Chapter Eleven

Just hearing Rex once again confirm that it was Paige who had operated on his father, caused something to snap in John. Jumping to his feet he began to angrily pace the room, his eyes dark and his face cold.

"How the hell did that bitch get her license back? And how the hell can she work with Michael, or come around here and talk to me all smiles when she knows she was the one that killed our father."

Taking this as his cue to leave, Rex stood up and motioned to Natalie to call him later. Once Rex was out of the room, John all but exploded.

"This is bullshit. Fucking bullshit. That bitch should be in jail for what she did, but no here she is now in Llanview of all places, leading a perfect little life and being the much loved Doctor. That's not right." By this time John was yelling, and looked about ready to hit something.

"I have to tell Michael, I have to let me know that the woman he admires so much is a murdering…"

Alarmed at what she was seeing, Natalie quickly stood up and crossed the room. Going over to John she put her hands on his shoulders and forced him to look at her. "You're right… it's not right, but going to Michael isn't going to accomplish anything." At this, John started to turn away from her, but Natalie held on strong. "Listen to me John. If you go marching over to the hospital you might be ruining you're investigation. Someone already knows you're looking into this and whoever it is isn't happy about it. Now we know Paige wasn't the shooter because she was the Doctor on call. As for who sent you that note, Walter's dead, so that leaves Spencer as possible suspect. We have to find out who else was involved and Paige may be out only link to that person… you confronting her is only going to tip off whoever it is and make Paige run."

"She should be in jail."

Natalie's eyes softened. "I know she should, and if it turns out she was part of the group selling drugs, organs and babies on the blackmarket she will end up there, trust me we'll make sure if it. But John, at the same time you have to realize there are other matters at stake here. For now we have to keep this quiet or else it could compromise what we already have."

Feeling his body relax, Natalie let go of him and sat back down. When he was seated across from her again, he forced a smile. "Thanks… you're right, I was overreacting."

Once she was sure John was calm again, Natalie began to speak. "Listen, from what I understand Truman has something against my family." John's eyebrows narrowed at the mention of his name.

"He has to be involved. From the moment I met him I knew there was something off about him."

Natalie nodded. "I got the same feeling. But anyway, I overheard Asa telling my dad that Dorian caught him with a whole bunch of files on BE, files that could have brought down the company. For whatever reason, he hates the Buchanan's, especially Asa. I suggest we talk to my grandfather, try and figure out what Truman's agenda is, because I can guarantee you legal or not, Asa has found something out."

"I'm a cop; Asa isn't going to be honest with me."

Natalie smiled. "I'm his granddaughter, he sees too much of himself in me not to be honest with me."

After thinking about it for a few seconds, John finally nodded. "We'll talk to him after we question Roxy tomorrow. I just can't believe it was her. God Natalie, when you ended up in the hospital last summer, she was the one looking after you. Hell, she looked after me last month… what if she had…"

Realizing that they weren't going to be getting anymore work done, Natalie stood up and put her coat on. "Come on."

"What?"

Natalie offered him a small smile. "Listen, you may find it hard to believe but I know what you're going through. I remember what it's like to get news that has the potential to shatter you," Natalie said remembering when she found out about being a Buchanan. "I'm not going to let you do what I did. I let it get the best of me; I grabbed a bottle of whiskey, holed up in my apartment for a few days and let my anger grow until it consumed me. You're not doing that. So come on, I'm driving."

Though he really wasn't in the mood to do anything but what she had just said he couldn't, John warily grabbed his coat and followed her out of his office.

"Roarkes? You brought me to Roarkes?" John said in disbelief as got out of the car and followed Natalie into the predominantly male gym.

Natalie just nodded and entered the building. "I know you have a locker here so go change and meet me on the mats in 10 minutes." Without giving him chance to respond, Natalie turned toward the women's change room thankful she had been planning to hit the Serenity Springs gym after work. After changing into a pair of shorts and tank-top, she headed to the mats and waited for John. He appeared a few minutes later, dressed in a pair of black sweatpants and a tight black top that showed off his tattoo, and rippling muscles. Forcing herself not to stare, Natalie smiled when she realized he still looked confused.

"You do know you're the only woman here right?" John said, as he looked around and took notice of the many men that were staring at Natalie in her revealing workout clothes. But, she just shrugged.

"What are we doing here?" he finally asked.

"Well, you need to relax and I need to learn how to protect myself. There's no time like the present right?"

John looked at her like she had just grown another head. "You brought me here to teach you how to fight?"

Natalie nodded, amused at his disbelief. "Hey, just the other day you said you were too busy to be my protector, so I may as well learn." Natalie said lightly.

John continued to stare at her like she was crazy. He hadn't really been sure what to expect when Natalie told him to follow her, but never in a million years would he have imagined she'd bring him here. "You know when you said we were going out I thought Rodi's, some burgers, beer, maybe a game of pool…"

"Nope!" Natalie said cheerfully, but sensing his hesitation decided to bargain. "How about this, we stay here for an hour or so, and then we hit Rodi's for that beer. And hey, maybe if you're good, I'll even let you beat me for once." She mocked, knowing it would get under his skin.

"I don't need you to let me win…"

Natalie just smiled. "Sure you don't. So are we going to do this?"

Realizing that there was no way he was getting out of it, John sighed in defeat and picked up some fighting gloves from the side of the mat. He handed her a pair and proceeded to put his own on. "Okay, let's see what we have to work with… hit me."

Now it was Natalie's turn to look at him like he was crazy. "John, I'm not going to hit you."

"You're not going to hurt me."

"No."

"Natalie would you just hit me."

"No."

"Hit me."

Before John even knew what was happening, Natalie's raised her arm into a left hook and swung at his shoulder, causing John to stumble backward. After regaining his balance, and rubbing his now sore shoulder, he looked at her in disbelief.

"You hit me."

Natalie was just about to argue that he has asked her too, when she saw the playful smile on his face. Happy that his mind seemed to be off what they had learned earlier, Natalie ignored his comment. "Okay, so I figure I have already have pretty good right hook, well at least that's what your brother says, so what else do I need to know?"

"Yeah, you're right hook is fine." John said as he rubbed his shoulder again. He had known she could hit, but he just didn't realize how hard. "Okay, what about blocking?"

Natalie shrugged. "I'm okay I guess. Remember, I grew up in Jersey."

"Okay, I am going to move into hit you and I want you to block them," John said taking a step toward her. Again to his surprise she was a natural and was able to block every move he made.

"From what I have seen it doesn't look to me like you really need my help here…" John said once they had finished with the blocks.

Natalie smiled. "Well hitting and blocking are easy. When all the serial killers come after me they either go from behind or are holding a knife or gun. What do I do then?"

"Okay there are a few moves I can show you if you're attacked from behind." Walking over to her, John stood behind her and loosely put his arm to her throat. "Okay, if they came up like this, you have a few options. One you can try spinning around out of his grasp, but only if his arms loose. If it's tight like this," John tightened his grip for a second before letting go, "then you could just injure yourself."

Trying not to get distracted by how close he was to her, Natalie cleared her throat. "And ah... what if it is tight, ah... what do I do then?"

"Take your heel and bring it down hard on his foot. This should distract him enough to loosen his grip so you can spin out of it."

"What if that doesn't work?" She asked, now desperately trying not to get turned on by the feeling of his breath in her ear.

"Then I guess you wait for me to show up," John whispered back unable to help himself. Just holding her in this position was exciting him.

"Because you always do." By now Natalie's breaths were coming out in ragged pants.

"And because I always will."

"Johnny! I thought I saw you come in!" A loud voice from the other side of the gym caused them to jump apart guilty. The owner of the gym, Roarke made his way over to them, and John introduced him to Natalie. As John and the older man made small talk, Natalie used this opportunity to grab a drink of water and cool down. She mentally slapped herself for letting her body react to John in that way and forced herself to think clean, non-sexual thoughts until he rejoined her.

For the next hour, John taught her a series of maneuvers to use in order to protect herself from being attacked and ways to get out of any holds. For the most part Natalie was able to keep her mind on the task of learning and nothing else, but that ended when she tried out the last move he was showing her. It was a complicated way of spinning out of a choke hold and getting the guy down on the ground. Natalie had managed the first part of it, but as she tried to get John to lose his balance and fall, she accidentally went down with him.

Now laying on top of him and feeling every inch of his body underneath her, Natalie felt herself going breathless as she imagined the feel of him. John, seeing the familiar look in Natalie's eyes and feeling her body, also started to get turned on and felt himself harden. Knowing he wanted his more then anything, he began to lean in, wanting to feel her lips on his. Realizing what he was doing, Natalie threw caution to the wind and also began to lean in.

"Get a room." Just as they were about to kiss, a group of twenty-year old guys obnoxiously called out to them with catcalls. Once again they jumped apart and to their feet. Feeling her face flush, Natalie turned away from him and pulled off her gloves. "Well that was good… I mean that was a good work out. Let's call it a day and hit Rodi's." Without waiting for an answer, Natalie fled toward the locker room, suddenly needing to cool down.

Grateful that he was wearing sweatpants, John turned toward the men's room. After that workout he was going to need a very cold shower.