Adrenaline is powerful. Sometimes it gives you the ability to do things that would be impossible at any other time, like pick a car up off a trapped person or save people from a burning building. Other times it causes people to be wild, out of control, do things they feel bad for later, like beating up an innocent person.
Cristian Vega had felt adrenaline run through his veins many times in his life. When Mitch Laurence had Natalie trapped, when he was in the ring, when he found out McBain was sleeping with his wife.
Sometimes adrenaline was so powerful that you blocked things out, only focused on what was important. It was like being in a haze. And when you come out of the haze you have to deal with the fallout.
It is not until he is watching over a sleeping Evangeline, at 2 in the morning, after the tornado that he realizes that he never even checked on Natalie. He never even thought to. After the tornado, his mind had one goal: Find Evangeline. After he had found her, it was she who expressed concern about John and Natalie, but his focus had all been on her. At first keeping her calm and then taking care of her as the weight of the night's events forced her into restless sleep.
Now, watching her finally give in and sleep peacefully, he realizes that if he went back, he would have done the same. Natalie had John with her, she wanted John with her, and for the first time Cristian simply did not care. He didn't want to pull them apart, didn't wish he could have been at Natalie's side, he was exactly were he was supposed to be.
"Cristian," Evangeline called his name, still sleeping, but reaching out for him. He curled his hand around hers and brushed a kiss across her cheek. He smiled as she settled back down and relaxed back against the bed, still clutching his hand in hers.
He was exactly where he wanted to be.