His goal had been to get to the hospital before Brody's shift. He got to the unguarded door and was nervous about what that meant and who was on. Nevertheless, he seized the opportunity and headed in.

He was still out from surgery. He was pissed he'd lived. He pulled out the letter opener. Gingerly, he wrapped Mitch's hands around the base. It didn't have to be perfect, it just had to have his prints on it. He put it back in the bag.

"how many laws are you planning on breaking over this case, Lieutenant?"

"I'm not breaking any laws" he said.

"You just put my prints on a weapon" he said, "for what crime, may I ask, am I being framed for?"
"You don't remember? You tried to kill yourself"

"Natalie stabbed me"

He had been hopeful that if he had lived, he wouldn't remember what got him in the hospital. It was normal thing to happen, right?

"No, you stabbed yourself" he said, trying to keep his calm.

"You're covering for her? You are still holding a torch for my bride"

"She's not your bride" he said.

"She's not your anything"

"She's my friend" he said, "and I know she'd never stab anyone"

"That was a quick recovery, Lieutenant" he said, "but she did stab me and you do not think of her as a friend"

He bent down and lowered his voice, "I swear to God Laurence, you utter one word of that to anyone it'll be your last"

"When do I give my statement? I can't wait to include this threat"

"The cop that shows up will take it" he said, "I would, but since I'm a witness-"

"I can't wait"

"It's your word against mine, Laurence, who do you think the authorities are going to believe?"

"You don't know what I'm going to say"

"Doesn't matter" he said, "I'll protect Natalie, no matter what lie you tell the police"

"You'll be so disappointed when I take her with me as my bride. Does she know you still have feelings for her?"

"You're not taking her anywhere. If you try-"

"Another threat?"

"A promise" he said, before leaving.

He walked out the door and almost into Brody. The level of suspicion on his face was clear as day.

"John" he said, "What's up? I didn't think I'd see you today being on guard"

"Just had to see the bastard alive with my own eyes" he said.

Brody just nodded, "Have you talked to Natalie? How's she holding up?"

John played it off, "I haven't talked to her since yesterday- you didn't see her at Llanfair?"

"No, she hadn't come out of her room by the time I left this morning"

"I'm sure she needs the rest"

Brody nodded, "Yeah, she definitely does"

"How long you here for?"

"Four hours, then the station for the end of my shift"

"Finish the paper work on his stabbing when you get there, Bo's due back tomorrow I want to put an end to this"

"So, I guess I should take his statement?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Doesn't matter, he's a liar anyway"

Brody looked around before he spoke again, "And if he says Natalie did it?" he whispered.

John took a breath, "Then I guess we got to get Natalie's statement, but you know, he's crazy, he could say Liberace stabbed him for all we know"

"Yeah" he said, "I'll see you later"

John nodded before heading out. Once he was far enough away from Brody he grabbed his phone to update Natalie.

'He lived and he's awake'

He didn't want her to find out like this, but it seemed likely she'd find out anyway.


He'd opened his door to find her on the couch.

"Nice to see you" he said, "Brody said you were asleep"

"I don't remember the last time I slept" she said, "I got your text and came over"

"Coffee?" he asked, and she nodded.

"What's he saying?" she asked.

"Nonsense" he said, pouring her a cup of coffee and a dash of the creamer he kept on hand.

"so, the truth" she asked.

"He's a known liar, it doesn't matter what he says" he said, handing her a cup of coffee, "sorry, I don't keep cream or milk on hand, just the nondairy stuff"

"You remember I put milk in my coffee?" she was a little taken back.

"I'm sorry, I just assumed you-"

"No, I do, I'm just surprised you remember"

He looked down, "I, uh, I don't know I didn't think about it"

She smiled a little, "I'm sure any milk you kept would go bad pretty fast, anyway"

He chuckled a little, "Yeah, that's probably true"

"Layla could do a better job at the coffee" she said after a sip and she paused, "You're going to stick with framing him?" she said, "because if you want to change your mind"

"It's done Natalie" he said, "his prints are on the weapon, it's in evidence, I'm going to have Bo sign off on it when he gets back from Seattle"

"They're back, I think" she said, "I haven't gone over to the house yet, um, I heard they were coming back in time for the holidays"

"How's Matthew?"

"Good, I think" she said, "it's been hard for me to keep up-"

"Yeah, I'm sure" he said, "I got this, Natalie. You're not going down for this"

"If you do?"

He shrugged, "Then I guess I should probably learn how to make a cocktail"

"John, be serious"

"It's not going to come to that"

"How are you so sure?"

"I got my bases covered" he said, "and you would do it for me"

"I'm going to get out of your hair" she said, "I'm sure you got plenty to do with Bo gone"

"You're never in my way, Natalie" he said.

"Thanks, John" she said, "Merry Christmas"

He nodded, and she left.


"come in" he answered to the knock on his door. He couldn't wait for Bo to be back so he could stop taking these officers in.

"Hey John" Brody said, "I thought I should let you look at the statement before I filed it"

"Why?" he said, grabbing the statement and skimming it.

"He said it was you"

That bastard. He sighed, "Alright, file it"

"John-"

"This has to be by the book"

"Yeah, but-"

"Bo will make a decision in the morning. Laurence is a known liar. It doesn't matter what he said in the grand scheme of things"

"You know what would help would be Natalie's-" Brody said.

"Brody, we're not doing that" he said, cutting him off "She's been through enough as it is. She's already afraid he's going to go scot-free"

"Bo's going to-"

"Bo's going to do what he's going to do" he said, "But that's going to wait for tomorrow" he said, trying to sound like it would be fine, but he knew he could convince Bo to put it to bed without interviewing Natalie.

"Okay, John" he said, "I hope you know what you're doing"

"You worry about your job, I'll worry about mine" he said.

Brody nodded and left his office. John sighed, hoping he was right about Bo's thoughts on all this.