Chapter 7

Natalie sat on her couch all dressed and ready, ready for John to pick her up for a night of pool and burgers, today was her day off and they had spent an unbelievable time together, Natalie showed him around Llanview and she even got a chance to introduce him to Roxy, well that was a laugh she thought, they had gone there to ask her about the box with the pail and the sand in it, to ask Roxy about it cause It was beginning to bother Natalie, bother her in a weird way, weird that someone would leave it at her door, weird that the bow it was tied with reminded her of something, it was a girls pink hair bow with white hearts on it and it just looked so familiar. Roxy informed them that she knew nothing about it and it made her even more confused, she heard the doorbell and she jumped up to answer it. She grabbed her purse figuring it was John but when she answered the door there was no one there, she went outside and looked around and she found a child's doll sitting on her stoop, she bent down and picked it up. She looked at it, it looked familiar, she looked in the dolls red hair and there was another pink bow in it, the same as the one on the box, an awkward feeling come upon her and she dropped the doll, bending down to pick it up she had a flash, a thought, a memory, it was of a man giving her a doll. She couldn't remember anything else and she stood back up to see his smiling face as she did.

"Hey" John said as he approached her

"Hey yourself" she said dismissing her feeling of remembrance.

"What's that?" John asked seeing the doll

"Oh, I think someone must have dropped it here, maybe a girl scout or something, it is cookie season" Natalie said not wanting John's cop nature to read to much into it.

"I'll put it inside just in case someone comes looking for it" she said and she went in the house and put it on the desk in the hall.

"Ready to go" she said

" Yeah, but before we do I just.. I.. just want to tell you how much fun I had today, I can't remember having that much fun in along time, thank you, not only for opening up to me but for listening to me." John said as he gave her a shy smile

Natalie and John had talked all day as they went around town, John had opened up to her, told her about his dad dying and how it affected him, about his wife Caitlyn, and how much he had loved her although she was far from perfect, how much she had put him thru before she had died at the hands of a serial killer.

'I figured I owed you one, you know since you made me feel so safe last night, you didn't have to do that you know, you didn't have to stay with me, I still don't understand it, how can you make me feel so safe when you hold me when we just met." Natalie asked as they stopped walking near his car.

"I know I didn't have, but I wanted to, it felt right, I feel like I know you, I mean inside, when I held you it just fit, we just fit, it kinda feels like I've held you before, almost like I've always held you. " John said as he looked into her eyes, they stood near his car and she stood in front of him, she could feel it, feel it start to rise inside of her, the desire for him. She tried to control it but she couldn't. John felt it too and he grabbed her by her waist, pulled her towards him and her lips were on his in a matter of seconds, passionately they kissed till they were breathing heavy, John pulled back to catch his breath when he heard a noise in the tree's, his detective ears went up and without words he went over by where he heard the noise. There was nothing there, no one. He walked back towards Natalie.

"What's wrong?" She asked

"Nothing, just thought I heard something" John answered and he pulled her in front of him again, he put his arms around her waist and pulled her body close to his, he kissed her again, this time using his tongue, she was getting lost in the pleasure of his kisses and his tongue, she knew she had to stop him or they would take this further and she knew it better to wait.

"John" Natalie said softly

"We need to stop, stop before we do something else, before we go to far," Natalie told him

"We've already gone to far, maybe our bodies just wanna catch up," He said starting to kiss her again

John stopped kissing her after a few seconds and realized it was best to slow things down, he was having feelings for her, true feelings but he didn't want to rush it, he knew she might not be ready yet, so although his heart was telling him he wanted to be inside her, and now, his brain was telling him they should take it slow.

"We should slow things down" John said as he looked into her eyes and then Natalie nodded her head.

After Natalie beat John at pool they sat at a booth and started eating their burgers, they were having such a great time laughing and joking, talking about Atlantic City when a man carrying a pizza box approached them.

"Are you Natty?" the delivery guy asked her

"Yeah" Natalie asked confused and then the man handed her a pizza and he left.

"Wait, wait I didn't order this" Natalie said as she and John both tried to get the man's attention before he left. Natalie and john both looked at each other with the confusion evident on their faces. John slowly opened the top of the box to see a pizza with a girls hair bow thrown on top of it, Natalie recognized the bow the minute she saw it, it matched the others, Natalie felt weak and John noticed something off about her.

"Natalie, are you alright?" John said as he reached his hand across the table to hers

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just ...just.. this is strange" she said looking down at the bow on the pizza, that John had placed on the table.

"What is strange?" John asked becoming more and more concerned

" That bow, it was the same bow on the box of sand, and it was also on the doll I found this morning," Natalie said not wanting to sound afraid but she was getting a little crept out by all of this.

"Really," John said as he picked the bow up with a fork and he studied it without touching it.

"Maybe we should have the police investigate it further" John told her and he smiled

"Why are you smiling?" Natalie asked him

"Cause I heard the new chief of detectives is really good at what he does, I bet he could help uncover this mystery" John said trying to loosen the mood without alarming Natalie to his gut telling him there was something going on.

" Well, what is it the new chief is good at?" Natalie asked flirting, knowing John had taken the job with her Uncle. Bo had called her earlier and told her, Bo was unaware that Nat and John were becoming close and he wanted her to know from him that John Mcbain was staying in Llanview. John didn't know Natalie and Bo spoke, he was going to tell her tonight, he wanted to surprise her, he wanted to stay in Llanview, stay for a few different reasons but his main one was her. He couldn't and he didn't want to leave Llanview now that he found her. He didn't think he could stand to be anywhere else.

"You know don't you?" He said with a grin, figuring out she knew with the way she was flirting and grinning at him

"You really are a good detective" Natalie said and she leaned across the table and gave him a quick kiss.

John called the station and had them take the pizza and bow in to be analyzed. Then John dropped Natalie off at home.

He didn't want to leave her alone but she insisted and said her brother Rex would come and stay with her, Rex was only a few minutes away when Natalie assured John she would be fine, so John left to go to the station to check on the progress of the bow. He told her to lock the doors and reassured her he'd be back as soon as possible.

Natalie was upstairs getting on a pair of sweats when she heard the door bell ring, it was Rex so she ran down stairs and looked thru the peep hole in the door and saw no one, she continued to look thru the peep hole and she saw something on the tree across from her door, it was pink, it was another bow, she ran to the phone to call John, just as she picked up the phone to dial, she saw his hand first, he put it on top of hers on top of the phone.

"My Natty doll, I've missed you so much" the man said as Natalie grabbed her hand out of his hold on the phone and she backed up, she looked in his face, and as if it all came back to her, she remembered, she remembered him.