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 17

20 minutes later John and Natalie stood in front of a justice of the peace. They said their vows and signed the paper and suddenly they were married. Natalie was still struggling to process all that had happened that day. In one day she had killed someone and then gotten married to stay out of jail. It was almost too much.

John was just as shocked at the turn of events as Natalie but for different reasons. He wanted to be married to her but he also wanted her to want to be married to HIM. Not as a way to keep her out of jail, but he was hoping he could get her to love him, to want to be with him and not just because it is the only way. He vowed to himself then and there to do anything in his power to show her how good being married to him could be.

They got back in his car and drove to the motel in silence. Lost in thought Natalie began to wonder if she had made the right choice. When Vince had explained the idea he hadn't said a word about what would happen after the marriage, just told her it was the only way, she had believed him. But now...now she was worried about actually being married to John. It wasn't that she thought he would abuse her or treat her badly, quite the opposite actually.

She was afraid that he would be good to her, that he would treat her so well that she would like being married to him. Then what? She wondered. If she actually liked it then what? She couldn't ask John to make a lifetime commitment to her, she couldn't do that to him. Another thought bothered her too. Did he expect to sleep with her? She wasn't sure how she felt about that. She knew she wanted him, probably more then anyone else in her life, but what if he expected it as his due. She sighed, more important then all that was the fact that she still had to tell him exactly what had happened to bring them all to this point. It wasn't like she could avoid it with a body inside.

John pulled up to the motel and turned off the engine. They were married, Natalie was his wife; he was still stunned by the turn of events. He was confused by a lot of things, especially what had happened to bring them to this drastic choice but there was one thing he was absolutely sure of. He was sure that he didn't regret marrying her. He loved her and wanted to build a life with her no matter what she had done and it had to be something horrible to require the marital privilege to tell him. But no matter how bad he would stick by her, be there for her.

"We're here." John said softly, wondering what she was thinking about in that moment. She looked so resigned, as if she expected him to spit on her at any minute.

"I know," came her sad reply. She was resigned truly believing that after he found out what she had done he would hate her and probably. She wanted to wait out here and just enjoy the way he was looking at her in this moment. He looked like he actually cared for her and she wanted to burn that in her memory for when he looked at her with nothing but contempt and disgust.

Reaching out her hand she captured his before he could get out of the car. She held on tightly, clinging to it as if it were her only lifeline and she was drowning. They sat holding hands for a long while, each just enjoying the closeness of the moment then John said softly, "Its time. I think we should go in now."

Natalie sighed deeply knowing he was right, let go of his hand and pushed open the door. John did the same and she began to walk slowly toward the door. She was startled when John took her hand again and walked next to her. It was incredibly reassuring and she didn't really understand why. When they reached the door she was literally shaking with fear, not only of his reaction but her own as well.

As they reached the door John tugged on her hand pulling her to a stop. "Remember, I promised to take care of you. I'll stick by you whatever you tell me. I know you're not ready to hear this but I need to say it. I care about you, a lot. I won't let you down," John said to her then leaned down and kissed her. His lips soft and gentle as he tried to tell her with out words that she could count on him.

When she pulled back from the kiss Natalie's eyes were glistening with tears and she said softly, "Don't make promises you can't keep, John." With that she opened the door to the motel and stepped in, waiting for John to come in as well.

She was stunned; looking around it didn't even look like the same room. The furniture was spotless as were the walls and floor. The only thing that was the same was the body on the floor. Vincent sat on the old couch looking at them with an unreadable expression. It appeared he had had the place cleaned of any evidence except the body, and Natalie was confused.

John walked in behind Natalie and stopped short, his eyes drawn to the obviously dead body on the floor. He didn't notice Vincent or the other wise spotless apartment, all his attention on the body. He walked over slowly and took a closer look, noting that he had been shot in the back. Slanting a look of comprehension to Natalie he slowly turned the body over and gasped. "Victor Grossman!" He exclaimed.

He took a minute to assess the situation, confused and a little disappointed, he had been hoping that it wasn't this, that it wasn't murder. He finally looked around and saw what Natalie didn't, the cleaning of the place, the fact that Vincent left the body; it was a test. Vincent wanted to see how far John would go to protect Natalie. Well he would give an answer, and it would be the right one. He would protect her with everything he had!

Natalie looked between the men, something was going on, she didn't understand but they were passing looks between each other then John nodded and Vince smiled. It was as if they had had a conversation with out uttering any words. Natalie took a deep breath and said to Vince, "What now?"

It was John who answered, "Now we get rid of the body and then you tell me exactly what happened and why it looks like you killed the same man twice."

Natalie flinched at his words, certain he was condemning her and looked down. She felt a hand under her chin and looked up into his beautiful blue eyes, searching. But she didn't see condemnation, only tenderness and some other emotion she was unable to, or unwilling to name. He leaned down slowly and places a tender kiss on her forehead then straightened back up and, along with Vince, began to wrap up the body.

An hour later both John and Vince were back and looking very serious, "We need to talk about this now." John told her as he sat on the couch next to her. Vince took that as his cue to leave. Since this was a different room and the old one was cleaned of any evidence he felt that he had done all he could for her. It was up to McBain to finish the job, something he was now certain the other man could handle. Anyone willing to dump a body for a woman, especially a when they were in the FBI, was good enough for his Natty. So after giving Natalie a reassuring hug and kiss on the cheek he took his leave.

Taking Natalie's hands in his John looked into her eyes and said softly, "Tell me."

Taking a deep breath Natalie did just that. Starting with how Victor had barged his way into the room she began to describe exactly what had happened.

John interrupted at one point to ask, "What I don't understand is how is he alive. You shot him at the liquor store." He hadn't thought of twins, after all wouldn't the FBI have known about a brother if there had been twins?

"The man I shot at the liquor store was Marcus his twin brother." Natalie explained, "Apparently his mother gave him away and never told anyone about his existence. John I think Victor did something to his mother. He kept saying that she had paid and I would have to as well."

John nodded in understanding, his fists clenching as he envisioned what she had been though, and let her continue. As she told him what happened and what she had done his only thought was that if he had been here the bastard wouldn't have gotten off so lightly.

To be continued...