Unforgiven
Chapter 5: Revelations
Recap: Cristian reveal is over and done with, Cris moved away and John turned himself in for illegal DNA tampering. He has finally seen Natalie for the first time since he went to prison. She made a speech and he announced he had something to tell her.
Natalie's voice was quiet as she wrapped her arms around John's neck. "Tell me." John sighed and couldn't resist stealing one more kiss. She smiled softly against his lips. "This is going to hurt you, Natalie. It's the last thing I want to do, but damn it—It's like Michael said, when I decide to torch my life I go all out." He dropped his gaze to the floor, too ashamed to look at her.
Natalie kept her arms around his neck and waited. He brought his eyes up to meet hers again. "That night—after you told me that you wanted nothing more to do with me I got drunker than I've ever been trying to drown the pain. It didn't work. I knew nothing would make me feel better except making myself feel worse, so…" Natalie's breath caught in her throat. "What? John, tell me."
"I went out and found a woman at a bar." Natalie went numb. "What?" she whispered. "That's not all," John choked out. "What else is there? Tell me!" John met her eyes, tenderly brushing her bangs back. "She's pregnant," he whispered. With that sentence everything Natalie had thought she'd known collapsed around her.
Police officer Amber Marie studied her reflection in the bathroom mirror, looking for a reason why John had done this to her. She was a beautiful redhead who looked quite a bit like Natalie. That had after all been the reason John had chosen her for his revenge against himself. She was a mere twenty years old and far from ready for a baby. She placed a hand on her slightly swollen abdomen and sighed. Ready or not, there was a baby coming. She just had to decide what the hell she was going to do about it.
John knew. She had made sure to tell him as soon as she'd found out, and he had reacted like she'd known he would. He had been angry at himself for not using protection and upset at what the news would do to Natalie. But he had sworn he would take care of his child the best way he knew how. The only problem was that Amber didn't want to have a baby. She had been raised firmly to be against abortion however, so she knew she wouldn't be able to go through with one. What the hell was she going to do?
"Natalie—" She swallowed and pulled back. "Listen, I need to think." She stood to her feet unsteadily. How could her John have done this to her? Oh yeah—to satisfy his screwed up philosophy that he had to be miserable to be happy. She laughed hollowly. "Who was it, John? Was it someone I know?" He nodded and looked down. "It was Amber," he whispered. Natalie gasped.
Amber had been one of her closest friends at the police station. She was a very sweet girl who always had time to talk about anything that might be bothering Natalie, and even though Natalie had thought she had a bit of a crush on John she never would have dreamed the young woman capable of this. "Did Amber know you were using her?" Natalie demanded.
John sighed. Leave it to Natalie to defend the person the man she loved had slept with. "Yes. I was drunk as hell and she knew it. She said she didn't care and that she wanted me at least once so that she could move on with her life." he replied, looking at her with shame. Natalie couldn't think, couldn't breathe. "I need to get out of here. I will be back and I swear to God McBain if you tell the guards not to let me in again I will do whatever the hell I need to do to get in here—got it?"
John nodded and looked at her with a new dim hope in his eyes. "Natalie?" She turned at the door. "Yeah?" He swallowed, begging with his eyes for her to tell him the truth. "Do you think you can ever forgive me?" Natalie stared at him for a minute. "I'm not sure, but I think we can get through this eventually. I just need some time to be pissed off and hurt right now." He nodded as she walked out.
TO BE CONTINUED
