Chapter Thirty-Six

It was nearly a month after the whole Mitch fiasco and things in Llanview were finally starting to get back to normal. With the help of John, Natalie had managed to rebury all the painful memories and move on with her life. Natalie had even managed to finish all her classes and was looking forward to her graduation. The new woman's shelter/community center was almost completed and Natalie was keeping busy with all the last minute problems that kept popping up. It would only be a matter of weeks before they would be open for business and Natalie couldn't wait. Jessica's road to recovery, however, was a little bit harder as Mitch's brainwashing had really done a number on both her mental and emotional state. But after a two week stay at the hospital, and the combined support of her Doctors, family and Nash, Jessica was doing a lot better and also starting to move on.

John and Natalie's relationship was now stronger then ever as this time there were no secrets, lies or people coming between them and it finally seemed like everything was falling into place for them. Unfortunately, because of Natalie efforts to finish school and John having to work on the cases that had been on the back burner during the whole stalker mess, they hadn't had a lot of time for themselves. So, in order to rectify that they had both taken the night off and made plans to meet at Rodi's for dinner.

"Do you know I can't even remember the last time we played pool?" Natalie mused as she dipped one of her fries in the pile of mustard at was in the corner of her plate. John made a face as he watched her pop the fry into her mouth. "I'm up for a game now if it means getting away from that disgusting combination."

Rolling her eyes, Natalie dipped one more fry in the mustard and ate it before pushing herself away from the table and on to her feet. "You McBain brothers and your food hang ups," she muttered as they made their way to the pool table.

John just shook his head and began racking up the balls. Once they were all ready, he turned toward her and fixed her with a suggestive smile. "Let's make this game a bit interesting. Every time the other sinks a ball they get to ask the other person a question and that person has to answer no matter how embarrassing or personal."

With an eyebrow raised Natalie gestured around Rodi's. "We're in public John."

"Not everything has to be sexual," he said his voice low.

Just hearing him use that deep whisper caused desire to stir in Natalie, but she pushed it away. "All right, I'll break."

After taking her shot and sending balls flying everywhere, including one into a side pocket, Natalie grinned. "Okay, what's your one irrational fear?"

"I don't have one," John replied too quickly. But Natalie just laughed.

"Oh that response was too quick. Come on John, you wanted to play this."

Sighing, John walked over to her and whispered "Roller coasters" into her ear.

"Roller coasters? You deal with guns and criminals all day and you're scared of roller coasters?" she said unable to keep the shock and amusement out of her voice.

"Keep it down," John said looking and around only to find Michael and Marcie looking over at them with amused smiles on their faces. Great, now he had just given his brother something else to tease him with. "Yeah, they've always bothered me but we can drop this. Take your shot."

Biting back a few more comments and her laughter, Natalie took the shot and sunk another ball. "Hmmm, okay what's your biggest regret?"

John raised an eyebrow and gave her a serious look. "I'm sure you know the answer to that…"

Natalie shook her head. "Nope," but when John remained silent she relented. "The press conference that pissed off Haver?" she asked softly.

"At one time that was my biggest regret but recently it became all the things I put you though."

Natalie moved over toward him, and kissed him softly. "All that is behind up now," she said with a smile before going back over to the table. But suddenly interested in what John would come up with, Natalie hastily lined up her shot and purposely missed. She forced herself to look annoyed as John smiled and leaned into the pool table, a look of total concentration on his face. Sinking two balls, he stood up. "What's the one place you already dreamed of traveling too?"

Natalie glanced down sheepishly. "Disney World"

John couldn't help the complete look of shock that came over his face. "Disney world?" he repeated slowly.

"I know it's stupid," she sighed, "but when I was growing up Florida was the place for vacation. Every September when school started the teacher would always ask, "What did you do on your summer vacation?" and every time at least five kids would get really excited and tell the whole class about seeing Mickey and Minnie mouse, and going on all the cool rides like Splash mountain." Natalie laughed warily, "Growing up it always seemed like Disney World was the one thing that separated me from the rest of them and I thought that if maybe I went there, I wouldn't be so different than them."

John nodded, knowing it was hard for Natalie to talk about her childhood. "I promise one day I will take you to Disney World, but I'm telling you now, your not going to get me on any roller coasters."

Natalie laughed, haven been broken out of the sad memories of her childhood. "What about the Tower of Terror? It's not a roller coaster, so do you think I can get you on that?"

"I'm not making any promises, he replied with a small smile as he took his next shot and once again sunk a ball. Unsure of what to ask as his next question, John stood up and looked over at Natalie who was staring at him expectantly.

"Well?"

Just seeing her standing there with a pool cue in hand and her head tilted to the side, John once again realized how lucky he was. They had been through a lot together, but yet here they were back at the pool table, happier then ever. His next question just came to him and before he even realized when he was doing, the words were out of his mouth. "Will you marry me?"

Natalie's pool cue went crashing to the ground as she stared at him with wide eyes, "What?"

Placing his cue on the table, John went over to her and took his hands in his. "I know that this isn't exactly the time or the place and I know it's not exactly the romantic type of proposal with flowers and candlelight. To be honest, this is as unexpected to me as it is to you, but I don't want to waste any more time being apart. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Going down on one knee, John looked up at her with a hopeful expression. "So, Natalie Buchanan, will you marry me?"

"Yes, Yes I'll marry you!" Natalie cried happily before throwing herself into his arms and kissing him passionately.

Having observed the entire exchange from their nearby table, Michael and Marcie stood up and began clapping. Soon the rest of the Rodi's patron's were on their feet clapping and whistling at the couple. But, both John and Natalie remained oblivious to their audience as they enjoyed their moment.