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Chapter 26

A week had passed, Natalie had asked Kevin and her father to take care of Darren's stuff, financial stuff, although he was a bastard Natalie was still his wife of three years, and she got everything, the house, for which there wasn't much left to, the cars, and all his money, money she didn't want, money she donated to charities, mostly charities having to do with children, orphanages and charities like that, Henry had helped to pick out the charities and taking care of all that stuff. Henry had been around this last week and thanks to her Uncle Bo, he would continue to be around for a very long time, she wasn't exactly sure what he had done but some how he pulled some type of strings and got things right for Henry, Henry didn't have to do any hard time for what he did when he was younger, just some community service which he loved.

John had called the house almost everyday for the past week but Natalie just wasn't up to speaking with him, it hurt to much for now, it was to raw, soon it would probably ease up, ease up she hoped, then maybe she would speak to him. She felt more upset this time with him being gone, more upset and nervous than the last time 4 years ago and she just couldn't bring herself to speak to him just yet.

She had been in the house almost everyday for that last week when Henry had come by and taken her to lunch, she tried to refuse but he was not allowing it, she laughed remembering how he thought he was being so forceful, how it seemed so funny cause that was not who he was, he wasn't controlling or powerful, he wasn't Darren, he was just himself and an amazing friend. She sat on the steps in the foyer watching Aiden play thru the french doors into the living room as she began to get emotional yet again for what seemed like the hundredth time this week.

Aiden was growing up so fast, he would be in school before she knew it, starting Nursery school soon probably, he was just getting so big, the time was flying by and she couldn't stop it although she wanted to, she touched her stomach subconsciously, with the time flying by as fast as it's been it wouldn't be long before she would have another one, another baby, another miracle to add to her life, Natalie felt her tears forming in her eyes. Again she was crying but what was it this time? And did it really need to be about anything major. She asked herself. These days she just cried at the drop of a hat lately, she felt as if she was beginning to lose all control and she didn't know how to stop it, she hated to cry and to cry in from of people and that was all she had been doing for the past week, she tried to put the blame on hormones but she knew that wasn't the full reason for all the tears, she knew what it was about and who the tears were about and she just couldn't help them from forming, from shedding, from falling, the tears that was.

Nat continued to sit and watch as Aiden ran over to her and grabbed her hand. She shook her head; he looked so much like John, spitting image, even the eyes were the same, even the little things like tuning her out when he was concentrating on something. She again touched her stomach wondering if the baby inside her growing would look like John too, wondering if he or she would have his traits. Aiden took her hand and led her to the living room near his trains.

"Don't cry Mommy, trains will make it better" Aiden told her as he pulled her down on the floor to play trains with him, she smiled in between the tears, she wiped the remaining ones off her face as she continued to smile at him. It was amazing how better he made her feel just the way his father had always made her better, he was amazing, they both were amazing.

Natalie put on a happy face for her son and played trains for a few hours, Aiden was right, it helped to make things better, better if only for a short

Time.

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John lay on the bed in a cheesy hotel in GA. he stared at the dirty ceiling and wondered how he got here, how he ended up here. He had tracked down the lead from the file Darren had, a man, a witness who saw the shooting of his dad, this man had actually given him enough info to figure out who the shooter was, a nobody, a junkie, a dealer, he was a kid at the time of the shooting a sixteen year old kid but today he was a grown man. He tracked all the info he could on this man and that's how he ended up here, here in this dingy room, waiting, waiting for the man who stole happy years away from him and his brother.

This kid, well now man was staying at this dirty hotel, he was still a junkie, amazing that he lived this long John kept a sound eye out for him thru the window of his room that was directly across from the boy, man, junkie who stole so much from his life who was still stealing so much from him, stealing time.

Time, John thought, time I should be spending with Aiden, Natalie his.. his.. girlfriend. He thought that to himself but shook his head, she was so much more than that wasn't she, she was more than just his girlfriend, more than just mother of his child, she was his life, before her he went thru the motions even after her he continued to go thru them but she lightened him, his life even if there was a time where he was too stubborn, to blind to see, she was all he ever wanted, why couldn't he let her be all he ever needed? He asked himself and for some reason, all the reasons why he was here, here tracking down a killer, his dads shooter, all those reasons were getting harder and harder to understand. He started to doubt his reasons, doubt being away from them.

John was beginning to have doubts about being here, about if all that he had given up over the years, if all that he had done over the years would've been something his dad would've wanted for him. What would his father have wanted of him, for him, he thought about his own son, about Aiden, what does he want for him in life, for him to accomplish, if there was one thing he wanted, he could give his son, what would it be?

"Happiness" John said out loud as he smiled, he was such a jerk, he had finally gotten it, he wouldn't want his son, Aiden spending his life miserable, afraid to love, afraid to show emotion, he wouldn't want him to spend his life carrying around guilt and grief over him and maybe his death, he would want him to live, to be happy, to love, to have a full life.

He again smiled realization probably for the first time what a jerk he had been and realization how much he had been taking things like Natalie and Aiden for granted. How lucky he actually was for finding them and for finding love in the lifetime. John closed his eyes for a brief second, he could see it probably for the first time, the three of them together, a family, even more them. He felt as if he was healed, as if he was fixed, as if he finally got it, got life and what the old man would be proud of him for, for being with them, taking care of them, living life to its fullest.

John walked over to the bed, grabbed his bag, loaded and left the hotel. He stopped at the police station and brought them the info on the man who shot his father, then he was so anxiously on his way back to them, back to his life.

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Natalie rolled over in bed, she got a strange feeling come over her, her stomach was beginning to ache, she jumped straight up from her sleep, placed her hand on her stomach, she reached to the night stand grabbed for the phone and called Michael, she knew this wasn't good.