get her back legally and for good," John told her as he saw her look into his eyes, they were tearing up.
"But she was my baby John, she was mine and they took her, they just took her." Natalie said starting to cry as the words came out, John pulled her close to his chest and held her as she shed her tears.
"She'll be here with you soon, I promise" John said stroking the back of her hair with his hands as he held her.