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Chapter 9

John took Lauren from Nat's arms and looked at her in his arms. She was sleeping and he could feel her warmth. John didn't know what to do first, he knew what he wanted to, he wanted to beat the crap out of Chris even more now than when he found out what he had put Natalie thru. He decided it was best to leave all that anger inside for now, for now since he was holding his daughter for the first time since finding out the truth. Her hair was covering part of her face, which was resting on his chest so he gently pushed it aside so he could look at her. Get a good look at her. He saw her start to move a little and he smiled.

" I don't know what to say, she's really mine, she's my daughter, it's a little overwhelming but, in a good way." John said, out loud, as he looked over at Natalie who had tears in her eyes. Natalie was on the verge of crying, he was so sweet with Lauren, and she just fit his arms as if she was a piece of his puzzle. She had never seen as much love and affection for Lauren from Chris ever and now she knew why.

Michael could see that John and Nat needed some alone time with Lauren when he motioned for Chris to leave with him, but Chris stood his ground and wouldn't leave.

" I'm not going anywhere, she has been my daughter for the past three years and she will continue to be my daughter, I don't care whose blood she has." Chris said looking at John. Lauren moved around in John's arms and started to wake when she heard Chris' loud voice.

If John wasn't enraged before he was now. He handed Lauren over to Natalie and he walked over to Chris, staring him down.

" Excuse us while Chris and I go outside to have a little talk" John said as he motioned for Chris to go first out the door. Chris didn't move and John started to pull him by the collar out the door.

"No John, he's not worth it and we need to figure out what to.. how to.. handle this" Natalie said stopping John as he was continuing to pull Chris out the door. She still had Lauren in her arms and then she asked Michael to take her out into the lobby with him so she, John and Chris could discuss what was best for Lauren. The three stood in complete silence for a few moments gathering their thoughts when Natalie spoke.

" You need to go back to NY Chris, stop calling to speak to Lauren, she will just forget about you and she will learn to Love John as he spends more and more time with her. I'm sure she won't miss you for long since she hardly ever saw or heard from you anyways." Natalie said looking Chris straight in the eyes.

" I'm not going anywhere!" Chris demanded, as he got closer to Natalie. John saw him move closer to Nat and he jumped in between them.

" Don't even think about it!" John told Chris into his face while they were face to face with John's back to Natalie.

"Chris, we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way. You no longer have any legal rights to Lauren and if you want to pursue things than I'm going to press charges, press charges about everything. Lets see how many paintings you sell after I tell the world you were abusive. " Natalie said towards Chris for she couldn't see him, John was blocking her view.

"I was never interested in raising McBain's spawn anyways, I just didn't want him to know about her, she's too much like her mother." Chris said spitefully as before he could get the last words out John pulled his arm back and punched him across the jaw. Chris stumbled backwards stunned for he didn't see it coming, that last comment more than made a bad situation worse so Natalie feeling like she just needed to hurt Chris again went around John after he punched him and kneed Chris in the groin. Chris hunched over in pain and John leaned down near his ear.

"If you ever go near my daughter or Natalie again I'll kill you " John whispered into Chris' ear and then he and Natalie walked out of the room.

Nat and John walked out into the waiting area and saw Michael sitting with Lauren on his lap. She looked better Nat thought, not as pale since they found out about why she was so tired lately, she was awake and seem to have plenty of energy. John walked over to Lauren and sat down next to her and Michael.

" Hey, are you feeling better? " John asked her softly almost afraid to talk to her. Almost afraid that she wouldn't like him, or even that she could never love him.

" Yeah, I'm all better says Dr. Mikey." Lauren said to John as she noticed her mom standing behind him.

" Mommy, I wanna go to the park, daddy promised." Lauren said to Nat as Nat moved next to her

" Lauren honey it's to cold for the park, how about we go home and you can play with your toys, or we can even watch that new DVD grandpa sent you?" Natalie asked shaking her head thinking how crazy Chris was to even suggest taking her to play at the park on a cold winter day in January.

"Can I have popcorn and ice cream while we watch?" Lauren asked excited and Natalie shook her head yes.

"Maybe my friend John would like to come too, why don't you ask him " Nat told Lauren. Lauren turned and faced John again. John looked straight into her beautiful innocent eyes and felt like he was going to melt.

" Wanna come? " Lauren asked and John nodded yes. Natalie picked Lauren up off Michael's lap and put her down so she could walk and the three of them started to walk out of the hospital when they saw Chris come out of the exam room. He was no longer holding his stomach or his manhood and he looked down as he walked trying to avoid eye contact with Lauren. Lauren saw Chris and smiled.

" Dadddy! I thought you left, we going home to watch a movie, wanna come? " Lauren asked Chris as Chris bent down to her.

" No, not today babe, I've got to get back to NY, really important stuff I have to do, and.. and I might not be able to see you for a while or even talk to you but make sure you take care of yourself. " Chris said while turning his head up slightly looking at John and walking away quickly.

"Daddy.. you didn't kiss me goodbye.." Lauren whined upset with tears in her eye's as she watched Chris walk away.

John bent down to her eye level and took his finger and gently wiped away one of her tears that escaped her eyes.

" Vanilla or Chocolate? " John asked Lauren

" What?" Lauren asked confused

" Do you like Vanilla or chocolate ice cream?" John asked as the three of them again started walking down the hall to go home.

It had been a very long day with all that had happen and at about seven o'clock after they had pizza, Lauren was exhausted, the three of them watched more than one kids DVD and Natalie wasn't sure if John knew what he was in for. He watched her all afternoon and evening like he had never seen anything so amazing before and he even played Barbie's with her. Natalie laughed when she watched him try and dress her babies, it was probably the funniest thing she had seen in a long time.

John was upstairs putting Lauren to bed while Nat was down stairs still thinking about all that happened between today and yesterday. The last two days seem to go one as if they were weeks, John had come back for a visit and he had found out he was a father. She had found out he was Lauren's real father, did that change things, she thought. He said he never stopped loving me and now we know about Lauren. She was brought out of her thoughts when John cleared his throat. Natalie looked and saw him standing over by the bottom of the stairs, near the door.

" She's a sleep, she had me read her some fairy tale book with a glass slipper and after only a few pages into it, she was already asleep." John said watching Natalie closely as she walked closer to him. They stared at each other for a few minutes neither of them speaking or knowing what exactly to say to the other. Finally after a few minutes the silence was broken.

" I guess I'll go know, it's been a long day, I know we have a lot of things to discuss but it's probably best for it to wait till tomorrow." John said hesitating while walking closer to the door. He was stalling; he didn't want to leave, not tonight, and not ever again. He was almost out the door when Natalie called out to him.

"Do ya wanna stay a little longer? I mean if you don't have anything to do. We could watch some television, real shows not the kid stuff we just watched most of the day." Natalie asked almost afraid too. Afraid because she didn't want him to go.

"No, I don't have anything to do, I wouldn't mind watching a little TV and relaxing." John said as he headed back into the house away from the door. He walked over to Natalie and she was smiling.

"Great, why don't you find something good to watch, I'll be down in a minute I'm going to check on Lauren." Natalie said not even trying to hide the smile on her face.

John sat on the couch flipping thru the channels with the remote control. She asked him to stay, he thought. Today had been a roller coaster ride of emotions for all of them, he just couldn't believe it, he was a dad, he had a daughter, and Lauren was his child, his child with Natalie. He wondered how things could get any better than that when he saw Natalie walk into the living room in her favorite pajama's.

John laughed and Natalie smiled.

" What? " Nat asked as John continued to chuckle

"It's been four years and I can't believe you still have those kitty pajama's" John replied with a smirk on his face.

" There comfortable" Natalie said as she sat down next to him on the couch.

" I can tell, there faded, maybe you should get new ones," John said with his smirk never leaving his face

" I don't just get rid of things that are comfortable even if they are a little faded" Nat said as she moved closer to John, she leaned in and so did he and they kissed.