"Jonathan, You're here" Michael said all cheery as John approached him at the bar.
"Yeah, well I almost didn't make it here in one piece, some idiot just backed their car out in front of mine while I was trying to park." John said moodily as he realized this wasn't the way he wanted to start his visit off with his brother, the brother he hadn't seen in years, the brother he felt like he barely knew.
" So, how's things? Are you still working at the hospital in town? " John wasn't quite sure what to talk about with his brother so he started with the usual small talk, they caught up on things and after a few minutes they left the bar to go home and sleep.
Michael had booked John a room across the hall from his at the Angel square hotel, Michael handed John his key when they arrived on their floor and they both started to unlock their doors when Michael turned around.
" I hope you don't mind I planned a little dinner party tomorrow night so you could meet some of my friends." Michael said as John turned to look at him.
" A dinner party.. Oh, alright, No I don't mind, will there be a lot of people coming?" John asked really not liking the idea of meeting new people, he didn't like people much, and he had no use for them.
"Great, Not to many people maybe eight or ten, maybe eleven if this really beautiful red head I've been interested in shows." Michael said, as he got all dreamy eyed. John saw the star crossed look on his face and he laughed.
"She's that beautiful Huh?" John asked as he continued to grin
"She's so much more than beautiful, she's..she's..I can't describe it, you'll see if she comes tomorrow." Michael said as he leaned his back up against his door.
"Have you gone out with her?" John asked trying to be a good brother, trying to now be the brother Michael needed, acting like he knew how to do this, be a brother that is.
"No, not because I haven't tried, shit I've probably asked her out a dozen times or more in the last month but she's got issues, says she's not interested but I know if she got over her issues we could probably have something great. Sorry, I know your tired see you tomorrow" Michael said and went into his room for the night.
The night was long as it usually was and she couldn't sleep. She tried to remember a time when she got full nights sleep and she knew she hadn't since the night before he died. She tossed and turned thinking about him, wondering when she would be able to let go of all her pain, all her heartache, sorrow, anger. She knew she would have to soon but there just wasn't anything out there that made her want to do it, nothing made her happy, she couldn't even remember anything other than him and pool ever making her happy. She drifted off to sleep and into a dream state.
She looked around in her dream but she couldn't see anyone, everything was white, until she heard him, call her name, she ran to him, she ran towards her husband, her Christian but it wasn't him, it was a man with longer hair, scruffy complexion, but other than that she couldn't make out his face, he took her in his arms and held her, held her close and she cried, before Natalie knew it her alarm clock was going off and she needed to get up, she needed to see her Uncle Bo today, she needed to know if there were any changes in the status of the investigation into Chris' death in Vegas. She showered and got dressed for the day.
John jumped up in bed trying to remember, remember the dream he had just had, at first he had thought he would be dreaming of his wife, his Caitlyn, the one woman he dreamt of every night for the past five years but it wasn't her, not in his dreams, this woman had the most beautiful shiny long red locks that extended down to the middle of her back. he tried to remember her face but couldn't , all he could remember was holding her, holding her close as she cried in his arms. John continued to try and remember his dream when his cell phone rang. He answered it and it was Michael telling John he couldn't spend the day with him, that he got called into the hospital to cover a shift. Michael assured him that he'd be back in time for the dinner party. Michael also hinted around that if John was bored he could check out the police department, Michael bragged at what a great department Llanview had and what great cops worked for Llanview. John quickly got the hint that Michael was sending and ignored it. John told Michael he'd meet him later for the party and they ended the conversation. John got dressed and headed out the door to see for himself why Michael thought Llanview was so wonderful.
Natalie's morning already wasn't going good when she quickly turned into the parking lot of the police station, she quickly pulled in and parked her truck in the only available spot in the lot. She jumped out of her car and proceeded to walk into the station as she heard some man screaming behind her.
" What the hell was that? Did you get your license from a cracker jack box?" John screamed at the back of a woman who just cut him off with out even looking, and then she took the parking spot he had his blinker on waiting for. He was steamed and didn't notice anything other than his fury.
Natalie slowly turned around when she heard he was talking to her, talking loudly to her. Natalie turned and John looked and saw her face, the face of an angel he thought for a minute as he forgot what just happened. That was until Natalie fought back with her own words, loudly.
"What's your problem asshole?" Natalie said as she watched a stunned man stand there, he came off all pissy at first and now he couldn't even speak. John quickly regained himself when she insulted him.
"You took my spot and you were driving nuts! " John said realizing he was mistaken; she was no angel, not with that mouth.
"Ha! Have me arrested then" Natalie said as she walked into the station ignoring him.
Wonderful place Llanview, nice people, my ass! John said as he ran into the station behind her.
" I think I might do that" John said as he grabbed her arm and started pulling her towards the offices and the front desk of the station.
"Get you hands off of me! Now!" Natalie said making a scene trying to break free of his grip.
" Excuse me, excuse me, I'd like to have this woman charged with driving a car erratically" John told the lady behind the desk. Natalie was now more pissed than before and she bite down on his hand, he screamed but never let go off her arm.
" What's going on out here!" Bo yelled coming out of his office. Bo saw a man holding Natalie by the arm and he slowly took his gun out.
"Let go of her or I'll have to shoot you" Bo said pointing his gun towards John.
"Put your gun away, is everyone crazy in this small town, I just wanted to have her cited for reckless driving" John said as he let go of her arm
Bo saw him let her go and he put his gun away. Bo walked over to Natalie.
" Are you okay? What's this all about?" Bo asked Natalie as he looked into her eye's to make sure she was.
"I'm fine Uncle Bo, this jerk is just pissed at me for getting the last parking spot in the lot"
John heard her say uncle to the man who seemed to be in charge and he threw his hands up in the air, as if surrendering. The Bo guy told him to stay put and then he and his niece went into the office to talk for a few minutes. John thought about what happened, how he flew off the handle, how he was over reacting to the whole situation, how once she turned around outside he calmed down only to get more mad, mad for ridiculous reasons, and then to pull a stunt of bringing her into a police station to have her cited for bad driving, that wasn't him, this wasn't something common for John, he was usually very calm, mild natured when it came to people, not criminals, people. But, this red head, full of fire, full of spark, full of anger. She seemed to get under his skin. He watched as the two came out of the office and she looked at him with a phony smile and left. Bo motioned for him to come into his office and he did.
"First thing I'd like to say is I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare your niece, it's Just.. just.. now don't take this the wrong way but she's a little hot tempered isn't she? And sort of a bad driver" John said to Bo as he took a seat across the desk from him. He noticed Bo laughed and then so did he.
"I'm Bo Buchanan, commissioner of police here at Llanview and who would you be?"
" John Mcbain" John answered holding his hand out to shake Bo's.
" Now, getting to back to my niece, I suggest you don't put your hands on her again, or next time I'll let her use my gun, she's a much better shot than she is driver." Bo said and they both laughed. John and Bo continued talking for a few minutes till Bo realized John must be Michael's brother he was always talking about..
"So, your Michael's brother? The FBI agent? " Bo asked John
"Yes, that be me, how do you know Michael?" John replied looking down
" I know Michael thru my fiancée, she's a doctor, and as I recall Michael telling me last week, you don't work for the FBI anymore" Bo asked
" Yeah, that 's true" John answered looking straight at Bo this time
" Well, I don't know if Michael mentioned it to you but we here at the station are in desperate need of a chief of detectives." Bo asked and then he saw John's face telling him he knew nothing about it. Bo told John all the information about the job including the pay, and John told Bo he wasn't interested but assured him he would give it more thought.
Later that night about sixish Natalie was sitting alone having a TV dinner when she remembered Michael's invite. She really didn't want to give him the wrong idea by going but she.. She just was so tired of being alone, she debated going for a few more minutes when she remembered Jessica and Antonio would be there, so she went to her closet to find something nice, nice, not to nice to wear. After taking a few minutes to decide Natalie wore a royal blue tee shirt with a rounded neck and she threw on a pair of her favorite faded blue jeans, her most comfortable boots and her black belt with bronze buckle. She looked at herself in the mirror she looked nice, nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary but nice, and she was comfortable. She headed over to Michael's place at the Angel square hotel.
Natalie arrived at the hotel a little passed seven thirty and she stopped at the front desk. She stood there for a few minutes getting panicky, she couldn't do this, not tonight, so she ran up the stairs passed Michael's floor and up to the roof, she went out on the roof and sat on the bench towards the back of the roof, she sat thinking, thinking and then waiting, waiting for the sun to go in, and within the next few minutes it did.
John was pretending to have a good time for Michael's sake, Michael was so glad he was here, he to was glad to be here, but his mind couldn't help but drift, drift to the angel he saw today, the angel with the foul mouth. He looked around the room and noticed there were maybe eight or ten people there and he was starting to feel smothered, he wasn't a party or big crowds type of guy. He told Michael he needed a little air and excused himself. He found his way to the roof and walked out on to it, he didn't even notice someone already up there when he closed the door and then walked over to the side of the roof to look out at the darkness.
Natalie saw the jerk the minute he walked out onto the roof, didn't he know she wanted to be here alone, she thought about saying something to him but she decided she wasn't in the mood for confrontation, so she quietly tip toed behind his back towards the door, she pulled on the door gently at first but it wouldn't open, so she yanked on it harder and she ended up throwing herself on his feet as he turned to look when he heard a noise. Natalie laid on his feet mortified, her hair in her face, she looked up at him and he was trying not to laugh at her but he couldn't hold it in, his laughter, and he laughed in her face, he leaned his hand down to help her up but she pushed it away and got up on her own.
"What are you laughing at, you Jerk" Natalie said wiping herself off.
