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 7

John watched as she shuffled the cards, his amusement was only matched by the intrigue her question brought. What to play for? He wanted to suggest clothes but he figured that would get him slapped. Hmmm... Okay! He had the answer! They could play for information! That could suit both his purposes; he could get answers as both the FBI Agent and as a red-blooded man. Of course if she won he would be the one answering questions. But he didn't think he would lose; despite her fancy shuffling he still thought he could beat her.

"How about we play for information." He said carefully. Seeing her confused look he knew that this might be a hard sell but he was confident he could convince her.

"Information? What do you mean?" Natalie asked. She was pretty sure she knew what he meant but she needed to be sure. She was also confident she wouldn't be the one to spill the most information. Almost laughing out loud she looked innocently at him, lest he suspect that she was a great poker player. Sure showing off with the cards might have tipped him off a bit but she knew men. She knew that most men didn't think a woman could be any good at poker or pool for that matter. She happened to excel at both, thanks to her mother. Roxy would bring her to games all the time and by the time she was 12 Natalie had been playing, and winning. She had learned to play pool from Vincent when she was young. Heck she had about perfected the game. There wasn't anything more fun the suckering a group of guys out of their money cause they were too macho to realize that sometimes a woman was better.

"I mean if I win I can ask you anything and you have to answer. If you win you can ask me anything as long as it isn't about an open case and I have to answer." John explained, though he was pretty sure she knew what he was talking about. He had seen that calculating gleam in her eye. "What do you say?"

"Just one more question, are these questions going to be off the record?" She wanted to cover her bases incase she did lose. If he asked about 'that night' she didn't want him using her answers to throw her in jail.

John thought about it for a minute. He knew what she was thinking and he didn't blame her. He was actually a bit impressed with her forethought. Deciding that it wouldn't be right to use her words against her if she lost he said, "Yes, they'll be off the record. What ever you say stays with me it won't go any farther." After saying that he realized that his answer was about more then fairness. It was from his heart, something he hadn't thought was there anymore.

"Deal," Natalie said, holding out her hand for him to shake. After they had shook on it Natalie dealt the cards trying to shake off the tingly feeling his hand caused hers.

An hour later Natalie had won five hands and John had won five. Each was asking the other trivial questions holding out for the big win. This was the last hand and neither wanted to lose. They knew whatever question the other asked it would be big and something they didn't want to answer. Staring at her cards intently Natalie was confident she was going to win. Carefully keeping her face blank she looked over at John. His face was impassive as well. He had one of the best poker faces she had ever seen. It was near impossible to tell if he was bluffing or not. Lying her cards down with a triumphant grin she said, "Full house!"

John was impressed, not just with her hand but with her skills in general. She had bluffed him several times until he had noticed her tell. She squinted her right eye a bit when she lied. That would be handy to know in the future he thought to himself. Not that they had a future together, no matter how right the thought felt. He had found out some interesting things about Natalie Balsom in the past hour, she hated spiders, she grew up in and loved Atlantic City, she and Vincent were only friends and nothing more (heaven only knew why he had asked that question), the only person in her life that she truly loved and trusted was her brother Rex, and finally she had told him about her childhood growing up with Roxy. She had told him how she had learned to play poker. And pool apparently, she claimed she was simply 'okay' at it but something in her eyes told him she was quite a bit more then just 'okay'.

Of course in turn he had revealed quite a bit about himself too. More then he had wanted to, more then he had ever shared with anyone else. He had told her of his father's death, about his brother in Llanview PA, about how his mother had practically abandoned him and Michael after their day died. He had even told her about Haver and Caitlin much to his own shock. Through out it all she had been caring and sympathetic. He hadn't intended the game to be so serious, at least for him, but some how her simple questions had led to not so simple answers.

Shaking him self out of his revere, something he seemed to do a lot of around her, he put down his cards also. Holding back a smile that was begging to come out he said, "Royal Flush!"

At his hand Natalie's mouth dropped open and she stared at his cards in amazement. No one had ever played this well against her before! She almost always won! Her heart pounding with dread at the question she knew was coming she squared her shoulders and met his gaze head on, preparing herself for the disgust on his face when he heard the answer.

John took a deep breath and asked the question, "Did you shoot Victor Grossman?"

Natalie looked at him steadily for a second before answering his question with one of her own, "You sure you want to know?"

John winced at her answer. It sounded like a yes to him, but he had to hear it from her lips. Knowing that he couldn't use her answer to incriminate her he said, "Yes I want to know."

Natalie nodded and looked him straight in the eye, "Yes, I shot him."

John felt a disappointment so deep he thought he would cry. He had been so sure it was all a misunderstanding, that she couldn't possibly commit cold-blooded murder. After a minute trying to digest this news he said one word, "Why?" He had to know, it wasn't the cop in him that wanted to know it was the man. The cop in him was shouting at him to get the hell away from her, that she was a killer but the man in him was saying that there must be a reason, that she wouldn't just murder a man.

Natalie hardened herself when she saw the look on his face. She knew it! He was disgusted with her now; he was just like every other cop she had ever met. They only saw things in black and white, never the gray area that was her life. "Do I need a reason? I did it, I confessed what does it matter why I did it?" She spat at him harshly.

John heard her words and got angry. "Yes it matters!" he said just as harshly.

"Why? Why does it matter?" Natalie snapped back.

John reached out his hand and grabbed her arm. Jerking her forward he growled, "This is why!" then covered her mouth with his own. Fire shot through him as he kissed her roughly. Letting go of her arm he tangled both hands in her hair holding her head close so he could plunder her lips. Moaning as they kissed John was shocked at his reaction to her. He had kissed a lot of women but never had just one kiss affected him so much or so completely.

His brain scrambled at the first touch of her lips and his blood pounded in his veins, heating until he thought he had molten lava rather then blood in his body. His cock was hard and aching 'and it was only a kiss for Christ sake!' He thought to himself dimly. Knowing he had to pull away before he completely lost control, he kissed her once more then pulled away breathing heavily.

Natalie felt him pull away and moaned in disappointment. Her body was on fire and she was trembling with desire. No one had ever kissed her like that before, with such all-consuming hunger. "Wow!" she muttered to herself. "What were we talking about?" she wondered to herself. She was having trouble remembering what her own name was let alone what they had been talking about before he had kissed her. As her breathing slowed a bit and her brain cleared she suddenly remembered.

"That's not good enough." Natalie told him, talking about his answer to her question.

'Not good enough?' John thought to himself incredulously, 'if it had been any better he would have died on the spot!' Then he remembered what they had been talking about and he said softly, "Please tell me, I need to know."

To be continued...