ABC Owns them

Chapter 6

John helped Natalie out of the shower once she was all clean, he guided her to the other room where he helped her put on a nightshirt to sleep in. without words he led her under the covers and covered her back up once she was settled in comfortably. He started to walk away to go change and she grabbed his hand as he did. She looked at him and he knew what she wanted without words.

"I just have to get out of these wet clothes," John told her as he went in the bathroom with his clothes and changed into sweats. John walked out of the bathroom and pulled the covers down and climbed into bed behind her. He pulled her back to his chest and could feel she was close to falling sleep.

John held her as she slept and his mind couldn't help but think about the what-ifs. What if he didn't think about the cottage, what if he hadn't gotten there in time? What if that man had a better grip on the gun then it would be Natalie they were sending to the morgue. What if she hadn't come back at all? John desperately tried to get all those images out of his head when a few more popped into it. The images of Kyle Anders making marks on her body, scars like the one he found. He heard her cry out in her sleep and he pulled her closer knowing he would never let her get herself into a position like that again. A position where an abusive man hurt her, physically or emotionally. He said a silent pray and tried to get some sleep.

Somewhere in the middle of the night Natalie had moved her body around so she was facing him, she had one arm draped over his body and his arms were still around her waist. She woke slowly and she saw his face, she felt his arms on her and she needed to feel him, feel him closer, she brought her body to him as close as possible and she brought her lips to his chest, she started kissing her way up towards his lips as she felt him respond to her actions. John felt as if he was still asleep and he felt her body on his, then he felt warmth actions on his lips, it felt right so he started to meet her actions with her lips on his, he took her lips devouring them, deepening their kisses, with each deepening his need growing more and more. John moved his hands down her backside as he pressed himself closer and closer to her body. One hand made it's way towards her chest and he opened his eye's realizing what was going on. He stopped and she knew it. She too opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Natalie" he said softly

"Now isn't the time for this" he said still very softly as he moved his body away from hers a few feet.

"Are you kidding? I should've known. " She said sitting up

"Natalie" he said as he watched her get angry

"I should have known you wouldn't want me know, know that I'm damaged, damaged goods" she said as she got up out of the bed and searched for her stuff.

"You know that's not true" John told her as he got up out of the bed.

"No, I don't know that's not true, I don't!" she told him as she gathered her stuff and walked towards the door. She was about to open it was he put his hand on the top of it preventing it from opening.

"It's just to soon, It would be a mistake this way, you've been thru to much last night" John told her as she continued to be mad.

"To Soon! A Mistake! I've been thru too much last night, hell last night was a walk in the park compared to what I've been thru over the last couple of years" Natalie told him as she tried to open the door again and he still wouldn't let her.

"Why don't you tell me what it is you've been thru?" John asked her

"Why don't you tell me again what it was you told me last night? Last night at the cottage?" she told him meeting his question with hers. John stood dumbfounded, he couldn't say it, and she just glared at him.

"Unbelievable! I should have fucking known!" Natalie said at his inability to again repeat the words that he loved her.

"Let me out! I'm real good at dealing with my own problems" she told him as he released the door and let her leave. She walked out and heard a few soft words come from him as she did.

"I love you," he said softly knowing she heard him, he also knew this wasn't about that. It was about her being in pain and having no outlet, that was the same reason he didn't want them to make love, he didn't want their Love making to be about pain. He wanted it to be about their love for each other.

Natalie didn't flinch when she heard the words she always longed to hear from him; instead she continued to walk up the stairs to her room. Once completely in her room she closed the door and stood behind it, she pulled herself down to the ground and let herself cry, she continued to cry for a few minutes when she picked herself up off the ground and got herself ready for her morning run as if nothing happened.

John stood in his room just looking at the door for a few minutes wondering how to help her, what could he do to help her get over this. He came to no real answers to his questions and he showered to begin his day.

Natalie ran, she didn't pace herself and she ran thru Llanview as if running from something, running from the images of Kyle in her head, images of his dead body laying on her and the images of him trying to choke her to death. She so desperately wanted to get those images gone, she needed them out, she ran faster and faster till she ran so far out of town she was almost into the next one. She stopped out of breath for a minute to regain herself and she looked around. She almost couldn't believe what she was standing in front of, Crossroads. Crossroads was right on the border of Llanview. She looked at the old building in amazement. She didn't remember it being so big before, she went to the door to try to pry it open but it was locked up, she looked in thru one of the front windows and saw thru towards the bar area, there was a broken window by it, she walked around to it and cracked the glass that was left on the window and she was able to just slip in thru the broken window.

Once inside she looked around, she smiled to herself remembering all the good times she had in his bar, with Chris, with Ben, playing pool, she even remembered meeting John here for the first time. She continued to look around as she went in thru the kitchen, it was a fairly large kitchen she thought as she remembered the bar had an upstairs that use to be set up as a few apartments that Max Holden once rented out. She went upstairs and looked around, she started to form an idea in her head, it had the perfect location she told herself, and it was big enough to start, far enough off the beaten path, sort of secluded. Ben would've loved for it to be used for something so worthwhile. She pulled out her cell phone and made a few calls.

A few hours later she sat at a dirty table waiting for a few contractors to show. She had gotten Max's phone number and spoke with him about buying it and he told her he would donate the place to the shelter. After finding out that he and the kids were doing fine she grabbed an old yellow pages and started calling contractors to get started on it. Here is where she waited for hours just coming up with a plan, a plan to make this a safe haven for women who felt they had nowhere else to turn. A few more hours had passed and all the contractors that she had appointments with left. She stood alone going over plans and ideas for the shelter as she looked at her watch and realized she had been there for almost twelve hours, it was almost nine in the evening, she heard a noise and fear set in for a minute until she saw him standing at the door looking at her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him as he walked into the bar.

"I've been looking for you all day," he told her as he approached her

"And why would you be doing that?" she asked him as he got even closer and they stared at each other.

"Because I was worried about you," he told her studying her eyes

"I see" she said disappointed by his answer.

"And because I Love you" John told her as he saw her eye's tear and he leaned in for a soft kiss hoping it would help to ease the pain she was trying so hard to ignore.