ABC Owns Them

Chapter 18

That night Eve had left Natalie and Thomas and went back to AC, Natalie thanked her and promised to bring Thomas by real soon for a visit. Natalie was just cleaning up the house a bit when the phone rang, she answered it and at first no one spoke.

"Hello" Natalie answered the phone

"Hello" Natalie again said into the silent phone

"Hey it's John, I called to see if we can make out some sort of Visitation schedule for me to see Thomas, maybe when you are at the shelter or something, so it doesn't interfere with your time with him." John asked her coldly and distant. Natalie knew why he acted the way he did and she thought maybe this would be a good thing, maybe now they could just be about Thomas and what was best for him. John and Nat spoke only about when John could see Thomas and they hung up the phone.

A month had gone by when John and Natalie had barely said two words to each other, two words about anything other than Thomas that was, John made arrangements to spend time with his son when Natalie was at the shelter for three to four nights last week and he was suppose to see him tonight but he was on a big case at the station, so he couldn't just leave the case. Natalie took Thomas with her to the safe haven. She had him in his playpen in her office while she did some paper work, she looked down on his happy face and she smiled at him, he was looking more and more like John everyday. He had his color hair and his face. She had wondered if John was happy as a baby, cause Thomas always seemed happy and John, well John was brooding, but not all the time, she remembered a fun side to John, a side not to many people got the privilege to see, she shook her head thinking about how messed up things were for them, the three of them. She heard a noise come from the hall and she looked up to see a little girl staring at her, she must have been about four and the little girl looked confused. She didn't recognize the girl and figured she was new to the shelter; Natalie had been off for the last few days, that was probably why she didn't know her.

"Hi, and what's your name?" Natalie asked the girl but the girl didn't answer, she just looked away.

"I won't hurt you why don't you come in and tell me your name, My name is Natalie and that's Thomas" Nat said as the girl took Nat's hand that was extended out to her and she walked in Nat's office.

"You do know your safe here right? No one's going to hurt you" Natalie told her and the girl nodded. After a few more minutes of trying to get the girls name Natalie heard a woman's voice calling out for a little girl.

"I think she's in here with me" Natalie called out softly to the woman she heard in the hall, the woman entered Natalie's office and saw her daughter.

"Hi, I'm Natalie, I don't think we've met" Natalie told the woman

"Hi, I'm Sandi and this is my daughter Tara"

"It's nice to meet both of you" Nat told her and the woman smiled, Natalie noticed that the woman's bruises on her arms and one on her face looked pretty fresh.

"I haven't been here in a few days and everything seems to be a mess. " Natalie told them trying to break the ice and see if Sandi would open up a bit.

"Yeah, things seem a little unorganized here last night, was that because you weren't on?" Sandi told Natalie

"Probably, although everyone is great, I have my own way of doing things, I'm a bit stubborn when it comes to the way this place runs and I don't always like change" Natalie told her as she took a seat in there chair and motioned for Sandi to also sit

"Is that your boy?" the woman asked as she looked around the office.

"Yep, That's Thomas" Natalie told her looking at Thomas is the playpen

"How old is he?" Sandi asked Nat

"Almost four months today" Natalie told her smiling towards Thomas when she said her words

"He's a cutie, he doesn't look much like you I guess he looks like his dad," Sandi told her and Natalie got teary eyed thinking again about him looking so much like John.

"I'm sorry, did I say something wrong"

"No, No, it's just his father and I aren't together any longer" Natalie told her trying not to be upset

"I see, did he.. did he hit you?" Sandi asked her quietly

"No, no he didn't, he's not like that"

"But you have been before haven't you?" Sandi said and Natalie shook her head yes.

"So if you don't mind me asking how come you're not with your kids father?"

"It's a long story, it's a trust thing" Natalie told Sandi and she looked away from her for a moment and looked again at Thomas.

"Well you obviously still Love him, did he fool around on you?

"No, that's not what it's about, I'm.. I'm just not with him, I can't be" Natalie said getting a little upset talking about John

"How come, does he not still Love you?"

"No, that's not it" Natalie said again trying very hard not to show how upset she was getting with all of Sandi's questions

"I don't understand if you love him and he loves you, he doesn't beat you, he doesn't fool around, is there something else wrong with him?"

"No, John's a great guy" Natalie answered her softly as her eyes teared up again

"So what's the problem, I mean look at me, I'm twenty two and I have a four year old with a man that beats me, do you know what I would give to have a good man, a great man, one that loves me and doesn't hurt me" Sandi told her and they heard Thomas cry out.

Natalie nicely excused herself as she took Thomas into the kitchen for a bottle. She thought about what Sandi had said about giving anything for a great guy, a great guy like John, she thought about all that he had done for her over the years, all that he had forgiven her, for the person that he was, she even let herself think about when he left and why he left, it wasn't that he didn't love her and she knew that. She looked at Thomas and she smiled, maybe she should just forgive him and move one, they could move on together, she didn't want to make anymore mistakes and not forgiving John would be a huge mistake, she was lucky to have someone like him, she remembered Kyle and what it was like to be with him, she was so lucky, lucky to be in Love with a man like John Mcbain. She finished giving Thomas his bottle and she closed up her office, things were quiet so she took Thomas and she decided she had to see him, see him right away, tell him, and tell him she was a stubborn fool.

Natalie drove to the police station to see him, it was late maybe about one am, but she knew he would more than likely be there doing paperwork. When she entered the station she looked around for him but the place seem to be in frenzy, she walked over to one of the officers she knew and asked him what was going on.

"Hey Davis, what's up?" Natalie asked officer Davis as she walked over by John's office

"Natalie, what are you doing here? I thought you would have been at the hospital by now" Davis asked her as he was confused by her presence

"What? Why would you think I'd be at the hospital?" Natalie asked getting an uneasy feeling about her

"You don't know do you?" Davis asked

"Davis your scaring me now, know what?"

"It's...It's.." officer Davis tried to say something when Natalie cut his words off.

"John" Natalie said as the uneasy feeling she was having turned into an unraveling of one. She ran out of the station and over to the hospital with Thomas in her arms.