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Chapter 15

"The two of you don't have a choice, you have to go, John you go back to Llanview, j---"

"Like hell! There is no way on gods given earth I'm going bad to Llanview, no freaking way!" he told her irate, was she crazy, did she honestly think he was going to just leave her, leave her hear in Philly, leave her alone at all, certainly not with a serial killer on the loose, a killer who is obviously obsessed with her. John and Natalie stared at each other stubbornly for a few minutes.

"You're right Nat" Jake said turning Nat's attention away from John and his stubborn blue eyes

"I think John should go, and go back to Llanview, we can handle this guy alone you and I we don't the old stick in the mud helping us" Jake told her and she shook her head, here it goes again, she thought to herself and immediately heard John's rebuttal.

"Who the hell are you calling a old stick in t he mud? Who the hell are you to think you should be the one to help her with this guy, who the F---"

"I'm the guy who taught her, her mentor so to speak, she works for me and above everything else I love her more than you!"

"Impossible Asshole, wanna go outside?" John asked and Natalie had about had it.

"Will for the love of God the two of you morons stop fighting over me, I've about had it with both of you! We have more important things to discuss, now fucking behave or I'll have to call your mommies" Natalie screamed at them, it was getting tiresome, really tiresome, all the fighting and bickering, the comments, this was serious shit they were dealing with, serious and they were acting like babies.

Natalie looked at Jake and then John, they were both steaming, John looked at her, she looked into his eyes, his blue locked with her blue and she was pleading with him to be mature about things, not just the crap with Jake but the notion that she do it alone, finish the case alone, that was obvious what the killer wanted, he wouldn't be happy till she did, for some reason it seemed as if this killer had a vested interest in Natalie and her solving this case on her own, no John, no Jake involved, and those conclusions he just formed in his head as he searched her blue eyes were some of those things that scared him the most, what he feared the most. Her working it alone, her accomplishing it alone, no need for John to save her, no need for him.

A few minutes passed and Jake also calmed down as he watched the two of them get lost in each other's eyes. He cleared his throat

"You are right Nat, we have been acting like children, I'm sure John along with myself will behave from this moment on" Jake told her and she looked from him and his words to John, john nodded in agreement.

"Now for you working this case alone...at first I thought maybe it wasn't such a great idea but... if that's what the killer wants, if that is what is going to bring him out into the open so we can catch him, so you can catch him, I trust you, you are exactly what he says you are the best, you can handle it, I'm behind you one hundred percent babe" Jake told her and she moved closer to him, she smiled at him.

"Thank You, that means a lot to me" Natalie told him and John made a face.

"What a crook of shit!" John said out loud a Little louder than he expected, Nat turned and looked at him with piercing eye's, her eye's calmed when she saw the under-laying fear she knew was in him.

"Jake, I need to speak with John alone for a few minutes" she told Jake and Jake knew better than to protest, as a matter of fact he thought this might be just what he needed to start winning her back. John would be stubborn and demanding and come across as not believing in her abilities; this could just be the perfect thing he was hoping for. Jake walked inside trying desperately not to smile where they could see him.

Natalie walked behind Jake and closed the kitchen door. She turned to John who was standing staring at her back with his hands on his hips.

"I can't do it Nat, I can't, you know I can't"

"John, I need you to trust me, I can handle things just fine, I can do this, I'm really good at it, you said so yourself" she said softly as she approached him. John just shook his head and stared down at the ground, he was still mad but afraid and she knew it, and he knew it.

"I trust you Natalie, You are good, I wasn't just saying that, but... but this guy.. He's a killer and.. He's playing some sick game with you, with all of us, I just couldn't bare to see you get hurt" John told her and she stood in front of him, she lifted his chin that was down and pulled it up so there eyes met.

"I know you're afraid, afraid I'm going to get hurt, and that you won't be here to save me, to help me but I'll be fine, we can't live with that fear anymore, you and I can't, we have in the past and look at where it got us...things are good now, not perfect, we have a long way to go but are hearts are back to where they belong, please, lets not screw it up now, lets not let our fears continue to destroy what we have." she told him and she saw him lean his forehead into hers, John closed his eye's.

"I think I'm more afraid that you'll get hurt and not be able to continue to save me," He told her in only a whisper as he brought his lips to hers gently grazing them. After a few seconds she pulled back from him and stared again into his powerful blue eyes. He watched her eyes and knew she was looking for his acceptance, acceptance to the plan that she do it alone, and he gave it.

"Okay, alright but you take every precaution necessary, you take a gun with you, I know Forensics Techs don't usually carry there piece and its not mandatory but I know you know how to use it, every precaution Natalie, no risks, I Love you and I can never lose you again" John told her and she smiled, it meant a lot to her that he accepted this, her, that they were equal, she may have finally after all this time felt to be his equal and equal partner.

"Is there anything else Lt Mcbain?" she said in a joking playful voice as she lightened the mood.

"Yeah, there is" he said and he grabbed her by her waist quickly and urgently, he planted a heated kiss on her that would've knocked her socks off if she was wearing any. Natalie pulled out of the kiss and she was dizzy, shit! She told herself that was one hell of kiss. She looked at him and he laughed seeing the damage he had just done to her.

"There's one more thing I almost forgot," he told her and she tried to concentrate, she was having a hard time focusing for the minute. She nodded for him to continue

"I'm not leaving Philly. And before you protest, I don't care, I will stay away from you, the station, the asshole in the other room, but I won't be going back to Llanview till this is all over, take it or leave it kid"