Attn: I don't own John or Natalie or any other OLTL character. I do own everyone else though.

Chapter 16

Natalie let her self into Asa's office, wearing a pair of gloves, and began rummaging thru his files. She knew the password for his computer so she boot it up as well. Taking out a disk she slid it in to the disk drive and waited for it to boot. While she was waiting she removed several files from the filing cabinet and placed them on the desk next to the computer.

Her eyes held a far away expression and her movements were deliberate, almost robotic as she sat down at the desk and began downloading files from the computer. She was finished with in minutes and with out saying a word she saved all the files on the disk, deleted them from the computer, then shut it down and pocketed the disk. Taking the file with her she left the office. She headed for the security room knowing no one would be in there having seen the one guy watching the monitors leave for lunch on her way into the building. She went to the security camera imput device, All cameras were worried into a DVD burner and the images burned to disc. She took the disc's for that day and exited quickly. That done she left the building knowing that the cameras weren't recording her because she hadn't put in another disc. Stopping at the post office she bought an envelope addressed it and then slipped the files and disk inside. She sealed it then slid it in the outgoing mail slot.

That done Natalie headed back out of the post office and back to the lab. Climbing in the window she fixed the alarm and then headed for a bathroom stall. Once she shut the door she experienced a sudden lightheaded feeling and promptly passed out, smashing her head against the stall door cutting her forehead. She hit the floor with a thud, blood trickling onto the floor from the cut.

John rushed down to the lab and was greeted by the upset bodyguard. He told John that he had waited a long while and when he realized how long Natalie had been in there, 20 minutes, he had called into the bathroom and Natalie hadn't answered. Worried he had gone in and seen that she wasn't there and had immediately called John.

As soon as Jim, the bodyguard, finished John headed for the bathroom to check it out himself. He knocked on the door and called out that he was coming in. He was really worried about Natalie and why she would simply disappear with out telling him. He had tried her cell phone 3 times already but it had gone directly to voicemail so he was even more worried.

John went in to the bathroom and looked around. He went directly to the window and saw that nothing was the matter with it. If it had been opened the alarm would have gone off. Not expecting much he began to open individual stall doors. The doors went all the way to the floor to prevent anyone from looking under. One after another he pushed open with no resistance. When he got to the one on the very end in the corner of the bathroom the door wouldn't open. He knocked and no one answered. He wasn't concerned, thinking it had latched accidentally after someone had closed it. He went to the stall next to it and climbed up on the toilet, feeling a bit foolish, like a teenager trying to get a peak at the girls.

What he saw on the other side caused him to gasp in fear and shout. "She is in here! She's bleeding!"

Jim came running in, feeling confused, he had been sure he had checked every stall but now, he wasn't as positive as he had been.

"Call maintenance to get this door off and call an ambulance. Her head is bleeding." John knew they needed to get the door off so they could get Natalie out of the stall. He was frantic with worry now, the sight of Natalie's blood causing him to panic like nothing else ever could, yet he was relieve that she was here and not kidnapped or in some unknown danger again.

He climbed over the wall and, in the tiny space, he checked her pulse. He sighed in relief. She was breathing and her pulse was strong. He could hear maintenance outside working on the door as he touched Natalie's face. "Natalie?" he called softly, patting her cheek trying to wake her up.

Natalie moaned in pain as she heard someone calling her name.

John heard the moan and called again, "Natalie. Baby, wake up!" Just then the door of the stall was removed with a loud bang and he looked up from Natalie to see Bo standing there along with 2 EMT's.

Natalie groaned and tried to open her eyes. Her head felt like it had been blown up with air. When she got her eyes open the first face she saw was John's and she smiled. "Hey," she whispered.

John saw her eyes flicker then open and he smiled. She was waking up. Looking into those pools of blue he felt his breath catch and he forgot how to breath for a second.

Natalie tried to sit up and moaned in pain. Her head was throbbing and she didn't remember going in to the bathroom, let alone falling and hitting her head. "What happened?" she groaned out holding her head where she had hit it on the stall door.

John snapped out of his revere and bent down to pick her up. Holding her close he brought her to the ambulance outside the building and set her down gently on the gurney. He looked around and noticed that Bo and the others had followed. "I'm not sure. I was hoping you would tell me. Your bodyguard was waiting outside the bathroom for you. When you didn't come out he got worried and thought you had snuck off."

Natalie hissed as the EMT cleaned off her cut and placed a bandage on it. Her head felt strange, her thinking was slightly muddled, like she had slightly too much to drink. "I feel weird. My head..." trailing off she winced again as a sharp pain lanced thru her.

John looked sharply at the EMT silently questioning the other man with his eyes. Concern for Natalie was etched on his face.

"Is she gonna be ok?" Bo cut in, worried for his niece.

The EMT looked at all of them and nodded. "She should be fine. I want to check your blood pressure and blood sugar to find out why you passed out," he said to Natalie.

Natalie sat silently as the man strapped a cloth band around her arm and began to pump it up. She winced as it increased in pressure, 'wonder why these things always have to be so tight?" she thought to herself. She looked at Bo and was touched by the caring concern in his eyes. He was her favorite relative of the Buchanans. He was more like a father to her than Clint had ever been. It if hadn't been for his patience and loving advice she would have made it as a forensic annalist or anything else for that matter.

Bo was trying to keep his worry and concern under control. When John had yelled for an ambulance his heart had froze in his chest. A wave of fear had swamped him and stolen the breath from his lungs. All he had been able to think was that Carlo had been able to harm Natalie again, that she was dead or dying. When he had heard her groan it had been music to his ears.

"When he is done Natalie You are going home and straight to bed!" Bo told her, his concern making him a little more harsh then he meant to.

Normally she would have argued but Natalie felt like crap and her head was throbbing. Her thoughts were still confused and muddled. She looked at John and saw that he agreed with Bo and knew that no matter what she said she would have to do what Bo had told her to so she accepted the edict gracefully with a nod.

John was relieved that she had agreed with out a fight, but knew that she really must be feeling badly to give in so easily. Once the EMT was done and had pronounced her fit, except for a bump on the head anyway, John scooped her up off the gurney and carried her to his car.

Natalie was embarrassed and slightly shocked when John just simply carried her off with out another word. "John..." she protested, whining slightly.

John just grinned at her and said, "You thought I would let you out of my sight after that?" Ignoring her shocked looked he simply walked around to the other side of the car and got in, then drove her back to his room so he could keep an eye on her.

To be continued...