A/N I do not own these characters. If I did I would be fabulously wealthy and wouldn't need to post my fan fiction here. I would be writing for the show and dining regularly with Michael Easton (snicker perks of the job. LOL) and I wouldn't let that hack Higley near them.

Chapter 6

They sat in the room staring at the TV as it droned on and on. John was so bored he was going out of his mind. This was only the second day of their confinement together and trying to carry on a conversation with her was like pulling teeth. Usually women opened right up to him but Natalie Balsom was an entirely different matter. It seemed the more he tried to get her to open up the more she shut him out.

His side was healing nicely and Natalie had taken to washing and bandaging it every morning. This caused John to be even more aware of her in a way that he knew was wrong. She was his charge, his perp and he wasn't supposed to feel anything for her and he certainly wasn't supposed to want to take her to bed and make love to every inch of her luscious body. Shaking the lustful thoughts out of his head he turned to Natalie whom he realized had said something to ham and was waiting for an answer. "What?" He asked.

Natalie shook her head. He had been lost in his head again. He seemed to do that a lot. Sometimes she had to call him three or four times to get his attention. They had been living in this Hotel room for two days and it seemed like she had known him forever. John was one of those people that wanted everything done his way. He had a routine for everything. Smiling to herself as she remembered how when she had moved everything around in the room he had thrown a fit. Saying that he needed to know where everything was just incase someone broke in. She had found his response amusing and a little over the top.

He also kept trying to get her to open up about her past and he was getting annoyed with her because she would tell him anything. Yet when she asked him something about his past he clammed right up. How did he expect her to open up if he wouldn't either? Natalie frowned to herself then and made a vow. She wouldn't tell him anything unless he returned the favor. It wasn't fair that she should spill all and he say nothing. The problem was the more she was around him the more she wanted to tell him about herself. She hated that he believed she was a cold-blooded murderer. That's not who she was at all.

"I asked if you wanted to play some poker. I am so sick of TV I want to scream." Natalie told him.

John thought about it for a minute then shrugged. 'What could it hurt' he asked himself. "Sure," he said then paused, "but I don't have any cards. Do you?"

"No, but I thought we could go buy some. I need to get out of this room for a little while." She told him and meaning every word. She needed to get out and see something other then these four walls or she would go insane. She was used to going out and working and staying here and doing nothing was making her very cranky.

This had John wondering if she was up to something. He had been worried that she would try to bolt the minute his back was turned but after two days it had seemed like she had given up that idea. Hoping that this was the case he reluctantly agreed, "Ok there is a store on the corner. We can walk there and then back but I'm not letting you out of my sight," he warned.

Natalie nodded enthusiastically and said, "Fine! Done! Lets go!" She was so happy to be going somewhere even if it was only to the corner and back. Jumping off the chair she quickly put her shoes on and then her jacket. Spinning around to John she said brightly, "Ready?"

John stood there with his mouth hanging open. She had literally flown around the room putting her things on! He had barely gotten out of his seat and she was ready to go! Blinking a few times he stared then threw back his head and burst into laughter.

It was Natalie's turn to stare. When John laughed it lit up his face and made his already handsome face absolutely gorgeous. The man was absolutely stunning! She swallowed a couple of times trying to find her voice then said, "Are you coming or are you going to stand there laughing all day?"

John sobered up after a minute, put his shoes on and grabbed his jacket. "Lets go," he said and took Natalie's arm and linked it through his own, trying to ignore how right it felt there. "I don't want you to get any ideas," was all he said about it.

Natalie couldn't blame him for being cautious, 'she had after all escaped him before' she thought with a grin. They walked to the store with no problems. When they got to the store they took their time and bought some supplies that they might need for later. The less they were out in public the better. As they got to the counter the cashier noticed them and smiled widely.

"Would you or your wife like any thing else, sir?" she asked them obviously thinking they were married.

Natalie blushed and stammered, "No, that is were not..." She looked at John and saw him smile widely at the woman. She was horribly embarrassed that she would think they were married and John was simply going along with it? That was strange!

John was surprised not at her assumption but by how much he liked the idea. That very fact stunned him; stupefied him really! Smiling at the woman he said, "No thank you. My wife and I are fine," paying for the items he led Natalie out of the store. He looked at her and noticed her glaring at him, 'uh-oh,' he thought, 'he was really in for it now!' "What?" He said, stalling for time to come up with an excuse for his acceptance of the other woman's assumption.

They were barely out of the store when Natalie let him have it. "Why did you say that? What the hell were you thinking agreeing with her! We are not married! We will never be married! I don't want every person in the world thinking I'm married to you or anyone else!" She hissed at him angrily, her good mood all but forgotten in her anger at his words. She didn't stop and think about why she was so angry, she couldn't. If she did she was afraid that she might very well find that the idea wasn't all that unappealing, which went against everything she believed. Marriage was only for people in love and since she didn't believe in love, or at least not that kind of love, she was never going to get married!

"Well," he answered slightly taken aback by the force of her anger, "I figured it would be better to go along with her rather then call attention to ourselves and have her thinking about us after we were gone. This way if someone asks her about us we were just that nice married couple rather then those two people acting strangely and very suspicious." His reason was a good one but not precisely why he had gone along with it. But if it made her more comfortable he would tell her that aliens were waling on the moon.

Mollified Natalie nodded at his explanation and smiled slightly at her overreaction. "Sorry," she apologized, "I didn't mean to fly off the handle at you. I just hate people making choices or speaking for me." Embarrassed by her outburst she was silent the rest of the way to the hotel.

When they got back John asked gently, "Still want to play poker?" Hoping she did. She was really fun to be around, when she wasn't sulking, freezing him out or yelling at him. Smiling his most innocent smile he looked at her and said, "I promise to go easy on you."

Natalie knew he was trying to provoke her, and it worked. Laughing at him she grabbed the cards and jumped on the nearest bed, "You're on!" Smiling wickedly when he sat down she opened the new deck. Shuffling them like a pro dealer in the casino she watched at John's eyes widened and he looked shocked. "So what are we playing for?" she asked with a smirk.

To be continued...