Chapter Ten

Hesitantly Natalie let herself into Llanfair, unsure of what she would find. Since leaving Llanview Natalie hadn't seen Jessica, and was worried about what awaited her despite both Vicki and Clint's insistences that Jessica had been integrated.

"Mom? Jess? Kevin?" Natalie called out as she looked around in amazement at the abundance of Christmas decorations. It was only the first week of December, yet the entire place resembled something out of a Macy's display window.

A young man with blonde hair appeared in the doorway of the living room startling her. "You must be Natalie." Grinning, he held out his hand. As if sensing her confusion he added, "Jess has told me so much about you."

Natalie smiled as it clicked in to place. "And you must be Nash. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Natalie followed him back in to the living room and took a seat on one of the overstuffed sofas. "Where is everyone?"

Nash smiled. "Jess went to drop off an article at the Banner, and your mom wanted to stop over at the carriage house and talk to Kelly about something. Jess is running a little late, so Vicki insisted I wait here. I'm sorry if I startled you. "

Natalie shook her head. "It's fine. Actually, I am glad we have a second alone. I need to know, how is Jess doing? And I mean the truth, none of that bullshit Antonio used to feed us."

Nash couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. He could tell the fiery red head sitting across from him was tough, and didn't take any crap. Nash couldn't help but admire how upfront she was when it came to her twins well being.

"I wouldn't lie to you Natalie. You're her twin; you have every right to know what's going on with Jessica. She's doing much better. There have been no reappearances of Tess, and the doctors are confident the personalities have integrated. The only concern right now is that Tess never revealed what caused the split in the first place. However, Jess is still going to weekly therapy sessions at St. Anne's and the doctors feel they are close to finding out what caused it."

Natalie let out the breath she had been holding. "So, there's nothing I need to be prepared for?"

Nash laughed. "Well, she did she mention her excitement at having you back since it gave her someone to go Christmas shopping with. Does that count?"

Natalie smiled. This guy was exactly what Jessica needed.

"Listen Natalie, Jess mentioned you were married to Antonio's brother… I hope there are no hard feelings about what happened."

Natalie shook her head. "Absolutely not Nash, I just want Jessica to be happy. And in my opinion, the minute Antonio shacked up with that whore Layla is when he became undeserving of Jess." Natalie groaned thinking about having to run into either of them. "Are they still together?"

"Is who still together?" Jessica's voice broke in.

"Jess!" Natalie exclaimed, crossing the room to pull her sister into a hug. "I have missed you so much."

Jessica gripped her sister tightly as if holding on for dear life. "Oh Natalie," she whispered. "You have no idea how hard these few months have been without you."

Natalie pulled away, her eyes brimming with a few tears. Although getting away from John had been her main reason for leaving, Natalie was ashamed to admit part of her had felt there was nothing left for her in Llanview. All the Buchanan's had been rallying around Jess and Natalie had once again felt like the outsider who wasn't really needed. Seeing how happy her sister was to have her back made Natalie realize how wrong she had been.

"Oh Jess, I am so sorry…"

Jessica pulled her in for another hug. "It's okay. I know what happened with John. You're here now and that's all that matters." Breaking away, Jessica led Natalie to the sofa. "So I see you have met Nash. So what were you guys talking about when I got here? Is who still together?"

Natalie and Nash exchanged a guilty look both unsure what to say. Finally Natalie spoke quietly. "Antonio and Layla."

Jessica laughed. "Oh you're not going to believe this Nat; Antonio is still with one of the Williamson sisters, just not Layla."

Natalie's eyes widened in shock. "No way."

Jessica nodded still smiling. "Yeah, him and Evangeline. You should have seen the huge catfight those sisters had at the Palace. It was awful. Anyway, Evangeline and Antonio took Jamie and relocated to New York. As for Layla, no one knows what happened to her."

"Or cares for that matter." Nash piped in, remembering his own encounter with that awful woman.

Natalie laughed in relief, happy to know that aside from John, there wouldn't be any more unpleasant encounters.

"Nash and I were going to head to the Palace for dinner. Do you want to join us?" Jessica asked looking down at her watch.

Natalie shook her head. "I am going to wait here for mom. You guys go ahead."

"Okay but you're coming to Grandpa's tonight right? For the Buchanan tree decorating party?"

Natalie grinned. "I wouldn't dream of missing it."

"Okay, how about if afterward I go home with you so we can catch up?"

"Sounds good."

John slammed his fist down in frustration sending files flying everywhere. "God dammit." he yelled, as he stood up and began gathering the papers strewn around his office.

"Bad news?" Bo asked as he entered the room and began helping his chief of detectives pick up the papers.

John sighed angrily and motioned for Bo to take a seat. "It's this damn stalker case. On the way back to Llanview, Natalie pointed out that this could have nothing to do with her and be about me." Frustrated, John roughly ran his fingers through his hair. "So I made some calls and checked to see if anyone I had put away had escaped, or gotten out on Parole. There's nothing. So I still have nothing."

Bo nodded. "John, you have ran the letter and pictures multiple times for prints, tested the envelopes for DNA and now this. You have done everything you can. You just have to wait it out, see if this guy contacts you again."

Once again John slammed his fist down on the desk. "This is Natalie's life we are talking about. What the hell am I supposed to do, just sit back and wait until he does something else to her?"

Bo's eyes narrowed angrily. "Natalie is my niece and the closest thing I have to a daughter. Of course I know the risks. But John, there is nothing else you can do. If you continue to sit here and throw papers around you run the risk of missing something if he does contact you."

John took a deep breath trying to control his anger. "I'm sorry Bo. Not being able to do anything kills me."

Bo watched the younger man try and control his emotions. He still remembered the night Natalie had showed up at his apartment to tell him she was leaving town.

Flashback

Bo opened the door, shocked to find his niece standing on the other side. Wrapping his robe tighter around him, Bo ushered her in, noticing Natalie's red rimmed eyes and disheveled appearance. Bo led her over to the sofa and took a seat next to her, waiting for her to speak.

Finally she did, seeming to be on the verge of tears. "I am so sorry Uncle Bo, I know you took a chance on me, and I am letting you down, but I just can't, I have to do it."

Confused, Bo tried to keep up but she was talking rapidly and not making any sense. Usually Natalie was the strong one, so to see her like this worried Bo.

"Shhh, take a deep breath… Good, now speak slowly. What do you have to do?"

"Leave Llanview. I can't, I just can't stay here, not when he's here. I just can't." And with that Natalie broke down, and Bo held her as she sobbed.

End Flashback

Once Natalie had calmed down, she had explained that John and her were over, because John still couldn't commit to her because of Caitlyn. Bo's instincts told him there was more to the story, because in Bo's eyes, John had moved on long ago and was obviously in love with Natalie. But, Natalie had insisted, and Bo stopped questioning it. Knowing it was what she wanted people to believe, Bo had gone along with it and never mentioned it to John. But, now with Natalie back and in possible danger, he couldn't help himself.

"Listen, for the past three months I haven't said anything because Natalie asked me not too, and because frankly it wasn't my place. But, with everything going on I have to. I'll be honest with you John, I saw the way you looked and acted with Natalie when you were together, and even now the way your acting knowing she could be in danger. I have been married enough times to be able to tell that you were in love with her and still are. I never bought all that crap about you being unable to commit, and her competing with a dead woman." Bo fixed John with a steely gaze. "This leads me to believe you did something stupid, and in the process, managed to screw up the best thing you had in your life. And now, you're trying desperately to protect her and at the same time make it up to her. Well John, you're not going to be able to do that by sitting her and obsessing about what you don't have." Bo paused as he stood up. "Now that being said, I am going to drop this and you won't hear another word about it from me. Do whatever you can to protect my niece and that means not driving yourself crazy to the point you screw up and miss something."

"Okay Bo."

Bo turned and walked toward the door, but stopped and looked over at John once more.

"Oh and John, if Natalie does actually forgive you for whatever you did and take you back and then you screw it up again, I swear I won't stop Pa from going after you like I did last time."

With that, Bo left the office, leaving John with a lot to think about.