Chapter Twenty-Six

On the morning of Valentines Day, Natalie awoke to the smell of bacon and eggs. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she rolled over and looked at the clock.

10:45

Suddenly confused, Natalie climbed out of the large queen sized bed she shared with John, threw on her robe and made her way barefoot downstairs toward the kitchen.

"John?" Natalie questioned as she stopped in the doorway of their kitchen unable to believe her eyes. Not only was John at home when he should be at the station, but he was cooking. Not once in the entire time Natalie had known him had she seen or known he could cook.

"Morning," John said coming toward her and giving her a quick kiss on the lips. "Did you sleep well? You've been so busy with school and the shelter that I thought you could use the extra few hours."

Still in a state of bewilderment, Natalie continued to gape. "Yeah I slept fine," she said once she found her voice. "What is all this? Shouldn't you be at work?" Natalie finally asked as she made her way into the kitchen and grabbed a coffee mug from the shelf.

Taking the mug from her hands, John went over and poured her coffee, and added the cream she liked in it. Taking her hand, John guided her over to the table and handed Natalie her coffee once she was seated.

"I took the day off, thought we could spend it together."

Another expression of shock came over Natalie face. "You willingly took a day off? You never take time off."

John flashed her a quick smile before disappearing into the living room. Within a few seconds he was back and holding a crystal vase filled with a dozen red roses. "Happy Valentines Day," he said as he placed the roses in front of her and gave her a passionate kiss before going back to the stove.

Natalie continued to stare at John. Finally she spoke. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?"

John let out a small laugh as he began to plate the bacon and eggs. "I was going to serve you breakfast in bed, but since your up we may as well sit at the table." Balancing both plates, John crossed the room and sat one down in front of Natalie.

Rather then pick up her fork and begin to eat, Natalie just watched him unsure of where this was coming from. Overall, she and John were happy. They both continued to lead their own lives, never got too wrapped up in each other that they forgot everything else, and both enjoyed quiets nights in drinking a beer and watching a movie. Romance to them was a nice dinner at Rodi's or a game of pool… nothing ever like this.

"What's wrong?" John finally asked noticing that she hadn't even touched her food.

Natalie shook her head. "Nothing, I'm just curious where this is all coming from. You hate Valentines Day – ever since I have met you, you've gone on and on about it being an overly commercialized holiday made up my florists and gift shops."

John put his fork down and went quiet for a few seconds. Afraid that she had offended him, Natalie was just about to apologize when he began to speak. "There was a time long ago that I felt differently." John sighed and looked across at her. "Growing up I was always cynical, never really the flowers and romance type. If I had a girlfriend during Christmas or Valentines Day it was spent on a date at a bar. Never anything special. Then I met Caitlyn."

Natalie remained silent knowing this was one of the rare moments that John was actually opening up.

"Caitlyn lived for things like that; she loved all holidays and went out of her way to plan all these small romantic gestures, but she knew how I was and never pressured me to change. We had been together about a year when I was out and saw this small bear. For some reason I just decided to buy it for her, a spur of the moment thing. Well, when I brought it home for her she was overjoyed. You would think that I had just brought her a million dollars the way she went on about this cheap, bear." John smiled wistfully. "Seeing her happiness over something as small as that changed me a bit. I never became a flowers and romance type of guy, but a lot of that cynicism wore off as I realized how happy little things made her and started to do them for her. Flowers here, a cooked dinner there. It just meant something to her you know?"

Natalie nodded, remembering small things Cristian had done for her early in their relationship.

"After she died that new side of me died too. I went back to being a cynical, miserable jerk."

"I remember," Natalie said lightly reaching her hand across the table and placing it on top of his.

John smiled at her comment. "I don't know, ever since Caitlyn died I hated the idea of love and romance. Even when Evangeline was begging for some sort of romantic gesture like a stupid key, I couldn't give it to her. But with you, it's so different. You don't expect it or ask for it. You are perfectly happy with staying in ordering a pizza and having a few beers. After a fight, you don't expect flowers or a fancy dinner – you're just satisfied with an apology. But like Caitlyn, I see your face light up during a surprise night on the roof or the time I closed down Rodi's for us so we could dance. I started to see that side of me coming back." John shook his head. "You just being that way makes it easy for me to want to do those things again."

Smiling, Natalie wiped away a few of the tears that were pooling in the corners of her eyes. Any other guy would be making a mistake to bring up a previous girlfriend on Valentines Day, but how John had just opened up to her really meant something. Standing up, Natalie went over to him and wrapped her arms around him. "Happy Valentines Day," she whispered before bringing her lips down on his. The kiss was passionate but quick; lasting only seconds before she broke away and returned to her seat.

Noticing his lustful expression Natalie laughed as she lifted her fork. "You went to all this work to make me breakfast… do you really think I am going to make love to you before eating it?"

Groaning in frustration, John also lifted his fork and proceeded to eat.

This was going to be one long breakfast.