A/N I do not own these characters. If I did Jolie fanfic would be unnecessary because they would have good s/l's on the show. However since the Hack is head writer and can't write to save her life fanfic is necessary; hence this story.

A special thanks to Shama for all her help with the last few chapters. With out her help this story would never have been written. So thanks Girl! And another thanks to Tina for all her help. You rock! And another to Meredith and Manda, just cause you encouraged me so much and made me feel good about my writing.

Chapter 16

Vince made it there in 10 minutes and when he got to the door of the motel room he knocked on the door. He was very concerned about Natalie she had sounded extremely upset on the phone. He waited for her to open the door and when she did he was shocked. She looked terrible. Her face was pale and strained. Her eyes were wide with fear and there were tear tracks on her cheeks, she had obviously been crying. "Where is McBain?" was his first question. His first thought was something had happened to him and she had witnessed it. That would shake anyone up.

Natalie looked at him confused, John? She wondered what did he have to do with this. "He's in Atlantic City," she answered vaguely. She shook her head, trying to pull herself together. She needed to think, to concentrate. She opened the door wider and pulled him in the room and slammed the door behind him.

Vince looked around the room in shock. There was a body on the floor! "Natalie?" He looked at her sharply, "Did you...?"

Natalie looked him in the eye and answered softly but clearly, "Yes."

"Who...?"

"Victor Grossman." She said. At his look of disbelief she said, "The other guy was his twin brother." She stood there looking down at the body and then looked back at Vince, "What do I do?" If she was going to go to jail then she wanted him to be the one to bring her in. That way the other prisoners would leave her alone; no one wanted to mess with Vincent Jones.

Suddenly Vince understood why she called him. She wanted him to be the one to turn her in! "No!" He said, "I won't do it!" He thought frantically; there must be a way to get her out of this!

"Yes." She said, "it has to be you." She didn't want to go to jail but it wasn't like she could change anything now.

"But it had to be self-defense! It wasn't your fault." Vince said as he bent down to look at the body. He rolled it over and saw that he had been shot in the back. "Natalie... You shot him in the back." He was shocked. She had shot him in the back! "You need to tell me exactly what happened!" he said.

As Natalie explained what had happened Vince became more and more angry, not with her but that his friend had to endure so much. His first thought after she was finished was that they needed to get rid of the body. No body no murder. At least that's the way it was in the eyes of the law. Before he could voice his thought the doorknob started to turn. Natalie looked at him in panic. Knowing it would be John McBain Vince rushed to the door and swung it open quickly and stepped out, almost knocking John off his feet.

John saw the door swing open and a man came out and bumped into him. Trying to right himself he looked up at the man who had almost knocked him to the ground. He recognized who it was. It was Vincent Jones! "What the hell are you doing here?" John asked hostilely. A part of him was jealous of Vincent and Natalie's friendship. The other part was scared that maybe he had done something to Natalie.

"Natalie called me," Vince told him, thinking quickly he tried to find a solution to Natalie's problem. The fact that Natalie had shot the man in the back not mattering to him; he knew Natalie and if he had been in her shoes he probably would have done the exact same thing. That being said, if john walked in that door right now Natalie would be on death row before he could say 'BOO'

John was angry that Natalie had called Vincent, he had told her no phone calls! "Why?" he demanded unable to keep the jealousy out of his voice.

Vincent narrowed his eyes at John's tone. If he didn't know any better he would say the man was jealous! Did McBain care about Natalie? Was he in love with her? If he was that could help Natalie out! An idea was taking form in his mind but it hinged one John's feelings for Natalie and how far he would go to protect her. Before he said anything else he needed to know how John felt about Natalie so he asked, "You care about her?"

John frowned, confused. He didn't understand why this man would ask such a question. He had expected more hostility since he was a cop and Vincent was a criminal. He was unsure how to answer him so he said, "What's it to you?"

Vincent expected an evasive answer so he had a reply ready, "Natalie is my friend; it matters to her. Do you care about her?" he asked again in a hard voice.

"Yes!" John bit out annoyed with the tone of voice the other man was using. "Yes I care about Natalie!"

"How much?" Vince asked coldly.

"What?" John sputtered.

"How much do you care about her?" Vince asked forcefully, emphasizing each word. "Are you trying to railroad her into jail?" He asked in his most obnoxious manor, trying to make John angry.

John was angry and simply blurted out, "Of course not! I love her!"

Vincent smiled grimly and said, "That's exactly what I wanted to hear."

John was confused and still angry, "What the hell is going on?"

Vincent looked at him and said, "Its simple really. If you love her, then you have to marry her."

John was thunderstruck, "Marry her?" he looked at Vincent wondering if he had lost his marbles and said, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that unless you marry Natalie today, right now in fact, she is gong to go to jail for murder." Vince told John. His plan was brilliant really but it all came back to just what John was willing to do for those he loved. Did he love Natalie enough? He wasn't worried about Natalie's feelings for John. It was obvious that Natalie was in love with him; it was also just as obvious that she hadn't admitted it to herself yet.

"Are you crazy? You must know how Natalie feels about marriage! There is no way in hell she would marry me. And it wouldn't solve anything! Now get out of my way, I need to talk to Natalie!" John said trying to shove past Vincent.

"No! You can't go back into the room until you and Natalie are married!" Vincent said urgently. "I'm serious! Unless you marry Natalie she is going to prison!"

John finally stopped and listened to Vincent's tone of voice. Clearly the other man really believed this. It wasn't as if the thought of marrying Natalie was a horrid thought, on the contrary since realizing that he was in love with her he hadn't stopped thinking of the possibility. Even at the police station in AC he kept stopping to wonder what Natalie was doing or how she might like something that he had seen or thought of. "Ok I'll bite. Just why is this so important?"

Natalie was getting worried about Vincent and decided to come outside. Opening the door and stepping out quickly she was shocked to see him and John talking like they were old pals. He appeared to be trying to convince John of something and Natalie hoped he wasn't telling John about what had happened earlier. John was a cop, he wouldn't understand, he wouldn't believe in her any more. "What are you guys talking about?" She asked shakily.

John took one look at Natalie taking in her pale skin, tear stained face, the fear lurking in her eyes, the trembling of her body and said to Vincent, "If it will help and ONLY if she is ok with it."

Vince heard him and understood the message. Natalie had to know the reason why and also he couldn't pressure her at all. But Vince didn't think she would need any pressuring. Looking at John he said, "Stay here and I'll tell her the idea. No pressure. I promise. But do NOT go in that room unless you want Natalie to die by lethal injection!"

Vince took Natalie aside and explained his plan to Natalie. At first she was against it but then saw that it was the only way, and for some reason the idea of marrying John didn't seem so bad right then. She sighed and looked at John who was looking at her. She walked over to him and said, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"If it will keep you out of jail. But I want answers the moment it is safe to tell me. I just wish you would trust me enough to tell me now." John said, having figured out why them being married was necessary, but not what had happened for it to become necessary.

Natalie smiled a shaky smile at him and held out her hand, "Deal."

John took her hand and jerked her forward into his arms. He covered her mouth with his and kissed her. Finally after a long moment he lifted his mouth and looked into her dazed eyes. "Deal"

To be continued...