Chapter Twenty-Seven

For John and Natalie most of that Valentines Day was spent lounging and making love in bed. It wasn't until around 5:00 that night, that they both decided to get showered and dressed and make their way outside the house to get something to eat.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather go some place nicer like The Palace?" John asked, as he and Natalie made their way down the driveway and towards his car.

Laughing Natalie got into her side and shook her head. "Rodi's sounds perfect, a burger… beer… maybe even a chance to kick your ass at pool again."

Shaking his head, John started up the car and began backing down the driveway but stopped when he noticed a long white box at then end of the driveway near the mailbox. He shot a confused look at Natalie. "Were you expecting a package today?"

"No," Natalie responded looking over his shoulder at the box. "It looks like a flower box," she commented as John unbuckled his seat belt and started to get out of the car. Following him, they approached the box carefully, the earlier ease of the day gone and replaced with a sense of alert.

Seeing that it was addressed to Natalie, John looked up at her. "Do you have a Kleenex in your purse?"

Nodding, Natalie dug through her black handbag and handed one to him. "Do you think it's from him?" She asked, crouching down beside him.

Rather then respond, John used the Kleenex to open up a corner of the box. Inside were a dozen red roses, almost identical to the ones John had given her this morning.

Shaking his head, John dug through the box and found the card. Still holding the tissue, John managed to get the envelope opened and pulled out the card.

Natalie,

I am so sorry for my reaction yesterday… it was completely unwarranted. Please join me at Crossroads tonight at 8:00 for our own private Valentines Day celebration.

I Love You,

John

Anger glinting dangerously in his eyes, John threw down the card knowing there were no prints or DNA to worry about. Standing up, John suddenly kicked the box causing roses to spill out all over the lawn. "I'm going to kill this sick bastard," He snapped, turning away from Natalie.

Standing up from her place on the grass, Natalie came and stood beside him and put an arm around him. "We'll get him John. Just the fact that he forgot to cancel these flowers shows the plan is working – he's starting to slip up."

Unable to help himself, John pulled away from her and began pacing the lawn. "You don't understand. Yesterday when I got that letter, my first instinct was to pull away from you – as usual I stupidly thought putting some distance between us would keep you safe. I am such a fucking idiot." John racked his fingers through his hair and looked down at the grass. "If I had done that that you would be…"

Natalie held up a hand to stop him. "But you didn't and I am here with you." Closing the distance between them, Natalie reached up and kissed him softly. "You can't beat yourself up over this John; if you do that he wins."

Sighing, John began to relax in her embrace. "I love you."

Natalie smiled but said nothing. They stayed like that for a few moments until John pulled back a bit. "Natalie, I know we had plans but I have to hit Crossroads in case he left something…"

Nodding, Natalie began walking up towards the house until John called her name. "With everything going on I'd prefer it someone came and stayed with you – your mom, Jess, Rex… I just don't want you alone," John said going into protective cop mode.

"John, you can't be serious, it's Valentines Day, and I can't ruin Jess's night with Nash or my parent's plans…"

"Natalie please?" John asked a slight hint of desperation in his voice.

Sighing, Natalie nodded. "I think Adrianna is away on a photo shoot, I'll call Rex over."

"I'll wait until he gets here," John said as he followed her back inside their home.

It was just after midnight when John managed to get back to the Cottage. He and a team had swarmed Crossroads and found the set up that had been awaiting Natalie – a table set for two, unlit candles and rose petals strewn around the table. Of course, the stalker hadn't been there – but that didn't stop John. He spent hours bagging everything and hauling it in, hoping to get a fingerprint, hair, fiber – anything. But, he was out of luck everything was clean.

He kept trying to tell himself what Natalie had said earlier – that this was a good sign because it showed he was slipping up. This guy was usually so organized, and one step ahead of them that his note not tearing them apart was obviously having an effect as he hadn't bothered to put the brakes on his plan. But, despite that reasoning, John still found himself angry – angry at this bastard, but also angry at himself.

He kept replaying his meeting with the profiler over in his mind, remembering how his first instinct had been to pull away from Natalie – so the entire time he was at Crossroads he couldn't help but imagine she had got caught up in his trap – and John couldn't help but realize how it would have been his own fault.

Letting himself into the Cottage, he managed to crack a small smile as he noticed both Natalie and Rex asleep on the couch. Natalie was leaning on to her brother, and he had his arm around her. Despite his frequent annoyance with Balsom, he was grateful Natalie had a brother like him, as John knew, no matter what, if Natalie needed him, Rex would be there in seconds.

Going over, John gently shook Natalie causing her to jolt awake, movements that in turn caused Rex to also sit up. "Hey," Natalie said softly, wiping the sleep from her eyes.

John said nothing, but leaned over and kissed her.

Yawning, Rex stood up and straightened up his clothes. "That's my cue to leave." Turning his attention to his sister, he fixed her with a pointed look. "Nat, you'll call me the second you know anything right?" During their evening together, Natalie had finally filled her brother in on the stalker and what was going on, as she had suddenly been overcome with the urge to confide in someone.

Natalie nodded, and also stood up. "I promise," she said, giving Rex a quick hug. "Thanks for coming over tonight."

As he was leaving, Rex looked over at John. "If something like this happens again, call me – I'll be here in minutes."

"I will," John replied as he walked the younger man to the door and waited for Rex to get into his car. After he had left, John walked back to the living room and sat down beside Natalie.

"I'm sorry about tonight."

Natalie shook her head. "Don't worry about it. Did you find anything?" she asked, her voice turning serious.

As much as John would have loved to lie and said the building was empty, he knew he couldn't, so he told her the truth. Once he was finished, his voice was blank and his face looked strained and tired. Seeing this, Natalie stood up and gently took his hand. Wordlessly, she pulled him from his seat on the couch and led him up the stairs toward their bedroom.

Once inside, she led him their bed and gently pushed him into a sitting potion on the edge of the bed. Still remaining silent, Natalie slowly unbuttoned her shirt, her eyes never leaving his. Once all the buttons were undone, she smiled softly and teasingly slid the shirt from her body. After allowing it to fall to the floor, Natalie did the same with her jeans – until she was standing in front of him in a lacy black bra and matching panties.

Noticing the slight bulge in his pants, Natalie leaned over John and begin to unbutton his shirt, and once it was off, pushed him backwards onto the bed so she could do the same for his pants and boxers. Now completely naked, and underneath her, Natalie slowly positioned her body on top of his and captured his mouth with hers. The kiss started off slow, but soon turned passionate, with John reaching around Natalie and unclasping her bra.

Once her breasts were freed from the material, John moved his hands in front of him and began massaging her breasts, and every so often tweaking her hardened nipples. Moaning in pleasure, Natalie loved her own hands downward and captured his rock hard penis in her hands and begin moving her fingers up and down the shaft, enjoyed the slight gasp John made whenever she moved his hands over the tip.

They remained like this for awhile, hands frantically roaming, lips and tongue kissing, licking, sucking, just both of them unable to get enough of each other. Finally, feeling how wet Natalie's had become, John slowly tugged the black lace off her and gently pushed her body down on to his.

The sex was fast, frantic and had them both reaching orgasms in minutes - but it was satisfying as both of them just needed this time to escape from everything that surrounded them. After it was over, and they lay totally exhausted on the bed, John reached over and brushed a few strands of hair from Natalie's eyes. "I love you."

Natalie smiled, and squeezed his hand in response. They remained like that for a few minutes until they had both caught their breaths, then John jumped up and crossed the room to his dresser drawer. Taking out a medium sized jewelry box, John made his way back over to the bed and handed it to her.

"I meant to give this to you at dinner – but with everything that happened…" he trailed off, as she began to unwrap the gift.

Natalie smiled. "John you did enough for me this morning." She said, as she tore off the remaining paper, and opened the box to revel a beautiful silver watch. "John it's beautiful." She exclaimed as she took it out of the box and examined it closely.

John shrugged, slightly embarrassed. "I know you're not really a fancy jewelry girl, but I saw this and thought of you. It's engraved…"

Unable to mask her surprise, Natalie turned the watch over and read the engraved script, "I love you."

"I figured since I hardly say it, I'd make sure you had something to remind you that I always feel it."

With his words, Natalie felt her heart melt, and she quickly threw her arms around John. "Its beautiful, thank you."

Smiling, John and Natalie both laid down to sleep tightly holding one another. "Happy Valentines Day." He whispered, once again brushing a strand of red hair from her face.

"Happy Valentines Day," Natalie mumbled back, before sleep overtook her.

Later that night, once he was sure Natalie was asleep; John quietly got out of bed and made his down to the living room. Going over to his jacket he pulled out a small Palm Pilot he had just bought the other day and sat down with it. Normally John was not the high tech type of guy, in fact he went out of his way to avoid complicated devices like it, but this was different.

Starting it up, he went into the file which had been labeled Natalie and opened it. Instantly a screen popped up of a map with a little red dot marked over their address.

The tracker was working.

As he shut down the device, John had a quick flash of quilt over putting a tracking device in her Valentines gift, but he quickly brushed it off. If he hadn't been sure about this before, tonight's contact by the stalker made him positive that this was the right thing to do. As soon as the stalker thing was over with, he'd remove it and she would never have to know.

He loved Natalie far too much to risk losing her again.