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Chapter 4

"Good morning" JOhn said as he shook her and tried to wake her. Natalie started to and then all of a sudden realized she must have slept late, she jumped up in bed as she heard all the laughter. She looked around and they were all on the bed staring at her, and they were laughing at her.

"Happy Anniversary Mommy" Madison told her as she moved closer to her in the bed, she grabbed on to her and hugged her about as tight at a 3 year old could hug.

"Happy anniversary " Morgan chimed in as she to grabbed onto Natalie smiling and laughing, Natalie looked over to see John was kneeling down next to the bed and Connor, who didn't look very happy was also there. Natalie's eyes met John's and after a few minutes she looked over at Connor, she knew something was off.

"Connor, aren't you going to wish your mom a happy anniversary?" John said in a bit of a stern voice, the boy seemed to be being a bit defiant.

"Yeah, happy anniversary" Connor said not very happy about his dad making him say it. Natalie just looked between John and Connor and knew something was up; something happened this morning before she woke, she heard her baby start to talk and she turned towards her.

"We made you and daddy a quick breakfast before we have to go to school, its you favorite," she said and she handed Natalie a small plate with two Pop tarts on it. Natalie smiled.

"You're right, its mine and Daddy's favorite" Natalie told her as the girl smiled and looked to her older sister.

"I told ya" Madison said to Morgan and Morgan made a face back. Natalie couldn't help but smile, or at least smile till she saw the glares Connor was now giving her.

"These look yummy girls. I see you two got dressed for school already. Why don't the two of you take these down stairs and Daddy and I will be down in a minute to eat them before work, Alright?" she asked and the girls nodded and left the room. Connor tried to also sneak out when the girls left but Natalie didn't let him.

"Connor... is there something you want to say to me? Is something wrong?" she asked him and he stopped walking towards the door.

"No, there's nothing babe, Connor just didn't get enough sleep last night, let him go get ready for school" John told her as he motioned for Connor to leave the room.

Natalie got out of bed after Connor exited and looked at John.

"Whats going on now?" she asked him and he smiled, " nothing to worry about, today's our anniversary, well the...official one anyways. " he sadi and he laughed

Natalie decided to drop it, for now anyways, she would try and get things out of Connor later when she drove him to school, and she would be driving him to school and late too. The whole family was already late.

"Happy anniversary" Natalie said as she walked over to John by the bathroom door, she pressed a kiss to his mouth and purposely grazed him with her breasts. She continued passed him into the bathroom. As he shook his head laughing

"That wasn't nice, you know that, and you know we don't have any time this morning, everyone is already late" he told her and she laughed" too bad, you would've gotten luckily this morning" she told him and he laughed.

"Tell me you got a sitter for tonight, tell me" he said to her smiling as he watched her clean her face in the bathroom sink.

"Yep, Jess is gonna take them, all three of them, all night, and most of tomorrow too" she said as she watched him thru the mirror above the sink. John just smiled.

John excused himself and went down stairs to help finish getting the girls ready for school.

Twenty-five minutes later Natalie walked down the stairs to see everyone getting there backpacks together and starting for the door. She stopped Connor before he was out it.

"Connor, I'll take you to school, give me a few minutes" she told him and he made a face.

"No, I can make the bus still if I hurry now" he told her a bit rushed and she nodded her head no he wouldn't. Connor made a face and threw himself down on the couch.

"Honey, he can still make the bus or I can take him," John told her and she was getting a bit more curious than she was before.

"Whats going on?" she asked the two of them. Neither answered they just looked at each other.

"Daddy's mad at me and its all your fault," he said and he walked into the other room.

Natalie went to John after she heard her son's words and saw him walk urgently inside. John approached her and her almost hurt look.

"What was that about?"

"He lied about the cards. He told me he gave them all to me to give back and he didn't. Morgan took his book out this morning, had it down here and I was looking at it when he came down. He got all nervous and I knew something was up, I confronted him and he folded, rather quickly too," John told her and she was still a bit confused.

"So you punished him or something and he's mad at me Huh? Isn't it great being the mom" she said a bit hurt and a bit joking, JOhn reached over to her and took her hand, he kissed her quickly as the girls ran into the living room.

"Don't let it bother you, he loves you, we all do," he told her as he saw it was bothering her a bit.

"I know," she said

"Are Daddy's girls ready" JOhn asked them and they smiled as they shook their heads. John started to call out to Connor to come and he'd take him to school when Natalie motioned for him to stop.

"No, I'll take him, see ya at the station" she told JOhn and then she leaned down and kissed both girls good-bye.

"Babe... he'll be over it the minute he gets into school. I don't want to see you upset about anything today... remember...our anniversary" he told her and she smiled. He was always thinking of her feeling wasn't he? There was a time when he didn't but eight years ago they made a vow to do so, to take care of the other and that was what they were doing.

"Nothing to worry about John, take the girls and I'll see ya later" she told him as she kissed him this time.

"Hey... " He said as he was half way out the door with the girls " Forever and ever, right? you , me, us, the kids, the McBain's, no-one, nothing pulls us apart, not as long as we fight to stay connected." he told her and she got teary eyed as she said the words softly.

"Forever and ever"

Natalie watched as he walked out the door with their girls, her mind drifted back to a time, a place when those three words, along with the three words she had longed for from him, when all those words, beautiful words had come from his mouth, Ten years ago to be exact.

Flash Back

" JOhn... where are we going? We can't just leave our own wedding reception"

'We're not, we're just getting some air, some alone time, I need to tell you some stuff, things have been happening so fast today and we haven't spoken since our fight last night"

" I know... I have something to tell you too"

"Well... I need to go first... I'm sorry about what I did and maybe I went about things wrong, maybe I should've given you a choice maybe I... I don't know, is it really that important anymore, how we got here or can we just move on together from this point, forget all about the rest, the past, let all that matter be me, you, us, the present time, the future, our future"

"John... I'm Pr--"

"Pregnant... I know"

"How did y--?"

"Its not important, whats important is I think we should have our own pledge on this day, sort of pledge that we won't let anything get to us, nothing, as long as we stay connected forever, that's all that matters."

"Yeah, we can pledge something like Forever and ever it will be you, me, us, a family even"

"Nothing can pull us apart and we will fight like Hell to stay together always "

"Yeah, I like it, I like it a lot, it can be our McBain pledge" Natalie said as they kissed.

End FB