A/N I do not own John McBain or any of the other OLTL characters. All others are my own creation. Please don't sue cause I am broke and have nothing to be sued for anyway.

Chapter 18

"No!" Shelly screamed again sitting straight up in bed. "No!" she said again then dissolved into tears. It had been a vision, a vision of Natalie, Rex's sister being raped. She still felt her terror, still heard Natalie's cries in her head. "God!" Shelly gasped out. "Have to help, have to get to her." She said hysterically.

"What is it?" John asked soothingly, trying to comfort her. "Shh... it was just a bad dream." He though maybe she was dreaming about the car chase.

"No! He... She... glass..." Shelly tried to get out through her terror and her tears. "There was so much blood." She got out before she started to shake. Trembling violently she relived the vision in her head. Her body jerking and letting out small moans of pain as her brain forced her to remember every detail of that horrible vision.

John was frightened he had never seen Shelly act like this before. She clung to him like he was the only stable thing in her world. Her slim body shaking violently as she relived some sort of traumatic experience in her head. Be it real or imaginary he couldn't be sure. He just held her as she shook trying to think of something to say that would help. Finally she stopped shaking and trembling and he pulled back and looked into her face. He was terrified by what he saw.

Her face was blank and her eyes were glazed over. It was as if she had retreated inside herself unable to deal with reality. He had seen this type of behavior before but only from victims of terrible and usually extremely violent events. "Shelly" He questioned softly then a bit more loudly, "Shelly!"

Still she didn't respond, she didn't hear him. She wasn't able to handle all this it was too much, to fast. Retreating from the world and hiding in her own private place Shelly hid from everything, not seeing, not hearing and most of all not feeling.

John didn't know what to do she had been sitting there for hours just staring into space not responding to anything. He was at a loss for what he should do so he called Michael and told him to get here right away. He knew he was taking a chance but he couldn't leave Shelly this way.

Michael was working at Llanview hospital when he got the call. Walking down the hall he spotted Bo Buchanan. Bo was here to visit Nora Buchanan, his wife, who had been in a coma for months now due to a brain aneurysm. Michael was confident she would wake eventually but what damage had been done by the aneurysm he couldn't even begin to guess.

"Hi Bo." He said as they passed in the halls.

"Hi Michael." Bo replied pausing before taking him aside asking, "Heard anything from your brother?" Bo was the police commissioner of Llanview and had been following the news of a FBI agent protecting a young girl from the Italian Mafia. When he had heard the name John McBain he had immediately put 2 and 2 together and surmised that it was Michael's brother. He admired a man that put his life on the line for a stranger. That was why he was a cop himself to help others. It was just too bad he was unable to help his niece. A niece he had never met because she had been kidnapped 23 years ago.

When the kidnappers had contacted Vicki Davidson, Natalie's mother, 6 months ago no one had believe that they actually had her. But then they sent a lock of hair with the roots still attached and they had done a DNA test. It had been a match. It had been another 4 months before anything else was heard form the kidnappers. Bo wondered why they had waited so long in between contacts. He also wondered if his niece was still alive or if she had been killed already. He didn't even know her full name just her first name, Natalie, but he knew if she really were dead he would morn the loss.

There was another reason he was interested in Michael's brother though. He had read up on John McBain and found out that he was one of the best agents in the FBI but was on thin ice because he didn't follow the rules. He hoped he could convince the man to help find his Natalie. It was obvious the kidnappers were just playing with them. Vicki had paid the ransom last week and the family had heard nothing from the kidnappers.

"No," Michael told him just as his beeper started to vibrate. Looking down at it he saw that it was an unknown number. That meant it could be John or Shelly. Knowing that they wouldn't call him unless it was an emergency he nodded to Bo saying, " Excuse me I have to take care of something."

He went to the nurse's desk and told them that he was taking his break before going to his car and quickly calling back then number. "Hello?" John answered and Michael knew that something terrible had happened. John sounded terrible, like he was terrified. "What's wrong? Is it Shelly?" Michael asked immediately.

"Yes." That one word had a wealth of meaning attached to it. "You need to come to the cabin that we used to go to with Dad." John choked out around the ball of fear that was blocking his throat.

"John, what's the matter with her. Has her wound opened up again? Has it become infected? I need to know what to bring with me." Michael said to John.

"I don't know Michael. She is alright...physically..." John said then trailed off.

"What does that mean?" Michael demanded but John just said, "Get here...fast." then disconnected.

Rex was sitting at a meeting between the Carpelli's and the Blaslovik's better known as the Russian Mafia. Listening to their conversation he secretly taped the entire exchange. He was planning to blackmail the Carpelli's or maybe make a deal with the Blaslovik's. Maybe they would help him if they thought the Carpelli's were gonna double cross them.

Three hours later Michael raced into the driveway of the cabin. Looking around he sucked in a sharp breath when he saw John's car sitting in the driveway with cardboard in the back window and bullet holes in the car. Wondering what the hell had happened (The FBI wouldn't tell him squat just that there had been a car chase and John had gotten away) he got out of the car.

Running to the front door he banged on it loudly. "John! It's Michael." He waited a full minute then banged again, "John, open the door!" Again he waited and as he was about to knock again John opened the door. Michael was shocked at his appearance.

His eyes shadowed and worried and face haggard John motioned Michael in. "I don't know what to do Mikey. I'm scared," He said without shame as he admitted he was scared.

"Where is she?" Michael asked looking around for Shelly. Not seeing her he glanced questioningly at John and noticed he was staring at the bedroom door to the far left of the room.

"In there," John nodded at the door. He opened his mouth to tell him about her condition but then stopped. What was there he could say that Michael wouldn't notice the minute he walked in the door? He asked himself. Walking to the door with Michael following her opened the door and looked in. Whispering to Michael he said, "She hasn't moved in hours."

Michael took one look at her and gasped. She was leaning against the headboard of the bed and her face was pale, expressionless and drawn. She was limp and lifeless except for the slow, shallow breaths she took. Michael had seen this before and asked John urgently, "What exactly happened to her?"

John took a deep breath, he knew he would have to tell Michael about her visions and he also know Michael probably wouldn't believe it. Heck it he hadn't read that journal HE wouldn't have believed it. "I think she saw or experienced something terrible." John said, trying to decide just how he should tell him. Finally he decided to just come out with it bluntly.

"When? How?" Michael needed to know, both for medical and personal reasons.

"In a vision." John said matter-of-factly in a tone that was completely serious.