Author's note: Sorry about the delays on this one. This is the chapter where they sit around talking endlessly and nothing happens. Sorry about that. Also, hard to remember at this point but I posted Chapter 1 January 27th, fictionally it's still the first day (for the first part of this chapter at least) Besos! Dulce
"No," Natalie said firmly.
"Wait, wait, wait," Rex said holding up a hand, "What exactly did he say?"
"Just that," Evangeline said, "it was right before he got out of prison. He said he wanted two things—to get Natalie back and to deal with McBain."
"Cristian didn't do this," Natalie said.
"Of course he didn't," Evangeline agreed.
"You guys need to look at this objectively," Rex said, "'cause it sounds like-"
"I know what it sounds like Rex," Natalie said, "but I also know Cristian and he's not a murderer."
"He actually is a murderer," Rex pointed out.
"No he's not," Evangeline said, "he was programmed to kill Tico-"
"So," Rex shrugged, "he was in Stateville with Hesser a long time. Maybe he programmed him to off McBain too."
"Why?" Natalie asked, "Before the riots Hesser didn't even know John."
"I don't know," he said, "but I think we have to consider all possibilities."
"I've considered it," Natalie said, "He didn't do it."
"Can I at least ask some questions-?"
"You paid up?" Natalie asked brusquely as she stood up, "I'm ready to leave. The smoke's making me nauseous."
"Guess we're done here," Rex said to Evangeline as he slammed down some cash and followed his sister out of the bar.
He found himself looking down at Natalie, as though he were hovering over her bed. She was curled in a ball in the middle of her bed at Llanfair, not quite awake and not quite asleep. Her eyes and the comforter were still damp from the last assault of tears. She hadn't even bothered to crawl under the covers and she shivered in the winter night's air, but didn't move to do anything to warm herself. He reached out to brush a lock of hair back from her forehead, but couldn't seem to get his hand close enough.
A sudden wave of vertigo hit him and when he recovered he found himself in a different room altogether, but he was still looking down at Natalie lying on a bed. The green pajamas had given way to a long purple robe and while she was still sitting on top of the covers, someone was tucked under them. He studied the face of the little boy, maybe four years old, as Natalie gently coaxed him to sleep.
"I want Dad," the boy said suddenly looking up at her.
"I know sweetheart," she sighed, "but he isn't here right now."
He tried to shout, to let them know that he was there, but no sound came from his mouth. And suddenly Natalie and their son were gone and it was just black. Blackness and the certainty that she was still nearby.
"How is he?" Natalie asked the next morning as she approached Michael in the waiting area.
"No change," Michael said, "but they said scan results from yesterday showed minimal brain damage."
"That's great!" Natalie said.
"Yeah," he sighed, exhaustion dampening any enthusiasm he might have felt. "Mom's with him now, but I'm sure if you want-"
"No," she said sitting down next to him, "we need to talk. Have you seen Rex?"
"He's around," he said, "last I saw he was trying to charm the nurses in the hopes that one of them might know something."
"Okay," she said, "let me go round him up and we can regroup, figure out what we know and what to do now." She found Rex at the nurses' station with a couple of giggling aides and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him away. Then she motioned him and Michael into a huddle in the corner of the waiting area where they could be reasonably sure they wouldn't be overheard.
"How'd things go last night?" Michael asked.
"Well Roxy knows now," Natalie sighed.
"So everyone else will soon," he said.
She nodded as she continued. "So does Evangeline."
"For sure?" Michael asked.
Natalie nodded again. "She ran into us last night. Asked me point blank. She also knows we're looking into this."
"You told her?" Michael asked sounding shocked.
"She figured it out," Natalie said, "Say what you will about her she's not dumb."
"So I guess that means she's officially off the suspect list?" he asked.
"You all know how I feel about her, but she's not a good liar—we'd know if she wasn't telling the truth. Besides, I can't see her having the guts to kill someone."
"What about her sister?" Michael asked.
Natalie turned to Rex. "Any more on that front?"
He shook his head. "So far all I got is that she recently came into a big chunk of change. Three huge deposits starting about the time she started at B.E."
"You think it could've been an advance or something?" Michael asked.
Natalie laughed. "From my family? Not likely."
"Did you talk to Duke?" Rex asked, "Find out if Layla really was working late with him?"
"He didn't pick up the phone yesterday when I called but I talked to Nigel and he gave me the impression Duke was hung over. Said he staggered in a little before 1:30."
"Which means even if Layla was with him she'd have had time to get back-" Michael said verbally connecting the dots.
"-and make the call," Natalie finished.
"But why?" Michael asked, "I mean I know she hates John for hurting her sister but-"
"I also seriously doubt she's capable of getting the drop on McBain," Rex said, "plus there's the money and the medication mix up yesterday. Clearly someone else is masterminding this."
"Okay," Natalie said rubbing her eyes wearily, "So what about the doctor who treated your dad—the fact that he died the exact same way. It has to be connected."
"Probably a set up too," Michael nodded.
"You said John was looking into your father's murder?" Rex asked Michael. Michael nodded. "So possibly he stirred something up, made someone nervous, they decided they needed to get him out of the way."
"But how could Layla Williamson be connected to my father's murder?" Michael asked, "I don't even think she was alive."
"I guess that's what we need to figure out," Natalie sighed. "Okay, what about this doctor, do you have any more information on him?"
"No," he shook his head, "but I'll see if I can come up with anything."
"Let us know what you come up with," she said.
"Okay," Rex said tapping his foot as if he were having to control the urge not to pace, "then there's the Paige Miller factor. What's she got to do with all this?"
"She asked for that guard on John's room," Natalie said, "she must know something's going on."
"Yeah," Michael said, "and the order for that med error had her signature, but Rex was talking to her at the time, so she couldn't have given it."
"And what I don't get about that is why she hasn't said so," she said tucking her hair behind her ears, "I mean she has an alibi and she could get in trouble over this, right?"
"Big trouble," Michael nodded.
Natalie turned to Rex and asked, "You've been doing some work for her, right?"
He held up his hands in a 'stop' sign, "I'm sworn to secrecy on that."
"I wasn't going to ask about it," she assured him, "I was going to ask if you thought she might trust you enough to tell you about this."
"Doubtful," he said, but I'll give it a try."
"Okay," she said decisively, "so where do we go from here?"
Rex eyed her uneasily. "I think we need to talk about Evangeline's suggestion from last night."
"It wasn't really a suggestion," she said, "She didn't believe it either."
"Okay," he said, "but I still think we need to consider it."
"Consider what?" Michael asked anxiously.
"Nothing," Natalie said firmly.
Rex turned to him, "We asked her if she knew of anyone who had threatened you brother and she said-"
"It wasn't even really a threat," Natalie interjected.
"Well who made it?" Michael asked.
"Cristian Vega," Rex said.
Michael's eyes narrowed, "I shoulda known."
"It wasn't him," Natalie insisted.
"Natalie," Michael said leaning into towards her and barely keeping himself from raising his voice, "he hates John. He blames him for losing you."
"I hate Evangeline," she said, "but I'm not gonna kill her."
"You're also not gonna threaten to kill her," he said.
"He didn't say he was going to kill John," she explained, "he said he was going to 'deal with' him. That could mean anything."
"Right," he insisted, "up to and including-"
"Michael you barely know him," she said shaking her head, "I was married to him. He's not a murderer."
Michael snorted, "Tell that to Tico Santi."
"It was a different situation," she said.
"Yeah well as I recall he did a pretty good job of covering his tracks that time too," Michael said, "take it from the guy who nearly lost his medical license because of it."
"You've said it yourself," Rex said, "He's changed, Nattie. He's not the same guy you married. He's got a temper. Trust me, I found out the hard way. How many stitches did that take?"
"Enough to prove Cris can be dangerous if he wants to," Michael replied.
"Okay you know what?" Natalie said angrily, "if it looked like a fight, if they found John in an alley, behind a bar, at his apartment even, I might could believe it. Because you're right, he does have a temper and I'll admit it even scares me a little every now and then. But this wasn't a crime of passion—it was cold and calculated and that is not Cristian. Someone took a while to plan this and set it up and make it look like John did this to himself."
"Okay," Rex conceded, "you actually have a point there, but I still think we should look into where he was night before last."
"Go ahead," Natalie said taking a sip from her coffee cup, "but you're not going to find anything."
He willed her to go away, but she wouldn't. She just stayed there, right beside his bed, not saying anything, not even really looking at him. It was crazy, he knew. There was no reason he should be afraid of her. Her of all people.
He tried to say something to her, but still found him mouth useless. There were things he needed to say. Things he needed to tell her and everybody else. Things he needed to say to Natalie. And questions he needed to ask. Things that didn't quite make sense.
Michael raised an eyebrow at Natalie suddenly, "What's in that cup?"
"Coffee," she said with a look that dared him to object.
"You shouldn't be-"
"You shouldn't jump to conclusions," she said as she took another defiant sip, "it could be decaf."
"Is it?" he asked.
She shrugged. "It's really not anyone's business."
Michael rolled his eyes as Rex looked at her thoughtfully, "You should really start wearing looser clothes."
"I'm not that pregnant," she said.
"Let's see," Michael said, "what would be the estimated date of conception?"
Natalie looked at him in shock, "Michael, there are details of my relationship with your brother that I'm really not going to discuss with the two of you."
"Okay," he said undeterred, "probably right before Statesville so like early November, first pregnancy… you really won't be showing yet."
"But if she really wants to sell it," Rex insisted.
"Yeah, I mean it's not a bad idea if you want to make sure our killer knows," Michael said, "which, by the way, I'm still not convinced is the best strategy."
"Trust me," she said, "if someone has it in for John that badly they'll be interested in the fact that he has a baby on the way."
"You should start patting your stomach too," Rex said, "you know like pregnant women do."
"Yeah," Michael said, "and that thing where they put their hand on their lower backs-"
"Okay, okay," Natalie said holding up her hands to stop them both, though she looked moderately amused, "have either of you been pregnant before?"
"It's not like you have," Rex said.
"You sure about that?" she deadpanned.
Rex studied her for a moment, "I thought I was."
She smiled, "Don't worry. No long lost children here. Not that I know of anyway."
"Well you are a Buchanan," he shrugged.
"Seriously though, Natalie," Michael said, "you need to watch it with the coffee. And you need to sleep and eat and, you know, generally take care of yourself."
"You're forgetting something very important Michael," she said, somewhat confused by his concern.
"Like what?" he asked.
"Like the fact that I'm not really pregnant," she hissed.
"I'd give that advice to anyone," he said, "No, I haven't forgotten that one. I'm too busy feeling guilty for keeping it from my fiancée."
"I'm sorry about that," she said, "the one I feel really bad about is your mom. And Uncle Bo. But we start letting people in and we lose control over who knows and-"
"Mom!" Michael said loudly to alert Natalie to his mother's presence.
"Natalie," Eve said, "I didn't realize you were here."
"I just got here a few minutes ago," she said.
"What are you three talking about so seriously?" she asked.
"Nothing in particular," Natalie said, hoping she wasn't blushing too obviously. "Just… John and everything."
"How are you feeling?" Eve asked sitting down.
"Okay," she said smiling weakly, "all things considered."
"Did you sleep at all after you went home?"
"A little bit," she admitted, "I kept waking up, worrying about him."
Eve patted her knee, "I had terrible insomnia when I was pregnant with John. Though I know this whole situation can't be helping. But you've got to try to take care of yourself—John's going to be just fine."
Natalie felt tears come to her eyes at such tender words from this woman they were lying too. "I know," she said hoarsely.
"Why don't you go sit with him for a while?" Eve suggested.
"Yeah," Natalie said standing up, "I'd like that."
Dabbing the corners of her eyes she made her way down the hall to John's room. Even though she was prepared for it this time the sight of the machines, his bandaged head, made her tremble slightly. She sat down beside him and took his hand. "Miss me?" she asked. "They sent me home to sleep. I couldn't though. Funny—I can't sleep and that's all you're doing. I mean I know you've probably got a lot to catch up on, but could you wake up already? I promise, if you get better we can take a whole week and lock ourselves in at your place and just sleep. I think I'm gonna need it before this is all over." She lowered her head and pressed her lips to his hand. At least if felt warm. She could feel life still in his hand—he was going to live. No matter what she had to do to make sure.
After his mother stepped away to the ladies' room Michael pulled Rex aside. "So what do you think about the Cristian stuff?"
He shrugged, "I don't know. Nattie's pretty sure, but-"
"I'm not," Michael said.
Rex nodded. "Yeah, I'll look into it. She can't really be objective on this, but I wouldn't rule him out just yet."
To be continued.