ABC owns them

Chapter 15

John was heading towards Chris when he saw Nat step in between the two and then John heard the shot just as he was upon her. She fell back into his arms instantly and he saw all the blood. John pushed back his anger and fear and grabbed a near by dishtowel and applied pressure to Nat's wound. John screamed for Chris who was still in shock to call 911 as John continued to apply pressure to Nat's stomach. Nat was still conscious but was very weak when she motioned for John to bring his ear closer to her mouth and he did.

"Lauren" she said barely able to get the words out.

"Take care of Lau-," she said as she lost consciousness

" It's alright Nat, you're going to be alright, you have to be" John told her when he saw her lose consciousness. He brought her body up towards his chest and he held her. John looked up when he heard Chris sobbing in the corner.

"Chris!" John screamed across the room

"Where's Lauren? Where is she Chris?" John asked as Carlotta came into the room. Carlotta heard the shot and was worried, so she came down stairs by herself to see a hurt Natalie being held by John and Chris standing in the corner crying.

"She's upstairs asleep" Carlotta answered John

" I didn't mean to do it, I.. I.. didn't mean for her to get hurt," Chris continued to say over and over again

"I think I killed her, Mami, I shot her" Chris continued to cry as they all heard the sirens of the ambulance getting closer.

The EMTs worked on Natalie for transport to the hospital as John got up from her side as Bo and a few officers arrived. Bo saw his niece on the gurney and he saw John full of blood, he also saw a pitiful excuse of a man crying into his mother's arms.

" John, what happened to my Niece?" Bo asked stern for he was unsure who and what had happened to his favorite niece. John looked towards Chris and Bo followed his eyes.

" He shot her," John said, as he looked Chris straight in the eye's telling this broken man that it wasn't over.

Bo went over to Carlotta and Chris; he started to handcuff Chris, tightly twisting the handcuffs as tight as they could go causing Chris' wrists to almost bleed. He read him his rights and handed him over to one of his officers.

The EMTs were ready to transport Natalie when John turned and didn't know what to do first. He needed to be with Natalie, but Lauren was upstairs and he couldn't leave her here.

" Bo, Lauren's upstairs can you stay with her? Call Rex and ask him to take care of her till I know what's going on with Nat" John said as he followed the EMTs out to the ambulance not waiting for an answer.

" Take care of my girl, John" Bo screamed to him as John jumped in the ambulance with the EMTs and Nat and they headed to the hospital.

John was in a haze of fear and guilt, fear that she might not make it and guilt that if he hadn't left she wouldn't have been put in a position for Chris to hurt her again. The whole way over to the hospital he just sat there a few feet away from the love of his life as the EMTs worked to keep her alive and stable till they reached the hospital and wondered about losing her. He couldn't lose her now that he felt like they found each other again. Lauren, he thought to himself, what about Lauren? How am I supposed to tell her Natalie's hurt? She's too young to really understand but she's gonna know something's off when Nat isn't around to take care of her ever again. No! I mean to take care of her for a little while, while she recovers cause she will recover, she just has to. John felt the ambulance stop and they rushed Natalie into the hospital thru the doors and into the ER where Michael met them.

Michael took one look at John behind the gurney before looking down at the person on it and knew, he knew, it had to be Natalie. Michael called a few nurses and told them to page Dr. Miller and they rushed Natalie into one of the emergency rooms.

John just stood outside the glass window to the room she was in watching, praying, hoping. A few minutes later Michael came out.

"Mikey" John said as a soft as a whisper

"She's lost a lot of blood, her pressures low and she needs surgery to try and remove the bullet." Michael told him as he walked John over to the seats in the lobby.

"We're hoping for the best here John, so don't give up hope. I thought you might want to hold this" Michael said all this as he made John take a seat, then he handed John their Grandmothers ring. Michael started to walk away.

"Where...? Was she...?" John spoke but it was useless he couldn't get the question out.

" It was on her finger " Michael answered and John realized the whole time he was holding her waiting for the ambulance he never thought to look, to look an see if she had decided to wear it. He had more important things to worry about right now so he didn't think anymore about it. Michael was walking away when he turned around and looked at John.

"Grandma's ring, huh?" Michael said and saw John's face get a little grimmer.

" I'll be in there with her John, in surgery, I'm not going to let anything happen to her like with dad. I promise you, Natalie will be out of surgery before you know it and raising hell about something. Trust me, alright? " Michael reassured John and then met the gurney as it was being pushed to the elevator to take Nat to surgery. John saw it come out of the room and ran over by it. He kissed her hand as it passed him and softly told her he loved her. The gurney got on the elevator and John returned to his seat and put his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.

John was still sitting with his head in his hands when Nat's family arrived. They arrived all at once and made a huge commotion with their entrance. Asa was demanding to know what was going on and Kevin was fighting with a nurse about information, then John felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Bo there.

"How's Lauren? Is she with Rex? Did she ask for Natalie? I hope you didn't tell her anything?" John asked quickly and nervously. He had forgotten about Lauren for a little while there, what kind of father would do that, he thought. One that wasn't use to being one, but I better get use to it, if something happens to Nat, he shook his head clear of those thoughts when Bo answered some of his questions.

"She's fine, she didn't even wake up at the diner and Rex took her home to sleep in her own bed. She doesn't know anything." Bo told him

"How's my Nat?" Bo asked John as john stood and ran his hands thru his hair.

"I'm not exactly sure, she was taken into surgery a little while ago and Michael's in with her" John said as he walked over to the wall next to the room she was in earlier. Bo followed him knowing he needed a friend right now.

John looked down to the ring that he kept in his hand this whole time and pushed it around in his hand with his fingers as he leaned up against the wall.

" Is that a ring?" Bo asked as he watched John carefully

" Yeah, my grandmothers. She ... Natalie was wearing it when all this happened. It probably caused it to happen." John said feeling a little bit more guilty about the whole situation.

" John, don't go there. This isn't your fault, it's Chris', he's sick, there is something wrong with him that no one knew about." Bo said trying to reassure John that this wasn't his fault

" She knew about it, I knew about it and I still left, left her and Lauren here with the knowledge of what he had done to her before, what he could do to her again. I should have been here," John said as Bo got a confused look on his face.

"John, had Chris done something to Natalie before this? Something physical that my niece never told me, or told any of us?" Bo asked getting angry at the thought that maybe Chris had previously laid a hand on Natalie and that he hadn't seen the signs himself.

John was about to answer him and tell him the truth, tell them all the truth, although he knew she wouldn't want them to know, he wanted them all to know, know what kind of a person Christian Vega had become but before he could tell him Michael walked over to them and Natalie's whole family gathered round to hear if she was alright.