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Chapter 18

"John"

" No, Nat, hand over the files, I'll take care of Izzy don't you worry that pretty little face about it, I'll find him and he'll pay for the hell he put you thru" John told her as she handed over the files still a bit reluctantly.

"Thank you" John said and he looked around to make sure no one was around and he kissed her quickly but softly on the lips.

"I've gotta go meet agent Hower and Smith, can we meet up later?" John asked as he took her hand for a second

"Maybe" she said playfully

"Maybe Huh?" John questioned enjoying her playfulness

"Yeah, maybe that is if you're up for another date" Natalie told him with a smirk on her face

"Oh, I could go for another date, especially one that ends like last nights did" John said playfully and as he got a twinkle in his eye.

"I'll call you later, why don't you go and get out of this place, Bo's not gonna let you do anything here today"

"Yeah, I guess I will, maybe I'll go see my mom" Natalie told him and John walked away going into an office to meet with Hower and Smith.

Natalie waited for John to out of hearing distance and she picked up her phone.

"Hey, it's me, I need your help and don't say no cause you owe me and you know it" Natalie said and she told Harry on the other end to meet her at Rodi's in ten minutes.

Natalie walked into Rodi's and saw that Harry was already there, she took a seat after saying hello and got right to it, right to what she needed from him.

"I want you to help me find Izzy Foley, before you saying anything, I know you're on leave pending review and I'm not suppose to be working on this case, well actually the LPD isn't suppose to be working on this case but, the way I see it your owe me"

"Natalie, do you really think this is a good idea?"

"I don't care if it's a good idea or not, that man, caused me lots of pain, that was our case, Foley was our case and I'm not going to just let the Feds come in here and take over, I need this Harry, I need to find him myself, confront him and then maybe I'll feel like I can be a good cop again, good as new or even better from the experience" Natalie told Harry as she continued to tell him what it was she needed help with, Harry agreed to help her, he too wanted to put Foley behind bars, they ordered lunch, they were in the middle of eating and laughing when they hadn't noticed John and Tony walk in.

John heard her laugh as soon as he walked into Rodi's, she was laughing and that was a good sign, he looked to see who she was with and it was her partner Harry, a feeling of jealousy came over him, out of no where, he was her partner, he shouldn't be jealous of her partner but he was.

John and Tony walked over to the bar and ordered food and a beer, John turned around several times to watch her as she was so freely talking to Harry.

"Hello John, earth to John" Tony said as he saw him looking over his shoulder to look at Natalie

"See, I told you she isn't good for you, she and her Partner seem close, are they sleeping together?" Tony asked and John just about jumped out of his skin.

"What the hell would make you say something like that?" John told Tony hostile

"Nothing man, I'm sorry, they just look intimate that's all"

"Are you trying to piss me off?" John told him as he looked back at Nat quickly to see her walking towards the bar, she still hadn't seen him, or at least he didn't think she had seen him. He faced his eye's straight ahead looking at the glasses on the wall, behind the bar.

"Hey" Natalie said as she approached them, John nonchalantly turned to look at her.

"Hey, I didn't know you were here, I thought you went to see your mom"

"John, are you lying again?" Natalie asked him softly but seriously

"Yeah, I saw you" John told her as he took his beer and escorted her over to the side for a minute to talk privately.

"I'm sorry, I... was actually getting a little jealous of Harry, I know it's ridiculous he's your partner and all but then Tony said something about you to looking intimate like you slept together or something and well, I got weirded out by it." John told her and she smiled, John took a slug of his beer

"Thanks for telling me the truth, and Tony was right, Harry and I have slept together" Natalie said and John spit his beer out across the room. Natalie laughed at his response to her lie.

"Natalie"

"I was just telling my own little lie, doesn't feel good does it?" she said and he smirked at her. Harry walked over to them.

"I've gotta go, Nat. I'll be in touch" Harry said as he said good-bye to her and nodded bye to John.

"I've gotta get back to Tony we're going over paperwork, "

"Call ya later, we can go out maybe?" John told her as he leaned into her cheek and kissed it.

"I'm going home after my mom's if you just want to come over when you're done with work?"

"Okay, I can do that" John said with a huge smile on his face, he turned and walked away. John and Tony discussed the case and how in a few days they would set up surveillance at the location an informant told them that Izzy might be at.

A few hours later John knocked on her door, it was almost dinnertime and he hadn't spoken to her since lunchtime at Rodi's. He had missed her, he couldn't believe it, he hadn't spoke to her in a few hours and it was like he couldn't go another minute without talking to her, he continued to knock on the door, but she didn't answer, he got an uneasy feeling but it was gone the minute she answered the door.

"Have you been here long? I was blow-drying my hair and didn't here you" Natalie told him as she opened the door and let him in.

"Nope, just got here" John said as he walked into her apartment and shyly kissed her cheek as he passed her standing by the door. John took a seat on the couch and she came and sat next to him, Natalie pulled a pillow and held I close to her chest, they looked at each other for a few minutes before Natalie spoke.

"So, What do ya wanna do?" she asked and she saw a wide grin form across his face. She smacked him with the pillow gently and smiled back at him.

"You know what I meant. Do you want to go out, or maybe watch a movie, cards, I don't know a lot about you, what is it you like to do when you're not working?" she asked and she saw him trying really hard to think about her question.

"Other than play pool once an awhile, I really don't know, I don't usually have any time other than work, and what time I have I usually don't have anyone to spend it with, so I usually just watch TV and sleep."

"Really? That's it? All these years, you've been about the job and nothing else?"

"Well, there was my fiancée for a few years many years ago but I still worked a lot, she didn't seem to care to much about that, she had her own stuff"

"Well, I could see how she ended up with someone else, if all you ever did was watch TV, sleep, and work. Not much fun for a woman"

"Yeah" he said and he smiled

"Alright then. Like my brother the CEO says I'm gonna make an executive Decision" Natalie said and she went into the kitchen and grabbed the phone, she dialed, then she leaned her head out of the kitchen while on the fun briefly.

"Pepperoni or sausage?"

"What?"

"On your pizza, pepperoni or sausage?" she said and he smiled

"Pepperoni" he screamed back at her

"Good answer" she said and she finished placing the order for pizza. Natalie came back into the living room with two beers in her hands and she sat back on the couch next to him.

Natalie turned to him.

"The pizza will be here in twenty minutes, maybe we... should. That's if you want to.. Maybe learn a little more about each other, maybe we could just ask each other questions so neither of us has to feel uncomfortable about just openly talking about ourselves." she said a little nervous, she wanted to know more about him but she knew by what she had seen of him so far that it wasn't easy for him, so she decided this would be the best way to get him to open up, so she could find out more about the man behind the Agent Mcbain exterior.

John smiled when he heard her say they should get to know each other better, that was what he had wanted but wasn't sure how to go about it, then she said they could ask questions and he couldn't help but smile, she was so damn smart, she had already known how to make something he didn't like to do, something that was like having a tooth pulled be easier on him, she definitely could read him and she definitely knew just what to do to play him.

"You first?" Natalie said as she watched him think things thru in his head.

John thought for a few minutes then he just asked the question that was on the tip of his tongue even if it was one that should maybe wait till later.

"How many men have you ever been in Love with?"

"Wow! You go right to the good stuff don't you? No beating around or wasting time on nonsense" Natalie said with a slight smile

"FBI agents have no time for nonsense," John said matching her smile with his own. He saw her trying to figure out what and how to honestly answer his question.

"I'll rephrase it if you like, have you been involved with a lot of men" John asked softly not sure if he really wanted to know the answer to that one

"Like that one is any better, no It hasn't been a lot, two or three, it depends on what you consider involved." Natalie told him

"I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable"

"Your not, I.. I just don't want you to think bad about me, I've.. I've made some pretty stupid mistakes with men." Natalie told him as she looked into his eyes

"I couldn't think bad about you if I tried" John said as he watched her face, she looked almost as if she was blushing, just getting slightly pink in the face, he shook his head and laughed for he thought it was something so cute.

"Thanks for that, Okay, I'll start from the beginning, a few stupid guys in Hs, then there was Seth, big mistake but I'll get into that more later, then Chris sort of, then my first husband the marriage was annulled, then Chris again, I told you about my marriage to him. So I guess maybe five really like four, my sort of first husband shouldn't count"

"You've been married twice?" John asked her softly but in a serious tone

"Unfortunately yes, Mitch Lawrence"

"The Mitch Lawrence, as in the cult leader"

"Yep, that's was my sort of first husband, thank God that mistake was annulled and he's dead" Natalie said as she looked into his eye's. His curious eyes.

"Okay, my turn, same question"

"A few fast girls from HS" John smirked and he laughed when he saw her laugh.

"Two, I've only been in love twice, once with Caitlyn and then now" John said softly, he reached his hand over to her face that was facing him while they were still sitting on the couch, he touched her cheek gently, as they stared into each others eye's.

Natalie heard him hint to being in Love with her, it wasn't a secret cause he had hint to it before, said he was falling for her and she knew he meant falling in Love with her but he had never actually said the words, she shook her head as she continued to look into his eye's as he caressed her cheek. She knew she couldn't expect the words so soon, she knew although they were going down that road it was to soon, too soon to pledge an I love You to, to either of them, from either of them. She smiled after a few minutes and then she leaned in and softly took his lips.

Natalie kissed him with such tenderness and longing, she was in Love with him already and she knew it, she had been trying so hard to fight it and then they made Love, beautiful Love and there was nothing, she had never experienced anything like it, her heart already belonged to him, it was already his and when her heart came to something like this, it just didn't lie.