"John," Natalie said softly as she again pulled herself out of his arms and looked at him.
"I'm. I.. I still don't understand, I'm still very confused, how could it be, how was it you? How was it you that saved me from him all those years ago, it really was you?" Natalie asked as John's hand reached up to touch her face.
"Yeah, It really was me" John said as he leaned in a little for a kiss but before his lips made it to hers, they both turned their heads when they heard someone clear their throat.
"I'm sorry to interrupt but I need to take Ms. Vega's statement now" An officer said as they both stared at him.
"Natalie if you're not up to it, it can wait." John told her
"Now's fine, I want this over with" Natalie said as she got up off the boxes she and john were sitting on and walked with the police officer over by his car. John followed behind for a few minutes and then he stopped and walked over by the crime scene. He looked around and then at the trunk of Louie's car, and then he turned and went over by Nat and the officer. By the time he got near them Natalie was already explaining what happened when Louie had stopped his car.
"I felt the car stop and then I heard him try and open the lock of the trunk with the key," Natalie said and she paused briefly and looked at John. John came up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder reassuring her he was here for her.
"I don't really know what happened next but then I heard a noise, a thump of some sort and... And then I heard talking, a few men maybe but I couldn't make out what they were saying. Then I heard it, a gun shot, I stayed perfectly still and I didn't make a noise and that's when I heard you guys, the car, then John opened the trunk." Natalie said brave not letting her fears come through when she spoke with the officers, not letting her disgust for the man that was dead come thru in her statement. After what she remembered she was glad he was dead, glad he didn't get the chance to hurt her, glad that he didn't get the chance to hurt any little girl again.
John and Nat stood there for a few minutes with the officer as he read thru his notes and then another officer approached and asked to speak with him and John alone. John looked at Natalie and she motioned that it was fine and the two officers and John moved away from Natalie and spoke.
The officer informed them that they got more information on Louie's dealings in prison and when he was out for the last few days. He explained how Louie was involved with some shady people who had big connections. John heard all this and knew this was a hit, a hit on Louie; it fit the way he was killed. John began to worry, worry that although Natalie said she didn't make a sound and it was very likely they didn't know she was even in the trunk, she could still be in danger, if they found out she was in the trunk. Although she knew nothing they might think she did, they might come after her anyway just to make sure. John left the officers and walked over by Natalie.
" Hey, is there something else, you look pretty intense, is there something else you need to tell me?" Natalie asked as she saw his stone face when he walked over.
"No, there's nothing you need to know right now, but I do think you need some rest and we still have lots of stuff to talk about, so let me take you home." John said as he put his arm around her shoulders and they started to walk away. Natalie stopped walking and turned to him.
"I don't wanna go back to Llanview yet, I wanna stay here, I.. I have a lot of things to work out in my head and I think this is the best place to come to terms with those things. You don't have to stay if you don't want to, I'll be fine alone," Natalie said really wanting him to stay with her but knowing she had no right to just assume he would.
"What ever you want, where ever you wanna go, I wanna go to, just as long as I'm with you." John said getting a little emotional for a minute. He hadn't had a prior chance to really think about what happened tonight, what could have happened tonight, she could have been taken away from him tonight. He turned his body and stood face to face with her, he took one of his hands and caressed her cheek. Natalie felt his hand on her face and she raised up her own hand and placed it on his. Their eye's told a story all their own without words needed. A story of fear, hope, want, need, love. After a few minutes Natalie leaned in and gave him a soft kiss on his lips. Slowly John returned her kiss with another, and after a few minutes of slow soft kisses John's cell phone rang. They heard his phone and it was a few minutes before they pulled apart and stopped kissing. They looked at each other as he pulled the phone out of his pocket and answered it never taking his eyes off of hers as he spoke to Bo on the other end of it.
"She's fine, she doesn't want to come home yet, I'll take good care of her, I promise" John told Bo as he stared deeper into her eyes. John hung up the phone and put it away. Continuing to look he spoke to her.
"Do you know where you want to go? You need sleep first so maybe a hotel or..or..or I still have my apartment here, would you want to go there? You know to sleep I mean."
"That sounds good, lets go to your apartment so I can get some sleep." Natalie said as she leaned in and gave him one more, quick, peck on the lips and they turned and went to John's place.
John and Natalie arrived at John's apartment within a few minutes. John opened the lock and they went in. Natalie walked into the middle of the main room, which was a combination living room and kitchen. She looked around the place and noticed it looked bare, the walls were bare, the floors, the room had next to no furniture. Is this really where he lived, she asked herself.
"How long have you lived here? " Natalie asked curious cause she couldn't imagine anyone living like this. She didn't even see a television or a phone. John stood a few feet behind her and was watching her back when she asked him that question. He knew why she wanted to know, the place was so unlike hers. Hers was full of life and people, his was nothing, there was nothing, not a single picture, not even a picture of his dead wife.
"About five years, I like to keep things simple and I'm on the road a lot." John answered the question he knew would come next, the why is it so empty question, but the truth was because he was, empty that was, up until a few days ago he felt empty. His life was empty, it had been five very long years but now with her, with just knowing her and the connection they had he didn't feel empty, not anymore. He felt for the first time in a long time like he had purpose and she was it, not just because he had saved her and not just because he wanted her really bad but because he loved her. He did, he loved her, and he knew she was his destiny even if she hadn't realized it yet. Someday she would and then all would be right in the world, in his world, in her world, in their world. John came out of his thoughts as he watched her walk over to the fridge and snuck a peek into it.
"Whoa! I think something died in there," she said as she waved her hand in front of her nose. Motioning that in smelt bad.
"Something probably did" He said as he laughed, he saw her yawn and it reminded him or why they were here, she needed some sleep, and so did he.
"Come on, I'll show you the bedroom, so you can get some sleep" John said as he walked passed her in the narrow part of the hallway. He stopped briefly as he was passing her body and he grazed it, her body that is. Natalie felt it, the jolt that always ran thru her when he was near and then the spark when he lightly touched her body with his.
"I don't want to sleep, I want you to make love to me" Natalie said as his lips didn't hesitate and they were on hers in a matter of a few seconds. He pushed her towards the open door of his room and then he softly lowered her on the bed as he watched her eyes. He watched her eye's carefully, John saw it in them, saw that she wanted him in them, saw that she needed him in her eyes, but he had to listen to his brain. It was to soon, to soon for this, to soon to make love to her, she had just been through so much in the last twenty four hours, she just found out that a man she trusted as a child tried to take advantage of her sexually and that man kidnapped her. As much as he wanted this and he knew she wanted this, the timing wasn't right. He was still kissing her when he pulled away softly. He again watched her eyes as he stared into them.
"Natalie"
"I know, I know now isn't the time for this" She said realizing it herself that the timing was off.
"We should just get some sleep, can I borrow a tee shirt?" she asked as she stood up off the bed, she didn't wait for an answer and she started taking off her clothes, taking them off leaving her in her bra and panties.
John saw her start to take her clothes off without hesitation as she asked for a shirt and he stood there frozen. Frozen because she was so beautiful, frozen because he wanted her so bad, he wanted to just make love to her over and over again but he couldn't, this wasn't about him and what he wanted or needed, it was about her. He quickly tried to free himself away from watching her as she continued to take off her socks when he reached into his dresser and quickly got her a long shirt. He quickly threw it to her when she was about to unhook her bra from its front clasp. She saw him get flushed as she caught the shirt, and she smiled.
"Would you like for me to take it off while the shirt is on first?" Natalie asked teasing him about taking off her bra. She looked towards his waist and she thought she saw his member start to harden and push against his jeans. John said nothing and she smiled at him again. She began to laugh as she saw him become uncomfortable by the growing erection confined to his pants. John shifted his body to adjust his erection so it wasn't so uncomfortable and he heard her again laugh.
"You think it's funny, don't you?' John asked her as she laughed, Natalie quickly slipped the shirt over her head and walked closer to him.
"Yeah, funny and hard, hard to be around you and keep my hands off of you," Natalie said as she stood in front of him, she grazed her hand over his erection in his pants and John knew this was going to be extremely tough, extremely tough to keep their hands to themselves but things needed to be worked out first, she needed to come to terms with what happened tonight and what happened when she was five.
"Go to bed Natalie, Go!" John commanded as he pointed towards the bed as she stood facing him. She gave him a small pout and went under the covers and lay down on her side facing away from him. John got under the covers along side her bringing his chest to her back and he wrapped his arms around her waist.
He heard Natalie about to say something but he spoke before she could.
"Just go to sleep Natalie, we can talk in the morning," he said as he snuggled into her hair and then they fell asleep. Sometime in the middle of the night John went to tighten his hold on her and felt she wasn't there. He got up out of bed, looked around and saw he on the floor sobbing quietly; she had her knees up to her chest and was rocking back and forth. John immediately went over to her.
"Come here" he said leaning down as he pulled her towards him.
"It's going to be alright, you're going to be alright, I'm here, I'm here." He told her as he carried her back over to the bed.
